Michael W. Lucas's Blog, page 53
June 1, 2016
Two new stories and a novella
In May, I started slogging through my backlog of fiction to be published. I’m happy to announce two new stories and a novella. Click on the cover images for more details on each.
First, I finally leveraged my technology experience into my fiction. The result is, of course, a DevOps murder mystery story. I can’t say that Forced to Talk, Like, With Your Mouth is based on folks I know. But I can say that I know folks an awful lot like these folks.
The story Moonlight’s Apples brings us Tough Bik...
May 31, 2016
Reality check for “PAM Mastery.”
Two blog posts in one day, after a few weeks of silence? It happens. Weirder still, there will be another tomorrow. I’m asking for help from my tech book readers here.
Some things are such an integral part of my life that I can’t imagine others are unfamiliar with them. I’m considering using one of them for “PAM Mastery,” but I must consider that perhaps not everyone understands it. I don’t want to say what particular part of my life I’m talking about, as that would invalidate the test here.
...BSDCan Intro Session Volunteers Wanted
A person’s first visit to a particular tech con can be overwhelming. BSDCan is now having an introductory session for new attendees, to try to ease them into the event. Somehow, I’m running it.
From 6-9 PM on Thursday night I’ll be in DMS 1160 to greet new BSDCan attendees and discuss how the conference runs with folks new to BSDCan.
I would really like someone from each of the BSD projects to help me ease new attendees into the con. Ideally I’d be able to say “Oh, you want FreeBSD? Let me in...
May 26, 2016
My FreeBSD story
I’ve posted the story of why I like OpenBSD elsewhere on this blog. It made a fine conclusion to the new Absolute OpenBSD.
The FreeBSD foundation finally convinced me to write a similar tale for FreeBSD. You can find it on the Foundation blog.
It involves monkeys.
(First post in a while? Yep. I’ve been busy, but not with anything worth posting.)
April 26, 2016
Books for “FreeBSD Mastery: Advanced ZFS” print sponsors
I return from my literary forced death march writing class in Oregon to find this.
Which I have partially transformed into gifts for the folks who were kind enough to sponsor FreeBSD Mastery: Advanced ZFS.
I’m heading for the post office now, to relieve myself of the responsibility for these.
Mind you, one of these gets delivered to Perry, Michigan, about a 90 minute drive away. It did occur to me to drive up there and hand-deliver the book. But that a) is stalkery, and b) uses up time I ne...
April 17, 2016
“FreeBSD Mastery: Advanced ZFS” now available!
It’s been leaking out for a while, but now that you can get print and ebook, I guess I can say:
FreeBSD Mastery: Advanced ZFS is out!
The “advanced” is an important word. This is the toughest, most complicated book I’ve ever written.
April 11, 2016
Penguicon 2016 Lucas Track Schedule
While the folks at Penguicon reserve the right to change the schedule at any time, we’re close enough to the con that I’m comfortable releasing my talks and panel schedule. This is extracted from the official Penguicon descriptions. and schedule.
Friday, 30 April:
6 PM – Social Media for Writers (panelist) – Hamlin
What social media trends does a writer building their web footprint need to understand? What are some Dos and Don’ts?
8 PM – PAM: You’re Doing It Wrong (speaker) – Windover
PAM, or...
April 8, 2016
“FreeBSD Mastery: Advanced ZFS” sponsor check
(I wrote sponsors an email with this information earlier, but email is not exactly reliable, so I’m posting it here as well.)
The good news: the book is almost here!
I’m greatly touched by how many people offered their support. The least I can do is verify that I’m spelling your name correctly.
Here’s the sponsor list, as well as my notes on any instructions you sent with your sponsorship. Please double-check that I:
used the desired name spelled your name correctly (especially any non-US ch...April 6, 2016
Book Bundles
It’s been a really busy month. FreeBSD Mastery: Specialty Filesystems came out, as did my BSDNow interview about it. About a month ago I released my new crime novel, Butterfly Waltz Stomp. And the new Immortal Clay novel, Kipuka Blues, officially landed yesterday. I’d planned to blog about the novel release, but Wayne County decided that they needed me to spend the day in the Juror Lounge, waiting for my name to be called so an attorney could look at me and say “Oh, hell no, get out of here.”...
April 1, 2016
Interview with me at BSDNow
Kris and Allan of BSDNow interviewed me this week, about FreeBSD Mastery: Specialty Filesystems.
Also about the Lucas Track (now up to ten events, I must be even nuttier than I thought!) at Penguicon, and about my new novels.
Also, how to intimidate Allan Jude into working harder. Always useful information.
