Why are you here?

Since joining NetworkedBlogs, I now have nearly 100 followers...and I know there were several of you here before I joined. I would imagine that quite a few of the people who are "followers" actually just excepted the Facebook invitation because that's what a lot of people do. But for those of you who actually do follow this blog now...or who have followed for quite a while, I'm curious as to what makes you read this particular blog? What do you like to hear me talk about?

This is your chance to give me some feedback...

Thanks...

Forgive Men Their Trespasses at Afterburn SF

My story, Forgive Men their Trespasses, is the featured story at Afterburn SF this week.



This story is set in the same "universe" as my novel The Opium of the People, although this one takes place in the Denver metro area. Those of you familiar with Denver might recognize a few of the places.

Hope you enjoy the story...

The Blizzard

As Colorado blizzards go, this one wasn't much of anything. We did have sustained winds of about 40 mph, and we did get about a foot of snow in this area, but anyone familiar with Colorado in March knows that that's not all that impressive.

Still, I did promise some pictures to a few people, so here they are.

During the storm (a little dark because of the blowing snow):


The morning after:




No matter how much snow, the kids always have fun:

Filed By

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I'm always trying to find a new way to promote my work. Today, I found Filed By...and I signed up, so please feel free to check out my page. It's currently a work in progress...

The end of BSG

Last night was the final episode of Battlestar Galactica, and my thoughts on the final episode are about the same as my thoughts on the series as a whole. It had some great moments, and it showed a lot of potential, but ultimately it fell flat.

The whole series had a little too much "God" or "Gods" in it for my taste. I don't necessarily mind science fiction with a bit of a religion in it...as long as it's a good story. Watching last nights episode, however, left me greatly disappointed. In a lot of ways, I felt that the writers fell back on the old Deus Ex Machina, which seems to be something you can get away with on TV...but NEVER in print fiction. In the end, everything happened because that was how God wanted it to happen...what a lame rip off! And Starbuck? She was an angel? What does that say about this Cylon God, considering that Starbuck fracked half the guys in the fleet?

Overall, I would give the series and the final episode a C+. It had moments of greatness, but it fell back on literary cliches far too often. I imagine the writers thought they were being clever by having the Galactica end up at prehistoric Earth...but guess what guys? It's been done before...and Douglas Adams did it better!

I guess the good thing is that I now have an extra hour to work on Friday nights...

Flying Pen Press

I've just been named Senior Editor at Flying Pen Press. I will be taking over many of the editorial duties in an effort to free up the publisher to focus more on the things that a publisher should be focusing on.

Flying Pen already has several great titles out, and you owe it to yourself to check them out.

A busy week at The Genre Mall

In a good month, I'll add about 15 new titles to The Genre Mall. In the last three days, I've completely blown through those numbers. On Monday, I uploaded 13 new titles, and today I uploaded another 10 new titles. Those numbers are unprecedented.

It was a pretty wide variety of titles, and I've also added a new publisher...Flying Pen Press. Please feel free to check out all of the listings at http://www.genremall.com/new.htm.

The Syfy channel

By now, I'm sure most of you have heard that the SciFi Channel is planning on changing its name to the Syfy Channel. If you weren't already aware, I'll wait while you go read the article...

http://www.tvweek.com/news/2009/03/sci_fi_channel_aims_to_shed_ge.php

Is it just me, or were you insulted as well? I was particularly annoyed by:

“The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular,” said TV historian Tim Brooks, who helped launch Sci Fi Channel when he worked at USA Network.

I personally embrace the term geek and nerd. I happen to be proud of those names, and let's face it, there are a lot of very successful people out there that are geeks and nerds...Bill Gates ring a bell?

When I first heard about this, I was thinking it was time for those of us that are geeks and nerds to band together and boycott the Syfy Channel...then I realized that they don't really show anything worth watching anyway...

Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 8

Last night I finally finished the editing of Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 8, and I e-mailed it off to Tyree at Sam's Dot Publishing. I've already seen a mock up of the cover, which was done by Laura Givens, and it looks like it will be a very nice looking book. Once it's actually released, I will post a table of contents and an ordering link...of course.

I have two more days at the real job, and then it will be time to file for unemployment. I'm going to be sitting down with someone (can't say much yet) on Tuesday to talk about a job. It wouldn't be a job that would pay really well (yet), but it's a job with a lot of potential...and it's something I would REALLY enjoy doing. So, we shall see what comes of that.