Ever wanted to write a story along with your favorite author? . . . Or, well, me, in this case?

Well, now's your chance!

So I thought of a new, cool, collaborative writing project. More details to be unveiled as of this weekend . . . and for anyone who's going to be at ECGF, this is your opportunity to get in on the ground floor!

Cheers

DAW’s 30th Anniversary Anthology: Science Fiction

Edited by Elizabeth Wollheim and Sheila Gilbert

Introduction by Betsy Wollheim and Sheila Gilbert: Normally I don’t find much of value in the introduction except perhaps the initial idea behind the anthology (which I then use to judge whether or not the authors stuck to that idea, deviated from it, or did something incredibly cool and unexpected with it). This time, though, the introduction actually gives you some incredibly interesting history on how DAW came to be and how it got to where it is right now, with Betsy and Sheila as editors. Perhaps this is more interesting to me than it would be to others, since I’m a DAW author myself, but I honestly think this introduction is as interesting, or more interesting, than some of the stories in the anthology (no offense to those authors). I’d definitely suggest reading it.

The Home Front by Brian Stableford: This is kind of an economic story actually, set in the future. The world is being terrorized biologically speaking and we fight back using . . . potatoes. That makes the story sound silly and it’s much more serious than that, and in the end the story isn’t really about terrorism but how we as humans behave and react to terrorism (especially the biological kind, which can’t really be seen). An interesting story.

Aboard the Beatitude by Brian W. Aldiss: OK, I have to admit that I . . . didn’t get this story. The Beatitude is a FTL ship and the story seems to be exploring some of the affects that FTL might induce on the crew and such. There are also some ambiguous moral issues brought up, since the crew of the ship needs exorbitant amounts of energy to work and it gets that energy by destroying worlds it passes in its flight, some of which are inhabited. But in the end, I just didn’t get the intent behind this story. It’s probably just that I’m not the reader it was intended for.

Odd Job #213 by Ron Goulart: This story was simply fun! The idea is that two private investigators are hired by an android cat to find out what happened to its maker. Hilarity ensues in a tongue-in-cheek kind of serious way. However, reading this story I got the impression that the story wasn’t really meant for the short form and that it should have been developed more. I would like to have seen this as a novel. (And as an aside, there are books out there now, not by Ron Goulart, that are in the same vein as this story.)

Agamemnon’s Run by Robert Sheckley: This was an interesting story about unnamed aliens that get us humans to act out old battles, myths, etc. We’re supposed to follow the “history” if we’re chosen to be one of the participants, especially the “named” participants, like Agamemnon. But they also like it if we can figure out how to change the outcomes. The idea was interesting, but I’m not sure that the story worked as a whole for me. It felt like it needed a little more development.

Grubber by Neal Barrett, Jr.: This story was incredibly interesting, starting off with an alien creature. We end up experiencing this creatures growth to adulthood, through their rather alien eyes. Because of this, it’s a little hard to get into at first, because we’re seeing things through those alien eyes, but as you read you settle into the new perspective. A great story, in my opinion.

The Sandman, the Tinman, and the Bettyb by C.J. Cherryh: And this was another great story. It begins with a man (the Sandman) alone on a ship watching a part of space that has little to no action in general. Of course, action ensues. It’s not “end of the universe” action—an ancient missile fired eons ago is heading toward a space station—but it doesn’t need to be for a short story. The efforts to stop the missile by the people that most of those on the station have forgotten or could care less about is spectacular.

The Big Picture by Timothy Zahn: This was also a good story, about a man on a space station whose friend went “undercover” on the planet below and subsequently vanished. A reporter shows up to find out what happened. An interesting twist in the end, but it’s more about the man and his interactions with the reporter that are interesting to me.

A Home for the Old Ones by Frederik Pohl: This story is obviously set in the world the Pohl created for his books, and there are some assumptions that the reader has already had a background in that universe. I haven’t read that, but the story was still enjoyable. My only problem with it is that it didn’t feel like it ended. I felt like this was a scene or backstory for something that happened in the previous books that those who’ve read it would be interested in and would see where it “fit” into that universe . . . but for someone like me who hasn’t read the previous stuff . . . it just doesn’t feel whole.

Not With a Whimper, Either by Tad Williams: An interesting story here that will make you look at your computer and your chat sessions and IMs and boards and such in a different light. I generally like Tad Williams’ work and this was no exception. It’s written entirely as a chat session on a board between . . . well, geeks . . . and something else. It takes a little while to get used to the format and such, but definitely an enjoyable read.

The Black Wall of Jerusalem by Ian Watson: This one got off to a rocky start for me. The first few sections were just confusing and I couldn’t get into the story. But then it settled and I found myself wondering about this Black Wall and such. The group and the main character of the story ended up being much more interesting than I’d originally thought, and the idea behind the Black Wall also intriguing. I felt there could be more done with this Wall . . . and what was behind it.

Station Ganymede by Charles L. Harness: This story was instantly engaging, with a father and son conflict being played out on a station investigating and doing research over Jupiter. The science was interesting, if a little “soft” in some aspects. The action was predictable (I could see the shape of the story once the key element was introduced) but it was still highly enjoyable. And the relationship changes in the two main characters were perfect, I thought.

Downtime by C.S. Friedman: An intensely interesting story, with an idea regarding where our near future society could be going with some of our technology that’s both subtly horrifying and instantly controversial. I like the fact that C.S. Friedman presents us with both sides of the controversy and idea and, in the end, doesn’t leave us with a nice solid “answer” to the problem. You can see both sides of the human element to the science—why some would hate and fear the technology and the laws that surround it, and others (those on the receiving end) would . . . well, at least appreciate it. I can see this as something our society may have to contend with shortly. Although I’m not sure that the laws in the story that arise around the technology would actually get passed by us. I guess we’ll see, won’t we?

Burning Bridges by Charles Ingrid: This story takes us to a new world and culture and is really a kind of spy/action story, the main character attempting to clear a blood debt, although he’s being forced into it by some rather nasty individuals. The real question is who’s playing who, and who really has the upper hand. Based on the intro, this is set in a world that readers of Charles Ingrid will recognize. Perhaps they’d recognize the main character as well. I haven’t read any of Charles Ingrid’s novels, so this was a brand new world for me, and I found it intriguing. In fact, when I finished, I announced to the world in general that, “I think I’ll have to get some of Charles Ingrid’s books.” *grin* I’d certainly like to learn more about this world.

Words by Cheryl J. Franklin: I’ve never read anything by Cheryl J. Franklin, although I think I have one of her books on my TBR stack. So this was my first introduction to her writing. This is a story about an unsocial security systems specialist who helps out the police and on one particular case she is forced to be a little more social than normal when she takes in the victim’s cat. It’s a nice story with a rather uneasy commentary on how we view our own pets . . . and perhaps how they view us.

Read Only Memory by eluki bes shahar: I’ve never read anything by this author either and by the intro it seems this story is an introduction to the world she uses in her books. Some of the references I didn’t get, but the story itself was easy to follow. Essentially, the main character is drawn into middle of a dangerous game of power and archeology over an artifact called a Library. But the books in this Library aren’t what they seem . . . and neither is the main character.

Sunseeker by Kate Elliott: This story is set in the Jaran universe, although it’s set on Earth. The base story is about a solar ship called the Sunseeker and the group of spoiled young adults from various wealthy families that travel around in it for promotional purposes for the solar array that powers it. But when the ship lands to see an archeological site, it’s attacked. But the REAL story is about one of the young adults and her relationship with her father.

The Heavens Fall by S. Andrew Swann: This is a rather interesting story about a form of punishment called “empathy treatment” that, in the near future, is used to punish convicted criminals. The idea is to force them to relive their victim’s last moments as if they were the victim themselves. Of course, this punishment has some flaws and in this particular story goes horribly wrong. A nice cautionary tale about a seemingly simple and “harmless” technology and how it could be misused.

Passage to Shola by Lisanne Norman: I’ve never read anything by Lisanne Norman and this story introduces you to her world. The main characters are actually aliens here, with Humans being a minority species, with the ability to psychically bond to other alien species. In this story, a bonded Human and alien at the teen age are being transported to a new city by the main character . . . and things go horribly wrong when their ship is hijacked by a vicious—and hungry—alien.

Prism by Julie E. Czerneda: This is another story in which the main character is an alien so far removed from human that, at times, it can be hard to understand and follow her. Julie E. Czerneda is very good at getting across the alien-ness though, probably because of her biological background. Here, we meet two bizarre alien creatures, although the real story is about one of the creatures growing from childhood to the beginnings of adulthood.

Overall, I thought this anthology was stronger than the companion fantasy anthology I’ve already reviewed. I’ve bolded the two titles that I thought were the strongest in this anthology, but I have to say that nearly all of the stories were interesting and well-written. One of the strongest of the DAW anthologies I’ve read so far.

So, NaNoWriMo is a big thing for a lot of my friends and fellow writers, and I wish you great success in your frenzied pursuit, you crazy, crazy people. :)

I am tragically unable to join the NaNoWriMo project at the moment for two reasons:

1) I have a major project that I'm working on, deadline end of November. :D

2) Shelley assured me in no uncertain terms that if I ever did NaNoWriMo on her again, I would come to regret it. :O

So I'll just shut my mouth and get working on that project of mine . . . and remind everyone (come one, come all!) that I am running two games at Emerald City Gamefest this Saturday (9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. respectively): http://emeraldcitygamefest.org/

Also, I had better start making those Pathfinder characters . . .

Cheers

http://www.theamericanscholar.org/the-decline-of-the-english-department/

Interesting article, indeed.

As I was reading, I strongly, STRONGLY disagreed with the author's assertions--finding them hopelessly high-academic (i.e., oh woe is English, which is so maligned by schools!)--until he got to the bit about the cost of education, where I was totally on the same page.

That, in my view, is the main reason fewer and fewer people study the humanities: financial reasons.

( Read more... )

sixwordstories
Whether you're in the mood for a creative challenge or you're short on time or attention span, this semi-addictive community is perfect for those who find flash fiction way long. Once you get the hang of it, you won't be able to stop. The prince turned into a frog. The girl ran home to mother. Tough to write. Easy to read. It's a double threesome of fun.

dailyfoodie
Delicious, ambitious, and occasionally nutritious dishes make for an eclectic, all-you-can-eat feast. Whether you're searching for recipes for your next dinner party or you're jonesing for a late-night brownie fix, your cravings are sure to be well sated. A warm and inclusive community that welcomes all orientations, from carnivores to vegans, from gourmands to junk-food junkies. Guaranteed bias-free, food-positive, and pan-epicurian.

Dave's Interminable Opera Reports, part MMLXXVII, all different and all seemingly alike, to be continued ...

This weekend we heard Portland Opera’s West Coast premier of Orphee, a 1993 work by Phillip Glass. It is modern psychodrama, full of mirrors, doublings, doubt and ambivalence. A Twilight Zone feeling (the underworld is “The Zone”). All the sung roles have wordless doubles. They move between the upper and underworlds as mirroring doubles. Not typically “classical” opera, but typically “modern” art. The libretto (French) is taken nearly verbatum from a 1950 film by Jean Cocteau. The film is one of hundreds of adaptations of the Orpheus myth. Cocteau’s script focuses on artistic creativity and its impact on the families who are involved with the artist. The story is dreamy surreal and apparently superficial, but with a little attention it grows deep and complex ... what is lasting, what fades and dies, what one wants from life: love or immortality?

There is spare humor. Motorcyclists inflict the casualties and cart them off to the underworld. Orpheus gets to the underworld with a little help from Death's chauffeur, well he's not a real chauffeur, just a student who's been working at driving for the last couple weeks. Death herself goes on trial in the underworld for falling in love with the poet Orpheus, and for acting “without orders.” She is granted permission to smoke, and one of the Motorcycle demons gives her a light.

The composer was in town for the dress rehearsal. This article sketches some of the preparatory action and the composer’s own comments. He saw the film in the 50s, it made a great impression, but he didn’t really understand it until working on the opera. There is a bit of autobiographical doubling as well. Glass’s wife died two years prior to this opera’s composition, like Eurydice in the myth, the film, and the opera itself. http://news.opb.org/article/6167-portland-opera-records-philip-glass-orfee/

If you are not familiar with Glass’s music, it is built from repetitive and constantly evolving melodic fragments. I had never heard a vocal work by this composer, and wondered how his instrumental style would work with sung parts in a two hour piece. In Orphee the sung notes are nearly speech intonation, atonal pitch sequences, like modern jazz riffing on speech. The lack of sung melody meshes well with the prose text (though my French is non existant, it could be complex blank verse for all I know). The sung notes feel isolate airy & pointilistic, they float over and around the pulsing glimmering instrumentation. The effect is of an organic sentient living growing dying entity (Glass’s music to the film Koyaanisquatsi shows the interwoven natural and manmade world to great effect this way, with clouds washing over mountains like waves, and traffic pulsing thorugh cities like blood cells).

Glass’s style of music has been called pulse, hypnotic, trance, even ecstatic. I would call this opera spellbinding. It filled me with wonder and hope. I havent studied this composer, but besides Schonberg, there seems to be a forerunner in Beethoven. Especially the luminous variations of the second half of Beethoven’s last piano sonata, C major, Op 111, one of which is even called the jazz or “boogie-woogie variation.”

Patricia Bray and I just went to see this movie, starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, and goats. I thought it was a great, fun movie, with lots of in jokes regarding SF and the SF/geek world. Lots and lots of lines and situations that made both Patricia and I totally crack up. Based on the reaction of the other people in the theater though . . . we were enjoying it far more than they were. I'm sure a good chunk of them were wondering what we were laughing about. And I really think it came down to the fact that we were SF geeks and SF writers, so knew all of the references and innuendos, probably at their deepest levels.

Was it a spectacular movie? No. Was it fun? Yes. Much slapping of the head, shaking of the head, smiling, and genuine laughter. The SF group out there will likely enjoy it more than most. Waste of time? Definitely not. After yesterday's little adventure in signing, this was a nice little relaxer. *grin*

AND THERE WERE GOATS!!!

Bring passenger rail back to rural college campuses http://wsm.wsu.edu/s/index.php?id=756

Romantic, economically and socially desireable, but what about all those cars on campus? Would the cell phone generation take the dopey train to Seattle let alone dopey Spokane? Be caught dead boarding?

Re the article, I liked the architecture school’s business plan and their optimism. They see entrepreneurs flourishing everywhere along the rail line. I like to think that kind of synergy might happen in this and other localities. What political barriers exist? Are the economic assumptions just wishful thinking? What kind of farmers market you gonna get in The Palouse in winter anyway? The article incorporates a little pun about the past and the future. Did that past even exist? Should it return?

Read Philip Roth’s “Indignation.” Topic is small college angst, then death, narrated by the guy who has died. He’s condemned to endlessly and bodilessly re-voice his brief past, with nobody there to listen (that’s where our intrepid reader would come in: no author however neurotic and disembodied is without hope). Hope being the most organic & lowest spiritual virtue, the usual dirty book caveats apply. I admire this author, I see his choices of subject as ... subject, not object. One especially brilliant ... subject ... line in Indignation concerns a certain WASP senior, business major, and his car. It all lurches downhill without brakes and ends very badly.

Trains are from the past. Trains are good. Unless they haul you to the concentration camp or crush your car. That would say more about us than our trains. Use trains and cars responsibly, that’s my conclusion.

So, seven authors walk into a bookstore, in this case the Barnes & Noble in Ledgewood, New Jersey.

( If you go in to New Jersey today, you'd better not go alone. Or without provisions. )

So, the signing yesterday was a complete disaster for the most part, having nothing to do with us, the authors, or the bookstore itself.

Basically what happened was, we get to the bookstore. The books are out, tables set up, CRM there to greet us, etc. We settled into the store, all of the authors arriving, and start the selling. At first, it looks like it's going to be dead, since there aren't many customers and none of them seem interested in fantasy. But then things start to pick up. We're making some sales, chatting with the influx of people, being entertaining . . .

And then the lights went out. Emergency lights came on, but the registers are down, so no one can buy anything. We all automatically assume that the lights will be back on momentarily, so we continue on our merry "buy my books" way, but after a while, still no lights. Word is that the entire section has no power. We start making jokes about the zombie apocalypse. After much longer, still no power. Word comes in that there's been a fire at the Outback (someone ordered a Bloomin' Onion) and in the attempt to control the fire the power to the local grid was cut. The bookstore starts telling people before they even come into the store that there is no power and they can't check out, so two thirds of the potential customers aren't even seeing us at the store. We are managing to sell some copies to those that come in, but they can't actually buy them, they have to put them on layaway behind the counter and come pick them up later. (For a brief moment, the staff was allowed to do some cash sales even without power, but that didn't last long.) We were supposed to stay until 4pm, but when it had been over two hours without power and it hit 3pm, we decided to call it quits.

We signed everything they had in the store, so if you're in the area and want signed copies either for you or for gifts for the holidays, please feel free to stop on by and pick some of them up. The staff was great in the face of adversity and it really sucks that the power went out. Considering how much we sold with the power out, it makes me wonder how many we COULD have sold if everything had been running normally.

Just the kind of day to induce one to stay in and at the computer.  Looked nice enough this morning.  The sun was out, the sky was blue, and only a few white clouds rode through the heavens.  But they were propelled upon their way by a strong gusty wind.  A cold wind that quickly changed one's mind about the weather as soon as one stepped out into it.  As the day wore on, it clouded up and at my last glimpse, the sky was a solid leaden gray.  And still the wind howls and whips through the trees and around buildings, scattering dry leaves with abandon.

To start the day, I slept in.  That's pretty much habit for Saturday mornings, seeing as how I'm up so early during the week to go to work.  Even with sleeping in, I was still up a little after six, and since the paper wasn't even here yet, I got a bunch of bills paid while having my first cups of coffee.  Following that and a read of the local press which had finally arrived, I did some work here on the computer.  That was followed by a run to check mail for the Inland Northwest Corvair Club and Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers.  I also stopped and deposited dues that had been collected at Thursday's SASP meeting.  Then it was back to the desk, a break for an early dinner and some television.  (Watched an interesting show about Death Masks on the History Channel.)  Now, I'm back on the computer again.  Don't know if I've actually accomplished much or not today, inspite of all the time I've spent at the keyboard.  A lot of it has been e-mail correspondence, particularly with regard to SASP.  (www.spokaneauthors.org)  Also filled out the chapter report and made out the check for the filing fee for the Corvair Club Chapter report.

Tomorrow, or even later tonight I intend to get a start on the monthly Rear Engine Review.  I'd hope to have gotten to it a few days ago, but there was a lot going on with Spokane Authors.  Last weekend a few of us were exchanging e-mails at a near record pace, trying to put a proposal together to present at the meeting this past Thursday.  That then meant that I didn't get a start on an outline for my presentation until nearly the last minute.  But I did finish it, and from all indications after the meeting, I did quite well with my little talk.  (As I preside over the monthly SASP meeting, month after month, I find that my confidence and perhaps even my skill as a public speaker improves.)

Last time I mentioned that I was close to finishing James Rollins' THE LAST ORACLE.  I finished it on Monday, and on Tuesday read the excerpt from the DOOMSDAY KEY that was included in the volume.  Then I started PEOPLE OF THE WOLF by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear.  If it is like PEOPLE OF THE RAVEN which I read a few years ago, it will take me a while.

That is probably about it for this time.  But if you are so inclined, go to the top of the page and click on "friends."  Then go down a few entries to jpsorrow 's entry about Chapter 6.  If you are interested at all in what Joshua Palmatier writes, he has been given permission from his publisher to post the first six chapters of THE SKEWED THRONE.  His post on "Chapter 6" has links to all six chapters.  If you like what you see, he is also offering some really fine deals on purchasing copies of his books.

Well, it's either time to get busy on the newsletter or to relax a bit and get to sleep.
Dave

And here's the cover art, for those that didn't click the link earlier. I give you, the German translation of The Vacant Throne, retitled Die Kaempferin. Gaze upon the awesome:

SIGNING! *signing signing signing*
November 7th, 2009
Noon-4pm
Barnes & Noble
Ledgewood Mall
375 Route 10 E
Ledgewood, NJ 07852
973-252-9300
***
with authors
Patricia Bray; S.C. Butler
Barbara Campbell; Laura Anne Gilman
Jackie Kessler; Joshua Palmatier
Anton Strout

So, they've posted the cover art for the German translation of "The Vacant Throne," called Die Kaempferin, over here. Once I get my hands on a jpg file, I'll post it, but for now you can follow the link.

I am so freaking in love with the German covers to these books. Love, love, love them.

I have just learned, through the publisher's webpage, that the German translation of The Vacant Throne will be . . .

Die Kampferin

I have no idea what that means, and the "a" is supposed to have an umlaut over it, but I don't know how to do that. So apparently the Throne of Amenkor trilogy, in German, will be:

Die Assassine
Die Regentin and
Die Kampferin

Interesting. Now cover posted for the third book yet, but I'll post it as soon as I can. The second book, Die Regentin, is scheduled for release in January, and it looks like the third, Die Kampferin, is set for the end of June. The first two links are to the Amazon.de pages, and the third is for the publisher's page.

I got permission from my editor to post the first six chapters of my first novel, The Skewed Throne, the first book in the Throne of Amenkor series, over the course of six weeks . . . and this is the final week! The idea is to give readers a chance to read a significant portion of the book to decide whether or not they might like the book, and hopefully entice them into buying the book as well. Here's the sixth and final chapter to be posted online (along with the link to the first five as well). You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader (free download here) in order to read it, since it's a pdf file. I found that it wouldn't open in AOL, but it does open in Explorer. It seems to work on most browsers actually.

I'd appreciate it if you could post a link to this blog entry in your own blog or website or on Facebook, to help promote the postings of the chapters. Thanks!

These are the actual page proofs from the book, if you're interested in seeing what those look like.

Skewed Throne: Chapter One
Skewed Throne: Chapter Two
Skewed Throne: Chapter Three
Skewed Throne: Chapter Four
Skewed Throne: Chapter Five
Skewed Throne: Chapter Six

I thought I should remention that all three of the books are available on Kindle now (where before only book 3 was available, which made no sense). Here are the links to the kindle versions: The Skewed Throne, The Cracked Throne, and The Vacant Throne.

Also, I'm currently running a few holiday specials, one for hardcovers and one for paperbacks:

Hardcover Deal: You can buy all three hardcovers of the books for a total of $30! That includes shipping.

Paperback Deal: You can buy all three paperbacks of the books for a total of $20! That includes shipping as well.

If you're interested in any of these deals, contact me at jpalmatier@sff.net and we can arrange payment and get address info, etc. Individual hardcovers and paperbacks are available as well at $15 and $8 respectively (shipping included). Just let me know what you're interested in! All prices are for the US shipping only. I can give you a quote for international shipping if you get in touch with me.

*********************

Employees were notified and there's a press release listing the stores being closed so it's now official.

One of the stores being closed is my local Waldenbooks, where I have numerous friends among the current and past employees. It's the place where I met jpsorrow--he was working there part-time to feed his book habit, and a mutual friend at the store introduced us.

It was your typical mall bookstore, but the staff made it different. They knew and loved books. I could walk in there and say "My sister used to like mysteries but now she's into conspiracy stuff, and anything historical is good, but not an obvious author that she'll have heard of like Dan Brown." And after about fifteen minutes of searching the shelves pulling out suggestions for me to look at, I'd have a nice care package of books to send to my sister, who would subsequently call to rave about the new authors I'd discovered for her.

Even when the official corporate policy was no local author events, they'd find a way to work the system so a local author could have her event, something members of the local RWA chapter were always grateful for.

The store closing isn't completely unexpected--Waldenbooks is in trouble, and the mall itself is dying, which was a bad combination. But it's still sad news, and I'm going to miss the store when it's gone.

I've been thinking a little more about the arrival of the aliens in V the other night and the fact that many people who watched it (including me) seemed to feel that the reaction of the populace in the TV show was . . . how shall we say this . . . WRONG. When the people in NYC started clapping after the V announcement, I literally snorted and shouted (to the empty apartment), "You've GOT to be kidding me." This was preceded by the fact that no one seemed to completely panic as the ships arrived, no one fainted, no one started screaming hysterically, etc, etc, etc.

So, the question then is, how would we react to such an event as a spaceship bigger than our city showing up in our skies? I mean, I got to figure that the initial reaction from everyone would be, "Is this some kind of movie? What are they filming?" But then, when people realize that, wait, the special effects go in after filming, I figure that a good chunk of the populace is going to totally freak out. I imagine it would be totally stunning, and that it would be too big and some people would panic. I think this would be the majority of the general reaction. And I think the panic would run more toward . . . well, running. We've all seen what happens in the movies when the big spaceship shows up. THINGS EXPLODE! So why would they hang around with that hanging over their heads?

Now, the SF geek crowd might react differently. Although I still think I'd run. I mean, I'd be saying I just wanted to get a better view from, say, Pennsylvania, because no reasonable alien would invade Pennsylvania. But I don't think it would be pure panic from the SF crowd. We might be more accepting of the whole concept in the first place for one thing. And I think, in general, that we're more accepting of things that are "different" in some way.

But anyway, in writing this I realize I'm still thinking about this. What do you guys think? How would the world react in this situation?

The empire strikes back

In recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.

RSS feeds again

If you're addicted to xkcd_rss, icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience.

Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!

c_s_i

If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here.

Enveloped in postcards

Last week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.

Photos of the week

If you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy at lj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!
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