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Things Are Moving Here…
Nevada Has Done Well… So far on this virus. But now they are talking about opening and you can feel the activity in the air. In fact, in downtown Vegas, the city has closed off a couple blocks of roads, one in the art district and one down near Fremont Street and set it up with tables under umbrellas for diners to eat outside from restaurants close by. The city did this. Cool idea. More cities should do such a thing. Kris and I have gotten take-out the last three nights from our favorite restaurants to help them. It’s going to be a struggle for all restaurants, that’s for sure.…
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A General Update… Short
Got To Be Short Tonight… Got to rest my eye from too much screen time. Pushing the edge right now. I did a bunch of work on Kickstarter and have that Best Practices updated, but no new videos there. I wrote the introduction and author introductions to the second cat anthology and got that turned in today. A few days ago I also put together a new Poker Boy collection and did an introduction and got that turned in as well to WMG. Two books in two days. I am working on Pulphouse #10 (I think #9 will ship shortly as we get back on track) and I also did…
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What Would I Do…
If I Started A Bookstore Today? I got asked that question today and honestly I know exactly how to make a used bookstore very profitable in today’s world. I would not start a new store. Too expensive, too small of profit margins, too much risk, and honestly no real need with online bookstores working the way they are working for more and more people. But I know how to start a very profitable used bookstore. And keep in mind, I have owned and run two used bookstores in my lifetime, but I would NEVER start a new used bookstore the way I did the two I used to own. It…
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A Scary Topic
A Realization Tonight… Bookstores might not survive this virus in any form I know. Online bookstores will, sure, but physical bookstores, not so much. Here is what made me jump to that idea. First, some history and a lesson on how major publishing used to work and works now. Back 15 years ago… Traditional publishing was in total control of the industry and had been for forty years. A book would go into one of the offices through an agent, get bought, get rewritten for cash flow reasons, then copyedited and sales meetings and so on and be ready to go in one slot or another in the monthly imprint…
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Mt. Saint Helens
Forty Years Ago Today… I’m going to repost a blog here that I did one year ago about my time going through the ash of the Mt. Saint Helens’ explosion. Interesting that 40 years later, without all the ash clogging everything, I am going through another “Stay In” order because you might die if you don’t. But unlike 40 years ago when it was just some millions of people downwind that were hit, this one has the entire world locked down. And most people understand this is very real, and a few idiots do not. What was fun about the idiots back in the ash fall of 1980, they got…
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Card Sharp Silver… Day 20
Normally Would Be Finished in Twenty Days… But nope. Just sort of puttering along, no fault of the book, just too many distractions and work outside of the book and writing time. I bet most of you know this feeling exactly. I am not worried or bothered or anything by the slowness of this. Just noting it, and that every book is different from every other book in the creation process. So today I made it here around 10:30 am, early for me because I needed to go out into the wilds. So a little after eleven I headed out, masked, gloves and excessive hand sanitizer. I was way, way…
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Card Sharp Silver… Day 19
No Day Is The Same… It would certainly help if I could settle into some sort of routine, where I knew I could get a set amount of exercise and a set amount of writing done. Oh, that would be heaven. And I am working toward that. But at the moment, still a lot happening, so no routine just yet. Soon. So here is how the day went. Managed to get to this computer to do some email around noon, then a little before one I left to go meet a leasing agent and get the keys to WMG Publishing’s new Vegas office. Inspections and other stuff took some time,…
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Card Sharp Silver… Day 18
One Month Since Day Seventeen… Wow, just as all of us had a crazy last month, mine was no different. Some people have been working harder than ever with this virus, others are laid off and killing time or trying to focus. I have been in the bunch working harder than I can remember. But now, thankfully, returning to my normal level of freelance work, so I started a new short story series in the last few days and today got back to writing on the Cave Creek novel. So as I did for the first seventeen days on this, I will detail out the general nature of my day…
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Kris’s Birthday Party Reminder
You Are All Invited… And how to attend? Send Kris a birthday card. That way in this crazy time of isolation, Kris can feel that you are all there at this wonderful party. I will supply the cake, more than enough (last year Kris and I ate on the cake for a week.) So her birthday is June 4th, exactly three weeks from today. No gifts, nothing else but a signed birthday card. Or some way to know who is attending on the card. Trust me, photos and recordings will happen, because, after all, that is this new world. So send a card to join the party. Full information two…
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Two Bundles With StoryBundle.com
I Have Stuff in Two Different Storybundles Right Now… In the Adventure SF bundle I actually have a Thunder Mountain novel, a collection I edited, and the cover story in Writers of the Future #35. How fun is that? And the bundle is ending in just over a day!!! So don’t miss this one, for no other reason than to get Snot-Nosed Aliens Anthology from Pulphouse. Stories in there are as fun as they sound. And a Thunder Mountain novel from me and a Retrieval Artist novel from Kris. And, oh yeah, a bunch of other great sf writers like Kevin J. Anderson and Rick Wilber to name just two.…