Winter’s Here + “Lock In” a Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist + Other Stuff
Posted on November 17, 2014 Posted by John Scalzi 27 Comments
Dear Autumn: Your contract clearly specified that you were to work until December 21st, with some allowances for part-time work after the pie was served on Thanksgiving. However, as the above photo clearly indicates, you are now in breach of contract. Please come see us to discuss this matter. Thank you. That will be all.
In other, entirely unrelated news, Lock In has made the final round of the Goodreads Choice Awards, in the Science Fiction category. That’s pretty cool, so if you voted for the book in the previous two rounds, thank you. I would encourage you to do so again, or if you’ve not voted already, to do so now. Mind you, if there’s another book among the finalists you like more, go ahead and vote for that instead. But if you prefer to vote for Lock In, then, again, thanks. Here’s the link to vote.
I’ll also remind you all that you can order signed and personalized books from me for the holidays through my local bookstore, Jay & Mary’s. Here’s how to do that, if you’ve not done so already.
Finally, the folks at Strange Horizons are in the final stretch of their annual fund drive. SH is the place that first published science fiction of mine, so I’m sentimental about it, and am happy to have it continue. If you’d like to donate to keep them going, here’s the link (and yes, I’ve donated). They’re very close to their fund drive goal — it’d be lovely to get them over the top.
And no, I’m not at quota yet for the day. I got a late start due to sleeping in because it’s the first snow day of the academic year and I didn’t have to take Athena to school. However, I am going to leave you now. But I will tell you that I have two additional updates scheduled for this week. On Wednesday, I’ll show off the new books and ARCs that have arrived at the house. And on Friday, I will offer up a self-promotion thread, in which you may tell everyone about your latest creative projects and cool things, or tell them about something cool/creative a friend is doing. See you then.
Now back to the word mines.
Trying to picture hard labor in a serif mine.
How much did you get? That doesn’t look like enough to close school in a nothernish state.
Oh my, that’s white. Good luck with that shovel. Mine words, shovel snow. Sounds like Zen to me.
Polar vortex hears ya. Polar vortex don’t care.
Snowday….? What is this snowday you speak of?
Gonna sue mother nature for breech of contract? Have you seen her deal with her sons, Heat Miser and Snow Miser in “the year without a santa claus”? Demigods tremble at her wrath.
I woke up this morning and noticed our heater actually came on for the first time since the end of last Winter. We rarely get snow in the Inland Empire of So Cal, but the extra chill in the air is kind of exciting :)
Do they have lower standards for snow days than when I was a kid? Because that totally wouldn’t have gotten me out of school at her age.
Polar Vortex says the same thing that Sun says about a sunburned bald spot: “Ha! Ha! Got you Good!”
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On a side note school was canceled here but not until after the ‘they’ announced a two hour delay.
So the father dropped his two off at her place -Please take them when you take yours-, went to work, and stopped for a beer on his way home (which beer I’m told took an hour). She was __unhappy__ about having two extra little ones all day while her littlest one (3 YO) is doing a bit of barfing and bit of saying that she is fine and that she absolutely needs to go shopping for some kind of something to do with the movie “Frozen.” Oh, yes, so very unhappy about him giving her an extra hour with them while he had a beer.
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Aside to the aside: “We NEED!! to got some frozen stuff!” Sure kid, whatever–frozen pizza isn’t any good until I replace the crust and cheese and sauce and peppers and soss and add jalapeno pickled pineapple and other goodies to make the thing worth eating. Why are you so excited about frozen stuff?
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Is an actual frozen ‘Frozen’ thing. Blue box, blue heart shaped icing on what looks like a sugar cookie.
Global Warming killed Autumn! It’s all caused by CO2 emissions from combustion and animals, including people breathing out. So, everybody hold your breath!
Yeah, autumn skipped out on his contractual commitment here, too. Got a couple inches of snow on the ground, and we are heading to an overnight wind-chill low of -10 (typical overnight low for this time of year is around 30).
Doggoned contract-breaking seasons, anyway. I really LIKE autumn, or I used to back when it lasted into mid-December.
Funny thing about this contract. It was never notarized.
Sorry, Autumn is busy fighting Summer in Europe. Summer has apparently made a move to occupy November, so you’ll have to understand. Autumn is winning though.
Dear Autumn: Your contract clearly specified that you were to work until December 21s
Maybe Autumn is going by its social contract (which specifies that it lasts from August 1 to November 1) instead of the new-fangled astronomical ideology (which was created by the same folks who decided that Pluto wasn’t a planet so what do they know?). Or it could be going by the meteorological rules which state that winter starts December 1.
Wipe your tears everyone. I live in Fairbanks, Alaska and we’ve had permanent snow and frost since the beginning of October. The polar vortex blessed us with temps above freezing for a few days and didn’t melt any snow. It didn’t bring any though, and there still isn’t enough to ski.
slightly off topic, but still about books. The title and cover to the new book is really cool. I think John announced it, but I wasn’t paying attention at the time. The funny thing is that a cover like that and a title like that is going to appeal to alot of people who have very different political views than John. Its like bookstore clickbait for dude bros.
Really minor spoiler… Erase if you think its too bad.
I really hope the big war finally happens…
Chuffed to see Winter’s Tale is a favorite of yours. It’s the only book of which I have a signed 1st edition. Did you like Prince Ombra by Macleish?
Snow days often depend not just on weather but also on distance. One winter when I was growing up, my brother, who could walk to school along with all of his teachers, didn’t have a single snow day, whereas I, who rode a bus for 1.5 hours each way to a school with a student radius of 90 miles, went to school twice in January and 4 times in February.
John, don’t be blaming autumn. It’s clearly Obama’s fault. Take it up with him. ;-)
Guess: “bookstore clickbait for dude bros”
1. A delightful concept
2. Well-phrased
3. Possibly the name of John’s next band.
I so wish I could vote for Lock In, because it is really, really great. Alas though, I had to go with The Martian. That book is just an instant classic.
I’m always puzzled why people feel compelled to tell you they didn’t vote for you. Seems more polite just to not mention it at all.
We might actually have *Winter* this year here in central Florida. It was 40-something when I woke up this morning! That NEVER happens in November. Weird.
As long as the citrus doesn’t freeze early, should be OK. :)
@Lurkertype: as a veteran of Minnesota winters, I agree it doesn’t look like much, but out here in the wilds of Seattle it would constitute Snowpocalypse. KOMO News would be featuring the very best of “Cars Imitating a Pinball While Attempting to Descend a Hill”.
Reblogged this on Patrick kelly and commented:
Magic picture
Summer should also have trained its replacement better. Clearly they have ceased to be helpful to the transition and will not receive the severance package.
Oh man, I didn’t mean to offend John! It was intended more as a gesture of support. Like I really, really wanted to vote for Lock In because of how amazing it is! Probably should have just said Lock In was amazing and left it at that!
As an aside, as much as I like the Martian I’m not likely to be buying the audio book twice for it, so you have that up on it. :D