Last day for entering caption contest [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] — I plan to close it tonight and build the voting poll.
See the second comment on my most recent Google Books post — Fascinating perspective.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) the_flea_king on the paradox of choice — Good reading for writers.
Locus Award Finalists Announced — Lots of really good work there, by lots of really good people. Congratulations to all!
A cyberattack on an American city — Sobering, and sadly unsurprising. (Thanks to lillypond.)
?otD: Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?
4/28/2009 Body movement: 70 minute suburban walk This morning's weigh-in: n/a (traveling) Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
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ericjamestone points out that he and I share space on the Million Writers Award Notable Stories 2008 list — Along with a lot of other fine folks.
The Death and Rebirth of Accountability — Tom V. Morris talks about how things ought to work.
A ruined church in Wales — As garyomaha says, my kind of place.
The Dark Secret at Blood Falls — Viable microbes locked away for millions of years in an Antarctic glacial lake.
?otD: What time zone am I in?
4/20/2009 Body movement: n/a (getting over jet lag) This morning's weigh-in: 217.0 Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville; The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
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| 2009-04-02 04:47 |
| [links] Link salad crossed its old man back in Oregon |
| Public |
| audio, awards, calendula, cool, funny, links, personal, podcasts, publishing, religion, stories, tech, writing |
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"Rolling Steel: A Pre-Apocalyptic Love Story by calendula_with and me is live at Clarkesworld — calendula_witch comments here.
"Rolling Steel" in audio format, too
scalzi explains The Sounds of METAtropolis Free For a Limited Time — Download the Hugo-nominated audiobook gratis.
arcaedia with new guidelines for queries
Moses is Departing Egypt: A Facebook Haggadah — Hahahahahahah. (Thanks to calendula_witch.)
British Steam Car Loses Steam — Modern steampunk on wheels. (Thanks to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) chriswjohnson.)
The cutting edge of retro tech — More pure genius from Dark Roasted Blend.
Implantable Telescope for the Eye — "Your clothes, give them to me! Now!"
?otD: Can you hear the evil crowd?
4/2/2009 Body movement: 30 minute suburban walk This morning's weigh-in: 219.6 Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville; Making Money by Terry Pratchett
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| 2009-04-01 18:14 |
| [writing] The quarter just ended |
| Public |
| awards, beast, books, calendula, endurance, fiction, pinion, process, stories, trial, writing |
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First quarter of 2009 has been interesting from a writing perspective.
Sold three solo stories (one flash, one short, one novella) and two co-authored with calendula_witch (one short, one novelette). Ten short fiction rejections.
Sold three stories in reprint, along with Polish rights to Trial of Flowers.
40,900 words of new short fiction (one novella, one novelette, three short stories).
Revised Pinion and delivered it to Tor for editorial review.
Delivered The Sky That Wraps to Subterranean for pre-production.
Extended The Heart of the Beast from jeffvandermeer's outline and partial, including 50,100 new words. Back to him for revision.
Outlined Endurance from scratch, twice.
Wrote the foreword for camillealexa's Push of the Sky.
Made the Hugo ballot, sort of, as an explanatory note to the Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form nomination for METAtropolis.
Plus a bunch of blog posts, twittering, miscellanous blurbage, nonfiction writing and Ghu knows what else.
How was your writing year so far?
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| 2009-04-01 04:41 |
| [links] Link salad prepares to head north |
| Public |
| awards, books, cool, culture, green, history, links, personal, process, videos, writing |
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On the Gentle Art of Selecting First Readers [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
jimvanpelt on writing dialog
neutronjockey on writing with depression — Frank and thoughtful.
A YouTube video of the recent Borderlands Write-In — Like watching paint dry, with occasional music. I find this very funny. (Thanks to kenscholes for pointing this out.)
Dan Dos Santos: Artist Hugo nominee spotlight — And look at one of the reference images on the article. Green, rocking the house.
Whose Father Was He? — A Civil War detective story. (Snurched from The Edge of the American West.)
Strange Maps on the Dutch coastline
Happy Monolith Day
?otD: Who killed rock cobbin?
4/1/2009 Body movement: 60 minute urban walk (hills!) This morning's weigh-in: n/a (traveling) Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville; Corpse by Jessica Snyder Sachs
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File 770 on the METAtropolis Hugo nomination
Pub is closed by Monty Python hand grenade — (Thanks to willyumtx.)
Orbitron Apocalypto — Hod rod journalism and high weirdness. Great slice-of-culture narrative. (Thanks to danjite.)
The Seven Nations of Political Talk — Who listens to whom in political commentary.
George Will, climate change and the disingenuousness of conservative dialectic
?otD: Badges? Badges?
3/22/2009 Body movement: 10 minute stretch in gym, 50 minute walk in meadows This morning's weigh-in: n/a (travel day) Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
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In which I am one-fifth of a Hugo nominee: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
Why Publishing Should Send Fruit-Baskets to Google — I.G. Frederick points out that Cory Doctorow has the opposite reaction to mine. [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] Wouldn't be the first time I was wrong!
csinman talks about kenscholes — With bonus cartoon action. Heh.
Zeppelins r Us — Choose "Led Zeppelin" and "Massive" and "On." Trust tetar in this, as I did.
APOD is even cooler than usual
The propagation of false news in wartime.
?otD: Where do Hugo?
3/20/2009 Body movement: n/a (travel day) This morning's weigh-in: n/a (travel day) Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville; Watchmen by Alan Moore etc.
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METAtropolis by John Scalzi, ed. Written by: Elizabeth Bear, Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell and Karl Schroeder (Audible Inc) has been nominated for the Hugo in the category of Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. We believe it's the first audiobook ever nominated for a Hugo.
This is very special to me because my novella in METAtropolis, "In the Forests of the Night", is the first piece I wrote when recovering from cancer surgery. It's the piece that scared the hell out of me, because until I'd written the story, I didn't know if I still had "it" as a writer. It's also the piece I was struggling to work on when I very first met calendula_witch.
Thank you Steve Feldberg of audible.com and John Scalzi for moving the deadline after I got sick so I could stay in the project. Thank you Elizabeth Bear, Toby Buckell and Karl Schroeder for putting up with my flakiness. And my special thanks to everyone who nominated METAtropolis.
Because that story is testament to my kicking cancer's ass.
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Hugo nominations are out
I draw your attention to:
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
(436 Ballots / Bulletins)
* The Dark Knight Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer, story; Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, screenplay; based on characters created by Bob Kane; Christopher Nolan, director (Warner Brothers)
* Hellboy II: The Golden Army Guillermo del Toro & Mike Mignola, story; Guillermo del Toro, screenplay; based on the comic by Mike Mignola; Guillermo del Toro, director (Dark Horse, Universal)
* Iron Man Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway, screenplay; based on characters created by Stan Lee & Don Heck & Larry Lieber & Jack Kirby; Jon Favreau, director (Paramount, Marvel Studios)
* METAtropolis by John Scalzi, ed. Written by: Elizabeth Bear, Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell and Karl Schroeder (Audible Inc)
* WALL-E Andrew Stanton & Pete Docter, story; Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon, screenplay; Andrew Stanton, director (Pixar/Walt Disney)
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Have you submitted yours?
For your nominating convenience:
Nominations are due by Saturday, so don't forget to get them in a bit early to avoid the rush.
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Don't forget to put an entry into the new Green [ Amazon ] ARC contest [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] — And yes, there will be goodies for the person whose nominee wins.
Scrivener's Error responds to yesterday's post about backing up writing files — He raises an excellent point about data format, which will probably cause me to add yet another step to my process. See the original post here: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
douglascohen on the death of Realms of Fantasy — I had a story orphaned in inventory there. Will need to remarket it now.
scalzi explains about METAtropolis being nominated for an Audie award — Go, us!
Dark Roasted Blend with "The Ultimate Guide to Modern Writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy"
This Is Why You're Fat — Food disasters galore. Zomg. (Thanks to jaborwhalky.)
Get Fuzzy discusses Spanish cuisine — Hahahahahah.
When dreams come true — The psychology of dream interpretation. As lt260 points out, given the general run of my dreams, this might not be such a good thing. (Thanks to lt260.)
?otD: Where are his glasses folded?
2/10/2009 Body movement: 40 minute stationary bike ride This morning's weigh-in: 221.4 Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
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As I mentioned in link salad this morning, I hit the Locus recommended reading list twice this year. For all your reading and award-nominating needs, they liked novel:
Escapement, Tor Books, June, 2008, ed. Beth Meacham [ Powell's | Amazon ]
...and short story "The Sky That Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue and into the Black", Clarkesworld, March, 2008
"The Sky That Wraps..." also got picked up for the Dozois-edited Year's Best Science Fiction, so that story is doing me proud.
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New Nebula Award rules — In case you missed them.
Possibly the world's most awesome calendar — :: wants :: (Snurched from danjite.)
Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard — But where's the clickie? (Thanks to lt260.)
It's the anniversary of the great molasses flood — Which sounds a lot funnier than it really was.
Our world may be a giant hologram — This would explain a lot. And, um, wow.
The 'Why' of Interstellar Flight — More interesting stuff from Centauri Dreams.
W.'s Twilight: A Man of Feeble Temper — Juan Cole takes his snark out for a long walk. Mine yips along happily. We really do get the leadership we deserve, I suppose. Which makes Bush's ascendancy a very sad comment indeed on the state of the Republic.
Forgive and Forget? — Paul Krugman on the need for accountability of Bush administration abuses. At the Justice Department, for example, political appointees illegally reserved nonpolitical positions for "right-thinking Americans" their term, not mine and there's strong evidence that officials used their positions both to undermine the protection of minority voting rights and to persecute Democratic politicians. Are you proud of your Republican party?
And speaking of abuses, Slate on Susan Crawford's admission that the Bush administration uses torture — The Bushies failed in this, too, even on their own terms.
?otD: Do you feel like the king of the hill?
1/16/2009 Body movement: 40 minute ride on the stationary bike This morning's weigh-in: 223.4 Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
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| 2009-01-08 05:29 |
| [links] Link salad for a Thursday |
| Public |
| awards, books, culture, fiction, funny, links, personal, process, reviews, science, stories, weird |
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A limited time electronic release of my Alembical [ Paper Golem | Amazon ]novella, "America, Such as She Is" [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
Post-Weird Thoughts likes a couple of my stories — Hmm. Maybe I should have put "The God-Clown Is Near" on my awards rec list.
The Art of the Short Story — truepenny is wise.
The Recently Deflowered Girl — Um, wow. More or less work-safe. (Thanks to willyumtx.)
Freakonomics on the public library renaissance — Specifically as a response to the decline of media sales in books, movies, etc.
45 Vintage 'Space Age' Illustrations — Mmm. Tasty. (Snurched from Drawn!.)
Watching the Growth of Walmart Across America — An animated map of Walmart's expansion. Interesting presentation. (Thanks to ericreynolds and several others.)
Climate and the Spotless Sun — More on climate change, this time in connection to the sunspot cycle. (Thanks to safewrite.)
Black holes 'preceded galaxies' — Some interesting astronomy here. (Thanks to my brother.)
One World, Many Minds: Intelligence in the Animal Kingdom — The brains of, well, everything. (Thanks to lt260.)
?otD: Is vermiculite really made of worms?
1/8/2009 Body movement: 40 minute ride on the stationary bike This morning's weigh-in: 222.6 Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
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As a followup to my recent awards pimpage post [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ], klingonguy (a/k/a Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen, publisher of Paper Golem Press) has empowered me to distribute for a limited time a free .pdf of the novella, "America, Such as She Is" to likely Hugo, Nebula or World Fantasy Award voters interested in considering the story during the nominating process. Since this is otherwise not available electronically, he is being quite generous.
Please leave a comment here or email at jlake@jlake.com with your contact information if you'd like me to send you a copy.
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It's time for the annual award pimpage post. (Well, the Nebulas work differently, but you know what I mean.) Here's my list of my own favorites of my eligible work from 2008, for your consideration as you contemplate nominations for Hugos, Nebulas and World Fantasy Awards.
NovelEscapement, Tor Books, June, 2008, ed. Beth Meacham
Novella"America, Such as She Is", Alembical, November, 2008, Paper Golem Press, ed. Lawrence M. Schoen and Arthur Dorrance
Short Story" The Sky That Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue and into the Black", Clarkesworld, March, 2008 " A Water Matter", Tor.com, October, 2008
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long FormMETAtropolis, Audible.com, October, 2008, ed. John Scalzi (audio book [ iTunes], written by Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, Jay Lake, John Scalzi and Karl Schroeder; read by Scott Brick, Michael Hogan, Alessandro Juliani, Kandyse McClure and Stefan Rudnicki)
Best Fan WriterIf you are interested in nominating me and my blog for this category, feel free. I don't consider myself a Fan Writer in that sense, but I don't feel a need to bow out of the category either. ETA: Post edited to cope with a Hugo eligibility issue. Also, inexplicably, the first version of this post listed Mainspring when it should have read Escapement. My thanks to katster for the catch.
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Don’t forget the voting poll for the Post-Novel Ennui Contest [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ], here. Vote early, vote often, influence your friends!
The Campbell Award Pin fundraiser is now underway. [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
Fail Blog with a punctuation win — For all you GSP types.
The Guru’s Handbook on teachers and moral codes — Interesting stuff. (The term “teacher” here is used in a fairly broad sense, not specifically formal education.)
The Other — And, snurched from The Guru’s Handbook link above, a fascinating post on the Other. Worth reading from both a sociocultural perspective and a character creation perspective.
Reducing the Risk of Human Extinction — Just in case you were wondering. (Thanks to danjite.)
Ten-Minute Blood Test — A cheap chip rapidly identifies cancer proteins in a drop of blood.
More clockwork bugs — Mmmm. (Thanks to willyumtx.)
NASA Restores Historic Lunar Orbiter Image — Some weird, cool, retrotech stuff going on here. (Hat tip to io9.com.)
The Next RNC Chair: Captain Of The GOP Titanic? — Despite the amusingly snarky headline, an interesting from-outside-the-GOP-box analysis of what happens next for the Republican party.
Question of the day: What, precisely, did Billie Joe McAllister throw off the Tallahatchie Bridge?
11/17/08
Body movement: airport walking
This morning’s weigh-in: 224.0
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Originally published at jlake.com. You can comment here or there.
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The Endeavor Award is a Pacific Northwest regional literary award of which I have long been an enthusiastic supporter. Urusula K. LeGuin has donated two figurines given to her by Hayao Miyazaki as fund-raisers for the award. The figurines are of a Gardener from Miyazaki’s film Island in the Sky and the Castle from Howl’s Moving Castle. They will be auctioned on eBay beginning Friday, November 21. Details here.
Man, I wish I was tooled enough in the wallet to bid on these myself.
Originally published at jlake.com. You can comment here or there.
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It’s the holiday season, and I’m trying to pay for a big present to give to the science fiction world. With the the kind and supportive sponsorship of OSFCI and Springtime Creations, and extremely generous support from davidelevine and frankwu, I am announcing the fundraiser to pay for the Campbell Nominee award pins.
This came about because, as Cheryl Morgan says here, “…nominees for the Hugo Awards, World Fantasy Awards and Nebula Awards have long been given lapel pins to recognize their nominations. No such pin [has] existed for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.” A year or so ago I decided that creating such a pin would be a terrific way to raise the profile of the Campbell Award, generate additional interest, and celebrate all the past, present and future nominees.
The goal at the time was to develop a design which could be crafted in sufficient numbers that every nominee in the history of the Campbell Award could receive a pin (or pins) to celebrate their achievement. Through 2007 and early 2008, Spring Schoenhuth of Springtime Creations worked to develop a design which would symbolize the historical importance of John W. Campbell himself, the meaning of the award within the field, while also recognizing the five nominees each year.
Spring and I settled on a design of five fountain pen nibs in the form of a star.
The pin — Design © 2008 Springtime Creations, photo © 2008 Dave Gallaher
Edited 2008-11-16 to include photo of the production pin
This was to provide a similar visual read with the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award pins without creating any likely confusion with the other designs and related service marks. WSFS was very kind to review the design to avoid future confusion with the Hugo, while Dr. Stanley Schmidt of Analog, the award sponsor, was also generous in offering his approval.
All of this was ramping up to a fundraiser during the late spring to provide the needed $7,000 budget to mold, cast and finish the 400 pins needed for the past nominees and approximately 10 years of future demand.
Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with cancer, and thoroughly derailed from this effort. Springtime Creations generously proceeded with design and preliminary production so we could deliver the first batch of pins at Denvention, but there is now a substantial financial commitment to meet. Uncharacteristically for me, due to illness I allowed the cart to get very much before the horse here. About $5,500 has yet to be raised to defray the production expenses and allow a mailing budget to deliver the balance of the pins.
I am officially launching the Campbell Fundraiser. This is being sponsored by OSFCI, which is a 501(c)(3) organization, and will provide full tax-qualified documentation of the donation. We’d like to raise the needed $5,500. Any excess to budget will be held against unexpected expenses, then eventually released to the Clayton Memorial Medical fund after the books have been closed on this project.
Please let me know in comments here or via email if you’d like to contribute. I’ll provide donation information (including check “pay to” or other needed funds transfer detail). In additional, everyone who donates will be eligible for an end-of-fund-raiser prize drawing including a selection of my books. If you’re interested in donating to the drawing, that would be fabulous as well.
This Campbell Award pin project is part of my ongoing effort to raise the profile of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and help celebrate the newest professionals in our field year after year. I hope you can join me in it.
ETA: PayPal is now available. Contact me at jlake(a)jlake.com for the payment address.
Originally published at jlake.com. You can comment here or there.
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