Swords Against Boredom

Argh …

Rabobank has fired Michael Rasmussen, who was well on his way to winning Le Tour de France, accusing him of evading attempts to test him for illegal performance-enhancing drugs … Read more »

My six-year-old daughter has been having a delightful time of late. She and her mom are gardeners, and as such they’ve been spinning through a book called “Know Your Poisonous Plants.”

My daughter loves this book, and the many revelations within. She keeps reading it, and then running to me happily to declare:

• “Daddy! Tomatoes are poisonous!”
• “Daddy, look! Asparagus is poisonous! See this? This means … (dramatic pause) … DEATH!”

All of these announcements come with the bright smile of a tiny girly lawyer who thinks she’s finally come up wth the ultimate answer to her parents’ totalitarian mandates that she eat vegetables.

I generally spend a few moments basking in pride at how well my little girl can read, then crush her little dreams of conquest by pointing out that a complete reading of the text indicates that only parts of these plants are poisonous, not the parts we put on her plate.

To her credit, selfish motivation does not always play a role in her grand announcements. Today, she informed me of the deadly nature of elderberries — one of my favorite things — and of rhubarb — one of her mom’s favorite things. In these cases, she’s just looking out for us. She’s a good little girl … and her sweet corn is awesome this year!

Not poisonous, either. At least, she hasn’t told us about any poison …

– Steve

We finished reading submissions for our Carnivah House anthology, The Infinity Swords … and it was a lot of fun.

We accepted the best of the best, regretfully passed on some that were close but not quite fitting with the best of the best, and passed on several that seemed rushed. It’s our money behind the project, and we’re being fussy.

But we bought the ones that blew us away, and we’ve extended the submissions period to give more people a chance to blow us away. (Yes, even if we turned down your first offering, you may try again.) Read more »

Here’s a recent poll off the news wires:

About three in four Americans profess to having at least one paranormal belief, according to a 2005 Gallup survey. The most popular belief is in ESP, or extrasensory perception, followed by a belief in haunted houses.
The following are some beliefs and the percent — age of Americans who hold them:

• 41 percent — Extrasensory perception
• 37 percent — Haunted houses
• 32 percent — Ghosts (spirits of the dead)
• 31 percent — Telepathy (communication between minds)
• 31 percent — Clairvoyance (power of the mind to predict the future)
• 25 percent — Astrology
• 21 percent — Communication with the dead
• 21 percent — Witches
• 20 percent — Reincarnation (rebirth of a soul in a new body)
• 9 percent — Channeling (allowing a spirit to assume control of living person)
• 73 percent — Americans who believe in at least one of the 10 items listed above
• 27 percent — Americans who believe in none
• 76 percent — Americans who said in a 2001 Gallup survey they believed in at least one of the items listed above.

Source: The Gallup Poll News Service

I did some additional polling myself, and found:

• 12 percent think cheese is out to get them.
• 6 percent of the people who believe their house is haunted blame the reincarnated people next door for hiring a clairevoyant to summon the ghosts. Four percent believe the ghosts should do more chores.
• 22 percent of those who believe in ESP say they’ve read the minds of 19 percent of those who believe in witches, and learned they are actually zombies who just think they’re witches.
• 9 percent of those who believe in channeling thought the poll referred to something you do with a remote control. Six percent said they actually do use their TV remote to switch personalities when they channel the dead.
• None of the astrologers correctly predicted they’d be polled prior to the pollster’s call, but afterward 99 percent recalled having predicted the poll call during a previous life.
• 94 percent of those who communicate with the dead complained about roaming charges.
• None of the people who believe in communication via thought answered my mental calls.

It’s a crazy world out there. Be careful.

– Steve

During a lengthy discussion of rhyme in poetry, the rules of sonnetry, etc., one of the participants offered this super essay on poetry by Isaac Asimov.

Enjoy.

– Steve

P.S. Thanks to Camille Alexa for the link.

Courtesy of Jason Waltz, fantasy acquisitions editor for Staffs & Starships magazine, here are updated links to Sheer Speculation Press and the new fantasy & science fiction magazine.

– Steve

I ran across this on a forum a while back and thought it worth sharing:

How to Write With Style
By Kurt Vonnegut

Newspaper reporters and technical writers are trained to reveal almost nothing about themselves in their writings. This makes them freaks in the world of writers, since almost all of the other ink-stained wretches in that world reveal a lot about themselves to readers. We call these revelations, accidental and intentional, elements of style. Read more »