kate rothwell

see post below. Exile's Burn **has echoes of Firefly but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that in my book. (heh, book). I need coffee. UPDATE : I wrote to EC after I started the book and she wrote back: To answer your questions on your blog (and I should do this in the comments section, but I can't for the life of me remember my blogger account name and password right now), I had a very specific set of reasons for making EB free. The initial idea came to me in a dream (which is incredibly unusual for me--I never dream about stories), grabbed me, and wouldn't let go. Unfortunately at the time, I had too many deadlines for paying work to even contemplate taking on a project I didn't have a contract for. What to do? The answer that came to me was to serialize it by posting a chapter a month for free. Even I could find time to write a chapter a month, and since I read a lot of excellent free stuff on the web (particularly web comics), this was my chance to give...

I'm trying to be like PBW, but when I read really GOOD free reads, all I can think is 1. damn, damn, damn, I should be paying for this. 2. if something this good is free, then what chance do I have with the stuff I'm writing and I want people to pay for. 3. what's wrong with this that it's free. 4. there's nothing wrong with this and it shouldn't be free. 5. at least charge me a dollar or two. Let me assuage the guilt that you put so much work into something I'm getting for FREE. ....and all of this takes away from my pleasure at finding a great read that I didn't pay for. Right now I'm reading Exiles Burn and I was only a few pages in when I started doing my list from 1-5. I saw the poser cover and had great hopes the book would suck and I could avoid the guilt and fretting, but no. So far, it's excellent. Damn.

Whoa, dude. All three boyz want to go see WALL*E. They have never, all three of them at the same time, wanted to see a G rated movie. In fact for the past decade or so, the older two have rejected movies based on a squeaky-clean rating. Rotten Tomatoes has a firm grip on their world and it says 98% approval. That's good enough to overrule the horrible stigma of a G rating? That's what it takes? This power must be used for good and I wish it would expand into other parts of life. ["broccoli gets 89% approval rating! And George Bush Sr hates it! that's good 'nuff for me"]. I hope the movie's worth the hype.

I don't want to go running. You can't make me though I wish you would.

I waded through the blogs and websites and still don't get what happened with NCP and Somers. It might remain one of those WTF things forever.... or at least a week, which is the same thing in interweb time. Here's what I do know: once again, I am reminded I should appreciate the epublishers I've dealt with. I get paid on time, any disagreements are dealt with professionally and quickly, communication is great. Sure there is drama out there, but, yo, this blog is all me me me me me. So. Thank you, Total E-bound, Samhain, and Ellora's Cave . (and you, too, Rob) You guys are professional and you rock. Hubris. Asking for trouble. Ack. I'm going to hit publish and then immediately go look for some wood to touch.

How can a publisher use the first few chapters of an author's story in an anthology without her permission? And here's the original source . Why would NCP want to do that? It all makes no sense. None. And now I'll have to read dear author and the bitches for a few days and plow through all those outraged comments to figure out the whole story. Is it a case of plagiarism by publisher? I've never heard of that one before. An original case of copying. No, sounds like it's more of a case of misuse. They had a contract, but I can't imagine any contract that reads " we can use your chapters any way we want without asking you first. And don't count on getting to finish your own story ." My theory, based on ignorant conjecture, is that it's a case of a terrible break-down of communication and not a matter of cheerful, knowing screw-age of an author. That second scenario would be even dumber than miscommunication and I'm giving them the benefit...

Mike's basic recipe: 2 cups milk 1 cup sugar 3 Tablespoons cornstarch 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate. splash of vanilla. Whisk this together--well, you can't whisk in the chunks of unmelted chocolate, but you get the idea. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium to medium high heat. This will take several years--or it'll feel that way. Don't stop stirring and don't turn the heat too high. Once it starts making volcanic blopping bubbles, turn down the heat and cook (stirring! never stop stirring!) for another minute. Eat hot or cold or warm the way it is or with one/some of the THIRTEEN VARIATIONS. 1. chocolate chips sprinkled on top . They melt a bit. Yum. 2. a couple of teaspoons of butter added after you take stuff off heat. Stir it in. I don't think it adds enough to be worth the extra calories, but some people like it a lot. 3. A couple of teaspoons of Kahlua 4. Or a tinge of mint (I say bleh , but some people like it.) 5. Grand Marnier 6. use a tad less...