Linkee-poo, one world is enough for all of us

Cherie Priest with two rules about telling ghost stories with examples. Yes, that.

John Joseph Adams is looking for slush readers to staff Nightmare.

Raymond Chandler with a lovely paragraph about what the reader really wants. Chandler was one of those authors I kept reading while writing Bladesman. And it's one of the lesson I learned, readers care about characters and the experience of reading, the "what happens/action!" part is a vehicle that gets the reader going. Sort of like how coffee gets you moving, but it's not really what you care about. Sure, you have your favorite brand/flavor, but if you're a coffee drinker, if not given a choice, you will drink the coffee being served (YMMV). What you're looking for is the warmth, the caffeine, and the sensation of a hot beverage. You want the experience, the living part. (Grokked from Chia Lynn)

Jo Walton with more on that earlier link about sf/f titles being pulled from poetry. This time specifically from "Tyger, Tyger" and "To His Coy Mistress."

Jay Lake shares an email exchange between him and his copy editor. A good copy editor (and really any editor) is trying to help the team (or just you, if you're contracting the work out yourself) make a better product. That doesn't mean you should accept all of their suggestions, but you also shouldn't dismiss them out of hand. The more you know about the collaborative creative process. One agent rejected my story saying they liked it, but didn't think they could sell it. And that's the real, ultimate goal of this process. To sell stories.

The judge in the Authors Guild vs. Google suit rules that the AG has legal standing to sue. While not a final victory in the case, that was a big hurdle they crossed.

Eric makes with the funny, again. Apparently Mr. Romney has a "natural born citizen" issue according to those who have been fighting to redefine "natural born citizen" to mean two parents who are Americans. I can't wait to see what pretzels the conservatives will attempt to twist themselves into to continue to say, "Our guy is, that guy isn't" without admitting to racism. Remember their clever dance with McCain having been born in Panama.

"If the snooty reviewers from 1980 were were able to get past the poor quality of the film, they might have recognized that if trauma had been dealt with more openly and honestly after World War II — no censorship, no spin — the country might have been better prepared to deal with the problem when our Vietnam veterans returned the way they did in the 1970s." PTSD is an old problem for vets, one that goes back to the ancient Greeks and probably farther. And even after the experience of Vietnam, many commanders, soldiers, and civilians continue to hold with the concept that Patton held when he slapped that soldier and told him to man-up. Nothing prepares you for what war is like. I've written about both, and while I think I hew closer to the bone about it, even I sanitize it. War is many things to different people. What we're finding is even drone pilots are getting PTSD. Because here is the simple truth, for most of us, killing another human being, even one you know "if you don't kill them, they will kill you" is against our hard wiring. Some people can be more prepared than others, some people can wall off and compartmentalize those areas better than others, but it affects everyone who isn't mentally disturbed. (Grokked from Jeffrey Beeler)

Allighator Quotient: I ain't missing them at all.