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No Joy in Mudville

I wish I could report that the likely continued silence this week is because I’m closing on a deadline, but, alas, the real world has things that need tending, and my deadlines are slipping. I had to get new tires for the truck, and now it looks like I’m having to replace the truck’s batteries — expensive, and just getting the darned things out is proving a challenge I never anticipated (especially given how many auto batteries I’ve removed over the years).

To top it all off my poor son woke up with a nasty toothache, so I’ve got to get him in for an emergency tooth appointment!

Hope your own week is going better than ours here.

Link Day

With all this talk about the excellence of John Hocking’s Conan and the Emerald Lotus, it pleases me to be able to point all of you to a new short story from his Archivist sequence, over at Black Gate. Cool stuff!

Also, my writer friend Harry James Connolly has a really cool sounding series fans of heroic fantasy ought to go check out. The Kickstarter is here, and it’s already funded… but there’s two weeks left if you want to make sure you get a copy!

And speaking of kickstarters, it looks like there will definitely be a Dabir and Asim story in Kaiju Rising, because my secret author status was unlocked! To all you who signed up to help spread the word I offer you my sincere thanks. For those of you who are just hearing about it, sign up for a copy here, and help back the project! Two tiers yet remain to be unlocked — author Peter Swallow and some more art. I hope you’ll swing by and consider it!

Now I must away. I have to finish a Dabir and Asim story!

Time to Read

As I was re-organizing the study this weekend I got to thinking about a conversation I’d had with John Hocking a few months back. The years keep speeding along, and we’re both wondering how much longer we’ve got to truly enjoy the books on our shelves. Hocking started a “bucket list” of books he’s been meaning to read. I should say that he’s not only started the list, but that he’s started reading from it.

I’ve done a little of the same. Neither of us is trying to throw ourselves at classics we’re not interested in, but at books that we have on the shelves and for some reason have never gotten around to checking out. I’m 45, after all, and I don’t feel any guilt about not having read War and Peace or Finnegan’s Wake. Not anymore. If I’m reading for amusement and/or edification, I’m not going to slog through something that feels more like work than pleasure.

Home Repair Man

That’s been me the last week or more. Today I have to drive in and get some new tires for the truck. Still, despite all this I’m getting some good writing work done. A new short story has been green-lighted for Paizo, and it looks more and more like the stretch goals of Kaiju Rising will be unlocked… which means that as long as people keep pledging support, I should be included on the table of contents for the anthology! (Which FURTHER means I really need to finish this new Dabir and Asim story!)

I have a handful of reviews to write and I should finally be taking those live over on the Black Gate site this week.

For now, though, I must away!

 

To the Rescue

We’ve been dealing with some pretty depressing family health news around here over the last year. As I was driving away from one of our visits to see my mom in the hospital my teenaged son decided to lift my spirits with a music track so ludicrous I was soon crying with laughter.

I now bequeath this track to you, to lift your spirits when YOU are feeling low.

Here, then, is the theme to the Wonder Woman TV show. Ah, how many ways do I love thee, Wonder Woman show theme?

1. You begin with an explosion, and grow less subtle going forward.

2. You have a splendidly catchy, driving bass line.

3. How about your blaring brass section that knows just when to over-emphasize something dramatic?

a. And how about the great tuba part between the second and third verse?

b. Then there’s the melodic motif that adorns every verse. Fabulous.

A Good Rest

I haven’t felt this good in years. I feel so healthy that I want to leap in the air and kick my heels. Heck, I’m so well rested I can even do it. And there’s the key phrase: well-rested.

I’ve been suffering from sleep apnea. I don’t believe I’ve ever talked about it on the blog before because as medical conditions go, it beats the heck out of most of them. Who am I to complain when some of my friends and relatives have diabetes, or are struggling with Alzheimer’s… or are dying of cancer? Annoying as it is to be hooked up to a machine each night, at least I have something manageable that isn’t killing me. As long as it’s treated, sleep apnea isn’t dangerous.

Except that for a good long while it hasn’t been as treatable as it should have been. Around the month I got my book contract for The Desert of Souls I remember being thankful not just for the contract but for the timing of the moment, because I didn’t think I had the energy to write in my spare time any more. Over the last years if I’d had to write in my spare time, I wouldn’t have had the strength. I was convinced that my waning reserve in the evenings was a result of me simply getting older, and that the sleep apena regimen had improved my life as much as it could.

Link Man!

The other day I was joking with my sixteen-year-old son that there really ought to be a superhero who could defend Internet users from slow or broken links. (Because that would be ridiculous, of course, and we’re pretty decadent and spoiled to be complaining about slow internet connections when people are dying in the streets in other parts of the world. I thought I should mention that in case any of you actually thought I was serious.)

The next thing I knew he’d drawn up three pics, which I scanned mere moments before my printer/scanner died for the last time. Here, then, is the work of Darian Jones, provided for your amusement. Click to embiggen. Tomorrow I’ll get to some GenCon recapping.

GenCon Photos

Every time I go to a convention I swear to myself I’ll remember to take pictures, and I never do. At GenCon this time I finally had my camera with me, but by the mid-point of the con I’d stopped snapping pics, and I never took that many. Fatigue? My natural absent-mindedness? Whatever the case, I have but a handful of pictures.

I’ve lost a lot of writing days and need to climb back into the saddle this morning, so I’ll provide a longer recap later in the week. For now, though, here are a couple of photos.

I haven’t disappeared — at least, not yet. I’ve been getting ready for GenCon, which has meant helping to make sure the pantry was stocked, the laundry was done, I was packed and prepped, horse fence repairs continued, etc. Add in the start of the school year for both my kids and, well, it’s been busy.

As a result, I’ve been absent from both this blog and my writing desk for the last few days. I have this crazy idea I’ll be able to report in about GenCon each day, but conventions are pretty busy, so it will all depend. When it comes down to it, I’d rather be meeting new people than hiding in my hotel room typing, so a report may have to wait until I return.

I start my drive in just a few hours. As I mentioned before, my schedule is here. I’ll be sharing a room with the Amazing Lou Anders and the Astonishing Scott Lynch. Who knows what adventures are in story for the three of us!

Hope I see you at the con.

Howard in the Heat

I ended up getting a reminder yesterday that I’m not as young as I used to be. Really there are regular reminders, but getting a mild case of heat stroke after working in the sun most of the day Thursday was a lesson I didn’t really need. It wasn’t really that hot, but by three o’clock my body was done, and by five o’clock, still feeling flushed, I wasn’t good for much else other than lying on the couch cooling off and drinking plenty of fluids. Whoops! Should have paid more attention to what my body was feeling and stopped sooner.

I was out in the pasture fixing horse fence and trimming weeds. Seems like with a large yard that kind of work just never gets done, because after six hours of hard work there are STILL repairs to be made. Today I’ll be back writing, although I’ve got to do a little prep work for my GenCon trip next week. I’ll be moderating a panel and reading from one of my works, so I need to research my topic and rehearse the story I’m going to read a time or two. I have this crazy idea that I’ll be able to report in each day while I’m at GenCon, but I’m usually so busy at conventions that never happens.