Does this sound dirty?

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Because I’m going to link to myself.

I’ve spoken before about Wordplay.com, and how much I learned there about writing and storytelling. Well, after a friend posted a note there about my PW Best of 2009 listing, (I’ve linked to that list enough times, haven’t I? I don’t want to seem like I’m self-promoting feverishly) a couple of regulars had questions about novel-writing and publishing.

What could I do but answer? The thread is here, but it’ll age off the main message board after a while, so I’ll try to update this link when the thread hits the archives. They’re long answers, too, with a lot of detail I don’t normally write about, and with all that detail collected into one place.

Anyway, I post this not just so people can read it, if they’re interested, but so that people with more experience than I have can post contrasting experiences, or point out where I’m wrong, or even add to the general knowledge base. It’s a terrific site, with an interesting mix of professional screenwriters and serious amateurs, and I’m sure any additional information that folks can add would be more than welcome, I’m sure.

Reviews of Child of Fire, part 4

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As usual, links and excerpts behind the cut:

Continue reading

Watch this. You won’t be sorry.

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A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

via Suvudu

Health care reform with private insurers

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Ezra Klein has a fascinating interview with Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halvorson here (Part one | Part two).

It’s no surprise that he’s not a fan of nationalized single-payor system, but the man makes a good case and he brings up great points. It’s no secret that KP is one of the leading lights in U.S. health care (no snickering!) and if this issue interests you, check out what the man has to say.

Money quote:

The Commonwealth study looked at 5 million claims across a broad population and asked how much care shouldn’t have happened. They concluded that of $2 trillion spent, $500 billion was for the wrong care. Milliman did the same study but asked what would happen if we took the practices of the best medical plans, how much will we save? They got $500 billion.

Randomness for 11/6

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1) Rear Gear! For the easily offended. via Jay Lake

2) “They must be professional house shooters.”

3) Rush Limbaugh: Victim of Racism.

4) Death by anti-science: Iraqi General to use dowsing rods to detect IEDs. From the article: “He is such a believer that the Iraqi military are abandoning proven methods such as sniffer dogs.” This is my unhappy face. via James Nicoll.

5) Hard sales numbers from a NY Times bestselling author.

Update to yesterday’s political post

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The revenue cap initiative is failing badly. Thank god.

Approval of the domestic partnership referendum is slightly ahead, meaning gay couples in a partnership would be allowed all the rights of married couples. That lead is a slim one, but the conventional wisdom is that conservative voters vote early and liberal ones vote late. If that holds, we should be within days of affirming equal rights in this state.

Sorry, Mainers.

Hey, everyone who watched the pilot of V last night!

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I missed it because I was watching a movie about aliens who come to earth, pretend to be our friends, are revealed on TV to be aliens in human suits (um… duh!), come clean about their plans to eat humans like cow-kabobs, and are finally defeated by a plucky band of resistence fighters.

Really!

It was called GODZILLA: FINAL WAR and it also had super kung fu mutant soldiers in really stupid “armor”, giant rampaging monsters (‘natch), flying battle machines with huge borers on the front (!!!), an ex-MMA champion as captain of the last flying/underwater/undergroud battle machine, a 100% racist scene with a black NY pimp and his pimp-mobile, ray gun battles, a super ninja motorcycle battle, chi-powered kung fu blasts, and a hero who discovers at the end that he had Sekrit Powers!

So… HAH! You are jealous and don’t try to deny it!

A Rare (hah!) Political Post

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Hey, Americans! Vote today, please!

Oh, and for you folks in Washington state, usually I write something like “It doesn’t matter who you support, as long as you stay informed and take part,” but for this year, fuck that. I really want WA residents to check “Approve” on Ref. 71 to affirm domestic partnership rights for gay couples.

One day our grandkids will shake their heads in dismay that we had to actually vote on whether we’d approve human rights for all our citizens. Help us move more quickly into the fair, decent, honorable future we know is coming. Approve 71 and get your ballot in the mail before deadline.

And while we’re at it, let’s send Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1033 down to defeat, too. I’m more than happy to have California residents move up here; I’m less sanguine about importing their political gridlock and debt-crippled state government.

VOTE!

Three more random things

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First of all, thank you, everyone, for the kind words on yesterday’s post. I couldn’t be more thrilled about making Publishers Weekly’s Best of 2009 list. And thank you also to everyone who posted and tweeted about it to spread the word.

I sent an email to KUOW, our local NPR station, to let them know that two Seattle locals were on the list for sf/f books, but I’m sure nothing will come of that. Later, I’ll email a couple of reviewers to let them know, too, in case they want to include that in the interviews/reviews/whatever.

Then I’m going to stop thinking about it. No, really, I am. Man Bites World needs my attention, and I’m working on a tricky bit at the moment.

Second thing: Del Rey has posted the first chapter of Child of Fire on Scribd. This is nicer version than the one on my website, since it includes the cover art and the pages look just the way they do in the physical book. All that book design-y goodness.

Finally, a question (my Google Fu is weak): There’s a certain type of belt I need to write about, but I can’t find the name of it online. I can find pictures, but not the actual name (and I’m pretty sure the answer isn’t “bomber belt.” Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Reviews of Child of Fire part 3

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I should probably save this until I have more, but what the heck. Link roundup: Continue reading