ATSOISE – SouleEngravings.com missing in action.
One of the first places a story of mine appeared was at a site called SoulEngravings.com or ATSOISE (A Tangled Script of Intangible Soul Engravings). This was an odd place for me, but my story fit in well. The writers were an odd mix of interesting people who called themselves The Mad Wordsmiths. The site’s editor and spiritual leader, Mark Kevin Gilbert, died of cancer soon after I first spoke with him. Without Mark, the remaining Mad Wordsmiths have gone their separate ways and the website was a neglected wreck that appeared and disappeared. I’ve been getting hits on my blog entries where I mention this site. I was curious and tried to find any news

Happy Birthday Forrest J Ackerman
4e, if he were alive (I’m not sure he isn’t), would be 93 today. He was famous as a man who just liked Science Fiction a whole lot. He knew everybody, went to all of the conventions, and everybody liked him. He had the best collection of science fiction books and memorabilia in history. It is being slowly auctioned off, and I buy a piece or two when it looks like something is going cheap.

Story Sale: Atomjack Magazine
I sold my story Nigerian Soul to Adicus Ryan Garton at AtomJack Magazine after 103 days in the slush. I am very happy about this, as it is a good story and sold the first time out. I am also assuming that J Erwine will include my story Reefs of Jupiter in the upcoming print version of The Martian Wave. He asked for a rewrite, which I asked Erica to do, and the story came out nice and clean. I shipped it off last week.  J has announced that he is working on formatting the magazine. He did not acknowledge the story, but I think it is a slam dunk.

Boy Rescued After Getting Stuck In Chimney
It is that time of year. As Christmas approaches, I like to read about people stuck in chimneys. I find a twisted humor in this. Here is the latest: (this video doesn’t work in my browser, but it may just be a firefox issue) Boy Rescued After Getting Stuck In Chimney – Las Vegas News Story – KVVU Las Vegas.

How real does Sci-Fi have to be?
There was a discussion about the realness of SF over at one of the Nanowrimo forums. It seems that they read my “Laws Science Fiction” page and I was trashed – the page and me personally. Also – I wouldn’t worry too much about that website. Personally, I think their “laws” are a load of crap, and that anyone who talks about “laws of writing” in that way should probably go take a hike. :-p And another: That website is crappy. Just reading the laws show their ignorance of Science Fiction. I doubt they’ve ever read