Stephen C. Merlino's Blog, page 7
June 29, 2016
On Writing, Geekness, and Fandom
This is a fun and wide-ranging interview I gave to Sherri Rabinowitz on her Blog Talk show, “Chatting with Sherri.”
June 25, 2016
Word Study: Assload vs. Buttload
…from an august academic contributor who prefers anonymity.
Measurment & Conversion
First, I like to think that assload is an SI (metric) unit whereas buttload is imperial. That would make me happy.
Calculating Assload
So 1 assload = 1 liter-newton. Specifically, the volume of water multiplied by the force exerted by the sphincter that is necessary to retain it.
Small Ass vs. Large
Same amount of water retained in a smaller ass requires more sphincter force, so the assload value is higher.
Double the water in a 2x larger ass requiring about the same force also has a 2x higher assload value.
Double the water in the same ass means more sphincter force and more volume, so the assload value is doubly higher.
This, my friends, is science.
-A
Fun With Science: Assload vs. Buttload
…from an august academic contributor who prefers anonymity.
Measurment & Conversion
First, I like to think that assload is an SI (metric) unit whereas buttload is imperial. That would make me happy.
Calculating Assload
So 1 assload = 1 liter-newton. Specifically, the volume of water multiplied by the force exerted by the sphincter that is necessary to retain it.
Small Ass vs. Large
Same amount of water retained in a smaller ass requires more sphincter force, so the assload value is higher.
Double the water in a 2x larger ass requiring about the same force also has a 2x higher assload value.
Double the water in the same ass means more sphincter force and more volume, so the assload value is doubly higher.
This, my friends, is science.
-A
May 28, 2016
SF Mind Meld: Favorite SciFi Futures
Sean Williams and four us 2016 Writers of the Future writers explain our very different picks in this special valedictory SF Mind Meld.
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/category/interviews/mind-meld/
In Memoriam
(If you havent heard, our beloved SF Signal, which used to host SF Mind Meld, recently went defunct. Happily, James Aquilone re-functed it on his website, and invited me to be part of its last glorious funct.)
SF Mind Meld: What is your Favorite SciFi Visionof the Future?
Sean Williams and four us 2016 Writers of the Future writers explain our very different picks in this special valedictory SF Mind Meld.
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/category/interviews/mind-meld/
In Memoriam
(If you havent heard, our beloved SF Signal, which used to host SF Mind Meld, recently went defunct. Happily, James Aquilone re-functed it on his website, and invited me to be part of its last glorious funct.)
May 21, 2016
Special Midnight Free Book Offer!
Buy a copy of this year’s Writers of the Future before Midnight tonight and I’ll joyfully ship you a first-edition paper, hardback,* eBook or audiobook of The Jack of Souls!
*First come first served on the paper and hardbacks (I think I have a dozen of each). No limit (except midnight) on The Jack of Souls eBooks and audio.
How Does This Work?
Simple! Just send me a receipt/photo of you and your WOTF to stephenmerlino@hotmail.com, along with your preference of paper, hard, ebook or audio, plus your address, and I’ll put it in the mail. Thank you!
Buy at a local book store or online. Here are the links:
Amazon US (paperback | Kindle) < $11.52 paperback, $6.99 Kindle
Barnes & Noble (paperback | Nook) < $ 11.63 paperback, $6.49 Nook
Kobo
Books-A-Million
IndieBound
Walmart
Target
May 19, 2016
This is the week to get WRITERS OF THE FUTURE for Summer Reading!
THIS IS THE BEST WEEK TO BUY Writers of the Future!
If you’ve been waiting to get yours, this is the week that helps us most — our “Bestseller Week.”
.
(Little-known fact: Bestseller lists measure velocity of sales over one week, Sun-Sat. So this is our week to urge sales that fund next year’s contest and maybe give it Bestseller status.)
.
So, please buy before Sunday! At any book store or online:
.
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
IndieBound
Target
Walmart
Amazon
.
( * PLUS, YOU CAN HELP A TON BY SHARING THIS POST! * )
Thanks again for your support!
April 17, 2016
Win a free eBook of THE JACK OF SOULS!
Click the image for a chance to win an ebook copy of The Jack of Souls on Amazon!
Give it a whirl, and share this link with friends! Good luck!
eBook Slot Machine! Give it a whirl!
This Giveaway feature on Amazon is kinda fun — its an ebook slot machine!
Give it a whirl for a chance at a free copy of the award-winning fantasy, The Jack of Souls!
April 14, 2016
Days 2 & 3 – Writers of the Future Workshop
When last I posted, we’d all been assigned the task of writing a short story in 24 hours. I was given a random object (a 38 Special shell casing) and told to go interview someone on the street, and then use these things to inspire and craft a story.
And that’s what we did for the last day. I didn’t come up for air for basically fourteen hours (in two 7 hour chunks), which is why I didn’t post the schedule for yesterday
A first
But I did it! I wrote a 5K story in a day, and it has all the bones of a decent story. It’s a rough draft, sure, but it has all the bones. There were valuable lessons in that for me. Perhaps the most valuable lesson of this exercise was to see that I could in fact do this from scratch, with random inspirations; the other was that I could do that in a 24-hour window. That makes me feel good.
So here’s what we’ve been doing:
You’ll notice the right-hand column is the schedule of the Illustrator’s track.
the illustrators arrived today
The Illustrators got here yesterday, and we just met them today and saw for the first time the illustrations they did for the stories that will appear in the anthology. I’ll get a close-up of the illustration for my story. The artist (as you can see in the picture) is a young woman; her name is Maricella, and she is from Mexico.
