My flash piece, The Fimbulvinter Revolt, is up over at Every Day Fiction today! Go check it out and let me (and them) know what you think. Read it to your kids this evening before bed, maybe.
Don’t hide the truth!
Have you gotten your subscription to the excellent KC’s serial novel yet? Well, why not? You can even get it at a discount, for now.
Incidentally, I finally got a smart phone (because that’s basically the only option you have any more), and Every Day Fiction just became exponentially more awesome. I can read these little stories on my phone via my email on my lunch break and it’s never been more convenient. And those are free. The other day there was a story by a 17-year-old girl woman that made me wonder why I still bother.
I have obtained (legally, natch) Louie CK’s new self-produced stand-up special. Hey, record labels? This is the sound of your obsolescence. And it is hilarious.
(Actually, the spawn makes it uncertain when I’ll actually get to watch said special, but that’s neither here nor there.)
I am reading China Miéville’s Embassytown, one of the several books I picked up at the Borders Estate sale. It’s great, you should read it. It’s about xenolinguistics. And smashing the state.
Buh. I am tired.
Who’s got two thumbs and just showed up on the December table of contents over at Every Day Fiction? This guy.
Belated Happy Evacuation Day, everyone! Hope you didn’t murder too many people on your shopping sprees.
I mentioned a while back that some friends were shooting a short film. You can watch the trailer now! It is beautiful and devastating. They are in post-production now.
Also, some other friends have assembled the greatest band ever. Be warned: your brain may probably will explode. I have seen them live and spent the following weeks wandering the wilds, forgetting all I thought I knew about civilization. I returned to find reality a pale, depressing proxy. You can listen to and download their album here.
Got a nice, useful rejection notice last week (week before last? who knows anymore?). I’m going to give that particular piece a re-write and see if anyone else wants it. Still waiting to hear back about my Christmas story.
I’ve watched Hell on Wheels, and I’m enjoying it quite a bit. Walking Dead is kind of on a downward spiral. The action is great when it’s there, and there is enough of the original story from the comics in there, so it’s tolerable. But the pacing is often frustratingly slow and there are very few likable characters. I should want these people to survive, right? EDIT: Just hours after writing this I watched the newest episode, and I take it all back.
Mercier’s Flight continues to have no luck. The latest venue I submitted to, Britain’s excellent Murky Depths, has closed its doors. I had reason to believe the story stood a decent chance there, and it’s a market I’ve wanted to get into for a while, so I’m extra sad about this. I think I have another place in mind, but the response time there is something on the order of a year, so it’ll probably be a while before you hear anything more about the story I think is one of my best.
Meanwhile, I have a couple of flash pieces making the rounds, so maybe look for those over the next few months. Particularly around Christmas.
In other news, this volume of Fantastic Four taught me there is still oil in these cybernetics-enhanced tear ducts of mine. Gods speed, Johnny Storm. See ya in a few years when they resurrect you.
Watched the pilot for Terra Nova last night. Some really clunky writing in parts, and some potentially massive holes in the premise that they’ll need to fill in. The dialogue doesn’t fill me with a lot of confidence that the writers’ table is capable of sealing those holes. But: exciting actions scenes, and I like Stephen Lang. And, hell, dinosaurs.
Also, I guess we’re supposed to feel sympathy for the family because they were cracked down on for having a third kid? Most people shouldn’t have kids at all; why would I feel hostility toward population limits when the world is going to shit? Maybe if they gave some heart-wrenching story for the kid, but all we get is “seemed like a good idea at the time.” Yeah? Well, it seems like a good idea to take your kid away and give it some less selfish asshole now.
I finished up the first of the John Carter books (what’s this, Half-Price? a “nostalgia” charge? oh, you know me all too well), A Princess of Mars. I enjoyed it, though the last third in particular felt rushed. It feels like Burroughs, for whom this was a first novel, was like, “Holy crap, this just keeps going, how do they end this shit?” There are a number of awfully convenient plot points – oh, this guy you just saved just happens to be the exact best person you need to get you through the next act of the book. And Carter himself is quite shallow, being little more than a guy who’s basically the best at everything he needs to be at any given moment. But I liked the setting he created, and it’s a lot of fun in its early pulp fashion. I loved the ending.
I’d like to say I have high hopes for the John Carter movie coming out soon, but it’s Disney. Their recent history with scripts has not been stellar.
Next up is Nights of Villjamur, by Mark Charan Newton. (The sequel had a blurb from China Miéville.)
The assorted winners (and almost winners) of the WoTF 3rd Quarter have been posted. I’m in there with the other like 80 people who got honorable mentions.
It’s been way too long since I posted a writing sketch! I actually posted a little bit of this a couple years ago, but I was feeling around for something to work on at the write-in tonight and worked on it some more. I don’t think there will be any more to it. A little over 800 words.
Anyway, it reminded me of how much I like writing this particular pair of characters (if you want to find more of them, you can look here). One of these days I need to sit down and write the Chuck Chaykin novel that is quietly smoldering in a corner of my brain.
Normally I am stricken with an inability to remember Edgar Rice Burroughs’s name whenever I am in a bookstore or library, but I finally remembered. While selling some useless old textbooks yesterday I came across this little gem of an edition and snagged it. How can you not love that cover?
I’ve gotten quite a few books over the past few months. I’ll report in my findings as I chew through them. I spent all day Saturday building several new sets of bookshelves for our living room. Then filling them. It looks lovely. Then we lugged the loveseat in front so the baby can’t get at them. You can take my word for it though, they look nice.
In awesome news, I discovered over the weekend that my Mercier’s Flight has received an Honorable Mention over at the Writer’s of the Future Contest. Link when they’ve posted it. It’s the furthest a story of mine has gotten over there (though it’s probably the only one that’s deserved it) and I’m pretty excited. I’ve resumed submitting the story to markets in the hopes that it’ll sell somewhere so you guys can read it.
My traitorous wife went to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes without me. She reports satisfaction with the proceedings. I hear from other trusted sources that the new Conan fares not nearly so well, which, while not unexpected, makes me sad.
At the suggestion of a friend, I have read House of Suns, by Alistair Reynolds. It’s good. There are a lot of big, high-concept science fiction ideas going on there, rendered in a fun fashion. I loved the ending. I thought the narrative structure would be awkward at first, being told in first person from two different characters, but it worked out well. If I have a complaint, it’s that there are too many scenes of people sitting around hashing out every potential option, outcome, motivation, and course of action.
Yes, we are aware that if they wanted to they could have killed you already.
But I enjoyed it nonetheless.
I have now started in on one of Lois McMaster Bujold’s space opera books, and am chugging through it at break-neck speeds. Fantastic. Fun. Recommended. Though maybe you should research and see which one to start out with first. I picked one at random and for all I know I’m spoiling the rest for myself. Actually, a glance at the reviews there on Amazon suggests that this actually is a good place to start.
I am working on a couple of stories. I seem fascinated with compressing epics into something bite-sized. Epic flash. Epic burst? I dunno. I’ll see if it works. I still have a couple of stories out for consideration, and will report back their failures in due time.
