Mark L. Van Name's Blog, page 275

A quick update on the Children No More charity program

(In this entry, I assume you are aware of my goal of raising a lot of money to help child soldiers by donating all of my earnings from sales of the hardback of Children No More to Falling Whistles. If you're not, you can go to the Children No More site and learn more there. I'll be here when you return.)


We're in the mysterious phase of the process now. The book is in bookstores and available online. It's not a bestseller--I'm pretty sure we'd know if it was--but its Amazon ranking was for at ...

ReConStruction, day 4

Not much was happening at the con today, so I actually got a decent amount of sleep, said a bunch of good-byes, and then headed back to normal life. I'm catching up on work and writing and all the usual stuff, and I'm surprisingly tired despite the rest, so I'm keeping this short.

I watched the Anderson Silva/Chael Sonnen fight, and it was indeed everything folks were saying it was. Wow, did they go at it, and, boy, did Sonnen dominate for all but the last minute. They deserved the Fight ...

UFC 117: How we did

Last night's show featured several surprises and an amazing title fight. Beginning with the undercard, let's see how we fared. I must note that I haven't yet seen the fights; due to the con, I'll be watching my DVR'd copy of the broadcast a day late courtesy. For these comments, I'm relying on the fine MMAWeekly site.

Ben Saunders vs. Dennis Hallman

Kyle and I started the night in fine style by picking Saunders; too bad Hallman won a unanimous decision and, from the sounds of it, dominated...

ReConStruction, day 3

Though I went to bed rather late last night, I still got a reasonable amount of sleep because my first commitment--an autographing session in the back of the dealers' room--wasn't until noon. To my pleasant surprise, I signed books and chatted with people almost continuously for the full hour. Don't get me wrong: I wasn't one of those big-name writers that stare at a huge queue of folks waiting for them to sign books; I can still only dream of that. I've just never had an autograph session...

UFC 117: Kyle and I pick 'em

Hey, even in the midst of a con and the ongoing attempt to sell tons of copies of Children No More and help child soldiers, we can't forget the UFC. Where would it be without our picks? (Exactly where it is, of course, but we'll ignore that fact.)

Beginning with the undercard, here's how we see the fights.

Rodney Wallace vs. Phil Davis

Mark: You have to feel bad for Rodney Wallace. He was originally slated to face Stanislav Nedkov, but an injury led to Davis stepping in as a replacement. ...

ReConStruction, day 2

Today was insanely busy and remains so, so I will be keeping this short. I did a full day's worth of PT work; plugged away at the Children No More charity efforts--and wore my Falling Whistles whistle all day; participated in two panels; co-ran a two-hour writers' workshop; spoke at length at the Baen Books Traveling Roadshow about my new books; contributed to another panel from the audience; signed stock for multiple dealers; hung out a tiny bit with friends; hit a bunch of parties; and had...

ReConStruction, day 1

Here I am, sitting at a desk in a hotel working late in the evening at an SF convention, something I've done many times, and it feels slightly odd. The reason is that the con is in my city, Raleigh, and my house is only half an hour away. I'm not driving home, though, because staying here has many advantages, best use of time between panels being the primary one. Because I'm here, though, I'm going to provide my usual con reports. I'll try to stir in the occasional Children No More bit as...

Yeah, I know I'm her father

but I'm telling you, Sarah can write. Read this, and tell me I'm wrong.

I'm not.

Party night

Here in Raleigh, I don't attend a lot of parties other than the small extended-family gatherings I usually host, but tonight marked the kick-off of the NASFiC with two SF parties.

The first was an open house at Baen's offices in Wake Forest. The food and conversation were both excellent, and I got to catch up for a few minutes with Eric Flint (the con's Guest of Honor), John Kessel, and my publisher/editor, the redoubtable Toni Weisskopf (the con's Toastmaster). I also had the chance to me...

The worst thing...

(In this entry, I assume you are aware of my goal of raising a lot of money to help child soldiers by donating all of my earnings from sales of the hardback of Children No More to Falling Whistles. If you're not, you can go to the Children No More site and learn more there. I'll be here when you return.)


People often begin discussions of rough topics with that phrase. When it comes to child soldiers, though, there are so many aspects of the problem vying for the title of "worst" that it's al...