Harry Connolly's Blog, page 195

I still get notes, of course, but…

I have this one bad habit…

Okay, stop laughing. I know I have more than one bad habit. Right now I want to talk about the one.

I have this habit of warning people they might not like my book.

Which is stupid, I know. I should talk UP the book, and if they happen on something they don't like, they can decide that for themselves. Still, it's an incredibly hard habit to break. I only did it once yesterday at the signing[1:], but that was enough to catch myself and shut my mouth for the rest of the afternoon....

Randomness for 4/11

1) Want Star Trek gear? A warehouse full of ST: The Experience props and costumes is up for auction.

2) Nicolas Cage's Ugly Mansion. Eight pictures, each worse than the last. No, actually number four is the worst. This living room is a disaster, though.

3) These aren't new, but maybe some folks haven't seen them before: Recut move trailers that make kids movies seem like horror films, and horror films seem like domestic dramas. SCARY MARY is my favorite.

4) Businessinsider.com offers 15...

See you at the bookstore

Last reminder: I'll be at the Tukwila B&N today at one o'clock with three other fine writers. I hope to see you there.

Don't miss this one

Andrew Wheeler went through Publishers Weekly's list of best-selling books from 2009 and took out everything that wasn't sf/f. The list of most popular sf/f books is here.

I don't have a lot to say about the content of the books. You have to go pretty far down the list before you find science fiction. Fantasy and Horror dominate.

Another thing I notice at first glance is that there aren't that many writers listed once on the list. Most of the slots are books from authors with at least...

Randomness for 4/9

1) Which is nerdier: Dr. Who or the X-Men? From the Extremely Bad Advice column.

2) Barack Obama looking at awesome things. via @Scalzi

3) Tricks for better Google searches.

4) Lawrence Watt-Evans tells how he became a published author without contacts, classes, networking, or family support.

5) How MMORPG designers keep you playing, even when you're not having fun. More about this later, I think. via Kate Nepvue

6) An instance of Nerd Rage examined. –although this isn't relegated to nerds (...

This is amazing (video: PIXELS)

PIXELS: Retro Gamers from addwork on Vimeo.

Facebook users, this post has embedded video. Click through to the post to see it.

What happened to the day?

Having gotten in way past bedtime last night (I didn't get to sleep until almost 1 am) I naturally overslept this morning. By an hour and a half.

Now I keep finding myself looking down at the clock on my computer and thinking "break time already?" "How can it be lunch when I haven't been uncomfortably hungry for the last 20 minutes?" In fact, I clock out in half an hour. Huh!

More Jim Butcher news. You know he cut off his long hair, right? It's a big improvement, but I couldn't find any p...

Bookstore appearance reminder

This is just a reminder that I'll be appearing at the Tukwila Barnes and Noble. 1:00 on Saturday, April 10th with authors Mark Henry (Battle of the Network Zombies), Gayle Ann Williams (Tsunami Blue), and Jessa Slade (Seducing the Shadows). We'll be hanging out, chatting, and generally being an extrovert. If you're in the area, drop by and say hello.

I shoulda shaved

Jim Butcher's event drew about 400 people. Yikes. I counted 32 black leather jackets, 21 fedoras/wide-brimmed hats, and only two guys who went for the trifecta: leather jacket, hat and "wizard's staff".

With my unshaved face and fat gut, I imaging I didn't look out of place. I really felt out of place, though.

There was no reading; it was all Q&A, and what's more, Butcher is a funny, engaging speaker. Even when a reader (the very first one!) came to the mike to ask him about his...