Two moments in a long travel day

Sitting on the increasingly hot plane today, we received an unpleasant announcement from the pilot: the airplane had an offline AP, which meant that its air conditioning wouldn't work until the engines were running. So, of course, we sat on the tarmac for quite a while, stewing in our own juices.

Eventually, the plane took off, and cold, dry air flooded into the moist, hot space.

Click an image to see a larger version.

If you look closely at the vents, you'll see the mist that rolled across the upper walls of the plane cabin. I loved watching it--though not as much as I loved the cold air.

Tonight, in a break from work, I made my usual run downtown for dinner at Cooper's BBQ.

I sampled the brisket, the sausage, a few bites of steak, and part of a beef rib, as well as the mac-and-cheese. All of it was delicious, though the brisket's edges were entirely too salty, a rare misstep for Cooper's.

Most of the day went to work, which is still eating my time, so back to it.

TED 2017, day 1: Wow

I'm not going to talk further about our announcement earlier today, because I want to focus on TED, but I will show you this picture of Bill and me wearing the shirts at the big photo-op TED sign.

Click an image to see a larger version.

Bill's smiling nicely, and I think I've managed to tone down my resting I-will-kill-you face to something only vaguely violent, but you be the judge.

TED kicked off with two sessions of presentations by over two dozen of the TED Fellows. All of the talks were interesting and informative, and I was glad to have been able to catch them. Because it's late here and I have to get up early, I won't run through them all, but a few struck me as particularly notable. (All really do deserve your attention; I'm just hitting ones that stayed strongly with me and are still on my mind.)

Karim Abouelnaga discussed how his Practice Makes Perfect organization is closing the education gap for students from low-income communities in the New York City area. Both practical and inspirational, his work deserves more attention and support.

Neuroscientist Rebecca Brachman gave an intriguing talk on the possibility of resilience drugs that could act basically as vaccines against PTSD and clinical depression. Both the possibility of such drugs and the ethical issues that preventative psychopharmacology raise are fascinating topics.

Artist and activist Damon Davis used art as both a defense against fear and a way to boost courage during protests in Ferguson, Missouri.

Wanuri Kahiu, a Kenyan filmmaker and writer, argued persuasively for the importance of what she called "Afrobubblegum," escapist stories set in Africa. I found it refreshing to hear someone else espouse some positive values of science fiction.

Comedian, filmmaker, and social activist Negin Farsad again wrapped up the Fellows' presentations with a lot of funny and yet shrewd observations about how to deal with tyrants, even if they happen to occupy an elected office.

Honestly, I could say good things about all of the Fellows' presentations, but it really is quite late here, so on I go.

Each year at TED, I've shown the contents of my goodie bag, so I won't break the tradition.

I chose some of the items, while others were standard.

After a snack and conversation break--before the day ended, a couple of folks had indeed asked about our shirts, so we made a tiny bit of progress on that front--the TED main stage opened with the first session, One Move Ahead.

Wow.  Just wow. This was the strongest opening TED session in my memory. The weakest talk was good, and most were excellent.

We began with Huang Yi dancing with a robot he created, while cellist Joshua Roman played beautifully. The interplay between man and robot was both beautiful and frequently touching.

Futurist and designer Anab Jain discussed projects her studio creates to show people what possible futures would look, feel, and in one case even smell like. Mixing the predictive futurism of some SF with both artistic and practical design considerations, her work serves to give people a great way to consider what might be coming.

Chess great and human rights activist Garry Kasparov discussed not only his experience first beating and then losing to IBM's Deep Blue, but also deeper considerations of the relationship between people and increasingly smart artificially intelligent machines.

Cyber-security specialist Laura Galante argued persuasively and passionately that Russian state-sponsored hacking and information manipulation may have been the key element in the election of our current President. I do not have and probably never will have access to the data necessary to know if what she said is what indeed happened, but even if it did not, the strategies she outlined were enough to make clear that the battlefield of future cyber-warfare is vastly more complicated than most people ever imagine.

Next up, the band Ok Go first played live along with a video and then shared some insights into how they create their incredible videos. Singer Damian Kulash, Jr. explained that they do not so much create ideas as find them, a statement that does not do justice to the approach he then explained. I am still processing this approach to creativity and expect to be doing so for some time, but I believe I have a great deal to learn from it--both for myself and for my businesses. They received a well-deserved standing ovation, as did the next three speakers.

Tim Ferriss spoke about his approach to dealing with stress, an approach that he has used to help cope with being bi-polar and having suffered over fifty depressive episodes to date. Basically, he practices stoicism. He showed some particular tools he uses to manage the stress that can trigger his episodes, and like the notions of creativity Kulash discussed, I am still processing these. I will say that a lot of what he described is similar to techniques I've come to rely on during the past several years, so I'm certainly in his target audience.

In a deeply touching and disturbing talk, artist Titus Kaphar discussed his work to illuminate the real history that art frequently hides and how we can reclaim that history from art without getting rid of the art.

Last up was Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who in addition to having a great deal to say was also clearly an accomplished orator. He argued that futurists examining the evidence of today might well conclude that we worship the self, the I, and that instead we should put our energies into the us. I know that sounds crunchy, but it's not, because there is a real difference between focusing all of our energies on ourselves and directing them to the service of others. He argued for the us of relationships, of identity, and of responsibility. "It's the people not like us who make us grow," he said as part of his discussion of the importance of communicating with people who feel differently than you do.

I've not done justice to any of these talks, but fortunately, TED will ultimately put them all online, and then you can watch them for yourselves. I definitely recommend you do so.

Late in the evening, I've now caught up with personal email and so can try to sleep, but my mind and spirit are still trying to process all that I heard. That's why I come to TED, and it's a delight to be so full and so challenged so early in the week.

Oh, yeah: I've already signed up for next year.

Buy a shirt. Start a conversation. Change the world.

I’ve been teasing for a while now that today I would announce one of the odder things I’ve done. I’m happy to deliver on that promise by introducing you to Limit Your Greed (formally LYG, LLC), a new company that my business partner, Bill Catchings and I are starting. You can visit its site here.

As friends and long-time readers know, Bill and I are the founders and co-owners of Principled Technologies, Inc. PT is the leading fact-based marketing and learning services provider, but it is also — and always has been — a social experiment.  Bill and I started PT in part to see if it was possible to build a business that follows very different principles from traditional businesses and yet still does well and makes a profit.

With PT now in its 15th year, we’re happy to report that the experiment is a success. You can run a business very differently and still do well.

Now, we want to take that lesson to a broader audience—in fact, to everyone—and try to change the world. We want to do so by persuading business owners and executives to choose to do something both simple and radical: to take less so that others can have more. To limit their greed.

Our goal is not new government legislation; instead, we’re hoping to help start a movement in which folks choose to build different businesses and help make the world better for a lot of people.

One way in which we hope to do that is by selling a book, Limit Your Greed, which we’re still working on but should finish soon.

Another is today’s announcement.

As the site says, “Philosophically, LYG is a movement. Practically, it’s a clothing company.”

The idea is simple: Buy shirts that contain challenging and conversation-worthy slogans. The first is “Limit your greed.” Another is “Nobody wins unless everyone wins.” Each shirt comes with talking points. When someone asks what your shirt means, you have a chance to show them a better way for businesses large and small to behave.

I don’t want to repeat all of the material on the site, so let me instead point you to its Practice page for answers to the questions about how to make this happen.

Of course, you could just buy the shirts because they’re cool—and they are. They’re made in North Carolina, where we’re based, from cotton grown here, and they’re soft and lovely to the touch. The designs are nifty, both visually appealing and conversation-worthy.

You could also buy the shirts in the hopes LYG makes a profit, because if it does, half of all profits will go to charity.

What we most hope, though, is that you will buy the shirts—Get ‘em all! Collect the whole set!—and help us change the world.

I have to warn you that you can’t buy the shirts quite yet. That’s intentional. Bill and I will be wearing one of these shirts each day at TED, which we’re attending this week. To help make sure no one felt we were flogging products—a TED no-no we take seriously—we didn’t want them available for sale yet.

So no, we’re not wearing the shirts at TED to sell them. We’re wearing them to do what we hope you will join us in doing: start conversations, and change the world.

I promised odd, and I think that me going into the movement and clothing business is odd enough to make that promise real.

Odd or not, though, I hope you join us in this movement. Together, we can make the world better.

Escaping Austin: The Failure

Friday morning, I awoke before eight a.m. to begin what I thought would be the usual trip home from Austin.  I turned on the TV and selected my usual channel (NBC, because I hate the sound of The Today Show, so having it on encourages me to hurry).

A weatherman was speaking loudly and urgently.  "Repeat, we have a confirmed tornado sighting and flash flooding all around the greater Austin area."

These are not words you want to hear first thing in the morning.

The good news was that the tornado had touched down well south of Austin.  The bad news was that it was moving north.

I considered going right back to bed, but if the storm faded and flights were on time, I would have lost a ticket we'd already purchased.  So, I showered, checked out, and walked into the rain to load the rental car.

Just that short time in the rain left me damp, but the rainfall was still mild, so I was heartened.

Off we went to the airport.

What followed was about 45 minutes of some of the most harrowing rain driving I've ever done.  I took the most direct route--the toll road, which features an 80-mph speed limit--and hoped for the best.  I started out able to sustain 70, but by the end the rain was a thick gray wall so dense I was barely able to hold 35.  Giant trucks going 80 slalomed by me, their drivers apparently willing to risk it all to reach their destinations sooner.  Sections of different lanes proved to be flooded with a foot or more of standing water.  My rental's lights were no match for the falling water, so I couldn't see more than a few car lengths ahead.

We did ultimately reach the airport safely, for which I was very grateful.  After getting soaked walking from the rental car facility into the terminal, we stood in a long line, got our boarding passes, and headed through security.  We'd left early enough that we still were 45 minutes from departure time.

That time, however, no longer mattered, because the flight had slipped from 10:45 a.m. to noon.

No problem.  When stuck in AUS, do the sensible thing:  Have Salt Lick lunch and some ice cream from Amy's.  We did, and both were delicious.

From there, we headed to the Admirals Club, where I learned they had delayed the flight again.  No problem; I can work in an Admirals Club.

I settled into a chair just in time to hear the announcement that American had canceled our flight.

I then commenced a ritual that dominated the next many hours:  Queue up.  Wait in a slow line.  Get a new flight and new boarding passes.  Settle down to work.  Hear the next cancellation announcement.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Repeat.

At this point, the Admirals Club team delivered the news that prospects for anyone's departure had turned grim.  It seems, as best I could gather, that the tornado's path had changed so that it was headed toward the airport's tower.  They consequently and sensibly evacuated the tower.  The tower then flooded, so that by the time the tornado was no longer a tornado and no longer headed for the tower, no one could get into the tower.

Then the ramps to the runways flooded.

At this point, the Admirals Club folks announced that the airport would be closed for departures until at least three o'clock.

At least I then got some work done.

Sometime after three, they canceled my last flight, I did the queue/wait dance, and I learned that I was not going home that day.  Instead, I was on an eight a.m. flight the next day.

I'd been coordinating with Gina back in the office, so she got us rooms in a great downtown hotel (the Westin) and a rental car.

We collected our luggage, walked to the rental car center, and learned we had no car yet.  No people were on staff to help, because, as we later learned, most of their staff had called to say they would not be able to make it to work.

We found a young man who was in his fourteenth hour of work but who was still running hard and being extraordinarily pleasant.  He got us a car, the confirming email hit my phone, and off to the car--which was, of course, on the far side of the facility--we went.

I had just opened the car's trunk when a wild-eyed man ran at me, waving a contract, screaming, "That's my car!"  I also had an email contract for the car, but he looked crazier than I felt, so I told him by all means to take the car.  He immediately calmed and was polite and grateful.

The same young man who had helped us before happened to witness this exchange, so he pulled a car from a line, drove it over to us, and then arranged for the contract to be waiting by the time we reached the exit.

That dude deserves a bonus.  I wish I'd caught his name, but his badge had blown off.

At the checkout line, the guy helping us said, "I just clean the cars.  I don't know how to use this thing, so this'll take a while.  Me and this other guy are the only ones here."

The tablet rebooted.  Our helper ran to the other person on duty--the omnipresent helpful young man--and learned how to log on and to check us out.

We exited the airport, drove through a far milder but still annoying rain, and eventually reached the Westin.  I settled down to work not quite nine hours after I'd left my previous hotel room.

Sometimes, you just don't get to leave town.

On the road again: World Fantasy Con, Washington, D.C., day 4

Today the convention held its annual banquet and announcement of the winners of this year's World Fantasy Awards.  I enjoyed the ceremony, which is one of the more important yearly gatherings of the SF&F clan.  The food was even decent, which is both a bonus and a surprise at a banquet.

I worked for a time, chatted with some friends, worked some more, and then a small group of us headed off to see Interstellar.  I'll write a full review of it later--I now owe you two long entries--but the bottom line is that I very much enjoyed it.

I have to get up at six a.m., so I'm heading offline now. 

When I next write, I'll be in Portland, OR!

Good on you, Tesla

I was happy to read this announcement from Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, which Lynn brought to my attention.  Though the move is neither entirely altruistic--see this analysis for more on why--nor a surrender of control--"Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology."--it is still a good move for the world.  We need more electric, zero-emissions vehicles, and Tesla's action may help us reach that goal.

I don't expect to see a flood of EVs, but I am hoping this will help other companies create more of them.

I also like it when a company does something that both makes good business sense and helps the world.  In this case, Tesla may well be trying to create a bigger market for the batteries it will one day produce, but in doing so it is helping others.

Well done, Tesla.

On the road again: TEDActive, Whistler, day 4

We'll start again with the health report:  I'm not dead yet.  I'm also not well yet.  Each day, I seem to be getting a tiny bit better, so I'm going to hope that trend continues.

Now, on to the conference.

Each day, I've said I was going to write only a short piece, and each day, I've failed to do that.  Tonight, I intend to stick to that goal and hit only some highlights of the day.

The thing is, though, at TED there are a lot of highlights.

After trying to come on first and then encountering technical difficulties, Rick Ledgett, Deputy Director of the NSA, ended the morning session with a long video conversation with Chris Anderson.  Ledgett did his best to answer Anderson's questions, but to my taste he kept coming across as the not entirely trustworthy head of a major intelligence operation--the latter of which, of course, he is.  I doubt he changed anyone's mind on the Snowden issues, but I have to applaud him to joining the discussion at TED.

Earlier in that session, I enjoyed Keren Elazari's defense of the positive role hackers can and often do play in world of the Internet. 

David Epstein's discussion of what has really changed in sports and how much technology is shaping sports records was consistently fascinating.  I am definitely going to pick up his book, The Sports Gene.

Science writer Ed Yong shared with us his passion for parasites, and I learned a great deal. 

In a short talk, Seth Godin argued that we should learn not to hold anything back, at least on occasion. 

A high point of the afternoon was a roundtable discussion, which Kelly and Rives hosted on the stage here in Whistler, with six TED speakers:  Ron Finley, TED Prize winner Charmian Gooch, Raghava KK, Chris Kluwe, Geena Rocerco, and Stefan Sagmeister.

Click on an image to see a larger version.

As it turns out, Sagmeister had originally planned to give his TED talk this week on the importance of beauty but decided to talk instead about the TED intros he had designed.  The audience's applause persuaded him to give us the talk, which left me with a lot to consider.  

The final session of the day opened with Sara Lewis teaching us just how fascinating fireflies really are. 

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins recited two poems from dogs.  The one in the voice of a dog talking the master who had just put him to sleep was lovely, angry, and touching. 

In an entertaining and frequently funny talk, xkcd creator Randall Munroe told us about the questions he gets and the energy he puts into answering some of them.

Andrew Connolly talked a bit about the big-data problems the upcoming Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will bring us--but with those problems will come amazing pictures of the universe.

Continuing the space theme, in one of the more endearing presentations, Will Marshall, a co-founder of Planet Labs, talked about the cheap imaging satellites his company was launching and the quality and quantity of data those satellites will soon make available to us all.  I love his ambition and mission, but at no point in the talk could I figure out how the company would make money.

Director Louie Schwartzberg showed bits from his 3D IMAX film, Mysteries of the Unseen World.  I definitely want to see this one, ideally in IMAX.

The last act of today was the announcement by XPRIZE co-founder Peter Diamandis and Chris Anderson of the new A.I. XPRIZE, presented by TED.  The challenge is to have an A.I. come on stage (in any way) at TED and give a talk that earns a standing ovation.  The TED community will help create the rules for the talk.  I look forward to seeing this effort play out. 

In the evening, for the first time since arriving at the hotel, I went outside.  I've been avoiding doing that because of my health, but I had to do it to attend tonight's celebration dinner at the top of the mountain.

Did I mention it's beautiful here?  Check out the ski slope that ends at the hotel.

I loved this stream, which we crossed on foot on a wooden bridge.

We rode in gondola cars in groups of six up the mountain for a dinner and party. 

Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman came over from TED in Vancouver to do a short, post-dinner show for us. Palmer started by joining a local cover band in the Violent Femmes' "Blister In the Sun," a song I quite like.

Palmer sang a few songs, one without a mic.

Gaiman read a very short story from his Blackberry calendar project; he chose the tale for October.

On the gondola ride down, the town spread out before us like a magic village.

Another fine TED day.

Illogicon, day 2

The con started too damn early for me today with a 10:00 a.m. panel on Finance for Beginning Writers.  The audience was initially quite small, half a dozen or so folks, but it tripled in the first 15 minutes as more people wandered into the room.  We discussed many different aspects of the money side of writing, from what to expect (not much money), to whether to quit your day job (most of us said no, but some argued it could be an effective way to focus), to how to manage the little bit of money you do make (pay your taxes!).  It went well, and everyone in attendance seemed happy at its end.

After a short nap in the car and a small burrito at a nearby Moe's, I returned to the con for a 1:00 p.m. panel on Science Fiction and Ethics.  The discussion ranged over a broad variety of related topics, and though all the panelists had strong feelings on many topics, we managed to successfully avoid much conflict.  I enjoyed this topic and could easily have kept discussing it for another hour.  The audience, which was a pretty good size, seemed to feel the same way, which was great.

During the next hour, I learned a couple of con-related, interesting things. 

First was that our local paper, the News & Observer, had run an article on the con.  The piece even quoted me, which I suppose is good, though more context would have been nice.

Then, Ticia texted me a picture from the con folks about a sketch that Tim Powers had done and then donated to the charity auction.

As always, click on an image to see a larger version. 

I think the sketch is very cool, and I didn't want to miss a chance to own one of Powers' drawings, so I changed my evening plans so I could attend the auction. 

After a little wandering and some rest in a quiet corner, I showed up for my 3:00 p.m. signing.  As is usually the case, I signed only a few books, talked to some friends who wandered by, and dreamed of being one of those writers whose signing line stretches around the block.  As these thoughts took their toll on my mood, I started marking up the signing announcement sheet.  Bored with that, I wrote a short, depressing story in lines wrapping around the page.

I planned to leave it there, but Jennie and Glennis spotted it, and Jennie snapped it up.  That proved to be a good thing, because a little while later one of the con folks said they had heard about it and asked if I would donate it to the charity auction.  I said, sure, and Jennie gave it to them.

If you blow it up and turn your head (or print it and turn it), you can read the few sentences of this bit of bleakness.

I then scooted off to the Baen Traveling Road Show, where I spoke about my books and my upcoming (and still not done) Heinlein afterword.  I also just enjoyed the show and the chance to learn about the upcoming Baen books.

Though I would normally have gone home at that point, I waited around until the charity auction began.  I learned there that somehow they had lost the sheet with the story, so it couldn't go up for auction.  I hope someone has it and enjoys it.

I asked if they would auction the Powers sketch early, and they agreed reluctantly but nicely to do so. 

It was the third item up. 

The auctioneer opened the bidding at ten bucks, and I sat silently as a few different folks bid it to $17.

"Twenty-five," I said.

The room grew a bit quieter.  A voice behind me said, "Twenty-six."

"Fifty," I said.

"I think I heard a 'comma, bitch,'" the auctioneer said.

A voice behind me, quieter this time, said, "Fifty-five."

"One hundred," I said.

No one in the room made a sound.  "Well, I suspect that's that," the auctioneer said, and it was.

I plead guilty to having to leave early, paid for the piece, and headed out to dinner.

On the road again: Austin, day 1

For quite a while, today's travels looked to be as perfect as they could be.

Rain was pattering the skylights and darkening the world when I awoke, so I grabbed an extra fifteen minutes of sleep--quite a luxury for me. I still made the airport in plenty of time without rushing. Awaiting me were upgrades on both legs.

Work in the Admiral's Club went well.

Work on the plane went well, thanks to the available bandwidth.

In DFW, I grabbed a Red Mango parfait to accompany my earlier salad as lunch.

My arrival gate was only two gates from my departure area.

As I was waiting to board the plane to Austin--a plane that had arrived early--and finishing my Red Mango, I said to myself that one could not ask for better business travel.

Mistake.

As I was throwing away the cup, the announcement came over the loudspeakers: Our plane had "maintenance issues" that they could not quickly repair. We all had to hustle to a new gate, one two terminals away, to board a new plane.

You don't appreciate how many people are on a plane until you share an escalator and an airport tram with them.

I boarded, went to my seat--a window, but in first class, so I couldn't complain.

The person in the aisle seat appeared. She was tall, 5'11" or so, and she was large, at least 350 pounds, probably more. She was wearing a t-shirt stretched so tight you could bounce coins off it and low-rise jeans.

Not my problem, of course. I just read my book--a new Lee Child, another treat--and worked.

After the short flight and as we were preparing to leave, she stood but had to stay stooped because the aisle was crowded. This act exposed about four inches of butt crack. When she started to move forward, I turned toward the aisle and leaned forward to follow her. She straightened a bit, which exposed another few inches of butt crack, and then stumbled and fell backward slightly...

...wedging my nose momentarily into that vast expanse of butt crack.

She tittered, apologized, and left.

I stopped in the nearest airport bathroom and scrubbed my nose with soap.

When I made it to the rental car window, they were out of cars. They proposed to give me a minivan, but I am traveling alone and did not want a van. After some discussion, they found me an alternative, a car they described only as smaller.

Mind you, I'm in Texas, where bigger is better, so of course this is the rental car I ended up driving.


A Fiat! Really?

Yes.

This POS reeks of new car smell but at the same time stinks of impending decay. Driving it is like dating a zombie spackled with air-brush make-up. The car itself looks like the bastard child of a 1967 Oldsmobile and a first-gen Mini Cooper, but uglier.

Kyle and I proudly drove it to the County Line by the Lake, where the day was healed by the power of barbecue and then perfected by Amy's ice cream.

I am grateful that neither exists in Raleigh, because I couldn't afford the weight gain.

On the radio

I've been remiss in not mentioning something that crept without announcement onto my Appearances page: This summer, courtesy of Publisher Toni, I did a radio tour in support of the paperback of Children No More.

Here are all the places my voice went (I did the interviews from a variety of locations by phone):

www.woca.com WOCA-AM, 17 June, 201
www.talkofconnecticut.com WDRC-AM, 23 June, 2011
www.wnav.com WNAV-AM, 29 June, 2011
www.wogl.com WOGL-FM, 7/5/11
www.1040kcbr.com KCBR/KCMN-AM, 7/6/11
www.wntn.com/ WNTN-AM, 7/8/11
www.lifestyletalkradio.com Lifestyle Talk Radio Network, 7/11/11
www.issuestoday.libsyn.com/ Issues Today Radio Network, 7/13/11
www.crntalk.com Cable Radio Network, 7/26/11 Chuck Wilder

I'd like to be able to say that all of the interviews are online, but I don't honestly know. If you want to listen to them, I think you'll have to check each station's site.

I have to grade my performances as ranging from meh to pretty good. I was not prepared for how short some of the interviews were, so I didn't maximize the value of my time on all of them. If I do this sort of thing again, I'm confident I'll do a better job.

If you find some of these online, drop me a note with the URLs to them, and I'll update the site.

Come see me at Balticon this weekend!

Yes, tomorrow morning all too early for my taste, we head to Balticon. The early departure is necessary to try to avoid the rush-hour traffic around D.C. and then the second round of heavy traffic around Baltimore. I rarely make it out the door as early as I'd like, because it always seems that on the evening before I am doing what I'm doing now: working insanely late. Ah, well.

I'll be rather busy at this con, so if you'd like to catch up, come by one of these events and say hi. Here's what the con folks have me doing:

Saturday, noon: Baen traveling slide show

Free books! A slide show of current and upcoming books, usually with both the original art and the final cover--a rare chance to see how book covers evolve. Free marketing swag! The occasional announcement of a new book. Free books!

Did I mention we'll be giving away a lot of free goodies?

Saturday, 2:00 p.m.: Liar's Panel

This one is for Balticon's reading charity. My fellow panelists and I will answer some prepared outrageous questions. We have to tell the truth--except a few times, when we get to lie. None of us will know when the other is lying. After each question, anyone can challenge an answer--by holding a buck in the air. When all the challengers have their hands up, the panelist must reveal whether the answer was true or a lie. If it was true, the charity gets all those dollar bills from the challengers. If it was false, the panelist has to kick ten bucks to the charity.

In past years, we've heard some amazing tales and laughed so hard we hurt. Come join us again for more fun this year.

Saturday, 7:00 p.m.: Reading

No, I won't tell you what I'll read, but I will say this: it's likely to be something I have never read aloud at a con. Show up to find out just what I'm considering.

Sunday, 1:00 p.m.: Mister Poor Choices comedy show

Usually, you have to buy a ticket to a comedy club to see a stand-up show, but at Balticon you get one for free. Of course, we'll try to convince you to buy a tour shirt on the way out the door--because I'm donating all the profits from my sales of the shirts to Balticon's reading charity.

You'll laugh, you'll learn many choices not to make, and you'll shake your head in stunned wonder at some of the ones I have made. Don't miss it.

Sunday, 2:00 p.m.: Good and Evil in Genre Literature

We'll get down with our moral selves and explore just how our fiction deals with some of the great complexities we humans face.

Or maybe we'll just blow it off and tell fart jokes.

You'll have to show up to find out which way we go.

Sunday, 4:00 p.m.: Improv Comedy Jam

Just what the title says: You pitch ideas, and we turn them into comedy--or look stupid trying. Expect to laugh and probably to groan a bit, too.

Monday, 11:00 a.m.: The Use and Misuse of Violence in SF & Fantasy

I've spoken on this topic before, and the panels always ended up being interesting and thought-provoking discussions. I'm sure this one will follow a similar course. Check it out.


I hope to see many of you at the con!

Some Jon and Lobo news

I've been working hard to stop myself from talking about works in progress, because I believe that doing so is one of the ways I create crazy noise in my head. (Many of my friends disagree with this decision, but so it goes.) Despite that inclination, I thought it might be nice to give you two fun facts about the next book, the fifth in the series.

First, it now seems fairly certain that it will appear in February, 2012. I know that's a long time--18 months--between books, but I got busy with some other stuff, including editing and writing an original story for The Wild Side. That anthology, with my contribution, "The Long Dark Night of Diego Chan," will appear this coming summer, as I've noted in earlier posts, so you'll at least have a nice chunk of new fiction from me in 2011.

Next, after more than than the usual amount of thought on the topic, I finally settled on a title for the novel, one that makes me happy because it works on multiple levels.

No, I won't tell you what those levels are; you'll just have to read the book.

So, in true James Bond style, I will close with this end-of-the-credits announcement:

Jon and Lobo will return in

No Going Back

On the road again: San Francisco, day 5 (and an appearance announcement)

The conference I'm attending is the Intel Developer Forum (aka IDF) at the Moscone Center. It's always an interesting event, and it makes enough news in techie circles that you can follow it easily enough online. That, though, is about all I can say about that.

Dinner tonight was at Oola, a fun little restaurant where the food was tasty and the portions on the large side.

I promised an announcement: In about fourteen months, on the weekend of November 4, 2011, I will be the Toastmaster at CONTRAflow, a new science fiction convention in (well, technically, near) New Orleans. I'm already looking forward to visiting New Orleans again!

THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENTBuy a book, help save a child in war

I've been teasing for a while that I had a big announcement to make. This is it. I'll start with the simplest statement of it:

I'm donating every cent I receive (including the advance) from the sale of copies of the Children No More hardcover to help rehabilitate children in the war. To that end, I'm partnering with Falling Whistles.

Now, a little background.

Back in February, on the first day of TEDActive, during a break in the sessions, I realized that I wanted to do more than just participate in conversations about improving the world; I wanted to do something, something potentially large. Though none of the sessions were about child soldiers, Children No More is--and I was deep into the third pass of it at that point. The novel is, I believe, a page-turner of a good story, as it should be, but it is also at another level a discussion of some of the challenges of rehabilitating and reintegrating child soldiers.

Though I have never been a child in war, this topic is near and dear to my heart. For more on why, let me quote from my own afterword to Children No More.

The use of children as soldiers is one of those topics that few people like to discuss. Depending on what you read and watch, you can go a very long time without bumping into it. Do a Web search on the subject, however, and you’ll find that children are fighting and dying every day. Hard numbers are, as you might expect, difficult to come by, but groups such as The International Rescue Committee (www.theirc.org) estimate about 300,000 boys and girls are involved today in this horrific practice.

I find this deeply disturbing. I think everyone should.

I understand that in the catalog of the world’s woes, a cause with only a few hundred thousand sufferers may seem like a small thing. Numerically, it certainly falls way below hunger, disease, poverty, and many other vital issues humanity must address. But these are children, children whom adults are turning into soldiers, and that is simply wrong.

I must confess to a special connection to this cause because of personal experience—not, I hasten to note, as a child soldier. I have never experienced anything as bad as what these boys and girls undergo.

I did, however, spend three years in a youth group that trained young boys to be soldiers. The group’s intentions were good: To use military conventions and structures to teach discipline, fitness, teamwork, and many other valuable lessons. It certainly accomplished many of those goals with me.

The year I joined, however, was 1965, and war was ramping up in Viet Nam. I was ten years old. On my first day, an active soldier on leave showed up and acted as our drill sergeant. That day, I saw my first—but not my last—necklace of human ears and learned the ethics of collecting them. That afternoon, I stood at attention in the hot Florida sun while this grown man screamed at me and, when I cried, punched me in the stomach so hard that I fell to the ground and threw up. He put his boot on my head and ground the side of my face into my vomit.

That was not the worst day I had in those three years. It wasn’t even close.

My worst days with that group were nothing compared to what the child soldiers endure. Nothing.

That day in Palm Springs, I realized that I didn't need to rely on anyone else--not my publisher, not the bookstores, not anyone--to do this. I just had to do it.

Of course, that didn't mean I had to do it stupidly, or on a small scale.

So, I talked with Publisher Toni, who was supportive. Gina and I started researching charities who help child soldiers and other children in war. After a few months of conversations and negotiations, we agreed to partner with the fine folks at Falling Whistles, people who work on this cause every day.

A small group of friends and co-workers agreed to lend their talents to the cause. You'll see the results of their labor over the next two months. The Falling Whistles people are going to be doing a lot of promotional work as well; more on that later.

Some of our activities are already starting to appear:

* A placeholder Web site, childrennomore.com, is already up. We'll be turning it into a far richer site over the next few weeks.

* Publisher Toni let us flag the cause on the back of the book, which now includes a nifty graphic and some text about what we're doing.

* A Flash ad for Children No More is running for all of June on the Publishers Weekly Web site. That ad notes the donation.

Many more bits of promotion, including a press release, will follow soon.

My goal is simple: To raise as much money as possible for this great cause by selling as many hardbacks as possible--and keeping none of the proceeds.

I hope to do it by making gift-giving painless--no, not painless, enjoyable. You don't have to pay anything extra to get the book; in fact, Publisher Toni has made it the cheapest of my hardback novels ever. All you have to do is buy it, have a good read, and in the process you'll be doing a good deed.

Of course, if you'd like to do more, tell your friends. Spread the word. If you really want to work on this cause, we'd love to have you join our little band. Email me via the form on the Web site and let me know your ideas.

As Sarah said tonight, when we were discussing possible tag lines for this simple process,

Lose yourself in another world,
and help save a child in this one.

On the road again: Balticon, day 7

After much driving, including a detour that took us off I-85 for half an hour, I'm home. (My theory on the detour is that a secret government convoy was transporting an alien leader to the White House for a conference with President Obama when a terrorist group kidnapped the alien--but that's just one possibility.)

Simply settling in and dealing with the accumulated mail and so on has taken most of the evening, so I'm going to keep this short. Tomorrow, I hope to write up the big announcement.

Until then, enjoy a little Southside Johnny and the Boss.

On the road again: Balticon, day 5

Morning once again arrived far too early for my taste today, but it has a way of doing that. One of these days, I'm going on a "vacation" trip that is actually a vacation; maybe this year's beach trip will fit the bill.

After scraping the drool off my chin and showering, I headed out to do the 90-minute Baen News panel. It was, as always, big fun. We showed dozens of covers, talked about upcoming books, eARCs, DRM (= bad; Baen has no truck with it), my big announcement (leaking out at the con and soon to come here, as soon as I catch a breath), and so on. We also gave out a fairly hefty box full of goodies. All in all, a good time. My thanks to Publisher Toni for the slides and the great giveaways. My thanks also to the loyal Baen fans for turning out in good numbers (50 or more folks attended) to hear about upcoming books.

Lunch was at a local pizza-and-gelato lunch; our group partook of both house specialities. From there, I headed back to my room to work.

Random con activities, work, a bit of a rest, and dinner filled the remainder of the day, with dinner being a particular stand-out: a wide selection of lovely tapas dishes from the always reliable Pazo. Though the restaurant's menu has changed for the worse--fewer different tapas choices, more big plates--each dish we sampled was delicious, and I still heartily recommend it.

With the show behind me, I must now focus more intensely on various writing obligations, notably finishing up my story for The Wild Side and getting that book off to Publisher Toni. Fun stuff!

On the road again: Balticon, day 1

Balticon doesn't start in earnest until Friday, but my trip this time will run Wednesday to late Tuesday. After work today, we headed north by car, both to avoid the heavier traffic of Thursday and to minimize my offline time. In general, I have to call this travel strategy a success, but it's probably good only for night-owls.

When I arrived, I was already mostly caught up on work email thanks to my 3G iPad's ability to let me do email while in the car. (No, I didn't do email when I was driving, tempting as that prospect was.)

We stopped at the Silver Diner at Potomac Mills for a late-ish breakfast-for-dinner meal. I quite enjoyed myself, particularly because someone cranked up Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons twice on the jukebox. I have no excuse for that weakness, but I do enjoy some Frankie now and again. I suspect the sight of me lip-synching "Sherry" and "Big Girls Don't Cry" is, however, enough to put most people off their feed.

Over the next few days, I plan to give you a look at the new show shirt, tell you the big news, report on some strange art, and tell you about the con.

Did I mention I'll make the big announcement?

For now, though, it's back to work!

Jon & Lobo will return

When I was young, I was a huge fan of the James Bond movies. (I still am.) When each movie ended, I would sit in the theater as the credits scrolled and anxiously await the magic moment when the screen would light up with the words

James Bond will return in

As long-time readers of this blog will know, my contract for the Jon & Lobo series ended with Children No More. You may also remember that I am far from done with the series; CNM was book four, and my current rough outline requires about eighteen books to complete.

I'm happy to be able to announce that Publisher Toni and I have agreed to terms on a new three-book contract, the first of which will be another Jon & Lobo book. (The others may, too, or not--we haven't worried about that yet.) I owe it next May, and you should be able to buy it about the first of November, 2011--in time for the holiday gift-giving season!

I know that's a bit more than a year between the books, which is not perfect, but it's the best I could manage.

I'm psyched to write the next one and already know its basics. I hope you're happy at the prospect of getting more Jon & Lobo stories.

Oh, yeah: This is not the big announcement I mentioned yesterday. That will follow.

But not today.

Remember that big announcement I promised?

No, I can't make it yet, but very soon--this coming week, I hope.

I'm excited.

More soon.

What am I doing now?

A few folks have asked me what I'm doing now that I've finished Children No More, so I thought I'd give a quick run-down of the various projects on my non-day-job plate.

Children No More: Yes, I finished writing it, but now I'm reviewing the proof pages. That does take time.

Wake Up Horny, Wake Up Angry: I'm doing the premiere of this spoken word/stand-up comedy show at one minute past midnight late on Saturday night/early on Sunday morning at Balticon. If you're in the area, you should definitely come to the con and see the show; the con is great, and the show should make you laugh. Right now, I'm still working on the show, and I'll probably be doing so until about three seconds before I step on stage. Maybe a little longer than that.

The Wild Side: I'm editing this anthology of erotic urban fantasy stories. Most of the stories are in, with one in rewrite and my own still to come. I'm also collecting the afterwords from the authors and their bios. I'll tell more about this one in a few weeks. I'm working on my story now.

Fatal Circle: This near-future thriller will be my next novel project. Because I already have about a third of it in first draft and have a huge (26K words) outline for it, I hope to finish it far more quickly than most of my books.

In addition to these projects, I have three interesting things in the works that I can't discuss quite yet. One is the surprise announcement I mentioned some time ago, and the other two are still not ready for me to discuss. It's all good, though.

Seeing such a short list makes me wonder why I'm feeling overwhelmed. I clearly have to work harder!