M.K. Hobson's Blog, page 6

Goodreads Giveaway is a Go!

Happy Sunday, everyone! In celebration of the monster full moon in Aries, I’m doing a Goodreads giveaway. Enter to win one of 13 copies of The Warlock’s Curse. No restrictions on international entries!

Goodreads Book Giveaway


The Warlock’s Curse
by M.K. Hobson

Giveaway ends October 31, 2012.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Rolling … gathering no moss … etc.

So we’re a little over a month out from the launch date of The Warlock’s Curse and things are really starting to accelerate.

With the help of my wonderful publicist Jaym Gates, I’ve booked several really exciting interviews and blog appearances for next month’s release. I’ll be popping up on the blogs of Gail Carriger, Mary Robinette Kowal, and A.M. Dellamonica, as well as writing what I think could be a pretty controversial io9 article (and no, I’m not going to tell you what it’s about!)

The book itself is 99% final and the ARC been making the rounds. So far, the initial response has been gratifyingly positive. So far no one has reported throwing the book across the room in frustration. A couple of early readers have already given the book glowing reviews on Goodreads, which just fills me with pure industrial-grade squee.

Oh, and speaking of Goodreads, I have a a giveaway scheduled to kick off on September 30! I will be giving away 13 copies, and I have placed NO restriction on countries. So everyone is free to enter!

In other news, I will be participating in the SFWA Northwest Reading Series on October 15, along with Jay Lake, hosted by Seanan McGuire. It will be my first public reading from The Warlock’s Curse* It’s from 7 p.m. to 8-ish at McMenamin’s Courtyard Restaurant. Hope to see some of you there!

And last but not least, I spent much of the weekend setting up the shopping cart on my website so I could actually sell some stuff. It was an exercise in frustration and despair, but now you can now preorder The Warlock’s Curse, along with other fine swaggety-bits. All of you who’ve wanted a Tesla Industries Pin (the non-Kickstarter-backer version) … come and get ‘em!

That’s about all the news that’s fit to print at the moment. Also, I am tired and I have to be at the day-job early tomorrow. Sigh. More soon.

* Disclaimer for Lois Buhalis: I don’t consider my reading at GearCon to be public … since you were the only one there, it was really more of a command performance!

GearCon this weekend

I will be at GearCon this weekend, participating in shenanigans and hi-jinks. Said shenanigans to include stage plays by Tina Connolly and Camille Alexa, as well as various panels on crowdfunding, 19th century fashion, first-page critiques, and more. Also, I believe I have a reading. Looking forward to seeing steamy Portlanders at their finest!

Wednesday at the Detroit Institute of Art

Nora and I spent all day inside yesterday, at the Detroit Institute of Art. We needn’t have been quite so worried about the heat, as it turned out, for the temperatures never got out of the 80s and overall it was quite pleasant.

The DIA was really wonderful, with a very impressive collection. Nora and I particularly enjoyed the medieval & renaissance collections, and I’m glad we started there because by the time we got to the Egyptian, Islamic & African wings we were done in. I was able to muster a bit of enthusiasm for the gorgeous Islamic calligraphy exhibit.

After the museum, we did some final downtown hithering & yonning. Detroit is definitely a city that takes some time to get in to. But I was also surprised at how many random “hellos” we got from strangers. We experienced near-Portland levels of friendliness, which, given that Portland takes friendliness to pathological extremes, was noteworthy. Of course,  we did stick to a lot of the “touristy” stuff so maybe that explains it.

Anyway, now we are chilling at DTW waiting for our flight to JFK. Looking forward to breakfast with my agent tomorrow, and (fingers crossed) cheap theater tix. And also seeing my sister & her beau, who are riding down from Boston! It will be a fun end to a very fun and interesting week.

first blog EVER!!!

ok so hi everyone as you probably know I’m a guest blogger on moms blog while we’re both in detroit and so far its been quite an interesting trip so far . I was a bit, apprehensive at first… mostly due to all the graffiti and run down houses and buildings. But after a while its grown on me so to catch up on what we’ve done we’ve been to the henry ford museum… twice the Edsel and Eleanor ford estate bell isle and of course downtown detroit. so far ive enjoyed the henry ford museum the most and we got some pretty awesome pictures to. so tomorrow were going to the detroit art institute and im really excited because i love museums in general. so i’ll update everyone on how the art museum was tomorrow.

ps sorry for all the spelling errors I’m not the best when it comes to writing :I

Today’s report from the surface of the sun

Seriously, when we got into the car after touring the Edsel and Eleanor Ford house, the outside temp reading was 109. Of course, it was down to 108 by the time the AC solidified my heat-jellied brain sufficiently to think of snapping a photo of the dashboard display. The house tour was interesting, but house tours tend to all kind of blend together after a while. And we didn’t get to see the secret tunnel out of Edsel Ford’s study, which pretty much left Nora and I downcast. Tip for tour guides … if there IS a secret tunnel, but you can’t show it to us, don’t tell us about it. It is just unfair.

The grounds were very pretty, but again, as I mentioned already: 109 degrees. And we were sweating, and our sweat (well, my sweat specifically) was apparently like the nectar of the Gods to every biting black fly in the area. Biting black flies are a scourge that I’ve never experienced before. Those little f*ckers really hurt!

Then we drove around Belle Isle, but it was way too hot and we were way too lazy to actually get out. We rolled down the windows and took pictures. Are you getting the pattern here? And then we also drove by the Michigan Central Station. Oh, and then we drove around the Brush Park area so Nora could get some pictures of grafitti. Then we went to an awesome Lebanese restaurant for dinner and ate shawarma.

Tomorrow, the Detroit Institute of Art.

Having a wonderful time in Detroit

Well, I’ve finally found a moment to sit down with my computer and type up a blog post. Nora and I are having a wonderful time in Detroit, though to be strictly honest we haven’t actually spent much time in Detroit. We’ve spent our first two days in Dearborn, at the Henry Ford Museum. We thought we’d be able to knock out the indoor museum and its outdoor counterpart, Greenfield Village, in one day, but that proved ridiculously overoptimistic. We spent a day at each and still left feeling like there was stuff we hadn’t seen. After the museum closed yesterday, we drove around the U of M campus in Dearborn and walked around the grounds of the Henry Ford estate, the buildings of which are currently closed for renovation until 2013 … but the grounds and gardens are lovely. It was too damn hot to walk around outside for too long, though. All of SE Michigan is currently under a heat advisory.

I’m not 100% sure what we’re going to do today. We were going to go bike riding along the riverwalk, but if it’s going to be 90+ degrees again, I just don’t know. But if we’re going to hit Belle Isle, it will have to be today, because we need to have tomorrow for the Detroit Institute of Arts, and then Thursday we only have a short day before we get on the plane for NYC so … decisions, decisions. I think we’ll start with the Edsel & Eleanor Ford house in Grosse Pointe and go from there.

That being the plan, I’d better go wake up my layabed daughter and get moving.

 

Well, it’s been a while …

I can’t believe that this is my first post since May 20. I’ve chirped up now and again on Twitter and Facebook, but for the most part I’ve really just been enjoying the silence.

Y’all will be seeing a major uptick in blogging from me (and my distinguished guest blogger, Nora) starting July 13, as that’s when we’re leaving for our trip to Detroit. We’ll be in Detroit from July 14-19, then we’re flying to NYC and will be there July 19-21. Our time in Detroit will be spent doing book research and our time in NYC will be spent standing in line for cheap last-minute Broadway tickets. (We may even participate in a ticket auction or two.) Nora also wants to go see the Statue of Liberty (which we didn’t visit last time I brought her to New York) and she wants to schlep out to Brooklyn or Queens or whatever to go to that “Oddities” shop. And she wants to drag me to the stinkin’ Chip Shop again, to which I say, “Isn’t one fried twinkie enough to last you your whole life through?” Anyway, we’ll be photoblogging the whole crazy mess, so stay tuned.

In other news, I’ve completed the preliminary outline on THE UNSTEADY EARTH. Once I get my editorial feedback on THE WARLOCK’S CURSE, I will go back over both books and make sure they function as a cohesive duology. Once that is done (and TWC is off to the copyeditor) then I will have a lot more time to work on all the shorter pieces I have promised. Lots of writing to get done before the end of the year.

 

Adventures in Vaping

I’ve been meaning to write up a post on vaping for quite a while now, because it’s a rather complicated subject and one which many people seem to be interested in. And as a long-time vaper who has spent hundreds of dollars trying out different systems, I’m sure my learnings will be useful to others. So here goes!

First of all, what is vaping?

“Vaping” is the term used for the “not-smoking” that you do when you use an eCigarette. An eCigarette (or “electric cigarette”) is a portable device that vaporizes “eJuice”—a mixture of glycerine, water, alcohol and nicotine. The vapor has many of the same qualities as cigarette smoke, without the same deleterious effects.

What are the benefits of vaping?

Because you’re not inhaling smoke, you are avoiding all the harmful substances—tar, benzine, radioactive polonium—that smoke contains. It is a pure nicotine delivery system—rather like the difference between taking two aspirin and chewing on a handful of willow bark. Of course I’m not saying that nicotine itself is the best thing in the world for you. But if you’re addicted to it, vaping is a much better way to get it into your system than cigarettes—and WAY cheaper than nicotine gum or nicotine patches. You can mix your own eJuice, dialing down the amount of nicotine gradually. Many people have found eCigarettes a great way to quit using nicotine all together, tapering off at their own pace. I myself have gotten to the point where I vape nothing more than glycerine, alcohol, water and flavoring (my favorite is anise.) Why would anyone continue to vape if there was no nicotine in it? Sheer habit. Some writers chew on a pen when they think; I suck on a vape-stick.

Where can I buy an eCigarette?

eCigarettes are quickly gaining in popularity, as demonstrated by the fact that you can now buy disposable varieties in many drug, grocery, and liquor stores. That being said, the eCigarettes you can buy in drug, grocery, and liquor stores are, across the board, complete garbage. They are not refillable, the batteries either die quickly or are dead out of the box, and they are not rechargable. I would only recommend buying them to see how you like the eCig experience. If you decide you like it, then it’s time to move up.

What kind of eCigarette should I buy?

This is where things get tricky, and where I’m hoping I can save you the hundreds of dollars I’ve dropped on experimentation. There are dozens of sites online selling eCigarettes, and some of them are incredibly shady, as are their products. After several expensive mishaps, I have come across one brand that I can recommend as dependable, reliable and well-made—and that is Joye. They have a really good line up of products. I would suggest purchasing your supplies from one of their affiliate partners to avoid getting ripped off. The site I use most frequently is myvaporstore.com. They have a good selection and I’ve never been disappointed. (Of course, YMMV—I am not affiliated with any retailer and am not here to shill for anybody in particular.)

A guided tour of eCigarette components

In general, an eCigarette has three parts:

An eJuice reserve (either a cartridge or a tank)
An atomizer (to vaporize the juice)
A battery (to fuel the atomizer)

The Battery. You will be faced with a couple of different choices when it comes to batteries. Some batteries run at a higher voltage, which allows the atomizer to get hotter and create more vapor. Higher voltages, however, can cause your atomizer to burn out more quickly.

You will also need to choose whether you want an “automatic” style battery or a “button” style. The automatic style most closely replicates the action of a “real” cigarette; the act of drawing on the eCig is what makes the battery turn on. These kinds of systems, however, are notoriously dodgy. They can short out, the battery can get stuck in the “discharge” mode—and then you have a dead battery (and thus, a dead eCig) in no time. That’s why I favor the button type. You have to push and hold a button in order to activate the battery. It’s less like “real” smoking, but it’s just a better, more stable system overall. In some, the button can even be used to “lock” the battery. In the Joyes that I favor, pushing the button five times quickly locks the battery, so you can throw the setup into your purse (or pocket) without worrying about the battery accidentally discharging. I find that feature invaluable.

One nifty little gizmo you’ll want to get if you’re vaping a lot is called a USB passthrough. It’s a kind of battery that has a USB charging port at the base, so you can continue to vape while you’re charging the battery. I keep one plugged in by my computer so I can sit and vape while I’m writing. And if I leave to do errands, all I have to do is unplug it and throw it into my purse and I have a fully charged battery (and by the the way, the Joye batteries last a REALLY long time. My husband swears he can get by for days on a full charge.)

The Atomizer & Reserve. There are a few different atomizer/juice reservoir setups available. The most common is an atomizer plus a cartridge. The cartridge, or “cart” is a plastic cylinder with a wad of polyfill batting inside. The batting is saturated with juice, and the juice is delivered to the atomizer via osmosis. In some eCigarettes, the cart is separate from the atomizer, and can be removed, which allows a user to resaturate it via the “drip” method—that is, dripping juice into the batting. That method is kind of slow and messy and I can’t say that I recommend it.

Most retail eCigarettes employ “cartomizers.” In a cartomizer, the atomizer and the cartridge are one self-contained unit. They can sometimes be refilled (but not easily), and are really intended for single-use only. There is a slight benefit to these, in that every time you use a new cartomizer you’re getting a fresh new atomizer, but they’re also incredibly wasteful and expensive. If you’ve ever seen the popular “Blu” cigarettes, they use cartomizers.

Another setup, and one that I personally prefer, is a tank system (I use the Joye eGo-Tank). There is no wick, no batting—instead, you fill up a tank with eJuice and the eJuice is delivered directly to the atomizer. These are easily refillable and far less wasteful. And they last WAY longer.

In an good eCigarette setup, the atomizer itself is what dies most quickly. It’s what’s doing all the heavy lifting in the eCig system, and it can get clogged or burn out just from normal use. The next system I’m going to try is the Joye eGo-C, which also uses a tank system but which allows for easy replacement of the atomizer.

Making your own eJuice

eJuice is really incredibly simple stuff to make, and it’s cheap. It is nothing more than food-grade glycerine, alcohol, water, nicotine (if you want it) and flavoring (if you want it.) You can buy food-grade glycerine from any craft store—it’s used to thin cake frosting and is usually found in the cake-decorating aisle. The proportions are about 50% glycerine to 50% alcohol (I use vodka). For flavoring, you can use just about any regular flavoring extract, just the normal kind you buy at the store. I use pure anise extract in an alcohol base (reducing the amount of vodka accordingly.) The only important thing is to get a flavoring that has an alcohol base, not an oil base, as the oil base can clog up your atomizer.

Dangers of eCigarettes

There’s really only one big danger with eCigarettes, and that’s handling the nicotine. Concentrated liquid nicotine is VERY dangerous stuff, especially to children and pets. Nicotine is also absorbed through the skin very readily. You can transdermally absorb the equivalent of several cigarettes if you slop a bunch of that stuff on your skin when you’re refilling carts or tanks. Appropriate protective measures are strongly recommended.

And that’s it for now! I think that’s plenty of information to get started on. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments.

 

 

Five Years of Taboo!

Since the splendiferous  Vylar Kaftan posted this on her blog, I guess it’s safe to boost the signal here, too. She—along with the divine Jennifer Pelland and the exquisite Charlie Jane Anders—will be reading works of transgressive short fiction at Wiscon 36. As I’ve been doing the posters for the Taboo readings since the very beginning, I thought I’d post a little retrospective. Enjoy!

(As it turns out, the poster for Taboo 2 and Taboo 1 were mostly the same. I guess I got lazy that year or something.)

Anyway, If you’re going to be in Madison, Wisconsin later this month, I strongly recommend you attend this reading. I can virtually guarantee that it’s going to be swell!