I just finished reading Personal Demons by Stacia Kane. I didn’t get any fancy book version, just a nicely long PDF. Thought, when I picked it up, I figured I’d spent a few minutes while the pork chops grilled and read a few pages. Sixty pages later, I realized I really needed to get them off the grill before they started to burn. I think it was about 23:30 at night when I announced I wasn’t going to sleep until I finished it. Not to self, don’t start reading anything but Stacia Kane after 19:00 if I have work the next morning. (As usual, hopefully only minor spoilers.)
2008-03-31
2008-03-26
Fictional Dinner
Apparently its going to be a double-post day today because I saw a meme. And have a meme, must do a meme. :) Actually, it looks like a fun one and I want to see what my answers would end up being. This came from Alana Joli Abbott’s journal. Which fantasy characters would I invite to dinner?
- Paksenarrion (from Elizabeth Moon’s omnibus edition of the same name). Well, that one is a pretty obvious one, that novel is the very top of my favorite novels and probably one of the major influences in my life, gaming, and writing.
- Ged from Ursula K. Le Guin’s Wizard of Earthsea. If Paksenarrion is the most influential female character in my writing, Ged is the most influential male. I’ve read that book annual for over twenty years and have most of it memorized.
- Simon from Anton Strout’s Dead to Me. However, I’d have to fight the urge to follow him around with a bowl of sugar treats going “touch this! touch that!”. But, ignoring that, he has a smart-ass attitude that I think I’d love to hear him tell stories. He’ll hate me in about ten seconds flat.
- Cutter from ElfQuest. Yeah, I like the short men. Specially with that hair pulled back like that. Actually, it has more to do with how he grew through the story and the amazing things he saw.
- Queen Betsy from Undead and Unwed. Because she just rocks.
- The shadow horse from Richard A. Knaak’s series of dragons. Because nothing says good dinner guest like a horse who can eat dragons, is the living embodiment of death, and still manages to be a smart ass.
- Pip and Flinx from Alan Dean Foster’s series. Somehow, he managed not to go emo after all of his adventures. But, the flying snake isn’t eating near my fingers.
- Evan Orgell from Sentenced to Prism, also by Alan Dean Foster. This book is the baseline for all other books when I come to reviewing. I can read it in an hour and it is on the very short list of novels I can’t read anymore because I have it memorized nearly word for word. Even after waiting five years, I still can’t read it.
- Seras Victoria from Hellsing. Not just because she’s a hot vampire with a BIG ASS CANNON for her weapon, but… no, that’s pretty much it.
- Goury and Lina Inverse from Slayers. Yeah, they are two different characters, but I still think they are a couple. He’s a lovable oaf managed to hide one of the most powerful weapons in existence behind a veneer of idiocy and she… well, if I can survive a Dragonslave, I’ll be a very happy man.
There are more, but I took off a few characters because I couldn’t remember their name. Namely the thief from Alana’s series, because she interests me more than any other character into that book. And Bones from Halfway to the Grave. And the two women from Nina, I so desperately want to know how life turned out for them. There is also a couple others. And I’m not entirely sure if Ricewind’s luggage is someone you’d ever invite to dinner, but I still want to meet it. And Piffiny from Nodwick… damn it, I want to meet too many characters. :)
Reaching Your Goals
As some of you know, I’ve been working on a new WIP (DL) for the last month or two. Well, more obsessed than working since I’m still dreaming about it. But, its going a lot smoother than Case of the Morning Zombies. I think a lot of it has to do with Case was about finishing 50k words, which I did in 16 days. But, I didn’t have the same drive to finish it as I do for DL. Like my first novel, the goal is more important to keep you going. For example, for MG, it was to be published. And I got published without resorting to a vanity press or POD. A real-life publishing company who never heard of me before I submitted.
2008-03-25
The Compliment that Insults
Today, I found out what it feels like to have someone claim credit for one of my stories as their own. It was on one of the many forums that I frequent, and post on, and they posted one of my better stories as proof that they were an excellent writer.
There was that tiny flash of excitement that someone thought my writing was good enough for proof of their literary talent, but that went up like water on a searing hot pan. Then, it just hurt. I’m obsessed about giving credit where credit is due. I don’t ask, I just do it. So, to find one of my best stories–which I have free on my (other) website–being claimed by someone else, it feels like they jabbed a bunch of claws into my heart and tore it out to parade it around. They didn’t change any name, the content, or anything but the title. It upset me.
I responded poorly, though, that part I know. I started by a series of links on different sites of where I posted the story or had a discussion about it. Just to show that I could back my claim. I gave links to the images that the story talked about but they didn’t include. Then, I promptly wrote a short essay about stealing someone’s work and then a critique on their incompetence of hiding it. I didn’t mention everything, but I commented on a couple of the highlights.
Still doesn’t help the feeling of being violated.
2008-03-22
Anton Strout is the awesome
Well, just got back from seeing Anton Strout’s book signing and talking about his book, Dead to Me. It was a lot of fun, actually, and really neat to meet other others in person. I, naturally, got a bit flustered and nervous, so I ended up talking way too much about myself–I really hate when I do that–but I don’t think I made too much of a bad impression. I always worry about that, more so when I actually reviewed the book and didn’t have a glowing review of it. Ignoring the fact I plan on never having an entirely negative or positive review, I still suffer from what Anton called “writer’s ego” and that desperate need not to upset people.
On another level of that author signing, I realized that I don’t know that much. They threw a lot of names past me, most of which I never heard. Kind of made me feel stupid or at least ignorant. I’m used to that when I discussion philosophy or religion but its one of those points when I realize I know so little about my chosen career of writing.
Anton seems like a really cool guy. I’m sure he was nervous as hell in places, but it was impressive to me.
And I picked up a book for my mother for her library.
2008-03-21
Brickpunk and Steampunk
Naturally, on the day Anton Strout is doing a book signing, it starts to snow. And snow. And snow. It’s going to be a “fun” ride into Chicago today. But, its a local book signing and I wanna see what happens, so I’m still planning on going at this point.
So, in other news: brickpunk. So, the first thing that any sane person would think is: WTF? Someone brought this up in the radio channel for Kingdom of Loathing and I got to thinking about it. Actually, I made up a little silly thing to explore the idea.
2008-03-20
Thursday Morning Bleorgs!
This morning, I was trying to plan out my weekend. I got Changeling on Sunday, but apparently that is Easter so its going to be a short game (I don’t celebrate but some of my players do). On Friday, I’m planning on driving into Chicago to go to a book signing for Anton Strout*. I’ve never been to a book signing in my life, so I’m curious to see how they are run (I already have a good idea) but also to support my non-local writers. Yeah, that and I have this curiousity to see if Anton is the same as his writing. :) So, if you are in the Chicago area, take a bit to head into Chicago itself and throw money at a poor, starving artist**.
* Yeah, I reviewed his book yesterday. In general, I try to be objective as possible in reviews and my opinions of the book doesn’t reflect my opinions of the writer. Knowing about it just gave me an excuse to find a book to read and to peel myself off my own computer.
** I’m not sure if he is starving, I mean how can someone starving be actually able to post so often. That would mean that blogging was like crack. But, I do support supporting writers and artists.
I also saw news that Elfquest is going to be released online for free! ElfQuest is one of those series that is highly influential in my world. In one of my worlds, the entire forest elves are based on the Wolfriders and some of the flavor of the different elves I contribute from ElfQuest directly. So, finding out they are all free, despite me having most of the main books, is one of those really awesome things about the Internet!
And a bit of watchporn. As you know, giving my last name of Moonfire, I’m occasionally a bit obsessed with the moon. This watch shows the phases of the moon, but this watch has multiple layers rotating in a moire pattern throughout the day. I wanna!
2008-03-19
Dead to Me by Anton Strout
I will admit, I’ve read Anton Strout’s journal long before I knew about the book. It’s part of his avatar icon and the branding thing that went along with that. Naturally, while I was in the bookstore, I noticed it on the shelf (exactly one copy left) and slowed down. It was a relatively generic person on a title with too many reds for my tastes (yeah, I judge books based on the colors of their cover), but I was looking for it anyways.
“Hey, I’ve seen that!”
Dead to Me by Anton Strout.
2008-03-17
Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
Normally, I don’t pay attention to covers. They are usually just random images on the front of a book; most of the time, I chose books by the colors they use. You know, blues and grays attract my attention more than reds and oranges. Yeah, its still, but it’s part of who I am. I mention that because the cover to Halfway to the Grave, by Jeaniene Frost (blog), is a striking cover. I love the colors and I love the model they used for the picture. When I flipped through, I found it just as striking, so naturally I picked it up.
2008-03-14
Silence
Today’s thoughts brought to you by xkcd:
I was (obsessively) reading my RSS feed when I found this very intelligent discussion on thinking people’s deadly sins. It’s related to the Catholic Church adding seven more sins, of which I don’t agree with their presentation or contents entirely. But, this article does point out some really interesting things.
The one that really struck me was #7: Silence. Some (good number of) years ago, I didn’t bother voting but I also didn’t really care what happened. Then, one day, I realized that I suddenly cared. But, before I opened my mouth, I remembered one thing that I have believed in: if you say something sucks, the next thing out of your mouth better be how to improve it. Also, I didn’t have the right to complain if I didn’t vote. So, the next week, I registered to vote. And I did. I haven’t complained about any politician from before that point because I never felt the right.
Two years ago, I realized I had to do more than just vote for my beliefs. So, my other byline, the one that I can’t shut up about, grew to start talking about that. Decisions and comments on laws, actions by our politicans, etc. I talk about things, I refuse to be silent and I write to my representatives fairly often. And, surprise surprise, I don’t always use the form letters EFF or ACLU suggests. I read the proposed laws and write an entirely different letter based on my opinions and my reading.
There are days when I’m afraid to speak out. There are times when I know that I’m not arguing on the popular side of things. I saw what I feel is right, even if it isn’t politically correct. Yeah, I keep it separate from here, but I happen to believe that certain politics, regardless of what side they argue for, don’t belong in certain professional circles.
Of course, when I look at the smart person’s seven deadly sins, does that mean I think I’m a smart person? :)