Blog Without A Name

They tell me that it’s National Pi Day.  Happy 3.14159265… to everyone who celebrates!

I’ve been away for a bit, working on a novel, brawling on the internet — you know the drill.  I’m happy to report that we’re on the George home stretch.  I make it four more scenes and an epilog to be written, and all on-track for a hand-in by the end of the month.  So, that.

While I’ve been goofing off, Steve has been hard at work scanning, correcting and uploading bits of a novel about Miri Robertson and her adventures on Klamath.  The novel was never finished, and exists in various bits and starts.  The first bit — about 2400 words — and Steve’s introduction to the project and the times during which it was written, are over on Splinter Universe.  It’s our intention to update every Monday, until the y’all get bored, or the splinters run out.

While you’re over on Splinter Universe, check out Bud Sparhawk’s guest story, “Somewhere, A Sea“.  We’ll be hosting guest stories from time to time, to introduce you to writers you may not have encountered elsewhere.

For the drinkers among us, Fanboy Glass is now selling Tree-and-Dragon glasses and mugs.  Here’s the link

We still have several Super Exciting Things! pending, which I can’t talk about, because we’re waiting for paperwork and stuff.  Soon, they say…

In the meantime, the state of the To-Do List:

1.  Talk at The School of Science and Mathematics (aka The Limestone Magnet School), Limestone, Maine — March 16

2.  Turn in Necessity’s Child — March 31

3.  Go to Meriden for Socks — April 1

4.  Talk at Rockland, Maine Public Library — April 5

5.  ConQuesT — May 25-27

6.  Turn in short story to Baen — July 1

7.  Turn in Trade Secret — July 15

8.  Feasibility study:  remodel bathroom

Progress on Necessity’s Child (tbfkaG)
87,428/100,000 words OR 87%

“I’ll sleep better, for your prayers,” she said, which had the sound of set-piece, and then, before he could divine her intent, she leaned close and kissed his cheek.

I wasn’t going to talk about this, because nobody likes writers to talk  about politics.  Especially not politics that somebody else might not agree with.

But I’m kinda tired of being told to sit down and shut up by people who haven’t turned their brain cells to ON, or who are too busy in their lives to form their own opinions about what’s happening in the world today, and so let someone else do it for them.

I have been taken to task for adopting the term War on Woman, as inaccurate and insulting to people who have been in Actual, Real Wars.  You know what I’m talking about — the kind with guns and bombs, where real people really get maimed and killed.

The War on Women is nothing like a real war, of course.  No one has ever bombed an abortion clinic*, or shot and killed employees of abortion clinics**.  No one has made it legally OK for doctors to lie to patients about their medical conditions***, thereby putting real lives in danger.  Those would be acts of war — acts of terrorism — but of course, they haven’t happened here.

If there were actually a War on Women, there would be a concerted public relations effort to demonize, ridicule, and belittle the enemy.  Say, if a woman got up the courage to testify before Congress in support of an issue the. . .I guess we have to call them The Good Guys, if the war is on women.

So, yeah, if a woman testifies before Congress in support of an issue that The  Good Guys don’t support, then the public relations machine would go into full swing and assault that woman’s character for three solid days, not only in an effort to demonize, ridicule, and belittle her, but to also demonstrate to the enemy what will happen to them, if any more of them dare to stand up and speak out.  You might call that terrorism.  Mob rule.  War.  But of course it never happened here.

So, let’s be clear.  In my opinion, there is a War on Women going on right now in the United States of America.  People are dying in this war.  People are being terrorized, in this war.  It is, in fact, a Real War, where real people are getting killed and maimed, and it counts just as much as any other war, even if the victims in this war are only women.

Comments have been turned off, because this commentary is not about abortion, or how liberals are mean to conservatives, or why using tax dollars to pay a college co-ed to have sex is wrong.  It is a statement of my considered belief that there is an on-going War on Women in the United States of America.

————————-

*Pensacola Florida, January 1, 2012

**Dr. George Tiller

***Arizona, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Utah, Idaho, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, South Dakota (under discussion in Kansas)

Yesterday, March 8, it hit 60F/16C at the Cat Farm.  Snow melted, mud appeared.  It was, in short, a mess.

Come evening, came the winds, and on the overnight, rain.  It’s a bright and sunny 40F/4C as I type, and the landscape is a wasteland of puddles, hardened heaps of slag-colored snow, low-lying mud wallows, and dust-devils doing square dances up and down the road.

So!  To celebrate the coming of, erm, not-winter, today’s guest poet is e.e. cummings.

Today’s guest blogger, William Shakespeare, who offers for your delectation Portia’s speech on the quality of mercy, from The Merchant of Venice.

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence ‘gainst the merchant there.

–William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Black Sheep, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/ Steve)
Stealing the Elf-King’s Roses, Diane Duane (e)
The Reluctant Widow, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Friday’s Child, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Dragon Ship manuscript, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (e)
Kim, Rudyard Kipling (e)
Regency Buck, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Pollyanna, Eleanor H. Porter (e)
Chimera, Rob Thurman (e)

I’ve got my head deep inside Necessity’s Child (tbfka George), so today you get a Guest Poem by Mr. Rudyard Kipling.  I hope that you’ll enjoy Mr. Kipling’s work as I do.

Tommy

I went into a public-‘ouse to get a pint o’ beer,
The publican ‘e up an’ sez, “We serve no red-coats here.”
The girls be’ind the bar they laughed an’ giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an’ to myself sez I:

O it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, go away”;
But it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but ‘adn’t none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-‘alls,
But when it comes to fightin’, Lord! they’ll shove me in the stalls!

For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, wait outside”;
But it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide,
The troopship’s on the tide, my boys, the troopship’s on the tide,
O it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide.

Yes, makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an’ they’re starvation cheap;
An’ hustlin’ drunken soldiers when they’re goin’ large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin’ in full kit.

Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, ‘ow’s yer soul?”
But it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll.

We aren’t no thin red ‘eroes, nor we aren’t no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An’ if sometimes our conduck isn’t all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don’t grow into plaster saints.

While it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, fall be’ind”,
But it’s “Please to walk in front, sir”, when there’s trouble in the wind,
There’s trouble in the wind, my boys, there’s trouble in the wind,
O it’s “Please to walk in front, sir”, when there’s trouble in the wind.

You talk o’ better food for us, an’ schools, an’ fires, an’ all:
We’ll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don’t mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow’s Uniform is not the soldier-man’s disgrace.

For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!”
But it’s “Saviour of ‘is country” when the guns begin to shoot;
An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please;
An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool — you bet that Tommy sees!

— Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

So, the Oil Burner Guys got a little confused and didn’t arrive at 8! A! M! after all. Office apologizes and says they’ll be by tomorrow at one. Had I known this, I could’ve, yanno, slept ’til 7, instead of getting up at 5:30. I’m really not good about 5:30.

Steve and I did get out to do shopping, and came home to nap because. . .no brain. I do so love being able to take a nap when I have no brain, and  invariably I wake up with a brain, and work gets done.

This evening’s work consisted of piecing together a big chunk of Chapter 26 out of the rubble of the former Chapters 24 and 25, interposed with new material. Tomorrow, I should be in totally new territory, and that? Will be fun.

Tomorrow will also (she said determinedly) see a return of going to the gym three days a week. Nine weeks of laying around hasn’t done me any good at all, and I really wish this hiatus hadn’t happened, not the least because it’s easier to fall off the treadmill than it is to get back on.

The auction for the hardcover Partners in Necessity has ended — congratulations to the successful bidder!

Still in process are auctions for two! hardcover edition of Liaden Universe® Companion Number One. This one goes over on Wednesday.  This one goes over on Sunday.

Also!  Mr. Blyly at Uncle Hugo’s that he has pre-orders for 304! autographed copies of Dragon Ship.  There are only 96 left, so if you’ve been hanging back. . .you’ve got steadier nerves that I do.

In other news, Judy Tarr’s Kickstarter campaign has reached its goal!  Yay! Oh, hey, if you weren’t in at the beginning, don’t be sad.  You can still be a patron; Judy’s already got new goodies on offer, and new goals outlined.  Take a look.

*cue laugh track*

Frequent auditors of this journal will recall that a few days ago I was cursing Chapter 24 for non-compliance, and Showed It (nyah-nyah) by skipping over it and writing Chapter 25.

After which the lights went out in the story factory and no words got written while I sat in front of the computer for hours at a time, alternating between staring at the blank screen and reading ‘way too many news stories.

Now, when you’re a writer and your brain turns off during the Thrilling Last Third of the novel? At least, when you’re this writer and as above?

That means you screwed up, and your brain has taken you off the happy juice until you (1) figure out what’s scrod and (2) fix it.

Turns out that I’d cut a corner. Not much of a corner, mind you, but the backbrain Seriously Objected to going through the parking lot as opposed to walking the long way ’round the block.

So I’ve spent the last two days going ’round the block properly and I’m now back where I was before everything went dark.

Go, me.

In auction news, remember that the auction for the rare! hardcover! of Partners in Necessity goes over tomorrow. Here’s the link

…and that the auction for the possibly-even-rarer hardcover edition of Liaden Universe Companion Number One goes over on March 7 (that’s Wednesday!). Here’s the link — for the book, not Wednesday.

In real life news, we expect the Oil Burner Guys at 8 a.m. tomorrow, to replace a section of pipe and perform other Oil Burner Guy rituals. The heat will be off for about an hour.

*looks around for her floofiest fleece sweater — finds it under Mozart*

1. As of yesterday, March 3, Mr. Blyly at Uncle Hugo’s had in hand orders for 294 signed editions of Dragon Ship. This means that he only has 106 copies left to place of his promised 400. If you’re coming in late, and you want a autographed hardcover copy of Dragon Ship to put on the shelf next to your autographed hardcover of Ghost Ship, Now Is The Hour. Here’s the link to the original post, Explaining All. Here’s the link to the pre-order page at Uncle Hugo’s.

2. Judith Tarr’s Kickstarter Campaign is going great guns. Judy’s only needs $649 to make her goal of $3500 for production of her novel Living in Threes. Here’s the link. You know you want a new Judith Tarr book! So, what are you waiting for?

3. The nomination period for the annual SF Site Readers Choice Awards for best novel of 2011 nomination period is open until March 9 (that’s Friday!). Rules and how to nominate the best books of 2011 here (Ghost Ship by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller was published in August, 2011).

4. The Hugo Administrators want you to know that the Hugo Nominations deadline is March 11 (that’s next Sunday!). Here are the rules. Here’s a list of eligible Lee-and-Miller, and Miller, titles.

5. The Locus Reader Poll for Best of Everything in SF and Fantasy for 2012 is open until April 15. Here’s the link. The list of Lee-and-Miller, and Miller titles in #4 above will be useful here, too. Though Locus helpfully seeds its poll with titles of books its staff finds worthy, you don’t need to choose from among them; the poll also offers ample write-in spaces. You do not need to subscribe to Locus in order to vote. Please only vote once, and please, please, I beg of you — be truthful regarding your gender.

Here’s the link — there’s video and a transcript.