I know, I get it. Awards don’t mean anything. Sometimes terrible things win awards, and sometimes things that are wonderful don’t win them, and did you know that the award for Best Thing was won in 1935 by this thing that you’ve never seen or heard of when that thing is totally still around and being used by everyone everywhere, and they came out in the same year???
Don’t care. I ain’t gonna lie: I’d love to be nominated for a Hugo. I’d love to win a Hugo, or even the John W. Campbell award, which is given out with the Hugos but isn’t one for some reason. Weirdly, as an independent author I think I’m eligible for all of the Hugo awards except the Campbell, which is awarded for Best New Writer and requires a professional sale to qualify. Needless to say, I’m pretty sure I received no nominations on this ballot that I’m aware of, and even if my career as a writer takes off more substantially in 2016 (not that I’m complaining about 2015, or at least the non-August parts of 2015) that probably isn’t likely to change in the next year or two.
Hopefully the awards will still be worth winning by then. This year’s shenanigans have ensured that the bad guys are going to declare victory no matter what happens tonight; if the Sad Puppies/Rabid Puppies slate wins, it’ll be because Yay white guys!!! and if it loses it’ll be See, we were right about the conspiracy!!!, and if some of them win and some of them lose we’ll see people declaring victory from both angles. I’d like to hope that we won’t have to go through this bullshit again next year but these jackasses do not seem to be very good at shutting up and going away, and they do seem very good at shitting all over everything they can touch, which is not an especially good combination.
For the record, I’ve voted in the last two WorldCons, and for this one I mostly voted for No Award, although I was happy to toss a vote to The Goblin Emperor, which I enjoyed tremendously even though to this day I can’t quite explain why. Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem was also excellent, although rereading my review just now it appears to have grown on me since I initially read it.
Maybe I’ll start my own slate next year. We can call ourselves the Fucking Exhausted Puppies. You never know, it might work.
If we were having coffee, you might notice that I was eyeing the cup rather warily. I haven’t touched coffee in a week (note here that this is not a metaphor, but represents a thing that is actually happening as I’m typing this) and I’m hoping that this cup isn’t going to trigger the shakes and shivers like my last cup did, because if it does the next post really is going to have to be called Weekend Milk Share.
(Drinks 1/3 of cup, initially feels fine)
Anyway, I took my blood pressure last night with my new blood pressure cuff, which is a thing that I have now, and it was firmly in the “prehypertensive” range, which isn’t necessarily good but is hella improved over the holy shit you’re gonna die range of a couple of weeks ago. I’ve lost nine pounds in August, too. So… getting better.
Sooner or later we’d get around to talking about school. The first week went well. Too
And then– right there, that exact second, as I’m about to post something positive for once, in a month that has been almost nothing but stress and negativity and bullshit since the second it started, my wife’s elderly cat tumbles off of the arm of the chair we’re both sitting in onto the floor in a massive seizure.
My son started preschool today. I understand at some point he shit himself; for as much as they’re charging I don’t feel bad about them having to change a diaper or two. Or, like, underwear, I guess; he doesn’t wear diapers anymore, but saying that sounds better
That same son turns four on Sunday. I bought him an awesome Transformer toy that turned out to be much more shoddily made than I would have expected, but he appears to love the hell out of it.
I also bought myself a toy tonight, only when I buy my son a “toy” it’s a cool Transformer, and I want to play with it as much as he does, and when I buy myself a “toy” nowadays it’s a god damn blood pressure cuff and I use it to make sure I’m not dying.
August has been horrifying for book sales so far. Let’s see if we can fix that.
The ebook versions of both of my full-length novelswill be $2.99, a full 40% off the regular price, at least through the weekend. Call it a combination of I-survived-the-first-week-of-school and a birthday sale for my son, who turns 4 on Sunday.
They should be live by now, but if not, certainly by late this afternoon. You can pick up The Sanctum of the Spherehere and Skylightshere. Some review highlights follow:
The Sanctum of the Sphere: The Benevolence Archives, Vol. 2:
Mr. Siler has a vision and portrays a fascinating multi-cultural purée in splendid fashion. I am definitely along for further journeys.
This novel is a great follow-up to the original short story collection. You don’t need to read BAv1 to enjoy this story, but you should read it because it’s great.
Sanctum of the Sphere is a fun, engaging book full of great characters.
The plot is well-paced, the humor works very well, and the protagonists are delightfully competent. Recommend for sci-fi and fantasy fans!
Skylights:
The narrator has a great voice; the other characters are all interesting and believable; the adventure is scary and exciting and fun, and the end leaves you wanting more. Everything you could want from a story about going to Mars.
Very believable concept, and engaging characters that were so well developed that you felt like you knew them and cared what happened to them.
Believable and likable characters, interesting plot, well-detailed setting. Good science that supports rather than overshadows the story. Engaging narrative voice. Satisfying resolution. Implied promise of a sequel.
If you’re looking for a futuristic, fun romp to Mars that includes a monkey and a secret mission, this is it.
I won’t be in my classroom tomorrow. I’m assisting (where “assisting” means “taking primary responsibility for,” because if I do it it’s going to be done right) on a major project in the office, and they’re putting a sub in my room so that I can get everything done. I have told the boss he is providing me with doughnuts and orange juice and lunch. He did not argue.
True fact: after spending all summer trying my damnedest to stay out of the classroom, I’m now officially pissed that I’m getting pulled out of the classroom. Because clearly I am never happy. Three days in, I’m still over the moon with my homeroom girls, and my afternoon class ain’t half bad either, although there are a few of ’em in there that I know I’m going to end up tangling with and there are a lot of special ed kids who are going to end up challenging in an entirely different way. Some of them are the same kids. I like my para, too. I’ve always had good luck with my paraprofessionals; that streak is apparently continuing this year.
My main goal this weekend needs to be to find some way to get at least a little ahead on next week. Given that I’m working Saturday night and we’re hosting a birthday party for our son on Sunday, that seems a trifle unlikely. But I remain optimistic. I’d also like to– God forbid– get some writing done that isn’t blog-related.
Well, today, actually, since I’m writing this at 10 PM on Wednesday to post Thursday morning:
What I’m wearing
What I’m bringing for lunch (these two things are stressing me out more than they should)
How I’m handling distributing 25 lockers to 27 kids
Whether any of the six no-shows in either class are going to show up
How I’m going to handle 33 kids in a class if they do
What the IEPs for the thirteen special ed kids I suddenly have in my PM class look like
What I’m teaching tomorrow, in any of my classes
What I’m going to do for the extra forty minutes that I have my morning group since we’re not doing Success just yet
Whether I’m even going to have the same kids or whether they’ll have to rearrange the special ed students again
How I’m going to handle writing lesson plans for Friday (more on this later) when I have team plan during one prep and a parent conference (ALREADY!!!!) during the second
Seriously, I can fake math, but I have no idea what the hell I’m doing for Science, and I haven’t had time to look through the giant box that they just delivered, and seriously, could maybe just once you guys get these things to us before school starts?
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