The first edits came in today for The Y Factor, the sequel to Human By Choice that Darrell Bain asked me to co-author. As he's a bit under the weather, he asked me to go ahead and take a look at it.
I was really pleased; for the most part, all it consisted of was spelling and grammatical boo-boos, quick and easy to fix. There are a couple of things that I want Darrell to look at and give his yea/nay on, but the bulk of it was done in a couple of hours.
The cover flat for The Y Factor came in, too, and looks great!
A tweak to the Burnout cover flat came in, lightening the text, and if it looked great before, it looks fantastic now! I'm starting to get really REALLY excited!
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Sunday, March 1, 2009
Cats
My husband and I have had cats for years. In fact, we've both had cats since we were children. Our last 2 cats have been adoptions from stray litters. The cat that currently owns us is Elrond Half-Siamese, and he's a real thing on wheels. He's 3 years old. Makes me wonder if Elrond Half-Elven was such a mischievous young elfling sometimes.
This morning he's been frantically pinging around the house for reasons totally unknown to us humans, yowling mournfully at the top of his lungs about something. When he wasn't doing that, he was commandeering my tote bags and crawling into them.
Now that latter bit isn't unusual for a cat, but what he wants you to DO, once he's INSIDE, is. He wants you to pick him up - or rather, pick up the bag - and swing him back and forth. While you're doing that, he is either staring up at you from the bottom of the bag, or else, and more likely, he has his head and front paws sticking out the top, looking around. For all the world like a kid on an amusement park ride. And purring fit to be heard across the room.
This morning it snowed in Alabama, a couple of inches' worth, for the first time in almost a decade. Needless to say, Elrond had never seen snow before. So I picked him up, opened the blinds, and held him to the window in the position in which we two often gaze out upon the world.
He did a double-take. Those crossed little blue eyes got bigger than milk saucers, and he stared at the white world outside. Then he started scrambling to get down. I guess he didn't like it and thought something strange had happened to his world. At any rate, he went into the bedroom and crawled under the covers with my husband.
Speaking of hubby, when he finally couldn't take the cat's racing around at Warp Factor 47 and yowling Red Alert any longer, he picked the critter up. Now, my husband is the only person who can turn Elrond on his back without getting turned into hamburger. So he turned him over and began rubbing his tummy, which elicits the sound of warp engines purring in perfect tune.
But as he did so, my husband commented, "Flop!" To which, of course, the cat responded by turning into jello.
My mind being what it is, however, I queried, "Does that make it a petaflop?"
My husband just stared at me.
The cat purred.
This morning he's been frantically pinging around the house for reasons totally unknown to us humans, yowling mournfully at the top of his lungs about something. When he wasn't doing that, he was commandeering my tote bags and crawling into them.
Now that latter bit isn't unusual for a cat, but what he wants you to DO, once he's INSIDE, is. He wants you to pick him up - or rather, pick up the bag - and swing him back and forth. While you're doing that, he is either staring up at you from the bottom of the bag, or else, and more likely, he has his head and front paws sticking out the top, looking around. For all the world like a kid on an amusement park ride. And purring fit to be heard across the room.
This morning it snowed in Alabama, a couple of inches' worth, for the first time in almost a decade. Needless to say, Elrond had never seen snow before. So I picked him up, opened the blinds, and held him to the window in the position in which we two often gaze out upon the world.
He did a double-take. Those crossed little blue eyes got bigger than milk saucers, and he stared at the white world outside. Then he started scrambling to get down. I guess he didn't like it and thought something strange had happened to his world. At any rate, he went into the bedroom and crawled under the covers with my husband.
Speaking of hubby, when he finally couldn't take the cat's racing around at Warp Factor 47 and yowling Red Alert any longer, he picked the critter up. Now, my husband is the only person who can turn Elrond on his back without getting turned into hamburger. So he turned him over and began rubbing his tummy, which elicits the sound of warp engines purring in perfect tune.
But as he did so, my husband commented, "Flop!" To which, of course, the cat responded by turning into jello.
My mind being what it is, however, I queried, "Does that make it a petaflop?"
My husband just stared at me.
The cat purred.
Friday, February 27, 2009
The Write Pack!
Look out for us! No, not The Rat Pack, Vegas heyday group of megastars who frequented the clubs there. We're The Write Pack, a group of science fiction and fantasy authors from various publishing houses who promote our books at many of the same SF conventions around the Southeast. We've come to be friends, advisors, mentors, helpers, and co-networkers, and we enjoy each others' company so we hang out together.
It's nothing formal, just a loose-knit group of good friends who share a common passion/profession and run into each other fairly often. I fully expect the roster to change over time, but for now, The Write Pack includes:
Allan Gilbreath
Les Johnson
J.F. Lewis
myself, Stephanie Osborn
Bill Snodgrass
Travis "Doc" Taylor
Coming soon to a science fiction convention near you!
It's nothing formal, just a loose-knit group of good friends who share a common passion/profession and run into each other fairly often. I fully expect the roster to change over time, but for now, The Write Pack includes:
Allan Gilbreath
Les Johnson
J.F. Lewis
myself, Stephanie Osborn
Bill Snodgrass
Travis "Doc" Taylor
Coming soon to a science fiction convention near you!
Time to get excited!
It's getting closer and closer to time for Burnout: The Mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281 to be released (April 15), and I'm excited! More and more PR appearances, galley proofs, seeing the final book cover for the first time! It's all good! I can't wait!
I have several BlogTalkRadio interviews scheduled over the next few weeks, and several more science fiction convention appearances scheduled! (For more details, check out the Upcoming Appearances page at my website!)
They say write what you know, so I did. I was a Shuttle and Station payload flight controller, as well as a military space expert, for a 20+ year career, before I lost a friend in the Columbia disaster. That was the beginning of the end for me, and after a few more years, I got out of the program - but the program didn't get out of me. The result is Burnout, which actually was completed in rough draft BEFORE the Columbia disaster.
Burnout is a science fiction mystery about a Space Shuttle disaster that turns out NOT to have been an accident. Investigators Emmett "Crash" Murphy and Dr. Michael C. Anders end up on the run, as friends, lovers, and colleagues die around them. What happened to STS-281? Why? Who did it? Why do parts of the government want it covered up? And who is willing to kill to keep it quiet?
Burnout: The Mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281 is a techno-thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat, not wanting to put it down!
I have several BlogTalkRadio interviews scheduled over the next few weeks, and several more science fiction convention appearances scheduled! (For more details, check out the Upcoming Appearances page at my website!)
They say write what you know, so I did. I was a Shuttle and Station payload flight controller, as well as a military space expert, for a 20+ year career, before I lost a friend in the Columbia disaster. That was the beginning of the end for me, and after a few more years, I got out of the program - but the program didn't get out of me. The result is Burnout, which actually was completed in rough draft BEFORE the Columbia disaster.
Burnout is a science fiction mystery about a Space Shuttle disaster that turns out NOT to have been an accident. Investigators Emmett "Crash" Murphy and Dr. Michael C. Anders end up on the run, as friends, lovers, and colleagues die around them. What happened to STS-281? Why? Who did it? Why do parts of the government want it covered up? And who is willing to kill to keep it quiet?
Burnout: The Mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281 is a techno-thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat, not wanting to put it down!
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