You know what I think is due for a comeback?
Sword and planet stories.
Agree? Disagree? STAR WARS and Star Wars novels are still going strong, certainly, but where are the popular, original sword-fights-on-space-ships stories?
I have one Dreamwidth invite code
StandardFirst person to ask for it can have it.
(I know. How very March ’09 of me.)
edited to add: It’s been claimed!
One for a Friday
StandardNo time to post five links, (besides, the internet has not been amusing me as much as I’d like) so today you only get one:
Latest threat to national security: books written by some guy name Barack Obama.
New title!
StandardIsn’t that a fun, clever and original subject line? I’m sure you’re all envious of my wit.
Everyone Loves Blue Dog has a new name. Not a new tag, because I don’t change tags. I never change a project’s filename, either; that’s a lesson I learned the hard way.
The new title is Game of Cages.
I like it (I came up with it–ahem) and the sales department didn’t roll their eyes or bark out laughter when my editor presented it to them. If you reacted that way, let me know. Seriously. But this means that Man Bites World is going to need a [Noun] of [Noun] title. ::sigh::
In happy news, I’ve had a productive couple of days. And I think I figured out the very end of the book. Now I just have to work out how to get there.
My work hates me
StandardHow do I know? They have a giant cake and buckets of ice cream in the break room.
It’s like a slow motion hate crime against fat people. :P
Good (but embarrassing) news
StandardI just received a two-month deadline extension for Man Bites World. Frankly, I’m embarrassed that I need it and more than a little frustrated with my method of working. For the last few weeks, I’ve had a powerful case of Other writers can do this, why can’t I? That’s still going on, but without the worry of missing a deadline.
Well, I did spend over two months of this year on revisions to the soon-to-be-retitled Everyone Loves Blue Dog. My agent warned me to factor that in when calculating deadlines, but I had no idea I’d be stuck on it again for over two months!
At any rate, I head to SoCal in two weeks to Comic-Con and see friends–while there, I plan to steal extra time for book three. Hopefully it will not only be finished, but good, too. Hopefully part 2, I will never have to ask for this again.
Rather than
StandardRather than struggle with Man Bites World for a moment, I’m going to post some links.
1) The 15 Creepiest Vintage Ads of all Time. Some of these have been circulating for a while, but there’s some all new, all disturbing images there. Via eeknight.
2) Bamboo Bikes from Zambia. Too cool.
3) Ten Ways to Take a Bad Author Photo. Pretty funny. I used my author photo on the front of my Facebook page.
4) The only part of the NY Times Book Review section I read religiously is the Crime Section, but there’s something about Marilyn Stasio’s style that annoys me to no end.
No Fireworks…
StandardIn previous years, we would all be at a park a few blocks from here to watch fireworks. It was far from the action, but we could see it all and who needs to fight the crowds?
This year? Well, as we just discovered barely more than an hour ago, those fireworks have been cancelled this year. There’s still another display, but it’s across town, and being carless, we could never get there in time–not even the buses can run quickly enough.
Fireworks on TV this year (which is fine by me, since I’m not that enthusiastic about them). My wife and son are terrible disappointed.
A question of vital importance
StandardCan a healthy spider survive being flushed down a toilet?
Items of (dubious) interest
StandardFrom a former book publicist: What should air on C-SPAN’s “Book TV” this weekend. Well, I thought it was funny.
Twenty Best Cthulhu Tales–I’ve only read a fraction of the stories on this list, but I’m copying it here so I can reference it later. Mythos! I love it.
Man writes book that will take a thousand years to read. Embarrassingly, after 750 years, readers will discover that he used “it’s” when he should have written “its.”
This next one is off the (accidental) book theme of this post, but I do hope you’ll all read it: Urban Farmer finds success. So cool.
As for items of a non-linking variety: Tomorrow I get one of my birthday gifts–reading time. Just like Father’s Day, I’m going to spend a significant amount of time sacked out in bed with a book. I still have Spirit Gate by Kate Elliott on deck, and I hope to make a sizable dent in it.
Also, I’m told that Child of Fire will have the opening chapter of book 2 at the very back. Now, this is cool news, but I should come right out and say that I never read preview excerpts in books. Invariably, I buy the excerpted book, put it on my shelf for a couple months (or years) and when I finally start it, I get a disturbing reader’s deja vu. “Have I read this already?” Since I’m terrible with titles, I can never be sure.
Eventually, I just swore off the practice.
And book 2, Everyone Loves Blue Dog, will soon have a new title. There’s a current front runner, but I don’t want to talk about it until things are settled. The happiest part for me is that I like this title and it doesn’t turn up in a Google search.
With that, I’ll sign off to enjoy the holiday.