August 2015

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A nod and sad goodbye to horror film director Wes Craven and scientist Oliver Sacks. We knew they were both failing, but it is hard to see them go. Both of them broke new ground in their fields, fearlessly and with grace, unafraid to include some very human touches in their work.

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Turkish has a whistled version, used often in the mountains of northern Turkey. It’s eerie and lovely, and seems to do interesting things to the brains of people who listen to & understand it. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/whistled-language-uses-both-sides-brain?tgt=nr Why am I excited to blog about it? I have another data point for ‘singspeech’, my made-up Sonnaroi constructed language.…

Read More Cool whistled language article
Aside

Publishing is such a weird business. I have fairly strong internet analytical evidence that a review I wrote over a year ago has been responsible for at least a couple hundred sales…of someone else’s book. I’m happy for them. It’s a good book. At the same time, I wish my self-promo could go so well…

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Okay, so I have this silly fantasy of attending an actual large convention sometime next year, and maybe wandering around in some steampunkish hall costumes. I’ve been on the lookout for weapons props I can repurpose. I recently found two candidates at my local Goodwill thrift store, both for under $1 each. This toy dueling…

Read More A pistol of a project
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If anyone wants to follow the next stage in a ridiculous Culture War battle, the 2015 Hugo Awards will be announced tonight starting @ 8pm Pacific time. Streaming link here. http://www.ustream.tv/hugo-awards Added 8-22-2015, 11:30 pm Pacific time: the Hugos have happened in many record-breaking ways. The parties and post-game analyses are well underway. I can…

Read More Hugo Awards tonight
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Publishing is a weird business, even to someone on the outside like myself. Over the summer, I’ve watched a newish author run afoul of some alleged very bad behavior by a junior agent who should have known better, apparently abetted or condoned by a senior agent who *certainly* should have known better. In this case,…

Read More Agents’ submission records
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To continue the fiber art theme, I’m discussing ‘constructed fabrics’, of which quilting and applique are subsets. In my version, I work finished layers on top of a support layer of fabric or felted interfacing. I use the end result as either accent pieces (book cover above), or whole backgrounds (award ribbons below.) They are…

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During the month of September, I’ll be part of this shindig: http://www.bittenbyromance.com/2015/08/tour-of-universe-2015-schedule.html There will be excerpts, behind-the-scenes backstories, prizes…and maybe…just maybe, a special announcement. I’ll also be giving away a digital copy of my debut M/M romance novel Moro’s Price, as well as this glass and fiber necklace: Bear with me while we finalize exactly…

Read More Bitten By Romance’s ‘Tour of the Universe’!
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Here’s a new setting for the ‘Amor’ silver book pendant I made back in October of 2001. I’ve been wanting to make a large, chunky chain or other hanging support. Silver filigree like the bail would have been great, especially if I studded big links with carnelian beads or cabochons. So would a scarf-necklace in…

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Less than a year since I got to use this image of a Space Shuttle lifting off: On sub: two words, two decades behind them. My crazy romance/quest/fantasy novel is out on agented submission now, at its full 91,000+ words. Its fate is out of my hands at the moment. It reminds me of when…

Read More On sub!