This/That

I know the very first time I bought a book because of a video was after I watched Kinsey Holley's Kiss and Kin book video; that was also the only time a book video interested me enough to make a purchase -- ever. Alas, Kinsey will now have to share her Got-PBW title, because seeing Brent Hartinger's wry and funny book video for his new novel Shadow Walkers convinced me to buy a copy. The author made me laugh, and the story sounds cool, but I'm pretty sure it was the cat who clinched the sale.

Gerard over at The Presurfer shared a link to a new (or, at least, new-to-me) kind of search engine called Qwiki. I tried it out and it shows you images and tells you via a mechanical? voice some brief information about your search topic (why, I don't know. Since it's image-heavy it's obviously not designed for the visually impaired. Are we supposed to be too lazy to read stuff now?) Although the front page claims Qwiki knows millions of things, it didn't know anything about the first five common terms I searched for, so it may be a few mil short of all-knowing. Since it's based on Wikipedia info it's also likely to be quite inaccurate, so caveat emptor.

Last but not least, I've always been interested in recording my dreams, working them into my stories and otherwise exploring the last inviolate refuge of the imagination. I also see a lot of weird stuff when I'm out hunting for freeware on the internet. Did I ever think those two things would someday intersect? No. You can't hack dreams. Well, guess what.

How to Save the World (or Not)

I'm late posting because we have family visiting and they're more fun than the computer. Sorry.

I read a very interesting post about how to save the world the other day over at Chris McKitterick's LJ. I think the Rifkin video that he pairs with it is charming and entertaining, and like so many theories, it works nicely on paper, but I think it would probably fall apart the minute you add real humans to the mix. Still, if you want to know more about evolutionary sociology for your world building, this video is probably the best crash mini-course I've ever seen (about ten minutes long, with some mild/vague cartoon nudity.)

Samhain has an open call for their End of Days anthology: "Samhain Publishing invites you to step into the future when Earth as we know it no longer exists. But the End of Days doesn’t mean an end to hope and heroes and, most importantly, love and happiness. Will the world end with a bang or will humanity be changed for the better? Only you can decide." Also: "Stories can be of any genre or heat level, and submissions are open to M/F, M/M, or multiples thereof, but all submissions must feature either an apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic theme (or both) as integral to the story. Submissions should be 20,000 to 30,000 words in length. All stories must end with a happy ever after for the hero and heroine. Yes, a HEA in an apocalyptic story – don’t you just love the contrast?" [Should make for an interesting antho, anyway.] Payment isn't mentioned, but they pay 40% of net on single-author books (I'd e-mail the editor and ask about this up front.) Reprints unspecified, electronic submissions only, see submission guidelines for more details.

Odds/Ends

Fall Back: In the U.S. "Standard time begins each year at 2:00 A.M. on the first Sunday in November, with clocks moving one hour back." So all my U.S. resident visitors who did not set their clocks back last night should go do it now because Daylight Savings Time is officially over. It's also an excellent time to change the batteries in your household smoke detectors (link: U.S. Daylight Savings Time in 2010: Clock Changes - When to Spring Forward and Fall Back)

Finished, Eh: Jean M. Auel, author of the Earth's Children series which started with The Clan of the Cave Bear thirty years ago in 1980, says that The Land of Painted Caves, the sixth and supposedly final novel in the series (due out in March) may not be the end after all. I've been reading this series since I was nineteen years old when I actually hung out with Ayla in the caves, so yeah, I'd like some closure. Jean, you're 74. Write book seven if you have to, but please, finish the damn series before one or both of us buy the farm, okay?

It's Alive: For those of you who chuckled over the Mash-O-Matic, you might want to check out Seventh Sanctum's new Classic Cool Creator. This is the one I liked: Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie) with alien abduction. Covers just about everything in the entire SF genre, doesn't it?

So long, Nathan: Literary agent and popular indy blogger Nathan Bransford has abruptly quit the rep end of the biz to work for CNET as a social media strategy coordinator. Makes me wonder if I should fly to NY, swipe my agent's Blackberry and toss it in the Hudson. All kidding aside, best of luck over at CNET, Nathan.

White Night: I stumbled across this beautiful and brilliant video while out surfing and thought it showed just how, um, shattering love at first sight can be (has background music, and is about four and a half minutes long -- runs mostly in slow motion -- but is entirely work safe.):

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

Odds/Ends

Those of you who live in the affected areas should keep an eye on the latest updates from the National Hurricane Center on Tropical Storm Bonnie. It would hit during the only week each year that my guy and the kids decide to go fishing in the Keys, but fortunately we have a lot of family down there, and they're also in a good spot to wait out the storm today.

A few people have e-mailed to ask what I will be doing during RWA Nat'l Conference next week. Obviously, I'm not going to it. I also decided last year to stop hosting LB&LI, but I know a lot of other blogs and sites will be having virtual workshops and stuff for those who are left behind. If anyone wants to share some links to free online events, please feel free to post them in comments.

Lately a lot of visitors have been stopping in to ask about future Darkyn books. At present there are none under contract; I finished the original seven-novel series with Stay the Night. My publisher presently has me writing Kyndred novels, and I have no desire to try to juggle two series in the same genre (assuming I could even sell them.) That said, I will continue to write Darkyn stories in my spare time for my readers; the next Darkyn free e-book will be Chrysalis, which I think I'll be able to finish once I get my kid off to college and life settles down a bit.