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)
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 Mojzies, 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!

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

I've been very dilatory about updates regarding The Chronic Rift Network, and I do apologize for that.

But if you haven't been keeping up with the network, you're missing some great stuff. Here are the most recent podcasts to go live:

The Chronic Rift. Recent episodes include a Spotlight where John S. Drew sits down with Max Gladstone at New York Comic-Con to talk about his premiere novel Three Parts Dead, and a Roundtable on Filmation's Shazam! with John, Paul K. Bisson, actor Jackson Bostwick, and fan Richard Lee.

Cyborgs: A Bionic Podcast, hosted by John S. Drew & Paul K. Bisson. The moment you've all been waiting for: Cyborgs has gotten to "The Bionic Woman Part 1," the episode of The Six Million Dollar Man that introduces Jaime Sommers. Plus, the debut of Case Files, a supplemental podcast featuring interviews with cast and crew of the bionic shows, kicking off with a conversation with James McMullan.

Mighty Movie Podcast, hosted by Dan Persons. An interview with Alice Winocour on her debut film Augustine. Plus there's Mighty Movie's Temple of Bad, the latest of which has Dan, Andrea Lipinski, Orenthal Hawkins, and Kevin Lauderdale talking about the Hong Kong "classic," Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky.

Cinefantastique, hosted by Dan Persons, Steve Biodrowski, and Lawrence French. The latest episodes include an interview with Ben Wheatley of Sightseers, and a spotlight on Iron Man 3.

The Cardboard Jungle, hosted by Anthony Racano & Paul Leoncavallo. Episode 17 of this board-game podcast discusses gaming exclusives and their place in the universe.

The Weekly Podioplex, hosted by Michael Falkner. A special double episode looking at Pain and Gain and other new releases both in theatres and on home video.

Generations Geek, hosted by Scott Pearson and his daughter. Episode 8 has a special interview with astronaut Thomas D. Jones.

Presenting the Transcription Feature, hosted by John S. Drew. This presentation of old-time radio finally returns with an entire run of a Superman story from June 1940.

It Has Come to My Attention, hosted by Kevin Lauderdale. The latest episode has Kevin looking at a new Monty Python reference guide.

The Chronic Rift Classic Podcast. The latest classic is a 2009 In-Review episode hosted by John S. Drew, Andrea K. Lipinski, Keith R.A. DeCandido, and Dan Persons, which includes reviews of books, comics, movies, and television, plus looks at HG World, The Path, Fear Me Not, $9.99, and more.

The Chronic Rift Classic, hosted by Andrea K. Lipinski & Keith R.A. DeCandido. The latest classic episode is our 1992 Holiday Party, which includes a dramatic reading by me and Jim Freund of Terry Bisson's "They're Made Out of Meat," interviews with Tom Kidd and Joel Eisner, book reviews, and more.

Plus, of course, there's my own podcast, Dead Kitchen Radio....

You can get all these by subscribing to the network on iTunes, or getting it from the Rift site or the Rift's Mevio page.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: "She Moves On" by Paul Simon

It aired on Once Upon a Time, and was on YouTube a nanosecond later:



"Don't touch Lola." Bliss....

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel

Here's an updated guide to Dead Kitchen Radio: The Keith R.A. DeCandido Podcast. All the episodes are available from iTunes (just enter "dead kitchen radio" into the search field of the iTunes store, and there it shall be), or the DKR pages on either Mevio, or The Chronic Rift site. DKR is part of The Chronic Rift Network.

2011
Episode 1: Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Sun: Under the Crimson Sun. Talking about my D&D novel, part of the "Abyssal Plague" crossover, and reading a chapter from it.

Episode 2: Unicorn Precinct. Discussing the second book in my "Precinct" series of high-fantasy police procedurals, plus reading a chapter.

Episode 3: SCPD: The Case of the Claw. On writing about cops in a city filled with superheroes, plus reading a chapter from it.

Episode 4: Guilt in Innocence: A Tale of the Scattered Earth. Talking about the Scattered Earth shared-world science fiction universe in general and my own contribution to it in particular, and I, natch, read a chapter.

Episode 5: Farscape comics. As the monthly series comes to an end, I look back on three years of continuing the story of the cult science fiction TV show in comic book form in collaboration with its creator, Rockne S. O'Bannon.

Episodes 6/7: Liar Liar. A double-episode as I talk about the writers cabal known as the Liars Club (of which I'm a proud member) and our anthology Liar Liar. I also read my story in the anthology, "Under the King's Bridge."

Episode 8: Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers. A look back at the monthly Star Trek eBook series that I co-created, edited, and sometimes wrote for, which ran from 2000-2007.

Episode 9: Tales from the House Band Volume 1 (Part 1). Talking about the Deborah Grabien-edited anthology of stories about music, and reading the first half of my contribution, "Ragnarok and Roll."

Episode 10: Tales from the House Band Volume 1 (Part 2). More on the anthology and writing about music, and reading the second half of "Ragnarok and Roll."

Episode 11: KRADitorial Services. I talk about my lengthy and varied career as a professional editor as well as my current editorial service for personal clients.


2012
Episode 12: Irons in the fire update. After a jury-duty-induced delay, I kick off 2012 with a look ahead at what I plan to be working on. (Might be amusing to listen to this now and see how spectacularly wrong I was...............)

Episode 13: Supernatural novels. Discussing the CW TV show and the three novels I wrote in that universe, Nevermore, Bone Key, and Heart of the Dragon.

Episode 14: A musical interlude. Find out how I got the nickname "Bongo Boy," as I talk about my career as a musician, both as a member of the Don't Quit Your Day Job Players and Boogie Knights, as well as backing up other musicians here and there.

Episode 15: Viral. I talk about Steven Savile's series of shared-world thriller novellas Viral, and read from my contribution, -30-.

Episode 16: Ramblin' on. A somewhat random episode recorded while I was feeling ill, talking about life, death, and my Leverage novel, among many other things.

Episode 17: Movie novelizations. I talk about my movie novelizations: Gargantua, Darkness Falls, Serenity, and the first three Resident Evil films, and the trials and tribulations thereof.

Episode 18: V-Wars (Part 1). The Jonathan Maberry-edited shared-world vampire anthology V-Wars is the subject, as I read the first half of my story "The Ballad of Big Charlie."

Episode 19: V-Wars (Part 2). More on the anthology with a very new, yet very old, twist on vampires, with me reading the second half of "The Ballad of Big Charlie."

Episode 20: Goblin Precinct. Celebrating the release of the third "Precinct" book, and also reading a chapter from this latest in my series of fantasy police procedurals.

Episode 21: Star Trek Klingon novels. A look back at my novels featuring Captain Klag and the crew of the I.K.S. Gorkon, including Diplomatic Implausibility, The Brave and the Bold Book 2, A Good Day to Die, Honor Bound, Enemy Territory, A Burning House, and A Singular Destiny.

Episode 22: This is Todd Rage... Talking about my voiceover acting on assorted audio dramas, including the Parsec Award-winning HG World, Rift Network standby The Dome, and an oldie but semi-goodie, The House at Morning Heights Drive.

Episode 23: Remembering Josepha Sherman. Following Jo's tragic death, I look back at our friendship and professional collaborations, from Urban Nightmares to various bits of Star Trek fiction, to conventions and parties.

Episode 24: Tales from Dragon Precinct Part 1. The first of several readings of stories from the collection of "Precinct" short stories. Tales includes six reprints and four original stories appearing for the first time in the book, and this and the subsequent episodes under this header have me reading one of those. This time 'round it's the Danthres solo story "Brotherly Love."

Episode 25: Couch Potato Salad. With the "in-review" episodes of The Chronic Rift on hold for a while, I catch up on some TV reviews, including Elementary, Revolution, Vegas, Last Resort, The Big Bang Theory, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Person of Interest, 2 Broke Girls, and Castle.

Episode 26: Tales from Dragon Precinct Part 2. This time I read "Heroes Welcome," the semi-sequel to the novel Dragon Precinct.


2013
Episode 27: Tales from the House Band Volume 2. The second of Deborah Grabien's music-themed anthologies has yet another story by me in it, this one called "I Believe I'm Sinkin' Down."

Episode 28: Bad-Ass Faeries: It's Elemental. I talk about the award-winning anthology series co-edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail talking about my contributions to the first and fourth volumes, and reading the latter, "Undine the Boardwalk."

Episode 29: Leverage: The Zoo Job. I read from my novel based on the TNT TV series, and also talk about how awesome that series was.

Episode 30: Tales from Dragon Precinct Part 3. Reading the story that focuses on Iaian (and honestly one of my favorites in the book) "Catch and Release."


COMING SOON...

Episode 31: Tales from Dragon Precinct Part 4. Reading "Blood in the Water," the Dru-and-Hawk story that at last reveals "the Corvin case" mentioned in Goblin Precinct. Going live this week.

Episode 32: the Marvel novels of the 1990s. With Marvel Comics adaptations all over the movie screens (and soon TV, too!), I talk about a line of Marvel adaptations to another medium that I was responsible for from 1994-2000: the Marvel novels, 45 novels and a mess of anthologies about Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, and more. Going live in June.

Episode 33: Ragnarok and Roll Part 1. The first of two episodes with readings from my urban fantasy short-story collection taking place in Key West, Florida. This one will see me reading "Love Over and Over." Going live in July.

Episode 34: Ragnarok and Roll Part 2. The second reading from this collection, "God of Blunder." As with most of the stories in the book, this involves some heavy Norse mythological influence, as well as rock and roll music, scuba diving, and folklore. Going live in August.

Episode 35: Dragon*Con. A look at my time at Dragon*Con in general and at D*C 2013 in particular, possibly with some recordings of me from there. Going live in September.

Episode 36: Doctor Who at 50. On the month of Who's golden anniversary, I look at my own brief history of Who fiction from Decalog 3, the charity anthology Missing Pieces, and the Short Trips anthologies. Going live October.

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: "I Know What I Know" by Paul Simon

"Expanded universe" is usually a term reserved for Star Wars fiction, but some have used it to apply to the Star Trek novels that go beyond the TV series.

Empire Online has done a nice roundup of that type of Trek fiction. They've included some stuff I've contributed to, most notably my Klingon Empire and Starfleet Corps of Engineers series (and kudos for singling out one of our more esoteric stories, Cory Rushton's Fables of the Prime Directive, which pleasantly surprised me as their "if you must read one" choice), as well as stuff I've contributed to, including The Lost Era, the post-finale DS9 fiction, and the Typhon Pact books.

An excerpt:

The vast majority of Star Trek expanded universe novels are Starfleet-centric, so this series, written solely by Keith RA De Candido, is unusual in focusing entirely on the Klingons. Initially a series about the crew of the IKS Gorkon (“to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations… and to conquer them for the glory of the Klingon empire!”) it expanded to take in the entire Klingon culture in the fourth book. Sadly, there was never a book five. The series fleshed out a Klingon underclass both in the inner cities and rural communities of home planet Qo’Onos [sic], whilst also taking in higher-level political intrigues and the High Council. We even learn something about the Klingon medical establishment through the interesting Doctor B’Oraq.

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" by Simon & Garfunkel

"I am Tosk." First contact with the Gamma Quadrant puts the station in general and O'Brien in particular in the midst of someone else's ritual hunt. The DS9 Rewatch engages in a "Captive Pursuit."

An excerpt:

It’s a great vehicle for the always-magnificent Colm Meaney, who turned a transporter button-pusher on TNG into a significant recurring role, and then a starring role on the spinoff from the sheer power of his awesomeness. O’Brien’s easygoing style goes beautifully with a superb performance by Scott MacDonald (in his first TV role!) as a character O’Brien himself perfectly describes as the galaxy’s greatest straight man.

The script takes the hunter/Tosk dynamic seriously as a cultural thing, doesn’t judge either the hunters or Tosk for what they do—only how they go about it, mostly in terms of dragging DS9 into their hunt. (Also Gerrit Graham’s hunter really is a dick, which I suspect is half the reason why Sisko let O’Brien get away with what he did.)

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Paul Simon

Here's the full and final cover for Ragnarok and Roll: Tales of Cassie Zukav, Weirdness Magnet, thanks to the mighty Nic Grabien at Plus One Press:



Going on sale in August, this collection of eight stories set in Key West, Florida features rock and roll, folklore, scuba diving, and Norse gods. They include:

"Ragnarok and Roll"
"Undine the Boardwalk"
"I Believe I'm Sinkin' Down"
"Love Over and Over"
"Cayo Hueso"
Part 1: "A Farewell to Cats"
Part 2: "The Buck Stops Here"
Part 3: "Twisting Fate"
"God of Blunder"
Bonus track: "How You Can Prevent Forest Fires..."

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" by Paul Simon

In 1991, Paul Simon did his tour for The Rhythm of the Saints, using some of the same musicians from the Graceland tour, but this time he focused entirely on his own music, from some great new versions of his older songs to stuff from his two then-recent classics Graceland and Rhythm. Here's a particularly strong version of "The Cool, Cool River" from Rhythm, performed at Simon's Central Park concert in '91.

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

I stole that word from Tobias Buckell on Twitter, BTW....

Anyhow, I was so awash in The Project That Cannot Be Named (Yet) that I totally missed that 1 May 2013 was my 15th anniversary as a freelancer.

Back in early 1998, I had completed half a Spider-Man novel and a movie novelization. The latter, I did in six weeks off an incomplete script while working a full-time job. Correctly identifying that as a marketable skill, having a great desire to seriously nurture my burgeoning writing career, growing fed up with a lot of the nonsense at my day job at Byron Preiss (which would come to a head that October when I walked away completely), and having the full (and generous) support of my wife at the time (who was far and away the breadwinner in the household anyhow, so that even the initial dip in monies coming in would be a drop in the bucket, plus her health insurance was way better than what I got from Byron anyhow), I ceased being a salaried employee as of the first of May 1998.

The decade-and-a-half since have been amazing. It hasn't always been perfect, mind you. For the first ten years, it was great -- between fiction writing, freelance editing, and web site stuff I made a better living than I did as a salaried employee after the first year. But the last five years have been more difficult, as the crash of 2008 had a brutal ripple effect on my ability to get work -- advances went down, freelance editing work all but disappeared, two editors got laid off and their replacements showed no interest in hiring me -- and I had to do things like work for the U.S. Census Bureau and my old high school library.

But I wouldn't trade my career for nothing. There's lots of things I wish I'd done better or differently, but overall, I'm pleased. And I'm so incredibly not suited to office work (and after 15 years, I doubt an office would take me) that it's better for the universe that I keep doing it this way.

So here's to 15 years, and lots more after that....

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: "Rattlebone" by Robbie Robertson

A reminder that the I, Reader Special Edition: Star Trekking Into Darkness event is TONIGHT at Singularity & Co. in Brooklyn. It was moved from Friday due to bizarre scheduling nonsense. See me, fellow Trek novelist David Mack, former Trek prose editor Marco Palmieri, Tor.com's Emily Asher-Perrin and host Ryan Britt, and Singularity's own Cici James.

Bowing to the will of the majority (both here and on Facebook), I will be reading from Articles of the Federation, probably my most popular and poorest selling Trek novel.

Hope to see folks there!

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: "This is Us" by Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris

Fill awesome hilt reactor at hailed printer. Irridescdent fix rain pill? The DS9 Rewatch does "Babel."

An excerpt:

Still, the character set pieces alone make this a worthy episode. I could watch an hour of just O’Brien dashing about the station trying desperately to keep up with all the systems failures while he does a slow burn of sleep-deprived snark, and it’s pretty much impossible for a scene between Rene Auberjonois and Armin Shimerman to not be delightful, and this episode has several. (I love the revelation that Odo doesn’t know how to gamble.) And there are few better father-son relationships in the history of television than that of Ben and Jake Sisko, and it’s on magnificent display here.

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