Alan Baxter's Blog, page 119

Say what you mean

I love it when comments on packaging says things in completely bizarre ways. You'd think that a lot of thought would go into the wording on products, particularly when it's just a single sentence here and there. I bought this today:

Apparently I need to have a shower or something before I can eat it:

I know, I'm a pedantic bastard.

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There's nothing like publisher confidence

I was tooling around in some antique shops recently and, as I always do, I gravitated to the bookshelves. You may remember the treasure I discovered this way a little while back. I wrote about that here. I didn't find anything so exciting this time, but I did pick up this book.

The thing that entertained me about this was the complete lack of faith the publisher appeared to have in poor old Dr Cronin. You can see from this page that Dr Cronin is not a new author:

So The Citadel here is his...

Preditors & Editors Readers Polls

My second book, MageSign, is listed in the Preditors & Editors Readers Polls honouring print & electronic publications published during 2009. If you could spare a moment (and if you've read and enjoyed the book, naturally) I would love your vote. You have to find it on the list, click the button, add your contact details at the bottom and then click the link in the confirmation email. It's a bit of a complicated method, I know, but it's to stop bot voting and stuff like that.

MageSign is...

Some nice recent reviews

I've just noticed a couple of new reviews around the place. There's this one for RealmShift on Smashwords:

Review by: Laurens Leurs on Dec. 13, 2009 : 5 Stars

An interesting and strangely compelling read. This books is a pretty unusual mix of fantasy, action and horror but much to my surprise this actually works. The story quickly becomes a page turner.

Also this one for RealmShift on Smashwords:

Review by: Cathy Russell on Dec. 02, 2009 : (no rating)
I really enjoyed this book, especially...

These are not New Year Resolutions

I don't believe in new year resolutions. If you're going to do something, just get on and fucking do it. Don't wait for a new year to roll around, or hang some extra importance on it because it was a promise you made to yourself on the 1st day of the year. Get some personal conviction, ya loser.

However, here are my new year reso… Wait. Here are some things I hope to achieve this year.

On January 2nd, 2010 I received one rejection for a short story I'd written and one acceptance for a...

Blasphemy laws in 2010? Oh yes

This is astounding, especially from a developed country in the year 2010 CE. I picked this up from the Metamagician blog. I'm basically just reposting the information verbatim as Russell did, because it speaks for itself.

The short version is this:

From 1 January 2010, the new Irish blasphemy law becomes operational. Blasphemy is now a crime punishable by a €25,000 fine. The new law defines blasphemy as publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters...

2009 keyword searches

My friend Michael recently did a post like this and it reminded me that I haven't done one for a while. It basically boils down to entertaining yourself by looking at the various keyword searches that led people to your blog throughout the year. It's amazing the things people search for online.

Michael blogged a lot this year about sexual ethics and had numerous very interesting searches ranging from "is it still necrophilia if i'm conscious" to "bisexual family orgy" to "how to do islamic...

Ten words you need to stop misspelling

There are a few words that are commonly misspelled or simply used incorrectly. I'm quickly becoming a fan The Oatmeal comics and today they've got a good list of ten commonly misspelled words, along with that special brand of Oatmeal drawing and comedy. The words they cover are:

Lose/Loose

Weird not Wierd

Their/They're/There

Your/You're

It's/Its

Definitely

Effect/Affect

Weather/Whether

A lot not alot*

Then/Than

Find the comic and explanations here.

* Also in this category there should be a discussion of ...

Slice Of Life by Paul Haines – review

I'll start by saying that I'm lucky enough to call Paul Haines a friend, so I don't want any accusations of friendly bias. Think what you like, you cynical bastards.

You may remember that I was going on about the X6 novella anthology from Coeur De Lion earlier this year. There was this post about the book and this post after I'd been to the official launch. Paul had a novella in there called Wives. It is, without a doubt, the best thing I've read this year. Buy X6 just for Wives if nothing...

Irony of the week, from Peter Jensen

Ah, this did make me laugh. It's the belief equivalent of "my dad can beat up your dad".

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

[Sydney's Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen:] Speaking to the congregation at St Andrews Cathedral on Christmas morning, he said recent polling showed Australians were religious and still looking for an answer on the purpose of life.

"But many of the answers are superstitious, such as astrology," he said. "Superstition can never satisfy the longings of the human heart and they...