Danny MacAskill

I know this is random, but... Wow. This is too cool. A very unique way to travel from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye. Some of this stuff... how is it possible?

Move Completed

It wasn't easy. There were soooooo many things to organize as we moved our family of four (plus cat and dog) across the ocean. Much stress, so many opportunities for things to go wrong. Amazingly, it all went rather smoothly. There was only one mishap...

I won't go into too many details, but it involved a large, upset dog that made an explosive mess in his crate at the airport. For a scary moment, it looked like we wouldn't be able to fly. I volunteered to... ah, clean the crate, though. That's what I did. As the other passengers boarded the plane, I got on my hands and knees, rubber gloves and a roll of paper towels in hand, and went to work. Not fun. I got it done, and we flew. The pup did alright in the end.

All is well now. Well, almost...

We're not actually living in our house yet. We have renters in it that still have a few months on their lease. Instead, we're staying in an uninsulated one-room lakeside shack. No kidding. It's lovely, but it's just a step above camping. It's been pretty cold as well... We're grateful, though, for the loan of the place.

So, that's what I've been up to. Hopefully, I'll be posting here regularly again. And, hopefully, I'll have some actual news soon!

10 Bestselling Books with 80+ One-Star Reviews

This from Galleycat:

One-Star Reviews for Bestselling Books at Amazon.com

1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (669 one-star reviews)
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (396 one-star reviews)
3. A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin (344 one-star reviews)
4. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (169 one-star reviews)
5. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (157 one-star reviews)
6. Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich (119 one-star reviews)
7. Inheritance by Christopher Paolini (118 one-star reviews)
8. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (191 one-star reviews)
9. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (96 one-star reviews)
10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (81 one-star reviews)

Not that I'm encouraging one-star reviews or anything. Just offering up useless information. Be entertained (or encouraged) as suits you...

Worst Book Ever?

I don't know what to think of this. I'm partially amused. Partially horrified. A tad annoyed. And a little confused.

All this is prompted by a post on the Publishers Weekly blog, titled The Worst Book Ever is "Moon People". If you have some brain cells that need killing, go take a look.

Worldbuilders 2011

Hey folks. I just want to remind you today (Feb 7th) is the final day of the Worldbuilders donation/giveaway/raffle extravaganza over at Pat Rothfuss' blog.

If you're interested in a terrific cause (and in lots of very cool free stuff) go take a look. And donate! You won't regret it.

All the info is HERE.

The Sacred Band Cookbook

I have to share this. It's an email I got a little while back from one of my marvelous beta readers. There were three that did wonders for The Sacred Band, together making it a much better book than it would have been without their insights. Thing is, the book seems to have infiltrated the subconscious of at least one of them.

See for yourself:

Dear David and girls, 

I thought you all might appreciate this. Last night I dreamt that I got my copy of The Sacred Band only to discover that, in the rewrite, David had turned it into a cookbook. Not just any cookbook, mind. An "Acacia Characters Favorite Recipes" cookbook. It still looked like the novel, but, when opened, had glossy pages of food photography interspersed with random passages from The Other Lands (yes--the previous novel) and recipes for things like "Mena's Spicy Hash" (???!!!??) and "Sire Neen's Fish Balls." (Sire Neen, incidentally, appears to favor tagine dishes--but only, I suspect, because I finally got a tagine for Christmas.) 

Having perused this unique document I woke in a cold sweat filled with questions: Why had David gotten rid of the League plot line in favor of giant pictures of soup? Where in God's name was my beloved Corrin? I cannot express how thankful I was when reality finally reasserted itself and I realized that a) it was only a dream, and b) my actual copy of The Sacred Band--sadly lacking that Spicy Hash recipe but replete with the characters I know and love--would be arriving via amazon at the end of the week...

It gets me chuckling, I have to admit. I like the idea. If you have any favorite Acacia-related recipes do feel free to let me know...

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, folks! I hope it's a great one for you. We had a lovely New Year's Eve here at Upper Park. Had some friends over for a couple of days. Lots of laughs, MarioKart, wine and great food. We set off fireworks, and watched other ones erupt from a few different spots on the surrounding hills. Resolutions were made. Some will be kept. As ever.

Sheeran #4

And here's my last attempt to convince you this guy's got talent.

"Wayfaring Stranger":

Sheeran #3

A third offering from Mr. Sheeran.

"The A Team":

Sheeran #2

Here's the second Ed Sheeran video I offer for you consideration - "Lego House":

Sheeran #1

Heard of Ed Sheeran? He's a singer, a musician, a kid doing - I believe - some really interesting stuff. I dig him enough that I want you to watch a video. Thing is, if you really don't know who this guy is I don't want you to look him up. Just watch this, and chill...

And then I'll soon post another video from him. Four days. Four videos. If you hang with me on this for a few days you'll see why I think he's so cool. Can you do that? I'm hoping so.

To begin, try this - "You Need Me, I Don't Need You":

The League Platforms?

A kind reader, Mark, just wrote alerting me to an article he said reminded him of the league platforms from the The War with the Mein. It's about a Silicon Valley billionaire - a Paypal creator and early Facebook backer - that is working to "create floating libertarian countries in international waters... The idea is for these countries to start from scratch--free from the laws, regulations, and moral codes of any existing place".

She's quotes a longer profile in Details magazine, saying the experiment would be "a kind of floating petri dish for implementing policies that libertarians, stymied by indifference at the voting booths, have been unable to advance: no welfare, looser building codes, no minimum wage, and few restrictions on weapons."

Oh my. That does sound like a place the Sires might think up...

The brief article is HERE.

The longer Details article is HERE.

Should I laugh? Or be afraid...

Goes With The Territory

One of the great pleasures of writing novels is that, if you're lucky, people read and talk about them, and even post their thoughts on the internet. Of course, one of the really frustrating things about writing novels is that... people read and talk about them, and even post their thoughts on the internet.

I noticed a report from a book club that had just read Gabriel's Story. Rather cool that the old Western is still getting read, so no complaints there. Nor will I complain about the gripes they had with the book. That's fine. I had a hard time stopping myself from posting a comment in response to two things they said, though.

One was that I hadn't done my research, as evidenced by the fact that I referred to double barrels on a rifle. They wrote simply that rifles have one barrel, and admonished me to "do your research"! That's pretty damning. If a historical novelist doesn't even know that double rifles don't exist he's got to be pretty crap...

Thing is, there are double rifles, and there have been double rifles for a long time. They were especially used to hunt big game during the colonial period, but that included usage in America. They're not as common a single barrel rifles, but they do exist. This website - Mick's Guns - has wonderfully detailed photos of vintage double rifles. Like this one:


Now, the blogger could have argued that I have too many double rifles in the novel, but that's not what he said. He could have argued about the time period prevalence of them in my particular setting. But he didn't do that either. He just said that something I have in the novel doesn't exist, and that I obviously hadn't done my research. Someone reading that will think I'm pretty crap, but they'll think it largely because the reviewer hasn't done his research.

He also refers to skipping through the "more disturbing rape scenes". That line will leave a reader thinking not only that there were multiple rape scenes, but also that they were disturbing, presumably graphic. But this isn't true either. Yes, there is rape in the book, but it all happens off screen. It's disturbing, but not because you're forced to watch it as a reader. It's disturbing because you know that it's going on just out of view. The book did win an Alex Award from the American Library Association - which is given to adult books that they recommend for teen readers.

This sort of thing happens all the time, and usually I don't even think about responding. Not sure why I almost did this time. It was probably that personal direction - "Do your research!" - which I could consider to be directed at me. Although, to be honest, it's not just directed at me. My editor, copy-editor, agent and all the other production people have a hand in checking facts as well.

Of course, I didn't respond. It's just one of those things. Goes with the territory. Glad to be getting read. That's what matters...

An Autumn Morning

Alone at Upper Park this week. Gudrun and the kids are up in Shetland for the first week of the school holidays. I stayed on the farm to get some work done. I have a little set of stories to write for George RR Martin. The deadline is looming! So it's work for me.

I don't much like being without my family, but this was a lovely morning. It began with a little bit of fun with the dog and cat. When we feed Saba (the dog) we always make him sit on his mat until the food is measured out and ready for him, and then we put it down and release him to Hoover it up.

This morning, I put him in stay and had just about finished preparing his bowl when the phone rang. I set the bowl down on the counter and answered it. As I walked around the house speaking with the lady that lives down the hill about construction that was going to block access to the house that morning, Saba began to whine and jitter and sound terribly distressed. I chalked it up to impatience and finished the phone call in the other room.

When I walked back into the kitchen Saba was on his mat, looking desperately at me. Eighty-five pounds of shivering distress. On the counter... the cat was casually feasting from his massive bowl of food. Oops. My bad. Good dog, though. Good dog.

I made it up to him with a great walk up the hill. It was clear and bright, with a nip of autumn in the air. Beautiful views before my eyes, lots of stories rolling through my head. A good morning.

This photo is my wife's, from a few days ago when one of the hills across from us was snow covered. So, not actually, today, but a similar view to what I had this morning...


Now, to work!

The View From The Kitchen On A Summer Evening

I've Been Punk'd

The NPR story below is about the Verizon workers strike that's currently in effect. Of note - not that they explain it - is when the reporter mentions that Verizon claims to have suffered sabotage at striking workers hands. I wish they made more of this, because I can attest to it. I got punk'd by a Verizon employee, and because of it I haven't had phone service since Sunday and don't know when I will have phone service!

Or... maybe I didn't get punk'd by a striking worker. Maybe it was one of the managers left on duty that messed up my phone because of incompetence. Which is it? I'm not sure. You tell me.



So, as we're about to rent out our house, I've been doing lots of small (and large) projects around the house. One thing I'd noticed was that our phone junction box had come a bit loose and was missing a screw. I called them last week and asked for somebody to come buy and just secure the box properly. Appointment was set for Monday.

On Sunday I was surprised to find a Verizon van showing up. A day early? Well, all right, I thought, nothing wrong with that. The guy was, in retrospect, a little ill at ease, but he was a Verizon employee and I had put in for a service call. So I thought nothing of it. It took him all of five minutes to do the work, and then he left. Fine, right?

Nope. Later I tried to use the phone. Nothing. No dial tone. Not a sound on it. Let me be clear. My phone service was fine before the guy came out; when he left, it didn't work. Not only didn't it work, but I also can't call Verizon because the people who answer the phones are on strike too. I'm screwed. For all I know, Verizon doesn't even know that my phone is out, though I've tried calling, emailing and requesting service online. Nothing really seems to work.

Of course, I didn't know about the strike until after they guy left. Now it seems possible that some workers, like him, were on missions to disrupt service and turn the screws on their bosses. Thing is, the only one suffering in this case is me. Who knows when I'll get my phone back? And the timing couldn't be worse as I'm leaving the country in a week. I have phone calls to make! And I have renters coming in that are going to want a phone. For that matter, I'm pissed because I feel actually endangered. My house in the woods doesn't have cell-phone service. If there's an emergency... If I have a heart attack or something, I'm screwed.

Now, I don't plan on doing that - have a heart attack, I mean. But the point is that that worker didn't know anything about me or my family when he guaranteed disruption of my phone. If that's what happened it's stupid. Annoying. Ironic, too. I'm the type of guy that supports workers rights, that's pro-union in general. I want these employees to have decent pay and healthcare, etc. I also want this employee to come back to my house so I can punch him in the belly.

Or... maybe I'm wrong. I have doubt. You see, I just went out and saw some Verizon workers picketing. I stopped and had a chat. I explained my support of their complaints, and told my story. The guys I spoke to assured me that no union worker would do that stuff. They say they were all off work all day Sunday, since the strike went into effect before that. What they think happened is that one of the managers came out to the house instead. This manager, not really knowing what he was doing, caused the problem. Snapped a wire. Made a mistake of some sort. Seems kinda plausible...

So now I'm left not knowing what to think. I just wish I could pick up the phone and voice that annoyance to somebody! Get somebody to fix it!

Boston Business Journal on the Issue

Boston.com as well

Americans and Climate Change?

My wife and I both looked at each other, mystified looks on our faces, as we listened to this Morning Edition piece on how fewer Americans believe in Climate Change now than five years ago. Really?



Really?

*Insert Your Own Title Here*

Just For The Record... My Dog's Name Isn't Huckleberry

...I'm not the David Anthony Durham that this guy with the gun is after. I did not shoot a police officer in Oregon, and I'm not on the run in the woods.

Nobody has ever said about me: "...family members say he slipped into a deluded state and at one point misinterpreted a movie about space aliens for a documentary."

Nor has anybody ever said: "...he managed to climb out of the truck and, dressed in full green camouflage, escape into the woods. His dog Huckleberry followed him..."

Nor: "Even if he is a survivalist, he can only survive for so long. He may like to eat bugs and stuff, but that gets old."

I do not look like this:

I only mention this because several kind folks have written to me alerting me that my name is being splashed all over the Pacific Northeast.

Here's a piece about it in The Bend Bulletin.

HG Wells Contest - No Sci-Fi Allowed

This isn't new or anything. It's a story from this summer that I just recently noticed. It's pretty funny, in a sad sort of way.

Check it out HERE: HG Wells Contest.

(http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2010/07/sorry-hg-wells-no-sci-fi-allowed.html#ixzz0uML7XMsL)