by Melinda Snodgrass | Nov 10, 2010 | Blog
I made the mistake of turning on the Today Show while I was preparing breakfast and caught part of the Matt Lauer/ George Bush interview. Lauer gave the man an opportunity to behave like a statesman over the so called “Ground Zero Mosque”. Guess what? He didn’t. Bush instead punted the way he did about torture, Katrina, etc. (but more on that anon). He claimed he wouldn’t say anything because it would be perceived as interfering in the Obama...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 30, 2010 | Blog
I’ve been struggling with the latest urban fantasy, BOX OFFICE POISON with all these final set up scenes that have to be in place before the dominoes can start to fall and we are into the “race for the credits” as we used to say on Star Trek. I’m using Scrivener and I quite like it. It has a corkboard function, but it just wasn’t cutting it for me. I needed to get mass on the problem. So, I pulled out the cork board, a sharpie, and cards. ...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 30, 2010 | Blog
It’s time to start writing about Australia before the memories fade. So, I went to Australia for the World Science Fiction Convention. I was determined not to miss this one. I had been invited to be GoH at the national convention a few years back, but family problems and a cancer scare made that impossible. This time I was going.I started planning early. I was on the phone to American Airlines 11 months before I left so I could cash in miles for business...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 30, 2010 | Blog
I observed something wonderful on the final day of MileHi Con. Dani Kollin had come to do an interview for he and his brother’s Never Ending Panel. Eytan was a bit late so Dani asked if we knew what was happening on the top floor of the hotel. We didn’t so he bundled us off to the elevator to go and see. What had happened was that this wood paneled area with large windows that was probably a conference space or maybe a defunct restaurant had been transformed into...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 26, 2010 | Blog
Here is a link to a terrific video of highlights from the show. I tried to embed it, but as usual had massive tech failure. Follow the link. It’s worth it.
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 26, 2010 | Blog
Got back from MileHi Con on Sunday night. The drive back was not so wonderful. One of my buddies was really sick, and I was really worried, but we all survived. So, let me tell you about all the fun parts. I went up on Thursday with a couple of friends. Their conversation livened up the tedium of the road and we had a lot of good laughs and some serious talks about writing. I took myself out to dinner at a seafood restaurant. Next morning I got up and wrote...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 25, 2010 | Blog
Hi, back from MileHi Con and I have so much to tell you about. The King Tut exhibit and Cavalia, and this cool thing they do at the con to entertain (and shsss, it’s a secret) educate kids. But first I wanted to let you know that you want a copy of either EDGE OF REASON or EDGE OF RUIN that’s been defaced by me :), you can purchase a book from Uncle Hugo’s at their website, I will scrawl on it on November 15th at my signing, and they will send the book...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 21, 2010 | Blog
Ty Frank sent me this link and you should check it out. This guy’s videos are terrific, and really drive home the point about politics and voting. The one I particularly liked was Jay Smooth’s remarks about T-Pain, but the Christine O’Donnell remarks are also great. Money quote from the T-Pain rant — “Now, see, I don’t judge people for being ignorant, but I do judge people for being arrogant about their ignorance.”
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 20, 2010 | Blog
My friend Ty talks about books or movies that rely on the “Idiot Plot”. That’s the plot where the book or the movie would end in the fourth chapter or the first twenty minutes if the characters would just _Talk To Each Other_! We, rightly, scorn such plots, but then I got to wondering if there’s a place where it’s ever been done well? Sage Walker came up with an example — the entire Niccolo saga. If Jordan and Niccolo would ever have talked...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 18, 2010 | Blog
Just read a fascinating article in Newsweek about how the Tea Party screamers profess to worship the Constitution, but in fact don’t understand the document at all. In case folks don’t have time to read the entire article I’ve pulled out another wonderful quote from Thomas Jefferson from the article. “As usual, Thomas Jefferson put it best. In a letter to a friend in 1816, he mocked “men [who] look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 16, 2010 | Blog
Here are a couple of random quotes. The first is courtesy of Sage Walker, the second from her friend Danielle from Montreal. Danielle thought it was Flaubert, but it was actually Stendhal aka Marie-Henri Beyle. The only calibration that counts is how much heart people invest, how much they ignore their fears of being hurt or caught out or humiliated. And the only thing people regret is that they didn’t live boldly enough, that they didn’t invest enough...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 16, 2010 | Blog
I wanted to start posting about Australia, but I need to get the photos up into Joomla, and for some reason I find it really slow and tedious. (I’m probably doing something wrong.) So I’ve tossed it over to the amazing Web Guru. Once the photos are in the Phoca gallery I’ll start a write up of the trip. Meantime, I have something else cool to discuss. There’s a cadre of writers who tend to gather in Albuquerque once a week for lunch and...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 15, 2010 | Blog
Saw a picture of Sarah Palin with the new Tea Party darling, Christine O’Donnell and I realized that Ole Sarah was looking pretty haggard when put up next to Young Christine. My only thought was “my god, it’s All About Eve” with Palin as the aging actress and O’Donnell as the conniving, aspiring Eve. Talking with a friend we both agreed that Sarah Palin is the quintessential “Mean Girl”, and nothing makes a Mean Girl show her true colors more...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 15, 2010 | Blog
Went out on the weekend to see the American remake of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN which had been retitled as LET ME IN. The only real differences I saw between the Swedish film, and this American film was that the American version was gorier and far less subtle and had no subtitles. If you’ve seen the Swedish film then you’ve seen the American film. This was a “why did they bother?” situation. Also, driving home I had a realization about the title that seems...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 11, 2010 | Blog
My friend Sage has made the acquaintance of an extraordinary woman doc in Montreal. They all love reading, and Danielle sent along this lovely quote from a letter Gustave Flaubert wrote to a friend while he, Flaubert, was writing MADAM BOVARY. « Aujourd’hui (…), homme et femme tout ensemble, amant et maîtresse à la fois, je me suis promené à cheval dans une forêt, par un après-midi d’automne, sous des feuilles...
