I could almost get away with the stub listing ‘It sucked’. The many and varied ways 2016 achieved maximum suckage will be studied in later history (if there is anyone left alive to study it). I’m not raising my blood pressure detailing those slings and arrows tonight. Instead, I want to talk about good things.…
Read More 2016 year in reviewAs if 2016 hadn’t sucked badly enough before this, December saw news that two more publishers were going under with messy implosions. In both cases, authors and readers were left hanging. Torquere was a small erotic romance publisher once reasonably respected, but torpedoed by mismanagement over the last few years. The bigger news a few…
Read More More publishers behaving badlyMany years ago, a wonderful little bead shop called ‘Another Bead Please’ had some gorgeous pieces of multicolored cane glass beads on commission. I was lucky enough to score two massive curved glass beads, each in two-tone triangular cane glass: one clear and teal, and this one in cobalt and clear glass. Since I have…
Read More Cobalt Arc NecklaceThis used to be a different necklace, but I sold one of the components separately a few years ago. A different chain, a little Deco style, and here’s a new necklace! Materials: sterling silver, amethyst, ametrine, rutilated quartz, clear quartz (rock crystal), smoky quartz, labradorite, iolite. Concept: in a layered 3D filigree oval, a cast…
Read More Seabird NecklaceThe predatory vanity publishing world is not limited to fiction. Academic and scientific papers are also a hot commodity, since the legitimate markets can have high entry barriers in fees and vetting. A host of predatory and often outright criminal publishers have surfaced to ‘serve’ those customers. Many scientists and academics need to publish work…
Read More Beall’s List and fake academic publishersFirst off, to the Russians who keep trying to hack me: why? I’m small fry, not worth your effort. I have 13 subscribers with a handful of other readers, and I run a blog that is mostly a wall o’text. No pretty pictures, no clickbait ads, and no one powerful cares what I think. Granted,…
Read More What up, Russians?While we’re looking at the economic and social issues coalescing around the Ghost Ship fire, we need to accept that exploitation of creatives is so common it’s basically a tenet of American culture. The vanity publishers I talk about in the ‘Filigree’s Rule’ section of this blog? They’re only one of the more-blatant tips of…
Read More White Walls, Ghost Ship, and the arts in AmericaThe lessons are piling on from last Friday’s horrific ‘Ghost Ship’ fire in Oakland, California. At least three dozen people died. To recap: The Ghost Ship was an urban warehouse illegally and shoddily converted into cheap work-live housing for artists, musicians, and other creatives. Electricity and water were siphoned from neighbors, and frequently didn’t work.…
Read More Artists, protect yourselves