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| The World in the Satin Bag |
| A YA fantasy blog novel by Shaun M. Duke. "James is your typical eleven year old outcast--smart, logical, and geeky--until his best friend is inadvertently sucked into another world. Will he be able to save her from the world in the satin bag?" Includes writing tips, book reviews, and the like. |
| Language: English |
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| Blind Eye Books Special on Pre-Orders |
| 2008-07-20 19:16:00 |
I just realized that Blind Eye Books is having a special on pre-orders of The Archer's Heart by Astrid Amara. Anyone who pre-0rders form their site gets 25% off. That's a good deal if you ask me! The offer ends August 1st, 2008 (sorry about the late notice). Go check it out.Also, if you all could pass the word along that would be great. Help out a small press.Thanks!(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| Book Review Up (sort of): First Mother's Fire by H. L. Hoffman |
| 2008-07-20 19:05:00 |
Well, after mulling over this for a while I decided to finally just post my review of the book. You can find my thoughts on it here. I had a lot of issues with the novel, as you'll see, and as such couldn't finish it.Anywho.(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| Polls: Too Many Problems |
| 2008-07-20 13:47:00 |
Alright, so after many complaints and the poll finally failing to show up even for me, I have decided to remove the polls. I give up on polls. If they aren't going to work, then I'm not going to waste my time with them.So, from now on all votes will be done via comment. Just post a comment with your vote here. The books that you can vote on are as follows:Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn HaleThe New Mars by John L. Manning, Jr.Honeycomb by Israel Del RioSaga by Jeff JanodaYou can click the titles to see what they're about according to Amazon (or wherever they may be found).My apologies to all those who have already voted. It's just too much of a hassle to deal with the polling system if it's not going to work. I don't have the time to keep fiddling (well, I do, but I'd rather spend that time doing something more constructive).Thanks!(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| Poll: Again and Again |
| 2008-07-19 12:30:00 |
The winner last time was The Naming by Alison Croggon. Now for a new poll, which should be visible on the right there. If you can't see it the choices are:Honeycomb by Israel Del RioWicked Gentlemen by Ginn HaleSaga by Jeff JanodaThe New Mars by John L. Manning, Jr.Feel free to leave a comment here with your vote if you can't see the poll for some reason. One of those books will be what I read next.With that, I'm out!(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| SBS Magazine: Changes and an Idea |
| 2008-07-19 11:30:00 |
Well, things are changing for how the magazine is going to work. Originally I was going to publish the thing from my home, using a printer and making little "booklet" style things. Then I found out that was going to be really hard without having to buy a bunch of things to make it work (such as a new printer just to make the printing process not take fourteen days to do).So, I came up with several other options on how to do things.I brought up the idea of doing a PDF with a print anthology at the end of the year: the members of YWO shot that down pretty quick (and I don't blame them).Then I brought up the second idea. Since Lulu is a great source for printing books, I figured we could use that service as a source for printing, and the members seemed ...
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| Hate Mail, Sanders, and Other Nonsense |
| 2008-07-18 19:00:00 |
Simon Owen's of Bloggasm recently emailed me about his article discussing the broader subject of email privacy.I don't think I'll go into discussing all aspects of it here, because what would be the point of linking to the article if I were going to do that? I will say that my personal opinion in regards to emails is this:I think out of respect all emails should be kept at least somewhat private. I don't necessarily have an issue with posting the contents of an email provided you remove important information regarding the sender. I think, in most cases, it is wrong to post something with the author's name on it, unless there is a very good reason to do so. In the case of hate mail I have different opinions. When you send hate mail I see that as sacrific...
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| Going Potty in Space |
| 2008-07-18 16:00:00 |
Yes, someone at NASA actually had to figure this out cause, well, going potty ain't very easy to do when gravity ain't there to help you out. I give you an astronaut telling us how it works:Yeah. Sort of takes the fun out of shooting stars doesn't it?(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| Interview w/ Edward Willett |
| 2008-07-18 13:00:00 |
Thanks again to Mr. Willett for doing this interview with me. Enjoy!Thanks for doing this interview with me. To start off, tell us a little about yourself. Who are you? Why are you here? (Okay, you don't have to answer the last one, because that's a broad and mostly random question) Basically, a little bio if you will.As my mother used to say, “I’m here because I’m not all there.”A brief bio: I was born in Silver City, New Mexico, in July of 1959 (an event in which aforementioned mother played a very important role). We moved from New Mexico to the panhandle of Texas when I was two, and when I was eight, we moved from Texas to Weyburn, Saskatchewan. My father was a preacher in the Church of Christ and also a schoolteacher, and was offered ...
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| Tweets for Today |
| 2008-07-17 20:19:00 |
Here's my random twitter nonsense for the day:10:39 So begins day one of me feeling like crap. Wonderful. In other news: I may get something written today. # 13:27 Okay, so crisis temporarily averted. What to do next? Write, read, get a plane ticket. # 14:00 I've discovered the value of doing things really early rather than at the last minute... # 15:32 You know, I loved "The Breakup" right up intil the end when they didn't get back together...at that point the movie became retarded. # 17:24 Windows XP vs. Vista (quick analysis): Slow, but relatively stable after SP2 to fast, flashy, but with some kinks. They're tied right now. # 17:25 Windows vs. Mac: The "can do anything and everything" system, with some kinks, to "crappy interface and no fun" system. Windows wins! #Thanks for not exploding. Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter (Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| Endings: To be happy or not to be happy? |
| 2008-07-17 19:57:00 |
I was watching an interesting program today, even though I should have been doing something else, and I became rather interested in something I saw, so much so that I actually want to write a story that incorporates a similar idea (it's a documentary). The thing is, it's dealing with a grim subject that I'm going to set in the future and, given that, I'm not sure if I want it to end happily.So my question is this: does a story (and in particular a short story) have to end happily? Could one end a story at an extremely low point, perhaps with some resolution to certain aspects of the story, but with the main character not technically achieving his or her main goal?What do you all think?(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| Wonderful |
| 2008-07-17 12:30:00 |
So, Sanders decides to be an *sshat and charge authors $40 to remove their stories from the Helix archives and now he's apparently made the gloriously generous announcement that all bets are off:All right, that's it. It's been long enough; there's been ample opportunityfor anyone else who felt soiled by the contact with Helix to step up and speakup and pay up. I don't believe there are going to be any others (the imposition of cash chargesseems to have had a distinctly damping effect) but if there are, tough shit.You had your chance and you didn't take it. Nasgi fucking nusdi.Because it never occurred to Mr. Sanders that being a douchenozzle in the first place by charging authors might have deterred them from asking to remove their work because, oh, just maybe such authors didn't have $40...
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| It's Official, All Politicians Suck |
| 2008-07-16 11:30:00 |
...and should have their jobs taken away from them and given to people who are not politicians. The President also should be an impartial party who does not hold ties to any industry, particularly companies with a significant amount of power as it is (like, oh, I don't know, oil companies).President Bush has gone off and done what all Republicans and Democrats do: blame someone else for what plagues the country. Rather than accepting responsibility for the fact that he and his party have done practically nothing to alleviate the economic stress forced upon the average American by oil companies who refuse, for some reason, to make significant leaps into the reusable fuel infrastructure, he has gone one step into stupid land and declared the followin...
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| Death of a Good Friend |
| 2008-07-15 14:00:00 |
Discovered this over a Wil Wheaton's lovely blog. If you don't know who he is then learn. You've likely seen him before. In any case, I love you Mr. Wheaton.(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| More Sanders Bologna |
| 2008-07-15 12:55:00 |
I'm just going to post links, because right now I'm getting exhausted by how far into the idiot hole this guy is going. Anyone still considering Helix for the publication of their work should probably get their head checked. So, here is what Sanders has been saying about the people wanting to have their work removed from Helix because he's a bigoted wacko. Make sure to read through the replies by him too; they're priceless.And if you want to see Tobias S. Buckell's take, go here.Yeah.(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| Professionalism Out the Window |
| 2008-07-15 11:30:00 |
Not too long ago I talked about the explosion of crap that is Mr. Sanders' rather bigoted and, well, disturbing rejection letter. Now it comes to my attention that Mr. Sanders is actually mentally handicapped in a way that most of us aren't. We all have an inner editor, that little person that sometimes goes "yeah, you probably shouldn't say that" or "that sentence looks like crap". I have it (most of the time it works, though occasionally something moronic slips through, usually as a failed attempt at a joke). Well, Mr. Sanders doesn't have an internal editor. Rather than attempting to do what any intelligent person would do at this point (what with bloggers and authors alike throwing the Book of Dumb*ss at him), he has made the glorious decision to open his big mouth once again and ...
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| Writing Updates |
| 2008-07-14 19:00:00 |
If any of you have been paying attention to the right column where I keep all my writing nonsense (which you'll likely pay attention to now, if you haven't already), then you'll have noticed that I'm terribly behind. I hit a horrible slump. Yes, I had been writing (mostly blog posts), but I refuse to include those in my writing total unless they are essay-style.Well, I finally got on track today. I wrote roughly 2,300 words, and have finished writing two new chapters for The Spellweaver of Dern and am about 5/6th through a new fantasy short story called "The Gnomes of New Timberfax".If all goes as planned I should finish the gnome story tomorrow and have scheduled two chapters to show up this week and next week for SoD. I apologize for the lateness. ...
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| What does this look like to you? |
| 2008-07-14 14:30:00 |
Do any of you think this looks remarkably like the worms from the Tremors movies? And what do you think it's about to eat?(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| Poor Baby |
| 2008-07-14 13:35:00 |
Dear Mr. Obama,If you're going to throw a temper tantrum every time someone says or depicts something about you that you don't agree with, what exactly makes you think I want you as our Commander in Chief? Right now you don't have your finger on the big red button, but if you became President...you would.My advice: Stop throwing a fit and realize that your political campaign from now until whenever it is you cease being a part of the Presidential world is going to be marred by rumors and this little thing called Satire. You're supposed to be educated, so look it up in the dictionary and stop being a baby. It might be tasteless, but it's doing what journalism does. You don't have to like it, but stop being a baby about it. Probably the only good thing I can say about President Bush is...
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| Random Photos: Batman |
| 2008-07-13 19:00:00 |
If you don't think this is funny, well...sorry.Discovered from here, where you can find many other similar math-based musings.
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| The Science of Santa |
| 2008-07-13 14:30:00 |
You know, as silly as this list might be, it's really fascinating that someone did all the math and physics for this. Just this one alone is impressive:3) Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house.Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly d...
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| The Geek Commandments |
| 2008-07-13 11:30:00 |
I absolutely love StumbleUpon. It's one of the most fascinating browsing tools you can have. The things I find using the random Stumble! button are really awesome, especially since I can choose my preferences (i.e. I can select what sorts of things I Stumble! for).Well, here is something rather funny and worthy of a little commentary:The Geek Commandments (Computer Geeks especially)I agree with almost all of these except for a few, but here is my one-by-one discussion of the options.Goodness, this definitely should be the first one. Always backup your files. Especially important stuff like writing! (Realizes he hasn't backed up his writing folder in a while...)Duh! Do people still do this? I'd also recommend not...
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| Strange Things From Other Countries |
| 2008-07-12 17:30:00 |
Sometimes people have way too much time on their hands...and we're all the more grateful for it. Not sure what prompted the bizarre picture-story in that link, but it's truly fascinating.(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| World Mapping (the other side of things) |
| 2008-07-12 14:30:00 |
This is an interesting little article. It's a short journey into the world of maps for fictional worlds, except not your usual fictional worlds. These are maps for non-speculative fiction worlds, which I find rather interesting. I guess it makes sense to have such maps (especially if you're using a rather obscure location, or at least a location that you are very intimate with because you live there, but others might have problems understanding the ins and outs.I wonder what other fiction works have maps to them. Can you guys think of any?(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| The "Sheet Head" Fiasco |
| 2008-07-12 11:30:00 |
Before anyone throws a fit and thinks I'm going to go on an anti-Muslim rant: I'm not. This is in regards to the heated discussion that has sprung up around the posting of a rejection letter sent by William Sanders of Helix Magazine. The link in that sentence is not to the original post, but a different post where the whole letter appears. The original poster recanted and pulled the letter off after Sanders threw a fit and a half over what he considered private correspondence.Now Tobias S. Buckell has rung in here on the issue and it seems like things are getting even more heated after he posted this about some things said in the Asimov's Magazine forums. It should be said at this point that any mention of the wrongs of Mr. Sanders has very little to do with being "P.C." and a lot to ...
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| Rambo's Good Advice (Part Two) |
| 2008-07-11 19:00:00 |
And Cat Rambo has posted another five great bits of advice for increasing our manuscript's chances. Read them. Go on, you know you want to!(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| Post A Rejection Day |
| 2008-07-11 16:57:00 |
That's apparently what today has been declared. Several folks have already done it (Tobias Buckell, Justine Larbalesteir, Willow Fagan, and likely many others.).So, throwing aside personal integrity, I thought I'd do the same thing. So I decided I'd post two of them. No mentions of the stories or which markets, for obvious reasons. Here is the first one:Shaun,Thanks, but it's not for us. We look for the new, so we tend to stay away from the suite of elements like AI, wetware, near-future dystopias and so on which have become as ubiquitous in SF as wizards, fairies and monarchies are in fantasy. These ideas have been strip mined for more than twenty years now, and there's very little life left in them which doesn't depend on significant renovation from the familiar. We didn't find that ...
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| Mutant Chronicles Teaser |
| 2008-07-11 14:30:00 |
Not sure if anyone else has seen this already, but I'm really interested in this show/movie (not sure which) now. Watch the trailer. It's not a high quality one (and most of the effects either look like they're for TV or unfinished), but it does seem rather interesting. Looks promising though.Anywho.(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| A Mere 85 Years |
| 2008-07-11 11:30:00 |
That's the shortest period of time it would take us to get to the closest star (Proxima Centauri) with current realistic technology according to this Universe Today article. And what do I have to say about it?What's the freaking hold up? Seriously. Eight-five years is pretty good time considering it's over four lightyears to the nearest star. Heck, I'd probably volunteer to go if my girlfriend could go with me. So, where are our Orion Project rockets and such? Where are our nuclear pulse engines to drive us at five percent the speed of light?Someone over and NASA better be paying attention. I demand you get on top of it! Somebody's tax dollars are paying for you folks to do something good...so, there better be cool nuclear-powered engine things in our near future!On a side note: D...
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| Astronomer Left to Rot |
| 2008-07-10 17:00:00 |
I just stumbled upon this article and am a bit stunned by it. Charles Thomas Bolton is best known for discovering Cignus X-1 and ultimately irrefutable proof that black holes exist.And the University is booting him out claiming that the observatory he works in is of no use anymore due to light pollution. Really? Because someone like Mr. Bolton wouldn't be continuing to work for you if that were the case, right? Yeah, it sounds like a load of crap to me too. To add insult to injury, the University gave him 10 days to get out. That's right, 10 days. That's it. They didn't even sit down and say "hey, we'll give you a lovely reference to a different observatory" or "we found you another job if you'd like it" or something like that, considering the guy has been working for them for deca...
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| Entertainment Weekly Movie Meme |
| 2008-07-10 14:00:00 |
Got this from Heather's Blethers! Consider yourself tagged if you read this!"This is Entertainment Weekly's list of 100 Classic Movies of the past 25 years. Anyone who wants to play, consider yourself tagged! The rules: Bold the movies you've seen, underline or *asterisk* the ones you plan to, strike out the ones you HATE and refuse to watch ever again."I'm also adding in this: You can also strike out ones you don't want to see in the first place.Here's the list:1. Pulp Fiction (1994)2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)3. Titanic (1997)4. Blue Velvet (1986)5. Toy Story (1995)6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)9. Die Hard (1988)10. Moulin Rouge (2001)...
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| I'm a Judge! |
| 2008-07-10 11:30:00 |
I am a judge for the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards! What does this mean? Well, I get to read and take part in deciding who wins and who gets on the shortlist. This will be my first time doing so and I'm really excited to be a part of this. For those that don't know what the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards are, they are awards for various categories (novels, shorts, etc.) that acknowledge works with issues or themes of interest to the LGBT community (i.e. lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender). For those that might think these awards are just silly nonsense, you should look into who has been nominated this year and in previous years: folks like Elizabeth Bear, Stephen Baxter, Jo Walton, T. A. Pratt, Hal Duncan, Christopher Barzak, etc. Big names and lesser-kn...
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| Destroying America (one step at a time) |
| 2008-07-09 23:26:00 |
Congratulations America. Really, well done. This is the man you voted in twice. How does it feel being fisted by your own government? Like warm apple pie perhaps?And before anyone gets in a tiffy over this rather rudely placed comment: I'm referring to those that voted for Bush not once, but two times, passing on Al Gore and John Kerry, the first of which was by far the better choice and the second of which was still better than the mentally handicapped nitwit that sits in office now, twiddling his thumbs as he contemplates what else he can do to screw this country.(I have no intention to make this blog a political one, but I just can't shut up about this. This is too much and I'm showing considerable restraint right now.)(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| Rambo's Good Advice |
| 2008-07-09 20:00:00 |
Yup, here's some great advice for those of you submitting your stories to magazines. It should be noted that all the points Ms. (or Mrs.?) Rambo mentions should be pretty much obvious. You know, simple things like don't misspell the editor's name...Check it out! It's good advice!(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| Randomly Santa Cruz |
| 2008-07-09 17:00:00 |
Random pictures to make you happy inside, or at least sort of happy. Eh, be happy if you want to, or not. It's up to you.(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| Email Ethics: Replying to Rejections? |
| 2008-07-09 14:00:00 |
I have a curious question. Is it wrong, not recommended, or downright stupid to email back and editor and thank them for the comments they made in a personalized rejection notice?I don't want to do something considered a "no no".Any thoughts?(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| Pearls of Wisdom |
| 2008-07-09 11:30:00 |
Forward thinking doesn't mean that science fiction has to be 100% forward thinking. What it means is that science fiction looks ahead to the trials and tribulations of the near and distant future. Criticizing science fiction for trying to be culturally realistic about the future of U.S. Presidency is somewhat pointless. In fact, criticizing SF for failing to have a diverse cast of future U.S. Presidents is criticizing it for being realistic. The fact of the matter is, the U.S. is behind the times and may be that way for a long time. Even if Barack Obama wins the election, he will not have done anything to change the nation as far as race goes. The U.S. has issues with racism for a reason, and despite our desire to consider ourselves impartial on race, that's far from the truth. We a...
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| Advice About Audio Interviews |
| 2008-07-08 16:35:00 |
(For writers, from a listener).I listen to a lot of audio interviews with authors. From The Agony Column to Adventures in Scifi Publishing to The Dragon Page (among many others), there is a plethora of great interviews out there. But there are also interviews that, while interest, are truly boring. The problem isn't so much what is being said, but how it's being said or how the author presents him or herself. And when you fail to interest the listener, you fail to get them to buy your books (or other work). So, having said that, and having spend the last few months digging through hundreds of podcast interviews, here are a few points of advice on how to prepare yourself for an audi...
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| Gnomes or Erdluitles? |
| 2008-07-07 19:00:00 |
I started writing a short story yesterday titled "The Erdluitles of New Timberfax". But about half a page into the story I thought, "nobody ever writes about gnomes." So, now, the title is "The Gnomes of New Timberfax" and it's currently nothing more than a slightly humorous story about a hermit who discovers that gnomes are real and aren't very fond of his neighbor. I have a feeling it will become slightly dark in the center, like a white-chocolate covered raisin. I'm not entirely sure if the city of New Timberfax is a magical city. The introduction of gnomes doesn't necessarily mean I want the whole world to be a magical one, though on the one hand this does mean that magic, or at least magical creatures, exist.Needless to say, gnomes will be real and not exactly what one would expect of them (or at least that's what I'm shooting for). We'll see what happens.Anywho.(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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| Rejection: A-stream-atism |
| 2008-07-07 13:44:00 |
Yup, another rejection. This one wasn't so nice, but at least the comments for it were helpful. Yeah, guess I should send this one off again.Anywho!(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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