Bitey got to go on the bus!

And also on a three block walk because the bus I wanted to talk closed its doors just as I got to the door and then drove off, so I took my next option, a bus that doesn't go by the vet's.

Clean bill of health so far. Also

Clarkesworld Podcast August 2009: The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew (Catherynne M. Valente)

The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew (Catherynne M. Valente)


Read by Catherynne M. Valente.

Set in a timeline where Venus is not a hellworld, this details part of the life of a woman who, among other things, struggled with the question of what exactly it is the sleeping callowhales are up to.

Clarkesworld Podcast January 2010: All the King's Monsters (Megan Arkenberg)

All the King's Monsters (Megan Arkenberg)

Read by Kate Baker

Yeah, I got out of order again. Thought folder two was in the right order, didn't look closely enough.

This is a fantasy about a political prisoner waiting for her inevitable torture and death, her crime being standing to close to a genuine enemy of the state. You know that Bujoldism

In fact, if romances are fantasies of love, and mysteries are fantasies of justice, I would now describe much SF as fantasies of political agency.

This is an example (I include SF as a subset of fantasy).

Clarkesworld Podcast January 2010: The Things (Peter Watts)

The Things (Peter Watts)

Read by Kate Baker.

With this, Clarkesworld moves from one fiction podcast a month to two.

This is The Thing, retold from the monster's point of view. People quite liked it; to quote the Clarkesworld site:

2011 Hugo Award Nominee, 2010 BSFA Award Finalist, 2010 Shirley Jackson Award Nominee, 2010 Parsec Award Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction Story, 2011 Finalist: the Locus Award for Best Short Story, 2011 Theodore Sturgeon Award Nominee

So not entirely overlooked. I would have put in some passive aggressive bit about SF's inward turn but then I got to that final line. So it turns out if you want me to be in any way feel sympathy for your character and to some extent for the author themselves, it's best not to have your protagonist proudly proclaim
SPOILER and also CONTEXTECTOMY( Read more... )

Ann Crispin Says Goodbye

Ann Crispin is saying goodbye, farewell and thank you. The acclaimed author of her own, original StarBridge series and novels set in the Star Wars, V, Alien and Pirates of the Caribbean universes, as well as, of course, such beloved and bestselling Star Trek tales as Yesterday’s Son, Sarek and Time for Yesterday, has revealed that she’s nearing the end of a protracted battle against cancer.

From the olden times of 2000

I have no idea how to link to specific posts on google groups anymore.

[I got help with this]

I would like to say up front "Yes, it really was all one paragraph and he didn't think to put a paragraph or two between slagging Asimov and 'I don't go trashing their favorite writers'.

I, for one, am tired of listening to the SF Purist nazis. I'm tired of the
insults, I'm tired of the trolling. Asimov is dead and I for one am happy
he's no longer writing. I thought that the Foundation series was the
stupidest and most unlikely crap I've ever read. And his "Laws of Robotics"
were idiotic. I'm tired of their carping on "exploding spaceships", "battle
babes", "pulp crap" etc. I don't go trashing their favorite writers
(although I obviously have my arguments against them) and I don't see why I
should have to put up with what comes down to a matter of taste. Especially
when they get stupid and obnoxious about it.

Note he was just tired of *SF Purist* nazis. The genuine article



he seems comfortable with.

(Same fellow who blames "the hasbeen liberal neurotics who control the Hugo voting and balloting" for Scalzi's recent win)

Eel-free Bitey news

Everything went well with the operation and he's recovering nicely.

He's FIV negative. Have not heard about feline leukemia yet and I assume either it's also negative or the results are not back.

Ever ask yourself

"What sort of questions would tourists ask an actress portraying one of George Washington's slaves at Mount Vernon?"

Wonder no more.

Super ulta uber nerd question

When someone like the Absorbing Man or Amazing Man copies the properties of some material like helium or iron, does it affect the pitch of their voice?

Adventurer Conquerer King: Session Eleven

Except the GM wanted to change to 13th Age so we spent part of the evening translating the characters from ACK to 13A. As it turned out Otho translated reasonably well (except I bet he isn't half as good at hiding in the woods as he was). Couple of significant differences: he has a lot, and I mean a lot more hit points and he was able to pick up the feat that lets him fire into melee. In theory.

Not changing the title of these, though. So there.

( Read more... )