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Mostly Books

Posted in Holidays, tagged , , , , , , on January 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Today is the last day before the day job resumes. I shall spend it wisely, with food, chill, and books. Mostly books.

“Sections in the bookstore

  • Books You Haven’t Read
  • Books You Needn’t Read
  • Books Made for Purposes Other Than Reading
  • Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong to the Category of Books Read Before Being Written
  • Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered
  • Books You Mean to Read But There Are Others You Must Read First
  • Books Too Expensive Now and You’ll Wait ‘Til They’re Remaindered
  • Books ditto When They Come Out in Paperback
  • Books You Can Borrow from Somebody
  • Books That Everybody’s Read So It’s As If You Had Read Them, Too
  • Books You’ve Been Planning to Read for Ages
  • Books You’ve Been Hunting for Years Without Success
  • Books Dealing with Something You’re Working on at the Moment
  • Books You Want to Own So They’ll Be Handy Just in Case
  • Books You Could Put Aside Maybe to Read This Summer
  • Books You Need to Go with Other Books on Your Shelves
  • Books That Fill You with Sudden, Inexplicable Curiosity, Not Easily Justified
  • Books Read Long Ago Which It’s Now Time to Re-read
  • Books You’ve Always Pretended to Have Read and Now It’s Time to Sit Down and Really Read Them”
    ― Italo Calvino, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler

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A Great Big Bundle

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I just received word that my Writers of the Future book (volume 39 for those who are following along) is currently part of a great big story bundle from Arc Manor.

Bundle | Arc Manor

HOW DOES THIS WORK? You may select either the base bundle of five books or the enhanced bundle of  14 books (including a surprise title by a bestselling author). 

​For each choice, there is a suggested price and a minimum price. When you select either of the two options (base bundle or enhanced bundle), you will be taken to a checkout system that displays the suggested price. You may change this to any price you like as long as it meets the minimum price requirements.

The base bundle has big name authors like Joe Haldeman and Nancy Kress and Kevin J. Anderson. The enhanced bundle contains those authors and more, including Jody Lynn Nye, Robert J. Sawyer, my collection and more! 

If that sounds like something of interest to you, scroll down the linked page to see what’s included, and enjoy!

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Childhood Flashback, Bookshelf Edition

Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Funny how something can play a big role in your life without you knowing all the details behind it. 

My childhood bookshelves were filled with science fiction and fantasy, and a lot of those books were published by Del Rey. 

I’m not sure I knew what was behind the publishing house name, or that it was a she, or that she was instrumental in promoting speculative fiction that did not feature hobbits or Conan. Reading through the list of Del Rey books is a walk through some of the classics. The Sword of Shannara, the reissued The Princess Bride, Foster, Heinlein, Hambly, Clarke, McCaffrey, Anthony and many more. 

The woman who revolutionized the fantasy genre is finally getting her due

In publishing, the people who work behind the scenes rarely get their due. But on Oct. 1, 2024, at least, one industry pioneer got the limelight. On that day, PBS aired “Judy-Lynn del Rey: The Galaxy Gal,” the first episode of its new documentary series “Renegades,” which highlights little-known historical figures with disabilities.

A woman with dwarfism, Judy-Lynn del Rey was best known for founding Del Rey Books, a science fiction and fantasy imprint that turned fantasy in particular into a major publishing category.

Read the article or watch the PBS episode for more of the work she did to move this form of fiction into the mainstream. 

Here’s the episode:

(Also, as a somewhat related aside, how did I never have a Star Wars Intergalactic Passport?!)

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Photo by Vita Maksymets on Unsplash

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Random Acts of Gnomeness

Posted in Other, tagged , , , , , , , on August 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Need a quick pick-me-up? Here you go:

Mystery Group Prowls Town Conducting Mischievous Kindness- Stealing, Restoring & Returning Garden Gnomes

Mischief reigns in a small Canada community after a kidnapping left a man’s garden vacant of the ten ceramic garden gnomes that resided there.

(Don’t worry, there’s a happy ending.)

I’ve had a soft spot for gnomes ever since my parents gave me a copy of this classic: Gnomes by Wil Huygenn (Rien Poortvliet, ill.)

Most of my childhood books went by the wayside over the years, but I’ve slowly built my library back up with replicas of my favorites. I’m looking at a new copy of Gnomes on my bookshelf right now.

“Those who shun the whimsy of things will experience rigor mortis before death.”

― Tom Robbins

May you never lose your childhood delights.

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Photo by Sarah Mae on Unsplash

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Relative Distance

Posted in Writing, tagged , , on July 2, 2024| Leave a Comment »

“The shortest distance between two people is a story.”

— Patti Digh

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Photo by Ashley Byrd on Unsplash

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The Nebula Award Finalists

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 22, 2024| 1 Comment »

Fun, new reading recommendations! SFWA Announces the Finalists for the 59th Nebula Awards – SFWA

Here are links to the short story and novelette finalists. Most are free to read. For the full list with info links (including those below), see Finalists for the 59th Nebula Awards | MetaFilter.

Nebula Award for Novelette

Nebula Award for Short Story

I read this delightful short by R.S.A. Garcia with lunch: Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200 – Uncanny Magazine

You could meet him if you want but take off the recorder first. I tell you my story, but you have to ask him if you want to hear his.

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Photo by Nataliya Melnychuk on Unsplash

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Lost Sols

Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on February 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

In a recent chat with my mother, I mentioned that I thought she would enjoy the movie version of The Martian. I don’t know if she was convinced by my sales pitch: “An astronaut is stranded alone on Mars and has to find a way home before he dies a horrible death. It’s hilarious!” but I hope she’ll watch it.

Andy Weir’s book is also a lot of fun. It was published ten years ago this month, and to celebrate he wrote a new chapter and shared it with us all.

Enjoy!

The Martian: Lost Sols

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Photo by Ali Bakgor on Unsplash

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Don’t Be Afraid

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , on September 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »

“Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you’re going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book…”

― Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Photo by Susan Q Yin on Unsplash

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Book Women

Posted in Likes, tagged , , , , , , , on July 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »

I love a lot of things, including the Works Progress Administration, kick-ass ladies, secret histories, and libraries. This story combines all of the above and more. How cool is it that?

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Kentucky’s Horse-Riding Librarians | The Kid Should See This

Between 1935 and 1943, the initiative employed around 1,000 book women as mobile librarians. Paid less than a dollar a day, they traveled up to 120 miles a week on mule or horseback over rugged mountains and through fast-flowing creeks in all types of weather… In just one year they reached 50,000 families and 155 rural schools. But book women did more than just leave books on people’s porches…

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Photo by Nik Shuliahin 💛💙 on Unsplash

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Treasure, Lost & Found

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , on May 24, 2021| Leave a Comment »

It can be fun when your own life becomes something of a treasure hunt. There I was, looking for Thing A when I stumbled across Thing 2. I went through a book binding phase and one of my experiments was with leather and copper. It’s been buried in my book collection ever since.

I’d be more precise now, but I still like the little leather map on the fastener.

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made with glove leather, copper sheeting, and cotton paper

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