1) New book explains why Tina Fey hates Sarah Palin. Apparently, they play different kinds of characters on TV.
2) The Ten Funniest People on Twitter. You’re welcome.
3) In *my* day we had to roll the dice ourselves… And we were happy to do it, too!
4) Free web games, with tips for winning them.
5) Nine questionable Batman toys. I’ve linked to the water pistol before, but the bath foam is even more disturbing.
Wonderful.
Genreville is doing a series of Urban Fantasy interviews. The first two (out of more than a dozen) are posted. Seanan McGuire is first, followed by Charles De Lint. Check it out.
via mightygodking
2) The Genreville book club for October runs this week. The book is Seanan McGuire’s Rosemary & Rue, which I haven’t read because it just came out. Apparently, it’s selling quite well, though, so if you read it and want to participate, head over now.
Anyway, this is interesting to me not just because she sat next to me at my panel at Comic-Con. The book club actually starts off with a note from Rose Fox asking the author to refrain from commenting because it stifles the conversation.
And that was the basis of my original desire to make no mention of reviews in my blog. Maybe I should do a review link-farm post, and back date it so it doesn’t turn up on friends lists or something. Yet another thing to add to the to-do list.
3) “I sold my family downriver for a manuscript.” via Bookslut
4) Do Americans want bipartisan support of health care reform? Sure. Do they want bipartisanship at the expense of the public option? No, they absolutely do not. A majority of Americans want the public option, whether it garners any Republican support or not. via Ezra Klein.
5) Man, it’s going to be tough for this dude to find a new job in this economy.
6) What happens when a man loses job and the healthcare that goes with it? What if the man’s wife and the mother of his three children has cancer and needs chemotherapy they can’t afford? He joins the Army.
How’s that for a clever subject header?
On her blog, Justine Larbalestier talked a bit about blurbs, how she got hers, whether they matter, and how much people should fret over them (her conclusion: not at all). I was going to post a comment about the process of getting blurbs for Child of Fire but I thought I’d post it here instead, especially since the story features a moment of deep, personal humiliation for me.
Justine says she got all her blurbs herself, but it was my editor who got the one from Jim Butcher, and good thing, too, because a number of people have read the book because of it. Me, I’m surprised by this–I never read a book based on a blurb. I don’t know why, but I don’t. I don’t listen to music much either, so what can I say? On some things, I’m an outlier, apparently.
My editor also got the Rob Thurman blurb, but the others (on the book) came about because I asked the authors personally, and my god how I fretted over those emails.
Here’s the embarrassing story: For those who don’t know, one of the blurbs on the back cover came from a screenwriter named Terry Rossio. He’s written the Johnny Depp Pirate movies, ALADDIN, MASK OF ZORRO, and many other films, usually with his writing partner Ted Elliott. I’d spent six years on their (mostly Terry’s, I guess) website learning to write film scripts and arguing story. I don’t hang there any more (which would be a separate post) but I thought it would be great to have a blurb from the writer of POTC on the cover of my book, so I sent an “I don’t think you’ll remember me…” note to Terry, asking him to read and possibly blurb my book.
He did remember me (and he didn’t even mix me up with the other Harry on that board–a much more memorable character than I am–and the result is the quote on the back cover. I do have a .jpg file of the Child of Fire cover with Terry’s quote on the front, but it was bumped when Jim Butcher’s came in at the last moment. I’ll admit that I was a little chagrined. I’ve learned a lot from Terry and I owe him. I’d have liked to have his name right on the front with mine.
But that’s a digression. I also wanted to ask Ted Elliott, Terry’s usual writing partner, for a blurb but I couldn’t find his email anywhere (which I’m sure is how he wants it). He was still listed as a member of a private email list I’m on, although I don’t think he’s posted anything there in years and years, and the Yahoo! software offers a way to send a private message without revealing the person’s address.
I worked hard on that email, maybe a little harder than on the others, solely because he seemed more remote. I thanked him, letting him know how grateful I was for the time he spent online yakking about story with a pack of noobs, and how much it meant to me.
But when I sent it, it didn’t go to him. It went to the entire email list instead. I was mortified by every groveling word. Stupid Yahoo! Stupid self!
Anyway, a lot of the comments I’ve seen about Child of Fire compare it to Jim Butcher’s work, which is reasonable since his name is right there on the front. Some compare it favorably, and quite a few don’t. And while I’m a fan of his books, I don’t think they’re all that similar to mine, for reasons I explain here. And god bless him, this guy agrees and understands. I was sorely tempted to click the “This review was helpful to me” button, but I restrained myself.
Then again, I can picture the way people would have responded if it had been Terry’s name on the cover: “This isn’t like Shrek at all!”
1) Fifteen things to know about L.A.
2) Can you tell the difference between Dustin Diamond’s tell-all memoir of his time on SAVED BY THE BELL and Papa Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls? Take the quiz!
3) What, exactly, is a chachbag? Only a special, select few will know.
4) Posted by everyone, but what the hell: Vampires are popular because women want to have sex with gay men. Honestly, this strikes me as deeply ass-headed, but I’m too busy and tired to unpack it.
5) Miss Manners to “moderately successful novelist”: Do not put a DONATE button on your website.
The folks at Genreville are planning a Book Club discussion for next month, and there’s a poll to select which book it will be. Child of Fire is one of the options, so if you think you’d like to take part in the discussion, go on over and vote for it.
However, if you don’t want to join in the book club talk, please don’t vote. I’d hate for my book to win only to have absolutely no one show up to chat about it. It’d be a wasted opportunity.
Or you could vote for a different book. I guess. I mean, that option is there for you. If you want it.
Does anyone know of a web hosting/social networking site designed to let kids set up their own site? I happen to know a little person who does not want to use a folder on my personal site.
All I can say is, wow, those are some plug-ugly pictures of me in that chat. I need to learn to close my mouth.
Er… I meant to say: “Much wisdom contained within!”