[2010/02/23 3:44 pm]
What is today? The same as any other (at least, the last few weeks).

* Sometimes, when I lose the thread of something, I can repeat the last thought in my head until it picks up again. Not so much, today. I just keep repeating it until even the sound annoys me; then I give up, and move on to whatever I haven't yet managed to forget.

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[2010/02/21 10:48 am]
Monologophobia—An overwhelming fear of using a word more than once in a single sentence, or even in a single paragraph.

There's a nice article over at About.com.

One painful example (from the above article--go read it if you're blocked on what proper treatment might be in the below case):

Etiology: As a child the patient was probably compelled to stand in a corner because he wrote, in a composition: "Grandma gave me a piece of apple pie, then I had another piece of apple pie and then I had another piece of apple pie."

Symptoms: The patient now writes: "The wife gave me a piece of apple pie, then I obtained another slice of the pastry containing the round fleshy fruit, and then I secured another portion of the all-American dessert." As is evident, monologophobia is usually accompanied by synonymomania.

This came up over at imaginaries.org lately (yesterday, give or take?).

What it brings to mind for me is something I've experienced in my writing: deja-word. I know I've found the right word when I do a quick search and realize I actually haven't yet used it at all. Sometimes, though, I realize I've used the word "slowly" five times in a paragraph, and, er, pray I can fix it in revision.

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[2010/02/20 7:31 am]
Letting Go

She tossed the words out with the kitchen trash: love had tarnished, hate had faded to a dull gray, and hope seemed more like ratty cheesecloth than the gilded kite she'd once flown her heart from. The nursing home had a limited allowance; she could let go of a few worthless words.

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[2010/02/16 9:02 pm]
I had a very short piece accepted for Innsmouth Press' "Horrific Romance Classifieds". There's a handful of great geeky reading there.

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[2010/02/07 7:40 pm]


What's not to love???

Issue 5

... WRAPS A SCIENTIFIC CORE WITH OUR MOST ECLECTIC SELECTION TO DATE—including two "mini graphic novels", and a script that will have you bubbling over with mirth.

We open with Rose Lemberg's "Imperfect Verse", a tale of poetry, deception, and warring gods; then span the years to Andrew N. Tisbert's "Getting Yourself On", which sees mankind taken to the stars but suffering new forms of wage-slavery.

There's science fiction that stretches to the fantastic, science that once stretched the fantastic and has now become brilliantly pervasive, and dollops of science in otherwise mundane lives (see "The Prettiest Crayon in the Box").

Of course, we've got fantasy, psychological horror, humor and drama; poetry serious, sublime, and satirical; and art that stretches from the real, to the surreal, to the violently semi-abstract.

read some teasers! or just buy it, hey? ;)

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[2010/01/27 9:21 pm]
I don't do politics a lot... I kind of presume you know where I stand (at least as well as I know ;) ), or you don't care, or both (with the majority of you being in the "don't really care" camp), and that we pretty much all agree on "basic civil liberties" and the like (and probably disagree on the details of what that means).

Obama's speech was well-delivered imo (his slow cadence gets on my nerves, but I understand what/why he does it as much as I dislike it). He seemed to say many positive things (though I'm not a fan of "increased off-shore drilling" and I'm willing to believe that my favoring of nuclear power is "blind optimism").

He had enough specifics that I'm looking forward to seeing what factcheck.org has to say about them later. I would have loved more.

But the "rebuttal" speech drove me up the wall. Rhetoric. Basic "Democrat vs. Republican" stuff, nothing that really connected with "now" for me.

I mean, come on--quotes like:

In recent months, the American people have made clear that they want government leaders to listen and act on the issues most important to them.

Umm. Wait. What? We only _just_ made this clear, somehow? Not constantly over the last couple hundred years?

But most Americans do not want to turn over the best medical care system in the world to the federal government.

a) our medical system may be decent. I'm sure it's better than many. But best? Really? Is that jingoism or is that the pharmaceutical industry?

b) how is it being "turned over [...] to the federal government?"

ending frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals that drive up the cost of your healthcare.

A nice soundbite but how are you going to do this exactly? Is that detailed in one of your "many proposals" at solutions.gop.gov? I searched for "frivolous" on that site and got one hit:

In effect, the bill would allow employees (or other individuals that can argue that they have been "affected" by wage discrimination) to sue for compensation for alleged discrimination that took place years ago. This could result in a litany of potentially frivolous lawsuits from decades ago being brought into the courts. In addition to tying up the judicial system, these suits may place an unnecessary and costly burden on employers forced to defend against illegitimate claims said to have occurred years ago.

Admittedly, it's a Democratic bill. And I'm probably in favor of it. But where's the plans on the site to reduce frivolous lawsuits? Is the plan just legalize more things (like, above, _wage discrimination_)?

But this Administration's policies are delaying offshore production, hindering nuclear energy expansion, and seeking to impose job-killing cap and trade energy taxes.

Admittedly, this goes over my head in parts. I don't understand "cap and trade energy taxes". But I thought Republicans wanted to help _small businesses_. I'm sure anyone producing enough energy to matter isn't a small business. I doubt whatever these cap and trade taxes are will significantly effect how many people a megacorp employs. You get the people you need, and the rest is butter. You don't have megacorp people pulling extra hours to make up for employee shortages.

Americans were shocked on Christmas Day to learn of the attempted bombing of a flight to Detroit. This foreign terror suspect was given the same legal rights as a U.S. citizen, and immediately stopped providing critical intelligence.

I don't see how to read this other than "I'd rather have tortured the sumbitch". Legal rights... representation and due process. There's not much more than that. Seriously, that seems pretty basic and doesn't seem like it should depend on citizenship.

Over-regulating employers won't create more employment; overtaxing investors won't foster more investment.

The #sotu actually talked about removing or reducing existing taxes on investment in small businesses...

. The Scriptures say "To whom much is given, much will be required."

When is it finally going to be a major faux pas to bring your specific religion into politics? Being good to people is great. "The Scriptures" are good for you, but not good for governance.

Government should have this clear goal: Where opportunity is absent, we must create it. Where opportunity is limited, we must expand it. Where opportunity is unequal, we must make it open to everyone.

This doesn't seem very Republican to me. I must be misunderstanding him. I'm sure what it is is that he hasn't enumerated all the "buts". Especially on "Making opportunity equal". That sounds flat-out socialist.

As far as the gov't getting its sticky wickets too deep in the banks and auto industry and all that... my understanding is that the Repubs wanted it as much as the Democrats, or more. Me, I'm agnostic. I don't know enough of the details.

And on health care... I'd be fine with the federal gov't not doing anything about it if states were doing as well as I've heard Mass. is, now. Though a large part of what the fed tries to do is, imo, due to the economy of scale. It can be done cheaper and better when done larger. True for businesses, right? And while declaiming "one-size-fits-all government", I don't think states should be allowed to _allow_ discrimination, etc. Nor allowed to impose religious viewpoints on their constituents. And isn't the federal gov't in a better place to provide opportunity than any one state (again, economy of scale)?

I think the above pullquotes were the only bits of dissent in the "rebuttal". The rest were general platitudes that you got from listening to the #sotu just minutes earlier. Point for point, just with a poorer speech-writer.

I would have loved to see an actual rebuttal. Something that gave me food for thought.

Really, why can't the rebuttal be delayed a day? Seems absurd to pretend it's a rebuttal when it's being given minutes later. Or if they're handed the #sotu ahead of time, then why can't they do a better job of it?

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[2010/01/21 2:07 pm]
(something silly)

The Vampire Flick – part 4

Here is part four

—

"Scarlet, how could you!?"

Scarlet didn't have the voice to respond. She didn't want to say anything to Sasha anyway. It was too embarrassing.

"You've got blood all over you, all over your hands! You'd think you were a werewolf or something. Don't you have anything to say for yourself?" Sasha fussed with her sister's hands, licking the blood up as daintily as she could given the dirt and grit commingled thereon. Then she spat. "Is this your blood? Oh, that is just gross!"

"I'm...I'm sorry," Scarlet finally let out. She began to sob. "He...he...I don't remember. I don't remember, Jesus, what's happening to me? Help me!" She began to spasm violently.

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[2010/01/15 3:51 pm]
Crossed Genres has started a push to publish a piece of fiction to help drive donations ~ http://crossedgenres.com/haiti/

Mine: By the Dragon's Tail

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[2010/01/14 12:50 pm]
Probably 9/10 of you have already either put your votes in or decided you're not interested, but this is my last-minute plea for the other two of you. ;)

We're a little late to the game (still doing everything we can to get Issue 5 spick and span and out to print), but with just another day or less in the readers' poll, we thought we'd give you a nudge you and put our name in the hat.

We'd most appreciate help in the categories of "Best Fiction Magazine" and "Best Poetry Magazine", but anywhere you felt like giving us a nod would be most appreciated! I can personally vouch for the Preditors + Editors folks, as far as filling out the readers' poll--they won't spam you, and won't keep your email address beyond verifying it and limiting you to one vote per category.

Best Fiction Zine (ignore the "e-zine" bit)
* http://www.critters.org/predpoll/fictionzine.shtml

Best Poetry Zine (ditto)
* http://www.critters.org/predpoll/poetryzine.shtml

Best Zine Art (GUD Magazine -- The Strangers are Tuning, Jesse Lindsay)
* http://www.critters.org/predpoll/zineart.shtml

Best Zine Editor (Julia Bernd -- GUD Magazine Issue 4)
* http://www.critters.org/predpoll/zineeditor.shtml

There's plenty more to vote for, and it's truly a readers' poll--you can just write in anything for any category if that's your mind. Everything on that list has been put there by someone writing it in, to start with.

And no worries if you feel there's another magazine more deserving of your vote, or if you simply don't have the time or interest. We understand. And on that note, we're back to the grindstone to get out the best magazine we can....

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[2009/11/24 9:37 am]
Please help Odd deliver some smiles this holiday season


My friend is doing a holiday-gifts drive; the stuff is going to low income families in Michigan (specifically the city of Westland). He's working with the Mayor's office, which is working with the Salvation army and several churches.

Toys and clothes only, no money!

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