Yeah, I know I'm her father

but I'm telling you, Sarah can write. Read this, and tell me I'm wrong.

I'm not.

Party night

Here in Raleigh, I don't attend a lot of parties other than the small extended-family gatherings I usually host, but tonight marked the kick-off of the NASFiC with two SF parties.

The first was an open house at Baen's offices in Wake Forest. The food and conversation were both excellent, and I got to catch up for a few minutes with Eric Flint (the con's Guest of Honor), John Kessel, and my publisher/editor, the redoubtable Toni Weisskopf (the con's Toastmaster). I also had the chance to meet and chat briefly with Mary Robinette Kowal, whose first novel, Shades of Milk and Honey, also came out yesterday.

From there, we drove to Quail Ridge Books for the launch party of the second issue of Sam Montgomery-Blinn's SF magazine, Bull Spec. The short readings were generally interesting, and I had a chance to at least briefly meet so many local SF/fantasy writers that I couldn't catch all their names (sorry, folks; I was already tired). Sam even made a point of mentioning the Children No More charity program, for which I was grateful.

All in all, a fun evening.

The worst thing...

(In this entry, I assume you are aware of my goal of raising a lot of money to help child soldiers by donating all of my earnings from sales of the hardback of Children No More to Falling Whistles. If you're not, you can go to the Children No More site and learn more there. I'll be here when you return.)


People often begin discussions of rough topics with that phrase. When it comes to child soldiers, though, there are so many aspects of the problem vying for the title of "worst" that it's almost impossible to pick one. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to touch briefly on a few of them. I'm starting with the one that most clearly explains why we need to raise a lot of money:

Nobody wants these kids.

Think about it: They were trained to kill. They were traumatized by experiences no human, much less a child, should have to endure. Their socialization was screwed up in unthinkable ways. Let's be honest: would you want one in your house?

That's exactly why we need to help. With the right rehabilitation and reintegration programs, these kids can return to normal society. It takes time and skilled people to help them, but it is possible. Many kids have gone through successful rehabilitation programs. We shouldn't be satisfied until they all have. Falling Whistles works to help these kids, which is why I'm giving them this money.

Let's help these kids return to normal lives.

To find the real answer to my quiz about the Booty Reader

all you have to do is go here. Check it out. Follow a few links. Turn on the sound for the full experience. The closer you look, the more offensive it becomes. It will even let you submit a photo of your booty. Yes, I'm tempted to submit a picture of mine, but I didn't.

At least not that I'm admitting.

Amazing.

Children No More hits bookstores today

Which means we have about three weeks to raise money to help rehabilitate and reintegrate child soldiers, because after that, unless we've made it a bestseller, bookstores are likely to remove it from their shelves. (Fortunately, online vendors generally keep a few in stock longer.) So, the big push begins now.

One tradition in my company is to send a copy of each new novel of mine to each of our most valued clients. Here's a photo of a table covered with stacks of most, but not all, of those books. I will sign each and every one; we value our clients greatly enough that I'm willing to endure a lot of wrist pain.



We paid for those books, so we indirectly donated money to the cause--as each buyer does.

Over the next three weeks, I'm going to talk more about the book, the issue, and related topics, but that's not all I'm going to blog. The issue is bleak, and we all need fun breaks, so I'll be interspersing some oddities as well. In addition, I'll provide some coverage of the NASFiC, where I'll be a guest from Thursday to Sunday.

A lot of folks have already helped spread the word. I'm hopeful that more will. With luck, we will sell a ton of books, raise many thousands of dollars for Falling Whistles, and ultimately help give new lives to a lot of kids who should never have been soldiers.

We can do it.

Today's quiz: What is the Women's Booty Reader?

Not familiar with this new sensation? Here's the ad I saw for it today in the window of an Old Navy store.


Is this mystery

(a) a device that whirls around a standing woman, weighing and measuring her butt while creating a perfect on-screen simulation of it and immediately and automatically posting both the simulation and live photos on the top ten ass-rating Web sites

(b) a smiling, pimply, sixteen-year-old boy sitting in a metal folding chair with his hands out, a sign on his chest saying, "Booty Reader"

(c) a gnarly old dude wearing a ratty purple Harry Potter cap he stole from a niece, displaying with each leer the gap in his front teeth, who tells your future by squeezing your ass and muttering to himself such statements as, "nothing like this in prison"

(d) a truly crass advertising campaign by a national clothing retailer that ought to hire an ad agency that hasn't realized that Mad Men isn't a real-life tutorial on how to run a successful company

You be the judge.

I will say this: if the answer is (b) or (c), I may have to seek a new job.

Scott ain't even mad

I'm just sayin'.


The background is that Scott and Sarah have a running joke that as soon as possible they want to go to a double bill of the dumbest looking films of the upcoming months: Step Up 3-D and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. I've sworn to join them if I possibly can.

Who could resist that pairing?