Monica Valentinelli's Blog: booksofm.com, page 114

Win a Copy of Cthulhu 101 at FlamesRising.com

Hi everyone,

As you know, one of the roles I have is Project Manager at the horror and dark fantasy webzine FlamesRising.com. This week we have launched a theme week to honor H.P. Lovecraft, whose birthday is on Friday. Lovecraft is considered to be one of the most influential horror authors on the genre from the twentieth century. In addition to the Cthulhu-related articles and reviews, Atomic Overmind Press is offering a contest for anyone interested in winning a copy of CTHULHU 101, which w...

Politics, Gaming, Feminism and Persona

When I first started my blogging presence, I knew I wanted to take a more professional tack on it because of my career goals. I had been using LiveJournal for years, but didn't really start thinking about a persona until I landed a job at an SEO consulting firm. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was knee-deep in keyword research and learning how to use and implement Google Analytics.

My day job isn't the only thing that affected my persona. If you're following along, you also know...

[Opinion] Net Neutrality and the Future of the Web

Last week, Google and Verizon released a joint statement about their thoughts on net neutrality. This post entitled Press review: Google and Verizon announce a joint proposal for an open internet that was featured on Teleread.com has a nice, in-depth review of what this might mean for the future of the web.

I highly recommend reading that round-up because it highlights the public opinion and offers some industry editorials as well.

Rather than re-hash every piece of commentary that's out...

Guest Post: What's in an Alien Alphabet? (Or Why Some Languages Are Really Fonts…)

While I was away at GenCon, Apex Book Company posted the next installment of my series on creating an alien language. This installment was a lot of fun to write, because I addressed the difference between creating an alien alphabet and designing a font, in addition to quite a few resources that you might be interested in checking out.

Part of the goal behind writing this post, is that people tend to confuse an alien font with a fully-develope alien language.

Here's a quote from the article:

Hack/Slash Card Game and my Role as a Developer

Hi everyone,

I am excited to announce that I am one of the developers of a card game based on the horror comic HACK/SLASH by Tim Seeley!

Produced by Eden Studios, the game was designed by Matt Papa and the development team includes M. Alexander Jurkat, James Lowder, who is also the current editor for the HACK/SLASH comics series, and yours truly!

Currently, the comic is published through Image Comics. You can read a really good interview with Tim Seeley conducted by Newsarama.com about the move ...

My DIY Recipe for Thai Peanut Butter Stir Fry

Hi everyone! This week's recipe is my concoction for a do-it-yourself Thai peanut butter stir-fry. I call it DIY because it's never tastes the same twice! This recipe's instructions are cooked in a wok, so keep that in mind if you want to cook it in a different pot.

Primary ingredients:

(a) Package frozen veggies (any will do)

(b) Choose your meat or protein (I prefer pork with this particular recipe)

(c) Choose your grain (I prefer whole wheat egg noodles)

To brown your meat, you'll need:

Garli...

Are You Overestimating Your Value as a Writer?

If you're a writer and you want to get published, you often have to deal with with other people's expectations about your work. There's another layer of expectations, too, because you probably have personal assumptions about how you value yourself and your work. The two spheres, while similar, are very distinct. You see, when you overestimate what you're worth, you will make certain career decisions based on those assumptions. The reverse is also true as well.

Did you know that your...

Providing a Service Versus Offering an Asset

For any creative professional who is providing a service, the difference between making money now and making money over the long-term can be pretty frightening. On the one hand, we all have the tendency to make decisions based on the power of a dollar. How many jobs have we taken that we were over-qualified for? How many assignments did we take because we needed to pay a bill?

Are You Providing a Service?

The idea that you, as a creative professional, are providing a service goes much deeper...

25% Off My e-Book Plus Huge Sale on 1,000s of Others at DriveThru

I'm not sure how many of you that read my blog know about DriveThruRPG.com or DriveThruComics.com. Did you know that DriveThruRPG.com is the world's largest retailer for digital hobby games? I've contributed to a few games within the gaming industry over the years. This industry has been really fun to be a part of and I'm excited for my panels at GenCon: Indy's 2010 Writer's Symposium, too.

The hobby games industry has been great to be involved with and has been a boon to my creativity and my ...

My Recipe for Spaghetti With Bacon

Occasionally, I get the cooking bug and start experimenting to see what happens. Spaghetti with Bacon is a favorite in my house. Don't laugh, but I did attempt to switch out some ingredients so it's a little healthier…

Base Ingredients

1 pound ground turkey

1 pound whole wheat spaghetti

1 jar generic spaghetti sauce

3 strips uncooked bacon

Secret Spices

red wine

maple syrup

garlic

dried shallots

oregano

olive oil

red pepper flakes

Slice the uncooked bacon into square pieces. Then, brown ground...