RIP: Little Buddy
I had to put one of my leopard geckos to sleep today. He acquired a spinal injury in which muscle and tissue were swollen and crushing against his spinal cord, preventing him from feeling or using the lower half of his body. We took him to the vet, got an x-ray, and then gave him some steroids and fluids in hopes that reducing the swelling would bring him around. There was about a 48-hour window in which he had to improve or there was pretty much no hope. Obviously things did not go as planned. It was a particularly emotional moment not simply because of what was being done, but because of my history with Little Buddy. I actually raised him from the egg. I was there the day his head popped through the shell and even wrote a paper on him. Needless to say, we had a bit of a little relationship and it was extremely heart wrenching to have to put him to sleep. But he’s probably in a better place now. We bought him a beautiful flower to put in the yard where we buried him so he’ll always have a place there. I’ll try to get some pictures up so you all can know what he looked like. In any case, he will be sorely missed.
An Update of Not-So-Epic Proportions
Because things have been quiet around here, I thought it would be a good idea to let you all know what’s up. So here goes: During finals week (last week) I had, well, finals on top of packing to move out of my old place to stay with my family for the remainder of my summer before heading off to graduate school. Needless to say, Saturday was a long day. We packed, moved things to storage, packed some more, moved some more, then had graduation (which I apparently didn’t mention before), then had dinner. Then I spent the night at Loopdilou’s place. The following morning things didn’t go so smoothly. We had hoped to be out of my old place by 10 AM, but my brother forgot to bring the key for the storage unit, so we had to call my grandma to have her bring it up. But that didn’t go according to plan either, and it was only after an hour and a half of trying to get my grandma un-lost did we get things rolling. Needless to say, we ended up about four hours behind schedule. I was fortunate enough to get an extension on my final paper, though, but only today did I manage to finish it and turn it in. This has been a trying last few weeks, what with four of my lizards now ill (one that is pretty much better now, one that is almost better, one that is looking not quite as bad as before, and one that unfortunately may have to be put down tomorrow due to a sudden case of partial paralysis). Now that I’m in Oregon, things are moving slowly. I should have the Internet squared away in the next day or so, which will allow me to get back to blogging and doing online things. That’s basically what’s going on. Hopefully things will right themselves soon. The good news is that now that school is done I can get back to reading and writing full time. That blasted essay was a pain in the butt… What has everyone else been up to? Any bad days or interesting things happen while I was away? Let me know in the comments! Communication is a good thing.
1000th Post Giveaway Winners!
And the winners are as follows: For the comic/graphic novel pack: Kaolin! For Low Man and Arthas: Blondeswtp! For Where Angels Fear, Into This Mind, and Low Man: dd03! For The Devil’s Eye and Princep’s Fury: Tina Hunter! I’ll be emailing the winners after the weekend to get their addresses and what not, since I’m graduating and moving and writing papers at the moment. However, if the winners want to email me and show magical intiative, they are more than welcome to. The books will go out around the beginning of next week either way! Thanks to everyone who entered and congrats to the winners! Hopefully I’ll have some more giveaways in the future. And here’s to 1,000 more posts!
Book Giveaway Reminder: Last Day to Enter
If you haven’t entered my book/comic giveaway yet, today is your last day to do so. Winners are announced tomorrow! So don’t forget to enter. You can better your chances by doing some of the things mentioned in the original post, or you can just enter once and cross your fingers! Four prizes are to be announced, by the way, including some Jim Butcher, Jack McDevitt, Ken Rand, and others! Anywho!
RIP: David Eddings
I unfortunately have some sad news for those of you who haven’t heard. Author David Eddings, who wrote some of the best fantasy books since Tolkien pioneered the genre, has passed away at the age of 77. He wrote such memorable series as The Belgariad and The Malloreon, along with a dozen other novels. He will be sorely missed.
Free Advertising For Small Presses
I’ve been mulling over this idea for a while, but finally have decided to put it together. Since I am a fan of the small press I’ve decided to offer free image advertising to any small press AND a free text link in my blog roll. There are separate requirements for these two forms. To get a link in my blog roll all you have to do is fit the following: You’re a speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realism, and related) press that at least publishes something other than erotica (if you publish erotica, but also publish non-erotica, that’s fine). This means that any small press can get a free text link in my blog roll, which makes it easy for me to find you all, because there are so many small presses out there. However, if you want an image ad, you need to fit the following guidelines: You pay your authors OR Your publications send proceeds to charities AND You publish non-erotica and are a speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realism, and related) press (if you publish some erotica, that’s okay) Here’s how it will work: Send an email to arconna[at]yahoo[dot]com telling me who you are with an image for your ad attached (no larger than 234 x 60). Ads must not be animated (they’re annoying, sorry). Ads must not contain pornographic images, nudity, foul language, or excessive gore. Ads will run for a month only, and then you have to renew, unless there is nothing to take your slot. Ad spaces are first come first serve beginning on the 1st of every month. This means that you may not permanently have the space, but must go back into the line on the first so another press can get a shot. Since it’s free, I think that’s fair. To get an idea of how it will work, here is an example:Joe, Jim, Jane, and Jill are all small presses. Joe and Jane send me an ad first, followed shortly after by Jim and Jill. During Month One, Joe and Jane will have an ad displayed, and during Month Two Jim and Jill will have an ad displayed. Joe and Jane may renew their ad for Month Three if they so desire, in which case they will show up once more in Month Three, unless someone else came along before them to claim the slot. Hopefully this makes sense. In any case, if you are interested and are a small press, feel free to send me an email to arconna[at]yahoo[dot]com letting me know. This is completely free, so it’s a great opportunity for some free advertising. Thanks. (This post may change in the future as I fine tune things, but for now, I think that’s fair. If you are a small press or an author published by a small press, please spread the word about this. It’s free advertising to help support the little guy.)