Sir Mix-A-Lot Said It Best

Did I mention it’s a little large? Also, it’s 8:50. (Photo credit: John Biehler)

There’s no way around it: the Pebble is pretty big. At 3cm by 5cm, it’s likely bigger than any of your other watches. It’s not huge (it takes a standardized 22mm watch band) but it’ll pretty much cover one side of your wrist. That said, it’s also very light, surprisingly so given its size, and the ends curve down a little to follow the bend of the wrist so it fits well. It comes with a fairly plain silicone rubber watch band that’s serviceable, though the holes in it left it either too tight or too loose on my wrist so I quickly replaced it. If you look through the 22mm watchbands available on Amazon you can find several Pebble-oriented reviews among the top hitters, so I suspect others are finding it a little wanting as far as fit or looks go. There’s also at least one thread on the Pebble forums discussing aftermarket watchbands complete with pictures.

One of the more esoteric stock watchfaces (Photo credit: John Biehler)

The display is pretty nice. It’s only 144×168, but it’s a highly reflective black-and-white LCD that’s perfectly visible even in direct sunlight. Since the display is small and typically viewed from about a foot away, the low pixel count isn’t very noticeable; most fonts and images render with little “jagginess” unless you look very closely. The backlight is strong and turns on at button pushes or when it receives a notification and the ambient light sensor decides it’s too dark to see, and turns off again after a few seconds. However, the physical build of the display does seem to have an issue. I’ve noticed a sort of halo around the edges of the screen, and I’ve seen some reports on the forums from other people with the same sort of issue. Judging from the look and shape of it, I think it’s a diffraction pattern that’s being generated due to the very close tolerances inside the watch case, between the transparent cover and the surface of the display. It’s more noticeable in bright light against a white background. Against a black background it’s practically invisible. It’s nothing that hinders using the display, but it’s still there. I suppose little detail-oriented issues are bound to crop up in what’s basically a version 1.0 device, but it’s still a little disappointing.

The buttons are big and easy to find with your fingers, in places where your hand will naturally want to fall. They’ve got a good bit of travel and flex, enough so that it makes me wonder how they managed to still build the case to 5ATM worth of water resistance. The spring on them is fairly strong too, so you have to make a definite effort to depress them. It’s good tactile feedback.

Pebble with battery cable attached. (Photo credit: Pebble Kickstarter update #29)

The Pebble is powered by a 140mAh rechargeable non-replaceable lithium-ion polymer battery. Battery life is touted as being “7+ days” and the Pebble FAQ explains this further as “seven (7) days with occasional use, or five (5) days with frequent notifications and backlight activation,” but anecdotal evidence suggests that this can be highly variable. In my week of actual use I recharged it after five days without having gotten a low battery warning and letting it sit idle with the Bluetooth turned off got me over a week before the battery ran down, but there are lots of reports of people getting only a couple of days or so before they needed to plug in. Pebble believes this has to do with different Bluetooth configurations on different phones. I suspect it may also have something to do with the watch’s hardware itself than any manufacturing defect. One of the biggest power users is the backlight. The backlight originally had two modes: disabled or on, where “on” would turn on the backlight when a button was pressed or the accelerometer had decided you’d flicked your wrist (more on this in a moment). It’s easy to see how this might cause the backlight to come on when, say, jogging or doing some other vigorous movements with your arm. Go running for a half-hour and your backlight would be on for a full 30 minutes. Now that the latest firmware includes the ability to turn off the “shake to light” feature, I’m interested to see if abnormal battery drain complaints begin to taper off (the latest firmware, 1.10, also included a fix for a bug that was halving the battery life for some iPhone users). The battery recharges in only a couple of hours via a custom USB cable with a magnetic connector that fits onto the side of the watch under the “back” button. It’s strong enough to keep the cable on the watch’s contacts, but it’s not much stronger than that. You can probably forget about wearing it while it’s recharging, but it won’t fall off just sitting on your desk.

Making A Connection

The Pebble connects to your phone via Bluetooth and interacts through an app which is available in the iPhone app store and the Google Play store for Android phones (which is what this review will discuss, since that’s what I have). Once you’ve paired your Pebble with your phone, the Pebble app will terminate itself when you turn your phone’s Bluetooth off and automatically reconnect when you turn Bluetooth back on, without any need to restart the app. That’s a pretty handy feature that I appreciate given how often I’m on a plane (though you still need to put the Pebble itself in Airplane Mode to turn off the watch’s BT). The watch will continue to keep time just fine with Bluetooth off and vibrate for any alarms you have set on the watch itself, but of course you won’t get any data to or from your phone. The watch will also automatically sync time with your phone when connected, which comes in handy if you travel between time zones. Out of the box, you can have it display new email and Gmail messages, SMS messages, caller ID for incoming calls, calendar reminders, Google Talk and Google Voice messages, Facebook messages and updates, and WhatsApp messages. It’ll also allow you to control your music app of choice.  Additionally, it’s the mechanism for updating the Pebble’s firmware and installing new watchfaces. The Pebble can store up to eight watchfaces, so changing the default look of the watch is as easy as pushing a button.

The app is still pretty basic; the company is hard at work adding in features (the latest update tweaked the backlight as mentioned above, gave us a “Disable Vibration” setting, and added a setting to enable installing third-party apps created with the Watchface SDK), but at the moment most of the watch’s functionality comes via third-party phone apps like Pebble Notifier, which will forward virtually any app or system notification from your phone to your Pebble as well as make it work with the amazing Tasker automation app.

Pebble controlling a music app (Photo credit: John Biehler)

Which leads to one of the biggest gripes Pebble owners have: some of the watch’s features have yet to be fully realized. You still can’t use it as a jogging or cycling readout because there are no apps yet to let it access GPS data from the phone. There’s no native Twitter or weather functionality yet. At the moment, the sole use for the Pebble’s accelerometer is to turn on the backlight with a flick of your wrist and no way to use the watch’s magnetometer or ambient light sensor. The company isn’t slacking off, though. In just the three weeks I’ve had mine they’ve released two firmware updates. Software and SDK development remains slow but steady as the company rolls out new features.

Still, to get the most out of it I have to use Pebble Notifier, and maybe that’s a good thing. Rather than getting restricted by the official featureset or a bloated app, I can pick and choose what I want my watch to do. I couldn’t care less about a golf course app, but being able to have Tasker notify me of nearby wifi hotspots or have Accuweather send storm warnings directly to my wrist is pretty handy.

But How Does It Taste?

Despite the title of this post I can’t actually make a phone call through it (no microphone or speakers), but it’s pretty much become a secondary display for my phone. Where before I’d have to pull my phone out of my pocket to read a text or see what notification just dinged at me, now all it takes is a glance at my wrist. Phone call? Glance at the caller ID where I can dismiss it if I don’t want to take the call.

It also makes missing calls or texts a lot less likely. If I’m somewhere where it’s pretty noisy and I can’t normally hear my phone, the vibrator on the Pebble is strong enough to get my attention for an incoming call or text. The Bluetooth is rated for 20-30 feet of range, but in practice I found when at home I could leave my phone downstairs and still receive notifications upstairs on the other side of the house.

The watch’s future is looking bright too. Firmware updates with increased functionality are coming at a reasonable pace and users are hacking all sorts of neat things together with just the beta tools that are available now, like this Tetris clone. People are designing new watchfaces with the current proof-of-concept watchface SDK. The official Pebble Watchapp Directory for 3rd party apps and watchfaces just keeps growing. There’s even a budding aftermarket, including decorative custom protective skins by Skinomi and GadgetWraps and a Kickstarter for fancy leather watchbands. Now that Pebble has released the watch’s 3D print files, people can use them to design accessories like this proposed charging dock.

Simply put, the Pebble has completely changed the way I use my phone. In a time when our phones are increasingly becoming our link with the world, the Pebble extends that communication capability while giving us a little more freedom from the device itself.

Heroes can save the world, but villains can CHANGE it.

We’ve assembled a great mix of science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction. Come with us while we explore villains of all stripes — sons and daughters, lovers and fighters, minions and masterminds, in this giant volume of thirty great stories by award winners, rising stars, and bold new voices. With masterful tales by: Camille Alexa, Erik Scott de Bie, Chaz Brenchley, Eugie Foster, David Sakmyster, Marie Bilodeau, Richard Lee Byers, K.D. McEntire, Peadar Ó Guilín, Jim C. Hines, Ari Marmell, Karin Lowachee, Jay Lake, Julie Czerneda, J.M. Frey, Clint Talbert, Rachel Swirsky, Tony Pi, Leah Petersen, J.P. Moore, Ryan McFadden, Todd McCaffrey, Erik Buchanan, Gregory A. Wilson, Rosemary Jones, Gabrielle Harbowy, Ed Greenwood, Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon, Chris A. Jackson, Steve Bornstein.

A Good Day To Die Hard (2013)
Director: John Moore
Stars: Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch

A Good Day To Die Hard is the fifth film in the Die Hard franchise. The original Die Hard premiered all the way back in 1988 and quickly became a classic action movie, launching Bruce Willis’s career as an action star. The series slowly went downhill from there with Die Hard 2: Die Harder and Die Hard With A Vengeance receiving lower and lower reviews. Live Free or Die Hard came out in 2007 after a 12-year series hiatus and was widely praised as being on par with the original. 20th Century Fox probably should have left well enough alone.

AGDTDH opens with a pair of Russians being corrupt at each other, then an apparently Russian guy shooting another Russian, and then John McClane in an NYPD shooting range chatting with a friend who gives him a file on his long-lost son (who until this moment was only a picture on Holly Generro’s desk in the first movie) who *gasp* is the apparently Russian shooter. That’s about as surprising as the plot twists get.

From there we see Daddy McClane fly to Moscow, meet a stereotypical quirky cabbie, then get caught in the chaos that’s the hallmark of the Die Hard series. He’s supposedly flown to Moscow to see his son get his day in court, but when everything starts blowing up and going to hell he doesn’t turn into the man of action we expect to see in a Die Hard movie. Instead McClane just sort of stands around, squinting this way and that as if wondering where all that noise and smoke is coming from. When he finds his son escaping from the courthouse with another Russian in tow and other guys shooting at them, he doesn’t try to hustle them to cover or fight the shooters or offer to drive the getaway vehicle. Instead he stops and yells at him like he’s ten years old. Cue the car chase through morning rush hour traffic as McClane Jr and friend try to escape from the bad guys with John McClane chasing them both, all the while whining and complaining.

Eventually father and son are reunited and escape the bad guys and find some shelter only to have more bad guys show up and get things moving again. There’s a meeting to get an Important Thing with a double cross you can see coming a kilometer away. There’s more shooting, this time including a Hind attack chopper. The McClanes steal a car full of firearms and then hightail it to Chernobyl for a climax that involves sneaking around, questionable radiation problems, another double cross, a lot more shooting, and more helicopter hijinks. In the end, father and son fly back to the US and they and daughter Lucy (from Live Free or Die Hard) all walk off into the sunset.

The action scenes were decent enough, though I’m not sure they deserved the Die Hard name. The car chase in the beginning had tons of rapid-fire cutaways and camera zooms, but that didn’t help disguise the fact that it was just slow. There was a delivery van, a wheeled APC, and a flatbed truck. The chase was less about “drive fast and try to not hit things” and all about “hit all the things.” I’m pretty sure a sizable chunk of the movie’s budget was spent on cars to wreck just in the opening act.

John McClane’s entire reason for going to Russia in the first place never really gels either. At first he goes because his estranged son’s in jail, but when he gets there he just keeps pissing and moaning about how he’s supposed to be on vacation. Jai Courtney does a decent job as Jack McClane but Bruce Willis just seems like a grumpy old man who just wants all the shooting and fuss to stop so he can get back to his pudding cup. Don’t get me wrong; he can still run-and-gun just fine, but I lost track of all the times he whined about something or grunted, “Jesus!” when the bullets were flying. Even his trademark “yippee kai-yay motherfucker” line is delivered with all the vigor of a man who just woke up from a post-Thanksgiving dinner nap.

The movie is almost 30 minutes shorter than any of the other four movies, and it didn’t really wrap things up so much as just run out of stuff to do. After the big pie fight at the end we’re simply treated to a slow-motion reunion of father, son, and daughter on American soil, as if the McClanes said, “Welp, we’ve pretty much blown the shit out of everyone and everything. Guess we’ll head home now.” I think Bruce Willis is still a fine action star, but after AGDTDH I think the Die Hard franchise has pretty much run its course.

Rating: 

There tend to be three types of people you find at a renn faire:

1. The Tourist: The Tourist is a regular joe. He shows up in regular clothes and wanders around spending money, eating giant turkey legs, seeing the shows, and taking pictures. The vast majority of people at a renn faire are Tourists.
2. The Costumed Tourist: The CT shows up in costume, but they’re not really in character. They’ve dressed up to show off or perhaps to just fit in a little better, but they’re still carrying their bottles of Bud Light and wearing sunglasses.
3. The Rennie: Rennies are into it. They’ve got the costume, they say things like “thee” and “good day sir” and “milady, if it please you” with an appropriate accent, carry themselves like the urchin or fairy or cavalier they’re dressed as, and in general act a part in the theme of the faire. These are the folks that have spent hundreds of hours (and dollars!) to tweak and perfect their costume.

The line between #2 and #3 is a pretty blurry one. At a faire you might see ninjas, monsters, knights in armor, Stormtroopers from the 501st, fairies, and a steampunk pirate gang. Some folks dress up in period-correct costuming but are just slumming, while those Stormtroopers are walking with weapons at the ready like they’re patrolling Mos Eisley. When I met my wife, she had a trunk full of costumes and a handful of personas she liked to play. I, on the other hand, was just a guy who liked to watch girls in corsets and chainmail bikinis. She tried to get me into it but I didn’t grow up with the faires like she did. Those periods of history never really interested me; we discussed character ideas and such but nothing ever really caught my interest. Eventually we ended up with matching costumes and she would turn the persona up to 11 while I would stand nearby with a stupid grin and manage a “thank thee” when I was handed change from a purchase.

There are three renn faires that are close enough for us to attend: Sherwood Forest Faire, Scarborough Renaissance Festival, and Texas Renaissance Festival (the nation’s largest faire). One of the things we like to do is browse the artists and shops. There are some people who sell cheapo gaudy blades from BudK and crappy Chinese-made kitsch but the majority of vendors are some seriously talented people, handcrafting everything from clothing to soap and perfumes to jewelry. A few months ago, during the opening weekend of TRF, I happened across the Artsmyths shop and found the Mask.

They had a lot of masks at the shop but this one caught my eye from yards away. It was a unicorn but it wasn’t the usual sort of frilly white unicorn most people associate with fairies and rainbows. It was black with silver highlights, serious and masculine, staring down at me from a mannequin head. I’m always on the lookout for the unique and this practically had neon arrows pointing at it. I bought it on the spot.

Alphonse on the left, another costumer on the right. — picture courtesy of eschipul, on Flickr

I didn’t have any plans for it beyond displaying it at home, but my wife quickly pointed out that it’d be a pretty good basis for a costume. I’d long admired the costume of “Alphonse,” one of the “fox guys” who frequents the local renn faires. It’s a different sort of headpiece from the unicorn mask, a bit more realistic where my mask is more stylized, but the general idea was the same: dress up like a humanoid critter. I had the head, so why not give it a whirl and see what happens?

Tynan costume, version 1.0

I put together a costume from assorted pieces I’d collected over the years, making sure to cover all my exposed skin to preserve the illusion. I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. I couldn’t wear my glasses with the mask on, so anything past a few feet would be varying degrees of blurry. What would it be like to walk around like that all day? Would I get a headache after a few hours or could I go all day without a problem? A big slab of leather covering my face would reduce my voice to mumbles, so I decided to just stay silent and act out anything I wanted to get across. I decided going in that, just for laughs, I’d keep track of how many people wanted to take my picture that day, just as a fun way to “keep score.”

I quit counting after 100. I felt like a goddamned rock star.

Tynan costume, version 1.0

Little kids would come running up to me. People would stop me to get their picture taken with me and a crowd would gather. Guys would high-five me. Some people asked me questions like I worked at the faire. Someone dressed up like some kind of nature spirit came up to me and started peering at me, in character, so I peered back until he “got scared” and ran off. At one point a gaggle of middle-school-aged girls surrounded me and started bombarding me with questions: Did unicorns live forever? Was I magic? Was it hot under my mask? (A lot of people asked me that, actually. No, it wasn’t.) As the day went on I had five requests to touch my horn and one request to dance Gangnam Style, all of which I politely refused.

It was crazy fun and surprisingly empowering. Where I was self-conscious before when confronted with someone else acting in character, now I could be bold, respond, play along, even be the one who started things with others. The Mask gave me the protection of anonymity, letting me play without fear of being judged, while it presented my persona to everyone else. I had more (and better) interactions and more fun in that one eight-hour period than in all the other times I’ve gone to renn faires in the last decade, combined.

So, my little experiment was a fantastic success. Every character deserves a name and I’ve picked “Tynan,” which the internet tells me is a Gaelic name that means “dark.” Seems a fitting name for a black unicorn. Plans are in the works to flesh out the rest of the costume over the next several months with hooves, a tail, and some more appropriate clothes. Sherwood Faire got underway last weekend and I’ll be going as Tynan this Sunday. Fun times ahead!

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I had the good fortune to catch “2001: A Space Odyssey” in the theater a few weeks ago. I’d gone to see “The Hobbit” and they just so happened to be showing “2001″ in XD Digital projection as a special one-day engagement. I’ve seen it before, of course. I think most nerds my age have. But it was always on cable, or VHS, or DVD, never in an actual theater. Cinemark‘s XD Digital presentations are pretty good, so switching movies wasn’t a hard decision to make. “The Hobbit” wasn’t going anywhere.

It was really something else to see Kubrick’s vision of the future again. The movie was released in 1968, a year before we’d put a man on the Moon, and here it was presenting a world where space travel was common enough that airlines (Pan Am, which doesn’t even exist anymore) had their own spaceplanes and hotel chains (a Hilton in the movie) were on space stations. It was all the more striking given the current state of spaceflight. The Space Shuttle, the “space truck” that was supposed to herald a bold new future of cheap space travel, is history now. There’s only been a handful of space stations since Apollo and certainly nothing that had anything like a Hilton onboard. With the demise of the shuttle program we’re going back to capsules with Orion. We’re still a long, long way from moonbuses.

Kubrick went to great lengths to make it as realistic as possible, but of course it’s all based on what was thought possible in the 60′s. Again, this is really interesting to see today because, in a way, this is a bit of a time capsule. We were going to the Moon and nothing was going to stop us! We had high hopes and high expectations; it was this mindset that prompted an integrated space plan that would culminate with a man on Mars by 1982 (it was in fact this plan that helped shepherd in the Space Shuttle). Heady times indeed.

Arguably the most successful space endeavor right now is Space X, an entirely private company, and it’s looking more and more likely that serious future space exploration will be primarily driven by private enterprise. There are companies with designs on mining near-Earth asteroids and more than one company that’s talking about putting people on Mars. Maybe, in this sense, Kubrick got it right. He was just a few decades early.

2001′s “Discovery One,” shown launching a workpod. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It was great to see Discovery One sailing past, thirty feet long on the big screen and stark white against the blackness of space, and to hear Also sprach Zarathustra thundering in true surround sound. There’s a reason “2001″ is on so many “best movies of all time” lists. Kubrick went the extra mile with its special effects, with some taking more than a year to execute on film. The results can still stand toe-to-toe with some of the CGI effects of today, over 40 years later.

It’s a movie you experience as much as watch. There are long stretches at the beginning and end where there’s no dialogue at all, where we’re watching things happen in front of us without anyone talking or even (except in two cases) any sort of musical accompaniment to tell us how to feel. We’re dropped into this story with very little background and things are presented as status quo. Travel to the Moon for a meeting is as remarkable as catching a flight from New York to Miami, with in-flight meals and a movie. And once you’re there everyone’s wearing regular clothes, suits and ties, having a regular meeting where a guy stands at a podium to address people. Kubrick didn’t want flashy spaceships and uniforms and all the sci-fi trappings that were common in movies back then. He didn’t want to make fun of the future. He wanted to show it for what it was, or what it could be. Maybe people really will visit Jupiter one day. “2001″ is still a great movie, but with the passage of time its sense of “what could be” has turned into “what could have been,” and that makes it a little bittersweet for me.

Gabrielle Harbowy is running a series of blog interviews with the various authors in VILLAIN and the first three sets are available now on her blog:

• Meet the Villains – Clint Talbert
• Meet the Villains part 2 - myself, Richard Lee Byers, and Erik Scott de Bie
• Meet the Villains part 3 - Gabrielle Harbowy, Ed Greenwood, and Gregory A. Wilson

WHEN THE VILLAIN COMES HOME is the follow-on anthology to last year’s award-nominated WHEN THE HERO COMES HOME [ Amazon | Goodreads ], both by Dragon Moon Press and edited by Gabrielle Harbowy and Ed Greenwood.

Heroes can save the world, but villains can change it. We’ve assembled a great mix of science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction. Come with us while we explore villains of all stripes — sons and daughters, lovers and fighters, minions and masterminds, in this giant volume of thirty great stories by award winners, rising stars, and bold new voices. With masterful tales by:

Camille Alexa – Pinktastic and the End of the World
Erik Scott de Bie – Hunger of the Blood Reaver
Chaz Brenchley – Villainelle
Eugie Foster – Oranges, Lemons, and Thou Beside Me
David Sakmyster – Prometheus Found
Marie Bilodeau – Happily Ever After
Richard Lee Byers – Little Things
K.D. McEntire – Heels
Peadar Ó Guilín – The Sunshine Baron
Jim C. Hines – Daddy’s Little Girl
Ari Marmell - Than to Serve in Heaven
Karin Lowachee – The Bleach
Jay Lake – The Woman Who Shattered the Moon
Julie Czerneda – Charity
J.M. Frey – Maddening Science
Clint Talbert – Birthright
Rachel Swirsky – Broken Clouds
Tony Pi – The Miscible Imp
Leah Petersen – Manmade
J.P. Moore – Lord of the Southern Sky
Ryan McFadden – Back in the Day
Todd McCaffrey – Robin Redbreast
Erik Buchanan – Cycle of Revenge
Gregory A. Wilson – The Presuil’s Call
Rosemary Jones – The Man With Looking-Glass Eyes
Gabrielle Harbowy – Starkeep
Ed Greenwood – A Lot of Sly Work Ahead
Mercedes Lackey / Larry Dixon – Heir Apparent
Chris A. Jackson – Home Again, Home Again
Steve Bornstein – The Best Laid Plans

…and another fantastic cover by Scott Purdy.

From Gabrielle Harbowy’s blog:

Ed Greenwood and I are also pleased to announce the table of contents for our follow-up anthology, WHEN THE VILLAIN COMES HOME – forthcoming August 1, 2012 from Dragon Moon Press.

Heroes can save the world, but villains can change it.

We’ve assembled a great mix of science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction. Come with us while we explore villains of all stripes — sons and daughters, lovers and fighters, minions and masterminds, in this giant volume of thirty great stories by award winners, rising stars, and bold new voices.

Camille Alexa – Pinktastic and the End of the World
Erik Scott de Bie – Hunger of the Blood Reaver
Chaz Brenchley – Villainelle
Eugie Foster – Oranges, Lemons, and Thou Beside Me
David Sakmyster – Prometheus Found
Marie Bilodeau – Happily Ever After
Richard Lee Byers – Little Things
K.D. McEntire – Heels
Peadar Ó Guilín – The Sunshine Baron
Jim C. Hines – Daddy’s Little Girl
Ari Marmell - Than to Serve in Heaven
Karin Lowachee – The Bleach
Jay Lake – The Woman Who Shattered the Moon
Julie Czerneda – Charity
J.M. Frey – Maddening Science
Clint Talbert – Birthright
Rachel Swirsky – Broken Clouds
Tony Pi – The Miscible Imp
Leah Petersen – Manmade
J.P. Moore – Lord of the Southern Sky
Ryan McFadden – Back in the Day
Todd McCaffrey – Robin Redbreast
Erik Buchanan – Cycle of Revenge
Gregory A. Wilson – The Presuil’s Call
Rosemary Jones – The Man With Looking-Glass Eyes
Gabrielle Harbowy – Starkeep
Ed Greenwood – A Lot of Sly Work Ahead
Mercedes Lackey / Larry Dixon – Heir Apparent
Chris A. Jackson – Home Again, Home Again
Steve Bornstein – The Best Laid Plans

…and another fantastic cover by Scott Purdy.

Preorder information will be available soon on the Dragon Moon Press website.

HEROES come in a thousand guises, and so do stories about them. The only survivor of a war struggles to return to a home that doesn’t exist anymore. A rebel leader loses everything she fought for and must start from scratch. A hero who has fought for her village her whole life must retire into obscurity without ever being known for her deeds. A starship returns to an Earth that is much changed, yet too much the same. A soldier is haunted by the very thing that saved his life. And King Arthur returns in Albion’s hour of need. Dark fantasy. Urban fantasy. Political intrigue. Science fiction. From the horrific to the heartwarming. Introducing 19 pulse-pounding tales, by luminaries and great new voices. Co-edited by Gabrielle Harbowy and Ed Greenwood. Featuring an introduction by Susan J. Morris. Stories by Marie Bilodeau, Steve Bornstein, Xander Briggs, Erik Buchanan, Brian Cortijo, Erik Scott de Bie, J.M. Frey, Ed Greenwood, Gabrielle Harbowy, Jim C. Hines, Chris A. Jackson, Rosemary Jones, Julie Kagawa, Jay Lake, Todd McCaffrey, J.P. Moore, Peadar Ó Guilín, Shannon Page, Tony Pi, Phil Rossi

Good luck everyone!

So as 2012 begins (I know, I know, we’re already 2 months into it…), I have to wonder what life has in store for me. I’m not resting on my laurels, though. I sold one story last year; this year I’m going to try for at least two sales. I’ve already got my tickets for Gencon. And I’m sure as hell not about to gain back the weight I lost.

Assorted Fruit, Vegetable Tray, Deviled Eggs, Hot Crab Dip, Cocktail Smokies, Cocktail Meatballs, Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Cold Cut Tray, Cheese Tray, Shrimp Cocktail, Crackers, Mixed Nuts, Egg Nog, Broiled Lobster Tails and Steamed Crab Legs with Drawn Butter, Glazed Ham, Baked Turducken, Duck Tasso Gumbo, Dressing, Gravy, Mac and Cheese, Rice, Green Bean Casserole, Candied Yams, Holiday Cake, Fruit Cake, Candies, Carrot Cake, Assorted Cheesecakes, Cookies, Fudge, Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Covered Strawberries, Banana Pudding, Strawberry Shortcake, and Pralines.

So yeah, we weren’t hurting for good food.

Work doesn’t stop on the rig, of course, but only the essential work continues. The guys on the rig floor have to keep drilling, but for us guys down in the technical and maintenance jobs, we pretty much just kick back unless there’s essential repairs needed somewhere. Today I had one little thing to take care of the first hour of my 12-hour shift, so I spent the other 11 hours eating food and playing through Mass Effect on my laptop. Good times.

It also gave me some time to relax and reflect on the past year. So, in the spirit of the holiday…

I’m thankful for my health. I turned 42 this year. There are a couple of things I’m still working on, and there are mornings when I’m a little more stiff than I’d like, but by and large I’m in excellent health. I’ve lost over 30 pounds this year (only ten more pounds to my “ideal weight”); thanks to that and my work on the rig, I can confidently say that I’m in the best shape of my life.

I’m thankful for my job. There were times when I was working for Applied when I despaired of ever getting out of the hand-to-mouth financial plan. I loved working there when I started, but the work environment steadily worsened until it was just grinding me down. In the end, I worked there because I needed the money and that was it. When I took their buyout, it was more out of desperation than anything else. What I got into was better than I could have ever guessed. Working on the rig is tough, don’t get me wrong. Being away from my friends and family for three weeks at a time isn’t fun, it’s a pretty rough environment to work in much less live in, and it’s not like I can run out to a movie or something to take a break from it all. But it’s interesting, it’s challenging, the pay is great, and I only work six months out of the year. I can’t think of any other job I’d rather have.

I’m thankful for the reception my writing has received. I’ve written for years, but this year I was finally published and got some pretty good reviews. It’s been a wonderful introduction to a world I’ve only looked at from the sidelines. Half the fun of it’s been just getting to know people and make new friends. The other half is writing more.

I’m thankful for my family and friends, the close and extended relationships I have that keep me going. It may seem counterintuitive, but working on the rig has actually strengthened those bonds. When I’m home I have the free time to do the things I want without having to worry about work the next day or deal with an on-call phone, so I can consciously spend time with the people important to me rather than trying to fit them into the cracks of time between work and sleep. I can go to movies in the middle of the week. I can get together for gaming all day Saturday without having to fret over using my only day off for two weeks. They support me, share in my successes, and tolerate my oddities. I’m so much more relaxed and happy now than I ever was before, and I have them all to thank for it.

Yeah, it’s been a pretty good year, and I’m thankful for it.