At Last, Cryptozoology Enthusiasts Have a Place to Go

Noted cryptozoologist Loren Coleman happens to live in Portland, Maine, and with the help of various partners and volunteers it appears that he is opening the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland on November 1. The logo:



The space is on Congress Street right near Coast City Comics, the Fun Box Monster Emporium, and Strange Maine. It'll fit right in. I, for one, am planning to be there on opening day.

Time Inc. Discovers Detroit

A recent series of stories in Time, CNNMoney, and Sports Illustrated focuses on the city that built the American middle class. Check out The Detroit Blog and SI's Assignment Detroit--which has articles from the other two magazines as well.

Kind of nice to see someone treat Detroit like it's a real place.

Righteous.

Tigers, Tigers...

...are free of the Metrodome! Hosanna. I hated that place. Hated everything about it (including the way those conniving Twins would turn up the blowers at the outfield fences during the away teams' at-bats in the late innings of close games. Don't deny it, Twins. You know you did it).

When they dynamite the Metrodome, it will exorcise any number of horrible memories. I'm sort of glad the Tigers' last game there was a win. It's a small refutation of the occult influence that monstrosity had over Detroit baseball for the last 40 years.

Speaking of demolitions: on a sadder note, the last bits of Tiger Stadium are apparently gone, or about to be. Here's a neat video taken from an RC plane last summer, when the demolition was in process:

Jedi Discrimination

So this guy, see, who has founded an international Jedi religion, see...he claims Tesco discriminated against him when they wouldn't let him wear his hood out in public. He also claims that Jedi have to wear their hoods in public, and has made noises about suing them. But! The best part of this story is Tesco's utterly deadpan takedown in response. You have to read through to the end to get it.

Ultraman Movie!

I can't wait.

A Primo Takedown of Derek Jeter-olatry

...by the guys who once did Fire Joe Morgan, one of the funniest sports blogs there ever was. Now they've (briefly) reunited to run some stuff out there for Deadspin (which is also funny but not as funny as FJM was). You must read this. I've got nothing against Jeter, who is a terrific player, but the way people write about him...I'll say it again. You must read this.

Also, fire up your alternate-history scenarios: JRR Tolkien trained to be a codebreaker before WWII.

Also also: Mark Helprin writes really good books but is kind of a dick.

Now back to writing.

Is There a Snake with *Two* Feet Somewhere?

Pictures like this one, and the accompanying Telegraph article, get you thinking...

Bilious Comment of the Day

Dear People Who Constantly Moan and Groan About How Full Your Inboxes Are:

You know we can all tell that this is your passive-aggressive way of letting us know how important you are, right?

Protests Bring Out the Best in Americans

Roundup of New and Forthcoming Stuff, Plus Links of Interest

Looks like I'll have not one, but two Iron Man novels coming out next year. One, Iron Man: Virus, is due out in January; the other will be the novelization of the Iron Man 2 movie. I'm guessing it will show up sometime near the movie's May 7 release date. This is my first novelization (other than a killed-at-the-last-minute novelization of The Beast that Sean Stewart and I wrote back in 2001); it's a blast so far. (And no, I can't tell you anything about the script.)

On the short story front, "Dragon's Teeth"--a sort-of prequel to "Wizard's Six"--is due out soon in F&SF, where I've also got another story, "Remotest Mansions of the Blood," waiting in the wings. "The Dream Curator" will lead off Postscripts 20/21, which will also include stories by...well, looking at the PS Publishing website, I see the lineup isn't announced yet, so I'll keep my mouth shut. But it's going to be a treat.

And reviews of Buyout continue to appear. Fantasy Magazine:

What matters in Buyout is the increasingly frantic collision of morals and beliefs into one another, until a crescendo of an ending the simultaneously denigrates and exalts the notion of an absolute credo.

And Green Man Review had this to say:

I was at a loss on how to place this book -- everything needs some kind of context -- but I eventually remembered one of the classics of science fiction's Golden Age, The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth, two of the period's great satirists. Buyout is the same order of beast, bitter, Swiftian satire, loaded and pointed right at us.