Jim C. Hines's Blog, page 190

Parenting Shoutout

Hey locals - the Lansing and East Lansing B&N stores now have autographed copies of Red Hood's Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon] in stock.  What are you waiting for?

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Chris McKinney sent me fan art.  Specifically, Chris combined Jig the goblin and the fine art of sporkstabbing.  And also Pokemon.  I am much amused.

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As those of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook might already know, I ended up taking my wife into the ER on Thursday.  It sounds like she tore some muscle/ligaments ...

In Ashes Lie, by Marie Brennan

In Ashes Lie [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon] is Marie Brennan's sequel to Midnight Never Come, which I reviewed here.  Set a hundred years later in seventeenth century England, book two follows Lune, now queen of the Onyx Court, and Antony Ware, the human who rules at her side as Prince of the Stone.

As England falls into civil war, Lune must face enemies both from other faerie realms and within her own court.  Her enemies attack both the Onyx Court and London above.  Intrigue and betrayal ...

Random Thursday Thoughts

Our local pizza place has a sticker which reads, "Property protected by 24 hour vidoe surveillance."  Not a hand-scrawled note, but a professionally printed sticker.  This sort of thing is kryptonite to me.  I had to fight the urge to rip the sticker off the window and encase it in lead.

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Elizabeth Moon has a LiveJournal.  Yesterday, she shared her thoughts about military discipline and the removal of General McChrystal.  In addition to being an excellent author, Moon is also a former junior o...

Ethics of Review Copies

I mentioned on Monday that I had received my author copies of Red Hood's Revenge, which means review copies should also be available.  If you're a reviewer and would like DAW to send you a copy of Red Hood (or any of my DAW titles), please let me know and I'll see what we can do.

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Earlier this week I stumbled into a conversation about the practice of reviewers turning around and selling review copies on eBay.  This includes both advanced review copies (ARCs) and copies of the finished books.

I ...

8 Books in 8 Weeks: Week Seven

Looking back, it was exactly two weeks before the official release of The Mermaid's Madness that I started to see copies trickling into the bookstores.

[image error]It is now exactly two weeks until the release of Red Hood's Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon].  I'm just sayin'…

(If you do decide to rush out and search for the book, I strongly suggest calling the bookstore beforehand.  The official release date isn't until July 6, so most stores probably won't have it in stock yet.)

Anyway, I'm...

The Ego Shelf

I think I've mentioned the Ego Shelf once or twice before.  We joke about authors and their egos, and there is some truth to the jabs.  Authors do tend toward the egotistical.  After all, we think our words are good enough that you should pay money just to read them.

But the ego shelf isn't about feeding the ego.  (Not just about that, at least.)  It's not "Look upon this shelf and bask in my awesomeness!"  It's not about whose shelf is longer.  It's about … let's call it positive...

LEGO Monster Chess

[image error]Free book!  T. J. Bronley is giving away a copy of Goblin Quest over on his blog.  Leave a comment by midnight on June 23 to enter.  Thanks, T.J.!

You've also got a few days left to win an autographed book from me.  Details here (or on LJ).

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Okay, this is the first LEGO build I've posted that truly scares me.  This is Monster Chess.  Built by Team Hassenplug, this chess set features thirty-two robot pieces (plus spares), each working independently.  It cost about $30K to build, and includes...

The Spork Theory

Many of you are probably familiar with Spoon Theory, summarized as "Christine Miserandino's personal story and analogy of what it is like to live with sickness or disability."

I would like to propose a new theory, one which builds upon this model and explores what it's like to live with people's stupidity.  I'm calling it Spork Theory.

Imagine you have a dozen sporks.  Over the course of each day, it's likely you'll encounter stupidity, and you'll have the urge to stab it with a spork.  For...

Star Trek Pants

I have nothing deep to blog about today, so I turn instead to another pressing question.  Does the Star Wars Pants game work with Star Trek as well?

You be the judge.  (And feel free to jump in and play with the pants in the comments.)

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"Captain, I believe I speak for everyone when I say … to hell with our pants."  -Data, First Contact

"Who's been holding up the damn pants?"  -McCoy, STII

"Rumors of my pants have been greatly exaggerated."  -Picard, First Contact

"That green-blooded son of a...

8 Books in 8 Weeks: Week Six

My next book, Red Hood's Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon] comes out on July 6.  Only three weeks until we get to meet Little Red Riding Hood, deadly assassin, and learn some of the secrets of Sleeping Beauty's fairy curse.  I'm counting down the days by giving away a book each week.

This morning I was told that Red Hood would be included in a DAW/Penguin dark fantasy floor display at Barnes & Noble.  Sweet!  Also, Sci-fi Fan Letter called it the strongest princess book to date. ...