For the curious reader of science fiction (scifi) and fantasy
It finally happened. Our latest electric bill:
$-35, due on or before April 28
Yes! The electric company owes us money! This has been our best month so far, generating electricity from the solar panels on our roof. Here’s how it looks so far in April:
Typically I think we use ~22 kWh per day. There were some days this month we generated almost double that amount, and fed the extra to the grid, and only a few days where we fell short. Solar rocks.
No, wait, I got that wrong. It’s Happy Birthday, Allysen! (It’s my loving wife’s forty-two-plus-somethingth birthday today. Yay!)
It’s also the day of my first Bookbub promotion! Eternity’s End is on sale for $.99, for one week only. At Kindle! At Nook! At Smashwords! This is the one that was a finalist for the Nebula Award: a big, sprawling star-rigger story, complete with space pirates, amphibious aliens, cyber-enhanced love, and cosmic wonders. Get it for less than a buck, for one week only. Heck, for that price, buy six and give it to your friends!
If you like the book, I sure would appreciate your posting a review to your favorite store or review site. Believe it or not, reviews matter!
After March 7, the price goes up.
And did I remember to say: Happy Birthday, Allysen!
We both write long, and we both take a long time to finish. Here I am, pondering the complete first draft of The Reefs of Time. 900-ish pages. Can you see the wheels going in my head, fixing all the things that didn’t come out quite right the first time around?
Bank robbers were shot by police today about 150 feet from where I’m sitting in our dining room. My daughter Julia and I heard bang bang bang bang, and thought it was construction or firecrackers. I briefly thought gunshots, and then thought nah. Captain Jack knew it was worth barking about, but he settled down quickly. When I went out twenty minutes later to go to an appointment, police were stringing up crime scene tape, and just getting ready to tape off our driveway. I drove away knowing only that there’d been a shooting.
When I got home, I learned that it was not a domestic incident or random murder, but police responding to armed suspects. The whole place is closed off; I had to park a block away and walk home. The news helicopters are still circling around. Here’s the story:
On Arlington Patch, and on Channel 5’s website.
Here’s what the scene looks like now.
While taking my own pictures, I got interviewed by both Channel 4 and Channel 5 news. They must really have been desperate for something to put on the air. (I doubt very much they’ll use it, but you never know.)
I guess I can’t complain about life being dull. This stuff is only supposed to happen on TV.
Even though I heard reports of fifteen inches of snow in nearby places, I don’t think we got more than eight, or ten at the most, here in Arlington. By the time I got out to walk Captain Jack, my downstairs neighbor had already thoughtfully shoveled the walk, the back deck, and a bit of the driveway. By the time I got back from walking Jack, my next door neighbor had thoughtfully shoveled out the driveway apron! I still had work to do with the snow blower, but a lot less than I expected. Good thing, because even without much wind chill, the six-degree temperature got my hands pretty cold.
Here’s the final result in the late afternoon sun.
By which I mean, of course, around the sun. We made it the whole way ’round again! Happy New Year, everyone!
I never did get around to posting Christmas greetings, but I hope the end of December was a good one for you. I was busy with family, including my brother and his wife visiting from Florida. A fine time had by all.
As I think back on 2013, I’m amazed we had time to experience everything that happened. We moved Allysen’s mom Fay to our area from Puerto Rico, which was the longest and hardest logistical (and emotional) undertaking I’ve ever been involved in. (Including the saga of the seven puppies, three of which came north with us and found great homes.) Fay ‘s pretty well settled in now at her new place. But not without her dog Diego getting heartworm, and she herself breaking an arm. Fortunately, as I’ve probably said before, we eat problems for breakfast here. Then, of course, there was Lexi getting hit by a car on her bike, which laid her up for months. But then she got a new job, and that’s been exciting. Allysen tried to outdo her by getting rear-ended in our Ford Fusion, because she emergency-stopped to keep an 18-wheeler from killing her. That led to the car being totaled, so we went car shopping last week. And, of course, I finished the first draft of The Reefs of Time, right before Christmas!
That’s the Reduced Shakespeare Company rendition of our 2013. How was yours?
Here is the car we’ve bought and hope to pick up, after the big winter Nor’easter that’s bearing down on us as we speak. It’s a 2014 Ford Fusion, in a beautiful ruby red finish. We’re thinking of calling it Katniss, after the girl of fire, from The Hunger Games.
Maybe later I’ll post my thoughts about books and movies from the last year.
My friends at Book View Café and I are having a big Boxing Day Week sale on a huge number of books. All of my books there are half-price for a limited time, and there are a ton of other great half-price books by my fellow BVC authors. The list includes many familiar names from the science fiction and fantasy world, including Ursula LeGuin, Vonda McIntyre, Pati Nagle, Linda Nagata, Judith Tarr, David Levine, Chris Dolley, and many others in a variety of genres. This is an excellent chance to stock up on some terrific books for half price, and maybe discover some new favorite authors along the way. Here’s where to look:
I hope you all had (or are still having) a wonderful Christmas, and for that matter Solstice and impending celebration of our circuit around the Sun! Here at the Starrigger Ranch, we had a terrific Christmas, including a turkey dinner, with my brother Chuck and his wife Youngmee visiting, and our friend Mary and Allysen’s mom here, as well. It was a fantastic celebration of family and friends.
My wife grew up largely in Latin America and has a strong sense of the full Christmas period, extending through New Year to Three Kings Day, on January 6. (This is also handy when gifts haven’t arrived in time for Christmas Day. They’re not really late; they’re just part of the whole extended experience.)
I hope all of you had family, or people you care about, near or in touch during these holidays. God bless you all, however you celebrate the season!
Great news! I’ve met my do-or-die goal of having the first draft of The Reefs of Time finished before Christmas Eve! Last night at around 3 a.m., I typed the fateful words:
and heaved an enormous sigh of relief. Because that, of course, is another way of saying, The End! What a feeling. I’ve been working on this thing for a little over five years, and it’s just about caused me to lose all my remaining hair. But I feel really good about what I’ve got now (as a first draft!), and eagerly look forward to starting the rewrite in the new year. It’s a sprawling, complicated story, and I know there are pieces missing, and a lot of other sections that will be mercilessly cut, and a lot to be completely reworked. But that’s all stuff I know how to do. It was getting the basic story down that threatened to send me around the bend. For those who are counting, it’s just over 900 pages in manuscript, or somewhere around 220,000 words. (I think my writing group had a poll going on the final length, but I don’t know if anyone remembers who bet what.)
I hope my agent and publisher will be glad to hear this, as well! They’ve been incredibly patient, and all I can say is, If I could have done it faster, I would have.
Even a crashed car isn’t going to take this good feeling away.
Thank you, God, and thank you, everyone who has been waiting and periodically nudging.I think I’m going to enjoy a really good beer tonight, and focus on getting ready for Christmas.
We got word from the insurance company over the weekend that our beloved Ford Fusion is being declared a total loss, following the accident in which Allysen got rear-ended. This breaks our hearts. It also means that our last week of the year has now been repurposed: After Christmas, we have to start looking for a new, or new-to-us, car. (Sigh.)
On the other hand, the car died heroically. It stopped fast when it had to, and saved Allysen from being squashed by the 18-wheeler that idiotically turned right in front of her. Then it saved her from injury when the SUV behind plowed into her because that driver couldn’t stop fast enough. It did exactly what it was supposed to do.
It was a good car, and we’ll miss it. Its name was Centauri.
Stay tuned for my next entry, though, because that news will be better.