Wolf Hawkwind

Death to the Iron King!

2012-02-08T09:37:00.003-07:00

Once upon a time, there were two callow college students, who each had dreams of writing books. Fate saw fit to put these two in a room together, one's bass guitar amplifier cheek by jowl with the other's collection of Al'Quadim roleplaying books and Clan of Xymox records.

The years passed, and though these two adventurers in the realm of writing found themselves separated for a few years, the tides of time chose to once more put them in close proximity. Thus, it was chosen by the skeins of fate that they would end up working closely with one another.

Putting aside the fairy tale linguistics, Paul Genesse and I have have been writer friends and alpha readers for a lot of years. In that time, Paul has shown himself to be about as dedicated to the craft as anyone can possibly be. He's taught me so much about what it takes to succeed in a business that can be cruel and difficult. I like to think I may have helped him out here and there, too.

This week, the fruition of a project that has borne the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune at last hits the shelves, both actual and digital. I'm honored that I was able to be a part of it, along with our august and talented friend Brad Beaulieu. Let me explain further:

Paul began publishing the Iron Dragon Series with a small publishing house. He released The Golden Cord, and followed it with The Dragon Hunters. Both books were very successful, The Golden Cord being the best-selling fantasy book for the house. Sadly, the exigencies of a shrinking publishing market and a weak economy caused the publisher to cut their whole fantasy line.

Paul's series, of which two out of five had been released, was orphaned. Misery and woe. Paul picked himself up, dusted himself off, and started pounding the pavement, looking for a new publisher. The thing is, no one wants to pick up an orphaned series.

There was a time when it appeared the fans of the Iron Dragon series would never know what happened to Drake and company, or if the evil plans of the Iron Dragon would come to fruition, allowing him to dominate A'leron forever.

But there was hope, even in the darkest of hours. Authors, now more than ever, are in control of their own destiny. They can seek other publishing models and still get their work out to their fans. By using electronic publishing and the CreateSpace model, Paul's books are once more seeing the light of day.

So, after all of that, I want to encourage, if not enjoin you to follow the links below and experience the heroic action of the Iron Dragon Series. Having helped edit all of these books, I can say that they are fast-paced, hard hitting stories with all the wonder, heart, and grit that fantasy fans desire. The newest, and just-released, is part three of the series, The Secret Empire. I really think that this one is Paul's best yet, rife with furious action, staggering betrayals, and the highest stakes possible, leading up to a finale that will knock your socks off.

To explore The Secret Empire, follow the links below:

The Secret Empire Ebook

The Secret Empire Print Version

The Secret Empire Createspace page (Paul gets a better cut of the profits on this one)

The whole series on Amazon

What's Goin' On?

2012-02-07T18:54:00.005-07:00

So,

I've been fairly remiss in posting stuff to this blog for a time. That said, there's been quite a bit to speak about. First, let's get the less wonderful stuff out of the way.

My post about World Con late this summer saw me feeling poorly. Here are the reasons for this, insofar as they have been determined.

1) My Gall Bladder was going haywire. (It had to be removed.)
2) I had contracted a bacterium that was attacking my stomach with ruthless abandon. (I had to take a serious dose of antibiotics, with acid reducers that are still necessary.)
3) The top two caused my ability to eat to be severely curtailed.
4) I find myself below the body weight at which I graduated high school. My clothes appear as if I have been borrowing from an older sibling. That's the awesome part of things, by the way.

Now, onto writing news:

1) The Crimson Pact Anthologies have been doin' all right for themselves. Having a rather vested interest in the whole project, this is a happy thing for me. To remind anyone who may have forgotten, I co-wrote the origin story, "The Failed Crusade" with Paul Genesse, and have had two other stories featured in the anthologies, as well. ("Red Test" and "Red Bandanna Boys")
HERE IS THE LINK to the website for the anthologies, if you're interested.

2) The publisher for CP, Steven Saus, invited me to be a part of a Christmas-themed speculative fiction anthology that would raise money for Heifer International. It so happened that I had an evil story about a bad Santa that fit the bill. Thus, "Spec the Halls" featured one of mine. The name of the story was "Kicked in the Teeth Again", and will forever jaundice your eye when you look at a department store Santa.
CLICK HERE to check out Spec the Halls.

3) Not content to just work on fiction, I've also gotten a poem published in Pens On Fire. My poem, "This Misspent Requiem", was featured in the January issue of that publication.
POEM can be read by clicking on the link.

4) I've also been working on new stories for the upcoming 3rd and 4th volumes of the Crimson Pact. I have two stories submitted to the editor already, and should be submitting another one within the next few weeks. More on that as the information is available.

5) As if all that were not enough, I've also been working with Paul Genesse to get his newest book in the Iron Dragon Series ready for publication. Since Paul and I were in college together and are close friends, we've been talking about these books for a decade or more, and seeing the most recent one come to fruition has been quite a thing. It is called "The Secret Empire" and you'll be hearing a lot more about it tomorrow, as the big media blitz will take place at that time. Suffice it to say, though, that I have insider knowledge about this, the third in his series, and I have to say that it's going to kick some major butt. Fans of epic fantasy are going to get their surfeit of fighting, deadly terrain, evil plots, difficult sacrifices, and staggering betrayals in this rip-snorter of a story.

For more info, please check out Paul's Website.

Cheers,

Patrick

The Crimson Pact, Volume Two is out!

2011-09-29T14:36:00.003-06:00

The new Crimson Pact anthology is out and available at all the finest online retailers. This anthology is even weightier than the previous one, at over 150,000 words. Many of the authors from volume one are represented here, often writing sequels to their earlier stories. Again, we're proud to have Larry Correia, New York Times Bestseller (multiple times), amongst our authors.

My story, Red Bandanna Boys, is also featured. I'm pretty proud of this tale, and hope you folks dig it. In an alternate earth, demons have caused World War One to rage for 37 years. The characters in the story find themselves in the wreckage of the Russian Empire, struggling against a powerful demon who rules their slum. Though the Red Bandanna Boys are only homeless street kids, they never quit fighting!

Here's an excerpt:

Nevsky and Carver stood in the back of the wagon, shoveling fish guts and other remainders of a day of butchering into the Blue Nile. This was how their day of work ended, with the hardest and stinkiest task of all. The crocodiles knew this spot well, and hundreds of them rose out of the darkness of the twilight waters to gulp down on the best bits. Scavenger birds circled the shoreline, snapping up anything they could get. Wild dogs prowled the upper bank, mean enough to kill if you weren’t careful. The place smelled of rot and shit, and no one lived nearby for a good reason.

For a few hundred meters, the thick vegetation that crowded the river bank had been hacked away, leaving open land where every edible remainder was dumped. On the opposite bank, the trees and tall bushes were green and dense, mysterious as the surface of the moon.

Carver, like most of the boys, had never left the city, never seen anything beyond its sweltering streets and the arid industrial areas beyond. When there was enough light, he would sometimes stand in the cart, looking out there into the old land, the real Nubia. He would wonder what things could have been like for him, had he lived in better times. Mostly, though, he would shovel, awaiting the time he could lay his tired body down and rest.

*****

To find out more, go to The Crimson Pact Website, where volume one and two are both available, in addition to special editions of each, which feature author commentaries about the writing process and their experiences with the anthology. A print version of Volume One is also available from Amazon.com.

Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, Goodreads, and other online e-book sellers also feature the anthologies, though I recommend buying from our website, as you get all the formats downloaded for one low price, as well as allowing the authors to get a better cut of the profits.

Don't let the demons overrun the universe! Swear the Crimson Pact!

WorldCon Wrap-Up

2011-08-28T17:41:00.003-06:00

I had a great time at WorldCon in Reno (Renovation, as they called it) this year. It was my first WorldCon, and marked the attainment of my "Triple Crown" of World speculative fiction conventions, as I'd already been to World Fantasy multiple times, and to World Horror once.

Why am I a week late in posting this info? Well, all was not sunshine and roses, and I ended up coming home a pretty sick puppy. I'll talk about that later on in the article.

First, let's talk about the good stuff.

I resolved to drive to Reno, as it's a fairly simple thing to point your car west and just go. Western Utah and Northern Nevada are pretty barren, though, and so I decided to arm myself with some audiobooks for the journey. Yeah. Alone for @530 miles? I knew I'd need them.

I went ahead and put the first five audiobooks for the Oz series on a CD, as I'd heard about the coolness of the series, but had only known about the first one, as in the movie with Judy Garland and so forth.

Okay, so the Wizard of Oz is a pretty fun little book. It's for kids, and so it's somewhat repetitive, and it's old, but it's still pretty neat. I finished it and got a few chapters into "The Land of Oz" by the time I arrived at the Peppermill in Reno.

It had been a while since I was last in a casino, and so there were a few moments of culture shock. Seeing people light a cigarette indoors and not be immediately tackled, escorted from the premises, or perhaps vaporized with lasers was odd. The Peppermill is frickin' dark on the casino floor, too. Like you've just stepped into a weird purple cave filled with chiming, muttering machines. And, unlike the old days, there's none of the sound of change actually falling into a catch bin. No, there's just an odd electronic analogue of that sound. It seems that you now redeem a ticket at various machines around the hotel, rather than getting your tokens changed for actual money. Anyhow...

I got to Reno Wednesday in the afternoon, perhaps around 4:30 or thereabouts. I checked in and got my stuff up to the room. Which was nice, by the way. Pretty swanky. And...what happened to cheap rooms in casinos? I guess those days are over. I won't dwell on that.

I managed to fart around until it was too late to actually go over to the convention hall and check in, so I decided to, instead, go and find their weight room and get me some exercise. I did so. It was good. I found that I could stack their triceps pushdown machine for ten reps (that's 200 lbs).

Life was good. I continued from there by walking around. That walking around resulted it me being vaguely lost for a little while, and turned out to yield the cardio portion of my workout by sending me on about a forty minute tour of the slightly seedy neighborhood nearby. I found a variety of things, including something that touted itself to be a European Fitness Center. Perhaps European fitness is somewhat different from the other sorts of fitness. I'm sure I couldn't tell the difference.

That night, I found that I had more than enough road food to get along, and made liberal use of the in-room coffee maker. Being unused to watching television without some specific goal in mind, I found that it took me a while to figure out what I would do with myself. In the end, I ended up watching a show about tough guys from various military arms competing to be the biggest badass. After that, there was a show about guys who made big and ludicrous firearms in the Deep South. I was really congested. I then went to bed.

Thursday was a big day at the convention. Most of my friends were arriving that day, and I was pumped to see what the Con would have in store. Sadly, I ended up at more than a few panels that I either didn't care about, or that I hadn't read the right foundational material to "get". This happens some times.

I was able to watch a cool panel that featured Eric James Stone, short story writer extrordinare, about religion and science fiction. That was pretty neat, and gave me hope that the panel discussion scene wouldn't be a total bust. (which it wasn't)

The exhibit hall was...frighteningly huge. Like, my hometown would have fit in there with room for a few of the nearby towns to spare. The art show and the dealer's room crouched in a corner of the giant space, though they were, in reality, pretty damn big.

I met Brad Beaulieu, Paul Genesse, and his wife Tammy a bit later. I had lunch with them at the hotel, and then we went to see Brad read from his book, Winds of Khalakovo, along with Courteny Schafer and Katy Stauber, who are also Night Shade Books authors with books out. All of the readings presented intriguing works, and I look for these three authors to be forces to be reckoned with in the future.

From there, we eventually ended up at the Night Bazaar party in the Atlantis, put on by the selfsame three that were just mentioned. I had been enlisted to provide paltry entertainment in the form of an ersatz strongman show during the party. I did so. The surprise of the night: Brad Beaulieu ended up ripping a yellowpages in half in front of everyone. It was a shocker. We always did think that Brad had a few superpowers up his sleeve, and now we know that's true.

Larry Correia and his posse appeared, and they were quite intrigued with the nail bending portion of the show. Many of them gave it a try, and Larry has the distinction of being the only other writer in residence who could put any kind of kink in a 60D nail. It was a fun party, and quite a hand workout, as I probably bent over twenty nails in all the traditional grips. I also broke out the Captains of Crush grippers, which were fun for all. Larry almost closed the #2 grippers a few times, and acquitted himself well. I can't easily go into all the cool people who were around at the party, but there were many, and I bent nails for most of them. The entertainment also featured the eating of candy-coated insects and crustaceans of various kinds, of which I did not partake. I did find that I like Stella Artois beer, though.

On Friday, I went to see some good panels, including one called Urbane Fantasy vs. Urban Fantasy, which featured Gail Carriger, who writes the Parasol Protectorate books, which I've quite enjoyed.

That night, I went to dinner and drinks with Chante' McCoy, Christine McMillan, Paul G., and his wife Tammy. We nerded out about writing and the Crimson Pact project, as Chante' is one of the writers, as well. Later, there was more drinking and some dancing as well. We were able to see a short set by Rachel Bloom, who was up for a Hugo for a song she wrote, the title of which I will not share at this time, as it is a little salty for this blog. A fun night.

Saturday featured some good hang-out time with Chante', Christine, Paul, and others. I sat down to a big dinner with Brad, Paul, and Gregory Wilson. I had a big steak. Herein began the "not so good" portion of our show.

After dinner, we went to the Hugo Awards Banquet. I was no sooner seated then I began to feel really poorly. I had to excuse myself. I did not get better after walking it off. I felt bad.

I went back to my hotel room and tried to wait it out, but started getting really concerned that something serious was going on with me. I was having a hard time breathing, sudden sweats, heart palpitations...not having any fun.

I called Paul (a cardiac nurse) to come and check me out. He assured me that I was okay, and that my heart sounded fine. The festivities, though, were over.

The drive home the next day was, well, really long and pretty darned miserable. I made it, though, and was in the house by 9:30 PM. I had to go to work the next day, which wasn't too cool, but what can you do?

In the end, I came home with a lot of good memories, and a pretty ugly case of the stomach-in-revolt blues. I hoping that I feel a hundred percent pretty soon, but as we speak, it's not quite there.

Hope you are all well, and thanks for reading this ludicrously long post.

Patrick

Promo Video for Crimson Pact v.2 and Red Bandanna Boys

2011-08-18T09:42:00.001-06:00

Folks: Check this out. Justin Swapp was nice enough to create videos like this for several of the new stories for the forthcoming Crimson Pact Volume 2. I think he did a great job.

Yep, it's me again; Renovation upcoming

2011-08-16T12:35:00.003-06:00

Well, here we have our remiss blogger once more straggling back in after being absent for a goodly chunk of time, and having failed to do what he said he would, in regard to keeping up at least a semi-constant stream of updates.

I will not offer any excuses. I will only begin telling you what's the what with me, and hoping that there are some people out there that have not entirely lost patience with this little journal and moved on to other, more interesting things, like watching paint dry.

I'm off to Reno for the Renovation edition of WorldCon tomorrow. It should be great. I'm going to be hanging out with my friends, including such august personages as Paul Genesse, Brad Bealieu, and Larry Correia. I'll be having fun, and very likely hitting the bar. I need it. Things have been tense.

I have a story coming out in the second Crimson Pact anthology called "Red Bandanna Boys", but I'll be blathering on about that at a later date. For the time being, just know that, yes, I'm still alive, and yes, I'm still writing. There are stories in the works. I've just finished a rather big poem that's horribly ambitious and possibly overblown. We'll see what happens when I send it out to someone.

Take Care,

Patrick

"No Tusks" reading with Paul Genesse

2011-05-30T10:15:00.003-06:00

For quite some time now, my friend Paul Genesse and I have been talking about doing a reading together. We've known each other since '93, were college room mates, and have done enough goofing around to know that a joint reading would be hilarious.

He invited me to help him read his story "No Tusks" at the CONduit convention in SLC this year. I voiced some of the characters, while he did the narration and the main character. Below is the video. Hope you like it.

Have You Seen Me?

2011-05-24T18:47:00.003-06:00

Yeah, so...I've been missing for a while. Like, face on the milk carton missing. I just noted that it has been two months to the day since my last post. Bad, bad blogger. For shame.

I have to admit that almost all my writing effort has been in the non-fiction vein over the last little while. I've been cuckoo for my new venture The Caveman Gym. In fact, I actually have even had a guest post at my friend Josh's website, The World's Strongest Librarian. Click on this sentence to read it.

I've:

Had a birthday
Visited with my mom for the first time since the Reagan Era
Hit some of my workout goals
Shot video
Done lots of dumb ass stunts, many caught on said videos
Gotten so tired I almost called in sick from work a few times
Gotten over it
Attempted unsuccessfully to do it all over again
Really gotten back into playing guitar
Built up a full 80 posts over at Caveman Gym, soon to be more
Been frustrated by the rain
Built shelves
Fertilized the lawn and killed the dandelions (ish)
Wrestled with my friend Chris and skinned my knee and elbow
Concocted more stunts I'm hoping to show you
And...oh yeah, not really had much success writing any fiction

It'll come back, I know it. I just have to make the time and put my butt in the chair with fingers on the keyboard. It's not as if my typing mojo has gotten weak. I almost always find myself writing at least a few thousand words a day. Just not the fiction words.

As for old business, it appears that The Crimson Pact is doing fairly well, and the reviews seem to be overwhelmingly positive. I have to get a wiggle on finishing my submissions for the next anthology, or I'll miss it.

Finally, I'm going to be at ConDuit in SLC this weekend. I think it'll be fun. I'll get a chance to catch up with my writer friends, who are hopefully getting more "actual" writing done than I am.

Peace,

Patrick

Swear the Crimson Pact!

2011-03-24T14:30:00.005-06:00

Watch this video to see what it's all about:

Some time ago, my friend Paul and I wrote a story called The Failed Crusade. It was going to be the origin story for an e-anthology of stories about the brave inhabitants of many worlds struggling against a demonic incursion. Sadly, the anthology never got off the ground.

The story, though, was pretty darned good, and so Paul was not satisfied to let the matter die. The original anthology may have fizzled, but it was still a viable project. He pitched the idea to his friend Steven Saus, and Steven was into it. Some months and a heck of a lot of work later, the e-book anthology has become a reality. It features 26 stories by a group a fine authors, including Larry Correia, a New York Times Bestselling Author and all around cool guy. (He wrote Monster Hunter International, Monster Hunter Vendetta, and the soon-to-be-released Hard Magic. Check his site out HERE.)

Back to the business at hand: The Crimson Pact. It is now out, and available for all formats of e-reader, as well as reading directly from your computer screen via .pdf format. It is going for $5, which is a fair price for an e-book that goes over 130k words. Two of my stories are featured, The Failed Crusade, and Red Test. Those, however, are in no way the only attractions. Paul Genesse, the editor, is a fine editor and a choosy guy. He only took the best stuff.

If you choose to buy The Crimson Pact from our website(the button furthest to the left), the authors will get the best level of compensation, and you will get a file including all the formats in which the book has been created, so that's the way to go. If, however, you find it more convenient to buy direct from the online retailer that supports your particular device (Amazon for the Kindle, Barnes and Nobel for the Nook, etc), links are on the top and bottom of the page. These links will route you to the appropriate website. The e-book will also respond to searches at the appropriate sites, if you're a rugged individualist and don't wish to follow the button links.

At long last...here's the link:

The Crimson Pact, Volume One

Please support the hard work and good writing that has gone into this anthology. Provided that we are able to sell a reasonable number of these e-books, we will be able to continue and have further volumes.

Thanks,

Patrick

The Winds of Khalakovo, By Brad Beaulieu

2011-03-14T18:16:00.002-06:00

Hey, Folks:

I just finished a great novel by my friend Brad. It's called The Winds of Khalakovo, and it is his debut novel. Not that you'd know it, because he's really honed his craft and put together a fine novel. It's available HERE, and I recommend that you buy it. Buy two and give one to a friend. Seriously.

Here's what I said in my review:

The Winds of Khalakovo is a beautiful, poignant, and powerful story. Nothing is easy for the characters. The consequences of their actions and the prices they must pay as the story unfolds are profound. With a rich tapestry of culture behind the tale, the sense of reality remains vivid all the way through. With subtlety and forethought, the author builds up hopes and expectations, only to confound them as plans fail and new revelations are learned.

Spoiler Alert:

We begin with Nikandr, a headstrong prince who lives with the secret that he is doomed, an incurable sickness gnawing away at him. He is one of the Landed, a czarist-Russian tinged culture who controls the islands with their Windships. The Aramahn, Turkish-influenced nomads who can call upon elemental spirits, aid them in their control of the winds and waters. The Maharraht, however, are a rebel sect of the Aramahn who want to destroy the Landed. Agents of the Maharraht are nearer to Nikandr than he imagines...

When the Grand Duke is killed by an elemental spirit and the Maharraht are implicated, a divisive investigation begins, revealing that the fabric that separates the material world from the elemental is torn, and that problems far graver than any rearrangement of society are afoot. Everything leads back to one troubled boy, the key to either healing the tear in reality or ripping it asunder.

Nikandr and the other characters must go beyond all they imagine themselves capable of to try and save Anuskaya.

End of Spoilers:

I highly recommend Brad's book. I think it is a fresh, compelling, and intoxicating new fantasy, one that will appeal readers of all stripes.

I still write stuff sometimes

2011-02-01T17:34:00.002-07:00

Yes, it's true. Of late, I've been writing primarily non-fiction, to support my new Caveman Gym website, but I don't want to give the impression that I have given up on the fiction stuff that I have been known to churn out from time to time.

Proof of this comes in the form of two submissions being, er, submitted yesterday. One has already been accepted (Viva!), and one I will not hear about for a while. I find that it is often the case that I take on just a few too many things, and I am unable to move forward on all fronts with equal efficiency. In some cases, I end up paralyzing myself with too many goals, and don't seem to get anything at all accomplished. I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

Let's delve into specifics. I've been attempting to populate a new website and spread the word about said website. I've been working out with some serious goals in mind. I've been shooting video. I've been working full time. Now and then, I like to talk to friends, eat, and sleep. This cuts into both my writing and my laying about time. Anyway...

As usual, I have several too many stories started, and several that are knocking about on my hard disks to no purpose, which need to be submitted. I intend to begin swimming toward the surface in this regard, such that at least some of my actionable stories are off in a slush pile somewhere, or busily being rejected by editors, or happily making their way toward publication. Yes, that's an awful sentence. I like it somehow. This being MY blog, it stays.

I am otherwise well. Included within the wellness is the news that I am on the verge of equaling my ancient personal record of 500 pounds on the trap bar deadlift. I got 495 this morning, should you choose to care. 505 is about all the weight that will fit on the implement, and I will soon fit said weight and hoist it up. Happy days, huh?

Alas, it has been a wintry winter here in SLC. I have gotten far too few chances to shoot my bows. I don't think it's healthy to take the wooden models out when its frigid, and in point of fact, my problem of "too many goals" has also stood in the way. This to, as they say, shall pass.

Hope you're all well, and take care.

The Caveman Gym Is Born

2011-01-07T11:46:00.002-07:00

Greetings, Friends.

Over the past year or so, you may have noticed that I'm just as likely to post info about my strange and possibly dangerous enthusiasm for strongman stuff as I am to talk about writing. It's not that I'm writing less, it's just that I'm finding a great amount of pleasure in the strongman stuff.

That said, this is my Writing Journal, and I don't necessarily want to inflict all this He-Man stuff on those of you who don't dig it. Thus, I've created a spot just for my strength pursuits. The big text below is click-able, and will take you there.

Behold The Caveman Gym!

Anyway, that's one of the things I've been up to. Cheers, and Happy New Year.

Pointless Subdivisions, Internet Cults, and Self Identification

2010-11-29T17:07:00.001-07:00

In my years of prowling the badlands of the 'Net, I've found that people will identify with a particular thing, and then go about defending that thing with unparalleled vigor, even to the point of drawing the ire of everyone to which they come in contact. This behavior pattern seems to be the same regardless of the subject matter, or whether more than five people in all the world care about the argument. It could be a favored band, type of music, diet, exercise regime, anything.

Here is how you're likely to encounter this phenomenon:

"This is the thing that I (use/like/do/listen to/subscribe to): It is right, all other ways are wrong, and anyone who doesn't agree with me is a no-nothing !@#%!%."

In person, these individuals may be more circumspect in their assertion of their correctness, but on the 'Net, where one needn't be nice, or even engage in conduct generally becoming of a mammal, things can get ugly.

The sad thing is, the more obscure the issue, the more that these individuals distance themselves from those who might "dig" what they're talking about. It seems that the internecine violence and trash-talk grows more intense with the level of not-caring that is present in the average person. For instance, there are bloody religious wars about which plain text editor people like to use in Linux (.5% of the populace cares). There are terrible flame wars about which Black Metal bands are "true to the ethos" or "appropriately cold sounding" (most people are horrified within the first ten seconds). I don't even need to go deeply into actual religion, politics, or philosophy to illustrate this point, I shouldn't think.

Now, the most recent spate of this behavior that I've been seeing is in regards to the methods in which people choose to exercise. Specifically, the "style" of resistance training they choose to do. The power lifters give the Bronx Cheer to those who do arm curls. The Olympic Weightlifters lament the useless brawn of the power lifters. The bodybuilders shake their heads at the lack of aesthetic beauty and symmetry in a strength athlete. The guys slinging kettlebells are sure they've found "the way". The strongmen flipping tractor tires talk about "functional strength".

All of them are right, if what they're doing is meeting their goals and giving them peace of mind. All of them are wrong if they think that the answer that works for them will work for everyone. Everyone's body is different, everyone's goals lie in a trajectory only they understand. You don't like arm curls, and think they're a waste of gym time? Great. Don't do 'em. For others, maybe putting beef on their biceps is exactly what they want. Are they wrong? We don't get to make that choice. We should be happy that people are enjoying hoisting a weight, no matter why or how they choose to do it.

The same goes for music, or diet, or any of the thousand things that people champion on the 'Net. Hey, don't get me wrong. I think we should all be free to talk about what we like, what we do, what works for us. Someone looking for a new way of thinking or acting might read what we say and be swayed toward something that will be come "it" for them. We have the obligation, though, to put our ideas and beliefs forward in a positive way, with reasoned arguments in their favor. Regardless of what some people would have you believe, it IS our responsibility to act well on the 'Net. Flaming someone who thinks differently from you is NOT acceptable behavior.

I think this all comes down to wanting to belong, to self-identification. We are in a big world, with a great deal of information coming at us every day. We want to have a set of touchstones, our articles of faith, with which we can protect ourselves and cut the world down into edible segments. It's the remnants of the cave-folk from which we sprung. We decide what we believe, and that makes it easier. We fashion an "us" and a "them". It's a dangerous path, though. We shut too much out, we reduce things to the point of absurdity. We act as the agents of our own stultification.

If you find yourself on the verge of a cranky rant about some fine point of an obscure topic, think about it for a moment. If you were about to say, "Only wimps and poseurs would use the Smith Machine to squat," or, "real Black Metal sounds like Transylvanian Hunger," maybe you should step back, count to ten, and just be happy that someone else actually has an opinion about the topic you hold dear.

On that note, my own cranky rant is now concluded.

Build Ludicrous Strength with Cinderblocks!

2010-11-20T11:31:00.002-07:00

You say you don't have enough money to join a gym. You don't have the time to do the workouts you've heard of. You don't have any space in your house to store big exercise equipment. You get bored with the lifts you've been doing, and they don't appear to be doing all you hoped they would. Perhaps you've been working out, but noticed that, even with increases in your lifting totals, you're not feeling an increase in functional strength.

If you find any of the statements above cover issues you've been grappling with, I've got good news. There's a single, simple lifting implement you can buy for less than five dollars, and it'll give you a great, dynamic, scalable workout. What is it? A cinderblock.

Yep, that's right. You won't need to go to a sports store. Think more along the lines of a home improvement warehouse.

Why a cinderblock? Well, for one thing, they're fairly heavy, and this weight can be multiplied when they're held in a way that provides negative leverage. Second, they can be held in a variety of ways, since they're essentially an enclosed "H" pattern. Their inexpensive nature has already been mentioned. Finally, they don't need special care. They're all-weather. They can be treated roughly. They can be replaced if they get worn or broken.

What do you need? At least one cinderblock, sturdy gloves to protect your hands, protective shoes, and a flat place outside. That's right. Outside. Where we don't go nearly enough anymore. It might be hot, or cold, or somehow inclement. Go with it. It makes you feel more primal if you're hoisting something heavy in the snow.

What can you do with a cinderblock? Just about anything you can do with a dumbbell or kettlebell. In hand, they can be used for all manner of moves, both single and double handed. They can also be used as blocks to raise you off the ground, for instance to stand on while doing high pulls. Modified pushups using one or three cinderblocks can yield excellent results, as well. If you have some sort of bar, you can even rig a 'block on each side and have an ersatz barbell. If you want to get really junk yard dog, have your bar be a simple cut section of 1/2 inch rebar. Or the axle from an old Dodge Dart. That'll give you some street cred.

Finally, when simple weight lifting moves are getting easy, cinderblocks can be made even more challenging by throwing and catching them in a variety of ways. This forces your body to not only accelerate the implement suddenly (generally recruiting all the stabilizing and skeletal muscles of the body in a dynamic, positive contraction), but you must catch and thus decelerate the implement, which will require you to key all the opposing muscle groups in a negative repetition. In both cases, the body will encounter significantly higher loading than you might guess, considering the modest weight of the cinderblock itself. Oh, and it's pretty darned fun, too.

Tell me about the benefit, you say. Okay. Number one, cinderblocks will challenge your grip, wrist, and forearm strength much more than the equivalent lifts with dumbbells. This is because you're going to have to lift them with either a pinch, flat hand, or hook grip, none of which are as easy as holding a narrow-gauge iron bar. Because of a cinderblocks's shape, the leverage will also scale more aggressively as it swings from one orientation to another, thus giving the illusion of being heavier than it really is.

Because cinderblocks can be used for dynamic, full-body movements, the workout can be finished quite quickly. Aggressively lift a cinderblock for fifteen minutes, and you'll feel it. Not just in your muscles, but in your cardiovascular system. Challenge yourself to take short breaks and to move the 'block steadily, and you'll find that you're huffing and puffing before long.

So: with a cinderblock workout, you've got total body recruitment in most exercies, short, intense workouts, cardiovascular upside, and strong upside in functional strength. If you routinely sling cinderblocks, any weird item you'll have to hoist in daily life will probably seem pretty easy.

Some warnings and caveats: Cinderblocks are, by their nature, hard to hang on to. You'll drop them from time to time. Keep your safety gear on at all times, and keep your wits about you. 'Blocks are also, well, evil. They are essentially designed to break toes and create abrasions to skin. You may have to progress slowly, working up to the more challenging movements. You'll certainly have to bail on a lift now and then, so it doesn't end up clobbering you. For this reason, DON'T use them in a furnished part of your house. This is a great way to force yourself to learn how to spackle, or repair that nice coffee table you like so much. If you have to do 'block work indoors, do it in a garage or unfinished basement room (make sure you won't hit the ceiling with overhead lifts). Also, any time you're working on a hard surface, like concrete, remember that you will crack your 'block if you drop it very often. Find a patch of grass, or at least put down some of that gym matting for your floor. Can you hurt yourself with a cinderblock. Yes. The same is true of any heavy object. If you're somewhat circumspect, however, they are not dangerous. Just challenging.

Should you start throwing cinderblocks if you haven't arisen from the couch in several years? Not before you do a little background work, and see a doctor to make sure you're in good health. If you've been working out in other ways, though, doing a quick 'block workout a few times a week can yield great benefits. If you want to see what it's all about, check out the first in my video series about 'block workouts, below. If you want to know more about this and other strength stunts, please visit my listing at http://www.youtube.com (search for thorwulfx1).

Happy hoisting!

The Wonders of Air Travel; The Writin' Life

2010-11-09T13:56:00.002-07:00

As promised, I'm going to go over some of the joyous things that happened on my air travel adventures. First of all, when Paul G. and I got to the airport, they cleverly kept changing the gate at which we were supposed to be waiting. Big fun.

When we were finally allowed to get on the plane (I'd rather get IN the plane, thank you), we ended up hanging around for a long, long time. There was some repair work that had been done to the plane, and it required there to be signatures and so on. Those signatures took longer than the first continental congress to come in, I swear. I was ready to get out before we started moving toward the runway.

The plane in question was one of the spiffy (not) MD-90 commuter jets. I have, to anyone who would listen, sung the suck of the MD-88 and MD-90 airplanes. Now, I have nothing against the plane itself. I'm sure it's a perfectly nice aircraft. But when the airlines get done with them, putting about 1/3 too many seats in, they become cattle cars, and I find them deviously uncomfortable.

So, a few deviously uncomfortable hours later, we arrived in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Upon disembarking (I don't de-plane, it's a religious conviction), Paul G. looked back and said the following: "We're gonna have to run!".

And run we did. Paul G. was on the cross country team, the basketball team, and was an 800 meter runner. I played football, wrestled, and threw the shot put. There are reasons for these choices. They stem from basic morphology. Now, I could run a 5:45 mile back in my prime. Wearing a backpack, fifty pounds heavier, after having been squashed into an airplane like a sardine for three hours, eighteen years later...well, let's say I cannot run a 5:45 mile. Or anything approximating it.

With two minutes until the doors closed for good, we were the better part of a half mile away from our gate. Someone yelled, "You can make it!" to us. This was true in Paul's case. As for me, I ended up out of breath, sweating, and at the wrong gate. Despite Paul's best efforts, they would not hold the plane, and we were thus separated. I urge you, gentle readers, to refrain from making judgments on Paul for this. It was unclear when the next open seat would be, and if there would be two on the same plane.

I found myself speaking to a very apologetic gate agent, while I began to regain my breath. I'm afraid that there was some kind of allergen or pollutant in the air at the airport, as I was coughing for the rest of the day, as was Paul. I ended up on a later flight, on an even smaller plane, a CRJ-something or another. This one found me in a seat at the very back of the plane, about nine inches from one of the engines. I could, without exaggeration, look directly into the turbine as it spun. Good fun.

When, at last, I got to Columbus, I took a cab to the hotel. My reasoning skills had by then departed, and I inadvertently tipped the driver ten bucks (50% tip, thanks). Ugh. At least everything else would run smoothly...

Or so I thought, until the morning of the flight back, when I noticed that my flight was scheduled for Tuesday. It was Sunday. Oops. I threw myself on the mercies of the Delta people, and ended up having to pay upwards of $300 extra for the privilege of going on substandard jets, in tight conditions, and generally being miserable for the rest of the day.

Upon arriving in Detroit, where my connection was, I was only about ten minutes in advance of final boarding for my plane to SLC. Of course, I was in C terminal, gate 23, and the gate I needed to get to was as far as humanly possible from there, at A 78. Yeah, 78. I had to run. Again. I had to go to the bathroom with every fiber of my being. I was not able to do so. I love air travel.

To top everything off, the plane I was on for the final leg, an Airbus A330, had a servo motor that kept firing, making an awful grinding noise, right under my seat. And it was another hour before I was able to finally visit the restroom. So that's the story.

On to other things: I've finally got my zombie epic (20K words), "All These Violent Heirlooms" finished. It's with my writer buddy, Julie Frost, getting marked up now. As soon as it's ready, which will likely include being cut in half and sent as two installments, it'll go off to Tales of the Zombie War. I'm looking forward to finally having that one in the public eye (provided that they accept...).

On a side note to that, I just learned that I have the fifth most popular story in the history of the site, with "Those Who Fall in Silence" having enjoyed well over 4,000 hits thus far.

I've also completed rough work on another story, "Hunting Season Again", which I'll need to find a market for in the coming days.

That's about it for now. Look for a video sometime soon, as I have yet to share a good number of my videos, and plan to post some new ones as soon as the weather is nice enough to get a good image of some of my new foolish stunts.

Hope you're well, and take care!

World Fantasy 2010

2010-11-01T19:23:00.002-06:00

Had a great time at WF this year. Roomed with my friends Paul Genesse and Brad Beaulieu. Hung out with too many awesome people to easily recount, including my friends Ken and Kelly Swails. Brad B.'s book, Winds of Kahalakovo (sp?), is coming out on April 1st (no joke). He, Kelly, and Paul did a joint reading from the book, and I think it's going to be beautiful, action packed, and generally going to kick major ass. Pick it up, if you know what's good for you.

Went to many great panels and readings, including one on Icelandic lit, which was very informative. Dug the readings I went to, including a big battle-royale reading by a bunch of the Black Gate writers. That was fun, and kept me out of noisy parties all evening.

I'm pretty charged up about the whole thing. Only downside to the whole trip was the travel part, wherein it all turned pear shaped. I'll recount that episode on another day, probably, except for the part the Paul G. and I swore would never be spoken of again.

In any case, I'll end here with another video, this one of my "Serenity Bend", where I get all Zen-like as I squash a nail, or something.

Hope you're well, and you dig the video.

Destroying tools, part two

2010-10-18T18:36:00.004-06:00

Okay, so I hated this wrench. It's the crappiest crescent wrench I've ever used. I took my revenge, snapping it in half. Check out the pic below. It gave way really easily. Not much of a feat, but it made me feel good. Take care, folks.

You, too, can bend a nail!

2010-10-18T16:40:00.002-06:00

Hey, Folks. I've been busy posting more videos, and these include a series that gives you the basics of bending nails (or any short steel), in case you're inclined to take up the hobby. The video below is the first of four instructional posts, and there's also one of me just bending a whole passel of nails to the groovy sounds of Bolt Thrower's "K Machine". That one might scare your co-workers or the family pet, so watch the volume. If the video below doesn't suggest the others in the series, you can see all my videos by going to YouTube and typing in thorwulfx1 into the search.

Happy viewing!

Footage of the events, as they happen!

2010-10-11T12:38:00.002-06:00

Hey, Folks.

I'm up on Youtube! Of course, I'm shooting. Hope you enjoy the video below, as I sure enjoyed making it, except for a few "learning" moments with the video editing software. The footage was shot with the help of my friend Chris, as well as simply by aiming the camera and leaning it against something. I have a little Kodak "Play" camera, and it's working pretty well, I think.

Anyway, that's the news for now!

I Am In Love, and Other Observations

2010-09-27T19:04:00.002-06:00

Rhapsodizing:

My first one had wheels. Cams, really. The Bowtech Black Knight 2, a compound bow featuring a formidable 80# draw weight, IBO rating of 353 feet per second, and an exacting nature that has been illuminated in some of my earlier posts. Compound bows are fantastical devices of great efficiency and power. I would, without reservation, recommend them to hunters and sharpshooters who want to diversify into something beyond rifles and pistols. You'll find that, once well set up, a compound bow will probably out shoot any pistol you have, as well as offering terminal performance that exceeds all but the ultra-magnums, which are in no way easy to shoot in their own right.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Black Knight 2, while admittedly applying just about as much energy on target as is available, features fearsome levels of penetration. A 1250 page phone book was fully pierced by an arrow at 20 yards, with sufficient additional energy to push 6 to 8 inches into the target bag behind the book. That's plenty of power to take down anything on the continent, if you're a hunting enthusiast. Moose and bear included. If you put the arrow where it needs to be, something that a compound bow does not make unduly difficult, the animal will quickly succumb to its wounds. Think in terms of pistol ranges, however, with a 40 or 50 yard shot being at the edges of most people's ability to safely attempt. This is not to say the bows cannot shoot further, this is a limitation of the archer and his ability to practice at extended range. Professional archers routinely shoot at 90 or more yards with great precision. For most of us, though, we tend to find it hard to get a safe location where we can attempt such distances.

The following question comes to mind: Why would anyone want to shoot any type of bow outside a compound? For many, those I might term "functional archers", they may find their alpha and omega in the compound bow. They are the most powerful, quietest, most accurate bows (for the layman) in existence. For many people who have shot firearms, especially long guns, they may find that the learning curve is fairly painless. If you can take a good stance, draw the bow to its stop, aim and hold steady, it's likely that your shot will hit very nearly where you're aiming. Compound bows are built in such a way as to make good accuracy an expectation, rather than a hard-won goal.

That, perhaps, is very much the answer to the question referred to above. The skill required to shoot adequately to the purposes of deer season can be honed, at least by the shooter with some aptitude, over the course of a few months of consistent shooting. Of course, this isn't the end of the road, as there are always greater levels of marksmanship and consistency to be reached, but the ability to hit the vitals of a large mammal at 15 to 40 yards is often fruit that hangs low on the vine with a good compound bow.

This last statement cannot, in most cases, be proven true with bows that lack the technical aids of sights, release aids, stabilizers, and sophisticated arrow rests. Traditional bows, as they are frequently called. It would be a foolish and unsupportable argument to make, were I to attempt to convince you that traditional bows, essentially bent sticks of wood or some elastic material, were superior in technical terms to a compound bow. They are not. They cannot store as much energy, or transfer it to the arrow as efficiently. They are far more reliant upon the flawed perceptions and spacial relationships of the human eye. They are in no way as simple to learn (to shoot--maintenance and tuning of a compound can be quite complex).

However, when we thought of bows as children, when we read of the great exploits of archers in the days of yore, or when we envisioned bold heroes shooting down their enemies in our favorite fantasy novels, we did not picture the sophisticated machinery of a compound bow, did we? We pictured the graceful line of a "D" shaped longbow, or the sinuous outline of a recurve. We imagined the hard-won skill of an archer being the work of years, attributable to thousands of arrows shot and the keen honing of her abilities to account for distance, arc, windage, and angle of the terrain.

For some of us, this greater level of difficulty and involvement are in no way a deterrent. They are very much an element we rejoice in, for the road is longer and more fraught with obstacles along the way. We can be more involved with the success or failure of each shot. When we hit the gold center of the target, it means more. We can trace a line back down thousands of years of human experience, knowing that the gentle thrum of the bow, followed by the almost inaudible whisper of the arrow and then the solid thunk of the impact on target are a point of commonality between us and our ancient forebears. We are participating in and extending the allure and wonder of archery.

I've found, over the course of my admittedly short history of bow shooting, that I tend more toward traditional bows than compounds. If asked today to do some functional task with a bow, I would fall back to the compound, but for the joy of shooting, I just feel more of an affinity to the simpler mechanism of a traditional bow. While I rarely shoot more than 30 to 40 times with the Black Knight, I have been known to shoot literally hundreds of times through a day with my traditional bows. Some of that, perhaps, is attributable to the stern draw of the BK2, but that's not the whole story. There is something else at play that keeps me out there, shooting and retrieving arrows after I should probably have gone in.

Okay, that's enough rhapsodizing for now. Let's get down to the news I wanted to convey for this week.

Love, Loss, and the Whole Affair:

I am, after some false starts and difficulties, the proud owner of a longbow. That last requires explanation, I suppose, so I'll start from the beginning and take you through the whole affair.

After having experienced the unalloyed joy of the PSE Snake recurve, then the beauty and surprising authority of the PSE Blackhawk wooden recurve, I took stock of my experiences thus far. I had a compound. I had two recurves, which a large percentage of "traditional" bows resemble. I did not, however, have a longbow of any sort. Advice given to me by a sage archer indicated that a bow that was longer would be more forgiving, and produce less string pinch on the fingers than its shorter counterpart. This launched me into a fact-finding frenzy wherein I scoured the 'Net to see what was out there, how people liked the offerings, and what I'd have to spend to get something of my own. I'd unwittingly built my brickwork in such a way as to trap myself into a mode of thinking that would result in my purchasing a longbow. I should fight against these unseen stratagems, but they are, in their early stages, well, unseen. Drats. Onward, then.

I was knocking around at Cabela's outfitters several weeks ago, and I happened to go by the "Bargain Cave" area of the store, where they have a variety of close-outs, factory seconds, returns, and other marked-down products. There, leaning against the wall behind another bow rack filled with interesting but not immediately purchase-worthy bows, was a PSE Sequoia longbow, 55# at 68". It was long, it was tall, it was gorgeous. It was also marked down about $40. The danger part was in the "as is, no return" mark on the price tag. That, and the lack of string or arrow pass protective "bear hair" stick on material.

I was throw into mental turmoil by this discovery. It was one of the leading candidates on my list of possibilities for purchase. Early competition came from the Fred Bear Montana Longbow, but I was underwhelmed with its appearance in person, as well as wondering if a paltry increase of 4 inches in length above my recurves would provide the requisite difference in "feel".

So, the Sequoia. I agonized for several minutes, looking it over as thoroughly as I could under the circumstances. It seemed sound. I purchased a string to fit the bow, and had the techs set up a knocking point for me. Using the indoor range, any reservations I may have had were erased, as I was able to put every arrow suitable to the purpose of longbow shooting into their bull's eye. I was smitten, and utterly lost, it seemed.

I arrived at home and faced the understandable consternation that comes from witnessing a person in the grips of bow madness. I strung the bow to show how prettily it made the "D" shape. I was making inroads into explaining myself. I then pulled the bow back to anchor, just as a demonstration. I noticed a bit of a creaking noise. Brow furrowed, I pulled once more, of course letting the bow down easily, as one must. More crackling. I examined the bow, finding that there was a tiny sliver of fiberglass sticking up. "Well," I thought. "Perhaps that's nothign fatal. I could just dab a bit of epoxy on that spot. We'll just..."

I pulled the bow once more. This time, the crackling came with rather more volume. My heart plummeted as I saw that nearly a half an inch of fiberglass had begun to lift on the lower limb of the bow.

After a frenzied call and much worry and consternation, I brought the bow back the next day. To their great credit, Cabela's allowed me to return it and gave me a full refund. I was warned, however, that Bargain Cave items don't guarantee any of that. I imagine there may be a "fool me twice" clause in their records. I resolved at that moment to buy only things that couldn't harbor unseen flaws from that area in the future.

So, that evening, I sat at home, the proud owner of a bow stringer, a Flemish twist string, and a bow slip case for a bow I no longer possessed. Not, as you can imagine, an ideal turn of events. Accouterments are fine things, of course, but they are nothing without their primary implement.

Approximately a week of agonizing followed. At last, I decided to give PSE and the Sequoia another chance. After all, I didn't know what had happened to that other bow before I'd taken possession of it. It could have been abused, dry-fired, or otherwise compromised. That production run could have been plagued with issues. Who knows? I elected to buy the next bow directly from PSE, however, as I didn't have any desire to get a middle man involved. If the bow blew up immediately, I was going to be able to talk directly with the manufacturer.

Search as I might, there were no Sequoias available above 50# anywhere, so I went with that weight. My rationale for going with a higher weight than my recurve was that longbows are rarely quite as efficient in producing cast versus weight, and that they tend to need slightly less spine stiffness in their arrows. Thus, a higher draw longbow would probably work with the arrows that its lighter recurve compatriot prefers. In theory.

The Sequoia took its darned sweet time coming. Holy moley. Weeks. I pined away and continued to have quiet bouts of fear that the second bow would be afflicted with the same problems as the first. I had time to second and third-guess myself.

The bow came, however, and theories were then exposed to the observable facts. First, all of the positive things I'd observed about the first bow were still in evidence. It was light, pointable, and could be made to hit the target without massive difficulties. Honestly, the difference in feel between 55# and 50# were not terribly obvious to me. Both of them, despite their modest draw weight, threw an arrow with obvious power, depositing them in the target with a satisfying thud.

My first impressions were that the bow was very quiet upon loose, and responded best to a smooth, deliberate approach. The speed I employed to draw to anchor generally slowed, compared to the recurve, which seemed happy enough with coming back to anchor as quickly as I chose. The 50# in the longbow feels more than five pounds more than the Blackhawk recurve's 45#, having a decidedly "man's bow" aura about it. This extends, to some degree, to the grip and hand shock qualitatives.

With the arrows I'd been using for the Blackhawk (GT Pro Hunter 55/75s at full length with a 100 grain tip), there was a bit of extra handshock, and the bow shot somewhat to the left, indicating an excess of spine. With the Cabela's Stalker Extremes and 125 grain tips, the handshock decreased and the bow shot straighter.

I initially tried split fingers, but quickly settled upon the three-fingers-under method as being more suitable to the bow. (As a note, I've gone back to three fingers with everything but the Snake as of now.) The handgrip initially came with a buckskin-type wrap of black leather. While this was pretty enough, the wrap wrinkled under my palm and caused me to get a blister on my first day out. I removed the wrap, only to find that very tenacious glue had been used to hold it on. I had quite a time getting it off, but it has, at last, been vanquished.

As for commentary in terms of hand shock, with an arrow that runs somewhat over 400 grains, the quality is, to me, pleasing. It should be mentioned that I have quite rugged hands and wrists, and have been known to be somewhat recoil-insensitive. The best way for me to describe the handshock of the Sequoia is to say it is like a big cam lobe turning and allowing a heavy pushrod to come to its rest. To me, it feels very reassuring in the hand. I don't know of any earthly reason for a wrapped handle, as there is a slim arrow shelf on this bow. The tapered handle, with differing hand placements, should be fine, just being wood. This should particularly be the case, if you're able to hold the bow with the webbing between your thumb and forefinger, as has often been recommended.

I installed some string dampeners that are humorously dubbed "Beaver Balls". All kidding aside, they're small bits of beaver pelt that one wraps around the string and secures by sliding them between filaments therein. They only further dampen the bow, allowing it to be even quieter. The Sequoia makes no more than a low mutter as it propels the arrow, provided that I don't twist or otherwise interfere with the string with a clumsy release.

Power-wise, arrows from the Blackhawk and Sequoia seem to penetrate a broadhead target (with broadheads) about the same distance. I would say that their energy may be roughly commensurate. With a heavier arrow, it is possible that the Sequoia may be able to confer slightly more, but I believe that the Blackhawk may have the edge in efficiency. With that, the sound of the arrow arriving at the target is decidedly different with the Sequoia. It seems, for lack of a better description, to just have a more powerful, authoritative sound.

Accuracy is, and will always be, something that is produced by the synergy of the archer and the bow. Generalizations are difficult to make, I think. That said, I will attempt to confer some useful information. With the Sequioa, it is easier to hit the dead center of the target, whether it be a gold area on the paper, or the middle of a milk jug. That said, it is also easier to have a lapse in form and have the arrow go significantly astray. The Sequoia is harder on my draw hand, and I've had mildly sore fingers after some extended shoots. I already mentioned the blister on my bow hand, though it has now become a callous.

I have been shooting the Sequoia nearly every day now, and though I have also interspersed shooting with my other bows, it has become the one I use the most. I am in no way less enthused about the Blackhawk or the Snake than I was, but the Sequoia...there's something about it.

I should, before I close up this long rumination, say a few things about the Sequoia and how it compares to other longbows. In today's market, longbows can come in a variety of sizes and shapes. The "modern longbow" is often, in fact, a flatbow, with the limbs being flat on the face and belly, exhibiting a rectangular structure.

Another term you may see is "American Longbow", which indicates a cross-pollination between standard English Longbows and the flat bow, which many Native American tribes used in antiquity. In addition, the modern or American longbow will usually have a slim arrow rest. They can also have "reflexed" limbs or a "deflexed" grip that does not flex in the hand. Reflexed limbs, when unstrung, flex slightly away from the handle. Not so much as to be recurved, but perhaps a total of several degrees of reflex between the two limbs. The Sequoia does this, by the way. Deflexed handles are somewhat forward of the limbs, and are said to reduce hand shock somewhat. Most modern longbows are flat, have an arrow shelf, and are built with some moderate reflex/deflex. Sequoia is, by all these terms, a modern longbow. That said, it still produces the classic "D" shape when braced, and has many of the classic advantages of a longbow. With its bamboo and fiberglass-backed limbs, though, it produces more power at its draw weight than a classic longbow would do.

Talking in Definitions:

What, then, is a classic longbow? The most essential answer to that would be a single piece of wood, most frequently yew, in which the back of the bow would be flat, and made from the outer ring of "sap wood", while the belly of the bow would be round in profile, using the heart wood. The bow would be straight as a pole or slightly curved toward the string's curvature (referred to as "following the string" or "taking set"), and would feature no arrow shelf, allowing either right or left-handed people to shoot the same bow, by shooting off of their bow hand knuckle. At most, a handle of wrapped cord, fabric, or rawhide would be provided. The handle would be essentially round. In the most archaic versions of a longbow, it would "work through the grip", which means that the grip itself would flex slightly as one drew back the string. Later versions strengthened the grip area sufficiently to prevent this flex.

Classic longbows could be made from laminations, if good yew wood were not available, though. Woods that were frequently used included lancewood, hickory, and several others. The very heavy longbows that were used in warfare were mostly made with laminations of yew, often from the Spanish or Italian mountains. These conformed to the longbow shape, but were generally referred to as War Bows. As testament to the rigors that humans are willing to embark upon when called to defend their country, these war bows featured very high draw weights, sometimes upward of 150#. While but few of us today, with our video game fingers and noodle like arms, could manage to draw such mighty bows, the little folk of years gone by twisted, contorted, and sometimes literally altered their frames to do so. It's said that the muscle and joint structures of an archer from the 15th century are clearly marked by the difficulties of his trade.

In today's age, if you want to get a bow that conforms to a classic longbow's ideals, you'll want to look at bows marked "English Longbow", or perhaps one of the sort marked "Primitive Bows". I have yet to go that far back into history, but that doesn't mean that I won't. If I do, you'll surely hear about it on Wolf Hawkwind. After this intolerably long blog, then, I'll just leave you with this. Longbows, modern or not, have a certain magic. I've felt that magic, and I am in love.

Range Report 9/15/10

2010-09-15T11:34:00.001-06:00

Hey, folks:

Here's the latest archery news from this quadrant.

Night Gallery:

I'm pleased to say that the new orientation of my target backstop, now itself being backstopped by the garage, is working out swimmingly. I can shoot from a variety of angles and distances, up to about 22 yards, with no problems, and without putting any innocent bystanders in danger.

As a bonus, the change puts the backstop on the east end of the backyard, which allows for late afternoon shooting without facing the sun. Also, this is the "light" end of the yard at night, with some residual illumination from a nearby street lamp. Thus, my night gallery* hi jinx are easier to pull off. I just put my little battery powered lamp on the patio table, and I have all the light I could need, even on a cloudy night. It's pretty swell, considering that, at least two days per week, it's dark by the time I come home from work, and I might still need to scratch "that itch".

Heavy Arrows:

I read more about arrow weight vs. draw weight in the various nooks and crannies of the Internet, and found that my arrows were not necessarily overly heavy for the draw weight/length of my recurve, the sweet 'lil PSE Blackhawk. To test, I tried using a heavy (nearly 600 grain) Easton 2317 aluminum arrow at @30 overall length. Now, this is a bit short and a lot too stiff for the bow in question, but I wanted to feel what the difference would be in terms of shooting dynamics. The structure of the Blackhawk recurve's arrow shelf is such that it gives you about two inches of effective overdraw, as the hollow of the handle is well forward of the back of the arrow shelf. This allowed me, with care, to shoot the 2317s, which had been prepared for a compound bow.

I found out a few things. One, a heavier arrow does, indeed make a recurve shoot somewhat more smoothly. While the arrows I normally use, which are a few hundred grains lighter, don't produce any untoward hand shock or loud noise, the heavier arrows made the release nearly "dead in the hand" and quieted the bow even further. Downside? The big Eastons shoot way to the left, as they've got too much spine stiffness.

My second experiment, and the goofier one, was to fill one of my Gold Tip carbons, which are more or less correctly spined for the bow, with sand, to see how that turned out. I did. According to the rough accuracy of a food scale, the weight went from 30 grams (around 460 grains) to 64 grams (around 1,000 grains). The arrow shot fine, hit the target with a heck of a wallop, but moved pretty darned slowly. Obviously, the elevation aiming point changed.

In the end, I shot the weighted and unweighted arrows cheek by jowel, and found that there wasn't enough difference to fiddle with all of them, trying to get the right amount of sand in each one. Anyway, I wonder how healthy that would have been for the arrows, over the long haul.

Because I'm still interested in a little more weight, I've ordered 145 grain bullet points for the Gold Tip arrows, just to see how that goes. It would add 45 grains to the front of the arrow, and it's possible that it will push them close to being underspined for the recurve, but we'll see. On the other hand, they might be the very thing for the longbow that I have on order (more on that in a moment).

Lean Angles, Draw Hand and Alternate Shooting Stances:

I noticed that, for a few shooting sessions with my Blackhawk, I was having some problems with shooting to the right, which was a new one. It turned out that I was canting the bow too much, a bleed-over from the best angle for the Snake, which is more over-spined with the Cabela's Stalker Extreme arrows I'm using. I straightened up, and hey, the arrows flew a true course. Wonder of wonders.

I've gone back to a split finger draw with the Blackhawk. After a few light hearted shots without any draw hand protection one day, I found that the split finger felt more natural with that bow. I've been using it since, and find it to cause less asymmetrical force on the string, as well as being comfortable and repeatable. I'm not closing the book on three-fingers-under, but for my recurves, split fingers seems to be the very thing.

Shooting from alternate stances has been something that I've been interested in of late. I have tried, in small measure, a variety of different ways of shooting. These include stooping or squatting, kneeling, and even sitting down. I can do all of these with pretty decent results with the Snake, but I've practiced less with the Blackhawk.

I did quite a bit of practice yesterday. Here are my findings. From a double-knee kneeling posture, I'm possibly more accurate than standing up. It's very natural. I don't really have to change anything, and I'm still far enough from the ground to use my normal bow lean without worrying about hitting the ground (with a 60 inch bow). Kneeling with one knee (left) up, is not too bad, but not quite as natural as double knee. I think it might "open" my effective stance a little more than I'm used to. Still, it's certainly not bad. Seated position makes me lean the Blackhawk too far, and the aim point is such that I have to aim several inches to the left of my target. Offset aiming in two vectors is tough for my little brain to work out sometimes, so I feel like that one's sort of a no-go. As to stooping, as long as the shot isn't really long, it works just fine.

Going Lefty and Snap Shooting:

I've been having great fun shooting the Snake bow left handed. I find that, if I'm deliberate, I can get really good results. Due to the change in flight dynamics (something of a mystery to me), I can hold the bow nearly straight up and down, and get good flight from the left handed stance. Go figure. Anyway, that takes one thing out of the loop in terms of things to remember. I may, at some point, get a bow with now arrow shelf, so that I can trade back and forth with a heavier bow than the Snake. As it stands, it's my trick bow.

I read about short bows and snap shooting online, and was interested to see if I could do it. I'd been trying snap shooting (not pulling the string back all the way, using a floating aiming point and just "eyeballing" where the arrow will go) while pretending a milk jug was a fish, but I hadn't tried it while shooting at a standard target.

Well, I tried it with the Blackhawk last night. From ten yards away, I'm pretty darned good at it, it turns out. The thing that really surprised me is the power retained while not pulling the bow back more than about 20 or 22 inches (a guess). It still thuds into the target with pretty good power. I would venture a guess that, with practice, one could get nearly as good from 7 to 10 yards at snap shooting as they are when shooting conventionally. Great fun, and lets you know what the cultures whose bows wouldn't pull back to the chin/mouth/ear anchor had to contend with. I should mention that, to my knowledge, most archaic cultures that used shorter bows had this constraint. It's do-able, though. Just like anything, it takes practice with the bow in question. If you're to be a real archery student, I think you'll find it worth a go.

Waiting for My Longbow:

I purchased a PSE Sequoia longbow (55#) a few weeks ago from Cabela's "Bargain Cave", after having been smitten and altogether put beyond the reach of reason by its beauty and sweet shooting. However, someone had obviously mistreated the bow before I took possession of it, as it began to de-laminate upon the first test draw when I got it home. I took the bow back, and though they didn't have to, as it was an "as is" purchase, Cabela's did allow me to return the bow for a refund.

I was so bummed out. In reality, I was in the dumps about the whole thing. I had liked that bow, big time. Should I trust the make/model again, or should I look for my entertainment elsewhere? On the night of Labor Day, I made up my mind. I would order another one, this time from PSE directly. So I did. I am still waiting for the bow, as there was an inventory issue, it seems. There were no 55# bows available, so I ordered a 50# instead. I just got confirmation that it shipped today, so I hope that it will appear at my house by Friday or Saturday. Expect a detailed report. Man, I hope this one holds together and shoots like the other one. I've got a Flemish Twist string (nock point installed and everything), a bow case, a stringer, some string silencers, and a Bear Hair rest for this bow. It had better do me right. I think it will, though, because my experience with my other two PSE bows has been so positive.

All right, that's enough for now. Hope everyone's well.

* Note: Night Gallery is what my cousin Bob dubbed my archery practice in the dark.

New Contributed Story at NBNS!

2010-09-13T17:56:00.003-06:00

Hey Folks,

Big News (well, big for me, anyway)!

My friend Kelly Swails has kindly, and to my great benefit, chosen to let me feature one of her stories at my Nasty, Brutish, and Short flash fiction website. It's a short blast of sweet, sweet cannibalism, just like you folks have been asking for. I'm both proud and pleased to have it associated with my little site.

Great thing is...she wrote it in second person. It's a story about YOU, and how you crave the flesh of the living. What could be better? I don't know. Maybe a donut. Naw. It would take a fricken' BACON DONUT to be better than that.

I suggest you stop what you're doing, right this second, and Read Kelly's Story. (The linky deal just now was where you wanted to click. Yeah. You. Go back. Finish reading my blather in a few minutes, when you're done with Kelly's stuff.)

If you want to know more about Kelly, Here's Her Official Website, and Here's Her Blog.

Okay, I'm done bossing you around now. As you were.

Patrick Went Shooting With A Stick Of Wood

2010-08-30T14:45:00.002-06:00

It all comes down to a bent stick, a string, and an arrow. A few weeks ago, I purchased a wooden recurve bow, after having been so enchanted with the little plastic "Youth" bow, the PSE Snake. After doing a good amount of research, I went with PSE's Blackhawk bow. It's got a cherry and hard maple riser and maple/fiberglass limbs. It's a real looker, and a fast shooting bow, as well.

Now, the reason that I'm just writing my review of it is that there have been a few issues, none of which I can blame on the bow. First, the string that was provided with the bow (not the PSE stock string, I don't think, but just a random string that was hanging around the Pro Shop at Cabela's) was too long, and of poor quality. I had only shot a few hundred arrows before the string started to punk out on me. That, and the low brace height (distance from the body of the bow to the string) made for a rough shooting experience, with more shock to the hand and bow noise than seemed reasonable.

I ordered a new string, some string dampeners (marketed as "brush guards"), and covered the bow shelf and undershelf with self-adhesive felt I happened to have hanging around.

After the new string was on, the bow tuned, the nock set placement figured out, and things generally going in a straight line, I was finally able to evaluate the bow under fair circumstances.

The evaluation is as follows:

1) Value: The PSE Blackhawk is a beautiful bow (I'll post pics some time soon). For the money ($200), it is built well, and has sinuous, classic lines that just make you want to touch it and hold it and make it yours.

2) Power: This is an efficient little bow. At 45 pounds of draw, it still really throws an arrow with authority. I use carbon arrows of between @400 and 435 grains, and they get to the target with a lot of power and speed. Now, because I have a long draw, at 32 inches, this adds to the amount of power the bow can create, but I want to stress that, even with the modest draw weight, these little recurves can do serious business. With an Innerlock broadhead, I got about 11 inches of penetration on a foam target from 20 yards away. That should be sufficient to your purpose for most hunting situations.

3) Smooth shooting: With the brace height set properly (around 7 inches), the Blackhawk has almost no hand shock, and is very nice to shoot, even up into the 100 shot range for a session, provided your draw weight is selected to match your level of strength. I found it advantageous to put some heavy felt on the bottom side of the arrow shelf, so that my thumb joint wasn't right against the wood, which seemed to help, too. Different grip techniques and hand shapes may have differing mileage. As to the process of taming string noise, my sense is that the best way to go is to just pick up a pack of those self adhesive felt circles at your local hardware store, and mount them so that they just touch the string where it lays against the limbs. That should dampen the string, and decrease slap upon shooting. Use the left over felt for feet on heavy furniture, or just tuck them away against the possibility that you'll lose one off your bow.

4) Handy: At 60 inches unstrung, the Blackhawk is a handy size, allowing for easy kneeling, bent, or seated shooting, should that be required. I've tried all of those things with good success. The bow is also very light, at less than two pounds altogether. You should have no concerns about getting arm-weary if you're going to take this bow into the field. Across your back, you'd hardly know it's there. Even shooters of modest stature should have no issues with this bow size. In reality, it's probably a bit short for me, but that has yet to lead to any problems. It may be that I will wear the bow out sooner than a person with a shorter draw, or that the bow will "take set" at shoot with slightly less authority after a while, but I see no evidence of that happening, and I'm probably nearing a thousand shots already.

5) Accurate: Now, this is where your mileage will vary most. Traditional bows aren't necessarily easy. You have to learn what they respond to, and where they tend to shoot at various ranges. How much cant should the bow have to shoot straight? How much gap at a particular range (if you're using the gap method)? Then there are all the technical aspects, like stance, posture, head position, anchor point, and so on.

Now, I'm not the world's foremost archer, and I'll admit to being very early in my development, but I can tell you that the Blackhawk will give back what you put in. If you're a good shooter, you'll hit well, once you learn your way around the bow. On a good day, I can go nine-of-ten on a half gallon milk jug from ten or fifteen yards away. With some concentration, it only falls back to maybe seven or eight out of ten when I step back to 20 or 22 yards, and I'm sure that any falloff is primarily my problem. I have, on one occasion, done the "Robin Hood" trick to an arrow. Ouch. There's $6.50 down the tubes. I doubt it'll be the last time, though, as it's not uncommon to have arrows "stacked" touching shaft to shaft in the target.

I'm not saying I don't have my poor performances, but that's not the bow's fault. I'm confident that, with practice, I'll be able to get very close to handgun-like accuracy out of the Blackhawk. Here I'm talking about the accuracy of target-type handguns over iron sights from a standing position. I don't believe it's fair or reasonable to compare bows to firearms shot from a rest, as there's no practical analog for archers. You simply have to hold steady.

6) In Summation: I really dig this bow. It has a wonderful tactile feel, is fun to shoot, and functions well, all at a very reasonable price.

Things you'll need:

a) Protective Gear: With any traditional bow, especially when you're learning or experimenting with a new technique, you'll want to have an arm guard for your bow arm, either a shooting glove or a tab for your draw hand, and some safety glasses. Corrective lenses with polycarbonate lenses will do.

b) Quality Arrows: You'll want some good, matching arrows for your new bow. Your choices are Aluminum, Carbon, or Wood. I've shot all of them, but mostly carbon. Aluminum tend to be a little heavier and thicker than carbon, but extra heft is good for a traditional bow, as they tend to be a bit more efficient in transmitting power to a heavier arrow, and shoot more smoothly. Carbons will tend to be lighter for the same about of stiffness, easy to find, and fly a little faster, with the downside perhaps being a little more harshness in the recoil of the bow upon release.

Wood arrows are generally made of cedar, and tend to be harder to find. They are the traditionalist's choice, and are the heaviest of the three types, in most cases. Many people claim that the cedar arrows are the most forgiving and smoothest shooting, but their level of straightness is not as great as aluminum or carbon. Whichever choice you make, you'll want your arrows to have the correct "spine" or stiffness, for your draw weight. Arrow manufacturers have charts to help you decide if a particular model is right for your bow. I'd recommend that you get an arrow that weighs at least seven grains for each pound of draw weight. Some claim that ten or even fifteen grains per pound is better, but anything above seven should be safe for your bow.

You'll probably also want a quiver. These can either clip or thread onto your belt, or actually hang on your back, like the old style quivers did. Prices range anywhere from maybe seven bucks, up to darn near one hundred, depending on how fancy you want to get. I'd say go for one of the cheaper ones. I've had good luck with those made by Neet. As to arrows, any of the big companies will give you a good product. I've especially liked the Gold Tip Pro Hunters that I've purchased. Sportsman's Warehouse has a killer deal on them, but they are normally very spendy, running over a C Note for a dozen. A less expensive alternative may be to go with aluminum, and for those, I'd go with Easton arrows. The XX75 Camo Hunters can be had for between $55 and $75 per dozen, and are proven, mega-tough arrows that can be had in any spine stiffness you should require.

c) Maintenance Supplies: As you shoot, you'll ding up your arrows, and need to fix them. The fletching (which should be feathers for a traditional bow) will detach or get manky. The tips will hit something hard and grow dull. The nocks will break. If you're shooting a lot, you'll want a fletching jig, appropriate fletcher's glue, replacement nocks, replacement field tips, feather fletchings, and either a knock-around jack knife or a fletching remover tool (I use an ancient butterfly knife). Your arrows aren't the only things that needs to be kept up. You'll need some string wax for your bow string, a bow stringer (to ease un-stringing/ restringing...you shouldn't leave a bow strung over the long haul), and a bow case to keep it from clattering around in the closet. Having a little toolbox for your bow stuff is good, too. I got a cheap one at Harbor freight, but if you have, say, an old tackle box, that works great, too.

d) A Safe Target: There are archery clubs and ranges in most big towns. The absolute safest way to shoot is to take your bow to a range, where the backstop, target and all that jazz has been figured out for you. There will also be people there who can give you pointers on form, equipment, and so on. There will also be some sort of camaraderie, in most cases. The safest bet is to go this way, but you'll have to pay for a membership or some form of range fee, as well as shooting within the hours of the club/range. They will also probably have rules, mostly for your own good, against things like shooting at milk jugs, which I think is maximum fun.

If you're going to shoot around your home, you'll want to remember that bows are potentially deadly weapons. They used to fight wars with these babies. Soldiers with rifles have had their tickets punched by good archers. Hunters have killed just about every land animal on the planet with bows. Elephants included. Even a target bow of 35-50 pounds of pull has plenty of power to take down something of, say, deer or human size. You will want to be sure that your arrows won't end up wandering into a populated area. This requires you to shoot with caution, and also to create a strong backstop.

There are a variety of targets you can buy, both made of foam, and in the form of target bags filled with mystery material. I've used both, as well as creating my own out of cardboard and a variety of stuffing materials. I've found that the "squishy" foam that comes as packing material for some products, used in combination with cardboard, carpet scraps, and so on, work pretty well if stuffed into a big cardboard box. You can create a somewhat weather-proof target box by wrapping a small tarp over said box and duct taping it on.

Details about my idea of a good backstop are provided in an earlier entry. If you happen to have ten or twelve hay bales, that's probably the easiest way (short of having a handy upslope that obviates all building requirements. Remember, though, that very powerful bows, like compounds, will shoot right through a hay bale. You'll want hard fortifications for anything over a 60 pound draw, or for a compound. Then again, a well-tuned compound shouldn't have as much variation. They're as accurate as all get-out in most cases. Still, sight pins slip, arrow rests fail to lift the arrows up to level, and (perhaps most frightening) release aids let go of the string prematurely. Do yourself a favor and break the habit of aiming high while drawing your bow, and always aim low the first time you test a new setup. Arrows that hit the ground are a little embarrassing, and can even get damaged, but they generally don't cause friendly-fire incidents.

--Thanks for reading another of my great-big posts. I hope that I've provided some good information for any of you who are thinking about getting into archery. There's a lot of great stuff out there on the net, and also some fine books to read. I can't speak too highly about the mystique of archery. There's just something magical about the arrow flying straight and thunking into a target. It's addictive. I highly recommend the disease.

Chromium Vanadium Steel vs. Oafish Might

2010-08-18T15:15:00.007-06:00

Oafish Might for the win!

My boss had the hand wrench shown in the following pictures, and while working had somehow gotten a screw head hopelessly lodged in the tool. He said something like, "here, bend this." I went for it. In a braced bend (thigh), the tool didn't stand a chance. It made a twig-like snap.

Here are pictures, as well as an updated photo of my "cup 'o nails". Cheers!

It snapped inside the handle.

Chrome Vanadium isn't very flexible. The tool only
deflected a few degrees before snapping.

Beware the oafish hands!

Cup 'O Nails, with a whole slew of 60D nails,
a grade 5 bolt, and the broken tool:

Well, I hope that was fun. I enjoyed posting it.

Peace, love, and twisted metal!

What Are They Building In There?

2010-08-16T17:21:00.001-06:00

Strange things are afoot in my backyard. The sounds of construction fill the air. Hammers and circular saws produce their characteristic songs, punctuated by whispered commentary about how hot it is, and occasional imprecations that, in essence, direct some unknown individual to engage in intimate congress with a wild man.

These were scenes that took place yesterday, as I was building "the target backstop the likes of which even the gods have not seen."

It occurred to me that, although my cobbled-together backstop had served adequately in the past, it was wise and prudent to create something more permanent. Not just permanent, but, ahem, monolithic.

And I did, with the help of my trusty comrade, Bob. The only difficulty was that, when fully built, said backstop was so heavy that it was nearly impossible to move into place. I had enticed my friend, Chris, to come over, and took the opportunity to prevail upon him to give me a hand with the heavy lifting.

The new backstop is 6'4" by 6', and is strong enough to stop, I'm confident enough to venture, any arrow shot from any bow in existence. I like it.

Now, I just have to get my bows back in order...but that's going to be the subject for another entry.

I finally "finished" work on my now-huge "All These Violent Heirlooms" story. I've put the last bit out for critique, though I suspect that I'll have to write something of a postscript. We shall see. At least I know what the critique will be, if it proves necessary.

Work continues on my other two most current stories, "Be it Dead or Alive" and "Hunting Season Again". Both are reaching impressive word counts, and both await their big climactic scenes, which I hope I'm capable of providing.

After feeling under the weather most of last week, I am more or less back to being myself again. I don't know exactly what it was, but there were issues with my belly and parts south. For the sake of decorum, I'll say no more.

In bending news, I finally was able to hunt down some new flexible PVC pipe on Saturday, which will allow me to get back into the regime with more facility. Just to test them out, I bent a few Iron Mind Blue Nails yesterday. After hours of actual physical work, I found them slightly more difficult than normal, but they fell prey to my onslaught.

Next time, I'll probably have more to tell you about the archery thing, as well as my further adventures with writing, bending, and whatever new hobby I'll have cottoned on to by then.

May your pen be quick, your grip mighty, and your bull's eye crowded with arrows.

Nasty, Brutish and Short Gets an Award!

2010-08-02T12:44:00.005-06:00

Out of the blue, my evil flash fiction site, Nasty Brutish, and Short, got an award from Guide to Art School, a site that helps people find the right school to attend for artistic endeavors. Somehow locating my little site in the bitter sea of the Internet, they decided to include NBNS on their "Best Short Fiction Blogs" link page. I'm stoked. I'm going to have to get to wiggling and write more for NBNS, I suppose.

If you're interested, here's the page:

Best Short Fiction Blogs

This just goes to show you, if you do enough work, then forget about that work and do something else, then hang around for a while, you might get an accolade. I guess. It shows you something, anyway. I'm still figuring it all out, maybe. I'm still glad that people can still trip over my online spots, one way or another.

Peace.

The Night Gallery

2010-07-30T17:12:00.002-06:00

I have the disease. Archery. Beware, because it might be catching. I'll probably talk about it if we meet on the street. I'll wax poetical, maybe. I'll try to infect you, so you'll have a real physical need to hurl arrows downrange on a daily basis.

I blame my cousin, Bob, who gave me a fantastic, very expensive gift: a Bowtech Black Knight 2. I talked about this bow in my previous post. It's dead silent, super accurate, and hits with all the power of a locomotive. You'll need a very dense backstop. One thing it isn't: easy. The Black Knight doesn't adapt to you. You adapt to it. Lucky I'm adaptable, huh? And that I like to bend nails and rebar. That old oafish might helps.

Anyway, the Black Knight is a compound bow, which means that it is a complex machine. A technological marvel. It has cams and string silencers and harmonic dampeners and fiber optic sights. It's a laser gun, except for the laser part. It's shooting so well right now that I actually knocked one of the fletchings off with another arrow last session. Fletchings, or vanes, are the "feather" parts that keep the arrows stable in flight. Some impart spin, like a rifle bullet (mine do). The fletchings on most compound bows are rubbery material, rather than synthetic feathers. Bob's taught me how to repair or re-fletch arrows, so it's no big deal. Just be aware that, to knock a vane off of one of your arrows, you have to be about 1/16th of an inch away from the shaft that's already in the target. That's pretty close. My last session with the Black Knight, I put a group of eight arrows in approximately 2 1/2 inches. Now, this is from only around 18 yards away, but I'd be happy to do that with any of my pistols. There's no such thing as a benchrest shot for a bow. You're there, holding the riser, doing your part. There's more to it than a trigger finger and breath control.

All that preliminary blather leads me to my deepening gyre of archery obsession. Pleased and fascinated with my early success with a compound bow, I decided that I wanted to try shooting a recurve. No sights, no counterweights, no vapor deposited turbonium ocular mass accelerators of universal spin cancellation. Just a bent stick and an arrow. Just to, you know, keep it real.

I happened to be at the Sportsman's Warehouse last Saturday, idling around the archery counter as I once did over in their firearms section. A dark, lithe shape caught my eye. I examined more closely. The dark, lithe shape was some sort of extruded composite (plastic to the unenlightened) recurve bow. Hmmm. It was sort of pretty. It was pretty inexpensive. Hmmm.

My mind fabricating all manner of complex justifications for my newest possible purchase, I asked, "can I take a look...with my hands, I mean?" The guy at the counter nodded and then became interested in something back in the shop. I was left alone with the dark, lithe shape. I saw it with my hands. I strung it and drew back the string. And it was good. And I said that it was good. And I immediately knew that it had to be mine. It was only forty bucks, and so my possible buyer's remorse could only be so bad. Thus, I became the owner of a PSE Snake recurve bow.

The friendly staff at Sportsman's acted as if I'd actually approached them with an item of some value. They had me draw the bow with a measuring arrow to see my draw length (distance you pull back the arrow--mine turned out to be 32 inches with this type of bow), they mounted a nock point and an arrow rest, and they helped me pick out arrows that would be suitable for my purchase. Now, some of this may have been enlightened self interest on their part, since the arrows (Gold Tip Pro Hunter Carbons, which they cut to length and prepped for me) were of the same approximate value as the bow itself. That, and they may have had some inkling that this little, cheapo bow would be as addictive as crack cocaine to someone of my particular temperament.

The PSE Snake is listed as a "Youth Bow" in the literature. It's only got a draw weight of 22 pounds at the average draw length for kids and small folks. It absolutely no frills. It's not camouflaged, so you'll be able to see it if you drop it in the woods. You just draw it back, look down the arrow shaft, and let it go. Yeah, like Robin Hood or Legolas, had plastic been invented in their time/space continuum.

Because of my long draw length, I'm told that I probably gain somewhere around 8-12 extra pounds of draw weight. That's somewhat counterbalanced by the necessary use of really long, heavier arrows (so that they don't just fall out on the ground when I pull them beyond the bow shelf). All this adds up to the fact that when I shoot the bow, it has somewhat more pop than the 22 pound draw might lead you to imagine. I'm fairly certain that, if some living organism were to serve as a backstop to one of my arrows, they would be injured to an extent that could be beyond the scope of a pocket sized first aid kit. Not that I'm planning any such incidents. On the contrary.

Let me cut to the issue at hand. Traditional archery. That's what they call it when you don't have all the gadgets and Batman toys to help you. First: it's great fun. Second: it's a little humbling at first. Third: with practice, and I mean lots of meaningful practice wherein you learn the basics, isolate flaws in your form, and shoot hundreds, nay, thousands of arrows, you can get surprisingly good.

The first day, I was just happy to hit the target bag from about eight yards away. I shot and shot and shot. The light draw weight makes this possible without any injury or soreness. I stayed out so long I got sunburned.

In the following days, I took the opportunity to read about archery form, devouring first the Basic Essentials--Archery book, then Archery--Steps to Success. There were a lot of great pointers in there, and I put them into practice. A lot of practice. I've been shooting up to three times during the day, often getting near or even surpassing 200 shots between those sessions. I started getting good. I wasn't just hitting the bag. I was actually hitting the CENTER of the bag. You know. The bull's eye. Not all the time, certainly, but usually once per "end" of six arrows.

Instinctive shooting is as slippery as a fish, though. Just when you think you've had that "ah ha!" moment, you find that it's slipped through your fingers, and your arrows are wandering out to the far reaches of the target again. It's a process, and there are so many things to think of, that you can easily be foiled by that one element of your form that you forgot.

Then, it happened. There I was, in the backyard, with my full ten yard course and my bow and arrow set, my fancy cinder block arrow stand next to me. I happened to have a mostly-finished can of Orange Crush on a nearby patio table. In between bouts of shooting, I had the can in my hand, and an evil idea occurred to me. Could I shoot the can with an arrow? Dare I try? How could it safely be done?

I hit on the idea of simply putting it in front of the target bag, which is what I was shooting at anyway. If I shot too low, it would just aerate the lawn. If I shot high, the bag and backstop would suffice to stop the arrow safely. So, like I'd done so often with rifles and pistols in my younger years, I found myself shooting at a can. On about the third shot, I jostled the can and knocked it down. On the sixth, I put an arrow through it. I could, it turns out, hit a can from ten yards with my "Youth Bow", sighting only by instinct. My cousin, Bob, revolutionized the can shooting by finding an old bungee cord and hanging the can on the face of the target bag by its pop-top tab. Hilarity ensued. The can was perforated several more times, until the stuff cooking on the grill was done, and we were forced to call a halt to the hostilities.

Then it got dark. The sprinklers came on. It got darker still. I wanted to do it again. I'd already established that, by turning on a battery-powered lantern and setting it near the target bag but outside the line of fire, I could shoot my bow at night. Now, I would have to go a step further. Could I realistically hit a black can with an arrow in the dimness of my back yard? Yes. I could. Sometimes two or three times in six arrows.

It's not Olympic archery, but I'm actually mightily impressed that it's possible, with a little effort and a lot of (super fun) practice, you can do this sort of thing with a rig that runs about 85 bucks at the local store. Now, there may be a varying rate of learning for each archer, but I'm not the most coordinated person on the planet. I'm too clumsy to play most sports than don't feature knocking other people down. I'm a pretty good shot with pistols and rifles, but the vast majority of my firearms are more accurate than I am. What I'm saying here is that, though your mileage may vary, it's certainly possible for you to get the results I did. It might take a few days, it might take a few months, but believe me when I tell you that a bow can be a precision instrument, if you do your part.

For people wanting to try archery, I can wholeheartedly recommend the PSE Snake. Don't let the desire to be macho or have the bigger, heavier draw bows get the best of you. Nothing will allow you to practice so much and so painlessly as one of these little bows. Everything that you learn on these is applicable as you grow and perhaps purchase a heavier bow. For eighty-odd dollars, I know that I've already gotten my money's worth out of it. I know that I'll continue to do so until I can put six out of six in the bull from my little firing line divot in the back yard grass. Then I'll go five paces back and do it again...

For someone already into archery, but who hasn't tried a traditional bow, this is the gateway drug, right here. Cheaper than a fall-away rest or three-pin sight for your compound bow, this little rig will remind you of how much fun you can have with a bent stick. Plus, all the refinement of your stance, draw, anchor point, and release will stand you in good stead with your fancy compound rig. I saw an immediate, dramatic difference with the Black Knight, which couldn't be more different from the Snake and still be a bow. My groups tightened, my draw smoothed out, and my shoulder twinged less under the admittedly brutal assault of the BK2. At the cost, there is literally no training aid that will help you more. It's like a .22, except for bow shooters. Cheap, fun, and probably what we should all start on.

Finally, if you have a local library around (I happen to work in one!), do yourself a favor and check out a few books on target archery. Though you think you're doing great, and you shoot the stingers off of hornets at fifty paces, there are things about your form that you may have never considered, changes that might improve your results even more. Especially if you've learned to shoot your bow primarily by yourself or from a friend, there will be things that you can improve upon about your technique. In just a few weeks, I'm seeing real progress, and there has been no pain or anguish. I've just studied, engaged in meaningful, well-examined practice, and immersed myself in the zeitgeist of the sport.

There. Another massive post. Hope you're all well, and that you're enjoying my strange adventures.

Raising Sand, Archery, and Bass Notes

2010-07-16T17:38:00.001-06:00

Hey there, folks. Here I am to update you on all my meaningless pursuits.

1) Raising Sand:

I'm happy to announce that I'm back in the sandbagging business. That is to say, I've been doing my sandbag/bucket/cinderblock workout. Strange implements? Yes. Results? Oh, you betcha!

I use the cinderblock for one-handed clean and jerks with a pinch grip, for curls, and for axe-motion swings, as well as for a footstool, and occasional stands for elevated push-ups.

The bucket (once containing ice melter, now with 50 pounds of sand) is used for lateral swings, high pulls "barrel lifts" and as the handy chair for catching my breath.

I have 50 and 100 pound bags. The fifty I use for a variety of one handed exercises, as well as one shoulder squats and so on. The hundred is primarily used for squats, carrying, and the ever popular overhead lift from the ground.

While you can put together a "gym" like mine for perhaps 20 or 30 bucks, it'll give you a heck of a "caveman" workout. When the new-school exercise folks talk about working their "core", this exercise delivers. Perhaps this wouldn't give you all your "showy" muscles, but with these humble and cheap implements, you could get yourself a serious level of real, applicable, strength. Did I mention that these workouts are brutal, spraying-sweat, hold-on-because-I'm dizzy cardio mongers? I think I just did. Highly recommended, should you become tired of the too-clean gym and all its half-hearted members who've never yelled with effort in their lives. A room with a tall ceiling (garage, barn, etc. is okay, but I say that outside on the lawn is best for these workouts. Especially if its really hot, really cold, or otherwise inclement. That just makes you feel more in touch with your inner "aminal".

Archery:

I didn't even have a bow when I was a kid. Was I deprived? Possibly. Doubt it, though. I did have my own actual, sharp, real axe when I was about five. And I used it. I got my first .22 at ten. I did fine.

But no bows. I'd always been interested, though. As a fantasy geek, they're one of the staples. I'd just never taken any steps to get into the hobby.

Now, when I think of bows, I think of a bent stick, essentially. A long bow, or a recurve, like we always had on a mantle, but had never actually put a string on.

So...that's not the state of the art in bows any more. Not by a long, long, space age shot. The new bows are "compound" bows. They have pulleys or cams that attach to limbs made of carbon graphite or some other "unobtanium" material. The handle..."riser" in the parlance of the sport, is made of some hard metal, and doesn't bend at all. The bow has sights, one on the string (a "peep" sight...a ring of metal), and one on the riser deedelybopper. You sight it like a military rifle, centering the sight "pin" in the aperture and placing it over the target. You don't even have to draw it back with your fingers. For that, you've got a "release aid". These go around your wrist, and you attach them to a the string after you nock the arrow. When you have 'er pulled back and want to shoot, you just press a triggering mechanism of some sort and there goes the arrow.

Now, that's another thing. These new bows are quiet. Think of the sound a slingshot makes. That's about it. And the arrows...yeah, they're made of aluminum or carbon fiber/graphite/vapor spun turbonium as well.

Now, it's called "archery", but hey, these new ultra-bows propel an arrow at 300 or more feet per second (over 200 miles per hour!), and there's no arc involved unless you're more than 35 or 40 yards from your target.

How do I know all this stuff. Well, a kind benefactor (my cousin Bob) decided that I didn't have enough hobbies, and he brought me down a bow he'd built up a few years back, but wasn't really able to shoot anymore. The bow in question is a BowTech Black Knight II. Sounds wicked? Yes. It is. This is a hairy-chested monster of a bow. When I first tried to draw it, I was humbled, feeling like the suitors trying to marry Odysseus' wife, who were unable to string his mighty weapon.

The Black Knight bow is serious. I'm a fairly burly dude, okay, and I didn't expect that there'd be a bow that would give me any guff. I got guff. In my defense, I'd just had a crushing chest and back workout, and my muscles were fried. Still and all.

That was the try/fail cycle. Now, to the awesome. The Black Knight II OWNS! I had a dead-on x-ring hit on my eighth shot ever. In three sessions of shooting, I've only had one bad shot, and that was purely my fault. I wiggled, or something. The bow really takes exacting form, lots of force, and total concentration, but if you give it what it wants, it's more accurate than all but a few of my pistols.

It hits like a train, too. Shooting into a bag stuffed with cardboard, plastic, carpet, and other tough material, I've nearly gone all the way through more than once. I've actually busted up three arrows, two with their fletchings (feathers) ripped up, and one that actually lost its point in the bag. I'm really impressed. These new bows are accurate, quiet, comfortable to shoot (just watch the draw weight...I'd suggest 40 pounds for smaller folk, 50 to 60 for your average guy, and 70 only for experienced shooters or really strong dudes). The Black Knight was tuned up to 85 pounds draw weight, and has a really, really aggressive profile that holds that maximum weight through several inches of the draw. Hence, the sweating and straining. Bob tuned the bow down somewhat, probably in the 78-80 pound range, and that's comfy for me at this point. I think that, once I've acclimated to the motion, I could turn it back up to full starch, but I question whether it would be any benefit to me. The bow's shooting right on the money, and I think that it has enough pop to go through the skull of a zombie, should the need arise.

To sum up: Archery is sweet. I have a new hobby. Damn.

Bass Notes:

Now, on to old hobbies.

I got my first electric bass at 16, trading in an old alto sax I hadn't played for years. It was an Ibanez, and came home with a little Crate practice amp. That combo lasted me all the way through college, and played a lot of Iron Maiden and so on. Bass Guitars are great, because you can pick up a fun, recognizable riff your first day out (at least I could...Iron Man by Black Sabbath). That said, if you get ambitious and start trying stuff from Rush, Maiden, the Who, or any Jazz stuff, there's a lot of terrain to cover.

I picked up a big Peavey amp in the late 90's and it was great. The problem was, the pickups and electronics on my old Ibanez were starting to go south. I'd get a tremendous amount of hum if I didn't constantly blunt the strings with the heel of my hand, and if I moved at all, I'd get signal dropout from the old, punky patch plug.

Because, around that time, I had the opportunity (crazily!) to teach guitar classes at a high school, I began to really dig playing the acoustic six string. With the difficulties I was having with the bass, I sort of put it aside and focused on the classical style vinyl string acoustic.

Fast forward around twelve years, and I'm having the hard, evil jones to play bass again. Do I want to suffer the slings and arrows of trying to rehab my old bass? Maybe one day, but I want to frikkin' play, man. I don't want a months-long odyssey of installing new pickups and electronics, I want results. Lights, camera, revolution!

Thus, I went down to my local Guitar Center and started plunking and thunking on their selection of basses. I had been enamored of the acoustic body bass guitar for a while, but the selection had been sparse and pricey for a long time. I liked the Dean brand basses, and they were semi-reasonable, but they were never in stock. I respected the Breedloves, but man, 800 bucks? Ouch.

I started to feel dispair. I tried out some four strings (like my old bass), but felt like I wanted something that wouldn't be "supliferous" once I actually renovated my old machine. Six strings? Yeah, great, but their necks are huge, and they're heavy! Plus, you're tied to the amp, just like before.

I came back around to that old wish for the acoustic body. I like to be able to pick up the guitar and move around with it. To play it quietly so it doesn't terrify my parakeet or wake up the neighbors.

Finally, as I was starting to wonder if I'd ever find a match, there it was. A black-lacquer Ibanez AEB-10. She was beautiful. She was a tuneful. She could rock like a hurricane when plugged in. And she was a cheap date. Overwhelmed with concupiscence, I took her home.

Let me tell you folks, there's no buyer's remorse here. I haven't had this much fun playing the bass since I learned the bridge section of "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". I lament only that I don't have enough hours in the day to explore all my hobbies like I'd wish to.

To sum up again: Old hobby came back, with a vengeance. I like vengeance. Damn.

That's the news. Hope you're all well.

Lifting and Music

2010-07-01T13:38:00.000-06:00

Hey, Folks:

This is turning into a workout journal, huh?

Well, not completely, but I suppose that's been taking up a good number of my blogs of late.

So, then, here it comes...yep, the workout element.

My system's bearing up well to increasing levels of cardio tribulation. All the levels I'm hitting on my cardio workouts are going up. I burned, for instance, 363 calories in 15 minutes on the elliptical machine yesterday, over 100 in 15 minutes on the recumbent bike, and, well, an unknown amount during my arms and shoulders routine. It was an "aces" workout. My arms and shoulders were pumped to a level they haven't been in some time.

My basic lifting idea is to keep it quick, simple, and challenging. Here's my routine, as it stands:

Day One: Chest and Back (All exercises 3 x 10, unless otherwise noted)

Chest Press (incline)
Cable Pull Down (Wide Neutral Grip)
Chest Flyes
Cable Pull Down (Wide, Behind Neck)
Dumbell Pullovers
Dumbell Bent-over Rows
(Plus abs and cardio)

Day Two: Legs/Trunk

Leg Press (6-8 sets, ascending weight)
(with)
Calf Presses (sets as above, x20 reps)
***
Leg Curls
Leg Extensions
Weighted Back Extensions (6 x 10)
(Plus abs and cardio)

Day Three: Shoulders and Arms

Shoulder Press
Upright Rows
Front Raises (one set)
Lateral Raises (one set)
Rear Shoulder Raises (one set)
Dumbell French Press (or barbell skullcrushers)
Supinating Biceps Curls
Dips (or reverse grip cable push-downs)
Reverse Curls
(Plus cardio)

So, I devote three exercises to most muscle groups, with four going to legs and arms. I take the absolute minimum of time between sets and exercises, to keep my pulse high and my muscles on the ropes. In general, I like to have the weights and cardio done within 1.5 hours, at the very longest.

Currently, I sometimes throw in another cardio workout if I can, and there's a bending/crushing routine, generally on Thursday or Friday. I hope to add in a sandbag lifting workout at some point, but I'm trying to figure out where it could be done without negatively impacting the rest of my workout days. Sunday would be the natural day for it, but I'm concerned that it would overload that part of the week. Hmm. Pesky time.

On to other things: Music!

I've been going back to the early days of the "Gothenberg Sound", in regards to Melodic Death Metal. I've been a big fan of Dark Tranquility for years, but the oldest CD of theirs that I'd heard was "The Mind's I". I'd heard a lot about "The Gallery" being their definitive work, and I'd been interested in "Skydancer" and " Of Chaos and Eternal Night", as well.

I went ahead and picked those up, and have been listening to them this week. My early impressions are as such:

Skydancer is much different from later DT stuff. Totally different vocal sound (different singer) to begin with. I prefer Stanne's voice, to be honest, but it's interesting stuff. The musical formula had not been solidified at that point, and so they were trying a variety of motifs. Sometimes they work, other times, they're a little odd. There is some female singing, and some clean singing by Stanne on this release, but it's not as well integrated as in later stuff. Production, while pretty good, is not as elaborate and powerful as later releases.

Of Chaos and Eternal Night is a short EP that shows DT beginning to find their sound. It's a bridge between what they were and what they would become. I think that Century Media has a release that encompasses both Skydancer and Of Chaos... For the melo-death fan, it's a worthy purchase.

The Gallery really does show Dark Tranquility finding its groove. Much of the hallmark sound is there, though The Gallery, to my ear, sounds as if it uses more of the stop/start technique that can be heard in other sorts of death metal and metal in general than any of the other releases. Probably more dual guitar leads here, too. Really good album. I don't think it towers above the others, as some would assert, but because it's the seminal release that helped create a genre, it's worthy. A must-buy for fans of the style, and probably for metal-heads in general.

I also picked up the other melo-death lynch-pins that are often sited as having created the genre: "Slaughter of the Soul" by At the Gates and "The Jester Race" by In Flames.

These releases are very much "of a piece" with the DT stuff of that era. "Slaughter of the Soul" is much more straight-forward. Like a punch in the face from Kerry King of Slayer. This is intensified, death-vox thrash. Good stuff. If you like Slayer and want something similar, albeit with grim vocals, this is your record. The re-release has a neat cover of "Captor of Sin", too.

"The Jester Race" is much more varied musically. As death metal goes, it doesn't get much more catchy. The songs have musical ebb and flow, acoustic interludes, and inventive riffing. I'm not a huge fan of the vocalist, honestly. Some of his screams have that agonized quality that I'm not into, but it's far from a deal-breaker. This is an "important" album, and any metalhead who can deal with death vocals should pick it up.

Okay. That's a long blog. I'm stopping now. I'll have other news for you soon.

Peace.

35 Nails and No Pain

2010-06-21T17:04:00.000-06:00

This Friday Night, I was able to bend 35 60D nails (Grip Right brand, if you care) consecutively. This is a new record for me, surpassing the previous 32, which had been done in anger, and which caused me to lose a fairly large chunk of skin on my right index finger.

I use a pair of @ 4 inch flexible PVC lengths (think hard rubber) for hand protection, as this facilitates lots of bends in short order. I've experimented with the Iron Mind cordura nylon wraps, and they work fine, but I'm too impatient to unroll and re-roll after every bend. I want to bend in bulk. I don't feel that the PVC lengths give me a significant mechanical advantage over the softer wraps, but they do let me get my bend on without any fiddling.

For this 35 nail adventure, I wrapped my index fingers with athletic tape, since that had been the point of injury before. It worked like it was supposed to, and all was well.

I was surprised to find that, after 35 nails, I wasn't flagging too badly. If I kept my form strict, the overhand fold technique was still letting me squish the nails with good authority. I was starting to feel little twinges of strain going on in my wrists, but nothing untoward. I could have probably bent several more nails, had there been life, love, or honor at stake.

After bending, I did the rest of my hand workout which was:

25 closes per hand with the COC #1 grippers
15 closes per hand with the COC #1.5 grippers
3 closes per hand (failing on the left) with the COC #2 grippers.
To burn out, I did 10 more closes with each hand with the COC #1s.

It was surprising that I barely popped a sweat by the end of this hand work. Other than bottoming out on the #2 grippers, I was very pleased.

I feel that my idea of bending 50 consecutive 60Ds is alive and well. 100 is my ultimate goal, but that's a ways out there, as well as being an expensive proposition in regard to the nails it'll take to get to that goal.

Fallout from the workout was minimal. I had a small blister in the center of my right palm, where the point of pressure tends to come down, but there was no unusual soreness or difficulty the next day.

It looks like it'll soon be time for me to get another length of the flexible PVC, as I've just about worn through the ones I've been using. They've bent nearly a full 50 lbs of 60D nails at this point, and I can feel the points and heels of the nails pretty sharply sometimes. The PVC only has so much ability to come back from being stressed. Perhaps when I'm through with the rest of my box of 60Ds, I'll get the material to make a few more.

...and that's the news on the bending front.

As to the general workouts, I'm doing well and making fair progress in that area, though I'm not losing as much weight as I'd like to a this point. I figure that my muscle tissues are, growing in response to the stimulus, and that's preventing any weight loss action. Oh, well. It's about getting better, not always lighter. I'll keep at it.

In the writing arena, things are a little slow. It seems like the weeks end so darn quickly that I don't have the time to do what I'd like to do. It's that balance thing. It's a process.

Anyhoo, that's all I have to say for now. Hope you're all well.

An As-Yet Unattained Goal

2010-06-14T14:22:00.001-06:00

If you're like me, you have some lofty goals of how, in a perfect world, your life would unfold. The things you'd be able to accomplish, the goals you'd attain, the balance you'd magically be able to find.

For me, I often dream big. I think of all the stories I could write, if I could only free up the time, discipline myself, and generally do what should be done.

At the same time, I also think of all the other elements of my life that I'd like to work in time for. All the hobbies that I'd like to chip away at. The housework I'd like to actually accomplish, rather than letting it hang around until I'm too embarrassed to let it wait another season. All the little things, like getting enough sleep, eating right, losing weight, and still keeping up contact with friends and having, gasp, some sort of social life.

In the past, I've found that I can hit my marks with a few of these goals at once, but I've always fallen short of getting everything working at once. My big, complicated machine never seems to be able to hit on all cylinders at once.

Maybe I'll be working out and eating right, but I'm not getting writing done. Maybe I'm doing great at work, and I'm hanging out with friends, but I'm eating badly and not getting any exercise. Maybe I'm on a writing jag, but no one's heard from me in two months, and I've forgotten what it's like to be outside.

So, then. Once more, I'm trying to get it all together and live the life I dream of living. Let me tell ya, it ain't easy. Thus far, in recent weeks I've gotten many things going.

1) Exercising--three times a week with both weights and cardio, plus extra work on the grip/crush stuff.
2) Getting enough sleep--actually doing it!
3) Eating well--most days, yep!
4) Social life--actually talking with friends and relatives a few times per week, so that's an affirmative.
5) Reading--like we writers are supposed to, and yes, I've finished reading two books this week.
6) Writing--er, well...not as much as I want to. That's still got to improve.
7) Hobbies--I've taken to riding my motorcycle over to the gym, so I suppose that counts, but I've fallen off on my target practice.
8) Housework--not too bad, but could use improvement. There are tasks that I'd like to accomplish that I've been slacking on.

All in all, I feel pretty good about the progress I've made. I just have a few more metrics to bring up into the acceptable/good level, and I'll have done something I've never done in the past, which is to live a balanced life and actually move forward in all my pursuits at once.

Wish me luck!

What's transpired since last time

2010-06-11T11:06:00.001-06:00

Hey, Folks!

Here's another update of my progress through life, liberty, and the pursuit of crush-grip.

1) Paul Genesse and I did some final tweaking on the story we were collaborating on. I think it turned out great. Paul had some fine ideas for deepening the impact of some of the story events, and we had a great phone consultation as we were integrating those new ideas in. The story's off to the editor at long last, and I hope she digs it. No hard/fast news as to when the story might see the light of day, but you'll hear it soon after I do.

2) Joined a gym again. Yep. Taking the plunge, and really setting my sights on getting back to my high school weight (right now, 15-20 pounds away). I'm committed to ACTUALLY doing cardio and abs every time, as opposed to the, "maybe, if I feel like it," attitude I've taken in the past. The place I'm going is actually a Community Center that was just opened last weekend, which is nice. Dues aren't bad, and they have an Olympic pool, when I get skinny enough to go shirtless in front of strangers.

3) Have been enjoying my reading of late. I'm most of the way through "Baal" by Robert McCammon. Fun stuff. It's clear that it's his first novel, and has some rough edges, but the prologue absolutely kills, and it's a rollicking adventure through the growing apocalypse. Just finished "Passing Strange" by Daniel Waters, which is book 3 in the Generation Dead series. I was absolutely aching for this one to come out, and I'm not disappointed. I ate it up in less than three days, and want more. I'm also reading "Soulless" by Gail Carriger and "The American Girl" by Monika Fagerholm. I'm not far into "Soulless", but it's great fun. My writer buddy Julie Frost essentially said that I was duty-bound to read it, and so I am. "The American Girl" is a fascinating, challenging, dreamlike book translated from the original Swedish text. I'll have more to say about all of these books on my GoodReads account.

4) More bending and crush-gripping. My routine for last night is as follows:

Bending (overhand fold) 5 "green" Iron Mind nails (warmup)
Bending (underhand fold) 1 "yellow" nail
Bending (overhand) 2 more yellows
Bending (overhand) 3 blue nails
Crushing 15 reps/hand with COC #1 grippers
Crushing 8 reps/hand with COC #1.5 grippers
Crushing 3 reps/hand with COC #2 grippers (failure point for left hand
Crushing 6 x 10 reps/hand with COC "Sport" (normal grip)
Crushing 6 x 10 reps/hand with COC "Sport" (inverted grip)
Crushing to failure with old plastic "heavy duty" grippers

I went until the muscles became too pumped to let the carpals operate. No unusual soreness experienced the morning after, which I count as a win.

5) Watching Stargate: SG1 on DVD. Having fun with it. Just finished the first season. Not life-changing stuff, but superb entertainment value. I love their tactic for always revealing the inciting event/emergency within the first five minutes. Keeps the pace high and the interest strong. I think that we can learn from this tactic and use it to make the beginnings of our stories stronger.

Well, that's the news. Hope everyone's well.

2010-06-03T12:31:00.002-06:00

Here's an update, folks:

1) I've been doing better, recovering from the stress toxicity of caring for my dad in his final days. I've been chipping away at finishing a lot of projects that have been hanging fire for months or even years. The atmosphere is getting better in the house.

2) I've lost weight. I'm as light as I've been since half way through college, and it's good. It's a start. I'm hoping to get down to my high school weight by the end of the summer. That would be, at this point about 17 to 20 more pounds. I think it's do-able, and also an important thing. I don't want to carry as much weight as I've been carrying over the line into my 40's.

3) I went to the CONduit convention this last weekend and had a great time. It was fun to hang out with my writer friends Paul, Larry, Julie, Eric, Eric, etc... I think that being around them, hearing their stories and trevails, has really gotten me back into the mindset of writing.

4) I'm (at long last) finally finishing the work on a story that Paul Genesse and I are collaborating on. The family chaos has kept me from working on it for a while, and we're woefully late. It's basically all my fault, and for that, I don't feel too hot. Still and all.

5) I've been revisiting some of the projects of (literally) yesteryear. I hope to finish a great big hulk of a zombie story this week or thereabouts, because my writer friend Julie is about ready to strangle me like a chicken for making her wait. So...if I don't post again, you'll know what happend to me, and who the prime suspect may be.

6) Sorry that I've been so remiss in posting. All the usual self-serving rhetoric and lame excuses apply.

7) Hope you're all well (if there is even a plurality of readers at this point, after my poor showing over the last...long time.

Peace.

Oh, P.S.:

My hand workout as it stands:

Bend nails to taste (Recently 21 consecutive 60D nails; yesterday 5 Iron Mind Yellows (both overhand and underhand fold)
12 reps with COC #1 (both hands, alternating)
6 reps with COC #1.5 (as above)
3 reps with COC #2 (3 successes w/right; 2 w/left)
6 sets of 10 reps with COC "Sport" normal grip (alternating hands)
6 sets of 10 reps with COC "Sport" (open side up; alternating hands)
Standard (tough) grippers; both hands to hydrostatic failure

"It hurts us, precious!"

Peace, part two.

Dennis M. Tracy, 3/13/1943 - 4/19/2010

2010-04-28T13:14:00.002-06:00

After a long battle with cancer and other health issues, my dad passed away last Monday at around 3 AM. There's a lot I could say on the subject, and perhaps I will when emotions have cooled a little, but for now, I'll just say that it's the end of a long and excruciating ordeal for him, and for all of us who were trying to care for him.

I expect that I will be posting more frequently from this point forward, though one never knows. I will have to determine if the infrequency of my posts was primarily due to all the troubles in my life, or if the enthusiasm for blogging has grown faint and cold over the years.

In any case, if any of you are still following this blog, that's the situation. Thanks to all of you who have been here for me when I got low. Your words and deeds won't be forgotten.

Peace.

It was a 32 nail day

2010-03-18T14:45:00.002-06:00

That was yesterday. Yep. Thirty-two 60D nails in one session. No breaks. No slowdowns. Just bending until all the skin tore off of my right index finger in a space as big as a dime.

Why? Well, let's just say that the medical establishment has a few things to learn in regards to helping families with ailing relatives through the process. I may have been, ahem, angry at the time. I had to do it. Catharsis was required.

So I learned that, yes, after a long, difficult day at work, I can, given the right stimulus, bend as many nails as I can grasp with one hand, all at once. I also learned that I need bigger, harder callouses to avoid bleeding at the end. Oh, well. If you ain't bleedin', you ain't tryin'.

The drama with my dad's illness continues on apace. This week, he's in the hospital with pneumonia. Fun times. I haven't done any writing this week, though I have a rewrite due at the end of the month. I'll have to withhold hope for the weekend.

That's my day, pretty much. Thanks for tuning in.

Where am I, and how did I get here?

2010-03-03T07:45:00.002-07:00

It's been a long winter, kids. Long, as in, "will it ever end?" As some of you may know, my dad's been sick, and that's been tough on everyone involved. He just finished up a course of radiation therapy, which really dragged him through a knothole. We're hoping that, as advertised, it will actually help him going forward, and that he'll feel better once his body recovers from the relentless assault of the treatment.

I've been trying to write, though it's been slow going. I wrote a story called "Don't Explain" last month, and I'm pretty pleased with it, but it didn't get over the fence, which is a bummer. I'm hoping I can find another market for it. I'm also mostly done with another story for that same market called "Too Delicate to Withstand the Storm". I'm trying a new methodology on that one, and hoping that it pans out.

I'm still wrestling with my "All These Violent Heirlooms" story. It's big now, up over 12k words and going strong. I'm hoping to finish the draft this week, but who knows?

I only got to go to one day of LTUE this year (it's the Sci-Fi convention at BYU), but I did enjoy myself while I was there. It was marred slightly by the fact that my dad was really, really sick that day, and I was worried about him all day. Oh, well. Such is life.

I got to hear Eric James Stone read part of a neat novellette that'll apear in one of the big markets soon (forgot which), and I absolutely ADORED the segment Dan Wells read from his sequel to "I Am Not A Serial Killer", "Mr. Murder". I can't wait until it comes out, really. I'm literally counting down the days. I'm doing the same for "Passing Strange" the newest Generation Dead book by Daniel Waters. Man, I think it's going to be awesome.

Okay, I'll stop nerding out (about that particular topic).

*****
In other news, I've done some bending lately--probably ten or twelve nails last Friday, and on Saturday, I bent twenty nails in a row. That, sadly, was due to me having to blow off some steam to avoid kicking holes in the walls. I've been prone to bouts of ill-temper since I was a kid, and I've usually got it under control, but I really, really didn't that day. I'm not proud of that. Still...twenty nails in a row. Probably five minutes, tops, to do the whole thing.

I have to get back to my workout regime. It seems that there's always something making it tough to stay with it. Life is hectic. No excuse, but there it is.

*****
I've been watching the TV series "Farscape", and I'm almost done with the whole thing. Man, I love that show. I'll be sad when I've finished "Peacekeeper Wars", the coda mini-series, but it's been a great ride.

I've been reading a lot, mostly escapist stuff to keep my mind off things that aren't fun. I have also enjoyed watching the Olympics a lot. I guess, with Lake Placid in '80 and LA in '84, I almost have to be a sucker for the games. I just grew up watching them. I was very proud of our kids, who were generally classy, even while having a superb performance at the games. I have to say that the Figure Skaters, all of them, had a fantastic performance. Nearly all the top skaters performed at their potential. It was something to watch.

Well, there's my late, but rather thorough update. Hope you're all doing well (if there's anyone out there after my spectacularly poor blogging performance of late).

Farewell, Robert B. Parker

2010-01-21T10:34:00.003-07:00

For those of you who haven't heard, we lost a great mystery writer yesterday.

Robert B. Parker's books have been places where I've gone to find old friends for many years. Touching base with Spenser, Hawk, and Susan Silverman has always been comforting to me. With a mix of whimsy, humor, and fairly incisive social critique, Parker created quick-paced stories that I loved dearly.

You can't say that Robert B. Parker's voice was silenced before he had a chance to tell his tales. Far from it. Since the early Seventies, he's written well over fifty books, and had vast success. Even after something like thirty-seven Spenser books, he was still giving us good tales, and even the occasional twist we hadn't seen. He wasn't afraid of ambiguity, or of telling a story where there was no clear "right" answer. Sometimes, the "knowing" part of the mystery solved nothing, satisfied nothing.

Parker died, I think, as we all hope to go. Having accomplished much and been well lauded, but also still at his work, suddenly. He was sitting at his desk, probably writing, when his heart gave out. There are a lot of ways to go, and that's one of the better ones. For an author, that's the equivalent of dying with your boots on, or with sword in hand.

I understand that, true to his productive nature, there are several Robert B. Parker books "in the pipeline". I'll probably read them all in time. I'll smile when every dialogue tag reads, "so and so said," even when the line was a question. The end of each story will probably hide a little spike of sadness now. We'll miss you, Bob Parker, and all the characters you brought to life.

News of the Day

2010-01-21T10:24:00.002-07:00

Here goes:

1) Can bend a 60 D nail together with a 20 D nail. So far, have failed at 60 + (20 x 2).
2)Have started my routine with sandbag lifting. Have only positive things to say about regimen. I think that bag lifting is probably as effective as any form of dynamic lifting I've tried. It's cheap, too. Bags of baked sand are around four bucks, and getting a few sturdy duffle bags won't run you more than twenty or thirty at the military surplus store. I've also been using sand-filled large buckets and a cinder block for warm-ups and pinch grip work.
3) Recently finished a draft of a story for The First Line called "Don't Explain" (working title). I have it out for constructive critique at this moment.
4) I've been super-busy. My dad's been having health problems, and I have had to re-work my schedule to allow me to help him get to doctor's appointments and so on.
5) Listening to "Pegasus Descending" by James Lee Burke on Audiobook. Another winner from an author with seemingly limitless firepower.
6) Reading "Lightbreaker" by Marc Teppo and "The American Girl" by Monika Fagerholm. Lightbreaker is interesting, if a little heavy on the theory. The American Girl is a challenging but somehow magical story thus far, with non-sequential scenes, surreal moments of stream of consciousness, and views of the events from a variety of characters. Check my Goodreads for more info when it becomes available, I guess.

...and that's the news.

Update from the perpetually derelict blogger

2010-01-02T15:05:00.002-07:00

So, the holidays happened. Thanksgiving sucked, but Christmas and New Years were pretty good.

My dad's health, though it's been rocky, is fairly stable at this moment. I'm doing all right, though my ability to do writing work hasn't been so great for the last little while.

A story that I collaborated on with my friend, Paul Genesse, is in the hands of the editor who requested it. I hope she digs it. Paul and I were jazzed about how it turned out. I have a few other stories that I need to get hammered out and finished, though the writing impulse has not exactly been a steam hammer lately.

Watching: The Complete FarScape

Reading: James Lee Burke, Robert B. Parker, MLN Hanover, H. Rider Haggard, John Ringo...

Bending/Crushing news:

I bent 10 60D nails in 1 minute, 42 seconds today. It's a personal best, since I've never done ten straight, let alone on the clock. Not bad for a guy who's only been bending for a few months.

I have successfully closed the Captains of Crush #2 grippers (195lbs/hand) with both hands. The other day, I got two authoritative closes with each hand. Today, after my bending antics, I got ten straight closes with each hand with the CoC #1.

What does all this goofy crap do? Well, I can tell you that, while at the pistol range the other day, the recoil impulse of a full-load .357 Magnum didn't even blip my wrist. If you need to do things where your wrists control chaotic movements or have to soak up big jolts, this grip/wrist strength stuff can really have an effect. Even if you're "gym strong", the deep, tendon and ligament strength that bending unlocks can make a big difference. I won't lie. It hurts at first, and whenever you really push to the next level, but I think that the reward makes it worth it.

Well, that's it. Sorry that I'm so bad about updating. No excuses. Hope you're all well.

Bending, crushing, etc.

2009-12-04T14:32:00.002-07:00

Here's a little update on my grip/wrist strength tomfoolery:

1) One recent evening saw me bend 5 60D nails.
2) I've bent 2/3rds of my "Yellow" barstock from the Ironmind "Bag of Nails", as well as one of the evil "Blue" nails. The red nails are somewhere far out in the future, they have thus spurned me with nary a slight deformation. No surprise there.
3) My "palms up" bending has been far more effective of late than my overhand folding technique. I'm not quite sure what that's all about. Still, the nails, they are 'a bendin'.
4) I bent two "white" barstock nails at the same time a few days back.
5) I can "thumbs forward" bend a 20 penny nail, as well as bending white nails behind my back and at arm's length.
6) I *almost* ripped a deck of cards, getting 2/3rds of the way through before hitting a stick point. I have to work on my pinch grip! It really hurt.
7) I successfully closed a Captains of Crush #2 with my right hand, maintaining the closure for several seconds. I'm a few 16ths of an inch away with my left hand. As soon as I can reliably close the #2s with both hands, I'll order the 2.5s. I'll have to EARN it.

...all of this has come to pass over about a month and a half, so I'm pretty happy with the progress. It hasn't come without some pain, though. My right hand at the middle knuckle and the top of the wrist has proven to be my weak spot, as well as one tendon beneath my left biceps. I've been fairly rational, and tried to throttle back when things get too painful. Still, this stuff is addictive.

I need to do more supporting work, more generalized exercise, but I've been in a situation where I have very limited time to do so, because of some family commitments.

Anyway, that's my report about bending things. I will try to post a picture of the nails I've bent for you some time in the near future.

World Fantasy Report (late)

2009-11-07T17:37:00.002-07:00

So, after having gone on my odyssey to Internet Librarian 2009, I drove up the California coast on highway 1 to Santa Cruz and then over the mountains to San Jose. A great drive, other than the fact that it was after I'd had a flat tire, which was a long and tiresome bummer (I got a tan, though, hanging around waiting for the repair man.)

I had also gone to the Monterey Aquarium (I may have mentioned that before). It was cool, but I think, to get the most out of it, you really need a kid there with you. Two grown adults wandering around don't tend to linger on much of anything, so it's an expensive hour.

World Fantasy this year, I tried a different tack than I have done in the past. I only went to readings. No panels. I saw a lot of great readings, too. Carol Berg, Guy Gavriel Kay, Jeff VanderMeer, Patricia McKillip, Peter Straub, and more. Good stuff.

It was great to hang out with my old friends, like Paul Genesse and Brad Beaulieu. I also met a bunch of cool new people (writers and industry folks), like Barbara Webb, Vince Jorgensen, Martin Cox, Joseph Vasicek, and others that I'm sure I'll remember when I get that one part of my brain back from the shop.

Like all cons where you have something "at stake", it varied from, "this is so great," to, "I'm terrified and alone." Totally worth it though. I felt very unprepared this time, and I didn't really pitch anything. Doing two cons in a row is probably a bit much. Still, the stars aligned, and I had to go for it.

I'll talk more about WF in later posts. Thanks for dropping in.

Bending Nails!

2009-11-05T22:26:00.003-07:00

Hey, Folks,

I recently became aware of the "grip strength" world, a place where being able to tear playing card decks, phone books, and so on is looked on with great importance, a place where bending big nails is the order of the day.

My friend and co-worker, Josh Hanagarne "The World's Strongest Librarian" got me into this stuff. It's his fault. No, I suppose it's mine, really, for being a sucker for weird exploits like this.

In any case, I just wanted to crow about bending my first 60D "Sixty Penny" nail. These things are six inches long and big enough that they'd send you looking for a larger hammer to drive them in. Not quite tent stakes, but not far off.

...and I bent one of them. With my hands. No bracing, no tools, just me, some padding to keep me from developing accidental stigmata, and a lot of grunting. If you know your way around the "short bending" world, you know what I'm talking about. If not, you probably think I'm a loony bird. It's possible that both contentions are equally right.

Signing off..

Pics from Monterey

2009-11-04T19:43:00.002-07:00

Hey, Folks,

I'm a little behind, but here's the flickr page featuring my photos from Monterey, when I was at Internet Librarian 2009 last week.

Flickr feed of Monterey Pics

Expect my run down of World Fantasy tomorrow or the next day.

Cheers!

Day of Days

2009-10-29T11:02:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was a day of days.

That's right. I said it. Here's why. I was going through the final day of Internet Librarian 2009, and it started out with a fabulous keynote. It featured young kids that make you feel that there's still hope for human society, that there are still great young people coming up through the system. Later, I had a great dinner with my IL 2009 comrade, Josh H.. Fish and chips right at the edge of the ocean, looking out over the water. We saw a sea lion just swimming along in the water, trying to bite sea gulls, stuff like that. We talked about feats of strength, literature, and heavy metal. A well rounded conversation, as the whole day was well rounded. It was like the Greek ideal. Mental stimulation, and physical exertion as well.

When we got back from the final day of the conference, we went out into a nearby park and lifted kettlebells for about an hour. It was intense! I nearly barfed coming back, but (if you can understand) in a good way. We walked downtown in the evening to get our legs back under us, and it was so nice, with the sea air and a light breeze. I, of course, had to do my work-related blogging, and then I settled down with the book I'm reading, Monster Hunter International, by Larry Correia. The book is great fun. Fast moving, and packed to the gills with monster smashing, firearms toting goodness.

When I'd had an hour to relax, I had to tie one last bit onto the day by bending, straightening, and re-bending nails until they broke in half. I broke two and bent a third a few times before my hands were too tired to continue. When I get home, I'm going to get some nail stock and really get into it. This "short bending" thing is addictive. If you're interested in learning about grip strength and bending, you'll want to pop over to the Ironmind Website, or Gripfaq to learn more. It's certainly not for everyone, but, yeah, I fear that it is for me.

I'll be online, blogging about World Fantasy very soon. I'm driving up to San Jose later this afternoon, after checking out Monterey's (from what I understand) famous aquarium.

Take care, and try to have your own day of days!

Internet Librarian 2009 Update--Tuesday

2009-10-27T21:09:00.002-06:00

I'm four days into a five day conference, and time has flown, honestly. It's amazing to imagine that I only have a day and a half left before it's all done. I've been to a huge number of panel discussions and workshops, and I've learned a lot. I'm going to be able to bring home a wealth of information to use at my "day job" at the SLC library. That said, I've also been PowerPointed nearly into oblivion. Though the slideshow, presentation is the industry standard in this day and age, I think that some of the presenters may, in fact, need a little help to make their programs a little more dynamic. There have only been a few really droners, but when you hit them in the midst of much more dramatic events, they can be a little off-putting.

Enough about that! Monterey is beautiful. I've had a chance to walk around the city quite a bit in the last few days, and I'm even starting to figure out how to navigate to a destination without being embarrassingly lost every time. Fisherman's Wharf is neat, though a little commercial. Still, it was neat to be at the seaside and see the boats, water, birds, etc. I went down there just now and had a nice fish lunch (and an ice cream cone with pomegranate ice cream). Yesterday evening, I went to a cool Mexican restaurant with my roommate, Josh H. Enchiladas with artichoke hearts. Yeah, baby!

Speaking of Josh H., he's been a great choice for a roommate. Since we're both writers, and we both also like all sorts of weird strength-related sports, we have a lot to talk about. He's been teaching me a bit about lifting kettlebells, as well as getting me (darn!) hopelessly intrigued with the world of grip strength. He likes to bend huge nails, tear playing card decks, and other fun stuff. Boy, it's hard and it hurts. Of course, I love that sort of thing. I should probably see some professional about it.

Now, I'm going to have to challenge myself to progress in the "grip world". My preliminary goal is to close a type of insanely-hard hand grippers called Captains of Crush. I can close the #1 and the #1.5s, but I'd like to get up to the #3, which is where the "respect" is in that field of endeavor. To give you an idea, the COC #1 requires 140 lbs of crushing power to close. The hardest, the #4, requires 360 lbs. As far as I can see, there are only five known individuals who can say that they have an official close of the latter. Could I be one of that elite club? Who knows. I'm a pretty formidable geek. Anything could happen. As for bending nails, I'm going to give that a go tonight and see what happens. I tried the other day, in a very informal sort of way, and could only produce a mild bend. Now, don't mistake me. These are not wussy nails. They're 60 penny monsters that it would take a dozen swings to drive in with anything less than a mini-sledge. Josh H. can turn them into tacos, which is very impressive. It'll take some practice, though.

This all sounds totally random and bizarre to most of you. It is. I'm like that. Still, I haven't been this inspired about doing a physical task in a long time. This could be a "big caveman likes to smash stuff" thing. That means that it won't go away. I'm "big caveman" to the bone!

Hope you're all doing well, and I'll be back at you with more blather in a few days.

For a look at what I've been doing in my other blogs, here are some links:

Hawk Circle
Superfulous Commentary

Gettin' Trained Up!

2009-10-25T22:18:00.002-06:00

Hey, Folks!

Just thought I'd alert you to a post over on my somewhat-rarely-used Superfluous Commentary blog (it's sorta work-related). It's about my experiences at the Internet Librarian 2009 conference, and you may be mildly interested.

To read my little update, click the following words: Internet Librarian 2009: Saturday.

See, that wasn't very hard, was it?

Take care,

Patrick

Well, I made it.

2009-10-24T22:27:00.000-06:00

That, in the business, is termed "the short version". Or, it could be called a log line. The drive from Salt Lake to Monterey went pretty easily, in the main. I left at 7:00 AM (mountain time), and ended up getting into the hotel room at around 11:00 (mountain time). It would have been somewhat less time, but I got lost in Monterey...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I ate breakfast in Wendover. No, I didn't go to a casino. Didn't want to take the time, or eat a really big breakfast with that big drive ahead of me. I just had a muffin sandwich at a chain fast-food you may be familiar with.

Blasting through the early, dark morning, past the Great Salt Lake, the barren west deserts, and finally the Bonneville Salt Flats is a lonesome journey. I was listening to the audiobook of World War Z, by Max Brooks (thanks, Paul). It's surprising that it took me this long to get to this, the source material for much of the recent enthusiasm with zombies, and sort of holy writ for the markets I've actually had some success in. The reasons for that are manifold, and I don't feel like going into them at this moment.

In any case, this was a fully dramatized version of the book, with great voice actors like Alan Alda voicing the various interviewees. I found it fascinating. There's no need for me to go over what it's all about here, but if you can overlook the fact that it's about fighting zombies, it's really a superb study of human nature when faced with an intractable problem. In some ways, it almost recalls "The Stand" by Stephen King. That said, it's much shorter and covers a much broader area of the world. Recommended.

Next stop was in Winnemucca, Nevada. There, I had a sandwich for lunch. I found, when there, that my recent oil change didn't include the courtesy of filling up my tires. I had one down to about 12 pounds of pressure, which really hurt my gas mileage, and was somewhat dangerous. I spent the three quarters to rectify the situation and was on my way once more.

I went straight across to Reno and beyond without stopping, finally taking a break somewhere on the California side to get a new audiobook. This one, Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke, is shaping up to be really great, too. I love his description of the bayou, his detail, his immersive prose. Haven't read much of his stuff, but I'll have to read more from here on out.

Going through the Sierra Nevadas was quite something. I hadn't been through there before, and they're quite rugged, beautiful peaks. The road, which was being worked on most of the way, wasn't so hot. Lots of concrete barriers. Lots of orange traffic barrels. It was clasutrophobic in some areas, for sure. I put on old James Lee and booked it out of the mountains, all the way down to San Jose.

I stopped in San Jose to call home and tell them I was still on the road and in one piece. I walked around for a few minutes and ate a sub sandwich, which was really good, actually. Nothing super special, but good. The people at the sandwich joint were also cool to me.

The 101 going south was sort of a parking lot for the first few miles, but cleared up the further I got from SJ. Finding Monterey was pretty easy. As I got closer, it got more humid, until I could smell the sea and see the mist lingering all around everywhere. Yes, getting to Monterey was easy. Getting to my hotel...well, not so much.

First, there was the odyssey of wandering around Seaside, finding all of their dark alleys and Best Westerns. That was something else. I should have known that there was an issue when the attendants at one of the Seaside Best Westerns had to squint and think about it when I asked them to help me find one of their sister hotels.

Not to belabor it, but I found every Best Western in about a twenty mile radius, my own the very last. I found Fisherman's Wharf. I got completly lost at least twice. I lost the paper that had the phone number of the hotel. Wow. I finally did get to the destination, thank goodness. And I slept. Hard.

There'll be more in my running commentaries to come, as well as reports on my experiences at Internet Librarians 2009 over at Superfluous Commentary (one of my lesser known blogs).

On the Eve of the Big Roadtrip!

2009-10-21T16:13:00.001-06:00

Salt Lake to Monterey. It's getting close. I've been buying all sorts of probably-unnecessary junk to get myself "ready" for the road. I made sure that my parakeet, Jari, has plenty of food in the house. I bought my EeePC presents. I have fuel treatment for the car. I have the fricken' Google Maps, baby.

Friday is the big day. According to my triptych, I've got 835 miles to drive that day. I don't remember ever driving any further in one stretch. It's exciting. My butt will probably hurt. It'll give me some evidence of actually owning a car--my machine's never been further than about 60 miles away from town, and I've owned it since Fall, '05. Sad. I'm so boring.

So, yeah. Internet Librarian 2009, pre-conferences and all, the full five days. Then one day (28th) on my own recongnizance to travel up the coast to San Jose and find a motel for the night. From there, I'll have World Fantasy Con. Then, on Sunday, it'll be the all-singing, all-dancing 780 mile drive home.

Luckily, I have Monday off, so I can take a day to put my backside parts back where they belong.

I'm looking forward to the learning opportunities that I'll have at the Internet Librarians conference. I think they'll help me, since I'm on the workgroups for both Tech Access and Skills and Web Development for the SLC library. World Fantasy will be great, I'm sure. I always love attending that one, and I always hope that I'll be able to meet with some people that might help me take the next step in my writing career. I have to admit that I haven't had as much time to prep that part of my trip as I would like, but I hope things will still work out well. If for no other reason than to hang out with great writers, it's an important yearly trip for me, and one that I hated to miss last time.

Anyway, that probably made no sense. Totally stream of consciousness blogging. Hope you're all well. Don't get run over. Don't pick up a duck in a dungeon. Don't pick your feet in Poughkeepsie (sp?).

New Poetry at Hawkcircle; Conventions Upcoming

2009-10-16T11:38:00.003-06:00

Hey, Folks,

I just wanted to bring some new poetry I've posted at Hawkcircle to your attention. After a long, long layoff, I've been back on the poetry horse in the last few weeks, and it's been nice, to be honest. Poetry is sort of like a tempestuous mistress that only comes to town now and then. We'll have our fling--I never have any idea how long she'll stick around--and they she'll leave, sometimes for years. No calls, no post cards. Well, at least for a while, she's back, and we're doing that thing we do. I've written three poems in just a handful of days. It's a good thing.

Time is getting slim, and I'll be off to do my odyssey of conventions soon. I leave next Friday for Monterey, to go to Internet Librarian 2009, and I'll be continuing on to World Fantasy in San Jose later in the week. I'm pretty excited. I hope to learn a lot of useful information at the Internet Librarian conference, and I always love World Fantasy. It's been a few years since I've seen a few of my author friends, since I didn't go to the WF last year due to absurd flight costs.

Anyway...

"What Hell Divides" up at Nasty, Brutish, and Short

2009-10-14T14:37:00.002-06:00

That's right, folks!

At long last, NBNS makes its triumphant return, with a new story, What Hell Divides. It's a neat little (well, actually, big for a flash at around 1,400 words) story about scary stuff that happens in the jungle, and inside ourselves when we have to decide how far we'll go to protect our loved ones.

Check it out at Here. Hope you enjoy the read!

"Those Who Fall in Silence" gets award!

2009-10-05T13:46:00.002-06:00

Good News:

"Those Who Fall in Silence" got the runner-up for best story this quarter at "Tales of the Zombie War". Prizes and accolades for me! This is me crowing and doing my best leprechaun dance.

Conferences and Conventions Abound!

2009-10-05T13:43:00.001-06:00

Hey, folks.

I am preparing to do a double-dip...two conventions in one week! I'm setting off to attend the Internet Librarians Conference in Monterey from the 24th to the 28th, then heading up the coast to San Jose to attend the World Fantasy Convention from the 29th through the 1st. I'm driving out there, so wish me luck on the roads.

I'm really excited about attending these two events. I'll probably look like a jigsaw puzzle with a few pieces missing before the end, but what an adventure! Because I'm attending the Interent Librarians Conference on behalf of my employer, Salt Lake City Public Library, I get to have half of the adventure on their dime. Sweet!

Anyway, I look forward to it, and plan to blog furiously about the whole thing, if my fingers are still working by the end of all those big days.

Take care, and I hope you're all well.

Haibun "The Language of Structures" up at Pens On Fire!

2009-09-11T15:53:00.002-06:00

Hey, Folks.

After the requisite lag time, my haibun poem, Language of Structures, one that was written for Hawkcircle long ago, is being featured in this month's Pens On Fire online magazine.

I've had a few things in Pens On Fire Before, but I'm always glad to be featured again.

Because the editor of PoF decided that using the Haibun form was an interesting use of language, she put this one under Nonfiction. I didn't argue. It's free to read my poem, as well as any of the other stuff on the site, so I encourage you to go and check it out. HERE is a link you can press, so that you don't have to type anything (heavens forfend!).

In other news, I recently finished a LONG short story (78 pages) and I'm in the process of getting feedback for it. I think it turned out really well, and I hope to find a market for it out there somewhere. We'll see. If anything cool happens, I'll be sure to trumpet the news from my little blog-tastic pulpit.

I hope you're all doing well. Summer's over too fast. I have other random thoughts, but I won't type any more. Farewell, until next we meet.

"Those Who Fall in Silence" up at Tales of the Zombie War!

2009-08-10T16:30:00.003-06:00

So,

You've all probably given me up for dead. It's been a bit of a busy summer, and I just haven't had that much to blog about. That said, I'm proud to say that I've got another in my series of "Flashover" stories featured at Tales of the Zombie War. If you'd like to read it (it's free!), click HERE.

I'm pretty happy with the way this story turned out, and though it took the TotZW people a long time to respond, I think it's worth the wait.

In other news, I'm "reopening the wound" to write more of "Dayhunter". More info as it becomes available.

I have a story out for submission, and have happy, good thoughts about it. All my concrit folks have adored it, so I hope that's a good sign.

I'm working on a fairly lengthy story right now, and it's coming out nicely (Suspected Vehicular Homicide).

I'm hoping to submit a bunch of stuff in these waning days of summer. I have several stories that need good homes.

Other than that, I've been computer nerding a lot, and may come back at you with some of that stuff. I've also been target shooting again, which is something I dearly love. It's possible that I might do a gun-centric blog (no promises).

In the meantime, hope you're all well. Take care.

More thoughts on the Asus EeePC 1000HE and Ubuntu UNR

2009-06-02T14:14:00.001-06:00

So, as promised, I'm here to talk more about my new little laptop. Thus far, super happy. It's just the handy little thing that actually spurs me to use a laptop as they're supposed to be used. See, I started out a desktop guy, and only got my first laptop a few years ago. Thus, I wasn't really quick to start toting my computer around with me everywhere I went. I sort of plopped it down and used it in one location. Sure, I loved the ability to pick it up and move it around the house, but I tended to leave it behind when I went places. Even when I did take it with me, I would often find that I didn't use it that much. It was a good machine, but its battery life wasn't that stellar. When you only have around two hours of battery life before you need to find a plug, you tend to conserve, conserve, and finally just keep the darned thing in your hotel room.

Now, I'm a big guy with big hands, so I always assumed that I would prefer a large laptop with a full size-ish keyboard. In some cases, this is true. It took a while for me to get used to laptop keys altogether, with their short throws and sometimes squishy feel. That said, I have written a few hundred thousand words of various laptops, I suppose. I've also played through till the end of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction on my old one (an Acer w/ a Turion x2). More recently, I bought a laptop to replace a desktop in our downstairs office. This one was an HP Pavillion, also with a Turion x2 (hey, I'm an AMD loyalist, what can I say?). It's a big 17" monster, and works great as a desktop with a wireless keyboard and mouse attached. That said, when you slap it down at a table where you're talking to friends, they're pretty much hedged away from you. They just see your eyes over the top of the screen. Not exactly companionable, and with the characteristically bad battery life and portability of a big laptop, I knew that I wasn't going to be taking the HP on the road often. I don't believe it's ever gone further away from its little home that it took to hook it up the a printer.

Thus, I found myself looking for a third (oh, brother) laptop. When the netbook thing started, I was intrigued. Low price, tiny size, generally cute as a bug's ear. Love 'em. However, the 7 and 9 inch sizes tended to be just a bit too small for me to use to touch type. For a writer, without the ability to touch type, you're pretty much closed down. The computer is of no logical use, and is only a gizmo to tote around to no purpose. Then came the ten inch size. Just right. Still wee, but with big enough keyboards and screens that I wasn't squinting over my own knuckles to see the taskbar.

As has been documented here before, my first foray into netbooks was in the form of a Dell Mini 10. While it was certainly adequate to type and surf on, that was about all it could do. Due to a variety of issues, it just didn't fit my needs. One of those needs was to run Linux, so that I didn't have to be concerned with all the Windows security hassles. When I want a little 'net and word processing appliance, I don't want to have to worry about things like virus updates and spyware scans. That takes up too much time. It's like buying a pool just to skim the leaves out and scrub of the algea. No, sir. Don't like it. And the Dell wasn't compatible with any Linux distro, apparently. That, plus pokey performance and a growing feeling that the Windows partition wasn't particularly healthy, and it went back. I should have done my homework better, and I shouldn't have taken it on faith that, since people liked the Mini 9, that the Mini 10 would be the same quality machine. Bad execution of a great concept, Dell. You didn't fully bake that one before you started handing it out.

Okay, so I was then netbook-less. What to do? Well, lots of research. Reading a ton of reviews, comparing prices, stats, and so on. Settled on the Asus Eee PC 1000HE, with the Atom N280. In blue, of course. Almost the same color as my Suzuki Burgman, which is a plus.

Experiences:

The Asus, from the very first, feels more substantial than the Dell. Before I turned it on, I went ahead and popped in a 2 gig memory stick (Corsair Value RAM, DDR2 667). Getting the belly plate off was a little fraught. It didn't come off very easily, but I'm hesitant to "he-man" anything. That, with me, generally ends in broken parts. I've found it better to finesse things off, if in doubt. Anyway, once the plate lifted, the RAM went in very easily, and the plate went back on with no issues.

The netbook started up and ran with no complants, recognizing the extra RAM without any fiddling in the BIOS. I spent the evening de-boning the Windows install and getting the programs I need installed (Openoffice.org, GIMP, etc.) In general, the Windows install wasn't bad. It had a fairly reasonable number of tasks running at idle (in the high 30's at the lowest), ran a reasonable Paging File size, (unlike the Dell), and was responsive. That said, I wanted to install Ubuntu Linux UNR as soon as I was able. On the Dell, the graphics had shot me down. Not so with the Asus. I'd done my homework this time.

Asus provides you with two equal partitions on the hard disk. I went ahead and put Ubuntu on the "data" partition, which comes to you blank. After initially being chicken and looking online to be sure that I wasn't going to cook the Windows install, I went for it. Easy as pie. No real difference from installing on any machine, other than going through the process of putting the disk image onto a USB stick. In my experience, the Windows disk imager didn't work, but I was able to do it easily enough by grabbing a package from the Ubuntu repositories.

Ubuntu 9.04 UNR works great. I think that the screen layout is easy to follow, and the methodology that allows each task to be a full-screen tab is easy to understand. But for a problem of my own making (shut down while updating), it's worked like a champ. Connects to wireless networks easily, has great range/reception on wireless, and Firefox 3 is, well, as strong as a small pony. I have no trouble streaming audio and video (with codecs installed, of course), up to and including watching Hulu video. High def would probably befuddle the Eee PC, but I think that would be mixing metaphors at any rate.

Now, a word about battery life. The ads indicate that I might expect to get up to 9.5 hours of life. This is with wireless disabled and with maximum battery savings enacted. With Ubuntu, I'm getting something on the order of 6 hours of battery life (I haven't disabled wireless). This is, to my mind, a very useful time period. I'm not worried about bringing my power brick along at this point. I did the whole ConDuit weekend without recharging or plugging in. I frequently use the machine without plugging in, even when I'm in my house. It's just not a compelling concern. I bet that I could get upwards of seven hours of life, if I were to twiddle with the settings some. I recognize that some of the power saving features are somewhat based in Windows, but I'm happy with the experience I'm getting. I've found that, using battery power, the netbook hardly becomes warm underneath.

Finally, the keyboard. It's generally quite good. After some practice, I can speed right along with the touch typing. I don't think I can quite hit the wpm that I could with the full 'board, but it's not bad. Problems: small right shift key and generally small 'board sees me touch the up arrow by accident. This is happening less and less as I get used to the 'board. I feel that the "chicklet" style keys lead to a stronger, more flex-free keyboard.

This netbook is a lot for the money paid. For about $430 including extra memory and shipping, I feel like it will really help me stay productive when I'd otherwise just stare into space. For instance, I took the Asus to the car dealership this morning when I went to get some work done on my vehicle, and I was able to do a bunch of typing, comfortably and without any drama. In fact, I outlined a whole book and wrote most of this article during my wait time. Pretty cool, huh?

Well, this article has turned into something of a white whale by now, so I'll sign off. Next time, I'll have a writing update and probably a link to a new disk from Magnatune. See you then.

ConDuit Wrap-Up

2009-05-25T17:39:00.000-06:00

ConDuit De-brief:

Well, I had a good time at ConDuit this time around. Friday was primarily taken up by going to Paul Genesse's book release party for "The Dragon Hunters" which is the second book in his Iron Dragon series. Paul, as per usual, did a great job of orchestrating the party. It was well attended, and he sold a lot of books, not to mention putting out a great spread. He's a star.

I had a great time, especially on Sunday, when it seemed as if I was able to hit my stride in terms of talking to great fellow writers and generally not being a wallflower. Friends I caught up with: Chris Cook, Julie Frost, Larry Correia, Eric Swedin, Aleta Clegg, Rebecca Shelley, Eric James Stone and so on. I got the first of Howard Tayler's Schlock Mercenary books, as well as Rebecca Shelley's new Brass Dragon Codex (written under R.D Henham). Met many new people, had a generally good time.

Dave Wolverton/Farland gave a neat main address about genetic memory and what makes some stories eternal. He talked about how certian stories are sort of hard-coded into our genes, and that we'll always respond to some things, like the hero's journey and so on. Good stuff. Went to other good panels. I'm choosy now, but I found a few each day that I could sink my teeth into.

Always glad to go and see that the local "scene" is up and running. Whenever I can talk to other writers, it rejuvenates me and makes me want to get in there and write myself.

Speaking of that, I inadvertantly started the sequel to "Dayhunter". So far, our little "pride" has gotten part way to the promised coastal city they were headed toward last time, and they've already gotten into big trouble, as if nature herself were opposed to them having a nice old time. Who wants to read about characters having a nice old time, anyway? Readers are mean. They want blood and sweat and the feeling that all is lost, forever. So, I'm just the sadist to make that sort of stuff happens (it's a job skill--writers have to be evil to their very core--I bet you didn't know that).

Plans:

I need to get on the stick and do my final hocus pocus over "The Settled Dust". It's time I get it finished and put it before someone's eyes who might be interested.

I have some stories that are languishing. Like--three, four, five? They need to be out there panhandling for money and possible fame/glory/immortality/vague notice.

Too many projects hanging fire. Have to pick one and get it to some rational state of completion, and thus be able to submit it somewhere. Now, armed with my netbook-of-ultimate-power, I have no reasonable excuse.

Alright, then. Next time, maybe some computer geekery as I talk about my experiences with my EeePC and Ubuntu UNR. Also, found a neat record on Magnatune. Have to download it, then give you one of my handy-dandy flash sample thing-a-magiggs.

Farewell. Do not let your pen rest until it has made some wonderous, indelible mark upon the face of the world.

ConDuit Tomorrow; The Joy of Eee!

2009-05-22T00:28:00.003-06:00

So, I'm off to the ConDuit Sci-Fi convention tomorrow. It's just down the street from my house, and the rates for the con aren't that bad, either. Lucky me. It's actually on the route that I take to work every day. No getting lost for me.

ConDuit is a fun little con, one that's on my "must" list, due to the closeness issue mentioned above. Also, it's great to get together with all the local talent and geek the heck out. My friend Paul Genesse is having a book launch party there tomorrow (today, in point of fact)...okay, it's frickin' Friday, all right, from 3:00 to 6:00 at the con hotel (Radisson). He's just come out with a book that's near and dear to my heart, The Dragon Hunters. I've seen this story in its various incarnations over the years, and Paul's done a great job with it. I may have given him a few pointers here and there, not to boast. If you're around, please come and meet him. He'd love to see all the fans and potential fans at his party.

I'll probably hanging about in various places, doing the nefarious things that shady writer types are known to do. (Like slowly consuming all the oxygen in the room for our meaningless biotic activities). Remember, getting into the Dealer's Room and the Art Show are both on the free list, so dropping by will not necessarily cost you any dough.

Now, then. I never did understand that, really. Is it now, or then? It can't be both, can it? That would be some sort of rift in the space/time continuum, right? I mean, I'm more of a Fantasy/Horror geek, but it sounds like an issue. Anyhooo...I was bellyaching last post about my Dell Mini 10 and the things that were wrong with it. Yep, a few more issues came to light, and that was, as they say, "it" for my patience. I took the sucker back. Big time. Happily, the big box store where I'd picked it up was okay with my esoteric explanation of why I was double plus unhappy with the whole affair. Money in hand, I took the trip to the mighty newegg.com and ordered what I SHOULD have ordered in the first place.

Yep, I'm typing this post on my new Asus EeePC 1000HE (blue) with 2 gig memory stick installed, and running Ubuntu 9.04 UNR Linux. Man, what a difference. I'll go over all my thovghts about the netbook in a later post, perhaps, but let it be known that the Asus has it ALL OVER the Dell in terms of solidity, responsiveness, and general sweetness. I'm not certain that the Asus keyboard is any better than the Dell, but that's about the only point in question. In general, I just have to be very accurate with my typing to avoid spurious button combos. As my boss calls them "fat fingers". Which is so very apt for me. For instance, I just about deleted all of my progress with some strange combo I just pressed, and only saved it with some wild act of computer heroism that I can't adequately describe to the readership here, because it might endanger agents in the field.

I'm sure that I'll get better at typing without blundering into the wrong buttons over the course of the next few days, but for now, I just have to be careful. Just know that I'm a happy dude, busy linux-cising with my wee laptop.

I'll check in after ConDuit to give you the skinny, and may well have a new Magnatune suggestion for you by then. Until then, farewell, and keep safe the holy blogsphere...

Writing Update; Shiva In Exile

2009-05-06T19:45:00.003-06:00

Hey, Folks:

Here I am, with a little update on what I've been doing.

1) I have two short stories and one poem submitted at this moment. I hope at least one of them "pops".

2) I'm working on a few other stories, as well as putting the final touches on "Dust". I know, I know, I'm dragging my feet with "Dust", but it's been such a long term project, it feels like I have to give it time to breathe before I do my final run-through. Or, I'm just lazy. One or the other.

3) I got a new laptop. A "netbook" in reality. It's a Dell Inspiron Mini 10. Very clear screen, great wireless stability, touch-type capable keyboard (even for huge fingers like mine!). Downsides? Yes. It's not upgradable, for one thing (should have done my homework instead of saying, "Ooh! Look at the pretty!") Also, it uses a weird video chip (Intel GMA 500) which is not supported by the newer linux distros. I found out about this a few days AFTER I installed Ubuntu UNR 9.04 as a dual-boot. The distro works, technically speaking, but it can't support the video card, and this causes the screen refreshes to take FOREVER. Plus, it squanders some of the small screen real estate with a bad horizontal pixel count. Oh, well. Back to the XP partition (which is working peachy keen, by the way, thanks for asking.) I could install a hacked/worked version of Ubuntu 8.04, which is supported by Dell, but I'm waiting, hoping that they may created a workaround for a more recent distro. That, or I'll blow away the partition and just settle for Wynders. Probably should have spent the extra 40 bucks and gotten an Asus EEPC 1000 HE. It's the better machine, with monster battery, upgradable RAM, and so on. Grrrr!

Okay, now onto a purchase I don't have any qualms about: Here's a disk I got from Magnatune. If you like Dead Can Dance, Vas, or vocal Mid-Eastern stuff, you might dig Shiva in Exile.

Nour by Shiva in Exile

Rumors of my demise and so on...

2009-04-20T20:46:00.003-06:00

Nope, not dead. Out of touch, perhaps.

Here's an update:

1) "Dust" is in MS format and nearing completion.
2) I was under the weather, but feel better now (sun helps).
3) My dad was pretty sick, but he's feeling a bit more chipper, too.
4) Work's been demanding, but I'm actually succeeding at some of my tough projects.
5) Reading: "The Green Rider" by Kristin Britain and "Tethered" by Amy Mackinnon
6) Read: "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold

Hope you're all well. I'm feeling somewhat confident in saying that I'll be here more often in the coming days.

Oh, and sad to see Dave Arneson's passing. Man, he and a guy named Gary sure created something that unlocked my imagination as a little tyke.

Happy St. Patrick's Day; Music

2009-03-17T19:54:00.002-06:00

Hey, Folks,

Just wanted to give you all a "happy" on my namesake's big day. No need to banish any snakes on my account, though. I'm okay with the reptile folk, myself. Not a huge amount to report on this time. I've been hither, thither, and yon this last week, and the writing hasn't really gone very far in my absence. I hope to get some good work done later this week, though.

It's getting nice outside at last here. I rode my mo-hickle around on Sunday, and may well ride it to work tomorrow. It's dirty, but it's running great.

I'm pissed about some of the jackassery going on in the news. We need to feed a few of the bankers and money men to the hogs, just to get them back around to a realistic world view. I'm surprised that some of the folks that have lost everything haven't gone Death Wish on these dweebs. I know, I don't usually rant here, and I'll stop, but I'm just sayin'...

Now, on to more cool music from Magnatune. This is a short little album, but I dig it. Reminds me of Michael Penn a bit. Check it out:

Little Palaces by Greg Annussek

Settled Dust getting closer; The Union Trade

2009-03-09T16:23:00.004-06:00

Folks,

I've had some good critiques for the bulk of "Settled Dust" from my friend Julie Frost, and I'm feeling confident that I can actually pull the project off as a singular whole. I just collected the last part and did yet another editing pass. It'll go out for concrit later this week.

I've got a few "fill in" scenes yet to write, and I've been told to make one segment nastier still. Aye, aye! I will do this. Once I get the corrections and concrit changes put in, I'll be ready to put the whole thing into "pretty" format and send it around to a few more of my readers. If they don't squawk and holler about awful things I've screwed up on, it'll be near the time that I will need to reach out to possible publishers for my little project.

In other news, I found another sweet album at Magnatune. This one's more of a rocker, from a band called The Union Trade. I dig it. Check it out. If you like it, Magnatune will sell it to you for a reasonable price. Hope everyone's well.

Everyday Including by The Union Trade

Working on "Settled Dust", music from "Blind Divine"

2009-03-03T20:05:00.002-07:00

Hey, Folks,

Working on making "The Settled Dust" what it should be. Just wrote a few new scenes that I think will really tie the story arc of a secondary antagonist together. I feel like the scenes are strong ones, and I hope that they improve the work. I hope to have a full manuscript of "Dust" ready to pass around to a few readers by the beginning of April. That would be kicky! Wish me luck.

In other news, I recently bought a subscription to Magnatune.com, and I've been downloading some great music from them with. Among the disks I recently got, here's one that I dig. It's called "Queen of Venom" by Blind Divine. They're low-key rock with a very haunting female vocalist. Very haunting. My favorite track is probably "Twist the Knife".

Expect more music here. I think it'll become one of my things. Good to have, things are.

Anyway, enjoy!

Queen Of Venom by Blind Divine

Life, the Universe, and Everything Symposium 2009

2009-02-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

Hey, Folks,

I had the opportunity to attend LTUE again this year. For those who don't know, it's a conference on Fantasy and Science Fiction writing that takes place at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

Yes, that's the heart of Mormon Country. No, it's not that scary. They're very nice, and LDS writers happen to be some of the most well-thought-of members of the speculative fiction crowd.

Among the attendees were Tracy Hickman (think Dragonlance), Brandon Sanderson, Dave Farland, L.E. Modesitt, Dan Willis, Paul Genesse (my bud!), Eric Swedin, Julie Wright, Julie Frost, Bob Defendi, Howard Tayler, and more. There were some great artists there, as well.

I think that LTUE has some of the best, most informative panel discussions around. Compared to many other conventions, it's a bonaza of information. It's great that there is a FREE event so near me. The cost of the convention-going business is in the getting there and the accomodations, let me tell you. If there's an event within easy driving distance from you, you're pretty much obligated to go. It's just too good an opportunity to pass up. If you're in the Mountain West, and you're interested in Sci-Fi or Fantasy writing, you should certainly go to LTUE.

Among the highlights for this year included hearing Tracy Hickman hold forth about, well, anything. He's a great raconteur, and his main address about the nexus of experience between the word on the page and the person reading it was great. Very moving at times, as well as featuring Tracy's great humor. I'd heard him speak about gaming topics a few times in the past, but this was the first time I'd heard him expound on the writing process. Good stuff. Inspiring stuff. Glad I went.

In my own writing news, I'm still working on my "The High and the Mighty" story about stoners who survive the zombie apolcalypse, as well as putting the editorial touches on "The Settled Dust". I need to be busier, of course, but things are progressing apace. I talked to a few writers about the projects, and they appeared to be interested. Did my writerly good deeds by trying to help out with a few projects my writer friends are working on, as well. A good weekend, all in all.

Hope you're all doing well out there in Blogland. Remember to keep a weapon nearby, in case of zombies.

Settled Dust postmortem reinvigoration; music for people

2009-02-06T14:19:00.004-07:00

Well, many of you will likely be aware that my long, long running haibun cycle, The Settled Dust, finally came to a close recently on Hawkcircle. That being said, the work's just starting on that project. I'm making it into a novella-sized unholy monstrosity as we speak. Various plot threads and nuances are being added, so that it has more novel-y goodness. I hope to be done with that project in a month or two, then there will be the issue of finding someone who's interested in such things.

In other writing news, I just started a new short story in my "Flashover" zombie series. It's called "The High and the Mighty", and it's about stoners who survive the apocalypse (in surprising numbers!) I think it's turning out well so far. I have a few other stories that I need to submit somewhere, as well.

Now, on to something else altogether. I was just on Magnatune.com the other day, and I found a neat atmospheric band that you may like. I'm posting a flash music player below, so you can check them out, as well.

now we are six by the glimmer room

I hope you folks enjoy it. Remember to support little businesses like Magnatune in these tough times. They need you more than ever!

Peace!

It's Snowing Here, So Here's Music!

2008-12-19T14:27:00.003-07:00

Folks,

Hope you're having a great Holiday Season! I'll soon have a new "Dust" for you, but it's not quite ready. I'm nearly done with a story for "Tales of the Zombie War" as well. That should be in the mail soon.

For quite some time now, I've enjoyed the music put out by a small record label called Magnatune. They're at magnatune.com, and their motto is "We're not evil". And they're not. In fact, they're very cool. They handle all sorts of acts, from early music to heavy metal. All their music is available for download, physical CD, or streaming. They never use DRM encryption, and so you're free to do what you need to with the music once you get it. Also, they always pay their artists 50% of the profit on all music sold. It's very neat. They even allow you to host an embedded player for their artists on your own site, which I plan on doing from time to time, maybe even weekly. I encourage you to check them out, and if you have some last-minute holiday shopping, think about buying music from Magnatune.

One of the Magnatune bands I like is called Brad Sucks. Here's their new record:

(The music will start when you click the "Play" button, which looks similar to this ">".

Out Of It by Brad Sucks

Hope you like it, folks. More to come...

Holidays! New Settled Dust!

2008-12-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

Hey, Everyone.

Just thought I'd check in and see how you were doing on this December morning. For me, time's going at a breakneck pace of late, and the weeks seem to trip by like the clicking of a playing card in a kid's bicycle spokes. It's sort of amazing to consider that 2008 is already nearly spent. It seems I hardly knew her.

I've got the bulk of the family-oriented shopping done, but I've still got a good bit of stuff to procure for the friends. I've already spent more than I thought I would, but what the hell?

In other news, I've got a new Settled Dust segment (part 19) up at Hawkcircle (http://hawkcircle.blogspot.com). The characters continue to whisper their stories to me, and I'm always amazed at the next turn of events. I'm rarely able to forecast how things will go until they're already on the page. I've been gearing up to go through the whole thing and turn it into a cohesive, dramatic, kick-butt little novella, and I think that I have some good ideas about how to deepen the impact of what I've already got here. I'm hoping to finish the "first draft" within the next month or so, then get in there and do all the improvements that we writers get so wired up about.

It's amazing that I've been working on this project for the better part of two years (as a side thing). I didn't imagine that it would take on such long-term energy when I first started to write. I just had a cast-off plotline that I thought would be interesting for a few linked haibun poems. I should know better. Anyway, I think the end result will be a memorable tale, and I hope I will be able to find someone who wants to publish it. Anything's possible...

In any case, hope you like the new "Dust", and have a great holiday season.

The Settled Dust, Part Eighteen up at Hawkcircle

2008-11-26T15:56:00.003-07:00

Hey, Folks.

Just thought that I'd let you know about the new segment of my now-eons-in-the-making haibun cycle over at Hawkcircle. The story continues to spin out, as Haike and Valila/Namira near the final confrontation in the warlord's fortress. Although I've been saying this for some time now, I'm nearing the end for this story. Perhaps three segments remain.

Anyway, hope you're all well, and that you'll have a great Thanksgiving!

Settled Dust, Part 17 at Hawkcircle!

2008-10-25T17:24:00.002-06:00

Like the title to this post says, I've posted another installment of "The Settled Dust". Hope you folks can take the time to read it. You can find the new one HERE, and the whole shebang is contained under the heading "Settled Dust, Collected" at Hawkcircle.

Cheers!

New story: "Signing Off" up at Tales of the Zombie War

2008-10-19T10:52:00.002-06:00

Hey folks,

I have a new story up at the Tales of the Zombie War site. It's called "Signing Off", and it's part of the ongoing "Flashover" storyline I've been working on, wherein the human race is decimated by a mysterious light in the sky. The few survivors are locked in a struggle with the walking dead, while most people were instantly reduced to ash. Fun stuff.

This particular story is a first hand account of the brutal fight with the staggering legion of the dead, spoken into voice recorder during the last minutes of an academic's life. It's a little more flowery than my standard zombie stories, but I hope you'll read and enjoy. Please check out Signing Off HERE.

I hope everyone's well. I like to think I'll have more to report here before too long...

New "Settled Dust" up at Hawkcircle

2008-10-17T11:10:00.002-06:00

Hey, Folks,

I know that I've been pretty quiet around here lately, but if you're still lurking around and wondering if I've quit the blogging deal altogether, that would be a big, fat NO. I just posted the next part of "Settled Dust", my Haibun cycle. This one's part 16, and the journey is nearing its conclusion. I know, I say that every time. I have probably two more segments to go before the ultimate conclusion of the online tale, all of which is available if you go to Hawkcircle and click the "Settled Dust, Collected" link.

Once I finish the story (which I consider a "rough" version of what I'd like it to become), I'm going to put the whole thing together and do a thorough edit, making things consistent throughout the story, as well as improving narrative flow and thematic progression. I know that I'll be adding at least a few extra segments when I dive back in. While I think the piece works at the moment, if I want it to have a good dramatic structure, there are a few things that'll need to happen during the course of the story. Don't worry, though. The parts I'll be adding it will just make things tougher for young Haike and his mistress.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the newest "Dust". Take care. Please remember to exercise your right to Vote in the upcoming elections.

MountainCon Debrief

2008-09-21T19:39:00.002-06:00

I went to a local Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention, MountainCon, this weekend. It took place in Layton, Utah, which is a few miles north of Salt Lake City. It's a fun little 'con, and I really enjoyed myself. I was able to speak on eleven panel discussions, which was really a neat experience. I met a great number of mice people and found myself on panels with many very talented writers. There were several notable individuals at the convention, including Brandon Sandersen, who is finishing the Wheel of Time books in the wake of Robert Jordan's death. Celebrity guests included Penny Johnson Gerald, who starred as the presiden'ts wife on 24, as well as Cpt. Sisco's significant other on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

I found myself hanging around with my friends Paul Genesse, Julie Frost, Thom Allen, JoSelle Vanderhooft, and Eric James Stone, all of which are great people. I didn't get to attend many events, since I was busy with my panels (probably over-committed, in hindsight), but my feeling about the convention is that it turned out well. I hope that they're able to keep going and have the fifth installment of MountainCon next year. If you get a chance to come, I'd suggest it.

Hope everyone's well.

Note: The previous post was the outline I used during my panel on writing flash fiction. It is also available as a page on my Nasty, Bruish, and Short site. Hope it was interesting to you.

Fundamentals of Flash Fiction

2008-09-18T21:58:00.000-06:00

What is Flash Fiction?

For some, the term "flash fiction" itself may be unfamiliar. Flash fiction is the art of telling a full-fledged story with very few words. Most commonly, flash fiction is considered to be a story between 200 and 1,500 words. For those who can more easily relate to manuscript pages of text, these stories are between one and five pages in length. These tiny stories contain beginnings, middles, and ends, just as longer stories do. Everything simply occurs much more quickly. While writing, say, 500 words may seem easy, there is some art to the process of telling a good story in such a short span.

Why would I want to write Flash Fiction?

Writing flash fiction can provide a variety of benefits. If a writer is just starting out, the short word count can decrease anxiety. If you must only write a few hundred words, there's little to fear. Also, because a flash fiction story can often be written to the conclusion of a draft in one sitting, the beginning writer can experiment, being unafraid of a story “failing”. For more experienced writers, the discipline required to write “short” can be of great benefit to them when the return to longer works. If the writer can maintain the economy of language he learned while writing flash fiction, his longer stories will move at a fast pace as well. Finally, there is a market for flash fiction on the Internet. If you become highly skilled at writing these short tales, you may be able to make a few bucks and gain some publication credits for your efforts.

What's the Secret?

There are no “secrets” in writing, only helpful maxims. Here are a few that are especially useful for flash fiction:

Brevity is the Soul of Wit: As the Immortal Bard said, express your ideas with the minimum of words. Of all story forms, flash is the least tolerant of excess verbiage.
Don't use one POV too many: Generally, using more than one point-of-view character in a flash fiction is a bad idea. Tell the story from one character's perspective, if you can. If you're having a hard time, you may need to plan the story out more thoroughly.
Use your Allusion: Yes, it's a bad paraphrase, but it's also a great tool. In flash, you'll need to allude to the past and hint at the future. You don't have enough space to show everything that has happened or might. You can only structure your words so that the reader does this “broadening of the tale” for you.
One Memorable Scene: Frequently, you'll only have one scene to work with. Think of flash being a distillation of a bigger story, and you're coming in just in time to see the climactic events occur. If you can properly contextualize those events, you've told a great flash fiction story.
All the Standard Rules Apply: Just as any other story, flash fiction needs a great opening line, an interesting character, and a vibrant setting. The challenge a flash writer faces is that you have to convey all of this in a few artful sentences.

A Final Message:

Don't be afraid to try writing. Flash fiction is a great medium to start on. Remember, it's better to have written and stunk than to have never written at all. In order to write well, you must first WRITE to begin with. None of us writes a masterpiece in our first effort. It's okay if your early stories aren't earth shattering. You can't sit down at the piano and play Rachmaninoff the first time out, either. It's a process.

"To Avenge, Not Lament" at NBNS

2008-09-09T23:15:00.002-06:00

Hey, Folks!

Just thought that I'd let you know that I've got a new story up at Nasty, Brutish and Short. It's a story about a kid named Billy Finkle, and how his toys, after years of abuse, finally strike back. I hope you'll take a minute to go over and check it out. Just click HERE to read the story.

New Stuff At Last!

2008-08-29T15:50:00.002-06:00

Hey, Folks.

It's been a busy summer for me, and I realize that I've been letting you down in regard to new material here in my little Internet empire. Well, here's at least a few scraps to keep you from renouncing me altogether.

First, I've got a new poem up over at Hawkcircle called "Interruption of Play". Yeah, my first "real" poem in quite a spell, I know. Hope you enjoy it. By the way, I'm still planning to finish my "Settled Dust" work, and it's only due to my own inability to hyperthread that it's not already done. I haven't forgotten Haike and Namira, though. I promise.

Also, I just posted a new Roads to Megiddo story on NBNS, this one featuring a new character named Amelia, who has come to the conclusion that she's a Conqueror of Armageddon, whatever that turns out to be. It's a bit graphic (a bit? it's fricken' graphic), but for those of you who have braved the turbulent waters of NBNS in the past, it won't be that far beyond the pale.

I hope you're all having a good summer, and I hope to be in contact more frequently in the future, as I'm going to attempt to mend my evil ways and so forth. Take care.

"Roads to Meggido, Canto Four" at Nasty, Brutish, and Short

2008-08-03T19:13:00.003-06:00

Hey, folks.

Just thought I'd drop in and tell you that there's a new NBNS story in the Roads to Meggido line, and it's up HERE. Please check it out, if destroying the universe and the men who love it to do it so are of interest to you.

"Desolate Highways of Eden" featured at Tales of the Zombie War

2008-06-24T13:50:00.003-06:00

Hey, Folks:

Just thought that I'd let you know that I just got another story featured at Tales of the Zombie War. This is the longest tale I've had accepted over there, and I think it's one of the better ones, too. It's about a guy named Morris, who is just on his way to work one morning when the whole world is changed. Most everyone's just gone, and the few remaining people have been reduced to sad imitations of life...zombies. He struggles to survive and come to grips with what's happened, living out a single instance of humanity coping with it's own possible extinction.

If you'd like to read this story, please go HERE and take a look. Tales of the Zombie War has a bunch of great stories featured, and it's growing all the time. If you've enjoyed any of the zombie shows of the past, or any fiction involved with people trying to make it after society collapses, this stuff may be right up your alley. It ranges from gritty to surreal, from nearly comic to dead serious. Anyway, that's my schpeel for the day. Thanks for reading.

Joe Bless You, George Carlin

2008-06-23T17:47:00.002-06:00

George Carlin was my hero. Scratch that, he is my hero still. Something as trivial as death can't push him off the hill where he stands in rarefied company. We won't see another come around like him, and I suppose that's all right, too. He called us on our bullshit, pointed out our stupidity in so many amusing ways. He was the commentator for the greatest of all games, that of life itself. And he called the game well.

In case you're wondering, the title comes from an old skit in which he professed that, he worshiped the sun--after all, it allows us to live on the planet. He worships the sun, but doesn't pray to it. For prayers, he said, he turned to Joe Pesci. He told us that, after a few years of this, praying to Joe had about the same effect as praying to some deity or another. Sometimes he got what he wanted, sometimes not. He did say that Joe had come through on a few wishes that God hadn't been able to fix. "It's amazing what a simple baseball bat can accomplish," he said. Or something to that effect. In keeping with that, and the fact that George wouldn't have wanted us to muddle up his athesim, I'm hoping Joe Pesci will have a few kind words at his passing.

George Carlin was the rarest of all comedians, one that only continued to refine his craft as he got older. To me, his finest work took place in the 90's and beyond, forming some of his most recent HBO concerts. Perhaps some say that those latter-day concerts were too angry, but isn't there enough to be angry about? I'll forever owe a debt to Carlin. I find that there are but few situations in life that don't bring up a quote from him. Self-help books, for instance: "If you did it yourself, you didn't need help!" Certainly, it's difficult to get on a plane without thinking about his many riffs on air-travel lingo. "We'll be landing shortly...does that mean we're going to miss the runway?" "Please look around your seating area for things you might have brought onboard...I might have brought my arrowhead collection, but I didn't. How about I look for things I actually DID bring on board."

Then there's the scatalogical side of things. Too much for some, wonderful for me. I won't go into details here, since some of you might have your delicate sensibilities damaged, but you can take it from me that he had some choice things to say about scabs, itching yourself in public, and a variety of emanations from the body. Simple mind that I am, I loved every one.

George Carlin will be remembered, I suppose, as a counter-culture icon, a guy who challenged the FCC in regards to what could be said on an aired broadcast, and one of our most enduring comic icons. He wore all of those hats. The thing that I appreciated more than all of that, though, was his keen mind. He had the ability to distill all the foolishness of society, all of the inequity with which we treat each other, the lengths we go to fool ourselves into thinking everything's hunky dory. In pointing out the illogic of our linguistic frames, he pointed out our own self-deceptions.

There's a huge empty spot on the comic landscape, and I doubt that it can be filled. Just as it was when other greats like Richard Pryor went away, we will have to remember George Carlin fondly, knowing that we won't be lucky enough to have another like him. You never had to wonder what he thought of something, never had to ask him to give you the straight dope (in some eras, literally or metaphorically). Farewell, George. May your inner child always be outward bound, and may you find Klaus, so as to give him Rebecca's love. May your Grateful Dead t-shirt and your Fuck You hat always offend guys named Todd.

"Any Murder You Can Walk Away From..." up at NBNS!

2008-06-03T20:24:00.002-06:00

Hey, folks:

Just thought I'd mention that I just posted the twenty-sixth story at Nasty, Brutish, and Short. It's called "Any Murder You Can Walk Away From..." and it digs into the fertile ground of covering up a murder. It's presented like an oral lecture by some veteran of this sort of behavior. If you'd like to take a gander, just click the blue link text above.

Hope you're all well, and that no psychos have decapitated you in your living room.

Chronicles of CONduit!

2008-05-26T16:58:00.002-06:00

I just attended the CONduit Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror convention in Salt Lake. Had a nice time, got to touch base with a lot of folks I've already met and was able to meet some new people, as well. Among those who attend are Michael Stackpole, Brandon Sanderson, Paul Genesse, Eric James Stone, Julie Frost, Robert J. Defendi, Dan Willis, Julie Wright, Eric Swedin, and many more.

It was great to hear Mike Stackpole speak. He's always got insightful things to say, and it was neat to talk to him again (it's been since World Fantasy a few years ago).

My friend Paul Genesse was there showing off his first book, The Golden Cord. It just came out, and he's wrapping up a book tour for it. Since I have been there since the first seeds of his writing career were planted, it's great to see that he's succeeded. I'm very proud of him. He's a stud, and his hard work, tenacity, and smarts are always insipring to me.

If you live within driving distance and like speculative fiction, coming to CONduit is a fun weekend. I recommend it, especially if you're a Mountain West writer who wants to get "known" in the scene.

The panels I went to this year were good, and it was a fun atmosphere. The costumes designed and shown for the masquerade were amazing, as well.

Anyway, that's news. Hope to have more soon.

"Painter and Canvas" up at NBNS

2008-05-14T00:12:00.000-06:00

Hey, Folks:

I've just put a new story up at Nasty, Brutish, and Short for your reading pleasure. It's called "Painter and Canvas" and was written for the gross-out contest at World Horror 2008. As such, maybe you shouldn't read it right after dinner, or if you have any delicate sensibilities you'd like to remain intact.

Take care, and I hope to have more news for you soon. Thanks for coming by.

New Story at NBNS

2008-04-14T19:22:00.002-06:00

Hey, folks.

At long last, I've posted another story at Nasty, Brutish, and Short. It's called She Likes It, and it's somewhat reflective of my experience in entering the World Horror Gross-Out competition. It is, I should say, a bit on the "mature" side, so don't go over there if you think it'll probably scar you for life.

Anyway, that's the update. Hope you're all doing well.

World Horror wrap-up

2008-04-03T12:04:00.003-06:00

To make a long story short, I loved World Horror. I bought way too many books, but the enthusiasm of meeting so many cool authors and people in the biz got the better of me. It's one of my favorite Cons yet. The horror community is great. The authors are fun and talented, the atmosphere is relaxed, and everyone is open and helpful. For instance, I was at a reading by Heather Graham (not the movie actress, the writer), and she read a few short chapters, then asked, "What are you guys writing? Does anyone want to read some of their own work?" I'd never seen that. Unfortunately, I'd been walking around with a story in my pocket the day before, but at that moment, I was empty handed. Still, a guy in the audience read the first few pages of his manuscript, which was actually very cool.

Jeff Strand was the MC at the awards banquet, and he did a great job. Very witty, very funny dude, Jeff is. We got to sit with a few people up for Stoker awards, including JoSelle Vanderhooft, a local poet of some renown and Michael Calvillo, who has a book called "I Will Rise" out now.

After the banquet, I talked for quite a while with Steven Shrewsbury, a writer who does fantasy and horror. His readings are wild, unrestrained one-man plays, and he's been known to break furniture and smash whiskey glasses from time to time. Really nice guy.

Later in the Con, I got to hang out with some of the great statesmen of horror, such as Mort Castle and Adam Niswander. They laid some heavy wisdom on the younger folks in the room, wich was amazing.

Anyway, great Con. If World Horror is someplace nearby, I'll certainly try to be there in the future. And I'll have a much more grotesque story for the gross out!

Take care, everyone!

World Horror Update

2008-03-29T12:21:00.002-06:00

I’m having a great time at World Horror. I’ve met a ton of great people thus far, and I’m sure that the next two days will yield the same results. Among the highlights: My friend Paul Genesse and I picked up Jude and Alan, proprietors of Borderlands books, from the airport and helped them get to the hotel. Last night, we went out to dinner with them. They’re both great people. If you’re ever at a convention with a dealer’s room, or are in San Fransisco, I’d advise looking them up.

It’s great to start meeting the authors who don’t tend to go to the other conventions. I’m horribly out of date when it comes to horror authors. I went to a few readings yesterday and was very impressed. These writers are the real deal. The story that Dennis Etchison read was just amazing. I plan to go to more readings today.

In a moment of unjustified enthusiasm, I entered the annual World Horror Gross Out Contest. I thought, "Oh, I can write gore-core as well as the next man," and proceded to crank out a little story involving murder by workshop tools, like drill presses, power nailers, and table saws. However, it turns out that I’m just not that sick. My story, about as gruesome as I’ve ever written, was like My Little Pony before the sheer, awe-inspiring vulgarity and moral turpitude of many others. I am properly chastened. I did, however, get kudos for leaping in where Mansons fear to tread.

In any case, I’m having a great time. I’ve got a ton of new reading material I’ll have to chew my way through. I have stuff from The Horror Library/Cutting Block Press (Boyd and R.J are very cool guys, and I hope to make it into one of their collections one day). I also became aware of The City Slab, an urban horror magazine. It looks really beautiful, and I’ll have to read through them as soon as the Con is over.

Well, I’ve got to wiggle over to the hotel and see what sort of trouble I can get myself into today. Hope everyone out there is doing well. If you get a chance, come to a World Horror. It’s a kick. These are some rough and ready, ful-loving characters. They may put you in a headlock and give you a knuckle on your scalp, but it’s all in good fun. Oh, and if you think you can take it, check out the Gross Out. It’s like the most disgusting joke you’ve ever heard, stretched over five full minutes. Awesome.

World Horror!

2008-03-25T21:04:00.000-06:00

Hey, folks.

Just checking in and telling you where I’ll be this weekend, in case any of you are tracking my Quixotic movements across the face of the planet. All that blather aside, I’m going to the World Horror Convention this week, and I think it’s going to be great. My friends Paul Genesse and JoSelle Vanderhooft will also be attending. JoSelle is up for a Stoker for her kick-butt poetry, which is razor. Ken Rand, another local luminary, is also scheduled to be there. I don’t know if he’ll be able to attend, because he’s been under the weather of late, but we can hope.

In any case, more details--the convention will take place at the Raddisson in Salt Lake City (I can nearly throw a rock and hit the spot...). I urge any of you who like the mean ’n nasty to attend, as well. The membership fee is somewhat steep, but that’s to be expected from a pro Con, so deal with it. That’s the report. I’ll tell you how the whole thing goes, probably early next week.

Peace, Love, and Eternal Dark!

"The Three" featured at Tales of the Zombie War

2008-03-19T20:02:00.001-06:00

Hey, Folks!

Just posting to tell you that I've got a new story featured at Tales of the Zombie War. It's another one in my "Flashover" story line, but throws a curve by featuring werewolves. Hey, man. You can't have too many werewolves, right? Anyway, if you want to check it out, click HERE.

Hope you're all doing well, and I hope Spring is starting to assert itself wherever you are (unless you're in the Southern Hemisphere, which would mean that global climate change was really out of control!)

Peace, Love, and Werewolves with Guns!

Farewell, Mr. Gygax

2008-03-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard, E. Gary Gygax passed away today. That name either means a great deal to you, or nothing at all, but I'm sure that all of you have felt the repurcussions of his life's work.

You see, Gary created a little game called Dungeons and Dragons back in 1974. Unsatisfied with his miniatures war-gaming rules because they didn't encompass anything but the battles, he (and Dave Arnesen) fleshed them out, creating the first Role Playing Game. Sounds like a prosaic enough feat, but remember, there'd never been anything like this before. There had always been winners and losers, always been cards or boards or the like to tell you who was the victor. Players were themselves, and they won or lost as they competed against other players. Not any more. The role playing game allowed for a collaborative game, with evolving storylines and the ability to play characters other than yourself.

Now, Dungeons and Dragons has taken a great deal of flack for being many things over the years. A haven for nerds, geeks, and social misfits, for one. To some extent, sure, that's true. You talk to gamers, and some of them are a bit out there. Still when you look at it, it's a nerdy world these days, and being relegated to the sub-basement of morbid geekdom because you roll weird dice sometimes seems a bit unfair. Is that any more nerdy than, say, fantasy football? I don't think so. But this piece isn't an encomium to D&D, but rather, a farewell to a guy who, for some of us, provided us with an amazing outlet for creativity.

I was exposed to D&D when I was about eight years old, playing with my family. I remember getting killed just about every adventure when we were playing "Village of Hommlet". I loved every minute of it. I wanted more. I pestered the Dungeon Master about Owlbears until he threatened to have one come and eat my next character.

There were times in my life after that when I had no one to play these games with, but I always had the books, the original hardcover AD&D books written by Gygax, to keep me company. For me, I didn't even need to play the game. I could read about the monsters and the characters and simply dream about the game. It gave me license to concoct my own adventures with fighters and wizards and owlbears. Those books were my friends. Along with Tolkien and King, they formed my articles of faith for imagination.

It's not just me and a few other basement gamers who have been influenced by Gygax's work. Anyone who's enjoyed games like Heretic, Diablo, World of Warcraft, or Everquest owes Gygax a debt. He pioneered the idea of building a character and using them as a conduit to experience a fantastic world. I'm sure someone else would have eventually figured it out, but he DID IT. If you play computer games, your walking on the ground that Dungeons and Dragons conqured.

I was able to meet Gary Gygax a few times in the early 2000s, and he was a really nice guy. He remained enthusiastic and thoughtful as the game he'd created changed and changed again. The last few times I saw him, though, he seemed to be in poor health. It was for this reason that I was saddened, but not terribly surprised to hear of his passing. As I told one of my friends today, I like to think Gary lived his life the way he wanted to and accomplished a great deal in his 69 years. All the gamers of yesteryear and today owe him a debt. Farewell, Mr. Gygax. You will be missed.

"Rough Exorcism" out at Pens on Fire!

2008-03-03T13:52:00.000-07:00

Hey, Folks:

My story, "Rough Exorcism" just came out in this month's Pens on Fire newsletter (http://www.pensonfire.com). It's a story that started out as a flash fiction piece, and has grown as time went on, so that now it's up into the short story weight class. I'm pretty proud of the writing, and I hope you'll check it out, if you get a chance. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you're all well.

LTUE was great!

2008-02-18T02:22:00.001-07:00

I have to admit that I had a great time at Life, the Universe, and Everything (LTUE from here on...) this weekend. For background, it's a Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention held at BYU in Provo (Brigham Young University, the center of the Mormon universe, in Utah, yes, that one). I call it a convention, but in point of fact, it's a bit more like a symposium, I think. Most of the people there were writers, would-be writers, and other artists involved with the speculative fiction genre.

...and LTUE was good, man. When I say that, what I mean is that, unlike some conventions I have been to, there were really interesting, well-attended, well done panel discussions. For some of us, we've sort of seen most of the good panels already, and now we only go to them if there's no one cool to talk to in the dealer's room or convention suite. Not here. No, the panels here actually had something new to offer, and not just the chance for heathens like myself to hear about my field from the Mormon perspective (yes, all the stuff they say when they're on their home turf and not being guarded). I don't want to give you the wrong idea. No one turned into a reptile from another planet and ate a mouse. The LDS people are still nice, even in their sanctum sanctorum. It's still cool to get that "inside" look.

Aside from the impressive panels, there were also LOTS OF WRITERS there. Pros, Joes, and those somewhere in between. I'd say that, per capita, this is about as high a percentage of writers as any convention I've ever been to, and that includes World Fantasy. As a writer, it's great to be among your peers (and betters), because they know what's going on. You can talk about all the stuff that makes normal folk suffer from glazed eyes and gives them a powerful urge to fiddle with their cell phones. In other words, you can nerd out about the writing life, the writing biz, and all the myriad small concerns that we writers have to take seriously.

I'm not going to list every writer there. You can go to the LTUE site to look at that. I'll just say that there are some names that you don't see there on the site, but they belong to talented writers who will someday be in your lexicon, if you're a spec. fic. fan.

Anyway, that's how I spent my weekend. If you live within driving distance and are interested in this sort of thing, I highly recommend going to LTUE next year. It's free, and it's better than most of the Cons you'll pay to get in.

42

2008-02-15T22:31:00.003-07:00

Just got back from a day spent at a local sci-fi/fantasy convention called Life, the Universe, and Everything. It's on the BYU campus in Provo. I had never been to BYU before. It's a nice looking campus, though it's a bit of an unusual experience for a non-Mormon. Not scary, but...a bit odd.

I enjoyed the day at the Con. There were surprisingly good and well-attended panel discussions, and I enjoyed talking with all the local writers there. The writing luminaries at LTUE included Orson Scott Card, Brandon Sanderson, and Gail Carson Levine. My writer bud Paul Genesse and the impressive young poet JoSelle Vanderhooft were also there, slinging words and promotional swag. Good times.

We're going back tomorrow, and I anticipate that we'll have a great time then, too. That, as they say, is the news. Hope you're all doing well in this new year.

"Radio Zombie Free Denver" featured at Tales of the Zombie Wars!

2008-01-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

Hey, folks,

Just thought I'd share my new, small victory with you. I have a story called "Radio Zombie Free Denver" featured at a site called Tales of the Zombie War. It's the second story I've had featured there. Considering the holiday season's just over, I'm glad to have something to talk about, something getting out there. Anyway, the story's in the form of a radio transcript wherein a guy who's survived the holocaust that destroyed society as we know it. He's spinning the tunes, talking about the events of the day, and hoping that anyone might contact him. Think "I am Legend", except with a real radio DJ.

Hope you get a chance to take a look. Take care, everyone.

Good Writing: Style, Part Six, Character

2008-01-07T19:04:00.000-07:00

Without great characters, even the cleverest story is like a pretty car with no engine.

At last, we come to the end of this extended inquiry into what constitutes good writing in fiction. Though we come to it last, the topic of character is far and away the most important consideration for most stories. Stories live and die by their characters. Without a compelling cast of characters, even the most fascinating events are simply that...events. It's the characters that connect readers with the events of the story. Without them, there is nothing of lasting import, nothing more than an anecdote that will soon be forgotten.

What about plot-driven stories?

I'm glad you asked. Yes, there are stories that are carried by the events more than the characters, but let me ask you—how many of the books you list amongst your favorites work that way? I may be projecting, but I think that most of the plot driven books, while fascinating, don't etch as deeply into people's memory. We're human. We need access points to get into the story, people to care about. If the story introduces terrible danger and hardship, these are but empty echoes and shadows on the wall if we don't have some feeling for the characters. All the plot devices, all the pathos and joy in a story—all of these qualities we try to evoke are filtered through the characters. The characters serve as the binding agent that allows our other techniques to succeed.

So, then, if we agree that we need great characters to get our story to function at a high level, we'll need to move forward and figure out what makes a character great. We'll need to make generalizations, all of which will be contradicted by some famous example or another. These are troubled waters. Perhaps the best thing to keep in mind is that, while characters don't have to conform to every one of these directives, they should probably conform to at least some of them.

Great characters are identifiable.

When introducing a character, a reader should be able to picture them. The details you choose to describe, while they may be sparse, must give a clear picture of who this person is. If you're really doing your job well, some readers will say, “I knew a guy just like that when I lived in Duluth!”

Now, a great character is an effective character, not necessarily an admirable one. There are great characters who are lamentable slobs, sinister brigands, or spine-shivering lunatics. Great characterization is purely a function of making the reader “feel” that character. If the reader reviles a villain character, so much the better. Just be sure that you're having your desired effect, and not the opposite. It's bad if you hope they'll adore your hardboiled detective, but they just think he's a huge moron.

Great characters have it tough.

Compelling characters live in difficult circumstances. They have to make choices we wouldn't want to make. They have to make sacrifices we hope we won't have to. They bear the scars of a hard life. Maybe they've accomplished a lot, but that's not to say they haven't had to pay for their glory in some way.

If a character is comfortable, feeling safe, and wanting for nothing in the world, there's not much of a story there. Great characters need to be in trouble. They need to be driven, to strive for something that seems out of reach. Perhaps they lament that they'll never be able to achieve that goal they swore to reach. If your characters think they've got it made, you'd better take steps to show them otherwise as the story progresses. You'd better keep them sweating until the story ends, or your story will falter. Readers know it's the end of the story when the dust clears and the character has either succeeded or failed. Don't surrender to your better angels and let your characters have it too easy. Only hard-fought victories and tragic failures need apply.

Great characters are active.

Characters that sit and wait for something to happen to them aren't very engaging. In general, characters that keep trying, even if they do the wrong thing, are more interesting than those who sit on their hands. Characters that spend chapter after chapter navel-gazing don't help the whole dramatic structure of the story. Unless one of the primary struggles of the story is that of the character seizing initiative after months or years of hesitation, you'll be better off with an active character. An active character doesn't wait for the world to do something to him, he goes and does something. Let your characters be decisive. Put them under pressure, so that they don't always have the luxury to sit back and think about their next move.

Great characters are fallible.

A hard lesson to learn, this one. When many of us start writing, we tend to make our main characters idealized versions of ourselves. They're what we wish we could be, what we always dreamed of being. Consequently, we make them into little cult objects, and it's hard for us to get our heads around these characters making huge blunders. We'll have to be mature, however. Often, a huge mistake on the main character's part is a great plot device. Not only that, the character seems more real, more earthy once they've gotten down into the big, muddy river with the rest of us.

Don't have characters make absurd mistakes or act like morons (unless that's their character), but allow them to make understandable mistakes. If they have the wrong impression of what's going on, sometimes it's okay to let them act on that bad information. Remember that the crux of a story is change, and nothing brings about changes like a catastrophic error. Let the characters play with fire, and let 'em get burned.

Great characters have “that one thing”.

What do I mean by this? I mean that a great character has some skill or attribute that makes her stand out from the rest. Maybe she's sort of average in other endeavors, but when it comes to “that one thing”, she's really amazing. Maybe it's smarts, or a special skill, or being tremendously driven to succeed...it could be anything. Whatever that signature element of the character is, everyone who reads about her will agree that, yes, she was sure amazing at that pursuit. This can be traced back to the hero myths of the ancient days. Achilles was nearly invulnerable. Hercules was the strongest of the strong. Beowulf had such an iron grasp that he was able to tear Grendel's arm from its socket. Your character doesn't need to have something so tangible as super strength or skin like iron, but characters with something special about them tend to work better.

But the balances of fate must be heeded.

The heroes of legend all had that one, ideal quality. They were often counterbalanced by some tragic failure. Sure, Achilles was a bad dude on the battlefield, but he wasn't anyone's idea of a nice guy. He was sullen and morose, filled with spite. The spot on his heel where he could be harmed is the prosaic “flaw”, but it could be said that his greater flaw was in his nature—that unreasoning rage that drove him to the brink of madness. For all his martial power, he was not a happy or well-adjusted guy. Otherwise, he'd have surely been king, not Agamemnon.

It's not required that all your characters have a fatal flaw, but they surely will have some downfalls. Maybe they're lazy when things seem safe. Maybe they have some compulsion they can't control. It's possible that they can't be trusted for some reason. They may know very well that these flaws exist, and hope to change them. Some characters may be unaware of the impact their flaws have on other people.

Perhaps the most interesting solution is to make the same element that makes them special be the element in their makeup that causes them the most grief. This creates an innate conundrum, and can make for a character who continues to wrestle between her strength and her folly, which are doomed to be forever intertwined.

Great characters are detailed.

When constructing characters, we don't necessarily have to know that their middle name is Clyde, or that they got a detention for shouting at Sally-Anne when they were in fourth grade. We don't need to know if they're still mad at their brother, Bill, for some obscure incident that involved firecrackers and a toy truck. We don't even need to know if their Senior Prom was a huge disappointment. Maybe we do know these things, but unless it's an element of the story at hand, it's only a tool to deepen our understanding about how that character approaches the world.

What do we need to know? For one, we need to know what motivates the character. Why does she act the way she does? How does she react to the stresses put on her during the story? To whom does she turn when things get out of hand...or doesn't she have anyone to turn to?

We have to understand how the character got to the place we find them. Is this where they wanted to be? Is there some great, unfulfilled dream in their past? Are they damaged goods? What are they hoping for? Have they abandoned hope? Is there some inner conflict they've never settled?

If, in the midst of your story, you find that you can't figure out what a character would do, you probably don't know the answer to some of the questions above. Remember that it's not just the plot points you have to understand. It's just as likely that a weak grasp on your character's motivations will shoot you down. When you really know your character, the writing process should become intuitive. You'll be in the character's head, thinking her thoughts. What she says and does should be as clear to you as what you would do in the same situation. Perhaps clearer, because even detailed characters are straightforward compared to the genuine article.

The details of a character, even if they never appear in the text of a story, can help you grasp deeper meanings, capitalize on inner turmoil, and generally present a much more realistic character. These detailed, understandable characters will help your story stay on track. You'll know them well enough that, should one of your plot points be flawed, you'll feel it. You'll think, “This character would never say this, never do that.” With each great character, you come closer to the possibility of writing a great story.

Great characters make sense.

When you're creating a character, make sure that you've put him together in a way that allows them to logically exist in your setting. There must be a reasonable explanation for their skills, their personality, and their life. If they're tragically flawed, why? If they're in a position of power, why? If they're the world's greatest fencer, why? If any of the questions you could ask about your character take a long-winded and complex argument to explain, maybe your character doesn't make sense. Skills come from somewhere. Characters have to be able to eat, work, travel...etc..

Now, readers will often let you gloss over some tedious elements of a story, but they will, in the end, catch you if you're not thinking a character through and making sure that they have the tools to make it in their world.

Alternately, if you plop skills and advantages on a character in heaping measures, you'll have to explain where they got these skills. If your character is a desk clerk at a business, readers will want some manner of explanation if you later reveal that he's also an arch-ninja. If no good explanation is forthcoming, they'll start looking at your story as hokum. Trust me, you don't want that.

Final Thoughts:

I'm sure that there are many elements in building a character that I didn't cover here. While I'd love to say that I had all the answers, I don't. I've gathered my paltry wisdom here and I hope that some of it helps you with your writing.

As with all inquiries into a topic such as writing, this one is far from encyclopedic. I will end our series of good writing articles here, nonetheless. As the mood strikes, I'll expound with a fool's vigor about other elements of the writing craft, but for now, this journey is at an end. For now, thanks to all of you who took the time to read these articles, and good luck to you.

"At the Lake House" posted on NBNS

2008-01-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hey, Folks,

Hope you had a great holiday season, and that the new year will treat you well. I'm doing fine myself, back on the writing "horse" after a bit of a poor showing in November and December. If you're interested, I've got a new flash story at Nasty, Brutish, and Short called "At the Lake House". In the story, our lead character, Ellison, has got some dirty work ahead of him, and he's really not too pleased to do it. It's more of an "impending doom" story than one that gets right down to the ugly cut-and-thrust of things. Still, I think you may find it chilling.

I've written a few other stories within the last week or so, and I think they've turned out pretty well. A few of them will go up on NBNS at some point, but some are destined for other places. I hope to have a lot of good news about publishing credits and so forth as this year progresses. Although it seems there's never enough time to do all that I'd like to, I'm going to endeavor to bring as many of my projects to "full term" as possible in the coming zodiac stroll.

I wish you all well, and hope to see you around.

Not Dead; Happy Holidays; New Story at The Open Vein

2007-12-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

Hey, Folks.

Sorry that I've been out of touch lately. Nearly two months between posts--I feel sick about that. Well, I suppose I could blame the holidays, sunspots, or death-rays shot from the center of supermassive black holes, but I think that would be a waste of your time and mine. The truth is, I think I just over-blogged, and needed to take some time off. Or something.

In any case, I hope the Holiday Season is treating all of you well. If not...if you're disillusioned with the whole mess, perhaps you might enjoy reading by Christmas horor story at The Open Vein. It's called "Kicked in the Teeth Again", and it's...ahem, not for the faint of heart. If you can't stomach the thought of a really, really bad Santa going backward through the gates of Dis in a fireball, you may not want to read it. If, on the other hand, you like the thought of gonzo horror with a Santa suit (really!), go ahead and take a gander.

Take care, everyone. You'll be hearing from me somewhat sooner this time--the sabbatical is pretty much over.

Peace, Love, and Arterial Spray,

Patrick M. Tracy

World Fantasy!

2007-11-05T16:29:00.000-07:00

World Fantasy was great this year. Saratoga Springs is a great little town, and the people I met there were all amazingly talented and wonderful. I wasn't really pitching anything this year, but I found several markets in which to submit my fiction and poetry, so that's great.

My friends Paul and Brad both were both able to solidify some great connections, and I expect their careers to take off in the next few years. (look for the links to their websites on my main site, pmtracy.com).

I was able to hang out with a lot of friends from last year, including Rachel, Elizabeth, Kelly and Ken, Michael and Robin, Jeremy and John...many more, as well.

I met a bunch of new people as well, and hope to see them again next year at Calgary, where the next World Fantasy will occur.

The event being a gathering of writers and industry heavies, I was able to rub elbows with a bunch of successful writers. Tim Waggoner, Sam Butler, Joshua Palmatier, Anton Strout, and Pat Rothfus were among the great people I met. They were all very friendly and willing to talk, which was great. I was also able to go to the parties for both DAW and TOR book, which were great events.

I didn't go to that many panels this year, but I did go to a few really neat ones, including a late-evening discussion of the boundaries between Fantasy and SF, which featured a "spirited" debate between L.E. Modesitt, Joe Haldeman, and George R.R. Martin. Neat stuff.

I was also able to go sightseeing around Lake George, which was a great experience. Upstate New York is a beautiful area. We were just at the tail end of the turning leaves season, but there were still a lot of beautiful reds and deep golds among the falling leaves.

I came home pretty exhausted from cramped airplanes and iffy beds, as well as very little sleep, but it was all a wonderful experience. I'll do it again next year, barring some sort of catastrophe. Once you start going to these conventions, they're habit forming. It was a great weekend. My Patriots even won. I'm living the life of Reilly.

Hope you are all well out there in Webland.

Of Oafish Might and Unfounded Enthusiasm

2007-10-24T22:54:00.000-06:00

Hey, folks.

My story, "Kicked in the Teeth Again" is going to be featured in the Christmas issue of The Open Vein in December. Just signed the contract a few days ago, and I'm pretty pleased about the whole thing. Before you ask, Justin Burning, the editor of The Open Vein, is not an old school chum or anything. He just seems to like my stories (which I think is great). Anyway, that's news on the publishing front. I have another story that's been passed on to the second round of editorial consideration, so I'm hoping that I get the "green light" for that one in November. Stay tuned for news.

I'm going to World Fantasy (the convention where all the cool geeks go!) next week. I had such a great time last year, and I think this year will be even cooler. Being around all the writers just gets me jazzed up to write and submit more material. Writers, in general, are really giving, friendly, and accessible. Go to a big convention, and pretty soon, you're having dinner with a bestselling author, getting the straight dope about the industry. It's eye opening, sure, but it's also so great to see that these are real people with real lives, people who have paid their dues to get their glory. I'll gush and blather more about the Con when I get back.

It's been a busy week for me. Not much sleep. Worked a really long day yesterday--left the house at 7:45 and didn't get back until 9:20 that night. Somehow, I found the fortitude to do a final edit on a story I'm sending in to a local organization that's promoting reading for young people. Yet again, trying to live life to its fullest.

Hope you are all well. I'll check back in, probably in two weeks.

"Cleanup Crew" featured at "Tales of the Zombie War"

2007-10-17T22:27:00.000-06:00

Hey, Folks. Just checking in with the news. I spruced up one of my NBNS stories, "Cleanup Crew", and submitted it to a site called Tales of the Zombie War. For a wonder, they accepted it and asked for more, should I choose to submit more. The story's up now, and should be on the front page for a while. From what I understand, it'll move into the archive after that. As for the story, it's about twice as long as the NBNS version, and I think that it deepens the story. If you're interested in taking a gander, check it out HERE.

In other news, I posted a new poem called "'Tis the Work of Leviathans" at Hawk Circle, if you'd like to check it out.

Hope you're all well. More info as it becomes available.

Update

2007-10-08T19:45:00.000-06:00

Hey, Folks,

I just thought I'd check in and tell you the latest news.

I submitted two stories and a poem late last week, so maybe a few of them will "pop". I'm working on a few stories to send out in the near future. I created a larger, more complete, better sorted version of my story, "Predators in the Dark" (featured in a different form on NBNS). I've got a "spooky" story that I'm about ten pages in on, but has no title thus far. It's about an abandoned boarding school where things are not entirely "right".

I have a new poem up at Hawk Circle called "Circular Breathing II" which uses a poetic form I sorta created my own self. Check it out, if you get a chance.

I also posted a new, final edition of Bloodcraft at NBNS. This one is the "letters" segment of the fictitious newsletter for mass killers.

Anyway, that's my world. Hope you're all doing well.

New Layout, New Website

2007-09-30T16:42:00.000-06:00

Hello Everyone,

You may have noticed that the old, familiar look of my writing journal has changed. "What's all this about?" you might ask. Well, let me tell you. To begin with, I've created a new professional website for my writing. Though I still like my Wolf Steel website, it became clear to me that I needed to have a site that would portray me as a serious writer, not a hobbyist. To that end, I decided to make the leap into a paid-hosting service. If you'd like to see what I've built at my new site, http://pmtracy.com, please click HERE.

To go along with this flurry of activity, I've changed to new layouts and color schemes for my Blogger pages, so that they are visually consonant with the new website. In addition to matching the new site, I also hope that the new layouts will allow you, the readers, to read my posts more easily. If you have any comments about these changes, please post them. Thanks!

Mountain Con Was Great; The First Line (with my story in it!)

2007-09-23T20:40:00.000-06:00

I went to a local Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention this weekend. It's called Mountain Con, and it's more of a fan convention than anything. Still and all, there were some great "creators" in attendance. I got to hang out with Ken Rand, who's a great writer and also a really nice guy. Just being around him allowed me to soak up a lot of writer wisdom. I also got to go to dinner with Diana Pharaoh Francis, who was the writer Guest of Honor for the 'con. She's very nice and approachable, and her family is great. I went with my friend Paul, who's really helped me understand what I need to do to get ahead in the writing biz (he and I are also best buds who've known each other for ages). He's got his book coming out next April, so he had a lot of promotional material to put out. For more info on Paul's work, look here. I was primarily pushing Nasty, Brutish, and Short, so I hope to have some new people checking it out. Dare I hope that someone might actually submit? Well, perhaps that's aiming high.

It was a really fun Con. I met a lot of neat people, including local writers like Julie Frost, who's a very cool person, as well as being a Browncoat (Serenity/Firefly addict). I'm glad I went. I actually got to sit on a panel today when most of the panel members failed to show up. Fun stuff. I'll have to put a bunch more "cool people" entries on my website's blogroll area.

The big thing other than that is that my story, "With a Dancer's Grace" came out in The First Line this week. I just got my copies on Saturday, and I think that the quality is very high. There are some people who can really, really write in this issue, and I'd run out to their website and buy the issue, whether I appeared in it or not. I hope you'll check it out. Their website is only a click away.

Anyway, a hell of a week, and I'm jazzed up to write and submit more stuff. Hope you're all doing equally well out there.

RIP Robert Jordan

2007-09-20T16:35:00.000-06:00

As many of you have heard by now, the author known to us as Robert Jordan has passed away. This isn't the forum to recount the medical details, but my friend who's a registered nurse tells me that the disease he had is a rough way to go. Regardless of what any of you thought of the man or the writing he left behind, no one should have to die badly at 58. My thoughts go out to his family and all who knew him personally. That said, I'm going to talk a bit about my experience as one of his readers.

Like many fantasy readers, I followed Jordan's Wheel of Time series in the 90's. I really enjoyed the first few books, and looked forward to the story unfolding with each new release. Sure, it wasn't blazing all new ground, but it was pretty darned good epic fantasy. I went back at that time and read his Conan novels, which are fun little books, if you like the character and setting.

Around the third book of the series, I started to wonder about the direction Jordan was taking (if, indeed, he was taking a direction at all). Still, the story was smoothly told, so I steamed right along despite my mounting doubts. I assumed that, given another book, he'd start tying up the loose ends an send us rushing toward a rip-roaring conclusion.

I'm not certain which book was my last Jordan, but I believe it was the 5th or 6th. By then, I found that I just couldn't cope with the ever-expanding story that seemed doomed to never finish. The characters I had really liked early in the series had grown grating. I was knocked out of the "flow" of reading, only to realize that Jordan was spending a vast amount of time and text on inconsequential details. And then there was the constant horror of the characters bickering with each other.

Anyway, I stopped reading, but I'd look at the new books as they hit the stands, wondering if they had improved or continued to devolve. Those with either more or less willpower (that's a debate for another day) kept on and found that out.

I always felt sad that the story seemed to "get away" from Robert Jordan. I think that he was a very talented writer, in terms of line-by-line readability and smooth prose. I feel like his advisers failed him, really. If there'd been a few people who'd pushed him a little to be more concise, to bring the story to a close in a more reasonable amount of time...but that's all leaves blown on the wind now. The books are on the shelves, and it seems as if there'll be a 12th, probably finished by a co-author from his notes. He'll probably be remembered as the guy who had a chance to write the definitive epic fantasy of our time, but couldn't quite pull it off. Still, he sold a whole locomotive full of books, and got a lot of people reading fantasy. That's a lot more than most people can claim. Maybe someone out there'll tell me how the whole story ends.