Jim C. Hines's Blog, page 217

Goblin Miniatures: Ahead Geek Factor Nine!

Oh yes. We have miniatures... They are ready for order, and available in finished pewter, hand painted, and unfinished ready to paint. Thank you Garden Ninja Painting Studio!





Can I get a booyah?

I had been planning to write more, but most of my life isn't all that exciting right now, unless you're into sick kids and overgrown lawns and the eternal question of whether or not Daddy will overcook the spaghetti tonight. (I've gotten better, and at least my pasta these days is generally edible.

German Stepsisters

Auction Update: I have two items in Brenda Novak's diabetes fundraising auction:

1. An autographed copy of Stepsister Scheme
2. A critique of a short story or the first chapter of a novel

The autographed book is currently at $19, and the critique is up to $50. Bidding for both ends on 5/31. As someone who's spent the past 10+ years shooting up on insulin, thank you.

#

I know I've said it before, but I love my German readers. This is a love that knows no bounds, and isn't the slightest bit influ

Star Trek: The Writers' Dialogues

Let me make this clear up front: I enjoyed the latest Trek movie. It was a fun little SF romp. I didn't love it the way a lot of folks seem to, but I did like it. Karl Urban as McCoy was my favorite, but I found myself liking most of the newly reinvented characters. I'm also impressed at how well the movie accomplishes precisely what it's supposed to: rebooting the series and clearing the way for new stories. A parallel universe storyline allows all of the old Trek histories and movies to s

Voting Time

Thanks to everyone who entered the caption contest. I had a blast reading all your entries.

I narrowed things down to my five favorites, along with a few random wild card captions. Please get your vote in by the end of the day on Thursday, 5/14. On Friday I'll announce the winner, who gets a copy of The Stepsister Scheme [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] delivered straight from Amazon.



If you don't have an LJ account, just leave your vote in the comments, along with your name.

View Poll: #1397992

Jumping to Wordpress

Reminder: Today's the last day to get your entries in for the caption contest. (If you miss this one, give me a few weeks. I've got an idea for one that should be even more fun, with an awesome prize to go with it. But I'm not going to tell you the details yet.)

As of today, I've officially put in the order to switch www.jimchines.com over to a Wordpress domain. For those of you already on Wordpress, I'd love to hear your suggestions about the most useful scripts, add-ons, and resources.

I'm tryin

Seanan McGuire, Daydreaming Time, and Jig in Jeans

Zipped off early from work yesterday to give fellow DAW author and renaissance woman Seanan McGuire ( seanan_mcguire) a lift to the airport, following her business trip to Borders HQ. (She was dazzling the buyers about her upcoming book Rosemary and Rue [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy].) Much fun finally getting to meet her in person, and I'm now the proud owner of an R&R ARC as well as several of Seanan's CDs. And yes, I'm sharing this purely for the gloat factor :-) Having read Seanan's book, a

My Null Ray

I'm going to blame this one on my son, who at the age of four is not only a huge Transformers fan, but also decided last night he wanted to listen to the songs from Dr. Horrible. He's so my boy.

So you can thank him for the following mash-up, to the tune of My Freeze Ray [video | lyrics].

I think this should take care of my geek cred for the next few months. Enjoy!

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My Null Ray

Megatron
Hard and cruel
Towering
Rambling
Want to say
You’re a fool
Here I go
Cowering

With my null ray I will rule the ’con

Caption Contest

Two quick announcements:

1. Another half-off sale at Fictionwise, for anyone who wants any of my e-books or e-stories at half price. (Or any of Fictionwise's other e-books, for that matter.)

2. Happy book day to Diana Pharaoh Francis ( difrancis), whose book The Turning Tide [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] comes out today!

Now on to the contest, which I'm blatantly ripping off from Jay Lake ( jaylake). Alethea Kontis ( princessalethea) has graciously given me permission to caption the following photo:



F

Post Penguicon

Penguicon seems to attract a wider range of authors and other guests than most Michigan cons. Got to see lots of old friends and some I hadn't really met or spent much time with before. Lots of fun, if a bit exhausting. I survived:

1. The 6-hour workshop/panel marathon OF DOOM. (8:00 am Sunday morning until 2:00 pm with no break.) I enjoyed the chance to do a lot of panels and keep busy, but this was a bit much. Thanks again to Angela for donating a McDonald's chicken wrap to keep me consc

Diabetes Auction and Your Weekend Quiz

Every year, author Brenda Novak holds an online auction to raise money for diabetes research. She's aiming to raise over $300,000 this year. As someone who's been shooting up with insulin for more than 10 years, I heartily support this. My father is also diabetic, and the genetic component means my boy has a higher chance than average of getting it as well. So if nothing else, go forth and bid for my son so he never has to deal with this crap!

The main auction page is at http://brendanovak.au