Paranoia when working...

In 2010 I was in the middle of editing a book... and my old desktop PC died.  From malware attacks.

It had survived many moves with me.  [Don't ask how many.]  We'd gone to live in Vegas, my old PC and I, then moved back across country to Michigan.


So today I've done some more research on my current tech problems.  On my new Acer desktop, which I bought in 2010.

I thought this was malware.  Nope; yay!

It may be the hard drive.  Not yay.  Not at all.

OTOH, my marvelous tech adviser at Chicon 7 -- hi, CKD! -- gave me lots of wonderful advice.  One was to get regular backups scheduled to an external hard drive.  I did these things.

This is far better than saving to a flash drive and having to readjust back and forth.  Computers get tetchy about that.

GAD spoilers.

(The links contain the spoilers.)


The Strand Magazine has a lovely piece on the detective of Margery Allingham, who is one of my very favorites of the gentlemen detectives.

The Great Detectives: Albert Campion is full of spoilers.  Do not read it unless you've already read the series.  I enjoyed the piece a lot, but again, I have read all the books many times over.

You could read the first six paragraphs of the essay and not be terribly spoiled -- possibly teased into reading the series that way.

Or into finding the BBC series Campion; it had two seasons and starred Peter Davison of Doctor Who fame.  That's how I discovered Campion myself.  :)  Huzzah for Mystery! on PBS.

Weather/life update.

What an exciting winter travail it's been so far, and that's not even counting last month!

Michigan hit a record for January snowfall:  over 31.5 inches as of yesterday.  Our normal snowfall?  Oh, a mere 12+ inches.

The fear is that we'll break the winter cold record too.  Right now we're in the top five coldest January records, matching the year 1875.

Worldcon and Hugos 2014.

Are you going to London for Worldcon 2014?

The hotel listing for Loncon3 is displayed below.

@rnalexander @DrPlokta Hope this helps! pic.twitter.com/3znhH3GVF4
— Loncon 3 (@loncon3) January 2, 2014

Hugo nominations open in just a few hours! Do you have your PINs at the ready? #hugoawards #loncon3 http://t.co/j0ZYj9WDBt
— Loncon 3 (@loncon3) January 7, 2014

And I gotta admit... I've been looking forward to nominating Sherlock season 3 for the 2014 Hugos.  (When you see this season, you'll understand.)  All the eps and the mini-ep too.  8D

ConFusion this weekend!

Legendary ConFusion, in fact.

It'll be awesome.  Come see!

Ping John or me if you're looking for the wake party for Electric Velocipede.

By ping, if you have my mobile number, text me.  If you lack it, shoot me an email before FRIDAY 17-Jan-2014.  (No, sorry, not posting it here, thanks.)

Or Tweet; apparently I am Google's only Anne Zanoni on Twitter.  Who knew?

I don't use mobile Twitter, so I won't be on Twitter all weekend.  Do not try Tweeting me about the party or the con if you expect a timely response.


I think I am the main ringleader.  8)  So to speak.

Goodbye, Electric Velocipede.

Electric Velocipede and Icarus Closing

Electric Velocipede has a story in the Year's Best SF, 31st edition.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies blogged about our final issue.  Locus has a long review of EV 27, which includes spoilers for some pieces (I like to read my short fiction without knowing anything about it, myself, but YMMV, of course).

"I’m unhappy to bid goodbye to Electric Velocipede, of which we have the last issue here. A loss to the field." - Lois Tilton
— Electric Velocipede (@EV_Mag) December 27, 2013

You can buy issue 27 as an ebook for Kindle or Nook.  All the poems and stories were posted 30-January-2013.  [Will link to second post presently.]

"The Soviet Union needs beasts... Is a beast what you want to be?” http://t.co/d1Imh8TZMW @sentencebender in @EV_Mag
— Lara Elena Donnelly (@larazontally) December 30, 2013

Come to ConFusion next month (17-19 January 2014) and help us remember Electric Velocipede!  And if you're in NYC during February 2014, they're throwing a party too.  Huzzah to Matt and Sam!

Electric Velocipede (@EV_Mag) final issue release party, Feb 28th at Bluestockings Books. http://t.co/chnxMkUamU
— Matthew Kressel (@mattkressel) December 23, 2013

But we're having a wake in Michigan.

I am particularly proud of this as it was somewhat my idea, you see.  And I wanted John to enjoy ConFusion 2014; what better way than a party?  Celebration and farewell.  Come raise a glass with us -- there will be door prizes and raffles and STUFF.  Really!

I loved working on EV.  I'm proud to have been part of the team for 2008-2013.  I'm grateful for the others who became part of the team too -- for a little while or a long time, depending on their lives.

I'm thankful for them all, every one:  Adam, Patrick, Damien, Jamie; and all our slushreaders and proofreaders and support staff and... you.  Thank you.  It's been a wonderful ride on Electric Velocipede.

I'm so glad I got to hitch a ride.  With John and with all of you.

Paying it forward: Links and tips.

Five Overlooked SF/F/H Books of 2013  (Must point out that I copyedited the first book in the B and N list. And it's a wonderfully fun book.)

Waterstones offers Twauthors – The best authors on Twitter


Over on Goodreads, Steven Saus tells us The Write Agenda Can Teach You How To Avoid Untrustworthy People... Like Themselves. If you read nothing else, go read that. It will help you with contracts, with understanding the behavior of the anonymous troll -- and the vanity press publishers -- and the many MANY scammers out there preying on the new authors and future authors.

Writer Beware is a major example of paying it forward.


A Few Things a Writer Should Probably Do at Least Once from Doctor Doyle.  Since I'm in SCA, I can tell you that yes, these would indeed help you.  Have I done them all?  No.

As a copy editor, guns and other weapons are something I tend to research a LOT.

Shh: a simple tip for talking about race.

Bonus:  Until this paragraph, this entire post was an example of paragraphing style.  [Which Nero Wolfe will tell you all about in Plot It Yourself; you should read that.]  I tend to do mine a certain way, and I vary it deliberately while writing to make it easier on readers.  And just for variety's sake too.