The judges have made their choices and yours truly was not selected, but I’m fine with that considering the quality of the stories that did win out. So go give the top picks a read and help vote for a winner. This was a lot of fun and I hope Jay’s open to doing it again in the near future.

Go here and then click the link to the poll.

Second only the World of Warcraft for world’s greatest time eating distraction.

Giving program some sure footing
By Lee Anne Hensley (Hilltop Times staff)

When Tech. Sgt. Joseph Throgmorton volunteered for a kennel master job at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, several months ago, he had no idea it would be what he describes as “probably the most complicated and the most stressful job I’ve had in my 13-and-a-half years (of service).”

The kennel master from the 75th Security Forces Squadron Military Working Dog Unit here did not know what his mission would be until he arrived at JBB last January. When Throgmorton arrived there with his dog teams, he quickly learned there were several missions, and the largest of those missions would be to stand up a kennel for the 332nd Expeditionary Security Forces Group.

“When I got there, I realized we were starting from scratch,” Throgmorton said. “We were the first Air Force dog teams to be assigned to Joint Base Balad.”

The joint forces base had an existing kennel operated by the Army military working dog units and the original plan was to build an extension to that kennel for the 332nd ESFG to operate from.

Read the rest of the article here:

I have a lot of respect for these guys. They’ve got a hard job, few resources, and they’re operating in a very hostile environment. It’s soldiers like Tech. Sgt. Throgmorton I’m writing about in War Dogs of Mars.

This morning I’m loading a collection of some of my favorite podcasts onto the iPhone. I thought I would go ahead and share.

First, if you’re an aspiring writer you should listen to Mur Lafferty’s podcast ‘I Should Be Writing’. She talks about her own struggles and rewards with the craft and features interviews with big name authors. Her shows are also a lot of fun. Well worth giving a listen. http://feeds.feedburner.com/IShouldBeWriting

The next one is Tony C. Smith’s The Sofanauts. This is an informal roundtable discussion about science fiction, science, and general life. Again, it’s a lot of fun to listen to and a little more relaxed than your average interview. http://sofanauts.com/category/podcast/feed

There are more, but I’ll post them later when I have a little more time.

• Nope, didn't see 9 this weekend. For some reason, I'd rather see Cloudy w/ Chance of Meatballs. Looks like more fun. #
• Been checking out StoryTracker for iPod. Not a bad tool, but I still like Duotrope's much better. Mobile is nice, but not necessary. #
• http://tinyurl.com/lvtzkx – nerd pr0n #
• @ALeeMartinez LTP NUB! in reply to ALeeMartinez #
• I meant bling.com. I'm liking bling.com. #
• Put a story in the mail, working on editing one back from workshop, and later working on a new story-busy little bee is me. #
• I hate cancer. #

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Where do you get your inspiration?

I have to admit that I’m a real hooked fish for visual images. Most of my characters are inspired by something I’ve either seen in a movie, comic, manga, or other visual arts. Digital paintings and fantasy art are a never ending inspiration for me.

I think all illustrators have to be story tellers to really make their work stand out. It’s a much more difficult form of storytelling than what I do. I can capture an entire event, from it’s start to its finish, and hopefully give the reader the feeling that what they read was something real. And illustrator, painter, or other still image artist must capture a single moment in time and give the viewer the impression that life came before this image and that life will continue beyond it.

As an author, I will often look at a work and ask myself questions about the character. Who is this person or this thing? How did she get where she is? Where is she going or where does she want to go? What is she most afraid of?

When exploring the fantastical there’s more to the depth of character than the fact that the fantastical is unreal. Unreality is the easy part. It’s exploring the reality of the unreality that’s difficult. It’s the process of bleeding over enough reality that the unreal seems more likely than our physical world.

This is why I tend to appreciate Realism as an art form more than any other. Realism doesn’t always mean that the subject of the image is real. It has more to do with style. I just want to point you in the direction of some artists who are working with the style to tell some fantastic stories.

Warning: many of these sites contain adult content and might not be suitable for younger viewers or a typical work environment.

Brom – Not only a talented artist, but now a novelist. Doesn’t quite seem fair, does it?
Ryohei Hase – Digital painter
Dorian Cleavenger – gothic pinup
Lauren Cannon – digital artist
Patrick Arrasmith – Etchings
Anne Yvonne Gilbert
Samuel Araya

Like I said, these are just a few of my favorites. I’m always looking for more inspiration, so please feel free to leave me a comment and let me know who some of your favorite visual artists are.

• I hate that I have to wake at 4 to get any silence around the house. #
• When did we switch to Parliament? I'm all for it as long as we can add a few more parties. I'll gladly vote in the Cthulhu Party! #
• New iTunes loads fine on the Mac, but fails three times on the Vista box. #
• Worked on critiques the whole night. Desperate to return to my novel. #
• diet A&W root beer is made of pure win. #
• Glad I already posted my short for critique group. Woke this morning hating it. My story affairs are short and end bitterly. #
• Support LGBT Equality, add a #twibbon to your avatar now! – http://twibbon.com/join/LGBT-Equality-5 #
• @nalohopkinson that's why I have to write in silence. I use Uta Hagen method writing. Some chars are me though. Not Mary Sue! Transreal! in reply to nalohopkinson #
• RT @newscientist: How's it go? Wingardium leviosum! http://bit.ly/2qx7kd mice made to levitate in magnetic field #
• It's raining. That was unexpected. #
• Civility and my future posts : http://tinyurl.com/mj7oon #
• RT @NASA: Image of the Day: A Day of Remembrance: Visible from space, a smoke plume rises from Manhattan .. http://bit.ly/K60gS #
• @MssJenn check out unknownscreenwriter.com if you haven't already. Excellent advice. in reply to MssJenn #
• @chris_roberson Spatula City! in reply to chris_roberson #
• Go do something life affirming today in rememberance of the victims of 9/11. I love New York! #
• @pauljessup that sucks, man. Hope you can work something out. in reply to pauljessup #
• @ScottWesterfeld jeez, that's freaking gorgeous! in reply to ScottWesterfeld #
• RT @ScottWesterfeld: I haz a realness: http://yfrog.com/3owfrj Leviathan is an object. #
• @jay_lake if we're going to have a public option, we should cover anyone who needs the care. We should do more to helps folks get legal too. in reply to jay_lake #
• More critiques this morning. #
• Science fiction is a conversation. Don't butt in unless you've listened for a bit. At least be familiar with Asimov's 3 laws of robotics.. #
• When I say be familiar with the 3 laws, that doesn't mean you have to use them. Just address them or explain why your android kills people. #
• Most stories don't kick hard enough or in the right places. #
• Anita, my GSD, is very sad Kat isn't here today. She's being really mopey, in that way that only German Shepherds can be. #
• I'm not a fan of anti-science science fiction. #
• Heading to @rclementmoore booksigning. #
• Phone's not working. Must be the rains. #
• @maureenmcq yours doesn't have enough fundamentalist overtones to count! in reply to maureenmcq #
• Good responses from critique group on my story. Now to dress it and send it out to the dance. #
• No power this morning. Still raining. This sucks. #
• Still no power at the clan dwelling and rain enough to make a Seattlite overjoyed. Looks like me and the laptop are heading out to cafe. #
• Delicate flowers of maidenhood shouldn't skip atmo at 8 gs. #
• Hanging with National Space Society of North Texas. We just watched a couple episodes of Rocket Girls anime. #
• Arrived home to discover I still have no power. I have edits and laundry to do! Ack! #
• I finally have power! #
• Almost blood time. #
• Giant egg! #
• When you came in the air went out…. #
• Your turn to make Yahtzee. #
• Squish. #
• If a tree falls in the woods, it's still a tree ain't it? #
• Squee! #
• Ah, unsquee that last squee. #
• NOOOOO! #

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• Good responses from critique group on my story. Now to dress it and send it out to the dance. #
• No power this morning. Still raining. This sucks. #
• Still no power at the clan dwelling and rain enough to make a Seattlite overjoyed. Looks like me and the laptop are heading out to cafe. #
• Delicate flowers of maidenhood shouldn't skip atmo at 8 gs. #
• Hanging with National Space Society of North Texas. We just watched a couple episodes of Rocket Girls anime. #
• Arrived home to discover I still have no power. I have edits and laundry to do! Ack! #
• I finally have power! #
• Almost blood time. #
• Giant egg! #
• When you came in the air went out…. #
• Your turn to make Yahtzee. #
• Squish. #
• If a tree falls in the woods, it's still a tree ain't it? #
• Squee! #
• Ah, unsquee that last squee. #
• NOOOOO! #

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• More critiques this morning. #
• Science fiction is a conversation. Don't butt in unless you've listened for a bit. At least be familiar with Asimov's 3 laws of robotics.. #
• When I say be familiar with the 3 laws, that doesn't mean you have to use them. Just address them or explain why your android kills people. #
• Most stories don't kick hard enough or in the right places. #
• Anita, my GSD, is very sad Kat isn't here today. She's being really mopey, in that way that only German Shepherds can be. #
• I'm not a fan of anti-science science fiction. #
• Heading to @rclementmoore booksigning. #
• Phone's not working. Must be the rains. #
• @maureenmcq yours doesn't have enough fundamentalist overtones to count! in reply to maureenmcq #

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I haven’t posted here in a while for three main reasons: 1) I got an iPhone and have to admit that I’m totally addicted to playing with all the little apps and following folks on Twitter, 2) I’ve been working steadily on the novel and haven’t had a lot to talk about other than word counts, 3) I’ve refused to address politics on this forum because it’s an area that can quickly turn people off.

This leaves me with little to talk about other than writing as a process. However, I’m not sure how interested anyone is in reading about my discovery of process. I mean, honestly, I’m not all that interested in reading other people’s processes anymore. I’m just interested in writing.

However, I don’t want this site to end up with three posts a year and all of them saying something to the effect of, sorry I haven’t posted in a while…

So what do I want to do? Well, honestly, I want to talk about the things I care about. I do want to talk politics on occasion. I do want to talk about fiction I’ve read and liked or not liked. I want to talk about movies, art, process, programming, and philosophy.

I want to say now that I think the best way to handle sensitive subjects is sensitively. That seems like a no brainer, but I look out in the world today and I see a lot of attacking going on. I see a lot of name calling. I feel like I live in an unruly playground with a group of Lord of the Flies children and all the teachers are on their smoke break, but will even occasionally show up outside and hand out sticks.

This conflicted world is not the world I want my daughter to live in. This doesn’t mean I want a unification of ideology. Normally, when anyone talks about everyone just getting along it’s on their terms. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about living off of a personal code of civility. I’m talking about embracing civility.

I’m not entirely sure what my total personal code of civility is yet. I know there are a few things I want to put in practice immediately on this blog.

-I will attack ideas and not people or groups of people. I’ve already removed a post where I did just that thing. I attacked an entire group of people based on one person’s opinion. I’m an adult, I should know better.

-I will pay attention and listen. Honestly, I think that’s the biggest issue in politics today. No one listens. Everyone is in such a hurry to be heard that they don’t take time to hear. Clarity is more important to me than winning an argument. As long as we understand where we have common ground and where we differ, we can work together.

-Writing has taught me an important lesson in life; most people want to do good. Sometimes they don’t realize what they’re doing is actually not that good, but I don’t think most people set out bad intentions to do harm. There are those who do, but I’m going to go with the assumption that if you have something to say, if you have an ideology or political stance, that you’ve taken that stance because you believe it will do more good than any other stance.

-I’ll try not to use strong words loosely. Calling someone a homophobic hate-monger because they have a different view on gay marriage doesn’t help the discussion. It’s generally not a good idea to start throwing rocks at people who come along with a different set of ideas, because honestly, people get scared of you. When people are scared of you they will either ignore you or they’ll find a way to get rid of you. I’m not advocating anyone become a carpet, I’m just saying that witch hunts and names on lists haven’t done us much good in the past–so let’s not go back down that road.

-If I say or do something on this blog that is offensive to you as an individual, please address me about the offense. Generally, I respond to my emails quickly. I view the world from the position of a white male who has grown up in the South. Not only that, but I’m a Texan. Now by Texas standards I’m pretty damn Liberal, but to you folks up North that won’t mean much. To you folks in Europe, well, I’m pretty much like a relic from the late 1800s. So if I say something stupid, feel free to point it out and I will address my errors. I look at that like a friendly stranger pointing out a dangling booger. I want to quickly rid myself of the embarrassment and move on appreciatively.

You know, I write about conflict all the time, I study conflict all the time, and I have to be immersed in it with the world we live in. I don’t necessarily want that on my blog. I want a peaceful place where thoughtful people can exchange ideas about things we love; like great food, great literature, movies, short stories, you name it.