Saturday, February 28, 2009
Sale - How to Drive a Pinto (Bean)
J. Alan Erwine informed me today that he wants to publish my short story How to Drive a Pinto (Bean) in the March issue of The Fifth Di.... This story is the sequel to my story How to Thwart a Dictator, which appeared last October in Tales of the Talisman.
Friday, February 27, 2009
A Little Update
Wow, has it been that long since I last posted? It's been a busy busy two weeks for me with writing a business plan, buying equipment, working out problems, and so forth. I'm not quite ready to announce the business to the world--I need a bit more time to put together a portfolio with pro bono work--but I will say that it involves video. I did a little work on that today and the result looked okay--not completely satisfied with it, but I'm still learning the tools. I can't post anything here yet, but eventually.
In a mish-mash of other news--
Writing has completely stopped now, and I don't know how to get it started. I've tried to redo a story that has promise but haven't been able to get more than 50 words at a time, usually less. Codex Writers Group is having the annual Codexian Idol short story competition starting March 1st. Hopefully I can use that to get the fire lit again.
Sam's Dot Publishing has delayed the publication of my trade paperback novelette Winter by 3 months. I'm told there was an issue with the cover art, but I know no further details.
My mom likes "Come to Slaughter, Pig!" You can read it here and discover whether her opinion is right.
Last weekend, we took the scouts to Karchner Caverns. It's mind-boggling that a virgin cave was discovered in my lifetime and kept a secret for another 15 years. Well worth seeing, but also very limited access--make reservations of you want to go.
Last night, we took the scouts on a field trip for our weekly troop meeting. We visited KSLX and watched Susan Stone work some on-air magic. AND they played my ring-tone, Funk #49.
Also this week, I had the great and unwanted adventure of upgrading my computer. It really isn't all that hard, but I hate doing it because I always have terrible luck. I had to upgrade because the setup I had on Monday, although it was the best computer in the house, didn't have the horsepower to run my video software. That was a show-stopper (literally) for the business.
I upgraded to a dual-core AMD chip, got a new motherboard, new power supply, and a graphics card with about 10 times the recommended minimum video RAM. I don't want any more problems with video. What should have been a couple hours turned into days. first, I discovered that today's motherboards only have 1 IDE socket. I need that for my hard drives, so I also had to go buy a new DVD drive. While I was there, I did buy an IDE-to-SATA converter, but I still can't get the old DVD drive to work.
that would have been okay if it were the last problem, but the fan for the CPU didn't work. I got that replaced (and this is exactly the reason I spent $6 to let Fry's insert the CPU--I didn't damage it) and when I tried to put the motherboard back into the case, a capacitor fell off. Finally, after 4 32-mile round-trips trips to Fry's, I managed to get all the hardware installed. I spent yesterday morning installing all the drivers and reactivating windows and all that fun stuff.
I shall try to keep this blog moving more frequently...
In a mish-mash of other news--
Writing has completely stopped now, and I don't know how to get it started. I've tried to redo a story that has promise but haven't been able to get more than 50 words at a time, usually less. Codex Writers Group is having the annual Codexian Idol short story competition starting March 1st. Hopefully I can use that to get the fire lit again.
Sam's Dot Publishing has delayed the publication of my trade paperback novelette Winter by 3 months. I'm told there was an issue with the cover art, but I know no further details.
My mom likes "Come to Slaughter, Pig!" You can read it here and discover whether her opinion is right.
Last weekend, we took the scouts to Karchner Caverns. It's mind-boggling that a virgin cave was discovered in my lifetime and kept a secret for another 15 years. Well worth seeing, but also very limited access--make reservations of you want to go.
Last night, we took the scouts on a field trip for our weekly troop meeting. We visited KSLX and watched Susan Stone work some on-air magic. AND they played my ring-tone, Funk #49.
Also this week, I had the great and unwanted adventure of upgrading my computer. It really isn't all that hard, but I hate doing it because I always have terrible luck. I had to upgrade because the setup I had on Monday, although it was the best computer in the house, didn't have the horsepower to run my video software. That was a show-stopper (literally) for the business.
I upgraded to a dual-core AMD chip, got a new motherboard, new power supply, and a graphics card with about 10 times the recommended minimum video RAM. I don't want any more problems with video. What should have been a couple hours turned into days. first, I discovered that today's motherboards only have 1 IDE socket. I need that for my hard drives, so I also had to go buy a new DVD drive. While I was there, I did buy an IDE-to-SATA converter, but I still can't get the old DVD drive to work.
that would have been okay if it were the last problem, but the fan for the CPU didn't work. I got that replaced (and this is exactly the reason I spent $6 to let Fry's insert the CPU--I didn't damage it) and when I tried to put the motherboard back into the case, a capacitor fell off. Finally, after 4 32-mile round-trips trips to Fry's, I managed to get all the hardware installed. I spent yesterday morning installing all the drivers and reactivating windows and all that fun stuff.
I shall try to keep this blog moving more frequently...
Monday, February 16, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Setback
"Winter," the stand-alone trade paperback that is to hold my novelette "Winter" and a reprint of my story "The Adjoa Gambit" has been pushed back to May at the earliest due to problems with the cover illustration.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Milestone
I just realized that the story I sold to M-Brane SF yesterday will be my 30th published story.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
New Stories
News today on the fiction front. Come to Slaughter, Pig! went live at Anotherealm. This is something of a supernatural horror story. Not necessarily scary, just a little morbid. You can read it free right here.
Just today, I received an offer to buy a science fiction story called Plan R from M-Brane SF. Crhistopher Fletcher wants to use it in issue #4. That should put publication for that one in May. He bought another of my stories, Road Rage, for his first issue which is on sale right now. Information on how to subscribe to the pdf format version is here.
Just today, I received an offer to buy a science fiction story called Plan R from M-Brane SF. Crhistopher Fletcher wants to use it in issue #4. That should put publication for that one in May. He bought another of my stories, Road Rage, for his first issue which is on sale right now. Information on how to subscribe to the pdf format version is here.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Number 16
This year, the TPC of Scottsdale built the first fully-enclosed stadium around the infamous 16th hole for the FBR Open (read Phoenix Open).
Above is a smuggled cell phone picture of the stadium looking from the right side of the green toward the tee box.
If you are not familiar with this tournament, it is unlike any other golf tournament in the world. The attendance is very high because it is basically a week-long party that happens to be held at a golf course. Number 16 is a par-3 measuring 162 yards from the tips. The green is wide at the front and narrow at the back. You can see the TPC Stadium course scorecard here.
Number 16 is unlike any hole in golf. It is loud. It is rowdy. They sell beer, and lots of it. If a golfer can work the crowd, they will be on his side. If a golfer lets the crowd rattle him, they will be all over him. Bubba Watson heard calls of "Bubba" when he came in and encouraged the crowd to make as much noise as possible--much like the Minnesota Vikings football players do to get their crowd noise loud. The fans ate it up and made an incredible amount of noise. Bubba put it into a pot bunker on the right side of the green. The booing was minor. He made par and the crowd cheered. It didn't hurt that he threw hats into the crowd.
Another player--I didn't catch who--carried a Cardinals flag between the tee box and the green. The crowd went crazy. When he replaced the TPC Scottsdale flag in the hole with the Cardinals flag, it got even louder.
Then, the flip side. Fortunately for this guy, I forget his name. He landed the ball off the back of the green to a chorus of booing. He chipped it up and got applause for getting within a few feet of the hole. Then, he missed the putt. More booing. He left it about a foot from the cup. He lipped that one out and the booing got louder. He marked his ball and waited for the other guys to finish. When it was his turn again, he lipped it out again. He finally 4-putted the hole for a triple bogey and was heckled until he was out of sight on his way to #17.
When there were no golfers, the crowd started heckling each other. They got the wave going for a while. About an hour later, they got it going again, except the corporate area let it die out. The drunks started yelling "Corporate Sucks" and much of the crowd joined in. When it died down, somebody in corporate yelled "We get free drinks." The general admission drunks noticed all the bank sponsors and started the crowd yelling "We don't need a bail-out!"
It has to be experienced to be believed.
Above is a smuggled cell phone picture of the stadium looking from the right side of the green toward the tee box.
If you are not familiar with this tournament, it is unlike any other golf tournament in the world. The attendance is very high because it is basically a week-long party that happens to be held at a golf course. Number 16 is a par-3 measuring 162 yards from the tips. The green is wide at the front and narrow at the back. You can see the TPC Stadium course scorecard here.
Number 16 is unlike any hole in golf. It is loud. It is rowdy. They sell beer, and lots of it. If a golfer can work the crowd, they will be on his side. If a golfer lets the crowd rattle him, they will be all over him. Bubba Watson heard calls of "Bubba" when he came in and encouraged the crowd to make as much noise as possible--much like the Minnesota Vikings football players do to get their crowd noise loud. The fans ate it up and made an incredible amount of noise. Bubba put it into a pot bunker on the right side of the green. The booing was minor. He made par and the crowd cheered. It didn't hurt that he threw hats into the crowd.
Another player--I didn't catch who--carried a Cardinals flag between the tee box and the green. The crowd went crazy. When he replaced the TPC Scottsdale flag in the hole with the Cardinals flag, it got even louder.
Then, the flip side. Fortunately for this guy, I forget his name. He landed the ball off the back of the green to a chorus of booing. He chipped it up and got applause for getting within a few feet of the hole. Then, he missed the putt. More booing. He left it about a foot from the cup. He lipped that one out and the booing got louder. He marked his ball and waited for the other guys to finish. When it was his turn again, he lipped it out again. He finally 4-putted the hole for a triple bogey and was heckled until he was out of sight on his way to #17.
When there were no golfers, the crowd started heckling each other. They got the wave going for a while. About an hour later, they got it going again, except the corporate area let it die out. The drunks started yelling "Corporate Sucks" and much of the crowd joined in. When it died down, somebody in corporate yelled "We get free drinks." The general admission drunks noticed all the bank sponsors and started the crowd yelling "We don't need a bail-out!"
It has to be experienced to be believed.
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