feeling feisty

May 17, 2009 at 11:49 pm

Much improved these last two days. I’ve even been writing well.

But damn, even a few days of being laid low puts me so far behind…

My life and career have developed a frightening momentum. I remember once, when I was out in Hollywood, someone described working on a weekly television series as being akin to madly laying rails as the locomotive roars full steam up the tracks just behind you. I’m not in Hollywood anymore, but life still feels like that some days. Lose a day here and a week there, and suddenly that damn train is rolling over you.

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fighting the crud

May 14, 2009 at 12:37 pm

Still fighting the crud here. Feeling a little better this morning, but still not a hundred per cent. I did manage to stagger across to my office. We’ll see how long I last. If I take off too long, the mountain of stuff becomes overwhelming by the time I get back.

And now it appears I’ve passed on this cold/ flu / whatever to my assistant Ty, who has passed it on to his wife. A plague sweeping through New Mexico.

I hate feeling sick.

Hoping to be my old self by the weekend… there’s so much bloody work to do…

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Tags: everyday life

still sick

May 14, 2009 at 1:06 am

spent most of the last two days in bed, coughing and sleeping

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Tags: everyday life

Back to Jokertown

May 12, 2009 at 4:32 pm

WILD CARDS is headed back to its roots.

The early volumes in our long-running shared-world anthology series largely centered around Manhattan, especially the parts of the Bowery and Lower East Side that became known as Jokertown. More recent entries, however, have been wider in scope, often international. But I’ve signed the contracts for another brand new, all-original Wild Cards mosaic novel, and I’m pleased to announce that with FORT FREAK the series is coming home again.

Manhattan’s 5th precinct has seen it all. Its historic precinct house on Elizabeth Street is the oldest in the New York City, and the cops and detectives based there are charged with keeping the peace in Chinatown, Little Italy, the Bowery, and parts of the Lower East Side.

In our alternate universe, the jokers !“ deformed, twisted victims of the alien virus known as the wild card !“ began moving into tenements of the Bowery and Lower East Side in the late 40s and early 50s, driving out the !œnats! (naturals) and transforming the area into a colorful, dangerous, and often surreal slum district that soon became known as Jokertown. The 5th precinct became the Jokertown precinct. It did not take long before the city’s police began calling the precinct house !œFort Freak.!

Fort Freak and its cops and detectives have figured in many of our older Wild Cards stories, albeit usually in the background. But with this new volume, we’re finally going to tell the stories of the brave men and women who walk the mean streets and strange alleys of Jokertown, and the unique and dangerous challenges that face.

FORT FREAK is the title, and Tor will once again be our publisher. The lineup of contributors for this one includes Cherie Priest, Melinda M. Snodgrass, David Anthony Durham, Stephen Leigh, Paul Cornell, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Victor Milan, and John Jos. Miller. The featured characters will be a mix of old favorite and new creations.

This will be the twenty-first volume in the Wild Cards series, first launched in 1987.

Look for FORT FREAK in your favorite bookstore in late 2010 or early 2011. We’ve just started work on this one.

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Tags: tor, wild cards

Star Trek Made Me Sick

May 12, 2009 at 1:36 pm

Literally. I have a cough that won’t stop, and a chest that’s so congested it feels like it’s made of concrete. And the phlegm…

And the only time I’ve left the house and computer for weeks was to see that wretched Trek film, so I am blaming Kirk, Spock, and J.J. Abrams.

If I die of swine flu, you know who to hold responsible.

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Tags: everyday life, watching

STAR TREK

May 10, 2009 at 2:36 pm

Saw the new STAR TREK movie last night.

No spoilers here, just a resounding thumbs down. Take a pass.

The actors do a very creditable job of creating young versions of all the familiar characters from Classic Trek, but the writing sucks start to finish, and the science fictional aspects are ludicrous even for STAR TREK. Fans of the old show might like the film… but then again, maybe not, since it’s a “reboot” (Hollywoodese for “retcon”) and pisses all over the original continuity.

Me, I think they should just let this tired, tired franchise die. STAR WARS too. I don’t ever need to see another wookie, or another klingon. (They won’t, of course. Not so long as there’s one more nickle to be made. I know how Hollywood works).

I love SF, and I love space opera, but can’t we have some new characters in a new universe? Even BATTLESTAR GALACTICA was a retread, albeit a much more interesting one than anything Trek or SW has done in decades. We did have FIREFLY, short lived as it was… but there’s room for more. Let’s have television versions of Honor Harrington and Miles Vorkosigan. Let’s have someone film the Praxis series by Walter Jon Williams, the best space opera I’ve read in years. Let’s have anything that isn’t Trek or STAR WARS.

If they really must remake old shows, screw it, let them remake Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, or Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. Pinto Vortando rules!!!

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Climbing Liberty

May 8, 2009 at 5:02 pm

I climbed to the crown of the Statue of Liberty once.

Once was enough, believe me. The interior of the statue is stifling and hot, the winding metal steps are narrow and steep, and you’re in a long line of people, with someone on the step ahead of you and someone on the step behind. And once you reached the top, well, the inside of Lady Liberty’s head is pretty cramped as well, and the windows are thick and pitted and do not actually offer that great a view.

It’s not an experience I am eager to repeat…

Nonetheless, I am glad I did it, and I want others to have the chance to do it too. Which is why I was heartened today by the announcement that the Obama administration is once again opening Lady Liberty to visitors.

George W. Bush had, of course, closed the monument after 9/11 (visitors were still allowed on Liberty Island and could tour the museum in the statue’s base, but were not allowed inside the lady herself), citing possible terrorist attacks as the reason. Was that a danger? To some extent, sure. I have no doubt that Osama bin Laden would love to destroy the Statue of Liberty. But closing the statue was not the answer. It was, in fact, an act of cowardice, “letting the terrorists win.” Being able to climb up inside the Statue of Liberty is not, of course, a fundamental right like freedom of speech or freedom of religion… but it was something cool that many generations of Americans had been able to enjoy, and having it taken away “to keep us safe” always galled me.

And now it’s back. Hurrah, hurrah.

My mother, a child of another era, first visited Lady Liberty at a time when tourists were still allowed to climb up into her torch. Now THAT would be cool. Unlike the crown, the torch is open air, so the views would be spectacular. But the torch was closed to the public long before I first got to Liberty Island in the 50s. These days, I understand, no one goes up there but Superman… and the park rangers stationed at the monument, who rumor tells us like to climb up there to make out.

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Tags: politics

The Beans Are Spilled

May 6, 2009 at 12:00 pm

Well, the first two beans, anyway. There will be many more beans to come.

But HBO has signed a director for the GAME OF THRONES pilot, and the first cast member has come aboard as well.

The pilot will be helmed by Tom McCarthy, director of THE VISITOR and THE STATION AGENT.

And playing Tyrion Lannister will be Peter Dinklage, who was almost everyone’s “dream casting” for the role (he certainly was mine):

You can read more details in THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, which broke the news this morning:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i30b29365238b3652295a5a9e328518de

I’m thrilled.

Things are starting to move a lot faster now. The rest of the year is going to be exciting!

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Tags: a game of thrones, hbo

Toy Soldier Neepery

May 4, 2009 at 10:31 pm

With my library renovations finally complete, I’ve been having fun with my collection of toy knights again, making new displays and recreating old ones.

The process has just started, but I thought I’d share some pics with you.

(Yes, I know, I have a whole Knights section of my webpage for this sort of thing, but my webmaster is travelling and unavailable, and backed up even when she does get home, and this is the only place I can actually post stuff without her. So if you don’t give a fig about miniatures, dioramas, and toy soldiers… hey, just skip this post).

Here’s the big tourney grandstand, with some jousts in progress:

Some knights in their tourney finery, waiting a turn at the lists:

A squire, polishing a helm and dreaming of glory:

The figures are by a variety of makers and painters, but all of them are 54mm scale.

Comments are welcome, but only about miniatures, dioramas, collecting toys, and such subjects. Stay on topic, please.

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Tags: miniatures

May

May 4, 2009 at 9:22 pm

It’s May, and this should be my last post about the 2009 calendars. Les Dabel tells me that all of them have now been shipped. Yes, even the autographed ones I signed in March. Yes, every single last one. He also tells me that they sent out some scarce HEDGE KNIGHT comic books, to help make up for the delay. The promised “extra content” — samples from the 2010 calendar — obviously could not be included, since the 2010 calendar has been cancelled.

No, it’s not the ending we would have wished for, but it is an ending. Everyone who paid for a calendar should have one soon, if you do not have one already.

(Yes, I am aware there is still an issue about the prints. Sorry, I cannot help you with the prints. I had nothing whatsover to do with those; that matter is between the Dabels and their customers.)

Meanwhile… hell, it’s May, time is rushing by again. Where do the months go?

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Tags: calendar, dabels

Not a Blog

feeling feisty

fighting the crud

still sick

Back to Jokertown

Star Trek Made Me Sick

STAR TREK

Climbing Liberty

The Beans Are Spilled

Toy Soldier Neepery

May

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