Improve this Blog!

So, the new blog has been up for a while now, and I’ve got it pretty much where I want it. What I’d like to know from you readers: What else should I have on the site? I ask that you keep in mind that I’ve merged my blog and my personal website (or virtual business card), so that this one site incorporates all the data from both. So what’s missing? Is there additional information I should have included on the "About Me" page? Anything else I’ve left out? Are there any blog posts you’d like to see me make that I haven’t been?

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links for 2007-10-13

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A Meme of Questionable Utility

via Andrew Wheeler

MOUTHOLOGY

Q. What is your salad dressing of choice?

A. I don’t use salad dressing. When I eat salad, I usually just top it with parmesan cheese.

Q. What is your favorite fast food restaurant?

A. Wendy’s. Also, my first job! Actually, that’s why I’m bald — shaving my head was the only way to get all that fucking grease out of my hair.

Q. What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?

A. I don’t really have one. Maybe Grand Sichuan or Mitali East.

Q. On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant?

A. 15-20%

Q. What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?

A: No question: pizza. I could eat pizza every day for every meal forever, I think.

Q. What are your pizza toppings of choice?

A. I take mine plain–no additional toppings, just cheese. (And no extra cheese, thank you.)

Q. What do you like to put on your toast?

A: Grape jelly

(more…)

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The Serial Slushie

We’ve got this serial submitter at F&SF who sends in three or more stories every week, none of them very good. Typically, I wouldn’t mention something like this on my blog, lest some poor writer stumble across mention of it and think, "Oh, he must mean me!" and then feel bad. In this case, I feel safe discussing the case, since I’m fairly certain this writer doesn’t have a computer–all of his manuscripts are hand-written. (And, you know, if he does have a computer and he’s still submitting hand-written manuscripts? Then screw him–I don’t care if he feels bad if he stumbles across this.)

This week, Gordon joked that we should publish a chapbook of this guy’s stories, since he’s so prolific. But even if he had never submitted anything previously, we had enough of his work to publish a chapbook from that day’s batch of mail alone–we got FIVE separate submissions from him, all on the same day.

But hey, at least he sends each manuscript separately (rather than five in one envelope) and includes separate SASEs for each story (and always has the appropriate amount of postage on the envelopes). At least he’s doing something right.

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Poll: Who should finish writing the final book in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time sequence?

So, who should finish writing the final Wheel of Time book? The authors I’ve listed below are all Tor authors who have written epic/heroic fantasy, and so theoretically could be considered for the role. One of the options, Harriett McDougall, is Jordan’s book editor and widow, so she’s a possibility (at least theoretically–for all I know she might not be a writer at all). One other option seems to me very unlikely–Gene Wolfe–but I put him in there to see if anyone out there for some reason thinks that would be a good idea. (It would be a terrible mismatch, but man, the results would likely be wild.)

 Update: I added an “Other” option to the poll, if you don’t like any of those choices.

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links for 2007-10-12

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Hunting the Mumpsimus

While at the post office today, on a seemingly routine drop off/pick up mission for F&SF, I ran into none other than the Mumpsimus himself, Matt Cheney. Which was a bit weird, as I had something I was dropping in the mail for him. We discussed me just hand delivering it, but I had a lot of parcels and no idea where it was, and it already had Stamps.com metered postage on it (though I belatedly realized I could have canceled the postage and gotten my money back). In the end, we thought it best to just let the PO bring it by his place.

When I learned of what part of Hoboken Matt moved into, I wondered if I might run into him at the post office. Turned out to happen sooner rather than later. It went much better than my nightmare scenarios of crazed slush writers staking out the post office waiting for me near Box 3447 with a sock full of pennies.

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A Little Help, Dear Readers

Dear Blog readers,

I have a favor to ask. It’s a shameless publicity favor, but still, it should be easy enough to do. Here’s what I would like:

Please go to Amazon.com and view my Post-Apocalyptic Fiction listmania lists. On the right hand side of each list, you’ll find a box containing the text:

List Stats

Last updated: 8/27/07
Read: 352 times
YesNo 

Please vote "Yes" that you found the list helpful. (Unless you think it sucks or something.)

Basically, I just want to make my listmania lists as relevant as possible on Amazon, so that when people view or search for other post-apocalyptic material, my listmania lists might come up, and thus might draw some additional attention to Wastelands.

That’s all, thanks!

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links for 2007-10-11

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