Well, that was interesting. I came upstairs a little earlier today to discover that my Mac had entirely died on me: Black screen, couldn’t get it to reboot, and so on and so forth. The good news is that it’s under warranty; the bad news is that, well, my Mac is dead, and with it some stuff I’ve been working on. As they say: Arrrrrrgh. But at least The Ghost Brigades was finished and sent off. Had the Mac died before then, all that would be left of it right now would be tiny shards of metal and plastic.

Anyway, if you’ve e-mailed me anything of any import in the last couple of weeks, you might want to resend. I can’t guarantee I have a copy anymore.

Here’s what’s arrived in the mail today: The copy-edited version of The Ghost Brigades, which I need to go through and see if I agree with all the copy-editing (which I’m sure I will, mostly. The same fellow did the copy-edit for Old Man’s War and did a fab job of that; indeed, aside from a difference of opinion regarding the serial comma, it was perfect). As the production cycle of TGB is on an expedited pace at the moment, which may or may not have something to do with someone turning in the manuscript so late, he said in a tiny wee voice, I’ll be banging through this in the next couple of days.

Also arrived: Cherie Priest’s Four and Twenty Blackbirds, which I ordered a couple of days ago off Amazon, which apparently now has a warehouse in Cincinatti, which suggests most of my orders with them will now arrive in two days no matter what shipping I pay for. Location, location, location! As well most of you may know, Ms. Priest and I have been jointly fighting the forces of online stupidity in the wake of the hurricanes, me with the "Being Poor" piece and she with her famous LiveJournal piece on why the poor didn’t leave New Orleans, which was to a not at all insignificant degree an inspiration when I sat down to do the "Being Poor" piece. As it happens, Ms. Priest is a Tor author as well. Coincidence? You decide. Be that as it may, having found her LiveJournal to be thought-provoking and readable, I was eager to try out her fiction, and here we are.

This reminds me that at some point I want to do a think piece about which is better for a novelist: posting a novel online or having a really interesting blog. The two aren’t exclusive, of course; but I suspect one is more useful than the other, and at some point I’ll explain why. In the meantime I’m frustrated that Four and Twenty arrived the same day as my copy-edit; I have to do the latter before I can reward myself with the former. As they say: Waaaaaaah! I’ll be taking it with me this weekend, however, as I trundle off to Chicago to shill for Tor at the Great Lakes Booksellers Association convention.

Another reason I’m interested in Four and Twenty, incidentally, is that it was edited by the most excellent Liz Gorinsky, who is one of those hypercompetent folks who assure you that one’s own generation doesn’t have the lock on brains and talent, and I’m not just saying that because I strongly suspect that one day she’ll be running a publishing company and I want to be among the first in line to toady and fawn. I’m interested in her seeing mad hot editing skillz in action, and this book looks like a good opportunity for that. Yes, I realize it’s very book geeky to be interested in a book for its editor as well as for its author, but come on. As if I’m not a book geek.

My existence in the world, as well as the newsworthiness of my "Being Poor" article has apparently sorely affronted this person, who has many bad things to say about me. Apparently what’s provoked her ire is that the AP piece about me ran in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. I suppose no one should tell her the piece ran in several dozen other newspapers worldwide, and that the entry itself was reprinted in the Chicago Tribune, the Dayton Daily News and several other papers. Her poor little apoplectic head might pop right off.

If I remember correctly, this is the same person to whom I gave a "C" grade to in the original Being Poor comments for her flamage, and whose posting I used as the baseline for reasonably adequate contemptuous jackass snark, warning others that additional flamage below that level of competence would be deleted (and was). At the time, she didn’t seem to appreciate being the standard-bearer for that particular rhetorical category, which is a shame if you ask me. Her rhetoric hasn’t improved, but I certainly appreciate her enthusiasm. Anyway, I do invite you go over and watch her spin around in tight, angry circles. It’s entertaining! At least, I think so.

You know, there is very little in the world that makes me more objectively terrified than the idea of George Bush and his den of incompetent hacks fiddling with the Posse Comitatus Act. Indeed, if you were to ask me what one thing would get me marching in the streets, this would be it. I’m entirely serious.