Mark L. Van Name's Blog, page 291

In case you want to read more of my yakking

Head on over to Watch the Skies, where a nice guy named Eric did a short interview with me. I don't think I said anything earth-shattering, but I do wish I had that super power tonight.

Eric's group made One Jump Ahead their discussion book of the month. That makes me quite happy; I love it whenever folks are reading my books.

In other news, the weather forecast for tonight is dark, with continued dark until near the morning, at which point we anticipate some light.



(Yes, for those of you...

The goddess-seeking whack job is back

and this time he's written a book! I mentioned this guy about nine months ago, but I haven't thought much about him since then. Tonight, though, Sarah brought his site to my attention again, and the moment I saw it, I knew that all other blog topics would have to wait.

When we last visited with our goddess-seeking hero, he claimed to be working on a book. I have to give him credit for honesty on that front, because now he finished this important work and is offering it as an ebook. Check...

The worst childhood scars

(Warning: Adult content and language.)

We all carry them. Childhood is tough. Even in the best homes and with the best families, bad things happen, and they etch their marks in us forever.

Some homes and some families, though, are far from the best. Some harbor horrible abuses, and the scars on the children that emerge from those homes are deeper and more ragged than most. Perhaps the worst part is that those kids--and the adults they grow up to be--feel they constantly must hide those a...

That Jump Gate Twist news

A couple of days ago, I said I'd soon tell you about a cool new thing I'm doing for Jump Gate Twist. Now that I'm working on the original material for that book, I thought it was time to come clean.

I've mentioned before that the book will contain the very first Jon Moore story, "My Sister, My Self." This piece takes place when he was 16 years old and still on Pinkelponker--about 135 years before the events of One Jump Ahead. This story has been out of print for about 27 years, so I thought ...

Why does that man have such a goofy expression?

Because he finished Children No More, of course!

Okay, enough talking about myself in the third person. I hate that crap.

Anyway, this morning, I put the final touches on the book and sent it off to Publisher Toni.

Man, am I tired. This was a very hard book, but I believe the work was worth it. I also suspect this is the best thing I've ever written by a fair bit, though of course I can never be sure, and what is best for each of us is highly variable.

I then spent a considerable amount of ti...

In case I forget later

please remind me, when the time is right, to give you the details on the following cool things:

* a nifty announcement about Children No More. I mentioned this one before, but it is, if I may say so myself, something genuinely good that you don't see every day.

* a cool new thing that will appear in Jump Gate Twist (and, no, I'm not just talking the introductions or the amazing John Picacio cover)

What, me tease?

Never.

In the meantime, because The Hold Steady is bringing out a new album in ear...

If you want to read Sarah's writing

then I have, with her permission and even encouragement, a tip for you. Some friends of hers have gathered to create a blog in which they are alternating prose contributions. You can read it here.

Sarah explained (as does the blog in its first entry) that each piece of prose must center on a word the writer finds at oneword.com. The piece must then be exactly the number of words the writer got when she or he went to random.org and entered 15 and 500 as the limits of the random number. Th...

Art and bravery

Last night, my friend, Eric, gave a singing recital to raise money for the March of Dimes, where his wife (and also my friend), Anna Bess, works. Eric sang a broad range of songs that he divided into four groups. The show ran an hour and a half, and I very much enjoyed it. Though most of Eric's selections were fun songs, he included one dark piece that I had heard him perform before but still was very happy to hear again: Steinman's "Confessions of a Vampire," from the failed Broadway show...

Still not done!

Have you ever wondered what it's like for a writer who's almost done with a book but still hasn't quite finished it?

It's like this.

Yes, this.

I'm so close that a while back I refused to allow myself to get a haircut or trim any of my facial hair until I sent the book to Publisher Toni. I'm still refusing to do those things, because I will finish Children No More any day now.

Of course, turning myself into the Abominable Hairy Man does have its drawbacks.

For one thing, I'm going crazy and...

Happy-making io9 article

Okay, I admit it: I'm easy. Like so many writers, it takes very little to give my fragile writing ego a moment of happiness. So, as you might imagine, I was quite pleased to see the redoubtable Charlie Jane Anders pick my books as great candidates for movies in this very entertaining io9 article.

By the way, if you like SF and you don't read io9, you're making a big mistake. Start with this article, then explore the site; it's chock full of goodies. Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newit...