S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 19

The Brotherhood

As always I reserve the right to make fun of anyone who SPAMs me, even when it's a secret society:

Are you a business man?

Nope.

Business woman ?

Yep.

Artist?

Sure.

Politicians?

No, thank you.

Student?

I have one of my own, thanks.

Etc...And you want to become Big and Rich, Protections and Powerful, famous, Promoting your Job office position and make your company product the most popular and best seller in the world, join us to become one of our official [kindness duct tape] brotherhood member today and you shall be given a chance to visit the [kindness duct tape] initiation center and his representative after registrations are completed by you,

I want to become smaller, actually. Did you know I've lost 26 lbs. since January? And I didn't join a church or anything. I thought brotherhoods were for men. Is English like your third or fourth language?

[kindness duct tape] brotherhood brings along wealth and famous in life, you have a full access to eradicate poverty away from your life now.

You ran this through Babel Fish, didn't you? Dude, stick a crowbar in the church donation box and hire a translator. Seriously.

It is only a member who has been initiated into the church of [kindness duct tape] that have the authority to bring any member to the church, so the [kindness duct tape] initiation for this year new members is available now Join us today and realize your dreams.

So this is like a pyramid thing, then. I become a member, and I bring another member, and then he brings another, and we all gather in your church and . . . initiate each other? Wait, are there like virgins involved in this?

Once you become a member you will be Rich true whatever you are doing on this planet as your occupation more ideals will be giving to you and protected and as an actor or actress Politicians you will be famous and powerful for the rest of your life, the [kindness duct tape] makes they members happy so

Okay, this is really starting to sound like a blackmail porn church.

Join and be one of the successful Person on earth

What about Mars? I'm thinking of going on one of those volunteer missions. Kidding. I read Ray Bradbury; I'd never willingly go to Mars.

if you are interested fill the form below to the below email address to enable the [kindness duct tape] registration department process your membership and an invitation for the initiation will be send to you wherever you are in any part of the World.

Send it to Mars. Better yet, take it to Mars.

Asian Pearl

Take a three-minute tour of the city of Hong Kong with this delightful video (background music):

7 Days in Hong Kong from Xavier on Vimeo.

Off Again

I'm unplugging today to get some work done and clean up after Tropical Storm Colin. See you tomorrow.

Contest

Here's a writing contest that might save the world someday: "FutureScapes is an annual writing competition that asks writers to envision a particular sort of world, and tell us a story about it. We could run projections and publish reports, but there’s a reason why Wilde didn’t say, “Life imitates empirical studies.” We want to help writers of excellent potential find their voice while shaping tomorrow.

In particular, FutureScapes seeks:

-Works of short fiction up to 8,000 words, written in accordance with this year’s prompt.

-Compelling stories that explore the nuance of technology, science, politics, and/or policy, without forgetting about plot and character!

-Stories that show us both the positives and negatives of this possible future.

-Stories that can provide a road-map for cities, states, and nations to follow.

-Stories that may be built in a rich and full world, but that manage to show us the reality of a single city, neighborhood, and/or life.

-Stories worthy of the $2,000 prize for first place, $1,000 prize for second place, and $500 prize to each of the four runners-up.

-Stories that, when placed in the hands of a mayor or governor, could change the course of the future.

That’s FutureScapes.

Please read the full rules and resources pages for further details. Deadline is July 15, 2016. Good luck, and happy writing!"

No fee involved in this one. For more information, see the guidelines page.

Sub Op

I spotted this op over in the Paying Markets Forum at Absolute Write: "We need experienced, published fiction writers to share their wisdom about writing fiction in the form of articles. Each article should be 600-800 words, and accompanied by an exercise that will help master the material. We prefer how-to articles over theoretical ones, and we love articles that make their point with vivid examples.

Accepted articles will be properly attributed with your headshot, short bio, and links of your choosing (not including affiliate links). You will be paid $50 per article via PayPal. We buy first and exclusive digital rights. You retain all print rights."

For more information, see the guidelines page here.

Dinner with Edward

I have to say first that my latest ARC to arrive from Library Thing's Early Reviewers program, Dinner with Edward by Isabel Vincent, exceeded my expectations in some ways. In others, it pole-vaulted over them. I give it my highest praise for a book that celebrates food, friendship and family: my New Yorker Father, the chef, would have loved this story.

About that: Dinner with Edward is not a novel but a memoir, so the female main character is also the author. I didn't realize this fact until after I finished the story and did a little research. Until that point a part of me wondered if it was even plausible that a middle-aged journalist whose marriage was falling to pieces would befriend a nonagenarian mourning the recent loss of his ninety-five year-old wife. Unless Ms. Vincent is lying through her teeth, it seems that it is.

If you adore stories of New York, this book will give you plenty to add to your mental library of love. Same goes for you foodies out there; every chapter is headed by a menu almost guaranteed to make you drool. The descriptions of the meals are so well-written that you'll get hungrier with every page. What I enjoyed most were the two main characters, and how they helped each other through their grief simply by having dinner together and talking about life, love, and of course loss. I did wish that the author had made the female main character something other than a journalist, because I never met a journalist I didn't want to slap in the back of the head (remember, I thought it was a novel) but now that I know it's actually her job, I won't smack her.

Readers should also prepare for some sadness, especially when Edward talks about the wife he lost. I also had some rough moments when Isabel provided certain details on her disintegrating marriage. It's tough for me to find death or divorce entertaining. That said, it was important for my perception of the characters to know those grim moments, as it magnified the hope and pleasure they gave to each other through their friendship. I think if only we could all know someone like Edward, or Isabel, life wouldn't suck quite so much at times.

Just Write

Today I'm off to write something new and post it online before midnight. Everyone inclined to do the same is invited to join me.

My link: More on Twenty-One (click on the title to go to the .pdf), with new material beginning on page 105.

For more details on Just Write, click here to go to the original post.

Image credit: My kid. :)

Sub Op

Rune Wright has an open call for their upcoming steampunk antho: "This is a call for submissions for the next installment of the Penny Dread Tales series. The deadline for submissions is July 25th, 2016, and we’re shooting for a publication date of December, 2016.

The theme for this volume of steampunk short fiction is heroism and heroes. The story length can be anything from 1,000 to 10,000 words. We’re still pretty small, so it’s a token payment proposition, with a free copy for each accepted story. Also, contributors can get author copies for 10% over cost plus shipping, which gives you a good option for selling copies at your own events and making some money."

Payment (according to Ralan.com): $5.00 - $10.00, query on reprints, electronic submissions only. See guidelines for more details.

The Math of Making

When you see someone use their hands to create something it feels exactly like this lovely little video (background music):

The Art of Making, Geometry from Deep Green Sea on Vimeo.

Trying New Things

In between projects for the clients I've been experimenting with some different vintage fabrics and making them into neat stuff. One came out rather extra-neat:



This piece of chenille is in one of my favorite shades of peachy orange, but I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. I've never actually worked with chenille before this piece arrived in an inspiration bundle I bought to challenge myself.

I kept looking at the spaces between the fluff, and thought right out of the blue: why not feather stitch them?

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So I did, in a very random, free-form way. Lots of feather stitches. It was also great practice for me as my hand-stitching has been a bit sloppy lately.



The end result came out better than I expected, and since I've never seen anyone else do this with chenille, I felt quite inventive.

Moral of the story: don't be afraid to try something you've never seen done. You may end up with a cool pillow, or maybe something even better.