Sometime in the next 48 hours (or so), I’m going to attempt upgrading this site to its own server, the better to avoid annoying access issues. If everything works the way it should, you might not even notice. If it doesn’t, of course, I may destroy the site as we know it. Let’s hope it’s the former and not the latter.

Nevertheless, if in the next couple of days the site disappears mysteriously for some amount of time, that will be why. Please do not panic. Or, more to the point, leave the panicking to me. Thanks.

Update, 8:55 am 10/8: It appears I overestimated my competence in being able to move the site. So for the moment, no transfer. As you were.

Here it is. Note the category this book is #1 in:

I can has clear? No! No, you can’t has clear! Not yours! You has too many ngrmz! kthxbye.

Man, that’s just weird. I can’t help but think it’s somehow related to this.

Audible has finally given us the go-ahead to spill some more beans about Metatropolis, the audiobook “future cities” anthology I edited, and contributed a story for along with Elizabeth Bear, Toby Buckell, Jay Lake and Schroeder. So here are some details, including details how to preorder the anthology (and in doing so, get the first novella in the anthology).

First, if you are a Battlestar Galactica fan, prepare to squee yourself silly, because three of the stories in this collection are read by BSG stars. Second, of you’re an audiobook fan, you may also engage in squee, because the two other stories are read by two of the top audiobook readers in the business. Basically, you should just default to squee.

Here are the stories in the order of their appearance in the anthology, along with author and reader:

1. “In the Forests of the Night” by Jay Lake, read by Michael Hogan (Col. Tigh on BSG)

2. “Stochasti-city” by Tobias Buckell, read by Scott Brick (2008 Audie Award winner, for Dune)

3. “The Red in the Sky is Our Blood” by Elizabeth Bear, read by Kandyse McClure ( Anastasia “Dee” Dualla on BSG)

4. “Utere Nihil Non Extra Quiritationem Suis” by John Scalzi, read by Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Felix Gaeta on BSG)

5. “To Hie From Far Cilenia” by Karl Schroeder, read by Stefan Rudnicki (reader of the Ender’s Game series)

Audible sent me the audio files for these last week, and I have to say they all sound excellent; Bear, Jay, Toby, Karl and I wrote them for the purpose of being read, and each of the voice actors did a really fine job with their interpretations. I’m very happy with how this anthology sounds.

The full anthology will be released on the 21st, but you can pre-order now through Audible, and if you do, Audible will serve up “In the Forests of the Night” to you right now, with the rest of the anthology to come on the 21st. Perfect for those “instant gratification” types. Jay’s story is really great (and Hogan’s reading pretty much rocks, too), so it’s a good way to keep you hanging for two weeks.

I’ll mention more about Metatropolis as we get closer to the actual release date, to be sure. But it’s good to finally be able to tell you a little more about it. It was a lot of fun to do, and I think that comes through.

Megan McArdle gives some advice for people freaking about their 401(k)s and IRAs.

I’m not sure I’d advise conspicuous and willful short-term ignorance of the status of your retirement accounts, but I think the core of her advice is advising people not to panic about the short-term gyrations of long-term investments, and in this respect she’s absolutely correct. My IRA is pegged to an index fund and it’s lost double-digit value in the last month; on the other hand I don’t plan on retiring for another three decades at least. So what am I going to do with the IRA right now? Not a damn thing. As long as you’re not planning to retire before the end of the year, I suggest you don’t panic about your retirement funds either. If you were planning to retire before the end of the year, may I suggest a second job.

I probably wouldn’t have posted this, except that it involved my own representative:

One of Rep. John Boehner’s local offices was evacuated Monday afternoon after a suspicious package arrived in the mail… Multiple police agencies responded to the Republican congressman’s West Chester office and began an investigation.

After an X-ray analysis, investigators determined the package contained bacon.

It’s hickory-smoked hysteria! Or, more likely, a comment on the recent bailout package, which Boehner voted for twice.

I want to go on the record as saying that I was absolutely not involved in this in any way. If I were going to send him a pork product, after last week’s performance involving being “outraged” at Speaker Pelosi’s comments from the floor, I would have sent him ham.