James Palmer's Writing Journal

Changes Are Afoot

2009-02-08T13:16:00.001-08:00

2009 is turning out to be a big year, writing wise. And the first of those changes deal with a new look for the blog. I hope you like it. More to come soon...

Congratulations!

2008-05-12T04:53:00.000-07:00

I would like to congratulate writer, podcaster, and contributer to my Voices for the Cure anthology Mur Lafferty on her news that Swarm Press, an imprint of small press publisher Permuted Press, is going to publish her book Playing for Keeps in August, just in time for Dragon*Con.

Mur's story "Barry Kolman, Hero", which takes place in the same universe as her novel, appears in my anthology. She joins my friend Van Allen Plexico, whose Sentinels series is also being published by Swarm. Van is the one who took my Voices anthology and placed it under his White Rocket Books imprint.

Congrats to them both!

Fragments: Corporate Gods: A Novel

2008-05-06T05:54:00.000-07:00

Here's another fragment of the beginning of the first chapter of a novel I've been fooling around with. Let me know what you think.

“You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world
for you.” –Walt Disney

Part One: When the Going Gets Weird, the Weird Turn Pro

Chapter One
Jeremy is spying on you again.

He’s only been Acting Director for three days, and you’ve already gotten off on the wrong foot with him somehow. Though the way you figure it, anyone not going out of their way to overtly kiss his ass is likely to get on his bad side.

You quickly minimize your browser window containing an email full of job prospects. Too late; you know he’s seen you using company time and bandwidth, though you also know he has no idea what you were looking at. He nods knowingly and heads to the john, which until he arrived had been your own private domain, being the only male in this department.

You sigh and decide to get back to work. Even though it’s been mercifully slow, you’ve let your boredom get the better of you, and you know that this is just another hidden black mark that will be used against you when another position opens up, a position for which you’re overqualified and would mean a pay cut even if you somehow impressed the right people.

Checking over your shoulder, you close out the email window and go to work, consigning yourself to the fate of waiting until lunch to get on with the rest of your life. There’s not much you can do with company bandwidth anyway, and the place may as well be inside a Faraday cage without the free, ubiquitous Wi-Fi that will be available to you once you step outside these doors, wafting through the air from the park across the street.

Then you see Pamela walk in.

She’s got a shit-eating grin on her face a mile wide, and a fresh Halo of approval
encircling her head like the lone electron crazily orbiting a bottle blond hydrogen atom. You check her Popularity Rating, and find that it is up in the stratosphere, as usual. Heading up her own Special Project apparently agrees with her. She looks at you, smiling as is the custom when someone in Management looks at one of their underlings and finds them in that same moment looking back, then heads straight to her office. Your coworkers lean out of their cubicles to watch her pass like inmates in a prison movie. They felt it too, that electric presence of the Newly Converted and Popular.

“Has she gone Post?” says a buzz in your ear, and you wink your right eye to get the glare of your Instant Messenger out of your vision. “Not all the way,” you reply, typing in the air on an invisible keyboard. No, for now she’s just well on her way to becoming a middle management Demigorgon. She wasn’t quite near full-fledged Deity status yet. That was reserved only for the President and CEO, who for now is the same entity, a tightfisted Cerberus as feared as he was mostly unseen.

It appears research for your article on extrasolar planets will have to wait, as all the bosses have come home to roost, and you realize you’d better get back to doing what they will gladly tell you they are paying you good money to do. You think it’s a small price to be paid for your very soul. You’re too afraid to ping your own P-Rating, especially in light of recent events. The only thing that keeps it hovering above the danger zone is what you do when you’re not at work, and you’re not about to let that get out in the office Workspace.

Your Instant Messenger chimes again. This time you pick it up on your desktop. It’s from Pamela.

“Please come see me,” is the message.

You hastily type ‘OK’ and get up, a tiny knot of uncertainty and trepidation forming in your already beleaguered stomach. “What did I do this time?” you think.

You enter her office.

“Shut the door, please,” she says without looking up from her workstation. Her Results Halo has faded somewhat, but it still clearly circumnavigating her too-blond skull.

“Have a seat, John.”

You do so, feeling as welcome as Anton LaVey at a church BBQ.

“Your work lately is much improved.” She looks at you and smiles.

You try not to visibly sigh, and manage to stutter out a “Thank you.” You relax, sitting back in your chair.

Her eyes flick back and forth, no doubt reviewing an invisible spread sheet. “Your number of calls has increased, your accuracy rate is back up where it should be..”

“Thank you,” you say. “I-I’m really trying.”

Oh, that came out sounding so lame, and you wish you could take it back. Too late.
What’s done is done. The die is cast.

“I was wondering if you would like to help me on a little project.”

That one you didn’t see coming. The browbeating, the shellacking, all of that is the usual when you get called into the boss’s office. You didn’t expect this, and it’s freaking you out.

“Uh, sure,” you say, not even bothering to ask what it is. When the Powers That Be deign to let a lower level peon play in their sandbox, you don’t ask questions. You can imagine how high your Likeability Points will be after this.

“I know you have some experience in this, and that you have been looking for more
responsibility around here.” She casts her cold blue eyes on you, as if expecting some nonverbal confirmation of this.

You nod your head like a good corporate automaton, even though the last thing you need or want is more work piled on top of all your usual mind-numbing duties.

“Good.” Pamela shuffles the few physical papers that litter her desk. “Congratulations, Josh. You’re getting a Clearance Upgrade.”

“What?” you say before you realize you should have kept that to yourself.

“That’s right. It’s part of my special project. And I could really use your help. Still in?”

The offhanded flattery catches you off guard as much as it works to massage your failing ego, and you say, “Of course. Whatever you need me to do.”

Ugh. Did you really just say that? You sound another corporate kiss-up. But whatever.
You knew you sold your soul to Satan when you signed up for this gig. In for a penny, in for a pound.

“That’s great, Josh. I’m really glad you’re being such a team player on this.”

You nod, knowing full well that in Corporate Speak, ‘team player’ means ‘mindless drone that does whatever he or she is told’.

“Great. I’ll get the paperwork started. In the meantime, come with me. I have something to show you that I think you’ll find quite interesting.”

You get up and follow her out of the room, knowing full well that in Corporate Speak,
‘very interesting’ means ‘something that middle management screwed up so badly that it could get half the company laid off in favor of six dollar an hour labor in India, moments after it incinerates your nuts.

You think this has to be some kind of trick to screw with you. Maybe you’re caught in
some weird power play. There’s no way that Pamela, that pompous jerk Jeffery, or anyone higher on the food chain here than Janitor would ever condescend to allow a mid-level tech support geek like you to help them with anything. For all you know, Pam could be setting you up as a patsy to take the blame for some incompetence she somehow can’t sweet-talk her way out of. But until you figure out what’s going on, you figure it’s better to play along. Maybe you can turn this to your advantage. Maybe. Besides, it beats trying to solve computer problems for people who are
hard pressed to turn one on.

That sends your mind going back to the disastrous chain of events that brought you to this place, at this time. While you were being handed your college diploma, the economy was falling like a Stuka divebomber with a kamikaze pilot at the yoke, and you found yourself pounding pavement and aspiring to mediocrity with not only twenty or so thousand of your fellow graduates, but people with years of experience and better qualifications who had been laid off from the same job you wanted.

And then you found the beloved Company.

After telling them everything you thought they wanted to hear in order to get the job so you could get paid and finally eat, they send you to your physical, which was as humiliating as the interview and much more violating. First it’s all that RFID shit they pump you full of: Telemetry tracking and biometrics so the gates and doors will open at your approach, and gods know what else insidious, barely ethical, but perfectly legal nanotech and semisentient software gleefully busted through your personal firewall like a cheap condom to prowl not only your PAN, but your
very bloodstream.

Fragments

2008-05-02T03:37:00.000-07:00

I started a file on my laptop recently simply entitled "Fragments". I intend to fill it with story starters: First paragraphs and odd bits of dialogue that suddenly come to me, look good structurally, and just basically sound cool but have no story to be a part of. Below is the first one I came up with, after reading Harlan Ellison's introduction to his collection An Edge in My Voice:

As he hung there, David Atherton remembered the words of the American playwright
Irwin Shaw: “He is engaged in the long process of putting his whole life on paper. He is on a journey and he is reporting in: ‘This is where I think I am and this is what this place looks like today.’

So Atherton began subvocalizing to his LifeJournal, “This is where I think I am and this is what this place looks like today: Cold, pus-white things hold my feet in place over a round, gunmetal-colored emptiness, while unseen gibbering things surge in the gloom below, a moist chittering that is starting to drive me insane.”

Be Careful What You Wish For: Adventures with the Law of Attraction

2008-04-03T03:32:00.000-07:00

Although I didn't know it at the time, I attracted my laptop using the Law of Attraction.

Back in early November of last year, the Dell desktop my wife won at her company Christmas party died. Not with a whimper, but with a bang. Literally.

It had caught about nine viruses, including a particularly insidious form of spyware whose modus operandi was to pop up ads for phony antivirus software.

Well, in the course of trying to fix the problem, the Dell's power supply blew a fuse, and with a loud pop, a tiny flash of flame from the back, and the smell of burnt plastic, she was gone. And so was my livelihood, for the time being.

It was time to go computer shopping. We had to. There were projects to finish, and more yet to take on.

Here's where my first experience with the Law of Attraction came into play.

For months I had been wanting a laptop. I would sit and think about it during my less busy moments, imagining what it would be like. How I could write from remote, exotic locations like coffee shops and parks. How my wife could surf while I got some work done.

Well, I got my wish, but at the expense of our desktop. This wasn't what I wanted, I thought. My point in having a laptop was so that we could have TWO computers!

Well, long story short, but the Dell is all better now, and for the moment, virus free. And I am happily typing this missive on my Gateway laptop.

If there is a lesson on the Law of Attraction here, it is this:

Think about what you want. I wanted a laptop.

Act as if you have already received it. I imagined myself typing on that thing almost every day for months.

Feel what it would be like to have this thing. I imagined how great it would be and how much it could help me leverage my limited time every day.

Take advantage of opportunities as they arise. The "opportunity" here was that our desktop died, and we had to do something. I was a little angry that the fates had not given me the laptop in some specifically pleasing way, but it all worked out. But be careful here. You don't want to be too general in what you ask for, but you don't want to get hung up on specifics either.

In other words, be careful what you wish for and how you wish for it.

I'm studying the Law of Attraction in earnest now, and hopefully, as time permits, I'll be able to share more of what I've learned with everyone who reads this blog.

Best of Continued Success,

James

Dragon*Con 2007: The Aftermath

2007-09-03T14:29:00.000-07:00

Dragon*Con. Whew!

I'm tired, and my legs are sore, but I thoroughly had a blast this year.

The Highlights

Auctioning off a copy of Voices in this year's Charity Auction, autographed by myself, as well as my contributors and fellow convention attendees Eugie Foster, Mur Lafferty, Davey Beauchamp, and cover artist Fox Gradin. The book sold for $40 for the American Diabetes Association.

I also learned from Mur that Greg van Eekhout blogged about the anthology, stating that he didn't know about it until after the fact, even though he is an insulin-dependent diabetic. I'm sorry I didn't know this, and even more sorry I didn't think to ask him for a story, as he is a terrific writer.

Panels! I love talking about all things SF in a couple of the conventions many programming tracks. The big ones this year were Manimal and Friends: One Season Wonders for the SF Classics track, starring my friend, the always entertaining Joe Crowe of RevolutionSF fame. Joining us was his fellow Revolutionary Gary Mitchel, as we talked about some of the best and worst one season shows in recent, and not so recent, memory. We also talked Simian Sci-Fi, about all the monkeys in SF and Fantasy, and why everything is better with a monkey.

Following on the heels of that was Saturday Night Games: Stump the Geeks, and Are You Smarter Than A Staff Member? Joe, Gary and I filled in for absent staff members on that last one, as track director Ron Nastrom doled out questions about movies and television of the 60's through the 80's. Joe was hilarious, as always, the audience participated beautifully, and a good time was had by all, especially since everyone walked away with a prize, since Ron's wife didn't want to see any of the DVDs, movie posters, and other swag ever again. And Joe brought his personal treasure trove as well, from which I scored a free copy of Mark Finn's adept biography of Robert E. Howard, Blood & Thunder.

Over at the SF Lit track, I discussed the role of religion in SF and Fantasy, as well as the decline of SF in favor of Fantasy. Lots of audience participation, and so much discussion that the religion panel could have easily gone two hours. Fun stuff.

Seeing people I only get to see once a year, like the aforementioned contributors to my anthology, as well as Joe Crowe, Shane Ivey and Van Allen Plexico.

The Dealer's Room! One Dragon*Con must-see is always the Dealer's Room and Exhibitor's Halls. Though I didn't spend as much as I would have had my wife not been there to reign me in, I got some quality stuff this year. I picked up a volume collecting Paul Chadwick's Concrete: Fragile Creature and several other stories featuring his wonderful creation, and the piece de resistance, a Weta King Kong statue entitled Kong's Last Stand, which features the giant ape grasping the wing of a biplane to keep from falling to his death. It now resides atop the small bookshelf in my office. I'll post a picture when I can.

The Lowlights

Being scheduled for two events Friday night that I really wanted to do, but not being able to attend the convention until Saturday. This often happens to me, but it is somewhat irritating nonetheless. I was scheduled for a reading Friday night--which I had an absolute blast doing last year--followed by a panel that I suggested to the SF Lit folks that we did last year entitled The Dead Authors Society. I was going to channel H.P. Lovecraft, and someone told me that a few people showed up for my reading. Oh well. A more careful schedule prep on my part should help next year.

The crowds. There were easily in excess of 30 thousand people there this weekend, which made getting where you needed to be difficult at times. Catching an elevator is always a nightmare, and we missed out on a panel because the room was full to capacity by the time we got there. I was told by two other attendees that on Friday night, the Fire Marshall shut things down temporarily by not letting one else in.

All in all though, it was a good convention. We stayed down there this year for the first time, though not in one of the host hotels. And my wife is even talking about booking a room at the Hyatt, the main hotel, early for next year. She's even thinking about dressing up. And this from a decidedly non-fan. It's a Dragon*Con miracle.

Voices for the Cure

2007-08-29T15:30:00.001-07:00

Also, the charity anthology I edited entitled Voices for the Cure is now out and available on Lulu.com. Proceeds go to benefit the American Diabetes Association. Dragon*Con's charity this year is the ADA. It includes work by Robert J. Sawyer, Cory Doctorow, Mike Resnick, Ernest Hogan, Lucy A. Snyder, Gary A. Braunbeck, Eugie Foster, Mur Lafferty, Davey Beauchamp, and yours truly.

Check it out!

Dragon*Con

2007-08-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a really long time since I've posted to this blog, and I thought this year's Dragon*Con being held this Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia was as good a time as any for a long overdue post. Here's my panel schedule for the weekend.

Saturday
1:00pm Manimal and Friends: One Season Wonders

4:00pm Simian Sci-Fi

5:30pm Saturday Night Games: Stump the Geeks and Are You Smarter than a Staff Member?

7:00pm Ye Gods and Little Fishes

8:30pm Star Trek XI: The Search for (A New) Spock?

Sunday
11am Charity Auction

11:30am Wanted Alive . . .or Dead?

I'm also scheduled for a reading Friday night, but I won't get down there until Saturday. But all in all, it looks to be another great time! If you're down there, drop by one of my panels and say hi!

D is for Dreamtime

2007-04-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

The Dreamtime is the Australian aborigine version of Jung’s collective unconscious, a
meeting place for the spirit realm. It is the place where our collective experiences are kept.

Shared only by the aborigines, dolphins, whales, and elephants–and before them, the mastodons and mammoths–this dream place has become the stuff of legend. But how else do you explain Crocodile Rock, an outcropping of rock that only resembles a crocodile from high in the air? Some people refuse to see the evidence, even when it is right in front of them.

C is for C.R.O.A.T.O.A.N

2007-04-25T05:02:00.000-07:00

The Inquisitor AI hovered before him, jetting him in the face with water. Frank awoke, sputtering, gasping for breath, thinking he was drowning. The effects of the dream juice still lay like gauze on his mind. In a flash he remembered the alley, the beautiful woman with the needle gun. He shook his head.

"I do not like to repeat myself," the Inquisitor said. "What did you do for your
employer?"

"I don’t remember," said Frank for the hundredth time. It must have been that many
times. He didn’t know how long he had been chained to the wall in these dank catacombs, but he knew it had been a long time. Since the alley. Since the woman.

"Then tell me this," the Inquisitor said, turning and hovering away from him. "What does C.R.O.A.T.O.A.N stand for? Your company name. What does it mean?"

"I don’t–."

"Is it Creating Robots and Other Automatons To Oppress and Annihilate Nations?"

"No."

"Then what? What was your business?"

Frank thought, going down deep in his mind. His first clear memory was of the alley, and the realization that he had been fired. The rest was foggy, unclear. He reached in deep, knowing the answers were still in there somewhere. He pulled out a name from the murky depths of his mind. C.R.O.A.T.O.A.N. For some reason, Frank saw the name as if it was carved into the trunk of a tree.

"What was your business?" the Inquisitor repeated.

Frank smiled. "Mystery was my business."

It came flooding back in waves now. Frank Bonaventure, a cataloguer of mysteries for a corporation that had been around since man first learned to wonder. Fired and mind-wiped when he couldn’t be trusted with those secrets anymore. Frank Bonaventure, who knew where Jimmy Hoffa lies buried, and who shot JFK and George "Superman" Reeves. Frank Bonaventure, who could tell you what really happened in Roswell, New Mexico in the summer of 1947, who knew whether or not there is a bigfoot, an abominable snowman, a Loch Ness monster. Frank had been
a keeper of secrets as old as time. Now they were all gone. He couldn’t remember the answers to these riddles, only that he once knew them. He had screwed up, gotten the Inquisitors on his tail, and had been erased and let go.

"What do you mean, mystery?" the Inquisitor AI asked.

And Frank told it everything he could remember, which wasn’t much. It would be up to
the Inquisitors and Investigators to find out the rest. But the jig was up. C.R.O.A.T.O.A.N would have to spill its secrets, now that its existence had been discovered. Now that no secret was safe.

"But what does it mean?" the Inquisitor AI asked again, apparently thinking that all its questions would be answered if it could simply deduce the meaning of the acronym.

Frank shook his head. "I don’t know. Maybe I never did."

Apparently satisfied, the AI floated backward, turned, and hovered up the dark
passageway.

B is for Bunyip

2007-04-24T05:47:00.000-07:00

"Lenny, baby. G’Day, mate. So good to hear from you. What can I do ya for?
What? You want to cancel the book gig? But that’s a sweet deal. I fought hard for–yes, I did tell you you’d have to pose for the illustrator of the book’s cover. What can I say? The guy’s a real stickler for reality. Well, what’s the world supposed to think? You crawl out of a billabong one week wearing a bear’s fur and fish scales, then the next you’re in a children’s book with a snake’s body and bat wings. What image? You look different every time someone ogles you in
some Outback watering hole.

"No, Lenny. I’m not upset. I just think that–movie? What m–oh yeah, I’m still hammering that one out. Oh yeah, a real classy horror picture. Same guys that did Mad Max. Yeah, you’ll be shot mostly at night. No, I haven’t seen a rough draft of the script yet, but they tell me it’s a doozie. Canberra. Yes, you’ll have your own trailer.

"Now listen, mate. Back to the book gig. I think that–I think you should–what? No,
please don’t eat anybody, especially womenfolk. Remember what I told you about good and bad publicity? Hello? Len? Damn overseas phone lines."

From A to Z, in the Ambergris Alphabet

2007-04-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

And now for something a little different. This is a story I wrote a while back that I'd like to share with everyone here. It's of a type known as an abecedary story, in which each unrelated section begins with a letter of the alphabet. Each day for the next 26 (hopefully) days, I'll post a new section. I hope you enjoy it.

A is for Abracadabra

Abracadabra is the most powerful word in all of magic. Real magic, that is. M-a-g-i-c-k magic. But nothing happens when it is spoken. Like a granddaddy longlegs, supposedly the most venomous arachnid in the world–yet its mandibles are too small to bite–the word abracadabra is both all powerful and useless. The reason for this is that, over the years, it has become mispronounced. It was originally spoken thus: ‘a’ as in ‘ah’, the ‘b’ with a short ‘p’ as in ‘put’, rolling both ‘r’s, the second ‘a’ as in ‘as’, the c pronounced as an ‘s’ like ‘cephalopod’ and the remaining letters were ran together in a phlemy ‘h’ sound as in the Yiddish ‘chutzpah’ and ‘Chanukah’. If you can say that, you can do anything.

Jamie Bishop RIP

2007-04-19T04:31:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that Jamie Bishop, son of science fiction writer and fellow Georgian Michael Bishop, died in the Virginia Tech tragedy on April 16th. Michael has been off the main SF radar for some years, but he is still putting out beautiful work. I had the pleasure of meeting him when he visited my college as their Visiting Author, and I interviewed him for the school newspaper. He is a terrific writer, and an all-around nice guy, and I am sorry for his loss. Messages can be sent here.

This just...sucks.

Make every day count, people.

I'm Writing for The Hub!

2007-04-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

I got a little surprise yesterday: an email reply from The Hub Magazine. They're interested in having me write book reviews and features for them, so it looks like I'm adding another magazine to my resume.

In other news, I'm also going to be an online entrepreneur! More news when we have the details worked out, but I'm going to be helping others start their own online businesses.

And, I may be adding "anthology editor" to my resume. More on that soon.

Until then,

Keep watching the skies.

2007 Convention Appearances

2007-04-09T05:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official. I'll be a guest at this year's Dragon*Con, being held Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia

Also, this June 10-11th, I'll be a guest at Sci-Fi Summer in Marietta, Georgia.

I'll post my schedule when I have it.

More New Stuff Is Out

2007-03-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

Well, the new issue of Blood, Blade and Thruster is now out and ready for your perusal. Of special interest to Star Wars fans in general and Georgia-based geeks in particular, are this month's cover geeks: Sith Vixen (inside front cover) and Vaderpainter (inside back cover). There's also an hilarious interview with Vaderpainter. And if you want, you can read my gibberings.

In other news, I'll be appearing at Sci-Fi Summer June 9th and 10th. More of what I'll be doing there as I have it, but I know I'll be doing a panel on nonfiction writing. Stay tuned, and keep watching the skies.

My New Stuff Is Out

2006-09-13T05:26:00.000-07:00

The latest issue of Continuum SF is now out, featuring the latest installment of my "Barium Cinema" column. Check it out if you're so inclined.

Also, the first issue of Blood, Blade & Thruster: The Magazine of Speculative Fiction and Satire is now shipping. Get yours while it's still hot!

The issue includes and exclusive with Neil Gaiman in a dead language, as well as some scribblings by yours truly.

Molden Oldies

2006-09-12T05:15:00.001-07:00

I thought it would be fun to track down some old book reviews that I don't have on my site yet. Here's one from the Strange Horizons archives: my review of Essential SF: A Concise Guide

Dragon*Con 2006 Pictures

2006-09-08T09:12:00.001-07:00

Here are the pics. Enjoy!

On Writing and Dragon*Con

2006-08-31T06:35:00.000-07:00

What a long, strange week it's been.

I got a juicy copywriting project, plus another possible one.

I got my payment for my interview with fantasist Charles de Lint for the upcoming edition of the Internet Review of Science Fiction.

Learned that my long-awaited (mostly by me) interview with horror author and screenwriter Philip Nutman should finally see print at the end of September in Surreal.

Will be appearing this weekend at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, where I will be on numerous panels, giving a reading, and handing out promotional post cards for the new magazine Blood Blade and Thruster: The Magazine of Speculative Fiction and Satire, which I have three feature articles in.

Whew! I'm tired just writing it down. Now I've got to go live it!

Excelsior!

Dragon*Con Schedule Addendum

2006-08-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

Well the hits just keep on coming. After downloading the official Dragon*Con schedule I discovered that I'm doing a reading on Sunday at noon. I'm also slated to be on my dream panel, Non-Fiction Writing in Today's Market. The only problem: it's on Monday afternoon and thanks to my day job's Byzantine work schedule, I'll be slaving away on the phone for idiots who call in to say "I didn't know ya'll were open." Ah well. There's always next year.

My Dragon*Con Schedule

2006-08-21T07:10:00.000-07:00

Here is the schedule of panels I will be on during this year's Dragon*Con convention Labor Day weekend in Atlanta:

Saturday Sepember 2

10am Classics on DVD

11:30 Technobabble

1:00pm Censorship

4:00 Star Trek vs. Star Trek

7:00 Star Trek XI: A New Hope(?)

10:00 Dead Authors

Sunday, September 3

1pm Forgotten Classics

2:30 Simian Sci-Fi

5:30 Star Trek vs. Lost in Space

I'm also going to be passing out minizines for Paul T. Riddell's forthcoming books and promoting Blood Blade and Thruster: The Magazine of Speculative Fiction and Satire. So if you're going to be there next weekend, come up and say hi!

Clarion Schmarion

2006-08-15T05:14:00.000-07:00

If you've ever applied to a workshop such as Clarion and didn't get in, or if you got in and had your magnum opus torn to shreds by the workshop's team of crack critiquers, then the gang over at RevolutionSF has a contest for you. Behold, Clarion Schmarion.

Virtual Yard Sale

2006-08-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

To get a little mad money together for Dragon*Con, as well as clear out some of my genre-based swag, I'm putting together a virtual yard sale. See something you like? Just make me an offer. Just keep in mind that the buyer pays shipping. You can pay via Paypal. Email me if you see something you want. First come, first served.

Here are the items:

Fictitious Force Speculative Fiction magazine #1-Fiction by Jay Lake, Greg Beatty, Sean Melican, and many more.

On Spec the Canadian magazine of the fantastic, Winter 2005 #63

On Spec #64

Neo-Opsis Science Fiction Magazine Issue 5

Fantasy & Science Fiction February 2001. Featuring James Gurney cover art for Harlan Ellison's "From A to Z, in the Sarsaparilla Alphabet"

Transformers #1 DW Press, first issue of mini series. Some slight cover wear, but otherwise in good shape, and a great comic book.

Asimov's April 2000, featuring the story "Green Fire" in which Isaac Asimov, L. Sprague DeCamp, and others team up to save the universe.

Imagination Fully Dilated: Science Fiction The Literated Artwork of Alan M. Clark. Featuring stories inspired by Alan M. Clark's artwork, including work by Ray Vukcevich, James Van Pelt, Melissa Scott, Jerry Oltion, Leslie What, Tom Piccirilli, and many more.

P.S. Buyers will also get a few extra little surprise goodies thrown in as well.
Interested?

More News

2006-08-09T05:18:00.000-07:00

This news is a bit old, but the latest issue of Continuum Science Fiction, containing my latest "Barium Cinema" column, is now out in print. Check it out.

I'm Counting Down

2006-08-07T05:30:00.000-07:00

Here's the cover of the first issue of Blood Blade & Thruster, which will feature my regular columns Flashback, Needles and Confessions of An Unrepentant Fanboy. Isn't it shiny? The artwork is by the talented Henning Ludvigsen. The first issue is due out in September, and I'm very excited about it. It's also T-minus 24 days and counting until this year's Dragon*Con, where I will be attending as a writer guest. I'll post my schedule as soon as it's finalized. Now back to the linen mines. I've got a few more writing projects to work on this morning.

Pardon Our Pixels

2006-08-04T13:40:00.000-07:00

I'm still getting settled in. My name is James Palmer, and this is a new venture for me. I've been on Livejournal for quite a while, but I thought it was time for a bit of a change. So here I am in Blogger to tell you a little of the trials and tribulations of being a beginning freelance writer. Today I have a bit of news. I'll be doing not one, not two, but three monthly features for the brand-spankin' new science fiction magazine Blood Blade and Thruster: The Magazine of Speculative Fiction and Satire. The cool cover alone should be worth the price of admission.

I'm also gearing up for this year's Dragon*Con convention, which will take place in approximately 27 days. There's more to come, so stay tuned!

Hello

2006-08-04T06:47:00.000-07:00

This is only a test