Scott Lynch's Blog, page 11

Your Mood And How to Swing It

So, it should really come as no surprise to anyone that I'm a moody ol' son of a bitch, and that I have long preferred to work in the severest sort of isolation. My geographic position in rural Wisconsin makes it much too easy to maintain this posture, even when I'm feeling sociable. It also makes it particularly easy to dismiss steadily-worsening emotional problems as nothing more than further harmless sideshows at the Carnival of Quirks.

It's supposed to come with the territory... writers a...

Argh.

I suppose my venom in my previous post can be attributed, in part, to a discovery made during tonight's revision binge. Namely, that there's a continuity error so glaring early in the final third of TRoT that I simply cannot believe I let it slip in in the first place.

But these things clearly do happen, and there's an escalating continnum of author responses. Some errors can be rectified with the Painless Scalpel of Minor Adjustment. Others require the Burning Sword of Righteous Rearrangemen...

Touched By A Crazy Person: The 2009 Remake of a Horror Classic

A few years ago, I got my official first batshit crazy person e-mail, which I dissected here. That thing was a doozy, a spiel from some misguided, grammatically-variable wackaloon about how I'd personally ruined fantasy forever by letting black folks into my imaginary world.

Now, despite the nigh-unreadability of much of that letter, it was a classic showcase for two infinitely recurring elements of author harassment. Authors receiving hate-mail or completely unhinged criticism are handed the...

"Not many people know it, but the Fuhrer was a terrific dancer!"

Pat Buchanan, historically ignorant fascist moron or repulsive, lying fascist scumbag? Come to think of it, it doesn't have to be either/or.

Get Your Ass to Mars

There's a shiny new surprise at my website, to pass the time while other stuff is coming.

More News: Conquering Swords Anthology

Something else I can reveal, by kind permission of the masterminds involved.

Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan have been working to put together a collection (tentatively) titled Conquering Swords, an anthology of new swords-and-sorcery tales from the various young turks currently working in that vein, along with new tales from some of the Old Masters and Mistresses.

I sold them a short story titled "In the Stacks," in which an armed expedition attempts to return books to an ancient magical libra

New Website Freebies, Including TRoT Prologue

Have you ever visited an author's website and checked out their available previews or excerpts, only to find that each one is about a page or two in length? And have you ever banged your head on your desk and yelled, "Hey asshole, 1996 called, IT WANTS ITS INTERNET PARADIGM BACK!"

Well, I am through being that guy.

As part of an ongoing, step-by-step effort to restore and deepen the functionality of my website, I have updated my excerpts page with two new treats.

The first is a 40,000 word previe

Oh Goodie!

My scott@scottlynch.us e-mail is going to get fixed, but it might take about 24 hours or so. So, if you put anything terribly important in that box in the last two days, please be aware that's it's Schrödinger's Inbox until further notice.

I'm told that if my website blips out briefly as well, it's just a side effect of whatever the hell they're doing out there in the intertubes to unfuck my stuff.

I'd better get a coupon of some sort out of this.

"The Colour Out Of My Cat's Ass," by H.P. Lovecraft

Okay, little guys, seriously, what in the name of all that's holy did I just wipe up from the kitchen floor?

Can I get an anatomical point of origin, at least?

Wow.

Stalking the Wild Armadillo

ArmadilloCon was a pleasure, a very friendly and relaxed gathering of about 400 people, give or take. Emphasis was heavily on literature and conversation; there was no masquerade, dance, film room, anime room, etc. as you might find at a larger and more general convention. I don't mean that in any sort of stodgy fashion; there was programming on TV and film topics, and, geeks being geeks, just about anything was apt to be germane in blather at panels, meals, and room parties.

The folks running th