I have no idea where to buy this thing in the U.S., but I want one.Have any of you seen one in your travels and how much they cost? I’m really curious! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
Aidan over at A Dribble of Ink recently posted a new post regarding authors we should like, but don’t. For me, I would have to say Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Nothing against them, but I could never get into any of the things they wrote. I started reading Dragonlance stuff, but not with work they had written. I just never liked their stories and whenever I see their names it turns me off. I dont know why. I don’t hate them or anything and I applaud them for their huge success (they’ve done a great job, after all), they just never appealed to me.And I also don’t like David Eddings. That might be because I have only read one book by him and it was one of his later books, but it was horrible and I can’t bring myself to try his earlier stuff yet.Lastly, which will probably make you all despise me: J. R. R. Tolkien. Yeah, I know, he’s wonderful and stuff, but I can’t stand his writing. The story is awesome, but he couldn’t write worth crap and I’m not going to pull my punches on this. His books are not that great. He spends way too much time babbling to doing things that are annoying and there isn’t enough action. Too much description. I love the story, I do like the detail, but I can’t stand his writing style and have only read LOTR once and never will again. Sorry, that’s the truth. If I need a LOTR fix for some reason, I go to the movies. The LOTR movies are a rarity because they may be one of the first incidences where the movie was far better than the book. But that’s just me. Anywho!
Found this over at Larry’s blog, so, I’m doing it. Nightstand/Table: Currently Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale and Honeycomb by Israel Del Rio. That’s because I didn’t put the books that are usually there back, which include: Evermore edited by James Robert Smith and Stephen Mark Rainey from Arkham House and Napoleon’s Gambit by Eric Goldman. Reading at the Moment: Napoleon’s Gambit by Eric Goldman, Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale, and Evermore. Can’t Put Down: Nothing that is so good I can’t stop reading it, but that also doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy these books. I just have to be obsessed with a book to not be able to put it down. Gathering Dust: Quite a few books, actually. Some that I’ve bought, some that I haven’t. I have a whole wall of my room dedicated to books… Secret Indulgence: What exactly does this mean? I don’t really have a secret indulgence for reading. Looking Forward To: Hmm. I’m looking forward to a couple short story collections I’ve received, but they are way down on the list, so it might be a while. I’m also looking forward to some more Elizabeth Bear, since I’ll be reading her work for the Spectrum Awards. As for tagging, I tag SQT, Loopdilou, and anyone else wanting to do this!
Well, it’s over and I’m late with this (sorry). The winners of each category are: Best Novel: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins; Fourth Estate) Best Novella: “All Seated on the Ground” by Connie Willis (Asimov’s Dec. 2007; Subterranean Press) Best Novelette: “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” by Ted Chiang (Subterranean Press; F&SF Sept. 2007) Best Short Story: “Tideline” by Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s June 2007) Best Related Book: Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction by Jeff Prucher (Oxford University Press) Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Stardust Written by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn, Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman Illustrated by Charles Vess Directed by Matthew Vaughn (Paramount Pictures) Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Who “Blink” Written by Steven Moffat Directed by Hettie Macdonald (BBC) Best Editor, Long Form: David G. Hartwell Best Editor, Short Form: Gordon Van Gelder Best Professional Artist: Stephan Martiniere Best Semiprozine: Locus Best Fanzine: File 770 Best Fan Writer: John Scalzi Best Fan Artist: Brad Foster I’ll be honest, I expect Chabon’s book to win, even though I haven’t read it yet. I didn’t say that, but I figured that considering how well it has done thus far and considering its content and general appeal, it had a darn good shot. Still, it was up against some good competition (such as Robert J. Sawyer’s Rollback and books by three of the greatest writers currently out there–John Scalzi, Ian McDonald, and Charles Stross). In any case, congratulations to the winners! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
Alright! Another rejection. Exciting, eh? This time from Strange Horizons. It was a good rejection, meaning that they had nice comments to say (they liked the pacing and action, but it didn’t work for them overall), so I’m thankful of that. “Artemis” has actually received some praise, just not enough praise for it to get snatched up by an editor for publication. So…maybe I’ll send this to a contest or something. Hmmm… Anywho! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
Apparently my browsing has this to say: Likelihood of you being FEMALE is 89%Likelihood of you being MALE is 11% Site Male-Female Ratiogoogle.com 0.98yahoo.com 0.9youtube.com 1amazon.com 0.9craigslist.org 1.13facebook.com 0.83paypal.com 1.04blogger.com 1.06imdb.com 1.06wordpress.com 0.98ticketmaster.com 0.79typepad.com 0.94fandango.com 0.82priceline.com 0.82hotels.com 0.8cafepress.com 0.8vistaprint.com 0.53greyhound.com 0.72wrongdiagnosis.com 0.68usairways.com 0.8feedburner.com 1.11godaddy.com 1.17alibris.com 0.77bbb.org 0.74zazzle.com 0.75abebooks.com 0.96newyorker.com 1.22bartleby.com 0.92lulu.com 0.96creative.com 1.53live365.com 1.27 Of course, I was born with the proper biological parts to make me male, so this came as a great shocker to me. Apparently I’m mostly a girl. Who knew? I wonder which sites make me girly…it must be that darned New Yorker that did it…
