Robson Stunned At PKD Nods
SCI FI Wire just published a story I wrote about Justina Robson having two books on the Philip K. Dick Award ballot.
Reading/Brain Exercises
Since most of you probably like to read and/or care about the state of your brain as a thinking mechanism, I thought I’d share some reading/brain exercises I read about in Making a Good Brain Great.
LAZY-8S
How to do it: Extend one arm in front of your face. With your thumb pointing upward, slowly and smoothly trace a large figure 8 on its side in the air. Keep your neck relaxed and your head upright, moving only slightly as you focus on the thumb and follow it around. This reportedly helps with reading, speed reading, writing, and hand-eye coordination.CROSS CRAWL
How to do it: While standing, alternately touch your left knee with your right hand, then your right knee with your left hand. Continue for 10 to 15 repetitions. This reportedly helps with reading, writing, listening, memory, and coordination. It activates both sides of the brain simultaneously.
The first one makes more sense to me as a reading aid, because it’s giving your eyes a workout. I also read about a similar exercise to the Lazy-8s in Men’s Health. In this one, you hold your hand out at arm’s length and point your index finger up, while keeping the tip of your finger at eye level. Focus on the tip of your index finger, then shift focus to something behind your finger without moving your head. For instance, you could stand in one room and shift your focus to a lamp that’s in an adjacent room (that’s what I do). Do the exercise ten times.
On another note, I was reading something about speed reading, and it said that one reason people sometimes read slowly is because they subvocalize everything they read. (And by subvocalize, I mean silently, in their head; not with the moving lips.)
When I read that, it was like a light went off. That’s exactly what I do, and that’s probably why I can’t seem to read any faster than I do. In order to break yourself of this habit, the text said to count to ten in increments of two (2, 4, 6, 8, 10), and do that over and over as you’re reading. While you’re doing this, you’re supposed to read extra slowly as you’re training your brain to process the words differently.
I don’t think I’m ever going to break myself of the habit (and I probably won’t really try as it seems impossible), but it does explain to me why some people can read a whole book in a 2-3 hours, while it takes me much longer. But I also read that people who subvocalize often require a quiet and distraction-free zone to read in, and that’s definitely true of me. So that also explains why some people can sit and read in a noisy restaurant (or while listening to the radio, as Gordon does), while I find any kind of noise or talking very distracting. Of course, reading the way I do means I’m a more careful reader than some others, and so that’s good for editing, at least.
Comics Publicity
Does anyone know how to contact the publicity department of Marvel, DC, and/or Dark Horse Comics? I’ve been able to get graphic novel review copies from Image Comics, but I can’t seem to find contact information for the right people at the other comics companies. I’d like to be able to consider a variety of graphic novels for review in my column, but right now my selection is extremely limited. I could easily include a review of one each month, if I could get my hands on them.
Of course, maybe I’ll find all the contacts I need when I go to the NY Comic-Con next month.
UPDATE:
Dark Horse contact acquired!
DC contact acquired!
The Ask Me Something Meme
Snurched from Jay Lake, who snurched it from everybody and her sibling:
If you’re someone who doesn’t know me very well or at all, feel free to ask me a question. Maybe it’s something you don’t know about me that you think you should, or something inane. Doesn’t matter, it can be anything. Don’t be afraid.
I wasn’t going to get started on this meme, but I like Jay’s twist:
Iin the same comment you ask me a question, you have to tell me something about yourself.
So ask a question, but be sure to tell me something about yourself too, or else I stubbornly won’t answer.
Come Clarity Tour Comes to Manhattan
February 15. Webster Hall.
Yeah baby. Don’t you love it when three awesome bands are all playing the same show?
UPDATE: In the comments, Rob complains he’s never heard of these bands. I’ve now added links where you can go listen to a few songs for free. For DevilDriver, I feel compelled to point out that their first album wasn’t that great, but their second album totally kicks ass. Listen to “Hold Back the Day.”
Also, I just learned that “devil driver” is the name witches give to the bells they use to drive evil away when they are casting their spells.
Unleashing the Writer Within Redux
Thanks to everyone who provided suggestions in response to my Unleashing the Writer Within post. I just wanted to post a note to say that I’ve found my quotee–it’s David Marusek, who appears to be a poster child for Clarion, or in this case, Clarion West.
Dead Raises Vampire Science
SCI FI Wire just published a story I wrote about mystery writer Charlie Huston’s first foray into horror, a hardboiled vampire P.I. novel called Already Dead.
Page 123 Meme Redux
In the Page 123 Meme, I posted an excerpt, but didn’t say where it came from. Here it is again:
“With all the security devices you’ve got?”
The hint was: “This book was published in December 2005 by a well-known author who has won many awards.”
Since no one guessed, I’ll go ahead and tell you. It’s from Starship: Mutiny by Mike Resnick (which was totally awesome, by the way). Look for my review of it in my next “Strong Medicine” column in Intergalactic Medicine Show (which should be published Jan. 16).
Uglies Considers Beauty
SCI FI Wire just published a story I wrote about Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies trilogy.