"Oligarh(y)"

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Um... WTF is an "Oligarhy"? Can Fox not even afford free interns and copies of Micosoft Word, if for nothing else but the spell-checker?



My opinion: most people watching Glenn Beck can't spell anyway, so they probably figured "why not?" I'd also bet $100 cold, hard cash that if you random-polled 1000 Fox News viewers, 99% would not be able to define what an "oligarchy" is (hint: it's "a form of government in which power effectively rests with a small elite segment of society distinguished by royal, wealth, intellectual, family, military or religious hegemony")...

...but I bet they'd say they were "a'skeered' of it.

Also... in regards to his little rant at the end about "I'm tired of being a sheep... I'm tired of being pushed around!"

Um. Last I checked, this ass-hat owns a palatial $4.25M manor estate, (hat tip: HuffPo for the link) and enjoys the protections of the 1st Amendment, which allows complete and total tools like this to bilk gullable right-wing nimrods. Oh well... enjoy that house while you can, Glenn, because we all know where this is headed. Personally, I can't wait until Beck joins the likes of Morton Downey Jr. (meaning: he drops of the face of the earth, not dies from lung cancer...)

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Texting While Driving PSA

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Saw this over on HuffPo earlier today and thought I'd cross-link to it here.

I have an 18 year-old daughter who texts literally all the time, often times, I fear, while behind the wheel. She also often has her infant in the car. I really hope she sees this...

There are some interesting links in the original post, some to sites asking the question "does this go too far?"

In a word: no.

In America, most teens learn to drive in an automatic car, which takes little effort and thought to operate. New drivers literally have no idea how much momentum a car picks up at even slower speeds, and, hence, just how dangerous a hurtling chunk of steel, rubber and glass can be (particularly when faced with a head-on collision with another vehicle). Compound those factors with all the distractions faced by new drivers (all cars have stereos now, teens travel in groups and often travel with distracting passengers, all made even worse by the fact that most teens have always-on cell phones at the ready), and you have a recipe for disaster, as this 4:00 minute piece shows.

Warning: this is graphic, but I think it should be safe for work, given the message it hopes to send. Personally, I commend whoever green-lighted this piece's production and airing, and I hope we see a US version soon.



NOTE: CLICK HERE if you can't see the embedded video for some reason.

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Pins, comma, needles...

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So, I went out to California to interview for a job last week with a company that really impressed me. Not to jinx myself, but I hope to hear something one way or the other TOMORROW (as in, Tuesday). It's feeling like it's going pretty well, but I've been around this particular block a few times and I know that wishful thinking can and does distort one's vision. Hopefully this time, I'm seeing 20/20.

Look for an update one way or the other tomorrow.

And now, today's writing tip of the week...

Around 2:00 this afternoon I simply could not stand being in the house for another microsecond, so I decided to avail myself of my new neighborhood's wonderful jogging trail down the Walhalla Ravine. I'll talk about the place more later - for now it's not important. What IS is the fact that, even though I've been chewing over a bit of characterization for my new book for weeks it seems like, the answer occurred to me within 20 minutes of getting out of my house and under the trees, my heart pumping and my conscious mind distracted by thoughts of "Oh, God, oh, God, my legs, my legs hurt they hurt they hurt..." This left my sub-conscious, always my better half when it comes to producing idea breakthroughs clear to 'do it's thang'.

Well worth a bit o' agony, IMHO.

Now, anyone that's been following this blog (and if you haven't, feel free to check out the "Articles on Writing" link on the right link bar) knows that I think quite a lot about WHERE ideas come from and WHAT to do with them once they arrive. In this case, I found it interesting that I was completely stuck for days until I got out of my rut, got out of my house and went out someplace where I could try and see the world (and this is important) through my characters' eyes.

There's more I want to say about this idea, and I'll talk more about this soon in a separate article, but I wanted to share what happened today, just in case someone else is out there, stuck and frustrated and wondering how to get past their most recent bout of block.

Anyway... If you're into all that, send me positive energy/happy thoughts/joy-joy feelings... whatever you cotton to, because I'm hoping for good news tomorrow. Until then, keep dreaming and keep writing every day! It's what writers do.

-M

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On vacation...

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I'm at the beach this week. Here's a shot from the patio of the beach house Mom rented.



Grayson's having a great time playing in the blood-warm water. Now all I have to do is keep him from getting burned to a crisp.

Had some job interviews before I left - hopefully one or more will ripen into a full-fledged offer. That would be so nice. I'm getting some long-delayed editing done down here as well.

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Blood Magic and Nights of Sin Nominated for Gaylactic Spectrum Award

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I was on Juno Books' site last night and saw an announcement that both Blood Magic and Nights of Sin were nominated for the 2009 Gaylactic Spectrum Award. If you haven't heard about this award (I hadn't - sorry), it is:

The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards honor outstanding works of science fiction, fantasy and horror which include significant positive explorations of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered characters, themes, or issues.

The Gaylactic Network, the premiere organization for gay and lesbian fandom, created the Awards in 1998 because there was no existing avenue for the recognition of outstanding gay-positive work within the genre. In 2002, the Awards struck out on their own, under the auspices of the newly created Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Foundation. The Gaylactic Network remains a primary partner for the Awards. The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Foundation is working on its own incorporation and is seeking to obtain charitable organization status to enhance its ability to inform and educate.

Oftentimes, books and other works can be overlooked - and publishers, authors and artists need to know that their inclusion of gay issues, characters and themes is appreciated. Before the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards, no award had been developed that honored works for both genre content AND gay content. Because speculative fiction offers an opportunity to explore complex and sometimes unpopular issues through the distance of other worlds, times and cultures, we hope the award will encourage professionals working in science fiction, fantasy and horror to use the genre to explore characters and issues of importance to the gay community.

I know it sounds very corny to say that I'm honored to be nominated, but I really, really am. I'm up against some really wonderful writers, so hoping to win is likely nothing but pure hubris, but in this case I truly am honored that someone out there not only read the novels but also thought that the depictions of Kirin and Lia were compelling and positive enough to merit the nomination. Whoever you are - thank you.

The award will be given at this year's Gaylaxicon in Minneapolis on October 9-11. I'm writing the con organizers now to see if I can work out a way to attend - I'm still looking for a full-time job, and money is tight, so a trip to Minneapolis might not be in the cards for me, but we'll see. Either way, wish me luck!

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