An Apology to The Write Agenda

The other day, I wrote that my candidacy appeared to have annoyed the folks over at The Write Agenda. They’ve written to explain that no, not only have I not annoyed them, they’re actually pleased with my candidacy, wishing me the best of luck and describing me as “a potential Moses.”

Okay, I admit this was not what I was expecting, and even threw me off-balance a bit. So I went back and checked the comments that referenced my “bad reputation” at TWA.

First of all, I was shocked to discover that, despite having three different names, those comments appeared to have come from the same person! What a shocking twist. And the IP address puts this individual on a computer at Matawan Aberdeen Library–

HOLY CRAP, IT’S ANOTHER TWIST!!! By an incredible coincidence, Matawan also happens to be the home of “literary agent” Barbara Bauer:

Barbara Bauer Literary Agency, Inc.
[Street Address Removed]
Matawan, NJ 07747-2944

Some of you might recall Ms. Bauer from such blog posts as Making Light’s Dumbest of the Twenty Worst, the discussion at Absolute Write, alerts from Writer Beware, and more.

Now, according to a great deal of research by Writer Beware, The Write Agenda appears to be associated with Robert Fletcher and Strategic Book Publishing, a.k.a. Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Agency, along with a number of sockpuppets.

While the Write Agenda seems to have a fairly cozy relationship with Ms. Bauer, it’s also true that The Write Agenda have their own sockpuppets, like “Nick Caruso” and “Lizzy Greenberg” and “Michael Sigvagni.”

Ms. Bauer–or whoever from Mattawan, NJ happened to be posting those comments–seems to have adopted a different approach, using the names of authors and others she feels have wronged her for her sockpuppetry.

I’ve watched enough Criminal Minds to realize what this meant. The signatures didn’t match, and I was accusing the wrong unsub!

Man, do I have egg on my face or what? I MIXED UP THE SOCKPUPPETS! Mea culpa, and I apologize to Robert and everyone else at The Write Agenda for getting their sockpuppets confused with those of Ms. Ba–I mean, the “anonymous” commenter from New Jersey.

My Son Reviews Goblin Quest

A week or so back, my wife sat down and started reading Goblin Quest [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] to my son Jackson. To be honest, this made me nervous. I wrote this book more than a decade ago, and while some people have loved it, no book works for everyone. What if he didn’t like it? What if he didn’t get the humor? What if it was just too old for him?

Basically, I was more worried about what my seven-year-old boy thought of my book than I was about what my editor thought of the Codex Born draft.

I’m happy to say he loved it. Night after night when I put him to bed, he’d ask me questions about the goblins and the hobgoblins and the dragon, and told me what he thought would happen next. He even guessed where the Rod of Creation would be found. The first time the forgotten god Tymalous Shadowstar spoke to Jig the goblin, Jackson literally gasped. He giggled when Smudge set various people and things on fire. He worried about Riana and Jig, and got mad at the adventurers for how they treated Jig.

I’ve gotten some great reviews for this book. Wil Wheaton called it “too f***ing cool for words.” Ed Greenwood loved it. Fans have made crocheted goblins and gotten tattoos of Jig or Smudge.

But this review is at the top of my list. Watching and listening to his reactions as my wife read the story has been one of the best experiences in almost 20 years of writing.

With that said, let’s find out what he thought of the book.

What is Goblin Quest about?

You should know that. You wrote it!

Okay, fine. What do you think Goblin Quest is about?

I think it’s about the first goblin that goes on an adventure. Jig was on muck duty, and then Porak and the rest of his patrol took him out and sent him ahead so they could play games and not technically abandon their duties. But they really did abandon their duties, but Jig didn’t. He did their duties for them, and he got captured by a group of adventurers that were on a quest to find the Rod of Creation.

Who was your favorite character?

Jig, because he’s he main character, and I think he’s pretty cool.

What did you think of the other characters?

I liked it when Jig was talking to the adventurers in English, but then he talked to the other goblins in Goblin, except that he forgot that Darnak could speak Goblin. Uh oh…

What was the best part of the story?

For me, it was when they found out that [SPOILER ABOUT THE ROD OF CREATION].

Were there any parts you didn’t like, or that you thought were too scary?

I didn’t like when Riana was picking one of the Necromancer’s locks and it started to turn her into one of the walking corpses, a zombie, basically. It was scary.

Who do you think should read this book?

Everybody!

What are you and Mama going to read next?

Goblin Hero!

Libriomancer Audio Book Redux

When Libriomancer came out as an audio book, I started receiving messages explaining that while people enjoyed the story (most of them, at least), the narration left something to be desired. The same criticism popped up in reviews on Amazon and the Audible.com site.

I’m very happy to say that Audible took the complaints seriously, and decided to completely re-record the book. The audio book was pulled until they could get the new recording finished.

As of last night, the audio version of Libriomancer is once again available for sale at Amazon and Audible.com. My thanks to Audible for taking the time to try to make this right. I’ve not yet heard the new version, but I’m told the narration by David de Vries is a significant improvement.

(While I’m thinking about it, if you’re an Audible.com author, check out Audible Author Services. Basically, they pay the author an extra $1 per sale, presumably on the hope that we authors will do some extra promotion. I’m not aware of any downside here.)

And that’s all I’ve got for now. I have one week to turn in the final revision of Codex Born, and a nonfiction deadline snuck up on me earlier this week, so it’s frazzled-Jim time again here in Michigan.

Have a great weekend, all!

Voting Time!

SFWA Election ballots have gone out, and need to be completed and received by April 26. My thoughts on the presidential candidates are here. I’ll note that since writing that post, I’ve seen a bit more of both candidates’ approach on the SFWA discussion forums, and I’ve come to appreciate Steven Gould’s level-headed and down-to-earth style.

My only other comment on the elections is to note that my own candidacy for South Central Regional Director appears to have annoyed the folks at The Write Agenda, judging by their post and a few delightfully clueless trolls who popped up in the comments. I was amused to see how much virtual ink they’ve spent on me. If you’re not familiar with TWA, I refer you to my blog post about them from 2011. Beyond that, I’ll just point out that they’re supporting Theodore Beale for president…

Hugo Nominations are due March 10. Nominations can be submitted online by anyone with a supporting or attending membership at Chicon 7, LoneStarCon 3, and Loncon 3.

  • Best Fan Writer: I talked about possible nominees for this category here and here.
  • Best Novel: So, any of you eligible voters need a last-minute copy of Libriomancer? 😉
  • Best Fan Artist: I became aware that folks were wanting to nominate me for this one based on my cover pose work. I explained why this made me uncomfortable, and said I’d decline the nomination. Farah Mendlesohn disagreed with that choice, and made some convincing arguments as to why. I’m still conflicted here, but she’s right. The Hugos aren’t just about the winners; they’re also about the people who vote. So I won’t tell you who to nominate, and if by chance I end up on the ballot, I’ll reconsider things. The one thing I would ask is that if you do this, please list both Jim and Amy Hines. Amy was my photographer for every one of the cover poses from 2012, and they wouldn’t have been half as good without her help and patience.
  • Best Editor, Long Form: Last year, Betsy Wollheim won this category, the first such win for DAW. Sheila Gilbert is my editor at DAW, and has more than forty years of editorial experience. Not only did she help with Libriomancer, but she’s supported me as an author for seven years now, helping me to build a career and grow as an author. Just as she’s done for countless others.
  • Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Seanan McGuire makes the case for Phineas and Ferb season three, episode 18, “Excaliferb.” I second her opinion on this one for so many ways, from the in-jokes to the soundtrack.
  • Best Related Work: A friend brought “I Have an Idea for a Book…”: The Bibliography of Martin H. Greenberg to my attention earlier this week. I haven’t had the chance to check it out yet, but it includes essays and as complete and thorough a list as possible of the thousands of books Greenberg helped bring about.
  • The Hugo Recommendation LJ Community has other suggestions if you’re not sure what else to nominate.

Please feel free to share your own thoughts on either the election or the Hugo noms!

Star Trek TNG/Doctor Who: Assimilation

I remember seeing an ad last year for the Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who crossover from IDW. So when I found myself with a B&N gift card (courtesy of my mother-in-law — thank you!), I hopped online and ordered volumes 1 and 2 of Assimilation, which reprint the entire eight-issue run.

The cover tells you everything you need to know. The Doctor and his companions (Amy and Rory) hop over to the universe of the Enterprise D. There, they find that the Cybermen have forged an alliance with the Borg. Voila: instant profit story.

It’s a fun idea, right up there with “Enterprise vs. Death Star” and “Buffy & Scoobies vs. The Smurfs.” But while the story tried to go beyond that fannish “What if?” it only partially succeeded.

There’s a convenient side plot about an oceanic mining operation that doesn’t really add anything. We do get a flashback to a former incarnation of the Doctor meeting up with the original Enterprise crew, which was rather fun. And we see Picard struggling to overcome his trauma with the Borg. While that’s a powerful, painful thing to watch, it’s also something we’ve seen before in the series and in First Contact.

The Borg/Cyberman vs. the Doctor/Federation is the big conflict here, but I think the conflict between Picard and the Doctor was far more interesting. Both are good, strong, stubbornly determined characters whose style couldn’t be more different. I wish we had seen more of their struggle to stop butting heads and finding a way to work together.

Also, more of Rory and Worf teaming up, please. I would read an entire comic about that duo. Guinan and the Doctor were fun too.

The artwork…okay, I’m not a comics reader, but the art did not impress me. Some of it was decent, but mostly it felt rushed.

Is this great literature? Not so much. On the other hand, I didn’t order them expecting great literature. I ordered them because it was an idea that hit me right in my inner fanboy. Could it have been better? Absolutely. But the toy inside gives you exactly what it promises on the box.

Now, when are we getting the crossover where Torchwood goes up against Q?

Preventing Rape

Today’s rant began with a quote I saw on linked from Facebook.

If you’re promoting changes to women’s behavior to “prevent” rape, you’re really saying “make sure he rapes the other girl.” -@itsmotherswork

Personally, I think that’s a pretty powerful message. And then I read the comments…

More

Lego Hogwarts

Alice Finch built Hogwarts out of LEGO. To minifig scale. With scenes from the various books/movies.

The whole thing uses close to half a million bricks, and took twelve months to put together.

There were other things I wanted to blog about, but instead I’m just going to stare at the full photoset for a while…

Declining a Hugo Nom

The deadline for Hugo Award nominations is March 10. (Which reminds me, I’ve got to finish getting my list of stuff-I-think-deserves-shiny-rocketships together.)

Last week, a friend mentioned that they were seeing posts on Twitter encouraging folks to nominate me for Best Fan Artist, based on the cover poses I’ve done.

I wasn’t expecting that. Thank you so much. It means a great deal to see how much people appreciate the whole cover pose project.

But I’m conflicted. The cover pics certainly seem to qualify as fan art, and they were done in 2012, so to my mind this would be a perfectly valid nomination. And I’ve got to say, winning a Hugo last year was amazing. It was one of the best moments of my life, and something I’d love to do again someday.

At the same time, even though the Hugo I received in Chicago was technically for my blog work in 2011, I’d be deluding myself to think the popularity of the cover poses wasn’t a factor. Accepting a nomination for Fan Artist would feel like I was trying to cash in twice for the same project.

Basically, the idea makes me uncomfortable. I won’t tell you who to nominate, but I will say that in the unlikely chance that I made the ballot for Best Fan Artist, I would decline the nomination.

Of course, if you wanted to nominate Libriomancer for Best Novel, that would be awesome and I’d love you forever. But when it comes to Best Fan Artist, it just doesn’t feel right. You honored me last year for my fan writing, and I can’t thank you enough for that. But there are are too many skilled, hard-working artists who deserve to be on that ballot this year.

In fact, if you have any thoughts on who should get a nod for Best Fan Artist or Writer this year, please share names and links in the comments.

Thank you.

Nebula Voters HATE WHITE DUDES!!!

SF Signal posted the Nebula Award Finalists yesterday, with links to lots of free fiction. (Huge congratulations to all the nominees, by the way.) I’ve seen a lot of discussion about the diversity of the nominees this year. Rose Fox did a breakdown over at Genreville.

So of course it didn’t take long for someone to pop up in the SF Signal comments to say:

Sure is a huge slant towards women and the non white male. If we don’t start counteracting all the relentless one sided articles soon. Then SF is going to look a lot like the Romance Genre. And the funny thing is there wasn’t even a fight.

Thats my Counterpoint Mirror to todays Half Truths(its the other half that will complete you)

Another commenter jumped in to say how girly the list was, and to talk about how he reads a very broad and diverse range of male authors.

I wish I was making that up.

(He did concede that he’d be willing to check out Mary Robinette Kowal’s book, though. I assume it’s because she’s proven her manliness credentials.)

The fact that there are dumbasses on the internet should come as no surprise to anyone. And plenty of folks have been happily mocking the clueless trolls. But maybe we’re not giving the poor troll enough credit.

Sure, he packs an impressive amount of idiocy into a single comment. But what if it’s not just a dude who doesn’t want women and non-white folks in his genre, with a bonus scoop of “Romance is icky!!!” What if, instead of being a dumbass, he’s trying to make a sneakier point?

After all, some of us have complained time and again when we see an awards ballot or anthology list dominated by white men. If I mock these commenters for complaining about a list dominated by…um…well, people who aren’t white men, then I’M A FLAMING HYPOCRITE AND MY ENTIRE SOAP BOX WILL COLLAPSE UNDER THE WEIGHT OF MY DOUBLE-STANDARDS!

Why, if this was his devious plan all along, then we the PC Thought Police of Doom have DRASTICALLY underestimated our opposition! This isn’t a clueless, sexist, racist dumbass after all! This is a Moriarty-type genius of–

No, wait, sorry. My bad. Still a clueless, sexist, racist dumbass. Tell you what, dude–when you can demonstrate a pattern of historical discrimination against white male authors, if you can show how we’re persistently under-reviewed, under-nominated for awards, underrepresented in “Best of” anthologies, then we’ll talk.

In the meantime, my condolences to the good folks at SF Signal. It’s never fun when the neighbor’s ill-behaved dog shows up to take a dump in your yard.

ETA: Changed the title because penis =/= dude. My apologies. Dammit, I’m supposed to be smarter than that.

Final Stretch and Cover Pose Gallery

Codex Born [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] is due to my editor in nine days. I finished draft 4 on the 13th, and have been working through draft 4.1 to fit the final plot pieces into place, flesh out missing descriptions and transitions, and add a Firefly reference.

Most of my free time and energy is going into this last revision, which means blogging will be lighter than usual.

I’m happy with how this book has turned out. I’m amazed at how much it’s changed from the very first draft. I think it does a nice job of continuing the themes and ideas of the first book, and I’m hopeful that readers will get the same sense of excitement and wonder and fun.

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Several people asked if there was a way to see all of the cover poses I’d done in a single spot. Well, there is now! I’ll be adding more to that page eventually, but for now, it has links to all of the blog posts as well as a link to the Flickr gallery containing all of the poses.

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Oh, and I’m almost finished reading The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison. This is a beautifully told story, and has cost me much-needed sleep these past few nights. And I’m not just saying that because GOBLINS!

I believe this one comes out in 2014. I’ll be putting a review together to go up closer to the release date.

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