Date: 2008-05-08 20:12 Subject: Two Incredible Links Security: Public Location: Work Music: Tim and Eric Theme Song (in my head)

Holy Hell you don't want to be anywhere near the Chaitén volcano in Chile.

There are 34 more unbelievable pictures at this link.

One way to avoid dangerous volcanoes and horrific lightning is to launch yourself into space. And when you do, can you possibly imagine that it will look any cooler than the images depicted in this vintage Soviet science-fiction art?



The latter comes via my excellent girlfriend, bbcaddict.

No, you cannot have her. She is mine.

11 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-05-06 11:40 Subject: Not Dead or In Hiding (Yet) Security: Public Location: Work Music: Salame!

Holy flying sacks of shit I've been busy lately. Here's a brief summary of stuff that's happened since the last time I posted here:

• Flew to Texas for a business trip with my colleague (and Planet Stories senior editor) Pierce Watters. Drove all across Texan tarnation.

• Had a nice expensive steak dinner with Michael Moorcock and his lovely wife in Austin.

• Conducted my first four-margarita dinner meeting.

• Flew home for 36 hours. Did laundry. Threw clean clothes back into suitcase for 6:00 AM flight to Vegas for the GAMA Trade Show.

• Witnessed about three different iterations of the 4th edition D&D Game System License from Wizards of the Coast (the current is my favorite, by a wide margin).

• Learned how to play/lose Pi-Gow poker.

• Turned 33 while sitting at a Pi-Gow table at New York, New York with my friends/coworkers Jeff Alvarez and Nick Logue (thanks, guys!).

• Finished four books: Roger Zelazny's This Immortal, Gordon Dickson's Wolfling, Philip José Farmer's Hadon of Ancient Opar, and Gardner F. Fox's Warrior of Llarn. In order of preference, I rank them: Dickson, Fox, Zelazny, Farmer, for those scoring at home.

• Celebrated my girlfriend bbcaddict's birthday upon my whirlwind return.

• SAW TIM AND ERIC LIVE AT NEUMO'S IN SEATTLE.

Oh, yes, that's me and Eric Wareheim at the Awesome Show DVD signing the day of the show. They arrived about 20 minutes late and Tim looked like he had just emerged from his morning bong session (natch), but they were both really gracious and cool. And they brought David Liebe Hart! I purchased two gospel CDs featuring David's songs about the power of Christian Science and the religious beliefs of outer space aliens. With puppets.



SALAME!

Oh, and the MIT Press academic book I contributed to last year, Second Person, was just reviewed on Slashdot today. The reviewer called the section including my essay "the most accessible part of the book," and "without a doubt my favorite".

That's a lot better than the review our Planet Stories book Elak of Atlantis got in Richard A. Lupoff's column in last month's Locus: "These stories are not very good." Thanks for that, Rich!

I am busy as hell. It's all very exciting and fulfilling, but I feel like I could sleep for a month.

14 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-04-14 16:27 Subject: John Carter of Mars Cartoon Security: Public Location: Work Music: Superman Theme

I don't generally repost stuff I find on BoingBoing because I assume most of the folks who read Lemuria Press also read that excellent blog, but this weekend they put up something incredible that I wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to see.

In 1936 some folks put together the beginnings of a never-to-be-completed John Carter of Mars animated movie, and some of the test footage has just come to light. It reminds me a lot of the old Fleischer Superman cartoons from the same era, and I am certain it would have been great.

Check it out!

12 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-04-09 14:15 Subject: Cartoon Cartoon! Security: Public Location: Ballard, USA Music: Silence

Look, an offensive, hugely slanted moving version of a Chick Tract!



I seem to remember that a few of my regular readers are Mormons. How much of this outer space "every man turns into a god with his own planet" stuff is still a part of the modern church?

I like how the animation on this is so cheap, but the sweet fight between the proto-indians and the proto-white "original" inhabitants of America is priceless.

See if you can detect any anti-Mormon bias from the narrator.

20 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-04-09 11:19 Subject: Slang on a Sick Day Security: Public Location: Ballard, USA Music: Silence

I'm feeling generally sort of crummy today, so I called in sick and have spent most of the morning sacked out on the couch. It turns out that there is almost nothing worth watching on TV in the late morning, so I turned my attention to Wikipedia, specifically the Category: Slang page that catalogs all of the slang expressions with pages in the encyclopedia.

Here are a few interesting ones you might appreciate:

Fanny Adams
Soap-Dodger (This article is so un-encyclopedic that I'm still laughing.)
Two Cents Plain
Smoko

I can see myself using the last two in dialog in a story or something, and I've always wanted to know what the "F.A." in "sweet F.A." stood for (besides "fuck all," which apparently also works).

Please share with me an interesting Wikipedia page.

There is nothing on TV.

7 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-04-05 12:52 Subject: ILSA: She Wolf of Formula One Racing Security: Public Location: Ballard, USA Music: Silence

Everything about this absurd story makes me want to laugh. From the picture at the top to the actual video in question.

Would it be impolitic to call it a Lollercaust?

9 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-04-03 22:10 Subject: "Oh, I love Romans" Security: Public Location: Ballard USA Music: CRANK IT UP!

In the comments to another LJ, my old buddy seankreynolds appeared to have never heard of Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen's non-Borat, non-Ali G character. A Bruno movie in the Borat style (entitled "Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt") is currently in production, presumably in the Lower Hells of the American wilderness.

Anyway, for those of you who are sadly unaware, this is Bruno:

8 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-04-02 14:37 Subject: Podcastapalooza Security: Public Location: Work Music: Pulp Gamer Podcast

I've been a guest on lots of podcasts lately.

The most recent was Geekerati, a remarkably professional outfit for a show that's only had 16 episodes so far. I was particularly pleased with the questions about Planet Stories, which were among the best I have ever fielded on the subject. Listening to this again, it's obvious that I approach these interviews as an opportunity to tell long, occasionally round-about stories. Once I start talking, it's difficult to get me to shut up. I'm not sure if that makes me a good interview guest or a bad one, but there you have it.

Near the end of the interview I covered a fair amount of details about the new Pathfinder RPG a hot topic that's even got the Associated Press talking. The news that Paizo will be sticking with 3.5 has met with a positive reaction outside of a few dark corners of the internet, and we couldn't be more pleased. More than 10,000 downloads in a week, thousands of new customers on Paizo.com, etc. So far it is all working out.

Pathfinder was also the main topic of conversation in my recent interview with The Tome, which was recorded over the phone when I was at a penthouse restaurant (as opposed, unfortunately, to a Penthouse restaurant) at the Seattle Doubletree Hotel, where I was a guest at Norwescon, the local big science fiction convention.

Tomorrow night I will record an interview with The Snarky Avenger, and I'll post a link when it goes live.

7 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-04-01 14:36 Subject: Paizo Hits MSNBC Security: Public Location: Work Music: Nick Logue on a Podcast

Our Number 1 story on the Countdown:

The new edition of the printed game has already caused a rift in the D&D community. Paizo Publishing, an independent company that publishes popular supplementary books for the game, announced last month that it will not support the new edition. It says the previous edition of D&D is a better fit and will even create its own game based on that edition.

Overall I thought the D&D story that just went up on MSNBC.com presents a pretty good overview of where the game sits at the moment vis a vis online competition (and, I suppose, paper "competition" from us). It's cool to see the hobby get such a mainstream mention, and I absolutely love seeing Paizo's name in the story. It's quite surprisingly well put together for such a mainstream article, actually. Nice to see freeport_pirate get a quote or two, as well.

And hey, who would have thought they'd ever see an Erol Otus piece of art on a major internet news site?

11 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-03-19 02:00 Subject: Tonight's Soundtrack Security: Public Location: Ballard, USA Music: The Bird and the Bee: Polite Dance Song

It's been a surreal day.

Treat yourself to a surreal masterpiece directed by Eric Wareheim. If you are not glued to Adult Swim's Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job you need to rearrange your schedule posthaste. I am going to see Tim and Eric live in May and I am more excited about that than I am about my birthday.

And I've fallen in love with the song.

9 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-03-18 16:52 Subject: Big News: Paizo Not Converting to 4.0 Security: Public Location: Work Music: Ween

We've decided not to convert our Pathfinder products to the 4.0 D&D rules for a whole host of reasons (the most significant being there is not yet an "open" license to do so). In fact, we've decided to publish a new version of the current 3.5 rules in the form of the Pathfinder RPG. You can read the news and ensuing tube-quake at the Paizo site.

You can also download a free sneak-preview of the rules revisions here.

I'm very excited about the future of Paizo and the initial response of our audience, which has been quite positive. Mostly, though, I'm tired. :)

More on this later....

30 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-03-04 13:10 Subject: Gary Gygax Has Died Security: Public Location: Ballard, USA

The galley proofs for Gary Gygax’s novel, The Samarkand Solution, are sitting on my desk right now, ready for the final check-off before we send the book to the printer. Sitting above my desk, packed into little cardboard sleeves, are dozens of copies of Dragon, the original RPG magazine for which Gygax served as publisher in its earliest days. Until recently, I served as publisher of that magazine, and it always made me proud to know I was following in Gary Gygax’s august footsteps.

Gary died this morning in his sleep, bringing to an end a decades-spanning career that created an industry and brought joy to millions of people. The game he created with Dave Arneson—Dungeons & Dragons—has had a more profound influence upon my life than any other factor save my family, and his passing has affected me deeply.

When I was a kid growing up with D&D, Gygax’s name was on the cover of just about every official product. He wrote the best adventure modules, he set the template for all future campaign settings with the World of Greyhawk, and perhaps most importantly he introduced a generation of kids to a game that was more than a game. I’ve met many of my closest friends in the span of my entire life because of Gary Gygax.

Last year, I launched Planet Stories, a line of fantasy and science-fiction trade paperbacks aimed at reprinting some of the classic works of sword & sorcery that inspired Dungeons & Dragons and fantasy gaming in general. In the AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide, a fascinating work that surely serves as Gygax’s masterpiece, Gary thoughtfully included Appendix N: Inspirational and Educational Reading, a list that included such luminaries as Michael Moorcock, Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Lin Carter, Fritz Leiber, H. P. Lovecraft, A. Merritt, Jack Vance, and more.

So in addition to my friends and my career, I also owe Gary Gygax an unpayable debt of gratitude for introducing me to the greatest fantasists who ever lived and a lifetime of excellent reading. Planet Stories is, in some small sense, my attempt to repay that debt by bringing many of these fine authors back into print to be enjoyed again. Like Paizo Publishing itself, Planet Stories exists because of Gary Gygax. I chose to honor Gary by including several of his own exciting fantasy novels in the Planet Stories line, including the imprint’s very first release, The Anubis Murders.

It was the release of The Anubis Murders at last year’s Gen Con Indy that brought me and Gary together for the last time. As the show’s Guest of Honor, Gygax had more than a full schedule, but he was able to carve out a couple of hours a day to sit at the Paizo booth and sign autographs of his book while sharing thoughts and memories with his fans. And the stories those fans told were just incredible. For a full hour I listened as gamer after gamer approached Gary and told a variation of the exact same story: “Thank you for a game that has brought me so much joy. Thank you for a game that has brought me so many friends. Thank you for making such a positive impact on my life.”

Sitting next to Gary at last year’s Gen Con made me realize what a huge cultural impact Gary Gygax had made on all of us. Never before have I seen such honest appreciation. Never before had I been so moved and so proud to be working with a man who had made such an impact on my life. On all of our lives.

When a friend passes away, it is easy to be sad, to think about what might have been had he lived another year, another ten years. But my friends, I am here to tell you that Gary Gygax knew what a difference he had made in all of our lives, and he was proud to have made it.

Not bad for a life’s work.

I’ll miss you, Gary Gygax. We all will. Goodbye, my friend.

And thank you.

--Erik Mona
March 4, 2008

15 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-02-19 21:09 Subject: Hobson's Choice and Catch-22 Security: Public Location: Ballard, USA Music: MSNBC

I'm watching Howard Fineman pontificate about Obama's victory in Wisconsin tonight (uh, Go Pack Go!), and he referred to Hillary's predicament as a "Hobson's Choice." I'd never heard the expression before, but it essentially means no choice at all, and takes its name from a 1916 stage play.

That got me thinking about other figures of speech that come from the titles of works of literature.

Catch-22 is one example, as is Sophie's Choice (itself a sort of Hobson's Choice).

Can you think of any others?

13 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-02-13 23:37 Subject: A Geek Uncle Visits the Geek Dads Security: Public Location: Ballard, USA Music: Geek Dad Podcast

Last night I sat down with the fine fellows over at the Geek Dads blog at Wired.com. A couple of weeks ago the Geek Dads took a look at Paizo's Planet Stories science fiction and fantasy trade paperback series, which was followed up with a request to sit in on this week's podcast as a special guest.

After some initial trouble with the Skype client the show went off without a hitch. I felt a little weird being the only non-dad in the crowd, but thanks to my brother Kirk I do qualify as a Geek Uncle.

Behold:

This is Camden, son of Kirk and Chelsey. I got to hang out at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I miss him lots. He is a cool little dude.

In honor of little Camden Mona, I give you my "almost dad" appearance on the Geek Dad podcast.

And here's the dragon outfit I got him for Christmas:

7 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-02-11 22:55 Subject: Erik Joins the Great Orange Satan Security: Public Location: Ballard, USA Music: Terrible MSNBC Show About Prison

You guys who hate it when I get political will be glad to know that I have posted my latest political rant over on Daily Kos.

It's my first "diary" on the site, and I must admit that I got a certain kind of thrill finally posting something after about five years of obsessive-compulsive daily lurking.

Go over and check it out and vote in the poll!

To entice you even further, the post is about this guy:

And about this stupid political "controversy".

Am I overselling my Kos diary?

Get over there!

11 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-02-11 19:42 Subject: A Contrast in Music Security: Public Location: Work Music: Yes We Can

I'll post the original Obama video in case you haven't seen it. If you have (and it's been everywhere), just skip to the second video. It's funnier.





Ha!

I caucused for Obama on Saturday. Turnout was up FIVE TIMES over the 2004 caucuses, and we had 131 people in our Seattle precinct. I am pleased to report that Obama received more than 100 votes, and the delegate breakdown in my Ballard neighborhood broke 6 to 2 for Obama.

It would be nice to be inspired by our president again. The idea that we might elect a leader who is shooting for greatness and who has the rhetorical ability and political ideas to achieve it is staggering to me.

I cannot wait!

14 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-02-09 03:55 Subject: Circa 1927 Security: Public Location: Ballard, USA Music: Sugarfoot

I'd like to see the king in this video face off against Skull-Face for the glory of the Black Empire.

Place your bets!

3 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-02-08 19:34 Subject: MY EYES HURT! Security: Public Location: Work Music: Ozone Radio Theme Song

This is one of my favorite bits of TV comedy ever. Ever.


I'd thought it was lost forever. You see, in the late 1980s on Minnesota's public television station Channel 2 there was a mysterious and hilarious comedy show called Ozone Radio. My brother Kirk and I worshipped this show, taped all four or five episodes, and watched it probably a hundred times or more.

Somehow, over the years, we lost the tape, and I thought I'd never see any of this stuff again. Bless Kirk's heart for thinking to search for it on the Internet. The "Doctor Sphincter" character is a local Minnesota quasi-celebrity who also hosted the show "Let's Bowl" that aired briefly on Comedy Central. I'm also positive he's the guy who rides around in the mobile "Captain Pike" auto-chair at the end of the documentary "Trekkies."

Here's another sketch from Ozone Radio. It's the one Kirk sent me that kicked off my search for the first video, and it's one of my absolute favorites.


And if you're a glutton for punishment, here's a complete episode.

4 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-02-07 21:29 Subject: Currently Reading Security: Public Location: Ballard, USA Music: Lost

THE SHIP OF ISHTAR, by A. Merritt: Brilliant. Possibly habit-forming.



SWORDSMEN IN THE SKY, ed. Donald A. Wollheim. One of the few Sword & Planet anthologies, by the master editor himself. I have only the Brackett story left to finish, and the last chapter of an Andre Norton "Garan the Eternal" story that reads like hackwork. Nothing is hackier than Otis Adelbert Kline's "A Vision of Venus," which features every sword & planet cliché stuffed into seven pages. But it is admirable in its innocence. Edmond Hamilton's "Kaldar: World of Antares" is in the author's upper tier, and the story by Poul Anderson is better than others of his I've encountered, which is to say it is something other than awful.



SKULL-FACE (and others), by Robert E. Howard. Two-fisted mythos action as Cthulhu meets Fu Manchu meets Reefer Madness. Unbelievable in countless ways. For one, here is my favorite passage in the novel, in which 1920s British secret agent John Gordon reveals the totality of the evil plans of the eponymous character, Skull-Face, the Scorpion, the dreaded Kathulos of Egypt!:

"As I thought, the Scorpion had preceded me. This man, whose education and craft transcend anything I ever met with, is simply the leader and instigator of a world-wide movement such as the world has never seen before. He plots, in a word, the overthrow of the white races!

"His ultimate aim is a black empire, with himself as emperor of the world! And to that end he has banded together in one monstrous conspiracy the black, the brown and the yellow... Kathulos' power is unlimited and unguessed. Like an octopus his tentacles stretch into the high places of civilization and the far corners of the world. And his main weapon is--dope! He has flooded Europe and no doubt America with opium and hashish, and in spite of all effort it has been impossible to discover the break in the barriers through which the hellish stuff is coming. With this he ensnares and enslaves men and women."

They just don't make them like Bob Howard, anymore.

21 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link

Date: 2008-02-05 12:39 Subject: Planet Stories: Two New Books, Wired Online Takes Notice Security: Public Location: Work Music: The Thrumm of Paizo's Servers Across the Hall

What a day!

I get to work to find firstbounds of C. L. Moore's Northwest of Earth: The Complete Northwest Smith and Robert E. Howard's Almuric, which turned out to be a hell of a lot more difficult to publish than I had initially expected. Northwest of Earth is a titanic volume, clocking in at almost 400 pages. Almuric actually exists. I'll chalk both up as major successes, at least so far.

On the "spreading the word" front, things have been moving a little more slowly than I'd anticipated. We're reliably listed in Locus's "books received" column and Black Gate has shown remarkable support, but we haven't had much luck getting our books reviewed in print publications or mentioned in a meaningful way on high-traffic websites.

That looks like it is beginning to change, with the latest example coming in the form of this excellent article over on Wired.com.

Here's hoping for more coverage like this in the future. Anything readers of Lemuria Press can do to help spread the word on this here Internets is most appreciated!

28 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link