(1) Nicole Dieker at The Billfold says “Joss Whedon Made More Money With ‘Dr. Horrible’ Than ‘The Avengers,’ Unbelievably”.
Okay. Let’s compare two scenarios.
1) You decide to write, direct, and produce a 45-minute web musical. You fund the musical’s production out of your own pocket. It is free to watch online.
2) Marvel hires you to write and direct a summer blockbuster that becomes the third highest grossing film of all time.
Which one should make you more money? As Vulture reports, it’s not the one you think:
Joss Whedon shared an eye-opening fact during Saturday night’s reunion of the “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” team: He’s made more money from his independently financed 2008 Internet musical than he did from writing and directing Marvel’s first blockbuster “Avengers” movie.
(2) Nancy Kress, skillfully interviewed by Raymond Bolton —
Many of your works delve into areas that require great technical expertise, for example genetic engineering and artificial intelligence. Yet, as far as I can tell, before your writing exploded, you transitioned from being an educator to working in advertising. What do you read to develop the knowledge base required for your books?
I wish I had a scientific education! Had I known when I was young that I would turn into an SF writer, I would have chosen differently. Instead, I hold a Masters in English. To write about genetic engineering, I research on-line, attend lectures, and pester actual scientists with questions. My best friend is a doctor; she goes over my work to check that I have not said anything egregiously moronic.
A career such as yours has many turning points, some striven for, others that blind-side the recipient for better or for worse. Would you care to provide two or three of the more pivotal moments?
The first turning point for me came with the writing of the novella “Beggars in Spain,” which won both the Hugo and the Nebula and which would never have been written without a jolt from writer Bruce Sterling. At a critique workshop we both attended, he pointed out that my story was weak because the society I’d created had no believable economic underpinnings. He said this colorfully and at length. After licking my wounds for a few weeks, I thought, “Damn it, he’s right!” In the next thing I wrote, “Beggars in Spain,” I seriously tried to address economic issues: Who controls the resources? What finances are behind what ventures? Why? With what success? My story about people not needing to sleep, which I’d actually been trying to compose for years, finally came alive.
(3) He grew up to be the leading fantasy cover artist – here is some of his earliest work. Frank Frazetta’s Adventures of the Snowman reviewed by Steven Paul Leiva for New York Journal of Books.
Frazetta is probably the most widely known—and revered—illustrator of science fiction and fantasy subjects, having gained much fame and a large following for his paperback book covers, putting the image into the imaginative worlds of Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, and Conan the Barbarian, among others. Several generations of young minds looking for escape into fantastic realms of adventure where landscapes were often dark and danger-filled, men were perfect specimens of well-muscled heroes, and women were beyond beautiful as their “attributes” were beyond belief, will never regret having made the trip. But earlier in his career Frazetta worked in comics and comic books, even ghosting for Al Capp on his Lil’ Abner strip.
And at the age of 12 1/2, stuck in his bedroom on a snowy day, and inspired by a snowman in his backyard being battered by a winter wind, Frazetta created the Snow Man. This wasn’t a gentle character associated with winter wonderlands and Christmas, but rather a righteous fighter against the evil Axis, which America and its allies were fighting in the Second World War. A few years later, at the still young age of 15, Frazetta created at least two Snow Man comic stories, one of which was published in Tally-Ho Comics, and the other that makes up this current book.
(4) Larry Correia pulls back the curtain on another corner of the writing business in “Ask Correia #17: Velocity, Releases, Rankings, and Remainders”.
So if you turn over constantly, stores tend to like you, and will order more. The more shelf space they give you, the more new people are likely to see your stuff. Success breeds success.
Here is an example. A bookstore orders 3 copies of your first novel. If all of them sell in the first week, then the bookstore is probably going to reorder 3 more. Then when your second novel comes out, they’ll look at their prior sales, and instead of ordering 3, they’ll order 6. Do this for decades, and it is why new James Patterson or Dean Koontz novels are delivered to your local book stores on pallets.
But if those 3 copies of your first novel sat on the shelf for months before selling, then the store probably didn’t bother to restock when it finally does sell. They may or may not order 3 copies of your second, but either way they’re not super excited about you.
I’ve been inside about 300 book stores since I started my professional writing career in 2009. I can usually tell how well I’m doing at any particular store even before I talk to any of the employees, just by going by where my books are and seeing how much space they give me on their shelves. A couple of books means that I don’t do well at that store. Five or six books tells me I’m okay. Eight or ten tells me I’m kicking ass in that town. If the books are faced out, that means I’ve got somebody on staff who is a fan (and that is incredibly important).
(5) Steven Murphy commences a kind of nonlethal Death Match with “Them’s Fightin’ Words: Harry Potter V. Ender Wiggin” at ScienceFiction.com
The following is the first of a new series pitting the merits and abilities of similar characters against each other. We open with a disclosure of the personal bias of the author then outline some ground rules and end with an example of how a fight between the two might unfold.
Personal Bias: The popularity of JK Rowling’s series has cemented Harry Potter as the go-to magical youth. He is the modern personification of the fantasy genre. The perfect contrast to Potter would then be the boy who personifies science fiction, Ender Wiggin of Orson Scott Card’s novel ‘Ender’s Game‘. The two characters have a great deal in common–both are children with the fate of their kind resting on their shoulders. I prefer ‘Ender’s Game’ over any single Harry Potter book, but I can’t argue that the Potter series as a whole succeeds on a level that the Ender series of books does not.
Ground Rules: The Goblet of Fire follows Harry into a series of trials that place him in a mindset that parallels Ender’s nicely. For my purposes the version of Harry with the skills and experience gained from this book and those previous will be used. The Ender used will be the one post ‘Ender’s Game’ and before ‘Speaker for the Dead’. This will allow the two characters to be roughly the same age. Ender will not have the assistance of his friend and database intelligence, Jane. The surroundings will compliment Ender in that the arena is the Battle School’s gravity free training room complete with the immobile obstacles called “astroids” for cover. Ender will have a blaster and Harry will have his wand. They enter the arena at opposite gates, neither with a clear view of the opposing gate.
(6) Tom Knighton reviews Chuck Gannon’s Raising Caine:
Like the first in the series, this one starts out somewhat slow. The action tends to be minimal and sporadic, but for good reason. However, the writing is good enough that it will get you through to the moments where the action picks up. Further, none of the other stuff is filler. Almost all feels vital to the story (and I can’t think of anything that comes up that isn’t important later on).
When the story does pick up, it becomes something very special indeed. That’s just Gannon’s gift, however. The previous book, Trial by Fire contained more of the action I prefer just be necessity, and that book was definitely on my list of “special” books.
While I don’t think Raising Caine was quite up to that level, that’s not a slight on this book. The only books I’ve read recently that were on that level included Seveneves and A Long Time Until Now. Both of those are on my Hugo list, and Raising Caine is a contender for one of those slots as well.
(7) The Nerf Nuke fires 80 darts in all directions.
(8) Tom Galloway, past contestant and inveterate Jeopardy! watcher, saw this on the October 12 show —
Heh. Today’s Jeopardy! round was a themed board on Game of Thrones, with categories Winter Is Coming, A Song of “Ice” and “Fire”, You Know Nothing, The North Remembers, Always Pay Your Debts, and wrapping up with Game Of Thrones, of course the only category actually about the work (specifically the tv series).
(9) Sometimes there’s a reason this news is hard to find — “’Lizard men abducted me to the moon for sex,’ woman claims”.
A former U.S. air force radar operator was abducted to the moon by lizard men for nightly sex – and was also forced to stack boxes.
What our reptilian overlords want with these sinister boxes can only be guessed at.
Niara Terela Isley is just one of several witnesses quoted by Alien UFO Sightings in an expose of the U.S. military’s secret moon bases – where reptiles rule, and humans are passed around like sex toys.
(10) James Schardt delivers “A Response to Charles Gannon” at Otherwhere Gazette.
At one point, Mr. Gannon used the term “The Evil Other”. I’m not sure he has grasped the full significance of this label.
Would you talk to a Homophobic Neo-Nazi that tried to hijack a literary award?
How about a racist who married a minority wife and had a child with her to hide his racism? These have actually happened! We know, it was talked about in such serious publications as Salon, Entertainment Weekly, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, and Slate. They had to get their information somewhere. Someone sent this information to them and they should have done due diligence. Otherwise they might not have as much credibility as people thought.
Now, those two characters, above, don’t even sound plausible in comic books. But these are not just insults that have been thrown at the Puppies. This is what many of the Science Fiction Establishment actually BELIEVE. With these beliefs, almost any action becomes allowable. What tactic should be disallowed when fighting Evil? Are you going to let a prestigious award go to a Nazi? Someone might think it validated his ideas, then you have more Nazis. Would you pay for a hundred more people to vote to prevent that? Would you tone back your rhetoric for any reason? You certainly wouldn’t apologize for calling them Nazis. That’s what they are. Good grief, we’re talking about Fascists, here! It cost 60 million lives to defeat them last time! Vox Day is sadly mistaken. Social Justice Warriors don’t always lie. When you are fighting for Good, there is no reason to lie. Social Justice Warriors tell the truth as they see it.
Of course, the problem is, the Puppies are not Nazis. Even Theodore Beale, the infamous Vox Day, doesn’t quite reach that level (probably). In the face of this, the Puppies can’t back down. Not won’t, CAN’T! They know. They tried. This is the biggest problem with telling the Puppies to moderate their responses.
(11) Someone was not pleased to see the topic heat up again —
OH SWEET JESUS PEOPLE ARE STILL WHINING ABOUT THE HUGOS JUST FUCKING LET IT GO ALREADY YOU PATHETIC TWITS
— John Scalzi (@scalzi) October 13, 2015
(12) John Scalzi did, however, enjoy explaining his now-famous Nerdcon somersault in the first comment on “My Thoughts on Nerdcon:Stories”.
(13) “A Harry Potter Where Hermione Doesn’t Do Anyone’s Homework For Them” by Mallory Ortberg at The Toast.
“Okay, write that down,” Hermione said to Ron, pushing his essay and a sheet covered in her own writing back to Ron, “and then copy out this conclusion that I’ve written for you.”
“Hermione, you are honestly the most wonderful person I’ve ever met,” said Ron weakly, “and if I’m ever rude to you again –” He broke off suddenly. “This just says DO YOUR OWN GODDAMN WORK in fourteen languages.”
“Fifteen,” said Hermione. “One of them’s invisible.”
(14) Kimberly Potts’ “The Big Bang Theory Recap: What the Filk Is Happening” sets up the next video.
Thankfully, just as so many episodes of Will & Grace were Karen-and-Jack-ed away from the main characters, “The 2003 Approximation” is stolen, or rather saved, by Howard and Raj. In a far more entertaining half of the episode, we’re introduced to the joys of Filk. What, you may ask, is Filk? It’s a genre of music that puts a science-fiction/fantasy spin on folk, and yes, it is a real thing. It’s also the reason that, for at least the next week, many of us will be trying to get the chorus of “Hammer and Whip: The Untold Story of Thor vs. Indiana Jones” out of our heads.
(15) Jurassic World gets the Honest Trailer treatment.
Spoilers.
Also not very funny.
On second thought, was there some reason I included this link?
(16) Because it’s a good lead-in to Bryce Dallas Howard’s defense of her Jurassic World character’s shoe preferences?
Her insistence on wearing high-heels throughout the movie, including a memorable scene that sees her outrunning a T-Rex in stilettos, was dismissed as “lazy filmmaking” by Vulture and called “one tiny but maddening detail” that set up the film to “fail” by The Dissolve.
The actress herself disagrees. She explained to Yahoo why her character’s footwear choice is totally “logical” for the movie, seemingly putting the conversation to bed once and for all.
Watch our exclusive interview with Bryce Dallas Howard for the DVD and Blu-ray release of ‘Jurassic World’ on 19 October above.
“[Claire] is ill-equipped to be in the jungle. This person does not belong in the jungle,” reasons Bryce.
“And then when she ends up in the jungle it’s how does this person adapt to being in the jungle?”
“From a logical standpoint I don’t think she would take off her heels,” she adds.
“I don’t think she would choose to be barefoot. I don’t think she would run faster barefoot in the jungle with vines and stones.”
[Thanks to Nick Mamatas, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Will R.]
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Back in the 80’s BTRC published a parody RPG called “Macho Women With Guns” wherein “Run in high heels” *was* a special skill characters could have. If I recall correctly, it was also the most specific skill in the game, others being much broader, like “hit things”; “hit things with other things”; “do technical stuff”, and “perform anatomically impossible feat”
@Ryan H
To be honest, if I hadn’t really needed to keep them super slippery (and they were a bit worrying even at a walking pace) for organ purposes I probably could have just roughed up the sole a bit and they would have been fine – but I thought I was better off with shoes for each purpose rather than a shoe that didn’t quite work for either one. My Actual Dancing Shoes once I got them were just the right combo of slip, stick, and flex for moving around with zero cases of ending up on the floor. Bonus: Super comfortable.
Not that I can dance anymore anyway, but man, I wish I still had those shoes.
It occurs to me that as well as slicing off the heels, Jack should have put a few selective slices in the soles to make them more flexible (much like the micro-folds in the soles of my Vibrams).
Though I’d have suggested she wore Keens. Mary and I live in them…
With regard to “Honest Trailers” I find them sometimes hilarious. For example, the one for “Frozen” made me laugh so hard , well, …
Kinda like “Frozen is the New Black”.
Many people in the Frozen fandom take it way too seriously, but there are amazing senses of humor, too
In honor of “The Martian”, check this out:
Elsa as Mark Watly
No one knows who ‘constable-frozen’ is, but based on their posts, suspicion is they are someone high up in the animator ranks at Disney…
Aaaaand finished Ancillary Mercy.
Solid book.
@Heather Rose Jones have you looked at the Skechers “For Work” line? Flats and low heels, decent arch support, memory foam interiors, leather uppers. Someone realized there was a market for women’s shoes that looked decent built on a sneaker-technology foundation, so you can stand or walk in them all day. I just hope they are selling enough that they won’t drop the line.
I bought some from the River, so they are definitely available online if you can’t find them locally.
Done that. I ended up effectively standing and walking on tiptoes.
Just sympathy. I sing in a choir but only need heels maybe 2 or 3 times a year for Easter, weddings, etc, so if I spot something suitable for that I buy it, whether I’ve got the dress for it or not. Dressy boots are – very slightly – more likely to come in low heels. I do appreciate the shopping websites that let you filter by heel heights.
LOU Nothing Micro About My Aggression
@Murry:
There’s actually a d20 version of MWWG from about a decade ago – not to be confused with Busty Barbarian Bimbos, which treads some of the same ground. In fact, a quote from the latter game: “Don’t worry about sensible footwear; there are no rules that will punish you for those stiletto heels you had your eye on.” But then, this is also a game that has a footwear generation system…
Heather Rose Jones: No suggestions, just commiseration. I needed a pair of dress shoes not too long ago, and I could not use your option #1–never mind way,but it just wasn’t possible. You would not believe what I wound up paying for the shoes I finally managed to locate–or maybe you would, but I almost didn’t!
@Mark: re Killjoys
It’s an interesting short series — not all the episodes are keepers, but on the whole it is an entertaining and well-put-together show. It’s well worth watching, but probably isn’t the best series evah.
From experience, I can say that stiletto heels on a lawn are wonderful. By the end of the wedding, that lawn was SO aerated.
In shoes, I take a women’s size 4.5
I can often buy casual shoes in the children’s department. Finding dress shoes that fit is the torture of the damned, and I am resigned to often winding up with more heel than I want.
Of course, children’s department isn’t even an option for casual shoes, for women whose feet are closer to standard.
GOU Gallo’s Humor
LSV In All Modesty
ROU (eccentric) Melonballs to the Wall
Kevin Standlee: Regarding heels: I have… learned the hard way what happens when you step off the sidewalk and put a foot on the lawn with those kind of shoes.
Meredith: stilettos on a lawn are a terrible mistake
Rose Embolism: From experience, I can say that stiletto heels on a lawn are wonderful. By the end of the wedding, that lawn was SO aerated.
There is a thing for that.
The Thirty-Nine Insteps
In shoes, I take a women’s size 4.5
I’d be something like a 4E. If they existed in real shoes.
I buy shoes in the youth/children’s department because that’s the only place I can find short-and-wide. (My father wore 5E. Same problem. His mother had small feet, also, but I don’t remember if they were wide.)
@camestros
Hmm, lets see:
LOU Swatter
Some of the other OU designations have possibilities too:
GOU Gone
ROU The (Vox) Day
But when you get down to the repurposed ones, suggesting that DROU is actually demilitarised is going to get you laughed at (especially by Kou).
GSV Insufficient Nutty Nuggets
I’m somewhere around a UK 5.5 Narrow with some quirks (postural flatness, plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonitis, generally weirdo feet), which in practical terms means shoes that fit and are comfortable and look nice are unicorns. On the plus side, a wheelchair means that not being able to walk in heels doesn’t matter at all. Adjust the footplate height and away you go! 😉
@Kyra
Handcrafted from solid Win! by Ann in her mountain fastness[1].
Cadbury, (On his Fifth! reread.)
[1] Please don’t tell this moose she doesn’t live in a mountainous area.
See, the proportions of my feet are bog-standard. In one sense, there’s no earthly reason I shouldn’t be able to buy shoes anywhere.
Except adult women’s feet aren’t supposed to be this small, just as adult women aren’t supposed to be 4’10” in height.
GCU Excessive Bloviation
ROU Eight Deadly Words
Though some of the %OU names fit the Pups to a ‘T’ (Revisionist springs to mind here).
“ROU The (Vox) Day”
Surely an Affront ship…?
LOU I’m Not the Victim Here
(5)
They do have a lot I common. I myself am kind of disappointed that with such an improbable crossover, the only fanfic Steven Murphy could think of was an arena fight…
Think I can send this in for the Pournelle anthology?
Psychopath class? Actually, no. There’s a Troublemaker class of ROU as well.
On shoes:
Through a careful evaluation of discount prices and judicious use of coupons, today I bought a $70 pair of shoes for $20.
Yes, I’m THAT good.
ROU(s) – I Don’t Think They Exist
I’ve also always thought Not Entirely Dim and You Say Yes! would be great Culture ship names.
@ Meredith:
Oh, it’s not name-calling if they do it, you see. It’s like eating while standing; the calories simply don’t count
@ rob_matic:
Good summary of the current state of the Puppies.
In particular, this point you make:
As previously stated, I was at Ninc last week (members-only annual conference, hundreds of career novelists in attendance from multiple genres, mostly full-time writers). And the writers there kept asking me about the Puppies, completely mystified by their activities. These attendees who engage in writing as a serious full-time career kept frowning in puzzlement as they pointed out that focusing so much time and energy on trying to affect Hugo results and engaging in months (or years) of incessant quarreling with much of the sf/f community over the Hugos is not conducive to writing better, writing faster, being more productive, building audience, growing readership, getting better contract terms, adding distribution channels, building sales, increasing income, opening new markets, etc. So what do the Puppies imagine that Puppying is doing for their writing careers? (I have no explanation.)
The Puppy mess also reminds us that the founders of Ninc (1989) were wise to eschew writing awards; it’s written into our bylaws that we can’t have any in the organization—because organizing awards, managing them, and (hullo!) fighting over them is an absolutely terrible and counter-productive use of your time if you’re a serious career novelist, as opposed to being a dabbler who’s primarily in this for social reasons and getting your ego stroked.
So, I have spent a week visiting the sick, i.e. my mother who is recuperating from an operation to remove a Morton’s neuroma and at the same time correct a bunion. A bunion, as you know Bob, is a deformation of the bones in the foot mostly caused by years of wearing shoes that force your toes together. That’s why it is mostly women who get them.
I have been wearing the same well-worn pair of Clacks Desert Boot since the operation. When I have twinges of regert for my nice high-heeled, narrow-tipped shoes, I remember the impressive scars on my mom’s foot. And I put the Desert Boots on.
@Laura Resnick
I have a pet theory that what the Puppies think they’re doing is ‘dropping truth bombs’ which of course people would only get upset about if they were true but trying to hide it. I struggle to come up with any other explanation.
Waiting for the fifth shoe to drop…
Kevin
I admire your willingness to give it a whirl, and I’m glad you and your toes became reacquainted with each other; I sense that this is not the moment for Shoes101, but I want to put in a plea for the superiority of leather (excluding patent) over synthetic. Your feet will thank you for it.
Lori
Let’s face it; choosing one’s footwear on the basis that you are going to meet a velociraptor means you are not going to the right places…
P J Evans
I think it’s quite possible that the shoes have changed just as much as your feet have; I have a pair of 2 inch heeled courts which I bought 15 years which still fit me perfectly. An almost identical pair by the same manufacturer are much less comfortable, and it isn’t to do with ‘wearing them in’; apparently the shape of people’s feet have changed, and the manufacturers now routinely expect people to have much lower arches, which is a polite description of flatter feet.
Your two inch heeled ‘walking pumps’ sound very similar to my daughter’s work shoes; she’s not very tall, and she has to have a certain degree of formality in her dress to convey the fact that she is a relatively senior doctor, whilst retaining the capacity to run like hell for the crash cart if a patient goes into cardiac and/or respiratory arrest. Once that happens there isn’t much time before irreversible brain damage occurs, so speed is rather important…
I can’t disagree more strongly with this comment 🙂 even if ‘velociraptor’ is replaced with ‘deinonychus’.
@Laura Resnick: (shoe bargain)
I can’t compete on dollar value, but I’ve got you beat on percentage…
A few years back, I worked third shift at a convenience store next to a grocery store. This meant I got first crack at the new day’s marked-down meats. On one occasion, they had whole chickens on a BOGO offer and had dollar-off coupons stuck on the markdowns. One of the pre-coupon prices was two bucks, and the other was a few cents over. I paid less than a quarter for the pair, tax and all. 🙂
(Yes, we tax unprepared food in this state. One of the side effects of not having an income tax.)
@Meredith
Perhaps, but ‘dropping truth bombs’ isn’t a thing normal people do. Actually, I don’t even know what that means beyond ‘being annoying for the hell of it’.
And there is an assumption, perhaps unfounded, that they’re doing all this for some reason other than to be annoying because they can. These are surely sensible people, professionals. Aren’t they?
Meredith: I have a pet theory that what the Puppies think they’re doing is ‘dropping truth bombs’ which of course people would only get upset about if they were true but trying to hide it.
The problem with the Puppies’ methodology on that is the “substance” of their “truth bombs” is always so patently untrue — so it never accomplishes their goal, whatever that is (scoring points? “making heads explode”?), it just makes them look like huge idiots.
The answer is obvious. Winning!
If you look at their overall behavior, including rhetoric, the most consistent motivation seems to be perceived social dominance (in other words, bullying). That’s why they never really seemed to grasp that the numbers were against them in the final vote — they had DOMINATED us, right, so didn’t that mean they already won? Weren’t we all now, collectively, the beta monkey?
But, of course, nobody actually has the power to bully a general science fiction audience into buying their work.
Of course, they might also be going off the general principle that any publicity is good publicity. I personally experienced many cases of going from “not knowing X exists” to “knowing X exists and thinking X is a jerk who can’t write.” Is that sort of thing ultimately beneficial to a career? Who knows?
@Laura Resnick:
Hmmm…
Well they’re ya go, there’s the answer right there.
Honestly, I think a lot of them aren’t serious career novelists, and stirring shit is as good a hobby as any.
Even for the ostensible pros, saying stuff on the internet is much easier than writing. I mean, writing is WORK. Oftentimes tedious, lonely work. And the internet can be a huge distraction, even for established writers like Scalzi and Martin.
Now, if one has an opportunity to flake off on the internet, get a lot of social approval and ego boosting, and above all, feel righteous from fighting the good fight? That could sound mighty attractive to someone who’s into it as much for ego as a need to wrote.
And, well, that’s enough amateur psychology for today. I’ve got writing to do.
Rose Embolism: I think you’re totally onto something there. If you can stretch it into a 12-page book I foresee an Amazon bestseller in your future…
@nickpheas
Sensible normal professionals probably don’t spend months or years on a vicious slate/slander campaign against basically everyone who isn’t them. 😉
@JJ
It is a problem for them, yes, and they always seem so upset that no-one owns up to whatever the latest ridiculous conspiracy theory is.
And, before we leave shoes behind us, I commend to you Sam Vimes’ fabulous economic theory, entirely based on his boots; few people could achieve it, and even fewer could get it right, but PTerry nailed it.
And on that happy thought I bid you all goodnight!
“Sensible normal professionals probably don’t spend months or years on a vicious slate/slander campaign against basically everyone who isn’t them.”
Oh but what about Anne Rice…wait, I see what you did there 😉
Connie Willis’ “Bellwether” is on sale at the usual ebook places for $1.99 today. Highly recommended to everyone who hasn’t read it. Or has. Heck, I have a MMPB and still might pick it up. It’s one of her short, funny books.
I know some women can run in heels. Poor Gillian Anderson still ran after those aliens and monsters. But if I’m running through the jungle to get away from dinosaurs, I am asking my macho handyman boyfriend to cut the heels off to turn them into flats, stiff sole construction be damned. (Here is a case where Action!Michael Douglas > Action!Chris Pratt.) One run through mud or turf and you’ve got no shoes and a twisted ankle, unless you’re protected by +20 Plot Armor. Since I have a bad knee, a bad ankle, and horrible arches, I wear flats all the time, with Superfeet Green insoles (Which are great, and thanks be to the podiatrist who told me about them). Okay, for special occasions, I have pumps with a wide 1/2″ heel. Which took me about 2 years of wandering in the wilderness like Heather Rose Jones describes.
I didn’t bother with Valueamerica back in the day, and now after hearing of these bargains, I’m sorry I passed it up. I have otherwise made it a point to take full advantage of similar things right up until they burn through the cash. I really liked Webvan, and I’m getting huge boxes of stuff stupidly cheap through Jet right now. Yes, I WILL take an entire flat/display package of something shipped to my house overnight for free at the wholesale price, thank you.
Poor Brad. That whole speck vs. beam thing has gone over his head. It’s not that he has a lack of self-awareness, it’s that he has the exact opposite of that. Like matter/antimatter. Dignity = whining in Puppyspeak. And if they can’t find kindred spirits amongst the graybeards of Worldcon, whatever would make them think that the cosplaying genderqueer kids of Tumblr would do anything more than point and laugh at them? They are indeed the Kilkenny cats, and let’s hope they disappear up their own fundaments soon. Because they’re sure not winning any new friends with their rhetoric.
(I guess JCW isn’t a homophobe since he only WISHES he could beat teh gheys to death with a tire iron and hasn’t actually done it. You know, like you’re not a racist if you haven’t actually lynched anyone. And as for Brad fighting ISIS — or, rather, sitting on his ass giving whiny interviews while others actually do — doesn’t he know where the proverb “Women are for babies, boys are for pleasure” comes from? And that the US military delivered up said boys to anti-Taliban warlords, plus Viagra? Nah, if it wasn’t on Fox News, he doesn’t know about it.)
Laura Resnick: I’m not even mildly shoe-obsessed, but I am giving you a whistle of appreciation at that bargain. Truly, you are an inspiration unto us all. I came close to that once at an SAS Outlet store. And would that the wise words of your pals at Ninc could get through Puppy skulls. But their giant, yet fragile, egos makes that impossible.
Stevie: I suspect the shoes have indeed changed. As people gain weight, their feet get flatter, and Lord knows North America and Western Europe haven’t become svelte the past couple decades. Between being born with very little arch, and my “medieval” avoirdupois gain, I expect my feet will be convex by the time I die!
Tanj dammit, must write shorter.
Shoes:
I know some women can run in heels. Poor Gillian Anderson still ran after those aliens and monsters. But if I’m running through the jungle to get away from dinosaurs, I am asking my macho handyman boyfriend to cut the heels off to turn them into flats, stiff sole construction be damned. (Here is a case where Action!Michael Douglas > Action!Chris Pratt.) One run through mud or turf and you’ve got no shoes and a twisted ankle, unless you’re protected by +20 Plot Armor. Since I have a bad knee, a bad ankle, and horrible arches, I wear flats all the time, with Superfeet Green insoles (Which are great, and thanks be to the podiatrist who told me about them). Okay, for special occasions, I have pumps with a wide 1/2″ heel. Which took me about 2 years of wandering in the wilderness like Heather Rose Jones describes.
Laura Resnick: I’m not even mildly shoe-obsessed, but I am giving you a whistle of appreciation at that bargain. Truly, you are an inspiration unto us all. I came close to that once at an SAS Outlet store. And would that the wise words of your pals at Ninc could get through Puppy skulls. But their giant, yet fragile, egos makes that impossible.
Stevie: I suspect the shoes have indeed changed. As people gain weight, their feet get flatter, and Lord knows North America and Western Europe haven’t become svelte the past couple decades. Between being born with very little arch, and my “medieval” avoirdupois gain, I expect my feet will be convex by the time I die!
Connie Willis’ “Bellwether” is on sale at the usual ebook places for $1.99 today. Highly recommended to everyone who hasn’t read it. Or has. Heck, I have a MMPB and still might pick it up. It’s one of her short, funny books.
I didn’t bother with Valueamerica back in the day, and now after hearing of these bargains, I’m sorry I passed it up. I have otherwise made it a point to take full advantage of similar things right up until they burn through the cash. I really liked Webvan, and I’m getting huge boxes of stuff stupidly cheap through Jet right now. Yes, I WILL take an entire flat/display package of something shipped to my house overnight for free at the wholesale price, thank you.
I think it was the intention of the puppies to increase sales by drawing publicity to certain books. And they probably did gain a few more readers, just not enough to justify the time and energy involved.
@Ann Somerville
Speaking of Anne Rice, she’s a useful example: It won’t necessarily kill your career to be unprofessional and hateful, but it really helps if you’re well-known for your writing before you do the unpleasant stuff. Otherwise the first people hear of you they hear you’re a jerk, and generally speaking people aren’t happy about giving money to jerks but will probably still finish that series they love even if authorial jerkishness is revealed halfway through.
Most of the Puppies I hadn’t heard of before. I don’t plan on giving money to them after a few months of CHORFing. I don’t think I’m alone.
(Butcher is going to be fine, though.)
Poor Brad. That whole speck vs. beam thing has gone over his head. It’s not that he has a lack of self-awareness, it’s that he has the exact opposite of that. Like matter/antimatter. Dignity = whining in Puppyspeak. And if they can’t find kindred spirits amongst the graybeards of Worldcon, whatever would make them think that the cosplaying genderqueer kids of Tumblr would do anything more than point and laugh at them? They are indeed the Kilkenny cats, and let’s hope they disappear up their own fundaments soon. Because they’re sure not winning any new friends with their rhetoric.
(I guess JCW isn’t a homophobe since he only WISHES he could beat teh gheys to death with a tire iron and hasn’t actually done it. You know, like you’re not a racist if you haven’t actually lynched anyone. And as for Brad fighting ISIS — or, rather, sitting on his ass giving whiny interviews while others actually do — doesn’t he know where the proverb “Women are for babies, boys are for pleasure” comes from? And that the US military delivered up said boys to anti-Taliban warlords, plus Viagra? Nah, if it wasn’t on Fox News, he doesn’t know about it.)
Puppies have fragile egos that covet external validation; they’re high on their own supply of counterfactual righteous indignation; getting egoboo from fellow travelers is much easier than writing a lot of good books. They want to be Authors, but not to write. They want to be “Winning!” but not enough to work hard to do it honestly.