I’m itching to be finished with Man Bites World, but things keep getting in the way. Today it was an old lady at Starbucks who said: “Can I ask you a question, please?” and when I said yes, started on a string of inquiries about my Mac Book, PCs, viruses, wireless, etc. etc. She was a sweet lady, but a little odd. Her voice reminded me of the sound a balloon makes when you stretch the opening tight and let air out a bit at a time. By the time she left, I’d completely lost my train of thought and had to pack up anyway.
The day before I had computer troubles. The day before *that* I missed my morning work time and, while trying to do a quick lunch hour session at the back table, was joined by the biggest extrovert in the office. He just couldn’t bear to sit quietly reading a book while I was there to talk to.
And I’ve learned that it just doesn’t pay to tell people to shove off, especially at day job.
Tomorrow I hope to have a lot more quiet and be much more productive.
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
It’s probably a good thing that The Straight Dope broke down the “J. Edgar Hoover was a cross-dresser” story. I don’t really have time to write a “Hoover as Asia the Invincible” story.
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
Actually, let me pause a moment before I shift gears. My anniversary was nice. My wife loved the flowers I brought her and I loved the dinner she prepared (little steaks with sauteed mushrooms, noodles, and bleu cheese salad).
I also went to bed early (actually, I was *sent* to bed) and got a decent night sleep.
*Now* I’ll shift gears:
What are your three favorite movies about ghosts? Or just list three that you really love. Or one. Ghost movies, please.
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
1) How many baboons could you take in a fight, armed with only a giant dildo? My score: 38.
2) The milk industry responds to the findings of Jamie Oliver’s nutritious school lunch experiment, which I linked to in a previous Randomness. Naturally, they claim (falsely) that kids won’t drink milk without a ton of chocolate and sugar. My own son drinks milk once in a while, but I imagine it isn’t nearly as often as the dairy lobby would like.
3) Men married to smart women live longer. via E.E. Knight
4) Economic stimulus that makes sense: Cash for Caulkers. via Ezra Klein
5) The dummy-slap heard round the internet: RWA revokes Harlequin’s preferred-publisher status over new vanity press. I link to Making Light because the RWA still has their open letter behind a member login, for whatever reason.
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
But it's my anniversary. I have flowers to give my wife (and I told the florist she's a painter so he chose a variety of interesting shapes and colors) but nothing better. An email from the asst copy chief at Del Rey sent me an email asking about some inconsistencies in the copy edits of Game of Cages, which is pretty freaking embarrassing. And I continue to be way behind deadline.
And I'm tired. I know my wife is hoping for some quality adult time tonight--just sitting on the couch together watching TV would be a welcome break from the running around and tag-team parenting we've been doing. Still, tonight is one of the nights she puts the boy to bed, and I was hoping to get an early shower and bed time.
We'll see.
Yesterday, I asked my agency to accept an offer from a Russian publisher for both Child of Fire and Game of Cages. (Yay!) It was actually bought in an auction between two competitors, so it’s nice to see that interest in my work persists.
I won’t be buying that Bugati anytime soon, but a little extra money will be nice (whenever it arrives). I can’t wait to see the cover!
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
I realize this is a touchy subject, but this is my blog and sometimes I’m an annoying person.
Occasionally, I’m embarrassed by my genre.
It came up at Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker party[1] while I was talking with Mark Henry. I told him that I didn’t have a good elevator pitch for Child of Fire in part because I’m a little embarrassed to describe it.
He turned his face away from me as though he didn’t want to look at me right then, and I didn’t blame him. I understand people have strong feelings about this and the urge to do a little armchair psychoanalysis can be strong. But I’ll tell you: Writing fantasy is my life’s work and I work really fucking hard. I aspire to create art and entertainment both. In no way would I accept the idea that my love of the genre and my dedication to it is less than serious.
But at the same time I recognize that the genre is pretty damn frivolous. Vampire romances. Supernatural compulsions. Little gremlins with littler swords. Suburban werewolves. Superhero-like wizards. Hell: Superheroes.
I like to describe my work by the tone and the genre (”noirish contemporary fantasy”) not by the character or plot elements. Do I want to explain to my non-genre co-worker that my book is about an ex-car thief turned sorcerer’s helper who has an enchanted sheet of paper in his pocket? Or that they’re supernatural vigilantes?
Hell no. Stripped of the context of the actual story, that sounds deeply dorky. However, I’m more than happy to have them read the book. If I could get people to read the book–or even try the sample chapter–without any further description, I’d be damn happy. Because within the context of the story, those supernatural elements carry weight. They matter, in a way they will never matter during an elevator pitch.
I realize there is a long history of genre writers using pen names because they didn’t want their writing associated with their real lives. I remember well that Marion Zimmer Bradley hated pen names because she thought it evidence that writers were ashamed of their work.
Well I say Carpe humiliatum[2]. Seize the shame. Magic amulets are deeply dorky and utterly non-serious in the real world. Personally, I think recognizing–and addressing–this tension between real-life frivolity and in-story seriousness is a strength of mine.
Okay. I have to go to the dentist now. I’m hoping to have happy foreign rights news for CoF soon. Cross your fingers for me.
[1] Something else from the party that surprised me: Cherie mentioned that the book was printed in brown ink, and I thought: “What? Really?” Sure enough, I’d read nearly 200 pages of squinty text without even noticing they were in color. Would I need someone to tell me the seat of my pants was on fire, too?
[2] You know I’m serious when I break out the pretend Latin. Besides, it’s been 30 years since I took a Latin class; I couldn’t work out the correct form of verecundia for cash money.
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
And I don’t mind. Actually, I prefer it, even with email newsletters I’ve been receiving for a long time, like the Del Rey Internet Newsletter.
But here’s the funny thing: The latest issue of the DRIN has the announcement of all the Del Rey books that made PW’s Best of 2009 list (yeah, I know–I’ll stop talking about it eventually) but because I have Thunderbird set not to load those remote images, I saw the alt text instead. Here’s a screen cap.
If you click on the image, you’ll see a larger version. Essentially, there are three novels listed there. the alt text for Daryl Gregory’s The Devil’s Alphabet is “The Devil’s Alphabet.” The alt text for China Mieville’s The City & The City is “A Prayer for Owen Meaney” (!). And right beside that, where the cover for Child of Fire should have been, it read “Last Night in Twisted River.” (!)
Now, I’d be happy to have John Irving’s Amazon.com sales ranking, but I’m sure not likely to have written a book like his.
I don’t have a point about this. I imagine Random House has a form different imprints use when they compose these things, and it doesn’t bother me at all. I was just startled to see it, and since I have a blog I’m sharing it with you.
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
THE MATRIX if it had been made during the silent film era.
Ah, pies. Sweet wonderful pies.
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
How much time do you spend each day reading and writing tweets?
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
More reviews behind the cut.
( Read the rest of this entry » )Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
In two linked posts, NY Times Bestselling author Jennifer Crusie posts a NaNoWriMo-riffic rough draft, and two days later posts about her process for analyzing the scene for revision.
Jo Walton and other smart people discuss it here on her LJ. I’m in there talking, too.
Personally, I do something very like this when I have a scene that doesn’t work but I can’t figure out why. I don’t normally think in terms of antagonists and beats, though. I usually examine scenes by the character goals, the resources it needs/introduces, and the work it’s supposed to do.
I hadn’t considered the concept of “frames” before–I think I’m going to steal that one. As for identifying the antagonists, well, in the Twenty Palaces books, pretty much everyone is an antagonist. It’s identifying the non-antagonists that gives me headaches.
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
No, I’m not talking about my wedding anniversary, although that comes in less than a week. My wedding day is less important than the day my wife and I moved in together. (She still gets a present and a nice card, of course.)
Tomorrow is November 13th and Monday is the 16th. Those two dates represent the day I left Philadelphia (by train) and the day I arrived in Seattle. It’s been twenty years.
I’m trying to think of a way to celebrate. The first thing that comes to mind, obviously, is Philly Cheesesteaks, not that I can find the right rolls, and who’ll cut the chip steak for me? Growing up, there were corner delis within walking distance of my house where I could pick up a pound and a half in 30 minutes. Here we have a supermarket butcher, but I’ve never even spoken to those people.
The event must be marked somehow, but I’m not sure how. As for Monday, I figure I’ll make salmon for dinner and stand out in the rain a while.
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
A party of sorts, at least. Tonight after work I’ll be heading to 15th Ave Coffee and Tea for Cherie Priest’s BONESHAKER party. Details! I won’t know anyone there, which is usually a red flag for Socialization Fail, but who knows? Maybe this time my internal (conversation) editor will be a mere whisper.
If you live in the Seattle area and like steampunk/zombie/Seattle-apocalypse books, come buy a book and give me a hello. I look like this.
In other news, progress on Man Bites World continues. I really like this book, but this has to be the most ragged first draft I’ve written since well, my previous book. It has a small(er) cast of characters (which will be a huge relief to my agent and editor, I’m sure) and the story is more personal. All good. I just need to freaking finish it and get it out of my life.
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
1) Detroit: failed city/urban planning petri dish. via James Nicoll
2) New ocean forming in Africa.
3) Superfreakonomics and horseshit. via Paul Krugman
4) Elegant wedding reception breaks down into moving brawl. ‘The fighting ruined the reception and some of the guests and wedding party members headed to their hotel nearby where the fighting erupted all over again in the parking lot of the Marriott Residence Inn which is located at 4312 Boy Scout Boulevard. A woman put the groom’s 74 year old grandmother, Mary Wright in a choke hold.
Wright told 10 Connects that she was trying to calm down the crowd and tell them not to fight on such a special occasion. She says that’s when her attacker said “I’m going to have to choke you out.”‘
5) 50,000 lost soldiers found, 2,500 years after they were lost.
6) Google auto-complete reveals class and education differences. “Someone once told me that there is nowhere we are more honest than the search box.” via Ezra Klein
7) TV cook accidentally does science. Here’s your big surprise for the day: eating decent food improves schooling. I know! Shock!
White privilege even extends to virtual environments. Fer Chrissakes.
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
Jim C. Hines put up a post about his exercise program and his diabetes today. It was interesting reading and reminded me of the work I’m supposed to be doing on my health.
Unlike Jim, I don’t have diabetes. Also unlike Jim, I’m very much overweight and my cardio health is crap. I hate that I have to worry about the health of my heart, and some months ago I’d decided that I would skip the whole “heart attack” part and get right to the post-cardiac arrest lifestyle.
But that hasn’t happened.
( Read the rest of this entry » )Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
Here’s a quick question for the group-mind: While I realize that the front list drives sales of the back list, how many types of writing can qualify as “front list?”
To be more specific, does short fiction or magazine articles drive the sales of novels, to any measurable degree?
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
On one hand: ACORN employees give advice to professed criminals about hiding income from the IRS and establishing underage brothels, and are stripped of government funding.
On the other hand: Blackwater officials pay millions in government bribes to cover up the killing of 17 civilians and still retain government contracts worth millions.
So, give advice to criminals? Bad. Kill people? Low-level prosecutions and continued government money.
I say this not to make excuses for what those ACORN employees did, because fuck them. ACORN has done good work in the past, but there’s no letting those employees off the hook for that 13-year-olds at the brothel crap. I don’t care how well-funded that sting operation was, there’s no excuse.
But when is Blackwater–the whole of the organization, not just low-level employees–going to face congressional sanctions for what its people did?
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
I was going to put this link into a “Randomness” link compilation post, like this:
Texting teen falls into open manhole. Oh, how I laughed. via tnh’s Particles
Go ahead and read it. I’ll be waiting here.
Done? Good. Did you laugh? I already admitted that I laughed, too. But I still feel sorry for that kid.
Now, I’ve heard a couple people say what a shame it is that her mom plans to sue over this, but I’m on their side (pending further facts, ‘natch). Leaving aside the fact that Americans aren’t nearly as litigious as our culture seems to think, workers shouldn’t leave an open manhold without warning cones or something around it. I don’t really care if she was texting at the time. What if she’d been distracted by something else? What if she’d been in the middle of an intense conversation with the friend beside her? What if she’d been on her cell, trying to get the latest on her grandmother’s ailing health?
By all reports, texting is incredibly distracting. Almost off-the-scale distracting. But that doesn’t mean the incident was all her fault. Workers have been cordoning off open manholes for longer than text-capable phones have been around, and for good reason. So I hope she gets a settlement that helps cover her doctor visit, at least.
I still laughed at the story, though.
Mirrored from Twenty Palaces. You can comment here or there.
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- Read a sample chapter of my debut novel CHILD OF FIRE (Del Rey, Sept. '09)
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