•December 17, 2011 • Comments Off on Serial Saturday: Nightmare Engine of Doom Part 10 – Escape!
“To the train station!” Enzo shouted, and took off running on his stubby legs. Despite my momentary confusion giving him a lead, I soon caught up as we ran past bystanders and airfield officials. I took a glance back and saw that our pursuers were gaining on us, thanks to Enzo’s poor running speed. Looking ahead, I saw potential salvation in the form of a line of steam-taxis, high, ungainly vehicles made of steel and gently puffing steam as they waited for passengers.
“The taxis!” I shouted to Enzo as I accelerated past him.
“Come back, you rat bastard!” Enzo shouted, apparently thinking I intended to abandon him. Had I known what was to come, I would have done so, but at the time I still retained some of my naive faith in the man our secret organization had chosen to partner me with. So when I arrived at the line of cabs, I simply threw my bag into the passenger compartment and exhorted the cabbie sitting high in the driver’s seat to warm up his vehicle, then turned to urge Enzo on. Continue reading ‘Serial Saturday: Nightmare Engine of Doom Part 10 – Escape!’
So Amazon is throwing its weight around again. John Scalzi, as usual, summed it all up quite nicely by calling it a “dick move”. That seems to be the prevailing opinion among authors, actually. Not that it is an attempt to subvert capitalism itself, like so many thought with the whole Macmillan “you’ll sell us your books for what we tell you to, muchacho” business, but just a kind of jerky thing to do (sort of an “Oh Amazon, there you go again” reaction). And of course, there’s nothing wrong with buying stuff from a jerk – they’re just selling you stuff, not coming home to meet the family, but it’s starting to make me wonder. I mean, if I had my choice between two hardware stores, and I happened to know that the owner of one liked to kick small dogs and throw stuff at elderly nuns, I’d be inclined to go with his competitor even if it cost me slightly more. And having talked to people who’ve actually worked in Amazon warehouses during the seasonal rush, it sounds like dog kicking and nun-thowery isn’t all that far off, from a work environment standpoint.
I guess my question is really “Why you gotta be a jerk about it, Bezos?” Also, I just noticed that the book I was thinking of buying is cheaper at Barnes and Noble online than Amazon. Just sayin’.
•December 13, 2011 • Comments Off on New Arcane Anthology Cover
Not to go on and on about this, but if you didn’t already vote on the cover for the Arcane Anthology, it’s too late now, because it has been chosen. I must say, I agree that it is a bit more scary-pants than the original (scary-pantsed? scary-pantsish?)
•December 10, 2011 • Comments Off on Serial Saturday: Nightmare Engine of Doom Part 9 – The Crash
I came to with the sensation of drowning, and thrashed desperately as I tried to draw a breath. I could hear a great deal of shouting and screaming, along with crashing and tearing noises, which didn’t seem consistent with drowning, but still I was unable to breath.
“Shh, keep quiet, you daft oaf,” someone hissed.
My eyes fluttered open, and I was treated to the unpleasant sight of Enzo’s bearded face looming over me. “Stop thrashing around,” he whispered. Why he was whispering was hard to imagine, given the cacophonous din all around us. I could barely make out what he was saying, in fact. That was hardly my main concern, however, since I was quickly suffocating. Although I could not breath properly, it came to me that I was smelling a stultifying smell of oil and garlic, and I realized that Enzo was holding a hand over my mouth in an attempt to keep me from crying out. For a small man, though, he had large hands, and he’d managed to cover my nose at the same time, cutting off all my air. He was also stronger than he looked, and it took a supernatural surge of strength on my part, born of desperation, to throw him off. Continue reading ‘Serial Saturday: Nightmare Engine of Doom Part 9 – The Crash’
•December 8, 2011 • Comments Off on A Question for the Internet Community
Why is it, when Windows becomes concerned about the number of icons I have on my desktop that I haven’t used in a while, it has to ask me twice about whether I want it to do something about it? I’d have thought, being a computer and all, once would suffice (and, of course, the answer is always no, because what Windows does with unused icons is dumb). Is it some sort of ritual thing, like asking someone a question three times?
•December 6, 2011 • Comments Off on Another Perspective on Writing
The whole xtranormal thing seems to have lagged a bit in popularity, but I always liked this one. Plus you have to love the fact that someone is using it to flog a book.
•December 3, 2011 • Comments Off on Serial Saturday: Nightmare Engine of Doom Part 8 – We Arrive
“Ladies and gentleman,” Enzo announced grandly. “Topeka.”
I’m not sure how he thought he was fooling anyone, since even from where we were, hundreds yards away from the airfield and well above it, I could clearly see the Canadian flag proudly flying above the terminal.
“That isn’t Topeka,” one of the stewardesses said, peering out the window over Enzo’s shoulder.
“No, I assure you it is,” Enzo replied, leaning around her so that he could fix an eye on me and produce another spastic wink. “No doubt the mountains are confusing you, there off in the distance, but you may not be aware that from this altitude we can see all the way into Montana.” He reached out and hauled back on a lever, causing us to suddenly dip forward and lose altitude. “It is a complex phenomenon, brought about by the refraction of-”
“No, that’s definitely Winnipeg,” the stewardess said.
Well, NaNoWriMo 2011 is in the books, and I managed to win again. More importantly, though, is that I did it with style, if one can call grinding out a nearly unchanging daily wordcount stylish. I like to think it shows a certain professionalism, although others who bang out tens of thousands of words in scattered, caffeine-fueled bursts may feel that they are exhibiting more dash.
Still, though, check out this graph and tell me it isn’t a thing of beauty. Note the smooth progression, ever so gradually creeping past the par line so that I had a couple days to relax there at the end.
The cover for the new Arcane Anthology is is all set, and it is creating quite a bit of controversy. Feel free to head over and chime in with your opinion – I’m sure they’d enjoy the traffic even if you make snippy comments.
I agree with Amanda Davis’ opinion that the previous Arcane had a cover that was more scarypants, but I will stay above the fray of which is better, seeing as how I’ve got stuff published in both.
