My Storytellers Unplugged essay Ch-ch-ch-changes went live yesterday. In it I discuss my general resistance to changing something that I’ve used for a long time and my plans to try out a new writing program called Scrivener for my revisions to the novel I’m working on. Well, not exactly new, but new to Windows after a few years availability for Macs.
The Apex Publications Store is having a one-day-only sale today on Close Encounters of the Urban Kind, the anthology that features my Halloween Contest winning story “The Fingernail Test.” Get the anthology for 40% off and also have your name put in for a raffle of awesome prizes: A critique Apex Magazine Fiction Editor, Cat Valente, or $25 gift card for Amazon.com, or an Apex Minion pack, or a $10 gift certificate to the Apex Store.
Yesterday was my second monthly trip to San Antonio for the Candlelight Writers critique group. We had it during the day this time instead of the evening, which meant I had to be on the road by 9 a.m. and didn’t get home until 6:30 p.m. Makes for a long day. We had a good meeting, though.
I got caught up on some recorded TV programs, too. That character in the black latex outfit on CSI was one of the creepiest things I’ve seen in a while. The way he moved, slinking, arching his back, spider-walking. Weird. Hopefully we’ll see more of him soon.
There was a nice parallel on Fringe between the shapeshifters who grew attached to the people they were pretending to be related to and Faux-livia’s growing attachment to the people she’s working with. I think it’s time to declare a moratorium on the surprise side collision shot, though, as it has grown to be nothing more than a cheap trick. The episode was chock full of Walter goodness, especially pertaining to his drug use. “I do some of my finest work self medicated,” he claimed. Later, Astrid comments on the fact that he got her name right, something he never does. “Must be the L.S.D.,” he responds. Then, later, when things start to get hairy: “One thing I do know for sure—I’m no longer high.” But my favorite was the scene in the elevator when he turns to the shapeshifter and says, conversationally, “Did you know the stegosaurus had a brain in its ass?”
Cho gets off a few good zingers in The Mentalist, too. As always. His pithy delivery lets him dole out some pretty long ones. “Three hours of burning silence and then sarcasm. It’s like we’re married,” he says to Rigsby. It was fun seeing Patrick back in familiar territory, on stage, doing his tricks. His interactions with the shooter were revealing, too. We see that he’s still trying to figure out if his obsession has meaning, and he was validated by the murder victim’s husband.
One thing people learn on The Amazing Race is how quickly things can change. One bad taxi ride, one earlier flight, one disaster of a roadblock and it can be all over. The father/son team who were on the verge of being eliminated, who had to perform one extra challenge, leaped up to the middle of the pack simply because they were able to get an earlier flight than half the teams. That gave them extra time for their supplemental task. They also chose well in doing the tent construction as I think the father might have killed himself on those sleds.
