Some first sentences

Well, all the cool kids are doing it. Without further ado, the first sentences of five works-in-progress:

• The morning Robbie left for Etchton, two sea-blue sparrows fell from the sky, landing as hard as rocks on our front lawn. (from "The Two Birds")
• "I’m a star destroyer," Tommy whispered to the kid next to him scraping a plastic shovel down across a heap of sparkling sand. (from "Magus Again")
• Greg's summer bonfire, despite the rumors of our generation, received a small turnout, all of whom were connected to one another by nothing other than hemp jewelry and owed hits. (from "Firefoot")
• Yellow moonlight washed the Seventh Steppe Tavern in a pale skin, but only enough so to keep the firewolves at bay. (from "Casmarr and the Night Deeds")
• We knew something was wrong when our dogs started throwing up rocks. (from "The Moment I Met Them")

Con report!

My con report of NY ComicCon 2007 is now live and breathing.

In lieu of any actual news, here's my monster name or whatever. At least now I no longer have to blame my Italian heritage on me being hairy. I'm a frakking abomination, people. Can't you just deal with that?

Get Your Monster Name

Back with a review

Back from NY ComicCon. Still recovering from the awesomeness...



For now, check out my review of Justina Robson's Keeping It Real!

Going to ComicCon!

Well, "The Morning Gift" is on hold for now while I figure out what I'm even trying to do with the thing. I've got my characters and I've got my history in there, but the plot is fuzzy and unfocused. Also, I'll be attending ComicCon tomorrow in New York, which means I'll probably be mentally exhausted for the remainder of the weekend. But yay, ComicCon! The guest list is insane and if I meet even just 2% of the people I want to meet I will be quite pleased with the experience.

As usual, I have lots of things I need to do. What's that sound? Is it bullets lining up and indenting themselves? Why, yes! It is! Time for a to-do-list.

Things To Do Soon or My Head Will Splode:

• Review Farthing, Issue 5 for Tangent
• Review Justina Robson's Keeping It Real
• Ink next week's MyLifeComics
• Actually draw the next Greenhorn because I've run out of inventory
• Continue work on a shhhhhhhhhhh secret project that I can't talk about yet
• Finish reading chapters of a friend's latest novel
• Sleep

This past week I finished two stories, rewrote another one, reviewed galleys for "Sonorous" for Apex Digest #9, and managed to find time for some Rogue Galaxy. I think if my head does explode, it's at least warranted.

Progress notes for February 20, 2007

"The Morning Gift"

New Words: 605
Total Words: 2,083
Pages: 7
Deadline: Submission period opens on March 23
Reason for stopping: Tired. Got most of the plot figured out, but I know already that I'm going to have to go back and flesh out a lot of backstory. Ugh.
Stimulants: Two cups of coffee with hazelnut creamer
Songs played loudly: "Bend and Not Break" by Dashboard Confessional, "Stuck in a Moment" by Mika
Mail: Couple rejections yesterday, got Farthing #5 today.
Darling du Jour: They all blur as one, he'd said one morning to her and the others. That's when he made Erlon One-Eye. And No-Nose. Halfears. He'd done worse things as well.
Other writing-related work: Jotting things down for a review of Justina Robson's Keeping It Real.
The Internet is full of Things: The Barenaked Ladies' latest video for "Sound of Your Voice" might have cost the band only $3.45 to make, but that's cause they're some smart Canadians. Check it out!

Sea sale

"Birds, Gods, and the Naming of Things" has sold to the Strange Stories of Sand and Sea anthology forthcoming from Fine Tooth Press in 2007. Very pleased about this one.

Oh, and happy Presidents' Day!

Good ol' Weird NJ

Just stumbled across this. Yeah, that first guy you see driving that crazy car (Hoop) is actually just down the road from me. Well, his cars are at least. I haven't seen him, but those cars are hard to miss. Gotta love good ol' weird New Jersey.

Progress notes for February 18, 2007

"The Morning Gift"

New Words: 559
Total Words: 1,478
Pages: 4 and a half
Deadline: Submission period opens on March 23
Reason for stopping: Kind of stuck on the entire plot. Need to think it out.
Stimulants: Green tea with honey.
Songs played loudly: "Stay Happy" by Joe Wilson, "Devotion and Desire" by Bayside
Mail: Nomail
Darling du Jour: Farinne set her eyes. "The Sisters are still beddable."
The caretaker scrunched her face. "And what lord would want a dead wife?"
Other writing-related work: Wrote up a new bio for Apex #9.
The Internet is full of Things: How is Britney Spears going bald news? HOW?

Bram Stoker 2006 Award noms

It seems that the Bram Stoker Award nominations for works published in 2006 have been announced. Let's see what they've come up with...

Superior Achievement in a NOVEL
+ Headstone City by Tom Piccirilli (Bantam)
+ Lisey's Story by Stephen King (Scribner)
+ Ghost Road Blues by Jonathan Maberry (Pinnacle)
+ Pressure by Jeff Strand (Earthling)
+ Prodigal Blues by Gary A. Braunbeck (Cemetery Dance)

Superior Achievement in a FIRST NOVEL
+ Ghost Road Blues by Jonathan Maberry (Pinnacle)
+ The Keeper by Sarah Langan (William Morrow)
+ Bloodstone by Nate Kenyon (Five Star)
+ The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff (St. Martins)

Superior Achievement in LONG FICTION
+ Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge (Cemetery Dance)
+ Hallucigenia by Laird Barron (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)
+ Mama's Boy by Fran Friel (Insidious Reflections)
+ Bloodstained Oz by Christopher Golden and James A. Moore (Earthling Publications)
+ Clubland Heroes by Kim Newman (Retro Pub Tales)

Superior Achievement in SHORT FICTION
+ Tested by Lisa Morton (Cemetery Dance)
+ Balance by Gene ONeill (Cemetery Dance)
+ Feeding the Dead Inside by Yvonne Navarro (Mondo Zombie)
+ FYI by Mort Castle (Masques V)
+ 31/10 by Stephen Volk (Dark Corners)

Superior Achievement in an ANTHOLOGY
+ Aegri Somnia: The Apex Featured Writer Anthology
edited by Jason Sizemore (Apex)
+ Mondo Zombie edited by John Skipp (Cemetery Dance)
+ Retro Pulp Tales edited by Joe Lansdale (Subterranean)
+ Alone on the Darkside edited by John Pelan (Roc)

Superior Achievement in a COLLECTION
+ Destinations Unknown by Gary Braunbeck (Cemetery Dance)
+ American Morons by Glen Hirshberg (Earthling Publications)
+ The Commandments by Angeline Hawkes (Nocturne Press)
+ The Empire of Ice Cream by Jeffrey Ford (Golden Gryphon)
+ Basic Black: Tales of Appropriate Fear by Terry Dowling (Cemetery Dance)
+ Cinema Macabre edited by Frank Morris (PS Publishing)

Superior Achievement in NONFICTION
+ Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die by Michael Largo (Harper)
+ Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero's Vision of Hell on Earth by Kim Paffenroth (Baylor Press)
+ Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished by Rocky Wood (Cemetery Dance)

Superior Achievement in POETRY
+ Shades Fantastic by Bruce Boston (Gromagon Press)
+ Valentine: Short Love Poems by Corrine de Winter (Black Arrow Press)
+ The Troublesome Amputee by John Edward Lawson (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
+ Songs of a Sorceress by Bobbi Sinha-Morey (Write Words, Inc.)

Progress notes for February 16, 2007

"The Morning Gift"

New Words: 402
Total Words: 919
Pages: 2
Deadline: Submission period opens on March 23
Reason for stopping: New bottle of wine beckons!
Stimulants: Absolutely nothin'.
Songs played loudly: "Just Take the Money and Leave" by Inkwell
Mail: A 3-day "some nice touches, but we'll have to pass" from the VanderMeer anthology. Also, Eugie's sending me Farthing's fifth issue to review.
Darling du Jour: "I should've burned your throats off," Lord Senli said. "Or sewn your lips together. Either would have pleased Halu Haekamel."
Other writing-related work: Nada.
The Internet is full of Things: Woman Allegedly Ties Up Valentine, Drinks His Blood. Sucks when your Valentine is a vampire, huh?

Progress notes for February 15, 2007

Working on a new story so until it's finished y'all get to enjoy some progress notes.

"The Morning Gift"

New Words: 517
Total Words: 517
Pages: 1 and a half
Deadline: Submission period opens on March 23
Reason for stopping: Tired, need to figure plot out
Stimulants: Coffee! Also, carrots?
Songs played loudly: "Sleepers" by Saosin, "Wake the Dead" by Comeback Kid
Mail: A second notice from ASIM that my submission has made it to the final round. Now comes the long wait...
Darling du Jour: The Sisters mocked Farinne as she worked: "We heard, we heard! Fivefinger Farry and One-Eye, what a couple they'll be! Think getting married'll make them each whole. Ignorant oafs."
Other writing-related work: Scribbled down some ideas for a freelance gig
The Internet is full of Things: Did anyone else notice Google's Valentine's Day logo yesterday? Googe?

Thud!

Originally, I was going to write up a real review for Terry Pratchett's latest Discworld novel Thud! when the thought crossed my mind: Why bother? If you, like me, are a fanatic for all things Discworld than you've bought the book already and have also read it (maybe twice). That's just the rule for us. New Discworld novel comes out, we go buy it. Sort of a cause-and-effect thing, eh? If you don't like Pratchett's humor, wit, or style, you're probably in a state of comatose and a review glorifying the man's words won't do a thing to change your mind. In short, you need medicine.

And Thud! is a great entry in the +30 series, possibly because it's a City Watch adventure. The narrative is led by none other than Sam Vimes, with a couple other Watchmen filling out the scenes (Nobby Nobbs, Captain Carrot, and Angua, my werewolf heroine, play vital roles within). The plot revolves around a murdered dwarf and the age-old drama that exists between trolls and the little bearded half-pints. It's up to Vimes to figure out who killed the dwarf before a terrible war is recreated right in the middle of Ankh-Morpork. The satire is spot on, as are the new characters popping up left and right. There's mystery and humor, even pole dancing. But really, I don't need to say anything else. You probably know all this already, right? You're not a brain-dead tomato stuck in a bed. You're smarter than that. You're a fan.

And now I must sit and wait for Making Money to come out.

Fourth season!

Well, this came as no frakking surprise, but the SCI FI Channel just picked up Battlestar Galactica for a fourth season. So long as Boomer (multiple Boomers!) is still around, all is well in the world.

Miscellaneous shtuff...

Got Justina Robson's Keeping It Real in the mail today.

I've finally gotten around to finishing a story, which is now going through a second reading and a quick set of line edits and then it's poof out into the real world with it. These things grow up so fast.

"Hold notice" from Andromeda Spaceway Inflight Magazine on a story of mine, letting me know it's made it through the first round.

And to round out this lovely little bit of randomness, here's a sketch of an armless monster on a Post-It, inspired by the work of Stefan G. Bucher's Daily Monster:

Chocolate comic

Thanks to Drawn! I found out about a new web comic which focuses on writing (well, a freelance writer, at least): Will Write for Chocolate by Debbie Ridpath Ohi. She's got some funny things to say about the blogosphere as well. And this doesn't appear to be the only comic she does. Anyways, check it out!

My title would've been Will Write for Sushi, but that's just me...

Comments are a go

Wow, I just realized that folks can now comment on MyLifeComics. This seems to be a new function of the site; at least I don't remember it being there a few days ago. I generally don't ever go back to look at the comics after posting, but now I finally have a reason to. The voice of the public shall be heard! Praise me, please!

New SF review!

Check out my review for The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction edited by George Mann!



From the FBS Quick Take:
Solaris Book of New Science Fiction is the inaugural anthology for the Solaris imprint from BL Publishing, containing exemplary stories both profound and emotionally captivating that are sure to get any science fiction fan excited.

It was a dark and stormy night

I completely forgot that I wanted to post about this...

Back in January, Jason Sizemore, editor and supreme being who makes old ladies cry at fast food joints, posted the artwork that will be used for issue nine of Apex Digest. Since my piece of flash fiction "Sonorous" will be in this issue, let me just say that I'm ecstatic over the artwork, almost to the point of drooling. Can't wait to see the final mockup...

This is a post about LOST

I only religiously watch three television shows: Battlestar Galactica, LOST, and The Office. One is window clear science fiction laden with drama, another merely a cast of dramatic characters in a real-world setting with science fictional things happening this way and that, which are supposed to be ignored or dismissed blindly, and the other is just damned funny.

Two of them I'm very happy with. Unfortunately, LOST has been more and more disappointing as each episode unfolds slowly and without resolution. I was very happy to hear that the execs are closing the show down at episode 100, which at least means the bloated beast will finally sink at some point, but until then it's just going to be irritating and in your face. LOST! Watch it tonight! People will shoot guns, and hey, yaneverknowwhomightgetshot (pan to .005 second shot of Sawyer maybe getting shot; this is in every episode preview).

I'd seriously forgotten about the show during its couple month hiatus, and don't get me wrong, I'm glad it's back on and I now have something to watch on Wednesday nights, but it keeps straying away from the characters that matter and making others nothing more that stiff stereotypes. So Michael kills two people and is allowed to leave the island, but the truly nice people who have just had unfortunate lives are stuck to suffer, linger, and make pouty faces? The producers of the show promise answers. Unfortunately, to get to those answers, everyone'll have to wade through the Ocean of What The Fucks, shivering at its surprising chill all while murmuring "What the fuck?" at every. thing. that. happens.

Can you tell that tonight's episode reminded me of why I can't stand LOST and yet at the same time I will watch it, watch it, and watch it until my eyes are dry enough to crack.

What the fuck?

Map!

I can't claim to understand what this whole map excitement is about, but all the cool kids are doing it. I'm hoping to discover that I have a huge fan base in Japan...



Create your own visitor map!

Latest purchase

I did really well yesterday at the bookstore and only bought one book, George R.R. Martin's A Storm of Swords. Generally I buy three to four books at a time, but I have such a backlog at home already that I buckled down and purchased the only book that needed purchasing. I finished A Clash of Kings a few days back and knew that I just had to get the next book in the series ASAP or else I'd go crazy. And this one is even larger than the previous one! I have a couple other books I'm trying to get through before I return to Westeros though, specifically some Pratchett, Strauss, and Vance.

London, Un Lun Dun

China Mieville takes a moment to talk about his upcoming YA debut Un Lun Dun (which now I figured out what the blazes the title means). I'm definitely interested in seeing how this all turns out.

But for now I must get back to writing about space pirates, robots, and candy.

Tis official

The big news of the day:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be officially out on July 21, 2007 at 12:01 a.m., making the book's debut a couple weeks after the release of the fifth film in the series. I was pretty much surprised to hear this, and considering we only just learned of the title a short whiles back I wasn't expecting to learn anything else for some time. Actually, I wasn't even expecting the book to be out this year. I guess I was under the suspicion that Rowling was still writing it, but I guess she's closer to done than we all thought. I just hope the final product wasn't rushed simply to align itself with better marketing opportunities. And pretty soon the movies are all we're going to have to look forward to...

I also hope that Rowling doesn't give Hagrid the axe, but that's a whole different sort of post that I'll save for later. The Keeper of the Keys and Grounds is my hero!

Locus Recommended Reading 2006

Happy February!

Though this is being linked to by every blogger this side of Sunday, I'll also point folks in the direction of Locus Magazine's Recommended Reading for 2006. Lots of good books and short fiction listed there. I do wish though that small press markets could be even looked at, but it's a dog-eat-dog world and sadly they are left on the side of the road, panting heavily as cars drive on by. There are times that I think some stories from Farthing or Apex Digest or Abyss and Apex are far more illuminating than those printed in the Big Three.

And that's the end of me complaining over this matter.