There once was a Captain named Atom.
Quantum power was his to fathom.
He fought evil too
’til the last Crisis threw
a continuity reboot at him.

Time traveler Chronos the second,
audience he couldn’t quite beckon.
Cut short was his series
“Low sales” read the theories
But DC’s poor patience we reckon.

Behold a writer named Tone.
To write DC comics he would bone.
But the luster went out
when the news did come out
that DC had a bone of their own.

Dreams of 4 color glory were dashed
Never that sweet DC cash.
He’ll have nothing to do
with the New 52.
“I’ll burn all of my bridges with slash.”

Captain Atom and Chronos ‘came lovers
Their bodies each in turn did discover
Editorial
of the pictorial
kept their man love under covers.

Corporations don’t take story chance-ahs
But you can find here in these stanzas
Scifi sodomy,
a man love odyssey
and super gay extravaganzas

They went at it, the sexual demons
Their genitals unbound and free, man.
Buttocks were spread
and events soon lead
to a crisis of infinite semen.

While it might have been a financial loss for Google I think they underestimated how much good will Reader was buying them. It was a sign that Google was promoting an open web with a variety of creator owned sites. The opposite of the “Everyone get a Facebook page” attitude that’s turning the web into a Zuckerberg owned enterprise.

Yes, it was more popular among the tech savvy and yes, the tech savvy were less likely to click on their ads. But we’re the ones who help the rest of the population with these kinds of services. We’re also the early adopters. And after losing Reader I’m less likely to invest my time and energy in any future Google projects. At least Gmail is probably safe for now, as long as Google+ keeps flailing it’s the only thing it’s that keeps people logged into their Google accounts.

Well I’ve switched my feeds over to The Old Reader. At least for now. With no adds and no subscription I have no idea how their business model works but they are what Google Reader was and that’s good enough for me.

You’re looking at the first three chapters and prolog; 1439 pages at approximately 100 words per page. Handwritten because at the early stages of a story being one a computer is too distracting. If this were to go to print now it’d be about 56 pages in a book. But it won’t be printed. It’s not worthy. Because inside these pages there’s a meandering storyline that needs tightening, sentences that need restructuring, paragraphs that need tightening and spelling that needs some serious correcting.

But there’s some good stuff too. For one there’s a lot of action. Picking Up the Ghost was criticized as a slow starter. That won’t happen again. Also an ensemble lets me play with a diverse series of challenges and I’ve already started thinking about writing a series of short stories featuring members of the supporting cast.

In the meantime I’m going to take the weekend off to let the pages settle. And then on to the second draft, my favorite draft of all.

Some guy who isn’t Tone: In Words With Friends ‘Jem’ isn’t a word! J. E. M.

Some girl who isn’t Melissa: No, honey, that’s from Jem and the Holograms.

Some guy who isn’t Tone: … You are never to tell anyone of this.

Mom: Maybe someday soon you’ll be able to go to Europe too.

Tone: By the time I can afford that the Polar ice caps will have melted and it’ll be underwater.

Mom: Well there were times in the past when everything was underwater.

Tone: Thanks for keeping things in perspective, mom.

I’ll be on two Condor Con panels:

Saturday: 8:00 PM Delphic Circle
Our circle of mystics will answer your questions, building word on word to hilarious results.

Sunday: 11:00 AM Half in Love with Easeful Death
While Death is usually imagined as a frightening or at least callous figure, many poets and writers have written of looking forward to death as a release. Neil Gaiman’s Death is a friendly, pretty young woman, Piers Anthony created a young man learning the ropes and trying to make death a better experience. Death as a person you could be friends with takes some getting used to. A discussion of writing and writers who think maybe we should go gently into that good night.

Well we finally moved out of the apartment and into full-time adulthood. The only life-marks left to hit now are retirement and death woo hoo! Seriously though it’ll be nice to have control of our environment for a change, well mostly. I guess we can’t do too much about the guy in the camper who makes our block part of his schedule.

I also leaned that packing and unpacking is much harder when you have a kitchen and a full entertainment system. I kinda miss that about being a single dude who did everything on his computer.

Couple of hangups:
1. For a week there was a hole on the wall where we took out the fake mantlepiece. That hole led down into the crawlspace under the house and gave the living room a House of Leave vibe.

2. Electricity is not overrated. We spent the Thanksgiving weekend without power. But I’d much rather do without power than water. I can light a candle when it’s dark, there’s no equivalent to that when you gotta poop.

3. A place for everything and everything in it’s place. We ordered The Ultimate Bed for storage (and it will someday serve as our coffin, hence the name) but we can’t put the bead together until we stain it in the driveway. And it keeps threatening to rain. So all our clothing is temporarily on the bookshelves.

But man, is it quieter here than in the apartment that was next to assisted housing.

Here ‘s my schedule for San Diego Comic Fest. I’m going to have a busy Saturday.

Best Original Graphic Novels — Friday, 11 a.m., Crescent Room.

We asking panelists to bring their separate lists of the top 10 graphic novels of all time, then compare notes and see where they agree and disagree. To be clear, we’re limiting this discussion to original graphic novels, not books that were first serialized such as Watchmen, Dark Knight or Maus. Bring your own list! With: Erik Bear, Jackie Estrada

Pros and Cons of Writers Workshops — Saturday, 11:15 am-12:15 pm, Crescent Room.

Writers workshops offer a rigorous environment in which fledgling writers learn how to improve their skills in a supportive environment. Or, writers workshops place newbies in an insular atmosphere with perspectives limited by jealousy and back-biting. Discuss, with examples if possible. With: David Brin, Tone Milazzo, Mark Teppo

Fantastic Here and Now — Saturday, 12:30-1:30 pm, Eaton Room.

Many fantasy writers don’t bother with world building but instead set their stories in the “real” world with a twist. Is this creative freedom or creatively limiting? Some questions that may be considered: Why here rather than there? What does the real world have to offer the fantastic? Why not now: Is the fantastic an easier fit in the past? What time and era in history has the most untapped potential? With: Mark Teppo, Vernor Vinge.

Hard Science Fiction vs. Science — Saturday, 2:00-3:00 pm, Garden Salon 2 Room.

After decades of false promises, from jet packs to virtual reality, have people given up on science fiction’s predictive qualities? Where does that leave science fiction? Does it matter? Questions to ponder may include: If an SF story is debunked by science, is it still SF? Without faster than light travel, where can a hard science fiction writer find good aliens? Are time travel stories still interesting if they require an accelerator ring around the solar system? What technologies have not been tapped for future stories? With: David Brin, Stephen Potts, Vernor Vine.

Sticking with Traditional Publishers — Saturday 4:15-5:15 pm, Crescent Room.

Self-publishing is the vogue today not just in comics (see above) but in the world of books without pictures as well. But many creators, both in comics and book publishing, have chosen to remain with traditional publishers. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach? With: Terry Kemp, Batton Lash, Russell Nohelty.