Posting from my phone. Also cross-posting everywhere. Ignore this post. Carry on.

I don’t deal with death very well.

My friend Leonard Pung died of pulmonary complications brought on by leukemia a year ago today. And every now and then I look through the window of the cafe where we hold our writers’ group meetings, and half expect to see him walking in, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a wry grin on his face, as if he had just come up with a delicious pun that he couldn’t wait to share with us.

I’m putting this video here. It’s Leonard reading from his short story, “Crossroads”. It’s a good story. Enjoy.

Return of the Kings, that awesome book that Jennifer orchestrated for my 45th birthday, is now available as an e-book from Amazon. Proceeds from the sale go to the Leonard Pung Memorial Scholarship for the Clarion Writers’ Workshop.

Go buy this. You know you want to read this.

Here are a couple of recent publications that you should be aware of.

First, “Wish-flowers“, by my friend Jamie Thornton, was published in Issue 6 of The Quotable. You should also read the entry she wrote for their blog, “Kill Your To-Do List“.

Also, “Return to Sender”, by my friend Leigh Dragoon, was published in The Crimson Pact Volume 4. You can read an excerpt from the story at Leigh’s blog.

I like saying that these authors are close personal friends of mine. That way when they make it really big, I can say, “Yeah, I hang out with them.”

What are you waiting for? Go read and enjoy!

A quick post while I’m on break at work…

Good things come to those who wait those who work hard and go after them.

is the essence of a motivational message I saw posted to Facebook this morning, and it’s something that’s been on my mind for some time now. Consider three of the creative geniuses (genii?) that I admire: Marian Call, Jonathan Coulton, and John Scalzi. All three of them have had considerable success in their fields: Marian Call and Jonathan Coulton are both Internet-famous musicians who are solely dependent on their music for their income, and John Scalzi is a bestselling science fiction writer.

It would be easy to sit back and feel envious of their success; I admit that I am, a little. But, then, it’s easy to overlook the amount of work they each put in: Marian Call is not only a talented songwriter and performer, but she’s also touring almost constantly and doing everything she can to promote herself and her music. Jonathan Coulton is the same way; the fact that his music appeals to Internet geeks is certainly important to his success, but so is his hard work and dedication to his music. And John Scalzi, of course, sweats bullets over his writing, putting in far more than forty hours per week on his craft.

It’s that sort of dedication which I sometimes feel I lack in my life when it comes to any particular endeavor, both in my health and in my writing (two areas where I’m struggling right now). So I’m considering a resolution for the new fiscal year, which starts on July 1 (which just happens to be a Sunday): to simply dedicate more time and effort to these areas. Which isn’t to say that I won’t continue putting effort into other important areas of my life (my relationship with my wife, my job, and so on); just to put more effort into reaching my goals in these two areas.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Check back later when I’ll post a blog entry about something that happened nearly six months ago.

I’ve decided that I don’t really want to be famous, I just want a small but rabid coterie of fans.

So get on that, Internet, won’t ya?

This past weekend we flew up to Washington to visit Jennifer’s sister and her husband and daughter. It was an enjoyable time; I like my sister-in-law and her family, and my niece F (not her real name) is a blast to hang out with.

A few highlights:

• During the flight up, one of the passengers in first class proposed to a flight attendant over the in-flight loudspeaker. To make it sound less weird, the attendant was off-duty and flying up to Seattle on her own business in economy, and not one of the attendants who was working the flight. I also got the impression that the passenger and the flight attendant had actually been dating for awhile, so this wasn’t a random proposal.
• Saturday was a relatively laid back day. After watching F in her diving class (she’s quite skilled for her age), we had lunch at Claim Jumper, then went to Borders to pick over the remains of their stock. I picked up How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu, The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont, and Peter & Max: A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham (the creator of the Fables graphic novel series, and an all around nice guy).
• Sunday we went to the Pacific Science Museum to see their special exhibit on fear. It was there that I learned about the Amygdala and its role in the fear response to danger. I decided then and there that the amygdala is my favorite brain structure. For most of my life, it was Broca’s area, but this exhibit changed my mind.
• There was nothing exciting about the flight back, except that I started reading How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, and Jennifer read the entirety of The Hunger Games on my Kindle. The whole thing. Yes, she reads that fast.

And that’s about it, really. That’s two weekends in a row that we went out of town for some fun. At this point, we don’t have any trips planned until February, so our weekends promise to be dull until then.

(On another note: This weekend is Dragon*Con. Those of you who are attending, please have a wretched, awful time. This will make me less jealous of you.)

In case you haven’t seen it, here is artist Adam Winnik’s lovely animation of Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot. The voice, of course, is Sagan himself reading from his book. Watch the video, be impressed both by the animation and by the concepts.

The takeaway message from this video is obvious: Everything that has ever happened in human history, from the Peloponnesian War to the first time you fell in love, has all happened on this tiny little speck of dust called Earth.

Perspective, eh? Sagan was a master of it. He blew my mind when I was watching Cosmos in high school, and he continues to blow my mind, nearly fifteen years after his death.