Harry Connolly's Blog, page 181
July 4, 2010
Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans
I'm having a quiet day at home, just like yesterday, hanging with family. We were planning to camp out on the side of a hill somewhere to watch the fireworks tonight, but we've been invited to a party. I have no idea what we'll end up doing. All I know is that I plan to bore my son with an explanation of what we're celebrating and why.
Happy Birthday, America.
How to marginalize yourself
I knew touring comedian Gallagher had did conservative schtick, but I never realized he'd become such a pathetic asshole. Sample quote: "If Obama was really black, he'd act like a black guy and get a white wife." Jesus. James Nicoll would mark this with the "memetic prophylactic recommended" tag.
Randomness for
1) I knew touring comedian Gallagher had did conservative schtick, but I never realized he'd become such a pathetic asshole. Sample quote: "If Obama was really black, he'd act like a black guy and get a white wife." Jesus. James Nicoll would mark this with the "memetic prophylactic recommended" tag.
2)
July 2, 2010
Randomness for 7/2
1) Wonder Woman trades in her star-spangled panties for actual pants (and a very '90's jacket).
2) "Officer, I recognize that woman! Her name is Selena Kyle!"
3) OMG. Promoted from a comment Rose Fox made: The Adventures of Lil Cthulhu. I love it!
4) Et Cetera and Otherwise: A Violent Book Trailer. That won a Moby Award for Best Foreign Book Trailer and I laughed my ass off.
5) The other Moby Award winning trailers are compiled here… except for the one named "Least Likely to Sell the...
Five things for a Friday
1) Time for a yay! I'll be doing another Big Idea essay at the end of August, this time for GAME OF CAGES. Yay! This time I'm going to write a little bit about pets and pet-owners. You guys know how I feel about pets, right? I'm sure many of the people who read it are going to suspect I'm an alien infiltrator, but I swear it ain't true.
2) I have a huge disorganized jumble of odd books at home. Why, you ask? Because I'm going to be giving them away. They're all out of my...
Child of Fire Reviews part 14
Links to the reviews are behind the cut:
1) Elaine liked it: "Lots of suspense and some very original ideas. Highly Recommended."
2) I don't think I linked to this before: RT Book Reviews gives it four and a half stars. "Connolly delivers the goods with this gripping magical thriller. It's a terrific read with many frightening supernatural events. The first-person narration allows a glimpse into the protagonist's head and makes him more real as the ingenious plot takes twists that keep the...
June 30, 2010
"Lovecraftian"
Found another review of Child of Fire today that used the "L" word. "Lovecraft." It's one I think about often. I stuck werewolves into my first novel because they're scary (to me, anyway–I have had many nightmares about dog attacks) but the books are meant to feature supernatural creatures you don't normally find in folklore. No pixies, no rakshasa, no ghosts, no ifrits, none of that. I wanted to make my own.
Which would be one thing if I was writing a second-world fantasy, but the...
Having a crappy day at the day job today.
People, when you call a company, sometimes the person who can help you is the first person who answers the phone. Don't be rude to them and don't try to blow by them to the person you think can help.
Anyway.
As much as I try (try!) to make this blog a not-specifically-about-writing blog, here's two writing-related things:
First is Rob Sawyer's post about the end of the full-time SF novelist, and John Scalzi's reaction.
I'm still sifting through my thoughts on both men's ideas. I'm a...
June 29, 2010
An American investigates Depression Exorcism
This story is audio only and is 16 minutes long. That's a lot to listen to on the internet, but it's pretty damn interesting. The speaker is author Andrew Solomon, who wrote The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression. The story he tells describes a trip he made to study folk treatments for depression in Senegal and how he ended up being the recipient of that ritual. And how it affected him.
It's a pretty amazing story. Highly recommended.
Can YOU reduce the government's debt to GDP ratio?
The Center for Economic and Policy research has a debt calculator that allows people to see the implications of various policies. I managed to drive the number down below the magic (according to some budget hawks) 60% line by pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan, reducing our nuclear stockpile, instituting a carbon tax to fight climate change, allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, opening up a buy-in "public option," increasing the social security tax cap, instituting a tiny financial s...
