Today in random LOLs, I found out that a blog post called “George RR Martin Can Fuck Off Into The Sun” was a Hugo finalist. My vote would still go to Jenny Nicholson’s Last Bronycon video – that shit right there is a deep dive into weird waters, and as the father of a pair of (arguably) proper My Little Pony fans I found is fascinating – but it has hammered home to me just how I feel about the Hugos now. And that if I had a bigger following, I would have won Hugos for some of the fucking platinum-plated diamond-studded gold I’ve put on this blog over the past sixteen years.
Sixteen. This blog is sixteen. No wonder it’s so much gorram trouble.
Anyway, what else is going on? Nothing much. I’m getting good reports from readers about The Last Days of Earth, which is nice. No reviews yet but there’s no rush.
I’m close to finishing the first story of Anthology #4, which will be back to the usual anthology structure of four stories per book. I’ve read seven (or is it eight? No, it’s seven) parts of it on the podcast, and I hope both my listeners are enjoying it. The second story, which I have also started, I think I will post on the blog. It’s about time something goes up here again.
Otherwise, it’s just work and work and sleep and work and bills and work and that’s it. Does the Hugo come with a cash prize? I’ll use it for groceries.
The Wheel of Time fandom (young whippersnappers mostly) is heating up on Twitter, as the WoT on Prime series gets slowly closer to completion and everyone starts congregating on my damn lawn. Of course, not everyone met their spouse as a teenager on a fan group discussing these books, and had their entire lives changed by them. But it’s cute to see the new bright-eyed lovers of this big dumbfuck story, and hilarious to see the haters online too. I doubt we’ll get more than a season, and that’s a shame, but who knows? It’s Amazon. They produce all sorts of shit.
*poker face*
It’s been a while since I reviewed any books, movies or TV shows, too. I’ve been reading a trilogy lately and am about 75% through the third book, and watching some stuff, but meh. What about you folks?
That’s it, that’s the blog post.
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Sorry, I haven’t finished the book yet and my iron clad honesty prevents me from reviewing until I’m done and can be sure you didn’t flub it.
Also that GRRM blog post is totally fair. Didn’t he flip off all his fans at least once, effectively, in answer to a question about how long he takes to fucking finish his books?
I came to his defence over that one, it was actually a literal flip-off (if it’s the one I’m thinking of) towards “fans” who muse about him dying before he finishes his story. I had no criticisms of him on that one. But I’m pretty fucking over the man in general. The books are great, the rest … ehhhh, it’s really a topic for yet another blog post, right?
Ugh, my comment vanished.
Anyway, I was just adding that the Bronycon video was also a Hugo finalist, hence my comment. Funny old world.
Cancel culture! It was the deep state!
I guess I forgot the way that question was phrased. But come on, he is old, and extremely fat. I give it a pass.
Hey now, let’s not go “old”ing this and “extremely fat”ting that…
Sorry I should have written “extremely old AND extremely fat,” to distance it a bit more from other guilty parties.
But also yes, I would not expect a review from you before you finish the book!
I did get a review on Goodreads already, but they are super fast Bookwyrms over there. Hopefully my elite crew of Goodreads readers and reviewers still have the integrity to read the book first, and from the review I’d say Sam has. Thanks Sam!
This may constitute a spoiler, although I wouldn’t say it’s entirely accurate in the specific thing it spoils, if I can say that much without spoiling. Yes, our boy Skell is in the story. But is this the ending and closure to his saga? Pretty sure he wasn’t allowed to get one of those…
Anyway, a short and sweet review and I appreciate it.
I was on Goodreads just randomly, incidentally, following the amusing and horrifying case of an author who had written a book of essays, then made a tough tweet about reviewers who were “assholes trying to seem tough” by giving her four stars instead of five.
Last count, she’d gotten a ton of attention and her essays (which not gonna lie, don’t sound like my thing but certainly seemed interesting, I’m not gonna buy but even so, fascinating stuff from the sounds of it) were hovering at 1.9 stars. Most of the people who actually read the essays went 4-5 stars, every 1-star or blacklisted review was just yelling about what a jerk the author is.
Which, okay fair, she was a bit dumb. But she’s been through some shit, man. That’s what the essays are about. This is kinda toxic. Hence my link to the book, just in case anyone’s interested.
I have to also admit to blinking away happy tears when I saw Samveen had titled the review “Last time pays for all.”
Sorry, but it’s the little things.
LMAO nothing much to add, can’t get into yet another online drama but man, don’t bitch about 4 out of 5 stars might be the lesson there.
And there better not be an end to Crom here! In fact I know, from a time perspective, there definitely is not so WTH, Samveen! Fake fan! But thanks for the review!
But you can always jump around in time again and there can be more Crom even if you off him for good.
Hey you ever planning to really show the story of him going to kick Nnal in the nads, or just leaving it as legend?
Well! I do have a few plans for beginnings and endings for Çrom, although he is not a big player in a lot of the series I sort of have on my horizon right now. He’ll certainly be back once we get to Phase … Four? Heh. He may also be in the anthology stories, here and there.
I also have a sort of History of the Urverse, which will be eleven books in length and won’t really be marketable in my opinion. But who knows? I might just release them. They’re not even on my Phases plan, but they’d certainly include Çrom’s origin story.
Well, I finished it and enjoyed it quite a bit. If I’m being honest I rate Bad Cow above both of the newer books, but that may be because it was the first book of yours I read and am partial to that moment of discovery.
Of course I have many questions to ask and will hopefully not spoil it for the slow-pokes out there who don’t inhale the books over a single weekend.
Bullet point style:
– Why does the Fweig resemble what Cratch became in the Destarion? Or is it that Cratch resembles the Fweig?
– Did you lift the Darko chapter from something previously written? I haven’t looked too hard yet, but I am pretty positive I had read it before, at least the first part. The second part was heartbreaking and a good reminder on how cold and dangerous a certain character can be. Actually, cold and dangerous isn’t quite right, more like protective and lethal. I can’t come up with correct words, but I know how I felt.
– The coda surprised me!
– Thanks for not killing the dogs.
– I see Ian McShane in my mind when reading Gabriel/Oreal.
I think that is enough for the moment, I have more to ask after at least Aaron is caught up.
Final thoughts, every book should have Crom in it somewhere, it was good to see Latetia again, giela are gross, Linda is fucking awesome (how did she get that last name though?).
All in all it was a nice closure to the series.
Awesome, that’s just fine with me 😀
Ooh, excellent point! It was really a coincidence at first, but there is a close relationship between the Fweig and the Riddlespawn / Worm, they are all entities created by and in the service of Nnal. There’s a lot of complexity there, that doesn’t necessarily need to be clear yet, it’s just cool that you got the similarity.
Basically, the Godfangs were made as a result of the Worm invasion back in the day, and their whole aesthetic was based on that era. So yes, long story short, the Flesh Eaters in their hostile setting (in which the Destarion‘s Flesh Eaters are permanently stuck when we see her) have bladed fingers like the Fweig. But also similar to the Worm entities, of which the Bookwyrm is a twisted variant.
I did! It’s sort of turning into a theme or a gimmick, which I’m quite proud of. The same segment is in Human, only written from Darko’s point of view. I don’t know if it’s cheating or word-padding, but when I re-write everything except the dialogue and change the meaning of the scene or bring it new significance, I don’t know. I enjoy it. I did the same thing with Zeegon’s AstroCorps interview, in Human and then in Panda Egg
Excellent!
I just couldn’t.
Interesting. Is that because of his Odin role I wonder, or because he was … I don’t know, something more esoteric like Blackbeard? Anyway, I can certainly dig it.
Hee, excellent! I mean, I guess if there’s ample spoiler warning it’s fine either way. I have a fancy way of spoilertexting by adding a [p style=”color:#ffffff;”] [/p] tag (with pointy brackets instead of square) but it may be too much effort without the admin menu.
Sir, don’t think I’m not tempted. But I have a hard enough time leaving him out as it is, and Skell does say on several occasions that just because he’s been around, doesn’t mean he’s there for every major event – and that’s the risk I run when I add him into a story. Oops, turns out he was there. So, sadly, I have to leave him gathering dust in Area 51, or stuck guarding the wall of Detroit against the cannibal hordes, and only bring him out when there’s a not-quite-world-changing event for him to take place in.
I’m half-heartedly planning another young adult series set in between Bad Cow and The Last Days of Earth, where she has adventures (and the Silver Hand is fully explained). But for now I wrote Tales of the Always Night instead. But I’m glad you were happy to see her again!
Oh and how. This is why everyone reacted so badly when the Fergies turned up in The First Feast and introduced their giela. Hee. I channelled a lot of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, or at least the nasty squishy spike-monsters therefrom, for the purpose.
Isn’t she though? I’m so pleased. Definitely haven’t seen the last of her. I knew she was a keeper as soon as I wrote A Moment’s Sympathy.
I spoilertexted this response, select the text to read it.
Her name is more or less explained in her scenes in The Last Days of Earth, but whether she married Galatine Gazmouth and took his name, or simply assumed his name in order to fit in and to remember him, I don’t suppose it really matters. At the start of the book, the Ogres say “Nah, ‘cos remember Gunsmiff an’ Linda, an’ their little Debbil, an’ then there was Old Bunton an’ Young Bunton an’ Old Bunton Again What Was Young Bunton Before Maybe…” which at least implies that not only did Linda and the Gunsmith get together, but they also either had or adopted a child. Which, even I am not sure how one breeds with a higher undead. I suspect adoption in this case, but Galatine and Linda are ingenious. And determined.
Much obliged!
I forgot to say, Wow, what a lot of Aussie slang in the book!. I recently heard some Kiwi slang that we have since had verified. “Boil the jug” – “put the kettle on”. I heard it on the James Acaster (comedian) show Repertoire on Netflix. He is very, very funny. First came across him on Taskmaster. If you have not seen Taskmaster, I can’t rate it highly enough. We have been watching it on Youtube and have now finished 10 seasons of it in a few months! Five comedians are given tasks and then judged on how they complete them, but it is so much more than that. You need to check it out! (There is like a whole sub-set of English game shows that rotate the same comedians through. Would I Lie to You might be the best one after Taskmaster.)
Would I Lie To You I’ve heard of! Watch it on YouTube a lot. Great stuff. Have to check out the rest.
I did lay on as much slang as I could. Will address the rest ASAP. Really appreciate the comments and feedback and questions and enthusiasm!
The cabbage story is one of the best ones I have seen.
Oh, is that the guy who has the little kid nemesis? And they keep playing pranks on each other? I saw him on Would I Lie To You? as well.
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