Jim C. Hines's Blog, page 219

The Good, The Bad, and the Totally Unrelated

The good: #2 on the Locus Bestseller list, baby! And it sounds like we had a pretty narrow margin between myself and Charlie Stross, who took the #1 spot. (Congrats to Charlie, by the way!)

The bad: My son got hit hard by a virus last night. Up all night ... um ... let's be euphemistic and say he was "deydrating himself". We took him in to the hospital this morning to get him rehydrated. He was very brave for the IV, and he should be okay once this thing works through his system. He'll be i

Writing About Rape (Rape Awareness Month)

I'm not planning to get into graphic detail, but it's possible this post could be triggering for people. (Also, it has a small spoiler for Stepsister Scheme.)

I'm not going to get up on my Internet podium and proclaim The Rules for Writing About Rape in Fiction. Aside from the fact that there are few unbreakable Rules in fiction, I don't see the need for me as a white man to lecture about the Right Way to write about rape. I'd rather just share my own thoughts, the things that piss me off and

It's Haiku Time!

Before I get into the giving away of free books, I was wondering if anyone knew of good online resources for writing about sexual assault issues in fiction. I'm thinking about a post about it, and would like to be able to include other links if they're out there. Thanks!

I said I'd be giving away two copies of The Stepsister Scheme [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] this time, one just for entering and another to the best princess-themed haiku.

The random number generator selected will_couvillier to w

How to Write a Bestseller (Simon Green)

Let me get this out of the way right up front. I don't actually know how to write a bestseller. If I did, I would have already written one.

I've been reading some books by Simon Green which my agent was kind enough to send my way. The Man with the Golden Torc and the first three books of the Nightside series. Green is a New York Times bestseller with dozens of books to his name, so clearly he's doing something right.

Yet as I was reading, I wasn't blown away by his books. They weren't bad, bu

Goblin Flasher

Note the 1st: Stephen Leigh, aka S. L. Farrell, aka sleigh invited me to guest blog for his series on Capturing the Elusive Novel. He's had some great guests so far. Check it out!

[image error] Note the 2nd: I came across the cover art for the Polish edition of Goblin War [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] yesterday, which I share here 'cause I love what Poland has done with these books. Click the thumbnail for the full version, or check out the goblin artwork page on my site. I'm a little sad that Jig lost his

Sleeping Beauties (Rape Awareness Month)

"...when the king beheld Talia, who seemed to be enchanted, he believed that she was asleep, and he called her, but she remained unconscious. Crying aloud, he beheld her charms and felt his blood course hotly through his veins. He lifted her in his arms, and carried her to a bed, where he gathered the first fruits of love. Leaving her on the bed, he returned to his own kingdom, where, in the pressing business of his realm, he for a time thought no more about this incident."

From "Sun, Moon, and T

The correct answer she was looking for is a giant ego! I have a giant ego!

1. Lots of great haiku coming in for the Stepsister Scheme giveaway. Remember, you've got until Friday to enter!

2. seanan_mcguire did a comic-style promo for her novel Rosemary and Rue [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy], which comes out in September. As someone who struggles to draw stick figures, I have a serious case of skillset envy over Seanan's artistic abilities.

3. Fictionwise appears to be having a 50% off sale, including electronic editions of Goblin Hero, Goblin War, and Stepsister Scheme.

Voting Update

All right, here's the deal. This whole Bookspotcentral book tournament has mostly been a lot of fun. I've found a few new books I'm interested in checking out, made some silly posters, and maybe even got a little buzz for the goblin books in the process.

But whoever's been making up multiple accounts to stuff the ballot box? I know you're probably trying to help, but:

1. This is a game. It's in no way worth cheating for.
2. This is 2009. You think the moderators can't tell what you're doing?

Then and Now

snurri posted the other day that Facebook is good for finding old pictures that maybe shouldn't be found. (I'm Jim C. Hines over on Facebook, by the way. Big shock, I know.)

By coincidence, that same day my friend Ann posted some pictures of our second grade class. Another friend noted certain ... similarities in pose and posture.

I have no idea what they're talking about.

Free Copies of Stepsister!

First off, a quick request on the Bookspotcentral tournament. Thanks to those of you who've voted (though I'm still getting whooped on this round). But please remember, I'm doing this thing for fun. Last year things got a little heated and unpleasant at one point. Yesterday I noticed a few "edged" comments toward the goblin fans in this round. Nothing nasty, but I'd ask that we keep it that way. Of all the things worth stressing and arguing about, this is as far down on the list as you can