A.M. Riley's Blog, page 11
December 12, 2010
The magic bunny and the dust bunny try to save my Droid f...
The magic bunny and the dust bunny try to save my Droid from the twitter demon.
Accompanied by an orchid fairy and a crow.
And a happy rock.
What can I say? Things are slow at work...
December 11, 2010
MLR authors at Love Romance Cafe
We are there. I posted something. There's a bunch of wild and crazy people exchanging info and recipes and God knows what else.
Come join us if you dare.
Come join us if you dare.
December 10, 2010
I'm not anti-social
I have accounts on all the social networks that I've neglected off and on for the past year or so. It's not that I don't like people, I'm just a little shy of the internet.
And I have a problem with names. In real life, the real world where flesh and blood people talk to me daily, I have a problem remembering their names. I'm not a name-oriented person. I'll remember that their favorite flower is a hyacinth, or that their oldest son is at Vassar, or that they collect shoes... but I'll stand there and stammer and hem and haw when it's time to introduce them at a party because I can't, for the life of me, recall their name.
And then we have the internet where LG Bean is also Beanie is also LGB is also Sam. And is referred to frequently as both he AND she and has an alter ego who lives in Montreal. It is far far beyond my meager name-recall faculties to cope.
And the internet seems to be as moody and tidal as a teenager. I'm almost afraid to post lest I stick my finger in some brewing tempest.
I'm an internet wallflower. But its the holiday season and everybody is blogging and partying and decking the halls and I feel kind of like a girl with an empty dance card. So. Tomorrow I understand LRC (??? Love Romance Cafe I presume) is having an MLR author day and I shall be there with bells on.
And I have a problem with names. In real life, the real world where flesh and blood people talk to me daily, I have a problem remembering their names. I'm not a name-oriented person. I'll remember that their favorite flower is a hyacinth, or that their oldest son is at Vassar, or that they collect shoes... but I'll stand there and stammer and hem and haw when it's time to introduce them at a party because I can't, for the life of me, recall their name.
And then we have the internet where LG Bean is also Beanie is also LGB is also Sam. And is referred to frequently as both he AND she and has an alter ego who lives in Montreal. It is far far beyond my meager name-recall faculties to cope.
And the internet seems to be as moody and tidal as a teenager. I'm almost afraid to post lest I stick my finger in some brewing tempest.
I'm an internet wallflower. But its the holiday season and everybody is blogging and partying and decking the halls and I feel kind of like a girl with an empty dance card. So. Tomorrow I understand LRC (??? Love Romance Cafe I presume) is having an MLR author day and I shall be there with bells on.
December 8, 2010
Death by Misfortune is available today from MLR Press as ...
Death by Misfortune is available today from MLR Press as an ebook here.
Bill Turner, the closeted detective from "Amor en Retrogrado" and his partner, Kate Crandall, investigate the murder of a minor celebrity and soon find themselves up to their eyeballs in Hollywood secrets.
There's a lengthy excerpt at the MLR press site.
I've been working on this book simply for ages. The primary couple from AeR are NOT in this book, but Bill and his lover are. It has an enormous cast of characters, and I really enjoyed writing about the 'Hollywood' that I experience daily.
November 3, 2010
quoting from the HRC campaign's flyers:
Yesterday, a record number of openly LGBT candidates prevailed, including newly elected David Cicilline (D) of Rhode Island, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). So. Yay.
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) spent millions, and although they ousted three Iowa judges who ruled for marriage equality, many of their favored candidates lost – like Tea Party darlings Christine O'Donnell in Delaware (who founded a group to "cure" homosexuality) and Sharron Angle in Nevada (who refused donations from pro-equality companies), as well as Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman in California and Carl Paladino in New York. The man who likened homosexuality to alcoholism, Colorado's Ken Buck, also went down in defeat.
Proving, I think, that in the USA extremists and bigots are still universally distrusted and disliked.
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) spent millions, and although they ousted three Iowa judges who ruled for marriage equality, many of their favored candidates lost – like Tea Party darlings Christine O'Donnell in Delaware (who founded a group to "cure" homosexuality) and Sharron Angle in Nevada (who refused donations from pro-equality companies), as well as Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman in California and Carl Paladino in New York. The man who likened homosexuality to alcoholism, Colorado's Ken Buck, also went down in defeat.
Proving, I think, that in the USA extremists and bigots are still universally distrusted and disliked.
November 2, 2010
What's the worst that could happen?
I saw an article recently, written by a UK citizen. After their midterms and preceding ours he philosophized about people seeing the world from the blindness of a comforting ideology. And, as I watch the votes rolling in and I shudder and cringe at the sort of people we are now sending to Washington, I'm thinking about my own comforting ideology.
You see, I think I'm safe.
I don't think religious extremists are going to jail me for believing other than they do. I don't think political demigods will take over my government and send dissenters to some sort of Gulag. I don't think I will be executed for 'choosing' to love the wrong person.
And honestly you know, most of the crackpots will be ineffective. They'll make a lot of speeches and probably attract a lot of press. But in the end, they don't know how to govern and they'll waste their time and the tax payers money and then they will go away.
And the rich will get richer and the poor will become less educated and poorer and have less and less of a chance of climbing out of the hole they are in. The worst that can happen is what has been happening for some time. Electing people supported by big moneyed corporations (and seriously? who do you think supports this new Tea Party movement?) will only bring us more of the same.
I feel for the kids who's parents can't afford private school. I feel for the people struggling to make a better life for their family in this country. I feel for the individual struggling against the megabucks corporation. I can't believe they are stupid enough to vote for the monster that will eat them. But it looks like they are.
So, what's the worst that can happen? We will get exactly what we deserve.
But what if I'm wrong?
You see, I think I'm safe.
I don't think religious extremists are going to jail me for believing other than they do. I don't think political demigods will take over my government and send dissenters to some sort of Gulag. I don't think I will be executed for 'choosing' to love the wrong person.
And honestly you know, most of the crackpots will be ineffective. They'll make a lot of speeches and probably attract a lot of press. But in the end, they don't know how to govern and they'll waste their time and the tax payers money and then they will go away.
And the rich will get richer and the poor will become less educated and poorer and have less and less of a chance of climbing out of the hole they are in. The worst that can happen is what has been happening for some time. Electing people supported by big moneyed corporations (and seriously? who do you think supports this new Tea Party movement?) will only bring us more of the same.
I feel for the kids who's parents can't afford private school. I feel for the people struggling to make a better life for their family in this country. I feel for the individual struggling against the megabucks corporation. I can't believe they are stupid enough to vote for the monster that will eat them. But it looks like they are.
So, what's the worst that can happen? We will get exactly what we deserve.
But what if I'm wrong?
October 12, 2010
October 8, 2010
Kin by Holly BlackMy rating: 5 of 5 starsI gobbled down '...
Kin by Holly BlackMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I gobbled down 'Tithe' and am well into 'Valiant'. I'd not known that Holly Black (of the Spiderwick Chronicles) wrote books about Elves. Or these awesome graphic novels in which shadowly elfin figures linger in the corners of the frames, like something you see at the edge of your vision.
View all my reviews
And at the used bookstore today, I purchased the three-book series of original Sherlock Holmes stories as they appeared in the magazines. Illustrated! More on that in next few days.
September 19, 2010
Woke up before sunrise
Ghastly. My body has adapted to my work schedule and I even wake up before sunrise on Sunday. This is the first weekend I've had in ages that didn't have a stack of duties and chores to accomplish and so I'm back to writing.
'Death by Misfortune' is in the hands of the editors. I'm slogging away at several others. I was working on a Humboldt murder mystery until it hit a plot snag, so I ran off to work on the sequel to Son of a Gun which may have been bumped in the queue since I now know h...
'Death by Misfortune' is in the hands of the editors. I'm slogging away at several others. I was working on a Humboldt murder mystery until it hit a plot snag, so I ran off to work on the sequel to Son of a Gun which may have been bumped in the queue since I now know h...
September 11, 2010
In which I babble about things I should probably not...
This is one of those opinionated, political diatribes that I perhaps should not post. It makes me feel a little better, so just scroll on by if you become uncomfortable when writers of fiction spew their opinions all over the net.
I saw this today online, in response to the anniversary of 911, and it just blew my mind:
Today I went to the food market and as I was walking into the store I saw a women dressed from head to toe in a full black dress. Only her eyes were showing. I was so...
I saw this today online, in response to the anniversary of 911, and it just blew my mind:
Today I went to the food market and as I was walking into the store I saw a women dressed from head to toe in a full black dress. Only her eyes were showing. I was so...
