GIFT RECOMMENDATION: The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guides from No Starch Press

If there is an AFoL (“Adult Fan of LEGO”) in your life–or an über-nerdy LEGO kid–then No Starch Press’s two Unofficial Lego Builder’s Guides are must-buys.
I’ve lauded Allan Bedford’s UNOFFICIAL LEGO BUILDER’S GUIDE in the past; it’s an *exhaustive* treatment of all of the structural and design possibilities (both practical and theoretical) inherent to the LEGO System, as well as a handy reference work on parts, build techniques, and design styles.

This second edition offers a lightly revised text and a complete full-color makeover. It’s really, really pretty. My only beef is that it’s also almost 100 pages shorter than its predecessor, although I’m not sure how freak-out worthy that is: It’s pretty clear that the new tidier layout and slightly more compact typesetting is responsible for some of that shrink, and is balanced by the fact that No Starch has gone with a nicer semi-gloss paper stock, making this a more exciting gift item or coffee table book. That said, the second edition *did* loose several chapters–albeit ones that may have come off as filler to some readers (one was on brick storage and pre-build preparation, the other on crafting a few handy tools for building. I can see a lot of folks who aren’t sociologically interested in what’s happening in an AFoL’s head skipping these). The one omission that did bother me was the loss of the brief chapter on LEGO Technic. Fortunately, No Starch has compensated for that with:
THE UNOFFICIAL LEGO TECHNIC BUILDER’S GUIDE by Pawel Kmiec (whose name’s spelling I’ve had to approximate, as it calls for several letters I can’t readily located among the Special Characters).

Oh. My. GOD! This book is simply *incredible.* Like Bedford’s book it’s in beautiful full color, but where Bedford is chatty Kmiec is concise and textbookish (in a good way). Pages are dominated by excellent illustrations. It’s the engineering textbook Technic always needed, delving in to *how* Technic builds work and the intricacies of their designs (which are wholly unexplored in the Technic sets themselves, which include pictograph LEGO build instructions with no discussion of how a mechanism works or why a design decision was made). Kmiec offers some brilliant insights into, for example, the need for (and methods of) offsetting pieces by a half-stud, or the differing reinforcement methods available to modern LEGO Technic geeks. His discussion of mating traditional Technic bricks and the newer stud-less beams for sturdy, compact, and attractive builds is both an easy and informative read.
All told, this book is *beyond* exhaustive–at 320+ pages the damn think weighs in at over two-and-a-half pounds. Heck, there are *two* chapters dedicated solely to LEGO’s awesome pneumatic system, including several full BIs (build instructions) for pneumatic engines–and that’s just one facet of this gem. There are pages upon pages of BIs for linkages, differentials, couplings, transmissions (including one for a ten-speed transmission–it runs nearly 30 pages!) and more. If there’s a LEGO Technic fan in your life, this book is just about guaranteed to knock him or her out cold.

Continue reading “GIFT RECOMMENDATION: The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guides from No Starch Press”

O Vibro-Tannenbaum!

I’m not such the Christmas Tree guy, but many of you are (statistically speaking), so I submitted for your consideration: The Christmas Tree Vibrator (a phrase that I otherwise *DO NOT* suggest googling without SafeSearch firmly in place).

Christmas Tree Vibrator: Odd invention aimed to shake up your holiday tree

This 1947 patent for a “Christmas Tree Vibrator” turns out to be more confusing than risque.
The inventor, Leo R. Smith, argued that a vibrating tree was a way to make ornaments look prettier. The vibratory unit “for attachment to decorated trees” would “transmit a highly pleasing two-dimensional vibration thereto without interference with the decorations.”

GIFT RECOMMENDATION: The LEGO Adventure Book, Vol. 1: Cars, Castles, Dinosaurs & More! by Megan H. Rothrock

Throughout the year my publisher, No Starch Press, favors me with review copies of the new and interesting additions to their catalogues. So, between now and whatever-the-last-shipping-day-before-Xmas-is, you can expect a mess of gift suggestions to pop up here.
Incidentally, if you have a book or kit that bears reviewing, feel free to drop me a line; I’m not totally married to only reviewing books by my friends or publisher, those are just the ones that show up on my mailbox.
Kicking off this season of reviews is The LEGO Adventure Book, Vol. 1: Cars, Castles, Dinosaurs & More! by Megan H. Rothrock. This is a really beautiful survey of the modern world of LEGO construction lead by our intrepid guide, minifig Megs. This hardcover (suitable for gift-giving!) is packed with glossy full-color photos, and follows Megs in comic-book style as she tours the works and worlds of a dozen top LEGO designers (both pro and hobbyist). The book includes at least 200(!) designs, with 25 full build instructions for planes, trains, dinosaurs, robots, mechs, medieval accouterments, and more. The designs themselves are brand-free (no Star Wars of Harry Potter), and focus on modularity, adaptability, and reusability. Megs highlights lots little aesthetic flourishes that go a long way (with great observations about medieval brickwork, modern commercial roofs, engines, etc.) and introduces many innovative techniques (including some neat SNOT–that’s “studs-not-on-top”–construction tricks). She’s always sure to flag how a construction can be adapted to new designs.
The book favors some pretty complex builds (the T. Rex has 75 steps!)–which would tend to put it into AFoL (“Adult Fan of LEGO”) territory–but the book design is super accessible to younger builders, making it something of an ideal “idea book” (where it’s fine to aspirational instead of actionable). I gave a copy to my six-year-old and he was *thrilled.* After a few days (during which he read it cover-to-cover each night), I checked in for a review:

Me: “Hey, kid, waddya think of this book?”
6-year-old: “It’s cool.”
Me: “What’s cool about it?”
6yo: “Megs goes everywhere and I find out new things about LEGOs that I like.”

So, there you have it.

Handmade Letterpress Editions of “Tucker Teaches the Clockies to Copulate”–THE PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT! (for certain persons of ill-repute and refined tastes)

Still looking for that literary, yet semi-obscene, gift to give to your favorite brass-goggled poindexter? May I suggest he or she might really and truly enjoy a personalized, handmade chapbook of my celebrated novella “Tucker Teaches the Clockies to Copulate”? The cover is handset and printed on the *very same* Chandler & Price 10×15 New Style Printing Press featured in Wikipedia!

The illustrated ebook pack is the same as the Kindle version available through Amazon, but DRM-free, and in formats suitable for almost any device. Includes mobi, ePub, PDF (in several print-ready layouts) files, and digital extras(!!!) Buying at the “Patrons” level gets you an exclusive, handmade, signed and numbered print edition (like the one in the pic)! Details on Pick-What-You-Pay options


Pick-What-You-Pay:




Domestic shipping is free; international folks: we’ll have to figure that out. It’s a big, crazy world.

Landfill Harmonic: A Student’s Orchestra of Upcycled Instruments in Paraguay

Landfill Harmonic film teaser on Vimeo

Landfill Harmonic film teaser from Landfill Harmonic on Vimeo.

There’s lots to love in this documentary–much of it sort of predictable (the “universal” appeal of music dominated by dead white European men, the indomitable human spirit, silk-pursing the sow’s ears, blah blah blah)–and I’d be lying if I said those things didn’t tug-tug-tug at my heart’s single string, but I’d likewise be lying if I didn’t admit that what I love best is the way the form of the violin has been optimized to the materials they have at hand. All fingers crossed that this film permits itself a few digressions into the technical aspects of making violins from salvaged cooking oil cans.

The Next Big Things: Authors Tagging Authors

I was tagged last week to participate in this “Next Big Thing” mutual-admiration bloggy chain-letter thing, where-in authors give each other the opportunity to talk about their upcoming projects. Much thanks to Cindy Spencer Paper–who’s currently rounding out her latest paranormal romance, although I’m a little more familiar with her for putting lots of steam in the steampunk (for which she’s gotten great reviews and high accolades just recently). At any rate, here goes for me:

  • Q–What is your working title of your book?
    A–Proud Flesh. An audiobook of a novella length portion of this–“Tucker Teaches the Clockies to Copulate”–is also in the works right now.
  • Q–Where did the idea come from for the book?
    A–I totally have to credit my pal and long-time collaborator Fritz Swanson, who first suggested the use of imported Chinese clockwork soldiers during America’s Long Civil War. This particular project is built around my novelette “Tucker Teaches the Clockies to Copulate” (first published in the Spring 2008 Paradox, and now available as a standalone ebook for Kindle and other formats). It concerns a clockie enclave outside of the town of Lost Creek, Utah Territory, and began as a riff on a Zuni Trickster story, “Teaching the Mudheads How to Copulate,” that I was writing as a joke to show Fritz. It sorta grew out of control, and here we are.
  • Q–What genre does your book fall under?
    A–Steampunk, Lord have mercy on us all.
  • Q–Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
    A–That’s tough, because the protagonist of the central story, Dickie Tucker, has been terribly disfigured. In terms of voice and mannerisms, I’ve always pictured someone like Nathan Fillion or a young Jeff Bridges. Maybe Alan Tudyk?
  • Q–What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
    A–“Ne’erdowell crippled alcoholic Confederate veteran teaches clockwork battle androids to have sex; complications ensue.”
  • Q–Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
    A–Undefined value. I’m currently unrepresented, and although I’ve published and self-published some of the stories that fit into Proud Flesh, I’m not eager to self-publish another whole book–just putting together the novella was a lot of work (fun, but still, a *lot* of work) and I have other freelance projects that have to take precedence.
  • Q–How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
    A–I’ve been working on “Clockie America” stories since 2006. The first was published in 2008, and others have since appeared in Asimov’s and the anthology Steampunk II
  • Q–What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
    A–Ouch. I’m gonna level with you; I haven’t seen folks working a relatively straight steampunk Old West *without* also having magical aspects (zombies, for example) or actually being SF (Firefly, I’m looking adoringly at you). Maybe something like Joe R. Landsdale’s short story “The Steam Man of the Prairie and the Dark Rider Get Down: A Dime Novel” is closest, both in universe and tone.
  • Q–Who or what inspired you to write this book?
    A–Really, it started with Fritz’s idea of these clockwork soldiers as Civil War era munitions, coupled with the Zuni mudheads, who are, mythologically speaking, an idiosyncratic sort of ritual clown distinct from other sacred fools. They really are like bumbling robots. Once those pieces clicked, the universe sorta bloomed on its own.
  • Q–What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
    A–Well, the current ebook editions of “Tucker” have original illustrations by Chad Sell (of “Rupaul’s Drag Race” fame). If I end up self-publishing the Proud Flesh, then I’ll be getting more illustrations done by Chad, because I *love* what he did for this story, and he has *tons* of great sketches I couldn’t afford to include. If I’d had the money, this novella would have wound up being a goddamned dirty-as-hell picture book.
    Also, despite only being published in a small zine originally, “Tucker Teaches the Clockies to Copulate” garnered a fair bit of positive attention: It reviewed really well, was nominated for a Nebula (although it didn’t make it to finalist), and was up for a few other awards that honor fiction dealing innovatively with race and ethnicity, including the Carl Brandon Society Kindred Award. So, you know, it isn’t all fist-fights and dirty sex.

    Thanks much to Cindy Spencer Paper for pointing folks my way. Next up are Fritz Swanson, Morgan Johnson, Ben Stroud, Ray McDaniel, and Jim Munroe.

    • The Real Story is the Motor, not the Robot

    This lil self-molding robot came out of a DARPA-funded project at MIT to build “programmable matter” (in a non-nanotech context free of grey goo risks). I keep seeing it hyped online as the first steps towards a real Transformer, which I guess is a neat link-bait hook, but no doubt leads to plenty of disappointed link-followers who click through only to see what amounts to a pretty slow robo-worm. But watch the video, because the legitimately exciting lede is getting buried: In order to build the worm these MIT poindexters had to invent a new kind of super-small gearless motor that holds its position even after power is removed, making for a sort of electromechanical e-ink. It’s a far cry from a Transformer, but really promising in construction, for example, where these tiny motors could control vents and blinds to regulate temperatures, controlling air flow and how much sun chines directly into a building, rather than clicking the HVAC off and on constantly to jockey the temperature.

    (via The tiny transforming robot that can turn into (almost) anything – The Week)

    STEAMPUNK III: Steampunk Revolution Launches Today! Features Fiction by Poor Mojo’s Giant Squid (as well as some humans)! #steampunk


    We’re pleased as punch to note that today is the official launch (check out the cake!) of Steampunk Revolution–the third steampunk anthology edited by Ann VanderMeer (widely praised for the last two volumes in the series, as well as her past work for Weird Tales and on a slew of other anthos). This go ’round Ann is looking at the post-steampunk end of steampunk, the bits that push past the tight aesthetic focus on dirigibles, steam, brass goggles, and white people in Victorian England. According to Ann, breaking a genre’s most cherished conventions is about as punk as you can get, so that’s where this book aims to go.
    Stories include an instructional tale for writers by our own Poor Mojo’s Giant Squid (written with an assist from Poor Mojo’s editors Morgan Johnson, David Erik Nelson, and Fritz Swanson), as well as fiction by Cherie Priest, Bruce Sterling, Jeffrey Ford, Lavie Tidhar, Jeff VanderMeer, and plenty more. Check it out:

    For the squid-obsessed or steampunk-enthusiastic, I also have a different squid-themed story in the VanderMeer’s previous anthology Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded: