10 Dec 2019

Dig a Trench. Fill It In. Go Solar!

posted in: Home repair | 1

This is the fill-it-in part. It’s always best if you do it in the rain. Because, I don’t know, squish. No, seriously, the reason I do it in the rain is that we’re having a brief warm spell before the freezing air moves back in, and I need to get the trench filled while I can still move the dirt with a shovel. Just my luck that the warm spell includes rain. That white PVC pipe is the reason for the trench.

The method to this madness is that we’re having solar hot-water panels installed on our garage. Our town and another got together to solicit affordable package deals on renewable energy for homes. The panels have to go on our garage roof because the house roof is already covered with solar-electric panels, so the glycol lines have to go underground to the house. The solar panel guys just laid in the lines, but they don’t do the trench. Guess who does the trench.

Why in December? Because we just squeaked in under the deadline to sign up, and this is the schedule we were given. Stay tuned for updates, later in the winter.

 

9 Dec 2019

He’s Everywhere! He’s Everywhere!

posted in: guest posts, interviews | 0

Well, maybe not—but not for lack of trying. I was interviewed on a Canadian show called The Stuph File, hosted by Peter Anthony Holder, a fellow with considerable broadcasting cred, so you know this is smalltime stuff here. Or, er, stuph. My interview was part of a longer show, but you can hear just the interview part here. (Or use the player if it has magically appeared below.) Peter was a very good interviewer, and I enjoyed it.

If you’d like to hear the whole show, you can do that at on Peter’s website.

But wait—there’s more!

Lawrence M. SchoenAuthor Lawrence M. Schoen, also known as Klingon Guy for his mastery of the Klingon language, has a blog feature called Eating Authors, in which he asks various authors to describe their most memorable meal. He invited me to do so, and my guest post has just gone live there. I wish you could join us for our fabulous dining in London.

 

3 Dec 2019

Pucketa Pucketa POP!

posted in: personal news, weather events | 0

First snow Dec 2019

That’s the backfire sound my new snowblower made today when I tried to use it in our first snowfall of the winter. The snow was pretty, no denying that. But it was also the kind of wet, hard-to-move snow that we get so often here in New England. I guess we got about a foot or a foot-and-a-half of the stuff. And I should have been ready with the new, gleaming, Ariens snowblower I bought on end-of-season sale last year. (And then sold my 40-year-old Toro, a big mistake.)

The new one ran fine last year! It ran fine every time I started it up during the off season. Until it didn’t, a couple of weeks ago. (I always keep our gas-powered equipment—mopeds, mower, snowblower—fueled with fuel stabilizer added, and run them periodically when they’re out of season. Works great. Until now.) I should have called a dealer right away, but I kept thinking, if I change the gas, run some carb cleaner through it, talk to it nicely, it’ll start working right. (Also, I was a little busy.) Nothing doing.

Also, by the way, this Ariens snowblower is one of the worst-designed machines I’ve ever used. That’s ARIENS, the company that makes ARIENS piece-of-shirt snowblowers with the name ARIENS on them, in case you wondered. Yeah, when it was running, it worked well. But it has no throttle, just one speed. It has no way to add oil without spilling oil all over the place. The dipstick is incredibly awkward to check. It has no provision for draining the gas tank. It has a totally stupid plastic key that you insert to run and pull out to stop, and heaven help you if you drop it in the snow. (Get a big piece of string before you run this bad boy.)

Fortunately, as I thought, I also had my new electric snow shovel that I bought last year to make shoveling off the deck a less cardiac-arrest-inducing task. So I got that out. WHIRRRzzzzzzzz. No. NO. Yes. It’s not working, either. The drive belt is slipping. Nonadjustable. Useless.

The shovel company is sending me new belts. We’ll find out what Ariens will do about a warranty repair on the snowblower, when it gets picked up at the end of the week.

I’m feeling a tad grumpy. And I miss my 40-year-old Toro.

27 Nov 2019

New Editions: The Infinite Sea

posted in: audiobooks, new editions, print editions, The Chaos Chronicles | 1

The next phase of my w/o/r/l/d/ c/o/n/q/u/e/s/t/ “Return to Print” campaign is complete! A new paperback edition of The Infinite Sea is now out, with the same knockout cover art by Chris Howard that appears on the ebook. It’s available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and any store (or library!) that cares to order it from Ingram. It’s quite a handsome edition, if I do say so myself. Like Strange Attractors before it, it’s in a companion trim format with The Reefs of Time / Crucible of Time.

The audiobook, with narration by Stefan Rudnicki, is also complete and hot in the distribution pipeline. Barring unforeseen difficulties, it should be showing up in online audiobook stores in the next week or two!

The Infinite Sea audiobook cover

22 Nov 2019

More Interviews—Bzzzt! Am I Loud Enough?

posted in: interviews | 0

Thanks to my tireless publicist, Mickey Mickelson of Creative Edge Services, I have two interviews scheduled for tomorrow! The first is a recording session with Sara Voorhis, for a podcast to be released (I think) on November 26, with Amphibian Press Books.

Amphibian Press Podcast logoAmphibian Press Podcast logo

And then at 3:40 EST, I’ll be live on Chat and Spin Radio, out of the UK, with host Ron Clark. That will be live, and you can listen from that link. (It will available later for streaming, and I’ll post the location when I have it.)

Chat and Spin Radio logo

Wish me a clear and frog-free voice!

21 Nov 2019

Psychedelic Thursday: Part Two

posted in: books, recommendations | 1

Now that I’ve flogged my own books (not to death, I hope!), I thought I’d make some other gift suggestions. Books, of course, but not mine. Have you read:

Richard Bowker’s Portal trilogy, about a young man making his way through life-and-death situations in the multiverse? Starts out YA, but as the characters grow up, so too does the tone of the books. Richard’s a fine writer, who deserves notice. Here’s the trilogy at Amazon, to get you started.

Covers for the Portal Trilogy by Richard Bowker

Craig Shaw Gardner’s Temporary Magic Series, a totally silly trilogy about Lenny and the magical temp agency he goes to work for, saving the world with the help of Bob the blue horse/pooka, among others. Craig, by the way, has started working on a new Ebenezum book, for those who love his wizard who’s allergic to magic. Here’s his Temporary Magic Series.

Temporary Magic trilogy covers, by Craig Shaw Gardner

And if that isn’t enough, there’s a continually evolving panoply of fine writing at Book View Café, never to be missed!

Book View Cafe storefront

21 Nov 2019

Psychedelic Thursday: Way Better than Black Friday

posted in: Crucible of Time, gift ideas, The Chaos Chronicles, The Reefs of Time | 2

Cover for The Reefs of Time - Chaos ChroniclesYou know what makes a great gift? Books! Books books books! Get that Christmas and Hanukah shopping done ahead of time for once! I even have a suggestion for books you could give: The Reefs of Time and Crucible of Time! It’s a no-brainer, when you think about it.

For the valued reader in your circle, you could order the trade paperback editions. For the truly discerning, hardcovers may be the best choice.

In the old days, I used to sell autographed copies myself by mail. But that was before all the states got compulsive about collecting sales tax, and it became unworkable. So, if you’d like your copies autographed, the best way is to bring them to a con and ask me to sign them in person. That’s so much nicer, anyway.

 

Cover for Crucible of Time - Chaos ChroniclesIf you use these purchase links, I’ll get a little something extra in the way of referral fees:

The Reefs of Time — paperback | hardcover

Crucible of Time — paperback | hardcover

Your gift recipients will thank you, and so will I.

 

P.S. If you’d rather give other print volumes in the series, here are some other options:
Neptune Crossing | Strange Attractors | The Infinite Sea

7 Nov 2019

Moonlight, Best Cat Ever, 1999 – 2019

posted in: animal friends, personal news | 7

Our beloved cat, Moonlight, has left us, taken by cancer and age. She was 20 years old, almost 21. She was an amazing friend to all of us. Far from the aloof cat of Siamese stereotype, she always wanted to be part of the family, dogs and all. She used to try to come along on dog walks, but we could never get a leash and harness to work right on her. As a young cat, she competed with the dogs for dropped food. (Ask me sometime about the Battle for the Broccoli, wherein Moonlight squares off with a boxer, and the little beagle sees opportunity.) Moonlight was quite vocal, and would “Mwah” whenever stroked. She loved laps, and in response to gentle hugs would go, “Mwah! Mwah!” like a squeezebox. In the last few months, her meow evolved—first into a melodic “Moi?” and then later into a “Honk!” She was the living embodiment of “cat gravity,” which prevents you from getting up with a cat in your lap, and excelled at putting whoever was holding her to sleep.

Over the last couple of years, she came through two surgeries for skin cancer with flying colors. Our vet was amazed at her resilience. “Ordinarily, at her age, we wouldn’t even be having a conversation about surgery,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. Here’s a picture of her, after one of the operations.

I love animals, and Moonlight had a unique place in my heart. I hate this part of loving animals, where your heart is broken at the end. It’s probably going to be hardest on my daughter Jayce, to whom Moonlight has been a special friend for the greater part of her life. We will grieve together.

The timing could hardly be worse, as I’m leaving shortly for a convention in Philadelphia. But the last 24 hours have been telling, with noticeable decline in her strength—and it seemed better to say good-bye now, rather than endure worse scenarios while I’m gone. But there is no good time. At the vet’s, she put up a final fight: Even in her severely weakened state, it took an extra injection to stop that stalwart heart of hers.

Moonlight, I hope you find little Sam the beagle, and Hermione the boxer, and all of your other friends waiting for you on the other side. Peace now, little one. Peace.

7 Nov 2019

I Will Be at Philcon!

posted in: appearances, conventions | 1

Philcon logo

I’ll be attending my first Philcon this weekend. By all accounts, it’s a great convention. I look forward to seeing friends, making friends, and taking a little time to myself for the trip. I’ll be autographing Saturday, and moderating several panels. Here’s my schedule. Please say hi if you see me!

Saturday, November 9

  • 11:00am — Autographs: Daniel Kimmel, Jeffrey Carver, Keith R.A. DeCandido
  • 1:00pm — How to Establish Your Own Imprint
  • 3:00pm — Adapting Novels Into Screenplays

Sunday, November 10

  • 11:00am — Godzilla and the Monsterverse

 

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