Those of you who have been following this blog for a while know that I have a rather uncomfortable relationship with the concept of genre.  On the one hand, I really, really don’t like it, on the other hand, I absolutely hate it.

Genre has always struck me as the lowest sort of pseudo-intellectual caste system, a hierarchy based on superficial characteristics.  It shoehorns stories into stereotypical circles.  If you write a Science Fiction story, then you must write about Science Fiction characters doing Science Fiction things in a Science Fiction world.  It’s a one-dimensional systematization  driven by a marketing paradigm that internet shopping has made obsolete.

Lately the tendency has been to increase the numbers of genres without altering the basic linear structure of the concept.  Speculative Fiction gets broken down into Science Fiction and Fantasy, then Fantasy splits into Epic and Modern, and Modern Fantasy gives rise to Urban Fantasy and Paranormal…

Here is another First Chapter from my friend P.L. Blair from her book Deathtalker, book three in the Portals  series.  This is a fantastic series and I highly recommend it.

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He was born without a soul … called into being with only one purpose: to bring death to women who are caught in his seductive snare. Will Kat, Tevis and their allies stop him? Or will Kat become another of his growing tally of victims?

If Halloween is your favorite holiday, then this book is for you. Deathtalker is the fourth book in P.L. Blair’s “Portals” series about Kat Morales, a detective with the Corpus Christie police force, and Tevis McLeod, her elven partner. Together they chase down criminals who have traveled to our world through magical portals between our earth and a parallel world where magic and mythical creatures live.

In this book, Kat and Tevis are…

Image via Amber West WANA Commons

Last time, when we talked about Barnes & Noble, I mentioned a book by Malcolm Gladwell David & Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants.  This is a really interesting book because Gladwell peels apart our common perceptions of what an advantage really is. Sometimes, that which others claim is undesirable really isn’t.

It is merely different.

Right now I am at a weird crossroads and admittedly I am a bit scared because I am deviating outside the “accepted.” For those who don’t know, my son The Spawn (Age 5) has had an interesting road. When he was two and a half, he had all four front teeth knocked up into the maxilla and had to have them surgically removed. Twenty thousand dollars in maxo-facial surgery later, we had a little bat.

This created some problems. Obviously, his speech suffered the…

The big news in publishing this week is Barnes & Noble’s plan to ax the Nook. After losing over a billion dollars trying to make the Nook a contender, it seems B&N’s new CEO is ready to just cut bait. According to Michael Kozlowski over at Good E Reader:

The NOOK segment (including digital content, devices and accessories) had revenues of $52 million for the 4th quarter and $264 million for the full year, decreasing 39.8% for the quarter and 47.8% for the year. Device and accessories sales were $13 million for the quarter and $86 million for the full year, declining 48.2% and 66.7%, respectively, due to lower unit selling volume. Digital content sales were $40 million for the quarter and $177 million for the full year, declining 36.5% and 27.8%, respectively, due primarily to lower device unit sales.

All I have to say is…OUCH.

I’d like to…

Image via Flikr Creative Commons, courtesy of elaueverose.

I do a lot of stuff. Actually too much stuff but I am totally woking on that saying “No” thing. Hey, I’m getting there. Two days ago I finally earned my fourth stripe on my white belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. For those who don’t know, in BJJ, you are a white belt forever. It takes anywhere from a year to a year and a half to earn a blue belt. My next level is blue belt and I am stoked. 

In BJJ, the blue belt is almost as big of a deal as black belt because most people never get that far.

My Jiu Jitsu brothers.

But I constantly hear people say things like, “Oh, I’d love to write a book. I just can’t find the time.” “Wow, I’d love to do Jiu Jitsu. If I could only find the time.”