stoutfellow

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25910102-demonic-ox-arrives-today

The newest Penric & Desdemona e-novella, "The Adventure of the Demonic Ox", is being uploaded today. The time for an upload to penetrate the system varies wildly, from an hour to a day, but I'll post direct links here as each of our 5 vendors goes live.

Amazon Kindle is first out the gate:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FHBMR3DN

Not yet up, but pending:

Kobo, Google Play Books, and Apple Books are interesting if you search by my name, because they each carry so many foreign language titles, if you scroll down. (Amazon ditto, I suppose.) These pages should populate in due course, though it may take a while for a new entry to sift to the top:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?que...

https://play.google.com/store/info/na...

https://books.apple.com/us/author/loi...

B&N Nook, same deal:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/lois...

To recap:

The Adventure of the Demonic Ox

When sorcerer Learned Penric hears of the suspected demonic possession of an ox at his brother-in-law’s bridgebuilding worksite, he thinks it an excellent opportunity to tutor his adopted daughter and student sorceress Otta in one of their Temple duties: identifying and restraining such wild chaos elementals before harm comes to their hosts or surroundings.

What begins as an instructive family outing turns anything but routine when a mountain search becomes a much more frightening adventure for Penric and his charges. What is undergone there by both mentor and students will yield lessons both unexpected and far-reaching.

***

I'll make my usual spoiler discussion space post tomorrow, for the speed readers.

As always, reader mentions of the new title out and about on the internet and elsewhere are always greatly appreciated, as this blog and word of mouth are the only advertising my indie books get. Amazon always gets plenty of reviews; the other vendors are usually more in need. But no one will see any vendor pages unless they've already heard of the story someplace else, and go to look, so outside reviews and mentions are especially important.

Ta, L.

posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on July, 11

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25910102-demonic-ox-arrives-today

murgatroyd_666 posting in

girlgenius_lair

https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php

Does the phrase "malicious compliance" ring a bell?

He must be trying very hard to not smile in that fourth panel ...

ndrosen

I gave blood this morning. Before the donation, my blood pressure was 103 over 63, my heart rate was 75, my temperature was 97.6 degrees, and my hemoglobin was 13.4. When I was done, the phlebotomist asked me if I had a special preference for the color of the adhesive fabric to be wrapped around my arm, and I said “Octarine.”

She said she didn’t have anything exotic, so I could have blue, red, or something else, and I settled for blue. I explained that octarine was the eighth color in the late Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, beginning with The Color of Magic, so I managed to get in a little book-pushing.

Current Music: J.S. Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier (earlier, at work)

lois_mcmaster_bujold_feed

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25907375-sneak-cover-peek-two-tales-reprint-coming-later-this-summer

So...

The Vorkosigan novella "The Flowers of Vashnoi" has not been available in a paper version since the Subterranean Press edition sold out. The novella "Winterfair Gifts" has had only scattered paper publication, not easy to find. (Both, of course, are continuously available under their own titles as my indie ebooks, or audio downloads from Blackstone.)

Neither would be economically viable for any pro publisher to handle, but it occurred to me they'd be just the thing to add to my little list of print-on-demand paper editions, including The Spirit Ring and "Knife Children". So I've put them together in a single PoD volume, to be titled Two Tales.

Experience with the long-time reader confusion over the novella "The Borders of Infinity" and the 3-novella collection it's in, Borders of Infinity, made me try to label this paper mini-collection as clearly as possible. We'll have to see how it works out. I'm not yet sure how to make it searchable under either of the novella titles, which is what I suspect most people would first be looking for.

Anyway, I asked artist Ron Miller to do us a cover in the style of my other indie VK ebooks, and here's a sneak peek:

When this paper-only edition becomes available to buy, later this summer, I'll post the ISBN number, which should helps folks trying to order it through bookstores. (Uncle Hugo's will certainly have it; they also carry the other two of my PoDs.)

Ta, L.

posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on July, 10

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25907375-sneak-cover-peek-two-tales-reprint-coming-later-this-summer

ndrosen

Last year, Reason magazine published an article about the Hernandezes, whose children had been taken away from them on what appeared to be bogus accusations of child abuse, while their real medical problems were being ignored. Now, after being acquitted, Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez have have filed a lawsuit. If what I have read about the case is true, I hope that they are awarded a large sum in restitution, even if it comes from fellow Georgia taxpayers who were not directly culpable for the injustices they suffered. It will be better if the DFCS employees, doctors, and law enforcement officers involved end up having to pay substantial sums out of their own pockets.

01d55 posting in

girlgenius_lair

That is also repairable.

selenite0

An empire which bans all the good books will find the readers among its subjects eager to break the law.

A new story on Substack.

01d55 posting in

girlgenius_lair

Look at me, I'm the Baron

ndrosen

This week, an after-final amendment appeared on my Expedited docket, and I responded the same day with an appropriate Office Action. I also completed and posted an Office Action on the oldest of the four cases on my Amended docket, so now I’m down to three applications on my Amended docket, and none on my Expedited docket.

I have begun searching the prior art for my oldest Regular New application.

ndrosen

On this date in 2018, I posted a blog entry which bears repeating:

I saw a cartoon recently in the form of a card saying “Get well soon,” addressed to the GOP, and signed by John McCain.

Get well soon, dear country. Please recover from your infatuation with a demagogue and buffoon. He isn’t good enough for you, dear country. He doesn’t really love you, or appreciate what makes you special, even though he says he’ll make you great again. He’s likely to hurt you badly if you let him. And it’s not just him: even after he dies, or loses an election, or is exposed, impeached, and removed from office, there will be others like him, trying to follow in his footsteps. There will also be radicals of the left, claiming to be the alternative to him and his pack of sycophants, fascists, and alt-right cockroaches.

I’d like to say you’re better than that, but let’s face it: sometimes you haven’t been. Sometimes you’ve given your affections to demagogues, Klanscum, and fools before. And yet, you have ideals and worthy traditions, even if you haven’t always lived up to them. Sometimes you have listened to the better angels of your nature, elected wise and decent men, even if they were flawed as all mortals are flawed, set injustices to right, and left the demagogues of the left and right to harangue supporters gathered in telephone booths.

Nonetheless, I have hope for you. Happy Birthday, many happy returns, and may better birthdays come. May you come to reject the yahoos, give ear to the wise, and address your real problems.

Thus I wrote seven years ago. I don’t think that I imagined at the time that Donald Trump, after losing the 2020 election, attempting an autogolpe, and failing to cling to power, would become the second man in American history to be elected to two nonconsecutive terms as President, and bring with him a worse gang of “sycophants, fascists, and alt-right cockroaches” than he had the first time. As has been said, truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction has to make sense. I still have the hope I expressed in the final paragraph of my earlier post, but I find the situation grimmer than before.

My optimistic scenario is that the real estate bubble bursts on schedule (2026), whereupon the huge national debt and persistent deficits combine with the real estate crash to give us a financial crisis and a really major recession, discrediting the administration in power. (People tend to blame the current president for whatever goes wrong with the economy, whether or not he actually bears much responsibility.) People who don’t care that Trump lacks respect for the Constitution, and think that he’s a brilliant businessman and self-made billionaire, rather than a complete phony and grifter who inherited a pile of money, and is now senile, may change their minds about him when they’re thrown out of work, inflation skyrockets, and he and his lackeys prove unable to fix anything. Even then, our problems won’t be over, because the Democrats mostly don’t have good economic policies either. And then there are Russia and China . . .

Pessimistically, Trump and his handlers might use a crisis as an opportunity to crush the political opposition, impose martial law, and cancel elections.

People have endured and survived worse conditions than we’re suffering now, and sometimes triumphed over adversity and grave evils. We should face our serious dangers with awareness, but we should try to keep stout hearts, and accomplish what we can.

ndrosen

This morning, I made chocolate chip cookie dough, and put in the refrigerator to rest for twelve hours or more. I’m planning to make cookies, and eat a couple for dessert. The main course will be pasta with tomato-eggplant sauce (to be reheated), and I’ll make a salad. Lunch was sandwiches followed by seasonally appropriate cherries from the farmers’ market (cherries and cherry pie are traditionally associated with Independence Day), and then a mug of chai.

turbobeholder posting in

girlgenius_lair

Just think of the possibilities!

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Else :: Deus Ex Machina (EP) :04: The Wolf’s Lair

desertvixen

placeholder

ndrosen

There is a weight room downstairs in my apartment building, and I’ve been going there for the past couple of weeks. I’m not heavily muscled, but I’ve been increasing the weights I lift or pull, and have decreased the weight pulling the platform up when I do pull-ups, so I’m lifting a larger share of my own weight.

I’m stronger and more active at the age of sixty than I was in college.

turbobeholder posting in

girlgenius_lair

«They’re doing just as much damage as we are!»

Current Music: Mad Mav :: Bloody Fingers :04: Deathwish

ndrosen

The current administration is disgracing itself by denying Afghan allies any chance at admission to the United States. If you are a foreigner, I cannot blame you for being infuriated at my country; if you are a decent American, you will not be able to read the article without shame. I have to wonder about the morally vacant people who have flocked to jobs serving our current president. Even if they have made themselves deaf to the claims of honor, justice, and benevolence, can’t they see that this kind of disgraceful inhospitality is contrary to an amoral assessment of America’s national interest? In any future conflict at all like Afghanistan, any informed person considering working with us will likely keep in mind what happened to the anti-Taliban Afghans.

Are Trumpublicans, who generally wrap themselves in the flag and loudly proclaim their patriotism, too stupid to see this? Do they figure that since the big boss is a xenophobe, it would be useless to try to appeal to him? Is their proclaimed American nationalism a complete lie, and are they all Putin’s bitches? Are they confident that the country will never again be in a situation where foreign friends are needed? Are their real values: “America second (if that), Me first?”

filkferengi

Sometimes the smallest change can alter one's whole perspective, shift one's paradigm, or open up all kinds of options. Here are just three from over the years, all connected with our house.

After about a year of marriage, I got house fever. We were initially hunting for two bathrooms, looked all over various parts of the Atlanta metro area, and came up empty. Then I said, why not look for one bathroom? We soon had an all-brick ranch with 3 [tiny] bedrooms and one bathroom. My dad the contractor was eventually able to turn the water heater room into a small en suite. [note: it was on the south side of town, with lower taxes. Even with his student loans and them not counting my temp income, it was what we could afford.]

I have very routinized food choices. There was one Michaelina's entree I ate several times a week for over two decades [until they quit making it]. Most of that time, I stored them in the freezer door, front to back. After a decade or two, I finally figured out, I could store half again as many in the door, if I stacked them side-to-side, like books on a shelf. [Ironic that it took me so long to figure out, given the hundreds of feet of mostly double-rowed books in the house.]

The main bedroom, kitchen, and living room of our house all came with ceiling fans. The computer room, in the corner that catches full afternoon sun and is thus the warmest room in the house, has no ceiling fan. [My dad said there wasn't enough structure in the ceiling to support one.]

My spouse went to his first SABR [baseball] convention last week - right during the big heat wave. I run hot anyway [like Granny] and spend most of my time reading on the computer. Even with the lovely insulation [airport and bookshelves], not a fun time. I'm short, & the ceiling fans are nearly a foot overhead. Nevertheless, it was warm enough, I lunged, and turned on the living room fan. Leaving it on all the week kept the whole house amazingly cool [nearly 20 degrees cooler than outside].

How did it take me 3+ decades to discover this delightful fact? Normally, I'd feel all kinds of doofy, but am too busy being rather chill about the whole thing.

;)

Current Mood: cool
Current Music: Hotlanta Dixieland Jazz

lois_mcmaster_bujold_feed

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25886740-murderbot-tv-adaptation-good

So...

I signed up for Apple TV the other day expressly so I and my weekly media-watching buddies could take a break from our usual Asian fare to see their production of Martha Well's Murderbot. (Heaven knows I don't need yet another streaming service, but...) We binge-watched the first 8 half-hour episodes last night.

I am astonished and delighted (and envious) with how well the show has managed so far to stick to the original story -- they are still in the first volume, All Systems Red. So great to see something that isn't part of the endless stream of media retreads and remakes we are plagued with. Casting is pretty great as well -- one could identify nearly all of the characters in their first appearance, before they even opened their mouths.

And they totally get the humor of the story. Granted the tales are action-heavy, but though the Tor book covers are wonderful pieces of art, nothing about them even hints that any humor will be found beyond them.

Given the dry commentary on corporate shenanigans in the stories, I was meta-amused by the fact that Apple streaming won't play on my Chromecast; happily my son the IT support found the way around (going directly from my laptop.)

It looks like the first season of these half-hour episodes will cover All Systems Red; let's hope it is successful enough to go on to another volume and season.

Recommended.

Ta, L.

posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on July, 02

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25886740-murderbot-tv-adaptation-good

turbobeholder posting in

girlgenius_lair

…and they’re having a wonderful time!

Current Music: Æther Vision :: Flying dreams

alierak posting in

dw_maintenance

We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.

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stoutfellow

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Reading

Demonic Ox arrives today!

Friday''s comic

I Gave Blood

Sneak cover peek, Two Tales reprint coming later this summer

Lawsuit by the Hernandez Family

Wednesday's Comic

Short Story: "Proscribed"

Monday's Comic

The Red Queen’s Race

Happy Birthday and Get Well Soon

Cookie Dough and Other Stuff

Friday’s Comic: as any student of history

Little Black Dress 2025 Exchange

Weight Room

Wednesday’s comic: sumvun iz haffing fun!

Abandoning Afghan Allies

Paradigm Shift

Murderbot TV adaptation good!

Monday’s Comic: they are helping…

Rebuilding journal search again

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April 2020

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