I’m Back!

Hey everyone, sorry its been a while since I’ve written up a post.

Life got a bit crazy with illness and the weather that passed through Iowa.

On top of that I’ve spent a decent amount of my time as the Assistant News Editor of the Slice of SciFi sites and show. In fact most of the news duties have fallen to me over the past week while the News Editor was on a well-earned vacation. It has been fascinating catching some of the geeky news I love before it hits the major news sources.

On top of that I’ve got a number of reviews that I need to get written up and I’m going to try to juggle my comic reviews between here and It’s Comic Book Day.

So while I’ve not exactly been posting here for a while, I’ve hardly been idle.

There is a lot of cool stuff coming our way over at Slice of SciFi, including participation in Geek and Sundry‘s International Table Top Day later this month. As well as a few things I can’t tell you about… yet.

I won’t promise daily posts any longer, I just have too much happening but I’m not going to let a week go by without giving you something here. So I’m back, and ready to go.

What A Week

Sorry to miss posts the last few days, it has been a really crazy week. I think things are settling down to normal again so normal service will soon be restored.

Until tomorrow.

Sunday Comics: Web Comic Issue 1

Things have been a bit busy and while I’ve read a few titles I’m not quite ready to write them up this week.

So I’ll direct your attention to the excellent web comic xkcd. The simple art serves to help focus you on the joke rather than detracting from it by being to flashy.

Like this recent gem

or the insanely cool Click and Drag, you have to go check it out. The amount of time he spent on this one is amazing!

What Happened To January

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a month since the beginning of the year. So much has happened.

New blogging resolutions, new stuff reviewed. Challenges accepted… and altered.

As you may have noticed after a streak of not missing a day all month, yesterday it fell apart. Oh well, that is still pretty good, especially with my posting news almost daily over at Slice of SciFi.

Anyway as we move into the new month I’m settling into my new role over at the Slice family of sites and on the lookout for other blogs or websites that I can provide content for to further my 23 in ’13.

I forgot to post about it the other day but on the 30th my latest book review went live at The Dragon Page.

Nexus is a thriller for the post-human age, Ramez Naam does a phenomenal job of taking modern cutting edge science and building a realistic world of the near future.

You can read the rest of my review at The Dragon Page.

“23 in ’13″ After A Week

Last week I announced my intention to participate in the “23 in ’13″ challenge by completing 23 book reviews in this year. Shortly after that I was asked to take on some additional responsibilities over at Slice of SciFi and it’s sister sites. So I decided to alter my self challenge a bit, I’m still shooting for the 23 reviews but I’m instead mainly going to attempt to provide new content to 23 different sites in this year.

So now a week in here is where I’m at, if I count the blog here I’ve posted on 4 of 23 sites. Also I have a book review almost ready to go for Dragon Page which will get me #5 and the first review for the secondary challenge.

I’m not planning on doing updates weekly, but you can always see the challenge status on the page in the site menu above.

Hmmm… 23 in ’13… what to do…?

Earlier in the week I announced that I was going to participate in John Anealio’s “23 in ’13″ challenge. I decided to get off my rear and complete 23 book reviews through the year. (I decided not to count my comic reviews because that would be too easy)

Anyway, those of you who read my ramblings regularly may have noticed my full posts have been a bit sparse the last few days.

Well a something came up the other day, I was asked to join the news team over at Slice Of SciFi. For those who don’t know it, Slice is a great genre news show and site which I have contributed to in the past. It joins Dragon Page, How To Grow Your Geek and It’s Comic Book Day, which I intend to continue contributing regularly to.

Obviously getting up to speed on the process and setting up a view on the news that I can grab stories from was a bit time-consuming. I’m having a lot of fun and getting to read about interesting stories, sometimes before it hits the major sources.

However, it leaves me in a quandary. Can I make 23 reviews in the next 11+ months?

Lets see… I am contributing to SoSF, DP, HTGYG and ICBD… and assuming that he does another one I will probably contribute to Dan Absalonson’s next guest post series.

Maybe I should change it up to contribute to 23 different sites in 2013?

[note:10:25pm] I’ve altered a bit of detail about the sites I contribute to, I was informed some of my info was out of date. Sorry.

I’m Taking The 23 in ’13 Challenge

Earlier this month geeky songwriter John Anealio was reflecting on his rather poor production numbers in 2012. He has decided to challenge himself to release 23 new songs in 2013, and he is challenging everyone to join him.

I’ve looked back over my past year and one thing that I’m somewhat disappointed in was that I didn’t finish and review more books. So yesterday I accepted the challenge! On top of my regular blogging schedule, my goal is to complete reviews on 23 books.

The rules I’ve set for my personal challenge are as follows:

1. The books I review do not need to be read in 2013 (I’ve got a few reviews in desperate need of writing)
2. Comic reviews will not count towards this tally (I’m all ready at 5 mini-reviews this year)
3. I am going to allow books that I “read” as an audiobook or podiobook to count.
4. I will give a state of the challenge post at the beginning of each month.
5. I will keep a status up through the year, and a month into 2014 (to either crow my success, or shame myself into doing better)

About two reviews a month really isn’t that tough a goal.

So anyone else up for it? Let me know, and John wants to hear from you! While you are there check out his tunes, it will be worth your time.

Related articles

• Creativity Challenge #1: Star Trek Haikus (wired.com)
• A Challenge for 2013 (thesecretlair.com)
• 23 in ’13 (thefuzzyslug.com)
• The “23 in ’13″ Challenge (centralbatterymusicworks.blogspot.com)

Settling Into A Pattern

Well, here we are, half way through the month.

So far I’ve met my 2012 blogging goal of getting something posted every day. When I started the year I figured that I would probably end up with a lot of weeks that were all quotes. But to this point it looks like I’m getting in 3 “real” posts per week.

It will be interesting to see if I can keep it up.

So how has my new Sunday Comics feature been measuring up? Worth my time?

On an unrelated note I’ve got a few short stories from this past NaNoWriMo which I’m polishing up for submission to a couple different venues (not simultaneous submission).

I hope everyone else has had as good a Wednesday as I have!

One Lovely Blog Award: Acceptance & Passing The Love

The other day I was pleased to see that Kim @ Tranquil Dreams had named me in her acceptance post for the One Lovely Blog Award. Merci.

Kim posts a lot of very interesting content regularly, if you haven’t already go check it out.

While I’m not positive just what aspects of my ramblings qualify me for the award, it is always nice to be appreciated. So here goes:

Now for the rules of this awards:

1. Thank the person that gave the award to you.

2. List seven things about yourself

3. Pass it along to seven others

Seven Things About Me (in no specific order)

1. I grew up in Kansas City
2. I’ve worked and performed in professional theater.
3. I’m a 20+ year amateur radio operator.
4. I spent over 45 minutes down the rabbit hole of blogs who received the award.
5. I miss the ocean…
6. I’m a proud father (ask anyone)
7. I really don’t like doing “list # things about yourself” lists

Seven Others Deserving Recognition

1. Errantry – Beautiful artwork
2. J. R. Blackwell – J.R. is an amazing photographer and creative.
3. Pictures for Froghopper – Pretty pictures, almost every day. (Yes, yes I know I’ve awarded her other blog)
4. Serving Worlds – if you haven’t read or heard John’s work go check it out. Really… I’ll wait.
5. Lizbeth’s Garden – crafts, poetry and other interesting stuff.
6. Bookworm With A View – reviews and ramblings about life
7. Vintage Movie Posters – Posts about posters, more interesting than you would think.

Give them a look too, if you like my stuff you may like them too.

A Night To Strain My Brain – Jeopardy Online Test

Last week my fellow blogger Run4joy59 announced that she had signed up to take this year’s online qualifying test for Jeopardy. At the time I didn’t even know that registration was open so I headed over and signed up.

Unfortunately she announced today that she forgot to take the test at her testing time. Sad news for her, maybe next year, great news for me as I had forgotten that tonight is my night.

So I’m sitting here, waiting for 10pm to roll around so I can take my turn.

This brings to mind this Weird Al classic, which I hope won’t be my anthem at 10:15