And Then There Were None

So, we meet again. It has come to this. At long last, all else is said and done, and lo, here we are. The logical conclusion. The moment we've been waiting for... hoping it would never arrive, but knowing it had to, sooner or later. That moment... is now.

Wait, what are we talking about again?

Oh, nevermind.

Greetings, everyone!

So, remember a post or two (or three?) ago, when I told you about an opportunity I had to submit some questions to author Greg Hamerton, so he could do an "author interview" post for my bloggie? And, if you recall, the only stipulation was that the questions not contain or refer to story spoilers. And that, after writing the questions out, I realized that they all violated the stipulation. And that I submitted them anyway, content that Greg would at least read them, and know what this goofball thought about after reading his great books.

Well, after slightly massaging the wording of the questions to make them less spoilerish, he answered them all, and is posting them to his website! How cool is that! The first set of questions/answers can be seen at his site right now, with the remaining two posts scheduled to go live on his site on 3/9 and 3/16! If you'd like to check it out, go over to his site and give it a read! Thanks a ton to Greg for taking the time to answer my questions so thoroughly. I hope there are others who find both his books and his answers to be fascinating reading.

Oddly enough, I was thinking about "author interviews", and decided to contact another author I know, asking him if I could interview him for my blog! And he said yes, so I submitted several questions to him a couple days ago. I expect to receive his answers soon, and I'll post them here, for your entertainment. I won't tell you who -- that's a surprise! You'll just have to check back soon and see! MUAHAHAHA!!!

Of course, in the interim, I am in continuous contact with one of my very favorite authors EVER, and thought I'd ask him a few questions for tonight's post.

Dave Wagner interviews Author and All-Around Goofball David Wagner!

Dave: Greetings, Dave, and thank you for letting me interview today. I wanted to-- 

David: No comment. 

Dave: Um... I-- 

David: I said no comment. Leave me be, or I'll give you a hearty swat. 

Dang. I was hoping to find out what my favorite color was... I guess I'll try to catch me another time, when I'm in a better mood. Maybe I should have told me that I'm my biggest fan. Oh well, it just gives me more time to gather questions to ask myself. If you want to help, you can submit questions in the comments section. I'll add them to the question list and maybe I will answer them (without giving you a hearty swat).

Ahh, nothin' like a good pun.

So I'm about halfway through A Way of Kings (Brandon Sanderson) and I have to admit, I'm fairly underwhelmed. I was soooo prepared to love it, but it just isn't doing it for me -- and I've given it a very healthy chance. Other than a character named Kaladin, the people are of little interest to me, the world-building is clunky, the flashbacks disruptive, the pace plodding, and all the promise shown in the prologue and first chapter unfulfilled, for the most part. Oh, I'll certainly finish it, I'm just a little bummed is all. It's surprisingly bloated. I doubt I'll write a full review of it, even if it finishes well, since I don't want to be down on Brandon -- he is a terrific author, and has penned some of my favorite fantasy moments. So I'll cut him some slack. It will be interesting to read reviews of the book after I finish reading it, to see what others say about it.

Sorry about the shaky camera work in this next video. But the video is cool, nonetheless.



That would have been great to see in person. Man, good thing there wasn't a sailboat in the way when that thing splashed down.

My mind keeps going back to the "interview" thing... it might be fun to start a blog, and just do interviews of the people in my life. Friends, family, etc., and just ask fun/funny questions. I wonder if anyone would agree to be interviewed? I wonder if anyone not in my little circle would even read such a blog? It might be fun - people, as a rule, seem to like talking about themselves.

I recently edited an interview that Joe Polish did with a man named Dave Logan, and he had an interesting idea, called a "Reputation Audit"... here's a snippet...

Dave Logan: I realize that people listening to this are probably waiting for the steps. Number one, if you want to get specific, you can do things like a reputation audit, which is where you go up to people and say, "Joe, I'm trying to get a sense of how I come across. It's one of those things that's in a blind spot for most people. So, just tell me, what is my reputation?" Write down what they say. Go do that with 10 people. Don't correct them, don't agree, don't get a smile on your face. Just write it down. That will show you how you "occur" to people, assuming they're being honest. Then the questions is, what shifts would you like to make?

I have to admit, this idea of doing that is at once fascinating and frightening. Honestly, I'm not sure I'd want to know the clear, unadulterated truth. I'd only want to hear good things. I'd like to think I'd be able to handle the good and the bad, but I'm not sure. Interesting idea, though...

I decided to see what all the fuss was about, and watched the first couple episodes of The Walking Dead, which is a zombie TV show on AMC, currently in its second season. They have season one on Netflix Watch Instantly, so I gave it a go. I was a bit surprised at the cliche opening, as far as setting the story in motion... the main character wakes up in a hospital, and the place is deserted (except for decaying carnage, of course), with no idea what has happened. He stumbles out into a decimated world, and tries to figure out what the heck happened while he was "out". Meh, how unoriginal. But it takes off well, and the first two episodes carry themselves well. I'll probably keep watching, though honestly, zombies aren't really my thing.

Blog Round-Up:
Logan is preparing to travel.
Diz recounts some recent miracles, and prepares a book review.
Rebecca has reviewed her 2011.
Josh is doing a chapter-by-chapter review of a book called Beautiful Outlaw.
Rory lost power while researching his latest book.
Naader is eating everything he sees.
Peter is discussing book discussing!
Shellie shows us some upcoming books to grab.

I'm thinking of pulling the plug on my Wagnervana site. Not sure the point of it anymore, really. I could build a comparable site on a free platform if I wanted to, instead of paying $14/month for the Squarespace site that it's on now. Been looking for ways to save $$$, so everything's on the table for consideration.

OK, I think that's it for now. If I think of anything else, I'll hit the EDIT button and sneak it in. You'll never know! MUAHAHAHA!!!

Dave the Sneaky