It’s always tempting to start with excuses about not blog posting, but I would rather tell you that something new is out there!
My latest story is available now! E-spec books is now selling In Harm’s Way (Defending The Future Book 8). This features my story Sympathetic is in there!
You should pop over to wherever you get books from and get a copy. Then you should get a copy that you can give to a friend. Then you should tell others to go and get one too!
Check it out on Amazon here.
Cremains of the Day by Misty Simon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I picked this particular book up for two main reasons. One – it’s a cozy mystery and that’s one of the categories on teh “Read Harder” challenge this year. Two – the author is local and a supporter of my favorite book store.
Three stars is a little low. It’s honestly 3.5 stars. Reading cozy mysteries is outside where I normally go for entertainment, so please don’t let my review put you off. This book had a consistent pace and solid characters. The writing was easy to read and went really quickly for me. I can say I hadn’t picked out the killer by the end when the revelation happened, so that was decent too.
If cozy mysteries are a thing for you, this is a title worth checking out.
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Music plays a significant role in getting me through my days. I am fascinated by it, but it is something that is opaque to me. I am terrible at musical things. I can’t keep a beat. I can’t hear all the parts I’m supposed to and I tend to like things that others tell me sound terrible. I have talents (admittedly small) in myriad other areas, but when it comes to music there’s only one way to put it. I suck. I can’t sing, I can’t play any instrument, nor can I dance to any of it.
I’m still hooked. I won’t say all kinds of music because that’s not true. There are some types of music that simply do not appeal to me. That’s OK because it gives the things I do like a frame of reference. The second blog post I ever made had a link to two different musical bits. I’ve been listening to what makes me happy for a long time.
I have a pair of wireless headphones that I use every day in the office. I have an almost constant stream of music rolling. While the music has changed and grown over the years it is something that has been constant for me. Don’t get me wrong – I’m no Henry Rollins, traveling the globe to hunt down music festivals in Timbuktu – but I listen. I prefer recorded stuff these days. I don’t want to go to music festivals or stadium shows anymore.
I’ve been told that I should listen to music for the sake of listening to music. I can and have, but on a day to day basis I *use* it. Music becomes the thing that keeps me focused while I’m struggling with something OR conversely it becomes the escape when I hit some problem that makes me need to let my mind wander.
Internet streaming services have made this infinitely more interesting and viable. It’s fantastic for finding new stuff or reviving old stuff I haven’t heard in an age.
When I started writing this I’m certain I had a link in mind for sharing the musical bit that inspired this… and now I’ve cycled through a bunch of other stuff and appear to have lost it.
What sort of things do you listen to?
Target Rich Environment by Larry Correia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I enjoy reading Mr. Corriea’s work. There were a couple of stories in here that I’d read before, but reading them again was not necessarily bad. It was fast, light and generally what I was looking for.
I enjoyed the concept of the insurance story that was the last in the collection, but putting in so many personal jabs at particular political stances detracted from the story.
Decent. Looking forward to more monster hunter stuff should it come out in the future.
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Bingo Love by Tee Franklin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Read this on loan from a friend. This was something I would not have normally found. Part of the reason I enjoy things like the read harder challenge is finding things that don’t fit my ‘normal’ reading patterns.
I enjoyed this. It was a nice story. I’m super glad there was a positive message and a positive message in here.
I’m not a fan of ‘come to the pay web site to get more story’ bits built into the comic panels, but creators need to make money. It didn’t detract too much, but it did detract for me.
Overall – worth the read.
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Yes, it’s my birthday. Yes, I am totally cheating and setting this up to post when it is NOT actually my birthday (computers and schedules and technology helping me out on this one).
I’m not going with the posts you see from so many about how birthdays don’t feel all that different, etc. but instead will say this one DOES in fact feel different. This year is a weird one. It’s close to a big birthday, but not quite there. I’ve started to feel like I’m just getting started on so many things and that certain aspects of my life are really starting to take off. Other parts of my life I wonder what the hell I;m doing and why things I truly enjoy are floundering and waiting and taking so much time with no clear results.
The world clearly doesn’t particularly care that it’s my birthday. It’s Monday and I’ll be at the office as usual. I don’t tell folks there when my birthday is nor do I expect them to celebrate in any fashion. A quiet and productive day would be enough.
I look forward to seeing some close friends and having a good dinner for my birthday. I’ve gotten a couple of fantastic gifts so far – and I’m very thankful for them. I haven’t asked for anything – it’s all from people who thought it would be nice to give me something. I have fantastic family and friends. That makes any day better, but birthdays in particular.
I wonder if next year will be better or weirder or just different? Guess I’ll just have to forge ahead and see what this year brings!
A Grim Detail: Destination Documentation and Multi-Continental Self Examination 2009-2010 by Henry Rollins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is actually more of a 3.5 stars than a flat 3. I’ve seen Mr. Rollins perform his spoken word tour a couple of times now. I like his way of telling a story. I got this book at one of those shows and he was kind enough to sign it for me.
I dove into this hoping it was going to be like reading a story in his voice. That was NOT the case at all. This book was a list. An exhaustive, extensive and might I add LONG list of names, dates, places and music.
I forged my way through this book in much the same way I feel that Mr. Rollins seems to charge into whatever he’s working on. It’s work. It’s about moving forward. There’s always anger and repetitive things. I fell into this rhythm of going along with whatever mood he was writing about and just moving from entry to entry with no goal and no answers. Perhaps that is what he was going for? I’m not sure. It’s a long book that essentially describes that he travels, he listens to music, he is angry, he takes pictures, he walks the streets whenever and wherever he can and is a ferocious workaholic.
There are tidbits of good stuff in this book, but his spoken word is sincerely much better. I was hoping for a conclusion, a summary of some kind but I didn’t get it. I will close this review with the same words he closed the book with. Fuck it.
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As I wrote the post title I was struck by the number. The 53rd convention from BSFS. I know I’m the “new guy” to many, having only really started at Balticon 27 but this convention has always seemed like my ‘home con’ if that could even be such a thing (that’s 26 years for those that don’t want to ‘math’). I’m not joking about the ‘new guy’ thing either. I know at least one person that has gone to every Balticon. Part of my recounting of number of visits to the convention stems from how many people I didn’t see there this year. I came up with a dozen folks off the top of my head that, through various circumstances or choices, simply didn’t make it to the con this year. It felt oddly empty. Logically it wasn’t, but it felt that way.
I will say that I was very impressed with the con team this year. Registration *always* has problems with my wife and daughter. I don’t know why – but the mistress of registration remembered me and it was much smoother this year than in years past. The con added a ribbon option this year for people that wanted to have a clear definition of what pronoun they prefer. I think this was an excellent option for those that were interested in having one or felt they needed it. While I did not use one myself (moving rapidly toward the land of the dinosaur) I did find it useful from time to time. Thankfully I didn’t see anyone abusing it. The art show was bigger than I’ve seen it in some time. There was a lot of great work on display there – and I ended up coming home with two new pieces. Programming was very strong. They got information out early, had the schedule posted ahead of their normal time and were quite active at the con itself… more on that in a minute.
It was an adventure to get to the hotel. The interstate we take to get there was shut down and all traffic diverted off to side roads. We managed to avoid the worst of the traffic, but it sent us off into the wilderness for a while. A longer ride there than normal.
I started the weekend off with 3 panels on Friday night. I felt like the panels were decent and that I contributed without being super awkward or out of place. Writing military campaigns was my weakest of the day. Genre in the age of binge watching was decent, but uneven. Bad movie adaptations could have been better (I’m not a fan of throwing it to the audience right away). On the upside I was told one of my statements / arguments actually inspired a panel for next year.
Saturday brought all kinds of weird with it. At loose ends with no panels for the entire day I could do as I pleased. I took some time to wander the con and check things out. I got to spend a lot of time in the art show. I checked out the vendor tables. I got to sit and chat with my friend Jay and get started on an upcoming project (totally a secret for right now). While we were sitting and working, Jay needed to go and be on a panel. I decided I would be supportive and headed to the panel with him.
I’m not going to recount all the details here, but that particular panel was not good. Jay told me I was ‘not contractually obligated’ to stay, but I felt as if I was abandoning him to a terrible fate. It devolved so quickly that I bailed out after about 15-20 minutes. Apparently my fears were not unfounded. I was told it got worse after I left.
This is the part where I explain how the programming team was active during the convention. I was approached later in the day by the head of programming (after being pointed out by the con safety team and flagged down). I gave my view of the events of the panel. The head of the convention was called over. I was asked to recount my view of things again. The problematic individual was subsequently pulled from all panels for the remainder of the weekend. I’m not going to call that person out. I was a witness and not directly involved with the event in question. I gave my view on matters and that was enough for the incident in question. I’m certain there were lots of hurt feelings over the whole thing. I hope the person in question gives the whole thing some thought and uses it as a learning experience rather than fuel for some kind of grudge.
Quick tips from my point of view about
convention panels:
1: Being the moderator of a panel does NOT
mean you’re the primary speaker
2: The audience is there for ALL the panelists generally, and sometimes for ONE in particular – and that might not be you
3: There are panelists that know more than you and people that have different experiences than you – let them speak ( please note that the gender of said individual plays no part in that statement)
4: Stay as focused as you can (difficult, I know) on the actual topic of the panel and the stated level of expertise it’s aimed at
5: Panelists are volunteering their time. Being angry at them, talking them down, demanding they defer to the moderator is generally the path to a really bad experience
That list is not all inclusive, but relevant to the past weekend.
Saturday night featured a riot in the streets of Baltimore – in front of the convention hotel. No, I’m not joking. Thankfully I was able to avoid any issues with that, but a handful of other con goers were not so fortunate. To my knowledge, everyone came out the other side OK and relatively unscathed.
My Sunday at the con featured two more panels. I got to talk about traumatizing your characters in your writing (and why you don’t necessarily need to) AND I got to talk about the future of energy. The trauma panel was really interesting and I’m glad I got to be part of it. It was really well moderated and the discussion was far ranging with many different opinions and story telling tidbits.
The future of energy panel was an up and down thing for me. I’m going to do a separate write up for the actual content from my point of view because it was far more interesting than I initially thought it might be. I’m also going to see if I can use some of the notes from my fellow panelist Jim. He had some great points and information. I hope the audience enjoyed the panel as much as I did.
There was also shopping, chatting with friends that were there, games in the game room and a fantastic dinner out with amazing ice cream immediately following.
I had a nice, relaxing weekend. The convention itself felt a little like things might be shifting or changing, but that’s something to think about for next year. This was a really good con.