I told you I was going to link to this one again today. It’s the perfect autumn book; all the right sorts of creepy across fourteen stories of horror and dark fantasy. Here’s Antimatter’s promo site, filled with all kinds of amazing reviews. I’ve read it. It’s brilliant.
Now, click on this link to buy it. Trust me.
So, as I write this, marriage equality has been the law of the land in Virginia for approximately seven minutes.
So yeah, good news. Not only good for Virginia, but as the Supreme Court declined to hear appeals on the marriage equality cases in the Fourth and Seventh Curuit courts, the legal impediments have fallen, or will likely soon fall in, if I’m counting right, 30 of the 50 US States.
As indicated above, starting at 1pm today, VA officials will be able to perform marriages, and the state will recognize marriages performed in other states. That means that several dear friends of mine now have (but didn’t before lunch) the same recognition for their partnership as I do. That’s amazing news.
I’ll probably have more thoughts on this later. Right now, though, it feels like a victory for what’s right. Virginia, home of Loving v. Virginia, is a particularly symbolic state for equality under the law for same sex couples to finally be the law of the land. Kudos to the work of all the active proponents in the state, particularly Equality Virginia and People of Faith for Equality in Virginia for all the work they did to get Virginia here.
Given the history, it seems right to me to close with some words from Mildred Loving on the 40th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia:
I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry… I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.
T’was quiet for a week or thereabouts in these parts. I’ve been busy with work and life, is all. Plus, I got sick there for a couple of days. Wasn’t fun.
Only a couple of things to report, but they might be of interest to some folks. Probably not.
First of all, another announcement from Antimatter: Our second official release, Mike Allen’s Unseaming, is out tomorrow. You can purchase it at the link back there. Five dollars and ninety-nine cents for a collection of fourteen really creepy short stories for your Hallowe’en reading pleasure, . The lead-off story, “The Button Bin” is an amazing piece of work, and a 2008 Nebula Award nominee. I’ll throw another link up tomorrow to remind you again. This one’s very, very good.
After flirting with the idea for several years now, I bought a kilt. A pretty nice “modern” kilt from UT Kilts. I have several sorts of occasions where it’s wear would be appropriate (Celtic Festivals, RenFaires, Irish Dance competitions, Geek Conventions) throughout the year, and it seemed like it would be a fun thing to have. I’ve already had several congratulatory comments from kilted friends who wish to gather for kilted photos, and it only took a few minutes after this acquisition was made public for me to be the recipient of the “what does one wear under there?” question. For the record, my answer is as follows:
I have been advised by men much wiser than myself that one must never answer that question directly; it destroys the mystery of this revered garment. Also, it’s none of your business.
Also this week, I got a new mobile phone. It was time for an upgrade. For once, I’m actually on the forefront of technology; the spouse and I got shiny new Samsung Galaxy s5s. It’s nice. Does what I need it to do. The battery life good. It’s a phone. I don’t get too excited about them, but a lot of people do (like the couple of co-workers who couldn’t stop fondling their new iphones in the last couple of weeks), so I thought someone might be interested.
Saturday, some friends and I took the new fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons for a spin. I’ve played most of the various versions of this over the past
Otherwise, life continues to happen. There’s stuff, but nothing to talk about at this point. Maybe later. We’ll see.
In any case, have a nice week, folks. Maybe read something. I’ve given you a couple of suggestions already. 😉
“I think you are a very bad man,” said Dorothy.
“Oh, no, my dear; I’m really a very good man; but I’m a very bad Wizard, I must admit.”
With that quote lifted from L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz begins James Maxey’s new novel Bad Wizard, available tomorrow, October 1, from Antimatter Press. Here’s the official marketing blurb:
In 1892, Oscar Zoroaster Diggs turned up in Topeka with a suitcase full of high quality emeralds. Instantly the richest man in Kansas, his winning smile and keen mind launched him into a meteoric political career. As Secretary of War under Teddy Roosevelt, Diggs oversees the construction of the ultimate tool for spreading democracy, a fleet of rigid airships. Dorothy Gale, a reporter for the Kansas Ear, is the one person who knows the truth about Diggs. She met him ten years prior in the Emerald City, where he ruled as the Wizard. But how can she explain to her editor that Diggs intends to use his aerial navy to invade an island in the clouds ruled by witches? Stopping Diggs is going to take more than the power of the press. She’ll need the help of old friends, and maybe a Winged Monkey, as she pursues the Wizard across the wondrous and deadly Land of Oz.
Oz and Steampunk. Two great tastes that taste great together. I believe everyone should go and buy this one immediately, not just because it’s a great book (which it most certainly is), or because it’ll hook you on James’ other work (Nobody Gets the Girl is awesome) but because it’s the first big publication from Antimatter Press, a venture that I have the privilege to be a part of, and we’re all very proud of it.
Antimatter, as I may have mentioned previously, is a small e-press started by my friends Elizabeth and Jonah to publish just these kinds of stories (i.e. “the stuff we ourselves like to read”); Fantasy, Science Fiction, Magic, Steampunk…you know, cool, enjoyable, and thought-provoking otherworldy adventure. Bad Wizard is our first major release, though we have a few other projects coming up, including Mike Allen’s short story collection Unseaming later this month.
I’ve personally been on the Antimatter train for a couple of months now, doing some project management/editing on some neat serial fiction projects that will hopefully see publication next year, and teaching myself, slowly but surely, how to build ebooks for reading on your favorite e-reader devices. I didn’t have much to do with Bad Wizard personally, though it was a pleasure (and a learning experience) to watch it develop as a part of the organization.
Again, I think you should all go buy copies for yourselves and all your friends: The story is engaging and entertaining, and the ebook itself is gorgeous, and includes several illustrations by artist Jeremy Cavin which really add to the reading experience (see that cover above? that’s one of many). I know you’re going to like it.
While I was in Atlanta last week, my library hold on Robert Galbraith’s The Silkworm came in. I picked it up on Friday, and, being a good library citizen, I shoved the book I was reading (D.B. Jackson’s Theiftaker – really good, btw) temporarily aside, and started reading this one immediately so I can put it in the hands of the next person in line in short order.
I’m not done with it yet, but I’m enjoying it as much, if not more, than I did Cuckoo’s Calling (which I quite liked a year ago). The Characters are wonderfully quirky and lived-in; particularly the protagonist, eccentric private detective Cormoran Strike, war hero who came back from Aghanistan one leg short, bastard son of a philandering 70s rock god, a mountain of a man (as is fitting), deceptively smart, and with the most bad-ass name in modern fiction.
This got me thinking a bit. I’ve got more than one foot in the world of wizard rock, and given the obvious connections, I’m of the mind that somebody needs to write a Cormoran Strike song, and maybe, just maybe, that someone is me.
Trouble is, I’m kind of stuck for ideas, or at least the connective tissue to string the handful of little embryonic thoughts into an idea. To be fair, I’ve only been at this about half an hour, and it might come. So far, the best I’ve got is the title to this post, but I’m not sure Isaac Hayes funk is the way to go.
The only other stuff that’s bubbled up are the disconnected lines “Straight Outta Cornwall, Supporter of Arsenal” and “One foot’s more than enough to kick your ass”. So, it seems my mind is today mired in tongue-in-cheek pastiches of 90s west coast hip-hop.
Maybe I’ll just link this to the social networks later and see what the hive mind can come up with. It’s worked before.
This sign wasn’t in this particular parking lot the last time I was on this side of town….
I am a positive force for social change, or at least influential in sowing paranoia.
Along with being International Talk Like A Pirate Day, it’s Friday, which means, if I get around to it, a list of tunes pulled at random from my hard drive.
Twas a long week at work. New software releases, lots of repetitive questions, briefings to a nationwide audience, dropping everything to respond to Senatorial queries…you know, the usual, turned up to eleven.
But, I’m done with it now. Today I get to hang out at home with my lovely wife, run some errands, and head out to my friend(author Lynn Townsend)‘s book signing in the city this afternoon at Fountain Bookstore.
But, there’s the matter of the tunes, with an extra one because I can’t count. Here you go:
Avast, Ye! It’s International Talk Like A Pirate Day!
To celebrate, here’s Tom Smith (and the Pirate Guys) performing the official Sea Shanty of this annual tradition:
I am a bureaucrat. It’s not necessarily something I’m proud of; when asked what I do for a living, I usually offer up some variation of “IT guy”, which is what sticks. But basically, I’m a cog in a giant bureaucracy with a fearsome reputation for being unpleasant to deal with, even, as is the case most of the time, I’m brushing up against other cogs in this giant behemoth of a machine.
I’m doing a lot of bumping up against other machine parts lately; we released a new update to a software tool this week, and my name was the one included on all the documentation. My phone and email have been pinging constantly. As an introvert, I’m exhausted.
Almost all of the interactions I’m dealing with are from people coming to me spoiling for a fight, because something’s not working the way they expect. Usually, this is a case of them not reading the instructions, or not paying attention to the training, or some other flavor of what we in the business call “user error” or, more diplomatically, “a training issue.”
I have but one tactic that works to make these situations bearable: be unfailingly pleasant and understanding. It’s an all too uncommon reaction to these situations in this environment; it totally throws your opponent into retreat. It’s a strange quirk of human nature; even if someone’s dead set on rolling in guns blazing, it’s hard to unload on someone who professes comiseration and understanding. Even if I’m not able to give a person an easy answer, they usually leave the transaction feeling better for having talked to someone who tried to listen politely.
It’s basic customer service – something I spent much of my youth earning minimum wage figuring out. I haven’t quite lost the impulse. Problem is, it takes it out of you when you spend your whole day smiling and nodding while user after user vents their spleen in frustration over having to click a new button that’s shaped slightly differently than the old one; or (in a much more common case), fail at reading comprehension and get really worked up about something that doesn’t even apply.
Pleasantness as a survival tactic. It’s how we misanthropes struggle through life so we can reach our goal of being left alone.
Of course, all we want to do once we finally achieve solitude is fall asleep because the whole business of not being brutally honest to the ignorant masses is so mentally taxing, because sometimes, you really just want to smack someone upside the head with brutal honesty.
So, that’s been my week; my terribly exhausting week. I did find some solace in this piece from J.K.Appleseed in McSweeneys. Appleseed is a psuedonym for an anonymous employee of Apple retail, who uses the column to pull back the curtain on what life is like behind all that artistically conceived genius bar. In fact, it’s probably worth reading most of the entries in the series of Retai therapy: Inside the Apple Store. It’s enlightening, and maybe a little cathartic, at least in the sense that it makes me feel better that I don’t work for someone who’s weird corporate culture is so overtly enforced.
As is the case with most modern white-collar offices, my workspace has taken advantage of the latest advances in display technology, and has placed relatively unobtrusive LCD monitors in high traffic areas; ideally, as a means of providing useful information to the workforce when they aren’t shackled to their cubicles and email accounts. When these monitors aren’t displaying workplace announcements, they’re tuned to one of the major 24 hour cable news networks; in my office’s case, it’s usually CNN.
I’m not going to get into the relative politics of the various news networks; while most of you know where I line up ideologically, I’m largely fed up with all three of them, regardless of their political flavor; I get most of my “broadcast” news from NPR and a couple of news aggregator web sites; it gives me a balance of viewpoints, and I’m not contantly subject to bloviating talking heads shouting at each other very much.
The headlines across the gamut this week, though, have been mostly about the latest cross-border Middle Eastern bogeyman, IS/ISIS/ISIL (or whatver they’re calling themselves this week), and the imminent threat they allegedly pose to US security.
In my scant mentions of this topic in the past, I’ve kind of ridiculed them as wannabe Bond villains, and I still kind of stand by that; they’ve done many awful things, surely, though I continue to get the feeling that they talk a much bigger game than they’re actually capable of.
It seems that I’m in the minority in this opinion, since the unnerving trend in Washington (so unnerving that both Democratic and Republican politicians agree on the idea, in principle if not in degree) is toward launching another round of military misadventures in Mesopotamia, just as we were maybe starting to finally disentangle ourselves from a period of involvement that’s older than most of my children.
I’m not, however, the only person holding this opinion. On my Tuesday commute home, I heard this piece on NPR, an interview with Ramzy Mardini, author of “The Islamic State threat is overstated”, an opinion piece in the Washington Post detailing the idea that the group’s increased influence thus far has far more to do with regional factors beyond it’s control, rather than any inherent ability, and that “In short, we’re giving it too much credit.”
According to Mardini, the Islamic State has managed to expand it’s sphere of influence as it has because of local instability and a relatively welcoming populace in the regions where it’s moved in. Those factors, however, don’t really apply any further out. IS** is now spread too thinly to really sustain its gains, let alone expand further, and is now surrounded by hostile forces on all its borders. Despite the appearance of success and short-term prestige, it is unlikely to be able to maintain itself long-term.
This is a realistic position that I truly hope gets wider distribution; I don’t like where the conventional wisdom is heading. One of these decades, we’re going to figure out that this sort of thing is largely a waste of time (going back to, gee, I dunno…1096 AD), and never really ends well. I honestly hope that this time works out in such a way that we’re not “a nation at war” for another decade.
Also, this stuff (plus various NFL domestic violence and child abuse scandals) has managed to keep some really neat and optimisitic headlines off the front pages. I’d rather we have a national conversation about cool stuff like NASA’s support of commercial space launches and the neat discoveries of The Curiosity rover, or, perhaps more importantly in the short term, continue to talk about making heath care available for everyone, in particular, all the veterans who are the result of our constant war footing.
Oh, and somewhat related: Happy Constitution Day!
