Frothing at the Mouth

BLOG IS MOVING

2010-02-15T22:47:00.002-07:00

Frothing at the Mouth has moved. Find the continuing saga here:

http://www.ricknovy.com/frothing-at-the-mouth/

Some Changes Coming

2010-02-12T11:02:00.003-07:00

Over the past week, motivated by the problems I had with Zen Cart, I have been experimenting with using WordPress for not only the online e-fiction store, but also my entire web site. I posted links inside Codex Writers Group to elicit some feedback and the response was unanimous toward favoring the Wordpress site.

If you would like to compare the two sites, you can see them by following the below links. First, some caveats:

1. The WordPress site is still under construction and the text color on many of the pages is still a dull gray that will be changing.
2. The Wordpress link will change eventually, so if you are reading this well after it is posted, the links might not work the way they work today.

Current web site:
http://www.ricknovy.com/

Proposed new Wordpress site:
http://www.new.ricknovy.com/entropy/

If I do make the move, which now seems likely, my blogging will probably move away from Blogger onto Wordpress unless I can find some way to cross-post.

Regardless, I am interested in feedback comparing the two sites.

Zen Cart Roadblock

2010-02-09T20:16:00.004-07:00

I hit a brick wall with Zen Cart today. Fellow writer Eric James Stone develops web sites for his day job. We were on the phone discussing the Zen Cart install that I had going and discovered it to be very cumbersome to set a file up for download. While I'm not completely decided on removing the zen Cart install, I am going to give some serious consideration to another alternative he suggested that uses a Wordpress plugin.

While I like poking around in html and I'm comfortable in it for my home page, there are a few things I'd like to do with the web site that I haven't done yet. One of those is incorporating this blog into the web site itself rather than making people go to Blogger to find it. Wordpress makes that easy, but I think blogger can be embedded into my home page as well. Research time.

On the other hand, I haven't really found a Wordpress web site that I am all gaga over. So, I have a few alternatives. Move completely to Wordpress, move the store only to Wordpress, or migrate gradually. I think I'll sleep on it and ponder the problem more tomorrow.

On the other hand, I did generate my very first e-format short story as a pdf file. That's the first step. I know there are other formats, but I think it looks pretty good. Here is the cover image.

Zen Cart Progress

2010-02-09T06:29:00.002-07:00

I have tried twice in the past to install Zen Cart. During yesterday's install, I remembered why it was unsuccessful in the past. At one point, there are files that need to be made read-only. I know how to do that, but I could never access the UNIX command line to do it. Yesterday, I managed to get into an ugly and clumsy GUI interface that allowed me to do the same thing. Not my preferred way of handling it, but it worked.

Now, I'm faced with the daunting task of setting up the store. It is not intuitive, and there are literally scores of settings. I installed with the demo merchandise, which I soon regretted. It houses a lot of crap, none of which I plan to sell. I managed to clean out all but five items, which I kept to study later.

One task to complete before too long will be creating a pdf version of at least one of my stories so I have something to put into the store. That has a a couple of implications. First, I have to use open office because Word won't save in pdf. Second, I need cover art, which shouldn't be an issue other than being time-consuming. I don't have any graphics software, but I have used Aviary before--an online graphics package that so far has done everything I need. I don't draw or paint, so my covers will of necessity be photographic. Hopefully they look decent.

Digitized Future

2010-02-08T08:09:00.001-07:00

Since my meeting with Michael A. Stackpole last friday, digital publishing has been more and more on my mind. I'm in the planning stages of setting up a storefront on www.ricknovy.com. Since there seems to be growing interest in this area, I'll be documenting the experience here for other writers who want to do the same thing. It will leave a trail of bread crumbs for anyone interested in following.
Today's task: Install Zen Cart.

RiNoWriMo a Bust

2010-02-07T21:53:00.005-07:00

Bad bad weekend for productivity. Weekends are very difficult to use for writing. Distractions, tasks, and more distractions abound. So, not surprisingly, I have totally fallen off the RiNoWriMo wagon. I'm now hopelessly behind.

So, how to go forward? Actually, it isn't as bad as it seems. Although I haven't put any new words down since I finished the short story for the Aether Age anthology, I have been thinking about a lot of writing-related activity. Much of that is on the reinvention side.

I've been formulating a plan to digitally self-publish all my previously-released short fiction and sell from my own web site in the Michael A. Stackpole model. Following the meeting I had with him on friday, I've been pondering this a lot.

The main barrier is the construction of my online store with Zen Cart. My web host does have an automatic install for both the cart and the database. I've installed it twice before, then my install stayed fallow. So, the big thing now is to reinstall (old installs have been deleted) and then figure out how to get it running. I suspect that mainly involves butt-in-chair time, which will happen soon.

Prior to that, however, I need to create some professional-looking product. Appearance here is of utmost importance, including cover art for even the shortest of stories. I plan to handle pretty much all of that photographically because I have the tools and ability to handle that method, where I have less drawing or painting ability than a chipmunk stoned on catnip.

Also a priority is getting the edits done for the Aether Age story. I expect that will be finished tomorrow, then on to creating the prototype digital story for the online store. Plus, I need to complete that novel I started during NaNoWriMo. Lots and lots to do.

So, consider RiNoWriMo a bust for me, at least by the numbers. However, it jump-started my working on the writing career. Since that was the original intention, I can hardly call it a failure.

News on progress will continue.

RiNoWriMo - Day 5

2010-02-05T23:20:00.001-07:00

Despite this being RiNoWriMo day 5, I did not generate any new word count today. That doesn't mean that I didn't get anything meaningful in terms of writing accomplished. I spent a good hour or so with Michael A. Stackpole discussing digital publishing.

For those not familiar with his model, Stackpole uses digital self-publishing as a significant part of his writing distribution portfolio. This is in addition to anything he sells in the traditional manner, and it has provided very good returns for him. He is one of the vanguard authors in this respect and quickly becoming a recognized expert among genre writers. He says his being an expert speaks to the trouble the traditional publishers find themselves in. He's also a fairly polarizing figure, especially among those who have a lot invested in traditional publishing. Go read his own words if you want to know more, I linked to his web site above.

So, I have some plans to make that sort of online presence a part of my writing distribution portfolio and now have to work on the details, like adding Zen Cart to my web site and learning how to produce the different digital file formats.

I think at this point RiNoWriMo has already served its purpose. While I'm not hitting the targets, I am being productive again. However, I'll still track and try to get as close as possible to the target through the end of the month.

Day 5 / 0 words / 3861 total / -3639 from target / 5 pages edited, digital publishing meeting.
Day 4 / 682 words / 3861 total / -2139 from target / 1 short story completed
Day 3 / 810 words / 3179 total / -1321 from target
Day 2 / 1612 words / 2360 total / -631 from target
Day 1 / 757 words / 757 total / -743 from target

RiNoWriMo - Day 4

2010-02-04T21:08:00.004-07:00

Ok, so this is not going as well as I had hoped, but I am still making progress and that's a change over last month. Several unusual situations are competing for my time, but I did manage to complete the draft of the Aether Age story today. It finished up at around 4600 words. I'll go over it again tomorrow and do some touch-up.

In my defense, it's difficult for me to finish one project then jump immediately into another one. I usually have at least one down day between projects. That's one reason why I tend to write long fiction faster. For some reason, I have always worked faster on long projects. Maybe that's why my word count is 1/3 what it was in November for NaNoWriMo. Analysis doesn't excuse it, though.

Not sure if I'll get any word count at all tomorrow. I'm scheduled to meet with Michael A. Stackpole to discuss digital publishing strategy. He's got a lot of good ideas and uses digital self-publishing as part of his portfolio strategy. My own online fiction strategy has lagged behind the curve forever, and I finally figured out why. I don't have a clear objective. That's one thing I hope to figure out as a result of the meeting.

Okay, for the RiNoWriMo talley:

Day 4 / 682 words / 3861 total / -2139 from target / 1 short story completed
Day 3 / 810 words / 3179 total / -1321 from target
Day 2 / 1612 words / 2360 total / -631 from target
Day 1 / 757 words / 757 total / -743 from target

RiNoWriMo - Day 3

2010-02-03T19:50:00.001-07:00

Not a solid day. Was interrupted by miscommunication on date/time for a meeting with Michael A. Stackpole, and that chewed up an hour. I managed to get about 800 words down today before being pulled away to help with 8th grade science homework. Fortunately, my day is wide open tomorrow. As it stands:

Day 3 / 810 words / 3179 total / -1321 from target
Day 2 / 1612 words / 2360 total / -631 from target
Day 1 / 757 words / 757 total / -743 from target

Not doing well compared to the goals, but I'm certainly making more progress than i did in January with many days of 0 words.

RiNoWriMo - Day 2

2010-02-02T21:58:00.003-07:00

Today, I managed to gut out about 1600 words by writing in fits and starts all day long. That hits the daily goal and makes up some ground for the deficit I left yesterday. The Aether Age story, now titled Goga's First Law, now stands at 3763 words, and will probably grow by another 1000 to 1500 before the dust settles. I should get it done by the end of the week. At that point, I'd like to hammer out a couple of other shorts, but if I don't get any brilliant ideas, I'll go back to the NaNoWriMo novel.

Day 2 / 1612 words / 2360 total / -631 from target
Day 1 / 757 words / 757 total / -743 from target

//

Looks like the Coyotes beat the Predators 1-0 in a shootout. I saw only about 1/3 of the game, mid second through the third until about 6:30 when I had to go back to the Netflix movie. (Sometimes being married means watching things when you'd rather be watching other things.) Good game, from what I saw. The Yotes were beating the Predators in Shots on Goal by a 2-1 margin. just great defensive play. Wish I could have seen the shootout.

RiNoWriMo - Day 1

2010-02-01T21:53:00.003-07:00

At writers group last night, Lejon Johnson gave my NaNoSorTa a new name. The big deal in November is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Lejon dubbed this February effort RiNoWriMo, Rick Novy Writing Month.

So be it.

In a perfect world, every month is RiNoWriMo. But this is life. And in life, we start to walk, in the immortal words of Kris Kringle, by putting one foot in front of the other. So today, February 1st, I started RiNoWriMo, and did not meet my goal of 1500 words. I did write about half that, putting down 757 words on a short story I am trying to finish for the Aether Age anthology.

For some reason, this story is coming out in first person. I don't think I've sold a first person story to the M-Brane crew, so this will be a little different kind of product than they are used to seeing from me. It will be interesting if it works for them.

RiNoWriMo

Day 1 / 757 words / 757 total / -743 from target

NaNoSorTa

2010-01-31T11:24:00.002-07:00

I need a kick in the pants to get writing again. November's NaNoWriMo was very productive for me. I finished over 52,000 words in 30 days. Writing between 1600 and 2000 words a day (with one massive 4000 word day) felt good. It felt productive, I felt useful, and I like how that felt.

With the start of December, I had intended to take a few days to finish a video project, then go back and finish the novel. The plan went awry when my computer crashed, trapping both the novel and the video project for two weeks. By the time I got the computer back, the video project became urgent. Writing is a momentum thing for me, and the crash brought writing to a screeching halt. I still haven't done more than a few token words in 2010. I started the year with the goal of writing every day. That ended January 4th, and I just remembered about the goal as I write this. Too little, too late.

As I sat outside uprooting rogue bermuda grass from the pool, I hit upon the idea of how to get going again. if NaNoWriMo worked in November, why not do it again? It's worth a try, and because I thought of the idea on January 31, I can make it happen in February.

The rules are different.
1) I can work on any fiction project, not just the novel, as long as I put in the word count.
2) The goal is 42000 words in 28 days, that's 1500 per day vs the 1666 in NaNoWriMo.
3) There is no web site and no slick reward banner.

If anyone else needs a kick in the pants and wants to join me, post a comment or email me using the contact link on my web site www.ricknovy.com and let's be accountable to each other.

It's Official. Matt's job to Lose

2010-01-29T17:00:00.002-07:00

If you follow sports at all, you probably know that Kurt Warner decided to retire. He has a nice message to his fans on his one and only official web site. You can see it here. Right hand side, just below the fold. You can see more on the Cardinals web site.

It's bitter-sweet. When I moved to Arizona, I bled green and gold. It took Kurt Warner to make me care about the Cardinals, a team with a losing tradition as long and solid as the Chicago Cubs, but without being as lovable. But it wasn't just me, nobody in Phoenix cared much about the Cardinals until last season. Despite, an ESPN has put it, the team having a Jeckyll and Hyde personality, bringing back the old nickname of Cardiac Cards, Kurt Warner made the team into a winner. He elevated the play of everyone around him.

I lived in southeastern Wisconsin when Bambi's Bombers took the World Series to 7 games in 1982. I spent a good amount of time in Kansas City when the Royals won it all in 1984. I lived in San Jose during the Joe Montana/Steve Young era 49ers. And now I've lived in the valley when Kurt's Kards went to the Superbowl. Of all that, I have never seen a place so invigorated as the valley became over a sports team in the past two years. We bought Cardinals shirts on clearance for $1 each back in the day. Now, you can't find even knock-offs under $15.

Kurt, thanks for everything you've done for Arizona and for the Cardinals. It's been a heck of a ride and I wish you all the best in the next chapter of your life.

One of the Evils of Life and Changes in Football?

2010-01-29T10:04:00.006-07:00

I think I have all the documents I need to start my taxes. So, here we go again. Time to fire up TurboTax, collect various receipts, print out forms from Scottrade, dig through the medical file to find out how much we spent on precriptions, and so forth.

It's going to be an interesting process this year with all the different situations I find myself in. Unemployment, funeral, odd job income, new business expenses, and business losses.

It's something we all have to deal with, so I best get on with it.

//

Kurt Warner is scheduled to announce his retirement/non-retirement decision in just under three hours. If he decides to stay, it just delays the inevitable transition. If he retires, the Cardinals need to become Matt Leinart's team quickly, and the running game will become a focus for Coach Whis. I'm wearing Cardinal red today (see photo two entries below) to support both Kurt and the team no matter the decision.

The expiration of the agreement between the players and owners will make this an interesting season regardless. My understanding is that if no new agreement is reached, the salary cap goes away for the 2010 season. One of the reasons I have turned away from baseball to football was the long stretch without a labor dispute. I also like the salary cap, and how it seems to have brought a lot of parity to the NFL. With no salary cap, do you see Indianapolis and New Orleans as the top seeds in playoffs, or do the large market teams dominate like they do in baseball?

Remember the days when the Kansas City Royals were a contender? That was back in the mid 1980s. It's a small city market, and they can't compete with George Steinbrenner, who constantly buys pennants. The Yankees are a great organization, but it isn't hard to win that many pennants if you have the cash to hoard all the good players. It takes away from the game.

A lockout of the 2011 football season, which the sportswriters all predict, would probably push me away from football into hockey. That would be a great loss, because I love football.

'Twas an Adventure

2010-01-27T16:35:00.002-07:00

Today I made a foolhardy attempt to fix a leak in the roof. I have a two story house, and the upstairs attic is cramped and dusty. Loose insulation comes to a depth of eight inches minimum, buring the 2x4s and covering the drywall floor. That's right, the drywall is just nailed to the 2x4s and that's my floor in that attic.

The leak was a good ten feet from the access hole, and thus I had to climb up there, remaining on the 2x4s at all times. Falling through the sheetrock would have been catastrophic since the leak is over the stairs going to the first floor. A good 15 foot drop to the landing then a roll down the rest of the stairs.

Needless to say, I used extreme caution up there., moving slowly and deliberately. I don't like going up there and I don't want to do it again. Sitting for 30 minutes in an awkward position trying to coat the plywood of the ceiling with patch tar was, well, let's say it was loads of fun. Stiff muscles and fatigue made the difficulty extra challenging. On top of that, I had no evidence of where the leak exactly was, other than the wet spot in the insulation. I took my best guess and sealed up far more than was probably necessary. I just hope I got the leak.

By the way, WD-40 gets patch tar off your hands.

Meet Up with John Brown and Larry Correia

2010-01-22T16:43:00.005-07:00

I love when writers I know from cyberspace show up in Phoenix and I get to meet them face to face. Two writers I know from Codex showed up during a book tour last November. John Brown I have known electronically for several years. Larry Correia I've known electronically for a few months. I met them on November 17.

That's me on the left in the Cards shirt. John is in the middle, and Larry on the right. I don't think we intentionally stood in height order, but that's how it worked out.

Nice folks. Wish we had a little more time to talk, but they had a whirlwind tour scheduled and I had science homework to help with. I look forward to hanging out at a con one of these days.

Rain? In the Desert?

2010-01-21T06:49:00.002-07:00

The same series of storms that passed through California is in process of making its way through Arizona. We've collected considerable amount of water in the back yard over the past several days. It always accumulates in the low areas because the ground is so hard. It takes a long time for the water to soak into the ground. Some of the computer models show as much as six inches dumping on Phoenix. It seems like s decent storm for anywhere, but to put it into perspective, we only get an average of seven inches of rain a year.

Honorable Mention

2010-01-19T15:44:00.003-07:00

Sometimes a surprise comes in the mail. Today I received my third Writers of the Future certificate for finishing as honorable mention. WOTF is funny that way.

I have placed at Honorable Mention (or Quarter Finalist, as it used to be known) nine times. I have received three certificates. The first one showed up two months after I received the SASE back with the notice of the HM finish. The second time, the notice in the mail stated that I had to REQUEST a certificate. This time, the certificate arrived unexpected with the SASE inside, but no letter at all. I posted a cell phone picture on twitpic (where I often post pictures of noteworthy events and just weird or meaningless tripe on a whim). http://twitpic.com/yuhy0

Consistency has never been one of their stronger suits, though they do a great job keeping the contest alive and humming.

Gotta go find a frame now...

Gearing Up

2010-01-18T11:25:00.003-07:00

I went into last week with three classes to teach at the local community college. By thursday, two had been canceled due to low enrollment, and one had been take by a full timer who lost a class due to low enrollment. Friday I picked up two new classes at a satellite location. It's a little farther from the house, but it's 7 credits total. That should be enough to knock me off unemployment again.

I only have to generate notes for one of the classes this time, as I've taught the other one before. Generating notes is the worst part. Very time consuming.

This afternoon, I plan to get back on the writing horse. I have an Aether Age story to finish, then I want to get cracking on that NaNo novel and finish the thing. There was a nice motivation article in today's business section by Harvey Mackay called Rebound from your Failures by Taking Lessons from Mistakes. Among other influences, this article is motivating me to get writing again after the 6+ week hiatus that started when my hard drive crashed last month. I'd like to get back on the pace I held during NaNoWriMo, or reasonably close to that. It's a good clip that can finish a novel in two months, and it feels good to be that productive.

Of Roasted Cardinal and Mangled Bats

2010-01-16T21:03:00.004-07:00

My son and I participated in an Eagle project for one of the boys in his scout troop this morning. We did trail work on an unlisted trail to repair ATV damage, and also to block an illegal ATV access trail. hard work, very physical, cutting and dragging dead branches around. We also found a wounded bat on the trail and the boys attempted a rescue, taking it to an area where the rangers deal with wounded animals.

We left the house just before 7:00 and got home at about 1:00. that gave enough time to get into the shower then dress for the Cardinal-Saints game.

Other than the touchdown run on the first snap of the game, the Cardinals looked flat. They lost two major defenders early, and Kurt Warner went down after being hit trying to tackle the guy who intercepted his pass. Matt Leinart looked okay through the end of the second quarter, but Neil Rackers missed another field goal--this time short. Rackers never misses short, which tells me that groin injury isn't properly healed and quite likely was aggravated last week. Even punter Ben Graham looked flat, punting uncharacteristic short.

I think Green Bay just wore the Cardinals out. They looked tired,and they played tired.

It was a good run, a better season than last year even if the ride didn't last as long.

Now that football season is over for me (though I'll probably catch a few more games) I'll be turning to hockey until the Olympics, where it will be more hockey and some speed skating, luge, and bobsled.

Jarimath's Fate

2010-01-13T23:22:00.002-07:00

I got the sweetest P.S. in a SFWA-related email today in my capacity as moderator of the Nebula Suggested Reading list.

PS: I loved "Catalyst" -- but I want it to be the beginning of something much longer -- I mean, Jarimath's fate could be a novel in and of itself!

I'll not say who wrote the note because it was sent in private correspondence, but it was a nice compliment to offset other less encouraging news that I won't go into.

Also within the past day or two I learned that I again have a Writers of the Future honorable mention finish. It was a bit discouraging to me until in correspondence with Kevin J. Anderson, I read this:

Congratuations — regardless of what you may think, those things aren’t easy to come by.

I suppose he has more perspective than I do, but it's still a discouraging result when I know so many of the contest winners. Still, I have nine of them, which is why they seem easy to come by to me.

Bash Brothers?

2010-01-12T17:02:00.002-07:00

So, Mark McGwire now admits to what we all already knew. His 70 homeruns were juiced. So, the allegations go, are the 762 hit by Barry Bonds. So let's look at the top spots here.

Career Homers:
Barry Bonds - 762 = Juiced
Hank Aaron - 755 = Legit
Babe Ruth - 714 = Legit

Single Season Homers:
Barry Bonds (2001) - 73 = Juiced
Mark McGwire (1998) - 70 = Juiced
Sammy Sosa (1998) - 66 = Juiced
Mark McGwire (1999) - 65 = Juiced
Sammy Sosa (2001) - 64 = Juiced
Sammy Sosa (1999) - 63 = Juiced
Roger Maris (1961) - 61 = Legit
Babe Ruth (1927) - 60 = Legit
Babe Ruth (1921) - 59 = Legit

So what do you think? The reason homerun numbers went down after Maris was mainly due to improvements in pitching. The split finger fastball and the forkball had a lot to do with it. And then, suddenly, in 1998 not one, but TWO guys broke the record set by Roger Maris in 1961? I smelled a rat back then, and now the last rat has been squirreled out.

This isn't asterisk country, this is shameful. Sorry Sammy, Barry, and Mark. You juice the Babe on steroids and he hits a hundred. The three of you cheated and should be banished from the record books and from the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Aaron and Maris still hold the records as far as I'm concerned.

Now I Know What Color to Wear

2010-01-10T19:59:00.003-07:00

After enduring two weeks of watching my two favorite teams play each other, I can finally get behind the Cardinals 100%. I grew up in Wisconsin and am still a die-hard Packers fan. Still, when you watch the local team week in and week out, hear about them on the news, see all the other people wearing the colors, it's very hard not to root for them. In this case, it's the Cardinals.

When I first moved to the valley, it was very easy to root against the Cardinals. To be blunt, they sucked. And they didn't just start being bad when I moved here, they were bad since the 1970s.

Over the past few years, since the new stadium was built, really, they've been getting better and better. When they started Kurt Warner last year, it was the beginning of something special. Almost winning the Superbowl last year was one heck of a ride for a city who never really had a football team to root for.

The first two times Green Bay played Arizona this year, the games were utterly meaningless. One was pre-season, one was game 16 after the Cardinals had nothing to play for. Today's game was a barnburner. Wow. 96 total points in a 51-45 overtime victory for the Cards on a defensive touchdown. Holy smokes!

It should have been 48-45 in regulation but for Rackers' muffed field goal. A guy who I had been following for two years as one of the best kickers in the NFL, and one of the few kickers whose jersey I would have been willing to wear, almost lost the game for them. When the Packers won the overtime toss, Rackers took his frustration out on the ball, kicking a line-drive touchback.

New Orleans has a high-octane offense too. We might just see another one next week in the Superdome.

I would have been okay with Green Bay winning, though I prefer to see Kurt Warner finish his career with another Superbowl. Aaron Rogers will get his ring. Just not this year.

And I'm still looking for an Aaron Rogers Jersey if anybody knows where any are in the valley. Even if I won't be wearing it until Arizona is done.

Stealing Another Meme - My 2000s

2010-01-05T18:13:00.003-07:00

I'm stealing a meme from Spencer Ellsworth, who has an interesting review of his decade over on his live journal account. Interesting enough that I decided to steal his idea and run with it. My 2000 decade in review.

2000: I'm getting old, it's hard to remember that far back. I started the year with fresh memories of Italy, where I trained with some engineers for the company I started working for in 1999. I changed jobs from product to device engineering. It was a decision based on cross-training and the opportunity presenting itself. In retrospect, it might have been a major mistake but what is done is done.

We experienced for the first time what it's like to have the Phoenix Open in our back yard. Think Superbowl 7 days in a row, progressively worse every day.

We got two dogs. We had no kids in school. Rica's mother, (aka Grandma) had a garden and roses.

2001: The Diamondback played well all season, making it easy to adopt the local team over the previous favorite San Francisco Giants. The company I worked for made the decision that no headcount would be lost, and they remained mostly true to that during the bubble-burst known as the "Tech Wreck." We all feared it, but that company turned out to be a safe harbor in a bad storm.

Audrey started Kindergarten. We enrolled her in a charter school run by Tutor Time. She did well.

The first tower had already been struck when I came downstairs on the morning of September 11th. Having never been to NYC, I didn't realize the magnitude of the hole in the side of the building until I saw the second plane hit. At that point, I made a prediction I wish did not come true, that both towers would collapse, and in the correct order. Unfortunately, I was right.

The Yankees and Diamondbacks played a whale of a World Series, something that the country needed. Textbook says the Yankees should have won, and despite Byung-Hyun Kim trying to give the series to them, the Diamondbacks won in the bottom of the ninth of game 7.

2002: The Tutor Time charter school turned out to be a bait and switch. After the Kindergarten year, they tried to get all the parents to enroll in their new private school. I think they had around 60 kids in the charter school. Only one child was enrolled for the private school. We enrolled Audrey and Reanna in the public schools, while Russell stayed home with Grandma. I honestly can't remember much else about 2002.

2003: All three kids were now in school, and help with homework would become a growing task for me. I think it was in 03 that I started working nights, something that lasted for around a year and a half. It was working, but the company reorganized and reallocated us. I started working in the parametric test area, something closer to where I started, and liked it better.

2004: This is when they did away with the old position and reallocated me to a more technical position working on the Keithley testers. It also marks the year I really consider that I became a writer. That is because I started a novel, Neanderthal Swan Song, and made the decision that I would finish it no-matter-what. And I did, but not in 2004. But I did work on it regularly from October through December. I also made my first fiction sale, to Alien Skin Magazine--a publication that is now on my, to be kind, do not submit list.

2005: At work, I moved out of parametric test and back into Product Engineering. Turns out, I did this three months before the company announced that the work would move offshore. I spent much of the second half of the year looking for something else, and without much success.

This was a huge year for me as a writer. I finished that novel. I met David Gerrold, who has been something of a mentor for me. I attended Orson Scott Card's Literary Boot Camp, where I met Spencer mentioned above, Mary Robinette Kowal, Brad Beaulieu, and a dozen other writers, many of whom I have lost track of. I didn't sell anything, but I wrote a lot. I also joined Codex Writer Group, an online group that has been a great source for networking and I have grown quite fond several people I met through it.

2006: The job situation got a bit hairy. They told us that they would fund our salaries through June. I found another job in May. That job seemed wonderful, though they didn't feed me enough work to keep me busy. how that would change. The company experienced a leveraged buy out a few months after I started. Little did I know how much that would soon change the company culture. But, that's a story for 2007.

Audrey won first place in the Arizona Flute Society Young Artists competition for her age group, tying for first with another fabulous young Arizona flautist.

Three fiction sales happened in 2007, including my first pro sale that would eventually qualify me for associate membership in SFWA. I wrote at my best pace until I finally did NaNoWriMo in 2009.

The Cardinals hired at some point Dennis Green to coach, and despite his antics, he made some excellent player acquisitions that would reap benefits after he left, including a backup quarterback by the name of Kurt Warner. I started paying attention to a team other than Green Bay.

2007: Wow things changed. Without going into any work-related details, I was working on an automotive product with some serious but low PPM problems. I was the guy who absorbed much of the incoming fire, and work on this problem saturated my time for the rest of my tenure at this company.

I rewrote Neanderthal Swan Song, finishing just as the corporate hell was getting started, expanding it from 74,000 words to 114,000 despite dropping a sub-plot. That concluded the bulk of my fiction writing until now, mainly due to stress-related exhaustion. Work in previous years carried the day, as my fiction appeared ten times during the course of the year.

The Cardinals fired Dennis Green and hired Ken Whisenhunt. They went 8-8 and looked to be getting better.

2008: A miserable wretch of a year, where the combination of the leveraged buy-out issues and the product problem combined to be pretty much all-consuming. Quote of the year: "No personal activity on company time. Company time is defined as 2008." I should have known it would be bad when a colleague died of what I will never be convinced was not a work-stress related heart attack during the holidays of 2007, and I learned of it on New Years Eve about an hour before 2008 started.

I wrote some of my worst fiction, much of which has not sold and is trunked. I did manage to appear seven times, but the job situation really set me back about two or three years in my writing career, and I am still struggling to get my output back to what it was in 2006.

In the fall, an economy already in recession took a turn for the worse. The auto industry was hit hard, and even an idiot could see the fallout coming back to the part suppliers. Later, Yertle the Turtle announced a significant reduction in force world-wide. The ax came out of the shed in December to cut the dead wood. A handful from our division were gone and the ax went into the shed for the holidays.

The Cardiac Cardinals were reborn, going 9-7. Playing well, this team could be anybody. Playing less than well, oh boy they stunk. You never knew which team would show up, and we went into the new year expecting a one-and-done from the Cardinals in the playoffs.

2009: But, the Cardinals got hot and finished the season with a heartbreaking loss in the final seconds of Superbowl 43 to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The strong playoff run helped to soften the blow that landed on January 14th around 10:00 am. January 14th is when Yertle the Turtle pulled the ax out of the shed and flailed it around with berserker vicious disregard for who it hit. The group of engineers I belonged to had 16 people when we got to work. At 5:00Pm it had only 8. This was a massive reduction in force so large that those who were let go were probably envied by those left to pick up the pieces. The talent drain was tremendous. Needless to say, I was part of that wave and I spent the rest of the year unemployed or underemployed.

I started my video company, but this Great Recession had nobody buying anything, and the company continues to struggle to find work. I spent August to December teaching in the math department at Paradise Valley Community College, where I taught night classes back in 2000-2003. They were, fortunately, happy to have me back, which provided a needed ego boost.

We also lost Grandma, Rica's mother. That added an unwelcome financial strain to an already strained situation. Her side of the family pitched in, and a lot of little contributions can add up. Although it didn't come close to covering the expenses, it did help get us through those difficult days before I started teaching in the fall.

On the writing front, my fiction appeared a personal record 13 times, including finally my second SFWA-qualifying sale, my first audio fiction appearance, and my first book, "Winter" which is a pairing of a novelette "Winter" with a reprint of the story that was my first SFWA-eligible sale. I also guest-edited issue #12 of M-Brane SF, which was released not only in the usual pdf format, but also as a trade paperback as a collection under the title Ergosphere. I also took the opportunity to keep my word to my niece Hazel Abaya to help her get an opportunity to get her art published. Her colored pencil drawing graces the cover.

It took a very long time to decompress from all the stress of the job I no longer had. I struggled to write through most of the year, only getting back to it in the fall. Some important video work did steal some of the creative juices. Still, the habit of not writing was so hard to break that it took NaNoWriMo to get me going again. The challenge is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I did it in 29.

My intention after finishing NaNo was to take a break to complete a video project for a couple days, then go back after the novel at the same pace, finishing it by the end of the year. Then my hard drive crashed and I couldn't do either.

I did manage to get the computer back in time to barely make the deadline on the video project, and the client was very pleased with it, but I completely lost the NaNo momentum. I expect to get back on that novel before the end of January 2010.

And the Cardiac Cardinal are back for more, wining the NFC West and ushering in a new decade with another hold-your-breath which-team-will-show-up post-season on deck.

2009 was a tough year in many respects, but in a lot of ways, it was a better year than 2008. Actually, the whole decade was rough, though it had some stellar moments too. It would be nice if this upcoming decade had more of the stellar than of the rough, but we have to play the hand we're dealt. Right now, I still have cards dealt the past few years in my hand. Maybe I'll bluff, because I refuse to fold.

Cards Release Nugent

2010-01-03T09:11:00.002-07:00

Color me a little disappointed that the Cardinals released kicker Mike Nugent outright. I would have preferred to see him signed to the practice squad. Neil Rackers is the Cardinals normal kicker, and a damn good one. Still, with Rackers' injury, Mike Nugent had a 100% success rate as a stand-in. He made every field goal he was asked to kick. He didn't screw up any kickoffs either.

Of course, Nugent went in knowing that he would only be a round for a few weeks, but still, a decent kicker is hard to find, and with Rackers not at 100%, it would be good to have Nugent on the roster for the playoffs.

Not completely understanding Whisenhunt's rationale here.

First Lines of 2009

2010-01-02T22:18:00.003-07:00

One of my favorite fiction writing people, Mary Robinette Kowal, has a fun meme on her blog called First Lines. You can see all the first lines of the first blog entries from her blog in 2009 here.

Here are mine. (Mary's are, as always, more interesting.)

January: Despite their father growing up in Wisconsin, my three kids (11,12,13) had never seen snow until this past Monday.

February: This year, the TPC of Scottsdale built the first fully-enclosed stadium around the infamous 16th hole for the FBR Open (read Phoenix Open).

March: If you have been following this blog, you know that I was a victim of Reduction in Force back in January.

April: This is a bonus edition of the Novy Mirror. (Note: This entry was a cross-post from blip.tv. The first line I wrote myself to the blog in April was this: Okay. I see blip.tv did, indeed, crosspost to my blog.)

May: A long time ago, David Gerrold wrote an episode for Star Trek-The Next Generation.

June: Just found out that my novelette, "Winter," slated to be released with a reprint of my short story "The Adjoa Gambit" was pushed back again.

July: So far, Westercon has been a blast.

August: Michelle M. Welch is a Phoenix area writer who has written several novels.

September: Okay, so shoot me because it's been a week since I posted.

October: Cool video of the Lunar Impact mission.

November: The Theme and Variation audio anthology went live last week.

December: Wow, suddenly a month goes by and I haven't posted.

Driving Lesson: Freeway On Ramps

2010-01-02T19:12:00.003-07:00

I hate when I have to take matters into my own hands, but please people, pay attention. (Drivers of very massive vehicles are exempt from this rant--it's a detail of classical physics.)

Freeway on-ramps are constructed for the express purpose of entering freeways. This means you must use the ramp to accelerate until you match the speed of the vehicles already on the freeway.

See, if you decide to travel 40 MPH up a ramp when the traffic on the freeway is traveling 65 MPH, there is a 25 MPH difference. In order to move left onto the freeway, because you are going 40 MPH, you must CUT SOMEBODY OFF, forcing them to slam on the brakes, or force them to move left if they can, or they can simply HIT YOU.

Furthermore, if I am behind you when you decide to travel 40 MPH on the ramp, I will also be forced to go 40 MPH, and must then cut somebody off to get on the freeway because you are preventing me from entering the freeway correctly.

It is easier to get on the freeway if you match speed with the traffic thereon. If you end up with a car next to you, it is simple enough to speed up or slow down to as the situation dictates, in order to move left into an opening. If, however, you are going much slower than the cars on the freeway, you can only hope I'm not killed.

Got it?

Year in Review

2009-12-31T22:46:00.004-07:00

So what did I accomplish this year? It sure feels like it wasn't very much, but here are some milestones.

1. Thirteen short fiction works were published in some form during 2009.
2. My first stand-alone book, "Winter," was published by Sam's Dot Publishing, featuring my novelette Winter and a reprint of the IGMS story The Adjoa Gambit.
3. I guest-edited M-Brane SF issue #12, which was released as a collection called Ergospehere in trade paperback
4. I sold my second SFWA-qualifying story, Catalyst, to Flash Fiction Online.
5. I won NaNoWriMo on my first attempt, completing 52,000 words in 30 days.
6. I had my first audio fiction publication, Black Orchid.
7. I learned that Thrice Around the Moon and then Home, James will be included in Wondrous Web Worlds Volume 9.
8. I moderated my first (second, and third) panels at FiestaCon this past summer.
9. I completed several video projects.

So overall, I suppose it isn't a bad year, even if much of the actual writing did not occur in 2009.

I wonder what 2010 will bring? I won't have to wait long to see. It's 10:58PM on New Years Eve...

Still Staggering

2009-12-29T23:48:00.002-07:00

I'm still on the mend from the cold I inherited. Nose is crunchy from all the runny nose activity but it's healing. I'm using the holidays to catch up on all the things that get lost in the shuffle during busy periods, things like balancing the checkbook. As the one year anniversary of the layoff looms in the not-too-distant future, I'll be managing the finances a lot more closely.

On the brighter side, Wisconsin went to Florida to play the Miami Hurricanes and basically had their way with them. Miami looked good on their first possession, but the cold *giggle* weather got to them. For Wisconsin, it felt like spring, and their offense played well passing and running the ball.

Staggering Back to Life

2009-12-28T09:44:00.004-07:00

Over the past several days, I have been "enjoying" the cold my daughters brought home from school and gave me for Christmas. It's been a nasty headcold that I am now on the recovery end of. I feel pretty fortunate that it hasn't developed into a sinus infection (yet).

On the writing front, nothing much has happened. The loss of the computer derailed my momentum from NaNoWriMo, and now the whole family is home all day for the holidays, making it more difficult to slip away and spend quality time with a story. I have one partial that I have to finish within the next month, due for the M-Brane SF Aether Age anthology. Once I finish that, I want to finish the NaNo novel and get back on track. That should be easier as I get over this cold and stop feeling like I want to melt into the floor, with the cold weather the only thing preventing it.

//

The Cardinals got their tenth win yesterday, the first time in something like 35 years. they won, and the media is all over how they looked back in sync and played well. I disagree. The passing game looked a bit better, but the play was still sloppy. They should have wiped the mat with the Rams the way Green Bay did with Seattle. The Rams were still in the game until deep into the 4th quarter. They contained Beanie Wells, who also nearly fumbled once. Hightower looked like the ineffective running back from a few years ago, and there are very few passing plays with yards after the catch. That last item has been an issue all season.

The Cardinals still have an outside shot at the first round bye, but I doubt that we'll see the Bears beat the Vikings tonight. A Vikings loss still means the Cardinals need both the Eagles and the Vikings to lose in week 17. That combination is about as likely as a pool umbrella staying put in a dust storm.

So, we'll know by tomorrow, but I suspect we'll not see a lot of Warner or Rodgers when the Packers come to town to play the Cardinals. And probably, the Packers will just stay in town after that game since they'll likely be playing the Cardinals in round one of the playoffs.

DVD Project Done

2009-12-20T21:43:00.004-07:00

Last post was thursday not because I forgot to post, but because I have been very busy with playing catch-up after getting back my computer. I was busy finishing a video called Edel's Choice for my client, Carrick Ministries, and trying to meet their deadline despite the computer problems. I made it, just barely.

It was a tough job to work on because of the extremely emotional content of the video. A young woman who was drugged and raped goes public, giving her full story from the night it happened through the anguish she suffered, and finally to the birth of the child that resulted and her decision to keep the baby.

Obviously the clients have a pro-life message in the video. That is entirely the reason they wanted to make the video. But whatever your own opinion on the pro-choice / pro-life debate happens to be, you can't help but be touched by Edel's story.

If you want learn more about this young woman, a local news station followed her through much of the pregnancy and beyond. The video below is from that television station's news story, and it runs about five minutes. It's worth watching, if for no other reason than to appreciate the impact that rape can have on a woman's life.

Coming Back to Life

2009-12-17T16:55:00.003-07:00

Due to the fact that I have lost 16 days I could have used to complete a video project, I spent the entire day today trying to get the job done. I am pretty much finished with the linear part. All that remains is to add the menu and associated tagging, then cut the proof disk. The project is a very emotional one for the client, and I'll be happy to finally call it a wrap.

My plans for the rest of the year, once that video work is done, is to add a crossword puzzle page to my web site. I have several puzzles that for one or more reasons can't be sold. I might as well let people enjoy them rather than let them collect digital dust on my hard drive. These won't be lame crossword puzzles like your third grade teacher made. I make real daily-sized crosswords that follow the guidelines for publication in the New York Times, the LA Times, and so forth. If people find them interesting, I'll try to post new ones regularly.

I also need to get back on the writing horse. I intended to take a day or two break from the novel to finish the above-mentioned video project. I lost both when the computer went down. Now the momentum is lost, too. Sigh.

The other main project will be painting some of the interior walls of the house.

Breaking News...

2009-12-16T22:00:00.003-07:00

The computer is home. There was some difficulty with the new video card, but I opened the box and re-seated it, then everything worked just fine. I have a lot of software to reinstall, and that's going to be some work. (I'm still working on the laptop for the time being.) The good news is that my NaNoWriMo novel survived. Backing it up was the very first thing I did. The report says they found 118 viruses on the computer. I wonder why Norton never found any of those, or was my crossword puzzle construction software considered a virus? Maybe firefox was a virus, too. At any rate, it's good to have it home again. I have a video project that is nearly late now, that will be my priority thursday.

Entropy Central Held Hostage: Day 16

2009-12-16T06:46:00.002-07:00

Still no word on the status of the computer. I did not hear from Data Doctors at all yesterday. There are some impending deadlines that will be missed if I don't have the machine back today or tomorrow. Even with it back today, the video deadline will be very tough to make.

In other problems, the pool pump backwash valve manifold has a crack, and that needs immediate replacement. The service guy is coming this afternoon a few hours after I finish giving my last final (Brief Calculus, let the bleeding begin). They charge an obscene amount, something like 60 bucks for the first half hour and 30 every 15 minutes afterwards. Maybe I should go into business fixing pool pumps.

Russell is on the bus heading for a Tombstone, AZ. The 7th grade social studies students get a trip there every year. It's about a 3 hour trip each way, so they had to be on the bus by 5:15 this morning. That meant getting up about 3 hours ago. The sun is only now starting to rise.

Entropy Central Held Hostage: Day 15

2009-12-15T09:59:00.002-07:00

Day 15 of the computer crisis. Still running on the old laptop.

I stopped by the place yesterday because I was driving past, and they were struggling with the operating system. Needed the key, they said, and the sticker isn't on the computer side panel. Well, of course not. I built the system myself and I put the sticker on the back. He didn't look there.

He got the OS validated and I sit here waiting to hear on the status again. Waiting. Waiting.

In other news, the Cardinals really beat themselves up last night. Monday Night Football has never been very kind to the Cards, and this week was no exception. 7 turn-overs. It's a testament to the team that they were only beaten by 15 points. Imagine the score if they had turned the ball over 7 times against the Vikings.

Hopefully, they got it all out of their systems and can make Detroit pay. Of course, everyone makes Detroit pay... The Larry Fitzgerald injury was the most frightening part of the game. Thankfully, he played in the 4th quarter. Of more concern is the injury to Neil Rackers. He is one of the best kickers in the NFL and without him, the Cardinals are going to be hurting bad.

Ugly ugly loss.

Entropy Central Held Hostage: Day 13

2009-12-13T07:54:00.001-07:00

Day 13 without the desktop computer. Data Doctors is closed on Sundays, of course, but then I'm usually distracted by football on sundays. Packers have the early game and Cardinals have the Monday night game. Russell's Chargers are on the afternoon game, but he's camping right now.

Anyway, there has been a lot of noise lately on whether semi-pro magazines are worthwhile for new writers to be published in. The issue started when SF writer John Scalzi hammered on a publisher called Black Matrix.

Scalzi has some salient points, which I won't rehash here. That's been done to death elsewhere on the blogosphere. That said, his point about aiming high is truly good advice. Yes, my first two published pieces of fiction were to a 4TL (For-The-Love) market. That happened due to a combination of ignorance and inexperience.

The first story I ever sold was to a small online market, and the one after that, too. Slowly I learned to start submitting to the big markets first, but it was a difficult lesson. With big markets often come form rejections. It's one of the phases of growth as a writer. But then, suddenly I was accepted at a major market, Intergalactic Medicine Show. And you know what? That was the very first market I sent that story to.

What a confidence builder. Since that sale, which pretty much solidified my confidence, I wrote a lot of stories, and I sent those stories to a lot of markets. Most of them drifted from the top down to the market where they finally sold.

The interesting thing is that I both agree and disagree with Scalzi. Some of the stories I've sold were to minor markets, but they were markets I sent the story to on purpose. Sometimes, it's because I have a friend who is the editor and I send a story to the market before it really should go there to give the friend some decent material. And it doesn't always sell there. Other times, I hear of a new market and I like to help bring fledgling markets into being. I don't always sell there either.

I don't mind the semi-pro zines because I have a lot of older material that has already seen the appropriate pro markets and most of these are such that I don't really want to revisit the story. And that's okay. I have made new friends and gained some followers with my semi-pro sales. M-Brane SF in particular has been a very fruitful relationship that started when my story "Road Rage" appeared in issue #1. M-Brane SF was the 24th market I sent this story, starting with F&SF, Analog, Asimov's and Jim Baen's Universe.

I got a lot of feedback over the course of those 24 submissions, much of it negative. Yet, I persevered because I disagreed with the comments, and because I wrote the story, I get to be the one who says the story is right. Christopher Fletcher agreed with me about the story and bought it. He also bought several more, and I got the chance to edit next month's issue for him. Dividends paid? I'm satisfied with the results.

With all that said, there does come a certain level where I won't submit a story anymore. Instead, I put the story away and wait for a new opportunity. That's especially true of my newer work. But then, we all learn as we go. I feel my unpublished work is more valuable today because of the track record I have built up. Regular sales do say something about consistency. Somebody was willing to pay for that work and for me, at least, it makes me aim for the next level.

And yes, sometimes the temptation is great, the temptation of sending a story to a sure thing market. But that's the hardest part of getting better, leaving your comfort zone. There are certain markets that for me are virtually can't miss. That doesn't make submitting there wrong, it just makes submitting there first wrong. Until that can't miss market becomes one of the big three, there is always something higher to shoot for. Aiming low is just cheating yourself. Aiming high and hitting low is nothing to be ashamed of, as long as you aim high with next one, too.

Entropy Central Held Hostage: Day 12

2009-12-12T08:53:00.002-07:00

Went over to Fry's Electronics last night and picked up a new video card, an GE Force 9600 GSO. I took the opportunity to double the RAM up to 1 gig, so it shouldn't be all bad. XMX should be sending me a replacement for the 9500 that burned up. Not sure what I will do with it yet.

Finally cleaned all the leaves from Monday's story out of the pool pump. But, the backwash valve was tight and extremely difficult to move. I removed it to apply some silicone grease and discovered a damaged o-ring. I don't like to make due with o-rings. Remember, bad o-rings killed the Space Shuttle Challenger.

I dropped the boy off for his scout camping trip earlier this morning, and now I'm off to Corson's Pool Supply. They have an ugly store full of components and parts, not like Leslies that is prettied up with pool toys and other crap. Corson's may not look pretty, but they carry pretty much EVERYTHING and I have never had to order anything, it's always in stock. It's worth the trip, een if it's good 30-mile round trip. I shall buy more than one o-ring.

Then, it's off to give the new video card to the tech.

I did manage to put in 250 words toward a new short story for M-Brane SF's Aether Age anthology project. More about that another time.

Still Limping

2009-12-11T21:49:00.003-07:00

Entropy Central Held Hostage: Day 11.

Desktop PC still at the shop. found traces of viruses on the bootable drive, but I do scan regularly and with the situation of how I experienced the crash, I think a virus is not likely the cause. More likely the boot sector was corrupted by the abnormal shut down.

Data Doctors has been charged with the recovery task, something I'm starting to wish I had just taken on my self to do. Got a call from them this afternoon. My video card, which was working just fine before the crash, apparently was smoking when they tried to start up the system. It does look like some serious electrical overstress on the package of one of the power MOSFETs resident on the board. Having worked in the industry, I can recognize some of these things. The question I can't answer is how it happened. The component is in the middle of the board and it would have needed some serious current to damage the package and not just the silicon inside.

In any event, now I have some new questions. Did the video card cause the whole flap? Did the people supposedly fixing the problem damage the board? I have no reason to believe that, but there is always that doubt.

I did buy a new 500 gig hard drive to transfer the contents of the old one with bad sectors. The majority of my data should be salvaged. And, the good news is that I got some of my more urgent files off the image--grades for the classes I'm teaching, my web site offline directory, my Cactus Wren contracts, and other assorted items. The one thing I didn't find yet was my shared drive which held my NaNoWriMo novel's 5200 words, my customized David Gerrold spreadsheet, and the most up-to-date copy of my short ficiton tracking spreadsheet. Don't leave anything in a shared folder. Share the whole hard drive so you can see where your files live.

Getting back to viruses, I exchanged some emails with Jerry Pournelle, who is always up to date on all the PC goings on. He used to write a column in Byte magazine back in the day. Anyway, one perk of belonging to SFWA and hanging out in the lounge on sff.net is that a guy like that might actually recognize my name. Jerry and I have had occasional discussions on sff.net, including one on scouting.

I asked Jerry for his recommendation and he says that anymore, he only uses Microsoft Security Essentials. Which, I should point out, is free so long as you own a legitimate copy of Windows. Since I am very unhapy with Norton and with McAfee, I decided to give MSE a shot. So far so good. Cleaned 3 trojans off the computer the kids use attached to some of my daughter's mp3 music files.

Limping Along

2009-12-06T09:13:00.003-07:00

The perils of not backing up are rearing their ugly head. My main computer crashed on tuesday while I was working some video. It left the computer utterly unbootable.

Last update, the computer was at Data Doctors having the 500Gig hard drive imaged. They report there are numerous bad sectors on that drive. That data is the utmost importance, holding family photos, all my video, and other files that are too large to backup to anything but another hard drive. It's something that I had been intending to do, but never got around to doing while I'm out of full time work.

Also on that disk is all my writing, most of which is backed up on a flash drive and several iterations of CD-ROM disks. The main file that isn't backed up turns out to be the 52,000 words of my NaNoWriMo novel. If that file is lost, I doubt I'll ever return to the novel because I don't know if I'm jazzed enough about the story to start from scratch. There are other novels I prefer to write instead. If the data is still there, I'll probably finish the novel then set it aside for a while before editing and trying to sell it.

Right now, I'm limping along on my 5-year-old laptop computer and recovering some other files that were backed up by virtue of the sent folder in gmail, including my resume and a couple of crossword puzzle submissions to the LA Times.

So, while I'm thinking about it, what are my fiction plans for the upcoming year? As mentioned, assuming my NaNoWriMo novel partial survives the computer crash, I will finish that. There is the M-Brane SF Aether Age anthology, which I'd like to be in, and I suspect Christopher Fletcher would like to have something from me included. I want to write four short stories in 2010, and want to either win Writers of the Future, or disqualify myself with sales to pro markets. Either outcome will elevate my SFWA membership from associate to active. I'm one sale short of that right now. After that, I want to go back and finish Rigel Kentaurus, which I've been working toward finishing on and off for about 3 years.

Anyway, if I can recover the data I need from the disk image tomorrow, I will fell much better about everything, even if it means I lost all my NovyMirror masters. The video I'm working on for somebody else still has the masters on the camera. Starting from a frest OS and software install would not be the worst thing in the world since I intend to stay with XP until I buy a new laptop computer. But, I suspect I will buy several hard drives, including a large external drive for major backups.

M-Brane SF #12 aka Ergosphere

2009-12-02T15:29:00.004-07:00

As announced several months ago, I guest edited issue #12 of M-Brane SF. Christopher Fletcher has announced the table of contents and produced a cover image. He also announced that in addition to the usual pdf version of the magazine, he is issuing the collection of stories under the name Ergosphere as a print-on-demand trade paperback.

And here is the lineup of writers appearing in this issue:

Pretty Maids All in a Row Caren Gussoff
A Single Shot Lawrence M. Schoen
Hard for Us Michelle M. Welch
The Mushroom King Michael Canfield
Humans in the Zoo Paul Williams
Becoming Connie Thea Hucheson
After Babel Joe Pitkin
Generation Cleansing Michael Andre-Driussi
The Secret Names of Buildings Maura McHugh
Havana Augmented Tim Maughan

These are some very good stories, and I had a difficult time selecting the one to lead the collection. I ended up selecting Caren's story because hers would match the style of the artist best. The artist, by the way, is my niece, Hazel Abaya. She is a manga-influenced pencil artist, and this is her first published piece of art. Anyone interested in commissioning her for zine art can contact her through me until she gets her own web site.

I Has Been So Negligent

2009-12-01T21:58:00.005-07:00

Wow, suddenly a month goes by and I haven't posted. It's just like the old days when I was working for Yertle the Turtle.

Gosh, we have some news now. November was National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo. I wrote 52,000 words in November, which is about 60% of the novel. That makes me a NaNoWriMo Winner! (Cue the Dixieyland band.)

That's probably a good chunk of the reason for missing a month's worth of blog entries.

Well, so here's some good news. My first SFWA eligible sale in a long time went live today. The story is called "Catalyst" and can be seen here, in the online zine "Flash Fiction Online."

So that's the good news. The bad news is that my main computer, the server that ties all the wireless network together and also holds most of my work, died today while I was working on a video project for somebody. Timing was bad. My writing is all backed up...all but the NaNoWriMo novel, of course. The video is backed up on the camera, but in raw form. I need the cpu power of the desktop computer to be able to process it.

I do keep all my data on a slave hard drive so it's completely independent of the boot drive. I did that intentionally to to prevent a total catastrophe in case something like this happened. That strategy saved my data once already, about five years ago. The problem smells like something to do with the boot sector because the computer is in an infinite reboot loop. It won't even boot from the operating system CD.

I took the computer to Data Doctors this afternoon. They should be able to tell me what the smeg is going on. Hopefully it's something easily fixed.

Black Orchid

2009-11-04T16:21:00.001-07:00

The Theme and Variation audio anthology went live last week. My story went live today. You can hear it here.

Theme and Variation

2009-10-16T20:52:00.003-07:00

Here is the cover art for the Theme and Variation music-themed audio anthology. It contains my story Black Orchid. You can also listen to the promo, and hear the theme music composed and performed by Michelle M. Welch and Jack Mangan.

Baby Picture

2009-10-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

Aren't they adorable? Baby rye grass shoots. Aw!

Signing

2009-10-10T21:58:00.003-07:00

Here is a picture of me at Dog-Eared Pages book store in north Phoenix today. They held a local author signing and here I am sitting in front of a rack of Romance novels signing my science fiction.

Novy MIRror #8

2009-10-10T17:45:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

Interview with Dani and Eytan Kollin, authors of "The Unincorporated Man."

Overseeding 2009

2009-10-09T12:20:00.006-07:00

One of the tasks I have to do because I live in the desert is prepare the lawn for winter. We use Bermuda grass here in the summer because not many other grasses can handle the extreme heat with 4 months above 100 degrees, and as many as 15 days over 110 degrees (Fahrenheit).

Unfortunately, the Bermuda grass goes dormant when it gets (relatively) cold and it stays brown all winter. HOA obligates me to over-seed with rye grass every October. There is roughly a two week window to get the seeds planted after the last 100 degree day and have new grass by Halloween.

The first step is to scalp the lawn, meaning to mow it as close to the ground as possible. It helps if you stop watering the Bermuda grass a week or two ahead of time.

This year I ran over a sprinkler head and ruined it. That isn't normally one of the steps in over-seeding. In fact, when I mowed the first loop around the edge of the lawn I was wise enough to go around it. When I came back for the rest of the lawn, I was not. Thus, I have an additional job this year--replace sprinkler head.

This is what the lawn looks like scalped.

The old sprinkler head has to come out. Fortunately, I happened to have a replacement in the shed. Unfortunately, it did not have a nozzle and I am sans vehicle because it is in the shop for a brake job. Details.

Sprinkler head replaced, it's time to finish the over-seeding job. There are four items I put on the lawn this year. First, I sprinkled some Bermuda grass seeds where I had some troublesome bald patches this past summer. From past seeding jobs, I am confident it will germinate in the spring. Next, I sprinkle Ammonium Sulfate fertilizer (21-0-0) on the lawn. Finally, the rye grass seed goes down. All my seed this year is leftovers from previous years. The Home Depot and Lowes have guys from the seed companies come in to advise you. They'll tell you the seed from last year is not good. Horse-hockey. The newest bag of seed I'm using this year is a year old. Others are even older.

The green stuff is Bermuda seed. It's about the size of a poppy seed. Tiny. The white stuff is the fertilizer. You can't see the rye grass seed, it looks like you would expect grass seed to look like.

Finally, the entire lawn must be covered in steer manure. It helps to fertilize the lawn. It helps to keep the seeds wet. Most importantly, it covers the seeds so small aviators do not eat them. It also stinks when wet, which amuses the neighbors. But it's under a buck a bag. I have 14 cubic feet for my lawn.

Once the BS is spread around the lawn, you are ready for water.

And we're watering...we're watering. This is what my sprinkler head spray pattern looks like without a nozzle. But, the lawn has to be wet. I'll have a nozzle on by this evening. Once I have my truck back and can get to the store.

In two weeks I should have a lot of little tiny grass sprouts.

Lunar Impact

2009-10-09T08:37:00.001-07:00

Cool video of the Lunar Impact mission.

Halloween Story

2009-09-29T18:48:00.000-07:00

Every year, Codex Writers Group has a Halloween contest where all the participants give a story seed to another participant, then everyone goes off and writes a story based on the seed. I finished mine today with 2--count 'em--two days to spare.

The contest voting will start in a couple of days. Until the results are in, the title and story seed are top secret. Details when allowed.

I Think Something is Wrong With Me

2009-09-22T19:51:00.002-07:00

The boy came into the home office earlier today asking for help finding a scientist to write a report on for science class.

Dad: What scientists do you know?
Lad: Albert Einstein.
Dad: Everybody's going to do Einstein. Why not pick somebody else?
Lad: Like Newton?
Dad: You could do Newton, but he's pretty common also.
Lad: I don't know any others.

I reached back into my physics days. Everything is named after somebody. First one to pop into my head was Faraday.

Dad: What about Michael Faraday?
Lad: Who's that?
Dad: Well, he studied magnetic fields.
Lad: Okay, I'll do Faraday.
Dad: Why don't we look at a few more then if you still want to do Faraday, you can.
Lad: Okay.

So I pulled up a few more names.

Dad: Enrico Fermi was a particle physicist.
Lad: Maybe. Who is the guy who invented the atomic bomb?
Dad: Robert Oppenheimer?
Lad: Yeah, he has a cool name.
Dad: He didn't invent the atomic bomb, he lead the project. The Manhattan Project.
Lad: What's that?
Dad: The project to build the atomic bomb.
Lad: Okay, I'll do him.
Dad: Or you could pick Richard Feynman. He also worked on the Manhattan Project and he's an interesting guy, too.
Lad: Okay, I'll pick one of those two guys. Mom said if I want to go swimming I have to go now.

I decided to pull a few more names while he was in the pool. Last weekend I bought a used copy of Asimov's Understanding Physics (three volumes in one book version) because I could use a refresher course. I know enough to understand what is obsolete, so why not? anyway, I started looking through the index and found all these names that brought back memories.

Max Planck, Neils Bohr, James Clerk Maxwell, Louis Pasteur, Linus Pauling, Henry Cavendish, Paul Dirac, Werner Heisenberg.

He came back inside and I told him a little about them. I performed the Cavendish experiment as a senior (an exercise in patience). I told him I met Werner Heisenberg's son Jochen Heisenberg, a very amicable man with some incredible stories about hiding out in the German Alps during World War Two.

The boy finally settled on Louis Pasteur, but the digging back through all those names started me remembering all kinds of memories and missing the old physics days. I actually miss h-bar.

I miss solving boundary value problems with Bessel Functions. I miss Taylor series expansions. I miss the dirac delta function. I miss Maxwell's equations.

What is wrong with me?

Theme and Variations Anthology

2009-09-19T15:39:00.001-07:00

Michelle M. Welch, who is editing a music-themed spec fic audio anthology released the list of contributing authors early last week. I will be joined in this endeavor by:

Keyan Bowes
Ernest Hogan
Elaine Isaak
Lejon A. Johnson
Jack Mangan
Lon Prater
Caroline Rhodes
Michelle M. Welch

Of this list, I have only previously shared a table of contents with Jack Mangan. That would have been in the oddly numbered issue 0x09 of Neometropolis back in June of 2006. That's way at the bottom of my bibliography, for anyone keeping score at home.

It is an exciting table of contents because I am familiar with the work of every single contributor and am thrilled to be sharing a piece of the project with each of them.

M-Brane #12 Update

2009-09-18T21:27:00.003-07:00

My guest-editing experience for M-Brane SF has moved into a new phase. I have all but one story decided upon and the lineup for the issue is taking shape. It has been an interesting experience to be sure. I still need to provide Christopher Fletcher with introductions to each story, as well as an editorial. (I'm not sure if Christopher will also do an editorial.)

There are some very fine stories in the lineup. I had a lot of trouble deciding which story should lead. the story I originally wanted to open the issue with ran into some problems. The author apparently misread or didn't read my email and thought it was rejected. The author subsequently sold the story elsewhere, so I lost that one, and it is a shame because it was excellent. I had about 5 other stories that I would feel comfortable leading with. One of those was a novelette, which I think is too long for an opening, so I will be putting that one in the other power position, the closing story.

Ultimately, that still left me with four stories I could use to open, and none of them really had quite the impact as the story I lost. I finally did make a choice. I don't know if Christopher wants me spilling the beans on this yet, but it looks like we'll have commissioned cover art. Because I know the artist's style, I selected the story that best fit the style of the artist. That's all I will say right now because I have no idea whether the business end of the story in question is ironed out (read: contract signed).

Still, this is shaping up to be one issue packed with some really interesting stories.

September 11

2009-09-11T06:47:00.005-07:00

It's hard to believe that 8 years have already passed since that day I came down from the bedroom to see on the television smoke billowing out of a hole in the side of one tower of the World Trade Center. We all know what happened next.

A month after the attacks, it was announced that Al Qaida was responsible and they were being sheltered in Afghanistan by the Taliban. That discovery put NATO to the test. I doubt anybody in Europe expected the treaty to go into effect because the U.S. was attacked. After all, NATO was formed to protect Europeans from other Europeans using the U.S. as the muscle.

Our NATO allies went into Afghanistan reluctantly, and some are still there with us. What is upsetting to me is that all through Bush's administration, all the noise from the anti-war crowd was centered on Iraq. Nobody had any beef with the American military operating in Afghanistan. After all, Al Qaida attacked us, and their Taliban allies provided a home base.

Fast forward to the present. The Iraq war is winding down. The Iraqi government is more and more able to handle their own affairs. All the while, Afghanistan was placed on the back burner. The commanders in that theatre struggled to do the job with less than adequate manpower. The Europeans only had (and still have) a token presence--just enough to say they are abiding by the NATO treaty, but it isn't enough.

With Iraq winding down, we should have the manpower to finish the job in Afghanistan. After all, in the War on Terror, Afghanistan is a must-win. Osama bin Laden is still there. Pakistan is unstable and has nukes that could be turned on our troops, our navy, or our nearby allies.

In 2009, after 8 years of silence, the anti-war crowd suddenly wants us out of Afghanistan? It's an inconceivable idea to me. We have been undersupplying our forces in the more important conflict for 8 years, just enough to hold the campaign to a stalemate. Now that the resources are being freed up, these people want to withdraw completely.

Let me remind you of the situation in Afghanistan before the U.S. arrived. Taliban destroyed ancient giant Bhudist statues, archeological artifacts, because they were not Islamic. The Taliban gave Al Qaida a country in which to operate openly and freely. Women were treated worse than dogs. People were maimed and killed for not practicing an extreme and distorted version of Islam.

If the U.S. pulls out now, things will not go back to the way they were in 2001. It will be far worse. The Taliban will take back the country, and probably take a good chunk of Pakistan with it. Al Qaida will have their base of operations back. Both the Taliban and Al Qaida have more motivation than ever to attack The United States on American soil.

Remember September 11, 2001. Remember watching all those innocent Americans and foreign expat civilians DIE that morning.

Pulling the military out of Afghanistan right now is absolutely stupid. After all, why not sacrifice of a few million civilians in a nuclear blast when it would save a few thousand soldiers from dying in an attempt to prevent it.

Audrey on Saturday

2009-09-05T14:35:00.001-07:00

Okay, so shoot me because it's been a week since I posted. this post is about my eldest daughter, Audrey. Seems she wanted to go the high school football game last night and intended to use oil-based acrylic paint on her face. Fortunately, Reanna (who owns the paint) caught her.

This morning, Audrey had her first cross country meet for the high school. Three miles in 26 minutes, which isn't varsity time but not bad for a freshman. she finished in the main population of the open heat. Fortunately, the rain from the remnants of hurricane Jimena missed her race and fell on the other races that started later.

I, of course, had to get up at 4:30 to get her out of bed and in the car. That would have been fine but I also had to get up at 3:00 to deal with a sick dog. I don't know how long I will stay awake.

Editing Observations

2009-08-30T19:06:00.005-07:00

As regular "Frothing at the Mouth" readers know, I have been reading submissions for M-Brane SF magazine as guest editor for issue #12. It has been an interesting experience since until now, I have never slushed. While I haven't received any truly atrocious material like I hoped to read, I have received quite a bit of not-ready-for-prime-time stories.

Now, bear in mind that I am electronically networked to a lot of SF writers, I suspect the material coming in is a little bit more competitive than than what Christopher normally sees. That said, the story I expect will either lead or close the issue is from a writer I had never heard of before. I rejected five stories that I sent back to Chris for consideration in a future issue. In those cases, generally the main problem with the story was that it just didn't resonate with me the way others did. They were perfectly good stories and probably will appear somewhere with minimal to no revision.

As for the rest, the rejects fell into three broad categories.
1) I was not hooked--often because the writer started the story with an info-dump.
2) The prose was sloppy. Not wrong spelling or poor grammar, simply not the best story-telling technique on the microscopic level: adverbs, said-bookisms, and so forth.
3) Nothing of consequence really happened.

For case 1, not hooked, I pretty much stopped reading when the story lost my interest. there isn't much point on spending time with a story after I have decided I don't want it for the issue.

For case 2, sometimes the story pulled me through much farther than a case 1. With the right story, I might still consider it with some rewrites. At this late stage, the competition for a slot is stiff enough that I can fill the issue without having to do rewrite requests.

For case 3, I suspect the writers are still pretty new at this game and not enough of the story inside the writer's head is getting out.

All of a Sudden

2009-08-25T12:22:00.002-07:00

So, yesterday I'm sitting in this very chair working on a short story when the phone rang. It was 9:00am. PVCC wanted to know if I could take on another two classes, the first of which started at 10:30. I had to drop everything and get ready to leave the house. The bonus work is welcome.

Today, had some discussion about a video project, so that front seems to be moving out of neutral as well. All I need now is for a publisher to demand I sell them the rights to my novel and life would be very sweet indeed.

Novy MIRror Ep 7

2009-08-22T12:30:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

Interview with David Lee Summers, professional astronomer, writer, and editor of Tales of the Talisman

Sundry Again

2009-08-21T21:42:00.003-07:00

Episoe #7 of Novy MIRror is currently in post production. I hope to have it posted this weekend. Interview this time is with David Lee Summers, sf writer, editor of Tales of the Talisman, and professional astronomer. We talk about all three areas.

//

Anyone looking at Fundable to manage an online fund drive, please first read the experience of Mary Robinette Kowal. They picked the wrong lady to mess with, trust me on this.

//

The non-soon monsoon this summer in Phoenix relented, giving us some much needed rain and dropping the temperature under 100 degrees before 10PM today. Mah-velous.

//

Made a list of 7 items to complete today and I finished all seven. Not a bad way to end the week.

//

If you like SF and can read subtitles, I recommend a Spanish film called Los Cronocrimenes, in English Time Crimes. It's a very fun take on the possible effects of time travel. Much of the film has no dialog, so the subtitles are not such a big deal. Best of all, you can stream the film on Netflix.

Here is the trailer for the movie.

I removed the clip because it gave too many spoilers. If you want to see it, a google search will find it easily. However, it will probably ruin the movie for you.

Winter Arrived

2009-08-17T15:53:00.002-07:00

I received my author copies of Winter in the mail today. The three books crossed in the mail with a check for another 20 to sell at conventions and local bookstores. It's trade paperback, but more like a chapbook in thickness--it's only 67 pages including non-story pages. Still, it has nice-looking cover art and the same content I knew was coming. Feels good to finally have something to sell at conventions.

Winter Again

2009-08-15T21:36:00.002-07:00

Finally heard from Sam's Dot Publishing and my copies of my trade paperback "Winter" were shipped late last week. I should get them this coming week.

The cover art for the book is really nice. I posted it in a previous entry (here). I don't think I mentioned that I contacted the cover artist and he said he really enjoyed the story. It's only fair because I really like the cover.

There is also a mug available that features the cover art. The beer stein looke pretty cool also. I do have to get me one of these.

Batman Forever

2009-08-14T21:49:00.002-07:00

Batman Forever turned out not to be as bad as I feared. I gave it one more star than I gave Batman and Robin. I thought Jim Carrey made a decent Riddler, though it went over the top occasionally. At least this movie entertained me, however, I think it's a sad statement about these 90s Batman movies that they needed two bad guys to carry the film. Every one of Batman's enemies should be enough to carry the story. Even in the Adam West days the criminal mastermindes almost always worked alone.

OVerall, the 1990s Batman movies were too much like the TV show. I'm surprised they didn't splash the word "Pow!" on the screen. Jack Nicholson made the best enemy as the Joker in Batman. Poison Ivy was the worst baddie.

That said, I have very high expectations for Batman Begins and especially for The Dark Knight. I do hope they live up to the potential.

I'm...Batman

2009-08-12T16:39:00.002-07:00

Despite warnings to avoid them, I still wanted to see all the Batman movies. In order to save the rest of the family some pain, I watched Batman and Robin online. Netflix 2 out of 5 stars--they guessed right. Really cartoonish. I have Batman Forever coming on DVD, currently in transit. I hear that one is a painful experience also. That will clear out the 90's version of Batman and sets the stage for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, which I am told are both very good.

Odds and Ends

2009-08-11T14:50:00.003-07:00

I finally woke up and get back to my IRA portfolio. My strategy involves creating my own mutual fund using a super secret formula I discovered hidden in ancient Havasupai rock carvings in the Grand Canyon. It's a good strategy that has served me well over the years. The problem is, whenever I put the strategy in place, it makes a splash. It's not that I buy enough stock to affect the prices. I'm not Warren Buffet. But some Karmic thing happens where whatever I buy will go down at first. It takes about 2 weeks before the splash settles and the market gets back to doing whatever it wants to do. It happens so often that I have to factor it into my stop-loss prices. I've been whipsawed way too many times. So, if you see the market fall in the next few days, you can rest assured that it's my fault.

///

My trade paperback "Winter" was released in July and I have yet to receive my copies of the book. Sam's Dot is generally reliable if not a little slow with this sort of thing. It's a small press, so I can give them a break, but it's frustrating because I am supposed to be a major factor in the marketing effort. Since my strategy includes selling copies in person, not having any copies makes that rather difficult. Since I had planned to buy 20% of the print run, I find it strange that I don't yet know how to order them.

///

Why has every catch that I have seen Larry Fitzgerald make this pre-season been with his feet out-of-bounds? Kurt Warner looks pretty good, but I have a sinking feeling that Matt Leinart will be starting before the end of the regular season. I hope he learned from watching Warner last season. Out of college, Leinart was on the fast-track to flash-in-the-pan status. He dated hot models and drank beer before big games, and his play suffered for it. Rumors I hear say that Leinart is a different quarterback than he was this time last year whenhe lost the starting position. I hope that's true, because it's always a good problem to have a Steve Young waiting to replace a Joe Montana.

Theme and Variation

2009-08-08T11:33:00.002-07:00

Michelle M. Welch is a Phoenix area writer who has written several novels. (Details can be found on her website, follow the link.) A few months ago she announced a music-themed audio anthology to be called "Theme and Variation." Last week I signed a contract for my story "Black Orchid" to appear in the anthology.

I have to say, coming up with this story was rather painful. Writing to an assigned theme can often be difficult, even with a subject as broad as music. I think I started and aborted 5 different stories before I settled on the one I finished. Some of those abortions didn't have enough plot wrapped around the cool idea, and others didn't have enough to hold my own interest.

I finally finished writing "Black Orchid" and sent it off to Michelle a few weeks ago. It's one of my rare fantasy pieces, which are usually only marginally fantastical. In this case, the fantastic element is allegorical.

Michelle is planning to release the audio anthology on CD at this years World Fantasy convention in San Jose, California. I still need to record the story and any related bed music, but that should be a one-afternoon project and will probably take place after school starts.

Novy MIRror Episode #6

2009-07-22T14:21:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

Interview David Boop

I Finally Threw a Book Across the Room

2009-07-17T22:45:00.002-07:00

I have always had great respect for books, so it comes as something of a shock to admit today that I threw a book across the room I was so disgusted with the content.

Rewind--Several years ago I had been reading books about Neanderthals as research for my first novel. I came across a book called Buried Alive, by an orthodontist named Jack Cuozzo. I don't have a problem with lay experts writing a book. Sometimes these can be the best resources because they present a different angle.

I stopped reading Buried Alive after about the first 50 pages because it became clear that the book was not a scientific analysis of the Neanderthal, but rather an attempt to use evidence some might be considered scientific combined with known facts presented in bible verses and creationist theories to prove that Neanderthals are a fraud. (And, incidentally, all of science is a conspiracy.)

I had occasionally picked up the book and read a chapter just for the entertainment value, knowing full well the book is a farce. For instance, a fact presented is that Jesus Christ never mentioned "sub-humans" (read hominids) in his teachings, and is used as part of the proof against evolution. This is part of a lengthy list of established "facts" with which the reader is assumed to completely agree, but in fact are interpretations of bible passages. Another example, "All of history must be divided into pre- and post-flood periods." This despite the flood being a fairly localized phenomenon.

But none of that was why I threw the book. In fact, those arguments were the reason I occasionally read onward. These proofs amuse me. It was at the beginning of Chapter 21 that I started to be insulted. "...I would like to establish the fact that the Neanderthals which I have studied all appear to have been post-flood people, mostly buried by relatives and friends." (we know the relationship of the pall-bearers to the deceased exactly how?) and "...you have a small, very worried and nervous group of people who probably thought they should have stayed closer to the Middle East." (near Mt. Ararat - RN)

And finally, the passage that did me in. "Neanderthal pre-history is made to look like 'square one' by all the museums, or perhaps square two or three if you take into account Homo erectus and the australopichecines (southern apes) in Africa. But that is not based on fact at all. Neanderthal history reflects man forced to live under harsh circumstances after the flood becaused of the wickendess on the earth before the flood."

That is when I threw the book across the room.

It actually started out as pretty good reading, chronicling Cuozzo being chased around France by scientists "afraid he would ruin the secret of their conspiracy." The bait and switch wasn't even subtle.

Interview with Your Truly

2009-07-15T19:05:00.001-07:00

Issue #6 of M-Brane SF has a lengthy interview with me. You can read the interview here. Some people may find it interesting.

Guest Editing M-Brane SF

2009-07-14T16:08:00.003-07:00

I will be guest-editing M-Brane SF issue #12 (due out early next year). All stories submitted to the normal submission address from July 15th to August 31st 2009 will be forwarded to me and considered for my special issue.

The standard submission guidelines can be a little difficult to find, but I linked the announcement at the bottom of this post.. Unless memory and gmail archives fail me, the submissions should be sent in rtf format and emailed to mbranesf@gmail.com Christopher will forward the subs to me and I will evaluate.

There are several possible outcomes: (a) I will reject outright. (b) I will reject but think Christoper might like it. In this case it will be sent back to him. (c) I will hold it for second read (d) I will ask for some changes (e) I will accept it outright.

For options (a) and (b) Christoper will contact the writer. For (c), (d), and (e) I will most likely contact the author directly and copy Christopher.

Some hints--I prefer optimistic endings, but good story trumps all. You can take me to some very dark places, but lead me out before the end--unless your story is so good that I don't care if you leave me down there.

I have no theme in mind.

I love humor but it's very difficult to make me laugh with prose.

Cyberpunk is a tough sell but can be done. (I like Jack Mangan's stuff, for instance.)

Give me a reason on page one to continue to page two.

Here is the original post on M-Brane SF blog with more information.

2009-07-09T15:40:00.005-07:00

I got into a discussion with Alethea Kontis today on Twitter when she mentioned something about needing sage to clean her aura. I told her I could send her garbage bags full of clippings by UPS. That led to a discussion of the cool plants that grow here.

Here is the sage picture that I posted on twitpics earlier. Compare it to height of the garage door--it needs trimming.

We go to chatting about what else I have. Below is my baby saguaro. It's about 8 years old now and stands maybe knee high. It was 9" tall when I bought it. They only grow around 4 inches a year and won't get arms until age 75.

The saguaro below is on community property across the wash from me. It's a tad bigger.'

Another front yard plant is below. This is a Sago. It looks like a small palm tree but it is not. You can see huge sagos at the San Diego zoo. Mine is much younger but this one has done very well for me. It sprouts 2 sets of branches a year when my other ones only sprout one.

Okay, this is a palm tree--a queen palm to be exact.

This guy is a small ocotillo. It is not a cactus but it does have very sharp thorns. It only grows leaves when it has received rain. I don't know why this one has leaves, maybe the dog watered it. They used ocotillo in "The Empire Strikes Back" as part of the foliage on Dagobah. I guess it's alien-looking enough, but it would rot in a swamp. This is a desert plant.

This guy is a barrel cactus. It's just a big round ball now, but it will grow to look like a barrel eventually.

Alethea's bane is below, aloe vera. I lied, I said I have three of these plants around the pool, but I have 4.

I don't even remember what this next one is. It's a succulent, similar to a cactus but no thorns. It consists of rigid fluid-filled spines that come out of the center. The thing came in a pot smaller than the wheel of the chair next to it, and maybe 10 spines. I don't really know how to cut it back.

At the risk of showing my crappy grass that grows where I don't want it, here are two more cacti inside the pool fence. The one in back looks like a saguaro but it is not. It grows way too fast. I think it's organ pipe but I could be wrong.

This is a palo verde tree. Notice how the trunk and branches are all green.

This guy is a prickly pear cactus. It is unusual in that it gets orange flowers. I planted just one paddle in the ground when the guy across the street cut his back. If you click to enlarge the picture you can still see some orange.

This is rosemary. I only have half the song. I have Sage and rosemary, but no parsley or thyme.

This is one of my mesquite trees. They grow like weeds and you have to cut them back before the monsoon winds rip them out of the ground. They grow slower and with deeper roots if you never water them, but most people out here water the crap out of them and those roots stay very shallow. I learned that the hard way, but the wood from the tree I lost made an extremely hot campfire.

This is the only citrus I photographed this time around. This is an orange tree with some half-sized green oranges growing. You can see them if you look at the enlargement. They will double in size by November and will turn orange when it gets cold out.

Novy MIRror Episode #5

2009-07-09T14:30:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

Interview w/ Dr. Stanely Schmidt, editor of Analog magazine.

Spam Blog?

2009-07-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

So I have been on Blogger since 2005 and now, in 2009 Google's spam bot thinks my blog has characteristics of a spam blog. WTF? I have yet to post a link to a penis enlargement device. I don't sell Viagra. I am not a Nigerian Prince looking to deposit two million dollars into your account in the United States. (I would deposit it into my own account in the United States.)

So what triggered the spam bot? Was it my hand-out on how to select a writers group? Was it the cover picture from my new book? Hmmm.

Hey, Google, I am a real person. Sometimes I even give you money on Adwords.

Racism Alive and Well in Philly

2009-07-08T16:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is all over Twitter, but in case you don't, you know, twitter, then you should know about this. Valley Swim club of Philadelphia doesn't want to change the complexion of their club. Go read the article here then spread the word by blogging, tweeting, or joining a facebook movement. Let's show these people that it's not okay to be stuck in the 1950s.

Writers Groups

2009-07-05T20:55:00.001-07:00

Here is the text of a handout I gave away at my "Writers Support Groups" panel at Westercon 62 this afternoon.

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Joining or Forming the Right Writers Group
By Rick Novy
www.ricknovy.com - ricknovy.blogspot.com - twitter.com/RickNovy

All writers need feedback, and not just any feedback. Writers need useful feedback. A writers group can be one way of getting that necessary feedback, but joining the wrong group can be worse than not joining one at all.

How does a writer go about finding the right group? In most cases, it is probably easier to find a group than to make one. Ask around at bookstores, libraries, and community colleges. You can often find writers groups from your home with a simple Google search.

But finding a group isn't the hard part, it's finding the right group that can be. Whether online or in person, make sure you check out how they operate, what your obligations are, and whether the other members are at the proper level of experience for you.

Some things to keep in mind:
•How often will you need to provide material for critique? Is it too often, not often enough, or just right for your schedule?
•How do the other members compare to you? In an advanced group, you will be all taking and no giving. In a group far behind you, the opposite is true and you give but never get. It is important to be with other writers near your own skill level.
•Is the group one-dimensional (all critique) or are there other aspects to consider, and is it what you want out of a group?

Online or in person really makes no difference. It is easier to communicate face-to-face but easier to find other talent online. But, if you still can't find a group you'll just have to start one. A beginner might take a class at the community college and invite some classmates to help form a group. A more advanced writer might be more selective and search for similar writers at conferences or conventions. For example, my own group is limited mainly to writers with a professional sale. It keeps the group small and focused on what we need and it works for us.

Keep in mind that while you are checking out a group, they are also checking you out to satisfy themselves that you will fit into their culture. My current group requires a new member to participate on both sides of a critique to ensure the prospect is honest as a critic and not hypersensitive as a writer being criticized. We do that to maintain a certain level of competency so that the group remains focused on what the members need. A writers group that doesn't meet the needs of its members will disintegrate.

Here are some tips on how you can use a writers group by experience level. This assumes you have already found some like-minded people to join.

Beginner (Complete novice)
•Adopt a writing book and work through it together. Orson Scott Card's Characters and Viewpoints and Damon Knight's Creating Short Fiction are two very good books that contain exercises.
•Create flash fiction challenges. One member chooses a trigger and all members write a story in 1000 words or less. Read and comment about them.
•Try to find more experienced writers to make guest appearances and talk shop.
•Be aware of emotional responses to any critique. Many writers at this stage are not ready to hear the truth.

Intermediate (Writing and submitting, but getting form rejections back)
•Start writing longer original fiction without a trigger and use the stories in a critique circle.
•Have story-idea brainstorming sessions.
•Continue with writing exercises. Your group may or may not decide to continue this as a group.
•Teach yourselves how to find markets and submit. You might still find more experienced writers to make guest appearances specifically to discuss this.

Advanced (Actively submitting and getting personalized response or selling occasionally)
•Go back to reading books. You are now in the target audience for most of them.
•Critiques should now be picking nits and finding subtle problems. Critiques start moving away from line-edits into more general statements.
•Create flash challenges occasionally. Have reading parties where you sit back and enjoy rather than critiquing.
•Trade important information on markets or techniques you might have learned from pros.

Neo-Pro (Have sold to a major market or attended a major auditioned workshop)
•At this stage, you will know what to do. Modify the list under Advanced to suit your needs.
•Discuss how to find first readers.
•Talk shop, trading information.
•Critiques should now be very specific in pointing out subtle problems. Be wary of criticizing style tendencies that you disagree with, but do mention them.

Westercon

2009-07-04T08:12:00.004-07:00

So far, Westercon has been a blast. I have accumulated 4 interviews for my video podcast, including the editor of Analog magazine, Dr. Stanley Schmidt. I moderated two panels that included Eric Flint, and both were interesting discussions. Flint is a very intelligent and articulate man who I would hand-pick to be on any panel. He builds a very solid case for his opinions.

Today, only one panel--"All Things Tolkien." After that, evacuate to escape the Tempe Town Lake fireworks crowd.

And now, off to the con...

Winter Now Available on Genre Mall

2009-06-30T17:05:00.000-07:00

My trade paperback "Winter" is now available at Genre Mall. Third section from the top (or just search for Novy).

Open Request to Fiction Editors

2009-06-29T08:28:00.002-07:00

Writers get rejected all the time, and any writer with any kind of track record expects rejection and takes it at face value. While there is some value in rejectology--interpreting the verbage for deeper meaning--it's only worth spending so much time on it. The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction has an informal code to the rejection letters that indicate how far into the story an editor got before moving on to the next story. That little bit is helpful, but not really necessary.

With one exception I will address in a bit, I honestly don't mind any rejection letter, form or personalized. An editor must choose from mountains of stories and many of those are (I'm told) horrible. It should be intuitively obvious that a writer will not sell every story on first submission. Rejection is part of the game, and believe me, it's a numbers game. I have sold stories anywhere from first to twentieth submission. A writer needs a thick skin, which brings me to the one thing that does bristle me in a rejection letter--coddling.

It's one thing to tell me in a terse note that you can't use the story. No big deal--if you don't want to buy it, I want you to reject it quickly so I can send the story elsewhere. However, it's an entirely different thing to say you can't use the story, then go into all the reasons why a perfectly good story might have been rejected. Further, no need to wrap your arms around me and lay my weeping head on your shoulder. I don't need you to tell me to keep writing, keep submitting, maybe somebody else will buy the story. That talk is for rank beginners.

That rejection letter might be just what a beginning writer needs for motivation, but it makes an experienced writer's eyes roll. So please, please generate a second form-letter. If in my cover letter I list a professional sale, just tell me you don't want the story and move along. A 1/8 sheet strip of paper is plenty for that.

If you are taking the time to hand-write a comment, it means I was close. If you aren't going to do that, I really don't care why you are rejecting the story. Just tell me so I can move on to the next one in line. Don't try to coddle me, that is insulting.

Novy MIRror Episode #4

2009-06-26T14:45:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

Interview w/ Cat Rambo, editor of Fantasy Magazine

Books for Breasts

2009-06-22T12:04:00.002-07:00

Breast cancer is something that most of us face, either as a victim, or as a helpless bystander watching someone else we love become a victim. My own cousin is a survivor. Author James Maxey lost his wife to the disease.

If you like speculative fiction and care about finding a cure for the disease, James Maxey has a proposition for you. Make a contribution to the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation by going to this web site and clicking on the button that says "Support James."

You can get the details from the horse's mouth here.

Winter

2009-06-09T07:50:00.004-07:00

I just signed the contract for, and received an image of the cover for my forthcoming book "Winter." The book contains my novelette "Winter" packaged with a reprint of my short story "The Adjoa Gambit," which originally appeared in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicne Show issue #3. The publisher, Sams Dot, plans to release of the book next month.

Tobias Buckell

2009-06-08T17:00:00.001-07:00

If you watched the below podcast of Novy MIRror, you may be interested in occasionally visiting Tobias Buckell's blog post to review the comments.

Novy Mirror # 3

2009-06-08T12:18:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

#3 Interview w/ Tobias Buckell

Lenticular Clouds

2009-06-03T18:04:00.003-07:00

Look at these weird stratified clouds we had today. They're called lenticular clouds.

Here's a link to a National geographic photo of the same kind of clouds. Unfortunately, all I had was my cell phone camera and I had to zoom in quite a bit to even see the clouds.

Diversity in Fiction

2009-06-02T21:15:00.002-07:00

Somewhat timely as I discuss this very topic with Tobias Buckell in the next episode of Novy Mirror podcast, Vylar Kaftan posted this analysis of diversity in her own fiction. I decided to do something similar, just to see how I was doing. (Yes, I know it's just a way to procrastinate.)

I should point out that my statistics will be biased toward my own demographic because I often use myself as the main character--sometimes in disguise, sometimes not. If I were to remove those stories, I think the distribution might change. Also, recurring characters were counted as many times as the number of stories where they appear. This also biases the results some.

I counted characters that play a major role in the story, not just the POV character. I came up with a count of 154 characters across all my short stories and the completed novel. Work in progress is not counted.

Gender - heavily biased by my tendency to use myself as a point of view character.

Male = 67%
Female = 27%
Other = 6%

Race - Again, biased by using myself as a character.

Caucasian = 48%
Asian 7%
Divine 3%
Alien 12%
Native American 0.5%
Arab 0%
Hispanic 3%
Black 6%
Unknown 18%
Neanderthal 2%
Animal 3%

Using the assumption that characters default to white
White or implied white 66%
Person of color 17%
Unclassifiable 20% (= more than 100% due to rounding errors)

Sexual Orientation

Straight 40%
GLBT 0%
Unknown = 60%

By similar logic, characters default to straight. 100% No rounding errors here.

Age

0-17 12%
18-34 33%
36-65 33%
66+ 4%
unknown 20%
varies .5%

Social Class

Ruling 0.5% (FDR if you must know)
Upper 3%
middle 49%
Lower 19%
n/a 2.5%
Unknown 49%

Ability

Able 90%
Disabled 7%
Unknown 3%

Conclusions: The stories where I use myself as the POV character really skew the results toward my own demographic. I think I use race effectively, though I could improve. Gender tilts toward male for the same reason, but I did notice a tendency for my stories to use two males and one female. Often there is a male-female protagonist team against a male antagonist. However, in my novel the primary antagonist is female. Age looks to be almost a normal distribution, so not a bad use of various ages. I tend toward middle-class characters, skewed toward the lower middle class more than the upper middle class. Or, there is no indication of social standing at all. For disabilities, I think some of those I counted as "able" might qualify as disabled under Vylar's rules. In terms of sexual orientation, well, what can I say? I need to be more aware of this possibility in order to create realistic story people. However, I think that several characters in the "unknown" category could easily be gay. It's just that sexual orientation was irrelevant to those stories.

Another Delay

2009-06-02T17:21:00.001-07:00

Just found out that my novelette, "Winter," slated to be released with a reprint of my short story "The Adjoa Gambit" was pushed back again. It is now scheduled to be released in July.

New Blogs

2009-05-29T18:25:00.001-07:00

Two of my local writer friends just started blogging. Take a look at Ernest Hogan's Mondo Ernesto and Emily Devenport aka Maggy Thomas aka Lee Hogan aka Emily Hogan's Em's Joie de WEIRD.

Sold - How to Eat a Cobalt Bomb

2009-05-27T21:53:00.001-07:00

Sold my story "How to Eat a Cobalt Bomb" to M-Brane SF. It's my 5th story sold to that market.

Novy MIRror Episode 2

2009-05-26T15:39:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

Interview with 2009 Campbell Award Aliette de Bodard. This is mostly audio with a few pictures, but the content is well worth a listen.

Memorial Day Tradition

2009-05-23T16:15:00.003-07:00

This is the sixth consecutive year that my son and I have planted flags above the soldiers' headstones at the National Cemetery on Memorial Day weekend.

We got up at 5:00am and were headed toward the cemetery by 6:00am. Together with maybe a thousand other boy scouts and girl scouts, we put flags on something like 16,000 grave sites. This year, it took 40 minutes

To cap off the service day, once we finished at the cemetery, we drove over to Lake Pleasant where one of the boys in Russell's troop had his Eagle project going on. One trail had a steep slope and we installed some cinder block and dirt stairs on the slope. The project was maybe 1/3 to 1/2 done by the time we arrived, Russell and I both got hot and sweaty pitching in.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning.

How is it done?

2009-05-16T20:25:00.002-07:00

I was asked this in comments for Novy MIRror episode #1, but I thought the answer might be of interest to more than the person who asked.

The question asked how I did this (I assume the video effects) and what I am using for equipment, so here is my answer.

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I assume you mean the effects, particularly in the opening sequence. That gets a double dose of chroma key. The "mirror" is really a picture frame with a green folder inside. I suspended the frame with wire using my boom microphone stands and my light stands and placed the camera low to use the blue sky as background.

It was a windy day and cloudy behind the camera. The wind caused the suspended frame to move around. The clouds behind my back caused that smoky look inside the "mirror." That part was unintentional but works well in the end.

I did the blue screen chroma key first to get the background, then compressed the video and imported it back into my editing program. I then used the green screen chroma key to put images into the frame.

The beginning sequence uses sepia effects to make it look like old film. The galaxy inside the mirror rotates because I continuously rotate the entire image. You can see some bleed through if you look closely. That bleed through was the main reason I used sepia in that sequence, it is better at hiding it.

The theme music is original. I actually wrote it as the base part for an audio project I have been working on, but probably won't be seen publicly due to licensing issues. However, the keyboard bass riff is completely original.

For equipment, I'm using a JVC hard drive camcorder with AVCHD high definition record capability. I'm using Sony WSC-999 wireless microphones. (The offending microphone has been fired and replaced, I might add.) For software, I am using Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 12. The theme music was played on a Casio WK-200 keyboard set to slow saw lead. I also transpose the keyboard into a Bb instrument. This is due to the fact that most of my sheet music is written for clarinet. The audio project uses a Bb fake book, so I transpose the keyboard and capo the guitar...but I digress. It was recoded on my Fostex 16-track hard drive recorder then imported into the video.

All of those tools have limitations, but you can still get some pretty incredible results with them. I haven't even scratched the surface of the potential. Still, some day I'll produce a "making of" episode whenever I'm thin on interview material.

NovyMirror_Ep_1_rev2

2009-05-14T08:46:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

Episode #1, featuring an interview with Lawrence M. Schoen, speculative fictionwriter and Klingon language expert. This is remastered to synch the audio with the video.

Novy_Mirror_Episode_1__

2009-05-13T20:34:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

Novy Mirror episode #1 featuring an interview with Lawrence M. Schoen, spec fic writer and Klingon language expert.

Video Podcast

2009-05-08T07:33:00.003-07:00

Earlier this week, I collected two interviews for the upcoming Novy MIRror podcast. I'm hoping to put the first episode together next week and have it released not long after. I'm hampered by the fact that moving a large file cabinet into the home office introduced a huge shadow into the area where I shoot my footage in front of the green screen. That is a problem I need to overcome quickly. The space is too small to use three point lighting so I may need to use some creativity until I can move the file cabinet. Alas, a whole chain of events needs to happen first.

During the interview this past Wednesday, I had yet another problem with the original wireless microphone kit. One too many. Fortunately, I was able to return it to the retailer and exchange for a new one. I hope not to have that problem anymore, as it's been impacting almost everything I shoot. The reading (which I probably won't use in the first episode) used the other microphone kit, so it looks like that is not impacted.

Anyway, Novy MIRror, episode #1 coming soon.

Blood and Fire-Part 1, A Review.

2009-05-01T19:18:00.009-07:00

A long time ago, David Gerrold wrote an episode for Star Trek-The Next Generation. It was a story that everyone involved knew would be filled with controversy. David blogged about this some time ago, but his old posts are missing due to an extended web site upgrade, so I am going from my own faulty memory about this. I believe Gene Roddenberry had given permission to go ahead with the story, or maybe it was Gene L. Coon, or probably somebody else. In any event, there was a change of power in the Star Trek production universe and the story was nixed. I'm not really up to speed on Star Trek politics. Maybe David will be kind enough to drop by and clarify.

Regardless, the story was never made. It became known as the most famous Star Trek episode there never was. The controversy stirred from the fact that this would be the first time Star Trek ever portrayed openly gay characters. The new brass didn't have the same balls, or chutzpah if you prefer, as did the originals with Roddenberry at the helm. Star Trek aired the first interracial kiss on American prime time television, recall.

David went on to scrapethe serial numbers away and write the story in novel form, setting it in his own Starwolf universe instead. (That one is still on my to-read list, sorry David.) Many years passed, and a guy named James Cawley started filming the last two years of the five year mission as fan-fic. Only, Cawley and his crew did such a damn good job that people like D.C. Fontana, Goerge Takei, and Walter Koenig started getting involved. David saw opportunity and pitched his script to Cawley. A second chance for Blood and Fire was born in the Star Trek universe. This time, with the original crew, which is perhaps where it belongs.

I had the good fortune to be allowed to read the script before filming began, and I have not even allowed that fact to escape except to a trusted few. Nobody but me ever saw my copy of the script. So much time has passed that I don't even recall the full story, but I did comment to David at the time that I thought it was by far his best Star Trek work. Yes, it's even better than The Trouble with Tribbles.

Part one did not disappoint me. See for yourself. Download the first part here. I am going to try not to spoil any of the plot, but there will inevitably be detail spoilers to follow.

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The teaser of Blood and Fire opens with combat. The Enterprise is heavily damaged, but they put a pounding on the Klingons who were responsible, too. The visual effects are outstanding, and tension is high. The Klingons are driven off, and Kirk has made up his mind that the Klingons will pay. Then comes a distress signal from the U.S.S. Copernecus, a research vessel some ten hours away at warp 2, the fastest the Enterprise can handle in her condition. As usual, there are no other ships in the area.

After the commercial break, we learn that young Ensign Kirk, the captain's nephew, is aboard serving on the security team. We learn that Ensign Kirk is in love with a male member of the medical staff. The tension mounts as the elder Kirk tries to shield the younger from harm. He relents after a face-to-face and allows Ensign Kirk and his betrothed together on the away team to the Copernecus. There, we find out what really happened, and this I shall not spoil.

Gerrold has put together probably one of the best Star Trek episodes ever made. There is the controversy which is there, and it's as real as it is for many gay people today. There are scenes that will make many people very uncomfortable, but it's also crucial to the plot. This story isn't about homosexuality. You'll have to wait for further comment until part 2 comes out because it would be too much of a spoiler to say any more. Still, the issue is taken head-on.

Before filming, I questioned whether this episode of Star Trek Phase II had its thunder stolen by Brokeback Mountain. Maybe a little bit, but as you can see by looking in the newspaper, the issue hasn't gone away. There is still great disagreement and great philisophical posturing by both sides. Blood and Fire does nothing to apease those who think marriage is between a man and woman, as it should not. This is about two people in love.

But the other side is represented well by Captain Kirk. James Cawley (who also portrays James Kirk) did a fantastic job with his charcter's reaction when he learns about his nephews preferences. We see a chink in the normally resiliant armor of our valient Captain. Kirk doesn't know how to respond when his nephew asks Captain Kirk to officiate over the wedding. The elder Kirk struggles for words at first, but then recovers. Being the hero of the show, he must. He accepts the situation and agrees to do it, not because he likes it, but because it is important to two members of his crew.

This is the way Kirk must react. Kirk has prejudice. We see it, very openly, in Star Trek VI, the Undiscovered Country. Kirk literally HATES the Klingons, but must be the diplomat. We see Kirk struggle through the entire film to stay in control and be the man he is supposed to be, rather than be the man he truly is. We see that again on a much smaller scale in Blood and Fire. Very well executed.

(As an aside, I will risk Star Trek blasphemy by declaring that between Star Trek VI, the Undiscovered Country, and Star Trek II, the Wrath of Khan, VI is the better film. Both are very powerful, but I think VI causes a more important change to occur in Kirk. II is a very close second. Both are better than all the TNG films.)

Back to Blood and Fire, congratulations on getting that scene absolutely right. As for the rest, all I'll say at this point is that there are things that haven't been seen before. To say anything else would spoil part 2, which I won't do. What I will do is stick out my neck and say this is must see Star Trek.

Inevitable Change

2009-04-30T21:07:00.003-07:00

Sorry for the long delay between posts, but it has been a hectic week or so. I think all family now knows, so I don't feel like I'm jumping the gun posting here. Last wednesday morning my wife's mother passed away. She had lived with us for the past 16 years. Save whatever mother-in-law joke comes to mind, I've already heard it. But, she was part of the family and a fixture in our lives for all that time. The kids never knew the house without her.

The past two years and a few months have been a real challenge. She broke her hip in January of 2007 and never really recovered to the woman she was before. She needed constant care. It was tremendously difficult, but we did what we had to do. If you've done it, you know what I mean. If you haven't, chances are fair you will eventually.

I'm not going to go into any more detail because I don't think this is the right venue for it. What I will say is that looking back through all the thousands of photos I took over the course of 16 years, it was rare for me to find a photo of her without a smile on her face. I discovered that while digging through them all to put together slideshow to send to family and friends. (Still working on refining it.)

Anyway, a change like this is a fairly significant change, and it's going to take some time before everything settles into a new normal.

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If you actually come to my blog to learn about my writing, M-Brane SF #4 was just released. It contains my story "Plan R." If you are quick enough, you can grab a copy here.

It's Da Bomb

2009-04-16T21:10:00.003-07:00

Today the scouts had a visit from the Air Force guys from Luke who are in change of mine removal and ordinance disposal. They told some Iraq stories, and showed the boys some equipment and some training weapons. The coolest thing was the bomb robot (aka pizza delivery boy).

Here is Russell with an RPG.

And here is the very cool bomb robot.

Overcoming Newton's Law

2009-04-12T20:02:00.002-07:00

I mean the one about an object in motion remains in motion, an object at rest remains at rest. My writing has stagnated over the past 2 years. It started with a certain problem in my previous job that sent me packing for a 3 day trip to a small city near Terra Haute, Indiana to get raked over the coals by a customer's management. They sent me despite requesting our top brass.

I'll not go into any more detail about that, the details aren't important now. Follow that up with the ascent of Yertle the Turtle into that top brass and my stress level rose so high I couldn't write consistently. It got so bad that I haven't written anything like regularly for an embarrassingly long time. The little bit I have done in the past year has stunk up the place.

Writing is like exercising. Or, more like playing piano. You know--if I miss one day of practice, I can tell, if I miss two days of practice, the world can tell. Since I left the Heart Attack Factory(TM) it hasn't improved. My stress level is down, but I lost how it feels to write regularly. It's something that isn't going to change on its own.

I'm something like3 novels and 50 short stories behind where I should be. I also seem to have lost my ability to generate story ideas in any quantity. Time was I had more than I could write.

I think this is a vicious circle that feeds on itself. The longer I go without writing, the worse it gets and the harder it is to get back into the saddle. It's like I'm back in 2004, before I started the novel I finished. That was when I became a real writer because I took it seriously. I've regressed that far, and it's pitiful. But writing is part of who I am, and today I have bibliography, unlike 2004. The boilerplate stuff I write today can sell. The good stuff? Remains to be seen.

I've been stuck on this semi-pro plateau for far too long. No point of thinking about what might have been if I kept writing regularly after that flight to Indianapolis two years ago. I can't change that. What I can do is move forward. First, I have to get back on the horse. That means, I go write no matter how I feel. I can't think of anything to write, but i have 4 unfinished short stories in addition to the aborted novel. I'm sure I can find something to work on.

So, I'm off...wish me well on the long climb out of this nasty hole I've dug myself into.

Hmmm

2009-04-01T21:50:00.001-07:00

Okay, looks like the problem is not that the video is huge, it's just that I uploaded an enormous splash image. Live and learn. Okay to watch here.

Novy Mirror Cross Posting

2009-04-01T21:30:00.003-07:00

Okay. I see blip.tv did, indeed, crosspost to my blog. The video does seem a little large to me. If you want to watch it, I suggest you watch it here.

NOVY MIRror Episode 0

2009-04-01T20:36:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

This is a bonus edition of the Novy Mirror. Episode 0 was created as a dry run to go through the process of creating an episode. In this episode, Rick Novy interviews himself.

New opening for Novy Mirror

2009-03-31T20:36:00.002-07:00

I did a little more work on the Novy MIRror opening and I think this one looks even better. (I also got rid of some pesky copyrighted images...) What do you think?