Friday Flash Fiction: "The Old Switcheroo"

One more excerpt from this year's NaNoWriMo draft!

I officially "won" on the 28th, but I'm going to one final write-in tonight to get a little farther along, and also to see my fellow Vancouver Wrimos one more time. Then I need to plot out the second half of the story and finish writing it... in December maybe?

Read "The Old Switcheroo" at 512 Words or Fewer

you should ADOPT LADY GREY

hello... I'm TYE and as you know... we have had a GUEST CAT staying with us for the past few months... her name is LADY GREY... here is what she looks like...

now as much as fun as it has been having her around... she likes to run and play which is nice... it has put a bit of a damper on the bachelor lifestyle which JASPER and I previously enjoyed... so it would be nice if one of you lovely humans adopted her into your own lovely home...

if you are interested... please contact our humans by sending an "e-mail" to solechen+ladygrey@gmail.com... they would be happy to tell you all about her...

meanwhile... you can see more photos of LADY GREY online... and experience her supreme adoptability for yourself... do not delay... act now... KTHXBAI

SnoutCast #145: Deadline City

Deadlines are good! IN OUR HUMBLE OPINION.

[ Download mp3 - 32 MB ]

00:59 - "time-sensitive"
05:02 - Exhibit A: Star Wars VII in 2015
05:51 - Exhibit B: Skyfall delays during pre-production
07:02 - Exhibit C: The Amazing Spider-Man (so-called)
08:12 - Exhibit D: The Oatmeal
10:21 - Curtis & DeeAnn & deadlines & pain.
15:35 - the upside of deadlines
18:50 - DeeAnn specializes in "recreativity"
23:47 - long-winded Curtis is long-winded
30:58 - the evolution of Puzzled Pint
33:59 - The End

Tell us we're wrong on the Internet! E-mail podcast@snout.org or post a comment at www.snout.org/podcast.

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey" and "Chiron Beta Prime" by Jonathan Coulton

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Friday Flash Fiction: "Food for Thought"

More from this month's NaNoWriMo draft.

Eagle-eyed readers will note that the pictured food item is actually Korean, not Japanese.

And one of my favorite quotations of all time*, from the late Lin Yutang: "What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child?"

Read "Food for Thought" at 512 Words or Fewer



* OF ALL TIME!

SnoutCast #144: Hangry is the Hunter

Seriously, dude, hangry is, like, totally a thing.

[ Download mp3 - 21 MB ]

00:58 - "nutritious"
02:06 - IRONICALLY
05:14 - etymology wars
09:06 - why DeeAnn enjoys feeding people
13:30 - actually, variety is the spice in life
16:37 - the trouble with cheese
19:29 - no joke, these bags are super useful
21:52 - The End

Tell us we're wrong on the Internet! E-mail podcast@snout.org or post a comment at www.snout.org/podcast.

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey" and "Chiron Beta Prime" by Jonathan Coulton

[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]

 

Friday Flash Fiction: "Bottoms Up"

More from this month's NaNoWriMo draft.

Also, it's really a toss-up as to whether Wikipedia or Myths RETOLD is more factually accurate overall, but the latter sure is a lot more entertaining to read.

Read "Bottoms Up" at 512 Words or Fewer

SnoutCast #143: The Three P's

Which are, of course: Puzzles, Pints, and Portland!

[ Download mp3 - 24 MB ]

00:59 - "local"
01:45 - e.g., Puzzled Pint
05:00 - just-in-time puzzle creation
09:10 - THE ANECDOTE
11:37 - dafuq?
16:27 - analogy trouble
20:58 - do-it-yourself Puzzled Pint, anyone?
25:35 - The End

Tell us we're wrong on the Internet! E-mail podcast@snout.org or post a comment at www.snout.org/podcast.

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey" and "The Future Soon" by Jonathan Coulton

[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]

 

Friday Flash Fiction: "Able Was I Ere I Saw Elba"

Why a palindrome for today's story title? Because this is my 215th 512 story, which makes the shortlink (below) palindromic as well!

And yes, this is more from my current NaNoWriMo draft. It's kind of a fun challenge to pick out a scene, or part of one, which I can compress into ~500 words.

Read "Able Was I Ere I Saw Elba" at 512 Words or Fewer

Lady Grey Strikes Back!

Jasper here! Earlier this week there was an incident involving our beloved Food Robot and our somewhat disruptive house guest, Lady Grey! Everything is fine now, but I must report on these shenanigans!

It is possible that Lady Grey became aware that Food Robot is only designed to feed two cats, and since Tye and I have seniority in this household, she would always be the third wheel. It is also possible that this disparity came into stark relief when the humans were away for much of last weekend, and thus did not feed us as often.

But we do not deal in speculation! We are interested in facts! AND HERE ARE THE FACTS:

At 7:00 AM on Monday, November 5th, Food Robot delivered our breakfast as usual.



About twenty minutes later, Lady Grey approached Food Robot...



...and instigated a vicious and unprovoked attack! And yes, she is actually chewing on the blue tape which secures the ramp to the housing! Outrageous!




Moments later, summoned by Tye, one of the humans came along to document the crime scene.




And then we all went back to sleep for a while. The humans knew our next auto-feeding would not happen until 6:00 PM, so they had plenty of time to repair the damage.

BUT WAIT! Something else happened less than ninety minutes later, and it was caught on camera!



Really? Was that really necessary, Lady Grey? Really?



Sigh.

Though it took a few more hours, the humans eventually came to the rescue and rebuilt Food Robot! They also took the opportunity to improve the structural design of the ramp, as shown below!




(Those interested can view additional photographic evidence, or a complete video record from that day.)

I am happy to report that things are back to normal now, and Lady Grey has been behaving herself—more or less—since Monday!

So what have we learned? One, that Food Robot is vulnerable to feline interference; but we knew that already. Two, that Lady Grey is an inveterate troublemaker! Between this and chasing Tye and me all around the house, she is definitely ready to leave and go to her own home!



Please adopt Lady Grey! Contact the humans for more information.

SnoutCast #142: One and One and One is Three

If you're reading this in the United States and it's still Election Day and you haven't voted yet, GO VOTE.

[ Download mp3 - 21 MB ]

01:00 - "elective"
02:00 - (for the record: Mordin Solus)
02:55 - upcoming: The Hunt for Black Bart's Hidden Hoard...
04:21 - ...part of Come Out and Play SF 2012
06:46 - once again, GC Summit 2012 videos are online!
09:22 - "official" organizations for puzzle hunts?
11:36 - hooray for diversity
12:27 - hooray for Puzzle Hunt Calendar
14:17 - whence GC Summits?
17:27 - don't forget the National Puzzlers' League
20:10 - and then there's Puzzled Pint
21:13 - The End

Tell us we're wrong on the Internet! E-mail podcast@snout.org or post a comment at www.snout.org/podcast.

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey" and "You Ruined Everything" by Jonathan Coulton

[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]

  

Closing Some Tabs

Because I don't really need ALL these windows open for months at a time, and this blog post is likely to be more searchable than my browser history...

Mary Robinette Kowal explains How to Have a Writers’ Hangout in Google+.

Someone in Seattle(?) is trying to start a new Writing Group.

Kirby Krackle albums on Amazon.

2012 Hugo winners, with links to several stories online.

The 20 most-watched TED Talks to date.

Galaxy Quest film score.

Machinarium hint diagrams.

I'm sure I'll find DiffPDF useful at some point.

I don't even remember why I looked up the "U.S. Army Field Manual 3-05.70: Survival."

As of this writing, Subterranean Press still has copies of Scalzi's 24 Frames into the Future (trade edition) for sale.

Maybe one day I'll want to know How To Produce an Ignite Event.

I will definitely want to use more of these Star Trek sound effects in the future.

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri looks like fun, but is also likely to be a huge time-suck. Maybe next month.

Still waffling about Paradise Lost III.

Some novel writing advice (YMMV) from Greg Rucka.

I'm not ready to start Kicking It yet. I have ideas, though.

Friday Flash Fiction: "Coffee is for Closers"

#NaNoWriMo has begun, so you're likely to see a bunch of excerpts from my new novel draft over the next few weeks. This one's a continuation of the story (and world) established in "Making Waves."

Also, have you seen Glengarry Glen Ross? That flick is dope.

Read "Coffee is for Closers" at 512 Words or Fewer