Browse: Page 23
By J. Timothy King on November 16, 2010
You may remember, I absolutely adored Talyn the first novel in this series. I have to admit that it was hard to pick up the sequel Hawkspar, because I had become so attached to Talyn and her cohorts. But Holly wasted no time hooking me on Hawkspar’s plight.
This is the story of a slave, stolen from her family when she was very little, now with no name, every moment of every day mastered by the avatars of the stone Eyes. But she has not given up hope, has begun to organize a rebellion, to plan for the slaves’ eventual escape. And she has a destiny of which even she herself is unaware. Continue reading “Teaser Tuesdays: Hawkspar, by Holly Lisle”
Posted in Books, Teaser Tuesdays | Tagged Hawkspar, Holly Lisle |
By J. Timothy King on November 15, 2010
Two of our friends from synagogue are among the 80 or so “pipeline” families, all of whom had been in the process of adopting orphans from Nepal, when the US government changed policy and left them in limbo, forbidding them to come back home with their newly adopted children.
As the friend of one such family explained, these Nepalese adoptions had been “already pre-approved by the State Department pending Embassy investigation. However, at this time, it doesn’t appear that this investigation is any more than paper pushing from one bureau to another. It seems very cruel to approve these families and then leave them abandoned in a foreign and unstable country with no options except to stay 22 months to obtain an Immediate Family visa.”
Here’s the email our friends Teresa and Mark sent out to all of us last week, which I got permission to share with you: Continue reading “Please Pray for US Families Now Stuck in Nepal”
Posted in Politics | Tagged adoption, Nepal, pipeline families, prayer |
By J. Timothy King on November 9, 2010
Every time I drove down Route 3A through Burlington, MA, I’d see a huge storefront with the words “Used Book Superstore” posted over it. I always wanted to peek inside. I mean, a used book superstore? Who ever heard of such a thing? There are large book retailers, like Barnes & Noble. There are smaller, used book stores, like Annie’s Book Stop, specializing in a narrow segment of books. (In the case of Annie’s, they specialize in modern, fast-moving, mass-market paperback fiction.) But how do you combine the two? How do you make a used-book superstore work?
So I always wanted to peek inside, see what this mutant retail outlet was all about. But I never found time. Until a couple weeks ago, I felt restless, and I remembered the Used Book Superstore. And I spent way more time than I intended, browsing through a massive spread of titles, all cost-effective and pre-read. I even found a couple of Holly Lisle’s titles, which I naturally snatched up to add to my collection. I found a copy of the complete X-Files Book of the Unexplained, which because it was “paperback,” only cost $1.99, all 688 pages of it.
But one of the more apropos selections of the day turned out to be Scott Adam’s The Joy of Work: Dilbert’s Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of Your Co-Workers. Continue reading “Teaser Tuesdays: The Joy of Work, by Scott Adams”
Posted in Books, Teaser Tuesdays | Tagged Dilbert, Robert Sapolsky, Scott Adams, stress, The Joy of Work, Used Book Superstore |
By J. Timothy King on October 26, 2010
Over the summer, I started Altered Beginnings, by Destiny Booze. And yes, her real name really is “Destiny Booze”; that’s not a pseudonym. Actually, I’m reading this on my ebook reader, from the Altered Beginnings Smashwords edition. No matter, both the electronic and print versions are the same; the only difference is in the layout and page numbers.
Altered Beginnings is Destiny Booze’s first book, the story of Leigh Lawson. When she graduated high school, she had been living a life that was going to kill her, unless she made a change. Now four years later, having turned her life around, she returns home only to learn that everyone thought she was dead and hates her for staying out of touch for so long. On top of that, the local police bully her into going undercover, reconnecting with her abusive ex-lover, in order to sting a drug dealer. It may be Leigh’s only chance to redeem herself with her family and friends, but she needs to figure out how to stay alive in the process. Continue reading “Teaser Tuesdays: Altered Beginnings, by Destiny Booze”
Posted in Books, Teaser Tuesdays | Tagged Altered Beginnings, Destiny Booze |
By J. Timothy King on October 25, 2010
Photo © 2009 epSos.de CC 2.0 BY
I did not laze around on the beach all day, everyday, reading books, writing on my laptop– Ah, that would have been fun.
I’m actually still on my “summer vacation,” even though the calendar and the weather both say we’re well into autumn. Because it wasn’t really a vacation, although it was a vacation from full-time writing.
I’ve been spending most of my time on a full-time software contract, developing software for a commercial search engine (which does not have a ‘G’ in its name). A big surprise to me: I discovered that I haven’t lost my touch. I fell into developing code just as easily as if it had been riding a bike. But I also have been maintaining a sense of distance from the project, doing the work for the money–doing my best work, yes, and giving my best advice, but not becoming personally invested in the results. (And if you don’t understand why this is such an important transformation for me, I recommend a National Geographic documentary about stress, which I recently watched, especially the very last segment.
I also discovered that I still make mistakes after almost 30 years, but at least I learn from them. And at least the mistakes are on the margins, subtle. Continue reading “What I Did Over My Summer Vacation”
Posted in About Tim King, Software Development, Stories, True Stories | Tagged car, GPS, Old Herb, Perl, photos, Starbucks, summer, WiFi hotspots |
By J. Timothy King on September 10, 2010
Two Big Boxes of Books for Big Book Giveaway 2010
I finally unpacked the three cartons of books that arrived from the printer’s last week, ripped out the packing material, counted the quantities to make sure they were all there, and combined them with my leftover stock into two big piles. Sent out three copies: two autographed for last week’s giveaways and one more for BookMooch. That last one I didn’t give away, technically, because you receive 11 books for every 10 you give away on BookMooch. And thereby I’ve given away a bunch of used books I wanted to get rid of and traded them for others I wanted to read. I imagine most BookMooch users are in my same situation and end up giving more than they mooch.
Anyhow, I’ve done giveaways before, but I never realized how much work they can be, at least not when done a whole bunch at a time, just as the Holiday Season is ramping up. Continue reading “Giving Stuff Away Is Hard Work”
Posted in Ardor Point, Books, Love through the Eyes of an Idiot | Tagged Big Book Giveaway 2010, giveaway |
By J. Timothy King on September 7, 2010
I’m still working my way through Talyn, by Holly Lisle. If you recall, I did teasers for it twice before: here and here. I’m now about 7/16 through, and still singing its praises. A reading session with this story always leaves me that “Wow!” sensation that I love. Frankly, Holly has ruined every other book for me. I should be angry with her, but for some reason I’m not. Maybe she’s bewitched me, as her character Talyn has— Uh. But you’ll have to read the book for that. (Wouldn’t want to give it away, would I?)
As an author myself, I’ve noticed several typos in this printing of Talyn. However, that makes me feel a little better about the first time I saw a copy of From the Ashes of Courage. I flipped through to a random page and suddenly found the word “officialdate” staring back at me. How did that get in there?! I immediately went back to earlier proofreader copies, sought out that page… Yup. Even the earliest manuscript had that typo, every version right back to the beginning, and with all the reviews, every single one of us missed it before the thing went to press. Ugh.
Speaking of which, there’s only one day left to enter the two free giveaways of copies of From the Ashes of Courage, on Neil Shurley’s blog and Missy Frye’s “Incurable Disease of Writing” blog. Continue reading “Teaser Tuesdays: Talyn (still)”
Posted in Books, Teaser Tuesdays | Tagged Holly Lisle, Talyn |
By J. Timothy King on September 3, 2010
Two giveaways this week of From the Ashes of Courage:
That Great Neil Guy
Neil Shurley, a fellow writer (whose stories I love), fellow science-fiction fan, fellow Star Trek nerd, and the guy who tipped me off about the new Columbo book, he’s graciously giving away a copy of From the Ashes of Courage. Check out his blog, browse through Neil’s stories, and enter the book giveaway before September 8.
Fellow Writers, Check This Out
Missy Frye, who with last week’s Just Write Blog Carnival gave away a copy of Love through the Eyes of an Idiot, is this week repeating the process with a copy of From the Ashes of Courage. Check out the posts at this week’s Just Write Blog Carnival, enter the giveaway, and browse through the other great posts at Missy’s blog, Incurable Disease of Writing.
-TimK
Posted in Ardor Point, Books | Tagged Big Book Giveaway 2010, giveaway
By J. Timothy King on August 27, 2010
Missy Frye has graciously allowed me to give away a copy of the Love-Idiot book in order to support the “Just Write Blog Carnival,” which has published numerous links to my own articles and stories.
This is just the first in a large number of giveaways happening across the Internet over the coming weeks. I’ll post more later.
-TimK
P.S. If you’d like to give away a copy of one of my books, please contact me and let me know. There are still some as of yet unallocated.
Posted in Books, Love through the Eyes of an Idiot | Tagged Big Book Giveaway 2010, giveaway, Incurable Disease of Writing, Just Write Blog Carnival, Missy Frye |
By J. Timothy King on August 24, 2010
Driving up the Maine Turnpike this weekend, I took pause from, of all things, the landscape. Not just from the beauty of it, but I got a feeling that it was distinctly American. In Maine, the culture still retains some of the human community values that I often associate with the original Americans. And for just a moment, I could imagine myself dwelling on the unpaved American landscape, with pride.
I wondered what would have happened, had those of our progenitors not been decimated by disease in the 18’th century, how different might our history have turned out. And I promised myself I’d think about writing an epic fantasy or SF story about it, with a fictional people locked in the same conflict, facing the same issues. And then I discovered that Holly Lisle had written than story.
Actually, I don’t know yet that Holly has written the same story I wanted to write. I only know that over the weekend, I had a great deal of time to read. I picked up Talyn, which I had just started. And I found as the story developed that Holly was exploring many of the same issues I wanted to explore, and from a similar perspective. And I found that she had done so by creating a fictional world rich in history, culture, and human need.
And magic. In the world of Korre, where Talyn lives, people use magic as technology. Talyn herself is one of the Magics, a person who has a talent for magic, and in her job as a Shielder, she protects her tÄak and her country from the magic attacks of the Eastils. Continue reading “Teaser Tuesdays: Talyn (again)”
Posted in Books, Teaser Tuesdays | Tagged America, Holly Lisle, Native Americans, Talyn |
