Comet ISON: John Bandicut?

It took a loyal reader to point it out to me: The coming close encounter of Comet ISON with the sun is kind of reminiscent of a fateful ride taken by John Bandicut in my novel Neptune Crossing. (Tip of the space helmet to Kyle Michael Jeynes for noting it on my Facebook page.) Of course, in Bandicut's case, he and the quarx Charlie were chasing the comet.

If you haven't read Neptune Crossing, you should. I need the sales! No, actually it's free, pretty much everywhere fine ebooks are to be found. Or, you could take the plunge and buy it in a high quality omnibus with the next two books in the series. Only $6.99 for three complete novels! A steal, even if you can get the first one by itself for free!

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Seriously, though, ebook sales have been down something fierce the last few months. It's been true for me, and I'm hearing it from a lot of other writers, too. Maybe it's the economy, combined with organized governmental dysfunction. Even our local beer and wine store reports a recent sales slump. If people aren’t buying likker, you know there's a problem!

So, support your favorite author and buy a book today. Or, maybe even better, recommend your favorite author to someone who hasn't had the pleasure yet. Your favorite author will thank you.

Another World Milestone!

My wife Allysen texted me this afternoon to alert me to the arrival of:

11/12/13 14:15

Did I marry the right woman, or what? 

Okay, it only works in parts of the world where dates are expressed as Mo/Da/Yr, but still.

It was kind of a strange day, meteorologically. We had snow flurries in the morning, or so I hear (I was asleep). What's strange about that is, just a few days ago I was walking around in a short-sleeve shirt. Then, this afternoon, I noticed that the sky was mostly a thick overcast, with a band of clear sky just above the northwest horizon. The demarcation between the overcast and the blue was a ruler-straight line, with no visible movement. I had a great, big-sky view of it as I drove north out of Boston on the elevated freeway.

Several hours later, it looked exactly the same. I took this picture, using the Panorama app on my phone.

Click image to biggify

The line looks curved from the fisheye effect, but in reality it was straight as an arrow shot by the Arrow. Here's a regular shot.

It was still that way at sunset, when the edge of the overcast was lit with a beautiful pink glow. Wish I'd caught that.

Give to Charity, Get a Story!

My colleague Laura Anne Gilman, a fellow member of Book View Café, has made an interesting offer: Give to a local food bank, send her a pic of proof, and she'll write a short story to put up for free on her website! If she gets enough, she'll write a novella. She can do it, too. (I would not make such a bold offer, myself.)

So, go ahead. You're probably going to give to charity anyway, this season. Why not encourage Laura Anne to write a story while you're at it?

Details here: http://www.lauraannegilman.net/this-thing-i-do/

Go, Buckeye Band!

Back in my high school days in the Buckeye State, I played in my school's marching band—first on clarinet, then bass drum, then snare drum. I vividly remember how difficult it was to keep our marching lines straight, stepping eight to five*, even when the band was just marching down the field. (*Eight to five means eight measured strides to every five yards.) With that in mind, prepare to be impressed when you watch the Ohio State University Marching Band perform a routine they called the Hollywood Blockbuster Show—especially the T-Rex from Jurassic Park!

You can skip the first minute or so, which is the other band getting off the field. Watch in full screen!