More Red Ink

CrossMe Color app for Android Redux

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:03:00 +0000

As I've mentioned in two previous blog posts (here and here), I have a rather strong addiction to an Android game called CrossMe Color. It's sort of like Suduku, but with numbers and colors.

I have now completed all the puzzles through level 8, which is the "Shogun" or "Expert" level. The game has a level 9, but all the puzzles are random. By that I mean the puzzles are simply random patterns, squares, and colors. Once a puzzle is completed, a return to the main menu will automatically clear the puzzle and randomize the patterns, squares, and colors again. When I get desperate enough for a CrossMe Color fix, I will work a random puzzle, but I'm not particularly fond of them: I prefer a puzzle of an actual picture/object, which is saved when the puzzle is completed.

Of course, I can always delete any puzzle solution and re-solve the puzzle, but for now I want to retain the completed puzzles. I'm hoping that the CrossMe Color developers will have an update soon that adds a few new puzzles to the existing levels.

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you a few of the level 7 (Sensei/Advanced) and the level 8 puzzles and solutions; I enjoy discovering what those rows and columns of colored, numbered squares will form when I complete a puzzle.

Puzzle 7.10 - Young Homer

Puzzle 7-23 - Bird

Puzzle 8-3 - Dog

Puzzle 8.4 - Giraffe

Puzzle 8.7 - Cat

Puzzle 8.14 - Parrot

Puzzle 8.16 - East

Puzzle 8.20 - Turtle

A few of the "expert" puzzles presented some difficulty, and I had to snag a few hints from the CrossMe Color Solutions Blog. But what I've pictured above are some of the puzzles that I solved completely on my own, and were personal favorites.

The CrossMe Color Premium app is $4.95 on both Google Play and the Amazon Appstore: a small amount for the hours (and hours) you'll find yourself engrossed in these puzzles.

Jonathan Strahan's Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 6

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Sun, 19 May 2013 01:19:00 +0000

A couple weeks ago I published a blog post (Doin' Hard Time at Night Shade Books) on my nine years with Night Shade Books. In that post I listed the 125 books that I worked on throughout those nine years. One such book was Jonathan Strahan's annual anthology The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 6.

When I checked my email this morning, I found a note from Jonathan Strahan awaiting my perusal. In the email, which was also addressed to Ross E. Lockhart, Jonathan informed us that his book, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 6, had just won the Aurealis Award -- Australia's premier genre award -- for best anthology of the year, and that he wanted to thank Ross and me for our work on this, and his previous books.

Of course, receiving a "thank you" email from an award recipient for one's contribution is very cool. However, as I was catching up on my online reading (Google Reader feeds) I saw that Jonathan had also posted about his award win on his blog Notes from Coode Street. Included in his post was his acceptance speech, which had been read by James Bradley, in Jonathan's absence, at the awards ceremony. With Jonathan's most kind permission, here is his Aurealis Award acceptance speech in its entirety:

Thank you so much. If James Bradley is reading these words to you, which I promise I will keep brief as absent winners should, then it means my anthology The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Six has won the Aurealis Award. It is a great honour and I wish I was there in the Independent Theatre in Sydney, and not sitting in Perth following this on Twitter, so that you all could see just how thrilled I am.

I would sincerely like to thank the judges Kathleen Stubbs, Matt Chrulew and Sarah Fletcher for their hard work (and commend them on their excellent taste), and I also want to thank awards administrator Tehani Wesley and the AA team for their hard work. It is an honour to be nominated alongside my editorial colleagues Liz Gryb, Talie Helene, and Amanda Pillar and the great team at my dear friend Russell Farr’s Ticonderoga, and I extend my congratulations to them as well.

Editing The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year series has defined the past seven years of my life. It’s a strange, wonderful experience, and I am deeply proud of the books I’ve been able to produce with the Night Shade team. I would especially like to thank Ross Lockhart and Marty Halpern at Night Shade Books for the care and attention they gave to this book, and for their work on the rest of the series. They are my unsung collaborators and deserve your congratulations as much as I do.

Finally, and most importantly, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of my spectacular agent Howard Morhaim, and the tireless support of my family Marianne, Jessica and Sophie who give me time to do this strange editing thing that I love doing so much.

Thank you all very much! Have a great night! I’m going to turn Twitter off now and go have a glass of champagne (or at least get the kids dinner on).

Like I said, receiving a thank you email for contributing to an award-winning book is one thing; having one's name mentioned in an acceptance speech takes that "thank you" to an entirely new level.

I, in turn, would like to thank Jonathan for the opportunity to work on his "best of the year" anthologies; I read many fine stories in these volumes that I wouldn't have had the occasion to read otherwise. And while I'm at it, let me thank Ross Lockhart, who kept the work flowing for the past five years at Night Shade Books. Ross could have sent Jonathan's anthologies to any number of other copy editors, but he typically sent the books to me.

Kage Baker's In the Company of Thieves

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:32:00 +0000

In May 2001, I contacted Kage Baker via email about a collection of Company stories; at the time I was acquiring and editing for Golden Gryphon Press. Kage responded the very same day, stating that she was intrigued with my proposal and that she has forwarded my letter to her agent, Linn Prentis. On May 9 I received a response from Linn: the collection was a "go."

Black Projects, White Knights: The Company Dossiers premiered at the San Jose WorldCon on August 29, 2002. The book was even more successful than I had anticipated: Publishers Weekly gave the collection a starred review; the first printing of 3,000 copies sold out in only two months; there was a second hardcover printing, and the trade paperback edition was published in October 2004. In a blog post dated January 27, 2010 -- just four days before Kage Baker passed away -- I detailed how Kage and I worked together on this book, how it all came together.

And now, nearly to the day and twelve years later, I have the good fortune to be able to work on what will, unfortunately, be the last new collection of Company stories by Kage Baker: In the Company of Thieves, forthcoming from Tachyon Publications.

Working on these stories is like meeting up with old friends again, like the immortal cyborg Joseph (in "Hollywood Ikons," a new story original to the collection; more on this in a bit), Edward Bell Fairfax and Lady Beatrice, of the Gentlemen's Speculative Society and Ladies Auxiliary, respectively (in "The Women of Nell Gwynne's" and "The Unfortunate Gytt"), and the evil Labienus and his Plague Cabal (in "Mother Aegypt"). Note that I didn't say they were all "good" friends....

So many memories have come flooding back since I began work on this collection of stories: working on Black Projects, White Knights and then the limited edition chapbook story The Angel in the Darkness; meeting up with Kage at cons -- she was always with her sister Kathleen and I was usually with my wife Diane -- which typically entailed a long chat over lunch or dinner. Did you know Kage's favorite drink is (was) a mojito? Meeting niece "Emma Rose" (read the novel The Hotel Under the Sand, also from Tachyon Pubs) at Kage's appearance at SF in SF on July 25, 2009. And... I could go on, but you get the drift. We were friends, and I always looked forward to the next meeting/lunch/dinner at the next con.... And now we (Diane and I) get to continue that friendship with Kathleen, hopefully sharing a meal at BayCon over the Memorial Day weekend.

Only six stories make up In the Company of Thieves, but those six stories entail more than 100,000 words of very fine fiction. Three of the stories are novella length, at 25,000-plus words. Two additional stories clock in at around the 12,000-word mark. And one story ("The Carpet Beds of Sutro Park"), one of my very favorites, is a mere 3,700 words. I am constantly amazed at what Kage can accomplish in so few words.

Previously I mentioned a new story, "Hollywood Ikons" (one of the 12,000-word stories mentioned above), to be published in this collection for the first time. The story is a collaboration, as it were, between Kage and her sister Kathleen Bartholomew. From the draft copy of Kathleen's story notes:

Before Kage died in 2010, this was one of the stories she told me to look at first....Kage had already assigned Joseph as the hero of this one, so all I had to do was channel her and connect the gold-limned dots."

So I can only hope that Kage has left behind piles of notes and outlines and that Kathleen is able to continue channeling Kage into new stories of the Company, of Dr. Zeus Incorporated, of the Gentlemen's Speculative Society... Or, better yet, I can hope that Kathleen eventually graces us with her own unique tales of wonder.

Doin' Hard Time at Night Shade Books

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Mon, 06 May 2013 23:39:00 +0000

How often, how many times, have you asked yourself, What have I done with my time? What have I really accomplished?

I've been asking myself this very question quite a bit of late; or, at least, more than I normally do....

I spent about nine years of my professional career working for Night Shade Books. If you are a genre writer and/or reader, then you probably have seen an online article, or blog post, about the publisher's demise. Essentially Night Shade Books is bankrupt, they just haven't declared it legally (yet), but are hoping to sell the assets of the company to a pair of publishing houses. I won't go into any of that here; you can just search for "Night Shade Books" and you'll find enough to read: posts from authors talking about the deal with the new buyers, posts from bloggers both objective and subjective about Night Shade, and so on.

But what I see is the demise of a publishing house that had the potential to make it into the "big leagues" as an independent. I recall an early telephone conversation with publisher/owner Jason Williams, in which he told me that he wanted Night Shade to be the next Baen Books. And they could have been, I honestly believe that, but they squandered it all away....

But six months from now, a year from now, will new readers even know who Night Shade Books is? And for those of us who know of them now, what will we think of them going forward? Will readers think of the books with positive memories: the great books like The Algebraist and The Windup Girl; the beautifully designed covers and interiors? Or will they remember the orders not fulfilled, the books promised and never published? Will former Night Shade authors remember Night Shade as the publisher who gave them their first break, bought and published their first book, bought and published the book that they were unable to sell to any New York publisher? Or will they remember that they were never paid their advance, never paid royalties, or if they did get paid, that they had to fight for every dollar, or that their book never even got published as promised?

But getting back to my original question: Just what have I accomplished in nearly nine years with this publisher? And what will I remember?

I sat down and reviewed all my invoices -- 190 of them -- dating back to 2004, and compiled a list of all the books I touched, so to speak. The first book was Adam Roberts's short fiction collection, Swiftly; the last book was Jonathan Strahan's anthology, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Seven, just this past January. And in between were a helluva lot of books.

2004
Adam Roberts – Swiftly short story collection (May)
M. John Harrison – The Course of the Heart novel (June)
Iain M. Banks – The State of the Art short story collection (August)
Manley Wade Wellman – Giants from Eternity novel (September)
Manley Wade Wellman – Strangers on the Heights novel (September)
S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, editors – H. P. Lovecraft's Letters from New York (December)

2005
Joe R. Lansdale – Dead in the West novel (February)
Joe R. Lansdale – The Boar novel (February)
Steven Erikson – Blood Follows novella (March)
Terry Lamsley – Conference with the Dead short story collection (March)
Matthew Hughes – The Gist Hunter and Other Stories (May)
Steven Erikson – The Healthy Dead novella (July)
Gwyneth Jones – Bold As Love novel (July)
Joe Haldeman – War Stories (August)
Liz Williams – Snake Agent novel (August)
David Drake – Hammer’s Slammers, Volume 1(October)
Douglas Lain – Last Week’s Apocalypse short story collection (November)
Joel Lane – The Lost District short story collection (November)

2006
Neal Asher – Prador Moon novel (January)
Ray Manzarek – Snake Moon novel (January)
Tricia Sullivan – Maul novel (January)
Liz Williams – The Demon and the City novel (February)
Elizabeth Bear – The Chains That You Refuse short story collection (March)
Andrew Migliore and John Strysik – The Lurker in the Lobby: The Guide to Lovecraftian Cinema (March)
Kage Baker – Dark Mondays short story collection (April)
Glen Cook – A Cruel Wind Dread Empire omnibus (May)
Alexander C. Irvine – Pictures from an Expedition short story collection (June)
Jay Lake – Trial of Flowers novel (July)
Alastair Reynolds – Zima Blue and Other Stories (July)
Glen Cook – Sung in Blood novel (September)
David Drake – Hammer’s Slammers, Volume 2 (September)
Matthew Hughes – Majestrum novel (September)
Walter Jon Williams – Hardwired novel (September)
Jon Armstrong – Grey novel (October)
Tim Pratt - Hart & Boot & Other Stories (October)
George Saunders - Imaro 2: The Quest for Cush novel (November)

2007
Jonathan Strahan, editor – The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume One (January)
Glen Cook – Passage at Arms novel (January)
Glen Cook – A Fortress in Shadow Dread Empire omnibus (February)
David Drake – Balefires short story collection (February)
Lucius Shepard – Softspoken novel (February)
Jon Courtenay Grimwood – 9 Tail Fox novel (March)
Laird Barron – The Imago Sequence and Other Stories short story collection (April)
Richard Kadrey – Butcher Bird novel (April)
Nathalie Mallet – The Princes of the Golden Cage novel (April)
Liz Williams – Precious Dragon novel (April)
Walter Jon Williams – The Voice of the Whirlwind novel (April)
Matthew Hughes – The Spiral Labyrinth novel (May)
Alex Bledsoe – The Blonde-edged Sword novel (June)
S. M. Stirling – Ice, Iron and Gold short story collection (June)
Elizabeth Moon – Moon Flights short story collection (July)
Jonathan Strahan, editor – Eclipse One (August)
John Joseph Adams, editor – Wastelands (September)
David Drake – Hammer’s Slammers, Volume 3 omnibus (September)
Paolo Bacigalupi – Pump Six and Other Stories (October)
Glen Cook – The Dragon Never Sleeps novel (October)
Jonathan Strahan, editor – The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Two (December)

2008
Walter Jon Williams – Implied Spaces novel (January)
Greg Egan – Incandescence novel (January)
Neal Asher – Shadow of the Scorpion (May)
Harry Turtledove – After the Downfall novel (May)
Liz Williams – Shadow Pavilion novel (May)
Mark Teppo – Lightbreaker: Book One of the Codex of Souls novel (June)
Nathalie Mallet – The King’s Daughters novel (June)
John Joseph Adams, editor – The Living Dead (July)
Matthew Hughes – Hespira novel (July)
Seamus Cooper – The Mall of Cthulhu novel (August)
Tim Lebbon – Bar None novel (August)
Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer, editors – Fast Ships, Black Sails (August)
Stephen Baxter – The H-Bomb Girl novel [note: never published] (September)
Glen Cook – An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat Dread Empire omnibus (September)
Jonathan Strahan, editor – Eclipse Two (September)
Graham Joyce – How To Make Friends with Demons novel (October)
Steven Erikson – The Lees at Laughter’s End novella (November)
Jay Lake – Madness of Flowers novel (November)
Jonathan Strahan, editor – The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Three (December)

2009
John Langan – House of Windows novel (January)
Glen Cook – The Swordbearer novel (February)
Paolo Bacigalupi – The Windup Girl novel (April)
John Joseph Adams, editor – By Blood We Live (May)
John Joseph Adams, editor – The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (June)
Glen Cook – Darkwar Trilogy omnibus (July)
Ellen Datlow, editor – The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 1 (August)
Jonathan Strahan, editor – Eclipse Three (September)
Mark Teppo – Heartland: Book Two of the Codex of Souls novel (October)
Liz Williams – The Iron Khan novel [note: never published] (November)

2010
Laird Barron – Occultation and Other Stories (January)
Greg Egan – Zendegi novel (January)
Walter Jon Williams – The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories (January)
Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories (February)
The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson (March)
John Joseph Adams, editor – The Living Dead 2 (April)
Jon Armstrong – Yarn novel (May)
Michael A. Stackpole – At the Queen’s Command: The Crown Colonies, Book One novel (July)
Catherynne M. Valente – The Habitation of the Blessed: A Dirge for Prester John, Volume One novel (August)
Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio – Agatha H. and the Airship City novel (September)
Kameron Hurley – God’s War novel (October)
Will McIntosh – Soft Apocalypse novel (October)
Martha Wells – The Cloud Roads novel (October)
Jonathan Strahan, editor – The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Five (December)

2011
Jonathan Strahan, editor – Eclipse Four (January)
Michael Swanwick – Dancing with Bears novel (January)
Ellen Datlow, editor – The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 3 (February)
Marty Halpern, editor – Alien Contact (May)
Glen Cook – Reap the East Wind novel (May)
Kameron Hurley – Infidel novel (May)
Richard Cox – Thomas World novel (June)
Glen Cook – An Ill Fate Marshalling novel (July)
Rob Ziegler – Seed novel (July)
Glen Cook – A Path to Coldness of Heart novel (August)
Catherynne M. Valente – The Folded World: A Dirge for Prester John, Volume Two novel (August)
Michael A. Stackpole – Of Limited Loyalty: The Crown Colonies, Book One novel (September)
Will McIntosh – Hitchers novel (October)
David Williams – Pillars of Hercules (November)

2012
Jonathan Strahan, editor – The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Six (January)
John Joseph Adams, editor – Other Worlds Than These (May)
Joseph Adams, editor – Brave New Worlds, 2nd Edition (August)
Kameron Hurley – Rapture novel (August)
Mazarkis Williams – Knife Sworn novel (August)
Zachery Jernigan – No Return novel (October)
Mark Teppo – Earth Thirst novel (October)
Neal Asher – The Departure: The Owner, Book 1 novel (November)
Laird Barron – The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All novel (December)
M. John Harrison – Empty Space novel (December)

2013
Jonathan Strahan, editor – The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Seven (January)

125 books. Count 'em! Some of these dates are relative, of course. For example, my work on Liz Williams's Detective Inspector Chen novel, The Demon and the City, covered a span of about four months, from February through May 2006, during which time I worked with the author on a full edit of the manuscript, copy edited the layout pages, and then proofed the ready-for-print layout along with the book's dust jacket. And then there was my own anthology, Alien Contact, in which I spent more than two years reading, compiling, and then acquiring stories, copy editing and proofing the layout pages, etc. -- not to mention blogging about each of the stories, one story per week for 26 weeks.

Also, what you don't see on this list is an additional 66 books through the years in which I copy edited only the book's cover, and/or front matter, and/or back matter -- the earliest instances of this being the dust jackets for Iain M. Banks's The Algebraist and Lucius Shepard's Trujillo in July 2005, to July 2012, when I worked on four book covers: Ellen Datlow's The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 5, Michael J. Martinez's The Daedalus Incident, Peter Rawlik's Reanimators, and Carol Wolf's Binding. There were also press releases, catalog copy, ARC book covers, ebook covers, and reprint editions, none of which are listed here.

So, this is what I will remember... I never read a Hammer's Slammers story or a Dread Empire story until I had the opportunity to copy edit the works of David Drake and Glen Cook, respectively, for Night Shade Books. That I had an opportunity to read some phenomenal stories by such authors as Laird Barron, Alex Irvine, Elizabeth Moon, Alastair Reynolds, and Adam Roberts -- and that's not to mention the hundreds of individual stories in anthologies compiled by John Joseph Adams and Jonathan Strahan. And novels: whew! Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl, Kameron Hurley's Bel Dame Apocrypha trilogy, the first two Prester John novels by Catherynne M. Valente, books one and two of Mark Teppo's Codex of Souls, and, dare I not forget, Liz Williams's Detective Inspector Chen novels.

I'll remember how Night Shade Books was there when I decided to go freelance full time, and how they kept me working when the economy tanked in 2008.

But I'll also remember how month after month after month, for the past handful of years, I felt like I practically had to beg to get paid even a portion of the money that was owed to me at the time. In a blog post on April 5, 2013, author Kameron Hurley wrote:

For two years, I have equated writing fiction with grinning and bearing it. Getting promised the moon and then fucked over. Waiting for breach of contract. Waiting for expected payments. Being made promises full of sand that trickled just as quickly through clenched fists.

Simply replace her word "writing" with "editing" and you get the gist of how I've felt over the past two or so years working for Night Shade Books. When I read Kameron's post, and I came to that paragraph, I actually had tears in my eyes, because my love of editing had become a chore, had become painful: as I worked on each Night Shade project I worried about getting paid, knowing that I would have to email them again and again to ask for payment -- and should I talk with Jason on the telephone, I'll have to listen of all his tales of woe. I kept telling myself I needed to stop working for them, that this was just becoming too distasteful, but then a check would arrive, typically money owed from three-plus months back, but money nonetheless. I started to back off from the amount of work I accepted, hoping that Night Shade would catch up on money owed, but unfortunately that never happened. And here we are....

I'll keep my remaining vitriolic criticism to myself as that isn't going to change anything, but only make a bad situation worse. However, I am waiting to hear from someone, anyone, about the money that is owed to me for open invoices dating back through October of last year.

And not once that I recall, from May 2004 through January 2013, did I ever miss a promised delivery date on any of those 125 books. Never.

Bradley P. Beaulieu's Lest Our Passage Be Forgotten

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:02:00 +0000

Artwork by Sang Han

Fate (if you believe in that sort of thing) has a way of, occasionally, flipping reality onto its head.

I have worked for Night Shade Books for these past nine years: the very first book I worked on was Adam Roberts's Swiftly, which I completed in May 2005; the last book I worked on, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Seven, edited by Jonathan Strahan, was completed in January of this year. In the course of these nine years, I edited, line edited, and/or copy edited content for approximately 190 books for Night Shade. 190. One of these days, I just may list all the titles. Unfortunately, I should have stopped working for Night Shade at least six months ago, but we'll leave that discussion possibly for another blog post.

About the same time I was wrestling with the decision whether or not to take on another Night Shade project (which I didn't, thankfully), another author was wrestling with a similar decision: Bradley P. Beaulieu (pronounced "Bowl-yer") was owed money by Night Shade Books (Aren't we all?) and the publisher had decided to push out volume three of his Lays of Anuskaya trilogy for at least another full year. Brad chose then to leave Night Shade, take volume three, The Flames of Shadam Khoreh, with him, and self-publish the book. He explained all this in a blog post entitled "A Slight Change of Plans," which he published on February 19, 2013.

Now, while all this was going on, Brad was also running a Kickstarter campaign for his short story collection, Lest Our Passage Be Forgotten & Other Stories. Funding ended for Brad's collection on January 11, with the primary goal reached, as well as all six of the stretch goals.

Which brings us to the present: Bradley P. Beaulieu was in need of an editor for Lest Our Passage Be Forgotten, and I was in need of a new editing gig -- and I am pleased to announce that I will be working with Brad on this project.

Initially I edited the three stories written exclusively for the collection as part of the Kickstarter stretch goals:

"To the Towers of Tulandan" is a prequel story to his Lays of Anuskaya trilogy (The Winds of Khalakovo, The Straits of Galahesh, and the forthcoming The Flames of Shadam Khoreh).

"Prima" is somewhat of a sequel story to the trilogy: the story takes place 25 years after the end of The Flames of Shadam Khoreh, but is not related to the main events in the trilogy.

"Unearthed" is a prequel story to the world of Bryndlholt, a new middle-grade series that Brad has recently begun writing.

Today begins the next phase of this project for me, in which I will copy edit the full collection, which includes the above three stories along with fourteen additional stories, as listed here in alphabetical order:

"Cirque Du Lumière": first published (as by Brad Beaulieu) in Fellowship Fantastic, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes, DAW Books, 2008.

"Flotsam": first published in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume XX, edited by Algis Budrys, Galaxy Press, 2004.

"Foretold": first published in Steampunk'd, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Jean Rabe, DAW Books, 2010.

"From the Spices of Sanandira": first published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, serialized in issues #10 and #11, 2011.

"Good Morning Heartache": first published in Spells in the City, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Jean Rabe, DAW Books, 2009.

"How Peacefully the Desert Sleeps": first published (as by Brad Beaulieu) in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, October 2007.

"In the Eyes of the Empress's Cat": first published (as by Brad Beaulieu) in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, March 2006.

"An Instrument of War": previously unpublished.

"Lest Our Passage Be Forgotten": first published in Realms of Fantasy, June 2008.

"Parting the Clouds": first published in Time-Traveled Tales, edited by Jean Rabe, CreateSpace, 2012.

"Prey to the Gods": previously unpublished.

"Shadows in the Mirrors": first published in The Dimensions Next Door, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes, DAW Books, 2008.

"Sweet as Honey": first published in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, November 2009.

"A Trade of Shades": first published in AlienSkin Magazine, February 2004.

Lest Our Passage Be Forgotten & Other Stories is a huge collection, approximately 145,000 words including front and back matter; and now that I've gotten a taste of the worlds of "Tulandan" and "Prima," as well as "Unearthed," I'm looking forward to these other stories.

These are novel (no pun intended) times in publishing: Kickstarter, self-publishing, ebooks, etc. -- and I'm excited that I have the opportunity to work on this project with Bradley P. Beaulieu.

Paul Williams 1948–2013

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:38:00 +0000

On March 27, we lost one of our own: Paul Williams passed away. In 1995, Paul suffered a traumatic brain injury in a bicycle accident, which is believed to have later caused his early-onset dementia. Paul's achievements are far too numerous to list here, but let me just touch upon a few: In January 1966, Paul launched Crawdaddy! the first magazine of rock music criticism, which paved the way for Rolling Stone and other such rags. In the '80s Paul founded the Philip K. Dick Society and published the society's newsletter. It was Paul's hard work that helped keep PKD's name -- and work -- alive, following the author's death in 1982. Paul also edited the 5-volume Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick and the 13-volume Complete Short Stories of Theodore Sturgeon.

Obits and tributes to Paul Williams have been posted across the 'net, including io9, the LA Times, and the New York Times.

All 19 issues of Crawdaddy! published between 1966 and 1968 are also available online for your reading pleasure in the Crawdaddy! Archives.

I briefly wrote about my involvement with the PKD Society in my "February Links & Things" post (third bullet point from the bottom) in 2010. I again mention Paul Williams in another blog post on PKD and Rudy Rucker, published on August 30, 2010: Paul had fact-checked an article I wrote on PKD in 1988 prior to its publication in the 'zine Paperback Parade.

My friend, author Eileen Gunn, shared some personal thoughts with me, and her Facebook readers, the day after Paul passed away:

Crawdaddy! was a stenciled fanzine, and I bought it for a quarter at Briggs & Briggs in Harvard Square in the spring of 1966. It made my head explode. And that was just the first time. The first issue looked like a term paper; the next looked like an SF fanzine. By the third issue, in less than six weeks, it looked like it belonged on a shelf with other magazines. Whatever the subject, Paul wrote always of exactly the moment he was in, and it was often exactly the moment that I was in. He expanded my view of my own world, of my own (counter)culture, whether it was music or philosophy or the strange internal politics of the Sixties. (Fort Hill, anyone?) I will miss him, but somehow it feels like he's still out there....

Aside from the 5-volume PKD story collection and the 13-volume Theodore Sturgeon collection, both of which hold special places (literally and figuratively) in my own personal library, I would also like to recommend Paul Williams's Bob Dylan: Performing Artist series -- assuming of course that you are a fan of Dylan's music. Unlike most books about rock music, which are typically biographical in nature, these three books focus on Dylan in concert, a critical look at the man's performances over a span of nearly 40 years: Volume 1, The Early Years 1960-1973; Volume 2, The Middle Years 1974-1986; and Volume 3, Mind Out of Time 1986 and Beyond.

My deepest sympathy to Paul's wife, Cindy Lee Berryhill, their son Alexander, and Paul's extended family and friends.

Keep on rockin', Paul....

---------------

Note: The Paul Williams photo that opens this post accompanied the New York Times article by Paul Vitello; the photo was taken by Raeanne Rubenstein, and features Paul Williams in 1971, after he had left Crawdaddy! Since I do not have the rights to reprint this photo, I have linked to the photo on the NYT website. It's one of my favorite photos of Paul: we were grunge before there was grunge. Thank you, Raeanne Rubenstein, for sharing this photograph with us.

"In my view a writer is..."

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:10:00 +0000

"You see, in my view a writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway."

~Junot Diaz

This quote courtesy of Theodora Goss; see her Tumblr blog for more quotes.

A Day in the Life with Android (Part 6): CrossMe Color and Other Games

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 22:53:00 +0000

This is Part 6 (of what I originally thought would be only three parts) in my continuing series on how I use my Google/ASUS Nexus 7 tablet on a day-to-day basis. Part 1 covers my hardware accessories and business apps; Part 2 focuses on a variety of utilities; Part 3 deals with social media and related apps as well as ebook readers; in Part 4 I present additional utilities, news apps, and apps that didn't fit in the previous three posts, and Part 5 deals with media and radio apps, along with a few other odds 'n' ends. And here, in Part 6, I will cover a few Android games.

There are literally thousands (tens of thousands?) of Android games available. Who hasn't heard of Angry Birds. But did you know there are Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio, Angry Birds Space, and, most recently, Angry Birds Star Wars? And should you purchase these or other games/apps, be sure to check first for an "HD" or "THD" version: this version will be optimized for the Android tablet (as opposed to a phone-sized screen). Unfortunately, these optimized versions usually cost a bit more.

Adventure games, puzzle games, physics games, single-person shooter games, construction games, defense games, sports games, word games, space shooter games. You name it, and there's a game or ten (or more) for it. If you are new to Android gaming, be aware that many paid apps have a free version of the game available for users to try before buying; these "lite" versions are typically limited in scope, but offer you the opportunity to try them out first.

Personally, I'm partial to puzzle games, especially those that have no time clock associated with the game play. Which is why, as I stated in a previous blog post, I am addicted to the game entitled CrossMe Color Premium. There's a free version of the game (CrossMe), but the squares are in black and gray, and the levels are limited. But if you are a puzzle freak, then pay the $4.95 and get the full-color premium version; you won't be disappointed.

CrossMe Color is a kind of Suvudu puzzle, but with colored squares; you have to match the color and number of squares both vertically and horizontally. Some of these puzzles have been very difficult and have taken probably hours (spaced out over time) to solve. There are no time limits on any puzzle, you can undo/redo squares whenever necessary, and -- check this -- the puzzle automatically saves your every move!

Here are a select few CrossMe Color before and after screen shots:

Puzzle 5.26 Chinese Wall

Puzzle 6.24 Cathedral

Puzzle 7.4 Halloween

Puzzle 7.8 Junk

Three of the CrossMe Color puzzles (3.13, 3.27, and 7.3) were so difficult that I couldn't find a starting point on the primary color. After hours -- and hours -- of frustrating attempts, I sought out the CrossMe Color Solutions Blog. Trust me, I didn't really want to snag a few starting lines from these puzzle solutions, and yet I didn't want to leave these three puzzles incomplete any longer. There were much harder puzzles that I have completed on my own, so why these three gave me such difficulty, I cannot say.

Three more puzzle game time-wasters are Puzzle Retreat, Splice (286MB), and Trainyard. In the former you must move your pieces to fill in the open holes by sliding across blocks of ice, for example. And in the latter, your goal is to move each train to its own station. Sounds easy enough, right? Then why are there solution apps and websites?.... Splice, the game pictured in the middle above, is a different sort of puzzle game: you are a geneticist and must rearrange cells into a target structure.

Two of the adventures games in my app drawer are pictured above: Broken Sword: Director's Cut and The Curse. I enjoy a good adventure game, but the problem comes down to storage: adventure games are typically huge in size: Broken Sword, for example, is 539MB (compared to, say, CrossMe Color, which is less than 7MB). And remember, my N7 contains only 16GB of total storage, and no card slot. Were I to purchase a second gen N7, I would definitely buy the 32GB model. One adventure game that looks quite intriguing, Yesterday, is priced at $4.99 and clocks in at 981MB -- nearly one gig in size. I'll give it a try at the point when I'm ready to uninstall a few of my other games to make room for it.

Puzzlers, adventure games, and now physics games -- these two in particular: World of Goo and Puddle THD (167MB). What's especially cool about Puddle THD is the fact that it is specifically designed for Tegra 3 powered devices, like the N7. Most games on Android devices require you to move your finger on the screen in order to move an object; not so with Puddle THD. Grab hold of both sides of the tablet and move the entire tablet as needed to move the puddle of colored liquid along wires, through tubes, etc. as you work your way past obstacles like fire and electricity. If you click on the app link above you can watch a one and a half minute YouTube teaser video (which also links to a complete walk through of the game).

This next category of games combines the best of everything so far: adventure, puzzles, and physics; these games tend to cost a bit more than a typical paid game and are also larger in size. Three that I would recommend that are in my app drawer: Eufloria HD (172MB), Freeze! (41MB), and Waking Mars (257MB). Many of the apps shown here have teaser videos available on their app pages in the Google Play Store. The tag line for Eufloria reads: "Experience space exploration, conquest, plant growth and bio mechanical evolution." For Freeze!: "It was a wonderful day for our anonymous hero, at least until the moment when he was torn from his loved ones by a viciously sharp grappling hook." And, lastly, the tag line for Waking Mars: "In 2097, life is discovered on Mars." All of these games have won multiple game awards across devices.

And then there are the games that are a wee bit different than your standard adventure, physics, or puzzle game:

Draw a Stickman: EPIC is an adventure game, but with a twist: You draw the stickman, and then guide him through the adventure, drawing a variety of tools and weapons to overcome the puzzles and obstacles in your path.

In Osmos HD, you are in a galactic mote, absorbing smaller organisms to increase your size and energy, while avoiding destruction from larger organisms -- while a hypnotic, electronic soundtrack plays in the background.

Plague Inc. -- a hardcore strategy game -- differs from most games in that, instead of trying to save humanity, your task is to spread the plague while defeating everything humanity throws at you to kill you.

And, lastly, in Virtual City (78MB) you build and manage your own city. Options include a Kennedy Space Center-like environment, amusement park, and more: 50 levels in 5 settings: California, Colorado, Michigan, Montana, and New York.

You won't find any arcade style or shooter games in my app drawer; they're just not my type of game. But, if that's your gaming preference, you will be amazed by the myriad of such games that are available.

I would suggest installing gReader or the paid version, gReader Pro, or even the Feedly app and then subscribing to websites like Android Central, Android Police, and Droid Life, to name only three -- and then read their feeds daily, clicking only on the links that interest you. ~~I believe it is Droid Life that posts a review of the Top 25 new apps each month;~~ Android Police posts a regular column entitled "Best New Android Games/Apps From the Last 2 Weeks"; if you read nothing else, read this.

A Day in the Life with Android: Part 7: New Apps

Forthcoming

Selected Links & Things

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 21:59:00 +0000

Here are some links that you may find of interest from the past few weeks. My apologies that these haven't been posted in a more timely fashion, but other priorities blah, blah, blah.

Courtesy of Quote-Unquote Apps (@qapps), we have a new version of the Courier Prime font, IBM's classic public domain typeface, which has been redesigned to look good in print and on-screen. So if you still use Courier Prime (I'm a Times Roman kinda guy, myself) for your manuscripts, you'll want to check this out. Easy-to-install for both PCs and Macs; instructions included. (via BoingBoing.net)

Mary Doria Russell is the author of the well-known 1996 alien contact/Jesuits in space novel The Sparrow and its sequel Children of God, and most recently Doc, a novel of "Doc" Holliday and Wyatt Earp. On the Washington Post Book Blog, Mary shares her story with columnist Ron Charles (@RonCharles) on the "perils (and rewards) of being a midlist novelist": "Just as her new novel, Doc, was being released in 2011, she got word that her publisher [Random House] was not interested in any more books from her."

What if you could buy your way onto the New York Times bestseller list? Think it's impossible? Not if you have enough money, as detailed by one author's experience in Forbes.com's "Here's How You Buy Your Way Onto The New York Times Bestsellers List." ResultSource, a San Diego-based marketing consultancy, specializes in getting books onto bestseller lists, assuming you have $200,000-plus to invest. The author in question couldn't afford the NYT, so he settled for the Wall Street Journal's list. Life's tough, aint' it?

"How I made $2,000 in 7 days launching my ebook." Programmer Josh Earl, author of Sublime Productivity: Code Like a Pro with Today's Premier Text Editor ebook, writes: "The book is growing steadily, and with it, a sense of panic: What happens when I’m done? My entire promotional strategy consists of pushing the publish button! I’m a programmer, not a sales wizard. Marketing seems like black magic. The thought of my hard work going to waste makes me sick." (via Hacker News)

Digital Book World (@digibookworld) has an excerpt from a new book on publishing by former Apple guru Guy Kawasaki; the book is entitled APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur-How to Publish a Book. The section "Appearance Is Everything" covers such topics as: Front Matter; Ebook Front Matter; Organization Name; Blurb Overload; Gaffes; and Crappy Interior Design. Authors, even those not self-publishing, would be wise to read this excerpt, if not the entire book, which includes manuscript and text formatting in the "Gaffes" section.

The Original Hacker's Dictionary: "Many years after the original book went out of print, Eric Raymond picked it up, updated it and republished it as the New Hacker's Dictionary. Unfortunately, in the process, he essentially destroyed what held it together, in various ways: first, by changing its emphasis from Lisp-based to UNIX-based (blithely ignoring the distinctly anti-UNIX aspects of the LISP culture celebrated in the original); second, by watering down what was otherwise the fairly undiluted record of a single cultural group through this kind of mixing; and third, by adding in all sorts of terms which are 'jargon' only in the sense that they're technical. This page, however, is pretty much the original, snarfed from MIT-AI around 1988." (via Hacker News)

"Aaron Hillel Swartz (November 8, 1986 – January 11, 2013) was an American computer programmer, writer, political organizer and Internet activist." At least that's what Wikipedia opens with, when you search for "Aaron Swartz." But Aaron was so much more: as a teenager he helped develop the RSS feed, which has been in the tech news lately as Google prepares to shut down its Google Reader service. Aaron also helped develop the Creative Commons licensing, which many have used to publish their work openly on the internet. Facing years of incarceration from an overzealous prosecutor, Aaron committed suicide on January 11. I'll leave you to decide the rights and wrongs of the case (a quick Google search will yield plenty of results). Aaron Swartz's weblog, Raw Thought, has been preserved for free download as PDF, mobi, and epub files. (via Hacker News) Here's an excerpt:

I’m not such a nuisance to the world, and the kick I get out of living can, I suppose, justify the impositions I make on it. But when life isn’t so fun, well, then I start to wonder. What’s the point of going on if it’s just trouble for us both? My friends will miss me, I am told. . . . But even so, I feel reticent. Even among my closest friends, I still feel like something of an imposition, and the slightest shock, the slightest hint that I’m correct, sends me scurrying back into my hole. (2007)

From The National Security Archive: "The Zero Dark Thirty File -- Lifting the Government's Shroud Over the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden." Twenty-two files including photos, letters, and details on the mission that brought down bin Laden.

And lastly, in 1942 LIFE magazine sent Margaret Bourke-White, America’s first accredited woman photographer during WWII, to spend time with the now legendary VIII Bomber Command in England. During her assignment, she managed to snap a series of color photographs, many of which never actually made it to her feature article. Over 70 years later, LIFE has finally released these unpublished color photos. (via io9.com - @io9)

A Day in the Life with Android (Part 5)

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 23:26:00 +0000

This is Part 5 (albeit published much later than I had originally anticipated) in my continuing series in which I share how I use my Google/ASUS Nexus 7 tablet on a day-to-day basis. Part 1 covers my hardware accessories and business apps; Part 2 focuses on a variety of utilities; Part 3 deals with social media and related apps as well as ebook readers; and in Part 4 I review most of what is left -- a combination of utilities, news apps, and apps that didn't fit in the previous three posts, excluding audio-video and related apps, which I have reserved for this post.

As I mentioned in the previous entry in this series: "...what would an Android device be without at least a few games, some tunes, and a movie or two."

In Part 2 I talked about "cloud storage" services -- necessary because the Nexus 7's storage capacity is limited and the device has no card slot. [Note: If you read Part 2 previously, please read the update I posted on 02/26/2013 regarding a strong warning about Bitcasa cloud storage; and in place of Bitcasa, I have recommended Box cloud storage.]

But what do you do when you have no wireless access to those cloud storage services, and yet you need access to your documents and spreadsheets, as well as books, music, and movies, say, for that long plane ride, or the hotel stay where there is no free wireless?

You use the Nexus Media Importer app and a micro USB On-the-Go (OTG) cable. The Nexus Media Importer uses the N7's micro USB port, the same port used for charging the device. Just as the app says, this is for importing (and streaming) to the N7 only. You cannot move/save files from the N7 to the USB device.

The cable needed must be described as a "Micro USB OTG to USB 2.0 Adapter." The one I use (pictured here) is the T & S Electronics Micro USB OTG Cable, which cost $10.00 on Amazon. An online search, even on Amazon, will find cheaper cables, but I went with this one because of its design, the lifetime warranty, and because the company is located in the US (Los Angeles).

As with the Google Chrome browser, or all Google apps for that matter, Google Calendar syncs across all devices. If I set up a calendar appointment on my PC, it shows up on the N7, and vice versa. When I schedule an appointment, I always set up reminders to be sent to me via email and the Android notification bar.

If you keep up on tech news then you may have heard about the iPhone fiasco when Apple decided to do away with Google Maps and go with their own map app. (The fiasco cost a couple execs their jobs at Apple!) I recall reading an alert put out by the Australian travel bureau, I believe it was, warning tourists that an iPhone map error could be detrimental to travelers. With Google Maps, I can map out my destination, including driving directions, and then do a screenshot¹ of each so that I have access to the information on the N7 when there is no wifi available, like in the car.

ESPN's ScoreCenter for Android is ideal for tracking favorite sports and teams. I'm not much for sports, but I do follow a few college football teams, and local NFL and MLB teams. With ScoreCenter, you can track a multitude of sports, from Autoracing to MMA, and even Cricket! The app's "holo" design has recently been updated for the Nexus 7 and looks great. You can set up to receive notifications after each inning or quarter, for example, and receive news notifications for breaking sports stories.

Music

I have the Google Play Music Manager installed on my PC. Google provides free cloud storage for thousands of my songs. All I have to do is point the Music Manager to the folder on my PC that contains my iTunes songs and podcasts, my Amazon MP3s, etc., and whenever a new file is added to that folder, the Music Manager will automatically upload it to my Google Play Music Library. How cool is that!

The Google Play music store also offers a "Free Song of the Day" -- though it's actually more like every three days.

The Google Play Music app allows me to play an individual song, shuffle my library, and access my playlists on the N7. An equalizer can be activated for each song as well (click on the 3 dots in the top right corner of the screen). There are better equalizer apps available, but from what I have read in the reviews, they all seem to not work properly under the Android Jelly Bean OS. So stick with the built-in equalizer until developers figure out the issue with JB.

I've seen a few complaints about the speakers in the N7, but I think they are fairly impressive given the size and slimness of the device. But, since music is all about the speakers, I added a Monster ClarityHD Bluetooth Wireless Speaker to my Nexus 7 hardware:

And if, for some reason, you can't get the Bluetooth to work properly, just plug in a dual 3.5mm stereo cable into the N7's earphone jack and the speaker's audio-in jack, and you'll be good to go.

One more point to keep in mind: this music app -- and the music/radio apps that follow -- will all play music in the background while you work on documents, read and respond to your email, and most other activities on the N7.

The first app pictured here is TuneIn Radio Pro: for online radio streaming, be it music, sports, news, or whatever is streaming from the multitude of radio stations available via this app. Just the other day I was listening to a local indie station, S*ALT (aka Save Alternative) that was playing a lengthy set of songs by a band called Pinback. This app also allows you to record the music being played, and you can even schedule the recording in advance. The second app, XiaaLive Pro, differs in that you can search and stream specific songs; I haven't used this app as much as TuneIn.

Movies

The Google Play Movies app, just like Google Play Books, comes with the N7, but only works for movies obtained through the Google Play store. When I want to watch Tori Amos perform on The Artists Den (mp4) or Nirvana's landmark "Nevermind" video (flv) or those restored Fleischer Studios' original Superman cartoons (mp4), I turn to this app:

MX Player is a multi-purpose video player. It has played every video format that I have thrown at it, at least so far. There is a "Pro" version that costs $5.70 and is add-free, but so far I've been satisfied with the free app.

Most DVD purchases now come with a digital copy of the movie; typically, these digital copies can be downloaded onto one computer and one mobile device. Flixster is one of these online digital movie services, which allows me to access my Flixster online digital movies on the N7.

A Day in the Life with Android: Games

Continued in Part 6

--------------------

Footnote

1. A screenshot can be made of absolutely any screen on the Nexus 7. To snap a screenshot simply hold down the the power button and the volume down button at the same time. That's it. The screenshot will be saved in the N7's Gallery. And, if you have Dropbox installed as well (and wifi turned on), the screenshot will automatically be uploaded to Dropbox and saved in a folder entitled "Camera Uploads."

The Soul of a Novella: Brandon Sanderson's The Emperor's Soul

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:11:00 +0000

The novella is a rather intriguing literary work: it is too long to be considered a "short story," and yet it is too short to be categorized as a novel. Many authors thrive at novella-length stories, but, alas, there are few markets for work of this length.

I've been quite fortunate to have worked on some extraordinary novellas, including: Turquoise Days by Alastair Reynolds, the first entry in Golden Gryphon Press's limited edition chapbook series, and later published by Ace Books as a hardcover double entitled Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days; Lucius Shepard's Louisiana Breakdown (out of print) won the 2004 International Horror Guild Award for best long fiction, and was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award that same year; "The Concrete Jungle," included in Charles Stross's The Atrocity Archives, won the 2005 Hugo Award for best novella; and After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress, currently a finalist for the Nebula Award.

Which brings me to the subject of this blog post: novella The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson, published by Tachyon Publications (as is the previously mentioned Nancy Kress novella).

When I read this year's Nebula Awards nominees, I was surprised -- and disappointed -- that The Emperor's Soul wasn't on the list. When I worked on this book last year, copy editing the manuscript and then proof reading the final layout -- I was awestruck by the story's premise (courtesy of TOR.com):

When Shai is caught replacing the [Emperor's] Moon Scepter with her nearly flawless forgery, she must bargain for her life. An assassin has left the Emperor Ashravan without consciousness, a circumstance concealed only by the death of his wife. If the emperor does not emerge after his hundred-day mourning period, the rule of the Heritage Faction will be forfeit and the empire will fall into chaos.

Shai is given an impossible task: to create--to Forge--a new soul for the emperor in less than one hundred days while trapped behind a door sealed in her own blood.

The Emperor's Soul is set in the same world as Sanderson's earlier novel Elantris, but the novella stands completely on its own. And the writing itself is brilliant.

Brandon Sanderson was the Author Guest of Honor at BayCon 2012, held annually here in Santa Clara, California. I participated on a panel with Brandon, entitled "The Top Ten Rookie Author Gaffes," at 10:00AM on Monday morning. I was impressed with Brandon's style and natural camaraderie with the audience. He possesses a great deal of knowledge and writing skill, and is quick to share this with the attendees. He is definitely "paying it forward," even meeting with attendees after the panel has ended in order to continue the discussion.

I realize it is too late for the Nebula Awards, but the Hugo Awards nominations are still open (at least for another 12 days), and voting for the World Fantasy Awards remains open until May 31, 2013. I ask that you consider Brandon Sanderson's The Emperor's Soul, in the novella category.

Tachyon Publications has reactions to the novella from Library Journal, TOR.com, and Fantasy Book Review, among others; and TOR.com has a review by Stefan Raets and an excerpt from the book itself: I will post the Prologue here, with a link at the bottom to the full excerpt on Tor.com.

But one more thing: If you have already purchased the book -- or plan to purchase the book -- the author will send you a free copy of the ebook. All you need to do is send him a scan or photograph of the receipt, or even a photograph of you holding the book to receive your free ebook. Details can be found on Brandon Sanderson's website.

Prologue

Gaotona ran his fingers across the thick canvas, inspecting one of the greatest works of art he had ever seen. Unfortunately, it was a lie.

"The woman is a danger." Hissed voices came from behind him. "What she does is an abomination."

Gaotona tipped the canvas toward the hearth's orange-red light, squinting. In his old age, his eyes weren't what they had once been. Such precision, he thought, inspecting the brush strokes, feeling the layers of thick oils. Exactly like those in the original.

He would never have spotted the mistakes on his own. A blossom slightly out of position. A moon that was just a sliver too low in the sky. It had taken their experts days of detailed inspection to find the errors.

"She is one of the best Forgers alive." The voices belonged to Gaotona's fellow arbiters, the empire's most important bureaucrats. "She has a reputation as wide as the empire. We need to execute her as an example."

"No." Frava, leader of the arbiters, had a sharp, nasal voice. "She is a valuable tool. This woman can save us. We must use her."

Why? Gaotona thought again. Why would someone capable of this artistry, this majesty, turn to forgery? Why not create original paintings? Why not be a true artist?

I must understand.

"Yes," Frava continued, "the woman is a thief, and she practices a horrid art. But I can control her, and with her talents we can fix this mess we have found ourselves in."

The others murmured worried objections. The woman they spoke of, Wan ShaiLu, was more than a simple con artist. So much more. She could change the nature of reality itself. That raised another question. Why would she bother learning to paint? Wasn't ordinary art mundane compared to her mystical talents?

So many questions. Gaotona looked up from his seat beside the hearth. The others stood in a conspiratorial clump around Frava's desk, their long, colorful robes shimmering in the firelight. "I agree with Frava," Gaotona said.

The others glanced at him. Their scowls indicated they cared little for what he said, but their postures told a different tale. Their respect for him was buried deep, but it was remembered.

"Send for the Forger," Gaotona said, rising. "I would hear what she has to say. I suspect she will be more difficult to control than Frava claims, but we have no choice. We either use this woman's skill, or we give up control of the empire."

The murmurs ceased. How many years had it been since Frava and Gaotona had agreed on anything at all, let alone on something so divisive as making use of the Forger?

One by one, the other three arbiters nodded.

"Let it be done," Frava said softly.

Excerpt continued on TOR.com;

scroll down about one-quarter of the page to "Day Two."

This is not a still from Blade Runner....

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 01:13:00 +0000

"A new life awaits you in the off-world colonies! A chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure!"

On January 19 (now you see how far behind I am on blog posts!) I was reading through my blog and forum feeds when I came upon this photograph on the Philip K. Dick blog Total Dick-Head. Little was said about the photo, other than "that's not a still from Blade Runner" and it's "the smog in Beijing, and some crazy building." I shared this photo on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter, with what little information I had.

Aside from a couple "likes" and such on G+ and FB, nothing came of my posts on those two sites. But, Twitter was something else altogether....

I used the #PKD hashtag on my tweet, and that really got people's attention. Retweets and comments were coming in as fast as I could read them, over the course of days. Some of the retweets were in German, Spanish, and Russian, as well as character sets I didn't recognize.

I received a tweet from @spenap (Simón P.) informing me that the original source of the photo was the Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) blog. Simón also noted that the photo had been posted to Tumbler, and then picked up by Gizmodo. As he was kind enough to include a link to the WSJ blog in his tweet, I immediately checked it out.

This photo was among the "Photos of the Day" for January 14 on the WSJ blog, and is credited to ChinaFotoPress/Zuma Press. The caption under the photograph reads:

AIR OF MYSTERY: Haze obscured the Pangu Plaza Office Building in Beijing Saturday. Beijing on Sunday issued its first-ever 'orange' fog warning, an alert to the elderly, children and people suffering from respiratory disease to stay indoors and limit exposure to the pollution.

I later received a tweet from @nntd, stating "I took this pic." I replied, hoping to get clarification and/or confirmation, but received no response. But I will assume she/he is the photographer. The name associated with @nntd is in a foreign character set and thus only shows up in my twitter feed as three square symbols.

A brief search led me to the Gizmodo blog post. There are more than 40 comments, including one from "Settings" that includes a photo of this same building, from a different perspective, taken on a clear day:

According to this and other comments, these buildings are referred to as the dragon building, which, from the air, evidently looks like a dragon.

But back to my twitter feed: Just a few of the tweets I received in response:

Kyle Baker (@kbaker): That's the Beijing I remember while there. Eery resemblance. Beijing can be quite nice on clear days, though.

@mangochutney: it [the smog] only gets this bad when they power up the coal-fired power plants outside the 3rd ring of the city.

@mangochutney: the amount of soot that accumulated over the course of 2d on my closed balcony was scary.

Richard Lai (@richardlai): I'm in Beijing right now and I can confirm that the air is still very bad. Brought a couple of N95 masks along.

This whole twitter experience was really quite fascinating. To date my tweet has been retweeted 2,470 times, and that's not counting all the dozens of personal responses I received. I remain amazed....

I'll close with one last photo -- a cityscape -- and this is a still from Blade Runner, courtesy of Dan North's Spectacular Attractions blog:

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain... Time to die."
~Roy Batty, Blade Runner

A warning to college profs from a high school teacher

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:57:00 +0000

Warnings from the Trenches

A high school teacher tells college educators what they can expect in the wake of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.

By Kenneth Bernstein

You are a college professor.

I have just retired as a high school teacher.

I have some bad news for you. In case you do not already see what is happening, I want to warn you of what to expect from the students who will be arriving in your classroom, even if you teach in a highly selective institution.

No Child Left Behind went into effect for the 2002–03 academic year, which means that America’s public schools have been operating under the pressures and constrictions imposed by that law for a decade. Since the testing requirements were imposed beginning in third grade, the students arriving in your institution have been subject to the full extent of the law’s requirements. While it is true that the US Department of Education is now issuing waivers on some of the provisions of the law to certain states, those states must agree to other provisions that will have as deleterious an effect on real student learning as did No Child Left Behind—we have already seen that in public schools, most notably in high schools.

....

Let me end by offering my deepest apologies, not because I may have offended some of you by what I have written, but because even those of us who understood the problems that were being created were unable to do more to stop the damage to the education of our young people. Many of us tried. We entered teaching because we wanted to make a difference in the lives of the students who passed through our classrooms. Many of us are leaving sooner than we had planned because the policies already in effect and those now being implemented mean that we are increasingly restricted in how and what we teach.

Now you are seeing the results in the students arriving at your institutions. They may be very bright. But we have not been able to prepare them for the kind of intellectual work that you have every right to expect of them. It is for this that I apologize, even as I know in my heart that there was little more I could have done. Which is one reason I am no longer in the classroom.

This is one of the most devastating/condemning essays on the state of the contemporary American educational system that I have ever read. I am a credentialed teacher, by the way. I first leaned about this essay via Hacker News, pointing to a link on The Washington Post, from which I snagged this blog post's title: "A warning to college profs from a high school teacher." As of this posting, The WP column has more than 2,300 comments.

The essay's original publication was in the January-February 2013 issue of Academe, the journal of the American Association of University Professors. You will want to check out the dozen or so comments on this site as well.

Either link, this is a must read for all educators, parents, community workers, politicians -- hell, all Americans.

Thank you, Kenneth Bernstein, for your service to education.

A Day in the Life with Android (Part 4)

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 04:35:00 +0000

This is Part 4 in my continuing series in which I share how I use my Google/ASUS Nexus 7 tablet on a day-to-day basis. Part 1 covers my hardware accessories and business apps; Part 2 focuses on a variety of utilities; and Part 3 deals with social media and related apps as well as ebook readers.

This time around I will be covering most of the apps that are left -- a combination of utilities, news apps, and apps that didn't fit in the previous three posts, excluding games and audio-video apps. I'll delve into a few of the games I have, as well as my audio-video apps in Part 5, the last (hopefully) of this series. Really, though, what would an Android device be without at least a few games, some tunes, and a movie or two.

But before proceeding forward I need to go back a step, or two.

To quickly recap something from Part 1: I stated that I was using the Swype beta keyboard, which I was quite fond of. Then, Swype released a revision to the keyboard, and in the process broke a number of the keyboard's key (no pun intended) features. So, I switched to a competitor's keyboard, SwiftKey beta keyboard. Well, as is typical with Android apps, Swype released yet another revision to their keyboard that fixed all the issues and, in addition, included some new features. As of this writing, I have now switched back to the preferred Swype beta keyboard and, so far, all is well.

And in Part 2, I mentioned the four "cloud" services I am using. As of today, I can now add a fifth cloud service to the list: MediaFire. I learned about this service just this morning, but unfortunately the app was not compatible with the Nexus 7. Someone posted in an Android forum that they contacted the developer about this incompatibility, and a few hours later the problem was resolved. That's the kind of action Android users like to see from a developer (and it's a free app as well). MediaFire provides 50GB of free storage at signup; additional storage is available for a fee. I didn't mention this previously, but when using cloud services always be aware of their file size limitation on file transfers; typically it's between 100MB and 250MB per file, depending on the service, which means no movie streaming.

Speaking of cloud services, I use Cloud Print, which allows me to print from my N7 to my (new) wireless printer. (During Christmas week I installed a new Epson WorkForce WF-3540 Wireless All-in-One Printer; it replaces my tired HP deskjet, a true workhorse that has served me well for more than 15 years.) To use Cloud Print you must first configure your PC and wireless printer to work with Google Cloud Print.

I also have a new addition to my social media apps listed in Part 3: Until just this past week, Facebook Pages Manager was only available in Europe (I believe), but the app has now been released in the States. This app will allow me to manage my Alien Contact Anthology page on Facebook via my N7.

And just when I thought I was caught up, I learned of a new utility app just last night while reading posts on one of the Android forums. History Eraser is a multi-faceted app for deleting the cache on the N7. Just doing a quick delete of the cache on my N7 gained me 0.50 (and change) gigs, which is equivalent to more than 500+ megs. For the sake of comparison, the size of the History Eraser app is just under 2.50 megs.

Whether you are new to Android and the N7 or an experienced Android user, I recommend that you join the Nexus 7 Forum, a community devoted to helping each other and providing information (reviews, announcements, etc.). I added the forum to my Feedly app so I can scan the posts without having to actually visit the forum site. Of course, I also read Android Central, Android Police, and Droid Life, to name three others sites/communities.

So, who doesn't like to go shopping...

All of the app links in this series of blog posts point to the Google Play store. However, Amazon.com also has its own source for Android apps: the Amazon Appstore. The primary focus is, of course, on the Kindle Fire device, but the majority of the apps I have checked out are also compatible with the N7. There are some caveats, however, in using the Amazon Appstore. In the Nexus 7's settings, under "Security," you have to enable the option "Unknown Sources" -- this allows the installation of apps from other than Google Play (formerly known as the Android Market). This is also a potentially dangerous option because it will allow installation of any Android app from literally anywhere -- but you never want to install an app from other than a known, legitimate source; otherwise you put your device, and your data, at risk for malware.

You will need an Amazon.com account before starting; and once the Appstore app is installed (you'll find a link to installation instructions on the Appstore home page), be sure to access the app's settings and enable notifications so that you are notified when new updates to your apps are available.

What is especially cool about the Amazon Appstore is that the store showcases a "Free App of the Day" -- every day -- and always a paid app. Most of the featured apps are games, and the majority of these are for younger audiences. But I have acquired a few apps this way through the "free app" program, including my favorite game, CrossMe Color Premium (which I've posted about here and will revisit in Part 5); this app is priced at $4.95 on Google Play, but I installed it for free as a "Free App of the Day." So I literally check the Amazon Appstore every day just to see what free app is being offered.

Of course, if you're like me, you purchase more than just apps from Amazon.com; or, at the least, I use Amazon for checking availability, prices, and reviews. So, I've installed the Amazon Mobile app, which is available from Google Play. Be sure to snag the "Tablet" version, which is optimized for use on the N7.

If you've ever navigated the Google Play store, then you know there is no one place (screen?) you can go to to find which apps are on sale. So that's why I use the AppSales app. This app searches Google Play for all app sales, lists the app along with its original and sale price (and the sale price percentage); if you've configured the app to do so, it will send you a notification when it finds new apps on sale. You can also maintain a "watchlist" -- paid apps that you would like to purchase if/when they go on sale -- and AppSales will send you a notification when it finds an app on your watchlist on sale.

All the news that's fit to print...

Though I read a number of Android sites and forums, I like to know what news, reviews, and apps are trending specifically for the Nexus 7. Drippler accomplishes this. I counted at least 46 different Drippler apps in the Google Play store, one for every major Android device on the market, so be sure to install the one for the Nexus 7.

I use Feedly for reading blogs, forums, etc. and Drippler for trending Nexus 7 news. I also want to be able to read news of the world, as well as politics, sports, health, entertainment, and science news. The N7 comes with Google Currents, and I've also tried Flipboard (which has garnered a lot of raves recently), but... I wanted a news app that would allow me to delete sources that I don't want to read, and then be able to add my own personal choices, without each of these added sources being a separate tile/category. The only app I've found that will allow me to do this is Pulse News, which also features a beautiful Google "holo" design.

Breaking News, a product of NBC News, is essentially a widget that I maintain on my home screen. It has the top 5 news headlines (clickable links) at any given moment.

Though more for information, or at least data, than news are the IMDb app (Internet Movie Database) and the Wikipedia app. I don't know how many times I've watched a TV show, or a movie, and recognized an actor, but either couldn't recall the person's name or where I had seen them previously. IMDb to the rescue. And Wikipedia never ceases to amaze me: no matter what obscure person, place, or thing I might look up, there is usually a listing for it.

One more, and I'll consider this blog post complete.

The Nexus 7 has a built-in front-facing camera. This makes scanning QR codes and bar codes a bit difficult, because you can't see what you're scanning, but it can be done, and there are apps (pic2shop Barcode & QR Scanner, for one) that will work with the N7. But what if you just want to launch the camera, snap some pics, record some video? Then you will need Camera Launcher for Nexus 7 -- an app designed specifically for the N7 to, you guessed it, launch the built-in camera.

A Day in the Life with Android
Continued in Part 5

"Curse whatever gods you believe in...."

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 19:21:00 +0000

"Curse whatever gods you believe in for taking George Alec Effinger from us far too soon. And curse them if you will for making him suffer for most of his life in pain far more severe than you want to even imagine. He deserved better, much better, as he was without doubt one of the most brilliant writers that ever graced our presence."

~ Cat Eldridge, The Green Man Review

Happy Birthday, George Alec Effinger (Part 3 of 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:50:00 +0000

In memory of author George Alec Effinger (January 10, 1947 – April 27, 2002), who would have been 66 years old this month, I am reprinting a series of three blog posts I published in the first half of 2009. This third, and final, blog post, originally published on June 8, 2009, focuses on the book A Thousand Deaths, which contained George's personal favorite, the novel The Wolves of Memory -- and my favorite of his work as well.

* * * *

Since my blogs tend to be more essay rather than random comments, like blogging about my great cup of coffee this morning, they take longer to compose. If you enjoy reading what I write, then I thank you for your time and patience, and I ask that you just keep checking back -- and/or subscribe to this blog's RSS feed -- for my next entry.

At least for now, this will be my final blog post on author George Alec Effinger; one blog entry for each of the three collections of his work that I acquired and edited for Golden Gryphon Press between 2001 and 2007. Part One of this series focused on Budayeen Nights and Part Two pertained to collection Live! From Planet Earth. I have a couple ideas for possible future projects of Effinger's work, but only time -- and the economy -- will tell if these ever come to pass.

In late 2002, once I had completed Budayeen Nights, and the book was in the hands of the typesetter, and then the printer, I began thinking about the next Effinger collection. During my email communications with George between 2001 and 2002, I promised him that I would do my best to help him bring his work back into print -- and even though George was no longer alive at this point in time, I felt a personal responsibility to honor that promise.

Obviously the second collection published by Golden Gryphon Press was George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth -- but this wasn't the book I had initially intended to publish next.

In the latter part of 2002, I had written Barbara Hambly, executrix of Effinger's literary estate, for a list of her favorite GAE stories. On December 2, 2002, Barb wrote: "I've sorted through George's story titles, cut out all the Maureen Birnbaum and Sandor Courane stories (which have or are getting anthologies of their own) and still have quite a few." Of course, I knew about the Birnbaum collection, but a collection of Sandor Courane stories? This was a complete surprise to me. So I inquired further of Barb about the Courane collection, and later that same day she responded: "There's a fellow in the Midwest who's doing Sandor Courane -- George was working on it with him at the time of his death." Unfortunately, Barb could not recall this fellow's name. Now I was intrigued: during my email communications with George before he passed away, when he spoke so personally about all of his work being long out-of-print, he made no mention whatsoever of another editor working on a collection of his short fiction.

And so my search began.

Eventually my net searching found a website for Wunzenzierohs Publishing Company¹, which noted a "forthcoming" GAE collection entitled A Thousand Deaths. But then the announcement went on to state that the collection was currently in limbo due to Effinger's passing. Using the "Email Us" link on the home page, I contacted the publisher on December 19, 2002. I expressed my interest in seeing GAE's short fiction back in print, and I asked if the publisher still planned to pursue this particular collection of Sandor Courane stories. I also requested a list of the proposed stories to be included in the book. I was thinking that if the publisher was willing to give up the rights to this collection so that it could be published by Golden Gryphon -- and if he had all the stories pretty much ready to go and was willing to share them with me -- then I could get this book into print more quickly than the other collection I was planning (Live! From Planet Earth), which I was having to start from scratch.

Gordie Meyer, Wunzenzierohs publisher, responded to my email the following day. Apparently, WunzPub (to use Gordie's abbreviation) was more of a hobby venture, and he had, in fact, been considering if he really had the time to do the Sandor Courane collection. Gordie wrote: "I've known George from his being online at Delphi long ago, and we'd occasionally touch base via email or meet in person at a con, but I didn't really know him all that well. Mike [Resnick], however, did, and when I mentioned that I thought it was a shame that all of George's work was OOP, he suggested that I consider a collection of...the Sandor Courane stories, as they were an identifiable group to collect and were some of Mike's favorite Effinger stories. So I ran the idea past George at a con, he and Barbara [Hambly] liked the idea..." Evidently this all occurred four years earlier, in 1998. Gordie went on to say: "If you'd be interested in taking over the publication of A Thousand Deaths ([the title of] which both George and I came up with independently -- cue Twilight Zone theme...), it'd make my decision a bit easier.... It was [always] about getting George's work back into print. So if I can make that happen, even without actually publishing it myself, I'd still feel good about the project.... Barbara has already approved having Mike Resnick do the introduction. And actually, Mike threatened physical violence if he didn't get to do the intro. {g}"

And that's how I, and Golden Gryphon Press, acquired George Alec Effinger's Sandor Courane collection, A Thousand Deaths. But the story doesn't quite end there.

Gordie sent me a list of all the Sandor Courane stories he was aware of, and included the text of an email he had received from Effinger regarding the list of stories. Gordie stated that he received the email from George "when he was still in rehab the last time" so I'm guessing this was between late fall and early winter 2001. George wrote: "I'm sure there are plenty more Courane stories ("The Wicked [Old] Witch," for one, which is when he starts being aware of what's been happening to him), but I don't even have a bibliography, and in a day or two I'll be denied access to this computer. Go ahead with that stuff for now -- I'd love to see WOLVES included, because it's an important part of his, um, 'mythos.' I'm wondering if I'm developing my own mythos (shudder, etc.)."

Gordie had hardcopies of most of the stories on the list, and scans of a few of them. He offered to send all of this material to me, but when lengthy delays occurred due to multiple computer crashes and other priorities in his life, I decided to pursue Live! From Planet Earth as the second collection, and save A Thousand Deaths for book number three. It was published on June 1, 2007.

George himself always believed that his novel The Wolves of Memory, featuring Sandor Courane and the computer overlord TECT, was his best work. The first Marîd Audran/Budayeen novel, When Gravity Fails, may have been his most popular and most widely known and read novel, but Wolves, he felt, was his best. That, along with the fact that Wolves had been out of print since the early '80s, inspired me to include the novel in the collection. But here was my dilemma: Wolves clocked in at approximately 88,000 words, and I only had a maximum of about 130,000 words to work with for the entire collection....

For those who knew George Alec Effinger, Sandor Courane is obviously one of George's many alter egos. Yet, contrary to the title A Thousand Deaths -- and regardless of what George said in his email to Gordie about there being "plenty more Courane stories" -- after all my research, I could only find a total of thirteen stories² in which Sandor Courane made an appearance, or was even mentioned at all. And of these, Courane only dies, or faces death, in probably two-thirds of them. So, in keeping with the title A Thousand Deaths and given the available word count (approximately 30,000 words), it is these stories that I included in the collection.

I commissioned yet another wraparound dust jacket cover from artist extraordinaire John Picacio. I thought the previous two Effinger covers, for BN and GAE Live!, were some of John's best work -- until he turned in the artwork for A Thousand Deaths. The final front cover of the book is shown above, but this is one of those wraparound pieces in which the front cover alone doesn't do the artwork justice; you need to see the full wraparound art:

This artwork is, of course, copyright © 2007 by John Picacio, and is reprinted here with the most gracious permission of the artist. In The Wolves of Memory, Courane wanders the desert, first searching for a woman, and then, upon finding her corpse, strives to bring the body home -- at times carrying the body, more often dragging the body -- with no food or water, for days under the desert sun, and with his mind near complete deterioration.

So I now had the contents of the Sandor Courane collection: the novel Wolves plus seven stories, six of which had not been previously included in an Effinger collection. Then, not wanting to incite physical violence, I asked Mike Resnick³ to write the book's introduction, to which he readily agreed; I also asked Andrew Fox⁴ to write an afterword. Andy was a student of George's "World Building: Writing SF and Fantasy" course at the University of New Orleans Metropolitan College, and he later joined George's monthly writing workshop and critique group (which still meets today). Andy had written an essay entitled "Remembering George Alec Effinger," which he had posted on his website for many years; ~~unfortunately, his website is not currently active,~~ so with his permission I made this essay available in Part One of this series. For the afterword to A Thousand Deaths, Andy rewrote that essay, expanding it to 10,000 words; it's a sincere look at his relationship with Effinger and the city of New Orleans, and the impact GAE had on his writing, with lots of personal insights and commentary along the way.

The review in the May 7, 2007, issue of Publishers Weekly praises ATD: "A heartfelt homage to the late (and largely underappreciated) SF author Effinger (1947–2002), this intimate collection of stories revolving around his literary alter ego, hapless genre writer and editor Sandor Courane, offers a poignant glimpse into the author’s psyche. Central to the collection is The Wolves of Memory, a deeply allegorical novel in which Courane, banished from Earth by the computerized overlord TECT after numerous career failures, finds himself exiled on a bleak world where he and other outcasts slowly succumb to an alien neurological disorder. Struggling with increasing memory loss and the deterioration of his body, Courane finally finds what he has been seeking all along: fulfillment.... A touching afterword by Andrew Fox as well as visually stunning cover art by John Picacio make this bittersweet collection one to be cherished."⁵

When have you ever read a PW review in which the book's cover art was so strikingly acknowledged? It's a testament to the quality of John Picacio's work.

All in all, I think I did okay on behalf of George Alec Effinger: three archival-quality hardcovers with wraparound cover art by John Picacio. The collections include his favorite novel, The Wolves of Memory, plus thirty-eight stories, only a few of which had been previously collected. These stories include all eight "O. Niemand" stories, one story returned to its original text ("The City on the Sand"), one previously unpublished story ("Marîd Throws a Party"), and one beginning fragment of a story ("The Plastic Pasha") that would never be. And fourteen different authors, editors, students, and friends of GAE provided content to support these three collections. At this point in time, the best I can do is to ask all those who have read this blog to go read some George Alec Effinger if you haven't already done so -- it doesn't have to be these three collections necessarily, just anything written by him. And if you've already read some of Effinger's work, then go read some more; he's written more than a dozen novels (not counting media tie-ins) and enough solid, quality short stories to fill at least two more volumes.

So, George, what do you think, did I do okay?

_________________________
Notes and Footnotes:

The photograph in which George Alec Effinger is wearing his Cleveland Indians shirt was taken in 1986 by Carolyn F. Cushman and is reprinted here with the kind permission of the photographer, and Charles N. Brown [June 24, 1937 – July 12, 2009] and Locus magazine. Effinger was born in Cleveland in 1947, and was always a huge sports fan, and an Indians fan in particular. In fact, his entire collection Idle Pleasures (Berkley Books, 1983) is comprised of science fiction sports stories.

The second photograph first appeared on the back cover of the original hardcover edition of When Gravity Fails (Arbor House, 1987) and appears here with the very kind permission of the photographer, Debbie Hodgkinson. In an email on May 23, 2009, Debbie wrote: "The photo was taken at the Napoleon House bar in the French Quarter, George was very self-conscious for the first half hour or forty-five minutes, not about wearing the keffiyeh in public, just about the camera. He finally got bored enough to relax, and that shot was near the end of the roll." And her follow-up email on June 3: "Sorry I can't tell you what year the photo was taken, but it was after the [Louisiana] World's Fair in 1984, since that's where he bought the keffiyeh... Call it circa 1985."

1 The Wunzenzierohs website hasn't been updated since April 2003, which is why I haven't linked to it in this essay. The home page states that the Effinger collection ATD has been transferred to Golden Gryphon Press for a possible 2004 publication date. As previously stated, the book was published in 2007.

2 Of the Courane stories not included in this volume, two in particular deserve special recognition: "The Pinch Hitters," the story of five writers who, while attending a science fiction convention, find themselves transported into the bodies of major league baseball players. In addition to Effinger himself, as Sandor Courane, of course, the other four "characters" are based on the real-life SF writers Jack Dann, Gardner Dozois, Jack C. Haldeman, and Joe Haldeman. Read the story and see if you can figure out who's who. The second story, "Strange Ragged Saintliness," is narrated by Courane, in which he tells of his childhood friend and roommate, Robert W. Hanson (another recurring Effinger character), who tried to help "plugging"-addicted street people kick their habit before it killed them (given George's own history of drug addiction brought on by chronic pain, this story is indeed very personal).

3 Is there anyone not familiar with the work of Mike Resnick? He's been nominated for thirty-three Hugo Awards, and won five times. According to his Wikipedia entry: "Except for 1999 and 2003, he has received at least one nomination every year to date since 1989." In fact, Mike has two stories nominated for this year's awards: "Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders" (Asimov's, January 2008) for best novelette, and "Article of Faith" (Baen's Universe, October 2008) for best short story.

4 Andrew Fox is the author of Fat White Vampire Blues (Ballantine, 2003), Bride of the Fat White Vampire (Ballantine, 2004), and most recently The Good Humor Man (Tachyon Publications, 2009), edited by yours truly.

5 Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. [Note: This review was back in the day, before the $25.00 fee for a PW freelance review!]

Happy Birthday, George Alec Effinger (Part 2 of 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 22:46:00 +0000

In memory of author George Alec Effinger (January 10, 1947 – April 27, 2002), who would have been 66 years old this month, I am reprinting a series of three blog posts I published in the first half of 2009. This second blog post, originally published on May 12, 2009, focuses on the book George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth, which I helped a wee bit through publication.

* * * * *

This is the second of three essays on author George Alec Effinger -- one for each of the three collections of his work that I acquired and edited for Golden Gryphon Press, between 2001 and 2007. Part One of this series focused on Budayeen Nights, a compilation of all of George's Marîd Audran and related stories.

Once Budayeen Nights was complete and in the hands of the typesetter, I began thinking about the next collection of Effinger's work. But now that George had passed away, I didn't have his input on this second book as I did for BN. All I had was my commitment to him to help bring his work back into print, and his email of August 30, 2001, in which he suggested a collection featuring "a hefty selection of my 200 stories, with introductions to each one, and calling it GAE: The White Album or GAE Live! At the Village Gate or...GAE: The Prairie Years." When George and I were communicating by email (albeit sporadically, due to his health and domicile issues) between 2001 and 2002, I had asked him to put together a list of the stories he would like to include in a "best of" collection, but time just wasn't on his side. And George wasn't kidding when he referred to his "200 stories" -- I know, as I've tried to track down a goodly portion of them! In fact, I probably have the largest "collection" of George Alec Effinger short fiction, only second to Barbara Hambly, who now has all of George's files and books in her possession.

The Concept
I'm a bit fuzzy on the details, considering it was six years ago [2003], but if ye olde memory still serves me, I came up with the basic idea for the second collection during a telephone conversation with author George Zebrowski. Unlike archived email, I'm not able to replay and quote six-year-old telephone conversations, so memory will have to do. (Maybe AT&T has the conversation archived in some illegal-wiretapping file? GeorgeZ and I may have mentioned the words "Budayeen" or "Islamic" or "Arab" in the course of our conversations about GAE!)

I had worked with GeorgeZ on his short story collection entitled Swift Thoughts (Golden Gryphon Press, 2002). During that project, and for some time afterward, we spoke quite often on the telephone. George had unlimited long distance at the time and enjoyed calling and chatting with his many author friends and editors. It was the "author friends and editors" that gave me the idea. Since GAE was no longer with us, to select the stories for his next collection, I decided that I would ask his peers -- his friends and fellow authors, and editors -- to select their favorite GAE story. And then, once they told me their favorite story, I would ask them -- as a tribute to GAE -- to write a mini introduction to the story. I wanted to first hook them on the story suggestion, and then seek their cooperation to write an intro. GeorgeZ wholeheartedly agreed to contribute, as did many others.

About this same time, in March 2003, I also published a "letter" in Locus online asking fans of GAE to recommend their favorite stories for a collection of his work. This is how I "met" author Andrew Fox, a former student of George's at the University of New Orleans Metropolitan College, as well as a participant in George's writing workshop and critique group. You can read more about Andrew Fox in my blog post about his new novel, The Good Humor Man (Tachyon Publications, 2009); and I'll have more to say about Andy in Part Three of this series.

I also had to come up with a viable title for the collection. All decisions as to content had to be cleared with Barbara Hambly, executrix of George Alec Effinger's literary estate, so I emailed Barb about title possibilities, sharing with her George's suggestions in his email of August 30. In response, on December 7, 2002, Barb wrote: "I know George was particularly tickled at the thought of doing George Alec Effinger: The White Album, with a plain, all-white cover." However, it didn't take much discussion to realize that an all-white dust jacket wasn't going to intrigue reviewers and readers and, ultimately, buyers. So, riffing on George's original suggestions -- and since he now had "shuffled off this mortal coil"¹ -- Barb and I came up with the title George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth. We both believe that George would have been quite pleased with this title!

The Process
My next step was twofold: to contact authors and editors to contribute to the collection, and to track down copies of George's many stories. The former proved to be easier than the latter. I already owned George's chapbook collection The Old Funny Stuff (Pulphouse Publishing, 1989); and in preparation for working on Budayeen Nights, I had purchased three of his other collections: Mixed Feelings (Harper & Row, 1974), Irrational Numbers (Doubleday, 1975), and Dirty Tricks (Doubleday, 1978). But these four collections barely broke the surface of GAE's short fiction. His stories had been published in magazines such as Night Cry, Omni, Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone, and even Playboy, as well as the more traditional SF&F publications; his stories also appeared in the New Dimensions, Orbit, and Universe anthology series, and far too many themed anthologies. I hit on just about everyone I knew who had a book collection of their own or who worked in a library to help me track down copies of GAE's stories. Those folks are too numerous to mention here, but I do thank them by name in the acknowledgments to GAE Live!

Since all the stories would need to be scanned, I didn't have an accurate word count at the beginning of the process, so I invited more contributors than I may have actually needed. I also had to consider the possibility that one or more of the contributors might back out of their commitment due to scheduling conflicts, deadlines, personal issues, etc. However, the sixteen authors and editors who committed to contributing to the collection all came through; of those sixteen, thirteen appear in the book and their names appear on the wraparound dust jacket.

The author names, in descending alphabetical order, fade from large to small on the back cover; those thirteen names are: George Zebrowski, Howard Waldrop, Pamela Sargent, Mike Resnick, Lawrence Person, Barbara Hambly, Richard Gilliam, Neil Gaiman, Gardner Dozois, Bradley Denton, Jack Dann, Michael Bishop, and Neal Barrett Jr. In addition, Richard Bleiler, Paul Di Filippo, Barbara Hambly, and Gordon Van Gelder provided introductions to stories that were not used due to space limitations.²

And if you haven't guessed who the cover artist is from the style and use of colors, then let me introduce you to another wonderful cover painting by the delightful John Picacio. I'll have a bit more about John and the cover art later in this essay. The George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth full cover art is copyright © 2004 and reprinted here with the most gracious permission of the artist.

The Content
By far, the story that was recommended the most by friends and fans alike, was "The Aliens Who Knew, I Mean, Everything," which was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1984. Between 2001 and 2002, while I was communicating with George about BN and a follow-up "best of" collection, I was also working on an anthology of sardonic fiction with co-editor Claude Lalumière. The anthology, entitled Witpunk (Four Walls, Eight Windows, 2003), was comprised of both original and reprint stories. Claude is also a huge fan of Effinger's work, and one of the reprint stories I had my eye on, for inclusion in the antho, was "The Aliens Who Knew..." I emailed George on March 29, 2002, regarding the use of the story in Witpunk, and on April 2 he responded: "I recall it was a Hugo nominee. [editor's note: also a Nebula finalist] It's one of my best stories, but you don't win awards with funny stuff, no matter how good it is. I'm glad you'd like to anthologize it. It deserves a resurrection." Unfortunately, George passed away just three weeks later, at the time Claude and I were pulling together the contracts for the individual stories, and thus "The Aliens Who Knew..." was not included in Witpunk.³ But, the story is included in GAE Live! -- and due to its popularity, it is the only story in the collection with an introduction as well as an afterword -- each by a different contributor.

Well, if you've stuck with me this far, then I indeed want to thank you. The first post of this series contained a number of quotes from emails between George and myself, which I felt were quite interesting in retrospect. However, I'm not able to really quote from George with regards to this second collection, and quoting from my communications with all the contributors wouldn't be very exciting or entertaining either. So let me conclude this essay with a number of anecdotes, if you will, concerning a few of the contributors to this volume, and their special relationship to George Alec Effinger. (I wish I could write about every contributor, but space -- and my time -- simply won't allow it.)

Neal Barrett Jr.'s novelette "Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus" was in the running for the Nebula Award the same year as Effinger's "Schrödinger’s Kitten." Here's what Neal had to say about George in his introduction to "Everything But Honor": "I met George in New York at the 1988 [calendar year 1989] Nebula Awards banquet. We were both up for best novelette... George won. We rode out in the airport bus together. George let me hold his award.... Though we only saw one another at conventions, we became good friends.... I liked George’s work, and he liked mine. In fact, when my novel The Hereafter Gang came out in 1991, George not only told everyone to read it, he made people sit and listen to him read from it.... It’s one of the nicest things anyone ever did on my behalf." George's "Everything But Honor" was also a 1990 Hugo Award nominee for best novelette.
Michael Bishop wrote the introduction to the story "The Aliens Who Knew, I Mean, Everything." (George Zebrowski wrote the afterword.) Though GAE Live! wasn't published until 2005, Michael actually wrote the intro in 2004. Shortly after his work on "The Aliens Who Knew..." Michael went on to write his own story, an homage to GAE entitled "The Angst, I Kid You Not, of God" (originally published as "The Angst of God"), and published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 2004.
The June 2002 issue of Locus magazine featured a George Alec Effinger obit along with remembrances. One was written by Gardner Dozois in which he spoke highly of the "O. Niemand" stories, noting that they called out to be collected in a small-press edition. Effinger wrote eight stories under the pen name "O. Niemand," which in German means "nobody" or "no one." These stories showcased Effinger's authorial mastery as each story was written in the style of another writer, including Hemingway, Steinbeck, Thurber, Twain, and others. I asked Gardner if he would write one introduction for all eight stories, and thankfully he agreed. As the former editor of Asimov's Science Fiction, Gardner had published two of these eight stories in the magazine. In his intro, Gardner wrote: "...in their own way, the 'O. Niemand' stories are small marvels...they are unlike anything ever done in science fiction before, and you will never see their like again."
In an email to me dated May 25, 2004, John Picacio attached a black-and-white sketch of the cover for GAE Live! along with the following comments: "I've taken the suggestion of 'evoking New Orleans' and brought that into the alien image on the front cover with the street sign and street lamp that we see in the background (as inspired by the Bourbon Street sign in front of Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop)...a suggestion of not only New Orleans, but the urban and earthly juxtaposed with the alien. While I was in New Orleans...I thought a lot about this cover and about these stories. I went and visited Octavia Books and visited with one of the managers, Tom Lowenburg, who knew George. I even set up a Sunday brunch with one of George's old students, Andrew Fox, who is a sweetheart of a guy. He told me stories about George and took me to some of George's old apartments and favorite haunts." You can see the final cover results, above, and make your own decision. By the way, John lives in Texas, not Louisiana. How many artists do you know who would make this type of effort for a cover painting?
Pamela Sargent introduced "Target: Berlin," which she describes as one of her favorite GAE stories because "it’s such a prime example of the deliciously skewed perspective he brought to his writing, the ability to take an idea and twist it in ways that wouldn’t have occurred to anyone else. I mean, major air battles of World War II fought with automobiles because of an oil shortage?...Even while seeing the world’s absurdities, George was well aware of its inexorable tragedies, in his fiction and in his life." Pam was working on themed anthology Conqueror Fantastic (DAW, 2004) at the same time I was working on GAE's Budayeen Nights. George had promised Pam a story (as he had promised me one, "The Plastic Pasha"), but he wasn't sure he could deliver -- but, according to Pam, "I got that story from him, 'Walking Gods,' an elegiac tale narrated by Saladin at the end of his life." This was the last complete work of fiction that George Alec Effinger was ever to write.

Happy Birthday, George Alec Effinger, Part 3

Forthcoming

_________________________
Notes and Footnotes:

The photograph of George Alec Effinger is reprinted here with permission of the photographer Charles N. Brown [June 24, 1937 – July 12, 2009], publisher of Locus magazine. In the photo GAE proudly displays his Nebula Award for best novelette for "Schrödinger's Kitten" (included in Budayeen Nights). The photo was used on the dust jacket for George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth.

1 This quote is taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet, act three, scene one, from the "To be, or not to be" soliloquy.

2 Should I find an interested publisher, I have enough contributors and stories for a follow-up volume entitled George Alec Effinger Live! Encore. In fact, one of GAE's most profound and best stories, novella "And Us Too, I Guess," from 1973, was simply too long to be included in the present volume. Paul Di Filippo wrote a stunning 800-word introduction, which I still have in my safe keeping. Paul's intro was most apropos because in 1996, more than two decades after he had first read the story, he published an "answer" story entitled "And Them, Too, I Hope." Though about his "answer," Paul humbly wrote: "a story which, I am the first to admit, is but the palest shadow of the original."

3 Including "The Aliens Who Knew..." still wouldn't have helped Witpunk's sales. Even with a great Kirkus review ("ringingly brilliant"), sales of the anthology were mediocre at best. If ever a book cover killed the sales of a book, this is that cover! But it sure beats the first cover that publisher John Oakes presented to Claude and me: a huge, yellow smiley face that filled the entire front cover! (And not one with a bullet hole in the forehead, either -- that, at least, would have been sardonic!)

Happy Birthday, George Alec Effinger (Part 1 of 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 18:44:00 +0000

In memory of author George Alec Effinger (January 10, 1947 – April 27, 2002), who would have been 66 years old today, I am reprinting a series of three blog posts I published in the first half of 2009. This first blog post, originally published on April 11, 2009, was only my twelfth blog post. Whether or not my novice status shows, well, I'll leave that up to you to decide, but I certainly was (and still am) very passionate about these three Effinger books in which I played a role.

* * * * *

This is part one of a planned three-part blog posting on author George Alec Effinger, one part pertaining to each of the three volumes of his work that I acquired and edited for Golden Gryphon Press. In this first part, I'd like to step you through my correspondence with George leading up to the publication of Budayeen Nights, the first collection, published in hardcover in 2003 and reprinted in trade paperback this past September [2008].

I've always been a fan of George Alec Effinger's work. His Budayeen novels (When Gravity Fails, A Fire in the Sun, and The Exile Kiss) did indeed impress me, but I was more captivated with his short fiction: the subtlety of his writing, his sardonic wit, his very unique craft and range. In my opinion, George is (was) one of the most underrated and underappreciated authors within the science fiction and fantasy genre, and much of his lack of notoriety was due to his chronic illness, which affected his output over the years. By 2001, when I first made contact with George, I believe all of his published work was out of print, though all were obviously still available through the used book market. As an acquisitions editor with Golden Gryphon Press, from 1999 through 2007, I was finally in a position to do something about bringing attention to his work once again.

I knew that George surfed the Usenet groups and thus I was able to track him down in this fashion. Between late July 2001 and early April 2002, I received a total of eleven emails from George. I probably sent him three times as many in return, but I was grateful to have received the few emails from him that I did. At the time, I knew somewhat of George's medical problems and financial difficulties; what I didn't know is that, because of past due medical bills, a local (New Orleans) hospital had threatened ownership of George's intellectual property in order to recoup their expenses. Because of this, for a number of years, George only wrote stories for themed anthologies so that he would at least have some income, while refusing to write any further work involving his own characters and worlds. He should have written the fourth Budayeen novel, continuing the tale of Marîd Audran -- it's what his fans and readers were clamoring for, and the only real source of income before him -- but George didn't want the hospital's lawyers to become any wealthier off of his work, and so he continued his "for hire" writing. Fortunately, the legal case was dropped when the lawyers failed to appear for a court hearing, and George finally got his life -- and his characters -- back. But the damage was done; the best writing years of George's life were now behind him, as I would soon learn.

In my first email to George, I introduced myself and provided some details on books that I had previously edited, and then I presented a couple ideas to him. George's response, on July 31, 2001, was very brief but to the point; he wrote: "I am flattered by both your suggestions. I've been frustrated by how the whole body of my 30-years' work has already disappeared. Please let me know how I can help you in your projects."

I was so excited, I responded that very same day, but it was another month, on August 30, before I received a reply. George suggested a collection featuring "a hefty selection of my 200 stories, with introductions to each one, and calling it GAE: The White Album or GAE Live! At the Village Gate or...GAE: The Prairie Years." I again responded immediately, but a number of months went by with no word from George. In fact, I had to go through another individual in New Orleans who tracked George down and told him that he needed to contact me. I learned much later that during these months George's health and housing issues had once again returned to impact the quality of his life; he had no regular Internet access because he was being shuffled from one residence to another.

Finally, on February 25, 2002, I received an email from George. He informed me that he's "online regularly now and back to work, too," and concluded his brief email with: "Let's get to work! I could use... a good project to work on, and something to put out so that people will realize I'm still around and kicking. Typing, I mean." Even in the few short sentences contained within this communication, I could sense his new-found energy, and I was anxious to get to work on a project with him as well. Earlier, George had also suggested a collection of his Budayeen stories, and since I felt these stories had the most commercial potential, given the continued popularity of his Budayeen novels, this was the book we began work on first.

On March 3, George wrote: "Regarding the collection of Budayeen stories: I've got most of the book on this computer... I can send you the files and print them out, too. I'd like to do introductions to the stories, sort of explaining where they came from and how they fit into the Budayeen future world. I've tried to come at that world from different directions that I don't have time for in the novels.... I'd be glad to do an original [story] for the book, too. I have a story planned out that I've never written. It's about Marîd Audran's brother (I've mentioned in the books that their mother sold the younger brother when they were young). He's grown up now and becomes the ruler of Algeria. I don't think Marîd ever meets him, though. The story's about the official acceptance of the brain-wiring technology in the Islamic world, which is pretty slow to accept stuff like that. Somebody comes up with a personality module of the perfect Islamic governor, and that leads to a battle over who is qualified to wear it. I've been meaning to write that story for years.... Oh, btw, I've always figured to call the collection Budayeen Nights."

Then, on April 2, 2002, George wrote: "I'll get to work on the new Marîd story ('The Plastic Pasha' is the working title) as soon as possible. In another file I've sent you another unpublished chunk plus 'Marîd and the Trail of Blood' from Barbara's anthology. Hmm, I wonder if Barbara [Hambly] would do the introduction. I'll have to remember to ask her. I should be giving her a call tonight or tomorrow. We're pretty close, for divorced people."

When all was said and done, George provided me all but one existing story that was included in Budayeen Nights -- and that one missing story, "Marîd Changes His Mind," I was able to scan in from my own copy of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. Some of you may know that this story was simply the first two chapters of A Fire in the Sun. But the way Marîd describes his mother upon seeing her for the first time in, well, let's just say, a number of years, is worth the price of admission alone, and I certainly wasn't going to exclude this story from the collection. Let me set the scene: Marîd shows up unannounced at his mother's flat, with his best friend, the Half-Hajj, in tow. After knocking on the door several times, he can hear bedsprings, and finally Angel Monroe, his mother, answers the door. She's dressed, but looks a mess, having been lying in bed sick; read Marîd's description:

She was a full head shorter than me, with bleached blonde hair curled tightly into an arrangement I would call "ratty." Her black roots looked as if no one had given them much attention since the Prophet's birthday. Her eyes were banded with dark blue and black makeup, in a manner that brought to mind the more colorful Mediterranean saltwater fish. The rouge she wore was applied liberally, but not quite in the right places, so she didn't look so much wantonly sexy as she did feverishly ill. Her lipstick, for reasons best known to Allah and Angel Monroe, was a kind of pulpy purple color; her lips looked like she'd bought them first and forgot to put them in the refrigerator while she shopped for the rest of her face.... She was clad now in shorts so small that her well-rounded belly was bending the waistband over. Her sagging breasts were not quite clothed in a kind of gauzy vest. I knew for certain that if she sat in a chair, you could safely hide the world's most valuable gem in her navel and it would be completely invisible. Her legs were patterned with broken veins like the dry chebka valleys of the Mzab. On her broad, flat feet she wore tattered slippers with the remains of pink fuzzy bows dangling loose.¹

After reading that description of Marîd's mother, how could you not understand my passion for George's writing!

Also included in the files that George sent me was the original uncut version of the story "The City on the Sand"; the version that appeared in the April 1973 issue of F&SF probably had about a third of the text cut. The original, longer version was the one that George preferred. And the "unpublished chunk" to which George referred in his email of April 2 was a story entitled "Marîd Throws a Party," which was actually the first two chapters of the fourth, albeit unwritten, Budayeen novel, Word of Night² George also sent me the book's dedication: For Nell, Denise, Helen, Valerie, and all the others / without whom there would be no Budayeen.

I'm sharing these emails from George with you, including the files and stories and dedication -- and even the book's title -- so that you understand that George Alec Effinger played a vital role in the creation of Budayeen Nights. This being contrary to what John Clute said in his review of the book in his "Excessive Candour" column for SciFi.com. Clute obviously did not do his homework when he wrote: "We owe this immensely sad book, which George Alec Effinger almost certainly did not sanction in the months leading up to his premature death, to science fiction itself..." But don't get me started on Clute's review of Budayeen Nights (though I will come back to it in a later blog post, trust me). [Ref: Rightly Reconsidering (Book) Reviews, April 24, 2009]

The very last email I received from George was dated April 9, 2002, in which he wrote: "I'll work on that 'Pasha' story next week, after I finish Chapter Three of this novel³. We'll get the whole package finished quickly. My ex, Barbara Hambly, said she'd be happy to write the overall preface to the book, too."

As I said, that was the last communication I had from George; I was busy working on the files that he had already sent me, and I felt it best to give him the time and space he needed to write that new story. Three weeks later, it was Nebula Awards weekend, and after I awoke Sunday morning, April 28, I decided to log onto Locus online in order to learn who had won the Nebula Awards. As the home page loaded, the first headline that caught my eye was the announcement that George Alec Effinger had died (in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 27). That moment was nearly seven years ago now, so I can't really express how I truly felt at the time, other than to say that I was literally shocked. George hadn't had any recent health issues, he was writing again, his communications were not just positive, but one could even say vibrant -- and then this. The world responded, with obituaries in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, and even the London Guardian, as well as remembrances and tributes in both Locus magazine and Locus online.

As she had promised George, Barb Hambly wrote the foreword to the book, and in his stead, she also wrote the individual story introductions. She had found the beginning of "The Plastic Pasha" on George's computer, when she retrieved his belongings after he passed away; unfortunately, less than 2,500 words had been written, but oh, you could just feel the potential that this story had, if only George had been able to complete it. In his honor, as the last piece of fiction that he would ever write, I included this brief piece in the collection as well. And award-winning artist John Picacio provided the book with one of his wonderful painted covers.

Well, Budayeen Nights was published on schedule, in the fall of 2003. When my copies of the book finally arrived, it was with bitter-sweet emotions. In my heart, I knew that George Alec Effinger would have been extremely proud of this book (we all were); but I was truly saddened by the fact that, after having his work out of print for so many years, George wasn't here with us to share in this moment.

One thing more... After Budayeen Nights was released, author Andrew Fox arranged a memorial reading from the book; the event was held at Octavia Books in New Orleans on October 17, 2003. Barbara Hambly was in attendance, as was NO author Laura Joh Rowland, in addition to Andy Fox and others. You can read about the event in more detail in Fox's "Remembering George Alec Effinger"⁴ -- a nearly 8,500-word essay that Andy had originally posted on his web site, which, sadly, is no longer active. And as you can see from the accompanying graphic, artist John Picacio most graciously donated his time to create an 11" x 17" poster to advertise the event; enough posters were printed to hang in the bookstore as well as in key locations around town.

I want to take this opportunity to thank both Barbara Hambly, executrix of George Alec Effinger's literary estate, and his agent Richard Curtis, of Richard Curtis Associates, for their continued support of my work on behalf of George throughout these past years.

Happy Birthday, George Alec Effinger

Continued in Part 2

_________________________

Notes and Footnotes:

The photograph of George Alec Effinger is reprinted here with the permission of the photographer Patti Perret. The photo was used on the dust jacket of George Alec Effinger's A Thousand Deaths (Golden Gryphon, 2007). Perret is the author of The Faces of Science Fiction (Bluejay, 1984) and The Faces of Fantasy (Tor, 1996).

2 In a post on Usenet group rec.arts.sf.written, dated November 8, 1998, George Alec Effinger wrote: "The still unfinished fourth book, Word of Night, is taken from an Arab proverb: The word of night is written in ice / And melteth upon the dawn."

3 I believe the novel to which he referred was the story of Renfield, Dracula’s bug-eating henchman. George had outlined this novel with Barbara Hambly, but at the time of his death, only a few chapters had been written, which were largely unusable.

4 "Remembering George Alec Effinger" is copyright © 2003 by Andrew Fox and is provided here with the permission of the author. Andrew Fox is the author of Fat White Vampire Blues (Ballantine, 2003), Bride of the Fat White Vampire (Ballantine, 2004), and The Good Humor Man (Tachyon Publications, 2009).

A Day in the Life with Android (Part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 00:01:00 +0000

[Updated: January 8, 2013; see the app gReader Pro below]

This blog post continues my efforts to present the Android apps I use -- and how I use them -- on my Google/ASUS Nexus 7 tablet. In Part 1 I covered hardware accessories and what I think of as business apps. Part 2 dealt with utility apps, including cloud services.

I assume that if you are still with me on this series of blog posts, then you currently own an Android device, or at least are thinking about purchasing an Android device. So, if you haven't noted this already, each app links directly to the Google Play store where you can read more about the app, including a lengthier description, a list of permissions, and user reviews; and if you are currently an Android user, you could also install the app at that time.

With this third blog post, I plan to cover all the social media and related apps that I use: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Reader; apps that support social media posts, like Skitch and Snapseed; and ebook readers: Kindle, Nook, Google Play Books, and support apps, like ED PDF Reader Pro and Calibre Library.

I realize these aren't the most exciting of blog posts, but I'm hopeful that Android users, or potential Android users, will find something of value here. These posts also allow me to indulge in my latest passion.

The official Twitter app has too many holes, so I initially used Tweetdeck Web, which I also use on my desktop and laptop. Unfortunately, it's not designed for mobile devices and was very difficult to use on the N7. And then I found Falcon Pro: a beautifully designed app that features the Google "holo" design. I've submitted a few suggestions for updates, which I hope will be addressed in the near future. If I want to view (and delete) one of my own tweets, or unfollow someone, I still have to use either Tweetdeck Web or Twitter itself.

The official Facebook app was virtually unusable until founder Mark Zuckerberg "encouraged" his employees to use the Facebook Android app -- and then multiple updates were forthcoming. Until those updates, however, I used FaceDroid, but this app would freeze quite often (and still does) so I welcomed the "new" Facebook app.

I don't use Google+, per se, but when I post to Facebook I also post to Google+. However, I do get Google+ notifications on the N7 (and Facebook and Falcon Pro notifications as well), which keeps me informed of incoming posts.

On a daily basis, I read a ton of blogs, forums, RSS feeds, etc., so I need an RSS reader that will sync across all devices; the obvious answer is Google Reader. But, GR on the web is nothing more than a list of feeds and the official GR app is just as dreadful (it hasn't been updated since the Nexus 7 was shipped in mid-July 2012). I use Feedly on the web, an excellent RSS reader, which integrates with Google Reader; but the Feedly Android app crashes on my N7 constantly, nearly every time I access a link within a feed. (To recover from the crash I have to either reboot the N7 or go into the app's settings and delete all data.) But then I read a lengthy, detailed review of the gReader Pro app on Android Police -- and gReader Pro has since become my preferred RSS reader on the N7. (It's optimized for use on tablets, too.)

[Update: Yesterday, the Feedly app had its first update since last July; the update includes some UI changes as well as bug fixes. I have used it now for about a half-hour, accessing various links, and not a single crash -- so far. The wonder (and frustration) of Android, as I previously mentioned, are the updates: sometimes one waits for six months for such an update, as with Feedly; other times an app can be updated daily, or even multiple times during the day: the app may have worked perfectly on your device to start with, but after an update, not so much anymore.

So I have set aside gReader Pro for now and returned to using Feedly, which had been my favorite RSS reader (crashes aside).]

When a photo needs an extra touch -- a border, annotation, essentially any kind of photo editing -- then Skitch or Snapseed will meet those needs. Skitch, from the makers of Evernote, has sketching capabilities as well as picture editing; and before being ported to Android, Snapseed was the 2011 iPad App of the Year. (Please forgive my indiscretion for mentioning the "i" device.) The photos from either app can then be shared with social media apps, Evernote, cloud services, etc.

eReaders. Back in February 2011, having owned a Sony Reader at the time, I wrote a blog post about Calibre ebook management software -- one of the best free software applications, and every ebook reader should own it.

The beauty of Android devices is that a number of ebook apps can be installed: apps specific to Android (e.g Aldiko Book Reader and Moon+ Reader), as well as the popular Kindle and Nook apps. And with Calibre, any ebook format can be converted to any other ebook format, as long as the ebook has no DRM (essentially ebook copy protection). With one exception:

Google Play Books is native to the Android Jelly Bean OS so it comes with every N7. I believe Google Books uses a proprietary ebook format; I've not purchased a Google Book as yet, and only have access to the few free titles that came with the N7.

With the official Android apps for Kindle and Nook I really don't need any other ereaders. Nearly every ebook comes in one or the other (or both) of these formats; and again, as long as there is no DRM, I can convert one format to the other. Every Kindle user is provided a unique email address, which can be used to email mobi books to one's Amazon cloud book library. And ebooks can also be side-loaded into either app using a PC or a Mac.

Calibre Library, a third-party app, works with Calibre software (on a PC or Mac) and an Android device. With a mouse click, or two, you turn your PC into a server; then, once this Android app is set up (step-by-step instructions are available online), you can wirelessly transfer any ebook in your Calibre library to your Android device. Assuming of course, that both the Android device and the PC are on the same network. If the Nook app is installed, Calibre Library will automatically download the ebook into the Nook's folder; if the Nook app is not installed on the device, I'm not quite sure where the ebook will end up (since I have the Nook app installed). Of course ebooks can always be placed in any of the cloud services (see Part 2 of this series) from your PC or Mac. Regardless, app ES File Explorer File Manager, which I also listed in Part 2, will enable you to move any ebook to the folder of your choice.

The Kindle app will read PDF files, but when a little something extra is needed for those PDFs -- like adding annotations, highlighting, cross outs, freehand drawings, appending images, etc. -- I use ezPDF Reader Multimedia PDF Pro.

A Day in the Life with Android

Continued in Part 4

A Day in the Life with Android (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 03:26:00 +0000

In Part 1 I reviewed the hardware accessories for my Nexus 7 tablet, as well as one set of apps that I use for work; let's call them my "business" apps for now. Though the dividing line as to whether an app is business or entertainment can be blurry at best, given the nature of some of these apps....

With this blog post I want to cover the utilities that I use on a day-to-day basis. Again, in most instances, they can be used for both business and entertainment.

As is the case with Chrome and Gmail, mentioned in Part 1, many of these apps can be installed in some fashion as both an Android and a Windows app, allowing them to be synced across all devices. In a lot of ways, it's like having my desktop and laptop at my fingertips wherever I'm at, as long as my Nexus 7 is in hand (and a wireless connection is available).

Pocket, formerly "Read It Later," is one of those essential apps that appears regularly on "best of" lists. Pocket allows you to save a website, or just the URL, or a tweet, or blog post, or -- pretty much anything -- with the ability to read it later, WiFi connected or not. I also have the Pocket Windows add-on installed on the Chrome browser on my desktop and laptop: I can save an online short story to Pocket on my desktop and read it later on the Nexus 7.

Evernote is like One Note in Windows 7, but far less complicated, and thus easier to use; and, unlike One Note, Evernote can be installed and synced across all devices. Any text and graphic can be saved to Evernote; it's for notetaking, lists, essays, drafts, whatever.

Clipper - Clipboard Manager stores my 20 most recent clips, or copies, so that nothing is lost from the clipboard. The clips can then be stored in lists with an unlimited number of clips; clippings can be searched; and, under Android Jelly Bean, the clipboard manager is accessible from the notification bar.

With the N7 I can make outgoing telephone calls and send SMS text message; however, since it is not a mobile phone, the N7 cannot receive calls. I use Talkatone free calls & texting. Talkatone also requires a free Google Voice account for incoming calls: if a voice call is sent to my N7, the call gets routed automatically to another number of my choice that is able to accept incoming calls (this number must be provided when the Google Voice acct is set up); if a text msg is sent to my N7, it is automatically routed to my Gmail account.

Battery Widget? Reborn! Pro and Easy Battery Saver: I use these two apps to manage my battery usage. The N7 battery, at least in my few months of experience, requires frequent battery charges, so I rely on Easy Battery Saver to monitor and control the battery usage, and the widget to keep me informed of same. The widget maintains a graph in the notification bar, showing usage and hours remaining or charging time.

ES File Explorer File Manager allows me to manage the Local files and folders in /sdcard/ on the N7, as well as move files to/from LAN (aka cloud) folders, and even connect to my laptop via Bluetooth.

Though ES File Explorer has backup capability, I opted for a backup-specific app: My Backup Pro, which allows me to backup and restore all of my apps and data, or just the data (app data, contact list, photos, vids, music, calendar entries, etc.). Since all of my apps are maintained in the cloud, I choose to only backup data. Rerware, the developer, provides 100MB of free space for backups (though additional space can be purchased).

Open Garden allows me to create a wireless hub via Bluetooth for use by other devices (and other people); Open Garden must be installed on all the devices. When traveling I connect my ASUS Zenbook to a network using a T-Mobile Rocket 4G USB stick. With Open Garden installed on both the Zenbook and the N7, I can "tether" the N7 to the T-Mobile network.

And speaking of "the cloud," with only 16GB of memory in the N7, using the cloud whenever possible becomes a necessity. In order of appearance above: Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive (Microsoft Corp.), and Bitcasa. Each of these cloud services provides a certain amount of free space (additional space may be purchased), and with each service installed on all my devices, my data is available to me everywhere.

[Update 02/26/2013: At this point in time I would strongly suggest that you not use the Bitcasa cloud service. Bitcasa has the capability to "mirror" a folder -- or even a computer's full hard drive, as I have unfortunately learned -- in the cloud so that you can access and sync files from everywhere. Great idea, until it goes wrong. I accessed my online Bitcasa account only to discover that my laptop's entire hard drive had been mirrored. I never selected this option, I never authorized this option, and yet, there it is. I immediately removed Bitcasa completely from that laptop and from all my other devices. Now all my laptop data, including personal data, resides on Bitcasa's cloud server -- and I cannot delete any of the files! I no longer have control of that data. If you read the Bitcasa forums, you'll find that many others are having the same, or similar, issue -- and we are all anxiously awaiting some type of resolution. In the meantime, if you need additional cloud storage I would suggest the following service.

Box cloud service, like other cloud services, can be installed, accessed, and synced across all devices. A new Box account comes with 5GB of free space, though Box occasionally runs promotions, which is how I snagged 25GB when I installed the Android app. Box has also partnered with other services to allowing greater flexibility with your Box account.

End of Update]

I provide some technical support for a bookseller in Southern California, approximately 400 miles away. Occasionally he gets himself in a predicament on his Windows pc that requires my assistance. With TeamViewer installed on both of our computers, I am able to access his desktop remotely. He launches the software, which provides an ID and password; I then enter that ID and pw on my end and, as long as we are both networked (and obviously not on the same network), I can access his desktop and attempt to resolve the issue. I have the TeamViewer Android app installed on the N7 just in case I receive a "help" call when I'm away from home.

A Day in the Life with Android

Continued in Part 3

A Day in the Life with Android (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 05:41:00 +0000

[Updated: December 29, 2012; see below under "Apps/Swype keyboard."]

If you read my September 21 blog post, then you know that a few months ago I purchased a Google Nexus 7 tablet (built by ASUS).

I haven't been very active on this blog since that purchase, and when I'm not working on book projects¹ to pay the bills, I'm probably attached in some fashion (my wife would probably say "umbilically") to the Nexus 7.

My goal is to be able to perform all work-related activities on the N7. A lot of that ability is dependent on the quality and performance of the apps that I use. I'll install an app that will work perfectly, and then after the next update (and some apps are updated often, even daily at times), possibly the app won't even open on the N7. It's the nature of Android: developers attempting to make their apps compatible with dozens (hundreds?) of devices, running various levels of the Android operating system (OS), and from a multitude of manufacturers.

My N7 has the latest (and not always greatest) "Jelly Bean" (JB) OS, version 4.2.1. That point-1 update occurred just last month, and since then the device's Bluetooth functionality has been erratic. This is a known issue. Unfortunately for me, Bluetooth capability is critical to my end goal.

Hardware

1. When I need to do some serious input, I use the Logitech 920-003390 Tablet Keyboard for Android 3.0 Plus and the Targus Bluetooth Comfort Laser Mouse AMB09US. The keyboard is full-size with an excellent "feel," and the case flips open to serve as a stand for the tablet.

But when the N7's Bluetooth keeps dropping the keyboard (re: see above known issue), well, not a lot of serious work gets done. The tab's onscreen "Swype" keyboard (more on this in a bit) is fairly fast, but still error prone, and I also have a tendency to fat-finger the screen -- so a keyboard is a necessity.

2. To avoid the onscreen fat-finger effect, I often use the amPen New Hybrid Stylus. I would be lost without this stylus at times (especially playing the CrossMe Color game!) and it is compatible with all capacitive touch screens. The stylus has a plastic anchor that fits in the audio headphone jack on the N7 so you never have to worry about setting the stylus down and then forgetting where you set it.

3. And lastly (for now): When I end up in an AC outlet-deprived environment and the N7's battery is running low, I have the IOGEAR GMP10K GearPower Ultra Capacity Mobile Power Station -- great for powering a phone and tab simultaneously.

Apps

Google's Chrome is the default browser on the N7; I now use Chrome on all my computers: it's fast, it's clean, and it can be synced across all devices (which allows me to access bookmarks, for example, on any device from any device).²

I don't recall how long I've been using Gmail, but it was back in the day when you needed an "invite" to set up an account. Again, Google allows the syncing of email across all devices, and being web-based, I can access it anywhere in the world; if my hard drive crashes, the email is still safe.

Maybe these next two apps should have come first... I never access banking data and such on a public WiFi network, only email, web browsing, news reading, etc. Even so, I use DroidSheep Guard, which protects from "Man in the Middle" (MIM) attacks; should DroidSheep detect any sniffers, it will disconnect the tab from the WiFi network.

I always practice safe app downloading, but nothing is perfect so I use avast! Mobile Security to check for malware, etc. whenever a new app or update is installed. Avast! runs on all my hardware.

SoftMaker Office 2012 (TextMaker, PlanMaker, and Presentations) is the product of a German company. The software was recommended by Charles Stross (I believe he uses it on a Mac), and since I needed an Android app that was MS Office compatible, I went with Softmaker Office. It's definitely not the cheapest MS Office compatible app for Android -- and I even purchased my set on sale, direct from the publisher -- but it may just be the most comprehensive set.

I mentioned the Swype keyboard earlier: you can still tap each individual key as you would on any mobile keyboard, but you can also "swype" a complete word without your finger (or in my case, the stylus I mentioned above) ever leaving the keyboard. Here's an example:

As you swype the keyboard a trail is created to show the path of your finger/stylus. In this example, the word being swyped is "quick," which appears in gold in the top left of the keyboard, along with other possible suggested words. If "quick" is the correct word, you can simply move on to the next word. Swype will "learn" your vocabulary and even anticipate the word you might want to use next. As I use Swype more and more, I am continually amazed....

[Update: Since this blog post, I have uninstalled Swype from my N7. The latest update, 1.3, is so full of bugs, including a custom dictionary that remains blank no matter how often I attempt to save words, that the keyboard has become unusable. I'll keep track of future updates, but Nuance, the publisher, is not known for its timely updates.

So, I have installed SwiftKey Flow Beta keyboard, also only available from the publisher, in its place. SwiftKey keyboard and SwiftKey 3 keyboard for tablets appear in every Top Ten list of apps that I've seen. I have the tab keyboard, but opted for the Swype Flow; however, now that SwiftKey also has a flow keyboard, I've installed it in place of Swype. It still has some problems, it's not as sleek and fast as Swype, but SwiftKey is known for their updates, user response, etc. and I suspect they will surpass Swype in functionality and ease of use fairly soon.]

I have yet to create a blog post on the Nexus 7 due to the lack of a decent Blogger app -- until now. The official Blogger app has finally been updated sufficiently such that it may actually be a viable tool. I'm not going to use it for a blog post of this length, but the next time I have a brief post, possibly one involving a single graphic, I plan to give it a try.

A Day in the Life with Android

Continued in Part 2

---------------

Footnotes:

1. Some of my recent book projects include Brandon Sanderson's The Emperor's Soul, from Tachyon Publications, which premiered at the 2012 World Fantasy Convention in Toronto last month. And forthcoming from Night Shade Books: No Return by Zachery Jernigan; Earth Thirst by Mark Teppo; The Departure (The Owner Trilogy, Book 1) by Neal Asher; Empty Space by M. John Harrison; and last, but certainly not least, the new collection from Laird Barron, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All.

2. Since not all websites support HTML5, occasionally I still need access to Adobe Flash. Since the Chrome browser does not support Flash, I had to install the Firefox browser app and then sideload ('droid users will understand this concept) the Adobe Flash Player app. Thankfully, I don't have to launch the Firefox Android browser very often: it's dreadful!

A "True Review" of Alien Contact

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 21:28:00 +0000

Whispers in the night... quiet words spoken amidst the rampaging hordes of vampires, werewolves, zombies... and superheroes.

Only a few of us, now, speak -- albeit resolutely -- of our Alien Contact experience. Of the stories therein, and their impact on our collective psyches, our thoughts, our visions of what is, what could be....

Recently, another spark of light has emerged from the darkness to wield its mighty words in approbation of this tome of some of the best stories from the past 30 or so years: 'zine True Review, edited by Andrew Andrews, reviews Alien Contact in its current issue (No. 82, Vol.25, Oct. 2012).

The review is brief, considering that the anthology contains 26 stories, but recognition in any size or shape is always welcome. The review highlights 10 of the stories; here's what Andrew had to say about Neil Gaiman's "How to Talk to Girls at Parties":

Two London blokes find out about a party coming to town like no other, with beautiful women who seem, well, kind of odd. But the guys want one thing only: to get to know the girls with perhaps some extended "benefits." Everything goes as planned until the dudes realize THESE women aren't of this world.

And Ursula K. Le Guin's "The First Contact with the Gorgonids":

Jerry and Annie Laurie Debree, tourists from a plastics conference in Australia, make it to Grong Crossing, one of the most unlikely places for humans to make first contact with aliens. But for these arrogant and ignorant tourists, fame will come, whether they like it or not.

For more of the review, please check out True Review.

"Suzy? Suzy Creamcheese?"

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:53:00 +0000

In memory of...

FRANK ZAPPA

Dec 21, 1940 – Dec 4, 1993

"Eating TV dinners by the pool, I'm so glad I finished school..."

And, from my personal collection:

The 6-volume DVD (12 discs) Wooden Box Set

Writing 101: Self-Editing Notes and Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:50:00 +0000

This weekend (November 2-4) I will be participating in the first Convolution convention, to be held at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport Hotel in Burlingame, California. So if you just happen to be in the neighborhood, please do stop by and join the festivities.

I am moderating a panel on "Self-Editing" at 6:00 PM on Saturday (tomorrow) in the Sandpebble-A room. While reviewing notes, online resources, etc. in preparation for this panel discussion --

I decided to write down these notes and links and such here, on More Red Ink, as a way of gathering my thoughts, and providing a virtual resource to the panel attendees. This way I can simply point the audience to this blog post and not have to worry about spelling out web links, names, and such during the actual panel discussion.

So, let me begin by saying that what follows are strictly notes, quotes, links, bullet points, etc. No fancy paragraphs and flow; these are literally reference notes for the panel discussion. However, if you are a writer, then by definition you are a self-editor, and you may find some of what follows of interest in your pursuit of perfection and publication.

* * * * * * * * * *

Recommendation:

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Browne and Dave King (William Morrow Paperbacks).

Update: 11/05/2012.
As I was gathering my notes for the panel, I realized I neglected to include one of the best writing books ever:
On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King (Scribner).

I know writers who reread this book once every six months or so, just to be inspired once again.

References:

Alan Cooper's List of Homonyms: words that have the same sound and often the same spelling but differ in meaning; a wonderful list of homonyms, but the list is old (1997) -- though words don't really change, do they.

Eclectics.com: "Self-Editing" by Lori Handeland.

Self editing is a very important aspect of re-writing. It is the last thing a writer does before sending the manuscript off to their agent or an editor. I look at self-editing as a final housecleaning chore. Not a lot of fun in itself, but don't you feel good when you're done?

I always do a final edit with a hard copy. There are so many things you won't see by reading your manuscript off a computer screen--beside the problem of going blind from reading an entire book that way. The printed word needs to be read, as it was meant to be read, on paper, so you can see the mistakes--and hear any with your inner ear. There is a flow that comes with a well written, well rewritten, well edited manuscript that you can hear when you read it. You must also be able to see your work as an editor or agent will see it. Too much introspection or narrative all in a row with no breaks for dialogue or adequate paragraphing makes a reader skip ahead for some excitement. Sometimes you don't notice this until you read your hard copy in the self-editing stage.

1. Are you telling instead of showing?
2. Are you establishing your character gradually and unobtrusively?
3. Is your point of view consistent?
4. Are your dialogue mechanics sophisticated? (reflect adequate knowledge of proper writing technique)
5 Have you checked for breaks?
6. Have you checked for unintentional repetition?
7. Have you checked for sophistication throughout the novel?
8. Have you checked your general mechanics?

Each bullet point has excellent content with examples.

The Chronicle of Higher Education: "Before You Submit: Some Tips for Self-Editing" by Carol Saller.

Things Writers Miss:
- Throat-clearing
- Personal tics
- Repetition
- Non sequiturs

Things Writers "Correct" Needlessly:
- The passive voice
- Use of the first person
- Split infinitives

WOW-WomenOnWriting.com: "Red Pencil Round-up: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers" by Annette Fix.

Effective self-editing requires you to have laser focus on each story element and how it functions technically within the whole manuscript. Something to remember: you’re not creating the story; you’re analyzing it and making it better.

1. Narrative

This is where you need to be ruthless with your editing. The modern reader is busy and easily distracted, so you have a limited amount of time to pull her into your story, keep her captivated by your complex characters, and make her want to find out what happens next in your plot.

- Backstory/Exposition
- In Media Res
- Bread Crumb Trail
- Show, Don't Tell
- Balance
- Voice
- Clichés and Idioms

Excellent before-and-after examples.

2. Characterization
- Introduction
- Names
- Goals
- Motivation
3. Dialog
- Subtext vs. On the Nose
- Foul Ball
- Character Voice
- Tags
4. Setting/Imagery
- Sensory
- Grounding
5. Plot
- Cause & Effect
6. Research
7. Grammar
- Weak Verbs
- Infinitive
- Passive Voice
- Ambiguity
- Filler Words

More good before-and-after examples.

8. Punctuation
9. Pre-Submission Proof
- Spell Check
- Audio

Let's Get Digital blog: "Self-Editing: Back to Basics, Part I" by Karin Cox.

Let me start off by stating that there is no such thing as self-editing to a publishable level (at least not without a team of skilled beta readers); I would say this even if my livelihood did not depend on editing. I scour my own text for errors before I submit it to my publisher, but I am still always surprised at what my in-house colleagues pick up when they read through my manuscripts. As much as writers attempt to edit their own work, and should for the purposes of enhancing their drafts, I firmly believe they are incapable of doing so as effectively as a professional editor because they lack the necessary objectivity to assess their own writing.

The human brain also employs all kind of tricks to convince writers that what they put down on the page is correct (if not Man Booker Prize material). Taht yuo cna raed tihs at lal is prcaticlaly a mriacle! But such is the power of the human brain. Read a whole paragraph of that and soon you'll be able to wade through even the most atrocious, unedited drivel and make perfect sense of it. It is little wonder that most authors—even those who are competent self-editors at a draft level—miss a few transposed letters, misspelled words, homonyms, or misplaced modifiers. It's all thanks to the human brain's excellent ability to decode and process what the eyes see.

The first three things I notice in a new manuscript that hint an author is still learning the craft:
1. Wonderfully florid, flamboyant, descriptive and wordy verbiage
2. Comma Calamities
3. Modifiers Gone Mad

Let's Get Digital blog: "Self-Editing: Back to Basics, Part II" by Karin Cox.

More issues I regularly see in manuscripts submitted by novice authors:
1. Dialogue Dilemmas
2. Expository Dialogue
3. Um, Err, How’s the Weather
4. Throw the "Said Book" at Them
5. Name Dropping

Excellent (often over-the-top) examples in both part I and II; plus a brief discussion at the end on often mixed-up homonyms.

Note:

And always -- always! -- read the comments posted to these blogs. The comments often provide additional examples, resources, references, etc.

Dorchester Publishing May Be Looking for You!

noreply@blogger.com (Marty Halpern) — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 00:26:00 +0000

Earlier this year, Dorchester Publishing closed its doors and sold approximately 1,000 titles to Amazon.com.

Dorchester is now trying to transfer rights back to authors, but they have a huge list of authors for whom they have no contact information. You may be on this list -- or you may know someone who is and could put them in touch with Dorchester. Here's what the publisher has to say:

Thank you for your support over the last 75 years.

At this time, we are completing the reversion process, transferring all titles back to their respective authors. Though we have made great strides, our research has uncovered a number of authors for whom we have no contact information. In addition, there are a number of titles without corresponding authors. To complete this reversion process, we will need your help.

So check out Dorchester Publishing's full list of authors and titles. You just may be on that list.

Note: A lot of the authors are deceased, so agents and estates need to review this list as well.

(Thanks to @StaciaKane and @galleycat.)