No, This Is the Last One...Really

I didn't think I'd have the time to get something together in time to meet tomorrow's deadline for Six Sentences, Volume 1. I'm still scrambling to finish two other projects (only one of which will get done by tomorrow--eh, well).

But, I reworked a story that "came close" but was rejected from a few places, and voila: the real last sub for 2007!

"Get along..."

It's just past noon, and I haven't really started my writing day yet. I shouldn't complain; now's about the time I started yesterday, and I got done everything I'd planned to get done. Trouble is, I set my bar a little low during the break. It's time to pick it up a tad, I think. Not that the time's been completely wasted, seeing as I've been scouring teh Intartubes for snippets from the Daptone Records catalog.

Still though, Gunny says that it's time to work, so that's what I'm going to do. Time to turn off the soul (music) and put on some stuff I can work to...

Merry X-Mas to Me

Not sure how long these things stay up, but one of my pieces, "The Right to Privacy" is listed as one of the Six Blasts From the Past on the front page of Six Sentences. Just go down the menubar on the right.

Merry Christmas!

"...where the groove will get you high"

Here's my proposed (incomplete) soundtrack for 2008, courtesy of Daptone Records and SeeqPod.


SeeqPod Music beta - Playable Search

Not All Remakes Suck

IMO, it looks like Cassandra Wilson (goddess that she is) may no longer have the market cornered on brand new takes on old songs...

"What Have You Done For Me Lately" by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings


"Smells Like Teen Spirit" by The Bad Plus


(This has been a test of SeeqPod. Had this been an actual post about certain songs, you would have been inundated with snarky commentary.)

I've Got Plenty to Submit Here

Literary Rejections on Display

Remember this: Someone out there will always say no.

Of course, I'll want to spend hours and hours endlessly sorting through my rejection letters in order to find the one worded juuuuust right...

Resistance Is Even More Futile

The Top Ten Transhumanist Technologies

The Lifeboat Foundation has a special report detailing their view of the top ten transhumanist technologies that have some probability of 25 to 30-year availability. Transhumanism is a movement devoted to using technologies to transcend biology and enhance human capabilities.

Last Good Sub of the Year

At least I have the satisfaction of knowing that the last piece I subbed for '07 will make it's debut on Six Sentences in January of '08. I can now rest easy, right...?



"Bullshit, son!"

Eugenics

I just needed to put this where I was sure to find it again...

Mystery of Life
Uploaded by donaldtheduckie

via Paleo-Future

Because Reading Is Fundamental

11/19-11/25

I was lucky to have gotten this much reading in, what with the holiday travel and all.

• Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, "The Young Wife's Tale"
  
• J.G. Ballard, "Deep End"
  
• Ryan Boudinot, "Drugs and Toys"
  
• Ryan Boudinot, "Contaminant"
  
• Kelly Link, "Lull"
  
• J.G. Ballard, "The Overloaded Man"

11/26-12/2

• Ryan Boudinot, the remainder of his collection The Littlest Hitler
  
• M. Rickert, "Don't Ask"
  
• Stuart Dybek, "Farwell"
  
• S.L. Gilbow, "Who Brought Tulips to the Moon?"
  
• J.G. Ballard, "Billennium"
  
• Stuart Dybek, "Chopin in Winter"
  

I think I made some decent headway with things I've purchased over the Thanksgiving holiday, used and new. The stories from Gilbow and Rickert are from the December '07 issue of F&SF--I've accepted the fact that I'll buy just about anything with M. Rickert's name on it, including whatever collection "Don't Ask" might end up in. Sort of like I keep downloading buying all those greatest hits compilations that the band Chicago keeps putting out.

No Tough Love Today

The crit group was cancelled due to inclement weather, so that sucked. Just as well, because I didn't have anything to contribute this week aside from my usual half-baked opinions of other folks' writing, much like the half-baked thinking I'm about to share with you now.

I've come across a bunch of stories lately that make me wonder what would happen if I re-typed them and submitted them to the crit group. What would they say about unclear narration, too many points of view, or just plain too many adverbs ending in -ly in a story I tried to pass off as mine? Would they have the same comments regardless of who wrote the story?

And, I'm not talking about the authors everybody loves to hate, either. I'm talking about writers whose talent I'd gladly sell a testicle to Ol' Scratch to have. So, I'm not hatin' on anyone.

Makes me go, "Hmm..."