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I noticed on amazon that they pulled a line out of A MAGIC OF TWILIGHT and put it underneath the title. Which got me to wondering...

How important is the first line of a novel to a reader? I would think that it's not as important as the first line of a short story, since readers tend to be more 'patient' with a novel. But does the first line of a novel matter? Do you expect to be hooked from line one?

I'm curious...

Just for grins, here are the first lines from each of my novels (in no particular order). Which one makes you most inclined to read on? And most importantly, why? Here they are:

( Click here for the titles.... )

McCain thinks that Iraq and Pakistan share a border, and that the "Anbar Awakening" of 2007 occurred after the Surge (and that the Surge was responsible for it...).

And we're supposed to think he'd be the best Commander-in-Chief? Really?

I've had more eyes than usual on the submission manuscript for A MAGIC OF NIGHTFALL than usual, and it's been interesting that the mistakes people are catching have little correlation. Denise caught several misspellings and little errors; Justin (another of my reader) gave me a long list of errors and corrections I'm currently going through, and with a few exceptions, he's finding different errors than those Denise gave me.

Different readers, different attention to different details.

Interesting...

The Davis Leigh Duo is playing at the College Hill Coffee Company tomorrow (Saturday) from 7:30 - 9:30. Come on down (or up, or over, or whatever) if you have a chance. 'Nise probably won't be there since she's having too much fun up in Michigan at tshaile's house party, so I'll be lonely. *sniff*

I came across this article in the Literary Review of Canada, examining some of the issues with fan fiction. Haven't had time to do more than skim it yet, but it looked interesting enough that I thought people might be interested...

Homosexual/bisexual behavior among other species is relatively common is the contention of a recent Scientific American article.

My favorite quote from the article: "“Animals don’t do sexual identity. They just do sex,” says sociologist Eric Anderson of the University of Bath in England."

Who's going to Worldcon?

I am. I have plane tickets, a room I'm sharing, and a membership. Oh, and a couple panels: one Thursday at 1:00 (Magic & Science: Who can tell the difference?) and one Saturday at 11:30 (Wild Cards). And probably a dinner/lunch or two with Sheila. And hopefully lots of fun other stuff.

See you there?

A contract has appeared from my university for the next academic year. Yay!

Denise & went to see Hancock last night. Bottom line: it's a decent, entertaining movie with some excellent acting. Unfortunately, it could have easily been a great movie, and it isn't.

( SPOILER ALERT!!! Don't click on this unless you're fine with having the plot of this movie spoiled.... )

Here's an example of Rove-ian tactics, now that the McCain campaign has brought aboard a crowd of mini-me Rove-acolytes. Look at the howls of outrage that greeted Gen. Wesley Clark's comment last Sunday. From the volume of the screeching from the McCain camp, you'd think Clark had called McCain a coward who shirked his military duty.

But that's not what he said. The remark they're hopping on is this: "Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.” Clark did say that, but the comment is out of context. Clark was being interviewed on FACE THE NATION, and the interview went more like this: Clark was questioning McCain's actual experience to be Commander-in-Chief. He said: "I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war… But he hasn’t held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded—that wasn’t a wartime squadron. He hasn’t been there and ordered the bombs to fall."

Moderator Bob Schieffer interrupted at that point, saying that “Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences, either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down."

Clark responded: “Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.”

You see: Clark used the image that Shieffer put out there, and responded properly. There was no disrespect for McCain, and in fact, Clark made a comment that is perfectly valid.

But you'd think from the McCain camp that Clark had gone after McCain with a carving knife.

What's horrible is that the media rode the controversy -- just as they did with the Swift Boat ads. What's disturbing is that Obama caved almost immediately and 'rejected' Clark's remark rather than saying "Hey, that was a remark taken out of context, and there's nothing wrong with it. The truth is that getting shot down isn't a qualification to be president, any more than being black or being a woman qualifies you to be president. What qualifies you to be president are the ideas, the policies, and the vision you bring to the table."

Interestingly, you can see Rove-ian fingerprints all over the McCain response. The McCain campaign trotted out retired Col. Bud Day to froth at the mouth. He said: “This backhanded slap against John as not being a worthy warrior because he just got shot down is one of the more surprising insults in my military history."

As the NY Times column by Paul Krugman points out, this is the height of irony, since Day appeared in the '04 Swift boat ads questioning John Kerry's military service. Wow. Kettle, meet pot. That's ignoring the fact that Clark never said McCain wasn't a "worthy warrior" and had in fact a moment before praised McCain's war service.

Welcome to Karl Rove's third presidential campaign. Expect more of this crap. The question is: will it work this time? Will the media continue to just gleefully pile on whenever a misdirected and questionable 'scandal' erupts in the campaign? Will the Dems continue to respond as spinelessly as they did during the Kerry campaign when it happens?

The NY Time is reporting that the McCain campaign, concerned that it's losing serious ground to Obama, is bringing in the Karl Rove machine in a staff shake-up. Not Rove himself, of course, but many of his acolytes: Steve Schmidt, Nicolle Wallace, and Greg Jenkins, all of whom worked closely with Rove during the Bush campaigns, are now holding vital positions within the McCain campaign.

Expect the shit to start flying shortly.

Here's an interesting article on why poetry still matters even in today's world.

Discuss, please.

minnehaha B&K surprised everyone by showing up at MWC Saturday. I walked into the con suite and my mouth dropped entirely open, seeing them sitting there on the Comfy Couches (TM).

What a lovely surprise for us all!

Megen has made the decision not to put the $1100+ in the Neon. My gut agrees with that decision, since she'd already put about the same amount in the car already this year, and Bluebook value on it is less than $1,500, and even if she fixed it, she'd still have a car with no A.C. and a head gasket leak that one day will cost yet another $1,500 to repair.

But... that leaves us with the issue of finding another newer and more reliable car. She has a full-time job now, so can at least afford a (low) monthly payment, but we're trying to cobble together as large a down payment for her as we can, so her monthly payment will be as low as possible. And we need to find something ASAP, so we can get our car back from her...

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In my office at NKU, there was an ancient Dell computer. I disassembled it and put in the corner on the floor and just used Denise's laptop (which I use for classes). My Dept. Chair called to let me know that my computer was on the replacement list for this year. I asked if it was possible to get a Mac rather than a Dell; rather to my surprise, I found that it was. So I should have a shiny new iMac on my desk come next semester! Whee!

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I passed the 10,000 word mark on A MAGIC OF DAWN today -- pretty rapid progress for me! However, I have deadlines looming for my material in the third book of the latest WILD CARDS trilogy, so I don't think the progress on DAWN will be quite so fast for the next few months while I turn my attention to that...

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This weekend is Midwestcon here in Cincinnati. Gay is flying in to bring Rusty down for the con (Yay!) and jdonat and mdonat will be there (Yay!) but missing Kristin (Boo!). haniaw won't be there (Boo!) and neither will the minnehahas (Boo!). Still, I'm sure we'll manage to have fun. Besides, the missing people will mean there will be more room on beccal's comfy couches.

Two of the four cars in the family have been or are in the shop. On the way down to visit on Saturday, Megen's car gave her the engine warning light, then spewed white smoke everywhere as a radiator hose blew off. Luckily, she'd made it to Cincinnati and was right at an exit when it decided to blow. But... between the dead water pump, the timing belt, and the broken tensioner for the same, it's a four-figure bill. Given it's a '99 Dodge Neon, the question becomes whether or not to dump that much money into the repair. In the meantime, Megen has Denise's Jetta in Columbus and Denise and I are doing an intricate dance to get each other to and from work and other obligations with one car while we all try to figure out what our best option might be.

And today Devon's car went to the shop because of steering/suspension issues -- to emerge (hopefully) fixed some $550 later. This is one of those weeks where far, far more money is going out than coming in...

I hate cars, but there's little other option in this city, since mass transit here is mostly a joke unless you happen to both live and work on one of the few bus lines.

Bleh!

King George gave a speech yesterday where he endorsed the idea of drilling offshore in Florida, and in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge.

This makes me furious. First, it's again short-range thinking. OIl is a finite resource. No matter where we drill (as Tower of Power once sang) there's only so much oil in the ground. Once it's gone, it's gone -- we need to cut our ties with petroleum entirely! Bush said nothing about alternatives to oil. No, his solution to the problem (and McCain's, evidently) is to "Drill for more oil!" Yep -- give more money to oil companies whose profits are already obscene.

This is also a chimera of a solution: pure snake oil. Opening up the Alaskan Refuge or Florida will not change the price we're paying at the pump. Not one bit. No oil will flow from those sources to the refineries for 10 - 15 years: that's how long it would take to get the permits in order, do the necessary exploratory drilling, and get the platforms and pipelines set up. We'll ignore for the moment the fact that our existing refineries are already at full capacity: even if we miraculously brought in more oil today, we can't refine it any faster than we already are. Drilling in previously-forbidden areas is not a solution to our current fuel issues. This is a solution to give oil companies more profit. Period. This is to make the gullible American public feel that "Look! We're doing something! Gas prices will go down!"

They won't.

Bush failed to mention any thought of conservation. Japan already has cars that average over 45 miles per gallon. They have diesel-burning trucks that get 40 miles per gallon. But they can't sell those cars here. What would help the pockets of Americans is to force the auto companies to produce cars that have a minimum -- minimum -- of 40 miles per gallon, and to force them to do that next year.

Bush also didn't mention research for alternatives: hydrogen as a fuel source, or developing better battery technology, etc. To my mind, this is the best strategy toward releasing us from bondage to oil. If we put our attention there, I'm convinced cars and engines could be developed that would be incredibly miserly with fuel, or perhaps wouldn't need petroleum at all. What did John F. Kennedy say decades ago about going to the moon? "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." That's the attitude we need to have.

But Bush doesn't want us to follow that strategy. Nor do the oil companies to whose wallets he and others listen.

I couldn't stand it any more. This morning, I kicked up Scrivener and started putting words down for A MAGIC OF DAWN.

I really don't like 'not writing...' I feel lost and unmoored if I'm not actively working on something.

How about you? Are you able to just 'relax and do nothing'?

I'm lucky to have my father still living, and close enough to see frequently. He and my mother will be over here in a few hours for dinner.

I think this is my favorite picture of the two of us, taken back in 1999 when we went to Ireland...

Happy Father's Day to all of those fathers out there...

On the Music front: for those of you in the Cincinnati area, the "Davis Leigh Duo" will be performing at the College Hill Coffee Company tomorrow (Saturday) from 7:30 - 9:30. Stop on out!

I was fooling around in Garageband the last few days and put together a little ditty. There's a line in the lyrics that bugs me and I'll change it the next time I play with the tune (bonus points if you can guess which one!) The 6-9 chord in the vocal harmony of the chorus might be a bit much, but Devon insisted that I had to add the 6th. And yeah, the guitar solo's kinda lame, but hey, I'm really a bassist.

On the Writing front: I've done most of the prep work for A MAGIC OF DAWN, which mostly involved figuring out what happens in the intervening 15 years since A MAGIC OF NIGHTFALL. Don't know how quickly I'll start on it, though, since I have a draft due fairly soon to George for the latest WILD CARDS novel, and I just finished that prep work also. Not to mention that I suspect Sheila will be giving me revision notes for NIGHTFALL at Denvention...

It just never stops! (Thank goodness!)

On the Rest Of Life front: I'm paying bills. Yuck. Things are way too tight around here...

Later this afternoon, I'm heading up to Dayton to help Gay Haldeman get Rusty Hevelin back home from the hospital. For those who may not know, Rusty is a long-time fan and a wonderful resource of fannish history, and he just had hip replacement surgery a few weeks back.