*** SPOILER ALERT FOR TWO EPISODES AGO OF 24 ** Jack Bauer, the counter-terrorism agent, has just discovered where the bad guys he's been looking for have taken the nuclear warheads. He's trapped in the Russian embassy, and they know he has the information. Naturally, they will cut off all outside communication as soon as possible. Jack picks up a... read more »
It was my 40th birthday on Friday. The highlight of the day was my birthday party at Chili's. The Parents™ were there representing the family. Jade, Carla Jo, and Nikki (and her two cute little girls) from my old Barnes & Noble writing group came. Ben Hardin from the Quark writing group was there. Brandon Sanderson (and his wife, Emily),... read more »
Now that I have a little spare time, here are more details: If all goes according to plan, "Premature Emergence" should appear in the February 2008 issue of Baen's Universe. The response time on the submission was one year and one day -- which is not the longest I've had. Baen's was overstocked with stories, so last year they put... read more »
A great bit of news via email this morning: Eric Flint wants to buy my story "Premature Emergence" for Baen's Universe. More about it later -- I have to go to work.
After a long drought, I wrote 500 words of a new story today. Because it's going to be submitted anonymously to the 2007 Codexian Idol contest, I can't reveal any details about the story itself. But I came up with the idea yesterday and it's the first idea I've had any enthusiasm for since November. So it felt good to... read more »
To understand my buying process, you have to understand what happened the last time I bought a car. I went to two dealerships, the first of which gave me an offer for my trade-in that was a little bit under its Blue Book trade-in value. The second offered me less than half that amount, until I mentioned what the first... read more »
I bought a new car today: a silver 2007 Honda Civic EX sedan. How did I end up choosing the Civic? By process of elimination. First, I eliminated all American car manufacturers. It's unfortunate, but I just don't feel like GM, Chrysler and Ford are making cars that have the reliability of Toyota and Honda. No, wait -- I didn't... read more »
It's not because I'm anti-environment. For over a year, I planned to buy a hybrid as my next car. I'm a technophile -- I love having high-tech stuff. And while I'm not convinced that anthropogenic global warming is as bad as Al Gore says, getting excellent gas mileage is a good thing (especially if Iran starts playing hardball with oil... read more »
If I'm ever elected to Congress, I will thoroughly annoy my colleagues by sitting in the chamber and objecting to their requests for unanimous consent to revise and extend their remarks. ("Revise and shorten" I wouldn't object to.) I'm in the process of revising and shortening my novel Heir of the Line. It's a time-consuming and difficult process, but I... read more »
Jason Sanford, editor of StorySouth, has chosen "Tabloid Reporter to the Stars" as one of his "stories of the week." Here's part of his review: This wonderfully written science fiction story deftly pulls off laugh after laugh while also illuminating critical issues surrounding science, religion, culture, and, most importantly, what exactly is that thing we call truth. Jason -- whom... read more »
