Jim C. Hines's Blog, page 211

Time & Priorities

My daughter is going to be nine next month.  She's gotten old enough to understand that Daddy tends to disappear when he's on deadline.  The four-year-old is less patient, as evidenced by his comment yesterday evening:

"But Daddy, we haven't roughhoused together in a while today."

The "today" makes me smile, but this kind of comment is still a powerful gut punch.  Writing is my second job, and that means a lot less free time.  I've talked before about trying to balance writing and family and every

Diabetes Details 2: Bottles & Belly Shaving

Like the first Diabetes Details post, I have no idea how many people will be interested in this, but I'm writing it anyway.  A few of you will be happy to know this one has zero needle-related content.

I've been using an insulin pump for about six years now.  Basically, the pump is a pager-sized device that provides a constant baseline flow of insulin into a small catheter in my belly.  I can also program an extra dose of insulin when I eat, or if my blood sugar is too high.

The problem comes abou

Race in Red Hood

As a follow-up to the various discussions of race in SF/F, I wanted to talk about one of my own stumbling blocks as I was writing Red Hood's Revenge.  This book takes place primarily in Talia's home country of Arathea, described in earlier books as a desert culture with a vaguely middle-eastern flavor.  (Similar to the pseudo-European flavor of Lorindar.)

I wrote a scene in the first draft that I wasn't happy with.  It involved the Arathean attitude toward homosexuality, which basically amounted

Truthseekers: Welcome to Blackriver, by Rob St. Martin

I started reading Rob St. Martin's Truthseekers: Welcome to Blackriver [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy]  on the drive back from vacation.  I finished it fairly quickly, and immediately jumped back into revision madness, so it's taken me almost a month to actually post a review.  Bad Jim.

This first Truthseekers volume is a collection of intertwined short stories centering around fifteen-year-old Ashley Bennett.  When Ashley's parents are murdered, she has to leave Toronto and move to the small town o

Open Book Thread

82000 words and counting.  23 chapters done, with 2 more to go.  I can do this….

But forget about me.  A few of my friends have books out this week.  Let's talk about them.

Treason's Shore [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] is the fourth and final book in Sherwood Smith's Inda series.  Check out her LiveJournal announcement for details about the book and the series, or just head over and congratulate her.

This week also marks the release of Vanished [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] by my JABberwocky buddy Ka

Individual Pieces vs. the Larger Puzzle

kaiweilau posted photos of the Sedlec Ossuary in Prague.  From Wikipedia, "The ossuary contains approximately 40,000-70,000 human skeletons which have been artistically arranged to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel."  This blows my mind on multiple levels.  Just … wow.

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Yesterday's discussion about the Mind-Blowing SF Manthology was interesting.  Some of the comments reminded me of things that were said about the Realms mermaid cover.  With Realms, a number of people said it was unf

Three Point Monday

The current plan is to finish this draft of Red Hood's Revenge by the end of the week, then use next week to make final changes before turning it in.  This may or may not interfere with the blogging.  Today it does, so here's your Monday quickie.

1. Thanks to everyone for your feedback and suggestions on the Red Hood teaser.  I sent that in this morning … only to learn there had been a miscommunication at the publisher and they actually needed it in mid-July.  D'oh!  But sometimes these things ha

Red Hood Teaser Help

In the back of The Stepsister Scheme is a one page teaser ad I wrote for Mermaid's Madness.  I asked the folks at DAW if I could do one for Red Hood to go into Mermaid, and they said sure.

I need to get this turned in tomorrow.  If anyone wants to take a peek and let me know what you think, I'm sticking the TIP (teaser in progress) behind the cut.  Any and all feedback is appreciated.

Roudette's story was a simple one. A red cape. A wolf. A hunter.

Her mother told her she would be safe, so long as

Book Winners

First off, thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway for The Stepsister Scheme [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy].  Usually when I do these contests, I end up frustrated that I can't give out more books.  I was hoping that by giving away four books this time, that might help.  But no.  There were still far too many fun entries, and I'm sorry I can't just go on a book-giving spree and hand 'em out to everyone.

So with entries on LiveJournal, Facebook, and the Web site, I put together a big old list an

Free Books Friday

I have another IBARW post planned, but haven't had a chance to write it all out yet.  So instead, I figured I'd just give away some books.

[image error]Specifically, I'm giving away four autographed copies of The Stepsister Scheme [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy]. All I ask in return is that you post a review of the book between now and October 6.

Yes, it's a blatant attempt to get a few more reviews out there before the next book hits the shelves.  But it's also free books for you, so I figure it's a win-win.

If y