Yarrrrrr's best

Congratulations to Rajan Khanna and Jeremiah Tolbert both of whom received mentions in Year's Best Fantasy and Horror for their stories in Shimmer's Pirate Issue!

Yar! Free booty ahoy!

Shimmer publisher Beth Wodzinski says:

Avast, ye scurvey sea-dogs! It be International Talk Like a Pirate Day again. In honor of this most glorious holiday, Shimmer is making the electronic edition of the Pirate Issue freely available, for September 19th only.
Won’t you help us spread the word? Free pirate booty, there for the taking!
http://www.shimmerzine.com/ for all the details.

Because what else were you going to do to celebrate? Watch Pirates of the Carribean? really?

The simple joy of being a software developer, part 36

This morning, while getting dressed too quickly for work (and in the dark) I inadvertently put on my Jedi Training Academy shirt (subtitle: master the ways of the force).

Nobody cared.

Actually, the only time people are concerned about what I wear is if I rock up in a tie. Then everyone assumes I'm going to a job interview...

It's friday. I feel like some Decemberists.

In which three surprising things happen

So Saturday afternoon, my mate Nick and I head off for a bit of wandering around the new Albany mall. It's pretty much the same as all the other malls, only slightly bigger. Nick wanted to go and check out Magnum Mac, since he's going to be in the market for a new computer soon. Surprising thing number one:

I finally get to check out the iPod touch and the latest nanos. And if I was going to replace my ipod today*, I would probably pick the nano over the touch. I mean, the touch is nice and all. Really nice. But those nanos are so cheap and look like they're pretty tough.

After that, we headed in to the city to see Beowulf - the mind imploding IMAX 3D version. It's not bad. I'm not a purist, so changes to the story didn't bug me too much. Surprising thing number two:

I was far less bothered by Angelia Jolie's totally unanachronistic high heels than I was by Beowulf's mysterious naughty bits. Yes, I know having the hero fight naked makes it difficult to secure a non-restricted rating. But in my opinion, far better to show some Geat wang than rely on convenient posts, helmets and random scenery to preserve decency. It's kind of jarring to be reminded of Austin Powers in the middle of an otherwise gripping fight scene.

I liked Beowulf, but I think I might enjoy it even more on DVD when the audience doesn't all have to wear Elton John glasses.

Anyway, saw the movie and headed back home. Actually, we headed back to my parents' place, since Liz was there with the kids (since the movie was over dinner time). And surprising thing number three:

I WAS COMPLETELY CONNED!

Liz had organised a surprise party to celebrate my first story appearing in Shimmer. You know that bit in the Matrix where Keanu Reeves realises his whole life is a lie and there's this whole other universe going on that causes him to act really badly? That was me. Especially the acting badly part. The place was absolutely packed, martinis were flowing like, well, martinis actually, they take a surprisingly long time to build, and everybody had a great time. That whole "let's go check out computers and go to the movies" thing? An elaborate ruse to get me out of the house.

Rasel was there, which was nice. Unfortunately, so was his camera. Rasel makes Robert Capa look like a hobbyist who may have occasionally taken a picture or two. And of course, said photos appeared on Facebook only hours after the party. No, I'm not linking to them here - there's a picture of me looking completely shocked that could be a still from Eraserhead. You'll just have to go and find Rasel on Facebook. There's a mystery for ya, scoob!

But seriously, it's been amazing that so many people are excited about me being published. Writing doesn't happen in public**, so it really meant a lot to have everyone there. I just hope they don't do it for every story. I've got a whole bunch of them I'm really happy with at the moment and my liver might not be able to take it.

As is now traditional on the b0t, we close with a music video. And since I mentioned Robert Capa up above, this would be the perfect place for Falco's Kamikaze Capa, but I can't find it on the youtube, so another Falco instead. Not Rock me Amadeus.



*which I'm not because as I've mentioned before, it's the original old school 5GB version, forged by the hand of Zeus himself, of mithril or spandex or something. Whatever, it's been in heavy use every day 2001 and it's still going strong. No way am I replacing this puppy until it's completely and utterly dead. Then I'll frame it.

**actually, in my house it happens at the kitchen table, even though I have a perfectly good desk

Yarrr gonna like it and various other pirate-related comments*

It's here! Well, not here, but if you sail over to Shimmer, you can purchase the pirate issue! One hundred and thirty pages of mainbrace-splicing, deck-swabbing goodness, written by people in various stages of eyepatch readiness and leg-peggery, one of whom is me.

By John Joseph Adams' reckoning, near a hundred copies were sold at the launch party this last weekend at World Fantasy, which sounds impressive. I would have been there, but for that whole wrong end of the world thing. Maybe next time...

And I guess now is the perfect time to thank John, Beth Wodzinski and the whole Shimmer crew. This is the first of my stories to see publication and they did a great job of showing me the ropes and where to mop again because I'd missed a spot.

So if you're the reading type, go read some pirate stories. And if you like it, why not subscribe? It's only seventeen bucks. Twelve, if you don't kill trees. If you're the writing type, you could do a lot worse than sail your stories their way.

Coming up on the d1sc0b0t: no more nautical allusions! For at least a week!


*Yes, I'm all out of pirate headings.

Avast!

Beth Wodzinski just posted the cover of Shimmer's pirate issue.

Oh my.

Shimmer's artwork is always great, but this cover. Is. Exceptional.

And over at artist James Owen's place, you can see how the cover evolved. For someone as artistically challenged as myself, watching the pictures evolve is akin to magic.

Liz keeps asking me if I'm getting excited about the magazine coming out. Nah, I say. I just focused on the new stories I'm working on now. I've really got to get a move on to meet my writing goals this year. And when I say that?

I'm totally lying.


(eeeeeeeee!)

Thar she blows!

Happy Talk like a pirate day!

And those salty sea, um salts, over at Shimmer are celebratin' in style by releasing the trailer and contents for their next issue. And my story is in it!

I'm too excited to do anything else productive this evening. Might as well have a drink. And I guess it better be rum.

P.S.: It was Emily's turn to present news this morning. So she stood up and told the whole class it was 'talking pirate day'. Apparently the whole class responded with 'ARRRR'. This may come up in the next parent-teacher interview...

P.P.S: YARRR!

P.P.S.S: Yay!

P.P.S.S.S: for those of you keeping track, I think this blog is now 37% zombie, 23% recycled youtube videos, 3% pirate. The rest is mainly just stray HTML tags I stole from boingboing.