Bragging rights and zombie nights

It's not science fiction, but it is in a science fiction magazine, and, more importantly, was written by yours truly... Please read my article on Airships at Strange Horizons. If you really appreciate my blog and my writing, show the love and leave a comment there. Thanks so much!!

Airships: Not Just Flying Billboards by Ann Wilkes

Here's the free e-book from Phoenix:

Our free ebook for May is Jack L. Chalker’s ‘The Messiah Choice.’

The coupon code is 9991511 and the will be good from May 2 through May 31. Links for downloading the book (as usual) from our online catalogue at www.PPickings.com

Short Description for the Book:

Sir Robert McKenzie, owner of the Magellan Corporation, dies suddenly in a mysterious and grisly way. His daughter may be next, for a Satanic cult is determined to herald the arrival of the apocalypse.

Greg MacDonald unravels the mystery of the cult, run by scientists with a distorted sense of duty and a computer that may be the Antichrist itself.

I just had two offers to try out sf apps for my phone. I had to tell them both that, alas, my phone is dumb. Tell your friend about the blog and maybe I can one day have a smart phone again. ;) It will be a win-win. I'll tell you about cool new apps for your smart phones. And now that I have spent two hours digging through all of my emails to find the goodies worth posting, it's 10:20 and the rest of the goodies will have to post another day. Sorry. But I have to keep you coming back for more, right?

And where are the zombies, you ask? Well, aside from the fact that I'm starting to look like one from lack of sleep, stay tuned for a zombie game giveaway in the near future.

Finally, just a reminder. Turn your cell phone off before you go to bed. Those spammers like to text you at 2AM. Trust me on this. Where's that sociology book? That will put me to sleep.

Awesome Lavratt app, back surgery, pink slip and possibilities

Just a week after seeing another specialist, I'm having back surgery. It's scheduled for this coming Monday. I'm actually looking forward to it. Or at least looking forward to the relief I'll feel afterward. It's really the pits not being able to sit for more than 3 min. or stand more than 10 without pain. And I'll be able to sleep on either side again. And go places and do things. In short, I'll have my life back.

Unfortunately, I won't have a job to go back to. I work for a small magazine that can't carry on without me for that long (6 weeks recovery). I've already been out since the 30th of March.

So, Monday, May 3rd, which happens to be my 25th wedding anniversary, is the day I have surgery and am effectively unemployed.

I trust that God has everything well in hand, though. This might be just the opportunity I need to have affordable healthcare (subsidized COBRA) while working on my own fiction and freelancing. It will take a while, of course to build my client base, but jobs are not readily available in this economy anyway. Rather than bemoan my lack of employment I can focus on starting my own business and use the time to work on the novels that I've had to backburner while working full time.

Another bit of good news. AWESOME LAVRATT IS AVAILABLE FOR iPHONE!

Now you can read my tongue-in-cheek space opera on the go for only $4.99.

See the description to the right on this blog. You can read the first chapter on my website.

After reading Awesome Lavratt on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, please consider writing a review for the iTunes site. And tell your friends. Even the ones not normally into SF. Awesome Lavratt is soft sci-fi with humor. Here's an article on why science fiction is good for us, "In Defense of Science Fiction," at The Mark, a Canadian online publication. You'll be doing yourself and your friends a favor, not to mention helping a starving writer.

Stay tuned tomorrow for an interview with Greg Bear and a link to my review of City at the End of Time.



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