Tag Archives: update

The Rest of the Summer

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The July 4th holiday, AKA Independence Day, is fast  approaching, which means for me that the summer is half over.  I’ve done a bit of traveling but that’s about to stop for the most part.

I’ll be teaching a class the second summer term, which starts on Tuesday.  It’s at 8:00 a.m.  That’s early, but that’s okay.  I’m tanned, I’m rested, I’m ready.  What that means is I’ll have a lot less free time on my hands.

Twelve Kings in SharakhaiCurrent projects are to finish Bradley Beaulieu’s new novel, Twelve Kings in Sharakhai.  I’ll do that in a bit and try to get the review up tomorrow night.  (Spoiler:  It’s awesome.)

I’ve not done a BAF post in a while, but I’ll start on the next book this weekend.  I’m going to try to read the short fiction that’s up for the Hugo that I’d not already read when the ballot was announced.  Ditto for the Gemmell Awards.  I won’t be able to finish everything on the Gemmell ballot before the deadline, but I’ll at least get a couple of books out of the way.

Aeronaut's WindlassI was accepted into the Ace Roc Stars program earlier this year.  What that basically means is that i get advanced copies of most of the upcoming books by either Ace or Roc.  The first batch of titles didn’t have much that interested me, but the second batch is a gold mine.  The first volume in Jim Butcher’s new series, the second Lizzie Borden novel by Cheri Priest, a couple of new fantasy novels and the first volumes in some space opera series.

In addition I”ll be trying to read as much fantasy, science fiction, and crime as possible.  I want to read as many of the Shamus Award nominees as I can.  Anyway, that’s what’s going on with reviewing and blogging.  Writing I’ll discuss in another post once i have some things in better shape.

Memorial Day Weekend

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I hope everyone has a happy Memorial Day weekend.  Be safe if you’re traveling.   For those of you who don’t live in the US, this is the official start of summer, at least in Texas.  I don’t know about states in the northern part of the country.  The public schools still have a week to go, but it’s mostly final exams and graduations.

Summer classes for me will start on June 1.  I’m not teaching the first summer term, but I will the second.  I’ll still be making sure the labs run smoothly no matter what.

I’m hoping to get caught up on a few titles I’ve started and never finished.  I’m hoping I can get more reading done than I have been lately.  I’m also hoping to get back on track writing fiction on a regular basis.  I’ve got one story I need to finish by the end of the week.

I’ve mentioned a few times that I’ve got a major post I’ve been working on.  I managed to finish it today.  It will go live Tuesday with a followup on Wednesday.  After that, I’ll review the latest issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly.

That’s about all I’ve got for an update.  For those of you who are celebrating, have a safe and happy Memorial Day.

Finally I would like to thank all members of the military for their service.

Hello? Is Anybody Still Out There?

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*peers out into the darkness*

Hello?

Did they all go home?

Look, I realize it’s been two and a half weeks since I last posted something.  I apologize for that.  I’m not usually this quiet.  I have been working on a couple of things, but they’re not quite ready to go yet.  It’s a long post, part rant and part review followed by a related review.  I need to reread some stuff, which will have to wait until after finals.

I’ve got one more to give.  (I gave one tonight; yes, some administrator who doesn’t have to be there scheduled exams for Saturday.)  Grades for graduating seniors have to be in by noon Wednesday.  It’s more of a headache to do those separately, so I’ll should be done with the semester (except for dealing with unhappy students) about then.

20150509_213907If I weren’t dealing with the worst sinus infection I’ve had in a long time, I would have had at least one post up in the last few days.  I hope to get it done tomorrow.  Then blogging, fiction writing, and reading should pick up quite a bit.  Especially since my son won’t be going to anymore out of town dive meets on weekends since that’s all over for the year, which means I won’t be spending so much time in a car.

Oh, and one other thing.  This little item you see on the right arrived in the mail today.  I’m looking forward to diving right in.  This looks like it’s going to be one of the top fantasy anthologies of the year.

Back to the Salt Mines

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Classes start a week from today.  I returned to campus yesterday and starting getting everything in order.  For reasons too long and dull to get into here, I’ll be teaching an additional class this semester.  It’s one I’ve taught before multiple times, so it’s not like having to develop material for a new class.  I’m not sure how much of an impact this will have on writing and blogging.  Time will tell.

I’m reading a couple of things for review, but I’m not sure what order they’ll be finished.  Anyway, things may be a little hit and miss around here for the next few weeks until I get my routine established.

Being Nibbled to Death by Ducks

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It’s been one of those weeks.  You know the kind.  Nothing really bad happens, but some many little things pop up that by the end of the day on Saturday you’re wondering why you didn’t accomplish what you thought you had sufficient time to complete.  It’s kind of like being nibbled to death by ducks.

WD-40Most of my disruptions were either work related or involved my son.  (I thought I had made it clear there was to be nothing further involving fire while I was at work.)  A wire in his braces popped loose, and instead of simply fixing it, the orthodontist went ahead and tightened everything.  This will save time later this month, but it cost most of an afternoon.  I finally figured out why one of the dogs was suddenly traumatized to the point of refusing to go outside. (Experiments to determine the flammability of WD-40 are expressly forbidden.  Which should have been obvious.)

Anyway, work was supposed to be quite slow this week.  As result I had intended to finish and post reviews of the latest issue of Weird Tales and the first installment of a new series by Joshua P. Simon, as well as finish a detective novel on my phone, Deryni Rising by Katherine Kurtz for for Black Gate, and a review for Amazing Stories.  Plus I had planned on commenting on Amazon’s announcement about pricing the other day.

The piece for Amazing Stories is done, uploaded, and should go live tomorrow.  I”ll start the BAF post for Black Gate either tonight or (more likely) tomorrow along with the review of the detective novel.  I’ll also try to the Simon novel and WT finished in the next couple of days.

All Over but the Crying

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Well, finals have been graded and grades turned in.  The great email deluge has begun.  (“Why did I get an F? I made a 76 on the mditerm?” Because that’s the highest grade you made all semester and your final/lab/homework/quiz grades were failing.)

Answering them takes time.  (“I feel I did better than a D in this class, even though my grades don’t reflect it.  What time can I come by your office tomorrow and go over my exam?  I’m sure I can find a few fractions of a point to push me over a 70.”  I really got an email like this.  My rule for this sort of time wasting is if you get to find points to add, I get to find additional points to remove.)

I’m thinking of having a tray of cheese nearby to go with the whine I’m finding in my inbox.  (“I think that your giving me a F in the course for cheating in lab, even though I was warned verbally and in writing in both lab and lecture and I signed a copy of the lab policies which included the cheating policy, is extremely unfair, harsh, and mean.  I look forward to hearing a decision from you that will be more in line with the grade I want rather than the grade I earned.”  I really got this one, too, although I’ve paraphrased and condensed its multiple paragraphs considerably.  This was a major case of academic fraud.  I can’t talk about the details yet, for reasons I can’t talk about either.)

Of course, hope springs eternal.  (“Dr. West, I see I earned an F in your class.  Could you please bump me up to a D?”  Considering that your lab grade was in the low 60s, all your other grades were failing, and your average was below 50, probably not.)

All of the quotes, while based on real emails have been changed, not so much to protect the identity of the authors, but to cover my ass in the extreme event one of them actually reads this blog.  It’s been a rough semester.  And, yes, there was a major case of academic fraud which I can’t talk about, and I really can’t talk about the reasons why I can’t talk about it, either.  At least, not yet.  But soon…

Anyway, I’m going to be posting either here or on one of the other blogs almost everyday until Christmas, starting tomorrow.  There will be reviews, opinions, and who knows what else.

Stay tuned.

Final Exams

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We’ve got one day of final exams left.  I’ve given mine, but I’ve barely scratched the surface with grading.  I spent the better part of the last week dealing with a major academic dishonesty situation involving a group of students.  It’s still ongoing, so I’ll not say anything more about it at this time.  Anyway, between that and getting the lab grades to the lecture faculty, I’ve been rather busy.  I failed to post anything at Amazing Stories for yesterday, the first time since I started blogging for them.

Anyway, it’s going to be a few days before I can get my head above water and post more.  I finished with Chuck Wendig’s latest Miriam Black novel, Cormorant, over the weekend.  The review will probably be the first thing I post.  Then some short fiction, and a review of Brian McClellan’s Promise of Blood.

Just so you know I haven’t dropped off the planet.