I’m Ill, So: Open Pimp Thread!

Posted on June 5, 2008    Posted by      141 Comments

I’ve spent the last several hours being unspeakably ill, and I expect will continue to be so over the next day, so in lieu of updating today, I declare this an open pimp thread, in which I encourage you to self-promote your own cool blogs and projects, or promote the projects and blogs of people whose work you like and admire. That’s right, share the love, because as we all know, in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make. Note this hypothesis has not been rigorously scientifically examined. But it sure sounds true.

So: What have you got that you want to tell other folks about?

(Note: If your comment contains more than a couple of links, it will get booted into the moderation queue. Be patient; I’ll release it.)

Category: Uncategorized    

141 Comments on “I’m Ill, So: Open Pimp Thread!”

  1. Really worthwhile book I read lately: Havemercy, by 20-year-old college students Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, on its way later this month from Spectra. Preorder now, thank me later.

  3. “… the love you take is equal to the love you make.”

    So make love as often as possible!

  5. John: I hope you feel better soon!

    Other People’s Stuff: One of my favorite authors, Lynn Flewelling, has a new Night Runner novel coming out in a few weeks–Shadows Return. I can’t recommend this fantasy series highly enough–it’s awesome!

    My Stuff: I’m running the Dealer Room at Gaylaxicon 2008, the annual international science fiction, fantasy, and horror convention for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered people & their friends. Yeah, it’s a mouthful, but it’s fun. Author Guest of Honor: Geoff Ryman; Artist Guest of Honor: Alicia Austin. Other guests aren’t listed on the site yet, sorry. If you’re not attending–please consider it! If you are–please drop by the Dealer Room and buy things (support the mostly-fannish economy).

  6. Alright, I’ll bite.

    A Dribble of Ink

    My genre blog where I’ve worked with authors such as Patrick Rothfuss, Joe Abercrombie, Tobias Buckell, Brian Ruckley, Joe Haldeman, Daniel Abraham, David Anthony Durham, Michael Swanwick, Paul Kearney, among others.

    Check it out.

    ~Enough self pimpage?

  11. Poor John. I’m sorry I gave you my illness I started having last night, but my momma always said it’s not polite to horde. *grin* Seriously though, I hope you feel better soon.

    As for SELF promotion, I’m a simple nerd, and don’t have anything worthwhile of self promotion, so I’ll promote a blog of yet another writer who is as intelligent and funny as you. That is, of course, unless what he posts about his quite serious, which is sometimes the case. Either way the “Magazine Man” is a good read.

    Somewhere on the masthead.

    Enjoy!

  12. One of my favorite SF shows has its premiere on the SciFi Channel this Friday – Charlie Jade. It’s moody, mysterious, and filled with more questions than answers. I think it’ll satisfy some of those cravings with Lost and BSG away for the summer. I wrote a preview of it that you can read here.

    Note how I pulled off the self- and other-pimping all in one coordinated move. :)

  13. Hey, this is very generous of you! Just like I never pass up an interview, how could I pass up an opportunity for some shameless self promotion?

    So: My book, “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era” will be released in paperback from Swarm Press on Sunday, July 13, 2008.

    I’m gonna shamelessly self promote, but I don’t want to bogart bandwidth, here, so I’ll give you the elevator pitch for the book: It’s an alternate history set in 1985. Our hero is a sophomore in high school with some unusual abilities but no self esteem to back ’em up. One day, a man with extraordinary powers announces to the world that, essentially, the metahumans are here to stay, and don’t mess with them. Our boy must now try to discover if he’s part of this powerful new minority. Some folks describe “Brave Men Run” as what you’d get if “Breakfast Club” director John Hughes wrote comic-books. That works!

    I want gazillions of people to rush Amazon.com on July 13, 2008 and buy the book so that it rockets up the charts… but before that, you can pay whatever you think the e-book is worth here and see if you like it. Or, you can listen to the free podcast edition if audio is more your speed.

    Enjoy, and thanks for the opportunity, John!

  16. You know, Jonathan Coulton just got really sick, too. I think this happened once before. Something about you two we should know?

    Oh, and since this is open to promotion, I just thought I’d let people know that a fellow named John McCain is running for president. I think he’d make a really neat president, too. So consider sending him some money and voting for him or something. You can get info at

    http://www.johnmccain.com

    If he isn’t your type, I’m sure some hippie will be running against him.

  18. Okay, I’ll pimp.

    I’m involved (against my will) in a frivolous lawsuit involving a whole bunch of folks in the writing world… and have already had to shell out more money than I made all last year in my defense. (I get by with a lot of help from my friends…) Folks could support my legal defense fund by buying cool stuff that I make — all-natural aromatherapy bath and body products, jewelry, runes and talismans, and more. http://newroticgirl.etsy.com

    And here’s a glass artist I really admire: Leah Pellegrini. http://www.leahglass.com She makes amazing mobiles out of fused glass.

  19. “open pimp thread”.

    Which bares discussion:
    is this:
    1. a thread for Pimps?
    2. a thread to discuss pimps?
    3. a thread about polite pimps?
    4. Clothes that pimps wear?
    5. An invitation to place any kind of link about anything into this blog?

    I’m going with answer 5. So:

    If you live in Australia, have a small business (or prehaps your an Australian author who has an important manuscript) and hate backing up your computer, there is a cheap and easy solution! Please visit Godmother: http://www.godmotherbackup.com.au

    Godmother never forgets.

    Thanks,

    Cassie

  20. hmmm

    I am easily addicted to the blogs of others.
    For example, I first came over here due to a link posted by Joe Mallozzi over at http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/

    And now I am here every day as well. I can’t help myself. So all I’m saying is, maybe I should go away for a while: this whole idea of pimping blogs could be dangerously addictive. It’s now 1:30 in the morning where I am, for example, and I am up, reading blogs. DANGEROUSLY addictive, this blogging thing.

  22. Here are two projects of mine that came out at the end of last month:

    Issue #14 of Electric Velocipede
    http://www.electricvelocipede.com/htm/contents.htm

    “Psychological Methods to Sell Must Be Destroyed: Stories” by Robert Freeman Wexler
    http://www.electricvelocipede.com/htm/wexlerchapbook.htm

    I’m also running a sale where you can get the current issue plus any back issue or chapbook for $10; or the current issue and any four back issues or chapbooks for $20. The first deal is a savings of $2 and the second is a savings of $7.
    http://www.electricvelocipede.com/htm/shop_sales.htm

    Some very cool stuff already on this pimp thread. Hope you get better really soon Scalzi.

  23. Hmm. I’m not inclined to pimp my own weird little blog, here. It’s a boutique niche item, neither suitable for or seeking a mass audience. How about my favorite online SF rag, instead? http://www.strangehorizons.com/

    As my grandmother used to command, “Be Well!”

    Do it. You don’t want to mess with my grandmother.

  24. I have a couple of hundred readers on my livejournal, so I must be doing somethnig right. I’m always looking for more though, so check it out!

    My cousin and I also do a weekly podcast. We have roughly “10” readers, so I’m definitely looking for more there.

    Lastly, I’ve created a wiki for a fantasy world I’m working on, All-That-Is. Before you skip over, I try not to be like all those other fantasy worlds. (I do this by not actually reading any fantasy, which helps.) In this world, Dwarves are mostly pirates, Elves are mostly ninjas, and the God of Biscuits is a powerful force! It’s still in progress, but I have enough pages that it’s probably worth checking out as well!

  25. I have no trouble pimping my own writing and my own ‘zine.

    First, the writing. I have a few stories published, and a few that I’m releasing into the wild from my website. The URL is http://www.mossroot.com/worlds/published-stories/

    Second, my ‘zine. Daikaijuzine (http://www.daikaijuzine.com). We’re currently on hiatus but we’ll be accepting submissions again on June 21. We’ve published stories by Tim Pratt, Dave Wolverton, L. E. Modessit, and others. And in September we’ll be publishing more Tim Pratt as well as a story by James Maxie, author of “Nobody Gets the Girl”. Please come along and check us out.

  28. Yuk, being ill is no good. Improve rapidly please.

    Re the pimping, you already mentioned the free Hal Spacejock ebook a few days back, but I’m not averse to reheated pimpage.

    I’d also like to mention Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine – issue 35 is back from the printers, and I believe the mag does a great job of fostering new talent as well as giving established writers an outlet for their work. (We’re based in Australia, but accept subs via email and ship worldwide.)

  29. Well, I could urge you all to head on over to http://www.hub-mag.co.uk – the world’s fastest growing* weekly electronic genre fiction magazine (and currently SciFi.com’s Site of the Week).

    Every week we feature one new piece of genre fiction, along with news, features and interviews.

    Oh, and it’s free. Did I mention that? No? Well, it is.

    That’s http://www.hub-mag.co.uk

    .
    .

    *Possibly an invented statistic.

  32. I’d have to pimp my buddy Jon Stonger’s self-published collection of short stories, The Adventures of the Delineator, which is just laugh-out-loud funny sci-fi satire. He’s got free stories up at his website here.

  34. My Berlin blog at PlanetEye, in case you or your readers ever make it to the Hauptstadt of Germany and need to know where to get a beer or flammkuchen.

  35. Here’s my pimp: if you want to know what it’s like to be a female Australian fantasy writer residing and writing in Malaysia (but being published elsewhere), living as a local, married to a Muslim, and working as a rainforest conservationist – then read my blog “Tropic Temper” over at http://glendalarke.blogspot.com

    And I hope you feel better soon, John.

  37. @John, may you recover quickly and with no sequels except the bad memories.

    @Nicole, #19: Currently reading as a PDF on my Palm while jetting around, therefore in piecemeal. But I agree with you; it’s quite well-written.

    If any of you science fiction fans are interested in how real science gets done (for interest or for verisimilitude in your own novels), I suggest visiting any of the three following websites.

    Humans in Science. That’s mine.

    Nature Network. It has become a discussion forum for serious scientists about a lot of the daily life things in conducting science that preoccupy us. It might bore you silly, but you never know.

  39. At http://www.pseudopod.org we’re hurtling up on a hundred weeks of the best new horror fiction, all read for your listening pleasure by some of the best podcasters and writers in the business, and hosted by me. If horror’s your thing, then you need to check out our back catalogue.

    Meanwhile at http://www.Pantechnicon.net you can download some outstanding longform fiction chosen and edited by steely eyed amazon of specfic Trudi Topham. All free, all worth your time.

    And finally, did Lee mention something about Hub? If not, I should probably mention http://www.Hub-mag.co.uk and its weekly dose of fiction and non-fiction. Oh and that’s free too.

  40. Do you want to listen to the audio novel voted no. 1 by the listeners on http://www.Podiobooks.com? Then go into the podcast directory on iTunes and search for “Shadowmagic”. It’s free and if you don’t like it – I’ll give you your money back.

    Thanks for the plug space John -Get well soon.

    John Lenahan

  41. Hmmm…. a couple blogs that I’ve enjoyed lately… (other than this one of course.)

    At http://qcreport.blogspot.com this hilariously funny (and good!) writer named Quinn posts weekly vignettes about her life. I look forward to them every week – and she’s in the middle of the editing process for a novel too, which I forget the name of right now, but you can learn more about that there.

    Another blog I enjoy is http://cusplife.blogspot.com , in which this college-aged girl basically gives rants and little looks into her life. Very worthwhile to read.

    Look at them both!
    ~Katie

  42. John, I moved from Ohio to Florida. Felt better ever since.

    Pimping others:

    If you write SF, check out Deanna Hoak’s blog. especially the “best of copyediting” posts.

    If you love SF, you’re probably already monitoring SF Signal. If not, you should be.

    Also, see Making Light, a weblog by Teresa and Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

    Self pimp: Check out my blog, Ramblings on the Future of Humanity, where I discuss hard SF ideas.

    Thanks, John, for the opportunity–and get well soon!

  47. Strictly speaking, shouldn’t an Open Pimp thread prohibit self-promotion? I mean, a pimp isn’t selling himself…

  51. My self published SF novel – Starstrikers, now has a Ning site: http://starstrikers.ning.com

    You can see the evolution of the cover art, read short stories set in the same universe and watch the progress of the POD refresh of the novel now. The novel is currently available on Amazon Kindle and Scribd

    Thanks for the pimp thread John, feel better.

  54. I’m studying editing at the National Film and Television School in England. Here is my blog.

    My main site’s linked above, with some more info and clips from past student films. It’s a work in progress, I’m trying to make it a lot more ‘new media’, but I’m learning as I go.

    Time to check out some of the links above, yay.

  56. I’ve started a webcomic about The Turk, an 18th-century automaton: Clockwork Game. It’s a big stylistic departure from my earlier stuff, though thematically it’s pretty much the same stuff as before. ;)

    Congrats on the really awesome blogger’s panel at BEA. That must have been amazing.

  58. I’ve started a new feature on my blog on Mondays and Fridays where I post fun little pieces of fiction and crazy things that amused me for just a little while.

    This one’s been my favorite so far: mjwarnock.blogspot.com/2008/05/funtastic-friday-follies-great-muppet.html

    check it out and leave me a comment, because I love the comments.

  63. Here’s a little self pimpage for my blog, Grasping for the Wind. http://otter.covblogs.com

    I write in-depth science fiction and fantasy book reviews, conduct interviews, and announce SF&F news of interest to novel readers. My work has reappeared at Flashing Swords e-zine and SFCrowsnest.com.

    I post at least two reviews a week, and have been highly praised by many authors and editors for my work.

    Updates are in the works to make my blog more accessible to readers in the month of June (my host is updating to MTOS 4 from 2.661), so come by and visit often.

    http://otter.covblogs.com

    Thanks Aidan, for the shout-out earlier in the list, I also recommend all those good folks, Aidan included.

  65. I also meant to mention, if you are an author, feel free to contact me about reviewing your work.My email can be found at my site.

  66. SpaceWesterns.com (http://www.spacewesterns.com/) has hit over 10,000 visitors per month for the last two months.

    + April: 20,279 page views/15,415 visits/13,529 unique visitors
    + May: 17,012 page views/13,811 visits/12,023 unique visitors

    On Alexa, that puts it between Analog and Asimov’s (see the handy chart on the site).

    Also, we’ve got an interview with Russell Davis, recently elected SFWA President.

    I wonder if the two are related?

  67. Hope you defeat the evil crud soon, John.

    And thank you for giving me the green light to shamelessly pimp my sketch comedy!

  68. Didn’t Jim Hines just do this like three days ago? Well, great minds think alike I suppose!

    Ok, I’m going to pimp/Wh0r3* my site

    The Friday Knights Nothing more than a fun little web comic about all things nerdy!

    (*1337 helps avoid any potential filters…unless the filters are set to catch 1337 as well.)

  69. Get better soon.

    As to the wanton pimpery: Popehat, a group blog of politics, law, humor, and computer games, currently getting far more traffic than normal as a result of some coverage of free speech issues.

  70. I’m listening to Cormac McCarthy’s “No Country for Old Men” on CD during my commute. I had previously read “The Road,” which is one of the most haunting books I’ve ever read. I haven’t seen the film, but am now looking forward to it.

  71. I’m testing the limits of the question “What’s the most narrow and obscure premise someone could possibly form a blog about?” In January, my daughter (6) and I (39, no really, 39) began to learn the piano. In February, I began blogging about it.

    And people actually have nice things to say. Go figure.

    http://aw2pp.blogspot.com/

  74. Hope you feel better soon! On with the pimpery…

    Kaleidotrope, my twice-yearly zine of the fantastic, the silly, the strange. The fifth issue will be out in October, and past issues have included stories and poems from writers like Bruce Holland Rogers, Stephen Graham Jones, Bruce Boston, Rachel Swirsky, Richard Harland, and Mark Rich — just to name a few. Submission guidelines and subscription information available on the website.

  75. The love, I am feeling it.

    I do teh knitting over at my site
    http://marniemaclean.com
    Got your pipin’ hot, fresh off the griddle knittin’ patterns, mostly for the low low price of nada.

    Somehow I don’t think this is my key demographic. *sigh*

  76. Okay, here’s my livejournal, which is occasionally filled with crazed hippie rantings (luau dancers of the world unite!), and here’s a nifty cooking blog, where the posting rule is you have to take an existing recipe and muck with it, or come up with someting original. My wife is diabetic, and one of her good friends is celiac, so I’m occasionally posting tasty recipes that deal with the two conditions therein. If you like to cook strange things (butternut squash and eggnog), then please join and post something! Thanks.

  77. @#1 I am also excited about Havemercy!

    @glenda #35 : I really, really want to read your blog, but it’s broken my browser twice!

    As for my self pimp: My third book, RITES OF SPRING (BREAK) comes out in a little over two weeks, and I’m so excited! Booklist called it “an ideal summer read” and I’ve got three signings planned for the weeks after its release (one with Nora Roberts).

  79. I hate a new workblog I’d like to drum up a bit of readership for, so: http://sloblogs.thetribunenews.com/updownleftright.

    It’s new, so there’s not that much there yet, but it’s mostly about gaming and other things that catch my interest, generally online. Plus, I tell you where to find a different legitimately free game every Friday!

  80. If you are unspeakably ill and live in Ohio, I may be able to provide some insight into the source of your ailment. While I would never openly admit that the evil overlords at The Secret Lair have recently misplaced the product of a failed experiment and that they strongly suspect said product is both airborne and highly contagious, it does certainly seem to be the sort of thing they would do.

    This is not intended so much as an apology as a request to study your remains, should your illness progress to Stage V (assuming of course, that you recognize the various symptoms of Stages I-IV. A suggestion: during Stage III you will be tempted to draw attention to the fact that you are experiencing a great deal of pain in the area of your spleen. It is best not to call attention to this, as people almost always interpret someone shouting “My spleen!” as an attempt at humor.).

  81. MyMiniCity is a little online Sim-like flash game where people build a city by adding an element once a day. There’s an image of the city that changes as the city grows. It’s sorta fun in a glacial like way.

    To observe the Mighty Power of Scalzi, I thought I’d see what would happen if I put up the links to a friend’s city.

    Click to

    Add a new person

    Add a new industry

    Add a new road

    Only one item/click per user per day will be counted.

    If the city grows big enough, you can also add police, businesses and improve the environment.

  82. A friend and I have a blog where we review films we’ve watched. For personal reasons it’s called Heckler and Kochk – We Watch Bad Sci-Fi So You Don’t Have To.

    The drawback: we only set it up last week and my friend immediately went on an emergency holiday to Turkey. So it’s currently just me reviewing 3 films, only one of which is sci-fi and one other of which is actually bad.

    Frankly this pimping thread and Scalzi’s illness are very badly timed for me, so I hope he gets better and is never ill again so he can schedule his pimping for when it’s convenient for me.

    In case anyone wants to look:

    http://hecklerandkochk.blogspot.com/

  83. Hope you get better, John…you have too many pets to take care of to be sick!

    —NON-SELF-PIMPAGE

    The Legacy of Heorot
    by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes

    Don’t let the cheesy cover fool you: this book is an excellent science-fiction thriller/adventure about humankind’s first outpost in the farthest reaches of space. The follow-up book, titled Beowulf’s Children, is also worth a read and provides a great conclusion to the set. If you haven’t checked either title out, now is the time to do it!

    —SELF-PIMPAGE

    I have three of my published books that are for sale on my website:

    Threshold to Darkness – A fast-paced science-fiction thriller set amidst an archaeological dig on a colony planet.

    Trident’s Fury – This book is what you would get if you combined a Tom Clancy novel with an Indiana Jones adventure.

    Altered Perceptions – A collection of short-stories, including two pieces that were published in the Aphelion Science-Fiction & Fantasy webzine.

    Please stop by and check them out! I also run a science-fiction/fantasy blog there as well, so pop in and say ‘Hi’.

    Matthew Scott Baker
    http://www.matthewscottbaker.com

  84. A couple of well worth the visit sites:

    http://darthmojo.wordpress.com/ Darth Mojo is a special effects dude currently working on Battlestar Galactica and previously on ST: Voyager and Babylon 5. His blog is only a month or so old, but it gives great behind the scenes info on SFX on all of these shows. It helps that he is very passionate and has a great low-key writing style.

    http://www.mil-millington.com/

    Is quite possibly the funniest site concerning a relationship ever. I’ll quote the first couple of sentences to get some of you hooked. “Nothing keeps a relationship on its toes so much as lively debate. Fortunate, then, that my girlfriend and I agree on absolutely nothing. At all.

    Combine utter, polar disagreement on everything, ever, with the fact that I am a text-book Only Child, and she is a violent psychopath, and we’re warming up.”

    Hopefully at least one or two other Scalzi fans will enjoy these sites like I have.

  85. I’m the current president of the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA). If you’re an SF/F fan in the DC/MD/VA area, please check out our website http://www.wsfa.org and consider coming to meetings on the first and third Fridays each month.

    WSFA also has an annual convention, Capclave, devoted to literary science fiction. This year the convention is October 17-19. The author GOH is James Morrow, author of Only Begotten Daughter, Towing Jehovah, The Last Witchfinder and other novels. The critic GOH is Michael Dirda, who for years wrote the SF reviews for the Washington Post Book World sunday magazine. One again, Allan Wold has agreed to conduct his popular writing seminar for the con. And, for the first time, this year we will have dedicated space for filking Friday and Saturday nights. Go to http://www.capclave.org for further information.

    On a personal level, I’m currently unemployed. So if you know of any employment opportunities in the DC area you think are suitable for an attorney with a strong federal litigation background and expertise in the FOIA and privacy law, please let me know at mather10021 at yahoo dot com.

  87. Thanks from a neophyte blogger for all the SF links! Maybe this is so obvious that no one else listed it, but if you haven’t been looking at the pictures on this site, you really should: http://www.planetary.org/blog. And if you’re interested in extremely eclectic musings on books (there’s a recent piece on Little Brother and a slightly older one on Old Man’s War) check out necromancyneverpays.blogspot.com.

  88. Mr Scalzi,

    I hope you don’t have the flu I am attempting to get over. It’s nasty.

    If you do have it, orange juice, soup, aspirin, and Dimetapp are what is working for me right now.

    Self-pimpage (I feel embarrassed just writing the term):

    In addition to my weblog, Random (but not really), which a few of you have visited, another portion of my website, Random Reading, is dedicated to book reviews.

    My tastes are eclectic, but I most commonly read fantasy, mystery, and graphic novels. (The links along the top right of the page are to pages dedicated to each of the listed genres. [If you’re using any browser but IE, the menus at the top of those pages display a list of the authors I’ve read. (I hate that IE doesn’t follow the w3’s conventions.)])

    I’ve recently been reading Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti series, and F. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack series.

    The first is a mystery series set in Venice, and has your usual murders, but also has Brunetti dealing with the corruption endemic to Italy/Venice. Which to me is just as interesting as the murder mysteries

    The second is a supernatural fantasy series, with a story arc that is building over the series, but still has individual story arcs concluded in each book.

    Random Reading has comments enabled, but few people comment there. More commenting occurs on Random (but not really).

  98. PixelFish: dammit, now I’ve signed up for Plurk, too. As if Twitter wasn’t distracting enough.

    Two things to pimp, one that I’m proud to be associated with, and another, well, it pays the bills.

    Back in 1995, before the tubes and the tweets and all that 2.0 stuff, there was a little site called Fray. People would share their stories, and it was cool. I contributed some, made some good friends, and cooked some excellent meals as a result of this site. Last year, Derek Powazek decided to bring Fray to paper, and last weekend, he made me Intartube Strategerist (I get paid in danishes from Some Crust Bakery in Claremont. If you’ve been there, you know what a good thing this is), which means I get to go out and pimp Fray to all and sundry. So! Please join our Facebook group (search for Fray Quarterly), our MySpace (myspace.com/frayquarterly), and, if you like what you see at the site, subscribe.

    And now, the bills: my company is doing some of the online marketing for the direct-to-dvd sequel to The Lost Boys. If you’re into the whole suckmonkey thing, become a Facebook fan here. That is all.

  99. Announcement: I am officially retired, after 30 years with the Postal Service.

    I am also working my ass off, clearing out the backyard sheds and the rented storage room to consolidate and organize everything that’s piled up over the years. There’ll be a BIG pile for bulk-trash pick-up next week, and some smaller piles for Craigslist, Freecycle and Good Will.

    Once that, and other, long-delayed projects are finished, I’ll be looking for new employment. Part-time would be nicest, but since I took a nearly 40% drop in income to retire, full-time might be necessary.

    (The postal job itself, delivering the mail, was something I could have continued for years longer; I just couldn’t deal with USPS’s dysfunctional-and-getting-worse management anymore. If they treated their cars like they treated their employees, they’d think pissing in the gas tank would get them better mileage.)

    And, somewhere in there, hopefully I’ll find time to do more fiction-writing again.

  105. If you like science fiction, chances are you have a passing interest in science fact. If so, you should check out my blog at http://martianchronicles.wordpress.com.

    I’m a graduate student studying Mars at Cornell, and I post about the latest news in Mars, space exploration, and whatever else catches my interest.

  106. I’m pimping a bad review! It’s my first one star review on Amazon, and I couldn’t be happier. A woman wants to burn my book because I have corrupted her children. I couldn’t be happier. I have no interest in spawning evil thoughts in the minds of her sons, and my books are actually about the power of tolerance and forgiveness, but I’m actually heartened that I could generate such passion in this woman.

  108. Buy my nuclear bomb plans!

    Yes, it’s semi-serious. The nuclear weapon design depicted on the T-shirt was the first major conceptual advance in shrinking nuclear weapons, tested in 1956. The Wikipedia article on nuclear weapon design has a slightly older, less accurate version of the diagram on the T-shirt.

    You may be shocked or appalled that I’m doing this… However, this is not merely an exercise in applied mad science (despite my website being madbadscience.com … and despite author Paul Chafe having singled me out of the crowd at the recent Baycon “Mad Science” panel as “Probably knowing more about nuclear bombs than Robert Oppenheimer”).

    It’s part of a non-proliferation campaign. Honest.

    I am aquaintences with Howard Morland, Carey Sublette, John Coster-Mullen, the late Chuck Hansen, and others (occationally correspond with Richard Rhodes, Andre Gsponer, etc). We’re all opponents of widespread proliferation, at some level and form. About a year ago, I made an observation to the group that the public and government official perception that nuclear weapon design is hard and really secret was actively hurting nonproliferation efforts. It really isn’t that hard or that secret anymore. A number of us have had quite advanced design information and engineering capability for many years, and we’ve reverse engineered quite a bit of the more advanced designs. We have it on good authority that all the same info is widely out there in national nuclear weapons programs, open/known and secret or in the shadows. And far, far more nations have research or design programs than have ever been publically named or described, though a lot of those have no goal of actually developing weapons and merely did the research to understand the problem and have knowledge on the shelf in case of emergency.

    The only way to actually limit proliferation is to limit who can enrich Uranium, and reprocess reactor fuel into Plutonium. Right now, the Nonproliferation Treaty and IAEA exist partly on the philosophical foundation that it’s OK if random nations enrich Uranium or reprocess reactor fuel, as long as it’s for “Peaceful nuclear power” programs. The belief there was that it’s hard to go from peaceful power to weapons.

    That is fundamentally flawed. If you have the fissile materials, and a fuel cycle, it’s very easy to weaponize. Security by Obscurity was tried – it’s failed.

    The treaty has to change, and international organizations have to work to limit who can produce fissile fuel.

    The only way we see to accomplish this is to point out loudly and publically that the emperor has no clothes. Make the information public enough to dispel the difficulty myth (but vague enough that Al Qaeda can’t build a bomb off the T-shirt or forthcoming book or…). Once that myth is dead and buried, political will to change the treaty and limit fissile fuel cycles can follow.

    I and others I work with are working on books on the subject and starting to plan magazine / journal articles to raise these points. We’ll probably form an umbrella organization etc.

    Anyways… I hope that this has given you something to think about. If you buy a T-shirt, that’s great. If you sleep a little less well at night, I apologize, but welcome to my world…

  109. Zombie Radio.

    This is sadly not my awesome idea, but it looks damn cool. An original radio (though I imagine it’ll be internet/podcast in actuality) drama set after a zombie apocalypse that’s looking for actors, writers, tech, etc.

    Scariest part: They ask ‘what do you do without the internet?’

    No internet? Bring on the zombies!

  110. My friend Tim who is a high school art teacher just self-published his first SF book, A Lifetime in Time. For someone not really into SF (except for the work of our host here of course) I wasn’t too sure about the book, but I loved it. Most likely because it is set in a mid-1980’s high school and full of heavy metal music references. His website is http://www.alifetimeintime.com

  114. Flogging my blog The Half Fast Life (www.thehalffast.blogspot.com). Of interest to anyone 50+ year old, or to anyone who hopes to make it that far.

  115. Well – I’m going for the prize for geekiest pimping possible.

    I’m going to pimp a roleplaying setting. hangs head in shame

    Inspired by the 1991 Fantasy-Noir “To Cast a Deadly Spell”, Wizards and Wiseguys is part Untouchables, part Dr. Strange.

    We’ve got a couple of releases happening soon – and we’ve put together a couple of short faux radio dramas to promote them. These are fun even if you’re not into rolling dice and eating cheetos simultaneously
    Have a listen.

  117. Heh. You know, I placed in 07’s Parsec Writing competition, Adelheid.

    Cool that you’re involved. I’m going to be out of the country this year though.

  118. Actually, now that I think about it, if you have an extra Program Book from last year, I’ll pay you for shipping. A family member “misplaced” my copy. You could reach me at worldsandtime at gmail.

  119. I’m late to the party, because I live 5 times zones behind most of you and because I was busy today.

    I’ll bite:

    I’m a writer, artist, and wood turner, working primarily in Alaskan birch heartwood. My pieces are uniquely Alaskan and I normally have several available each month.

    If you’re interested you can view high resolution images of my work here. Many of these pieces are sold, but a number are available, available pieces are listed here.

    Oh, yeah, I also write a blog, Stonekettle Station, which you can find at that second link above.

  120. Hi John –

    Hope you feel better soon!

    I am from New Mexico and we are blessed here with many wonderful authors so let me pimp them and our Science Fiction Conference, Bubonicon.

    This August (22-24) in Albuquerque will be our 40th Bubonicon (named after the Bubonic Plague). I know I am prejudiced but I think it is a wonderful SF con. Not too large at around 550 attendees, but of that number we always have a large number of terrific authors. We mainly focus on written SF but we also have science speakers, films (some locally made), gaming, dealer’s room, costume contest and costuming programing, and media programing. It is a wonderful convention for meeting and chatting with authors and joining in on lively panel discussions. Our guest of honor this year is David Weber.

    http://www.bubonicon.com/

    Also, here in New Mexico are: (really – they all live here!)

    George R. R. Martin – needs no introduction
    http://www.georgerrmartin.com/

    Walter Jon Williams – new book – IMPLIED SPACES – and one of the best cooks ever!
    http://www.walterjonwilliams.net/

    Melinda Snodgrass – new book – THE EDGE OF REASON and screen writer extraordinaire
    http://www.melindasnodgrass.com/

    Daniel Abraham – if you have not read any of his books you are missing out.
    http://www.danielabraham.com/

    Jane Lindskold – wonderful writer – folks who don’t even know I know her will come up and say, “You have to read these books!”
    http://www.janelindskold.com/

    S.M. Stirling – NY Times bestselling author – and makes the best salad ever!
    http://www.smstirling.com/

    Ian Tregillis – remember this name – I have heard him read from his forthcoming book and was blown away!
    http://www.iantregillis.com/

    Pati Nagle – Truly versatile writer of SF, Fantasy, and history
    http://patinagle.com/

    Steven Gould – author of “Jumper”. Fabulous writer and the slyest sense of humor ever.
    http://digitalnoir.com/steve/

    Laura J. Mixon – excellent writer and wife of the lucky Steven Gould
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_J._Mixon

    Emily Mah – Talented writer and lovely human
    http://www.emilymah.com/

    Victor Milan – “Cybernetic Samurai” author – read it
    http://www.victormilan.com/

    Fred Saberhagen – Sadly, no longer with us – but his books still shine.
    http://www.berserker.com/

    Robert Vardeman – One of the founders of Bubonicon, writer of SF and westerns (and riveting actor in many a film made here.)
    http://www.cenotaphroad.com/

    Suzy Mckee Charnas – author of one of my favorite vampire books, “The Vampire Tapestry.”
    http://www.suzymckeecharnas.com/

    John J Miller – Wild Cards author and great guy – John, hurry up with that vampire book!
    http://johnjosmiller.livejournal.com/

    Ben Bova – another whom needs no introduction.
    http://www.benbova.net/

    Debbie Lynn Smith – new to New Mexico – Screen writer, horror writer, and soon to be SF writer.
    http://www.dlynnsmith.com/

    Pari Noskin Taichert – writer of wonderfully witty New Mexico Mysteries – we have the atomic bomb, aliens, and cattle mutilations.
    http://www.parinoskintaichert.com/

    Terry England – Author of “Rewind”

    Yvonne Coats – Fantasy writer and brilliant human
    http://bookspot.biz/nmwriters/coats.html

    Scott Phillips – Horror writer, screen writer, and movie maker!
    http://www.edpmovies.com/

    Jack Williamson – Passed away at 98 in 2006 – he came to New Mexico in a covered wagon and was a founding father of SF.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Williamson

    And who am I (Patricia Rogers) – a fan who has been around for a long while and is very lucky to know many of these fine folks. Here are some photos I took last month at an SF conference called “Chronicling Mars” in Riverside California. Guests included Ray Bradbury, Fred Pohl and Kim Stanley Robinson.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/22901299@N00/sets/72157605250867355/

    I am sure I have forgotten some authors and I hope they will forgive me if I have left them off this list.

  121. I’m so totally late to this, but I’ll post anyway!

    I’m participating in the Clarion West Write-A-Thon again this year, raising money for the workshop and for the Butler Scholarship. I’m in the process of finding sponsors to help me reach my goal of raising $1000 total.

    For those of you who don’t know, a write-a-thon is a lot like a marathon. Instead of sponsoring me per mile, you sponsor me per week. If I reach my writing goal for the week, you pledge to send a certain amount of money. There are six weeks of write-a-thoning to mirror the six weeks of workshopping at Clarion West.

    Also for those who don’t know, Clarion West (clarionwest.org) is a writing workshop in Seattle where 17 students have the opportunity to spend a week with 6 or 7 professional writers and editors to improve their craft. This year’s instructors are:

    Paul Park
    Mary Rosenblum
    Cory Doctorow
    Connie Willis
    Sheree R. Thomas
    Chuck Palahniuk

    And finally, the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund (carlbrandon.org/butlerscholarship/) was set up by the Carl Brandon Society to give financial aid to writers of color attending Clarion and Clarion West. Octavia got her start at Clarion and she gave her support to Clarion West as a teacher, volunteer, and speaker. She was keenly aware of the need for more voices of color in the genre. I can think of no better way to honor her memory than by giving students this opportunity.

    When I went to Clarion West a very kind individual donated my full tuition to the workshop anonymously (knowing that I actually did not have the money to go and was planning to take out a loan if it came to that). It was an incredibly generous gift and I’ve always felt that I can never fully repay it — my time at the workshop meant so much. But I try, every year, to do my part in giving that gift to other students.

    As I said, I’m hoping to raise $1000 total, which is a high goal but not impossible to reach. It breaks down to about $170/week. If 17 people pledge $10/week, I’ll make my goal. If 8 people pledge $20/week, I’ll make my goal. You can also do a flat amount. $60 only if I reach all of my six week goals. Or $100. If 10 people pledge $100… you get the idea.

    I’m looking for 8 – 17 people who can do $10 – $20/week or $60 – $100 overall. Of course, I can’t reach my goal unless I write!

    I’m currently writing a novel of 12 interlinked stories, so my goal is to write one chapter/story per week for the six weeks. If you sponsor me for $30/week or more, I will send you the (very, very!) rough drafts each week as I complete them.

    If you would like to sponsor me (yay, thank you!), please send an email to this gmail address: SponsorKT :with your name, your pledge amount, and if you’d like to pay (in the end) via PayPal, credit/debit card, or by mailing a check to Clarion West. I don’t handle any of the monetary transactions, by the way. It all goes through CW. Also let me know if you’d like me to put your name on the sidebar of my blog as one of my sponsors and if you’d like weekly updates.

  126. Come make some free e-books at Distributed Proofreaders

    Greg Weeks has been working hard to prepare public-domain vintage science fiction for us to process, among other forgotten gems. Save the books! Broaden your horizons! Do as little or as much as you want! Hang out in the forums with brilliant, eccentric volunteers from all over the world :)

  127. Thanks for giving us all a reason to self-promote John! My head is expanding at the very thought…

    I would urge anyone who has an interest in Tolkien or fantasy (as I imagine one or two of you must) to check out my site @ Tolkien Online. I know…just one of about ten thousand of its kind, but all of the content is original. I think (hope) you’ll find it enjoyable reading.

    I apologize in advance for the f-ed up navigation bar…lay off me, I’m working on it! Geez. It just caught a little bug…like John.

    Later all…

  130. I forgot about this:
    Not self-pimping, but my little brother (a now 11 year-old budding filmmaker) made this video and I posted it to YouTube for him. It’s not even a minute long and it’s about a monster jam. Comments and ratings would be much appreciated!!!
    =)

  131. Pimping for Cincinnati Writer’s Projects’s next anthology – Part one

    Cincinnati Writers Project is currently accepting submissions for their 2008 anthology:

    NOT FROM AROUND HERE, ARE YOU? *

    * All submissions must incorporate this theme in their work in some way.

    Submissions Guidelines

    1)Any genre of poetry or prose is acceptable.

    2)PG-13 rating for all material, please.

    3)Fiction and Nonfiction maximum = 4500 words

    4)Poetry maximum = 40 lines, rhyming or non-rhyming, any format

    5)Submission deadline is midnight, July 1st, 2008.

    6)Submissions must be generally free of error and submitted in a professional format. Please submit electronically as an RTF file to the following address: wcarsky@comcast.net with “Cincinnati Writers Project Anthology Submission” in the subject line.

    7)Submissions should contain a cover page with the author’s name, or pseudonym, contact information, word count and a short bio (max 250 words).

    8)Writers may submit a max of 2 prose pieces (Fiction/Nonfiction) and 2 poetry pieces.

    9)Anyone can submit a piece for the anthology, however writers whose work is chosen must be dues paying Cincinnati Writers Project members before the anthology is finalized for publication. CWP membership is $25.00 will be valid through October 2009.

    10)All submissions will be judged by at least two editors. Editors may submit, but will not review their own work.

    11)Authors will be paid. Reimbursement will depend on anthology sales. All writers will be able to purchase two copies of the final anthology at cost.

    12)The planned publication date for this anthology is October 2008.

  132. Pimping for Cincinnati Writer’s Projects’s next anthology – Part two

    Cincinnati Writers Project
    2008 Anthology Cover Art Contest.

    Cincinnati Writers Project is announcing a contest to provide the cover art for their 2008 anthology, Not From Around Here, Are You?. This anthology will showcase short fiction and non-fiction pieces as well as poetry by Greater Cincinnati writers.

    Contests guidelines:
    1)Submitted artwork must include the anthology title as part of the design. Original artwork may be in any media, but submissions must be made as PDF files.
    2)The anthology will be published as a 6 x 9 trade paperback. Artwork must be sized to fit those proportions.
    3)Artwork may wrap to fit around front, spine and back of the book, but that is not a requirement for submission. Keep in mind that he portion of the artwork covering the spine and back will be behind copy on the finished cover.
    4)Deadline for submission is July 15, 2008.
    5)Submissions should be sent to Mary Fitzpatrick at m_fitz@fuse.net with “CWP cover contest” in the subject line.

    Judging and Prizes:
    1)CWP members will vote for the winning artwork at the Fiction Critique Group’s July 23rd meeting.
    2)Winning artist will receive $100.00 and a copy of the published anthology.

    For more information about CWP and the CWP 2008 Anthology
    CWP’s Yahoo Group site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CWP_Fiction/ or CWP’s website: http://www.cincinnatiwriters.org/

  137. Bit late to the party here, but that’s what comes of letting one’s RSS feed accumulate over 1000 items in a few days. I’m currently authoring a sceptical blog (“A Sceptical I), and recently had a short story published in a sci-fi anthology called The Maker’s Mark: Remnants. It’s a minor book from a new publishing house, so it needs all the pimping it can get! Get thee hence and investigate its wonders!

  138. If you’re in NYC before July 31, do yourself a favor and check out Emergence. It is part of Figment (which runs June 27-29), but Emergence is every weekend. It is free, no advertising, and follows the 10 principals, if you care about that hippy burning man stuff. We’ve worked hard on this event – large scale nonprofit art in NYC isn’t easy to pull off. Stick around and play some mini-golf, too.

  139. Love this thread! You should do a quarterly special or something – I’ve found more interesting reading here than in Barnes & Noble for the past month (of course, that’s pretty much par for the course). Anyway, judging by the sense of humor folks around here seem to have, you should check out Sluggy Freelance (http://www.sluggy.com). A web programmer, crazy inventor, idiot ferret, and a homicidal lop-eared bunny – what’s not to like?

    On the other hand, if you or anybody you know is learning to love, teach, and raise a child with autism please check out my fledgling website http://www.samechild.org, or if you are in Texas, the good folks at Any Baby Can (http://www.anybabycansa.org) in San Antonio.

  141. I was purchased this as a present by friends that visited all of us for that summer and understood how much we love to our juice. Our aged juicer really was on it’s final thighs, really clunky and to be truthful it would be a discomfort to wash up after it. This meant all of us did not use it anywhere near as much as we may possess loved to do. That one is indeed a

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