Picture preface post

Sunset over Utah Lake, from the Y-hike my ward conducted recently.

Vader is in the process of bailing on this photo.
Careful, Vader - some fans are not as
forgiving as I am.

After a brief blogging hiatus, I will be returning to this project shortly. Prepare, in the next post, for a critique of astrophysics. Also, I may review a critique of feminism.

An update: the magazine and company are coming along swimmingly. The new website is up - thank heavens - at tmpublishing.com. There you can also find a link to an interview I had at CONduit 2012. Unlike other writing conventions I've attended, this one was more fan based. It was incredibly geeky, and a lot of fun.

I had a video interview which will soon be posted on that website as well; I may embed a copy of the file here when the gentlemen at ugeektv put up the video.

I do not have a picture of my new facial hairstyle, though I really like how it is coming along. After another week or two, when I am secure in the idea that I will continue to wear a beard, I will perhaps post a photo.

From April: Graduation

I have also begun to read again, which has been a  wonderful blessing. In the past month, I was able to steam through I am Not a Serial Killer, which was excellent Young Adult fiction, and Eventide which was excellent fantasy. Serial Killer provides an accurate view of a sociopath, as a sociologist would define him, in a supernatural crime/thriller story. Eventide, by contrast, was described to me by the author as "a bedtime story for adults." Both succeed very well as light fiction.

The conclusion to Starship Troopers by Heinlein was far less satisfying. Although Heinlein does an excellent job of imagining and describing a moral world based on exchange theory, the story arc of the book itself doesn't really progress. I know Troopers is considered a classic of science fiction. I don't care. The story was flat, and the main character doesn't resolve his character arc. He doesn't appear to learn anything from his experiences, and the greater storyline itself is left unfinished; we don't know if the troopers win at the end, and even the description of the war itself is more like an extended "year in the life of" snapshot than a narrative. The book is well-written in individual elements, but insufficient as a novel.

The cover of the anthology in which my story will appear,
probably in July or August of this year.

Unfortunately, my writing has taken a backseat to publishing. Now that I have had another gum surgery and I am no longer allowed to work out (for a few weeks' time) I shall schedule more time for my own written work. That said, my first published short story, "Indigo Ocean," comes out in a few weeks from Alliteration Ink in the anthology, Crimson Pact, vol. 4.

Speaking of writing, my next post will include a discussion of astrophysics (seriously!) and, perhaps, a plug for a new power generation method which I think could change the world. I may also include a description of company progress. I planned my next entrepreneurial venture recently, and it has gotten me far, far into a technical mindset; please join me as I search for applied truth as well.

Life is advancing and I feel I am making progress in many ways. Best of all, I feel my relationship with my God is deepening and strengthening. In that, as in the rest, I am blessed - and happy.

 

Sunset in the Midwest. Dec 2011.