The Top 11 Catholic Geek Radio shows

Since the radio show is back on the air, it's probably time to once again look at the best of the program.

This is not going to be a voter show, or my personal favorites. This is based solely on the episodes you, my listeners, tuned in to hear.

Why top 11? Because I like to go one step beyond.

11) Fred Hembach on Alternate History (11/01/2015)
I'm fairly surprised that this made it into the top anything. Not because that Fred is a bad guest, but because he didn't show up -- meaning I was the only one talking for most of the time, aside from one call-in guest.

10) God, Robot, the panel (5/15/2016)
Not surprising that this one makes the top ten, this had everybody: the Marchettas, Josh Young, John C. Wright and L. Jagi Lamplighter, Steve Rzasa, and even Vox Day.

9) Honor at Stake and Sad Puppies Bite Back (1/31/2016)
This one is ... strange. Most of this was just me doing readings from my various projects at the time. It was only 40 minutes long. Who knew?

8) Animal Farm with Cats (2/28/2016)
Kia Heavey discussed her book Domino. It helps that she brings her own audience.

7) Live with Jeffro Johnson, (1/22/2017)
Is anyone surprised? Author of Appendix N, then the author of the Castalia House blog. I'm not surprised at all.

6) Catholic Geek Radio with Lamplighter and Wright, (2/26/2017)
John and Jagi came on and hosted the show themselves. Awesome, isn't it? Again, not surprising. John and Jagi are in THREE of the top 6 shows of all time. How's that for an audience grabber?

5) Synods and Starships, (11/08/2015)
My show, guest-hosted by Matthew Bowman, the Novel Ninja, who brought in some heavy Catholic hitters.

4) With John C. Wright and L. Jagi Lamplighter, (7/12/2015)
The first appearance on the show, they came on to discuss the Superversive literary movement, and some of their projects. I had no idea what I was in for.

3) Chasing Freedom, (1/24/2016)
Marina Fontaine came on to discuss her Dragon Award nominated novel, Chasing Freedom.

#2) John C Wright's Iron Chamber of Memory, (5/01/2016)
I don't need to explain this part, obviously.

#1) Sad Puppies 4, the Embiggening, from 1/10/2016

Starring Tom Knighton, this was during the final Puppies campaign, but almost a year and a half before we knew it was going to be the final campaign. Knighton lays out a history of the Hugos, the Puppies, and everything in between. 

Now that we're back, let's see if we can make 2018 interesting

Newsflash: Hugo Awards Swamped by Crap

This once again boils down to a, "If anyone still cares about the Hugos anymore" story.

Their pathetic list of nominations came out this year. Is anyone surprised that it's all Tor, all the time?

I'll go into detail in a minute, but let's look at one thing in particular.

Six nominees for best editor. See anything missing?

I'll give you a hint: we were all told that This Person would have almost certainly have won the Hugo award for best editor, but she lost because she was a Puppy Pick.

If you said, "Who is Toni Weisskopf, Alex?" you'd be right.

But strangely enough, Toni isn't here. But she's not a Puppy Pick this year. We were all told that she would have *won* if she weren't a Puppy Pick.

Guess what: she wouldn't have even been NOMINATED if she weren't a Puppy Pick.

They lied. Shocking, isn't it?

Yeah, I know it's not a surprise, but I can't convey the depth of my sarcasm without indulging in a dump truck's worth of hyperbole right now.

I mean, where do you want to start?

How about Best series?

The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone (Tor Books)
The Expanse by James S.A. Corey (Orbit US / Orbit UK)
The October Daye Books by Seanan McGuire (DAW / Corsair)
The Peter Grant / Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch (Gollancz / Del Rey / DAW / Subterranean)
The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik (Del Rey / Harper Voyager UK)

Okay. Bujold is good. Novik is ... okay, I guess. I gave up after she rewrote Waterloo.

Everyone else ... should I have heard of these people? I'm almost surprised that they're just this obscure. Then again, I wouldn't have heard of Jemisin without the whole Hugo mess, so I'm not surprised.

But where's Honor Harrington?

Where's Black Tide Rising?

Where's Terry Goodkind?

Where is any of a half dozen other, good, BETTER writers? You know, the people who sell ten times the books than these folks? If these represent all of fandom, shouldn't we be expecting more best sellers on the list? After all, you become a bestseller by selling more books than other people. So ... where are the big names? There are six nominees here, but only two are people I can pick out of a lineup? Really?

But of course, this doesn't represent all of fandom, this just represents an ever shrinking niche that is WorldCon.

Best fan writer is interesting, if only because it's Mike Glyer (770), Jeffro Johnson (Castalia), Chuck Tingle (anarchist), and Foz Meadows, who I'm sure I should know of offhand, but danged if I know who it is. There's also a Natalie Luhrs and Abigail Nussbaum.

But best dramatic presentation, long form .... look at this

• Arrival -- okay. Sure. I've heard good things.
• Deadpool -- not surprised
• Hidden Figures -- Who? What? Huh?
• Rogue One -- Eh. Okay. It was entertaining.
• Stranger Things, Season One-- I've also heard good things about this.
• Ghostbusters, -- AAARRRRGGGHHH. Expect this to win. Because the Hugos

Argh, this is depressing me. Let's see if I can plow through the rest of this without getting an ulcer.

Best Related work: "Geek Feminist"? Really? Ugh. Carrie Fisher's "The Princess Diarist."  "The Women of Harry Potter." There's an Ursula Le Guin project, and a Neil Gaiman. I guess someone decided that "womyn" were the "in" thing this year. (Again, expect crap Ghostbusters to win)

Best Novel .... again, who?

Best Fanzine: Oh, Jeffro and the Castalia blog. Congrats again, man.

And, as someone just pointed out to me: all but one of the John W. Campbell Award nominees are women. What are the odds of that, considering they are "clearly an oppressed and underrepresented member of literary society?"

I guess "womyn" really were on the bullet points this year.

[EDIT.] Keep in mind, this is a list where the most votes went to Best Novel .... with a little over 2,000 votes. Jon del Arroz did a great job of showing just how bad a drop this is. A 44% drop in some cases. This has to hurt revenue.

You can see the whole list here.

But why bother? Go vote in the Dragon Awards.  Here are some suggestions.

If you want books by someone you've never heard of before, 

Here, have some of mine.

Starting with the Love at First Bite series. 

    

Sad Puppies 5 suggestions

EDIT: FOR THE READING BEREFT -- APPARENTLY, THE USUAL CROWD AT FILE 770 CAN'T READ -- I MUST PUT IN AN EVEN BIGGER NOTE HERE. I'M NOT IN CHARGE OF SP5. THE FOLLOWING IS, IN PART, A GUIDE FOR MY RECOLLECTION, SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THOSE WHO WILL BE VOTING,  AND AN OPPORTUNITY FOR OTHER PEOPLE TO GUIDE MY VOTING. APPARENTLY, SOME PEOPLE ARE TOO STUPID TO HAVE FIGURED THIS OUT FROM THE BELOW. THAT IS ALL.

Happy new  year. Time to start considering what should be done for Sad Puppies 5.

Yup,  you didn't forget, did you? We only have a few scant months to start getting together nominations for The Dragon Awards.

If you care about The Hugos, yeah,  that too. Though I suspect that's more Rabid Puppies than come to my blog.

I'm not sure about the Hugos, but I think I'll take a Dragon Award, thanks.

First things first. I'm going to put this initial list in a format similar to the Hugos  ..... for now. This is for two reasons: one,  I don't know how SP5 will be laid out, so the Hugo format is easiest.

Second reason?  If there are Rabids who stop here, they still care about the Hugos. So this will serve the dual purpose of catering to them. I'll do a separate list for a Dragon Award version. But the SP5 list is up first, mostly because the potential nominees are locked, as they go by calender year. Now that the scurge of 2016 has passed, let the games begin

To start with, remember that the rules of this game say that you can nominate 5 items per category. Though to be honest, I prefer the Dragon Award version, that nominates by genre. SP5 Might as well, we'll have to see.

THIS LIST WILL BE UP FOR REVIEW LATER ON. Why? Because I still have books left over from last year that aren't read yet (there are books from THREE years ago that aren't read yet) and there are some where I didn't remember the original publication date. I'm compiling this in December, while I'm sick, so we'll see how this goes.

If you are one of the authors mentioned here and you actually DO give a flying f*** about the Hugos, comment, I'll edit and note it

Best novel

Again, I'm going to have to treat this with the same restrictions as the Hugos.

1. John C. Wright's Iron Chamber of Memory. Please read the review, then buy the novel. IN THIS CASE, then vote in the Hugos. Why this case?  1) This blew away everything else I read last year, really. And (2) it does mean something to John, so if it were in my power, I wouldn't deny him that joy for all the world. Iron Chamber should win a Hugo, if there's any justice left. But there is no justice left in the Hugos,  so I'll keep going with SP5 nominees.

2. Marina Fontaine, Chasing Freedom. Why? Because it was one of the best scifi works I'd read last year. And Marina made a dystopia I could read, enjoy, finish, and not want to slit my wrists over. That's a major accomplishment. Words can't even express how good you have to be to pull that off. Please read the review, then buy the novel.

3. Robert Kroese, The Big Sheep. I really did enjoy this book. It's another one that made a dystopia readable. The mystery, he characters, the world building, all of them were stellar. And yes, for those who really care, I know, it's published by MacMillan, which also owns Tor books. If I were you, I wouldn't hold that against Robert.  Please read the review, then buy the novel.

4. Declan Finn -- Yes, I published three eligible novels this year. Funny enough, they're within the time frame for the Dragon Award as well .... which, come to think of it, I have Vox Day to thank for that. But, yes, I have Codename: UnSub and Murphy's Law of Vampires that can be nominated for a SP5 best novel. Huh. Throwing my hat into the ring is just padding the list.

5. No Award. Yes. Really. I got nothing. I can't recall anything that I'd really submit (more on that below). I haven't read a Terry Goodkind in years (I'm saving them for when they stop ending with "To be Continued"). There are no Jim Butcher books out this year.

Notable books for consideration:
Karina Fabian's Discovery.  I read an earlier draft of this book many, many years ago (five years ago, to be precise), and I have yet to read the latest edition. But if the editing cleaned up the problems I remember, this is easily in slot #4 .... yes, slot #4, bumping me down a slot.

Brian Niemeier -- because he was up against The Martian last year, and that's hardly fair. Brian came out with two books last year, Souldancer and The Secret Kings. Read them, enjoy, and flip a coin as to which one you vote for. If Brian has a preference, I'll edit it and add his pick. It's "Notable" ONLY because I haven't read them yet. And I'd want to read Nethereal first .... which means by the time I get to them, the whole series will be out.

NOTE: Yes, I had considered John Ringo's books from last year, but I think Ringo would rather burn his books than let them be nominated for a Hugo -- though I'll have to see if he cares about Sad Puppies, he may not mind that. So ... perhaps Black Tide Rising, or Grunge, or Sinners? Larry may care about SP5 if they preclude a Hugo nomination, so expect to see Son of the Black Sword, which also came out last year, but I would rather nominate another Monster Hunter book.

Best related

Set to Kill -- I've made no secret about my ambition to make people pissed off about this one. If I were to have a serious horse in the Hugos, it would be here. I would want this just to see people's heads explode. If we're talking Hugos, yeah, shoot for best related in Rabid Puppies (Attn: Vox Day).

However, we're talking SAD Puppies, and Sarah mentioned adding genre categories, specifically mentioning mysteries.

Insert big freaking grin here. If that happens, count me in on this one.

If it doesn't happen ... well, throw this into the ring with Rabid Puppies, see who gets pissed off.

Best Novella

Marina Fontaine, The Product -- Yeah. Sorry. That's about all I can think of off hand that would really fit. I'm sure more will come to me when my brain reboots.

Best Short Story

Pick something from Black Tide Rising .... though I would recommend Kacy Ezell's story.

Now, I'm certain that there is a slew of short stories from Lou Antonelli, and Brad Torgersen, and even John C. Wright. Just don't ask me to remember them.

EDIT: Lou has been kind enough to comment what came out last year.

1. “Captain of the Clouds” – Aurora Wolf, January 2016

2“Higher Powers” – Sci-Phi Journal, February 2016


3. “The Milky Way Dance Hall” – Decision Points anthology. May 2016

4. “Lone Star, Lost Star” – Fiction on the Web, July 31, 2016

5. “The Yellow Flag” – Sci-Phi Journal, August 2016

6. “And He Threw His Hands Up in the Air” – Siren’s Call, No. 28 August 2016

7. “Time Like a Rope” – Silver Blade magazine, October 2016

8. "Three Twilight Zone Variations on a High School Reunion" - 3rd Spectral Book of Horror Stories, Oct. 31, 2016

9. “If You Were a Dinah Shore, My Love” – Gallery of Curiosities podcast, Dec. 26, 2016
My preference would be to include this,  This is golden from the get-go ... though it might be considered a short form Drama presentation. I'm not certain.

Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form

Captain America: Civil War.

Doctor Strange:

Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent.  Oh yeah. This is going to be hilarious. This is only an audio book, so I think it works for a dramatic presentation. Now, in suggesting this, I know, obviously, that Larry wouldn't stand for this as a nomination for the Hugos, I'm certain about this, so if you're interested in the Hugos, DO NOT NOMINATE LARRY ... but I'm also a trouble maker, and this work was funny as hell. I would put this up for an SP 5 nomination ... and a Hugo, but not for Larry. Why? Because if Larry Correia doesn't want the Hugo for it, can we give it to Adam Baldwin? I'd consider flying over to Helsinki to see him give THAT acceptance speech.

Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form

Daredevil, Season 2 -- One Batch, Two batch.

No, seriously, did you people see this episode? This was powerful and heartbreaking, and the best treatment of Frank Castle, The Punisher, that I have ever seen. I don't care if you never watch another episode of Daredevil, watch this episode. Jon Bernthal carries this entire episode, and even most of the series.

After that ... Sorry, I binged on iZombie, and couldn't tell you what came out when without a cheat sheet. Something for Luke Cage? I haven't finished that one, so I couldn't tell you what episode would be best offhand.

Best Editor – Long Form (Rabid Puppies)

..... Huh. Yeah. Never mind. This is here just for the Rabids. Because if SP5 turns out to be all about the books, SP5 will probably not even have this section. If that's the case, assume this will be the Rabid lineup

Toni Weisskopf – Baen
Jim Mintz – Baen
Tony Daniel – Baen
Vox Day, Castalia House, if only because he did Iron Chamber of Memory

Best Fancast

Geek Gab
The Catholic Geek
Superversive Roundtable

Yes, three ... all that I've been on ... don't judge me. I'm happy when I manage to make my own podcast, don't start asking me to start hunting down other people's podcasts. I don't have the time lately.

But yeah, this is as best as I can figure until Sarah has up the rest of the rules and regulations.


Do you have suggestions? Please, but all means, leave them here. Like with SP4, leave a title, an author, and a reason why it should be in SP5. If you think it's worth a Hugo, or a Dragon ... I'll suggest that this is a different conversation. 

 

Set To Kill is coming sooner than expected

Here's the good news: Set to Kill is going to be published!

Bad news: it's going to be published by me. And only me.

Yes, that's right. As expected, Castalia House will not be publishing my strange little book, but it is not for the reason that I expected.

When I submitted to them, I figured, "Yeah, sure. It's a thriller / murder mystery / comedy, and those are hard enough to get to click with real publishers (or real readers)." When you consider that Castalia House hasn't done one thriller ... or a murder mystery ... or a comedy ... whichever genre you want to jam it into, it would be a first for Castalia House. And would you want your company's first book in X genre with .... me?

That was my thought process on the matter. Let's face it, as Vox himself put on his blog, anyone who wants to submit to Castalia had best first look at the books they already publish. And then be equal to them. And this includes Tom Kratman and John C. Wright, and that alone means their book lineup kicks my ass. And I haven't read Peter Grant yet, but I'm told he's also quite awesome. And right now, offhand, there are few authors about whom I'm willing to say that I'm better than. Perhaps four of them -- of those, two write books that I would be embarrassed to have written. The first person to say that I write like James Patterson or Laurell K. Hamilton will be defenestrated -- I do not write paragraph-long chapters, nor do I write porn.

Who am I kidding? Even if I wrote porn, I would have more plot than Hamilton's The Harlequin.

But that WASN'T EVEN THE REASON. That's the surprising part.

The text of the reply email was...

I'm sorry, but we simply don't have the bandwidth to publish them now. We've just signed two authors with large series and our production abilities are tied up for the reasonable future.

Thanks for considering us,

Normally, I would think that this was just an extremely polite rejection from a publisher. But this is Vox and company, I don't think they were taking it easy on my feelings. They're just that successful.

So, yeah, that was interesting.

I'm happy the Castalia gave me a more than fair shot at submitting everything. Something went screwy in the initial submission, and Vox went above and beyond to fix the problem. I was seriously shocked, surprised and delighted I had the opportunity. And that's about everything I have to say about the matter.

Anyway, Set to Kill is en route. As is Murphy's Law of Vampires, as is Live and Let Bite, as is .... whatever I'm calling book number four.

And both Set to Kill AND Murphy's Law of Vampires are up for Kindle preorder. Sorry, Paperback readers, but there is no love for people like us.  All two dozen of us.

Yes, at the end of the day, the last half of this year looks like....

Murphy's Law of Vampires, November 7

Set to Kill, November 21

Live and Let Bite, February, probably.

Book four ... TBA.

Anyway, while you're waiting for that, consider Codename: UnSub

Or get Honor at Stake, if you haven't already. You might like it.

Kindle Bites Sad Puppies Back

Yes, that was the most awkward title I've ever constructed. I think I went a bridge too far, then blew it up.

Anyway, Sad Puppies Bite Back released this week. The sales are a pleasant surprise.

However, something happened this time that is new in my experience: Kindle didn't like me.

If you've already purchased it, then you might have seen some bits and pieces and problems crop up. There are duplicated words, even duplicated paragraphs, artifacts within the text, including random formatting issues. Most of these problems came from nowhere. I hadn't seen them in the publisher preview, nor were they in the document I used.

It's bizarre.

Now, I've heard multiple suggestions on what might have happened, from hackers to puppy kickers, to "Kindle does that." I suppose that after a dozen Kindle books released, having ONE that goes screwy isn't that bad.

Anyway, whatever the reason, I scrubbed the document, cleared the formatting and reset it, replaced all of the spaces (yes, the spaces, don't ask), and I did everything but change the punctuation. I have one person who will not like how the apostrophes look. But I'm not changing them this week.

By the way, if you're worried about the Kindle edition, I'm double checking the print copy, making certain that's clear, and move along.

Now, I've gotten one or two complaints about SPBB.  Why? Well, I had someone tell me that it made Vox look like a Sad Puppy, not a Rabid Puppy.  Which is odd, considering he's unleashing an elder god on WorldCon, and the Sad crowd drive it off, to the cry of "Next time, Sad Puppies! Next tttttiiiiiiiiimmmmeeee!!!!!!" Honestly, I gave him lines from Doctor Klaw. Do I have to make him Satan?

No matter. I suspect there are people on the Puppy Kicker side who would think that Vox as Satan is actually too NICE.

Also this week was a pleasant surprise. Peter Grant, who I SWATted, advertised SPBB on his blog.

I did not see that coming. At all.

Keep in mind, I've never met Mister Grant. I saw him once at a panel at LibertyCon ... a panel that had really comfy chairs, and I fell asleep.

So, this has been a strange week.

But, SPBB is up, it's live, and the Kindle should be cleared up and ready to read. The paperback edition is being processed to make certain that it is as perfect as I can make it. And all is right in the world. For now.

And in other news? Surprisingly enough, no one has complained about SPBB. So, win.

So, apologies to those people who got SPBB and had problems with it. They should be fixed. And if you haven't bought it yet, it should be good to go already. Enjoy.

In Vox Day we Trust -- Sorta

On Facebook, I said I was going to go more into politics on the blog. My politics have consisted of ... talking about Brian Niemeier's shadowban on Twitter. That's it. This is me being highly political.

If you look at the title, you might expect that I'm going to go into full-bore politics this time. Maybe I'll go full Rabid.

Well...Yes, no, and sorta.

You see, I can't really speak to any of Vox Day's political points. I've only read one work by him, called The Irrational Atheist. It's basically treating anti-theist schmucks like Richard Dawkins in a manner to which they treat believers.

In short: "We're going to beat the crap out of the sophists, and we'll do it on their own terms."

And, frankly, I think Vox did a great job of it.

In my brief interaction with Vox on the radio show (yes, he was on The Catholic Geek), he struck me as eloquent, well educated, and probably smarter than I am on the whole -- the one thing EVERYONE agrees on is that Vox isn't stupid. Nowhere near.

But, frankly, if you want me to speak to any of his thoughts on race, or sociology, or culture .... I can't. Because I don't have the brain power or the time to dig through everything he's ever written on the subject. Feel free to do your own research, but be sure to start from the top and work your way down. I think you're going to need it. I have a problem believing accusations of him being "racist," mainly because that does not sound like the guy who wrote The Irrational Atheist. Though I'm told by others that he's the devil incarnate.

My opinion is: I neither know, nor do I care. Not only can't I see into a man's heart, I cannot read his mind. 100% of my personal interaction with Vox is in public, on my radio show.

There, is, however, something I have picked up from Vox: Puppy Kickers, and people like them, are cowards.

I mentioned a while back that, in the event that I get rejected by Castalia House, I'm going to publish Sad Puppies Bite Back for release.

This is just a really long way of me announcing that I'm going to publish it for release now.

Yes, you've read that right, by the end of today, September 27th, Sad Puppies Bite Back will be released in Kindle and in Paperback.

Now, Sad Puppies Bite Back will be on Kindle for $4.99, and paperback for $9.99.  Why so expensive?  Or why so cheap?

The Kindle edition price isn't my idea. Amazon has something called KDP Pricing Support. It's in Beta right now, but it tells me that satire and parody is apparently more expensive than other genre.

Yeah, I don't get it either..

Anyway, I've had more requests for SPBB than for almost anything I've ever written. So, again, odd, but I'll take it.

I'm just going to emphasize something, that this has all new material, including a SWATting of Brian Niemeier, and a special epilogue, given the David Truesdale incident. In retrospect, I think it has a strangely bittersweet ending, since one of the Puppy Kickers who I thought was vile may just be sort of sad, at the end of the day. That could just be me.

Of course, there are new introductions, some new SWATting, fully edited, especially for accuracy.

I know what you're thinking. The legal people out there are thinking, "It's a parody. It's covered under the first amendment, as in Hustler Magazine v. Falwell as satire of public figures and their public statements."

The really legal minded of you are thinking, "Yeah, so what? That doesn't stop anyone from suing in the first place. That just acts as a legal defense after you've been sued. Anyone can sue anybody for anything for any reason at almost any time."

A legal defense would probably not help my finances.

So ... why go through with it?

On the one hand, I don't think any of them really would come for me. Let's face it, if John Scalzi wasn't going to come after Vox Day when Vox used the title John Scalzi is a Rapist, you think some of these people are going to bother coming after a little nobody for writing a parody where Scalzi merely comes off as either a snooty academic or the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

On the other hand, because I know that if the Puppy Kickers dare come for me, I'm just going to start forwarding all communications to Breitbart. And I'm going to send Tom Doherty and the Macmillan board of directors a copy of SPBB, along with a statement that says "Hi, X people who work for you are trying to sue me over this. Do you really want to be connected to them?"  At which point, most of the Puppy Kickers will probably have to slink back under the rock from which they came unless they want some professional backlash. Let's face it, if you're Macmillan, you own Tor books, do you really want to be associated with people who are trying to bully a small, indie author over a stupid parody?

Not to mention, there are screen captures all over the place. The internet really is forever.

We'll see.

WorldCon is Food for the Dragon

In case you thought that my post-Hugo analysis hasn't been very thorough, I've got some professionals involved.

Larry's thoughts?

Funny. When I started Sad Puppies four years ago, the narrative was all about how the Hugos were a celebration of what was great, representing the best of all of fandom. I said nope, it is decided by cliques, ass kissing, and politics. They called me a liar. Fast forward to now, and at least they are open it is all politics. Hell, they’re celebrating it.

Just ask yourself this, what kind of scumbags would give No Award to Larry Elmore? This is a man who is one of the most prolific and popular fantasy artists of all time. His covers dominated the better part of a decade, a whole generation of writers grew up with his posters on their wall, yet, he never got nominated for a Hugo that entire time.

Larry Elmore wasn’t involved in any campaigns. When he found out that fans finally recognized him for a Hugo nomination he was surprised, honored, and humbled.

No Award.

Moira Greyland exposed to the culture of rape and pedophilia in old fandom, and not the made up “rape culture” the modern feminists accuse anybody who disagrees with them of. It was a gut wrenching expose in a category normally won by fluff. But they wanted that swept under the rug.

No Award.

Toni Weisskopf? No Award. But we already knew that was coming. Sure, she’s one of the most successful editors and publishers in the business, exactly the sort of “empowered woman” these liars claim we want to keep out.

And Jerry Pournelle… Living legend. You pieces of shit are honestly going to tell us that Jerry Pournelle is not award worthy?

Sure. Why not?

And to Neil Gaiman, boldly standing up to those pesky Puppies during his speech…

When you got your buddy Jonathan Ross to volunteer to MC the awards, it wasn’t those jerky Sad Puppies that formed an angry twitter mob because he *might* tell a fat joke. He got sacrificed on the altar of PC.

When you were getting yelled at for making light of Trigger Warnings, it wasn’t the Sad Puppies who were triggered.

And when some dilettante couch surfer was demanding that readers judge authors by the color of their skin rather than the content of their books, and holding up your book as the example for her finger shaking scolding, it was the Sad Puppies who said that was nonsense.

Now, I know you’re a multi-millionaire A-lister and your career is so awesome you can safely pat those yapping jackals on their tender heads and not lose a hand, but most authors aren’t in your lofty tower.

Brian Niemeier of course, has not only done an analysis, but has tossed in number crunching.

I don't claim to be unbiased in this matter, even though I'm confident that neutral observers will reach the same conclusions from the documented evidence.

If I'm grateful to Worldcon for one thing, it's that I now have something in common with the great Dr. Jerry Pournelle: we both placed last under No Award.

Being snubbed by geriatric perverts isn't what I'd call a personal tragedy. However, the CHORFs have made the tactical error of insulting the readers who nominated me for the Campbell. The Worldcon clique have publicly rebuked my readers by declaring that I was unworthy of their consideration.

I answer to my readers; not a bunch of leftover hippies. To vindicate the fans who believed in me, I will dedicate my victory in the first annual Dragon Award for Best Horror Novel to them.

Though I'm doing this for you, I can't do it without you. The Dragon Award winners will be decided entirely by the fans. If you enjoy my work, you have it in your power to confound the CHORFs who mocked you by taking an author you support from last place in the dying Hugos to first place in the rising Dragons.

Yes. The numbers are over at his link.

First of all, DAVID TRUESDALE'S AUDIO THAT CAUSED WORLDCON TO TOSS HIM OUT

Yes. Really inflammatory, huh?.

David Truesdale had a comment or two.

Another Worldcon Expulsion From "State of Short Fiction" Panel:
I have just become aware of the following blog where a fan in the audience was also expelled. He wrote it up as a con report, with the expulsion part coming around the halfway point.

First of all, there was another fan at the back of the room very early on who took me to task for hypocrisy. You'll hear the clapping from the audience. He just spontaneously shouted it out. Okay, fine.

Neil Clarke, who had turned his chair so that his back was to me (some short time later, listen to the tape for specifics, that's what it's there for), then turns to his mike and shouts "I call bullshit!" To which a fan in the third row then shouts something to the effect that it was Neil who was being intolerant. At the time I had no idea who the fan was, or what he really said even though he had to kind of shout over the crowd noise. So this was the second fan shouting from the audience, at which point I asked for no more stuff from the crowd, that there would be plenty of time at the end for the Q&A for folks to express themselves. Everyone in the audience was as polite as could be after that.

So now it turns out the fellow who challenged Neil Clarke gets home from the con to find he had been expelled from worldcon because he harassed a con member. In his case, worldcon _did_ send him an email asking him to get in touch to talk it over. The problem for him was that he never checked his email until today. At which point worldcon had already sent him a second email letting him know that since he hadn't replied to the first email, he was now expelled. He provides the verbatim worldcon email at the end of his con report.

So Neil Clarke can swear (the only swear word of any kind during the panel; I suspect if I did that I'd be getting calls for my expulsion from all quarters :-) ), and another fan can shout something challenging something I said, but this poor fan does a single shout (and as he puts it is thereafter quiet as a church mouse) and he also gets the boot. So make of all this what you will. Is there to be no audience engagement of any sort now? Who will decide if a comment (funny or rude or anything else) from the audience at any future worldcon is to be grounds for expulsion--or at least reported on and brought to the principal's office? Yes, he might have gotten off with a warning or one day suspension of he'd checked his email, but the mere fact that he was called on the carpet for this oh, so grievous offense is quite troubling. I had things under control. The audience was perfect after I politely asked for no more interruptions form them. Think about where this is heading. No, we don't want guests, panelists, or fellow fans harassed, but on the other hand are we going to have to stock every panel room with con guards listening to every word everyone says from this day forward?

And there's someone else who was at the panel who had their own comments on it.

Everyone here has pretty much mentioned "well, there's the Dragon Awards, who needs the Hugos."

Speaking of which, Russel Newquist has a gladitorial shootout between D&D monters, and characters from Honor at Stake, and my nearest competitor for the Dragon Award for best horror.

Here's the first challenge.

Here's my book, which is nominated for best horror novel.

Buy it here

Vote for it here.

Post Hugo Roundup

There will be no article on the Hugos today. I think it was all covered on Twitter, and on the radio show.

I recommend listening to the radio show from yesterday.  As for anyone else .... Larry doesn't care (hasn't written anything last I saw, aside from "Vote Dragon.")...Vox Day has some thoughts on the Hugos....  As does John C. Wright.  Wright has some interesting commentary on the aftermath, such as the idea of pulp, as well as come comments on the award winners.

There was an incident at WorldCon where a man named David Truesdale was apparently run out on a rail. Vox has some thoughts on it. As does the always interesting John C. Wright.
There will be more on the Truesdale incident as the days go by. I'm sure

Anyway, so we care?  Sigh. Not really. My kneejerk reaction is to brawl with the morons who decide to defend the indefensible. But there's no reason to do so.

Why? Because from now on, [slide on shades] we'll be riding the dragon.

YYYYYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH.

Anyway, by all means, let's move on.

Please go vote for the Dragons.

And for those people who are wondering....

Yes. These books are out. They're here. Yay.

Covers by Dawn Witzke.

Pius History

For All Their Wars Are Merry

I'm going to take a nap now.

The Catholic Geek: Hugos 2016, AAR 08/21

The Catholic Geek: Hugos 2016, AAR 08/21 by We Built That Network | Culture Podcasts:



Declan Finn will have various and sundry spies reporting from WorldCon, discussing the state of the convention, and the Hugos. Who went insane this year? How much DID Vox Day win? Why were most of the the award winners so eye-bleedingly WHITE? No, seriously, aren't they supposed to be diverse?

Also to be discussed, David Truesdale, decades-long veteran of science fiction editing, was thrown out of WorldCon entirely. Why? Because he dared to discuss how political correctness screws with short stories in .... a panel on short stories. Watch as WorldCon employees try to spin as fast as they can to justify their lies, exiling Truesdale, and praying to whatever demons they worship that they don't get their asses sued off.

Declan Finn is the author of the Dragon Award nominated novel Honor At Stake, and and the recent nonfiction books Pius History, and For All Their Wars Are Merry, an examination of Irish Rebel Songs.

The Madness of the Puppy Kickers

I was going to do an entire post dedicated to my upcoming nonfiction history, For All Their Wars are Merry, but no, this had to happen.

So, Beth Elderkin of Io9 is apparently a deranged, psychotic nutjob, and she apparently gets paid for it.

Harsh, you say? Well, that depends, how do you read this comment on one of her articles?



If you're answer is "I can't really read that comment, the lettering is too small," here, let me show you.

WARNING: RATED-R LANGUAGE ALERT.

"Can’t these stupid puppy assholes be euthanized or something like unclaimed strays at the pound? The fact that sci-fi and fantasy conventions have to create a new set of awards because the genre’s most prestigious and well respected award organization have been ruined by xenophobic idiots and people who don’t understand the progressive nature of science fiction’s foundation shit their pants every time they don’t get their way is dispiriting to fans of the genre at large. If these assholes had their way, Uhura would have been played by Donna Reed and Star Trek would have never been the game changer it was in the 60s."

Wow. Nicely done. Hmm... Does Elderkin NOT reply to her comments? Because this looks like something the mods should be hitting the panic button over.

Nope. Not a single blink.

Can we break down that statement for a moment?

"Can’t these stupid puppy assholes be euthanized or something like unclaimed strays at the pound?"

Can't these stupid puppy kicking psychos be tranquilized? Or at least investigated for inciting assassination of puppies?

"The fact that sci-fi and fantasy conventions have to create a new set of awards because the genre’s most prestigious and well respected award organization have been ruined by xenophobic idiots and people who don’t understand the progressive nature of science fiction’s foundation shit their pants every time they don’t get their way is dispiriting to fans of the genre at large."

Seriously, learn punctuation. Run on sentences are bad.

Also, "the genre's most prestigious and well well respected award organization" has been overrun with, well, deranged, murderous nutjobs like yourselves. I'd say that we "don't feel safe" around people openly advocating our assassination, but it's more accurate to say that we're bored and annoyed with being spat on in this fashion. Also, I would have sworn that many of this quack's fellow travelers insisted that non CHORFs go play with their own awards.

Well, we found one we're happy with. Can't you be happy?

Apparently not, because this is a CHORF. They don't believe in being happy. That's why they're Childish, Histrionic, Obsessive Reactionary Fanatics. If they could be happy, they'd get a life.

And "the progressive nature of science fiction’s foundation" ... you do realize that includes Robert Heinlein? HP Lovecraft? Other people with decidedly un-PC opinions?

"If these assholes had their way, Uhura would have been played by Donna Reed and Star Trek would have never been the game changer it was in the 60s"

You realized that a large part of the reason that Star Trek was a game changer was, you know, having a science fiction world where World War III happened, and the future didn't SUCK after that? And perhaps having good stories? Or perhaps having ideas without cramming them down people's throat?

Also, Donna Reed was a big enough star that I think their ratings would have gone up. Heck, they probably would have made her the Captain.

I don't think I've seen quite this many stupid concepts jammed into one space before. Of course, the run on sentence as well.

What started public homicidal rages. What did Elderkin post? Well, I'll give you a hint, Brian Niemeier had to change the title of their article for them.

Yeah. io9 had to make DragonCon about the Hugos. Can they get more self centered?

I mean, look at how it starts!

A lot of people in the scifi/fantasy fiction community are still hurting after two seasons of Hugo Awards drama, but another competition is trying to bridge the divide.

"A lot"? Before Puppies got involved, barely 2000 people voted in the Hugos every year. WorldCon membership shot up for Sad Puppies 3. DragonCon has 60,000 people. Trust me, "a lot" is relative.

And "bridge the divide" ... seriously? Are you huffing glue?

The Verge called the nomination list a “bit of a compromise between various factions within fandom,” with nominees ranging from the popular to the obscure, with even some self-published works. Part of this is attributed to the fact that you don’t need a membership in any organization to vote for the Dragon Awards—they’re free and open to the public.

It also could be because it doesn’t look like either Sad Puppies or Rabid Puppies released Dragon Awards-specific slates.

Pardon me while I slam my head against a wall for a moment. Because the title says that those dirty puppies are mostly exorcised. Then it's "a compromise," then they note that NO PUPPIES DID ANYTHING FOR THE DRAGON AWARDS. AT ALL. Unless you count individuals like me, who wanted a shot at being nominated.

So, where do the Puppies enter into this? At all?

I guess having an entire headline called "DRAGON CON RELEASED NON-POLITICAL AWARD FOR FANS, BY FANS" wouldn't have caught as many people's attention, would it?

But wait, it gets dumber.

The 2016 Rabid Puppies slate has dominated this year’s list of [Hugo] nominees...

In comparison, a couple of Castalia House books were nominated for Dragon Awards this year, but the presence is nowhere near the onslaught that’s overtaken the Hugo Awards two years in a row. 

Hey, Beth, you realize that last year was the year of the SAD Puppies, and this was the year of the RABID puppies, and that the two this year looked really sort of different? Didn't catch that?

And, really, "Castalia House" is somehow the end all and be all of the Rabid Puppy list? Please, continue to not pay attention.  Because, oh, look, the Rabid Puppy list had ... The Cinder Spires, and Naomi Novik, The Sandman: Overture, by Gaiman. The Martian film,

NONE of those being published by Castalia, and, also, NOMINATED FOR A DRAGON.

Twit.

So, how about we both stop pretending like you've actually done any actual research for this story you pulled from the air?

How about we go through the actual lists, shall we? If you have the attention span, Beth.

1. Best Science Fiction Novel

Somewhither: A Tale of the Unwithering Realm by John C. Wright (Sad, Rabid)
Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (Sad Puppy. Yes, really.)

2. Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)

The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher (Sad Puppy, Rabid Puppy)
Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia (Sad Puppies)
Changeling’s Island by Dave Freer (A Sad Puppy Author).

3. Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel

Changeling’s Island by Dave Freer  (A Sad Puppy Author).
Calamity by Brandon Sanderson  (A Sad Puppy Author).

4. Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel

The End of All Things by John Scalzi (A SAD PUPPY NOMINEE. Heh)

5. Best Alternate History Novel

1635: A Parcel of Rogues by Eric Flint & Andrew Dennis  (Flint, A Sad Puppy Author).
League of Dragons by Naomi Novik  (A Sad Puppy nominated Author).
1636: The Cardinal Virtues by Eric Flint & Walter H. Hunt (Flint,  (A Sad Puppy Author).)

6. Best Apocalyptic Novel

Ctrl Alt Revolt! by Nick Cole  (A Sad Puppy supporter ... Castalia House).
A Time to Die by Mark Wandrey (A Sad Puppy supporter)
Chasing Freedom by Marina Fontaine (A Sad Puppy supporter)

7. Best Horror Novel

Souldancer by Brian Niemeier (A Sad AND Rabid Puppy Author).
Honor at Stake by Declan Finn (A Sad Puppy Author).

9. Best Graphic Novel

The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman (Rabid Puppy)

So, right there, that's 17 nominees that either showed up on a Puppy list, or support the Puppies. Shockingly, most of them aren't Castalia either.

This took me a whole fifteen minutes to pull together while reading two lists, and chatting with three people on Facebook. Where the hell were you, Elderkin?

Now, this is mostly a casual reading of where the Hugo awards and the Dragons over. Brian Niemeier pulled together 27 works and authors on the Sad Puppies 4 reading list. And it's more like 31. Out of 76 entries.

So, "mostly" Puppy Free, huh?

Well, it explains the homicidal comments below. The cognitive dissonance must have driven her readers around the bend.

No, honestly, how does a company allow a person like this to be on their roles? Truly, this is not only bad journalism, it's incompetent. In fact, even as propaganda, it's crap. It's inept, and forced. Trying to stuff Sad Puppies into the Dragon Awards, even though no puppies ran lists or slates for the Dragons is desperate. Why couldn't it be "Hey, Sad Puppies 4 was entirely fan voted. So were the Dragon Awards. For that reason, there was some overlap. I'm shocked."

Why? Because .... they're both fan nominated, and you vote for free. Therefore, there was overlap. I'm shocked.

Seriously, Sad Puppies was all about HAVING FUN BOOKS GET AWARDS. The Dragon seems to be about HAVING FUN BOOKS GET AWARDS. Why would anyone be surprised about an overlap? It would have been better had Elderkin just dismissed the overlap, like I did.

Now, seriously, I have to ask ... is it really worth getting pissed off over a cheap looking plastic rocket? The homicidal nature of her comments are deranged, violent, even by my standards, and .... no, really, how do Elderkin's readers sleep at night? This one twit comes off as so pissed that s/he should be awake at night with their ulcer.

Anyway. if you want, Brian Niemeier has his post.

Larry Correia also dismantles the stupidity.

Anyway, it's only io9. Hulk Hogan will fire her later, I'm sure.

Anyway, I hope you've all had a laugh. And remember, you can vote for the Dragon Awards until almost the last minute. So have fun.

Anyway, if you haven't already, you might want to pick up Honor at Stake. 

Preferably before you vote for it in the Dragon Awards.

A Flight of Dragon Award Reactions

To start with, the comments section of File 770 is, of course, not having a good day.

For example?

August 11, 2016 at 2:44
Now I want to register for the Dragon Award just to vote for Scalzi, since his book is one of the few worthwhile things nominated."
Yeah, I looked at the SF and MilSF Finalists, and thought, “Really? This is the best you could come up with?”

Yeah, nice idea Puppy Kickers .... except....Scalzi on his Dragon Award nomination:

"John Scalzi Verified account
@scalzi
@mrsftv It's lovely to be nominated. And yes, I'll ask to be withdrawn."

Yeah, so, that's not going to end well.

Speaking of "Doesn't end well..."

I’ve just read Declan Finn’s post.
Sad, desperate, and embarrassing seems to sum up much of Finn’s public persona."

Heh. Sure. Right. I'm embarrassing, yet their guy wouldn't be caught dead in a stand-up fight.

And embarrassing? I think my entire reaction was "Oh well, Brian Niemeier is gonna win, but, Hell, I'm nominated! YAY!!!!" What exactly is so embarrassing here?

I think I just rolled my eyes so hard, I hurt my eyes. Business as usual. Whatever news that fits the tint.


In other news, Vox Day had intricate, thoughtful breakdowns on why he voted for what he voted for.

Then he got to horror, and said he was voting for Brian Niemeier. All he wrote was: "Sorry Declan, you are screwed."

I'm sorry, it's the fourth time I've read that line, and the bluntness still strikes me funny.

Meanwhile, in another part of the internet, my acquaintance Russell Newquist can't decide between me or Brian.  He's come up with a solution....

An author gladiator contest!

Click link for details.

There will be character on monster violence. Let the fun begin!

And now, the DRAGON AWARD NOMINATED NOVEL FOR BEST HORROR, HONOR AT STAKE!

Castalia House Update

For those of you who remember, on May 6, Set to Kill was sent to Castalia House to be published by the Supreme Dark Lord Vox Day.

As the Injustice Gamer told me, what had been a one month turnaround was been retasked for a three month turnaround.

As of this Saturday, three months will have passed.

Normal people would assume that's a rejection, right? I have, of course, already planned for a rejection. That's why I already have a cover. I've offered some Advanced Review Copies to certain parties who will remain unnamed.

Heck, I even started planning for rejection on the Love at First Bite series, which I submitted in June.

.... And then I got a letter from Vox Day.

See, since I'm a neurotic bugger who likes to cover all of my bases, I sent two emails asking for confirmation that they at least got the submissions (I had also sent my Love at First Bite series a month after Set to Kill).

With the first one, I didn't hear back. This wouldn't be news. Name me a publisher that acknowledges every random writer who sends in a request for "Hi, have you read my book yet?"  Unheard of. Imagine Tor doing that. Or Baen.

And I figured, with the deadline approaching, it was game over. I said as much in my Facebook group.

One member of said group is L. Jagi Lamplighter Wright. At her behest, I send the second letter in on the 27th.

Hello. This is my second attempt to at least conform that Castalia House at least received the submission "Set to Kill", if not "Honor at Stake," "Murphy's Law of Vampires," and "Live and Let Bite." Madam Wright suggested I contact you to confirm the receipt of these submissions. 

Thank you. 

Nothing. Dead silence.

Then, on Saturday the 30th, I got

Hello,

We do not have these and can confirm we never received them. 

Thank you,

Vox

Blink.

Well, that's something you don't see every day. The owner and editor in chief sending in a letter, personally, to some random schlub who asked how the submission was going.

I thanked him very kindly, and went on to prepare to self publish everything. Waiting another 3 months was not something I looked forward to.

It was suggested by a few people that I ask if something to be done about this. Give Castalia another shot at it.

All I could think is Really? There are no publishing houses with a backlog (ie: most of them) that is going to expedite the books for some random idiot online. Vox was on the radio show for a few minutes, literally before he went to bed, and he cited my blog once, so .... Not going to happen.

Yes, as much as it pains me to say it, I'm just not that big a deal within the Sad Puppies world, and I don't think I exist in the Rabid Puppies world ... if I do exist, someone please tell me.

Anyway, in the spirit of "You don't ask, you don't get," I sent a reply letter at 10:30 am EST.

Mr. Day,

I am going to presume that there is no way to expidite the three month turnaround process that you have described on your blog.

Is there a way to figure out what the glitch was that prevented the books from bring submitted back in May?

And notice, I misspelled expedite. I blame my smartphone. Which is less than brilliant, obviously.

And, notice, I didn't even ask about actually doing anything. I just figured there would be nothing to do. But it was a way to continue the conversation because, well, I really wanted to know what the bleep went wrong her. Is it because I used AOL?  Can't be that, he got the second submission confirmation letter. Did I go to spam? Something went wrong somewhere.

Also note that I'm not saying that Castalia House screwed up. I'm not blaming them for anything. At all. These. Things. HAPPEN. Period. End sentence.

Two hours later, I got another reply.

Send it in again and I'll send it directly to the submissions editor with instructions for priority review.

May I say, I did not see that one coming. The neurons come to a dead stop and ponder exactly what just happened. Seriously, did the editor in chief personally arrange to have my books fast-tracked? Who does that?

Vox Day, apparently.

Keep in mind, I did not expect anything to come of the exchange aside from confirming that I was just out of luck. The SOP of most businesses state that, well, rules are rules, and if something happens, well, what can you do.

Then there was this. Huh.

Obviously, I took him up on his offer. Why? Because when the editor of a publishing house makes you an offer like that, you say YES.

Now, what does fast track mean? Perhaps it means that it takes one or two months instead of three (keep in mind, I did just drop four books on these people).

Keep in mind, they are well within their rights to tell me to toss everything from Honor at Stake onward. Remember, not only was Honor self published, it was published by another company first. Normally, that would make it doubly tainted in the publishing industry -- it would also taint publishing any sequel.

Obviously, I can't really tell which way Castalia House can jump though.

But, to be fair, the whole set of books could be rejected tomorrow, and they would be perfectly within their rights to.

So, what does the publishing schedule look like then? Well, that depends.

Obviously, I can make no plans if they like Set to Kill. If they do, then I ask them about Sad Puppies Bite Back and see if they want to run the risk of publishing it whole and entire, or if they'd want to modify it to be Tearful Puppies Bite Back, as I discussed in June.

If they like everything I sent them...my next of kin can figure out what to do next, because I'll drop dead from shock.

On the other hand....

Assuming that "priority review" shaves a month or two off the submission. Let's say I get a rejection by the end of August. I can click the button, and publish at least two out of three books. I may stagger them out a few weeks, just in case. Either way, a rejection at this stage will not impact my books that badly.

By the way, for those of you who wonder why I have almost never commented about Vox, or anything he said, or what he's like, it's because my major impression about him has been set by his book The Irrational Atheist, which, frankly, is one of the better books I've ever read on countering the anti-theist crowd. I keep it on the shelf with Dan Dennett and Chris Hitchens, and see if they explode like matter / anti-matter.

And, obviously, I have no ability to predict what he's going to do.

Anyway, I'm going to start killing time by releasing a nonfiction work. And more on that next week.

A hint? Okay. Have I ever mentioned how I did work on songs of the IRA in college?

Heh heh heh.

Top ten posts of May, 2016 -- A Month of Marvel and #SadPuppies

May 30
Fisking Hydra Cap
Yes, this one hit the top ten for the month over the course of a single day. Not bad, huh? It helps when people are really pissed off.

Monday, May 9, 2016
#RabidPuppies Bite Back: The SWATting of Moira Greyland
Is anyone really shocked about this one? I mean, these things are considered seriously funny. I have no idea why, but apparently everyone likes them.

So of course, number three is

May 16
#RabidPuppies Bite Back: Tingling Sensation
Yup.

May 15, 2016
The Catholic Geek: God, Robot, the panel 05/15
Well, when I have this many guests and big names, from Vox Day to the Wrights, if I didn't have a good turnout, something would be wrong.

May 3, 2016
On Moira Greyland and the Hugos
Yeah ... Moira Greyland seems to attract people to the blog. Maybe I should have her as a guest on my radio show.

May 1
The Catholic Geek: John C Wright's Iron Chamber of Memory
Again, It's JCW. Of course this will get hits.

May 23
Marvel after Civil War
Not bad, really. It's up for only a week, written three weeks after the film came out. I've seen worse.

May 24
The Dragon Awards Are Coming, everyone look busy
I gave it a Sad Puppies tag on twitter. So, yes, hits. Also, people really want the Dragons to work.

May 27
Destroying our heroes -- William Lehman on Captain America, a Guest Post
Another Johnny come lately that got hits. But then again, Captain America.

May 25
#NeverHydra and #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend
Hashtags. They work.

At the end of the day, Marvel and some variation of Puppies worked for hits this month. Who knew? Two Rabid Puppies, a post on the Dragon Award, Moira Greyland JCW and Vox are over half the posts. The rest is literally all Marvel.

Sometimes, it helps to be up to date.

The Catholic Geek: God, Robot, the panel 05/15

The Catholic Geek: God, Robot, the panel 05/15 by We Built That Network | Books Podcasts:

On this episode, The Catholic Geek is swarmed by bother editors and authors from the anthology God, Robot. Will Declan survive the experience?

God, Robot, is set in the year 6080 AD. Detective Theseus Hollywell has at last discovered the hiding place of William Locke, a notorious fugitive from justice who has been hunted for decades after committing unspeakable crimes. But Locke has a story to tell. This is the tale of the theobots, the robotic beings created to love God and neighbor with a perfection no human could achieve. In ten stories by eight different award-winning authors, Locke recounts the role of the theobots throughout history, from the purposes for which they were originally created to their ultimate role in deciding the fate of Man, the galaxy, and one lost and tortured soul. 

Robot Missionaries in space. It doesn't get much better than this.

Authors joining us for the program are: Anthony Marchetta, Mariel Marchetta (MJ Marzo), Josh Young, John C. Wright and L. Jagi Lamplighter Steve Rzasa, And, time allowing, Vox Day himself.