In Shadows

And some SERIOUS drooling here!  Good gods almighty!  I’d never go back to a computer again if I could have THIS baby!  Might take a bit for the video to download, but if you’re a hard core computer geek, it’s worth the wait! Then there’s the World…  Looks mighty cool.  If I was a multibillionaire [...]

Wow… A whole dog race I didn’t even know existed!  (Speaking of which, Iditarod begins in thirty-seven days!) Here’s a Damn Interesting article called The Association of the Dead by Gerry Matlack.   Seems in some countries the proper bribery of officials can get you pronounced dead, whereupon your relatives inherit your wordly goods.  It [...]

The last day… *sniff* Believable and Lovable Evil How do you write believable villians taking over your story?  Can you make them evil and still lovable? Mary Rosenblum, David D. Levine, Todd McCaffrey, phyllis irene radford – motivation is primary for a villain.  He is a hero in his own book. – “Fanaticism isn’t about [...]

More convention goodness…  Notes follow the panel descriptions. We Don’t Need Another Hero From Kimball Kinnison to Dylan Hunt, strong-thewed heroes have strode the spaceways, protecting the galaxy from evildoers.  But the trend in contemporary literature is shifting from “heroes” to “protagonists” to “viewpoint characters”.  What are the ways that main characters can be used [...]

Weeeee!  Guess what I’m doing this weekend? Yesterday I spent the morning helping the guys finish the room sets.  Then I spent a good portion of the afternoon attending panels.  I’m going to note the panels and some odds and ends notes here to keep them on file for future reference…  Prepare to be bored… [...]

Watched some doomsday show on the SciFi Channel a few nights ago. Pseudo-documentary about the different ways the world will end. One of them got me to thinking: Gamma ray bursts happen once a day in the universe, so far only recorded in galaxies other than ours. If we were to have one ‘in our [...]

Of course. Busy day, but I spent a good portion of it doing cleaning stuff . . . which left me alone with my thoughts for a bit. Some story changes are in the works. Orphan Maker: Got a handle on the next chapter. I’ll have to reread the last to make certain where I’m [...]

Weird dream, didn’t get to the finish line, so I don’t know how it ends. There’s a compound in a large forest, modern day age. It’s a school for magic (ala Hogwarts, though much smaller.) Magic keeps it from being seen. But there are chain link fences surrounding the school to ‘keep undesirables out.’ Our [...]

Reflections on a wedding | Samizdata.net Brian Micklethwait (London) A very interesting blog entry. One result (among many) of this peculiar fact is a society in which them and us remain permanently divided. Islam, in Islamic minds, is irreconcilably divided from the rest of us, and similar them/us divisions afflict Muslim society itself.

Another night of coat check. It’s mid May. Total guests for dinner: 650. Total coats collected: 14. Talk about a time waster, huh? (We’ve even got a function on the 26th of May with a coat check.) I’m estimating tonight’s tips at $12. Split six ways with my crew, and we’ll each have enough to [...]

Got back into the RPG again. Yay me! Saw ‘The Order’ with Heath Ledger et al. Interesting that three of the main actors were also three of the main actors on ‘A Knight’s Tale.’ When I saw the female lead, I burst out laughing despite the seriousness of the scene. Anyway, the premise was an [...]

I've got the next 4 days off. Woot! Wrote a smutlet the other night. Couldn't get the damned thing out of my mind all day, so I had to toss it out there. Everybody on my mailing list got a welcome (and very warm) surprise. Am cruising the Academy (actually the Uber list) for . [...]

I hate politics! Here's a question for everybody and anybody who reads this and is willing to brainstorm with me… A is a consort. She belongs to B. B is sister to C. C is king of all the land. B is ambitious. She wants to have C assassinated so she can take the throne. [...]

Damned near pulled all my remaining hair and teeth out, this took so long! Six furkin' hours to slog through one chapter! I certainly hope I can get through 2.5 of 'em on my day off! Still gonna beef it up. It sits right at 2037 words. I'd like to gain another 300 words on [...]

No writing today. I work too early and haven't been able to get into the mood. Amazingly enough, I feel pretty confident that I can make up the wordcount without a problem. Hope it's not over confidence! Thanks to feath for that wonderful script! Now all I have to do is program in my quotes [...]