Sense of Adventure

I just learned by email that Jack Speer died overnight.

Jack was a member of First Fandom - the pioneers! - a mainstay of the Albuquerque Science Fiction Society, and a friend. He and his wife Ruth, who survives him, played gracious hosts to many a pleasant pre-Bubonicon party.

Sad news. Fandom in general and our Albuquerque fannish family are diminished. Jack is missed.

My condolences to Ruth and the children.

(I note that his death is already mentioned in his Wikipedia entry, linked to above.)

There’s never a bad time to learn more actual history. What better day than Memorial Day to cut through some of the propaganda we’re inundated with from birth onward?

Thanks to Sheldon Richman.

Or maybe, not so holy.

Just went out, daring the early rush hour traffic, to do a little grocery shopping. Coming out of the store I saw a headline on the local paper about an “animal” attacking a local boy in the Sandias. The unspecified “animal” reference intrigued me; looking a little closer (which sadly entails my reading glasses - they’re a reason I wear ‘em constantly on a lanyard around my neck when out and about in the world) I saw that while the parents claimed it had been a big cat, “authorities” discounted the possibility it was a cougar.

Whoa! A mystery cat sighting of Burque’s own? Not to mention an actual attack?

Here’s MSNBC on the subject; for a local report, go here.

Yes, you can just about be sure that if NM catches national ink - and especially international - it involves something discreditable.

NM Game and Fish has narrowed their scope to a bobcat, a cougar, or a small bear. Yet it claims the injuries match none of them. Indeed.

It’s most likely a bobcat, although I know of no previous bobcat attacks on humans. But we never know. And of course the official explanation may or may not bear any resemblance to the truth…

Just another day in NM. That’s why I love it here. Well, not kids getting eaten; that’s a Bad Thing - although the child appears to’ve pulled through. What I love is that something goofy or weird is always going on.

In other news: I’m hoping to get the swamp cooler - evaporative air conditioning: it’s a desert thing - going before the pets and I melt. The problem: I’m terrified to go on my roof.

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Is your supermarket ripping you off? Probably!

It might just be worthwhile to stay alert. Specifically: make sure the price the item is offered at on the shelf is what you get charged. If you look closely, you just might find it often isn’t – that you get gouged a higher price.

Just now I went to the Lowe’s across the street to buy some English muffins (I shouldn’t be eating the starch, but as I’ve said I’m not making equal progress on all fronts.) They had the regular ones for $1.99. There was also a big sign under the sourdough ones offering “Meyer’s” sourdough English muffins for $1.59. Now, the name on the label says “Nature’s Grain.” But two things: these were the only items the sign could refer to; and you’ve probably noticed that sometimes one umbrella corporation operates numerous different brands, sometimes actually in competition with each other.

- And as if by magic - the magic of the Internet! - here we have an excerpt from an article on Harlan Bakeries: “Meyer’s Bakeries … [p]urchased by [Harlan’s] subsidiary, Southern Bakeries…. [T]he business also sells baked goods under the Nature’s Grain brand.” So yes, in fact, Nature’s Grain products are distributed through Meyer’s, as the article mentions a couple paragraphs later. The items marked as on-sale were in fact the ones I tried to buy.

So I decided to go with the sourdough bagels and save 40 cents. No big deal. I like ‘em well enough, and with food costs skyrocketing every little bit likely helps.

The cashier, who was a young woman I haven’t seen before, rang them up. The price: $1.99.

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Of course, the government-media complex is lying to us about what’s happening in Iraq. Not only is there no good news, a lot of what’s being sold as “good” is bad-to-disastrous - either regarded in statist terms, as in acting contrary to the political and strategic interests of the US, or in terms of its likely impact on the lives and freedoms of Americans.

A truly flamboyantly ludicrous example is the attack by Iraqi government forces under Prime Minister al-Maliki, against Moqtada al-Sadr’s militia. Before the government was functionally beaten by the Sadrists, the usual suspects in the US, from the sock-puppet in the White House on down, were blatting about how great the whole fandango - “Operation Knights Assault” (thanks, Gareth Porter) - was.

What they’re not telling us is that, while al-Maliki may be a US puppet, he’s a loyal Iranian satrap:

Yes, that’s al-Maliki with Iranian President Ahmadinejad. Yes, he’s the US’s current “worse-than-Hitler” Designated Devil #1.

Yes, they’re holding hands .

Meanwhile, al-Sadr, while a Shi’ite, is an Iraqi nationalist - meaning he opposes Iranian political domination of Iraq.

Yes, the US was until recently cheerleading for - and sending US troops into battle to back up - the men who are fighting for Iranian domination of Iraq, against those who are resisting Iran. Even as the rulers of the US are trying to whip up a good old-fashioned bipartisan war of aggression against … Iran.

The bad news is - these fools are trying to gain complete control over our everyday lives.

The good news is - these are the fools who are trying to gain complete control over our everyday lives.

(I’m sorry. I’ve been trying to refrain from commenting on politics. They’re evil. They waste lives. Thinking about politics is a horrible, horrible waste of resources. But this choice nonsense overcame my willpower.)

(And no, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke. That would be US foreign policy. And US economic policy. Oh, and the 2008 Presidential elections. Just not this post.)

For about the last two years I’ve read “The War Nerd,” Gary Brecher’s column for the English-language Russian alternative website The eXile, religiously. While I don’t always agree with him (big surprise, since I don’t always agree with anybody, including myself), Brecher knows his military history, as well as the broad spectrum of wars, large and small, going on today. His facts are usually right and his analyses incisive. Incisive enough that he’s quite often proven right when all the government/media complex “experts” are dead - and deadly - wrong.

This might not seem your cup of chai. But Brecher’s writing is brisk, his wit savage. He’s the freshest writer on current events since P. J. O’Rourke sold his soul to the Dark Side. Fair warning: like O’Rourke he uses what we might call fairly strong language. Then again, sometimes the easily offended need to be.

And soon, you won’t have to spend hours clicking from column to column in the eXile archives to get your Brecher fix. As of June 1^st, 2008, you can enjoy reading some of his greatest hits between the covers of The War Nerd, the book.

If you pre-order you can get a 5% discount off Amazon’s already marked-down price of $10.85. And of course, if you pre-order or buy the book through this site, you’re helping to support me. And of course my wonderful animal family, including Emma (note the subtle yet entirely gratuitous way I worked in the site’s real draw!)

If you want some of the best insight on the current disaster - and the various whirlwinds so assiduously being sown today - all wrapped up in a damned and damnably entertaining read,you can hardly do better than the self-proclaimed fat boy from Fresno. I just ordered mine!

As every schoolchild knows, an invaluable resource for any homeowner is having a Crazy Tree Guy.

A Crazy Tree Guy is … wait. Is it possible there’s some part of that you don’t understand? He’s a crazy guy who works on trees!

More to the point, a Crazy Tree Guy is very knowledgeable about trees, possibly from residing in them, and does good work for cheap. He’s also in his way reliable: the Crazy Tree Guy won’t necessarily appear at the time appointed, or even on the day, but he will show up and do the work. Compare that to, say, the cable company…

Yesterday my Crazy Tree Guy reappeared on my doorstep. He’s a tall, skinny, middle-aged white guy who shaves his head and face, although I seem to recall seeing him with white stubble. He’s not a bad-looking guy, though in twenty years I can see him being the very image of Popeye the Sailor Man. He moves in an oddly stiff and abrupt way, a bit like a lizard.

He mentioned that after I hired him to trim the huge dead limbs off the big Siberian elms in my front yard, he had promised to come back this spring and clean the trees up for me. Actually he did the trees two years ago in August, and promised to come back last Spring. But what the hey: Crazy Tree Guys aren’t bound by your boring whitebread calendar!

Of course, as a self-employed (which in the eyes of the Corporate State means unemployed) full-time professional writer I don’t intend to fling handfuls of poo at Crazy Tree Guys, or anyone, for being unorthodox and free-walkers.

Anyway, I’d noticed the elms were sending up big bushy shoots from the roots and crowding the sidewalks, and had about determined to go out myself and do battle with them, possibly with the cool Ontario Knife Co. machete a friend gave me years ago. Or just my kukri. But, ah, one salient trait of Crazy Tree Guys is that they work cheap enough that I, not yet rolling in the dough, can afford them. So I told him sure. He then, in his inscrutable Crazy Tree Guy fashion, wandered off.

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So today I dropped a cool $124 and change on supplies at Costco. Eggs, facial tissue, olive oil … that sort of thing. I impulse bought a door mat for $19. Okay, so I’ve needed one for a couple years now. But it’s not a necessity.

On the one hand I suppose I need to be cautious, what with price inflation just starting to blow up. If I were smart I’d probably split for two tons of toilet paper. There’s something that’s going to continue to be in demand. Of course, a year from now that door mat’ll probably be worth a million dollars. Then again, a decent scavenged wood screw will go for more than my current net worth.

… Anyway, the mat’s going right back, it turns out. It’s huge. It’s not so much a welcome mat as a porch carpet. Ah, well. Shoulda read the specs closer.

Meanwhile … to actually talk about the nominal subject of this post … I saw what struck me as a leading contender for Worst Dog Toy Ever: the Plush-Toy Skunk.

Um. Leaving aside the cliché in the room, skunks are redoubtable predators who can quite savagely rip on a dog with powerful claws as well as teeth.

And now, not leaving aside the obvious … hello: they’re skunks?

Do you really want to accustom your dog to the idea it’s a good idea to play with them? What’s next? Cuddles the Rattlesnake? Mr. Sparky the Chewable Electric Cord?

It’s like giving your kid a Bath-Buddy Toaster.

Among the other somewhat bizarre and variegated wildlife we’ve got in my neighborhood, there indeed are skunks. How do I know? Well - and you’re not going to believe this, I know - I’ve smelled them. Especially in the Spring.

Love. It’s in the air, baby.

Thanks to everybody who turned out for the signing. I told you a good time would be had by all. And what do you know …?

I just had a big old boatload of fun Saturday at Page One. And as I said, I’m not even in the book. Although as it turned out I was called on to sign copies of various earlier Wild Cards books. And even one or two copies of Inside Straight, for people who apparently wanted to get as many WC authors’ autographs as possible.

We had a good turnout. I’d have to say at least a hundred people and probably more. We got a number of folks from ASFS, including the lovely and irrepressible Pat Rogers, Kevin Hewett, Craig Chrissinger, and Dawn Barela. Various WC authors not in the book appeared as well (so those who wanted as many signatures as possible kinda hit the jackpot), including Laura Mixon, Sage Walker, Gail Gerstner-Miller, Walter Jon Williams, and of course me, as well as Royce (Chip) Wideman and Parris, non-writers who contributed characters to the pantheon. To my pleased surprised a goodly contingent of non-Wild Cards NM authors also came out and supported us, including Pati Nagle and her husband Chris Crohn, Laura’s husband Steve Gould (whose movie Jumper comes out next week!), Robert Vardeman, Steve and Jan Stirling, and Jane Lindskold and her husband Jim Moore, Joan Spicci, and Ty and Jayné Franck. (Anyone I overlooked, please forgive me.)

What was coolest, though, as others in the group also noted, was how many faces we didn’t know. This wasn’t all just the Usual Suspects turning out, grateful as we all are to them for doing so. We got a lot of new people not just to attend, but to buy books. And that’s no bad thing.

The audience seemed to enjoy the presentation in advance of the signing proper. I did. When it was over a lengthy line formed for autographs. I had intended to come and listen to the opening show, then maybe take off. Instead I had such a great time hanging out and talking with people I never could tear myself away.

I also noticed that after the signing finally ended, and most of the regular public drifted away, the area Page One had set up in front of the signing tables with twenty or twenty-five chairs was mostly occupied by various NM SF writers talking to each other, reminding me once again what an incestuous community we are. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

As we packed up Caroline Spector asked the gentleman from Page One who’d run things - profuse apologies; I’ve spaced on his name - how many books sold. He said about seventy-five, plus some put on hold by people who weren’t able to make the signing. While that left a lot of copies out of the 200 they had on hand, he seemed thrilled. That’s pretty good sales for New Mexico. And it’s not as if those’re the only copies that’re going to get sold.

The Wild (Cards) Bunch and select others adjourned to a nearby Garduño’s Restaurant, where super-agent Kay McCauley threw us a swell reception. There, thanks to the kind offices of Melinda, I actually got to meet our editor from Tor, Patrick Nielsen Hayden. I also met a couple of Parris’ very nice friends from Ireland, Paul and Sally. Paul, as he puts it, swordfights for a living - being a notable re-enactor and movie stunt guy.

Laura got concerned because one of her adolescent daughters wasn’t answering her cell phone. Eventually the strayed lamb was heard from. I told Steve I didn’t reckon they’d have much trouble from young men wanting to date their daughters. All they need do, I said, was point to Steve and say: yes, Dad wrote a novel that got turned into a movie starring Samuel L. Jackson. I mean, Samuel L. Jackson. That ought to cut down on the nonsense.

Of course, it also means the daughters will never actually have a date until they move to a different continent and change their names. But what’s that to parental peace of mind?

Many thanks are due to Page One, PNH, and Kay, all of whom did wonderfully well by us. Also Craig, who gave us a nice review in the previous Sunday’s Albuquerque Journal.

Parris said the whole get-together was “a lot like having the band back together.” John Miller said it was the best signing he’s ever participated in.

I tend to agree with both sentiments.

I can’t tell … and if you want some clues, go here.

Click there now and check it out. Seriously. I’ll still be here when you get back.

Y’all know, probably (and if you don’t, hang around a spell and it’ll all become abundantly clear) that I’m more than somewhat slightly skeptical and cynical about conventional Big House publishing and publishers.

That said, Tor Books so far are doing a bang-up job promoting our spanky-brand-new Wild Cards offering, Inside Straight. They’re actually putting some effort into it. And the just-launched American Hero site is a wonderful step.

I’m basically in love with the site. Along with a very fine-looking logo we have brilliant headshots of all the contestant aces (I love Toadie’s big ol’ eye just staring at you) taken from the big group pictures done by artist Mike S. Miller. Farther down, past the first of what will be a continuing series of “confessionals” by the contestants, and a description of the reality-television series which drives the plot for much of the book, we see the group portraits themselves, along with rosters. Fortunately you can click on the group shots for larger versions, which is a good thing, because they’re freakin’ gorgeous.

They’re also, according to the characters’ creators - I’m not one, incidentally - pretty accurate, allowing for a wisp of artistic license. Frankly, from what I’ve read, they’re far, far closer to the characters as described than most illustrations I’ve seen. Indeed, I wish I’d had these pix to refer to when I was writing my sequences for the (ahem!) next volume, Busted Flush. Since some of the characters pictured play prominent roles in my contributions.

Ah, well. I’ll have ‘em for Book Three. Provided I’m in the volume … which, I have to say at the risk of tempting Fate, is fairly likely … they’ll be great to draw upon.

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