Jane Austin & Zombies Has Arrived

I bought a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for J., secretly knowing that I could steal it from him when he wasn't looking. Then Steph called dibs on it when we all went out to dinner, and now I'm 3rd in line. Still, I've been sneaking peeks, and I can say this much:

Reader, it's awesome.

These are the stories - and heroines! - I wanted to read about 20 years ago.

Why Other Cool People Like "The 300"

WIN!

I'm always delighted when I find women who thought fan-"boy" movies like The 300 and Fight Club were full of awesome.

Because they were.

"I've never met a writer..." The Writing Life

Me, Steph, J. and The Old Man went out to dinner last night to celebrate The Old Man winning a shiny Fellowship that will make it possible for him and Steph to eat come January.

Talk inevitably turned to Jim Butcher's new book. J. and The Old Man are big fans of Butcher.

"Are you coming with us Wednesday?" J. asked The Old Man. "You know Jim Butcher's going to be at The Greene."

"I don't know... probably not. I have a big test Thursday."

"You don't want to see Jim Butcher?" I said, incredulous. The Old Man bought Butcher's latest book the day it came out and finished it four hours later.

"Oh, I don't know..." the Old Man said. "I've never really met a writer before."

J. and Steph just kind of looked at him for a minute. I snickered.

Then we all burst out laughing.

"To be fair, you weren't a writer when I first met you (ten years ago)," the Old Man protested, turning to me. "You were just a wanna-be."

Quote of the Day

"A moron writes words. A moron flails about for telling details--declarations, clichés, sentence fragments. A moron owns a frying pan. A moron has an extensive collection of pornography. A moron makes assumptions--about gender roles, about sexuality, about class. Or he fantasizes--about sports cars, Rolexes, cash. He prefers the company of men, but not in a gay way, REALLY. Irony escapes him. A moron pretends that women have no interest in the martial arts because the thought that they might hit him is scary. A moron is not good with words. Not words, not ideas, not talking about men. He is paid by the word. Two-fifty. It doesn't matter what words he puts down, because those who do not agree with what he says are not men."

From here, and context.

Wiscon

For better or worse, I won't be able to make it this year. I owe bunches of taxes this year and I needed to put my book checks toward furniture, heat, and a car.

So, no Wiscon.

Next year, tho, I'll be peddling a pretty sweet-ass little book. So I think attendance is mandatory.

The Roots of Urban Fantasy

An interesting history of the "urban fantasy" (AKA vampire porn) novel.

As an aside, I'm kind of embarrassed to say out loud that, shit, man, Rusch is a really terrible writer. I'm sure she writes good *story* (which would be why she sells so many), but she really doesn't have a lot of technical skill. Lots of interesting stuff to chew on here, just not articulated as well as it could have been.

Sorry. I had to say that out loud.

Now go forth and create the next reimagined gothic, people! I'm bored with vampire porn.

4 to 46

I do wonder when we'll hit the tipping point. Think it'll take as long as 10 years? The buildup, sure, I understand that taking 10 years, but once you hit the tipping point, the rest should come on down just like dominoes.

Til then, keep on truckin.

Spring 2010

I was editing an RFI at work today that mentioned the date, "Spring 2010."

My immediate thought was, "My book comes out in Spring 2010."

I've started to associate that ENTIRE PHRASE "Spring 2010" with the release of God's War.

Heaven forbid when I actually get a solid release date.

Kcast 1.0

I'm working on a project to record all of my short fiction in podcast form (and hopefully some GW snippets soon). These will go up on my website once it's live. The header (Kcast and etc.) will likely change, and I'd like to get a better audio recording device, but here's a taste of what I'm up to:

The Women of Our Occupation (.m4a)
The Women of our Occupation (.wmv)

I'll probably record this a couple more times to get the tone right.

Next up is "Wonder Maul Doll," which pretty much nobody's ever read (it originally appeared in a little anthology called From the Trenches), but it's a seriously brutal women story. Hurrah!

Thoughts?

Is This was Women's Suffrage was Like?

It's fascinating to watch the three steps forward two steps back tidal wave of social change. I can't help but think this is what it was like with women getting the right to vote... This slow, building tide. One state here, one state there, until the whole country finally realized:

1) The world's not going to implode when something "changes"
2) You can't stop the tide of a cause that, well, actually makes sense

Hate may have a long lifespan, but it'll eventually topple in the face of human goodness and decency. That's what I want to believe, anyway.

It's why I'm a fantasy writer.

One for the Road

Empowering our Daughters

"Men don’t want to fuck feminists, and if no one wants to fuck you, what power have you got as a woman?"

I Really Hate April Fools' Day

The news is already absurd and fabricated. I don't need people to deliberately absurdify and fabricate it.

White Phosphorus Used in Gaza

These jelly-fish cloud bursts are about what I imagined Nasheenian/Chenjan bursts would look like in God's War.

As noted in the video, it's illegal as per the Geneva conventions.

House Photos are Up!

Check it out!

What Audio Books Should Be

I want one!

Words for the Road

"A man [sic] is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do."
- Bob Dylan

One for the Road

I Can Haz an Old Victorian House

Holy crap, I officially have keys to a big old fucking Victorian house. Yes, it's huge. It's 5 bedrooms. With a basement. A garden. Near a park. Bathroom and a half. 5 bedrooms, did I mention? And a turret room. A fucking turret room.

Holy crap. Holy crap.

J. and I got a Chipotle lunch to go and just sat up there and had lunch today in this big, gorgeous, empty house. My official move date is the 20th, but we have keys. And a big new stove. And washer/dryer will be delivered the 23rd.

God, this is a big, amazing house. I never dreamed I would live in a house like this, even if it's just a rental. It's just... I just can't believe it. We were sitting up there and I was just... I just couldn't believe it. It's amazing.

And it's all ours! Just the two of us in this big, huge, but amazingly cozy house. I'm in love with this house.

I love my life. I can walk to work.

I can walk to work!

It's just... I am just utterly stunned at this house. I can't believe I'll be living here. I just kept wandering around. I just can't believe it.

It's this huge writer's house. It's just right for a writer! It's like where a writer would live! It's like... it's a great house.

I realize we're all in danger of losing everything at any minute. All of us, every one. I know that better than... well, much better than I did before. I totally get that. And it's why I love the good things so much fucking more now. I could lose them any minute, but this one, wee moment where I have them?

Oh, it is glorious, like summer in Alaska. The most glorious thing in the world, that bright, brilliant summer glory after 8 months of winter.

I have a house!

Why I Wrote God's War

I'm on page 92 of The Electric Church. I picked this one up because it's about a Gunner, an assassin, who gets hired by the government, puts together a team, and goes after a religious organization. This should sound a tad familiar to those who've been following God's War. The main character is snarky and poor and uneducated but good at what he does. Huzzah! Good times.

So now, as said, I'm on page 92 and our wise-cracking white male hero just put together his team for the job.

And, you'll never guess it!!

His team?

Our wise-cracking white male hero's team?

Wait for it....

It's full of wise-cracking white male heroes!!

No, I'm serious. I'm on page 92 and the only woman in here with a first and last name paired with any kind of power or authority (or, you know, action) is the one he "accidently" killed at the beginning of the book.

I think, at one point, there were some people described as yellow. And some people from Ireland. I think there was a (male) Hispanic sounding character named at one point.

This is the sum total of cultural diversity in NYC 2050!

Oh man.

See, this is why I HAD to write books.

At some point they have to have a token woman character as the love interest, right? RIGHT?? And maybe she'll be Hispanic or something, right? RIGHT???

Oh well.