While I was in Richmond for RavenCon, a package came to the house …
Of course, the intent had been to have the bumper stickers in time to take to the convention. Timing is everything!
Nevertheless, RavenCon went well — but I’ve always enjoyed that convention, whether I’ve attended as a fan or as a guest.
So, who wants a bumper sticker?
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Good news for some of my literary friends!
First, hearty congratulations to Chuck Gannon, whose novel Fire With Fire just won the Compton Crook Award! As some of you know, I take an inordinate amount of pleasure at seeing that particular novel get the recognition I think it deserves.
Second, the Hugo Award nominations were announced, and several of my friends are on the ballot!
Congratulations are in order for all the nominees, but I especially congratulate these fine folks:
So again, congratulations one and all to these and all the other nominees!
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Full Disclosure: This post is full of Baen Books goodness, and I am a contract editor for Baen.
by Today — April 19th, 2014 — is an international celebration of independent music stores.
(Independent Record Store Day logo.)
At the Independent Record Store Day website, you can search for the indy record store nearest to you.
Oh, and this isn’t as much of a self-serving post as you might think, since it’s highly unlikely that you will find my CD in any record store. Not that they couldn’t order it, mind you — and if you asked them to, that would be ultra cool — but as a matter of course, they won’t be carrying my music.
But don’t let that stop you! Find an independent record store near you, and go check them out!
by This falls under the category of “how not to respond to rejection.”
(“Keep Calm – Carry On,” by John Cooper, on Flickr under Creative Commons.)
Sometimes writers put my tact and diplomacy to the test. Witness this response I received from one author:
Dear Gray:
Your statement “it does not seem right for us” tells me no one read my book. Someone should read it because I am a phenomenal writer. How about you? I would like for you to read my book, then write to me and tell me why it is not good enough to publish. Everyone has a little free time, Gray, what do you have to lose? If it really is not right for Baen, just stop reading, but give it a few chapters before you write it off.
Thank you in advance for your help.
This is the kind of thing that makes me want to jump through the computer screen and throttle the person on the other side. Rather than responding directly with a virtual flamethrower, I’ve decided to use this as a teaching example for other writers who are submitting their work for evaluation.
There is so much wrong with this writer’s response that I have to take it point-by-point:
Writers, please don’t do this. No, strike that expression of polite consideration: Writers, don’t do this.
by The RavenCon science fiction and fantasy convention is next weekend — 25-7 April — in Richmond, Virginia.
If you’re in Richmond, stop on by the DoubleTree by Hilton, Richmond-Midlothian, and check out what’s happening. The Guest of Honor will be Elizabeth Bear, recipient of two Hugo Awards, the John W. Cambell Award for Best New Writer (2005), a Sturgeon Award, a Locus Award, an Asimov’s Reader’s Choice award, a Spectrum Award, and an honorable mention for the Philip K. Dick Award.
I’ll be on several panels throughout the weekend, plus one intensive workshop. Here’s the rundown of what I’ll be doing, starting on Friday the 26th:
On Saturday:
And then on Sunday:
For more information, take a look at the RavenCon web site. Come on out and we’ll have some fun!
by Courtesy of Mark Hosford at Sugarboy Press:
(Please dismount your tauntaun sign by Mark Hosford.)
You can see more of his work here.
This public service announcement was brought to you by your local Tauntaun dealer. Get yours today!
by Today is my last day on the Industrial Extension Service staff, and it seemed appropriate to mark the day with the first “workplace ‘filk'” I wrote there, simply entitled “The I-E-S Song.”
I started in January 2008 as primarily the speechwriter for the Executive Director, and I filled my time between speeches with other — primarily marketing-related — writing and editing assignments. But along the way I had the opportunity to do a few unique and interesting things:
And along the way I wrote a few songs: “The I-E-S Song” in 2008; “The Economic Recovery Blues” and “Oh, How I Hate Groupwise” in 2009; “The 1B4NC Song,” “We Know Manufacturing Makes It Real” in 2010; “If You Want to Get Better” and “The Old, Old Days of Industry” in 2011; and “Dirty, Sexy Manufacturing” in 2012.
Note that none of my work-related songs made it onto my album, Truths and Lies and Make-Believe. The audience for my music is already pretty small, but the audience for workplace songs in particular is tiny.
Anyway, I wrote a little rhyme to mark my departure, too.
It’s been fun
I had a good run
And now I’m done.
Fare thee (or, fare me) well.
by Some thoughts about metaphors that can describe the church — not the building, but the body of believers — and our relation to the world.
(Image by NCDOTcommunications, on Flickr under Creative Commons.)
Is the church like a rose garden? Have each of us as individual believers been cultivated for special color or shape or fragrance, for what our beauty — despite our thorns — can offer to brighten an otherwise drab world? Do those we encounter find us winsome, and come to appreciate what we offer?
Or are we daisies or other wildflowers, growing freely and with less restraint? Less fragrant than roses, but more plentiful, and pretty rather than beautiful? Do we bring fleeting smiles to those we encounter, but leave them unsatisfied?
Or are we dandelions? Weeds, sprouting and taking root wherever? With less to offer in terms of beauty, but still with some aesthetic value? Do we annoy those who encounter us, and make them struggle to be rid of us?
It seems we may present ourselves as one or the other at different times of our lives. And the difference may be less in our appearance than in how we respond to those who encounter us.
As roses, we can be difficult to handle, delicate and easily bruised, and our thorns can injure the unwary and keep them at a distance. As daisies, we would certainly be easier to grasp, and tougher, but we may not be suited to the innocent who would pull our petals off one by one — “He loves me, He loves me not” — heedless of its effect on us. As dandelions, we can be deep-rooted but surprising fragile at the head, especially when we’ve gone to seed … at which point a breath or a breeze can blow us apart and send those seeds flying.
And the seed is important.
You can choose your own metaphor, of course, but as I think about how important the seed is maybe in the end it would be better to be like sunflowers: reaching ever upward, sturdy and strong and bright, producing seeds of truth and love that nourish those with a taste for them.
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P.S. Thank-you to my newsletter readers who sent comments on the early draft of this post! If you’d like to receive my every-so-often newsletter, sign up with the “subscribe” button on my web site. GR
by As the “Best Related Work” for the Hugo Awards, that is.
(FULL DISCLOSURE: I’m a Contributing Editor for Baen Books and have been on the Baen Free Radio Hour podcast. But so what? It’s related to science fiction and fantasy, so go ahead and nominate it!)
You have other choices, too, of course, if you’re nominating for the Hugos — but the good thing is that you can nominate more than one thing!
For instance, you could nominate the Monster Hunter International Employee’s Handbook and Role-Playing Game. That was a very successful Kickstarter project run by Steven Long. And if you hew to a rather expansive definition of “related work,” you could always nominate a certain science-fiction-and-fantasy-related album.
But whatever you do, do it soon! The nomination deadline is coming up fast.
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P.S. This post was all about the “Best Related Work” category, but I’ll just add that I also have a novelette you could nominate if you have an empty slot in that category. “What is a Warrior Without His Wounds?” was in the July 2013 issue of Asimov’s. I can even e-mail you a copy if you like. GWR
by Do you like comedy music? Would you like to nominate a funny song for an award?
(The “Robot Cat” statuette, designed by artist Jamie Noguchi in honor of Logan Whitehurst’s song “Robot Cat.”)
The Logan Whitehurst Memorial Awards for Excellence in Comedy Music are presented by The Funny Music Project. The Awards will be selected by a jury and presented at “FuMPFest 2014” in Chicago, hosted by Dr. Demento.
The FuMP has presented the Logan Awards since 2011 for
If you want to nominate a song released in 2013 for the 4th Annual Logan Awards, use this handy nomination form. You can also see what songs have already been nominated.
The web site doesn’t say when the nominations will close, so nominate while you can — early and often!
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