Mur Lafferty's Blog, page 90
September 12, 2009
September 11, 2009
ISBW #129 LITE- Content rating system for children's books?
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I talk in this podcast about whether we should give children's books content ratings like video games and movies.
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News From Poughkeepsie – Day 105
Who are the Regulators?
The citizens of New Albuquerque knew an angel when they saw one.
They knew her by her white coat bearing the cross, her severe hair, her heavy glasses and her slight smirk. She wandered in from the East, her steps leaden with the weight of her pack, but her head high. She went to the sick, the injured, removing her sacrament from their translucent bottles and doling them out one at a time to the loved ones.
"Make sure he takes this regularly," she would say, and they...
September 10, 2009
News From Poughkeepsie – Day 104
Who are the Regulators?
Bobby prided himself on his daring. Most time travelers just observed, but Bobby fixed things. Gave himself a pep talk when he was 16, which created the the prom night he always wanted. Made sure that mortgage payment didn't fall through. Little things, sure. But it made his life better. And isn't that what technology is for?
But Bobby decided to break out, and make things better. Go back to the mid-twentith century and kill Hitler. An obvious choice? Perhaps. But no...
Media Report and Future Plans
We cut off cable a couple of weeks ago for reasons that included both money and the fact that we had a gazillion channels (that's the Latin word for eighty-three) and watched maybe twelve shows regularly. And many of those were on network TV.
I thought I'd miss it. Wil Wheaton was on Leverage the DAY after we turned off cable, but I shrugged; I'll catch it on DVD. People gush about the gleeful horridness that is the Saturday movie on SyFy, but I never watched it anyway (although I did rent...
September 9, 2009
A really really weird cake
When I had the honor of interviewing Neil Gaiman at WorldCon, one thing he said struck me hard – it was when he was talking about how he doesn't want to write the same thing every year: he wants to write different things and used the metaphor of food to explain. Instead of steak every year, one year he could write sushi, or a sandwich, "or a really really weird cake."
I loved that. I wanted to write a really really weird cake.
I just got back from DragonCon, and I saw some old friends and made ...
September 3, 2009
The News From Poughkeepsie – Day 99
A woman gets on a bus…
…of the dead.
Charon smiled and tipped his hat at Yuri as she got on. She paid her fare—two copper coins—and sat down next to the kindly old woman with snakes for hair and gleaming brass hands. A fresh scar that wound around her neck like choker.
The old woman was an easy talker, going on about her sisters, how she couldn't do a damn thing with her hair and how much polish she went through on any given week to keep her hands shiny. Yuri started to space out, and it wasn't unt
Dragon*Con!
I know I'm behind on podcasts, but I've spent all this week trying to get ready for DragonCon and finish up my edits for Heaven – which I did! The edited manuscript is on its way to my agent, and I'm wrapping up packing for DragonCon. I will edit some audio in the car on the way, so hopefully you'll have something while I'm at the show.
My DragonCon schedule:
Title: The Life And Times Of Podcast Novels
Time: Fri 02:30 pm Location: 204 – Hilton (Length: 1)
Description: How the podcast novel has evo
September 2, 2009
The News From Poughkeepsie – Day 98
A woman gets on a bus…
…in space.
Hana got on the Trans-Galactic Kestral bound for Titan—with stops at Mars, Ceres, and Ganymede—with her raygun and badge back on her nightstand at home. Hana's mother was on Titan, and she was determined to make this trip as a daughter, not a cop.
After all, Hana thought, this was just a bus trip. It took six hours to get to Titan. She'd palm her Buhg's volume up, drown out any babies or over-friendly old ladies, and catch up on her reading. What could go wrong?
Han
September 1, 2009
The News From Poughkeepsie – Day 97
A woman gets on a bus…
…only to never leave it.
Margot's tried to leave. Several times. But each time she gets off, she just gets back on, stepping off of one bus onto identical one. The other passengers get on and off, but not Margot. Margot was stuck.
Ever since the explosion, that's where Margot's been. On the bus she was on when it happened. Her body was moved to clean white sheets of a hospital bed, but her mind remains there, on the bus.
And until Margot figures out how to leave, that's where
