Pixel Scroll 2/5/16 The Rough Guide To Neveryon-Neveryon Land

(1) KILL YOUR DARLINGS. Jason Cordova of Mad Genius Club thinks after a month of writing, you need “NaDecEdMo!”

Why is that, though? Why do we get to have a NaNoWriMo and not a NaDecEdMo? Because NOBODY wants to be that butthead who is celebrating an author who is gutting their baby.

That’s what editing is, in a nutshell. It’s taking out that precious baby of yours and changing it, ruthlessly making it better. It’s a rough, rough time for an author when this is going on. The author is feeling insecure about their novel as is, and now they have to look at it with a critical eye. That cute scene that you really liked but now doesn’t really fit into the story as much? Gutted like a day old fish on Market Street.

(2) SALE. Francis Hamit of Brass Cannon Books is running an experiment – and you can save.

A consultant has told us selling e-books for 99 cents each will inspire those customers who like them to then buy the print edition to have forever. . What the heck! We’ll try it. All fiction e-books and mini-memoir are now going for 99 cents each in e-book form for a limited time only. Starting February 5th, 2016.

(3) PLYING THE KEYBOARD. Nancy Kress asked her Facebook followers

Since I am always behind the curve on everything, I have just become aware that nowadays people put one space after a period in manuscripts instead of two spaces. Is this widespread? Do I need to learn to do this? I’ve been doing it the other way for 40 years; old habits die hard.

(4) BY THE NUMBERS. Natalie Luhrs of Pretty Terrible looks for statistical evidence of bias in “A Brief Analysis of the Locus Recommended Reading List, 2011-2015”.

I want to preface this by saying that I believe that the Locus staff works very hard on this list and intends for it to be as comprehensive as they can make it. I know how hard it can be to stay on top of the flood of fiction and other affiliated works that are produced each year.

But I also believe that Locus has a responsibility to think about their biases so that lists of these type don’t inadvertently perpetuate structural inequalities–as our field’s magazine of record, this Reading List is published around the same time that Hugo nominations open and while qualified members of SFWA are filling out their Nebula nomination ballots.

One of her many graphs shows —

…The majority of the authors or editors of the works included on the Locus list are male–over 50% each year. Female authors or editors come in second in the 35-40% range. Mixed gender collaborations are next, followed by non-binary authors and editors….

(5) A NEWS STORY ABOUT NO NEWS. Bleeding Cool gives a status on some aging litigation in “Disney Pursuing Stan Lee Media For Half a Million, Finds Bank Accounts Emptied”.

With Hillary Clinton running for President, her association with convicted drug dealer and fraudster Peter F Paul and Stan Lee Media may well hit the headlines again.

Paul run the (then) largest political fundraiser ever for her Senatorial campaign and tried to get Bill Clinton onto the board of his company Stan Lee Media. The company was set up to exploit Stan Lee‘s name after he left Marvel Comics, to benefit from his new creations for comics, TV and films.

It all went sour rather. And Stan Lee Media – a company no longer associated with Stan Lee – has spent the last ten years trying to claim rights to all Stan Lee’s creations from Marvel – and now Disney. Despite six courts saying they have no claim.

Stan Lee Media have claimed that Lee transferred all his creative rights to the company in exchange for a large sum of money, and that includes Spider-Man, The Avengers, the Hulk. X-Men, Thor and the like. Unfortunately the courts really don’t see it that way. And Disney was awarded almost half a million in costs.

ScreenRant continues, adding its two bits:

The ongoing issue has come up again largely because of old political connections involving Stan Lee Media co-founder Peter F. Paul, a businessman and former convicted drug-dealer notorious for a series of allegedly illegal international political dealings. Paul fled the country during the initial SLMI investigation for Sao Paulo, which became a mini-scandal in United States politics when it was uncovered that Paul had been a major financial backer of Hillary Clinton’s U.S. Senate Campaign and had even lobbied for former president Bill Clinton to join Stan Lee Media’s board of directors. Paul at one point produced videos supposedly showing Stan Lee himself participating in campaign-finance calls with the Clintons as proof of his (Lee’s) complicity in the company’s bad dealings (Lee counter-sued over the matter). However, it didn’t stop Paul from being convicted to a ten year prison term in 2009 for fraud.

(6) MESKYS’ GUIDE DOG PASSES AWAY. It’s as if the beginning of the New Year also signaled the opening of the floodgates of misery, with one sad loss after another.

Ed Meskys, a blind sf fan, reports, “This morning I lost Gyro (public name ‘Killer Dog’) my guide dog with 9 years of service, just weeks past his age of 11…. He had been welcome at many conventions, SF and [National Federation of the Blind]. He will be my last dog guide as I am weeks short of 80, cannot bend to pick up after a dog, and have trouble with stairs….”

(7) NIRASAWA OBIT. Kaiju designer Yasushi Nirasawa , (1963–2016) died February 2. The Japanese illustrator, character designer, and model maker was known for his work Kamen Rider Blade, Kamen Rider Kabuto, and Kamen Rider Den-O and the creatures in the GARO series.

(8) MITCHELL OBIT. Edgar Mitchell, who 45 years ago became the sixth man to walk on the moon, died February 4, on the eve of his lunar landing anniversary. He was 85.

(9) TODAY IN HISTORY

  • February 5, 1953 – Walt Disney’s Peter Pan premiered.

(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOY

  • Born February 5, 1914 – William S. Burroughs.

(11) SCIENCE SHOWS CANADIANS ARE NICER. Oliver Keyes says “When life gives you lemons, make science”.

Ever since my writeup on leaving R my blog has been getting a lot more traffic than usual and many more comments. Usually this would be fine except the topic means that a lot of those comments are blathering about whiny SJW babies or actual death threats. 28 at the last count.

But, sure, it’s the social justice people who are oversensitive and fly off the handle…

This isn’t a formal study so my definition of arsehole can be basically whatever I want it to be. I settled for any comment which exhibited one of the following traits:

  1. Accused me of lying about everything that had happened to get some benefit that apparently comes alongside threats, harassment and weird emails. Nobody has explained to me what this benefit is but I eagerly await my cheque in the mail from the nefarious SJW cabal apparently causing me to make shit up;
  2. Contained threats, goading-towards-suicides, or generally obscene and targeted harassment;
  3. Used terms like “SJW” or “pissbaby” or “whinging” or really anything else that indicated the author had, at best, a tenuous grasp on how the world works;
  4. Was premised on the idea that I was “oversensitive” or “overreacting” which is pretty rich coming from people whose idea of acceptability includes insulting people they’ve never met on somebody else’s website.

So I took this definition and hand-coded the comments and grabbed the data. We ended up with 107 users, of whom a mere 40 weren’t arseholes, producing 183 comments in total. Then I worked out their referring site and geolocated their IP address, et voila.

(12) RABID PUPPIES. Vox Day posted his picks in the Best Fanzine category.

This appears to be one of those increasingly misnamed and outdated categories, but based on the previous nominees, it has apparently become the functional equivalent of “best SF-related site”. Using that as a guideline while keeping the eligibility rules in mind, here are the preliminary recommendations for Best Fanzine:

Black Gate succumbed to the genetic fallacy in turning down last year’s nomination; regardless of whether John O’Neill will do the same or not again this year, it remained the best SF-related site in 2015.

People I respect have suggested I publicly demand that Vox Day remove File770 from the Rabid Puppies slate. Then having done so, if Day fails to comply and I ultimately receive a Hugo nomination, they feel I can accept it with a clear conscience.

If I understand Steve Davidson correctly, he wants everyone to make a public statement repudiating slates. I don’t think people are unclear on how I feel about slates, thus it really becomes a question whether — by modeling that behavior — I want to encourage Steve to go around hammering people who don’t post the equivalent of an oath. I don’t.

Consider this point. I have been planning to nominate Black Gate because I’ve been reading it since last year’s Hugo contretemps brought it to my attention, and think they do a terrific job. What if they don’t make a public declaration? Should I leave them off my ballot? And thereby fail to do what I tell every other Hugo voter to do, nominate the stuff they think is the best?

I’m not voting for Black Gate because of a slate, and I don’t intend to be prevented from voting for it by a factor that has nothing to do with what I think about the quality of its work. That’s also why I’m choosing not to follow the advice I received about handling File 770’s apperance on the slate, though the advice is well intended.

(13) NUCLEAR TOY. In 1951, A.C. Gilbert, inventor of the Erector Set, released the U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory.  Using real radioactive materials, one could witness mist trails created by particles of ionizing radiation.

The set included four Uranium bearing ore samples, and originally sold for $49.50.  That would be $400 in today’s dollars.

Gilbert atomic science set COMP

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, JJ, and James H. Burns for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]

295 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 2/5/16 The Rough Guide To Neveryon-Neveryon Land

  1. @ Tasha:

    I do wish Amazon would get a real competitor. One who could create a stable, searchable, store with a nice GUI for authors/artists, publishers, and consumers. No one else seems to be able to create stable, searchable, usable store. I really thought by now we’d have 3-4 competitors

    I wish this, too. And I thought this, too.

    And I think this is indeed the issue: Amazon’s competitors, at least in the US, have so far been inept. (For example, as both a reader and a writer, I feel that BN–which company has years of experience at selling books, after all–is actively trying to drive away ebook business, rather than trying to compete with Amazon.) As I pointed out in the last Nink column I wrote about AU, a few months ago, even Michael Shatzkin (a consultant for traditional corporate publishers and certainly not pro new-market or pro-indie) has reacted to AU by pointing that Amazon’s success is due to being very good at what it does, and there really isn’t a law against that, no matter how much AU would like there to be one.

  2. ETA: Of course like 20 comments came in while I was writing this, so maybe I should’ve refreshed yet again before posting. Sorry about that; usually I do refresh more often, darn it! (I’m catching up now.)

    OMG, chill pills all around. (sigh) I’ll just go “what they said” and point to @rcade, @Hampus Eckerman, and @JJ here (including, gasp, apology!), as well as @Red Wombat and @Magewolf, who read JJ’s comment like I did.

    But who the hell cares what I think? No one, so let’s talk about books, instead! What’s everyone reading?

    I picked up the ebook for The Rogue Retrieval last night; they suckered me in with a six chapter sample! That’s how ya do it. I liked the setup and it’s a fun, brisk read. They need a Vegas stage magician to . . . play a real one, through this portal to a fantasy land. Tell me that’s not a nice twist to the usual portal fantasy. I’m not sure why the ebook came out almost 1.5 months (IIRC) before the print version, but I’m realizing my “at what price will I accept DRM” point has slid a bit, up to $2.99. Probably no higher, and I feel like I’m betraying my principles. ;-(

    So I went back and forth last night, reading some of that and some of A Darker Shade of Magic. Both good, in very different ways. I had to put down Schwab’s book ‘cuz I was so sleepy, but I stopped at the “no don’t do it Kell you drunken idiot that won’t turn out well!” point. If you’ve read it, you probably know what I mean. I’m nervous about what happens next (er, after we switch viewpoints and come back to Kell).

  3. Yup, if I’d read the next 20 (or however-many) comments, I might’ve not commented on that stuff and just mentioned the books. Ah, well. Always happy to be redundant.

  4. JJ: The only real Trigger Warning I could give is “pbafpvrapryrff, znavchyngvir fbpvbcngu”. V guvax vg’f n Ubeebe Fgbel jvgu n Pncvgny U.

    I think that’s ambiguous; it depends who the unreliable narrator is, and that’s not clear. Ohg vg qbrf yrnir gur hapbzsbegnoyr frafngvba gung fbzrbar vf orvat tnfyvtugrq, jvgu fvtavsvpnag pbafrdhraprf.

  5. (OK, I’ve been trying to post this comment for the last 2 hours. Nothing about File 770, as far as I know! But every time I’ve hit a particular combination of characters in my intended comment, I get the spinning beach ball and can’t do anything. I’m going to reword to avoid those characters, purely on a magical-thinking basis.)

    @ Tasha Turner

    Thank you for making sure I didn’t feel left out of the File 770 name mix-ups!

    (This is where I was trying to put in a humor indicator that kept crashing my machine. So take the above in a sense of friendly teasing, without the clever “this is humor” glyph I was trying to construct.)

  6. @Heather
    I had the book open on my Kindle next to me. At least the link is right. Sorry. Glad you aren’t feeling left out. It’s all about community here today. 😉

  7. Amoxtli: I think that’s ambiguous; it depends who the unreliable narrator is, and that’s not clear. Ohg vg qbrf yrnir gur hapbzsbegnoyr frafngvba gung fbzrbar vf orvat tnfyvtugrq, jvgu fvtavsvpnag pbafrdhraprf.

    I’m not sure I understand why you think there is one. It’s all written in the third person, as I recall?

  8. What’s everyone reading?

    Good question! I am reading Magonia and if it sticks the landing it goes on my long list. I don’t read a ton of YA, so maybe the novel isn’t unique in its approach to pretty much everything, but it feels really fresh. Also, have I talked up Wake of Vultures here? It was the last reading for Hugo novel I read and I really, really liked it. I’ve found that all the characters are staying quite vivid even after a number of days.

    When searching for new authors, I’ve learned to mistrust both Goodreads and Amazon’s reviews, at least when it comes to self published authors. I’ve had too many experiences of reading multiple glowing reviews and then discovering the book has been written in crayon and not edited. There are stellar writers out there self-publishing, but I’m still looking for some way to find them other than word of mouth.

  9. Cheryl S.: I am reading Magonia and if it sticks the landing it goes on my long list.

    I would be interested in hearing your perceptions on that. I read something comparing it to a cross between Stardust and The Fault In Our Stars. Well, I loved Stardust, but I’m finding that second comparison very offputting. It was sappy and overwrought when Erich Segal did it in Love Story, and it’s sappy and overwrought in Fault.

  10. What’s everyone reading?

    During Friday’s workout, I finished Bryony and Roses by our own local wombat. I haven’t chosen a new treadmill book yet, so the field is wide open for tomorrow. I’m kind of inclined to stick to 2015 books at the moment for obvious reasons. My iPad currently offers:

    Black Wolves by Kate Elliott
    Letters to Tiptree ed. by Alexandra Pierce & Alisa Krasnostein
    Serpentine by Cindy Pon

    Huh, I would have sworn I had more unread 2015 books lined up. (This doesn’t count assorted e-magazines with short fiction.) Well, folks, help pick my next book for me!

  11. JJ: I’m not sure I understand why you think there is one. It’s all written in the third person, as I recall?

    Unreliable narrators aren’t only first-person. A close third person POV can be an unreliable narrator. Omniscient third person, not so much, but that’s a pretty rare POV these days.

    Gurer ner fhpu infgyl qvssrerag nffregvbaf bs gur gehgu gung bar bs gur punenpgref vf pyrneyl abg n eryvnoyr fbhepr bs vasbezngvba sbe gur ernqre. Gurer ner uvagf obgu jnlf, ohg vg’f arire bowrpgviryl znqr pyrne juvpu bar. Fb vg’f hc gb gur ernqre gb qrpvqr juvpu bar bs gurz vf srrqvat gur ernqre gur haeryvnoyr irefvba bs riragf. Crefbanyyl, V qvqa’g guvax gung vg jnf Zbev, gubhtu vg’f n perqvoyr vagrecergngvba gung vg jnf.

  12. @Heather

    I just ordered Letters to Tiptree and read the sample on my Kindle. I can’t wait for the book to get here.

  13. Just finished Castle Hangnail, by that T. Kingfisher person. Lol Ed it. Review soon.

    Have thoughts on The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, too. Will be back with those thoughts when aspirin has had a chance to take the edge off the headache.

  14. [Spoilers for The Watchmaker of Filigree Street]

    Amoxtli: Gurer ner fhpu infgyl qvssrerag nffregvbaf bs gur gehgu gung bar bs gur punenpgref vf pyrneyl abg n eryvnoyr fbhepr bs vasbezngvba sbe gur ernqre. Gurer ner uvagf obgu jnlf, ohg vg’f arire bowrpgviryl znqr pyrne juvpu bar. Fb vg’f hc gb gur ernqre gb qrpvqr juvpu bar bs gurz vf srrqvat gur ernqre gur haeryvnoyr irefvba bs riragf. Crefbanyyl, V qvqa’g guvax gung vg jnf Zbev, gubhtu vg’f n perqvoyr vagrecergngvba gung vg jnf.

    Jryy, Zbev bcrayl nqzvgf gb univat guerngrarq gb xvyy fbzrbar’f jvsr va beqre gb yrnir Wncna, bcrayl nqzvgf gb univat znavchyngrq Gunavry gb trg uvz gb qb jung ur jnagf, naq bcrayl nqzvgf gb univat znavchyngrq Tenpr gb trg Gunavry njnl sebz ure. Vg’f… cbffvoyr gung ur’f ylvat nobhg gubfr guvatf, ohg jul jbhyq ur? Naq ertneqyrff bs jub gur “haeryvnoyr aneengbe” vf, V fgvyy guvax Zbev vf n pbafpvrapryrff znavchyngvir fbpvbcngu.

  15. [More Spoilers for The Watchmaker of Filigree Street]

    Nyfb, V’z abg fnlvat gung V guvax rvgure Gunavry be Tenpr ner oynzryrff. V guvax obgu bs gurz ner frevbhfyl junpxrq, gbb.

    Juvpu V jul V sbhaq vg gb or n Ubeebe Fgbel.

  16. I recently finished Zero World by Jason Hough and I’m debating whether to put it on my ballot. Points of particular interest: near-future technology which allows our assassin protagonist to undertake missions so secret that his memory of them is wiped afterward; a meticulously constructed alternate Earth; spycraft of both futuristic and old-fashioned varieties.

  17. @Cheryl S
    I always read the 3 star reviews. I’ve found them better at helping me determine if a book is to my taste as they tend to include pros and cons. 5 stars glow but don’t talk about details I need. 1 star reviews complain but rarely back it up.

  18. Petréa Mitchell: I recently finished Zero World by Jason Hough and I’m debating whether to put it on my ballot.

    Thanks for that. I’ve got it sitting here in the pile from the library because the synopsis sounded good, so it’s nice to get some reinforcement that it’s worth precious Hugo reading time.

  19. Tasha Turner: I always read the 3 star reviews. I’ve found them better at helping me determine if a book is to my taste as they tend to include pros and cons. 5 stars glow but don’t talk about details I need. 1 star reviews complain but rarely back it up.

    You’re totally right, I do the same. I’ll look for 1-star and 5-star reviews which have some length (and therefore, hopefully, some substance) to them, but I often find that it’s the 3-star reviews which go into detail which are the most helpful. 5-stars are often rabid fans or friends/family members whose opinion is not terribly objective, and 1-stars are often people with grudges.

    I generally don’t bother reading reviews that are 3 sentences or less regardless of how many stars they have, because they don’t usually have enough information in them to be helpful.

  20. OH, dang, Tasha, you’re right. My apologies to both the Red Wombat, and T. Kingfisher.

    JJ:

    Jryy, Zbev bcrayl nqzvgf gb univat guerngrarq gb xvyy fbzrbar’f jvsr va beqre gb yrnir Wncna, bcrayl nqzvgf gb univat znavchyngrq Gunavry gb trg uvz gb qb jung ur jnagf, naq bcrayl nqzvgf gb univat znavchyngrq Tenpr gb trg Gunavry njnl sebz ure. Vg’f… cbffvoyr gung ur’f ylvat nobhg gubfr guvatf, ohg jul jbhyq ur? Naq ertneqyrff bs jub gur “haeryvnoyr aneengbe” vf, V fgvyy guvax Zbev vf n pbafpvrapryrff znavchyngvir fbpvbcngu.

    Gur zna jubfr jvsr Zbev guerngrarq qvqa’g bowrpg gb hfvat pbrepvba; ur’q orra hfvat pbrepvba gb xrrc Zbev va Wncna naq va uvf freivpr, rira gubhtu Zbev unq sebz gur ortvaavat fnvq ur jbhyq fgnl sbe bayl gra lrnef. Ur jnf nccnyyrq, abg ng gur hfr bs pbrepvba, ohg ng gur ernyvmngvba gung Zbev pbhyq svtug onpx rira zber rssrpgviryl.

    Arvgure Tenpr abe Gunavry unq nal erny qrfver gb or zneevrq gb rnpu bgure. Tenpr arrqrq gb zneel gb tnva pbageby bs ure vaurevgnapr fb fur pbhyq chefhr ure bja pbhefr–naq gung arrqrq n uhfonaq jub jbhyq, vs abg npgviryl fhccbeg ure, ng yrnfg abg vagresrer. Tvira gurl jrer tbvat gb trg zneevrq, Gunavry unq fbzr vagrerfg va univat puvyqera, juvpu jnf abg cneg bs Tenpr’f cynaf, ohg ur jnf ab zber va ybir jvgu ure guna fur jnf jvgu uvz. Uvf znva vagrerfg jnf va univat gur zbarl gb fhccbeg uvf fvfgre naq ure snzvyl qrpragyl juvyr ergheavat gb uvf pnerre nf n cvnavfg.

    Zbev’f znavchyngvba erfhygrq va gurz obgu trggvat jung gurl ernyyl jnagrq, jvgubhg frggyvat sbe na vanccebcevngr zneevntr–naq Tenpr zvtug trg gur thl fur’f ernyyl vagrerfgrq va, gubhtu gur whel vf pyrneyl bhg ba gung.

    Zbev vf ab fnvag, ohg V guvax lbhe ivrj bs uvz vf bireyl unefu.

  21. Lis Carey: Zbev vf ab fnvag, ohg V guvax lbhe ivrj bs uvz vf bireyl unefu.

    Gung’f ragveryl cbffvoyr. V’z jryy njner gung nsgre fcraqvat lrnef yvivat jvgu fbzrbar jub pbagvahnyyl znavchyngrq gur bguref nebhaq gurz va guvf jnl, gung guvf vf n “ubg ohggba” sbe zr.

    Bar bs zl vffhrf jvgu vg vf gung, jurgure be abg jung Zbev unf qbar erfhygf va n zber cbfvgvir erfhyg sbe bgure crbcyr – ur unf fgvyy qrcevirq gurz bs serr jvyy ol znavchyngvat gurz. Gurer vf n uhtr erfbanapr, sbe zr, orgjrra gung naq rirel glenaavpny tbireazrag, naq rirel znavchyngvir cnerag naq fcbhfr, jub unf qrcevirq gurve ivpgvz bs gur novyvgl gb yvir – naq vs arprffnel, znxr zvfgnxrf – nppbeqvat gb gurve bja serr jvyy.

    Naq Zbev’f tbnyf ner ragveryl frysvfu – ur qbrf jung ur qbrf, ur znxrf gur crbcyr nebhaq uvz qnapr gb gur pnershyyl-bepurfgengrq ghar gung ur cynlf – gb trg jung ur jnagf. V svaq gung fpnel, naq zber guna n ovg ubeevslvat. V zrna, gung ynfg fprar? Gung vf uvz fnlvat gb Tenpr, “V pbhyq unir xvyyrq lbhe zna vafgrnq bs oevatvat uvz onpx gb lbh – naq ng nal gvzr va gur shgher V jvfu, V pna xvyy lbh obgu.” Gb zr, gung vf cerggl nccnyyvat.

  22. So self-published writers are disreputable. Sweet. It’s been a while since I’ve been disreputable.

    No PIN for me yet. Maybe they think I’ll just spray paint it on something, while wearing a leather jacket.

  23. @Goodreads and JJ
    I’m coming to this late because I had to re-read the original sentence about “the self-pubbed” and the ensuing discussion triggered a memory of something Florence King wrote about wit and I had to find it.
    Seemed appropriate–especially the last line on pg 142

    https://books.google.com/books?id=-zy_-HqYe2EC&pg=PA142&lpg=PA142&dq=florence+king+phil+donahue&source=bl&ots=Ncl8-vboxz&sig=-j2ZekD6smq7w0MlXuCtl4v-uGY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjBwZagxOfKAhUP2WMKHfwNADgQ6AEILTAD#v=onepage&q=florence%20king%20phil%20donahue&f=false

  24. Thanks for all the rot13ing, everyone – I haven’t read that one yet.

    Also, I finally got my PIN! Huzzah!

  25. Harold Osler: I’m coming to this late because I had to re-read the original sentence about “the self-pubbed” and the ensuing discussion triggered a memory of something Florence King wrote about wit and I had to find it. Seemed appropriate–especially the last line on pg 142

    That link just leads to a Google Books record which says “no e-book available”; were you trying to link to a quote?

  26. JJ: V zrna, gung ynfg fprar? Gung vf uvz fnlvat gb Tenpr, “V pbhyq unir xvyyrq lbhe zna vafgrnq bs oevatvat uvz onpx gb lbh – naq ng nal gvzr va gur shgher V jvfu, V pna xvyy lbh obgu.” Gb zr, gung vf cerggl nccnyyvat.

    Ur’f fnlvat gung nsgre fur jrag gb rkgerzr yratguf gb qrfgebl uvz, va gur cebprff gheavat greebevfg naq chggvat n obzo bhg nzbat vaabprag crbcyr. Lbh guvax na, “V’z yrggvat lbh tb naq V’ir qbar jung lbh pna fb lbh unir n unccl yvsr naq trg jung lbh npghnyyl jnagrq, ohg frevbhfyl, qb abg pbzr onpx sbe zr,” vf ubeevslvat va gur snpr bs fbzrbar jub qvq jung fur qvq? Orpnhfr V guvax vg’f vaperqvoyl sbetvivat. V svaq vg sne zber ubeevslvat gb npghnyyl chg n obzo bhg va gur pvgl, crefbanyyl. Qrzbafgengvat lbh unir n jrncba gb qrsraq lbhefrys ntnvafg fbzrbar jub’f gevrq gb xvyy lbh (naq bguref) vfa’g n avpr guvat gb qb, ohg frys-qrsrafr vf trarenyyl pbafvqrerq na npprcgnoyr gvzr gb vagvzvqngr, rfcrpvnyyl vs gung xrrcf vg sebz rfpnyngvat gb npghny unez qbar. Va gur raq, Zbev arire hfrf uvf jrncba, naq Tenpr npgviryl jrag gb terng yratguf gb xvyy. Bar bs gurz pyrneyl qrzbafgengrf gung gurl’er pbafpvrapryrff rabhtu gb chg crbcyr va qnatre… naq vg’f abg Zbev.

    Lbhe fnlvat “serr jvyy” vf vagrerfgvat, orpnhfr, juvyr lbh zrna pbrepvba, serr jvyy irefhf sngr frrzf gb or n ehaavat gurzr va gur obbx, naq gurer ner uvagf guvf znl or n havirefr va juvpu serr jvyy vfa’g npghnyyl cbffvoyr, orpnhfr sngr rkvfgf nf n pbapergr guvat. V unira’g ernyyl obgurerq gb hagnatyr gung gurzr, gubhtu, orpnhfr, ubarfgyl, V qvqa’g rawbl gur obbx gung zhpu. (V jvyy nyfb abgr gung Tenpr vfa’g nyy gung ovt ba Gunavry be Zbev’f serr jvyy, rvgure. Fur gnxrf cerggl qenfgvp npgvba gb pbageby Gunavry’f sevraqfuvcf naq Zbev’f yvsr ba gur tebhaqf gung fur xabjf orfg, onfrq ba snveyl syvzfl urnefnl rivqrapr. Bar bs gur guvatf V jnfa’g sbaq bs jnf gur pyvpur bs gur pbagebyyvat, wrnybhf jvsr. Fur jnf yvxr n greevoyr fynfu snasvp gebcr punenpgre, gur pbagebyyvat wrnybhf cnegare jub qbrfa’g ernyyl ybir gur zna, fb vg’f bxnl gb hfr ure sbe qenzngvp pbasyvpg naq oernx gurz hc va snibe bs gur fynfu cnvevat.)

  27. I’m glad my request for trigger warnings has led to good discussion of the book. I have to say the only character I liked in the book was Katsu the clockwork octopus. I suspect my decision to picture it as as purple and similar to the recent C is for Cthulhu plushy I got from a Kickstarter I backed helped.

    I don’t believe I’m spoiling anything by saying it is psychological thriller/horror with clockwork, an interesting use of clairvoyance, with Victorian England and Japan for a nice touch. I would have enjoyed it more had I found any character likable and if it fell out less on the psychological thriller end.

  28. Tasha Turner: I’m glad my request for trigger warnings has led to good discussion of the book. I have to say the only character I liked in the book was Katsu the clockwork octopus.

    I agree with you on both counts. I loved Katsu.

  29. Amoxtli:

    Bu, V gbgnyyl nterr jvgu lbh jvgu ertneq gb jung fbeg bs crefba Tenpr vf. V sbhaq ure nyzbfg nf qrfcvpnoyr nf Zbev. Lbh fnl, “Fur gnxrf cerggl qenfgvp npgvba gb pbageby Gunavry’f sevraqfuvcf naq Zbev’f yvsr ba gur tebhaqf gung fur xabjf orfg, onfrq ba snveyl syvzfl urnefnl rivqrapr.”

    Ohg gung’f abg jul fur qbrf jung fur qbrf. Fur rkvfgf va n jbeyq jurer, nf n jbzna, fur unf nyzbfg ab pbageby bire ure bja yvsr — naq jung Zbev vf qbvat vf tbvat gb eraqre ure hggreyl cbjreyrff. Fur vf tbvat gb or ybbxvat ng n irel ybat, oyrnx yvsr jvgu ab zbarl naq ab ntrapl, ab qbhog funpxyrq gb fbzr zna fur qbrf abg ybir. Juvyr vg qbrf abg rkphfr ure npgvbaf, vg vf pregnvayl haqrefgnaqnoyr gung fur ernpgf irel onqyl gb gur jnl Zbev vf znavchyngvat obgu ure naq Gunavry. Va ure cynpr, V jbhyq or rkgerzryl natel naq qrfcrengr gbb (gubhtu V’z cerggl fher gung V jbhyq abg erfcbaq va gur jnl gung fur qvq). V nterr gung fur jnf n gebcr punenpgre hfrq gb perngr qenzngvp pbasyvpg, juvpu jnf abg gung fxvyshyyl nppbzcyvfurq.

    Univat fnvq gung, juvyr V jbhyq abg pbafvqre abzvangvat gur obbx sbe n Uhtb orpnhfr V sryg ynetr cnegf bs vgf cybg jrer ceboyrzngvp, Angnfun Chyyrl vf ba zl Pnzcoryy ybatyvfg, orpnhfr V guvax fur qvq n terng wbo va jbeyqohvyqvat sbe gur abiry naq va oevatvat gur punenpgref gb yvsr (rira gubhtu V ernyyl qvqa’g yvxr gurz zhpu).

    Thanks for taking the time to engage with me with your thoughts on this book. I really appreciate the additional insights.

  30. Gah, the typewriter discussion brings back memories.

    I learned on a mechanical as well; in my middle school in grade 7 (which was 1980, so early in the time where personal computers were starting to show up) everybody went through typing classes, no matter the sex. Same applied to shop classes and home ec classes.

    Which meant I got to learn touch typing on a mechanical teaching typewriter… with blank keycaps for all the letters. Hunt and peck was rendered impossible. If you couldn’t remember where the key was, you were out of luck.

    And yeah, I remember the lower-case l for 1 trick; as well as the apostrophe/period for exclamation point, which wasn’t on my mother’s old typewriter either.

    Back in high school I actually wrote my own font editor (again, early 1980s) to create 32×32 bitmap fonts, and modified a line-oriented ‘word processor’ typed in out of a magazine to be able to print characters using those graphical fonts. My mother used to use that to type up the church bulletins, as for a while our family was one of the few at the church in question with a computer, printer, and the knowledge of how to make use of them. Well, and my mother was the church secretary.

    Granted, the kerning was pretty horrible in those fonts, but I know better now.

  31. @JJ
    Harold Osler: I’m coming to this late because I had to re-read the original sentence about “the self-pubbed” and the ensuing discussion triggered a memory of something Florence King wrote about wit and I had to find it. Seemed appropriate–especially the last line on pg 142

    That link just leads to a Google Books record which says “no e-book available”; were you trying to link to a quote?

    Well, rats–I even checked it before I let it go to final edit. Huh–I just checked it and it worked for me.
    Anyway–it was a quote from Miss King about wit. “Our worst nightmare is that backbone of wit, the generalization. Samuel Johnson could say “If you give a Scot something he’ll either break it or drink it” but that sort of remark would cause mass cardiac arrest in the land of the free and the home of Jimmy the Greek. Teddy Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, Daniel Inouye, Gloria Steinem and Ira Glasser would all go on ‘Nightline’ and say ‘SOME Scots are clumsy drunks, but the vast majority of Scottish-Americans are well-educated and responsible citizens.” ” Not daring to trust each other to filter sweeping statements, we clutter up our speech and writing with awkward adverbial easements…..’ and so on.
    It was humorous at the time and seemed relevant

  32. Harold Osler: Anyway–it was a quote from Miss King about wit… It was humorous at the time and seemed relevant

    And so it is. Thank you for sharing that. 😀

    And now I’m wanting to know why it is that you get magic access to e-books which Google Books is telling me don’t exist…

  33. Harold Osler & JJ
    For what it’s worth (three bucks at today’s prices!), the link worked for me right off the bat, soon after you posted it. Data point, I guess.

  34. YAY BOOK LOVE!

    @Cheryl S.: Thanks for the book recs! Re. Goodreads & Amazon, IMHO the reviews aren’t “word of mouth.” True word of mouth works better, methinks (mehopes!).

    I read Amazon reviews, but I try to get (like @Tasha Turner & @JJ) ones of substance; I prefer reading a low-star review or two, to see if there’s really something wrong, especially if several people point it out. I also like mid-star reviews for Tasha’s reasons – good/bad pro/con info. I haven’t tried her “read the 3-stars” method yet. But yeah I read the high-star reviews, too.

    But I read a lot of reviews from review sites/blogs, Barnes & Noble, etc. Too many (which is why I’m always on the prowl for new books – they all sound so good, LOL). It’s an addiction, really. 😉 But most of the ones I read don’t cover much self-pub’d work.

    @Heather Rose Jones: I’ve read a metric ton of good things about Black Wolves. And, putting on my shallow hat, it keeps catching my eye because Gorgeous Cover. 😉 So I vote for that.

    @Pétrea Mitchell: Zero World is on my shelf and I really liked the sample a lot (which is why I bought the massive tome), so I’m glad to hear it’s good. I’m looking forward to picking up where the sample left off, or, more likely: starting from scratch to immerse myself back into the protag.

  35. Kendall, the interesting thing about reading the 3-star reviews which have more than 3 sentences is that I can often identify a book I’d enjoy because of something a reviewer says they didn’t like; or conversely, a book I wouldn’t enjoy because of something the reviewer says they did like.

  36. @JJ: Oh, totally! I started reading 1-star reviews because I noticed sometimes people complain about things I find silly to down-rate something for. So if I read several and they all point out a (to me) non-issue, then I think “okay, ignore the 1-stars on this one – hey it looks a lot better now.”

    I should pay more attention to 3-star ratings, though, it sounds like. 🙂

  37. Kendall: I started reading 1-star reviews because I noticed sometimes people complain about things I find silly to down-rate something for.

    A year or two ago I was reading reviews for a book to decide whether I wanted to read it, and there was a review posted on Amazon by someone from Eastern Europe who, and I kid you not, went on at GREAT length about what an awful book it was because the main female character was smart and competent and the main male character was weak and dishonest and this is totally unrealistic, because everyone knows that men are the smart, capable ones and women are weak and stupid, so this is clearly a terrible book.

    I think I laughed for 5 or 10 minutes over that one. I wanted to send the guy a condolence card that said, “I’m so sorry that you have to live in the 21st Century”.

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