Return of the Thing

Hey!

Huh?

Hey, Sam Sykes!

Whaaaaaaaat?

Where you been, man?!  We haven’t seen you in ages!  Your fish are dead and your lawn is overgrown and there’s this naked old lady on my front porch who keeps clawing at the door and crowing your name.

Crowing?

Yes.  You know how like when it’s a nice suburban summer’s day and the birds are singing and then, out of nowhere, you hear this grouse-like call of woe, like somewhere in the world there is a bird who sang a dirge just for you and if you listen hard enough it tells you when you’re going to die?

Well, obviously.

It was kind of like that.

Oh!  Well, anyway, I’ve been busy.

With what?

Admittedly, a lot of stuff I can’t really talk about right now.  While a lot of it is cool, there is some stuff that is less than cool that you don’t really need to know about.  Suffice to say, I’ve been sort of butt-deep in working on…things.

I emailed you, though!

I know and I’m sorry if I haven’t gotten back to you yet.  I will, in good (bad) time, of course, but your patience in the interim is so appreciated I will probably suffocate just thinking about it.

Anything new?

I don’t know if you saw, but we have the Black Halo cover out right now!

Admittedly, it’s probably a little shameful that I’m only bringing this up now long after most bloggers have sunk their teeth into it, but I felt it worth talking about, since it’s generated a complaint or two online in its time.

Was it my first choice?  Eh.  No.  I kind of wanted to use another character for it.

Do I like it?  Yes, actually.

Am I saying that only because of my publishers?  Actually, no, I’m not.  Interestingly enough, I am entitled to my own opinions.  I like it because I am not what you might call a particularly big cover connoisseur.  I appreciate covers that I enjoy, sure, but I don’t see it as a huge point of debate.  I prefer characters to landscapes or vague artsy descriptions.  You may not.  That’s fine.  I don’t blame you (publicly).

Is there in fact a scene in which a ship on fire starts sinking?  Well.

Well, okay, then.  Anything else new?

Yes, actually!  This Wednesday, I will be participating in a TWITTER CHAT.

How the hell does that work?

Presumably, you follow @sffwrtcht and ask them questions for them to relay to me about writing/craft/trilogies/my work/butt police/whateva.  The whole thing is going down this Wednesday, December 1st, at Nine (9 (nyne)) PM EST.  That’s Eastern Standard Time!

Oh, neat.  What else?

Did you see this fantastic review of Tome of the Undergates in Rob Will Review?  He’s actually become a reviewer I’ve started to follow a little more intensely lately, owing mostly to the sheer breadth of topics he can cover.  I very much like what he had to say about the book and very much like him as a person.

You should definitely read him if you don’t want to give me reason to launch your children out of catapults.

That’s it?

That’s not good enough for you?

Well…

Fine.  Here.  Have a picture of John Scalzi as a Walrus.

Good!  Hope to see you all in the Twitter Chat on WENDESDAY, NINE PM EST.