Thursday, December 21, 2017

Not your average holiday greeting

Okay, I admit it. Technically speaking, I shoulda posted this yesterday. Having said that ...

’Twas the eve of the Solstice, and no matter the hype
     Not a creature was stirring, not even on Skype;
The chat rooms were silent, the listservs were bare,
     No matter I hoped to find diversion there;
 ...

Intrigued? Appalled? Amused? One of them, I'll venture to guess. Then you'll wanna check out (at Sci Phi Journal) "A Visit to the Network Control Center."

The Futurama version?
Back so soon? Here's wishing you a happy holiday(s) of your tradition or choosing!

Meet you back here in 2018 :-)

Monday, December 18, 2017

2017 retrospective

Since Career Two began back in 2004, I've gotten to see a new Lerner book reach store shelves, physical and virtual, most every year. Some years, it's been more than one. (Still, 2010 -- which saw four books published -- was quite the fluke. I don't write that fast.) But 2017? Nada, although the new book that sold this year is expected to be out early next year.

It got me to wondering: where has the time gone? Despite life's many intrusions, both large and small, 2017 -- rather to my surprise -- has been productive. As in:
  • eight original short-fiction appearances, at every length from flash fiction to novella, in three
    Cover draft
    different magazines.
  • an original poem appearance in a fourth zine.
  • an anthology appearance. 
  • the aforementioned sale of a new book, aka Trope-ing the Light Fantastic ("From mighty oak trees, little acorns grow").
  • the resale of an out-of-print novel (also expected out early next year). 
  • >80K words added to Deja Doomed (working title of the novel in progress).
  • and of interest, one imagines, to visitors to SF and Nonsense: about fifty posts.
Last, but certainly not least -- and doubtless of consequence to some future writing endeavor -- was the trip to experience this year's total solar eclipse ("Look! Up in the sky! Dark awesomeness.")

Putting all that together, I think I'll cut myself some slack. Especially considering the kitchen remodel I also went through this year.

Let 2018 turn out to be as eclectic and productive :-)

Thursday, December 7, 2017

A (non)post

Yeah, I'm overdue to post. Apart from a brief(?) rant, not gonna happen this week. Because of:
  • the wife's Windows 7 PC dying. (At least it died when sales are on.)
  • her new PC (which I picked and ordered, so I'm not blaming her), on which Windows 10 came out of the box looking nothing like Windows 10 on my PC.
  • the vendor hiding the Windows product key, and telling me I'd never need to know it. (Because nothing ever goes wrong with Windows? Or disk drives?) 
  • the absurd length of time Windows Update takes.
  • the fact PCs now ship without manuals, or even a link to where on the vendor's website to find a manual. 
  • the toner cartridge that arrived looking like it had been attacked by wolverines. 
  • the peripheral manufacturers who abandoned hardware support, rather than produce Windows 10 drivers for customers who own their products.
  • the Windows compatibility mode that wouldn't run Windows 7 drivers.
  • the disk-partitioning utility that screwed up permissions. 
  • the LAN software that ... well, that's so hosed, I'm still sorting things out.
  • the crappy excuses for keyboards PC manufacturers ship nowadays. Not everyone wants to use a tablet or touch screen!
  • the apps with opaque or nonexistent guidance on how to migrate libraries (images, audio files, and the like) to a new PC.
I could share more about my recent involuntary sysadmin experience, but I won't. You're welcome. Be back (hopefully) soon.