Jay Lake: Writer

[links] Link salad joins the Center for the Easily Amused

Five Authors + Five Questions : Goals — Shimmer‘s blog on various writers on various issues. Including me.

Philip Glass on style

Darwin Day — Portland celebrates the Antichrist one of the heroes of modern science on February 12. (Via threeoutside.)

DNA Turning Human Story Into a Tell-All — Humans and Neanderthals and Denisovans, oh my. I especially liked this bit: [O]ur modern era, since H. floresiensis died out, is the only time in the four-million-year human history that just one type of human has been alive. (Thanks to Dad.)

Steampunk Pocket Watch Winds Via Solar Power — So to speak… Some neat lateral thinking here. (Via markbourne.)

Experts Build Crab-Like Robot to Remove Stomach Cancer — Huh. (Via danjite.)

How Neutrino Beams Could Reveal Cavities Inside Earth — Commander Laforge to the bridge.

Scientists close to entering Vostok, Antarctica’s biggest subglacial lake

Team to investigate underwater ‘UFO’ – is it sunken ships or Millennium Falcon? — Duh, of course it’s a life size replica of a completely fictional starship. At the bottom of the ocean.

Far side of the moon filmed by Nasa spacecraft — One whole face of the Moon can never be seen from Earth because it does not spin on its axis, meaning we always have a view of the same side. Umm… stupid much?

Bill legalizing same-sex marriage passes Washington state Senate — Someday fairly soon, opposition to gay marriage will have all the social panache and credibility as opposition to interracial marriage, and for much the same reason. This shameful bigotry will be the province of bitter, aging cranks, largely behind closed doors.

I Don’t Care About Your Invisible Jeebus — But from where I stand these days, the only thing I see religion doing in the public sector is gay bashing and telling women, mostly poor and desperate and in deplorable financial and personal situations, what to do with their bodies. I see busybodies deciding what drugs they can dispense to which customers, or deciding that they don’t have to issue a marriage license because of some petty deity that I don’t believe in told them to hate their fellow citizens and ignore the law.

Indiana Senate passes bill putting religion in science class — Conservative America: driving all our children deeper into ignorance every year. Yet another of the myriad reasons I can never be conservative, and honestly don’t understand how any thoughtful, self-aware person can be.

Teleprompters are stupid … only when Obama uses them — Ah, conservative “logic”.

The Conservative Backlash That Isn’t Coming — Some thoughts from conservative commentator Daniel Larison. I will observe that since no one in the GOP seems to remember the eight years of the Bush administration, preferring to blame the disastrous outcomes of his governing on conservative principles on Obama who inherited Bush’s mess, how could there be a backlash?

Have Democrats Succeeded in Pre-Destroying Romney? — A conservative leaning narrative complaining about the Democrats using the same tactics that have been so successful for the GOP these past decades.

?otd: Are you ever bored? Why?

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2/2/2012
Writing time yesterday: 2.0 hours (Sunspin revisions)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.5 (solid)
Weight: 227.2
Currently reading: The Man in the Moone, and Other Lunar Fantasies ed. Faith Pizor

Tags: Cancer, Cool, Culture, Funny, gay, healthcare, Links, nature, Personal, Politics, Process, Religion, Science, steampunk, Tech, Washington, weird, Writing

Posted: 6:32 am Thu February 02 2012 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad would sooner kiss a wookie

The Horrible, Amazing, Odd Story Behind the Stories of Thackery T. Lambshead — A book everyone should buy and read! Full of weirdos and weirdnesses.

Rainbow: Victorian meets sci-fi in steampunk — Omaha’s view of the world. (Thanks to garyomaha.)

A Trip to China Can Make a Guy Hate His iPhone — My trip to China two years ago gave me a lot of frustration for completely different reasons than described in this piece. Basically, on the Chinese domestic cell networks, it worked way better than ever on AT&T in this country. Much cleaner sound, no dropped calls, no ‘dials of death’ instant five bar service in any urban or built up areas.

Octophilosophy — When it comes to studying cephalopod brains and behavior, it helps to have a philosopher around.

When the Nurse Wants to Be Called ‘Doctor’

Common Ground for Legal Adversaries on Health Care — (Thanks to my Dad.)

Gotta Revolution: Video Mix of Occupy Wall Street Protest And Police Reaction

The Round and the Oval — WaPo on Chris Christie, politics and weight. Like people criticizing McCain for being computer illiterate, criticizing Christie for his weight is a red herring.

Chris Christie’s Presidential Baggage

Michele Bachmann’s campaign is sputtering in Iowa — And it couldn’t happen to a more deserving loon.

Herman Cain denies GOP’s horrible history with blacks — One again, those liberally biased facts don’t count in the conservative narrative.

?otD: Can you arrange that?

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10/3/2011
Writing time yesterday: 0.75 hours (WRPA despite chemo)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.5 hours (7.5 hour overnight, fitful, plus napping)
Weight: 221.4
Currently reading: The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson

Tags: Books, China, healthcare, Links, Nebraska, occupywallstreet, Personal, Politics, Publishing, steampunk, Tech, Videos

Posted: 5:30 am Mon October 03 2011 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad lurches off to ReaderCon

Scrivener’s Error in interesting about book marketing — Also Rupert Murdoch and conservative politics.

Advocating for Aesthetic — A discussion of steampunk as a genre, or not. Mike Perschon touches on some of my own thoughts here.

How to Sell Your Fantasy & Science Fiction to Agents and Editors Live Webinar Registration — Phil Athans does a Webinar.

Signal boost: An estate sale in Walnut Creek, CA — If you’re in the area and want, you know, books.

Ponds on the Ocean — Melt ponds on the Arctic ice cap. Cool photo.

Solar Wind Changes Atmospheric Pressure over South Korea

Tea party members tackle a new issue: manatees — As one tea partier is quoted as saying, “We cannot elevate nature above people,” explained Edna Mattos, 63, leader of the Citrus County Tea Party Patriots, in an interview. “That’s against the Bible and the Bill of Rights.” God bless America. (Via David Vincent.)

?otD: How strong were you by the time you got to Woodstock?

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7/14/2011
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hour (Sunspin)
Body movement: n/a (airport walking to come)
Hours slept: 6.5 hours (interrupted)
Weight: 228.4
Currently reading: Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord

Tags: Links, news, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Science, steampunk

Posted: 4:50 am Thu July 14 2011 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad flies back to the West Coast

Kevin J. Anderson on ebook pricing

The Syntax of Photography

One-Ninety: 1912 — A little more steam for your punk.

The Culture of Combat Rations — This is weirdly fascinating. Too bad they didn’t cover the old C-rations. Orange nut roll, anyone?

Dilbert and conversational implicature — One of my favorite Dilbert moments at work was some years ago in a former job when I was formally counseled about my use of the words “concision” and “brevity” in an internal memo, because in using such words I was allegedly deliberately making other employees feel stupid.

The Internet is Filling Up With Dead People And There’s Nothing We Can Do About It — On the web, you can’t die so much as join the ranks of the undead.

The Birth of Religion — A fascinating article on religion and agriculture. With some awesome photos. (Thanks to my Dad.)

What Does the Bible Actually Say About Marriage? — It’s high time people came clean about how we use the Bible. We’re looking at you, Christianists. The Bible has a hell of a lot more to say about poverty and usury than it does about marriage or homosexuality. And let’s face it, Jesus wasn’t exactly living the heterosexual American family values life himself.

The Voter Fraud Con Comes to Kansas — Laws addressing voter fraud are a consistent GOP tactic to suppress the votes of poor Americans, who largely vote Democratic. Much like GOP views on tax cuts, the numbers have never supported the rhetoric. Chalk up another loss for reality in the face of conservative ideology.

?otD: Going anywhere today?

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7/11/2011
Writing time yesterday: 0.25 hours
Body movement: n/a (airport walking to come)
Hours slept: 6.25 hours (interrupted)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord

Tags: Cool, Culture, ebooks, Food, Funny, Language, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, Publishing, Religion, steampunk, work

Posted: 1:54 am Mon July 11 2011 | Comments(2) |

[links] Link salad for an Omaha Friday

A reader reacts to Green — Not so much with the liking, I am thinking.

A review of Boondocks Fantasy — Including some favorable comments on my story, “Jefferson’s West”.

Kurt Vonnegut’s chalk talk on the shape of a story — (Via a mailing list I’m on.)

No One Cares About Your Reading — On book tours. (Via Patty Garcia.)

Goodbye, Oxford comma? Hello, Shatner comma! — Snerk. (Thanks to corwynofamber.)

Sylvester H. Roper — A true steampunk hero. (Thanks to you what sent it.)

Making Genomics Routine in Cancer Care

History of Flight — Sigh. (Thanks to goulo.)

The Rogue Taxidermist — This is very weird. Like Warren Ellis weird. (Thanks, I think, to willyumtx.)

Audio from 123-year-old talking doll ‘a pretty big first,’ historians say

The Gospel Blimp — Speaking as a staunch atheist, I am increasingly fascinated by Slacktivist Fred Clark’s critiques-from-within of Evangelicalism.

What Would Reagan Do? — More on the conservative myth-making around that sad old man who used to be president.

Obama calls the GOP’s bluff — Confidential to conservatives in America: Taxes are an investment in the country you claim to love so much. Unless you plan to go utterly Galt, stop pretending they are theft.

?otD: How many roads must a man walk down? And why?

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7/8/2011
Writing time yesterday: n/a (too tired)
Body movement: 30 minute suburban walk
Hours slept: 7.75 hours (interrupted)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord

Tags: Books, Cancer, Cool, Culture, Funny, Green, healthcare, Language, Links, Personal, Politics, Process, Publishing, Religion, reviews, steampunk, stories, video, weird

Posted: 4:51 am Fri July 08 2011 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad rises up in the Midwest

Urban fantasy author and my friend J.A. Pitts with an updating reading/signing schedule for his new book, Honeyed Words — Boosting signal for him because of some date snafus.

The Boundary — Austin Sirkin on the culture and identity of steampunk.

Banana car peels through Michigan — Is it waxed, do you suppose?

World War II Mystery Solved in a Few Hours — The magic of crowdsourcing. (Thanks to my Dad.)

A Triangular Shadow of a Large Volcano — This is some awesome.

100 Years of IBM in Pictures

Google+ app submitted to App Store for iPhone, awaiting approval — I’ve been playing with this over Chrome on my MacBook Pro. I look forward to seeng iOS implementation.

Roger Ebert is funny about the natural history of Transformers

French Bug Plays 100-Decibel Mating Call on Genitalia — I’ve been on dates like that. (Via David Goldman)

The Mental Burden Of A Lower-Class Background — Hmm, my culturual stereotype of rednecks doesn’t align too well with what’s referenced here, but the piece still makes a good point.

Jim DeMint tells The Christian Post that the tea party isn’t aligned with the GOP: — Do you suppose he actually believes that bullshit. The Tea Party’s issues and voting habits are core GOP.

Why U.S. is not a Christian nation — In your dreams, theocratic Christianists. Being a secular nation is the strongest bulwark your, or anyone’s, religious beliefs can have. Anyone who thinks otherwise is dangerously ignorant of history and culture.

Politicians Lag U.S. Voters on Same-Sex Marriage: Albert Hunt — Opposition to same-sex marriage has been the tyranny of the minority, pure and simple. The fearful passion of Christianist bigotry is finally being subsumed by reality and common sense.

How Grover Norquist hypnotized the GOP — Ah, remember the heady days of the Republicans’ Permanent Majority under Bush? Budgets were balanced, taxes were down, revenues were up, we were not engaged in endless trillion-dollar foreign adventurism. No? Actually, that was Clinton. The GOP destroyed all that, then has successfully handed much of the blame to Obama through the Liberal Media.

?otD: Fireworks much?

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7/5/2011
Writing time yesterday: 30 minutes (chemo brain still had me slowed down)
Body movement: 30 minute suburban walk
Hours slept: 9.25 hours (over past 24 hours)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord

Tags: Books, cars, Culture, Links, Movies, Personal, Photos, Politics, Religion, Science, steampunk, Tech

Posted: 5:23 am Tue July 05 2011 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad hears the music

Don’t forget to enter the new Endurance caption contest: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]

Steampunk Fiction Donated — Clemson University with a steampunk reading list, including a couple of books I’m not familiar with. Cool!

Asimov’s Vesta and Ours — A little bit of SF history intersects contemporary space science.

Mapping Bloomsday

Cracking the F&#%ing Humor Code

‘You Look Great’ and Other Lies — What to say to someone who is very ill. I don’t agree with everything in this piece, but it’s still pretty good.

The Incredible Shrinking Man — Roger Ebert on eldering.

Rare, Aggressive Fungus Strikes Joplin Tornado Victims

A Russian A.T.M. With an Ear for the Truth — Weird. (Thanks to Dad.)

Radio School: 1920 — Ah, the golden age of wireless. Tubepunk, you might say.

For Franciscan Twins, Simple Lives Had Depth — I think this piece is supposed to be inspirational, but I mostly found it saddening.

Delay rule bumps up flight cancellations

Port of Philadelphia: c. 1936 — A WPA poster. I love this kind of art.

Bald eagles attack post office at Alaska port — Oh, the irony.

The Federalist Papers — Ta-Nehisi Coates on politics, race and identity. This is a really good one.

Reason Seen More as Weapon Than Path to Truth — This says a lot about political discourse. (Via scarlettina.)

?otD: When is the last train to Clarksville, anyway?

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6/15/2011
Writing time yesterday: 1.75 hours (Kalimpura revisions, WRPA)
Body movement: 30-minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 7.5 hours (solid)
Weight: 233.4
Currently (re)reading: A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

Tags: Art, Books, Cancer, Contests, Cool, Endurance, Funny, healthcare, Language, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, race, Religion, Russia, Science, steampunk, Tech, Travel, weird

Posted: 5:17 am Wed June 15 2011 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad is cool as a cucumber

Don’t forget to enter the new Endurance caption contest: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]

Outer Alliance Spotlight #80: Feminism

Androcentrism: It’s Okay To Be a Boy, But Being a Girl…

Industrial Photography With Soul — Yum! This photo feature from Dark Roasted Blend will put a little punk in your steam.

Dragon Inn: 1909 — You have to click through the larger view of the photo to see the dragon, but it is pretty cool.

The Terrifying Truth About New Technology — Do robots and Twitter make you nervous? Growing old is what you’re really afraid of. In other words, “Hey, you kids, get off my digital lawn. Oh, and buy my book.”

Lasers Made from Human Cells — Headline of the month. Bwahahahahaha. One million dollars!!!!

I.B.M. Researchers Create High-Speed Graphene Circuits

Shadow Internet Story Fishy — Hmm…

When It Comes to Scandal, Girls Won’t Be Boys — Women, men and political sex scandals.

Badass Quote of the Day — Ed Brayton quoting Amanda Marcotte on conservatives and history, with respect to Sarah Palin’s hotly-defended fantasies about Paul Revere. (I’m still laughing over the alleged “gotcha” question that elicited her glossolaliac ramble into Revolutionary pseudohistory.)

Gingrich blames staff exodus on ‘strategic differences’ — He’s as nuts as Palin and Bachmann, albeit in a different way. Sadly for the nation, “nuts” does not equal “unelectable” in the weird, proudly non-reality-based community of Republican primaries.

?otD: What’s your favorite vegetable?

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6/13/2011
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (hours of tech follies)
Body movement: 30-minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 6.25 hours (solid)
Weight: 234.6
Currently (re)reading: A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

Tags: Books, Contests, Cool, Culture, Endurance, gender, healthcare, history, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, Science, sex, steampunk, Tech

Posted: 5:02 am Mon June 13 2011 | Comments(1) |

[conventions|photos] The Steampunk Bible reading

On Monday, June 6th, I was part of a reading and panel discussing The Steampunk Bible, along with Cherie Priest and Libby Bulloff. I’d guess 50-60 people in attendance. Prior to that, there was an open dinner at Big Time Brew Pub, with 20-25 folks. Plus cake after the reading. It was loads of fun. I took photos at dinner, and Linda Deneroff was kind enough to shoot photos for me during the reading.

One of our party’s three tables at dinner

Another of our tables

Me at the reading

Cherie Priest, in elder Goth drag

Libby Bulloff, whose hair was even more colorful than in this picture

The audience

CAAAAKE

Duane Wilkins, our host at University Books

As usual, more at the Flicker set.

Photos © 2011, Joseph E. Lake, Jr. and Linda Deneroff

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. and Linda Deneroff is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Tags: Conventions, Food, Personal, Photos, Seattle, steampunk

Posted: 5:48 am Wed June 08 2011 | Comments(2) |

[personal] So you say it’s your birthday, plus steampunky goodness

Well, yesterday was my actual birthday. I turned 47. To celebrate, I spent the day in Seattle at the home of noted urban fantasy author J.A. Pitts.

The Pittses brought me over to the University District for a very nice dinner with 25 or so of my closest friends at the Big Time Brew Pub, after which we all trooped over (in my case, very slowly) to University Books for a reading and discussion of Jeff VanderMeer’s new opus The Steampunk Bible.

Cherie Priest, Libby Bulloff and I were the representative steampunks, and there were a good 50 or 60 people in attendance. The event went very well indeed, and at the end there was birthday cake.

Linda Deneroff very kindly took over my camera during the event, but I haven’t had time or energy to upload the photos yet, so look for some photoblogging over the next few days.

All in all, the movable feast that is JayCon and my birthday was excellent. I received close to a thousand happy birthday messages yesterday via Facebook, blog comments and email from friends and fans around the world. You guys are amazing. It was like a fountain of love and affection and goodwill. Thank you. Stretching from my visitors last week through my Friday pre-party for my fly-in JayCon guests through JayCon itself and a quiet evening event to the Sunday brunch to yesterday’s actual birthday, it’s been an intense, highly rewarding celebration. My birthday season will wrap with a family dinner Thursday night with my brother, who’s flying into town that day.

This is a tough, tough year for me. The energy of these past days will be a huge part of carrying myself forward through the medical hell to come. I can never thank all of you enough, but these words will have to do.

Thank you.

Now go read a book or something.

Tags: Books, convention, family, JayCon, Personal, Photos, steampunk

Posted: 5:50 am Tue June 07 2011 | Comments(1) |