Long Time, No Post

Well, I haven't been keeping up with this blog in June. I do have an excuse. Over April and May I managed to crank out the initial drafts of four stories. I'm not saying they're awesome stories, but the bones are laid down, and now the polishing begins. And I've got a special market in mind for an older story, and a kind hired gun has helped me to clean it up. So back to the grind.

In my copious spare time, I've been going here:



And doing a lot of this:




It's been ten years since a good Fallout game, and I'm really enjoying myself. I wish Bethesda could have introduced a few new elements, which would have created a sense of difference between the East Coast and the West Coast. I also understand that they were relaunching a beloved franchise, and didn't want to take a lot of chances. That said, though, I'm enjoying the heck out of myself.

What a Weekend!

Memorial Day was crazy crazy crazy. But we did run down to the Rock of Ages home to see friends. The Queen of Science and I love the Rock of Ages family, they're our age, they're parents, and they really didn't change at all after they had their kids. And they've got interesting, engaging children.

In a moment of rare unity, all of us, four adults and two kids, aged nine and six, gathered around the computer screen and sang. You know, like people used to do in the old days, singing together, gathered around the radio, or the phonograph? Of course, what was sang was incredibly geeky...



A good time was had by all.

Of the whole weekend, there was really only one false note. I saw this disturbing piece of equipment:



Yes, that's a Hello Kitty sewing machine



WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?

Taking a Stand

I missed by a day, but this is important.



There has been a lot of discussion about race and race issues in science fiction. I've tried to ignore it because I didn't think it touched my writing. I have characters who are of color, as well as queer ones, sort of randomly sprinkled into my fiction, and I thought that was enough. And then I read this incredible essay by Nalo Hopkinson about her experience in science fiction. And I realized that I wasn't doing enough. The problem of the perception of race won't go away if people of good conscience ignore it, and worse, to do so myself is disrespectful to my friends.

Race and race relations need to be discussed. It can't be 'gotten over' and ignoring it has resulted in bad situations, oppression, and the belief that it will just go away. It won't always be pretty, and it hurts to realize that I've been going about this wrong. But this is more important than my hurt feelings.

More Derby!

In what I hope will become a yearly tradition, Kim Paffenroth and I went to see the roller derby team that he sponsors, the Hudson Valley Horrors. This time I brought my camera and took some very bad photos.



Roller Derby is interesting. There aren't a lot of non-sexualized contact sports for women out there, and watching them in an aggressive sport is fun. Because we know Kim, we're supporters of the Horrors, but Albany has its own team, the Department of Public Hurts. Slightly closer are the Hellions of Troy, who within easier reach than our own state's Green Mountain Derby Dames, who just finished their first season.



Game-wise, the Horrors got their collective assets handed to them by the extremely team-oriented Suburban Brawl. The Brawl had some impressive moves, including the team-mate sling, in which they would grab a teammate's hand and pull them ahead, giving them a momentum boost. They were also consistently faster off the mark than the horrors, and had pin-point accuracy in body-slamming the Jammer (the person who scores the points by lapping members of the other team) off her feet. Following my thought that Derby is more about treachery and teamwork than being young and fast, we're pretty sure the star player of the Brawl, Hard Core-Vette, was an original Disco dancing queen, a possibility reinforced by her victory dance on her final jam.



A good time as had by all, not the least because Kim is a lot of fun to talk to, and he signed the books I shoved under his nose without complaining. The punk sensibility of derby tickles me still. Who wouldn't be a fan of the New York Shock Exchange? Wrestling seems overhyped and over 'roided in comparison. Who cares about such dull names as Triple H when you can cheer for Ann Sane or Pinky Swears?

The Queen of Science has decided her 'derby name should be "Decked-Her Horrible."

Blew Him Away

Two positive reviews for Cthulhu Unbound were added to Amazon on May 13^th. One with four stars, and a five-star review by Matt Carpenter, reviewer of scores of Cthulhu Mythos collections.

Matt gives the anthology five stars, and, as is his wont, reviews each story individually. In the beginning of the review, Mr. Carpenter states that I pushed Permuted Press to send him a reviewer's copy. I did, but they weren't that difficult to convince. Mr. Carpenter likes Cthulhu anthologies, and he seldom gets much thanks for posting his extensive reviews. I thought it was time to give a little back. Anyway, here's the important part of his review:

“The Patriot” by John Goodrich - Mr. Goodrich has a story in the upcoming Cthulhu’s Dark Cults from Chaosium but otherwise I am uncertain about his publication history. This is a ghoulish yarn set in WWI, reminding me a little bit of Curran’s “The Chattering of Tiny Teeth” from the book Warfear. On its own merits this was a very creepy and well written piece that I enjoyed until the end...and the denouement just blew me away, it was so good!

*swoons*


There's also this story-by-story review by Episkopses Vulpine the XXIII which is fairly positive overall ("The collection was alright, while there wasn't any one story that made me go all squamous with glee, neither were there too many clunkers."). Here's what he had to say about mine:

'THe Patriot' by John Goodrich set the stage in WW I and No Man's Land. Why France has been very good to the ghoulishly inclined. Another rather good story.

I'll take that.

Friday Night at Nine... Now on Wednesdays

We picked up the entire run of the X-Files. All nine seasons and the movie (lacking the second film, but we're not much bothered), for about thirty dollars more than we paid for a single season, back when they first came out.

Nothing else typifies the nineties as much as this show. We watched the first two episodes last night, and it brought back a lot of memories. I look forward to watching the seasons pass, and watching the cellphones shrink as the show goes on.

Fallen to the Dark Side

I always wondered how it was that Warhammer players ended up with three of four armies. I mean, isn't it difficult enough to really get one army down pat and play that particularly well? Apparently it isn't.

And now I know. Because I bought a few tyranid models, specifically because I wanted a force that looks like



this




Why these colors? Because when I was watching Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, I thought to myself... "Tyranids would look great in that color scheme. I know I haven't fully succeeded, the skin coat needs to be darker, more charcoal than the light gray it is. But I'm quite pleased with the red highlights, though. Here's a screen cap of Destoroyah for comparison:

Farewell to a Mighty Dynasty

I've finally divined much of the reason for my recent unproductiveness: Rome: Total War.

It's a marvelous game, sharing many elements with my previous problem time-waster, Civilization 4. One difference, however, is that Rome: Total War presents the player with a dynasty with which to control the Roman World. Each member of the family has different attributes, and I'm sorry to say that at least twice, the House of Pharaoh was led by a man whose moniker was "the mad."

But it's a wonderful game. A great combination of elements which range from commanding armies in the field to a larger map-based portion from which the player surveys the known world and plans their conquests. I learned a lot from playing. Asia Minor is a hellacious place to get mired into, but ultimately a good, productive stronghold once it is entirely subjugated. With enough money, Byzantium can be bought. Who is running which city is important.

And the Egpyptian archers in Rome: Total War are awesome. One difference between this and Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War is the brightness of the costumes. Rome is a lot less colorful, giving the gameplay a more gritty, realistic feel. You don't want to mess with Pharaoh's Bowmen:



I intended to play it through just once, just to see the Pharaohs of Egypt conquer the Known World and take Rome. However, the combination of complex elements, managing the major cities, plotting to reinforce this city while dealing with that army made the game time-consuming. Enjoyably so, but it wasn't good for my productivity, especially since I faced a difficult project.

So I say farewell to my mighty dynasty of conquering Pharaohs. Your experiences and sacrifices will someday live on in stories.

Latest Click on the Ratchet

On Easter Sunday, I received word that I had been accepted into the Cthulhu 2012 anthology from Mythos books. This is a professional-level anthology which pays five cents a word.

Fame, fortune, and young nubile fanbase, here I come!

The Tiny Town Blues...

The Queen of Science was off visiting relatives last week, so I was alone doing the usual weekly stuff. This led to certain unusual times for doing things, such as the weekend shopping at 9 Wednesday evening.

After the are groceries unloaded, I walk move up to watch the cashier ring stuff through. She looks at me and says,

"Guitar Hero: Metallica is out tomorrow, right?"