TLC May Sci Fi Channel Essential Book; SFRevu; A Self-Pimp Thread
Posted on May 4, 2007 Posted by John Scalzi 76 Comments
Two things relating to The Last Colony:
1. As you might be able to tell from the headline, The Last Colony is the Sci Fi Channel’s Essential novel for May, which is always nice, and which I know from experience has helped sell books, so thank you, Sci Fi Channel. Here’s the link to its “essentials” page on the Sci Fi Web site.
2. SFRevu.com has very nice things to say about TLC here; really, it’s like a publicist’s dream review:
“Many SF writers are compared to Heinlein, Scalzi raises the bar more than a notch. If RAH were alive today, he’d be enjoying The Last Colony along with the rest of us.”
“There’s a lot to like in this book, and of the three in the series, it’s probably the best.”
“It won’t be at all surprising to find The Last Colony on next year’s Hugo ballot.”
Makes me feel warm and tingly, it does (fair warning: the full review lays out a whole lot of the plot — not exactly spoilery, but with a lot of details you might otherwise want to read for yourself).
But enough of me self-pimping: Now let’s see you do it. I now declare this a self-pimp thread, in which you pimp all the cool things you are doing. It doesn’t just have to be writing — if it’s something cool that you’re doing, and you can link to it (or even not link, just tell us about it), then self-pimp, baby, all you want.
(Note: If you put in more than one URL, you may get dumped into the moderation queue; I’ll release any moderated links when I see them. Don’t panic.)
Self Pimp! Now!
I made some righteous potatoes for dinner tonight. Tender on the inside, good and crispy on the outside, with lovely bits of carmelized garlic and paprika.
That’s all I got.
I made some righteous potatoes for dinner tonight. Tender on the inside, good and crispy on the outside, with lovely bits of carmelized garlic and paprika.
That’s all I got.
Well, let’s see. I’m revising my new novel for DAW, currently titled Marseguro, tentatively due out in January; it’s not a sequel to my first DAW novel, Lost in Translation.
I’m directing a children’s opera, Queen for a Day, for the Regina Conservatory of Performing Arts.
I’m in rehearsals for playing the part of Jud in Regina Lyric Light Opera‘s upcoming production of Oklahoma!
I’m mentoring three teen writers for a Saskatchewan Writers Guild program.
Those are the main things right now, but perhaps I have self-pimped enough. (Is there such a thing as self-pimping enough? I mean, I could go on…and on…and on…)
I recorded Kage Baker’s Rude Mechanicals for Subterranean Press.
i found a bunch of used books by ken macleod.
Well, I was pimpin for you yesterday:
Author! Author!
I’ve started a Livejournal in English after years of LJing in Russian. That’s because it’s dawned on me that you’re not really in the fandom if people can’t understand you.
Right this minute I’m doing system checks after recovering from a multi-server outage at my job…that’s cool, right? RIGHT?
But actually, I just finished a story, and I’m getting ready to submit it for rejection, so that’s exciting.
Right this minute I’m doing system checks after recovering from a multi-server outage at my job…that’s cool, right? RIGHT?
But actually, I just finished a story, and I’m getting ready to submit it for rejection, so that’s exciting.
Earlier tonight, I performed in an a cappella concert with The Richter Scales.
A few days ago, 365 tomorrows published my short story “Love Lucy.”
Next month, I’ll be doing Script Frenzy!
Meanwhile… I blog.
I got a second article query accepted by a magazine while my first article is still in queue to print. Yay!
Also, I bought gas right before it went up to $3.25 per gallon. Double yay!
I’m doing a new digital painting of Archaeopteryx with four wings. Gotta get it done by the 12th.
I’m submitting paperwork in triplicate to my government so they give me money so I can return to university where I can submit more paperwork in triplicate.
I’m submitting paperwork in triplicate to my government so they give me money so I can return to university where I can submit more paperwork in triplicate.
I’ve just put up some pretty good photos (of Bodie, a ghost town in California, and of the British Isles). They’re all CC-licensed.
My best friend has opened up a cat rescue and adoption shelter. She could use support. The website is here, but it’s under construction and there are actually more info and photos on the MySpace page we’ve set up for it (which is linked from the official site).
Anyway…kitties!
A friend I work with who is reading my mystery novel’s first draft, which is online – (http://www.w0pht.org/null_pointer.php) has come up with a way to submit errors in my manuscript that he is finding.
You can read the Error Report at the bottom of the first chapter. I thought it was terribly cool and incredibly geeky take on a Unix Man page.
I may come up with some kind of a form that any user can submit that would follow his Error Report format.
I have read Old Man’s War – loved it, and I’m waiting for Amazon to send me The Ghost Brigades so I can read the series in order. Apparently, they are sold out, because it’s taking them forever to tell me they are shipping it.
I wrote a term paper last week comparing Jane Sagan to Patrick Pearse’s Mise Eire– just found out I got an A on it. 100% of my grade for the class, too, so good times.
No link or anything; I just wanted to share.
PS, Scalzi, thanks for having The Sagan Diary audiobook up for free online. I ended up having to write this paper pretty much in one day with no print sources for reasons even Murphy wouldn’t believe. Your pixel-stained technopeasantude saved my ass.
I’m working on this piece of crap…
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014801/fullcredits
I’d rather have some of Adam’s potatoes.
I’m working on this piece of crap…
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014801/fullcredits
I’d rather have some of Adam’s potatoes.
I have just done a FREE audio short story with Chang’s music and Peter Hodges’ writing that can be listened to and dl’ed here:
http://www.peter-hodges.com/2007/05/01/it-was-raining-2/
KAte Baker, who did those awesome vocals for one of yours songs, did something great with one of mine!
Namely, she used it as the background music for a story written by Peter Hodges. Way cool. I honestly can’t tell if it makes the song cooler or the story cooler as the parts work so well together.
Thanks again, Kate!
Omg Chang you owe me a drink. What are the odds of THAT!
I’ve self-pimped about my artists’ group, Apollonova, before, but our first gallery show, featuring many new works of art, is having its Grand Opening next Friday, the 11th, from 6-10pm.
The show is at the Doubting Thomas Gallery in Tremont, on the near-near west side of Cleveland, OH. It’s at 856 Jefferson.
Next Friday is day of the Tremont Art Walk, when the 18 galleries in Tremont all open up. Come up to Tremont, wander around, check out some great art.
As a special invitation, we’re having a “soft-open,” today, from 3-8, to practice our “gallery style,” and let our friends and family stop by and see the artwork. Readers of the Whatever are welcome to stop by, and get a preview of our new works.
More information: http://www.apollonova.com
Kevin Quinn
I’ve self-pimped about my artists’ group, Apollonova, before, but our first gallery show, featuring many new works of art, is having its Grand Opening next Friday, the 11th, from 6-10pm.
The show is at the Doubting Thomas Gallery in Tremont, on the near-near west side of Cleveland, OH. It’s at 856 Jefferson.
Next Friday is day of the Tremont Art Walk, when the 18 galleries in Tremont all open up. Come up to Tremont, wander around, check out some great art.
As a special invitation, we’re having a “soft-open,” today, from 3-8, to practice our “gallery style,” and let our friends and family stop by and see the artwork. Readers of the Whatever are welcome to stop by, and get a preview of our new works.
More information: http://www.apollonova.com
Kevin Quinn
My short story “Verses on St. Andrews” appears in Spinning Whorl #3. Also, Surreal Imaginings #1 contains “Uroboros.” Then you got “The Glaring Inaccuracies of the Bards” in GrendelSong #2, coming out in a few weeks.
My short story “Verses on St. Andrews” appears in Spinning Whorl #3. Also, Surreal Imaginings #1 contains “Uroboros.” Then you got “The Glaring Inaccuracies of the Bards” in GrendelSong #2, coming out in a few weeks.
I have my technopeasant offering up, linked from my blog. Two stories in submission, and I think I know the next market for a third, and I need to get my butt together with edits on a fourth, with a fifth waiting for critique.
Along with that I’m working on a logo for a business friend (at the picking type stage, I need to do about 100 thumbnails for the bug sometime in the near future). Worried about my Mom in the hospital. working obscene overtime, need to send out membership forms for some cons and reserve hotel rooms, write the committee reports for council meeting next week, and I’ve got a stack of vinyls on my desk for work today. And somewhere in there I need to mow the lawn, again. I just did it last week but that darn grass keeps growing.
Working on promoting Goblin Hero, which just came out (Woo hoo!), and also getting ready to rip out the ugly, useless, tiny deck which was built by the previous owners of our house.
I would love to get a book tour of my own, thus postponing the yardwork for a few more weeks :-)
I finally got my font biz working again — fontosaurus.com. I had to learn a whole new language (Ruby) and a new web app framework (Rails), but I’ve got the basic site up and running and have the free fonts available for download. I’m at work on the user accounts/shopping cart/payment processing so I can get my more-advanced fonts up there and available.
All this has taken away from my writing time, but that’s okay. This is an important thing for me to get done, and the novel I’ve been framing is still in need of brainstorming.
I just managed to actually get Linux installed on my old laptop! For me, that’s quite an accomplishment.
I also recently set up my first blog at Blogger, so in the spirit of the thread, I’ll pimp that. Not too much there yet; but I did just post about my Linux install. Just click my name to see it. :)
I’m in the middle of a year of living in Europe. (Netherlands.) (Neener.) (The downside is being forced to listen to officemates’ Europop crap on the radio.) The travelblog (link above) currently has pictures from Brugge.
Next year: Taiwan.
Otherwise, I’ve been playing around with the idea of writing fiction, not something that comes to me naturally, with a few bits of fanfic and ficlets.I’m not yet sure if writing something so short is a good exercise or a way to cop out of the hard parts of writing. However, while the last one may be of indifferent quality, it did reach “ficlet nirvana”, being exactly 1024 characters long.
I’m doing mostly-SF-related stuff at a blog:
http://texasbestgrok.mu.nu/
All I do is fix bugs and put out metaphorical fires. So, I have pretty l33t Java skillz, but no one wants to hear about that.
On the weekends I take photos, and people tell me they are quite nice.
http://www.23hq.com/clvrmnky
I wrote a review of The Last Colony
http://www.odonnellweb.com/?p=3346
I’ve been playing with the coolest Google hack EVER!
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/
Scalzi already pimped this over on By The Way, but what the hey: I nearly reduced my website server to a hot pile of ash and my friend who runs it to tears by releasing a lolcat/Star Trek mashup.
http://granades.com/2007/05/02/loltrek/
I play with Photoshop all day. I love my life!
My blog shows after and before versions of the same pictures: http://pnjwood.com/ab/
Bookninja: I just discovered that hack yesterday (thanks to finally reading an old issue of Wired). It is, indeed, cool.
As for my own self-pimpage, I’ve spent a good portion of this year reviewing horror movies.
Ok, I got my link to look all link-y, which I was quite proud of figuring out (thanks to Wikipedia’s entry on HTML tags) but alas, the basic function of a link being to link TO something seems to be lacking. Could a l33t give this £0$3r a hand?
(Confession – I googled “l33t translator” to figure out how to say loser. I am such a failure of a geek-wanna-be. I’m leaving now to drown my self-pitying sorrows in a sugar-free, caffeine-free, taste-free Sprite Zero, whose sole redeeming feature is the bubbles.)
From a fellow Buckeye who’s been lurking for a while…
Scalzi Inspired me to start my own blog about a month ago. So far it’s been a blast and I’ve gotten some great feedback…Including an upcoming interview from the Outdoor Blog.
From a fellow Buckeye who’s been lurking for a while…
Scalzi Inspired me to start my own blog about a month ago. So far it’s been a blast and I’ve gotten some great feedback…Including an upcoming interview from the Outdoor Blog.
I sold a story to the Sword & Sorceress 22 anthology. Major w00tage.
Fixing Julie’s link from a few comments above:
After & Before
My fourth film is being shot, and I got to hang out on the set – I talk about it here:
http://www.xanga.com/JoshGD
I just launched a ‘zine: SpaceWesterns.com: the zine of the Space Western sub-genre
I received the proofs of my novel yesterday and I am PSYCHED! It’s my first published novel. I’m hopelessly excited about this.
You can see the cover for it over here: http://classof2k7.com/images/no_castles.jpg Isn’t it a beaut? Yes, I’m one PROUD mama.
I received the proofs of my novel yesterday and I am PSYCHED! It’s my first published novel. I’m hopelessly excited about this.
You can see the cover for it over here: http://classof2k7.com/images/no_castles.jpg Isn’t it a beaut? Yes, I’m one PROUD mama.
Nothing much seems to be going on with writing right now, not enough time.
Probably the best, most important thing I’m doing at the moment is helping my wife raise our son.
I recently finished printing a huge 4 foot by 8 foot wood-block print. We printed with a steamroller (due to the size), and it was a lot of fun.
The subject, you ask? Why, zombies, of course.
Pictures can be seen at http://defendini.blogspot.com/2007/04/big-damn-print-day.html#links.
I recently finished printing a huge 4 foot by 8 foot wood-block print. We printed with a steamroller (due to the size), and it was a lot of fun.
The subject, you ask? Why, zombies, of course.
Pictures can be seen at http://defendini.blogspot.com/2007/04/big-damn-print-day.html#links.
Just yesterday I heard from Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine — a wonderful SF magazine from Australia — that they want to buy my story “Machine” for issue #35 for April 2008.
I officially have four publications — two from anthology contests, one from a pro-rate anthology and one from Ralan’s annual online contest — this is my first sale to a magazine. I’m chuffed!
Dr. Phil
I’m learning to walk.
I just finished reading one of *the best* debut novels I’ve ever read (Scalzi excepted, of course!!)
Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch is the book, it is fantasy. WOW is about all I can say!!!
Gee, cool. I’m prepping my marketing stuff for my next novel, THE SERPENT’S KISS, due out July 1, 2007.
Best,
Mark Terry
http://www.markterrybooks.com
I’m working on rebuilding my blog on my personal web space in WordPress (as it should be more flexible and extensible than my current Blogger site), and adding a corresponding photo gallery in Gallery 2.1 as well.
I love geeking out… my family hates it when I dive deep into this kind of stuff, though, they wonder whether there will be dinner or clean laundry. (like they’re not capable of sandwiches???)
On my blog (linked above) I wrote a short, humorous, mostly true story called Sippy Cup that is getting favorable reviews from those who have read it.
I also can not use contractions because my keyboard is spitting È out for commas. Which is basically awesome and helpful. I also get ‘ and ” for left and right angle brackets, aka greater-than less-than symbols. Which is very helpful for the correct composition of html – the reason I do not have an inline link to my blog at blog.myspace.comésuprspi. The é should be a slash. It is not because of the sheer awesomeness of my keyboard.
I am also thinking of wordpress for a new blog layout. Myspace has a little too much “blech” associated with it.
Self Pimpage Complete!
On my blog (linked above) I wrote a short, humorous, mostly true story called Sippy Cup that is getting favorable reviews from those who have read it.
I also can not use contractions because my keyboard is spitting È out for commas. Which is basically awesome and helpful. I also get ‘ and ” for left and right angle brackets, aka greater-than less-than symbols. Which is very helpful for the correct composition of html – the reason I do not have an inline link to my blog at blog.myspace.comésuprspi. The é should be a slash. It is not because of the sheer awesomeness of my keyboard.
I am also thinking of wordpress for a new blog layout. Myspace has a little too much “blech” associated with it.
Self Pimpage Complete!
I am doing some writing for a couple of green and sustainability oriented blogs. I think I may have pimped EcoGeek.org before, so let me instead point you to GreenOptions.com:
http://www.greenoptions.com/blog/philip_proefrock
Anyone interested in a dark and erotic science fiction story can check out my contribution to Technopeasant Day, “Mutual Feelings.”
It might not be work safe, though.
I’m not getting a damned thing done today. I would have done more if I’d got out of bed and started drinking whiskey.
My work is going very slow and I wonder if I’m the only writer here who sometimes just hates the job. Maybe I’m not paying enough attention, or maybe nobody talks about it. I think I’m one of those who like “having written” better than writing. Nothing more frustrating than writing that first awful(in my eyes)draft. At least that’s the way I’m feeling after a very long unproductive day. I’m gonna take a rain check on pimping myself and save it for a day when I’ve done something worth a damn. It certainly didn’t happen today.
I just turned a bunch of computer systems that would have otherwise wound up discarded into a UNIX cluster for use by the students here starting this fall…
I shovelled the snow off my drive and planted some flowers. Oh, the heady bloom of such hopeless optimism…
I have the lead story in Black Gate #10 along with Martha Wells, Judith Berman and several other terrific fantasy writers.
Available at B&N, Borders or other fine bookstores.
I’m pimping someone local, my life is rather bleh lately.
I finally made it to the post office to get my copy of the new David Marusek book Getting To Know You. I then went to my local bookstore to flaunt it at their booksellers, but dammit, they had a whole shelf of them. And he’s scheduled to sign on the 17th of this month.
Anyway, it’s a really nifty book full of interesting stories, and folks should check it out.
Lately I’ve been uploading tonnes of photos from my archives to Flickr, nearly all under a Creative Commons license. Sadly, no new fiction announcements of late :P
Warning: Hard SF concept ahead.
Working on draft #5 of my paper on why it really is coincidence, this oddity that I discovered that seemed to say that the reciprocal of the (dimensionless) fine-structure constant is encoded to better than one part in a thousand in the mean molecular weight (in Daltons) of the 20 Standard Human Amino Acids.
1/fine structure constant ~ 137.03599976
ratio 136.90019/137.0359997 = 0.999008949.
Coincidence? You be the judge!
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/FineStructureConstant.html
Below molecular weights from HMDB
(Human Metabolome Database)
89.09318 + 174.20100 + 132.11792 + 133.10268 + 121.15800 + 147.12926 + 146.14500 + 75.06660 + 155.15456 + 131.17291 + 131.17291 + 146.18756 +
149.21100 + 165.18913 + 115.13046 + 105.09258 + 119.11916 + 204.22501 + 181.18854 + 117.14634 =
2738.0038
The 20 Standard Human Amino Acids
HMDB Name (alphabetically) Formula Molecular
Weight
HMDB00161 L-Alanine C3H7NO2 89.09318
HMDB00517 L-Arginine C6H14N4O2 174.20100
HMDB00168 L-Asparagine C4H8N2O3 132.11792
HMDB00191 L-Aspartic acid C4H7NO4 133.10268
HMDB00574 L-Cysteine C3H7NO2S 121.15800
HMDB00148 L-Glutamic acid C5H9NO4 147.12926
HMDB00641 L-Glutamine C5H10N2O3 146.14500
HMDB00123 Glycine C2H5NO2 75.06660
HMDB00177 L-Histidine C6H9N3O2 155.15456
HMDB00172 L-Isoleucine C6H13NO2 131.17291
HMDB00687 Leucine C6H13NO2 131.17291
HMDB00182 L-Lysine C6H14N2O2 146.18756
HMDB00696 L-Methionine C5H11NO2S 149.21100
HMDB00159 L-Phenylalanine C9H11NO2 165.18913
HMDB00162 L-Proline C5H9NO2 115.13046
HMDB00187 L-Serine C3H7NO3 105.09258
HMDB00167 L-Threonine C4H9NO3 119.11916
HMDB00929 L-Tryptophan C11H12N2O2 204.22501
HMDB00158 L-Tyrosine C9H11NO3 181.18854
HMDB00883 L-Valine C5H11NO2 117.14634
Total 2738.0038
Mean 136.90019 = 2738.0038/20
I told Black Holes expert Kip Thorne 8 good reasons when he asked me: “how do you know it’s a coincidence?”
Still, it gave me goosebumps when I stumbled on it. You know, as if we were CREATED. Or that I’d seen through a mistake in the operating system of The Matrix.
I have the one and only fandom blog for this cool new MMORPG called Granado Espada.
http://geninemoons.blogspot.com
I wanted to have a t-shirt with the old library spine logo of a rocket ship and atom, so I made one:
http://www.cafepress.com/scifilibrary
I wanted to have a t-shirt with the old library spine logo of a rocket ship and atom, so I made one:
http://www.cafepress.com/scifilibrary
My latest book, Complete Guide to Online High Schools: Distance learning options for teens & adults is on its way to Amazon and other booksellers even as we speak.
See: Best Online High Schools
Good for you Dr. Phil, I help out there. The more stories the merrier.
Gutenberg Australia SF Project
http://www.gutenberg.net.au/sfproject.html
I want some of those potatoes.
Right now, I’m writing stories for Forward Motion’s Story-a-Day marathon this month. And dealing with a fifteen year old daughter who’s being difficult.
I’m finishing up my first year of graduate school at UW-Madison, and embarking on my first very own research project on Monday. Terrifying? Yes. Exciting? Yes, that too.
My future Ph.D. will be in Mathematics Education, but I am a compulsive short story fiction writer–if I tried to stop writing, my brain would implode. An old story is linked to my name. Needs polishing, but interesting nonetheless.
I’m finishing up my first year of graduate school at UW-Madison, and embarking on my first very own research project on Monday. Terrifying? Yes. Exciting? Yes, that too.
My future Ph.D. will be in Mathematics Education, but I am a compulsive short story fiction writer–if I tried to stop writing, my brain would implode. An old story is linked to my name. Needs polishing, but interesting nonetheless.
Hi All! Our online story site Bewildering Stories is approaching the five year mark! Yep, five years of doing a weekly magazine of SF, Fantasy, Horror, and whathaveyou.
We’ve published a lot of not-so-good SF over the years, primarily because we are a teaching resource as well as a venue. We’ve also published some very good stuff (which ends up in the quarterly reviews).
On top of that, we decided to put some good stuff in print in the “dead tree” mode. Our first novel Grim Legion about Edgar Allen Poe at West Point (which actually happened) got a great review from Joe Queenan at the NYTimes Review of Books.
So come visit us at our other site Bewildering Press.
–Jerry