Apple-Obsessed Author Fella

Tag: PWS (page 1 of 1)

Painting With Shotguns

The Return Of Painting With Shotguns

It’s Monday, and Monday cares little for order. Monday is a child of chaos.

Monday is a typhoon. Monday is birdshot. Monday is broken glass.

Here, then, is just a crazy slapdash pile of things shoved into a cannon and shot into your midsection.

CHOOM.

Bait Dog: An Atlanta Burns Novel is available. Did I tell you that already? I did, I know. Shut up. No, you shut up. No, your blouse is ugly. Pssh. PFFT. Anyway. You can check out the buy links here, and the book will only be $2.99 until Wednesday, so, get it now. Or I’ll send Atlanta Burns to your door with her squirrel gun. Oh. Also. If you’re interested in a softcover copy of the book, lemme know in the comments, yeah?

• I made a “golden syrup” the other day. Two cups of sugar (good sugar, like demerera or turbinado) in one cup of water. Boil. Throw in the juice of one squozen lemon. Boil for five minutes. Then scrape into it the seedy figgy floral delight of one vanilla bean. Take the bean hull, shove it into a jar of sugar to make vanilla sugar. Pour over own hand. Eat own hand and revel in the delight. Or, y’know, waffles and ice cream instead. WHATEVS. I don’t own you.

This is a super-lovely review of the next Miriam Black book, Mockingbird. Graeme’s Fantasy Reviews gives the book 9.5/10 stars, and says of the book: “Wendig plumbs real depths of bleakness and horror to bring us the world that Miriam must negotiate. It’s a world that we all know is there and one we are secretly glad that we can put down when the book is done; no-one would want to live with what Miriam has to. The way Wendig presents it though makes for nothing short of compelling reading, a book that eclipses ‘Blackbirds’ in its determination to head to new depths for the sake of a good story. Wendig knows that his readers deserve nothing less. If you’re waiting for ‘Mockingbird’ then take it from me, you’re in for a bit of treat. If you’re not waiting for ‘Mockingbird’, well… you should be.”

• I’m closing in on the final third of Gods & Monsters: Unclean Spirits. I’ve since had one god lovingly describe the vagina of his goddess lover, and I’ve had another character describe the versatility of his penis. It’s now clear that something is wrong with me. Or oh-so-right. But probably really, really, wrong. Oh, the book’s up for pre-order and has a cover.

• The ever-lovely Dawn Nikithser of the Bookshelf Bombshells tackled the Double Dead sequel, Bad Blood, in this review, saying: “I am pretty sure that, if given the opportunity, Coburn would smack the shit out of Bill Compton with Eric Northman, puree them both into a nice slurpy snack, and then pick his teeth with the smoking shards of Edward Cullen.” Best description of Coburn ever.

• Updated Worldcon/Chicon schedule: Friday (31st), New Pulp panel at 10:30AM; Friday, a book signing at the Book Cellar with Gwenda Bond, Kim Curran, and Adam Christopher at 7pm; Sunday (2nd), a Mockingbird reading at 10AM, followed by a signing at 10:30 (lasts till noon). And for the rest of the time, I’ll be tottering around drunk and confused.

• I quite like this review of Blackbirds, in which Ivan Ewert says, “I found it to be a story of redemption, of the triumph of human effort; although that triumph is painful and hard-won.” And, “Wendig writes in car-crash prose, swift and sharp. The sentences hook you and pull you along at a breakneck clip.”

• Books I’ve read recently that you may want to read? Paul S. Kemp, The Hammer and the Blade (which made me want to run out and get wrapped up in a D&D game post-haste); Greg Rucka’s Alpha (uhh, hello, Die Hard at Disneyland?); am in the middle of the very delightful The Rook by Daniel O’Malley (supernatural spy happenings both very scary and quirkily funny). Oh, also, John Hornor’s This Dark Earth, a very literary zombie novel — though, still piled in heaps and bundles of delicious gore.

• Hey, Stephen Blackmoore’s Dead Things is up for pre-order. I read this book last year and it was one of my favorite reads. If you’re a fan of Jim Butcher — or, perhaps, of mine — then you want a copy of this book.

• New Mockingbird excerpts are releasing up at This Is How You Die, but I’ll pop the first week’s up here, below. Check ’em out, won’t you? (Features light Blackbirds spoilers.) Click to embiggenate!

• Aaaaand, finally, the Mockingbird fan-art contest has its first three entries. Remember: looking for anything at all. Fine art. Photography. Cooking. Music. Video. Craft. Graphic Design. The visuals:

 

 

Miriam Black, by Alan Smithee

 

by David Grigg

 

by Amber Love and Smash

Painting With Shotguns #64

Painting With Shotguns

Quicky update today (because I’ve got to go snowblow our surprisingly long-ass driveway), and for that I drag the ol’ Painting With Shotguns blog-mode out of the drawer. Forgive me, I suspect it smells a little like mothballs. And, curiously, like ferret musk. Don’t ask questions. Just read.

Arrugula Screechers

Irregular Creatures Cover, By Amy Hauser Want a sales update on Irregular Creatures? Can do, my little winged kitties.

I won’t break down the day-by-day because I suspect that’s just going to get boring, but suffice to say since last Saturday, I’ve been selling between three and five per day, with the exception of yesterday, where I somehow managed to foist eight copies unto an unsuspecting populace.

That brings total sales up to: 189.

Amazon: 128

Amazon UK: 11

PDF: 48

Smashwords: 2

Looks like on Amazon the entry finally reflects (as of yesterday) the “People who bought Irregular Creatures also bought…” I’m in, of course, good company there. Chris Holm’s 8 Pounds, the Terminal Damage collection, and Allan Guthrie’s Bye Bye Baby. Need to crossover a little bit and get into the hands of people who are buying a lot of fantasy and sci-fi, though.

Received some lovely reviews this week:

… From Stephen Blackmoore.

… From Dave Turner.

… From Andrew Jack.

Got giveaways and interviews up at Bubblecow and Indie Horror.

Got a straight-up giveaway at Andrew Jack’s blog.

And cover artist Amy Houser worked on a comic with author Cat Valente: “Deathless.” It’s up right now at the Tor-dot-com site, so hurry over and check it out.

For those who have not procured the book as yet, would love to know why? No harm no foul, just curious. If you’re willing to share, of course.

Pandemic Countdown

www.hopeismissing.com

Click that link. See that gas mask? See that countdown clock?

Pandemic is coming. Are you going to be infected?

The event will cross a span of several days and will take place both in Park City and outside it — which means you crazy kids at home can both watch and interact with the experience. (I’ll tell you — maybe tomorrow or the day after — how you can get involved in a big roleplaying experiment and become a part of the story and its damaged world.)

I’d like to personally thank some people who helped do some back-up writing for the experience: Andrea Phillips, Stephen Blackmoore, Will Hindmarch, Jason Blair, Jesse Scoble, Kari Hayes, Christopher Simmons, Wood Ingham. I did some writing myself and served as story editor of the Pandemic experience, and am excited to see how it all plays out.

Articles: “Disrupting What’s Expected” at Sundance site; “Weiler Brings A Pandemic To Park City” at the Wall Street Journal; “Sundance Is Ground Zero For Pandemic 1.0” at Wired.

Remember:

Avoid the sick.

Don’t sleep.

And beware strange objects.

More as it develops. Follow the #pandemic11 hashtag on Twitter.

Udder Work

Well, Double Dead continues apace. The novel, which could be subtitled, “A Vampire In Zombieland,” is hella fun to write. Part of me thinks this is the key to writing — find projects that are fun as hell to write because the fun projects write themselves. Not to say you shouldn’t get deep and personal and moody and whatever — serious is good. But man, I forgot how much fun it is to write crazy awesome shit.

Speaking of vampires, just did a Vampire: The Requiem SAS for White Wolf and the ever-excellent and always-charming Eddy Webb. And one assumes that sometime in the next 15 years, Danse Macabre will actually hit shelves, so look for that when you’re old and gray.

I have two other gaming projects… lurking in the wings, but neither have entirely manifested yet. I only see gauzy shapes and trembling clouds, but I think they’re going to materialize soon. Er, I hope they are.

But that also tells me to tell you:

Hey! I’m open for freelance work. It’s the new year. And soon enough I’m going to have another mouth to feed what with the birth of our genderless centaur baby human boy come spring.

Know of any work?

I would be ever-gracious if you nudged it my way, or nudged me in that direction.

Just in case you forgot:

No, Seriously, I’m Not Fucking Around, You Don’t Want To Be A Writer.

But, I am a writer, and this penmonkey needs a task.

Link Sausage And Blog Bacon

#cakeandwhores!

Confessions of a Recovering Dilettante” at Dan O’Shea’s blog.

Best webcomic ever? Romantically Apocalyptic.

The Adventures of Huck Finn — Modified For Modern Sensibilities!