Jim C. Hines's Blog, page 203
December 11, 2009
Zombie Rhymes: Little Miss Muffet
Zombie Miss Muffet
by Jim C. Hines
Little Miss Muffet
sat on a tuffet
eating her old friend Trey.
Along came a spider
who sat down beside her
and squish – she had spider paté.
December 10, 2009
The Conspiracy Against New Writers
• I've got a book signing 12/17 at 7:00 at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor. Just in case any of you A2 folks need Christmas gift ideas :-) The last time I did an Ann Arbor signing, we got one of the nastiest blizzards I can remember. I'm hoping this doesn't become a pattern.
• 
Dragovianknight made this wonderful Christmas LJ icon from the cover of Mermaid. I love it!
• For those of you who read electronically, Fictionwise is running a pretty nice sale. Looks like 40% off of short fiction, and ...
December 8, 2009
Stop — Drama Time
I'm reminded once again that conflict and drama make popular blog topics. Therefore, I feel it's time for me to announce my newest project, an unauthorized anthology of Twilight fiction titled Fuschia Eclipse.1
The project will be published by Penguin Droppings, a revolutionary new self-publishing branch of Penguin.2 Publishing is changing, and it's time to do away with the gatekeepers of traditional publishing and make way for the new millennium!
I had originally hoped to be able to pay...
December 7, 2009
Short Fiction Pay Rates
A week or so back, John Scalzi tore into Black Matrix Publishing for their short fiction pay rate of 1/5 of a cent per word. Black Matrix responded, explaining that this is a "labor of love." They never implied that they were a pro market, and isn't a token payment better than none at all? (I believe Publish America uses the same rationalization with their $1 advance.) Scalzi promptly shredded their arguments.
Cat Valente weighed in as a "mid-career author" who writes a lot of short...
December 4, 2009
Zombie Rhymes: Three Dead Mice
Three Dead Mice
by Jim C. Hines
Three dead mice.
Three dead mice.
Hear how they moan.
Hear how they moan.
They all chased after a bloke named Pat.
He caved in their skulls with a cricket bat.
If only he'd noticed that undead rat
behind the mice
who nipped him twice.
—
If any of my artistically inclined readers are interested in doing sketches to go with these, please let me know. No pay or anything like that — it's all for the sheer, morbid fun.
December 2, 2009
Why I Haven't Written a 4th Goblin Book
At least once a month, I receive an e-mail or a comment asking if I'm going to do a fourth goblin book. The answer has always been, "Probably not." I can think of only two situations wherein I might consider writing another goblin book:
DAW offers to pay me a million dollars1.
I come up with an idea for a goblin story that is both new and exciting to me as a writer.
[image error]The thing is, in my brain, Jig's story is finished. I've shown him and his fellow goblins growing and changing over the...
December 1, 2009
Tuesday Crud
• For a day or two there, I thought I might be lucky enough to dodge the cough/crud that had hit the rest of the family. I was wrong. Stupid crud.
• As a follow-up to yesterday's post, check out Kate Harding's slideshow of various BMI ranges. (I particularly like Moxie's pic.) Thanks to @skyladawn for the link.
• Huge congrats to Michael Jasper and Niki Smith. Their comic In Maps & Legends won Zuda's competition for November, meaning my buddy Mike now has himself a publishing contract...
November 30, 2009
Lincoln U's Big Fat Fail
In 2006, Lincoln University in Pennsylvania instituted a policy that students with a BMI of 30 or higher must take a "Fitness for Life" class. The students affected by this rule are now seniors, some of whom may not be able to graduate, either because they haven't gotten their BMI tested by the university or because they have a BMI of 30 or higher and haven't taken the class.
James DeBoy, chair of Lincoln's health, PE, and recreation department, explains:
"This country's in the midst of an...
November 25, 2009
Zombie Rhymes: Jack and Jill
1. Voting is now open for the Urban Goblin Cover Contest. If you don't have an LJ account, please leave your vote in the comments.
2. I was asked to post my thoughts on the Harlequin vanity publishing flap, but I could never do as thorough a job as author Jackie Kessler has done. She's been kicking ass about this mess on her blog and LJ.
3. I'm going to try to go offline for the next few days to enjoy the holiday with my family, and maybe get some writing done. To everyone in the U.S., have ...
November 24, 2009
SF Novelists Day
• Interested in a custom-painted mini of Jig the goblin? Garden Ninja has offered one for bidding here to benefit Tu Publishing, a publisher focusing on multicultural SF and fantasy for children and young adults.
• Mel Grant's cover sketch for Red Hood's Revenge showed up in my e-mail today. My biggest fear was that switching artists in mid-series would mean book three wouldn't be recognizable as a princess book. While I did have some feedback on the cover, I'm feeling better about this...
