Archive for May, 2007

Easy Come, Easy Go

After I got off the plane in Madison this weekend, I hopped in a taxi with S. C. Butler plus one, and Rick Bowes to travel to the con hotel. On the way there, I checked my email on my phone and discovered an email from an editor who had commissioned some freelance work from me. The deadline was tight–June 1–but the work I had to turn in was very short, and so while I had done research and took some notes, I hadn’t written the pieces just yet. So I was rather surprised to discover an email from my editor in which he attached his edit of the two pieces I hadn’t written yet.

Obviously, I was concerned. I’ve been taking Ambien*, and when I woke up the other day I found my laptop in the fridge, so I wondered if I’d forgone sleep binge-eating in favor of sleep binge-writing. Actually, I was kind of hoping that was the case; if I were able to harness such a skill, it would be a great way to get some extra work done.

But alas, it was not the case. There was a mix-up, and this particular project was actually assigned to me and someone else, and this someone else was actually assigned the project first, so it went to him/her. Which is a shame, because it would have been a fairly lucrative opportunity for not that much work, but such is the life of a freelancer. However, my editor did promise to get me something else in the near future, which would likely be just as good if not better than this project. And in fact, he already came up with something for me: I’m to create a series of quizzes based on a certain entertainment property. It looks to be fun, and again pays pretty well for what seems to be fairly easy work, so I can’t complain.

* No, not really.

 

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1862 Asks Civil War What If?

May 31 —

Alternate history author Robert Conroy, whose novel 1862 is a finalist for this year’s Sidewise Award, told SCI FI Wire that one of the difficult things about writing the book was that the Civil War is an emotional hot button for many people, some of whom don’t quite believe it’s over.

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Dead Joins Vampire Entourage

May 29 —

Best-selling fantasy author Charlaine Harris–whose Sookie Stackhouse novels are being adapted into the HBO series True Blood–told SCI FI Wire that Sookie’s latest adventure, All Together Dead, finds her in the entourage of the vampire Queen of Louisiana, who is traveling to a summit in the city of Rhodes.

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Chaos’ Children Fight The Gods

May 25 —

SF and fantasy author John C. Wright told SCI FI Wire that his latest novel, Titans of Chaos, concludes his Chronicles of Chaos trilogy. “The tale concerns five orphans who are convinced that they are not human beings,” Wright said in an interview.

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Never Posits Einstein’s Machine

May 23 —

Multiple-award-winning author Tim Powers–whose latest novel, Three Days to Never, is a finalist for this year’s Locus Award–told SCI FI Wire that the book revolves around a time machine that Albert Einstein left in a garage in Pasadena, Calif.

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The All-Powerful Tivo Remote

The new air conditioner I just bought came with a little remote control, which I thought was cool, being an occasionally lazy sort of person who might just want to turn on/off the AC without having to get up. But much to my surprise, it seems I didn’t actually need the AC remote: My Tivo remote seems to control it as well. Or rather it turns it on and off when I press the “select” button. This isn’t a huge problem, since you don’t actually have to use the select button very often, but still mildly annoying.

Now if I could only get the AC to record stuff for me…

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I’m in UR zombie story, eatin UR brainz

A poster mysteriously named “Meow,” suggested a modest proposal after viewing my Grammar Hound post:

Who else thinks this calls for a LOLCAT slush bomb of FSF?

“He can has named Adam, and she can has named Eve.”

“I’m in UR zombie story, eatin UR brainz”

“Iz destoryed the evil emporerz. Now Iz eat tuna fish.”

 Please god, no. Don’t. Seriously. But that was funny.

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