Brenda Cooper's Blog, page 40

Authors and Covers

We have no say.

Here is a copy of the cover for an anthology I have a story in.  It's coming out on the 6th – which is next Tuesday.  It's either so bad that it's good or it's really, really bad.  I can see it on shelves right before Halloween, though.

It's being considered on the internets by other authors.

My story is one of the High Hills stories set in Laguna Beach, California, behind a magic door. It is not about a bunny, or a raccoon.  It is about a frog.  And I had a blast writing it. ...

Two Very Cool Futurist Events

I have been wearing my author hat lately because of book releases, but there are two very excellent futurist events worth discussing:  one in the recent past and one in the recent future.

I'll start with the recent past. The Seattle Times did a very nice article about futurists in the Sunday Magazine last week.  They mentioned me, in a small way, which made me feel fairly shivery and pleased, especially since they mentioned me in the company of a lot of excellent professional futurists...

Reading the Wind available in paperback

I'm pleased to announce that Reading the Wind [image error]the Street of All Designs.  If you then send me a comment...

What's Green, exciting, and then (hopefully) unnoticed?

In science fiction, we've long assumed that distance would disappear.  We do it with FTL travel so we can take our characters between planets the way we now travel between cities, we do it with instant communication devices, and we use teleportation.  We wave our science fictional hands at the challenges of communicating over great distances so regularly it's a standard trope, and no longer needs to be explained.

Well, it's also becoming more real.  Ever since a breakfast conversation I had...

Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming Site Interviews Me

I find the Wii a bit of challenge and run off the road easily in Mario Kart.  I suspect that means I might be a klutz in an MMO world.   Ah well, if I had time to play MMO games, I would love them.  I've watched over shoulders before and sighed heavily.  They're like TV – not a writer's best friend.  Actually, they're probably better than TV since there is a social aspect and they're more interactive.  Anyway, there is an interview posted.  And since I tried for adventure in the series...

Off to Flyball-Land

I write books.  My family does lovely things with dogs and tennis balls and pink uniforms.  This weekend I'm doing the dog thing.  If you're interested in dogs and tennis balls and leaping over jumps, here is  a video of the high end of the sport.  We will post info at http://www.threedogsblog.com if we have internets, else we'll use our iphones and post pics on twitter.

In the meantime, it's a drive from here to Idaho and back, two days in between surrounded by barking and excited dogs and...

In Which the Sf Signal Mind Meld Talks About First SF Reads

I got to participate again.  I really like these – both doing my little snippets for them, and seeing what we all come out with on the end.  Of note this time:  Many of us started with Heinlein.  There is also a Facebook thread on this based on a  tweet I  made at 2:00 AM (do people ever sleep?) and that thread follows the same pattern – a lot of Heinlein-era writers.  I guess this group is mostly my age. 

Another commonality to note is that these are almost all adventure stories.  I think t...

Reading Recommendation: Anathem (Neal Stephenson)

I just finished Anathem.  It was a marathon read.  I read it across my Kindle (easy on the eyes) and the Anathem[image error]audio book (awesome.   Well-read and well-produced).

I hated it at the beginning.  Slow, ponderous.  But once I got into it, the world is so deep and so exact it was a pleasure to be inside.  I felt like I lived on the planet...

A Stop by the Booksellers Association

I was lucky enough to be invited to the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association annual meeting in Portland.  The people were all very friendly and great lovers of books – mostly owners of independent bookstores, librarians, and publishers.  With a few authors here and there.  Obviously, the writer in me was tickled pink, Who wouldn't be happy to get to meet more of the people who help make or break our careers, and who helped most of us as we grew up.  In fact, besides wanting to be a...

Reading Recommendation: Hunting Ground

Patricia Brigg's second Alpha & Omega series book – Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega, Book 2)imgimg[image error]Hunting Ground – was a very fun, fast read.  I tend to buy whatever Patricia Briggs publishes and then just sit down and read it.  They don't take long – a few hours at most.  This series is in the wonderful Mercy Thompson world, definitely fast-paced urban fantasy with heavy romance tone.  Werewolves are fodder for very capable larger-than-life...