| F&SF imitates Baen Universe Slush-- but they charge for it |
[Jul. 2nd, 2009|08:59 am] |
According to SFSite, the magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction is offering a writers' workshop, which will be limited to 100 entrants, and will be fee-based, and will lead to publication of the best stories in F&SF.
Whatever any publishing venue can do to improve the chances of new writers to get published in the science fiction and fantasy genres is wonderful, should be applauded, and we hope it is successful.
I would like to point out, however, that JBU Slush will continue, as it has for the past several years, to be open to all comers, and will continue to be free (no fees or charges), and the Introducing slot will continue to be offered to the best new writers.
JBU Slush is located at Baen's Bar. All you have to do to join the critique group is to join the Bar and start posting your stories and critiquing others. There are no hard and fast rules, other than what are in the JBU Slush FAQ, but it is customary to provide critiques if you post a story to be critiqued. Simultaneous submissions are permitted.
Walt Boyes
Associate Editor
Jim Baen's Universe |
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| NY Times and Wikipedia conspire to censor a story |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|10:46 am] |
From a Gartner Blog Network entry by Anthony Bradley:
"Recently the NY Times and Wikipedia conspired to keep a story on the kidnapping of a Times reporter off of Wikipedia.
"A “sanitizing” team of Wikipedia editors, led by Jimmy Wales himself, worked to keep the story from posting by deleting, blocking and freezing. The story quotes Wales as saying, “We were really helped by the fact that it hadn’t appeared in a place we would regard as a reliable source,” he said. “I would have had a really hard time with it if it had.”
This seems like a convenient excuse to me..."
It seems like bucolic endproduct to me. Quis custodiet, Mr. Wales, ipsos custodies?
One of the most important tenets of journalism has been objectivity. Much observed in the breech, objectivity is a hallmark of scholarship, and encyclopedia management is scholarship writ large.
I find it incredibly reprehensible that, regardless of the circumstances, Wikipedia's guiding leadership practiced outright censorship. What comes next? You can't write that, because it isn't politically correct??? |
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| Three celebrity deaths make me wonder... |
[Jun. 27th, 2009|12:28 pm] |
In the last few days, Ed McMahon,longtime sidekick to Johnny Carson, host of Star Search, and recently, pitchman for old gold buyers; actress and sex symbol Farrah Fawcett; and Michael Jackson, the soi-disant King of Pop have died. And shortly before that, actor David Carradine died in Thailand under somewhat sordid and mysterious circumstances.
What I find interesting is the media, and the blogosphere, and the twittersphere have gone nuts over each death, and have remained distracted from the real serious issues facing the world: continuing economic difficulties, destabilization in Iran, potential political problems in China, continuing conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan...well you get the idea.
At the same time, Congress and the President have been concerned with killing the tobacco industry, which employs thousands of people, encouraging problematic "green" technologies...problematic because how "green" they actually are is in doubt, and other peripheral silliness instead of solving real problems. And all of this, while collecting the money we're paying them to govern us. Parenthetically, I wonder how much money Elon Musk donated to the election of Barack Obama. Musk, you may recall, is the majority stockholder and chairman of the board of Tesla Motors, the nearly defunct electric vehicle maker, which was the recipient of over a billion dollars a couple of days ago to "tool up aged factories to build more energy efficient automobiles." The only vehicle Tesla builds is a $120,000 electric version of the Lotus Elite sports car. And they do it in a factory in Northern Ireland, mostly.
If you haven't been following the knife fight over who controls cyber security lately, it is incredibly instructive. Remember, part of the booty is the bazillion dollars earmarked for Smart Grid. Watch the weasels, excuse me, I mean cyber security experts, ooze out of the cracks in the DC sidewalks.
Sheesh. It is said that we get the government we deserve. If this is what we deserve, I'm afraid for my daughter and any children she may have. |
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| Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day -- June 23 |
[Jun. 23rd, 2009|09:25 am] |
 Today is the first annual Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day. This is the day we honor all of the people who sweat to create the Science Fiction and Fantasy stories we love to read or watch. A big tip o' the ol' Bananaslug's oculars to Sharon Lee for thinking it up and getting it started.
In honor of the day, go buy a new science fiction or fantasy book or video at your favorite bookstore...
Thank you all, writers! |
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| Somebody please rent Sarah Palin a clue!!! |
[Jun. 9th, 2009|03:01 pm] |
/rant on
Christopher Ruddy's Newsmax.com has a headline that says, "Sarah Palin Says U. S. Headed Toward Socialism." What utter rot.
Ever since the 1880s, any time a politician wants to tag-damn something, it's "socialism" or "communism" or "red."
Give it a rest, Sarah. It is threadbare. We're seeing through it. The Republican party has no clothes. If that's the best you can do, I'm glad I voted for Obama, even though I'm not really happy with what he's done.
Since when has the US not been a socialist country? Since Roosevelt?
When it is okay by you, it is capitalism...like bailing out the banks. When it isn't okay by you, it is socialism. Huh? Run that one by me again.
Dear Sarah, please go back to Alaska and stop embarrassing the Republican party.
/rant off |
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| Pirate Party Wins and Enters The European Parliament |
[Jun. 7th, 2009|08:57 pm] |
Nobody believed in them. Nobody believed they'd actually get votes. Nobody believed that people are sick and tired of being railroaded and sued in the name of intellectual property. But now that's all going to change.
 "When the Swedish Pirate Party was founded in early 2006, the majority of the mainstream press were skeptical, with some simply laughing it away. But they were wrong to dismiss this political movement out of hand. Today, the Pirate Party accomplished what some believed to be the impossible, by securing a seat in the European Parliament," posts ernesto from torrentfreak.com.
"With 99.9% of the districts counted the Pirates have 7.1 percent of the votes, beating several established parties. This means that the Pirate Party will get at least one, but most likely two of the 18 (+2) available seats Sweden has at the European Parliament."
ernesto continued in his June 7, 2009 post, "With their presence in Brussels, the Pirate Party hopes to reduce the abuses of power and copyright at the hands of the entertainment industries, and make those activities illegal instead. On the other hand they hope to legalize file-sharing for personal use."
Read all of the story here. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 4th, 2009|05:06 pm] |
There are times when I swear companies really and truly want to commit suicide by design. I give you Microsoft (no, here, you take them...no, really...) who has done an incredibly silly thing.
The one thing Internet Explorer 7 did better than Firefox, better than Safari, was the handling of tabs, and the memory allocation for same. Because of what I do, I have a minimum of nine tabs open in my browser window at all times. Firefox doesn't like to have that many open-- there's some sort of memory leak. IE7 handled it just fine, so I moved back to IE as my default browser.
IE7, like Firefox, could remember the tab settings you had open, and re-open them on the next startup of the browser. This is, as may be expected, a really useful feature-- one of the few that IE7 handled better than Firefox did. You had this screen, when you were shutting down:
Unfortunately, the brilliant design engineers and sterling coders who made up the IE8 design team decided quite deliberately, I am told, to leave that feature out.
The ONE DAMN THING I REALLY LIKED ABOUT INTERNET EXPLORER AND THEY GO AND DELETE THE FEATURE AND SHOVE THE NEW VERSION DOWN MY THROAT.
Can you say, "Browser Fail?" I knew you could. |
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| DANG! Another obit: David Carradine suicides in Bangkok |
[Jun. 4th, 2009|10:01 am] |
The LA Times reports:
 Actor David Carradine, star of the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu" who also had a wide-ranging career in the movies, has been found dead in the Thai capital, Bangkok. A news report said he was found hanged in his hotel room and was believed to have committed suicide. Read the rest of the story here.
I have always enjoyed his work-- his willingness to play, as his father John Carradine did, offbeat characters-- and his personally quirky outlook on life, Hollywood, stardom and all.
Carradine was 72. That, by itself is a shocker. Somehow I had seen him as "only a little older than me." |
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| Another Damn Obit: David Eddings is dead at 77 |
[Jun. 3rd, 2009|07:09 pm] |
Following his wife Leigh by a fairly short time, David Eddings has passed away. The best obit I've found was Mark Wilson's About.com Sci-Fi/Fantasy blog:
"Beloved and influential fantasy author David Eddings, who in tandem with his late wife Leigh managed to garner both commercial and critical success with several series of best-selling novels, has passed away at the age of 77.
Eddings is best known for The Belgariad series, the first installment of which, The Pawn of Prophecy (1982), prompted Lester del Rey to tell him, "You've written a classic." The series introduced many to fantasy, and inspired some to write themselves (including Stephen Hunt, whose tribute to Eddings is here). Eddings was himself inspired by the success of The Lord of the Rings, which he was startled to discover was in its 78th printing when he encountered a display copy in a bookstore."
Read the whole obit here. |
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| On the subject of Control magazine |
[Jun. 1st, 2009|05:03 pm] |
Y'all know that my day job is as Editor in Chief of Control magazine. I am doing the happy feet dance right now. I just found out that we have been named a finalist in the Magazine of the Year category by the American Society of Business Publication Editors' Azbee Awards. We'll find out whether we're a Gold, Silver or Bronze award on July 16.
Read more about it on my other blog, here. |
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| Birthdays... |
[May. 29th, 2009|05:31 pm] |
"Sixteen tons, and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt..." Yesterday was my 57th birthday, and the 22nd of May was the anniversary of my wife's 29th birthday. Hah. You can't get me to spill that, so don't try.
I was talking to Dave Freer, noted science fiction and fantasy author, and the illustrious Doctor Monkey, earlier today, and he noted that I've nearly doubled the "use by" date from the 1960s..."never trust anybody over 30."
I never thought, in 1969, that I would ever live to 2009. I never thought the world would still be here...I figured that Neville Schute's On The Beach scenario was the likeliest...or maybe A Boy and His Dog (Harlan wrote great stuff back then). Now, in 2009 all I want to do is to live long enough to get all the writing I have in my head out on paper-- or at least on dancing electrons.
I'd be happy to live a lot longer...maybe at least another 57 years.
At least I have remembered the last 27 years pretty well. Before that, it gets kinda hazy (grin-- thanks to Tim McGraw for the image). |
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| Harlan Ellison rejects home town prize |
[May. 13th, 2009|02:38 pm] |
Harlan Ellison is 75 years old. That's way too old to be an enfant terrible anymore.
According to GalleyCat, "Science fiction legend Harlan Ellison recently rejected the Cleveland Arts Prize--a lifetime achievement award from his hometown celebrating his writing career."
Ellison, reported the MediaBistro bookworld scandal blog, "was offended that he would have to pay his expenses for the trip to the ceremony, apparently calling the award 'a fraud and a sham.'"
I guess that when SFWA made him a Grand Master a few years ago, they bought his plane ticket and hotel.
With the economic situation in Cleveland right now, Harlan is lucky they didn't ask him to pay for the whole banquet.
What a maroon! |
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| Did Obama make them blink? Healthcare industry promises reforms... |
[May. 11th, 2009|02:34 pm] |
Staring an Administration and Congress willing to either nationalize the healthcare system or to force a single payer system, the healthcare industry appears to have blinked.
Here's a press release I got today from America's Health Insurance Plans:
AHIP Statement on Cost Containment Framework
Washington, D.C. – Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, issued the following statement today on the cost containment framework presented to President Obama:
“Health plans are honored to join with leading stakeholders to help advance a framework for cost containment, which is essential to make the system more affordable for working families and purchasers and preserve the competitiveness of our country. We strongly believe that all Americans must have access to affordable, high-quality health care coverage. We also agree with others that universal coverage will not be sustainable, and that Medicare and Medicaid will not remain solvent, unless the nation addresses the cost issue head on.
“As the nation pursues health care reform, stakeholders have a responsibility to offer solutions. The health plan community embraces this responsibility and welcomes this challenge.
“Our community is proud of the contributions health plans make to quality, affordable health care in America. Health plans are: leading on care coordination, helping patients and doctors manage chronic conditions, offering benefit plans that help keep health care affordable for working families and small employers, rewarding high-quality medical care, and helping patients stay healthy through prevention and wellness initiatives.
“We are committed to reform, to innovation, and to challenging old assumptions. We are committed to ensuring that no one in America falls through the cracks of our health care system. We are committed to providing efficient, cost-effective service to individuals, families, and employers. We are committed to streamlining health care administration so physicians can focus on treating their patients.
“Our message is clear: the private sector will do its part to bend the health care cost curve. We are initiating the reforms needed to make health care more affordable for families and employers and to put our health care system on a sustainable path.
“We look forward to working with the other stakeholders, the Administration, and members of Congress from both parties to advance this framework and ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health care coverage.” |
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| Happy Mothers' Day |
[May. 10th, 2009|07:41 am] |
This is for all the mothers in the world. Nobody gives mothers the respect they deserve. They work harder, more selflessly, than anybody else, man or woman, on the planet. When we move off the planet, Mothers' Day will become a Galactic Holiday.
Happy Mothers' Day, to my wife Betsy, and all the mothers in the world. |
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| The Science of Fear - A book review |
[May. 9th, 2009|02:13 pm] |
 Several of my friends recommended a book to me, so I took it out of the library yesterday. It is The Science of Fear by Daniel Gardner. The "dekhead" on the book is, "Why We Fear the Things We Shouldn't - and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger." Gardner's thesis is that modern psychological research appears to show that we really have two minds: a rational mind that does analysis and a reactive mind that we've inherited from our prehistoric ancestors. He presents significant amounts of research to explain why we do things that don't make analytical sense. He points out that the classic example of this is the large numbers of people, after 9-11-2001 who refused to fly for over a year. This led to almost the same number of deaths as the World Trade Center itself, this time, though, from automobile accidents. Yet somehow, this was acceptable, while the WTC attack was not. Not logical. That's what Gardner tries to explain.
Gardner's book is fascinating, and very hard to put down...I recommend it highly. |
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| An update.. Eric goes home |
[May. 6th, 2009|03:21 pm] |
As expected, Eric Flint went home yesterday, and is resting and exercising and eating right at home. |
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| A visit with Eric Flint |
[May. 5th, 2009|08:34 am] |
I went to see my friend, author Eric Flint who is in the hospital recovering from multiple bypass surgery.  He's doing very well and looks a whole lot better than the last time I saw him, when we went to the Chicago History Museum to listen to a talk by UCSC professor Dan Wirls a couple months ago. His color is improving and even his stamina is getting better.
He doesn't look bad considering the fact that, as he put it, "a bunch of people held me down on a table and they whacked me in the chest with an axe and did stuff inside."
He's bored, looking forward to getting out (probably today) and is looking forward to getting back to work (at least as hard as his wife Lucille will let him). He's raring to get to work on his collaboration with David Weber in the Honorverse, called Torch of Freedom, which is scheduled for a November release by Baen.
This was the first time I had had the ability to talk to him about my meeting with Jim Butcher, and I told him Butcher had said that Eric was among his three favorite authors. This pleased Eric no end, because he had just finished Butcher's latest Dresden novel, Turn Coat, and we're going to see if we can talk Butcher into writing a Dresden story for Jim Baen's Universe magazine.
"Butcher is slick," Eric said. "I've lived in Chicago a long time, and I can't figure out where most of Dresden's Chicago actually is."
More on this later... |
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| Another Automotive Industry Fail??? |
[May. 4th, 2009|10:16 am] |
From the Financial Times:
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne wants Italy's largest industrial group to separate Fiat Auto from its other divisions, join them with Opel/ Vauxhall, Saab, and GM's other European operations, as well as Fiat's stake in Chrysler, to create a publicly traded company that would be second only to Toyota in revenues and sales and roughly the size of Volkswagen, report John Reed and Paul Betts.
"From an engineering and industrial point of view, this is a marriage made in heaven," Marchionne says. He is scheduled to present his plan to German government leaders Monday afternoon in Berlin. Fiat's move could spark further consolidation among competitors, but is likely to face political opposition in Germany.
If it clears antitrust, political, and other hurdles, the group would marry GM Europe's 10 plants to Fiat's 11 to create a pan-continental powerhouse that, with Chrysler, would be a big force in Europe, North America, and Latin America.
So let me understand this. Marchionne wants to take a very weak company (Fiat) with a stake in a weaker company (bankrupt Chrysler) and merge it with a really big weak company's European operations (GM's Opel, etc...) and somehow with the appropriate addition of blue smoke and mirrors turn it into the second largest automobile company in the world.
Huh?
This sounds vaguely like packaged derivatives. You know, where bankers and insurance companies put steaming dog messes into pretty boxes, and wrapped them with gorgeous paper and bows and sold them as gilt edged securities...
But wait!
That's how we got into this mess. |
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| Cranky old Red Bear |
[May. 4th, 2009|08:47 am] |
Just so's yanno...Eric Flint came through the surgery just fine, and is his own irascible self.
From the Red Bear hisownself: "'Take it easy,' she says...
Humph. I _am_ following the instructions of the doctors and nurses, each and every one of whom -- there are no exceptions, not one -- is a slavering sadist who advances the laughably absurd notion that the best way for me to recover is to be as active as possible -- i.e., inflict great pain on myself -- rather than employing the sort of rigid inactivity and profound bed rest that every sane person knows is the Road to Medical Recovery."
I asked him if he was allowed visitors, since I'm not far from the hospital he's in, and he replied, "Yes. But -- fair warning -- the sociopaths who run this joint might make you get up and exercise too.
Eric, still wondering where the smelling salts went..."
So I'm going to try to get over to see him either tonight or tomorrow night. |
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