The old grey mare she ain't what she used to be. Also, Adalbert of Prague

How can I sell it when that guy's giving it away for free?
-Krusty the Clown

And a happy International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day to you!

OK, perhaps it's not as well known as Talk like a pirate day, but international pixel-stained technopeasant day is much more important.

Where to start? This posting by Howard V. Hendrix, current VP of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Pay particular attention to the part about webscabs. A lot of people did, and there's been a great deal of interesting journal postage, so I'm not going to rehash it here. For more details, see Scalzi, Bear, or just go to the motherlode at Walton. If you like reading, and free reading at that, today's a great day for you.

My perspective? I'm with the webscabs. As a means of both self promotion and for raising awareness of the whole genre, making some of your stuff available for free is a terrific idea. At this point, Escape Pod has a larger subscription base than most SF & F magazines. What more is there to say?

I thought about posting something of my own, but there's nothing available at the moment. I'm in the strange and fortunate position where everything I've written has either been purchased and awaiting publication, or is unfinished. So there's nothing I can post this time round, but if IPSTD becomes an annual thing, I'll be posting something next time.

Interestingly, I am now eligible to join the SFWA. I won't be doing that, at least not yet. But I'll be watching the discussions, and the upcoming elections. I like a good election, me.


Oh, and today is also the memorial day of Adalbert of Prague. He inspired Saint Boniface of Querfurt. So, you know.


UPDATE: So I looked at the eligibility requirements again, and I'm not eligible for full SFWA membership, although I could get associate. But I won't. Various reasons, which I'll flesh out in a post later on. But in the immortal words of Catherine Tate: "Am I bovvered?"