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2013-06-19 02:34:47 (41 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

I found this while explaining to my wife why I didn't use dialogue tags like "said so-and-so" at all in my novel. She isn't used to their absence, and it's tripped her up while helping me apply a final coat of polish to the text before handing it over for proofreading and publication.

Instead of writing something like this:

"Do everything you ever wanted," said Naomi.

I prefer something like this:

Naomi did the same with Morgan's nipples, and smiled as he groaned and drew her into his embrace. As his teeth scraped her neck, she whispered in his ear. "Do everything you ever wanted." 

#Dialogue   #DialogueTags   #DescriptiveBeats  

2013-06-18 14:00:00 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

Pet the Destroyer


Can you see the mouse Virgil caught? Sometimes he'll bring them to me or +Catherine Graybosch to toss for him.

#caturday #virgil #devilmaypurr

2013-06-18 02:56:57 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

2013-06-18 01:45:20 (13 comments, 1 reshares, 14 +1s)

I'm not a Christian because there isn't a single doctrine or teaching in Christianity which doesn't offend me. I'm an atheist because every other religion is also bullshit, and likely to piss me off if examined in detail.

2013-06-17 16:33:16 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

"Take the Wave" by Naifu


This little chunk of #JapaneseRock  came up when I was searching YouTube for something else. Apparently it's also used in an anime adaptation of #Golgo13 .

2013-06-17 14:41:21 (28 comments, 0 reshares, 13 +1s)

Screw You and the Origin Story You Rode In On


I took my +Catherine Graybosch to see Man of Steel yesterday afternoon, which was yet another attempt at telling the story of how Superman became Superman. It was a competent retelling of the origin myth, General Zod and his buddies were suitably menacing, and there was plenty of destruction porn if you're into that sort of thing.

There's just one problem:  I'm sick of origin stories. I'm sick of hearing about how this hero or that one became a hero. I'm sick of seeing them discover their powers, make their first mistakes, and so on and so forth. I've seen Batman Begins. I saw the first Spiderman, directed by Sam Raimi. I've seen Ang Lee's Hulk. I've seen all of the Iron Man movies, I've seen Thor, I've seen Captain America and Ghost Rider.

Trust me: I've seen everyo... more »

2013-06-17 00:36:55 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 10 +1s)

Predating Angkor Wat by 350 years, the Khmer Empire's lost city of Mahendraparvata was recently re-discovered by Australian archaeologists using remote-sensing tech.

2013-06-16 01:25:50 (2 comments, 5 reshares, 7 +1s)

NSA: Warrant? We don't need no stinking warrant.


The National Security Agency has acknowledged in a new classified briefing that it does not need court authorization to listen to domestic phone calls, according to the linked article. It seems all it takes for some asshole to listen to your phone calls or read your email is for them to decide they need to do so.

They don't need #FISA to rubber-stamp their search.

They don't need probable cause.

They don't need a warrant.

They sure as hell don't need to tell you they're spying on you.

The #NSA is the new #Stasi , the new #KGB , and the new #Gestapo . Welcome to the new totalitarianism. Sinclair Lewis was right. This is why I donate to the #EFF and the #ACLU .

#BigBrother  is watching you. Let's give that son of a bitch a good show.

2013-06-15 21:06:44 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

 
Hi all.
Will be officially publishing 'The Rage Within' a week today in paperback as well as most digital formats. It's a little tricky to specify a release date for the digital stuff, so some may be earlier or later, depending on the mysterious inner machinations of the various channels. I have an event lined up at the local independent bookshop where I live in Blairgowrie. The owner of the shop has been very helpful. I am really excited.

2013-06-15 18:38:27 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

This doesn't surprise me at all. However, I'm a bit disappointed that #AtlusUSA  is one of the companies still using #BoothBabes  at #E3 . That might be just a bit hypocritical on my part, given that I happily pre-ordered Dragon's Crown despite the game's over-the-top artwork. (Yes, I know they're just publishing a game developed by Vanillaware.)

Seriously, Atlus, most of your games are good enough that you don't need booth babes to get attention. Just invite the management of #FocusOnTheFamily  for a viewing of the "True Demon" ending to Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, and those nutjobs will give you all the publicity you need. :)

2013-06-15 18:24:04 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Books You Should Be Reading While You Wait



I know I've kept a lot of people waiting for Without Bloodshed, the first book in the series. I appreciate your patience. While you're waiting, I'd like to take some advice from +John Ward, who suggested I emulate +Summer Daniels, an author whose allure no doubt matches her intelligence. Ms. Daniels came up with the notion of promoting works of erotica to read once you finished with Fifty Shades of Grey.

I have something different in mind. I'm going to provide a list of science fiction and fantasy works you should be reading while you wait for me to finish polishing Without Bloodshed. You may have read some of these before, and I apologize in advance if that's the case.

If you know other books worthy of inclusion on the list, please feel free to correct my oversight. I'll include... more »

2013-06-15 16:40:57 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

Some Crazy Blacksmith Built the Buster Sword


I found this in +Jacob Kloutier's stream. Some guy actually took the time to build the Buster Sword from Final Fantasy VII. Rather than use nothing but steel, most of the weapon is made of aircraft-grade aluminum. The damned thing still weighs about 75lbs. Despite having a blade of razor-sharp steel mounted into the aluminum body and riveted in place, the weapon probably does more damage by bludgeoning than by cutting.

If you see somebody swinging this around the way an #ARMA  swordsman might handle a European longsword, chances are he's superhuman. Then again, fans of the games know that the reason Zack and Cloud Strife can handle a weapon better suited to the protagonist of Berserk is that they've been enhanced.

2013-06-15 15:26:14 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

Some congresscritters think Edward Snowden is lying. I'd like to see those motherfuckers prove it. They should tell us how everything really works at the NSA and the CIA, not to mention the FBI. We have a right to know. We pay for this shit.

2013-06-15 13:10:32 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

I think my wife and I interrupted something.

#caturday

2013-06-15 04:33:08 (3 comments, 4 reshares, 6 +1s)

Anddd........................

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

Fake Nerd Boys

2013-06-15 04:13:01 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

BETTER LINUX FONT RENDERING WITH INFINALITY


+Alin Andrei over at webupd8.org provided a useful HOWTO for installing a patched version of the fontconfig library for GNU/Linux which provides improved and customizable font rendering over the stock library.

I'm using it right now, and onscreen text does seem easier to read.

There are actually two HOWTOs:

Patched fontconfig library: http://www.webupd8.org/2013/06/better-font-rendering-in-linux-with.html
Patched OpenJDK: http://www.webupd8.org/2013/06/install-openjdk-patched-with-font-fixes.html

#Linux   #fonts   #fontconfig   #infinality   #customization  

2013-06-15 03:25:18 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Hullo G Plussers! I am posting this on behalf of my music-composer-soon-to-be-high-school-senior son. He is looking to write music for video games and would like to find a gig with a small/start-up videogame studio. Since I have a large G+ network, I figured I'd ask if anyone knew how to go about this or if they knew of a project in need of scoring.

He's a talented musician (clarinet) has an incredible ear, and has written some lovely music. (Yes, I admit I'm biased!) He is planning to study music technology and composition in college.

2013-06-15 03:24:16 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

WEIRD BEHAVIOR WHEN USING CUSTOM THEMES ON UBUNTU


I noticed some weird behavior when trying to install some custom themes for GNOME Shell on Ubuntu 13.04. If I untar my theme archive (in this case, one I downloaded from http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/MediterraneanNight+Series?content=156782), into ~/.themes or ~/.local/share/themes, I can use the gnome-tweak-tool set the GTK theme (used by window elements like buttons, scrollbars, etc) but not the Metacity theme (used for window borders and title bars).

However, if I install using the following commands, everything works fine.

cd /usr/share/themes
sudo tar xzvf ~/Downloads/MediterraneanNight-2.02.tar.gz

The problem here is that you shouldn't have to install custom themes for your desktop environment in /usr/share/themes. You have a .themes directory in your home directory for that... more »

2013-06-15 01:07:34 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

This looks really sweet. All of the artwork is hand-drawn.

2013-06-14 13:19:24 (0 comments, 5 reshares, 13 +1s)

This is how you lead. (Edited: Includes transcript!)

In a day when the US armed forces are under fire from all quarters for not responsibly dealing with soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines raping one another -- frequently, and with such impunity that the Senate is looking at a bill which would, essentially, strip responsibility for handling this from the chain of command -- it's stunning to see what real leadership can sound like. 

Australia's military is facing something that's by comparison much smaller -- but Lt. Gen. Morrison, the Chief of the Army, has made his position on it absolutely clear. This is leadership. 

If the US' senior chain of command were this explicit and direct, we would not be in the situation we are in now. Because things would never have been allowed to fall this far out of control.

Watch this video --i... more »

2013-06-13 20:20:35 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

This is a lengthy post on authors and reviews. I fondly call it Battleground Literature: Authors and Reviews.

While the text is all here, I really recommend reading on my website for formatting reasons.

Note: Some people will find this a little offensive.

~~*~~

Most authors have heard it at least once before: Don't respond to reviews of your book.

Yet, all of our lives, we've been taught to thank people for their time, to thank them when they have done us a favor, and to thank them for their effort. Not responding to reviews goes against this very basic teaching, the standard etiquette most of us have grown up with. By not even saying thank you, it comes across as authors are ungrateful for the time spent on a book review.

If you must thank them, use two words and two words alone: "Thank you."

If you must thank... more »

2013-06-13 15:43:57 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Introducing the System76 Galago UltraPro! The latest addition to the System76 family is the world's first and only ultra thin laptop to feature Intel's new Iris Pro Graphics with 128 MB of eDRAM. The Galago UltraPro also features the first ever custom manufactured Ubuntu key.

That's just the beginning. Add a 1080p IPS matte display, up to 1.256 TB of storage, a screaming fast Intel Core i7-4750HQ Quad Core Processor, up to 16 GB dual channel 1600 MHz memory and a stunning design and you have the world's ultimate ultra-portable laptop.

2013-06-13 15:28:30 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Good. No court's rulings should be secret. Let's see if this will pass Congress, and if the President will sign it.

#FISC   #FISA   #Surveillance  

2013-06-13 15:22:06 (4 comments, 3 reshares, 8 +1s)

FREEDOM TO OBEY


You can ignore this article. You're still free. You're free to do as you're told. You're free as long as you keep your head down and don't draw attention from anybody in authority. You're free as long as nobody wants to hurt you by turning you in. You're free as long as you don't do anything that matters.

This is the new America. This is the America we chose. This is the America we allowed to come into existence. We are all guilty. We didn't vote. We didn't vote for candidates who valued liberty, justice, and equality above all other considerations. We chose factions over the country as a whole. We allowed money to be equated with free speech. We allowed our elected officials to play upon our fears.

We could have prevented this. It would have been difficult, but keeping a republic is never easy. Now... more »

2013-06-13 12:15:17 (7 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

If we had a football team that was started in the 40's or 50's with the name "Niggers" would we hesitate to force a name change?

Didn't think so.

2013-06-12 20:51:33 (6 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

Man survives two days under the sea in a shipwreck at the bottom of the ocean http://reut.rs/1a3YZMd 

On May 26, a boat capsized 20 miles off the coast of Nigeria. After two days trapped in freezing cold water and breathing from an air bubble in an upturned tugboat under the ocean, the ship’s cook, Harrison Okene, was sure he was going to die.

Okene survived by discovering a bubble of air near the ceiling of the bathroom and bedroom. 

But he was not alone. Continue reading: http://reut.rs/1a3YZMd

2013-06-12 16:59:32 (4 comments, 2 reshares, 6 +1s)

If I ever hear a teacher claim in my presence that kids who read science fiction aren't challenging themselves, and I have a hardcover by writers like Iain M. Banks, C.J. Cherryh, Ursula K. LeGuin, or Isaac Asimov, I am going to hit that teacher upside the head. Maybe it will knock them out of that idiot mindset, inflicted upon the English-speaking world by people like Henry James, that only realistic fiction is legitimate literature.

That's bullshit. Are these people really going to tell me that Dune isn't literature after reading it? How about The Left Hand of Darkness? What about Excession? Is Foundation not literature? Each of these novels deals with big questions which can be applied to contemporary life, despite not being set in our mundane reality.

By all means, expose kids to the Western canon, whether it's defined by Harold Bloom or some other scholar or... more »

2013-06-12 16:27:55 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 2 +1s)

Iron Maiden + Space Opera = AWESOME \m/

All we need now is Alien vs. Eddie. How would a Xenomorph fare against Maiden's undead mascot? 

2013-06-12 11:59:59 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 15 +1s)

Da kittehs are up and moving around.

2013-06-12 01:44:47 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 12 +1s)

This will probably be the last time I post about Edward Snowden, the #NSA , and #PRISM . Talk doesn't help. Bitching about an out-of-control Federal government on social media doesn't help. You know what might help? Donations to organizations like the #EFF  and the #ACLU , who have the resources and the experience to oppose this sort of bullshit in court.

I'm putting my money where my mouth is. Both the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union get ten bucks a month from me, because I AM FUCKING SICK OF THIS BULLSHIT.

2013-06-12 01:31:53 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Here's The   D E A L !!!!!
This is the   R E A L   public circle! If you are in this circle you  DON'T need to share it, so people who get in this circle will stay in this circle until it builds up to 500 people!!
So sooner you get in this circle is more beneficial for you and you only need to share it once!! 
#1 make comment and plus this post/circle
#2 reshare this post/circle publicly
#3 add people from this circle to your circles
I will share this circle not less than three times daily or as much as I feel like it 'cause there is no commitment whatsoever and there is no notifications needed to be send! Once that you've been added you're free from making re-share or anything, you will be shared until it grows up to 500 people! No one will be excluded from this circle!

2013-06-11 22:38:11 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

I'm breaking my never beg for a share this one time to spread a message of hope that we all say we want more of today.

Several weeks ago while mindlessly checking my Google+ feed, a post jumped out of my stream. It was an urgent plea looking for people to become involved in a Kickstarter project for a film called Know How. The film’s writing and acting was done by former foster children living in New York City. The movie is about empowerment, inspiration... as well as demonstrating that young people coming from some very difficult situations can still have powerful aspirations and dreams that won’t be denied. Know How is an expressive collaboration bringing children of the NYC foster care system together to create a work that is neither documentary nor fiction, but a hybrid of both. 

My wife and I were instantly touched by the Know How project and became backers of thefilm... more »

2013-06-11 22:14:28 (19 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Ten dollars per day for a possibility of getting page "likes" which don't guarantee that people will buy my books when they come out? Somebody at Facebook is smoking crack on the job.

#Facebook   #Advertising   #Fail  

2013-06-11 21:59:49 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

My publisher, +Curiosity Quills Press, is featured on aussieownedandread.com today.

2013-06-11 20:20:51 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

"I want to be alone. I just want to be alone" - Greta Garbo, Grand Hotel

And so do I want to often be alone, except when I don't, in which case I choose the particular way in which I want to connect, such as...

...hearing the music of a good friend's voice on the telephone,

...or seeing the full essence of a friend's personality over a long (long) dinner,

...or reading a friend's particular way with words in an email,

...or touching my husband's hand, sitting side-by-side in silence at a movie,

... or listening to the sounds of the laughter and conversation and interruptions between friends around our dinner table,

... or enjoying the silent appreciation of an art exhibit, in a quiet museum filled with people,

... or watching the cardinals, the blue jays, the sparrows and the finches... more »

2013-06-11 20:16:12 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

REVIEW: THE M-16 AGENDA BY JAMES P. WILCOX

First, a disclaimer: +James Wilcox gave me my copy of The M-16 Agenda for free in exchange for a review. This was supposed to go up on Friday, by the way, but Amazon ate the original review. (Bad Amazon.)

With that out of the way, I'm willing to say I enjoyed the novel and devoured it in a few hours. The prose is competent, the primary characters vividly depicted, and the plot engaging if you enjoy political novels.

Mr. Wilcox wrote his novel using multiple viewpoints. The protagonist, Jack Granger, speaks directly to the reader through a first-person viewpoint, as does his eventual rival in the 2020 Presidential election, Carlton Kincaid. Other characters are depicted in the third person. Mr. Wilcox does a credible job building up Jack Granger as an Eisenhower-esque figure who embraces what we might call liberal... more »

2013-06-11 12:02:51 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Not everyone can be sleeping beauty :)

2013-06-11 04:47:06 (11 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

I still have to add plot details for chapters 4 - 23, but this should give you a rough notion of what to expect in part 2 of +Starbreaker, The Blackened Phoenix. Part 1, Without Bloodshed, will be out this summer.

#AmWriting #Plotting #Scrivener  

2013-06-11 04:23:46 (27 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

See this shit? This is why I love Twitter. Most of the demon-ridden idiots use that service instead of shitting all over G+.

2013-06-11 02:53:44 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Square Enix presents Final Fantasy XV and KH3 for Playstation!!! Be still, my heart~~~

2013-06-11 02:51:09 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Mark Blyth: Austerity - The History of a Dangerous Idea
"Mark Blyth, a delightfully sweary Scottish economist, talks for about an hour to Googlers about the stupidity of austerity as a means of recovering from recession, describing it in colorful, easy-to-grasp language. This is brilliant, accessible and important economics: 
Governments today in both Europe and the United States have succeeded in casting government spending as reckless wastefulness that has made the economy worse. In contrast, they have advanced a policy of draconian budget cuts--austerity--to solve the financial crisis. We are told that we have all lived beyond our means and now need to tighten our belts. This view conveniently forgets where all that debt came from. Not from an orgy of government spending, but as the direct result of bailing out, recapitalizing, and adding liquidity to the broken banking system.... more »

2013-06-10 22:10:31 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Can we get a bit of imagination with protagonists in realistic games? The #XboxOne   #E3  presentation reminded me of this photo.

2013-06-10 22:07:35 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

If I'm not careful, all progress on +Starbreaker will grind to a halt when I get my copy of Dark Souls II. Believe it.

2013-06-10 21:54:07 (1 comments, 5 reshares, 19 +1s)

I tend not to send notifications unless it's related to +Starbreaker, but I'm making an exception for a friend and fellow author. Badass sci-fi author +Michael Shean  -- author of Shadow of a Dead Star, Bone Wires, and Redeye -- will be appearing at #GeekGirlCon  in Seattle, WA this October on the 19th and 20th. 

Geek Girl Con (http://www.geekgirlcon.com) celebrates and honors the legacy of women contributing to science and technology; comics, arts, and literature; and game play and game design by connecting geeky women world-wide and creating community to foster continued growth of women in geek culture through events.

In addition, +Michael Shean is working on A Universe of Equals, a resource on the subject of equality in science fiction, comics, and to a lesser degree the other genres of speculative fiction.  In the coming months, the project site willappear... more »

2013-06-10 19:47:32 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Is it my fault for just not getting electronic dance music, or is Daft Punk actually overrated?

2013-06-10 19:39:30 (12 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

STEADFAST - A STARBREAKER ADVENTURE: CHAPTER FOUR

Michael Brubaker remained asleep when she left his family's farm two hours after sunrise. She left him a note explaining her plans and instructing him to seek refuge in town, avoid solitude, and beware of Dr. Petersen. She meant to leave earlier, but had first restored power to the farmhouse and charged her handset; she had no desire to be stuck without communications, satellite navigation, or the improvised flashlight one created by setting a phone's wallpaper to all white and maxing out the screen brightness. The phone currently sat in her breast pocket; a standard-issue earpiece designed for somebody without CPMD clinging precariously to her ear allowed her to listen and speak while keeping her hands free.

"I can't believe I'm giving you directions to the Fort Clarion installation. Can't you just read... more »

2013-06-10 14:23:27 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

NASA seems to be taking "Go big or go home" to heart. Leaving transport to low Earth orbit (LEO) to the private sector, they're hard at work on their biggest-ever rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). They anticipate an uncrewed (why don't we have a gender-neutral equivalent of 'unmanned' yet?) test flight in 2017, and the payload will include the Orion capsule scheduled for heat shield/re-entry testing in 2014. If everything goes well, the SLS should be ready for crewed flights in 2021, and capable of boosting payloads directly to Jupiter without gravity assists via flybys of Earth and Venus. It should also be able to send payloads to the L2 Lagrange point beyond the moon. 

2013-06-10 02:48:43 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 20 +1s)

If corporations are "people", by all means, lets execute the worst criminals among them!

2013-06-10 02:40:27 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Someday a fantasy writer will prove sufficiently desperate to depict an original magic system that he makes his protagonist a copromancer, a practitioner of brown magic.

2013-06-10 02:10:33 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

An exquisitely choreographed dance between a man and a woman.
A study in the intimacy of movement.
By the talented Jenni Wren.