This and That

Things on the market front have been pretty slow as the month winds down and, damn, another week and we'll be smack dab into October. It's amazing how fast the year goes when you get older.

I do have a contest for our crime writers, though. This is for a first crime novel and not a short story contest. The deadline is November 13 and this annual contest is sponsored by Minotaur Books. There's no fee and you can find all the details at http://us.macmillan.com/Content.aspx?publisher=minotaurbooks&id=4933

If you're a Robert E. Howard fan you might find this discussion about Howard being a racist interesting. I find it a bit reprehensible that people choose to disregard a writer's work because it doesn't fit the rules of today's politically correct guidelines. You can't change the past by pretending it didn't exist. http://www.jasonsanford.com/jason/2010/09/robert-howard-racist.html

While this isn't a discussion, this post is a great place to find reading material related to gender in sci-fi. http://mumpsimus.blogspot.com/2010/09/gender-and-science-fiction-crowdsource.html They also look at movies and TV shows that address the topic.

For better or worse, I've tried to make it a point not to turn this blog into an advertising board but there are two charity anthologies that I believe could use the publicity.

The first is "Breaking Waves". All proceeds will be going towards the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund. You can find the details here http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/BVC-eBookstore/Book-View-Cafe-Breaking-Waves

And the second is from John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton's contest that I mentioned here before. "Clash of the Geeks" benefits the Lupus Alliance of America. The download is free but they'd appreciate a $5 donation. You can find the details at http://unicornpegasuskitten.com/