PSA on rates.

I just tapped the EFA website, and saw that their rates have risen for copyediting.

Starting in September 2011, I'm considering raising my hourly rates to match the EFA's current rates, which are now at $30/hour. I'll post my decision around the time EV #23 goes live in mid-August.

Note that I still accept flat-rate projects.

Without stars.

I was telling my mom earlier about Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man. The first time I read it, I was absolutely chilled by That Scene at the end. You know the one -- where Ben Reich cannot see the stars anymore. All the stars are gone.

And no one knows what he's talking about. Stars and starlight don't exist. There are no lights in the sky.

(Speaking of which, Deanna Hoak mentioned this on Twitter, and oh! has it ever got lovely pictures of the Milky Way...)

What would it be like? To be in a world where you remembered something that had always existed, something that no one else could remember, something that was inexplicably gone.

I love Bester's short fiction; he was a marvel. But his novels... well, The Demolished Man is a brilliant classic, pure and simple. But a creepy story. I was foolish enough to re-read it, and it's a once-read only.

Jo Walton is right on the money when she says "It’s a great idea book, but it’s also tense all the way through and none of the characters are people I care to spend time with."

Admittedly, I am a huge fan of Babylon 5 (and their Alfred Bester), so I really had to read this book. :D

Headlines?

Source: London Daily Mirror; image from About.com

Remember this headline?

I want to know if somewhere, someone's written something like this:

Are These the 60 Stupidest People in America?

What did they mistake about their job description as part of the United States Congress? About it being a government job, that is. A job that entails governing.

And who elected them? Was it just everyday people, Americans fed up with the way their lives and the recession's been going? Or was it, interesting enough, "health professionals... and oil and gas interests" * by any chance?

My mother suggested otherwise. It got me to thinking...

A Conspiracy of Stupid?

They said it couldn't happen again. Not on American soil. Yet it has. A conspiracy set within the Congress itself -- the strangest ever plot of al-Qaida -- to destroy America. And if they have their way, the economy of the world!

Because everyone knows that Americans will do anything, they're fanatics... and especially their newest politicians.

Where will it end???

* Source, Wikipedia article on the Tea Party Caucus


Yes, I'm upset about the debt ceiling ----. I don't even have a word I can use for it, crisis has been done to death, and nothing suits... not even brouhaha.

Maybe this made you laugh. Maybe not. I'm glad I never wanted to be a journalist, I think I would have been far better with penny dreadfuls. :D


Before I start on about people who can't do math oughtn't hold office, we'll move on. Thursday's been a historic day. I mean, not only in American politics -- today I found out Lawrence O'Donnell wrote episodes of West Wing, including one about the debt ceiling. That is surreal.

=grin= It's easier to think in terms of things that aren't apocalypses, particularly when about to goto bed.

Maybe tomorrow will prove to be the second time the Fourteenth Amendment is invoked.

Snippet.

The lovely Wayback Machine had this interview of Sean Wallace by The Fix.

Lots of good stuff. One bit is where Stephen Segal defines the three audiences for Fantasy Magazine, H.P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror, and Weird Tales.

Whenever anyone wants me to explain what I like about dark fiction, I must send them hence!

But I love what Sean says when asked about writing fiction himself. :D

2011: July links

Tweets from Marc Gascoigne:

RT @DonnaMHanson : RT @pyroriffic : Apex Publications has opened to unsolicited novel submissions! http://twurl.nl/xfilt3

RT @jwikert : Study: Over Half Of E-Book Shoppers Buy Directly From Author Or Publisher http://zite.to/l7rlab via @zite #toccon

RT @Liz_Hand : Mike Dirda on ditching the bestseller lists for — OMG, actually READING NEW WRITERS???? http://t.co/628K2cb

Tweet from John Ottinger III: GW: SFFWRTCHT: A Chat With Editor Michael Ray of RedstoneSF magazine http://bit.ly/j7PkdN #scifi #fantasy

Five other Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chats are listed at the bottom of John's page. :]

Interesting how pastes from LinkedIn work... enough harvesting for now.

OT: A set of links about Facebook for principals. I'll have to go back to those myself.

End of June links.

As I mostly do link collections, and haven't for a bit -- and as I was ranting recently, links would be calmer, eh? :]


Writer’s Conferences—Are They Relevant in the Internet Age?

I don't know. Lately I've been thinking not, but then I don't write; I helped moderate annual workshops, sometimes twice a year.

The one time I attended a local writer's conference, I won the door prize. (Talk about irony.) Why was I there? To talk with editors... It was an interesting day.

Showing (not telling!) how to pitch!

Wow, this is amazing. All the errors, and then -- the good!



Thanks for the above to Anne R. Allen, Janet Reid, and the BookViewCafe, which is how I was led therein.

And remember the immortal words of Chuck Wendig: The Internet is 55% porn, and 45% writers.

Because he wouldn't say that if it wasn't true, would he? =twinkle=

(If you want the other immortal words, you need to go read his blog.)