For the curious reader of science fiction (scifi) and fantasy
Happy New Year! The Reefs of Time is half price today and tomorrow at Smashwords, as part of their Science Fiction Day promotion. The discount coupon will appear in the cart. (I was late getting the coupon set up, so it’s not appearing on the main promo page. But it’s there, and it works.)
A year ago, I posted that I fervently hoped 2020 would be a better year than 2019, which had been personally difficult. That, um, didn’t happen. At least not to the world and the nation. I’m not going to make that mistake again. In fact, I’m not even going to reflect on the obvious about 2020, as we head out to wherever the future takes us. I think I’d rather close with dancing robots and Christmas tree-eating goats.
The latest video from Boston Dynamics. I leave it to the viewer to decide whether it’s enchanting or terrifying. I find it a little of both.
And here, from the Boston Globe, the latest in Christmas tree recycling…
BTW, I’m saving my real New Year celebration for January 20, when an actual president is sworn into the White House and a dangerous and incompetent fascist is shown the door, ending at least part of the nightmare. That’s when the new year starts for me.
Those crazy dudes at SciFi Saturday Night podcast interviewed me again last week. They always start with some zaniness that as far as I can tell has nothing to do with anything—must be something in the New Hampshire water—and then, wham, we’re into talking books. These guys love books! They read your stuff before you come on, and they really want to talk about it. “Why did you do this?” “You really had me going with that…” It’s a lot of fun. This time we talked about my efforts in audiobooks, over the last year. And a bit about the challenges of putting older books back into (paper) print. You can listen to it right here: http://scifisaturdaynight.com/?p=9834
Shortly before that, I was on the Douglas Coleman Show. This was much more of a general audience broadcast. I don’t think he gets a lot of SF writers on his show, so let’s call it carefully calculated subversion. Get that general audience thinking about otherworldly things they might not tend to ponder very much. One slight problem was that I must have been tired. It was a video interview, and I sat there looking sort of like a low-budget cartoon character—you know, the ones where just the mouth moves. I hope I was interesting in spite of that. You can see it here: https://youtu.be/7_LyRzMJHl4
We watched the new Wonder Woman on HBOMax last night, and it was a lot of fun, an excellent Boxing Day movie. It didn’t reach the level of greatness of the first film, but it was still quite entertaining—especially if you’re weary of the dark, brooding tone of recent D.C. movies (and for that matter, Marvel, as well). Granted, the script is a little uneven, especially in the first third, but Gal Gadot still has the magic, and great chemistry with Chris Pine. Kristen Wiig is fun, as well. I finished the movie with a smile, if not the stars in my eyes that I left the theater with after the first one. The Easter egg has a nice twist. And because there’s a scene at the end at Christmastime, this can now go on the list of Christmas movies!
Time now to try the new Pixar: Soul.
More cookies and eggnog, please sir…
We’re getting our first real snowstorm of the year, as I write this. We’re deep into the night right now, and it looks like maybe 4-6 inches have fallen so far. Maybe it’s time for this year’s pictures of our Christmas trees. Here’s the one in front of the house. You can’t really see it from this angle, but I cut off so many branches close to the house (squirrel on-ramps, they were) that from a profile it almost looks like a bas-relief of a pine tree. Still, it works!
That strange purple aura isn’t visible to the naked eye. At first I thought it was an artifact of my camera, but now I’m thinking—maybe, just maybe—it’s dark matter. Or maybe dark energy, hard to be sure.
And here’s our indoor tree, a little different this year. We didn’t go out and get a tree. Or rather, we did but we just went to the back yard and brought in a branch I’d pruned off the big oak tree. With fire in the, er, fireplace.
Happy ChristmaHanuKwanStice, everyone!
Panglor—the man and the book both—have always been about exploring bizarre new worlds. It’s literally much of the plot of the story. For quite a few years now, he and his ou-ralot companion LePiep and his human companion Alo have been available only in the digital world. Now, he’s found his way back into Print World! Yes, a new print edition of Panglor has hit the newsstands—er, bookstores. This is the first print edition since the Tor paperback of 1996, which was a revision of the Dell first edition of 1980. Long trip, dude!
Here it is, wandering into a store near you, whether on that great long river (you know the one I mean), or elsewhere. Basically, in theory, any store that orders from Ingram. Which is pretty much all of them.*
*Translation: It can be ordered by any store.
After all these months of wearing masks and taking proper precautions, I still have trouble remembering to put on a mask when I go out—especially if it’s something quick and routine, like taking the dogs for a walk. It’s not like I’m hiding the masks; they’re hanging right by the door. Am I the only one with this problem? I can’t be.
I decided I needed a mnemonic reminder. So now when I go out, I (try to remember to) chant to myself, “Going out? Cover your snout!”
It helps. Just like “Going out? Don’t go without!” helps me remember to take my wallet when I’m going to the store.
Neither is foolproof. I’m grateful for Google Pay on my phone, which saves me about once every few months, when I find myself at the grocery checkout, patting my pocket, and cursing softly because there’s no wallet there.
Some of us need all the help we can get, these days.
Not everybody likes it, though.
Back in the day, I used to sell autographed copies of my books from my website, by way of a simple pricelist page that could be printed and mailed to me. I didn’t sell a lot, but it helped me connect with some readers. Then the web got more complicated, and sales tax got more complicated, and I gave up on that model. Now, I’m selling autographed books through Etsy! Yes, that place you go to (statistically more likely if you are female) to buy crafts and things. It turns out you can sell books there, too, and a number of authors and booksellers do just that. Now I am, too.
Here’s what I’ve got in my StarRiggerBooks store so far:
All autographed and personalized as requested. Great gift ideas, right? Come and be my customer! Or share it with a book-loving friend!
*You didn’t think I could build an Etsy store without the help of coffee, did you?
Just in time for the holidays, I have put on sale a complete autographed set of The Chaos Chronicles (to date), right here in my very own, shiny new Etsy shop! This is a matched set of trade paperbacks from my very own Starstream Publications. Signed, personalized, you name your fondest desires. What makes a better gift than brand-new books autographed by the author? Plus…discounted 20% for the holidays!
I will be adding other books to my shop, but we’re starting out with the crown jewel! Click right here to take a look. There’s no harm in looking, right?
Edit: I have added two more listings to my Etsy store: autographed hardcovers of Reefs/Crucible, and autographed Eternity’s End!