taladel

Originally published at Highmoon's Ponderings. You can comment here or there.

This wasn’t my best year for reading books, I will admit. I had an early surge but after February it all went a bit downhill, and now towards the end of the year I have had to push myself through a couple of books that are really good but that I seem to lack the discipline to finish. I’m looking forward to fixing that in 2010.

I ended up reading a lot more non-fiction than fiction this year, interestingly enough. The fiction I did read this year, however, was fantastic and truly rewarding.

This list includes books, roleplaying games and graphic novels.

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I hate "x is the new y" statements. This is unfortunate because it's used all the time in writing. Currently, it's "x is the new vampire." "X is the new vampire" has been around for awhile, so truly, "vampire is the new vampire" is perhaps the most appropriate. Still, with influences from movies, I thought "zombies are the new vampire" was a fair assessment of a new trend, but a dark horse seems to be making a play for first. "Angels are the new vampire."

This bugs me because I actually have angel stories in my queue (two that I'd like to be part of a series, but really, I only have titles and a general sense of a story). I don't think I've actually mentioned them here before because I don't really have a story, just a general premise and titles that stoke my creativity. Originally inspired by a KoRn song, the first novel is called "The Mortal Earthbound" and its sequel "The Dearly Departed." The general premise is that angels that refuse the will of heaven fall to hell, but hell turns out to be an office job on earth. There is no fiery pit, Earth is hell, which is why it never gets better despite our best efforts. I need to make it feel less like a Matrix clone and find a genuine story to pursue, but I love the title and have to write a story to match it.

We had a long drive today. In addition to recounting the above to Jen, I had time to ponder a short story I had planned for the Third World. The Injari don't get much (any) attention in my currently planned novels, but they're one of my favorite cultures. For that reason, I decided to write the short story "Damini," a Romeo and Juliet story in the Third World. I pondered this today. It started as a day dream, really, using the story to fulfill a request for an anthology. First it was an anthology of love stories that I was invited to contribute to. Then it was an anthology of LGBT love stories. And that's when a light bulb went on above my head. The story I had planned was pretty lame. It didn't reimagine the Romeo and Juliet story, it just transposed it to the Injari Peninsula. And sure, I won't be the first to explore this concept either (reminds me of the first half of Chutney Popcorn, in a way), but it still seems more exciting than anything I had considered before. In fact, this has opened up so many story ideas that I might turn it into a novel. Damini is the alpha female of her village, but an alpha female in a patriarchal society (okay, it's actually a matriarchal society, but even then, the women are expected to remain alone. You'll have to read it to make sense of all that). Damini does not realize she's gay. She's never been attracted to anyone, male or female. Villages exchange youngsters so they can learn the ways of the different villages and diversify the breeding pool. A new group of exchanges arrives. The alpha male of that group takes a shine to her. He asks female character X to talk to her, and Damini falls for X rather than alpha male.

I'm currently enthused enough about that story that I might write it after Wanted is finished. I was going to go back to Sandwich Notch. We'll see.

Huzzah for writing! I need to hurry up and finish so I can start another one.

Not a magic star. Not a virgin birth. Not a visit from three wise men. No, sir. Something else. Nothing magical. Just science. In fact...




London, Dec 25 (PTI) In yet another medical achievement, British scientists have restored eyesight of a partially blind person using pioneering stem cell treatment.

God bless us, every one.

Originally published at Highmoon's Ponderings. You can comment here or there.

Read the reports for the Pilot, Episode 01 and Webisode.

Note: I am writing this report about six months after it happened. I did record the last two sessions of play and have listened to them again in order to put this together.

I indeed had to return to Puerto Rico in June, so my friends and I decided to do our best to finish this game in the time I had. When we got together to play, we decided to wrap up the series in two sessions to be played over the two weeks I had available. That meant condensing four episodes into two action-packed extravaganzas. I merged the Screen Presences for episodes 2-3 and 4-5, giving us two final episodes that looked like this: 2/3/2/2 & 3/2/3/3. If you have played PTA you can see how that second merged episode is totally nuts; if you haven’t, the first spread is fine, with one spotlight character (3), but the second has three spotlight characters, meaning each of them is THE main focus of the episode, if that makes any sense. I knew that this would be tricky, to say the least, but we girded our loins and plunged back into the story.

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So Google tells me Captain Widdershins is a character from A Series of Unfortunate Events. I don't care. I like the word Widdershins and I want to use it as a character name. I am officially adding a clockwork character to House on Sandwich Notch Road (or is it Lane, I can't remember which I switched to) that is named Widdershins. He won't be able to speak, but can play records that emulate speech. I'll work on that later. I'm just writing this down so I don't forget.

From loremaster2085 

(Made me tear up. Thank you.)


 

My buddy Josh Roby ( joshroby ) has an intriguingly different look at Avatar. Worth your attention.

Do as I do, not as I say.

I am here to confirm that the Arkham Asylum game does indeed magically turn you into Batman. Fucking awesome. 

Common Sense: You've slowed your agent submission rate.

Me: I've reached the end of my list of agents I feel comfortable submitting to.

Common Sense: That's not a very long list.

Me: That's all I could find. Do you have any suggestions?

Common Sense: Google your favorite authors and add the word "agent." Find out who their agents are and query them.

Me: ...

Common Sense: Yeah, I know. You're stupid. That's why I stopped by. Now get to it, magoo.

I can't get the video to play in LJ, so you'll have to click on the link here.

An amazing speech. Congrats, sir. You've just earned the title "statesman."

Also, to be clear on my own stance, I'm against the current bill. I don't like it. As a Senator or Congressman, I'd vote against it. I've always felt laws should be simple and clear. From what I've read and heard, this one isn't. More lawmakers should take game design seminars.

If you use the Bible to defend anti-gay stances, you'd better get rid of your Christmas tree. Just as the LORD don't like them gays, he also don't like them Christmas trees.

(Jeremiah, Chapter 10, Verses 1-5)

1 Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:

2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.


You can't pick and choose, people. If its the word of your god, its the word of your god. You can equivicate all you want. But there it is, clear as crystal.

Get rid of your Christmas tree. It cannot do evil, neither also can it do good.

For all those who escaped the zombie apocalypse on the stage of the Midnight Riders' last show, the website on the poster is real. Fuck yeah. 





And here's their youtube channel.

The week between Christmas and New Year's is traditionally the lowest-traffic week of the year for my site, and I'm gonna be out of town anyway, so I thought I might try something a little different this year. Here's a teaser for my idea:



I've already got the basic idea for the story and will hopefully start working on it before we drive down to Maryland (one advantage of driving down is I can actually bring my big Cintiq with me) for the holiday. Of course, going over my outline and idea list, this might end up being MORE work than the usual QC strips >.<

So uh I no promises yet I guess, but hopefully I won't puss out and will actually get this done.

To quotes that stunned me, that I will never forget.

(paraphrase) "We have to stop arguing to build something," and "I would much rather be a rising ape than a fallen angel."

I shit you not, this was the most gorgeous film I've ever seen. I cannot imagine a movie with such incredible design, production and delivery. The world of Pandora is sensual. The digital effects are indistinguishable from everything else. The world works in a '60's science fiction way. I felt like I was looking at something as intricate and thought-through as Harlan's World or Dune. The machinery looked like it worked. The people looked like real people. It was authentic. Fuck that, it was realistic.

And the plot was about as pedestrian as the newer work of George Lucas.

I mean, I like the Hero's Journey, too, but can we be a bit more experimental with it? At least try? A little?  Mr. Cameron, I really respect you a lot. I mean, irrational amounts of a lot. You  went to so much work on the world and the cameras and the digital effects and the language and the ecology and everything else... maybe investing in a screenwriter would have been as equally important as a linguist.

But I shit you not, this was the most gorgeous film I've ever seen. See it in 3D. Put up the extra cash and see it in 3D. Just... ignore the plot. Really. Ignore it.

Originally published at Highmoon's Ponderings. You can comment here or there.

The non-stop rains of Wed and Thu gave way to a sunny Friday and a super awesome cold front on Saturday that has lingered around and brought nighttime temps in the Beach to high 40s. This morning I was originally going to join the monthly Bike Miami Ride but at 8:30 AM it was just way too early for this household, which went to bed at 3:30 AM after getting home from my father-in-law’s holiday party (oh man, such awesome food). So I rode my bike to synagogue as I always do, then checked out one of the waterfront promenades, this one in the area South of Fifth. From there I rode down to South Pointe Park and got to see the City of Miami right from the entrance to the port area.

My bike felt wobbly, and indeed it turned out I had two broken spokes in my rear wheel, so I dropped it at the Miami Beach Bicycle Center and walked home. Sans bike, we decided that the weather was too nice to not enjoy, so we went out to check out a couple of stores walking. Yes, we went walking in South Beach. It was fantastic.

We went to Sephora, where I got a new cologne (cause I can rarely find the other one I like and use, Azzaro Silver Black) then just went walking around, checking out stores, marveling at the beautiful blue skies, and chuckling at the SoBe trend-tribes. We are so uncool, we are beyond caring and enjoy it that way, so it’s funny to see those that are SO obsessed with appearances and the trends (and there’s loads of those in Miami, let alone SoBe).

We walked up to 13 St to have a pint at the Playwright Irish Pub, something we haven’t done in years. I love that pub; it’s spacious with great decor, they show soccer and other European sports (rugby!) and they actually know how to pull a pint of Guinness. Right when we arrived there I got a call that my bike was ready, so after a pint we walked down to 5th St again to get my bike. We walked back to the apt for a pit stop, then hit Publix for dinner (frozen pizzas we just threw in the oven).We plopped down on the couch to watch episodes of Pushing Daisies then played Rayman’s Raving Rabbid’s TV Party on the Wii.

Yes, it would have been cool to go out biking in this great weather, but walking around was just so good. We got incidental excercise, got to explore our new neighborhood and had a good time just the two of us.

More like this, please.

I had to check and see when last I posted. It's been a busy month. I'm on the tail end of the second busy cycle for the year at work, and for some reason, problems just keep coming up to draw it out longer and longer. This does not interfere with my writing in the morning or evenings (not like the summer where I work on the train too), but interferes with me sneaking in some extra time on other projects like podcasting. That should change soon.

So, not knowing how long its been, I had to check and see what was posted last. Ah yes, the whining. Rejections continue to roll in, and I don't post about them here. When I first posted about a rejection, a lot of people said some harsh things about the agent who rejected me. Rejection is part of this industry. She wasn't cruel about it. It just was. So I don't talk about it, because that's like posting about that you just sent an email at work. That happens every day so why post about it (unless it's your commute, in which case you should post about it on Facebook so all your friends who drive or work at home can experience the crazy with you). Still, rejection is hard. No what's harder? The lack of acceptance. Give me a dozen rejections, two, three, as long as they come with that eventual and inevitable acceptance. That's not how this works, though. You get the rejections. The acceptance? Maybe. Wait and see.

Waiting is hard! It allows time for self-doubt and self-pity and then you whine on your LiveJournal. Combine that with where I was in my new manuscript. I see a trend appearing. When I get to the middle of a story, I get really whiny. lurkerwithout had to give me a smack upside the head because I was complaining how my story was shit and no one was going to read it (though if I never get a deal, no one ever will!). It seems I did the exact same thing with this new story. So all that emotion just snowballed with one another and caused a giant emo avalanche.

As for Wanted: Chosen One, I had a very good day on Thursday, not just in word count, but in story development. Things changed. A direction became clear. While I don't have it all yet, the majority of the second half of the story crystallized on Thursday. Bam!

If you haven't heard of Harper Collins' new social slush pile idea, go to Authonomy.com and check it out. This is a big idea and other houses will do the same. They've turned slush pile reading into social media networking. Readers do a lot of the job themselves. Now, of course, they can't replace unpaid interns and assistant editors who normally man the slush piles, but they can crouch on their knees in the muddy stream and find that dirty gold nugget that might have otherwise been missed. Hopeful authors wanting to get recognized by HC (and all its imprints including Eos) post a minimum of 10,000 words of their novel to the website. Others read it and "back" it, offer criticism, what have you. Depending on the quality of the backer and the number of backings, a story may be elevated in the rankings to be brought to the attention of HC editors.

Now, let's take this with a grain of salt. Anyone can post content there and let me tell you, anyone does. There is some really good stuff there. And there is some really bad stuff there. Some of that bad stuff is ranked highly. Why? Because the author knows how to network, how to game the system. So this isn't a miracle solution to find a publisher, but it is one more opportunity for your work to be seen and maybe you'll get some good feedback too. (Don't hold your breathe on that one. Most people just tell you how great it is in hopes you'll back their book too and you can go up the rankings together, lah dee dah.)

I've posted the first six chapters of Black Magic. When I'm finished with Wanted: CO, I'll shop it around first and then post it there as well. That's still a ways off. I was saying March, but I don't know. With some of the changes I figured out on Thursday, I'm now projecting 150,000 words, which is another 70k. We'll see. Good night, all.