Jay Lake: Writer

[events|repost] JayFest sponsored by Powell’s Books

This evening, Powell’s Books will be hosting JayFest, a group signing and book fair in support of the Clayton Memorial Medical Fund in my name.

DATE: Thursday, June 13, 2013 (two days before JayCon XIII)
TIME: Book fair 6:00-9:00 pm, group signing 7:00-8:00 pm
PLACE: Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing in Beaverton, Oregon

Authors in attendance will include David D. Levine, Phyllis Irene Radford, Devon Monk, Barb and J. C. Hendee, Shannon Page, Mark Ferrari, J. A. Pitts, M. K. Hobson, Diana Pharaoh Francis, and Tina Connolly.

Ten percent of the proceeds for each book sold during the book fair will go to the Clayton Memorial Medical Fund, which helps professional science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mystery writers living in the Pacific Northwest states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska deal with the financial burden of medical expenses.

Be there or be rectilinear!

Please see http://www.powells.com/events/5348/ for more information and updates.

Tags: Books, Cancer, Conventions, events, friends, health, Northwest, Oregon, Personal, Repost

Posted: 4:44 am Thu June 13 2013 | Comments(16) |

[events|repost] JayFest sponsored by Powell’s Books

Mark your calendars! A week from today, Powell’s Books will be hosting JayFest, a group signing and book fair in support of the Clayton Memorial Medical Fund in my name.

DATE: Thursday, June 13, 2013 (two days before JayCon XIII)
TIME: Book fair 6:00-9:00 pm, group signing 7:00-8:00 pm
PLACE: Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing in Beaverton, Oregon

Authors in attendance will include David D. Levine, Phyllis Irene Radford, Devon Monk, Barb and J. C. Hendee, Shannon Page, Mark Ferrari, J. A. Pitts, M. K. Hobson, Diana Pharaoh Francis, and Tina Connolly.

Ten percent of the proceeds for each book sold during the book fair will go to the Clayton Memorial Medical Fund, which helps professional science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mystery writers living in the Pacific Northwest states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska deal with the financial burden of medical expenses.

Please see http://www.powells.com/events/5348/ for more information and updates.

Tags: Books, Cancer, Conventions, events, friends, health, Northwest, Oregon, Personal, Repost

Posted: 3:13 am Thu June 06 2013 | Comments(10) |

[events] JayFest sponsored by Powell’s Books

Mark your calendars! Powell’s Books will be hosting JayFest, a group signing and book fair in support of, well, me.

DATE: Thursday, June 13, 2013 (two days before JayCon XIII)
TIME: Book fair 6:00-9:00 pm, group signing 7:00-8:00 pm
PLACE: Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing in Beaverton, Oregon

Authors in attendance will include David D. Levine, Phyllis Irene Radford, Devon Monk, Barb and J. C. Hendee, Shannon Page, Mark Ferrari, J. A. Pitts, M. K. Hobson, Diana Pharaoh Francis, and Tina Connolly.

Ten percent of the proceeds for each book sold during the book fair will go to the Clayton Memorial Medical Fund, which helps professional science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mystery writers living in the Pacific Northwest states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska deal with the financial burden of medical expenses.

Please see http://www.powells.com/events/5348/ for more information and updates.

Tags: Books, Cancer, Conventions, events, friends, health, Northwest, Oregon, Personal

Posted: 4:42 am Fri May 17 2013 | Comments(16) |

[links] Link salad wipes the sand from its eyes

Ballard Street on writers and their inspiration — Hahah.

Giant Squid, Anyone? — Scrivener’s Error with a number of interesting observations on publishing.

Bacon Explosion — Jersey Girl in Portland on our recent culinary adventures. Mmm.

Freakishly large goldfish found in Lake Tahoe; Researchers worry about impact on native species

1964 ‘Popemobile’ visits Tacoma museum

Roko’s basilisk — Okay… (Snurched from Daily Idioms, Annotated.)

Pistorius case brings South Africa gun culture to global spotlight — Sigh.

Old Yellow Stain: A Tragedy In One Act — Jim Wright on the decline of Senator John McCain.

QotD?: Sleep much?

2/24/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (Research for the current non-fiction project.)
Hours slept: 8.0 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.0 hours (cold and wet, not walking with my mild head cold)
Weight: n/a (out of town)
Number of FEMA troops on my block covering up high crimes and misdemeanors in Benghazi: 0
Currently reading: Mort by Terry Pratchett

Tags: cars, Culture, Food, guns, jerseygirl, Links, nature, Northwest, Personal, Politics, Process, Publishing

Posted: 8:07 am Sun February 24 2013 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad takes a hit and its mind goes ping

The Acts of Whimsy cancer fundraiser is still live. It has made goal, but additional support is always welcome, especially given my new complications. Please check it out if you have not done so yet.

A final update from Waterloo Productions on their Kickstarter — Including a video segment I find very hard to watch. Last day for the Kickstarter, so if you were considering giving, go now.

Con or Bust — Helping Fans of Color Attend SFF Cons. Consider contributing or supporting through bids. Ghu knows we need more diversity in the field.

The World SF Travel Fund — Another worthy cause, for a slightly different flavor of diversity.

Two Guys and Guy on the price of literary success — Heh.

Dilbert on the 10,000 hours of practice required for excellence — Well, duh.

Grammar police: Vibrating pen warns of handwriting mistakes — A specialized pen under development is designed to catch writing mistakes and vibrate as a warning. Could it revive the dying art of handwriting? I can think of some entertaining abuses of this thing… (Snurched from James Aquiline.)

Wi-Fi “as free as air”—the totally false story that refuses to die — Journalism goes wrong and just keeps getting worse. No free wi-fi for you! (Via David Goldman.)

Facebook is malware, people suddenly realize

Fat Dads’ Epigenetic Legacy — Children with obese fathers show epigenetic changes that may affect their health.

Cancer reprograms immune cells to avoid an attack — Cause a specific type of white blood cell to change its identity.

Superomniphobic Material Vigorously Repels All Fluids — (Snurched from Daily Idioms, Annotated.)

Moth Drives Robot, Cruising for a Lady — The insect’s mate-seeking behavior could help researchers program self-driving robots to track airborne chemicals. — I’ve been on dates like that.

“Aggressive Pizza-Stealing Dog” Makes Bail — Ah, Oregon.

The Sockeye’s Secret Compass — Magnetic fish?

Asteroid to Make Closest Flyby in History — Researchers keeping an eye on trajectory that will bring it within 18,000 miles of Earth. Recorded history, to be more accurate.

35 Ancient Pyramids Discovered in Sudan Necropolis

Dinosaur extinction: Scientists estimate ‘most accurate’ date — Scientists believe they have determined the most precise date yet for the extinction of dinosaurs.

A Cheap and Easy Plan to Stop Global Warming — Intentionally engineering Earth’s atmosphere to offset rising temperatures could be far more doable than you imagine, says David Keith. But is it a good idea?

Marco Rubio: Another Senator Who Doubts Global Warming — Rubio goes on, saying, “I understand people say there’s a significant scientific consensus on that issue, but I’ve actually seen reasonable debate on that principle.” Actually, no he hasn’t. There has been no reasonable debate, at least not from the deniers, who for the overwhelmingly most part are not climate scientists, who twist data, who leave out critical information, who use cherry-picked graphs, and who resort to outrageous ad hominems to cast doubt on the reality of global warming. Rhat’s because he’s a conservative. “Reasonable debate” means to a Republican, “anything which might support my ideological convictions, no matter how false or outrageous.” Rubio probably does know better, but he also knows that telling the truth will cost him vote in the lunatic asylum that is the Republican base.

Tendency to fear is strong political influence — Education, they found, had an equally large influence on out-group attitudes, with more highly educated people displaying more supportive attitudes toward out-groups and education having a substantial mediating influence on the correlation between parental fear and child out-group attitudes. Which is precisely why conservatives work so very hard to stunt public education, and control as much of the process as they can.

A Short Note on Mormon Theology and Transgender Identities

Choose Now. Which Side of History Will You Be On? — I wish every conservative in America would read this article. (Snurched from Slacktivist Fred Clark

New Rove Effort Has G.O.P. Aflame — Their battle with Democrats will have to wait. For now, Republicans have their hands full fighting one another. The party of “legitimate rape” is trying to purge its cranks and bigots. Which would leave the GOP small enough to hold its national convention inside a Denny’s restaurant. Whither the poor, neglected angry white man so beloved of generations of GOP pols?

The Persistence of Racial Resentment — Without racism fueling angry white men, the GOP would not exist as a meaningful political party.

QotD?: Will your heart pump? Will your blood sing?

2/8/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.75 hours (1,000 words on a spec novella to 3,000 words, plus some WRPA)
Hours slept: 7.25 hours (fitful)
Body movement: 0.5 hours stationary bicycle
Weight: 230.2
Number of FEMA troops on my block protecting women from violence: 0
Currently reading: Mort by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Cancer, Christianists, climate, Conventions, Cool, Culture, documentary, education, Food, fundraiser, Funny, gender, health, history, Language, Links, nature, Northwest, Oregon, Personal, Politics, Process, race, Religion, Science, sex, Tech, Travel, Writing

Posted: 6:19 am Fri February 08 2013 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad digests Peking duck

The Acts of Whimsy cancer fundraiser is still live. It has made goal, but additional support is always welcome, especially given my new complications. Please check it out if you have not done so yet.

The Lakeside Kickstarter has expanded its stretch goals to include documenting the science around my genomic testing by traveling to the testing lab and interviewing the scientists there. They’v also posted a new trailer for the movie, which is very striking. So give a little to support SCIENCE!

A very nice poster made from some of my recent words on cancer — Thank you, Nicole.

F.E.A.R. — Another cancer survivor talks about fear and loss and coping.

The Girl on the Glider and Other Stories — A roundup of reviews from a reader, including a very kind mention of my short story, “The Cancer Catechism”.

The Best Shots Fired in the Oxford Comma Wars — (Via danjite.)

The last roll of Kodachrome — “Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away.”

The Physics of… Face Slapping — Um… yay, science? (Via David Goldman.)

In science today, a genius never works alone — Future discoveries are more likely to be made by scientists sharing ideas than a lone genius

Cat gap — The cat gap is a period in the fossil record of approximately 25 to 18.5 million years ago in which there are few fossils of cats or cat-like species found in North America. No cat gap on the Internet! (Via Daily Idioms, Annotated.)

App Feeds Scientists Atmospheric Data from Thousands of Smartphones — PressureNet shows the potential of distributed sensing with mobile devices.

East African Railways and Harbours — For all you infrastructure geeks. (Via threeoutside.)

The Museum of Online Museums — Hah! (Also via threeoutside.)

You Moist Remember This — Tom Robbins on rain. (Via Marta Murvosh.)

Richard III: unveiling day arrives for skeleton that would be king — Leicester University prepares to show carpark remains to the world as scientists work round the clock to finish ID tests.

The Last Places — Henry VIII’s wine cellar, under Britain’s Ministry of Defense building. This is cool. (Snurched from Cameo Wood.)

No Pictures. Only Words. — Peter Watts on his father’s life and death as a deeply closeted gay man. Sobering reading. (Via Tim Keating.)

Activists hail a watershed moment in gay rights movement

Do White evangelicals have a delusional persecution complex? — In a word: yes. It feeds the Christianist narrative quite nicely. Unfortunately for my Evangelical friends, having your absolute cultural supremacy replaced by merely overwhelming dominance isn’t persecution; it’s progress for the rest of us. In other words, a smidgen of fairness. Do unto others, and whatnot, not that the Golden Rule holds much water for American Christianists.

NRA likens universal checks to gun registry — That would be the same NRA that used to support background checks, before they decided the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of children.

Obama gun photo triggers mocking comments — Of course it did. Conservatives hate him no matter what he does. At least those of us who deposed Bush had ample reason to do so, rather than paranoia and self-valorizing fantasies. Unless, of course, you think ruining the economy, crashing the Dow-Jones, reversing the budget surplus, and launching a trillion-dollar war of choice under knowingly false pretenses were good for the country.

Smart dumb quote of the day: “American democracy is the greatest institution on Earth” edition — Ah, Senate rules. (Snurched Steve Buchheit.)

QotD?: Is it pure quackery?

2/3/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.25 hours (minor revisions to an accepted story)
Hours slept: 10.0 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.2 hours stationary bicycle (still in post-operative recovery)
Weight: 225.2
Number of FEMA troops on my block protecting women from violence: 0
Currently reading: Gulp by Mary Roach

Tags: Cancer, Christianists, Cool, documentary, England, Food, fundraiser, gay, guns, health, Language, Links, Northwest, Personal, Photos, Politics, Religion, reviews, Science, stories, trains, Videos, weird

Posted: 9:18 am Sun February 03 2013 | Comments(3) |

[links] Link salad is easy like Sunday morning

The Acts of Whimsy cancer fundraiser and the Lakeside Kickstarter for the documentary about me, the_child, and cancer are still live. Both have made goal, but additional support is always welcome. Please check them out if you have not done so yet.

Also, Jim C. Hines reads his very first story in costume as one of the unlocked goal achievements. Hahahaha.

The wrong goodbye of Barnes and Noble — Hmm. Another ‘death of the bookstore’ article. This one might have teeth though.

Saving Lives in Serenity: Can a Fanboy and Physics Change a Movie? — Hah! (Via Lisa Costello.)

Non-paternity event — Interesting term of art for a retroactively obvious concept. (Via Daily Idioms, Annotated.)

Buy Bigfoot’s gravesite for $270,000 — Snerk.

Did homosexuality kill off the dinosaurs — Questions Christanists ask. Really, deeply stupid Christianists, apparently.

This Isn’t the Petition Response You’re Looking For — The White House responds to the petition to build the Death Star. Hahahahah.

“[There is] no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons.” — Guess who said that? Noted Kenyan Muslim socialist activist Ronald Reagan in 1967. We have more guns today. Are we safer?

Since 1979, Firearms have Killed 120,000 US Children, Many more than Troops in Vietnam or Iraq & Afghanistan Wars (Graph) — As a society, we have agreed that this is a small price to pay for gun owners’ Second Amendment rights. Thank God for the NRA and the Republican party, because otherwise liberals would have worked to make sure those kid couldn’t water the tree of liberty with their blood. Are you proud of our country for this?

Change US tax law from citizenship based law to residence based law — Huh. I had no idea. I know many people this affects. (Via danjite.)

The Window for Republican Foreign Policy Reform Won’t Be Open for Long — It is possible that the damage among younger voters has already been done such that these cohorts are lost to the GOP for many elections to come, but there is virtually no chance of winning them and future cohorts of voters if the party’s foreign policy remains what it is. Failing to reform Republican foreign policy will have effects beyond the relatively small portion of the electorate that votes on these issues, because the perception of incompetence and recklessness on these issues will sabotage the party’s efforts to repair its overall reputation. It’s not a perception of Republican incompetence and recklessness, it’s a stone cold fact substantiated heavily by the evidence of the Bush administration and the current GOP House, not to mention the 2011/2013 GOP primary season.

?otD: Are you free?

1/13/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (stress)
Hours slept: 9.5 hours (fitful)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: n/a (forgot to weigh)
Number of FEMA troops on my block enforcing disability rights: 0
Currently reading: The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks

Tags: Books, Cancer, Christianists, documentary, Funny, gay, guns, health, history, Language, Links, Movies, nature, Northwest, Personal, Politics, Religion

Posted: 9:06 am Sun January 13 2013 | Comments(2) |

[links] Link salad goes hiking

Fanboy squee: The ebook ARC of Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance is now available at Baen for $15.00 — (Shamelessly stolen from oracne.)

Colecção Argonauta — Some awesome 1960s Brazilian SF covers. (Snurched from @jeremiahtolbert.)

Mapping Your End-of-Life Choices

Meditation found to increase brain size — Now if this only applied in other areas of life… (Via Lisa Costello.)

Google launches Endangered Language Project — Google tries to promote info exchange on the world’s 3,000 endangered languages.

Lidar map shows path of Missoula floods that shaped Oregon’s backyards — Cool stuff. (Thanks to Dad.)

Planets worlds apart orbit one distant star

New passenger service to the Moon for $100M — Hmm. :: wants ::

What to make of the Chinese space effort? — In related news, Language Log comments on the term “taikonaut”.

Pope Jim Garlow I joins the Münchhausen martyrdom brigade — Slacktivist Fred Clark on the self-valorizing persecution fantasies of American Christians.
‘Bible Believers’ who do not know, or care, what the Bible says — Because for far too many Americans, being a Christian isn’t about religion or faith, it’s about tribalism and a smug justification for their private bigotries.

Congress Joins List of Things Romney Thinks Don’t Exist — The general theme of Mitt Romney’s campaign is that President Obama is 100 percent responsible for everything that has happened since he took office, including not only worldwide economic events but decisions of the Republican Congress.

The Consequences of Believing Nonsense — The current crop of conservatives will have a great deal to answer for to future generations. So will the rest of us who have let the GOP get away with politicizing utter nonsense and mortgaging the planet’s future for the sake of a few votes.

Yes, Iraq Definitely Had WMD, Vast Majority Of Polled Republicans Insist — Speaking of believing nonsense. This is flatly counterfactual. Untrue. A lie. Yet close to half of America’s voters believe that Iraq had WMDs. This is what comes of the GOP deliberately enabling nonsense, and co-opting Your Liberal Media to spread it. The people who started all this — Atwater, Ailes, Rove, etc. — they know better. They’re just cynical, opportunistic bastards. But they’ve created going on two generations of politicians and voters who are true believers, because listening to your own fears is a hell of lot easier (and more emotionally satisfying) than considering the nuances of things you don’t understand and don’t want to hear.

?otD: Been out to the Rising Gorge?

6/23/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (brain break)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride, hiking to come
Hours slept: 7.0 (solid)
Weight: 238.8
Currently reading: Shattering the Ley by Benjamin Tate

Tags: Art, Books, China, Christianism, climate, Cool, Culture, ebooks, healthcare, Iraq, languages, Links, moon, Northwest, Personal, Politics, Religion, Science

Posted: 5:37 am Sat June 23 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad is thoughtful

Sunny Skies over the Pacific Northwest — I think I can see my house from here.

New-found exoplanet is evaporating away

Birther controversy: ‘Obama might not make ballot’ — In a revival of the controversy surrounding US President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, Arizona’s top election official has said it is “possible” Obama may not make the state’s November ballot due to unanswered questions about his birth place. shsilver points to more on this: Once again, Arizona is the nation’s laughingstock.

‘Metrosexual Black Abe Lincoln’ — Charles M. Blow dissects the latest Republican crazy.

?otd: How do you feel about teachable moments?

5/20/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (full day of conferencing and critique)
Body movement: 60 minute walk along San Antonio’s Riverwalk
Hours slept: 7.5 (solid)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: Light Breaker by Mark Teppo

Tags: Links, Northwest, Personal, Photos, Politics, Science

Posted: 6:15 am Sun May 20 2012 | Comments(0) |

[child] Holiday wreath sale

It’s that time of the year again. the_child‘s school is offering a holiday fund raiser of fresh-cut wreaths from the Cascade Mountains here in the Pacific Northwest. These can be delivered locally on 12/1, or be shipped nationwide (lower 48 only) by UPS, with delivery in early December. The options include:

Shipped via UPS:

• 18″ wreath — $35 each (shipped)
• 22″ wreath — $40 each (shipped)
• 24″ swag — $40 each (shipped)

Local pickup for Portland area:

• 18″ wreath — $20 each
• 22″ wreath — $25 each
• 24″ swag — $25 each
• 30″ wreath — $35 each
• Garland — $2.50 per foot

If you’re interested in wreaths for yourself or a friend or relative, please let me know in comments or via direct email by Wednesday, November 9th.

Originally published at jlake.com. You can comment here or there.

Tags: Child, Northwest, Personal, Portland

Posted: 5:57 am Mon October 17 2011 | Comments(0) |