Solomon Kane Trailer

Some of you may know that Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan, is one of my favorite authors. Another one of his heroes, Solomon Kane, will be featured in his own film at the end of this year. The trailer looks great. It's taken some liberties with the source material (who's surprised?), but it feel quite Kaney. Take a gander:



You've got a good three months before it comes out. Plenty of time to read the book:

Sofa Stuff(ing)

StarShipSofa Stories Vol. 1 is now available here:
http://www.starshipsofa.com/anthology/

You can buy a real live book or download the pdf for free. Buying the book helps keep the Sofa flying. Here's the table of contents. Lots of big names in there and lots of great writing. Give it a go!

Table of Contents

1. “Into The Blank Where Life Is Hurled” by Ken Scholes
2. “London Bone” by Michael Moorcock
3. “The Second Coming Of Jasmine Fitzgerald” by Peter Watts
4. “Lester Young and The Jupiter’s Moons’ Blues” by Gord Sellar
5. “Vampire Kiss” by Gene Wolfe
6. “Vinegar Peace (or The Wrong-Way Used-Adult Orphanage)” by Michael Bishop
7. “Godzilla’s 12 Step Program” by Joe R Lansdale
8. “Jesus Christ, Reanimator” by Ken MacLeod
9. “The Sledge-Maker’s Daughter” by Alastair Reynolds
10. “Mars: A Travelers Guide” by Ruth Nestvold
11. “The Empire of Ice Cream” by Jeffrey Ford
12. “The Ant King: A California Fairytale” by Benjamin Rosebaum
13. “In The Olden Days” by Spider Robinson
14. “Tideline” by Elizabeth Bear
15. “Little Girl Down The Way” by Lawrence Santoro

In other Sofa news StarShipSofa is proud to present Aural Delights 100! It's a special all short fiction episode with behind the scenes info on how the book above came into being.

StarShipSofa Aural Delights No 100

Intro by All!

Editorial: We’ve Reached 100 by Tony C Smith

Fiction: End Of Oil by Gwyneth Jones

Fiction: Bob The Dinosaur Goes To Disnyland by Joe R Lansdale

Fiction: Two Dreams On Trains by Elizabeth Bear

Fiction: Thought War by Paul McAuley

Fiction: Feast or Famine by Naomi Novik

Fiction: Billy In Dinosaur City by Terry Bission

Fact: The Pulp Story by Lawrence Santoro

Narrators: Peter Seaton-Clark,, Gareth Stack, JJ Campanella, MCL Studios, Amy H Sturgis, David M Smith (my Dad) Cori Samuel

Music for Congratulations 100 by Kevin MacLeod

Beware The Hairy Mango!

There are buckets of news touting swell things, but today I've got to mention the release of my very own podcast into the cold cruel world. Beware the Hairy Mango! That's not just good advice, that's the name of my podcast. Fans of my flash fiction will dig it, because I read one of my stories, lifted from this very blog (among other places), on each episode. What are you waiting for? Get over there and listen!

http://bewarethehairymango.com/

The Salt Line

Go check out The Salt Line by my friend, Grant Stone, in text or audio right here (for free!):
http://www.wilywriters.com/blog/?p=1015

I have something nifty coming up. I'll tell you about it sometime in the next couple of days.

StarShipSofa Stories, Vol I

To celebrate the one-hundredth episode of Aural Delights, StarShipSofa is releasing its very first print book, StarShipSofa Stories, Vol I!



From Tony:

"StarShipSofa Stories Volume 1 is only a few days away from going on sale. Here’s a sneak preview of the cover art, designed by Skeet.

"Skeet’s brief was to create a picture that would pay homage to the 50s SF pulp magazines. I think he’s produced an amazing piece of work.

"Get ready for the 16th September when the book will be available to buy in print form. There will also be a new website and free eBook released on that day.

"I hope you think it captures the style and feel of the SF Golden Years?"

The Moon Is Disgusting

A half an hour ago, I didn't know this guy existed. Thanks, William Gibson and Colin Peters for shouting about him. I watched a different vid first and asked, "What the hell is that thing?" Why, it's The Magic Pipe, of course! As a very mundane bass player, all I can say now is, "Cool!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wGMsOhaPJs&NR=1

Dad

My dad passed away yesterday. As you may know from previous posts, he hadn't been well for the last three months. I'll talk about him in some future post. We're having a viewing here in Florida in a few days, then a funeral in Connecticut on Friday. We're asking that instead of flowers, people donate something to the veterans' charity of their choice. That's all for now. I'm taking a fiction-writing break until I get back from Connecticut.

Sauntering Out Of Control

There is erosion out on the far edges of me. Far edges because I think I'm pulled in tight. And there is crumbling out there and I'm watching it all with a strange calm, wondering at it like I'd wonder at the stucco cracking. Life isn't spinning out of control. It's more of a saunter. There is no interesting thing that happens at the end of that out of control, unfortunately. I'd like a good story to tell, of madness and despair and guns and firetrucks. But honestly, that's just in the movies. In real life, once you've sauntered out of control the only difference is a different batch of shitty things crop up in your life. How dull am I that I can't even lose control in a way that would grab my own attention?

I could really use a little something interesting right now. I'm not even going to go so far as to ask for exciting.

The Eighth Age Is Up

The Eighth Age is up at Everyday Weirdness: http://everydayweirdness.com/e/20090812/

Wrote a flash fiction piece early this morning, The Girl with the Halo. Don't know what I'm doing with it yet. It may become 117 if I find the right place.

116

116 is out the door. It's called Rule #1. I had something else I wanted to say. I'll remember as soon as I hit "post."

Tiny Stories In The Wine

Had a story on Thaumatrope today. The site was revamped a couple of weeks ago and it looks fantastic. Also, each author gets a page now which is incredibly cool. Now I can put all my Thaumatrope stories in the sidebar with one link. Note the dates, as some of them were holiday related.
http://thaumatrope.greententacles.com/contributors/upwithgravity/stories/

Tomorrow, The Eighth Age is set to run on Everyday Weirdness. I'll post a link then.

I'm heading outside in about an hour or so to see the Perseids. Won't you join me?

Linky Links 2

I find this funny. Perhaps you will as well: http://mightywombat.com/toons/plugwhores.gif

An awesome animated short (it's short, click it already): http://webspace.ringling.edu/~ghetting/THESIS042009.swf

Some great links here: http://is.gd/2bgqC

Yay!

I sold The Eighth Age to Everyday Weirdness! It should be up on their site next week. I'll post a link when I see it there.

Step Away From The Instruments

Here are a couple of nifty a capella videos which were pointed out by a couple of tweets each by the likes of @GreatDismal, @paulandstorm, @ccfinlay, and one other person whose name has been lost to the pebbles of time (Sorry, Person). I think maybe Diane will dig these.

http://vimeo.com/5732745

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjbpwlqp5Qw