There are riots, their Prime Minister announced elections, and their economy is imploding.
I’m hoping they do not suddenly remember their traditional methods of improving the country’s GNP.
Iceland….worries me
Comments Off
Jan 242009
Jan 232009
I have an aversion to books that are part of a trilogy or other mult-ology. I’m better with series books, like the Discworld novels or the Old Man’s War novels, where each book is complete by itself, and reading the previous books is helpful but not strictly necessary.
But when I’m deciding to invest time reading a book, I don’t want to commit to reading (much less buying) multiple books if I don’t know I already like it. It’s a bit like agreeing to a first date and then having the other person ask you what kind of house the two of you should live in and how many kids you want to have; geez, buddy, I’m not ready for that kind of commitment!
And so it really pisses me off to get to the end of a book and only then find out it’s only Book 1 of a trilogy. Because that tells me that not only could you not fit a whole tale in a book-sized package, but you figured you needed to trick me into reading it, and then hope you’d hooked me into shelling out for two more books just to find out what happened next.
Not going to happen, hopeful author. I stopped caring about the characters right there and then.
The Inauguration Thing
Comments Off
Jan 202009
I wanted to watch it online, but was outvoted, so we went to Grandma’s and watched it on an actual TV. (So retro.) We let the girls stay home from school to see it. What’s to say? It was awesome, although I think the kids got a little tired of us explaining who all the old people were.
“sphincter-print camouflage”
Comments Off
Jan 192009
One of the best posts about being called “politically correct” by assholes, ever.
Jan 172009
If you missed the reading by John Scalzi and Mary Robinette Kowal at Borderlands Books last night, well, I hope you were off saving the world or at an all-star orgy or something equally top drawer, because otherwise your evening, by comparison, was as lame as lame can be.
- John Scalzi is even funnier in person, if you can imagine such a thing. He is also extremely gracious and did not attempt to stuff me into a microwave or drop me down an elevator shaft, as SF authors are occasionally rumored to do to those they find annoying.
- Mary Robinette Kowal is not only an amazing writer, but she forever changed the way the audience members think about tortillas. And chess magazines.
- I was, in fact, the only one wearing suit. (Not on purpose. I had to drive over directly from a deposition in Oakland.)
- It is far, far better to park elsewhere and BART over than to try and find a parking space in the Mission.
- Steven K— got the best author book signature ever; how often does an author write “WTF?” in your book?
- The reading of “Alternate History Results” is up on YouTube.
Recent Comments