Warbreaker + Quote

 

New Warbreaker Chapter:  Chapter Forty-Nine

Link to the Warbreaker Explanation

So, if any of you out there are reading this book, and are interested in doing some fan art, I'd love to see it.  Since Warbreaker won't be out for another two years, and since I'm planning on podcasting an audio version of it starting this summer, it would be nice if I had some artwork I could flash around to be all nifty and things.  Anything from simple sketches of Nightblood or glyphs and designs to represent the different gods, all the way up to depictions of characters or scenes would be much appreciated.

Writing group quote of the week, care of Ms. Fish:

"I think we need more nakedness."

(And she's actually quoting one of our old BYU professors, who said the same thing in a 518 class Ms. Fish and I took.  That only makes it more hilarious.)

Amphigory

 

As always, if you get it and are on LJ, post the answer in the comments.  For the rest of you, the answer should be in the file name.

So, I don't know if I've linked this place before--I think I might have.  However, I'm going to throw it up because the place is such a hoot.  This has to be the most blatant, ridiculous attempt at a hidden marketing front for a POD publisher I've seen.  If you are wondering, it's a front website trying to direct people to PublishAmerica, while masquerading as an 'author help' website.  It makes me laugh every time I read it.  (I particularly like how many cheap shots they take at science fiction and fantasy.  That's to be expected, considering how these people--PublishAmerica--got mocked by the whole Atlanta Nights fiasco.)

Read, be amused, but make sure to ignore everything they have to say.  There's a good reason that publishers reject 95% of what they get.  It's not because they're trying to keep you out, or because they are nasty people.  It's because they know what sells and what doesn't. 

Google Publish America if you want to read about some amusing stories. 

Annotation + Pemberly Moment

 

New Annotation: Chapter Twenty-Five Part Two

You know, it's odd how this whole information age thing works.  Last week, I got so much email I felt that I was swimming in it.  I spent hours answering it over the weekend--and when I do that, I grit my teeth, knowing that replying to a lot of emails generally means that I'll get a flood of counter-replies the next day.  So, Monday came, and I waited for the inevitable landslide.

And it never came.  Email has been almost silent today.  Enough so that now I'm worrying that my emails didn't arrive, that there was some sort of glitch in my programs, that kind of thing.  You just can't win.

In other news, my wife said some amusing things last night.  Take your pick of your favorite quote taking completely out of context:

"I am the pirate with dirty gross hair."

Or,

"In the winter, we wore tights like those.  In the summer, we didn't wear anything."

Amphigory tomorrow.

Annotation + Germany

Another wonderful Pemberly Moment from my wife, taken completely out of context: 

"I'm glad you decided not to spit on me."  Hum.  That one makes me look kind of bad, doesn't it?  I promise it's not as bad as sounds. 

In book news, the Germans bought the Alcatraz series, which is cool.  It's our first foreign sale on those, and hopefully this will open the door to many more.  The funny thing is that the my German publisher hasn't even released ELANTRIS yet.  They bought the entire Mistborn trilogy last year, so with the Alcatraz series, they have EIGHT of my books contracted and haven't even published one of them yet.  But, I guess that isn't that odd, since in America I've only got two books out of the eight I've sold.  Germany is a couple years behind, but they got the books a couple years later than Tor did, since most foreign publishers tend to wait until the US edition is out, then translate from a published English copy.  That way, they know it's already been edited as much as it's going to be in English.

Mistborn Annotation: Chapter Twenty-Five part One

Update + Warbreaker

First off, new Warbreaker Chapter: Chapter Forty-Eight

Also, as always, you can find out more about Warbreaker on this thread. 

A week and a half into it, I'm beginning to feel good about the Mistborn 3 rewrite.  I've managed to hammer the kinks out of some of the early problem chapters.  The nice thing about rewriting, for me at least, is that it tends to get easier and easier as I go along.  I begin with a long list of things I want to accomplish, and as I finish these things (most are things I can fix by inserting or deleting a couple of things from a few chapters) my list gets shorter and shorter until only the largest ones (the things that affect lots of chapters) remain.  Though the list has only lost a few items so far, it is shrinking, and I feel very good about what I've done.

In news for the contest, Ms. Fish suffered a setback!  It appears that she, author that she is, couldn't resist beginning work on a new book instead of doing her revision.  I ALMOST did this myself, with Dragonsteel, and so I know exactly what it feels like.  The difference is, I have an editor and an agent breathing down my neck, so it's a little bit harder to justify working on a project I know should be put off.

Finally, here's another comic that made me laugh.  Warning, it's mostly only for people who play fantasy role playing games.

Sanderson's First Law + Amphigory

First off, a pun:

Quick and dirty, I know.  Would the first LJ user who gets it post the solution in the comments section?  For the rest of you, the solution should be in the file name. 

Secondly, if you're interested in something a little more meaty, here is a new essay I've written.  This one isn't, hopefully, as controversial as some I've come up with.  Instead, it's an attempt to offer some writing help to readers.  It comes in the form of some advice on how I write magic systems.  If you've taken my class or gone to one of my convention panels about magic, you've probably heard much of this before.  However, I reproduce it here for your reference.  You can also find it on my website in the EUOLogies section.

Sanderson’s First Law of Magics

Introduction

There have been a lot of requests asking me to post more writing advice on my website. I’ve been thinking about things I can suggest, since I’d really like to offer tips where I can. I received a lot of good advice from professionals when I was learning the craft, and I would love to reciprocate by giving advice to those who are working on their own stories.

It seems best to start with something that I’m drawing the most attention for: magic systems. Magic is what makes fantasy, well, fantasy. While I don’t think magic should be the most important element of a story--a good magic system is only as narratively powerful as the characters who are involved with it--it is vital to our genre.

For a while now, I’ve been working on various theories regarding magic systems. I look at building them from several viewpoints: From viewpoint of the writer who wants something that is fun to write, from the viewpoint of the reader who wants something fun to read, and from the viewpoint of a storyteller who wants a setting element that is narratively sound. A good magic system should not only be interesting visually and conceptually, but should work to enhance the mood of a story and give and vibrancy to the setting. It should facilitate the telling of the story, and work to create the kind of mood an author desires.

I’d like to approach the concept of magic in several different essays, each detailing one of the ‘laws’ I’ve developed to explain what I think makes good magic systems. As always, these are just my thoughts, and though I call them laws, they’re nothing more than simple guidelines that have worked for me. Just like it’s sometimes good to violate rules of grammar, authors can violate my theories and still have good books. However, I do think that by following these, you can work to develop more potent and memorable magic in your books.

The Law

Sanderson’s First Law of Magics: An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to how well the reader understands said magic.

I begin my explanation with a story I often tell at conventions. When I applied to be on the programming of my very first Worldcon (following my sale of Elantris, but before the book was actually released) I saw that they were doing a “How does the magic work?” panel. I eagerly indicated that I’d very much like to be a part of it, and to my delight, the committee put me on it.

I believe it was my very first panel on my program at the convention. I arrived somewhat bleary-eyed after an extended flight from Utah to Boston, but managed to find my way up to the front, notes prepared, ideas prepared, sharpened, and ready to be unsheathed. I sat on the end of the table, and so was the first to speak when the moderator asked “All right, let’s begin with the simple question. How should magic work?”

I said something I took as a GIVEN. After all, I’d read it in Orson Scott Card’s writing book (I highly recommend the chapter on magic) and had used it as a rule of thumb for some time. It was the thing that I assumed was the first law of magic systems.

“Well,” I said. “Obviously magic has to have rules.”

And every other person on the panel disagreed with me violently. If you have lots of rules and boundaries for your magic, they explained, then you lose your sense of wonder! Fantasy is all about wonder! You can’t restrict yourself, or your imagination, by making your magic have rules!

I was dumbfounded. Suddenly, I realized that most of the reading I’d done on the subject had been produced by a segment of the population who liked a particular kind of magic. However, there appeared to be another complete school of thought on the matter. I struggled to defend myself for the rest of the panel, and left thinking that everyone else there must have poor magic systems in their books.

Then, I thought about it for a while. I was forced to admit that there might be a way to do magic other than the one I followed. Can’t someone have a good book that doesn’t fail narratively WITHOUT explaining lots of rules and laws for their magic? Yet, if they don’t have rules and laws, don’t they risk Deus Ex Machina (contrived endings) in their books? From the beginnings of the fantasy genre, its biggest criticism has been that it has no consistency. John Campbell, one of the most influential and important editors in the history of science fiction, once argued:

The major distinction between fantasy and science fiction is, simply, that science fiction uses one, or a very, very few new postulates, and develops the rigidly consistent logical consequences of these limited postulates. Fantasy makes its rules as it goes along...The basic nature of fantasy is "The only rule is, make up a new rule any time you need one!" The basic rule of science fiction is "Set up a basic proposition--then develop its consistent, logical consequences."

I disagree with this soundly--but in Mr. Campbell’s defense, fantasy has come a long way since the sixties (when he wrote that in Analog.) Fantasy doesn’t have to be about stories where the authors simply make up whatever they need. Still, I think that it is a criticism we fantasy writers need to be aware of and wary regarding. If we simply let ourselves develop new rules every time our characters are in danger, we will end up creating fiction that is not only unfulfilling and unexciting, but just plain bad.

The Continuum

And so we come to a more direct explanation of my first law. Let me state it again: An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic.

The development of a magic system should take into account the narrative reason for including that magic in the book. If there isn’t a narrative reason, then why write fantasy?

I see there being something of a continuum, or a scale, measuring how authors use their magic. On one side of the continuum, we have book where the magic is included in order to establish a sense of wonder and give the setting a fantastical feel. Books that focus on this use of magic tend to want to indicate that men are a small, small part of the eternal and mystical workings of the universe. This gives the reader a sense of tension as they’re never certain what dangers--or wonders--the characters will encounter. Indeed, the characters themselves never truly know what can happen and what can’t.

This is a long established tradition in fantasy. I would argue that Tolkien himself is on this side of the continuum. In his books, you rarely understand the capabilities of Wizards and their ilk. You, instead, spend your time identifying with the hobbits, who feel that they’ve been thrown into something much larger, and more dangerous, than themselves. By holding back laws and rules of magic, Tolkien makes us feel that this world is fast, and that there are unimaginable powers surging and moving beyond our sight.

There is another side to this continuum, however. This is the side where the authors explains EXACTLY what the rules of the magic system are. This is done so that the reader can have the fun of feeling like they themselves are part of the magic, and so that the author can show clever twists and turns in the way the magic works. The magic itself is a character, and by showing off its laws and rules, the author is able to provide twists, worldbuilding, and characterization.

I would place Isaac Asimov on this side of the continuum. It’s a bit irregular of me to use a man who, from essays I’ve read, was generally disapproving of the fantasy genre. (He argued that fantasy was about dumb people--men with swords--killing smart people in the form of wizards.)

However, I think Isaac’s robot stories are a perfect example of using a magic system from this end of the continuum. In his robot stories, he outlines three distinct laws, then never adds any more and never violates those laws. From the interplay of those three laws, he gave us dozens of excellent stories and ideas. Fantasy writers who use magic in a similar way are what I would call “Hard Magic” or just “Hard Fantasy” writers, to borrow and revise a term I believe was first used by Michael Swanwick. Books on the other side would then have soft magic systems.

The Middle Ground

Most writers are somewhere in the middle between these two extremes. A good example of what I consider to be near the center point would be Rowling’s Harry Potter books. Each of these books outlines various rules, laws, and ideas for the magic of the world. And, in that given book, none of those laws are violated, and often they are important to the workings of the book’s climax. However, if you look at the setting as a whole, you don’t really ever understand the capabilities of magic. She adds new rules as she adds books, expanding the system, sometimes running into contradictions and conveniently forgetting abilities the characters had in previous novels. However, these lapses aren’t important to the story, and each single book is generally cohesive.

I think she balances this rather well, actually. In specifics, her magic is hard. In the big picture, her magic is soft. That allows her to use magic as points of conflict resolution, yet maintain a strong sense of wonder in the novels.

I consider my own magic systems to be perhaps 80% hard, maybe a bit more. My own paradigm is to develop a complicated magic system which can be explained as simply as possible, but which has a lot of background and ‘behind the scenes’ rules. Many of these workings don’t get explained in the books, particularly at the first. The characters have some good understanding of the magic, but they rarely understand its complete form. This is partially because I treat my magics like sciences, and I don’t believe that we will ever completely understand all of the laws of science. Partially, also, I do this so that I can have discoveries and revelations the novels. I like mystery more than I like mysticism.

So, following this, we have my own Mistborn series. In them, I outline many rules of the magic, then offer up a few unexplained exceptions or inconsistencies which I proceed to explain in further books. The interplay of how the different laws of magic work is vital to understanding major plot points.

How To Use This

If you’re a writer working on your fantasy magic systems, I suggest that you decide what kind of feel you want for your magic. Do you like the techno-magic like you find in my books, or in books by L.E. Modesitt Jr. and Melanie Rawn? Do you like the hybrids like you find in someone more like David Eddings or J.K. Rowling? Or, do you prefer your magic to be more vague and mysterious, like you see in Tolkien or the current George R. R. Martin books? I like to read works by all of these authors, but when I write, I prefer to have rules, costs, and laws to work with in my magic, and that makes it more fun for me.

What is the most interesting to you when writing? What feel or ambiance seems the best match for the particular book you’re working on? (I’ve done mostly hard magic, but my kid’s series has a slightly softer--perhaps 50/50--magic system. I did this intentionally, both because of the wacky nature of the books, and because I wanted to enhance the feel of the character being thrown into a strange world he didn’t understand.)

Resist, at all costs, the urge to use magic to solve problems unless you’ve already explained and shown that aspect of the magic. Don’t give the heroes a new power whenever they need one, and be very careful about writing laws into your system just so that you can use them in a single particular situation.

If you’re writing a hard magic system, first ask yourself “How could the characters use what they already have and know to solve this conflict?” That will make the story more interesting, force your characters to stretch, and provide more fun for the reader. If you’re writing a soft magic system, ask yourself “How can they solve this without magic?” or even better, “How can using the magic to TRY to solve the problem here really just make things worse.” (An example of this: The fellowship relies on Gandalf to save them from the Balrog. Result: Gandalf is gone for the rest of that book.)

Most of all, experiment and find out what you enjoy, then make it work for you.

Brandon Sanderson

February, 2007

 (This is the first draft of this essay.  It will likely be revised.)

Wheel of Food! + Annotation

 

New Annotation:  Mistborn Chapter Twenty-Four Part Two

Okay, this just plain cool.  Ever have trouble deciding where to go for lunch/dinner?  I know we do.  It seems every time you get more than two people together for a meal, you all lose any and all ability to make decisions, and you tend to mill around in circles, unable to figure out just what it is you want.  Well, some enterprising person has worked out a web application that takes your zip code, looks up restaurants near to it, then puts them in a handy little spinable wheel ala Wheel of Fortune.  You can grab it, spin it, and get a lunch suggestion.  Brilliant!

So, today's a holiday, I guess.  The wife and I will be going to see Pursuit of Happiness--I'll let you know what I think.  It will be nice to get out and see a movie, though a part of me just wants to hide in my basement.  Now, I don't want to give the impression that I don't like people--I do.  However, I'm accustomed to having eight or so hours a day on my own, to be alone and work on my writing projects.  Weekends tend to be a little annoying to me, since I don't get that time.  And, since I was at LTUE (sf convention) Thursday and Friday, I'm feeling particularly alone-time-deprived lately.  So, if I act like a hermit today, forgive me. 

I'll make it up to you by posting this comic.  I haven't linked White Ninja before because, well, it's just so blasted strange that I think it might just confuse people.  However, I couldn't resist with this one.  I think it's hilarious.   If you're unfamiliar with White Ninja, it's an absurdist comic.  It's not supposed to make much sense, nor is it supposed to have 'good' art.  It's just supposed to be strange.

Signing + Dragonsteel+Annotation

New Annotation:  Mistborn Chapter Twenty-Four Part One

As I've posted on my forums, and on my little "book Progress" box, that my next project after Warbreaker will be a book called Dragonsteel.  Since I'm planning five or six books in this series, I want to start it off right.  Therefore, I've posted the first six chapters for criticism.  If you're interested in reading something new from me, and are willing to give me comments, you can find the explanation and the download on this thread:  (Look near the bottom of the first page.)  You can comment on the thread, or if you don't want to register, you can email me or post on my Livejournal.

Finally, I'll be doing a signing in the Wilkinsen Center at BYU at 4:00 on Saturday.  Come out and say hi!  I'm not exactly sure where the signing will be--maybe in the bookstore.  If I'm not there, ask them at the bookstore and they should be able to direct you to the LTUE registration room. 

Idea + Dice Wars

So, V-Day went quite well.  Pemberly liked my love letter, such that it was.  I threatened to post it, and she threatened to break something hard over my head.  We both decided it would be better if I lived to see my one-year anniversary.  Regardless, it was nice.  My presents to her included 1) Some very nice flowers 2) Aforementioned Love Letter 3) A Kick The Cheat (every household needs one.)  4) A red four sided die.  (Last V-Day, when I was first dating her, I gave her a red 20-sided die in a jewelry box as a joke.  She had no idea what it was, but she learned.  Eventually, I intend to give her a whole set of red dice.)

Since I haven't done one in a while, here's an:

Idea of the Day:  Weather Magic.  No, this isn't magic that controls the weather.  Rather, my challenge to you is to write a story about someone who's magic CHANGES depending upon the weather.  It can do different things during different seasons, states of cloudiness, and can change based on barometer, temperature, and the time of day. 

I think this would be an interesting magic, one which could seem random to the layman, yet which follows very distinct rules.  They may not be very predicable, however. 

In one final note, this game is my current obsession, which has been keeping me from being quite as productive on the Mistborn 3 rewrite as I would like:

Still, despite Dice Wars (which is kind of a Risk-type game) I made good headway on the rewrite.    I'm about 300/600 pages done with the line-edits Moshe sent me, though that's the easiest part of this process.  Once I've entered all the little changes he made on the physical copy of the manuscript he sent me, I have to read through the book completely, changing things to fit the revision guide I've made myself.

Warbreaker + Quotes

 

To stop the angry mobs from beating down my door, here is this week's Warbreaker:  Chapter Forty-Seven

If you're new, look here for a Warbreaker explanation.

I have decided something.  We need a new feature on the bsblog.  Usually, I use 'Pemberly Moments' to list strange things my wife has said, taken out of context.  However, I've come to realize that ALL of us say things that would make great quotes when taken out of context.  Why limit it to my wife?  For instance, here's a gem that Nethermore had to say yesterday: 

"Who am I to complain about the Amazon Woman who loves me?"

Which I thought was kind of funny, until he said this one:

"If I were the kind of guy who liked to make out with girls, I still probably would have said no."

Think about that one....  (I need a good name for this feature, where I post dumb stuff my friends have said.  Any suggestions?)

Anyway, I did manage to make some progress on the Mistborn 3 edit yesterday, though I heard a rundown of Ms. Fish's planned edits to her book, and they're good.  I'm not worried about EJS.  His comment, upon realizing it was Tuesday, was "Oh, we could have started on that yesterday, couldn't we?"

What's left for today?  Well, how about one final little note.  The following is a picture advertisement that has been appearing on Livejournal, and my wife got a kick out of it.  I'm sure the joke is intentional, but it still made us laugh.

Her comment:  "Oh, so those are customizable now, are they?"

Of course they are.  They've known that in California for years now....

Amphigory + Pemberly Moment + ??

It's a special Valentine's Week Amphigory:

Need a clue?  This is a bit harder.  It has to do with the little cherub, and what he's holding.  Also, the text itself isn't all that important.   In case you're new to the blog, every Tuesday I do random stupid puns in pictorial form.  What does this have to do with writing?  Nothing!  I just like bad puns.  Another regular feature is the Pemberly Moment, random things said by my wife taken completely out of context.  Today's entry includes myself as a guest star.  You ready?

This is the text of an actual Conversation between my wife and I:

Pemberly: "Is it still bleeding?"
Me:  "Nah, I just had a carrot between my toes."

What's the context?  Wouldn't you like to know!  Ha!  In more serious tones, Pemberly asked for only one thing for Valentine's day: A love letter.  Hum.  Do you think "Q" is romantic enough, or should I go with "M"? 

Actually, I really don't know what to do about this.  I've never really written anything like that before, and you'd think that as a novelist, I'd be able to come up with something, but it's actually a little bit daunting.  Do you think those guys on the Internet who write school papers in exchange for money would be willing to do a love letter instead?

Finally, does anyone know what this is: http://www.sctoday.edu/~jnbaker/?p=518  Looks like someone's using my website as a school assignment for web design class.  Pretty nifty!  I'd be curious to know why the instructor picked my website, and would be interested to see the different designs.  If any of you designer-types see this, drop me an email or hop over to my Livejournal and leave a comment. 

Warbreaker Tomorrow, and I promise some actual writing advice/story prompt type stuff later in the week.

The Contest + Annotation

Well, today I officially begin the Super Revision Contest 2007.  The other competitors are Ms. Fish and EJS, members of my writing group.  Last Tuesday we were talking, and realized that we all had a big revision looming that we weren't looking forward to.  (I, having just started to work on another book, really didn't want to stop to do the Mistborn 3 revision, even though I knew that it was the best thing for me to be doing right now.)   So, anyway, it's time to put the Liar of Partinel aside for a few weeks (snif) and begin working on the revision.  I have to beat those other two, otherwise I not only loose street cred, but I have to buy them dessert. 

Here's an annotation for ya' all:  Mistborn Chapter Twenty-Three.  It's double sized with bonus hidden content! 

Random Stuff about me in Languages I can't read

I'm up in Idaho this weekend.  I used to call the place information purgatory, to indicate how hard it was to get on-line here at my mom's house, but it's been much better lately.  She's not only got broadband, but a wireless router as well.  So, go Mom!

So, who out there speaks Japanese or Spanish?  Because I've got some links for you all to look over for me.  Both look like blogs in their respective languages saying things about my books, and unfortunately, I have no idea what they're saying.  Hopefully, good things!

Japanese:

Spanish:

Family + Annotation

 

So, my brother spilled half a bowl of scalding-hot ramen into his legs during D&D last night.  That, in itself, is kind of strange.  Yet, more surreal was the way he reacted to it.  There were kids in the room, and so rather than swear or scream, he just gritted his teeth and let out this incredibly manly roar.  It was seriously like I was watching some torture scene from a Rambo movie--there was Sprig, sitting there and with his muscles clinched, his eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched, like he was staring down invisible communists while they ripped off his fingers one by one. 

After the growl, he finally stood up, and mentioned "Wow, that really hurts," in this conversational joking tone. 

In contrast, we have my wife.  Who is taking the day off of work so that she can sit at home and grade papers.  You heard me right.  She is taking the day OFF to get NO PAY so that she can get work done without people bugging her.  I tell you, people say that science fiction geeks are a strange bunch--but that's just because they don't know enough teachers.

Here's your annotation: Chapter Twenty-Two Part Two

Warbreaker

Folks,

Not much time today.  I have to drive over and pick up my brother, then make my way to Idaho Falls for the evening to see my father, who is in town for a short time.  However, in the good news department, my editor read the complete draft of Warbreaker and loved it.  We had a two hour editorial conference on it yesterday, and we should be working out a deal for the book--and a couple of others--starting next week.  I wasn't ever worried that he wouldn't like it, but it's still nice to know that it turned out all right.

And, speaking of Warbreaker, here's a new chapter for you:  Chapter Forty-Six

And, once again, a link to the place where you can find older chapters and the complete background of why I'm giving away this book for free. 

Warbreaker

Folks,

Not much time today.  I have to drive over and pick up my brother, then make my way to Idaho Falls for the evening to see my father, who is in town for a short time.  However, in the good news department, my editor read the complete draft of Warbreaker and loved it.  We had a two hour editorial conference on it yesterday, and we should be working out a deal for the book--and a couple of others--starting next week.  I wasn't ever worried that he wouldn't like it, but it's still nice to know that it turned out all right.

And, speaking of Warbreaker, here's a new chapter for you:  Chapter Forty-Six

And, once again, a link to the place where you can find older chapters and the complete background of why I'm giving away this book for free. 

Amphigory + Campbell

There you go.  Not my best, perhaps, but it made me laugh.  First of you on Livejournal who gets it, please post the answer in the comments field.  For the rest of you--bs.com or blogger--the file name of the picture gives the solution.  Yes.  I know.  I need help.  But look at that guy's face in the center.  I just couldn't help but do this one when I saw that.

Anyway, if that didn't make you hate me forever, then perhaps there's still hope for me getting a Campbell Nomination this year.  I'm pretty sure that Naomi Novik is going to win the thing--and to be honest, I think she probably deserves it.  But, I still wouldn't mind a nomination.  If you attended Worldcon last year or have bought a membership already to go this year, then you can nominate for the Hugos and the Campbell award.  Here's a link to the PDF you can print off to use as a ballot.  As always, only vote for me if you think I deserve it, and I encourage you to fill out all aspects of the ballot, making sure to read up on your choices. 

In one final note, my father is awesome.  If you happen to know my mother's home phone number, give it a call and listen to the new voicemail message.  And nobody tell her about the change.  (She doesn't read my blog.  That'll teach her!)

Annotation + Notes

 

First off, here's your annotation: Chapter Twenty-Two Part One

Secondly, a couple of notes from good old SF'dom.  First off, it looks like David Eddings' house burned down in a fire last week.  My heart goes out to the guy; I can only imagine what it would be like to lose everything like that.  Original manuscripts, notes for new projects...ouch. 

Eddings was one of my big inspirations for becoming a writer back when I was in my mid-teens.  I still retain a soft spot for his writing, particularly his snappy dialogue and quick characterizations.  Also, his Will and the Word--though a rather soft magic system--was one of the first magics I read as a kid where I saw someone trying to apply laws, and even some physics, to magic.  He gave me some of my first dreamings of what I'd want to do with my stories, should I ever get the chance to join into the community myself.  I wish him the best, and hope this doesn't prove to be a major setback.

Secondly, it appears that Peter Beagle is selling autographed copies of the MOVIE of the Last Unicorn.  If you're not up on this subject, Peter has been screwed out of profits for the movie, and was never paid what he was owed.  Not uncommon in Hollywood, from what I understand, particularly if you're the little guy.  (And in Hollywood, authors are always the 'little guy.')  Well, Peter's trying to raise money to take them to court, and hence the signed editions.  If you're a fan of the movie, I heartily suggest picking up a copy of this version.  The movie's entry at Wikipedia has more info on the controversy.  (Near the bottom.)

 

Finally, I find myself needing to link Sam and Fuzzy once again.  If you're not reading this comic, you are missing out.  Over the last couple of years, it's come to be one of the finest available on the web.  Both the art and the storytelling lately have been fantastic. 

Annotation + Blood Ties

Here's a new Annotation for you all: Chapter Twenty-one Part Two

Thanks to everyone who answered the Survey.  I think Sprig is going to take it down this weekend, so if you want to make any comments about the site now would be the time.  However, the responses we got were wonderful and helpful, and will be of great use.

Finally, there's big news over at Jabberwocky, office of my agent, Joshua Bilmes.  One of his clients, Tanya Huff, has a TV series coming out on Lifetime.  Vampire murder mysteries.  Congratulations to Joshua, and to Tanya.  Here's a link to the preview.  Show premiers on March 11th.  (And I would have embedded the movie, instead of giving a link, but my WYSIWYG blogger doesn't support that yet.)