A Diversion You Will Not Regret

Courtesy of Joe Hill:

When Nixon Went After PBS...

...Mr. Rogers was there to make the case for public broadcasting.



Who will be Mr. Rogers for us now? (I mean that seriously.)

Boskone

Haven't been in at least five or six years, but I'm going to zoom down to Boston tomorrow and catch up with some old friends at Boskone. See you there...

'Supposed' Being the Key Word

Some interesting words from Albert Einstein, encountered in the course of research:

“In our time the military mentality . . . leads, by necessity, to preventive war. The general insecurity that goes hand in hand with this results in the sacrifice of the citizen’s civil rights to the supposed welfare of the state.”

That's from a 1947 essay in The American Scholar called "The Military Mentality." You read stuff like this and think: man, we were warned, weren't we?

Indie Pick of the Month...

...from Comic Buyer's Guide is:



You should check this book out, perhaps.

A Funny Comment on an Idiotic Comment

Brian Keene reports:

What isn’t being reported is the real reason why Borders (and others) are in such bad shape. For example: “I wrote much of my first novel at Border’s in Roseville, CA. Then it closed. So I went to the other Border’s across town. Then I moved to L.A. and began going to the Border’s in El Segundo. But their ridiculously loud music and arctic temperatures drove me out. So now I go to Starbucks. Why don’t retailers make their stores more user-friendly? For example, it’s a friggin lottery trying to find an electrical outlet so as to plug in one’s laptop… Panera bread offers free Wi-Fi and an electrical outlet at every booth. And free coffee refills. Border’s charges for the refill, which is stupid because I’ve already paid for the cup and the surcharge to cover the labor for filling it. If you can’t give people what they want, you don’t deserve to be in business.”

You’ll note that not once does the commenter say he went there to buy a book. Instead, he went there to write a novel, demand free coffee refills, and complain about the lack of electrical outlets and overall ambiance. Perhaps if he had PURCHASED A FUCKING BOOK UPON OCCASION, the situation wouldn’t be so dire.

I'm not sure I have anything to add, although Brian's commenters certainly do.

The Way Life Should Be...Even After Peak Oil

If you saw Flippy Day (or even if you didn't), you should know about another project by some of the same people. What would happen if the US government, strapped and desperate, consolidated population, resettling people out of the least populated states and letting those territories go? That's the premise of Vacationlanders, a webisode series intended to premiere on Earth Day this year (that's April 22 if you're marking your calendar). This link is to the Kickstarter page, where you can check out a trailer and also make the project go!

And if you haven't seen Flippy Day, here it is.

Mind Meld and Supernatural in Brazil

Here's a link to the latest Mind Meld from SF Signal, in which I and a number of my literary colleagues talk about the books we reread.

And for Supernatural fans who happen to speak Portuguese or have an interest in things Brazilian, Gryphus is putting out the monster book and John's journal in Brazil, just in time for there to be a Brazilian Supernatural convention.

Win Signed Copies of The Seal of Karga Kul

That Transformers: Exodus giveaway was cool. So here's another one. This time I'm giving away inscribed copies of my Dungeons and Dragons novel The Seal of Karga Kul.

Here's how you enter: Follow me on Twitter using either that link or the widget in the sidebar here. If you already follow me, tweet about this giveaway so I know you're interested. Ask me questions on Twitter or Formspring if you want. I'll give one copy away every day from tomorrow through Monday--five copies in all, signed and delivered to five lucky winners by a surly tiefling specifically conscripted for that purpose.

Iron Man: Rapture, the Big Finish

After some trifling delays, the fourth and final issue of Iron Man: Rapture is out tomorrow. Here are some preview pages.