Jim C. Hines's Blog, page 195

Mad Libs Reviewing

It surprises me sometimes how many people are uncomfortable reviewing books.  I don't mean a professional, paid review for the New York Times, but just a note on the blog or Amazon or wherever.  A lot of people have told me they just don't know what to say, or they don't believe they can write a good review.

Fear not good people, for I have the solution.  Mad Libs Reviews take the stress from reviewing, and make for a much more entertaining read.  (In some cases, probably more entertaining...

Negative Reviews = Great News!

The fundraiser for rape crisis centers has raised more than $1000 as of 9:30 this morning.  Y'all are wonderful!!!  To celebrate, I'm adding an autographed copy of Heroes in Training [Mysterious Galaxy | B&N | Amazon] to the prize giveaway.  Thank you all!

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Over the past few weeks, Google Alerts brought word of a number of new reviews of my books.  At least half were wonderfully positive (thank you!), but some of them were … less flattering.

This is a good thing.

Don't get me wrong — I'd...

Lego Transformers (aka, Jim has a Geekgasm)

The not-a-raffle has raised more than $900 for rape crisis centers so far!  I'll be picking a winner on 4/16, which means there's still time for us to push that amount past the $1000 mark.

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There was more I intended to blog about today, but none of that matters anymore, because I have seen this:

A Flickr user named Orion Pax built Optimus Prime out of Lego.  A transforming Optimus Prime.  Click the pic or this link for the full set of Pax's Lego Transformers.

Oh yes, I said Transformers plural, ...

Answers, Part 1

Thanks for the great questions!  I'll be working through these over the next few days/weeks.  To get things started, I picked the most controversial, burning question of all:

From celestineangel , "Who would win in a fight: Talia or BATMAN?"

Notice how Batman is in all-caps?  It's a subtle psychological technique to give Batman the edge.  He's full of tricks like that.

The first question is which Batman?  The Adam West incarnation?  Talia wipes the floor with him.  Frank Miller's version? ...

Q&A

As of 8:00 this morning, the not-a-raffle fundraiser has raised $744 for rape crisis centers.  Sweet!  On a related note, my friend shadesong is fundraising for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center as part of the 5th Annual Walk for Change.  Her donations page is here.  If you donate, make sure to let me know so I can add your name to win that ARC of Red Hood's Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon].

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It's open question time here on the blog.  I've done this a few times before, and the...

Good and Bad

The Good Excellent: In the first 24 hours, the not-a-raffle has already raised over $400 for rape crisis centers, more than triple what we raised using an auction model. My thanks to everyone for their generosity, and for spreading the word.

The Bad: My cat Flop has a mass on his lip that needs to be surgically removed.  The vet isn't too worried … but they're worried enough to operate.  Flop's the one who used to snuggle up with my daughter every night before bed.  I'm pretty sure he'll be...

Fundraising for Rape Crisis Centers

Welcome to my not-a-raffle to raise money for rape crisis centers.

April is sexual assault awareness month. I had planned to raffle off an autographed advance review copy of Red Hood's Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon] with the only requirement being a donation to the Rape Abuse Incest National Network. As it turns out, Michigan law may or may not make that illegal. (I've been told both, and the office stopped answering my e-mails.)

So I'm doing things a little differently. I am...

Taking a Breather

I've seen a lot of Internet "discussions" go down in flaming, twisted wrecks over the years.  I want to thank everyone who commented on the blog this week.  I love that people are able to disagree, but are still willing to listen to what others are saying.  I love that while these are things people feel passionately about, I never once had to bring out the Moderator Hammer of Doom.  I love that I came away from the discussions with a lot more to think about.  Thank you all for that.

I had...

Racist, Sexist, and Homophobic

I posted Monday about the "Writing the Other" panel at Millennicon.  Today I wanted to address one of the comments.  Jim Van Pelt (whose writing I love, by the way — check it out) described an academic panel in which the moderator opened by saying, "If you are white, male and straight in America, you are also, automatically racist, sexist and homophobic."  Comment link here.

This next part is scary to write. To be clear, I'm not talking about you.  I'm not talking about Van Pelt.  I'm not...

Writing the Other

Last weekend, I moderated a panel on "Writing the Other," whether that Other meant someone of another race, another gender, another sexual orientation, or another species entirely.  The panel description asked "Can a man write from a woman's viewpoint?  A woman from a man's? Should they try?"

The consensus among panelists and audience was that these were very silly questions, and we weren't going to waste time on them.  Given the size and general wackiness of the Internet, I suspect that...