They Can Take ACTA And Shove It!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement
The title says it all. Read what’s in the link and weep. Then get off your asses and do something about it.
P&E Readers Poll Finally Up
After several days of being down, the Critters website is back up, and the P&E Readers Poll has been extended until the 26th. So get your votes in!
Oh, um, *cough cough*:
“The God King” is up for Best Short Story – Science Fiction & Fantasy
And for Best Anthology, a few Pill Hill Press anthologies are up for a vote including Dark Things II and Dark Things V, each of which features a story of, well, mine. 
*pssst!* Vote for Kat Heckenbach’s “Firewall” for Best Horror Short Story.*pssst!*
SpecMusicMuse Review: Veins – Lawrence C. Connolly
Veins combines thievery and organized crime with American Indian shamanism and throws out a dark twist. Axle, a brilliant greasemonkey with a spiritual destiny, gets caught up in a criminal plot while trying to save his auto shop. The plan doesn’t come off perfectly and things rapidly take a turn for the worst.
Connolly makes all the characters believable and manages character depth without bogging down the action and pacing. Like many writers (both beginners and pros) he has a bad habit of using speaker attributions like a crutch. The dialogue of his characters, I felt, was unique enough to where most, if not all, of the speaker attributions weren’t needed. But that very minor flaw did not detract from my enjoyment of the story. And only extremely picky readers like me will even notice such flaws anyhow.
But when it comes to plot, characterization, pacing, and all the other things that make a story great, Connolly handles his tale like the masterful pro that he is. Overall, Veins is a highly recommended read.
Another Interview of Yours Truly
And, I might add, one of the best ones yet:
Meet Scott Sandridge-Author and One of Small Press’s Biggest Characters
Enjoy!
2010 in review
These are some pretty interesting–and helpful–stats. Apparently my most popular topics involved SpecmusicMuse reviews. And as for political topics, the ones that are about censorship tend to be the most popular.
*****
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.
Crunchy numbers
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,900 times in 2010. That’s about 5 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 90 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 325 posts. There were 17 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 1mb. That’s about a picture per month.
The busiest day of the year was November 6th with 78 views. The most popular post that day was SpecMusicMuse Review: Diamond Star—Catherine Asaro.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, en.wordpress.com, fearandtremblingmag.com, ofgoatsandmen.blogspot.com, and twitter.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for best epica songs, marcon 45, epica best songs, best epica song, and scott sandridge.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
SpecMusicMuse Review: Diamond Star—Catherine Asaro October 2010
SpecMusicMuse: Review of Destini Beard w/ Midnight Syndicate – The Dark Masquerade August 2010
Aimee Allen: Censored by the CIA & Elektra Records for 5 Years June 2008
4 comments
The Four Horsemen Ride Again April 2010
About February 2008
8 comments
Dark Things V
Yeah, I’m a bit late in putting this out. Yes, it’s because I can sometimes be a lazy bastard. And yes, that’s my screwy way of apologizing for being late with this shameless self-promotion.
Dark Things V“Embrace your dark side with this eclectic collection of horror stories. Missing children, closet monsters, ghoul men and strange keys; alien abductions, body collectors and demonic possession. Frightening fits of rage and terror are soaked into every page. Drenched in the dark and dreary, this volume contains the following short stories: Hexting by Gregory L. Norris, The Monster of All Monsters by Kelly Hashway, Ghoul Man by Scott M. Sandridge, With the Turn of a Key by Eden Royce, Expecting by Marc Sorondo, Better Homemade by Daniel J.D. Stone, Eye for an Eye by O.J. Cade, The Nature Elementals by A.J. French, The Devil’s Song by Ellie Garratt, Lord of Slum by Matt Kurtz, Food of the Gods by John Pennington, The Machine Fink by Mike Phillips, Daddy’s Little Secret by Charles Day, The ReNOWn Balloon Trial by Douglas J. Ogurek, Guilt by Eva Glynn Stephens, Under the Skin by Rebecca Lloyd, Hungry for Winter by Christian Crews, ‘Til the End of the Road by Tony Simmons & Darkened by Gary Buettner.”
The End Was Not the End: Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy Tales
-
