A Comment from Debra Winger
11 September 2004
I was watching her on Inside the Actor’s Studio and she stated that her muses were Fear and Desperation. I think I know how she feels.
Sounds Like Weird
11 September 2004
I was watching her on Inside the Actor’s Studio and she stated that her muses were Fear and Desperation. I think I know how she feels.
10 September 2004
In the last couple of days, there have been rumors that Brutarian would be vanishing as one of the best science fiction markets. I’m happy to say that those rumors weren’t true.
I do hope Mr. Stewart is not spreading the rumor that we are defunct as we are not. Gene and I had creative differences that could not be resolved and so we had a parting of the ways. Brutarian will continue to publish until I am dead or in a permanent coma so not to worry.
In the interim, I hope that you will let everyone know that we are more than alive and kicking and still paying the highest rates in the biz aside from majors like Time, and Playboy and well, you know those publications with mega circulations.
If you get the chance could you get the message out to all these sites you frequent and let them know the situation. Or let me know where to go – no puns here, not now – and post the announcement.
Cheers,
Dominick
07 September 2004
At the end of my hall, several parties were held. On Sunday night, I hadn’t looked at the party list at all, so I just trundled down the hall, not expecting anything in particular.
All the people were facing the same way, which was unusual for a party. And then the audio started and everyone started singing: Bohemian Polka from Weird Al, which is of course set to the tune of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen (with all the original lyrics, just done polka-style).
During the song, a woman came over holding a tray and asked, “Twinkie Wiener?” The tray contained hot dogs surrounded by bisected twinkies, as seen in the Weird Al movie UHF. If I hadn’t been allergic to wheat, I’d have had one.
04 September 2004
03 September 2004
I was looking over my msses last night, trying to get a grip on whether I was primarily a fantasy writer or an SF writer.
It turns out that I’ve got almost twice as many science fiction manuscripts as fantasy ones, but the total word count for them is 1/3 of the word count for the fantasy pieces. So, not surprisingly, my fantasy is longer, on average. Why isn’t this news?
03 September 2004
So two people recommended Mövenpick (aka Marché) for breakfast, so Michael and I tried it (Rick having been hungry and gone off earlier than we were ready).
Nice format (many little stations), reasonable prices, and, as with any cafeteria-style format, quick service.
02 September 2004
Skipped all the panels, hung out in Autographings for a while, took a nap, then went out to dinner with Serah Eley, Erin Cashier, Lawrence Watt-Evans, and others. Great fun!
It was mostly a Viable Paradise alumni gathering, though not strictly so.
02 September 2004
A friend saw Terry Pratchett wearing a t-shirt that went something like this:
Tolkein is Dead
J.K. Rowling said No
…
Hi, I’m Terry Pratchett
Melanie Miller Fletcher offered a better transcription:
Terry Pratchett (the Guest of Honor this year) ambled by wearing
a t-shirt that will go down in fan history. It read, in decreasing font
size:
Tolkien’s dead.
J.K. Rowling said no.
Phillip Pullman couldn’t make it.
Hi, I’m Terry Pratchett.
31 August 2004
So, I got my MA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill, specializing in science fiction and fantasy. No doubt, the romance writers have had the greatest success (in part because of the huge number of romance novels printed each year).
So I’m reading the first alumni newsletter, mentally saying “romance,” “romance,” “more romance” and starting to feel grumbly.
And then there’s me!
I feel happy now. 🙂
I am going to pick up Marta Dana’s book. She’s amazing.
Also, in fairness, a couple of the other pieces weren’t romance.
Anyhow, go, me!
30 August 2004
AlphaSmart makes great gadgets. If you attend any writer’s conference, especially romance writers, you’ll find a bunch of them using AlphaSmarts. They’ve finally come out with the Neo, which is a successor to their 3000 rather than their more powerful PalmOS Dana.
Some serious production writers use AlphaSmarts in lieu of computers because:
Once upon a time, I interviewed with AlphaSmart, who then sent me for a final interview in Salt Lake City. I didn’t get job, but the interview occurred during the Olympics. I was scheduled on flights that allowed me to catch one Olympic event (women’s hockey) before catching my flight home. And for that, I’ll always think they’re a great company.
29 August 2004
I hadn’t really read the manual carefully, so I’ll need a different kind of Bluetooth adaptor for my Canon i80. Not surprised, really, but it doesn’t matter — the extra adaptor and gender changer will come in handy anyhow.
29 August 2004
Occasionally, I’m amazed at the attempt for a technological solution to solve a social problem. Today, this is the source of my amazement.
Thinking back, I can’t say I’ve been so tickled by a display of geek bravado since, well, Flo Control, which was, admittedly, a very long time ago.
Normally, I’m very anti-graffiti in any form, but the amazement is that someone bothered to think the whole thing through and do it.
28 August 2004
Laura Branigan died the same way my late husband did — of a sudden brain aneurysm. Like him, she also had headaches she’d been complaining about.
If you have headaches, especially if the level of them increases, please make an appointment to get a cat scan or an MRI. It could save your life.
27 August 2004
I’m sure this one will probably get kicked up to the Supremes, but in the meantime, a federal appeals court has restored a $6 million award for violating a couple’s rights under bankruptcy and debt collection laws.
27 August 2004
Well, I went out to look for the wonky USB adaptor I have. I didn’t find it at Fry’s, so I almost came to the conclusion it doesn’t exist.
I found it on eBay in 2 minutes flat. Cost less than the gas to get to Fry’s, too.