Year: 2004

Yesterday when pretty well. Had a 1 PM reading and the room was packed. Granted, it was a fairly small room, but on the other hand, if I couldn’t even fill that, it would have been pretty sucky. Read the “But I Digress” column about “the day before yesterday” which got a lot of positive comments when it saw print. Also read the scripts for “Fallen Angel #15” and the first issue of “Tempest Fugit,” and the first chapter from “Hidden Earth,” the new fantasy series I’m writing for Tor. The audience seemed to like them all; either that or they were doing a good job of covering their disgust.

Attended the Atlanta Radio Theater’s production of “Shadow Over Innsmouth,” starring Harlan. Also it was the 25th birthday of Jewel Staite’s (Kaylee of “Firefly”) husband, Matt, so we attended a birthday party thrown for him. Met Nathan Fillion (Mal) and Adam Baldwin (Jayne). Fortunately Jewel warned me ahead of time that he was not, in fact, one of THE Baldwin brothers, so I avoided saying something stupid. Also ran into Ernie Hudson of “Ghostbusters” fame in the elevator–just one of the encounters that makes Dragon*Con so entertaining.

I cannot recommend highly enough staying at the Marriott rather than the Hyatt. Not only is the elevator set-up better organized to avoid endless waits, but there’s no place in the main lobby for people to mass. Because of the way the Hyatt is set up, hundreds of people gather in the lobby and the atrium then becomes a funnel for the noise, so there is a CONSTANT racket. Plus the Marriott atriuim is lined with solid concrete walls, whereas the Hyatt’s atrium is lined with metal vertical rods, like a picket fence…perfect for a fast toddler to slip out of a parent’s grasp, dart through, and plummet fourteen floors. So we rest a lot easier here.

PAD

And now a public service announcement from the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund which should be of interest to my fans…both of you…

“The CBLDF is proud to offer an exclusive new chapbook by Peter David
available only to CBLDF members. ‘Archetype/Angel: Rare Writings to
Benefit the CBLDF’ will be available exclusively at DragonCon. The
chapbook features the out-of-print story “The Archetype” and the
script to “Fallen Angel #16” It is strictly limited to a signed and
numbered edition of fifty. “Archetype/Angel” is available to
card-carrying CBLDF members only for a $10 donation starting on
Saturday morning of DragonCon.”

The first story, “Archetype,” has only seen print once, in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. And the script to “Fallen Angel #16” is part 2 of the 4 part story, “Hurlyburly,” that will ultimately reveal the origin of Bete Noire and the secret of the Angel and Juris’ relationship.

So there you go.

PAD

…I respected the hëll out of George W. Bush.

Really. No kidding. When he stated in an interview “I don’t think we can win” the war on terror, I was staggered. Because he was right, and because he was honest, and because he was making a reasoned evaluation of something that anyone with two licks of sense could have told him.

The “let’s declare war on something” mentality reduces complex issues to stark black and white terms that can’t begin to encompass the reality of the situation. And when Bush fessed up that the war on terror was, in essence, no more “winnable” than the war on drugs or the war on poverty, I thought, Wow. Okay. Maybe he’s really learning. Maybe he really is capable of growth in a way that his fixed “stay the course” mentality would make you think he’s not.

And the Democrats went to town comparing terrorism to the Soviet Union which, by the way, self-destructed, and the fall of Communism which, last I checked, is still around. And I thought, “That’s just stupid. This is another of those embarrassed-to-be-a-Democrat moments. How can they pounce on him when he’s so indisputably RIGHT?”

So what happened? Bush flip flopped. Suddenly the war on terrorism IS winnable, yes siree, don’t you believe anything else.

Oh well. Back to status quo.

PAD

We’re working on it. (Grumblegrumblegrumble)

Just what the title says. Go to www.comicsworthreading.com. Johanna Draper Carlson, whose website it is, is holding a contest wherein you can win various “Fallen Angel”-related stuff, including a signed copy of the trade.

PAD

I, along with a lot of other folks, have been approached about doing contributions to a humor “What If…?” I’m pleased to say that Bendis liked one of my suggestions…which I figure doesn’t guarantee anything, but hey, it was nice to be thought of.

I won’t tell you the ones I know for a fact they’re already doing or the one of mine that he liked. Sadly, he passed on the one that was my favorite: “What if Black Bolt Had Turretts Syndrome?” Admittedly it was a long shot since it’s pretty…oh, what’s the word? Tasteless. Yeah, that’s it. It’s pretty tasteless, and insensitive, and probably wouldn’t have flown with upper management anyway. But just imagine the possibilities…

PAD

If I’m the GOP and I’m seeing all the over-the-top plans for protestors, I’d be salivating. I’d be saying, “Bring it on.”

I am VERY concerned over this orgy of protesting. I’m not entirely sure of the purpose of it. It comes across to me as massively self-indulgent in that not only will it accomplish nothing in terms of affecting the opinions of Bush and Company, but it may well swing undecided voters to the Bush camp. Why? Because Americans lean toward underdogs, and as protestors do everything they can to make the lives of the GOP delegates as miserable as possible, all they’re gonna do is make the GOP come across as sympathetic. “Those poor Republicans, can’t even have their convention without demented naked Kerry supporters trying to hog the spotlight.”

It’s bad enough with these garbage Swiftboat commercials (although if Kerry expected anything else, he was being naive. The GOP successfulyly painted John McCain, a POW, as “loony,” and Max Cleland, who lost two legs and an arm to a war, as being soft on American security issues, so Kerry thought…what? They wouldn’t pull the same crap on him?) eroding Kerry’s numbers. But Kerry’s own supporters may be the GOP’s best friends.

PAD