My new funniest typo

Funny things come out of your fingers when you're writing and really into a story. Or, at least, funny things come out of my fingers in such situations.

Homonym problems frequently bedevil me. From what other writers tell me, that's common. The mistake that previously held the title of funniest typo in my books was one Dave spotted for me. I was discussing someone arming a group of freedom fighters, and what I accidentally typed was

arming gorillas

As Dave said, I want to see that scene.

What I meant, of course, was

arming guerrillas

In No Going Back, however, I made what I believe is now the winner of the Funniest Typo award. This one came courtesy of the autocorrect feature in Word on one of the computers I used to write the book. I always disable that feature on each system, but I use a lot of different computers, and sometimes I fail to remember to turn it off.

Thanks to this feature and some unknown typing error on my part, I actually turned in a ms. with this phrase:

We simply have a more gentile, polite group...

Ouch!
I hope those who read the eARC do not read anything anti-Semitic into that error.

In the final book, thanks to the good services of proofreader Geoffrey Kidd and our subsequent discussion, we have the correct phrase:

We simply have a more genteel, polite group...

Much better.

Thanks, Geoff, and my apologies to all who read the eARC and endured the error.

Jay and Silent Bob Grow Old

Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes, aka Silent Bob and Jay, rolled through Durham yesterday for a show at the Carolina Theatre. I'm a huge fan of Kevin Smith's films, particularly Dogma, which I consider to be a masterwork. So, I caught the show.

As I'd read before going, basically the two of them sit around and talk for two hours. Smith conceived of the show in part as a kind of talking therapy for Mewes, who is trying to stay clean and sober after addictions to heroin and opiates in pill form. (As of last night's performance, Mewes had 717 days clean and sober; well done, Jason!) Though I'm far more interested in what Smith has to say than Mewes's contribution, I applaud the idea behind the show.

Photo courtesy of Steve. Click on it to see a larger image.

It was, all said, a lot of fun. They told stories, read from Twitter responses, and enacted various scenarios. Mewes's twitchy presence is a striking contrast to Smith's more polished presentation, but the bond between the two is clear and strong.

They talked about sex--a lot--and each other and shared experiences. The one thing they almost never discussed, however, was filmmaking. If your goal is to learn from Kevin Smith the writer and director, you will not be happy.

With that caveat, I can recommend the show to those who like the work of these guys and who don't mind (or, of course, who seek) a raunchy evening.

One sweet dustjacket

I'm referring, of course, to the dustjacket for my own upcoming novel, No Going Back. Check it out--and definitely click on it to see a larger, clearer version.


Nice, eh?

I, of course, had nothing to do with this. Artist John Picacio did the amazing art, and designer Jennie Faries did the layout and the back cover (with John's permission to sample part of his art) and the type.

I can't wait to hold a copy!

My birthday lunch

Yes, today is my birthday, a day on which the year count advances, today to a far larger number than I am comfortable with. This year, though, I gave myself the early gift of a completed novel, so how could I complain? (Easily, but I won't.)

For lunch today, a small group of us went to one of my favorite little diners in town. I had hoped they would have the fried bologna--they use the old-fashioned, thick style--on offer, but I was also tempted by their pimento cheese.

Then, it hit me: Why not embrace the greatness of both sandwiches? Fried bologna with pimento cheese melted on it would be awesome.

Never let it be said that American ingenuity is dead; from such creations springs the backbone (and the waistline) of our nation.

Sure enough, the fried bologna was a special item today, so here is my lunch.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

The macaroni salad is mine. The fruit is not.

Yeah, that's gonna hurt in the morning.

It was mighty damn tasty, though, you betcha.

What you should be doing in mid April

Supporting my friend, Eric, by attending one of the shows of Proof, a play he is producing.

I hope to be there opening night. Here are some details.


(I lifted this from Eric's site for the play, but I think he'd be okay with it.)

You can now buy the eARC of No Going Back!

Welcome to the modern book world.

I filed the ms. of No Going Back about 9:30 a.m. this morning. Yes, that means I finished it. Hurrah!

I'm writing this at 9:00 p.m., and you can now buy the electronic Advance Reading Copy, the eARC, of the book from my publisher, Baen Books, by going here.

This eARC was available about ten hours after I turned it in. Ten hours. That's cool.

Baen's eARC program works like this. They sell the uncorrected version of a book, meaning the book has not been through the full copyediting and proofreading stages of the production process, online for those who want to read the book early. This version is basically what the author submitted to them. The cost of an eARC is $15. If you wait until late May, when the book goes on sale, you can buy it online for $6, which is obviously much less. But you'll have to wait two and a half months! Who wants to do that? No one! For a measly nine extra bucks, you get early access to the book and can be the first person you know to read it!

That the book went live so soon after I filed it is due to Publisher Toni quickly okaying the sale of the eARC, and then two people working hard on the job. Joy Freeman, who produced the proofs for the book, turned them in record time, mere hours. Becky Catchings then worked late to create the eARC in all the many formats that Baen supports--and if it's at all a significant ebook format, Baen supports it.

My contribution was to turn in very clean copy that is ready to print; I consider that to be a part of the job.

I hope you check it out and enjoy it!

Now that's a fight league introduction

Forget about the UFC's gladiators, or the new intro before their PPVs. We need the intro for India's Super Fight League.



Yeah, it runs over four minutes, but so it goes; some things can't be rushed.

Seriously, how are we to deduce fighting from this intro? Why are those men dancing? What are they saying? What is that strange sound they make in the choruses? Why does an intro run so long it has choruses?

Why do we care?

None of that stuff matters; this is amazing.

Thanks to Kyle for pointing me to this.