Valentine's Day, Game of Thrones style.

Via Chris Bishop.

Daenerys is my favorite! How about you?

Have a great Valentine's Day.

Comic Relief | On Sonnets

Sonnets are my favorite poetry form to dabble with, elsewhere.

Click for bigger image, or go to the link below. 

Brilliant. I love it.

Source: http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2136

Comics | Monday Morning Literary Humor

A little something I meant to share last week, but got busy and forgot. And no, I haven't read "Pride and Prejudice", I'm afraid to admit.

Speaking of which, I will update my reading journal this week, maybe later today, even. Happy Monday!

Comic Source

Holiday Wish List | Thoughts on the Kindle?

Last week, I endured the Black Friday madness - and survived! I'm super tough like that.
One of the things that caught my eye was the Kindle for $75 - I ended up passing on it, for a variety of reasons, the most notable was that .. it was only a $5 discount. It didn't seem necessary to stand in line for an hour to save five bucks.

Image: Kindleport.com

Now, when the E-readers first came out a few years ago, they were more expensive than they are now, which is always rule #1 with new technology: If you can be patient about getting the new technology, you can save a lot of money. But you sacrifice being the coolest kid on the block, which has never been a problem for me. :-p

I'm a bit old school. I like having books. I like the thought of having an expansive library on ornate bookshelves, organized and categorized, reflecting my outlook and interests as a person. It's amazing for novel research, grabbing that old psych textbook or history text, and verifying some things. Notes in the margins.

In this, I cringed at the hundreds of books I left behind in Florida when I moved to North Carolina. In this, E-readers were not interesting to me.

Then something happened. I was looking on Amazon at history books. History was never a strong subject for me, but because I'm writing in a pseudo-prehistoric world, I've become more interested lately in how those hunter-gatherer tribes evolved into the powerful, epic cultures that still have their mark upon the lands, thousands of years later.

I discovered some massive tomes on say, Ancient Rome, the "goto" books, the must-haves, and they were a little pricy. Unless you got the EBook - in which case, they were FREE.

Free books.

Admittedly, pricing on new release Ebooks is not very competitive, in which case, I'd just as soon have real books for the pretty shelves of my imagination/future. On the other hand, recently there've been some amazing sales - recent releases for $3, promotional sales for $1 - only in Ebooks.

Who doesn't love to save some money?

But I've never used an Ereader, so before I put that on my Xmas wish list, I thought I'd ask around and see if any of you have one, what you think of them, and so forth.

Spoilers don't spoil, according to study.

One of the reasons I haven't written anything here about A Dance with Dragons is because I am not sure that I could without spoiling it. But, according to Reuters, I might be doing you a favor.

This article on Yahoo news states, "A new study by researchers from the University of California at San Diego shows spoilers may enhance enjoyment, even for suspense-driven story lines and film plots."

Ha, really?

Now personally, I might agree. Depending on the spoiler. As oft as not, I'm reading for the enjoyment of doing so, for the author's prose and for the way they flow the plot. For interesting characters and clever dialogue.

So, no, a spoiler doesn't ruin it for me. Although, if we're going to talk about GRRM, I'd prefer not to know who is going to die. Or, as in ADWD, appear to die. But even if I know that, I'm still going to read the book and most likely enjoy it with/without advanced knowledge.

The article agrees with me, in that. "The researchers said in the study, which will be published in the journal Psychological Science, they found that the success of entertainment does not rest on suspense alone."

Aside, and related, exciting new standards for psychological testing.

"For the study each story was read by up to 30 people and presented in two formats -- in the original version and with a spoiling paragraph inserted in the story." (Emphasis mine.)

Wow, really? Thirty people is enough of a control group to post results in a psychology journal? Bull - if I had tried to pull that sort of nonsense while I was at school, I would have been the class clown.

It's an interesting discussion all the same. What do you think of spoilers?

Source: Yahoo News

Game of Thrones, Stupid-Ned-Stark meme

Link provided, courtesy of the folks over at Winter Is Coming.

I didn't do an episode review this past week. There was quite the buzz about Littlefinger's brothel scene, and I had some mixed feelings about it.

So, in anticipation of the events that will unfold tonight, I would like to share this meme with you.

More memes are here.

TiStF | Incredible Reflexes

There's always this notion, in writing fiction, that the hero will be TOO powerful. You know, he/she always get himself out of terrible danger with a flick of the wrist.

Instinctive Reflexes.

We see some incredible things in martial arts, in competitions, so in a fight, I rather expect to see some pretty impressive feats... the hero is ready.

But, what about the person who has trained, is in top athletic shape, but is otherwise unaware? Too much, you say? Everyone can be surprised?

Perhaps that is true. I'm a believer in that.

At the same time, Truth is stranger than fiction, my friends. This is Tampa Bay Rays' third baseman Evan Langoria... check this out.

Water Cooler - Friday, October 22, 2010

Random bits and pieces from the speculative fiction world.

Top of the list this week: Don't purchase books from Dorchester. Yes, apparently they are not compensating their authors. Bad form! Read the story here. Good luck to those authors who are trying to get their rights and compensation straightened out.

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[image goes here]

Geeky signage! (How can I go from serious to stupid? I do it because I can.) I like this one to attach to all my posts. You can find a ton more here on Flickr.

Edit: Apparently the picture is not inclined to show up. Lame. I'll leave you the link.

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Since I reviewed a couple of series this week, I thought I'd point out another. Steven Till reviewed Pillars of the Earth.

My biggest concern going in was how they were going to fit a 900 page book into the span of eight hours. I was impressed with the amount of information they crammed into such a short time period without really losing anything. Overall, I’d give the series a A- .

I may have to give that a look.

While I'm at it, SQT's first impressions of Spartacus:BaS Season One.

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UK cover art for Steven Erikson's The Crippled God, the final book of his Malazan series.



Pretty sharp cover. Suvudu provides the synopsis here.

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Solaris released their 2011 publishing line up.

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Tor is hosting a Pyr giveaway contest.

The Official Rules: To enter, leave one comment on this post—duplicates won’t count—by Saturday, October 23, leave a comment in Facebook, or reply on Twitter. The 5 winners will be chosen randomly. Please check your email on October 23rd and 24th; if we don’t hear back from the winner in 24 hours, another winner will be chosen.

Hurry!

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Barnes and Noble announced they will be selling the Nook at Walmart.

The popular NOOK devices are expected to arrive on Walmart shelves beginning as soon as October 24, in advance of the holiday shopping season.

The NOOK eBook Readers will be prominently featured as the premier eBook Reader in the consumer electronics area. Many Walmart stores will feature a NOOK-branded eReading area where shoppers can see and touch a demonstration device.

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Kudos to Jasper Kent's new marketing strategy: Vampires that don't sparkle.

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Like multiple links in one easy to find spot? Grasping for the Wind does them daily! I envy his tenacity.

Genre Reader does a frequent "Today in Fantasy" post that is always nicely done, as well.

For an industry perspective, check out Eric's Friday Round over at Pimp My Novel.

Or Nathan Bransford's This Week in Publishing.

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That's all I've got for today. What sort of news are you interested in?

Have a great weekend!

Random Things of Interest

I'm chewing on a new catchy feature, this thing, where uh, it is basically random internet links! I am certainly *not* the only one doing it!

But it's telling, no? We see if we like the same things? Fun, exciting, or NOT COOL YOU SUCK! I don't know. Let's try!

Okay, by way of weblog camaraderie, this blogaraderie (I am a master of language OR NOT), let's begin...

I was reading Bryce's post It's News to Me, and found this SF Signal post, which contained a link to the best vampire powerpoint presentation ever. It's a little lengthy, so wait til your lunch break. (Oh, and because I couldn't NOT look, a rendition of Steampunk Sarah Palin. The horror!)

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Mead! The drink of the gods. Tis a funny thing, to write about the stuff, and to never have tried it, no? Well, now you can try to make your own, with this mead making e-book. Am I being asked to promote this? No, he probably doesn't even know I'm mentioning it; I just think it's cool.

Edited to add: Well, hell, the dude's got a video!



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Getting a little buzz on Yahoo, this 2 minute Star Wars video.



The timing of this video was all the more interesting, as Lucasfilm recently announced that it would be reproducing the Star Wars saga in 3D. And yes, you aren't the only one who is horrified by a three dimensional Jar Jar.

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Speaking of, scientists have discovered a new (potentially) habitable planet. Sharpen your pens, sci fi writers.

(And come up with a better name than Gliese 581g, for crimony's sake.)

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In the "Why it's a miracle that humans haven't gone extinct" category, a viral video of a Ukrainian lion trainer getting chomped on.



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I predict this year's hot new Halloween costume will be "Cigar Guy". Here he is, knocking out Sonny Liston...



If you haven't heard of Cigar Guy - he was standing in the background when a photographer got nailed by an errant Tiger Woods shot.

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I have some actual news and publishing information to share, but I think that I will wait and put those together. My guess is that if you need to know something bad enough, you can find it. My goal here is to show you things you might have missed. (Or really, reasons to mock/praise randomly.)

Have a great day.

Video: Research - Squirrels vs the World

Well, I'm a little behind on my word count this week, so my latest review will have to wait. In the meantime, I would like to share a couple of squirrel videos.

Yes, squirrels.

The first one is a bit lengthy, I'm afraid. But you can watch it for a minute and get the idea.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

This second one, (and pardon the cheesy music background, but the original video wouldn't imbed), is something I saw on Nat Geo. The squirrel is protecting its babies in a nearby den from a gopher snake. Don't give up too early (after about 2:30, there is nothing but snake) on this one, as the squirrel wins and keeps going, but it ends up in a draw.



Again, I say truth is stranger than fiction.

Heard at the Water Cooler: May 25

The "to be continued" implication from yesterday's post (written yesterday, in fact).


We recently mark the 30 year anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back. To show my age, I can attest that I do recall seeing it in the theatres, and Star Wars toys were one of my childhood indulgences. You can ask my mother how I impersonated the ... nevermind.

Fun picture!



Harrison Ford spoke about the movie at a fundraising event. He's been historically quiet, so this is mildly newsworthy, moreso if you're a big fan.

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Author stuffs!

Mark Charan Newton commented on his recent signing event at Forbidden Planet.

Moreso, and what caught my attention, was that he dumped on Drum & Bass. Say it ain't so, Mark! More props for "tripleclarke Mieville" for the funky tune that would be his entrance song.

Novelists get entrance songs? They totally should. This has been one of mine,in previous lives.



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Okay, forget about the entrance music for authors at signing appearances. How about, which favorite character would you invite to dinner? Over at Borders Blog, Adrian Tchaikovsky asks just that, with some interesting considerations.

The genuinely good heroes would be insufferable and highlight everyone else’s flaws (c.f. Superman), the dark, brooding heroes would just be waiting for an excuse to kick off (Tisamon). The stiff-backed military types would be stuffy (Temeraire’s Will Laurence), whilst the genius types like Isaac dan der Grimnebulin and Baltazar Casaubon would just get annoyed at how slow everyone else was. Meanwhile the detectives, like George’s Maurice Newbury, would be watching you all the time, and by the end of the meal they’d have a catalogue of absolutely everything you’d ever done wrong.

Brilliant.

Heard at the Water Cooler: May 24

Things are busy around here, so you'll pardon my brevity in posting and slowness to respond to comments. I'm not in front of the computer much lately (alas, the writing suffers).

Few things for you today. My last HatWC post was mucho grande, and so I'm going to space these out. If you're busy like me, you don't have an hour to read a single post, sua?

In the "Truth is Stranger Than Fiction" category, this creature was found in Canada, eh.



That's totally a werebear, or a werepig! More information over at Scifiwire.

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Lost! Everyone is talking about it. Never watched it. I won't watch it. Everything I see about it is ridiculous, and confirms my beliefs. Apparently, the final episode is near. Thank goodness.



Oh, Letterman's looking a little rough. Alas.

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A new Daenerys for HBO's A Game of Thrones.



Emilia Clarke. She has some nice features. I hope she can act. Farewell, Tamzin, I felt like we barely got to know each other. *sniff*

The story was exclusive to Maureen Phillips of the Chicago Tribune, but I'm linking you to
Winter Is Coming, because I love that blog.

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Promoting Literacy in Argentina.



Plenty of terrible news in the world. I like the feelgood stuff. Enjoy.

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Speaking of the bad news, apparently someone has created life (Craig Venter). LIFE! CREATED IT. This has gotten a bit of buzz, because essentially, these peoples have either validated or repudiated about a bazillion works of science fiction.

That's not what troubles me. What troubles me is that they created bacteria.

This is undoubtedly the beginning of a horror movie, as noted in the comments at the (easier to digest) story at BoingBoing (Bacteria. Digestion. Get it?!)

Heard at the Water Cooler

Oye. Grab a coffee for this one.

I've been in "research mode" since the Crohn's let up. I tend to read non-fiction much slower than fiction (absorption factor), and it tends to take me out of the creative writing frame of mind; hence, no writing updates lately. I am moving at the end of the month; my mother is coming to visit a week later, and Raine is coming to visit immediately after that - so I might be a little quiet over here.

Be that as it may, I have overheard some interesting things, so I thought I'd share.

FANFIC - Big buzz this past week. I even wrote a post about it. It was more of a rant, and I think that I'll pass on ranting at you just yet on this blog.



I will summarize my thoughts as so: I have been at least a decade in creating characters and lands, they are very much alive in my head, I am very much emotionally invested in the concepts and as such I am extremely protective of them.

As a writer, I would prefer to inspire you to do your own, as I was inspired. The thought that someone else thinks they could write my characters, or my universe, better than me - well, it's not flattering to me. At worst, if it's not flat out plagiarism, it is insulting.

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Book Porn - I've been buying antique books on a whim these past 6 weeks, while picking up some inexpensive paperbacks to add to my library. Anyone interested in seeing those finds? Just curious.



And yes, Raine, I know your thoughts on this. ;-)

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Ewok Karaoke. My last little holdover from Star Wars Day last week.

Missed Star Wars? Here's the fastest version ever told.

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Orbit Books and Marjorie M Liu.

Over the next three months, Orbit will be releasing the entire Hunter Kiss series, starting with The Iron Hunt. To celebrate, I’ve been asked to do a series of video “Bookcasts” about the novels, and what it was like writing them.

Say! That's pretty cool. I must say, Liu is .. uh, she's kinda hot. And the Great Wall of China? Double sexy cool points in my book.

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Wait, there's more! Do you think that kids might find reading more interesting, if there were more toys like this?



Full article on Salon.com.

I. Love. It.

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Interesting news from Cherie Priest:

Likewise, this winter — namely the end of January, 2011 — you can also expect my debut foray into urban fantasy – Bloodshot. You may recall me recording my progress here, calling it my “fabulous urban fantasy adventure about a neurotic vampire/thief and her wealthy blind client, now with Bonus! Cuban drag queen and military intrigue.”

Apparently this cover is an anomaly because it doesn't feature a "demonic tramp stamp." (I like 'em, but I'm a man. This cover is still pretty sharp, though.) Read the rest here.

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I wasn't cool enough to warrant an official press release. (Now look. I like my anonymity. This is the stuff we get to joke about when I get published and so forth. Indulge me.)

However, a couple years ago, I was introduced to Pat's Fantasy Hotlist through George R.R. Martin's blog. He's there on the blogroll, so if you watch those (do you?), you'll see the announcement in multiple locations.



Anyway, Pat has been working for some time on editing an anthology. It's finally all set. Most importantly, a portion of the proceeds will benefit breast cancer research, so I am inclined to make sure you know about it.

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Let's see. There's a blog meme floating about (I'll pass on this one).

Some new cover art (should see the latest Vincent Chong, wow).

Adrian Tchaikovsky doesn't believe in Superman. (Great post.)

Tyra Banks is going to write a novel.

Tad Williams finished his 4th book (last in the current series). I just picked up one of his books, will be reading that soon.

Angry Robot label was purchased by Osprey in the UK.

Conan is on TBS (old news) and visited Google (funny as hell).

Some folks are trying to raise money to save Legend of the Seeker.

N.K. Jemisin at Wiscon 2010.

Exclusive interview with recent Arthur Clarke award winner China Mieville has people talking (he's going to do a space opera).

Happy Belated Birthday, Sam Sykes.



Last, but not least, Rest in Peace Frank Frazetta.

May the Fourth Be with You.

So in case you didn't know it, May 4th is (was) Star Wars Day.

Seriously! I figured it would be all over the web, so I didn't bother posting about it.

Check out this story on ABC News, which noted...

German news TV channel N24 mistranslated George Lucas in an 2005 interview, interpreting his famous line, "May the Force be with you," as "Am 4. Mai sind wir bei Ihnen" (We are with you on May 4). Thus a holiday was born.

Maybe it's just old "duh" news. After all, there is a Wikipedia page.

Anyway, along those lines - wouldn't your GPS be so awesome, incredible and geekworthy, if it had Darth Vader's voice?

Hell yes! Check it out:



P.S. If you're up late tonight (or super early tomorrow), have a wish ready. Falling stars, Aquarid meteors, what's the difference, eh? ;-)

Cat investigates new IPAD

Everyone's talking about the new IPAD, and its potential for revolutionizing how people get books - and/or - how it's going to destroy publishing. Forever!

Well, be that as it may, I am a starving artist, so I will not be buying one of those doohickeys. I like books, the real kind.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't think about getting yourself an IPAD. In the video below, see how Satan's Helper (Iggy) investigates the entertainment potential of the new technology.

Easter Movie: Killer Peeps

Happy Easter!

Truth is oft stranger...

Okay, while researching some stuff, I stumbled across an article on a giant isopod - a Bathynomus giganteus - that attached itself to a submarine.

Before I show you the picture, you ever play those games where you're a newb and you have to kill like a hundred "giant crabs" to level up? How completely unrealistic is ... uh...

that? (Coconut crabs apparently fight back, too.) On the other hand, with a little butter....

So, moving on, this dude found this thing...


Not too bad, right? Ugly, sure, but it's an ocean bottom dweller, what did you expect? Take a look at the SIZE of this thing.



Wow! You can write some creepy nautical tales with that sorta thing (The giant octopus is soooo overdone, no?)

Anyway, I had to show someone. Aren't you glad you stopped by? ;-)