Over two years in, I decided it was time to change out headers on the Blue Night blog. I’m curious: all five of you who regularly read this thing, which header art do you like? Here’s the old one. Here’s the new one. Same world, same motif, probably the very same night – just…
Read More opinions on the new headerEmily Asher-Perrin has a great post concerning the Marvel Comics Universe Loki’s apparently-canon genderfluidity. Emily brings up the point that gender is not about sex acts but identity. Loki-as-a-woman is not presented in the MCU as a guy who sometimes seems to look like a woman – but simply is female, a person who refers to…
Read More GenderfluidityHowever you celebrate it – and even if you don’t – have a happy, safe, and magical day. Me? I have Halloween socks.
Read More Happy HalloweenBad: suddenly realizing there’s a logic error in the manuscript I just sent out. Worse: not remembering where or what the error was. Honestly, at this stage of writing I just hope the agent and editor will find it. Because I’m going quietly nuts trying to figure it out. I shouldn’t, because I have done…
Read More The manuscript gameAccording to SFWA guidelines, the fantasy novella has been a novel for the last eight thousand words. Huh. That means I’m working on two novels and two novellas this fall. Eeep. *** Update, September 26, 2014: the provisionally-titled Singer in Rhunshan is finished at 53,200 words. I’m not going to pretend there are no typos, tense…
Read More Wordcount milestonesI’m blabbing about art and armor today. When I really began reading fantasy and science fiction in the late seventies and early eighties, I didn’t pay much attention to the different portrayals of men and women on book covers. I loved those cover artists equally, shrugged off their foibles, and learned some basic principles of…
Read More Real women, real armor, and worldbuildingI occasionally make digital art covers for other people, when I have time and my intermittent art abilities function properly. Here’s one, with text layout by A. G. herself. I think we did okay, for a creepy little spec-fic steampunky-sort-of-story. It’s only 28 pages, and under $2 on Kobo and Itunes. Go check it out. Blurb: Milton Jones…
Read More The Collections Agent, by A. G. CarpenterToday I worked on the (currently) last revision to that pesky fantasy novella, repaired a vintage British umbrella, varnished the covers for a new mini-book, crashed a thread on AbsoluteWrite, and apparently earned the ire of an anti-AW website. Why? Because I glanced at a trainwreck of an online debacle on another site completely, one…
Read More Nefarious Achievement Unlocked (adult language)In a few days, I’ll post complete images of a new book art piece over on my 2014 Book Arts page. Here’s a teaser: One of the joys of doing book arts pieces is that I get to use my old poetry, rather than trying to sell it for one cent a word in poetry…
Read More Arachne poem and book artYesterday afternoon I heard about the death of Robin Williams. Possible suicide.
I’d heard he was battling depression again, and I’m sorry to hear it took him away from us. Like many brilliant and creative people, his humor had the depth and edge of a person who learned early to hide pain with a grin.
I’ll miss him. ∞
If you look in the right places, you’ll see the internet simmering this week over many different cases of plagiarism brought to light. Some of it is mind-boggling. Some is just pathetic. Wait, didn’t I write this post last year? Yes, something similar. This may become an annual thing. Amazon’s Kindle and CreateSpace may have…
Read More CreateSpace and Chernobyl(Warning: the following links lead to the Scorching Book Reviews blog, and graphic adult sex scenes. If you don’t want to read them, if you are underage, or if you live in a place/culture/family where you are not allowed to read them…don’t follow the link. Simple, yes?) For the rest of us, the Championships are…
Read More 2014 Sex Scene Championships, Round One and Round Two (adult content advisory)C’mon, you know we all have them, in writing, art, work, and life in general. Those choke points where we stall, lose our grip, and can’t seem to drag ourselves away from old or even harmful ideas that hold us back. To be human is to exist in a fog of imperfect awareness, willful ignorance…
Read More Windmills, albatrosses, and self-erected barriersIn 2011 a group of spec fiction writers (who mostly knew each other from SFF.net) got together on a modest digital anthology: Past Future Present 2011, from Copper Publishing. Some of the authors are major award-winners with stories at well-known magazines and publishers; others are talented hobbyists and up-and-coming writers with much bigger projects in…
Read More Past Future Present 2011 anthologyYou’d think, as a writer, that I’d be all for strict enforcement of intellectual property rights. No, actually. I’m for *sane* enforcement. The way things stand now, intellectual property rights are a welter of lockdowns, extortion, and exploitation long after the original creator has died. Museums hold fast to image copyrights of pieces they own*.…
Read More Doyle, Disney, and intellectual property…as evidenced by the success of the latest Marvel Studio’s movie Guardians of the Galaxy. I saw it on opening day. It was great, a proper mix of irreverent humor, solid fight and battle scenes, decent worldbuilding a la Marvel’s comics universe, and unexpectedly deep character moments. A worthy and wonderful change from the Disneyfied, focus-grouped…
Read More Space operas rockI’ve been asked to cite some of my favorite M/M and M/F* fanfiction writers and stories. Why do I read them? They’re brilliant. Some of the authors are moonlighting professional authors, some easily could be. They can give me grinding Plot-What-Plot erotica, deep angst, high comedy, and breathless romance – often within the same story.…
Read More Fanfiction Recommendations (adult content advisory)I’ve had an on-again, off-again fling with the idea of self-publishing a fantasy novella. At each stage in the game, the beast grows a little bigger. From the original 6.5K or so short story I started years ago, Singer in Rhunshan is now over 33K. (As of 7-20-2014, it’s now at 35.5K. I think it’s…
Read More Adventures in novella writingZoe X. Rider has graciously agreed to cede her win back to the pool, so we have a new drawing today. As before, each comment equals one entry, and I’ll give the winner until 7-22-2014 to get back to me – or we do this all over again! The new comment list is: 1. Erika…
Read More the gods of Random have spoken againI waited through the 11th just to be fair, since I did promise that each comment got one entry chance. Then I drew up this quick list of comment posters on the Blue Night blog between 6-23-2014 and 7-11-2014. 1. Erika Lindsen, one entry 2. Lorna Elsewint, one entry 3. Lorna Elsewint, one entry 4. Lorna Elsewint,…
Read More The gods of Random have spoken