Day: April 6, 2009

This is fun: Someone who says she does not actually read Whatever reviews Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded, which is, of course, a compilation of Whatever entries over ten years. The verdict?

[O]ne needn’t be an avid blogger/blog reader to enjoy this collection of thoughtful and engaging essays. The entries are nearly without fail erudite, charming, almost frighteningly well-informed and presented with an unapologetic confidence both compelling and disarming… this collection of essays is worthy of being read as a stand-alone work of huge entertainment and informational value. Such a strong modern journalistic voice presented outside of online format is refreshing, frankly, as is finding such a respected figure in SF&F well-rounded enough to write on such a variety of topics.

I can’t complain about any of that. And it is good to know that someone who isn’t a regular reader of Whatever might still find this book worth reading; it’s one of the things I would hope for, actually.

As long as we’re talking about Hate Mail, incidentally, I’ll note to folks that Subterranean Press tells me it’s down to the last 70 or so copies of the hardcover edition. If you’re actually hoping to get a physical copy of your own to love and squeeze and hold tight to your chest on those long nights, now is a good time to do it, either through Subterranean (in which case it will come with the additional chapbook Waiting for Athena), or through Amazon (in which case it won’t). It’s also available in eBook form through Webscriptions, and will be part of the Hugo Voter Package when it goes up a bit later in the month.

I promised Bill Schafer of Subterranean Press that if I did not send him a story I owed him by next Monday, he could kill me.

Bill, that bastard, has decided to outsource the manner of my death and is running a contest about it on Twitter. The person who comes up with the best possible method of killing me will get an ARC of the limited edition of The Last Colony.

So go ahead, you evil people: Plot my demise. And make it good. Also, killing me with bacon has already been thought of. Sorry.

Also: Don’t post them here, because they won’t count here. Post them as replies on Subterranean Presses’ Twitter feed. You have until 5pm next Monday.

So here you go:

Lopsided Cat, apparently having a thought, which I suspect was “Wow, if that spot on the desk was clear, I could sleep on it.” I say I suspect it, because once I did indeed clear that spot, that’s exactly what he did. Hey, I didn’t say Lopsided Cat was a deep thinker. Just a very cat-like one.

In case you had your leg in a bear trap all last week and thus were unable to access Teh Intarweebs all last week, thereby missing out on Reader Request Week 2009, here’s a handy index so you can catch up:

Reader Request Week 2009 #1: SF YA These Days

Reader Request Week 2009 #2: OMW and Zoe’s Tale (and Angst and Pain)

Reader Request Week 2009 #3: Space!

Reader Request Week 2009 #4: Procreation

Reader Request Week 2009 #5: Having Been Poor

Reader Request Week #6: 80s Pop Music

Reader Request Week #7: Writing and Babies

Reader Request Week 2009 #8: Twitter

Reader Request Week #9: Can I Be Bought?

Reader Request Week 2009 #10: Writing Short Bits

Reader Request Week 2009 #11: Wrapping Up

Hope these are worth having chewed your leg off for.

First: The Hugo Voter packet is all assembled and at this point all I need to do is drop in a couple of notes. Thanks to all the Hugo and Campbell nominees who are participating; Hugo voters are going to have a lot of fun reading this year.

Second: Over the weekend, the nice folks at Anticipation, this year’s Worldcon, contacted me and offered to help with the distribution of the Packet to Hugo voters, which I am delighted about, since it means a) together we’ll probably do a better job of getting the packet into the hands Worldcon members (and potential voters) and b) it’ll be less of a pain in the ass for me, since the actual Worldcon can more easily verify who is qualified to receive the Packet than I can. This is going to work better for everyone.

However, this will take a few days to set up on the back end, and we’ll want to do a few tests to make sure how we’re distributing the Hugo Voter Packet works like we want it to. So although I said I planned to start distributing the Packet today, it’ll be a few days yet before it’s ready to roll. I’m being vague about exact dates only because we’re still working out the fiddly details, but I don’t imagine it will be that long. We want to get this to you as quickly as we can.

Questions? Thoughts? Drop them into the comment thread. And in the meantime, remember that if you do want to get in on the Hugo Voter Packet action, the way to do it is by becoming a voting member of Anticipation. Which you planning to do anyway, right? Thought so.