Marty Halpern's Blog, page 33

A warning to college profs from a high school teacher

Warnings from the Trenches

A high school teacher tells college educators what they can expect in the wake of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.

By Kenneth Bernstein



You are a college professor.

I have just retired as a high school teacher.

I have some bad news for you. In case you do not already see what is happening, I want to warn you of what to expect from the students who will be arriving in your classroom, even if you teach in a highly selective institution.

No Child Left Behind went into effect for the 2002–03 academic year, which means that America’s public schools have been operating under the pressures and constrictions imposed by that law for a decade. Since the testing requirements were imposed beginning in third grade, the students arriving in your institution have been subject to the full extent of the law’s requirements. While it is true that the US Department of Education is now issuing waivers on some of the provisions of the law to certain states, those states must agree to other provisions that will have as deleterious an effect on real student learning as did No Child Left Behind—we have already seen that in public schools, most notably in high schools.



....



Let me end by offering my deepest apologies, not because I may have offended some of you by what I have written, but because even those of us who understood the problems that were being created were unable to do more to stop the damage to the education of our young people. Many of us tried. We entered teaching because we wanted to make a difference in the lives of the students who passed through our classrooms. Many of us are leaving sooner than we had planned because the policies already in effect and those now being implemented mean that we are increasingly restricted in how and what we teach.



Now you are seeing the results in the students arriving at your institutions. They may be very bright. But we have not been able to prepare them for the kind of intellectual work that you have every right to expect of them. It is for this that I apologize, even as I know in my heart that there was little more I could have done. Which is one reason I am no longer in the classroom.

This is one of the most devastating/condemning essays on the state of the contemporary American educational system that I have ever read. I am a credentialed teacher, by the way. I first leaned about this essay via Hacker News, pointing to a link on The Washington Post , from which I snagged this blog post's title: "A warning to college profs from a high school teacher." As of this posting, The WP column has more than 2,300 comments.

The essay's original publication was in the January-February 2013 issue of Academe , the journal of the American Association of University Professors. You will want to check out the dozen or so comments on this site as well.

Either link, this is a must read for all educators, parents, community workers, politicians -- hell, all Americans.

Thank you, Kenneth Bernstein, for your service to education.

A Day in the Life with Android (Part 4)

This is Part 4 in my continuing series in which I share how I use my Google/ASUS Nexus 7 tablet on a day-to-day basis. Part 1 covers my hardware accessories and business apps; Part 2 focuses on a variety of utilities; and Part 3 deals with social media and related apps as well as ebook readers.




This time around I will be covering most of the apps that are left -- a combination of utilities, news apps, and apps that didn't fit in the previous three posts, excluding games and audio-video apps. I'll delve into a few of the games I have, as well as my audio-video apps in Part 5, the last (hopefully) of this series. Really, though, what would an Android device be without at least a few games, some tunes, and a movie or two.




But before proceeding forward I need to go back a step, or two.


To quickly recap something from Part 1: I stated that I was using the Swype beta keyboard, which I was quite fond of. Then, Swype released a revision to the keyboard, and in the process broke a number of the keyboard's key (no pun intended) features. So, I switched to a competitor's keyboard, SwiftKey beta keyboard. Well, as is typical with Android apps, Swype released yet another revision to their keyboard that fixed all the issues and, in addition, included some new features. As of this writing, I have now switched back to the preferred Swype beta keyboard and, so far, all is well.







And in Part 2, I mentioned the four "cloud" services I am using. As of today, I can now add a fifth cloud service to the list: MediaFire. I learned about this service just this morning, but unfortunately the app was not compatible with the Nexus 7. Someone posted in an Android forum that they contacted the developer about this incompatibility, and a few hours later the problem was resolved. That's the kind of action Android users like to see from a developer (and it's a free app as well). MediaFire provides 50GB of free storage at signup; additional storage is available for a fee. I didn't mention this previously, but when using cloud services always be aware of their file size limitation on file transfers; typically it's between 100MB and 250MB per file, depending on the service, which means no movie streaming.






Speaking of cloud services, I use Cloud Print, which allows me to print from my N7 to my (new) wireless printer. (During Christmas week I installed a new Epson WorkForce WF-3540 Wireless All-in-One Printer; it replaces my tired HP deskjet, a true workhorse that has served me well for more than 15 years.) To use Cloud Print you must first configure your PC and wireless printer to work with Google Cloud Print.






I also have a new addition to my social media apps listed in Part 3: Until just this past week, Facebook Pages Manager was only available in Europe (I believe), but the app has now been released in the States. This app will allow me to manage my Alien Contact Anthology page on Facebook via my N7.





And just when I thought I was caught up, I learned of a new utility app just last night while reading posts on one of the Android forums. History Eraser is a multi-faceted app for deleting the cache on the N7. Just doing a quick delete of the cache on my N7 gained me 0.50 (and change) gigs, which is equivalent to more than 500+ megs. For the sake of comparison, the size of the History Eraser app is just under 2.50 megs.



Whether you are new to Android and the N7 or an experienced Android user, I recommend that you join the Nexus 7 Forum, a community devoted to helping each other and providing information (reviews, announcements, etc.). I added the forum to my Feedly app so I can scan the posts without having to actually visit the forum site. Of course, I also read Android Central, Android Police, and Droid Life, to name three others sites/communities.







So, who doesn't like to go shopping...





All of the app links in this series of blog posts point to the Google Play store. However, Amazon.com also has its own source for Android apps: the Amazon Appstore. The primary focus is, of course, on the Kindle Fire device, but the majority of the apps I have checked out are also compatible with the N7. There are some caveats, however, in using the Amazon Appstore. In the Nexus 7's settings, under "Security," you have to enable the option "Unknown Sources" -- this allows the installation of apps from other than Google Play (formerly known as the Android Market). This is also a potentially dangerous option because it will allow installation of any Android app from literally anywhere -- but you never want to install an app from other than a known, legitimate source; otherwise you put your device, and your data, at risk for malware.




You will need an Amazon.com account before starting; and once the Appstore app is installed (you'll find a link to installation instructions on the Appstore home page), be sure to access the app's settings and enable notifications so that you are notified when new updates to your apps are available.




What is especially cool about the Amazon Appstore is that the store showcases a "Free App of the Day" -- every day -- and always a paid app. Most of the featured apps are games, and the majority of these are for younger audiences. But I have acquired a few apps this way through the "free app" program, including my favorite game, CrossMe Color Premium (which I've posted about here and will revisit in Part 5); this app is priced at $4.95 on Google Play, but I installed it for free as a "Free App of the Day." So I literally check the Amazon Appstore every day just to see what free app is being offered.






Of course, if you're like me, you purchase more than just apps from Amazon.com; or, at the least, I use Amazon for checking availability, prices, and reviews. So, I've installed the Amazon Mobile app, which is available from Google Play. Be sure to snag the "Tablet" version, which is optimized for use on the N7.






If you've ever navigated the Google Play store, then you know there is no one place (screen?) you can go to to find which apps are on sale. So that's why I use the AppSales app. This app searches Google Play for all app sales, lists the app along with its original and sale price (and the sale price percentage); if you've configured the app to do so, it will send you a notification when it finds new apps on sale. You can also maintain a "watchlist" -- paid apps that you would like to purchase if/when they go on sale -- and AppSales will send you a notification when it finds an app on your watchlist on sale.







All the news that's fit to print...





Though I read a number of Android sites and forums, I like to know what news, reviews, and apps are trending specifically for the Nexus 7. Drippler accomplishes this. I counted at least 46 different Drippler apps in the Google Play store, one for every major Android device on the market, so be sure to install the one for the Nexus 7.






I use Feedly for reading blogs, forums, etc. and Drippler for trending Nexus 7 news. I also want to be able to read news of the world, as well as politics, sports, health, entertainment, and science news. The N7 comes with Google Currents, and I've also tried Flipboard (which has garnered a lot of raves recently), but... I wanted a news app that would allow me to delete sources that I don't want to read, and then be able to add my own personal choices, without each of these added sources being a separate tile/category. The only app I've found that will allow me to do this is Pulse News, which also features a beautiful Google "holo" design.






Breaking News, a product of NBC News, is essentially a widget that I maintain on my home screen. It has the top 5 news headlines (clickable links) at any given moment.







Though more for information, or at least data, than news are the IMDb app (Internet Movie Database) and the Wikipedia app. I don't know how many times I've watched a TV show, or a movie, and recognized an actor, but either couldn't recall the person's name or where I had seen them previously. IMDb to the rescue. And Wikipedia never ceases to amaze me: no matter what obscure person, place, or thing I might look up, there is usually a listing for it.




One more, and I'll consider this blog post complete.






The Nexus 7 has a built-in front-facing camera. This makes scanning QR codes and bar codes a bit difficult, because you can't see what you're scanning, but it can be done, and there are apps (pic2shop Barcode & QR Scanner, for one) that will work with the N7. But what if you just want to launch the camera, snap some pics, record some video? Then you will need Camera Launcher for Nexus 7 -- an app designed specifically for the N7 to, you guessed it, launch the built-in camera.




A Day in the Life with Android, Part 5

Forthcoming

"Curse whatever gods you believe in...."

"Curse whatever gods you believe in for taking George Alec Effinger from us far too soon. And curse them if you will for making him suffer for most of his life in pain far more severe than you want to even imagine. He deserved better, much better, as he was without doubt one of the most brilliant writers that ever graced our presence."


~ Cat Eldridge, The Green Man Review

Happy Birthday, George Alec Effinger (Part 3 of 3)

In memory of author George Alec Effinger (January 10, 1947 – April 27, 2002), who would have been 66 years old this month, I am reprinting a series of three blog posts I published in the first half of 2009. This third, and final, blog post, originally published on June 8, 2009, focuses on the book A Thousand Deaths , which contained George's personal favorite, the novel The Wolves of Memory -- and my favorite of his work as well.



* * * *



Since my blogs tend to be more essay rather than random comments, like blogging about my great cup of coffee this morning, they take longer to compose. If you enjoy reading what I write, then I thank you for your time and patience, and I ask that you just keep checking back -- and/or subscribe to this blog's RSS feed -- for my next entry.



At least for now, this will be my final blog post on author George Alec Effinger; one blog entry for each of the three collections of his work that I acquired and edited for Golden Gryphon Press between 2001 and 2007. Part One of this series focused on Budayeen Nights and Part Two pertained to collection Live! From Planet Earth . I have a couple ideas for possible future projects of Effinger's work, but only time -- and the economy -- will tell if these ever come to pass.






In late 2002, once I had completed Budayeen Nights, and the book was in the hands of the typesetter, and then the printer, I began thinking about the next Effinger collection. During my email communications with George between 2001 and 2002, I promised him that I would do my best to help him bring his work back into print -- and even though George was no longer alive at this point in time, I felt a personal responsibility to honor that promise.



Obviously the second collection published by Golden Gryphon Press was George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth -- but this wasn't the book I had initially intended to publish next.



In the latter part of 2002, I had written Barbara Hambly, executrix of Effinger's literary estate, for a list of her favorite GAE stories. On December 2, 2002, Barb wrote: "I've sorted through George's story titles, cut out all the Maureen Birnbaum and Sandor Courane stories (which have or are getting anthologies of their own) and still have quite a few." Of course, I knew about the Birnbaum collection, but a collection of Sandor Courane stories? This was a complete surprise to me. So I inquired further of Barb about the Courane collection, and later that same day she responded: "There's a fellow in the Midwest who's doing Sandor Courane -- George was working on it with him at the time of his death." Unfortunately, Barb could not recall this fellow's name. Now I was intrigued: during my email communications with George before he passed away, when he spoke so personally about all of his work being long out-of-print, he made no mention whatsoever of another editor working on a collection of his short fiction.



And so my search began.



Eventually my net searching found a website for Wunzenzierohs Publishing Company1, which noted a "forthcoming" GAE collection entitled A Thousand Deaths. But then the announcement went on to state that the collection was currently in limbo due to Effinger's passing. Using the "Email Us" link on the home page, I contacted the publisher on December 19, 2002. I expressed my interest in seeing GAE's short fiction back in print, and I asked if the publisher still planned to pursue this particular collection of Sandor Courane stories. I also requested a list of the proposed stories to be included in the book. I was thinking that if the publisher was willing to give up the rights to this collection so that it could be published by Golden Gryphon -- and if he had all the stories pretty much ready to go and was willing to share them with me -- then I could get this book into print more quickly than the other collection I was planning (Live! From Planet Earth), which I was having to start from scratch.




Gordie Meyer, Wunzenzierohs publisher, responded to my email the following day. Apparently, WunzPub (to use Gordie's abbreviation) was more of a hobby venture, and he had, in fact, been considering if he really had the time to do the Sandor Courane collection. Gordie wrote: "I've known George from his being online at Delphi long ago, and we'd occasionally touch base via email or meet in person at a con, but I didn't really know him all that well. Mike [Resnick], however, did, and when I mentioned that I thought it was a shame that all of George's work was OOP, he suggested that I consider a collection of...the Sandor Courane stories, as they were an identifiable group to collect and were some of Mike's favorite Effinger stories. So I ran the idea past George at a con, he and Barbara [Hambly] liked the idea..." Evidently this all occurred four years earlier, in 1998. Gordie went on to say: "If you'd be interested in taking over the publication of A Thousand Deaths ([the title of] which both George and I came up with independently -- cue Twilight Zone theme...), it'd make my decision a bit easier.... It was [always] about getting George's work back into print. So if I can make that happen, even without actually publishing it myself, I'd still feel good about the project.... Barbara has already approved having Mike Resnick do the introduction. And actually, Mike threatened physical violence if he didn't get to do the intro. {g}"


And that's how I, and Golden Gryphon Press, acquired George Alec Effinger's Sandor Courane collection, A Thousand Deaths . But the story doesn't quite end there.



Gordie sent me a list of all the Sandor Courane stories he was aware of, and included the text of an email he had received from Effinger regarding the list of stories. Gordie stated that he received the email from George "when he was still in rehab the last time" so I'm guessing this was between late fall and early winter 2001. George wrote: "I'm sure there are plenty more Courane stories ("The Wicked [Old] Witch," for one, which is when he starts being aware of what's been happening to him), but I don't even have a bibliography, and in a day or two I'll be denied access to this computer. Go ahead with that stuff for now -- I'd love to see WOLVES included, because it's an important part of his, um, 'mythos.' I'm wondering if I'm developing my own mythos (shudder, etc.)."




Gordie had hardcopies of most of the stories on the list, and scans of a few of them. He offered to send all of this material to me, but when lengthy delays occurred due to multiple computer crashes and other priorities in his life, I decided to pursue Live! From Planet Earth as the second collection, and save A Thousand Deaths for book number three. It was published on June 1, 2007.




George himself always believed that his novel The Wolves of Memory, featuring Sandor Courane and the computer overlord TECT, was his best work. The first Marîd Audran/Budayeen novel, When Gravity Fails, may have been his most popular and most widely known and read novel, but Wolves, he felt, was his best. That, along with the fact that Wolves had been out of print since the early '80s, inspired me to include the novel in the collection. But here was my dilemma: Wolves clocked in at approximately 88,000 words, and I only had a maximum of about 130,000 words to work with for the entire collection....




For those who knew George Alec Effinger, Sandor Courane is obviously one of George's many alter egos. Yet, contrary to the title A Thousand Deaths -- and regardless of what George said in his email to Gordie about there being "plenty more Courane stories" -- after all my research, I could only find a total of thirteen stories2 in which Sandor Courane made an appearance, or was even mentioned at all. And of these, Courane only dies, or faces death, in probably two-thirds of them. So, in keeping with the title A Thousand Deaths and given the available word count (approximately 30,000 words), it is these stories that I included in the collection.




I commissioned yet another wraparound dust jacket cover from artist extraordinaire John Picacio. I thought the previous two Effinger covers, for BN and GAE Live!, were some of John's best work -- until he turned in the artwork for A Thousand Deaths. The final front cover of the book is shown above, but this is one of those wraparound pieces in which the front cover alone doesn't do the artwork justice; you need to see the full wraparound art:





This artwork is, of course, copyright © 2007 by John Picacio, and is reprinted here with the most gracious permission of the artist. In The Wolves of Memory, Courane wanders the desert, first searching for a woman, and then, upon finding her corpse, strives to bring the body home -- at times carrying the body, more often dragging the body -- with no food or water, for days under the desert sun, and with his mind near complete deterioration.



So I now had the contents of the Sandor Courane collection: the novel Wolves plus seven stories, six of which had not been previously included in an Effinger collection. Then, not wanting to incite physical violence, I asked Mike Resnick3 to write the book's introduction, to which he readily agreed; I also asked Andrew Fox4 to write an afterword. Andy was a student of George's "World Building: Writing SF and Fantasy" course at the University of New Orleans Metropolitan College, and he later joined George's monthly writing workshop and critique group (which still meets today). Andy had written an essay entitled "Remembering George Alec Effinger," which he had posted on his website for many years; unfortunately, his website is not currently active, so with his permission I made this essay available in Part One of this series. For the afterword to A Thousand Deaths, Andy rewrote that essay, expanding it to 10,000 words; it's a sincere look at his relationship with Effinger and the city of New Orleans, and the impact GAE had on his writing, with lots of personal insights and commentary along the way.



The review in the May 7, 2007, issue of Publishers Weekly praises ATD: "A heartfelt homage to the late (and largely underappreciated) SF author Effinger (1947–2002), this intimate collection of stories revolving around his literary alter ego, hapless genre writer and editor Sandor Courane, offers a poignant glimpse into the author’s psyche. Central to the collection is The Wolves of Memory, a deeply allegorical novel in which Courane, banished from Earth by the computerized overlord TECT after numerous career failures, finds himself exiled on a bleak world where he and other outcasts slowly succumb to an alien neurological disorder. Struggling with increasing memory loss and the deterioration of his body, Courane finally finds what he has been seeking all along: fulfillment.... A touching afterword by Andrew Fox as well as visually stunning cover art by John Picacio make this bittersweet collection one to be cherished."5



When have you ever read a PW review in which the book's cover art was so strikingly acknowledged? It's a testament to the quality of John Picacio's work.



All in all, I think I did okay on behalf of George Alec Effinger: three archival-quality hardcovers with wraparound cover art by John Picacio. The collections include his favorite novel, The Wolves of Memory, plus thirty-eight stories, only a few of which had been previously collected. These stories include all eight "O. Niemand" stories, one story returned to its original text ("The City on the Sand"), one previously unpublished story ("Marîd Throws a Party"), and one beginning fragment of a story ("The Plastic Pasha") that would never be. And fourteen different authors, editors, students, and friends of GAE provided content to support these three collections. At this point in time, the best I can do is to ask all those who have read this blog to go read some George Alec Effinger if you haven't already done so -- it doesn't have to be these three collections necessarily, just anything written by him. And if you've already read some of Effinger's work, then go read some more; he's written more than a dozen novels (not counting media tie-ins) and enough solid, quality short stories to fill at least two more volumes.



So, George, what do you think, did I do okay?



_________________________

Notes and Footnotes:



The photograph in which George Alec Effinger is wearing his Cleveland Indians shirt was taken in 1986 by Carolyn F. Cushman and is reprinted here with the kind permission of the photographer, and Charles N. Brown [June 24, 1937 – July 12, 2009] and Locus magazine. Effinger was born in Cleveland in 1947, and was always a huge sports fan, and an Indians fan in particular. In fact, his entire collection Idle Pleasures (Berkley Books, 1983) is comprised of science fiction sports stories.



The second photograph first appeared on the back cover of the original hardcover edition of When Gravity Fails (Arbor House, 1987) and appears here with the very kind permission of the photographer, Debbie Hodgkinson. In an email on May 23, 2009, Debbie wrote: "The photo was taken at the Napoleon House bar in the French Quarter, George was very self-conscious for the first half hour or forty-five minutes, not about wearing the keffiyeh in public, just about the camera. He finally got bored enough to relax, and that shot was near the end of the roll." And her follow-up email on June 3: "Sorry I can't tell you what year the photo was taken, but it was after the [Louisiana] World's Fair in 1984, since that's where he bought the keffiyeh... Call it circa 1985."



1  The Wunzenzierohs website hasn't been updated since April 2003, which is why I haven't linked to it in this essay. The home page states that the Effinger collection ATD has been transferred to Golden Gryphon Press for a possible 2004 publication date. As previously stated, the book was published in 2007.



2  Of the Courane stories not included in this volume, two in particular deserve special recognition: "The Pinch Hitters," the story of five writers who, while attending a science fiction convention, find themselves transported into the bodies of major league baseball players. In addition to Effinger himself, as Sandor Courane, of course, the other four "characters" are based on the real-life SF writers Jack Dann, Gardner Dozois, Jack C. Haldeman, and Joe Haldeman. Read the story and see if you can figure out who's who. The second story, "Strange Ragged Saintliness," is narrated by Courane, in which he tells of his childhood friend and roommate, Robert W. Hanson (another recurring Effinger character), who tried to help "plugging"-addicted street people kick their habit before it killed them (given George's own history of drug addiction brought on by chronic pain, this story is indeed very personal).



3  Is there anyone not familiar with the work of Mike Resnick? He's been nominated for thirty-three Hugo Awards, and won five times. According to his Wikipedia entry: "Except for 1999 and 2003, he has received at least one nomination every year to date since 1989." In fact, Mike has two stories nominated for this year's awards: "Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders" (Asimov's, January 2008) for best novelette, and "Article of Faith" (Baen's Universe, October 2008) for best short story.



4  Andrew Fox is the author of Fat White Vampire Blues (Ballantine, 2003), Bride of the Fat White Vampire (Ballantine, 2004), and most recently The Good Humor Man (Tachyon Publications, 2009), edited by yours truly.



5  Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. [Note: This review was back in the day, before the $25.00 fee for a PW freelance review!]

Happy Birthday, George Alec Effinger (Part 2 of 3)

In memory of author George Alec Effinger (January 10, 1947 – April 27, 2002), who would have been 66 years old this month, I am reprinting a series of three blog posts I published in the first half of 2009. This second blog post, originally published on May 12, 2009, focuses on the book George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth , which I helped a wee bit through publication.



* * * * *



This is the second of three essays on author George Alec Effinger -- one for each of the three collections of his work that I acquired and edited for Golden Gryphon Press, between 2001 and 2007. Part One of this series focused on Budayeen Nights , a compilation of all of George's Marîd Audran and related stories.



Once Budayeen Nights was complete and in the hands of the typesetter, I began thinking about the next collection of Effinger's work. But now that George had passed away, I didn't have his input on this second book as I did for BN. All I had was my commitment to him to help bring his work back into print, and his email of August 30, 2001, in which he suggested a collection featuring "a hefty selection of my 200 stories, with introductions to each one, and calling it GAE: The White Album or GAE Live! At the Village Gate or...GAE: The Prairie Years." When George and I were communicating by email (albeit sporadically, due to his health and domicile issues) between 2001 and 2002, I had asked him to put together a list of the stories he would like to include in a "best of" collection, but time just wasn't on his side. And George wasn't kidding when he referred to his "200 stories" -- I know, as I've tried to track down a goodly portion of them! In fact, I probably have the largest "collection" of George Alec Effinger short fiction, only second to Barbara Hambly, who now has all of George's files and books in her possession.



The Concept

I'm a bit fuzzy on the details, considering it was six years ago [2003], but if ye olde memory still serves me, I came up with the basic idea for the second collection during a telephone conversation with author George Zebrowski. Unlike archived email, I'm not able to replay and quote six-year-old telephone conversations, so memory will have to do. (Maybe AT&T has the conversation archived in some illegal-wiretapping file? GeorgeZ and I may have mentioned the words "Budayeen" or "Islamic" or "Arab" in the course of our conversations about GAE!)



I had worked with GeorgeZ on his short story collection entitled Swift Thoughts (Golden Gryphon Press, 2002). During that project, and for some time afterward, we spoke quite often on the telephone. George had unlimited long distance at the time and enjoyed calling and chatting with his many author friends and editors. It was the "author friends and editors" that gave me the idea. Since GAE was no longer with us, to select the stories for his next collection, I decided that I would ask his peers -- his friends and fellow authors, and editors -- to select their favorite GAE story. And then, once they told me their favorite story, I would ask them -- as a tribute to GAE -- to write a mini introduction to the story. I wanted to first hook them on the story suggestion, and then seek their cooperation to write an intro. GeorgeZ wholeheartedly agreed to contribute, as did many others.


About this same time, in March 2003, I also published a "letter" in Locus online asking fans of GAE to recommend their favorite stories for a collection of his work. This is how I "met" author Andrew Fox, a former student of George's at the University of New Orleans Metropolitan College, as well as a participant in George's writing workshop and critique group. You can read more about Andrew Fox in my blog post about his new novel, The Good Humor Man (Tachyon Publications, 2009); and I'll have more to say about Andy in Part Three of this series.



I also had to come up with a viable title for the collection. All decisions as to content had to be cleared with Barbara Hambly, executrix of George Alec Effinger's literary estate, so I emailed Barb about title possibilities, sharing with her George's suggestions in his email of August 30. In response, on December 7, 2002, Barb wrote: "I know George was particularly tickled at the thought of doing George Alec Effinger: The White Album, with a plain, all-white cover." However, it didn't take much discussion to realize that an all-white dust jacket wasn't going to intrigue reviewers and readers and, ultimately, buyers. So, riffing on George's original suggestions -- and since he now had "shuffled off this mortal coil"1 -- Barb and I came up with the title George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth. We both believe that George would have been quite pleased with this title!



The Process

My next step was twofold: to contact authors and editors to contribute to the collection, and to track down copies of George's many stories. The former proved to be easier than the latter. I already owned George's chapbook collection The Old Funny Stuff (Pulphouse Publishing, 1989); and in preparation for working on Budayeen Nights, I had purchased three of his other collections: Mixed Feelings (Harper & Row, 1974), Irrational Numbers (Doubleday, 1975), and Dirty Tricks (Doubleday, 1978). But these four collections barely broke the surface of GAE's short fiction. His stories had been published in magazines such as Night Cry, Omni, Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone, and even Playboy, as well as the more traditional SF&F publications; his stories also appeared in the New Dimensions, Orbit, and Universe anthology series, and far too many themed anthologies. I hit on just about everyone I knew who had a book collection of their own or who worked in a library to help me track down copies of GAE's stories. Those folks are too numerous to mention here, but I do thank them by name in the acknowledgments to GAE Live!



Since all the stories would need to be scanned, I didn't have an accurate word count at the beginning of the process, so I invited more contributors than I may have actually needed. I also had to consider the possibility that one or more of the contributors might back out of their commitment due to scheduling conflicts, deadlines, personal issues, etc. However, the sixteen authors and editors who committed to contributing to the collection all came through; of those sixteen, thirteen appear in the book and their names appear on the wraparound dust jacket.





The author names, in descending alphabetical order, fade from large to small on the back cover; those thirteen names are: George Zebrowski, Howard Waldrop, Pamela Sargent, Mike Resnick, Lawrence Person, Barbara Hambly, Richard Gilliam, Neil Gaiman, Gardner Dozois, Bradley Denton, Jack Dann, Michael Bishop, and Neal Barrett Jr. In addition, Richard Bleiler, Paul Di Filippo, Barbara Hambly, and Gordon Van Gelder provided introductions to stories that were not used due to space limitations.2



And if you haven't guessed who the cover artist is from the style and use of colors, then let me introduce you to another wonderful cover painting by the delightful John Picacio. I'll have a bit more about John and the cover art later in this essay. The George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth full cover art is copyright © 2004 and reprinted here with the most gracious permission of the artist.



The Content

By far, the story that was recommended the most by friends and fans alike, was "The Aliens Who Knew, I Mean, Everything," which was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1984. Between 2001 and 2002, while I was communicating with George about BN and a follow-up "best of" collection, I was also working on an anthology of sardonic fiction with co-editor Claude Lalumière. The anthology, entitled Witpunk (Four Walls, Eight Windows, 2003), was comprised of both original and reprint stories. Claude is also a huge fan of Effinger's work, and one of the reprint stories I had my eye on, for inclusion in the antho, was "The Aliens Who Knew..." I emailed George on March 29, 2002, regarding the use of the story in Witpunk, and on April 2 he responded: "I recall it was a Hugo nominee. [editor's note: also a Nebula finalist] It's one of my best stories, but you don't win awards with funny stuff, no matter how good it is. I'm glad you'd like to anthologize it. It deserves a resurrection." Unfortunately, George passed away just three weeks later, at the time Claude and I were pulling together the contracts for the individual stories, and thus "The Aliens Who Knew..." was not included in Witpunk.3 But, the story is included in GAE Live! -- and due to its popularity, it is the only story in the collection with an introduction as well as an afterword -- each by a different contributor.



Well, if you've stuck with me this far, then I indeed want to thank you. The first post of this series contained a number of quotes from emails between George and myself, which I felt were quite interesting in retrospect. However, I'm not able to really quote from George with regards to this second collection, and quoting from my communications with all the contributors wouldn't be very exciting or entertaining either. So let me conclude this essay with a number of anecdotes, if you will, concerning a few of the contributors to this volume, and their special relationship to George Alec Effinger. (I wish I could write about every contributor, but space -- and my time -- simply won't allow it.)





Neal Barrett Jr.'s novelette "Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus" was in the running for the Nebula Award the same year as Effinger's "Schrödinger’s Kitten." Here's what Neal had to say about George in his introduction to "Everything But Honor": "I met George in New York at the 1988 [calendar year 1989] Nebula Awards banquet. We were both up for best novelette... George won. We rode out in the airport bus together. George let me hold his award.... Though we only saw one another at conventions, we became good friends.... I liked George’s work, and he liked mine. In fact, when my novel The Hereafter Gang came out in 1991, George not only told everyone to read it, he made people sit and listen to him read from it.... It’s one of the nicest things anyone ever did on my behalf." George's "Everything But Honor" was also a 1990 Hugo Award nominee for best novelette.





Michael Bishop wrote the introduction to the story "The Aliens Who Knew, I Mean, Everything." (George Zebrowski wrote the afterword.) Though GAE Live! wasn't published until 2005, Michael actually wrote the intro in 2004. Shortly after his work on "The Aliens Who Knew..." Michael went on to write his own story, an homage to GAE entitled "The Angst, I Kid You Not, of God" (originally published as "The Angst of God"), and published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 2004.





The June 2002 issue of Locus magazine featured a George Alec Effinger obit along with remembrances. One was written by Gardner Dozois in which he spoke highly of the "O. Niemand" stories, noting that they called out to be collected in a small-press edition. Effinger wrote eight stories under the pen name "O. Niemand," which in German means "nobody" or "no one." These stories showcased Effinger's authorial mastery as each story was written in the style of another writer, including Hemingway, Steinbeck, Thurber, Twain, and others. I asked Gardner if he would write one introduction for all eight stories, and thankfully he agreed. As the former editor of Asimov's Science Fiction, Gardner had published two of these eight stories in the magazine. In his intro, Gardner wrote: "...in their own way, the 'O. Niemand' stories are small marvels...they are unlike anything ever done in science fiction before, and you will never see their like again."





In an email to me dated May 25, 2004, John Picacio attached a black-and-white sketch of the cover for GAE Live! along with the following comments: "I've taken the suggestion of 'evoking New Orleans' and brought that into the alien image on the front cover with the street sign and street lamp that we see in the background (as inspired by the Bourbon Street sign in front of Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop)...a suggestion of not only New Orleans, but the urban and earthly juxtaposed with the alien. While I was in New Orleans...I thought a lot about this cover and about these stories. I went and visited Octavia Books and visited with one of the managers, Tom Lowenburg, who knew George. I even set up a Sunday brunch with one of George's old students, Andrew Fox, who is a sweetheart of a guy. He told me stories about George and took me to some of George's old apartments and favorite haunts." You can see the final cover results, above, and make your own decision. By the way, John lives in Texas, not Louisiana. How many artists do you know who would make this type of effort for a cover painting?





Pamela Sargent introduced "Target: Berlin," which she describes as one of her favorite GAE stories because "it’s such a prime example of the deliciously skewed perspective he brought to his writing, the ability to take an idea and twist it in ways that wouldn’t have occurred to anyone else. I mean, major air battles of World War II fought with automobiles because of an oil shortage?...Even while seeing the world’s absurdities, George was well aware of its inexorable tragedies, in his fiction and in his life." Pam was working on themed anthology Conqueror Fantastic (DAW, 2004) at the same time I was working on GAE's Budayeen Nights. George had promised Pam a story (as he had promised me one, "The Plastic Pasha"), but he wasn't sure he could deliver -- but, according to Pam, "I got that story from him, 'Walking Gods,' an elegiac tale narrated by Saladin at the end of his life." This was the last complete work of fiction that George Alec Effinger was ever to write.





Happy Birthday, George Alec Effinger, Part 3

Forthcoming



_________________________

Notes and Footnotes:



The photograph of George Alec Effinger is reprinted here with permission of the photographer Charles N. Brown [June 24, 1937 – July 12, 2009], publisher of Locus magazine. In the photo GAE proudly displays his Nebula Award for best novelette for "Schrödinger's Kitten" (included in Budayeen Nights). The photo was used on the dust jacket for George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth.



1  This quote is taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet, act three, scene one, from the "To be, or not to be" soliloquy.



2  Should I find an interested publisher, I have enough contributors and stories for a follow-up volume entitled George Alec Effinger Live! Encore. In fact, one of GAE's most profound and best stories, novella "And Us Too, I Guess," from 1973, was simply too long to be included in the present volume. Paul Di Filippo wrote a stunning 800-word introduction, which I still have in my safe keeping. Paul's intro was most apropos because in 1996, more than two decades after he had first read the story, he published an "answer" story entitled "And Them, Too, I Hope." Though about his "answer," Paul humbly wrote: "a story which, I am the first to admit, is but the palest shadow of the original."



3  Including "The Aliens Who Knew..." still wouldn't have helped Witpunk's sales. Even with a great Kirkus review ("ringingly brilliant"), sales of the anthology were mediocre at best. If ever a book cover killed the sales of a book, this is that cover! But it sure beats the first cover that publisher John Oakes presented to Claude and me: a huge, yellow smiley face that filled the entire front cover! (And not one with a bullet hole in the forehead, either -- that, at least, would have been sardonic!)

Happy Birthday, George Alec Effinger (Part 1 of 3)

In memory of author George Alec Effinger (January 10, 1947 – April 27, 2002), who would have been 66 years old today, I am reprinting a series of three blog posts I published in the first half of 2009. This first blog post, originally published on April 11, 2009, was only my twelfth blog post. Whether or not my novice status shows, well, I'll leave that up to you to decide, but I certainly was (and still am) very passionate about these three Effinger books in which I played a role.



* * * * *





This is part one of a planned three-part blog posting on author George Alec Effinger, one part pertaining to each of the three volumes of his work that I acquired and edited for Golden Gryphon Press. In this first part, I'd like to step you through my correspondence with George leading up to the publication of Budayeen Nights , the first collection, published in hardcover in 2003 and reprinted in trade paperback this past September [2008].



I've always been a fan of George Alec Effinger's work. His Budayeen novels (When Gravity Fails, A Fire in the Sun, and The Exile Kiss) did indeed impress me, but I was more captivated with his short fiction: the subtlety of his writing, his sardonic wit, his very unique craft and range. In my opinion, George is (was) one of the most underrated and underappreciated authors within the science fiction and fantasy genre, and much of his lack of notoriety was due to his chronic illness, which affected his output over the years. By 2001, when I first made contact with George, I believe all of his published work was out of print, though all were obviously still available through the used book market. As an acquisitions editor with Golden Gryphon Press, from 1999 through 2007, I was finally in a position to do something about bringing attention to his work once again.



I knew that George surfed the Usenet groups and thus I was able to track him down in this fashion. Between late July 2001 and early April 2002, I received a total of eleven emails from George. I probably sent him three times as many in return, but I was grateful to have received the few emails from him that I did. At the time, I knew somewhat of George's medical problems and financial difficulties; what I didn't know is that, because of past due medical bills, a local (New Orleans) hospital had threatened ownership of George's intellectual property in order to recoup their expenses. Because of this, for a number of years, George only wrote stories for themed anthologies so that he would at least have some income, while refusing to write any further work involving his own characters and worlds. He should have written the fourth Budayeen novel, continuing the tale of Marîd Audran -- it's what his fans and readers were clamoring for, and the only real source of income before him -- but George didn't want the hospital's lawyers to become any wealthier off of his work, and so he continued his "for hire" writing. Fortunately, the legal case was dropped when the lawyers failed to appear for a court hearing, and George finally got his life -- and his characters -- back. But the damage was done; the best writing years of George's life were now behind him, as I would soon learn.



In my first email to George, I introduced myself and provided some details on books that I had previously edited, and then I presented a couple ideas to him. George's response, on July 31, 2001, was very brief but to the point; he wrote: "I am flattered by both your suggestions. I've been frustrated by how the whole body of my 30-years' work has already disappeared. Please let me know how I can help you in your projects."



I was so excited, I responded that very same day, but it was another month, on August 30, before I received a reply. George suggested a collection featuring "a hefty selection of my 200 stories, with introductions to each one, and calling it GAE: The White Album or GAE Live! At the Village Gate or...GAE: The Prairie Years." I again responded immediately, but a number of months went by with no word from George. In fact, I had to go through another individual in New Orleans who tracked George down and told him that he needed to contact me. I learned much later that during these months George's health and housing issues had once again returned to impact the quality of his life; he had no regular Internet access because he was being shuffled from one residence to another.



Finally, on February 25, 2002, I received an email from George. He informed me that he's "online regularly now and back to work, too," and concluded his brief email with: "Let's get to work! I could use... a good project to work on, and something to put out so that people will realize I'm still around and kicking. Typing, I mean." Even in the few short sentences contained within this communication, I could sense his new-found energy, and I was anxious to get to work on a project with him as well. Earlier, George had also suggested a collection of his Budayeen stories, and since I felt these stories had the most commercial potential, given the continued popularity of his Budayeen novels, this was the book we began work on first.




On March 3, George wrote: "Regarding the collection of Budayeen stories: I've got most of the book on this computer... I can send you the files and print them out, too. I'd like to do introductions to the stories, sort of explaining where they came from and how they fit into the Budayeen future world. I've tried to come at that world from different directions that I don't have time for in the novels.... I'd be glad to do an original [story] for the book, too. I have a story planned out that I've never written. It's about Marîd Audran's brother (I've mentioned in the books that their mother sold the younger brother when they were young). He's grown up now and becomes the ruler of Algeria. I don't think Marîd ever meets him, though. The story's about the official acceptance of the brain-wiring technology in the Islamic world, which is pretty slow to accept stuff like that. Somebody comes up with a personality module of the perfect Islamic governor, and that leads to a battle over who is qualified to wear it. I've been meaning to write that story for years.... Oh, btw, I've always figured to call the collection Budayeen Nights."



Then, on April 2, 2002, George wrote: "I'll get to work on the new Marîd story ('The Plastic Pasha' is the working title) as soon as possible. In another file I've sent you another unpublished chunk plus 'Marîd and the Trail of Blood' from Barbara's anthology. Hmm, I wonder if Barbara [Hambly] would do the introduction. I'll have to remember to ask her. I should be giving her a call tonight or tomorrow. We're pretty close, for divorced people."



When all was said and done, George provided me all but one existing story that was included in Budayeen Nights -- and that one missing story, "Marîd Changes His Mind," I was able to scan in from my own copy of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. Some of you may know that this story was simply the first two chapters of A Fire in the Sun. But the way Marîd describes his mother upon seeing her for the first time in, well, let's just say, a number of years, is worth the price of admission alone, and I certainly wasn't going to exclude this story from the collection. Let me set the scene: Marîd shows up unannounced at his mother's flat, with his best friend, the Half-Hajj, in tow. After knocking on the door several times, he can hear bedsprings, and finally Angel Monroe, his mother, answers the door. She's dressed, but looks a mess, having been lying in bed sick; read Marîd's description:

She was a full head shorter than me, with bleached blonde hair curled tightly into an arrangement I would call "ratty." Her black roots looked as if no one had given them much attention since the Prophet's birthday. Her eyes were banded with dark blue and black makeup, in a manner that brought to mind the more colorful Mediterranean saltwater fish. The rouge she wore was applied liberally, but not quite in the right places, so she didn't look so much wantonly sexy as she did feverishly ill. Her lipstick, for reasons best known to Allah and Angel Monroe, was a kind of pulpy purple color; her lips looked like she'd bought them first and forgot to put them in the refrigerator while she shopped for the rest of her face.... She was clad now in shorts so small that her well-rounded belly was bending the waistband over. Her sagging breasts were not quite clothed in a kind of gauzy vest. I knew for certain that if she sat in a chair, you could safely hide the world's most valuable gem in her navel and it would be completely invisible. Her legs were patterned with broken veins like the dry chebka valleys of the Mzab. On her broad, flat feet she wore tattered slippers with the remains of pink fuzzy bows dangling loose.1

After reading that description of Marîd's mother, how could you not understand my passion for George's writing!



Also included in the files that George sent me was the original uncut version of the story "The City on the Sand"; the version that appeared in the April 1973 issue of F&SF probably had about a third of the text cut. The original, longer version was the one that George preferred. And the "unpublished chunk" to which George referred in his email of April 2 was a story entitled "Marîd Throws a Party," which was actually the first two chapters of the fourth, albeit unwritten, Budayeen novel, Word of Night2 George also sent me the book's dedication: For Nell, Denise, Helen, Valerie, and all the others / without whom there would be no Budayeen.



I'm sharing these emails from George with you, including the files and stories and dedication -- and even the book's title -- so that you understand that George Alec Effinger played a vital role in the creation of Budayeen Nights. This being contrary to what John Clute said in his review of the book in his "Excessive Candour" column for SciFi.com. Clute obviously did not do his homework when he wrote: "We owe this immensely sad book, which George Alec Effinger almost certainly did not sanction in the months leading up to his premature death, to science fiction itself..." But don't get me started on Clute's review of Budayeen Nights (though I will come back to it in a later blog post, trust me). [Ref: Rightly Reconsidering (Book) Reviews, April 24, 2009]



The very last email I received from George was dated April 9, 2002, in which he wrote: "I'll work on that 'Pasha' story next week, after I finish Chapter Three of this novel3. We'll get the whole package finished quickly. My ex, Barbara Hambly, said she'd be happy to write the overall preface to the book, too."



As I said, that was the last communication I had from George; I was busy working on the files that he had already sent me, and I felt it best to give him the time and space he needed to write that new story. Three weeks later, it was Nebula Awards weekend, and after I awoke Sunday morning, April 28, I decided to log onto Locus online in order to learn who had won the Nebula Awards. As the home page loaded, the first headline that caught my eye was the announcement that George Alec Effinger had died (in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 27). That moment was nearly seven years ago now, so I can't really express how I truly felt at the time, other than to say that I was literally shocked. George hadn't had any recent health issues, he was writing again, his communications were not just positive, but one could even say vibrant -- and then this. The world responded, with obituaries in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, and even the London Guardian, as well as remembrances and tributes in both Locus magazine and Locus online.



As she had promised George, Barb Hambly wrote the foreword to the book, and in his stead, she also wrote the individual story introductions. She had found the beginning of "The Plastic Pasha" on George's computer, when she retrieved his belongings after he passed away; unfortunately, less than 2,500 words had been written, but oh, you could just feel the potential that this story had, if only George had been able to complete it. In his honor, as the last piece of fiction that he would ever write, I included this brief piece in the collection as well. And award-winning artist John Picacio provided the book with one of his wonderful painted covers.



Well, Budayeen Nights was published on schedule, in the fall of 2003. When my copies of the book finally arrived, it was with bitter-sweet emotions. In my heart, I knew that George Alec Effinger would have been extremely proud of this book (we all were); but I was truly saddened by the fact that, after having his work out of print for so many years, George wasn't here with us to share in this moment.





One thing more... After Budayeen Nights was released, author Andrew Fox arranged a memorial reading from the book; the event was held at Octavia Books in New Orleans on October 17, 2003. Barbara Hambly was in attendance, as was NO author Laura Joh Rowland, in addition to Andy Fox and others. You can read about the event in more detail in Fox's "Remembering George Alec Effinger"4 -- a nearly 8,500-word essay that Andy had originally posted on his web site, which, sadly, is no longer active. And as you can see from the accompanying graphic, artist John Picacio most graciously donated his time to create an 11" x 17" poster to advertise the event; enough posters were printed to hang in the bookstore as well as in key locations around town.





I want to take this opportunity to thank both Barbara Hambly, executrix of George Alec Effinger's literary estate, and his agent Richard Curtis, of Richard Curtis Associates, for their continued support of my work on behalf of George throughout these past years.





Happy Birthday, George Alec Effinger, Part 2

Forthcoming



_________________________

Notes and Footnotes:




The photograph of George Alec Effinger is reprinted here with the permission of the photographer Patti Perret. The photo was used on the dust jacket of George Alec Effinger's A Thousand Deaths (Golden Gryphon, 2007). Perret is the author of The Faces of Science Fiction (Bluejay, 1984) and The Faces of Fantasy (Tor, 1996).




1  The excerpt from "Marîd Changes His Mind" is copyright © 1989 by the Estate of George Alec Effinger and is reprinted here by permission.




2  In a post on Usenet group rec.arts.sf.written, dated November 8, 1998, George Alec Effinger wrote: "The still unfinished fourth book, Word of Night, is taken from an Arab proverb: The word of night is written in ice / And melteth upon the dawn."




3  I believe the novel to which he referred was the story of Renfield, Dracula’s bug-eating henchman. George had outlined this novel with Barbara Hambly, but at the time of his death, only a few chapters had been written, which were largely unusable.




4  "Remembering George Alec Effinger" is copyright © 2003 by Andrew Fox and is provided here with the permission of the author. Andrew Fox is the author of Fat White Vampire Blues (Ballantine, 2003), Bride of the Fat White Vampire (Ballantine, 2004), and The Good Humor Man (Tachyon Publications, 2009).

A Day in the Life with Android (Part 3)

This blog post continues my efforts to present the Android apps I use -- and how I use them -- on my Google/ASUS Nexus 7 tablet. In Part 1 I covered hardware accessories and what I think of as business apps. Part 2 dealt with utility apps, including cloud services.




I assume that if you are still with me on this series of blog posts, then you currently own an Android device, or at least are thinking about purchasing an Android device. So, if you haven't noted this already, each app links directly to the Google Play store where you can read more about the app, including a lengthier description, a list of permissions, and user reviews; and if you are currently an Android user, you could also install the app at that time.




With this third blog post, I plan to cover all the social media and related apps that I use: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Reader; apps that support social media posts, like Skitch and Snapseed; and ebook readers: Kindle, Nook, Google Play Books, and support apps, like ED PDF Reader Pro and Calibre Library.




I realize these aren't the most exciting of blog posts, but I'm hopeful that Android users, or potential Android users, will find something of value here. These posts also allow me to indulge in my latest passion.





The official Twitter app has too many holes, so I initially used Tweetdeck Web, which I also use on my desktop and laptop. Unfortunately, it's not designed for mobile devices and was very difficult to use on the N7. And then I found Falcon Pro: a beautifully designed app that features the Google "holo" design. I've submitted a few suggestions for updates, which I hope will be addressed in the near future. If I want to view (and delete) one of my own tweets, or unfollow someone, I still have to use either Tweetdeck Web or Twitter itself.





The official Facebook app was virtually unusable until founder Mark Zuckerberg "encouraged" his employees to use the Facebook Android app -- and then multiple updates were forthcoming. Until those updates, however, I used FaceDroid, but this app would freeze quite often (and still does) so I welcomed the "new" Facebook app.





I don't use Google+, per se, but when I post to Facebook I also post to Google+. However, I do get Google+ notifications on the N7 (and Facebook and Falcon Pro notifications as well), which keeps me informed of incoming posts.





On a daily basis, I read a ton of blogs, forums, RSS feeds, etc., so I need an RSS reader that will sync across all devices; the obvious answer is Google Reader. But, GR on the web is nothing more than a list of feeds and the official GR app is just as dreadful (it hasn't been updated since the Nexus 7 was shipped in mid-July 2012). I use Feedly on the web, an excellent RSS reader, which integrates with Google Reader; but the Feedly Android app crashes on my N7 constantly, nearly every time I access a link within a feed. (To recover from the crash I have to either reboot the N7 or go into the app's settings and delete all data.) But then I read a lengthy, detailed review of the gReader Pro app on Android Police -- and gReader Pro has since become my preferred RSS reader on the N7. (It's optimized for use on tablets, too.)







When a photo needs an extra touch -- a border, annotation, essentially any kind of photo editing -- then Skitch or Snapseed will meet those needs. Skitch, from the makers of Evernote, has sketching capabilities as well as picture editing; and before being ported to Android, Snapseed was the 2011 iPad App of the Year. (Please forgive my indiscretion for mentioning the "i" device.) The photos from either app can then be shared with social media apps, Evernote, cloud services, etc.







eReaders. Back in February 2011, having owned a Sony Reader at the time, I wrote a blog post about Calibre ebook management software -- one of the best free software applications, and every ebook reader should own it.




The beauty of Android devices is that a number of ebook apps can be installed: apps specific to Android (e.g Aldiko Book Reader and Moon+ Reader), as well as the popular Kindle and Nook apps. And with Calibre, any ebook format can be converted to any other ebook format, as long as the ebook has no DRM (essentially ebook copy protection). With one exception:





Google Play Books is native to the Android Jelly Bean OS so it comes with every N7. I believe Google Books uses a proprietary ebook format; I've not purchased a Google Book as yet, and only have access to the few free titles that came with the N7.







With the official Android apps for Kindle and Nook I really don't need any other ereaders. Nearly every ebook comes in one or the other (or both) of these formats; and again, as long as there is no DRM, I can convert one format to the other. Every Kindle user is provided a unique email address, which can be used to email mobi books to one's Amazon cloud book library. And ebooks can also be side-loaded into either app using a PC or a Mac.





Calibre Library, a third-party app, works with Calibre software (on a PC or Mac) and an Android device. With a mouse click, or two, you turn your PC into a server; then, once this Android app is set up (step-by-step instructions are available online), you can wirelessly transfer any ebook in your Calibre library to your Android device. Assuming of course, that both the Android device and the PC are on the same network. If the Nook app is installed, Calibre Library will automatically download the ebook into the Nook's folder; if the Nook app is not installed on the device, I'm not quite sure where the ebook will end up (since I have the Nook app installed). Of course ebooks can always be placed in any of the cloud services (see Part 2 of this series) from your PC or Mac. Regardless, app ES File Explorer File Manager, which I also listed in Part 2, will enable you to move any ebook to the folder of your choice.





The Kindle app will read PDF files, but when a little something extra is needed for those PDFs -- like adding annotations, highlighting, cross outs, freehand drawings, appending images, etc. -- I use ezPDF Reader Multimedia PDF Pro.





A Day in the Life with Android (Part 4)

Forthcoming

A Day in the Life with Android (Part 2)

In Part 1 I reviewed the hardware accessories for my Nexus 7 tablet, as well as one set of apps that I use for work; let's call them my "business" apps for now. Though the dividing line as to whether an app is business or entertainment can be blurry at best, given the nature of some of these apps....




With this blog post I want to cover the utilities that I use on a day-to-day basis. Again, in most instances, they can be used for both business and entertainment.




As is the case with Chrome and Gmail, mentioned in Part 1, many of these apps can be installed in some fashion as both an Android and a Windows app, allowing them to be synced across all devices. In a lot of ways, it's like having my desktop and laptop at my fingertips wherever I'm at, as long as my Nexus 7 is in hand (and a wireless connection is available).





Pocket, formerly "Read It Later," is one of those essential apps that appears regularly on "best of" lists. Pocket allows you to save a website, or just the URL, or a tweet, or blog post, or -- pretty much anything -- with the ability to read it later, WiFi connected or not. I also have the Pocket Windows add-on installed on the Chrome browser on my desktop and laptop: I can save an online short story to Pocket on my desktop and read it later on the Nexus 7.





Evernote is like One Note in Windows 7, but far less complicated, and thus easier to use; and, unlike One Note, Evernote can be installed and synced across all devices. Any text and graphic can be saved to Evernote; it's for notetaking, lists, essays, drafts, whatever.





Clipper - Clipboard Manager stores my 20 most recent clips, or copies, so that nothing is lost from the clipboard. The clips can then be stored in lists with an unlimited number of clips; clippings can be searched; and, under Android Jelly Bean, the clipboard manager is accessible from the notification bar.





With the N7 I can make outgoing telephone calls and send SMS text message; however, since it is not a mobile phone, the N7 cannot receive calls. I use Talkatone free calls & texting. Talkatone also requires a free Google Voice account for incoming calls: if a voice call is sent to my N7, the call gets routed automatically to another number of my choice that is able to accept incoming calls (this number must be provided when the Google Voice acct is set up); if a text msg is sent to my N7, it is automatically routed to my Gmail account.







Battery Widget? Reborn! Pro and Easy Battery Saver: I use these two apps to manage my battery usage. The N7 battery, at least in my few months of experience, requires frequent battery charges, so I rely on Easy Battery Saver to monitor and control the battery usage, and the widget to keep me informed of same. The widget maintains a graph in the notification bar, showing usage and hours remaining or charging time.







ES File Explorer File Manager allows me to manage the Local files and folders in /sdcard/ on the N7, as well as move files to/from LAN (aka cloud) folders, and even connect to my laptop via Bluetooth.





Though ES File Explorer has backup capability, I opted for a backup-specific app: My Backup Pro, which allows me to backup and restore all of my apps and data, or just the data (app data, contact list, photos, vids, music, calendar entries, etc.). Since all of my apps are maintained in the cloud, I choose to only backup data. Rerware, the developer, provides 100MB of free space for backups (though additional space can be purchased).





Open Garden allows me to create a wireless hub via Bluetooth for use by other devices (and other people); Open Garden must be installed on all the devices. When traveling I connect my ASUS Zenbook to a network using a T-Mobile Rocket 4G USB stick. With Open Garden installed on both the Zenbook and the N7, I can "tether" the N7 to the T-Mobile network.







And speaking of "the cloud," with only 16GB of memory in the N7, using the cloud whenever possible becomes a necessity. In order of appearance above: Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive (Microsoft Corp.), and Bitcasa. Each of these cloud services provides a certain amount of free space (additional space may be purchased), and with each service installed on all my devices, my data is available to me everywhere.





I provide some technical support for a bookseller in Southern California, approximately 400 miles away. Occasionally he gets himself in a predicament on his Windows pc that requires my assistance. With TeamViewer installed on both of our computers, I am able to access his desktop remotely. He launches the software, which provides an ID and password; I then enter that ID and pw on my end and, as long as we are both networked (and obviously not on the same network), I can access his desktop and attempt to resolve the issue. I have the TeamViewer Android app installed on the N7 just in case I receive a "help" call when I'm away from home.





A Day in the Life with Android (Part 3)

Forthcoming

A Day in the Life with Android (Part 1)

If you read my September 21 blog post, then you know that a few months ago I purchased a Google Nexus 7 tablet (built by ASUS).

I haven't been very active on this blog since that purchase, and when I'm not working on book projects1 to pay the bills, I'm probably attached in some fashion (my wife would probably say "umbilically") to the Nexus 7.

My goal is to be able to perform all work-related activities on the N7. A lot of that ability is dependent on the quality and performance of the apps that I use. I'll install an app that will work perfectly, and then after the next update (and some apps are updated often, even daily at times), possibly the app won't even open on the N7. It's the nature of Android: developers attempting to make their apps compatible with dozens (hundreds?) of devices, running various levels of the Android operating system (OS), and from a multitude of manufacturers.

My N7 has the latest (and not always greatest) "Jelly Bean" (JB) OS, version 4.2.1. That point-1 update occurred just last month, and since then the device's Bluetooth functionality has been erratic. This is a known issue. Unfortunately for me, Bluetooth capability is critical to my end goal.

Hardware

1. When I need to do some serious input, I use the Logitech 920-003390 Tablet Keyboard for Android 3.0 Plus and the Targus Bluetooth Comfort Laser Mouse AMB09US. The keyboard is full-size with an excellent "feel," and the case flips open to serve as a stand for the tablet.



But when the N7's Bluetooth keeps dropping the keyboard (re: see above known issue), well, not a lot of serious work gets done. The tab's onscreen "Swype" keyboard (more on this in a bit) is fairly fast, but still error prone, and I also have a tendency to fat-finger the screen -- so a keyboard is a necessity.

2. To avoid the onscreen fat-finger effect, I often use the amPen New Hybrid Stylus. I would be lost without this stylus at times (especially playing the CrossMe Color game!) and it is compatible with all capacitive touch screens. The stylus has a plastic anchor that fits in the audio headphone jack on the N7 so you never have to worry about setting the stylus down and then forgetting where you set it.

3. And lastly (for now): When I end up in an AC outlet-deprived environment and the N7's battery is running low, I have the IOGEAR GMP10K GearPower Ultra Capacity Mobile Power Station -- great for powering a phone and tab simultaneously.




Apps

Google's Chrome is the default browser on the N7; I now use Chrome on all my computers: it's fast, it's clean, and it can be synced across all devices (which allows me to access bookmarks, for example, on any device from any device).2

I don't recall how long I've been using Gmail, but it was back in the day when you needed an "invite" to set up an account. Again, Google allows the syncing of email across all devices, and being web-based, I can access it anywhere in the world; if my hard drive crashes, the email is still safe.

Maybe these next two apps should have come first... I never access banking data and such on a public WiFi network, only email, web browsing, news reading, etc. Even so, I use DroidSheep Guard, which protects from "Man in the Middle" (MIM) attacks; should DroidSheep detect any sniffers, it will disconnect the tab from the WiFi network.

I always practice safe app downloading, but nothing is perfect so I use avast! Mobile Security to check for malware, etc. whenever a new app or update is installed. Avast! runs on all my hardware.



SoftMaker Office 2012 (TextMaker, PlanMaker, and Presentations) is the product of a German company. The software was recommended by Charles Stross (I believe he uses it on a Mac), and since I needed an Android app that was MS Office compatible, I went with Softmaker Office. It's definitely not the cheapest MS Office compatible app for Android -- and I even purchased my set on sale, direct from the publisher -- but it may just be the most comprehensive set.

I mentioned the Swype keyboard earlier: you can still tap each individual key as you would on any mobile keyboard, but you can also "swype" a complete word without your finger (or in my case, the stylus I mentioned above) ever leaving the keyboard. Here's an example: As you swype the keyboard a trail is created to show the path of your finger/stylus. In this example, the word being swyped is "quick," which appears in gold in the top left of the keyboard, along with other possible suggested words. If "quick" is the correct word, you can simply move on to the next word. Swype will "learn" your vocabulary and even anticipate the word you might want to use next. As I use Swype more and more, I am continually amazed....

I have yet to create a blog post on the Nexus 7 due to the lack of a decent Blogger app -- until now. The official Blogger app has finally been updated sufficiently such that it may actually be a viable tool. I'm not going to use it for a blog post of this length, but the next time I have a brief post, possibly one involving a single graphic, I plan to give it a try.







A Day in the Life with Android (Part 2)Forthcoming





---------------Footnotes:

1. Some of my recent book projects include Brandon Sanderson's The Emperor's Soul , from Tachyon Publications, which premiered at the 2012 World Fantasy Convention in Toronto last month. And forthcoming from Night Shade Books: No Return by Zachery Jernigan; Earth Thirst by Mark Teppo; The Departure (The Owner Trilogy, Book 1) by Neal Asher; Empty Space by M. John Harrison; and last, but certainly not least, the new collection from Laird Barron, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All .

2. Since not all websites support HTML5, occasionally I still need access to Adobe Flash. Since the Chrome browser does not support Flash, I had to install the Firefox browser app and then sideload ('droid users will understand this concept) the Adobe Flash Player app. Thankfully, I don't have to launch the Firefox Android browser very often: it's dreadful!

A "True Review" of Alien Contact

Whispers in the night... quiet words spoken amidst the rampaging hordes of vampires, werewolves, zombies... and superheroes.





Only a few of us, now, speak -- albeit resolutely -- of our Alien Contact experience. Of the stories therein, and their impact on our collective psyches, our thoughts, our visions of what is, what could be....




Recently, another spark of light has emerged from the darkness to wield its mighty words in approbation of this tome of some of the best stories from the past 30 or so years: 'zine True Review , edited by Andrew Andrews, reviews Alien Contact in its current issue (No. 82, Vol.25, Oct. 2012).




The review is brief, considering that the anthology contains 26 stories, but recognition in any size or shape is always welcome. The review highlights 10 of the stories; here's what Andrew had to say about Neil Gaiman's "How to Talk to Girls at Parties":

Two London blokes find out about a party coming to town like no other, with beautiful women who seem, well, kind of odd. But the guys want one thing only: to get to know the girls with perhaps some extended "benefits." Everything goes as planned until the dudes realize THESE women aren't of this world.

And Ursula K. Le Guin's "The First Contact with the Gorgonids":

Jerry and Annie Laurie Debree, tourists from a plastics conference in Australia, make it to Grong Crossing, one of the most unlikely places for humans to make first contact with aliens. But for these arrogant and ignorant tourists, fame will come, whether they like it or not.

For more of the review, please check out True Review .