S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 98
February 21, 2014
See the Wolf
I won't be posting the usual Friday video here at PBW today but I would like to send you elsewhere to see one you might like. RT book reviews is hosting the online debut of the official video for The Clockwork Wolf, which they've also selected as one of their Top Picks for their March issue; to have a look click here.
February 20, 2014
Steampunk Sub Op
I am taking off today to be sick in bed. So that your stop here was not entirely wasted, here's an interesting listing from the marvelous assortment of markets at Ralan.com:
Inventive Press is looking for "Truly inventive speculative fiction. Steampunk, both adult and young adult. Historical fiction. Contemporary young adult novels. Inspirational non-fiction." Also: "We love spec fic, but there are hundreds of micropresses and major publishers taking spec fic submissions. Yours has to be unique, or we can’t help you be more than another face in the giant crowd. We’re particularly interested in steampunk and alternate history. For spec fic in general, your synopsis needs to convey a sense of 'this is different.'" Length: Less than 130K (fiction); less than 80K (YA) and 40-150K nonfiction. Payment according to Ralan: "ebook=50% net; print=40% net; profit sharing bonuses; possible advance for established authors." Query on reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details.
Inventive Press is looking for "Truly inventive speculative fiction. Steampunk, both adult and young adult. Historical fiction. Contemporary young adult novels. Inspirational non-fiction." Also: "We love spec fic, but there are hundreds of micropresses and major publishers taking spec fic submissions. Yours has to be unique, or we can’t help you be more than another face in the giant crowd. We’re particularly interested in steampunk and alternate history. For spec fic in general, your synopsis needs to convey a sense of 'this is different.'" Length: Less than 130K (fiction); less than 80K (YA) and 40-150K nonfiction. Payment according to Ralan: "ebook=50% net; print=40% net; profit sharing bonuses; possible advance for established authors." Query on reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details.
February 19, 2014
Get the Wolf
I'm getting a late start today because I nursed my guy through a bad sinus infection and promptly caught it myself. I always kid about my head exploding; last night I thought it just might. The good news is I can still buy real Sudafed, the only OTC decongestant that works on me, although it's been a while since I have. Thanks to abuse by drug dealers the local pharmacy now keeps this medicine locked up behind the counter, and they me show my license and sign a register before they handed over the pack of ten pills I purchased (I shudder to think what they'll do the next time I want a bottle of Nyquil.)
On the bright and less sniffly side, The Reading Cafe is offering a print copy of The Clockwork Wolf along with some other neat reads for some lucky reader. If you'd like a chance to win them, head over and enter their giveaway.
February 18, 2014
Math Under Pressure
Take this online quiz to find out how well you can perform simple maths under pressure. My results:
I don't know that I'd call the math involved especially simple as the time calculations nearly did me in a few times. Post your results in comments and let us know how you did.
I don't know that I'd call the math involved especially simple as the time calculations nearly did me in a few times. Post your results in comments and let us know how you did.
February 17, 2014
Not a Dime Ten
Ten Things You Can Have for Free
Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.
Anki is a "program which makes remembering things easy. Because it's a lot more efficient than traditional study methods, you can either greatly decrease your time spent studying, or greatly increase the amount you learn. Anyone who needs to remember things in their daily life can benefit from Anki. Since it is content-agnostic and supports images, audio, videos and scientific markup (via LaTeX), the possibilities are endless" (OS: Win 98/ME/NT/2K/XP/2K3/Vista/7/8)
Bandizip is a "lightweight, fast and 100% free All-In-One Zip Archiver. Bandizip has a very fast Zip algorithm for compression & extraction with Fast Drag and Drop, High Speed Archiving, and Multi-core compression. It handles the most popular compression formats, including Zip, 7z, Rar, and so on" (OS: Windows XP/2003/Vista/7/8 [32-Bit/64-Bit])
Buddi is a "personal finance and budgeting program, aimed at those who have little or no financial background. In making this software, I have attempted to make things as simple as possible, while still retaining enough functions to satisfy most home users" (OS: Designer notes: "If you have a modern operating system with a copy of Sun's Java Virtual Machine [version 1.5 or higher], it should work fine. This includes most recent versions of Windows, Macintosh OS X 10.4, most Linux distributions, Solaris, and possibly more. Please consult the help files for your given operating system if you are unsure whether it supports Java 1.5 or not.")
GanttProject is a "project management tool" that is "very usable for small to medium size projects, with a surprisingly good depth of features and accessories for a free product. As its name suggest, it's excellent for making Gantt charts, great for making logical and easy-to-understand development plans" (OS: Windows, Linux and Mac OS X)
Pencil is a "free drawing program that helps users to create mockups on their PCs. Its friendly graphic user interface provides ready access to a collection of built-in shapes that can be used to create interfaces for both mobile and desktop platforms" (OS: "The prototyping tool is available for all platforms")
Scribus is an "open Source program that brings professional page layout to Linux, BSD UNIX, Solaris, OpenIndiana, GNU/Hurd, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4, eComStation, and Windows desktops with a combination of press-ready output and new approaches to page design. Underneath a modern and user-friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as color separations, CMYK and spot colors, ICC color management, and versatile PDF creation." (OS: Complete download list and links here)
SSuite My Money Portable is a "simple to use personal finance manager that is also portable. SSuite Office - My Money – Portable is a cross-platform utility that allows users to keep an eye on their accounts, income and expenses, and to generate financial reports. New accounts can be added by specifying the type and balance, and you can give details about transactions, such as description, date and amount. Thanks to its built-in search engine, you can quickly find the accounts in the list; they can be edited or deleted. Furthermore, it is possible to specify the income description, date and amount, as well as provide information about the inter-account transfers and expenses. SSuite Office - My Money – Portable allows users to create financial reports by selecting a report type and fields that are included (account number, type and balance), specifying the report title, number of columns on each page and page orientation (portrait or landscape), and picking the font style" (OS:Windows All [32-Bit/64-Bit])
The free trial of TaxSlayer Books is a "complete, online accounting software for your small business needs. Includes payroll, and bookkeeping software." It also "allows you to import bookkeeping information from Quickbooks, making setup a snap" (OS: Windows XP, Vista)
Tomboy is a "desktop note-taking application" that is "simple and easy to use, but with potential to help you organize the ideas and information you deal with every day" (OS: Linux, Unix, Windows, and Mac OS X)
Tonido "allows you to set up and run your own personal cloud storage" (OS: Linux, Mac OS X 10.5 or later, Windows 2000, Windows 7 [32 bit], Windows 7 [64 bit], Windows 8, Windows Vista [32 bit], Windows Vista [64 bit)], Windows XP)
Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.
Anki is a "program which makes remembering things easy. Because it's a lot more efficient than traditional study methods, you can either greatly decrease your time spent studying, or greatly increase the amount you learn. Anyone who needs to remember things in their daily life can benefit from Anki. Since it is content-agnostic and supports images, audio, videos and scientific markup (via LaTeX), the possibilities are endless" (OS: Win 98/ME/NT/2K/XP/2K3/Vista/7/8)
Bandizip is a "lightweight, fast and 100% free All-In-One Zip Archiver. Bandizip has a very fast Zip algorithm for compression & extraction with Fast Drag and Drop, High Speed Archiving, and Multi-core compression. It handles the most popular compression formats, including Zip, 7z, Rar, and so on" (OS: Windows XP/2003/Vista/7/8 [32-Bit/64-Bit])
Buddi is a "personal finance and budgeting program, aimed at those who have little or no financial background. In making this software, I have attempted to make things as simple as possible, while still retaining enough functions to satisfy most home users" (OS: Designer notes: "If you have a modern operating system with a copy of Sun's Java Virtual Machine [version 1.5 or higher], it should work fine. This includes most recent versions of Windows, Macintosh OS X 10.4, most Linux distributions, Solaris, and possibly more. Please consult the help files for your given operating system if you are unsure whether it supports Java 1.5 or not.")
GanttProject is a "project management tool" that is "very usable for small to medium size projects, with a surprisingly good depth of features and accessories for a free product. As its name suggest, it's excellent for making Gantt charts, great for making logical and easy-to-understand development plans" (OS: Windows, Linux and Mac OS X)
Pencil is a "free drawing program that helps users to create mockups on their PCs. Its friendly graphic user interface provides ready access to a collection of built-in shapes that can be used to create interfaces for both mobile and desktop platforms" (OS: "The prototyping tool is available for all platforms")
Scribus is an "open Source program that brings professional page layout to Linux, BSD UNIX, Solaris, OpenIndiana, GNU/Hurd, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4, eComStation, and Windows desktops with a combination of press-ready output and new approaches to page design. Underneath a modern and user-friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as color separations, CMYK and spot colors, ICC color management, and versatile PDF creation." (OS: Complete download list and links here)
SSuite My Money Portable is a "simple to use personal finance manager that is also portable. SSuite Office - My Money – Portable is a cross-platform utility that allows users to keep an eye on their accounts, income and expenses, and to generate financial reports. New accounts can be added by specifying the type and balance, and you can give details about transactions, such as description, date and amount. Thanks to its built-in search engine, you can quickly find the accounts in the list; they can be edited or deleted. Furthermore, it is possible to specify the income description, date and amount, as well as provide information about the inter-account transfers and expenses. SSuite Office - My Money – Portable allows users to create financial reports by selecting a report type and fields that are included (account number, type and balance), specifying the report title, number of columns on each page and page orientation (portrait or landscape), and picking the font style" (OS:Windows All [32-Bit/64-Bit])
The free trial of TaxSlayer Books is a "complete, online accounting software for your small business needs. Includes payroll, and bookkeeping software." It also "allows you to import bookkeeping information from Quickbooks, making setup a snap" (OS: Windows XP, Vista)
Tomboy is a "desktop note-taking application" that is "simple and easy to use, but with potential to help you organize the ideas and information you deal with every day" (OS: Linux, Unix, Windows, and Mac OS X)
Tonido "allows you to set up and run your own personal cloud storage" (OS: Linux, Mac OS X 10.5 or later, Windows 2000, Windows 7 [32 bit], Windows 7 [64 bit], Windows 8, Windows Vista [32 bit], Windows Vista [64 bit)], Windows XP)
February 16, 2014
Sub Op
Weird Bard Press has an open call for their upcoming Torn Pages antho: "Given the title, Torn Pages, the ideal submission will deal in issues such as religion in the science classroom, censorship, historical revisionism, chilling effect, book (media) burning, net neutrality, or Orwellian concepts like Newspeak and Thoughtcrime. Watching the recent Nye/Ham debate we were reminded of Burrough's assertion that language is a virus. Think books. Think classroom. Think logical fallacies, partisan politics, and education standards in the balance. Acceptable as well are stories related to a real-life wrong so great or insidious that the issue must be told, though it may not relate directly to books or the classroom, such as abuses of political or social power. Pussy Riot, Occupy, or Anonymous may be good starting points, but refrain from propaganda for or against any one of these. Inherent in this project is an interest in stories from under-represented points of view, be they ethnic, gender, cultural, sexual orientation, or others we have not considered. The person who comes from what they perceive as a mundane background may have an equally important story to tell." Length: 1-5K; Payment: 2¢/word. No reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. Reading period opens March 1st, 2013; do not submit before that date. Deadline: March 31st, 2014 or when filled.
February 15, 2014
Unlikely Inspiration
I like to reward myself for finishing difficult projects, and most often I gravitate toward something that I love but don't indulge in too often. Some examples would be art supplies, fabric, or other such materials with which I can experiment but that I have no particular purpose in mind. It might seem strange that I celebrate completing work with more work, but it's really more like play. It also helps refill the well to do these things, so that when I do tackle the next project for work I feel creatively rested, if that makes sense.
Kathy Uhrig, the proprietor of Strange Notions on Etsy.com, is one of my favorite sources for this type of thing; she puts together wonderful little tin kits and packs of trims that always provide me with hours of creative fun. In one of the kits I recently purchased from her I found this very interesting textile:
The image is a Picasso -- you can still see a fragment of the artist's signature down at the bottom right corner -- and the piece probably started out as a scarf. While it's thin the colors are still quite bright, and there are no major snags or stains on the piece, which make it perfect for repurposing into a quilted project.
I can honestly say that I've never worked with a Picasso; I've always thought of his art as pretty bizarre and somewhat alien. Still, something about this particular piece is very compelling. I like the colors and the strong lines, and the lady's face is both tranquil and mysterious. Making this into something else presents an interesting challenge for me.
It's not my usual thing, but sometimes it's good to get completely away from that. Creatively speaking, every time you step outside your comfort zone you open yourself up to new opportunities. You explore unknown territory, discover unfamiliar ranges within yourself and regularly encounter other, unexpected surprises. Sometimes this also means making mistakes and finding out something really new is not for you. I might work on this piece for weeks and hate it by the time I finish. The thing about this kind of creative playing is that it doesn't matter -- success is not the objective.
I'll post updates on the Picasso project as it progresses; I think it'll be a lot of fun to see what I can do with it. I'll also include any screw-ups that happen along the way and what I learn from them.
How do you challenge yourself creatively? Let us know in comments.
Kathy Uhrig, the proprietor of Strange Notions on Etsy.com, is one of my favorite sources for this type of thing; she puts together wonderful little tin kits and packs of trims that always provide me with hours of creative fun. In one of the kits I recently purchased from her I found this very interesting textile:
The image is a Picasso -- you can still see a fragment of the artist's signature down at the bottom right corner -- and the piece probably started out as a scarf. While it's thin the colors are still quite bright, and there are no major snags or stains on the piece, which make it perfect for repurposing into a quilted project.
I can honestly say that I've never worked with a Picasso; I've always thought of his art as pretty bizarre and somewhat alien. Still, something about this particular piece is very compelling. I like the colors and the strong lines, and the lady's face is both tranquil and mysterious. Making this into something else presents an interesting challenge for me.
It's not my usual thing, but sometimes it's good to get completely away from that. Creatively speaking, every time you step outside your comfort zone you open yourself up to new opportunities. You explore unknown territory, discover unfamiliar ranges within yourself and regularly encounter other, unexpected surprises. Sometimes this also means making mistakes and finding out something really new is not for you. I might work on this piece for weeks and hate it by the time I finish. The thing about this kind of creative playing is that it doesn't matter -- success is not the objective.
I'll post updates on the Picasso project as it progresses; I think it'll be a lot of fun to see what I can do with it. I'll also include any screw-ups that happen along the way and what I learn from them.
How do you challenge yourself creatively? Let us know in comments.
February 14, 2014
Elsewhere for Valday
First, Happy Valentine's Day to everyone -- I'm hoping that those of you in the storm zone are staying safe and warm at home.As for me, I'm spending the day over at Under the Covers book blog to talk about some alternative gifts for your Valentines who (like me!) who can't have sweets. Stop in if you have a chance and enter to win this nifty tote packed with goodies and signed print copies of Disenchanted & Co. and The Clockwork Wolf ARC.
February 13, 2014
Steaming Along Elsewhere
Today I'm over at XOXO After Dark, my publisher's blog, to talk about some of our technology that might be improved by adding steam power. Stop by if you have a chance and enter to win a print copy of my latest release, Disenchanted & Co.
February 12, 2014
New Hunter Kiss Novel
I have an FYI for all the other Maxine fans out there: Labyrinth of Stars, Marjorie M. Liu's new Hunter Kiss novel, is being released on February 25th. Here's the gorgeous cover art:
I've pre-ordered my copy, but if you haven't you can get your order in at these online retailers:
Barnes & Noble
Indiebound
Amazon
I've pre-ordered my copy, but if you haven't you can get your order in at these online retailers:
Barnes & Noble
Indiebound
Amazon
S.L. Viehl's Blog
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