House tournaments: win one, lose one

Many nights here at the whack factory include two serious competitions: the RPS contest with Sarah, and the mini pool tournament with Scott. As you might expect, I prefer to win both, but that rarely happens. Tonight, alas, was a 1 and 1 night.

In RPS, Sarah stopped my winning streak at three with a convincing victory of two straight of our best-two-out-of-three contests. I guess she has to win one now and then.

In pool, I beat Scott in the mini tournament, but he won one game with an early and rather amazing combination that resulted in the nine ball rolling into a corner and me racking up the balls almost as quickly as we'd started the rack. Scott's quickly become a pretty darn good pool player, but right now he's laboring under the handicap of having to use the kiddie cue; all of our other sticks (except for my regular one) have lost their tips and await repair. If he keeps improving, I'll have to delay fixing those cues.

Of course, neither of these fun activities will finish my novel, so to it I return.

And now a word from Sarah

She was on a five-game losing streak, her RPS chops in serious doubt. Tonight, however, she overcame an innate disadvantage--my superior skill--and managed to steal a win. Her long-necked spirit invader, Phyllis, then took over her body and tormented me with bizarre neck stretches. Fortunately, I was able to restore Sarah to control and her neck to normal.

And now, a word from Sarah:

"You readers of Mark Van Name's blog and books should know that my father is a freak of nature. Superior skill? Pshaw! I lull him into a false sense of superiority. It is a game of cat and mouse! He is the mouse. Phyllis is the cat.

Also, please go listen to '9:00 A.M.' by Girls in Hawaii. It will make your day more cheerful."

She is deluded, but I indulge her.

Tomorrow, I will be in Florida. More then from the state that spawned John D. MacDonald, Carl Hiaasen, and, for all but my first two years, me.

Heading out in the morning

Yes, at the painful (to me) hour of 8:00 a.m., I must rise, shower, check to see what I forgot to pack, and head to the airport. The mission this time is to accompany Sarah on a college visit; I suspect this is far easier on me than it is on her. (It doesn't help her cause that we depart with me in possession of a two-day RPS streak, but, hey, what can I do?)

On the work front, I'm drowning in it, but so it goes. I will swim out of trouble the only way I know how: one stroke at a time.

I'm also again interviewing assistant candidates. I'd really, really, really like to find one who lasts oh, say, the rest of my life, but it's a tough challenge. One person asked how I would assess the skills of various folks, and that's a difficult question, because I don't know of good tests you can reasonably administer for intelligence, determination, work ethic, loyalty, confidentiality, and so on. It's all guesswork, albeit informed guesswork.

Overthrowing Heaven beckons, so to it I go.

A word from Sarah--and more

And now, a word from Sarah:

You should listen to "Impossible" - the Shout Out Louds.

She forgot to mention that I completely pwned her tonight in RPS.

Okay, honesty compels me to admit that I wrote the above sentence before the nightly tournament. In fact, I lost, bringing my losing streak to three (and, says Sarah, "bitter tears to my eyes"). No tears, but I'm not happy.

And yet more bad prose from Sarah: Celebrated author, Mark Van Name, fell to his knees, looked up at the gods, and said, "A losing streak of three! Why me? Dear lord in heaven, why am I made to suffer so? Why am I made to be inferior to my daughter, as Apollo is said to be inferior to Cupid in Ovid's tale, 'Daphne and Apollo?'" Sarah then asked that I please note that despite the purple prose, she is "edumacated." Wow, as a father I am so very proud in this moment.

On a more realistic and happy note, the ARCs of Slanted Jack have arrived at Baen and are going out to reviewers soon. The ARCs look good, and I'm quite pleased. Those who have wanted a bigger book will be please to note that each of these weighs in at a hefty 348 pages, about 50 more than One Jump Ahead.

Based on the outline to date, I think Overthrowing Heaven will be even bigger. I am very, very close to finishing pass one of the outline, so this ordeal is drawing to a close. Last night, I outlined the climax, and I'm digging it. I hope you will, too.

The outline beckons

so today's entry will be short. The morning walk took us into the cold but beautiful day. After the first half mile, only my face was cold, but it stayed frigid the entire way. So it goes, I suppose, though perhaps I could wear a balaclava and pretend I'm on a night mission to free hostages...or not.

By the way, Sarah's RPS streak ended tonight, as I won a close match. Whew; she had beaten me seven times in a row, and I was growing nervous.

One of these days, I'll actually start writing Overthrowing Heaven. Until then, I'll charge ahead on the outline.

MI-5 again

I know I've plugged it too much, but I can't stop myself from praising it again. Tonight, we watched the final (tenth) episode of season five, and it was amazingly good and tense. The show manages to take over-the-top concepts and execute them so well that you fall for them and find them believable. I can't wait for the next season.

On the RPS front, last night Sarah broke my five-long winning streak, but I regained the advantage tonight with a brutal four-hit, two-game win. Ouch.

A Hugo plug and a random walk

The plug: In 2007, Baen published Barry N. Malzberg's fine book of critical essays, Breakfast in the Ruins. This volume collects his earlier, excellent book, Engines of the Night, and many newer essays. If you're at all interested in the history of SF or Barry's fascinating take on many different aspects of publishing, as well as the mindset of a very smart and very talented writer, please check it out. If you have read it, you know it should be on the Hugo ballot for Best Related Book, so nominate it. I will.

Disclosure: I consider Barry a friend, though I would not claim to be close to him, and I am a close friend of David Drake, who is a close friend of Barry. The book still deserves the award.

Thanks to my friend, Pam, I learned that the U.S. has finally won a gold medal in the World Rock Paper Scissors Championship--and the champ was the first ever woman to win the contest. See, Sarah, you have hope! (Okay, she beat me tonight. I had to admit it.)

My editor's copies of Transhuman arrived today. The book looks good, courtesy of a very striking cover painting by Dave Seeley and a strong cover design by Jennie Faries. It's an anthology, so I know that the odds are that it won't sell many copies, but I encourage everyone to pick it up. Even if you don't want to read my story, you'll find many other interesting tales in it. Check it out.

On the Overthrowing Heaven front, I think that just maybe I have all the big pieces figured out and can begin typing up what will grow into the outline.

And on that note, I return to that task.

I pwned Sarah

Yup, she lost tonight at RPS in two games flat. Sad puppy that she is, I still beat her.

To make it up to her, however, I've agreed to let her guest-blog with a few choice song recommendations from a playlist she just put together for her buddy, Cassie, in North Dakota. We're sending a shout out to all our North Dakota readers. (We're not sure we actually have any North Dakota readers, come to think of it. [Why am I referring to myself as 'we'? (Don't you hate these nested parentheticals? I know I do, and Sarah says she does, too.)])

And now, today's music recommendations from Sarah:

Paper Planes - M.I.A.
Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl - Broken Social Scene
Adventures in Solitude - The New Pornographers
Me and Mia - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
All the Money or the Simple Life Honey - The Dandy Warhols
Black Flowers - Yo La Tengo
Call Me Home - Danger and the Steel Cut Oats

I'm embarrassed to say I know only two of these songs; sigh.

On the other hand, this means more CDs to try, which is a good thing.

RPS...ouch!

I have to confess it. I cannot hide my shame: Sarah just now whipped me in RPS and is the owner of a five-day winning streak. Ouch.

And now, speaking of said RPS loser-to-be, here's a word from Sarah:

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CHRISTMAS BREAK (a compilation)

-Beating Dad at RPS 5 (count them 5) days in a row
-Waking up at 1 p.m.
-GET IN THE CAR KYLE
-"Hands on Me" by Vanessa Carlton, "Sleep" by the Dandy Warhols, "Alone on the Sea" by Steel Train, "Glasgow Love Theme" by Craig Armstrong, "Look Up" and "What the Snowman Learned About Love" by Stars
-Food and sleep combined, with a dream that included me actually waking up and making an order for Fettuccine Alfredo (hooray obesity! notrly)
-GLADYS
-EUNICE
-"Murder, She Wrote" and chocolate cake at midnight (HELLZ YES)
-50 lines of Latin translation (Poem 68 - Catullus, lines 1-40, plus the entirety of Poem 74)
-Sarah is Anderson Silva. You are Rich Franklin.

w0rdw0rdw0rd

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What can I say? I let it all stand, despite the obvious falsehood of the penultimate line and the fact that nobody invited me for the chocolate cake.

I'll have to drown my sorrow in BCP and Zanzibar chocolate. There are always consolations.

Beowulf and an RPS update

Tonight we ate dinner at Wasabi, a place with good sushi, good Thai food, and service that ranges from mediocre to bad. The meal was tasty, and after it we passed some time in a Barnes & Noble before going to see Beowulf.

My reactions to the film are decidedly mixed. The story modifications didn't trouble me terribly, though from time to time they did intrude. The animation, however, bothered me frequently. At the end of the movie, I found myself wishing for either pure animation or live action with CGI as necessary for monsters and such. On balance, I'm glad I saw this one, but it left me hungry for a really good movie. (I have high hopes for The Golden Compass next week.)
On the RPS front, Sarah, despite having lost tonight and last night, decided it was time to celebrate her RPS skills (and to send Kyle a message); check out her artwork here.

Sarah won today's blog entry

by beating me for the eighth straight day at Rock Paper Scissors. The family record, which I, of course, own, is a ten-day winning streak, but I am getting perilously close to giving Sarah a share in that record. I must not let it happen!

That said, because Sarah owns this entry, I must repeat what she asked me to post:

"Get in the car, Kyle!"

Go figure.

In unrelated news, today was insanely busy at work, I'm crawling toward the finish line with Slanted Jack but still not there, one can (and I very well may for New Year's Eve) order Wagyu beef sliders and pigs in blankets, and the weather forecast for tonight is dark, continuing until morning, when at first scattered light and then full light will appear.

Get on the bus

Too much art can be dangerous. It reminds me of all that I haven't accomplished and makes me yearn for more time for writing and moviemaking and other arts, time I can't afford to give.

Tonight, Sarah performed four piano pieces at Fourth Friday, then hopped in the car with a friend of hers and me to zip off to the Stars concert at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro. I know very little about the band's music, but the show--despite the typical lousy club mix--made me determined to check them out further. Though the drive home in the pouring rain--for which all of us in this area are quite grateful--was exhausting, I'm still glad I went.

In thinking about art tonight, I realized that I am on the bus, at least a little: I write every day. I find some small solace in that fact, and I hope that I will be able to carve out bigger chunks of time each day in the months and years that I hope are still to come.

Oh, lest I forget: Sarah is today's RPS sad panda, because the streak is over.

Random walk

I'm going to be up very late tonight, because I'm quite behind on work, so of course my brain is going in every direction at once. Here are the lead points of just a few of those vectors.

I'm a sad RPS panda. To see why, check Sarah's triumph.

Sarah also asked that I put here a message for Kyle: "Get in the car, Kyle!" (Don't ask.)

The galleys for Transhuman arrived today. I'm glad to have the chance to proof them, but I'm also neck-deep in work, so it's one more stress. So it goes. I am looking forward to the book's publication.

While working I listened to a couple of interviews with Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens. I was a huge Cat Stevens fan in high school and college, and I still love a lot of his music.

Dave, my one draft reader for each book, gave me a lot of great comments on Slanted Jack. For reasons related to details of the scene, one suggestion didn't work as he'd written it, but the instinct behind it was superb. Last night, I worked on that scene, and I greatly improved it (I hope) after thinking a lot about Dave's comment. Thanks, Dave.

Fair is fair

Sarah stopped the streak at nine and won the rock paper scissors title for day.

I'll be back!

The count is 9

Nine days of rock paper scissors competitions with Sarah, that is, nine days in which I have triumphed each day while she has gone for the loss.

Sad, sad.

Not that I'd gloat.

It's on

We had to settle it tonight.

Sarah had to go there, she did, she had to start the site.

The UFC Ultimate Fight Night show last night was superb, with warriors battling it out and giving it their all.

They had nothing on this epic struggle.

Into my office, my sanctuary, she pranced, hair waving in pigtails with mismatched hair scrunchies, to pose the challenge. She fancied herself 2BA; she was anything but.

I offered her a chance to save her dignity, but she refused. My fatherly love almost stopped me from showing her what's what, but in the end, I felt I owed her the lesson.

We played.

I won two straight, the second one in two straight calls. I pwn her soul.

She's standing over my shoulder now, taunting me, but she knows she lost. She can't escape that fact. I feel sorry for her, but there it is.

Sarah loses. I rule.

Enough on this topic.

Rock, paper, scissors

Why is this game so much fun? My daughter and I play it almost every night, usually at very high speed, and we've yet to tire of it. Maybe it's the people-reading aspect, maybe the silliness, but something about it has helped it persist as both an amusement and a decision-making tool.

Of course, I like it because I routinely pwn Sarah at it.

She'd tell you otherwise.

Don't believe her.