User:	rachelmanija
	Date:	2008-07-19 15:51
	Subject:	Masquerade of Jareth photos, Part III
	Security:	Public

Not entirely worksafe due to bare butt.

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	User:	zoe_trope
	Date:	2008-07-19 16:03
	Subject:	i'm somebody's hero? ruh-roh.
	Security:	Public

Melissa Lion wrote something so sweet about me that I just about melted into a puddle. Thankfully I am still solid, but I'm still blown away that someone could write something like that about me. (Honestly, when she and Kiala were all "OMG Zoe Trope", I thought they were making a joke. And maybe they kind of are. But still.)

I don't think I have enough words to repay her for the kindness, but I will tell you to buy her books, Swollen and Upstream.

I'll also take this opportunity to publicly apologize to the 99872348136 people I blew off when I was 15/16/17. I met a lot of people, shook a lot of hands, and had a lot of free books pressed into my arms, and I'm sorry if I seemed cold or uncaring, but I was honestly just overwhelmed. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I didn't know how to schmooze. I just faked it, the whole thing, and I'm sure I was kind of an asshole along the way. I'm sorry. Thanks for sticking with me. I'll make it up to you.

P.S. Did you notice that I am writing more on Livejournal? This is very unusual. It may continue. Please do not be alarmed.

User:	pepysdiary
Date:	2008-07-19 22:00
Subject:	Wednesday 19 July 1665
Security:	Public

http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1665/07/19/

Up and to the office, and thence presently to the Exchequer, and there with much trouble got my tallys, and afterwards took Mr. Falconer, Spicer, and another or two to the Leg and there give them a dinner, and so with my tallys and about 30 dozen of bags, --[?? D.W.]-- which it seems are my due, having paid the fees as if I had received the money I away home, and after a little stay down by water to Deptford, where I find all full of joy, and preparing to go to Dagenhams to-morrow. To supper, and after supper to talk without end. Very late I went away, it raining, but I had a design 'pour aller a la femme de Bagwell' and did so ... So away about 12, and it raining hard I back to Sir G. Carteret and there called up the page, and to bed there, being all in a most violent sweat.

	User:	smartygirl
	Date:	2008-07-19 18:18
	Subject:	Apparently, there's such a thing as "too much sunscreen."
	Security:	Public

On a whim, I decided to make today a beach day. I mean, after all, I have the whole day free, it's like 100 degrees, so why not? But, of course, since I burn like cheap hotdogs, I doubled up on the sunscreen. Then I tripled up, and so on and so on, until, I swear to you, I wasn't burned, but I had developed a kind of ... coating. You'd think I'd dipped myself in pine tar, between the sunscreen, the salt and the sand that refused to come off me.

But I'm not burned! Yet. My skin will occasionally surprise me by turning violently red in the middle of the night after a beach day, so we'll see.

Needless to say, I guess, when I left the beach I drove right home and showered. I'm thinking about doing it again, because my hands still feel sticky, despite the number of times I've washed them. 

In the car drama department, I got a call from a dealership apologizing for the shoddy treatment I've recieved - the problem was, it was the wrong dealership. I emailed the corporate office to complain, and I guess they forwarded the email to what they thought was my dealership, but, no, it was not, and so, the round of calls starts all over again.  I swear, for all this, I better get new tires.

What else? Like, I assume, everyone else on the planet, I'm really excited to see "The Dark Knight." I'm seeing in IMAX on Wednesday with my cousin, which should be amazing. In a small confession, despite my love for Christian Bale, I had never actually seen Batman Begins, until last week, when my friend Kristin, who hadn't seen it either, got it for the two of us to watch. I was surprised by how much I liked it. I mean, okay, I usually love movies where things explode and someone saves the day (Will Smith, assorted comic book heroes), so that's not really a stretch, but, well, I just liked it, I liked how well it was made and how visually interesting it was to watch. Of course, since everyone, from the critical reviewers to the kid at McDonald's that processed my order for a large Diet Coke, seems to be wetting themselves in excitement over Heath Ledger's performance, I'm assuming I'll like this one as well.

I'm off to see Mamma Mia! because, well, the one review I've read phrased it as a movie that hits you over the head, demanding to be liked, and that viewers be in a good mood leaving the theater. Which means I will probably love it. Also: Colin Firth. That's really the only convincing I need. Tell me you want to go to a live reading of the phone book staring Colin Firth and I will go. Because, you know, I'm shallow and he is Mr. Darcy.

Seriously, my hands are sticking to the keyboard, I'd better shower again before venturing out in public. I guess that 20th application wasn't such a good idea after all.

	User:	sfwriters (posted by authicer_ray)
	Date:	2008-07-19 22:33
	Subject:	What Every Writer Needs to Know About..... Horses.
	Security:	Public

Over the last few weeks, I`ve once again encountered several pet hates of mine: lazy writers who manage to create a wonderful and evocative fantasy world, but manage to fall down when it come`s to basic research into things as simple as what a horse is capable of or how to describe a realistic sword-fight.

 Sure, it`s a fantasy world, but to craft an all immersive reading environment, every setting requires at least some degree of consistency. It`s hard to maintain a gritty and evocative environment when a writer fails to take into account the effects of rain on visibility – or has a half-naked, magic-less barbarian warrior wading through a snowstorm sans loin cloth with little regard for the effects of hypothermia.

 Not just lazy writing, but a sound example of a potential for drama lost.

 Here then,  on both the sci-fi writers group and my own journal page, shall begin a series of short essays on these common “writing gaffs”. The first essay is with regards to just what it takes to properly care for a horse, as well as a description of just how much punishment a horse can take before keeling over dead.

 THE CARE AND HANDLING OF HORSES:

ENDURANCE:

 Contrary to popular belief among fantasy and even historical fiction novelists, a horse is NOT an organic sports car. Riding a horse is not simply a case of putting fuel in one end and then steering the thing as it gallops across the landscape at thirty miles an hour for days on end.

 In fact, riding a horse is not much quicker than walking. A good horse (with rider) can cover about thirty miles a day in rolling country. Over the same terrain, a fit man could cover about thirty miles in ten hours (A Zulu warrior could famously run fifty miles or so in a day and still be fit to fight at the end of it). While the top-speed of a horse is certainly much greater than that of a human, unlike early human hunters, a horse cannot run all day without suffering from exhaustion and, eventually, death. Like humans, horses sweat profusely while exerting themselves physically. Like humans, but unlike most other animals; horses tend to sweat across most of their body surface, allowing them to control their temperature for longer periods.

 However, horses sweat a great deal, as anyone who has every watched the Grand National can tell you. Like human sweat, horse sweat requires the excretion of a great deal of salt. Horses cannot replace salt from their diet as well as humans can, largely because, unlike humans, horses do not eat meat. This makes it harder for a horse to recover from a hard run.

 The best policy for speed over distance on horseback is to alternate short bursts of running or trotting with a longer period of simply walking the horse. In fact, even better practice for keeping a horse healthy is to get off the damn thing and walk for ten minutes or so after every hour of riding.

 The average horse needs to be rested and fed three to four times a day on a long journey. Especially while carrying a human. To avoid becoming ill, a horse needs at least an hour or so to cool down before it can be safely fed. Likewise, after feeding and drinking it requires at least an hours rest to avoid becoming bloated and ill. Trust me, nothing smells so foul as horse vomit and diarrhoea.

Oh, and be sure to give its muscles and coat a good rub down even after a short run. Horses can get muscle sprains and other injuries as easily as you do.

 This is one of the main reasons why horses tend to drop dead on a forced march much sooner than a walking human.

 DIET:

 In fact, ancient, medieval and modern military manuals agree that an average horse on campaign consumes 10lbs of grain and 10 lbs of fodder a day. It also needs about 80 lbs of water. That’s right. 80lbs! An ox needs about 150! It’s just not possible for most horses (especially the larger breeds) to survive on grass and forage alone over a long period (by which I mean more than a few days). Especially if the horse in question has to carry the weight of a rider, as well as his gear.

 For a long expedition then, a second horse or mule (to carry the horse food, not extra gear for the humans) is essential. A heavily laden pack mule needs about as much food and water in a day as a horse and carry enough fodder and grain to keep itself fed for about 27 days. So if a rider has one horse and one mule, he can travel for only about 2 weeks before he needs to stop for more supplies for his animals. Let’s hope the horse is strong enough to carry the human’s food as well as the human.

PERSONALITY:

Horses run the full range of personality types found in most animals. But on the whole, they have an annoying tendency to be lazy, stupid, self-destructively curious and even, in some cases, malicious.

The average horse can be developed in a full fledge character of its own. In the novel, “Ash,” by Mary Gentle, each of the title characters three horses had it’s own, well-developed personality. Don’t overlook the value and potential of the hero’s mount as a storytelling character.

Secondly, from a writing perspective, most horses have a healthy sense of self-preservation. A hero cannot simply jump on the back of any old nag and expect it to charge cheerfully off into battle with him. Horses are stupid – but their not THAT stupid. Like most humans, they aren’t too keen at the thought of riding into battle. It takes years to train a modern  day police horse not to shy away from crowds, let alone rioting mobs. Warhorses were specially trained and bred for battle. A warhorse would be at least three years old before anyone would even consider riding them into a fight. An untrained horse will buck, shy away from, and even throw a rider it has known for years in order to avoid a battle or a fire. Don’t even THINK about trying to take one near an elephant. Not unless you want to be trampled by a very angry dobbin!

That being said, it`s not unknown for even a simple riding horse to stand valiantly over its fallen rider, defending it to the last. The poor thing would be foaming around the mouth in terror at the time, mind you, but it does happen.

 
HORSE RIDING:

It can take weeks of practice to learn to ride a horse properly. A very painful experience let me tell you, especially for the inner thigh and, as many writers forget, the calves. The latter can become especially painful if the stirrups are not adjusted correctly or absent altogether. Which reminds me, don’t bother using shock cavalry tactics if the riders are bareback or without stirrups. Charging with a spear poised like lance when you don’t have a stirrup is a sure way to end up on the ground with your opponent laughing at you as he shoves his sword through your gut. Before the invention of the stirrup, cavalry were strictly scouts and skirmishers rather than shock troops.

Most horses are either bridle or stirrups trained. That is, most horses are trained to respond to instructions given either by tapping the bridle against the side of the neck or by poking them in the ribs with your heel, stirrup or spur. A very few horses are trained to respond to verbal commands or pressure from the riders knee or thigh. Some horses may be trained in two or more such methods. Generally, show horses and gentle riding horses are trained to the bridle. Less delicate horses, and breeds trained to military or police service, (or used in some other role where the rider is likely to require use of both hands) are generally stirrup or even knee trained.

So make sure your hero knows what sort of commands the horse will respond to when he jumps down upon its back - perhaps he takes the time to observe how the locals ride while scouting out the scene of his latest escapade, for example. However, the potential comedy value in having a stirrup trained rider jump onto a bridle trained mount to make his escape is immense. It’s one I`ve used to good effect myself more than once.

THE GENDER OF YOUR HORSE MATTERS.

 There’s a reason most warhorses were geldings (yes, horses can be eunuchs too) or mares.

 All to often, the hero of our tale rides around on a big stallion. Owww. Not good. While its possible to ride a stallion, you’d have to be mad to do it. Especially if you happen to be female and aged between 12 and fifty.

Generally a stallion is used as breeding stock and that’s it. For one thing, stallions tend to be a mite rowdy at the best of times and downright uncontrollable around a mare in season. Plus it’s no myth that menstruating female humans should avoid being anywhere near a stallion in heat. Male horses really do pick up on female pheromones, and some have a hard time controlling themselves around human females experiencing that time of the month.

So for Red Sonya that horse was all wrong (sorry Howard, you’re a writing legend and one of my literary heroes, but a  Texan should have known better). In fact, several historical records feature anecdotes regarding some damn fool who tried to ride into battle on a stallion. Most end with him lying in the dirt inside a circle of his mates all pointing fingers at him and laughing themselves sick. The rest end with him lying in a circle of enemies with a great big bloody spear in his gut.

 So, no stallions. Especially not in battle.

SUMMARY:

As you can see, horse’s and cars really don’t have a lot in common, other than the fact the crap that comes out of the back end isn’t exactly good for global warming. I`m sure after even a cursory glance at this article, most people can look back and think of a few authors who really should have spent a few more hours in research than they did. Of course, the best way to find out about horses is to go and ride one. I heartily recommend it to you all. I also hope that this article has been of use to you. Let me know if it has been, in which case I`ll probably do another in a similar vein.

 Perhaps one on just how hard it actually is to kill a human being. MMMM. Informative AND Sanguinious. Bet you can`t wait.

User:	warrenelliscom
Date:	2008-07-19 21:11
Subject:	Saturday Night Open Mic
Security:	Public

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=6160

Saturday Night Open Mic is up, over at my internet church. Say hello.

	User:	literaryquotes (posted by srahman24)
	Date:	2008-07-19 16:06
	Subject:	Between Mountains - Maggie Helwig
	Security:	Public

I can understand it, I guess, he wrote, this unseemly haste to get the twentieth century over with.  We're hoping, we can always hope, that we'll do it better the next time.

Because it's out there right now, the twenty-first century, still untouched; we haven't yet managed to fill it with Auschwitz and the Khmer Rouge and Hiroshima.  We think maybe we can keep it clean.

You have to hope.  You have to hope that we have some things now, we have some tribunals, we have an evolving body of international human rights law, a key to break the locked code of the sovereign state and tell a new story.  You have to hope it means something.

So we set off our fireworks a year in advance, racing towards the future, wondering if we can change.

User:	warrenelliscom
Date:	2008-07-19 19:46
Subject:	JOE 90
Security:	Public

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=6159

Okay, so this was a kid’s tv show. A Gerry Anderson production, hence the puppets. But I think it underscores the basically creepy nature of children’s fantasy tv in the UK. Not as out-and-out fucking strange as, say, THE CHANGES or SKY. But, really, without any context — or, hell, even with it — the intro to JOE 90 is still kind of nervous-making. I didn’t particularly like this show even as a kid. There was something essentially Wrong about it. Stick a kid with fucked-up eyes in a huge spinning machine with pulsating lights while computers ooze magnetic tape like worms. The machine he’s in, by the way, is called The Big Rat. Which is also kind of Wrong.

	User:	hipsterbookclub (posted by lexxy_pie)
	Date:	2008-07-19 10:30
	Subject:	Those witty Brits...
	Security:	Public

I loves me some witty, sarcastic Brits -- Hornby, Toby Young, Mil Millington (although the latter two's stuff kept getting worse and worse) -- and I need to be introduced to more authors from across the pond that are of the same vein. Light, fluffy beach reading, dig?

User:	scalzifeed
Date:	2008-07-19 19:03
Subject:	Summer Vacation Schedule is Officially On
Security:	Public

http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=1041

I noted earlier that I’d probably posting substantially less in the month of August, due to travel and promotional committments relating to Zoe’s Tale. Well, I’ve looked at my schedule, my writing deadlines, and my general lullishness regarding posting here at the moment, and I’ve decided that it wouldn’t hurt to actually start my “summer vacation” schedule a couple of weeks early.

So: I’m officially on my Summer Vacation Schedule through the Labor Day holiday.

What does this mean? Basically, that I’ll be posting less, which means either fewer posts or shorter (i.e., more “blog-like”) posts, depending on my mood and schedule. So there will still be stuff here, just a bit less of it, by weight and/or volume. And some days, I may not even post at all. I know! Crazy!

I suspect this will be fine by most of you, since theoretically at the end of it you’ll have another book in the pipeline (The High Castle), and I’ll be a bit more ready to, you know, blog my little brains out.

This will also give me a little time to think about where I want to go next with Whatever, because I’ve had some thoughts on it that I need to think about a bit. Maybe they will amount to nothing, or maybe not. We’ll see.

In any event, for the rest of the summer, less is more. And that’s okay. You should be out playing in the sun anyway, you know?

	User:	literaryquotes (posted by mcharmy)
	Date:	2008-07-20 03:14
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

"She was never less than kind fo me although she could devastate her daughter with a glance. I miss her. Clare... well, "miss" is inadequate. Clare is bereft. Clare walks into rooms and forgets why she is there. Clare sits staring at a book without turning a page for an hour. But she doesnt cry. Clare smiles if I make a joke. Clare eats what I put in front of her. If I try to make love to her Clare will try to go along with it... and soon I leave her alone, afraid of the docile, tearless face that seems to be miles away. I miss Lucille, but it is Clare I am bereft of. Clare who has gone away and left me with this stranger who only looks like Clare."
Henry - on the death of Clare's mother Lucille.

The Time Travellers Wife

If there are any writers out there, do check this out: 

http://community.livejournal.com/writerscritics/ 
 

	User:	little_details (posted by sucrelefey)
	Date:	2008-07-19 11:12
	Subject:	Alternative tournament challenges with horses
	Security:	Public

Typical fantasy feudal setting.
I'm working on creating a brutal multi event athletic competition that also tests the military combat skills of squire candidates but I need an equestrian event that is not a joust as this fictional world's culture does not do that. The focus should be on the rider's skills not the animal's training; it really shouldn't be a case of the horse does all the work. Just to increase the difficulty they are given random horses to use rather than their own.
I could medievalize a modern sport but I only know them as a living room spectator(pretty horsies!) and have no clue how to judge what ones would work for this. Could be either solo or team event maybe both. Straight racing is out as is chariots.
Suggestions?

	User:	sci_fi_writer
	Date:	2008-07-19 11:00
	Subject:	Romantic Times Book Reviews does PLAGUE WAR
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	bouncy

I have in my hot little hands an advance copy of the August issue of Romantic Times Book Reviews. Yes, I write manly end-of-the-world thrillers… and, yes, I’m excited to be included in their round-up again (last summer they gave a big thumbs-up to Plague Year.) They’re a nice big national publication with a nice big national audience.

Plague War does in fact have a romance as a subplot, a romance that becomes a triangle! Sordid and hot! And here’s the review:

Carlson’s nightmarish landscape presents a chilling albeit believable picture of a post-apocalyptic world devastated by a nanotech plague. This is the second of his trilogy, but it can still be enjoyed as a stand-alone. The carefully crafted plot is a mix of sci-fi, military adventure, and political intrigue. Strong, dynamic characters brng the story to a conclusion you won’t see coming.

	User:	literaryquotes (posted by scianaphobia)
	Date:	2008-07-19 13:38
	Subject:	I have "friends" exactly like this.
	Security:	Public

Now Joan said stoutly, "I never really liked Buddy Willard. He thought he knew everything. He thought he knew everything about women..."

I looked at Joan. In spite of the creepy feeling, and in spite of my old, ingrained dislike, Joan fascinated me. It was like observing a Martian, or a particularly warty toad. Her thoughts were not my thoughts, nor her feelings my feelings, but we were close enough so that her thoughts and feelings seemed a wry, black image of my own.

Sometimes I wonder if I had made Joan up. Other times I wondered if she would continue to pop in at every crisis of my life to remind me of what I had been, and what I had been through, and carry on her own separate but similar crisis under my nose.

- The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

	User:	gregvaneekhout
	Date:	2008-07-19 09:49
	Subject:	A few pics from the road
	Security:	Public

Still on the road ...



( more under the cut )

	User:	curt_holman
	Date:	2008-07-19 12:51
	Subject:	" 'Dark Knight' sets box office record with $66.4M"
	Security:	Public

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Warner Bros. executive says the Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" has set a single-day box office record by taking in $66.4 million on opening day.

The movie's Friday haul surpasses the previous record of $59.8 million set last year by "Spider-Man 3." "The Dark Knight" also might break the opening weekend record of $151.1 million that also was posted by "Spider-Man 3."

I wonder if that includes the midnight shows that earned a record-setting $18.5 million?

I'll be surprised if it doesn't break Spider-man 3's record. People seem so much more interested in Dark Knight than Spider-man 3.

User:	scalzifeed
Date:	2008-07-19 16:50
Subject:	Fiddle Fiddle Fiddle
Security:	Public

http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=1036

I’m going to be playing with the WordPress theme around here today. Don’t panic if things look freaky for a while.

	User:	philadelphia (posted by lucifrix)
	Date:	2008-07-19 12:34
	Subject:	Meetup locations?
	Security:	Public
	Music:	New Pornographers (The) - Twin Cinema

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

	User:	sartorias
	Date:	2008-07-19 08:21
	Subject:	Bittercon: Historical Eras and Genre
	Security:	Public

This is off Readercon's Saturday panel list. I don't know how much interest this one will raise--but.

Their title and info is: Why Don't We Do It in the Reformation? Underutilized Historical Eras in Spec Fic. Oooh! A conflated version of their descriptor: There have been many alternate histories of WW II and the Civil War, but almost none of Vietnam or WW I. The Napoleonic Wars have been [used a lot], but the Enlightenment has arguably been less fertile ground. What makes one historical era more compelling than another as a model, reference, or outright setting for spec fic? Are the underutilized eras ripe for exploration, or have they been neglected for good reason?
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	User:	aboutlooking
	Date:	2008-07-19 11:26
	Subject:
	Security:	Public