Allamaraine! Second shap! Choose your path! The DS9 Rewatch needs to "Move Along Home."

An excerpt:

For an episode that is generally the go-to example of why the first season of DS9 sucked, it’s actually not that bad.

Okay, it’s not good, exactly, but the vitriol many throw at this episode is often on the same level as that reserved for the likes of “Spock’s Brain” and “Sub Rosa,” and it’s nowhere near that bad.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: "Step by Step" by Jesse Winchester

Continuing this week's theme of music from The Wire (click here for why, but it relates to Balticon, where I am, and Tales from Dragon Precinct, which is out this weekend), here's the music played over the show's first-ever end-of-season montage, Jesse Winchester's "Step by Step."

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: "Step by Step" by Jesse Winchester

I've been put on another panel at Balticon, a books-to-movies panel Saturday at 10pm. Check it out...

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: "What You Know about Baltimore?" by Ogun

An account of my first-ever trip to Camden Yards on Tuesday, which was wonderful despite the Yankees' tenth-inning walkoff loss.

An excerpt:

The O's have a pretty storied history since moving to Bawlmer from St. Louis. (Amusingly, there is no evidence that the O's were ever the St. Louis Browns on display in the Yards that I could find. Given the Brownies' history, including just the one pennant in 1944 when most of the good players were fighting in World War II, this isn't much of a surprise.)

A lot of that history can be found in front of Gate H, the gate closest to the light rail station and the convention center, and where they display all the O's retired numbers as standalone statues depicting the number in question, along with a plaque identifying the player and the year the number was retired. There's also a statue of Babe Ruth as a youth, identifying him as a "native Baltimorean." (At least they have a more legitimate claim to Ruth, who was born and raised in Charm City, as opposed to the tenuous claim they have on Edgar Allan Poe just 'cause he happened to die there. Poe was born in Boston, and spent as much time in Philadelphia and New York City as he did Baltimore. On the other hand, I love the notion of a football team named after a Poe poem. But I digress.)

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: "Oh My God" by Michael Franti & Spearhead

Continuing this week's theme of music from The Wire (explained here), here's the Jayhawks performing "Sixteen Tons" from the show's second season. In-show, they were performing it live at the bar where all the dockworkers hang out. The intro bit is Frank Sobotka, the head dockworker and a major character in the season, pretty much explaining the theme of the show's second season...

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: "Sixteen Tons" by the Jayhawks

Bashir rescues a cop chasing a criminal. The criminal himself dies -- OR DOES HE???? Plus Odo gets bitchy about the new Starfleet security guy as the DS9 Rewatch boards "The Passenger."

An excerpt:

Kira and Bashir are returning from a medical mission in a runabout. Kira makes the mistake of complimenting Bashir on his work, which leads to Bashir saying he can’t hear Kira over the sound of how awesome he is. Kira’s snotty reply is cut off by a distress call. They respond to it and find a woman unconscious. Bashir revives her; she says that the pilot’s dead. She’s transporting a prisoner, who sabotaged the ship. Bashir tries to treat him, but he dies—after grabbing Bashir’s throat and saying, “Make me live.”

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: "Telegraph Road" by Dire Straits

Because it's been a few minutes since I last posted any....











This one's my favorite:

Current Mood: sily
Current Music: "Tourist Town Bar" by Michael McCloud

As has become traditional, Dark Quest Books is doing a big-ass book launch at Baltcon 47. One of the books being catapulted into existence is Tales from Dragon Precinct, a collection of short stories that have been brought together into the fourth book in the acclaimed series of fantasy police procedurals.

The party will be held at Frankie & Vinnie's in the Hunt Valley Inn in Hunt Valley, Maryland on Sunday 26 May 2013 from 7-9pm. There'll be food and drink and merriment and readings and an auction of Cool Stuff.

Books being launched include:

The Redcaps' Queen: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale by Danielle Ackley-McPhail
Ending: The Fourth Book in the Laurian Pentology by Danny Birt
Three Chords of Chaos: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale by James Chambers
Tales from Dragon Precinct by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Fantastic Futures 13, edited by Robert E. Waters & James R. Stratton

Plus other DQB releases:
A Legacy of Stars by Danielle Ackley-McPhail
Flesh and Iron, edited by Michael Amorel & Neal Levin
Ending an Ending, Beginning, and Beginning an Ending by Danny Birt
Tales from the Pulp Side by Michael A. Black & Ray Lovato, John L. French, and Patrick Thomas
Dragon Precinct, Unicorn Precinct, and Goblin Precinct by Keith R.A. DeCandido
The Devil of Harbor City by John L. French
To Hell in a Fast Car, edited by John L. French
Defending the Future: Best-Laid Plans, edited by Mike McPhail

Most of the above-listed authors are scheduled to be there, as well as several contributors to the various anthologies, among them Jack Campbell, Myke Cole, Judi Fleming, Charles E. Gannon, Elektra Hammond, Eric V. Hardenbrook, C.J. Henderson, Bernie Mojzies, Christine Norris, KT Pinto, James Daniel Ross, Alex Shvartsman, Maria V. Snyder, John C. Wright, and Jeff Young.

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: "Just Another Song" by Michael McCloud

On Tor.com, the good (Simon Pegg), the bad (Peter Weller), and the ugly (the script) of Star Trek Into Darkness, with plenty of spoilers, plus why Benedict Cumberbatch is more awesome than you.

An excerpt:

The acting here is first-rate. As with the previous film, the actors embody the characters they’re playing without spilling over into parody. In particular Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto do an excellent job with characters who are both the same and different from their alternate-timeline counterparts played by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, because Kirk and Spock are the characters who were most changed by Nero’s time-travel shenanigans in the last film—the former lost his father, the latter lost his world.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: still "The Body of an American"

This weekend will be the launch of Tales from Dragon Precinct, the fourth book in my series of fantasy police procedurals. In addition to those, I've mixed cops and fantastical stuff in my SCPD series, as well as in two Spider-Man novels (Venom's Wrath, Down These Mean Streets), one Buffy novel (Blackout), one Supernatural novel (Nevermore), and a couple of short stories ("An Evening in the Bronx with Venom" in The Ultimate Spider-Man, "Improper Procedure" in The Ultimate Silver Surfer). I've also written one mystery novel (CSI: NY: Four Walls).

While there are many influences on my cop writing, one of the strongest is the David Simon HBO series The Wire. In honor of that great show, I'm going to do this week some music from it. While the show never used incidental music (except during season-ending montages), music people listened to still played a part in the narrative. We'll start with this Pogues song, which was played during a wake for a cop who died, "The Body of an American."

Here's both the original song, as well as the scene from the "Dead Soldiers" episode of The Wire that first used it (it was used again in the final episode "-30-").

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: "The Body of an American" by the Pogues

I will be a guest at Balticon 47 next weekend at the Hunt Valley Inn in Maryland, just north of Baltimore. I will be putting in a lot of time at the Dark Quest Books table in the dealer room, where I'll be flogging the new release Tales from Dragon Precinct; here's what I'm scheduled to be doing beyond that:

Saturday
12-1pm: "Blogging for Dummies," w/Tim Dodge, Allison Gamblin, and Zan Rosin (Chesapeake)
10-11pm: "Books to Movies," w/Michael D'Ambrosio, Betsy Marks Delaney, Clint Gaige, Richard Allen Leider, and Joe McClean (Parlor 1041)
11pm-midnight: reading, w/Charles E. Gannon and Chris Lester (Chase)

Sunday
2.30-4pm: "You Have Gaming in My Fiction," w/L. Jagi Lamplighter, Neal Levin, Mike McPhail, Alex Shvartsman, Jon Sprunk, and Michael A. Ventrella (Parlor 1041)
4-5pm: autographing, w/Phil Giunta and Robert Greenberger (autograph area)
7-9pm: the Dark Quest Books Mega-Launch, w/Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Danny Birt, Jack Campbell, Myke Cole, Judi Fleming, Charles E. Gannon, Elektra Hammond, Eric V. Hardenbrook, C.J. Henderson, Mike McPhail, Bernie Mojzes, Christine Norris, KT Pinto, James Daniel Ross, Alex Shvartsman, Maria V. Snyder, Jim Stratton, Patrick Thomas, Robert E. Waters, John C. Wright, Jeff Young, and more besides (Frankie & Vinnie's)

Monday
10-11am: "Voice Acting for Audio Books & Audio Dramas," w/Brand Gamblin, Bryan Lincoln, Alex White, and John Taylor Williams (Derby)

I don't have anything currently scheduled for Friday. Hope to see lotsa you there!

EDITED TO ADD: The books-to-movies panel Saturday night.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: "Do Re Mi" by Ani DiFranco

Some new stuff on the The Chronic Rift Network of pop-culture podcasts:

The Chronic Rift Roundtable: Surely You're Joking, Dr. Wertham? A recording of a panel held at the SoHo Gallery for Digital Art, as comics writers Denny O'Neil and Danny Fingeroth, cartoonist/designer/historian Craig Yoe, journalist David Hadju, psychiatrist and author Dr. Sharon Packer, and pop culture librarian/academic Carol L. Tilley examine the influence of Dr. Fredric Wertham, and his polarizing work Seduction of the Innocent on the comics industry in the 1950s and beyond.

The Cinefantastique Spotlight: Ray Harryhausen. CFQ Online’s Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons are joined by John W. Morehead of TheoFantastique.com to discuss the legacy of the late, great Mr. Harryhausen.

Dead Kitchen Radio: The Keith R.A. DeCandido Podcast Episode 31: Tales from Dragon Precinct Part 4. I read the Dru-and-Hawk story, also a vampire tale, "Blood in the Water," from my new short story collection out this month.

The Weekly Podioplex May 14, 2013. Iron Man 3 rules the box office, but Star Trek Into Darkness is about to hit. Plus new stuff on DVD and Netflix, and more from Michael Falkner.

The Cinefantastique Interview: Frank Conniff. The former Mystery Science Theatre 3000 mad scientist's assistant talks with Dan Persons about MST3K, Statical Planets, The Wonderful Pundits of Oz, and more.

You can subscribe to the network at iTunes -- either the network as a whole or to individual podcasts -- and the podcasts are also available at the Rift web site or the Rift's page on Mevio. Please comment on the forums, or leave a message at 888-866-9010, or e-mail john at chronicrift dot com, or like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter @chronic_rift.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: "Just Another Song" by Michael McCloud

I have now plotted out Gryphon Precinct. I need to write a short story, finish editing a novel, and probably do some revisions on The Project That Cannot Be Named (Yet) before I can actually start writing it, but I now know the plot, and it's gonna be great, if I do say so myself.

Okay, that's a bit immodest, but -- well, things are gonna get shaken up a bit. There were already two changes to the status quo in Goblin Precinct, one as part of the plot, and one at the very end of the novel, and there's a lot more shakeups to come -- along with the usual mysteries, intrigue, magick, politicking, and character stuff. We'll learn some stuff about Danthres, too.

Enough teasing. Back to the grind............

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: "Walk on Water" by Marc Cohn

Some stuff about me from A to Z:

A - Age: 44.
B - Bed size: Double, though I try to get a King when I'm in a hotel.
C - Chore you hate: Cleaning the litterbox, which is why that's Wrenn's job. ;)
D – Domestic Animals names: Scooter (dog), Jezebelle, Rhiannon, Sterling (cats).
E - Essential start to your day item(s): Coffee!
F - Favorite color: Red.
G - Gold or Silver: Silver.
H - Height: 5'8"
I - Instruments you play(ed): Recorder, various bits o' percussion.
J - Job title: Writer/Editor.
K - Kisses or hugs: Yes, though if I had to choose, I'd go with hugs.
L - Living arrangements: A three-bedroom apartment in the Bronx occupied by self, girlfriend, roommate, and the animals named in D.
M - Mood: Generally happy.
N - Nicknames: KRAD, Bongo Boy.
O - Overnight hospital stays other than birth: None, thankfully.
P - Pet Peeves: People who don't think shit through (which, sadly, is most people). People who use "between" to refer to more than two things (which, sadly, is also most people).
Q - Quote from a movie: "I don't know, I'm making this up as I go." Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark.
R - Right or left handed: Right.
S - Siblings: Biologically, I'm an only child. However, Laura Anne Gilman is my sister by another mister.
T - Time you wake up: 6-8 hours after I go to sleep, whenever that is.
U - Underwear: Briefs.
V - Vegetable you dislike: Brussels sprouts, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower.
W - Ways you run late: Almost invariably due to the screwups of other people. I'm compulsively on time.
X - X-rays you've had: Plenty of dental ones, and my ankle once when I sprained it as a kid.
Y - Yummy food you make: Fried chicken, broiled lamb chops, tomato sauce (from scratch), pork braised in milk, "kitchen sink" casserole, chicken soup, some other stuff.
Z - Zoo favorite: Tigers!

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: "Velvet Green" by Jethro Tull

Curzon's past comes back to haunt Jadzia, as an indiscretion 30 years ago leads to an extradition hearing now. The DS9 Rewatch cross-examines "Dax."

An excerpt:

Bashir’s aggressive flirting with Dax is met with an obvious lack of interest on Dax’s part. Bashir’s inability to take disinterest for an answer allows him to get hit really hard by Spice Williams-Crosby, but also alert everyone to Dax’s kidnapping.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" by Ian Anderson w/orchestra

The Yanks have played 40 games, which puts them at the one-quarter mark of the season. They're in first place -- but is that predictive of anything? On the Pinstriped Bible, I look back at where the Yanks were after 40 games going back to 2007 to try to find out.

An excerpt:

I was originally just gonna stick with the Joe Girardi era, but I just love the snapshot of the AL East on the 18th of May 2007. Technically, the Yankees were in third place, but really all four non-Boston teams were knotted. The O's were 19-23, the Yanks were 18-22, and the Rays and Jays were 18-23, all of them either 10 or 10.5 games behind the Red Sox, who were 28-12, a horse-choking .700 winning percentage at the 25% mark.

Obviously, that wasn't sustainable, but it's pretty cool to have four teams all that close to each other (I'm wondering if that might happen later this season in the AL East). Eventually, it settled into the usual 1998-2007 pattern: the Yanks and Sox on top, the Jays in the middle, the O's and Rays on the bottom.

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: "The Cool, Cool River" by Paul Simon

...is that Benedict Cumberbatch totally fucking owned the movie. There's some good acting on display in this movie (in fact, the only really poor acting is from Anton Yelchin, but I blame that on the accent -- I used to think Walter Koenig was a bad actor until I saw him perform with his own voice, and he was much better), but Cumberbatch acts everybody off the screen. Just a tremendous performance. He does more with a stare than anyone else in the movie can do with dialogue -- and again, that's not to dis the excellent cast, but holy shit.

Anyhow, I'll have a more detailed review on Tor.com on Monday some time.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: "It's a Hard Life" by Queen

Craig Sager, a sideline reporter for TNT & TBS (mostly for basketball, but he also works baseball when TBS does postseason stuff) -- weaponizing suitjackets since 1973......

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Dust Storm Disaster" by Arlo Guthrie

Wasn't a very productive day writing-wise, but I made a dandy chauffeur. Yesterday terri_osborne had neck surgery, and I picked her (and her mother) up today after she was discharged from the hospital. In order to have the car available, I needed to drive wrenn to the train station, and later pick her up.

Several people I mentioned this to were surprised that I was helping out my ex this way, and that boggles my mind. Terri and I didn't work out as a couple for a large number of reasons, but she's still my neighbor and someone I care about a great deal. I'm gonna help her if I can -- I did when Marcus died, I did when she went on vacation and needed someone to care for the cats, and I did today, and I will again if she needs help during her rehab.

I'm no kind of religious person, being rather firmly agnostic, but if I had to pick an "ist" to go with, I'd follow Jay Lake's lead and consider myself a Wheatonist. Wheatonism's sole tenet is Wil Wheaton's oft-stated dictum: "Don't be a dick." Terri needed help that we could easily provide. It wasn't even a question.

Anyhow, I'm now off to see Star Trek Into Darkness with firerosearien. Look for my thoughts on same in a spoiler-filled review that will appear on Tor.com on Monday.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: "Do Re Mi" by Ani DiFranco

Having been on a Paul Simon kick, I thought I'd give his erstwhile partner a spotlight, as we have Art Garfunkel's amazing vocals on "Bridge Over Troubled Water." First we have a performance from a Simon &
Garfunkel concert in 1969, before the song's 1970 release as a single. Listen to the crowd's reaction at the end -- this was a hall full of people who'd never heard it before, and they were very obviously blown the fuck away by the song, as well they should've been.




Here's Garfunkel doing it at a 1988 Princes Trust concert for Prince Charles and Princess Diana:

Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: "Daisy and Prudence" by Erin McKeown

It's looking even cooler....



/geekgasm

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: "American Land" by Bruce Springsteen

As we reach the publication month of Tales from Dragon Precinct, I do the last of my readings from it: "Blood in the Water," the Dru-and-Hawk story in the collection of stories from my Cliff's End novel series.

The episode is available on iTunes -- either on its own feed or via The Chronic Rift Network -- on the Rift web site, or DKR's Mevio page.

Comment right here on the blog, via e-mail at keith at decandido dot net, by phone to 888-866-9010, or at DKR's Facebok page.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: "St. James Infirmary" by Arlo Guthrie

I'm the guest on the latest White Rocket Podcast with Van Allen Plexico, as Van and I look back at a combined three decades or so of Dragon*Con appearances, and discuss our memories good, bad, and batshit crazy. There's crowds, celebrities, charities, costumes, and craziness, plus live music, being kicked off panels, doing panels with awesome folks, and hotel lunacy. Check it out!

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: "Rocky Ground" by Bruce Springsteen

Sisko decks Q! And, yeah, okay, some other stuff with Vash and Quark and Bashir and stuff, but who cares? SISKO DECKS Q! The DS9 Rewatch gets "Q-Less."

An excerpt:

Bashir is hitting on a pretty Bajoran woman in the replimat. At the next table over O’Brien is rolling his eyes and snarfing on his coffee. To Bashir and the woman’s disappointment, and O’Brien’s great relief, they’re interrupted by a summons to a runabout landing pad. The Ganges spent too long out of coverage, and their battery is drained of power, and Dax forgot to pack the USB charger. They barely made it to the station. Dax and Ensign Pauley are trapped inside, and they can’t get the door open. Confusing the issue is that Bashir is reading three lifesigns. (Further confusing the issue is the fact that the station has transporter technology, and they could just beam the people off the runabout, but we’ll let that go.)

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Dokhtar Goochani" by Marketa Irglova

This is one of my favorite songs. I loved it as a little kid and love it even more as an adult. It's a joyous, wonderful, delightful song, that has Paul Simon's trademark brilliant lyrics and just a magnificent tune.

Here's the original:



Here's the version from Simon & Garfunkel's famous concert in Central Park in 1981, which I and my parents attended. I was only 12 at the time, and I only remember snatches, but I clearly remember when they played this:



I also love the version from Simon's solo concert in Central Park ten years later, but sadly I can't find a copy of that on the Tube of You. However there is this version from the same tour in 1992:






"I never loved no one the way that I love you..........."

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: "You Can Call Me Al" by Paul Simon