Midweekery update

This has been one of those weeks, so far, where things get done but very little of it is the stuff you had planned to get done.  Still, progress is progress.

And speaking of progress, we now have pre-order links for SILVER from Amazon, iTunes, and Kobo.  No B&N yet, which is making me slightly fretful...

This morning we are moderately socked in with fog, which is pretty to look at from up here (it started low on the water and then rose up to obscure the mountains), but isn't helping me shake the brain fog. Putting aside writing and revising in favor of research and website work (slowly, the Devil's West portion of the site comes into being....).

Working my way through the selection of under-$15 bottles of wine I picked up at Total Wine.  So far, a grand total of two have made me think "yeah, I might buy this again" rather than "meh, it was drinkable."  Probably proof that there are plenty of decent $15 wines, but my tastebuds have $25 tastes.

On the non-work side, I'm just going to say that if you gripe or sulk about the fact that I have to schedule my social life around the fact that my cat needs an insulin shot, odds are that you're not making me want to spend more time with you.  And people who are cool with the feline schedule needs are among my favorite people in the world rght now.


The "acceptable" reds were Phenolia Red Blend 2013 ($12) and Apex Cellars The Catalyst 2012 ($15).  Neither blew me out of the water, but I didn't regret spending the money on them, either. The fact that both are blends is not a surprise - that's how you get a better cheap wine, rather than relying on a single varietal.

in passing...

They're pushing Valentine's Day as the official release date for Fifty Shades of Grey. But it's actually opening on Friday the 13th.

Think about it.







(in case you've missed the noise: "Fifty Shades of Grey" is pushing itself as a sexxxxxxy movie about BDSM. It's actually a rather horrifying portrayal of an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship that has about as much in common with a safe, sane and consensual kink relationship as a battleship has with a tuba.)

Deeply amused and not at all surprised....

My post on using American history in fantasy over at Charlie Stross' blog seems to have evolved in comments into a "the technical aspects of how you'd write an alternate American history where the Indian tribes don't lose" alternating with arguments over the definition of Celtic and related UKcentric socioarcheology, and the only-occasional hitting of my original points.

And I am not at all surprised because, well, there seem to be a lot of literal-minded types who hang out there, and they want to get down to the factual manipulation of details, with emphasis on manipulation.  Because that's tangible and defensible, if you have enough facts and talky-bits.  There's a large section of fandom that loves that kind of worldbuilding, what I refer to, with affection, as th S.M. Stirling school of storytelling.

(I was Steve's editor, and I really do say that with affection, that's not sarcasm or dissing.)

And I have amusement, because with all the theories being thrown around, and all the how-tos and might-haves... none of them have come close to what I'm actually doing.  I'm not sure if they're so focused on Historical Events that they're missing the alternative manipulations or...  well, to presume that what I came up with is so unique would be hubris of the discomforting sort, so I won't say that.  But I am amused.