Last week, I wondered if we were in a perpetual full moon phase because of all the craziness that seemed to be going on. Little did I know that the craziness was just beginning. In the time since that post went live, we've seen an author on Amazon taking the fight to reviewers because they... Continue Reading →
I’m a hack and proud of it
Yesterday a link popped out at me on Facebook that had me shaking my head. It's a Q&A with Harlan Ellison. I'll admit feeling a wide range of emotions as I read it: incredulity, frustration, anger and once or twice agreement. But, more often than not, my head exploded, at least metaphorically speaking, on a... Continue Reading →
Remember your audience
Yesterday I found myself in different situations where writing and editing were impossible. Too many distractions and too many things on my mind. Between problems with the HVAC at home, news that my aunt (a very special woman) had passed away and the mundane matters of life, work just wasn't happening. So I found myself... Continue Reading →
The inmates are trying to run the asylum again
Yep, that's right. The inmates have managed to get out of their cells and are running around loose. Now, most days, it is pretty entertaining to watch. After all, they usually are either pointing at the sky and screaming about how the aliens are coming and taking over the world, or they are burying their... Continue Reading →
Baen E-Books Now Available Through Amazon
Last week, Toni Weisskopf of Baen Books announced that she'd inked a deal to bring Baen e-books to Amazon. This has been a deal long in the works and one that will broaden Baen's digital exposure. In my opinion, this is a necessary move for Baen, the pioneer in e-books, if it wants to continue... Continue Reading →
Don’t You Just Love . . .
. . . how folks are so quick to jump on the "Amazon is evil bandwagon" without knowing all the facts? In case you don't know what I'm talking about, the internet was alive yesterday with a story about how evil Amazon had wiped a woman's kindle without warning or explanation. How dare they! The... Continue Reading →
Is he or isn’t he?
I got up at an ungodly hour this morning -- at least for me -- to see my son off on his third trip out of town for work in less than a week. So that left me waiting for the morning paper to arrive and, wanting to check traffic before he started out, I... Continue Reading →
Will another one bite the dust?
One day, I'd love to be able to sit down and do the research for my next MGC post and realize legacy publishers hadn't just done something to make me want to bang my head against the wall. For one thing, my head hurts. For another, I have a very hard head and I'm getting... Continue Reading →
So will they all quit DRM and what will it mean to writers and readers?
I got asked, in an e-mail interview this week, if I thought that Tor's abandoning of DRM (hailed as daring and groundbreaking by all sorts -- and a mere decade after the daring and groundbreaking Baen which everyone in publishing studiously ignored, despite the fact that it's been a resounding success.) would have other publishers... Continue Reading →
A Real Change of Heart or Just More Smoke and Mirrors
Earlier this week, it was announced that Tor/Forge was going to go DRM-free by July 2012. Normally, I'd view such news as very good news indeed. However, I'll admit I'm still playing Scrooge about it. Maybe it's because of who owns Tor/Forge -- Macmillan. You remember them. They are one of the Big 6, those... Continue Reading →
Mad Genius Club 