Mark Henry's Blog, page 9

Snippet Saturday: Worldbuilding

I took a month-long break from Lauren Dane's Snippet Saturday project to tear through some projects, but now I'm back and on it…sort of. Well, as "on it" as I can be at 7:00 on a Saturday morning.  This week is all about world building, which I kind of know stuff about–I should since I've taught classes on it, right?  So I think I'll just throw up a few pieces and then talk a bit about them afterward. Sound good? Here we go (from Happy Hour of the Damned)…

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Know What's Awesome About Dragon*Con?

I'm fully ensconced in a post con stupor–exhausted, dreamy, but ultimately content. Made some career decisions this weekend, stuff I won't be talking about for a while, but I feel like I have some direction, got my projects lined up and ready to go. 

But, lest I get all serious…let's get to the damn recap, shall we? Here it goes, in the form of a top ten list…

What's Awesome About Dragon*Con!

1. People Who Go Out of Their Way to Make You Comfortable

Had a great time with Stacia Kane and her...

Dragon*Con and Other Stuff

So I'm sitting here, drinking coffee and listening to my favorite audiobook series, the new No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency book, Tea Time for the Traditionally Built. There's something about the narrator's voice (Lisette Lecat) that really draws me in, plus I love the quaint charm of Alexander McCall Smith's Botswana. Love it. Anyways.

I spent the weekend finishing a short story for a friend's anthology. I'm kind of in love with the story, my first venture into alien territory, and I'm not talkin

Cover Flattage!

The winners of this week's cover flats are…

Jessica Kennedy

Daelith

Hockeyvampiress

Jennifer Allen

Lori

Email me(at)markhenry(dot)us

NOT

mark(at)markhenry(dot)us that one will get you nowhere–and I'll hook you up with the flat and somethin' else swaggy.

Have a good weekend y'all.

A Reason to Twitter

If you don't have a twitter account but love making fun of horribly offensive television, well now you have a reason to follow me and Tor editor Heather Osborn on Twitter.

Every Thursday we do a Twitter Commentary track of that week's Toddlers and Tiaras. All you need to do to join in the fun is…

1. Set up an account at http://twitter.com

2. Follow mark_henry and HeatherOsborn

3. Record Toddlers and Tiaras

3. Start watching at 4:30 PST/7:30 Eastern and follow along on Twitter.

It helps if you have

This May Come as Some Surprise…

…but there are times where I can be quite productive. Take this past weekend. Pal-o-mine/Douche Extraordinaire, Mario Acevedo, showed up at my house and demanded we write a screenplay together. While there's nothing unusual about this occurrence–and, in fact, you might be saying to yourself, 'Damn it, Mario told me I'm the only one he's writing a script with'–it is quite unusual to knock out a first draft in 4 days.

*shines up knuckles*

AND…I'm kinda proud of the estimated 115 page (read minute)

Winners!

It's my anniversary today, and though we celebrated last night, I'm planning a nice dinner so I'm going to have to hit the road to collect some fresh ingredients, so I'll make this quick.

The winners of the cover flat contest are…

Qwill, Sandra Cormier, Angie Gipson, rpattzlawyer and Paige Hollenbaugh.

Congratulations people!

Now, email me(at)markhenry(dot)us with your address and I'll get that out to you asap!

Damn.

I gotta tell you. I didn't make it all the way through The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Not because it wasn't a good book, for as far as I could tell it was perfectly well written, but because it weighed so heavy. What Peter Jackson's done to it looks to be another beast entirely and about halfway into the trailer, about the time Elizabeth Fraser's voice pipes in with Alice, I was sold.

The Lovely Bones – Trailer

Uploaded by dreadcentral. – Classic TV and last night's shows, online.

Gorgeous.

Who Likes Cover Flats?

Checked the mail yesterday after being gone Friday and Saturday for the PNWA Writer's Conference (a great time was had with my agent, writers and everybody) and what did I find?

Only this…

So lots of stuff changed in the mass-market paperback scaledown. But I'm all about the new tagline: The ghoul can't help it. Pleases me for reasons I can't even begin to articulate. Number one, I think it might have been accidental, but the first image that comes to mind is Divine in Pink Flamingos…

Did you stick

Dayum!

Comin' down off the hottest day on record for the Pacific Northwest, 102 (105 in our neighborhood–but once it's that hot, what's the damn difference). Probably wouldn't have been so bad if we didn't lose power and lived in the kind of neighborhood where the middle class rose on mass and headed to Walmart for some cheap generators. It was like a scene from Apocalypse Now with all the blue smoke and flashlights. Ended up dragging down a mattress and collapsing next to the screen door, for no app