Friday Flash Fiction: "IM IN UR HAUS"

This week's story incorporates part of a writing exercise from Monday's NaNoWriMo kick-off gathering. My prompt was: "Tears, snow shoveling."

Read "IM IN UR HAUS" at 512 Words or Fewer

My Strange Love Live Interview

Last Friday night, despite host Cami Kaos' excellent guidance, I still managed to be all over the place topic-wise, and what the hell did I do to darken up my voice like that? Anyway, here I am, warts and all:



Thanks to Cami Kaos and Dr. Normal for having me on the show!

Friday Flash Fiction: "Why You Watch"

A few weeks ago, I said to myself: "On second thought, maybe Dollhouse doesn't suck so much after all."

And then I watched "Instinct" and "Belle Chose," and I said, "I was right. It doesn't suck so much. It sucks even worse."

YMMV.

Read "Why You Watch" at 512 Words or Fewer

This Is It

I'm a guest on the Strange Love Live tech podcast tonight. Watch the streaming video starting at 10PM Pacific! (More details in my previous "Friday Night Live" post.)

Friday Flash Fiction: "Broken Morning"

Please, no Brokeback Mountain jokes. That's so four years ago.

Read "Broken Morning" at 512 Words or Fewer

Antici...pation

I'm looking forward to Shinteki Field Trip: Disneyland on Saturday, as are 43 other teams. At four people per team, that's 176 total players, which may well be the largest Bay Area(ish) Game ever. Excitement!

However, I do have to wonder what the teams named "Tragic Kingdom" and "The Crappiest Place on Earth" were thinking. It's one thing to be ironic and attend a concert wearing a different band's T-shirt, but to (figuratively) wear a "Your Favorite Band Sucks" shirt seems rather impolitic. Maybe it's just me.

Holmes + Dracula = ???

My VPXII classmate Christian Klaver has a short story, "The Adventure of the Solitary Grave: From the Supernatural Case Files of Sherlock Holmes," in the new Anthology of Dark Wisdom from Elder Signs Press. Per Christian, it's "a Sherlock Holmes & Dracula pastiche," and really, how can you go wrong with that? (Unless, perhaps, it's a musical.)

Friday Flash Fiction: "The Wren and the Hen and the Men in the Pen"

You may be wondering why I don't post to this blog more often, except for these promotional links to my flash fiction. The reason is because I am a lazy bastard.

Here's a quick breakdown of my various online presences:

Twitter is where most of my spewage ends up these days.

LiveJournal is where my Twitter spewage gets archived nightly, and also where I track my writing projects--which I'm going to start again in November, coincident with NaNoWriMo.

512 Words or Fewer is where I post a new short story every Friday. As you know.

CKL's HotSheet (this blog) is where DeeAnn, the cats, and I remark on things we find interesting or amusing. I tend to treat this more like a newspaper column than a journal, but I need to keep a regular schedule here.

Anyway. Here's this week's 512 story:

Read "The Wren and the Hen and the Men in the Pen" at 512 Words or Fewer

Friday Night Live

Mark your calendars: On Friday, October 23rd, at 10PM Pacific, I will be a guest on Strange Love Live, a weekly online show featuring "the movers and shakers of the social web." I'm not sure I qualify for that lofty mantle, but who am I to refuse the invitation?



I first met SLL host Cami Kaos and producer Dr Normal at BarCampPortland III, the last such event to take place at the now-defunct CubeSpace. In the manner of such unconferences, they asked for any interested parties to sign up for brief interviews on that week's show, which they broadcast live from CubeSpace. I was one of the first interviewees, and I guess I didn't completely bomb. I've also seen both of them at other events since then, including CloudCampPDX and the local roller derby.

Anyhow, I will be talking about 512 Words or Fewer, writing in general, the Portland DASH and other puzzle hunts, PDX Browncoats, and whatever other random topics come up during the hour. Tune in, won't you?

Friday Flash Fiction: "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead"

Just in case you've never read any DC Comics and have no idea what I'm talking about, here are a few hints to orient yourself for this week's story:

Lois' last name is "Lane."

Clark's last name is "Kent."

"Zee" often wears a top hat and fishnet stockings.

And all of the events depicted occur outside any established continuity.

Read "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" at 512 Words or Fewer

The Time Has Come to Celebrate My Birthday

Take it away, Jonathan Coulton:



I'll be having a grand day out in lovely PDX today, but feel free to join the virtual party by leaving a comment here (or on Facebook, or by e-mail, or via passenger pigeon) which answers this question:

But where are the clowns?