internet

Silence falls

Standard

I’m really sorry, folks, but I’m turning off comments on my main blog again. I cleared my spam trap last night and when I woke up it was full again. You guys don’t see it because Akismet works pretty well, but occasionally it hoovers up a real comment and I don’t have time to search for ham in the trap.

Folks can respond to me on Twitter and LiveJournal, and I’m thinking of creating a Facebook fan page where people could interact without all the bullshit.

Sorry, but time is precious and I have to hoard it.

updated to clarify this is my WordPress blog on my main website I’m talking about.

The Death of Ray Lilly

Standard

Round two of the Suvudu.com Cage Match is now live!

This time the writeup is a bit long–nearly four thousand words–so you guys know you’re getting your no-money’s worth. But… what’s up with that subject line? Is that pessimism about the outcome of the match? Or is that a spoiler?? Click through to find out the truth!

SEE Tyrion’s deadly plan!

SEE the mysterious, unexpected foe Ray uses his ghost knife against!

SEE a secret from Annalise’s past… and her present!!!

Anyway, the cage match writeups are in third-person so you know they aren’t canon, because that’s a thing I just made up. Publishing is Calvinball, you know. Also, Tyrion Lannister is probably my favorite character from the last 15-some years. I was seriously pleased by the chance to write him (hence the length of the piece) and–admission time–I voted for him, too. Not canon, guys! Seriously!

Finally, if you’re new to the Twenty Palaces books and just dropping by one of my sites for the first time, a warning: the writeup was fun and (hopefully) funny but the books are much darker. Instead of action-comedies, they’re more like action-tragedies. Check out the free sample chapters I link to in my website; I don’t want lovers of light comedy to feel like they’ve been misled.

Have fun, you guys.

Ray Lilly vs Tyrion Lannister

Standard

Yesterday I wrote and turned in the Suvudu.com Cage Match between Tyrion and Ray, and I think you guys will be a little surprised at what I did with it. It was long, though.

Anyway, to my surprise it took me all day. I gave up one of my prime writing days for it, a day when I’m supposed to be finishing 2K words on A Blessing Of Monsters, so that’s bad.

And after this next cage match wraps up, I’m going to be turning off comments on the blog globally. The spam is just wasting my time and having my time wasted drives me crazy.

Ray Lilly survives yet again

Standard

So, the first round of the Suvudu cage match has ended, and Ray Lilly survived. He’ll face Tyrion Lannister, a character so popular his name is in WordPress’s spell check (j/k). To be frank, I’m a huge Song of Ice and Fire fan, and of Tyrion in particular. I’m looking forward to this, and I have an idea or two that I think will be fun. We’ll see.

As for round one, things got contentious early and stayed that way, but that’s not a big deal. What is a big deal is that I think people might have gotten the wrong idea about R. Scott Bakker’s books.

If you skimmed through the comments looking at his fans’ description of the Kellhus character, you might think Bakker has written a munchkin’s wet dream, but the books are more interesting than that.

Check out this review of The Darkness That Comes Before by Victoria Strauss. Here’s her review of book 2, The Warrior-Prophet. At this point, the trilogy is complete and the second trilogy is nearly finished.

Anyway, these Suvudu cage matches are supposed to be an opportunity for readers to try out new books. Here’s the Prince of Nothing series:

The Darkness That Comes Before: The Prince of Nothing, Book One
The Warrior Prophet: The Prince of Nothing, Book Two
The Thousandfold Thought: The Prince of Nothing, Book Three

Check them out.

This blog post will not change your life.

Standard

Ever since I returned home from dealing with my father-in-law’s death my WIP, A Blessing of Monsters, has been sorta stalled out. I’ve been making progress, but it’s been slow going, not nearly as steady as December and January.

Today I’ll be powering up Mac Freedom and going offline for most of the day. I just discovered a plot hole in the story (stupid magic spells) and I can’t just make a note to myself and go back to it later. The change means the relationships between all the characters have to change, and those relationships are what the book is about. So, vomit draft revision, which I hate but end up doing every time.

Not only has my writing been struggling, but the funeral caused a long delay in replacing my son’s eyeglasses. Folks might remember the end of last year when I put Lord of Reavers on sale through my site to help offset the costs. Thank you, everyone who bought a copy; I hope you enjoyed the story. With luck, he’ll have settled on a pair of frames he likes and I can post a pic by the end of the month.

I also have to do that Seattle thing where I wear shorts and an ugly sweater when I go for my walk. The landlord hasn’t gotten the washing machine fixed, and we’re coming up on… what? two weeks since we got back? I’m sure there’s a law stating when a washing machine has to be replaced or whatever, but I’d rather wait for a repair. Whenever we get something new around here, it’s the cheapest possible thing and doesn’t work well. Or it’s smaller. Or it’s just generally not good.

So we’re just looking at laundromats and laundry services, and I’m out of long pants to wear.

Finally, the Cage Match between Ray Lilly and Anasûrimbor Kellhus ends today at 5pm EST. I’ll be offline most of the day and will probably not see the numbers until after it’s over. It would be nice to see Ray vs. Tyrion, but if not I’ll be glad to work on my new book this weekend instead. And I’m glad the comment section has settled down and gotten less nasty.

But if Ray wins, I’ll bring in Annalise for round 2, and I’ll make the writeup lighter in tone.

And now I’m out of here. Hope you guys have a great day.

In which I am insulted

Standard

Commenters on Ray Lilly’s cage match have gotten pretty hot, calling Ray a “mary sue”, saying my writeup was weak, and a couple of other insults.

I don’t link to it because I want people to rush over to my defense (please don’t). I pretty much expected this and at least one of Bakker’s readers has already backed off and expressed regret at letting things get too serious. Besides, much worse has been said in Amazon.com ratings. No big.

Still: interesting human behavior and it’s cool to see that Bakker has such passionate readers.

Added later: I’ve tried twice to post a comment on that thread to say “No blood no foul” but my comments aren’t showing up. What’s more, the page won’t reload with newer comments, even after I clear my cache. I wonder what’s going on?

Read a short Ray Lilly scene at the Suvudu Cage Match

Standard

The poll is up. Head over there to read the fight scene featuring Ray Lilly, and see him take damage like never before (and of course he has no idea he’s in a cage match).

If he wins I get to write another one, so why not drop a vote for him?

added later: Hey, be aware that this one gets a little… intense. Don’t click through if you don’t want to read a scene that’s very physical and a little over-the-top.

Ray Lilly kills wizards

Standard

The Suvudu Cage Match starts tomorrow and Ray Lilly is in it. What’s more, in the first round he faces Anasûrimbor Kellhus, the super-powerful wizard/monk in R. Scott Bakker’s Prince of Nothing series (first book here).

Yeah, as characters go, Kellhus is way up there on the power scale–so powerful, in fact, that every time I want to type his name I have to copy and paste it from Wikipedia because I don’t know how to make that mark above the “u”. But here’s the thing: Ray Lilly kills wizards. That’s his whole thing, and what’s more the sort of magic he has (and the cage match format lets him pull together spells from the different books) make him a very well-protected tank.

That’s how I’ve written the scene between them, anyway.

Anyway, the whole thing comes down to a popularity vote contest, which means I expect Tyrion Lannister to win the whole thing, and good on him for it. However! If Ray wins this first round of voting (which is iffy) and Tyrion wins his (much less iffy) then I have something special in mind for the write up between the two of them.

Vote for Ray if you want to see it.

I’ll post a link to the match when it goes live. Hey, it’s up to you guys if Ray lives or dies.

Randomness for 3/4

Standard

1) United Artists’ Rejection Letter for STAR WARS. via @rodramsey

2) The Internet Justice League

3) Minecraft Middle Earth

4) Finally, a lit contest I can care about: 2011’s Oddest Book Titles of the Year. I’m rooting for the chicken sexer.

5) Why do innocent people confess to crimes they haven’t committed?

6) Against Big Bird, The Gods Themselves Contend in Vain. Big Bird wrests celestial justice from an Egyptian god in a Sesame Street special. For real.

7) A prosecutor and cartoonist creates A Criminal Lawyer’s Illustrated Guide to Crime.

Worldbuilders

Standard

The auction for The Wooden Man and the ghost knife prop has ended but the Worldbuilders fundraiser will continue until February 7th. It’s a lottery system; for every $10 you donate, you get a chance to win any one of hundreds of prizes.

Most are books, signed by the author. Some are ARCs of unreleased novels. Some are graphic novels. Look at this!

An ARC of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust
A “Best of” collection by Caitlin R. Kiernan
A full set of Tad William’s SHADOWMARCH
An ARC of Seanan McGuire’s newest novel

And much, much more stuff.

What’s more 50% of your donations will be matched.

Don’t miss your chance for some terrific books.