May 10th, 2011
Women in Science
Blogging Platforms
However, I also love this quoted line from Lee Martindale, another of my writer-friends: "Information wants to be free, entertainment wants to see me well-fed and sleeping indoors."
Family Ties & Torn Skies cover
Crowdfunding Update: Hunt Press Computer
Here's a note from angela_n_hunt on the last day of the fundraiser. Remember, this is your chance to put your folding vote towards original writing rather than Yet Another McBook. I'm really encouraged to see the response this has gotten.
So we're in the last hours of the campaign to raise funds for my baby press' new computer. First off, for all of your support and words of encouragement over the years and during this campaign: THANK YOU!!! Y'all are rock stars. More then once, your words have kept me going and peeled me off the ceiling.As of right now, we've 15 hours to go and we're at $881 with cash on hand. That leaves us $619 from our goal. If you can, please throw in, if you can't, please spread the word. I know we can make it. One way or another, publishing world domination is gonna be ours. :)
Here's the link: http://igg.me/p/11753?a=12262&i=shlk
So, yeah. That's where we're at.
For everything, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Angela
Madam Publisher
Hunt Press
The Khaki Market: A Whole New Food Fight
This is why government and business must be at least reasonably sane and responsible. Social systems evolve to keep important processes working smoothly and to ensure that everyone has a constructive way to resolve disputes. If you choke down your society and make its systems cater to special interests, or let systems fall apart so they don't do a good job, then the flow stops working. A healthy society must meet its citizens' needs, in order to keep most people within the laws most of the time. Any time you see large masses of people doing the same illegal thing in the same way, that indicates a serious systemic problem somewhere. You will never fix that with individual crackdowns; that will only make matters worse. You must track down the source and figure out if there is some pressure driving people out of bounds and/or if the boundaries are drawn in the wrong place. Fix it. Don't just stand there and flibber, or things will seriously fall apart. Economies and empires have died this way.
A Historic Bottleneck
We did some serious research on this stuff for Torn World, because the Upheaval greatly reduced the human population overall and diced up the human species into separate populations. The North was lucky in that they had a wide genetic base, even though the starting number was low. Some other places started out with a deep-rooted settlement and population, so people were already related. That's a likely contributor toward cases like the Glifai with their odd genetic quirk of not manifesting a sex until puberty.
What are they praying for?
Twain sensibly refused to let this story be published during his life. He believed it to be the sort of thing that only dead men may say safely. Considering America's past and present, this was likely a prudent decision.
Poem: "The Changeling's Return"
This poem came out of the May 3, 2011 Poetry Fishbowl. It was selected in the generally sponsored poetry poll. It was inspired by a prompt from haikujaguar who related an anecdote about a transgender person using the changeling myth to retell their own story. This is the heart of all storytelling, the power inherent in myths and folk tales -- it lets us turn our own experiences into stories, making them easier to remember, to deal with, to incorporate into our lives. Think about the stories you tell of your own life, and the family stories you pass down. Then read this one, with its dual levels of meaning, the faerie and the transgender...
Father, I know
you raised a daughter,
but she was never me.
She was a changeling child
that the fairies left in my place.
I'm sorry it took so long
for me to find a way
to banish her back Underhill
with the magic of steel knives
and a brewing far more complex
than any eggshells.
Father, I am here now,
the son you always wanted.
Let me sit at your knee
and learn the things
that men teach to boys.
If my face is still halfway
between handsome and beautiful,
if my voice sounds a bit fey,
if I seem not quite real --
it is only because I was raised on
fairy wine and clover honey
and the silver apples of the moon.
Give it time. The mortal world
will remember how to hold me.
Father, I only want
to belong, to find the place
that should have been mine from birth.
Only give me the key to your heart
and I will be content.
Let the Fair Folk have their daughter back,
who dances in her pink dress
and laughs behind her lily hand.
Let me have the axe and the woodpile
and a shirt of good blue flannel.
I've made the long journey home.
It's up to you now to open the door
on our happily ever after.
Poem: "Igor's Creature"
So far donors include: general fund, Shirley Barrette, Anthony Barrette
Amount donated = $15.50
Verses posted = 4 of 15
Amount remaining to fund fully = $39.50
Amount needed to fund next verse = $4
Amount needed to fund the verse after that = $6.50
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Female Tentacle Monsters
Top 10 Wild Places to Hike
Of these, I have visited the Grand Canyon, the Great Smoky Mountains, and the John Muir Wilderness. All three were totally worth the trip; most highly recommended.