In their "blinks" section (left side of page), Locus Online mentions that my story  "A Place to Call Home" is now online at Cosmos.

It's snuggled in there between a tidbit about GRR Martin and a New Yorker story.
How cool is that?

"Going Somewhere Else", originally published in Cosmos Online Magazine, to appear in Mercury (translated into Hebrew).

:)

Maybe because I want to be writer, I see the tendencies in my little boy.
But really, what would you think if you overheard this as he's narrating his playtime.........

quoted verbatim:
------ ------

The days have been a bit bunched together lately, and it just hit me that it is October and therefore "Homo Sylvanus", my JBU story, is now live!

:)

Okay, here's the deal.  To get out of a recent writing slump, I need to take the following drastic* measures.  Absolutely no internet activities (except to *check* email) until I've written 500 words, starting today.  Yes, yes.  I know, I know.  You're saying, but this post is internet non-email checking activity.  It starts right after this, okay.  Ready, set, go.



*It is drastic, I'm such a lurking internet information junkie :)

tinaconnolly tagged me.

Here are your rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences here.
5. Put the meme and answer in your journal, tag five people and the madness continues.

---
Reality asserted itself hours later, when he woke to discover the girl's torn corpse sprawled on the sacking beside him, and the taste of her blood in his mouth.
There was nothing to link him with her death.  In the midst of Stratkha's monster revel, nobody would have noticed him wandering off with her, nobody would have cared.
---
The Wolf of Winter by Paula Volsky

Hmm, I hadn't read that one in a while; I've forgotten what it was about.  It was just the closest one on the bookshelf.

Who wants to play? I think most people I know already got tagged, but if you read this and want to play, enter it in the comments.

My short story "A Place to Call Home" is coming out (probably already out) in the April/May 2008 issue of Cosmos Magazine. 

1)  Misc:
We've had quite a bit of bad health here (terrible flu season, huh?  who hasn't had bad health?) so things on the writing/reading front slowed to a crawl then sprawled on road, but we're recovering nicely now (knocking on wood).


2)  free e-book
I love free things, especially free books!
http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/infected/downloads/infected_novel.pdf
by scott sigler
Only available for 3 more days (until the end of march). 

3)recent reads:
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
(got the e-book free from tor.com)
Great, great, great.  Since I've been writing, I notice things in books that make it harder for me to fall under the spell of the story.  Not the case here.  Sanderson did a great job.  Really nice, descriptive, evocative language.  Compelling story line w/multiple arcs.  I loved that his magic system had very definite limitations and drawbacks so we have powerful people but not invincible ones.

Quantum Rose by Catherine Asaro:
This was lukewarm for me.  She does a great job w/worldbuilding and description.  Perhaps it was just a little too romance-y for me.  Not that I don't like romance in stories, but I tend to like SF/F stories w/a side of romance, not romance w/a side of SF/F.  That's just me though.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman
It was okay.  The omniscient viewpoint just kept me a little more remote than I like for a reading experience.  Yvain was the character I felt the most interest in and sympathy for as a character, but very little time was spent with her.  Also, I did find it a bit predictable.  It was obvious quite early who the stormhold heir successor would be. 

 Looks like lots of free books are available online these days.

First, there's the Baen's Free Library (tons and tons of online books, free, for your reading pleasure):
http://www.baen.com/library/

And if you're looking for newer releases, http://www.tor.com is doing a "watch the skies" promotion and giving 12 e-books away for free.
So far they've given Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, Old Man's War by John Scalzi, Spin by Robert Charles Wilson, and The Outstretched Shadow by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory.

Scalzi's blog http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/ points out a few other online books:
(start snippet from his blog)
* Jeff VanderMeer and PS Publishing are jumping on the free eBook train and releasing Jeff’s upcoming book The Situation for you to peruse and enjoy, and you can find it here, along with an interview with Jeff and his wife (and Weird Tales editor) Ann. Jeff say this about his book: “it’s like Dilbert-meets-Gormenghast, as Margo Lanagan put it.” Hey, Jeff, you had me at “Gormenghast.” If you end up loving The Situation, as I’m sure you will, Jeff has put up some information on how you can procure the signed limited hardcover editions of the book.

* Also for your free electronic reading enjoyment: Butcher Bird, by Richard Kadrey, by the good graces of Night Shade Books. The link to the download is at the bottom of the page I link you too, and is available in a variety of formats. Again, if you like it, consider buying a hardcopy. Authors like to eat, and as much as I like the idea of giving people these free online tasters, I do hope people take to heart that on the other end of these works are people who worked to bring them to you. Reward them if you like their efforts.

(end snippet from Scalzi's blog)

And, on Neil Gaiman's blog http://journal.neilgaiman.com/ , it says that during March you can read(not sure if it's downloadable) one of his books:
For the next month, your free copy of American Gods is waiting for you at
http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060558123&WT.mc_id=author_AmerGods_FullAccess_022208


So, go read!