Jim C. Hines's Blog, page 220

Goblins in the Quarterfinals

By a single vote, Goblin War has made it to the next round of the Bookspotcentral Tournament where it faces off against Victor Gischler's book Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse.

This one's going to be tough. Like me, Gischler has also been sending his fans over to vote. He may not have cool posters, but he is posting boxing girl pics to help get out the vote.

Remember, you get one point for voting. Provide a clear reason for your vote, and that's a second point.

Thank you to everyone who has chimed

Bad Writing Advice

1. My pop quiz for writers regarding public (online) behavior, over at SF Novelists.

2. Mind Meld presents some of the Funniest Writers in the History of SF/F, including my contribution at the end. (Leading to a new question for the pop quiz -- when asked who the funniest authors are, do you proclaim yourself to be one of them? Really?)

3. I need to give away another copy or two of The Stepsister Scheme [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy]. Last time we did a joke contest. Any suggestions or preferen

Back and Done

Back from Millennicon. Much fun! It's a small con, but I got to hang out with lots of great folks, some of whom I'd met before and others I hadn't yet encountered in person. I got Twittered by John Scalzi, renamed by Stephen Leigh, and proved once again that my jacket is far more famous than I'll ever be. I'm also pretty wiped, but I'll try to post a more interesting roundup later this week.

And in book news, the first draft of Red Hood's Revenge is done. It's the shortest first draft I've e

Bookspotcentral, Round Three

Made it to Millennicon more or less intact. It's a fun little con so far. But that's not what's important.

What's important is that Goblin War has survived and is now in the third round at the Bookspotcentral March Madness Tournament. And you know what that means...

This time Jig and Smudge are up against Caine Black Knife, by Matthew Stover. More tough competition, but this round, I say we win one for Smudge! Click on the poster to show the fire-spider love! (And check out some of the other

Random Updatery

On Watchmen: The results of my highly scientific poll are in, and despite all the buzz about Dr. Manhattan's cerulean appendage, the really distracting protuberance is Nixon's nose (71% vs. 29%).

On Millennicon: I'll be there, along with plenty of other fun folks. Want to know where to find me?

Is the Short Story Dead?
Friday
08:00:00 PM
McKinley

AUTOGRAPHS
Saturday
12:00:00 PM
Hotel Lobby

How to NOT break into print
Saturday
02:00:00 PM
Taft

Where would I be without my D&D?
Saturday
06:00:00 PM
H

Anger, Part II

This is a follow-up to my post on anger from last week.

First off, a quick note -- it was pointed out elsewhere that in the ongoing race discussion, one thing that's happening a lot is that white writers are bringing the conversation into their own blogs rather than engaging in discussions out there, and that this is in some ways a power move. (My blog, my rules, so I'm safe here and can control things as I'd like.)

I'm not going to stop talking about things here, but I do think it's a good point

Watchmen Thoughts, with Spoilers (Duh)

Friday night, a friend and I went out to see Watchmen.

Let me get this out of the way up front so you can crucify me and get it over with. I've never read the graphic novel. I do live in a world of SF/F geekdom, so I know a fair amount of the story anyway. (Yes, I know about the squid.) But my thoughts here are based on the movie alone.

Let's get this nitpick out of the way first. Why would the smartest man in the world password-protect his computer with the title of a book sitting in plain s

Bookspotcentral, Round 2

Thanks to everyone who helped Goblin War get to the second round at Bookspotcentral. Now Jig is up against Jhegaala, by Steven Brust.

Brust is tough competition. I've met the man and got to sit on a panel with him a few years ago. Brust is a fun guy, and I like him. I've also read and enjoyed his work.

That said, Jhegaala has a big ol' dragon on the cover, and they don't call my goblin "Dragonslayer" for nothing.

Click the image to vote, and thanks again!

No Love for Mondays

The original plan was to try to write up part 2 of my anger post today. The new plan is to just stay home with the sick boy and try to avoid getting thrown up on again. (So far, I'm failing miserably at the vomit-dodging game.)

So instead, I'll share a link from haddayr for an alternative interpretation and timeline of the whole Racefail thing. Worth reading.

Gotta go. I've been asked to snuggle.

Bookspotcentral March Madness Book Tournament

So normally I don't do much in the way of campaigning for various awards and honors, mostly because it makes me uncomfortable. The Hugo award for best novel should go to the best novel, not to the author who did the best job of rounding up votes. Idealistic and maybe a little naive, I know. And I'm not saying anyone is wrong to campaign for votes or list their eligible works. But it's something that makes me uncomfortable.

Enter the Bookspotcentral March Madness Tournament. This one is just