Joseph Devon's Blog, page 8

Highbrow Pulp

I’ve mentioned Albert Berg (@albert_berg)on this website before. He’s written some of my favorite reviews of Probability Angels and Persistent Illusions, and he won a flash fiction contest I hosted a while back.

He is also the co-host, along with Tony Southcotte (@tsouthcotte), of the Human Echoes Podcast. Their podcast discusses a new horror movie every week. But that’s not really what the podcast is about. The podcast is about the conversations that these two guys have and the wide array, so...

Who Named This Storm Nemo?

This past Friday a massive snow storm hit the east coast. The name of this storm was Nemo. I am not the first person to note how ridiculous this name is, nor will I be the last, but come on. Who doesn’t think of a cartoon clownfish when they hear that name? I can’t even count how many photos I saw on Twitter of people shunning their Nemo stuffed animals because they were pissed at the storm.

Norman. There’s a good name for a winter storm. Creepy and subtle and hiding its dead mother in the att...

When Did I Write That?

Last week I was out ofcommissionwith a fever or a cold or something. That’s why I’m a little confused about when I wrote last week’s post. I remember answering Olga’s questions, and her response was quite amazing in its enthusiasm, but I also know that I was unconscious a lot around that time, so it’s a bit mysterious.

I guess I managed to be both productive and sick. Generally this is not how such events unravel. I’m sort of a wimp when it comes to being sick. I’m one of those people who wash...

Translation Questions

I received an email from a reader, Olga from Poland, today. Olga and I were emailing a lot a few months ago when she first read my books.

She actually won a signed copy for spotting a typo and sent me this photo to let me know that Probability Angels had found a good home.

During the course of those emailsshe asked if it would be okay if she were to translate Probability Angels into Polish for practice; translating books is what Olga wants to do for a living.

My response was to jump up and down...

Progress Without Milestones

Words continue to pile up for the first draft of book three. A title? That’s nowhere in sight. A notion of how all these stories come together? That’s…well that’s also murky. A clear idea of what happens next? Not so much.

And yet I continue to sit down every day, shut down all distractions, and write. The scene I’m working on unfolds, the next scene is hinted at, and the next day I continue this exercise. And the next. And the next. And, when all of these mysterious bouts of writing are strun...

This Week’s Distraction

I wandered through the internet the other day until I found myself at Translation Party.

I know. Nothing screams “Party!” like translating things.

But this site makes use of the joy of internet driven translators. It asks you to enter in an English phrase to start, then it translates it back and forth from Chinese to English, over and over, until an equilibrium is found. I’m a little hazy on what “equilibrium” means to them, sometimes it will say no equilibrium can be reached even though there’...

The Tester on My Train

I don’t know much about the subways of other cities, but in New York the station announcements are made both by the train’s conductor, and with pre-recorded messages. It depends on how new your train is whether or not your ride will favor the pre-recorded announcements or a human being.

So I was riding the A-line home yesterday from West 4th streetand the speaker was making the normal announcements at each stop, where we were and what connections could be made. I was reading so I wasn’t paying...

Things in My Brain This Week

Here’s what has been going on in my head this week.

Books: I just started reading Anna Kerenina. So many Ns. I’m loving it so far though I’m only 4% through according to my Kindle. I’ve been on a non-fiction kick for my last few books so I’m enjoying being back in the world of fiction. I also am coming around to Russian literature a lot more recently. I was not a fan, to put it mildly, a few years back. Plus, as with most older books, there’s a nice relaxed pace about the writing. I don’t feel...

Advertising on Reddit

Reddit calls itself “The Front Page of the Internet.” After months of screwing around with it I can safely say that this is an accurate statement.

Months. Literally. I’m old. It took me awhile.

When I first hopped onto the page I had no idea what it was or why I would want to go there. It was just a bunch of stuff being thrown at me.

Again. I’m old.

But since I was checking it out for possible marketing purposes I stuck around and eventually created an account and began to filter what, exactly, t...

New Year, Old Thoughts

Feels very odd that less thanforty-eighthours ago I was drunk on champagne screaming at a flashing ball dropping on my friend’sTV. Now I’m very blearily sitting at my computer trying to put together some sort of game plan for the new year.

I’m not very big on temporal markings. I hate birthdays and a lot of holidays just serve to remind me that time is passing and I can’t stop it. It’s fun.

New Year’s I generally like and I can get behind the notion of it being a brand new year and all of that....