"...my words will turn to anger. Malevolence in need..."

[greygirlbeast]

1. Sooner of later, I will stop numbering the items within my entries. Any day now, my mind will cease to be so disorganized.

2. My thanks to everyone who reported "Blue Tyson's" Amazon.com "review" of The Red Tree. Hopefully, it'll come down soon. Near as I can tell, this guy's Australian, and he got his knickers in a twist because of Kindle limitations ("georestrictions"). So, he did the rational thing, and took it out on the one person who has absolutely no say in whether or not her book is available in Australia. The person who wrote the book. Mostly, I want to say to him, dude, buy a fucking copy of the book. An actual hard copy. If you really want to read it, I mean. Stop expecting the world to be what you think you need it to be. Stop being a whining fanboy. Lately, my tolerance for whiners has fallen near zero.

3. Last night, Richard Kirk sent me the artwork for the endpapers for The Ammonite Violin & Others. It's based on "Bridle" (Sirenia Digest #3, February 2006), which a few of you might remember, the kelpie story. Anyway, the art's beautiful. I'll post it here later on, in a few days.

4. Nothing was written yesterday, and, at this point, I am near to a full-on crisis, as far as The Wolf Who Cried Girl is concerned. I should be at least a couple of chapters in by now. I have a prologue. And a deadline. The time has come to find some way to stop fucking around and write the book. I have maybe a week, at best, before I have to set it aside and pull Sirenia Digest #50 together.

5. Last night, we watched Christine Jeffs' Sunshine Cleaners, which was really very good. I'm starting to think of Amy Adams as the new Nicole Kidman. We also watched the first episode of Primeval, which was goofy, but sort of fun. The paleontology was better than average, and I only cringed and rolled my eyes a few times. It was neat that they used creatures from the Permian Period (a gorgonopsid, a pareiasaur, and what appeared to be an oversized coelurosauravid named "Rex). And speaking of movies, I was very pleased to learn that Avatar won best picture at the Golden Globes, and James Cameron best director. Oh, and that Robert Downey, Jr. got best actor for Sherlock Holmes.

6. No Montauk Club photos today. Sorry, there wasn't time this morning to edit and upload them. Tomorrow, perhaps.

I can't accept and won't concede,
In aftermath we find redemption.
The causes that are seized
And disguised as revolution.

Quell the rage that deeply seethes,
The extremes of these devotions.
Dismantle the machine,
The device of their creation.

I can't accept and won't concede
That this is who we are.... (VNV Nation, "Sentinel")

Comments

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I posted a few here:
http://tinyurl.com/yej6bn4

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Ah, well there you go. Thanks....

[txtriffidranch.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know the palaeo in Primeval is spotty at best. Yes, I know several of the characters are walking, talking cliches. Yes, I know that Helen Slater is so damn annoying that you're hoping that she's eaten by something by the end of the first season. That said, I'll say the same exact thing I said about Nigel Marven's Prehistoric Park: in a perfect universe, each episode would come with an address at the end detailing where to send CVs and related work experience.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know that Helen Slater is so damn annoying that you're hoping that she's eaten by something by the end of the first season.

Helen Slater? There's a character (the oh-so-dashing paleontologist's vanished wife) named Helen Cutter. Is that who you mean?

Hannah Spearritt, by the way, is hot. I think it'll will be her and the creatures that keep me watching.

[txtriffidranch.livejournal.com]

Sorry: Helen Cutter. For some reason, I got the character confused with the actress Helen Slater, who starred in Ruthless People. I really need to stop freebasing Preparation H.

As for Hannah Spearritt, I have to admit that she's not my type. However, her character reminds me of a LOT of female herp enthusiasts here in Dallas, and every last one would be willing to strip down at a moment's notice if it meant keeping the place warm enough for a critter like Rex. This image makes me extremely happy for various reasons.

[kongjie.livejournal.com]

So, he did the rational thing, and took it out on the one person who has absolutely no say in whether or not her book is available in Australia.

The immediate victim is the author but in fact his misuse of the system hurts anyone who tries to use ratings as guidance. One interesting thing about ratings is that negative ones don't necessarily dissuade my purchase, because if I read the negative review and the writer is clearly an idiot, it could mean the book is not the usual dreck that appeals to the LCD. But if the negative review doesn't even relate to the book, it's completely useless.

[sovay]

I have a prologue. And a deadline. The time has come to find some way to stop fucking around and write the book.

Let me know what I can do.

[rwx.livejournal.com]

This is becoming a larger and larger problem (http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/01/18/e-books-and-the-new-normal) as people attempt to force amazon to try and get books for kindle released earlier by gaming the review system. A few dozen other people have posted articles about it.

[jacobluest.livejournal.com]

I saw this rather unearthly timelapse of the Alps and thought you might appreciate it: http://vimeo.com/7853947

I've been re-reading Low Red Moon. It is very good.

~Jacob

[opalblack.livejournal.com]

Living in Australia is made of epic fail. They lock us out of the bars at 2am, in some areas as early as midnight. The censors have declared (to hell with science & SFX, I say!) that the fluid in female ejaculation porn is urine, and pee-pee porno is a big no-no, so that's yet another class of naughty movies banned. You can't go to a day festival any more without having some penis with a southern cross tattoo on his neck make you kiss the Australian flag under threat of violence. Sometimes they have New Zealand flags and don't realise it. I'm surrounded by people who can't speak properly, and try to pass off braying noises as words. We're not allowed to have computer games or internet. Our government considers us incapable of making informed purchase choices and makes them for us. They want to shut down the few businesses capable of thriving in a depressed economy. Also, it's fucking hot, and all the bugs want to rape you to death through the eyes. Half the country catches fire at least once a year. Racism and homophobia are not only considered acceptable and normal, but expected to be defended against the terrorism of political correctness. If you suggest that using fag or abo as general terms of abuse might not be very nice, you obviously hate Australia and should go join "AlkOIdaaar". You may even get put on a no-fly list if your neighbours remember the terrorism hotline number.

Notice that not being able to get CRK books is not on the list of why this country fails? Through my leet book-obtaining-fu I have somehow managed to go into fucking Borders and buy them. I have even managed to order them from Amazon.com on a few occasions and not had them seized by the border patrols! HEAVENS!

Honestly. Don't like the Georestriction on Kindle editions? Don't buy a Kindle. Simple.

[nykolus.livejournal.com]

woof

[robmacanthony.livejournal.com]

Reported it as well. Not a good way of dealing with dissatisfaction with Amazon.

[sfmarty.livejournal.com]

This has nothing to do with the currant discussion, but I thought you might like to see it.

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

His "review" of my antho is gone as of a few hours ago. So it should be for your book by now or very soon.