Jim C. Hines's Blog, page 186

Clara's Hamster

Note: this story doesn't have a happy ending…

Last December, my sister-in-law talked to us about buying a hamster and cage for our nine-year-old daughter Clara.  I was a little hesitant, but we said yes.  It was the right choice.  Come Christmas, we went to my in-laws' place and swapped gifts.  When it was Clara's turn, we brought her back to the bedroom so she could see the little teddy bear hamster in his new cage.

Her reaction was pure, wide-eyed, hands-over-the-mouth joy.  She's always...

First Book Friday: Lynn Flewelling

Welcome to First Book Friday , an ongoing series exploring how various authors sold their first books.

Lynn Flewelling started writing "just for the fun of it."  Today she's the author of eight published fantasy novels, as well as a highly popular LiveJournal.  She talks about the decade-long journey of writing her first book(s), and some of the potholes along the way.  If you'd like to meet Flewelling in person, check out Writing on the Waves, where she'll be teaching a writing...

Back from Vegas

Back from Las Vegas. Friend is successfully married. Yay!

After getting up at 4:00 a.m. on Monday to check out of the hotel, return the rental car, and catch our flight back to Michigan, I'm still a bit brain frazzled.  But here are some random thoughts from the weekend…

-No, I did not gamble.  Not out of any moral stance, but because I'm good at math.1

-My agent sent me a $700 Czech check right before I left.  My car immediately broke, requiring $700 worth of repairs.

-All of the lights in our h...

First Book Friday: Tobias Buckell

Welcome to First Book Friday, an ongoing series exploring how various authors sold their first books.

Carribean-born Tobias Buckell is a busy guy.  In addition to his four published novels, including the New York Times bestselling Halo: The Cole Protocol, Buckell is the founder of SF Novelists, a full-time freelancer, and the father of one-year-old twins.  He and I share an agent, and it was through Toby that I connected with the folks at JABberwocky.  He took time to share the five-year...

Judging the Past Through the Lens of the Present

Today's rant comes courtesy of debates about Robert Heinlein.  Tor.com has an ongoing discussion about Heinlein and his work, one which has spilled into Twitter and a number of blogs.  Stirring up the anger and ire: claims that Heinlein and/or his work is sexist (possibly racist as well?)

Responses to these claims range from the thoughtful to the religiously righteous.  Fair enough, as the initial accusations probably span that same range.  But I want to focus on two kinds of responses.

1. "

Lego Puppet

On Thursday, my wife and I will be flying out to Nevada for a good friend's wedding, so blogging may be a bit sparse for the next week.  The trip should be fun.  Things like packing and figuring out how to get from point A to point 12 and what airport security is going to say about my wife's walker, not so much.

It's been over a decade since I lived in Nevada.  I'm looking forward to seeing some friends again.  Any tips for surviving airport madness?

In the meantime, LEGO Puppet. 

Because, come ...

Unholy Ghosts, by Stacia Kane

As I start thinking more about my next series, I find myself paying attention to what makes books stand out. Why does one fantasy hit big while another goes out of print and disappears?

This was in the back of my mind as I read Unholy Ghosts [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon], by Stacia Kane (stacia_kane on LJ). From a distance, this looks like another urban fantasy, albeit with a cooler cover than most, but two things stood out as I started reading:

1. The setting. Urban fantasy, yes … but...

First Book Friday: Lisa Shearin

Welcome to First Book Friday, an ongoing series exploring how various authors sold their first books.

Today's story comes from bestselling author Lisa Shearin (whose latest book Bewitched & Betrayed had a cameo in the new music video from The Guild — and yes, I'm jealous!)  Lisa talks about the excitement of getting The Call … both Calls, actually.  Lisa is also an active blogger, providing 23 metric tons of useful publishing and writing-related information each month at

La Gloire du Gobelin

1. Remember when I did those 20 Neil Gaiman facts?  Author Ann Aguirre is running a contest that involves Jim C. Hines facts, and she's giving away all of my books as prizes.  I just … wow.  Go.  Go now.

2. In further awesome and ego-boosting links, Catherine Schaff-Stump has written up her thoughts on Red Hood's Revenge.  But this is no ordinary review; this is the English professor treatment, and it is most nifty.

#

So anyway, when I posted a picture of my ego shelf a while back, I mentioned t...

Previously, on Princess Trek…

So I'm working on book four of a series, and I'm struggling with is how to provide all of the background information.  I've now got 300,000 words worth of "what came before."  Not all of that information is relevant to the current book, but some of it is.  So how do you work that in?

There's the "Our story so far…" approach, where the author presents a prologue that sums up the previous books.  I can see where that might be useful in an ongoing story, like book four of Lord of the Rings or...