linktopia

linkatopia

The I-have-too-many-open-tabs edition:

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Archaeology is so fascinating: The world’s oldest life-sized statue? It gives me the shivers. And, 11,000-year-old stone circles. Story fireworks are going off in my head.

And in entirely unrelated news: here’s the latest issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies. I’ve been pretty impressed by the caliber of their stories. Stephanie Burgis’ The Five Days of Justice Merriwell, for one, lingered in my mind days after I read it. Maybe it was just the uncoventional, unexpected twisting of a historical period I’ve always been drawn by. Or the prose. Or the way there are no clear right answers, everything is shaded grey. I can’t say I loved this story, as much as I’m haunted by it, by its world, by all the roads not taken.

I got the latest issue of Black Gate in the mail last week. I love the cover (the winged warrior gal, at least; the handmaidens–not so much). I swear I’ve seen the same don’t-mess-with-me look on my two-year-old daughter’s face.

Holly Lisle has the submission guidelines for her upcoming Rebel Tales.

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The Random Edition:

Myths about the Middle Ages: Interesting discussions in the comments. Also via the same blog, S piderman rescues an eight-year-old boy.

JA Konrath guestblogging on the cumulative effect of self-promotion efforts. Here he is on yet another blog (*grin*) talking about what not to do when promoting your books. (And here you can find an excerpt of his latest book, Afraid, which I am far too chicken to read.)

Found this nifty size conversion char t while Jo and I were discussing clothes shopping woes.

And (because there has not been enough space devoted to chocolate on this blog recently): The chocolate chip scones I made for breakfast on Saturday. Just make sure to add more OJ than the recipe calls for to get the dough wet enough. Scrumptious.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day: Sir I. is into planets these days, so he and I have been watching related videos, reading relevant books and checking out the planetary landscapes exhibit at the children’s museum together.

Agent Jessica Papin at DGLM: Confessions of a thrifty bibliophile. I have no compunctions about the books I buy at used stores or check out from the library (instead of buying new). I do support writers by buying their books new from brick-and-mortar stores, but we also have to buy food, pay our mortgage and clothe and educate our children on one income. Unless they’re pirating books, I don’t think anyone needs feel guilty about how they acquire their literary entertainment.

Southern Fried Chicas has a roundup of agent comments on the State of Publishing in Today’s Economy. Surprisingly (or not), agent Kristin Nelson has noticed a dramatic increase–not decrease–in queries. Unemployed peopple have turned to novel-writing? She also gives hope to unpubbed writers: editors are still buying books!

I just heard about FlyCon, an online specfic convention happening this weekend. Won’t be able to attend, but it looks really cool. They have a bunch of neat panels I’d have been happy to check out. Mannesrist Fantasy and Georgette Heyer. Fairy Tale workshop. Families in Fantasy. I’d better stop looking at the schedule of events or I’m going to be seriously bummed about missing this. Here’s their blog.

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I’m late getting this out. Had a really busy weekend, and now my husband is sick, poor guy.

Onwards:

Kelley McCullough on Waiting for Godot Inspiration, a play that is considerably shorter and less frustrating than the Samuel Beckett one. I laughed out loud at the moral lesson at the end. It just might become my new mantra.

David Coe on the different ways creativity manifests itself in his life. I love how different artistic and creative endeavors inform and interconnect with each other.

Marie Brennan likens writing flash fiction to building an arch. A timely post for me, since I was bludgeoned over the head with an idea for a short-short two nights ago. A spooky scary idea that I don’t like to think about in the middle of the night because it still gives me the shivers.

Tia at Fantasy Debut announces a weekly Discovery Showcase for self-pubbed and unpubbed writers.

Agent Nephele Tempest has been keeping an eye on the controversy over Facebook’s Terms of Service.