In just a few hours the Makerspace Humble Book Bundle closes.
Get good books, support good work; it’s an easy win-win.
… while supporting Art, Free Speech, and other Good Things™
Check it out: Humble Book Bundle: Makerspace by No Starch Press (pay what you want and help charity)
(Need details? Here’s my spiel from a week ago.)
The Humble “Makerspace” Book Bundle from No Starch Press is live an insanely good deal! Pay a buck, and get six rad DIY-ish books (including my first book—Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred—as well as a few of my No Starch favorites). Pay $8, and get another six books (including my second DIY book, Junkyard Jam Band). Pay a bit more…well, you get the picture. All in, you can drop $20 and get more than $400 worth of DIY while supporting excellent charities. 
There are so many books I love in this one! Yoshihito Isogawa’s LEGO Technic books are both amazing and agelessly inspiring, Carlos Bueno’s Lauren Ipsum has been huge for my son (he read it twice in a row when it first came out, and still hits it again a few times a year now—it’s like the Information Age’s Phantom Tollbooth), No Starch’s Scratch and Arduino books are rock solid, and Jason R. Briggs’s Python for Kids is an excellent intro to Python for everyone (i.e., it’s how I learned enough Python to work on a documentation project with a U-M roboticist last year).
Also, I’ll level with you: These bundles (and book/game bundles in general) are a huge boost to authors/creators, both in getting our names and ideas out there, and in getting money into our pockets. When you buy a bundle like this, you’re doing a Good Thing™ for the dissemination of new art and human knowledge, in addition to getting a good deal.
Humble Book Bundle: Makerspace by No Starch Press (pay what you want and help charity)
Three offerings today—and you can get ’em all for less than a Subway sub:
I know a goodly portion of you have already read one or more of these stories; all are woeful shy on Amazon/Goodread reviews. If you wanted to swing by and leave your thoughts, it’d be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for helping nudge the wheel!
Goodreads links:
(Probably more accurate to say “I’m [the author of one of several works counted among] the YEAR’S BEST [stories within the horror genre], [my esteemed] mofos!“, but, whatevs, right?)
I keep forgetting to crow about this: The last story I sold to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction–“Whatever Comes After Calcutta” (link to my interview about it)–has been selected for Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year (Vol. 10).
The full table of contents is good company, and the cover art kicks ass! Keep an eye peeled in your local bookstore this summer.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Better You Believe Carole Johnstone
- Liquid Air Inna Effress
- Holiday Romance Mark Morris
- Furtherest Kaaron Warren
- Where’s the Harm? Rebecca Lloyd
- Whatever Comes After Calcutta David Erik Nelson
- A Human Stain Kelly Robson
- The Stories We Tell about Ghosts A. C. Wise
- Endosketal Sarah Read
- West of Matamoros, North of Hell Brian Hodge
- Alligator Point S. P. Miskowski
- Dark Warm Heart Rich Larson
- There and Back Again Carmen Machado
- Shepherd’s Business Stephen Gallagher
- You Can Stay All Day Mira Grant
- Harvest Song, Gathering Song A. C. Wise
- The Granfalloon Orrin Grey
- Fail-Safe Philip Fracassi
- The Starry Crown Marc E. Fitch
- Eqalussuaq Tim Major
- Lost in the Dark John Langan
Incidentally, I immediately spent the money I got for this reprint on a bunch of “folk metal” and “hauntology” music. The former is probably self-explanatory (metal music heavily influenced by folk music of various regions—this article is a good place to start, if you’re curious). The latter is apparently a British thing, where folks make fake soundtracks to non-existent low-budget 1980s horror films and British paranormal TV series. My current heavy rotation faves are:
“The Donner Party” is mos def my fave story in the last issue of F&SF. It seems like an obvious gag straight through to the untangle—at which time it becomes bone chilling. Downright perfect dismount, in my humble. Recommended.
See also: Interview: Dale Bailey on “The Donner Party” : The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
UPDATE: If you’re look to read something by Bailey right this second, he has a story up at Tor.com: “The Ghoul Heads West“
Continue reading “Recommended Read: “The Donner Party” in @FandSF (updated)”
SILVER LINING ALERT: While the imminent repeal of Net Neutrality will, over time, prove to be a major net loss for folks in general, there are three groups that could make hay while this new, crappy sun shines:
Why? Internet providers have fought for and won the freedom to build revenue streams around regulating which packets traverse their networks how fast—and even to completely throttle some packets based on whatever criteria they like. If they can do that, then they can certainly be held accountable for what is distributed through their networks. They are no longer neutral conduits of information—and they have deep pockets.
I, for one, am saddened by this likely fatal blow to a free and open Internet—but I really, really look forward to watching victims—of hacks, of interpersonal betrayal, of privacy invasion, of documented childhood sexual assaults—sue the ever-loving shit out of Verizon, Comcast, AT&T, et al.
Go get ’em, Tigers!
Short version: Most office workers in the United States have a nearly 9-hour workday, but are only productive for about 3 hours. I.e., if you are a freelancer doing work that an office worker might do, then you can almost certainly make a decent living on ~3 hours per day.
Please stop beating yourself up and running yourself ragged. Focus on doing good work for half of each day and you’ll be just fine.