Apparently-

-The Wrong Sword is #15 in Canada - that is, on Amazon-Canada's Bestseller list of Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Single Women.

Yes. Women's fiction for single women.

I'm baffled. No, even better, I'm NONPLUSSED.

Don't get me wrong - I'll take it. I'll TOTALLY take it. But still...nonplussed.

Anyone out there care to explain it?

A New Greenhouse Catalyst - No, That's a GOOD Thing!

Scientists at the Argonne National Laboratory have designed a new material that speeds up the conversion of greenhouse gas CO2 into methanol fuel. Best of all, the catalyst's primary ingredient isn't something rare and expensive (e.g. platinum). It's copper.

Here's the article.

Old Benedict Cumberbatch News

In case you hadn't already seen it, this is the video of Benedict Cumberbatch performing Smaug in the motion capture studio. I love these 4+ minutes far more than the movie itself. And to me, it encapsulates some of the things I like about Cumberbatch as an actor, and about many British actors in general (at least, the ones who make it over the pond in a significant way):

1. He doesn't hold back. It doesn't matter that he's playing a dragon, in a  fantasy, in a motion capture leotard - he gives it the same energy and

The Proof Is Here!

Always an exciting day for a writer:

This Is Why You Should Follow George Takei's Twitter Feed

Thanks, George!
He does kind of look like an otter, doesn't he?

Do You Love Cats? I Don't.

I don't love them. I like them. They're cute, and easier to keep around than dogs. And of course, because I like them, but don't luurrvv them, they absolutely adore me.

But that's neither here nor there. There are a bunch of cat-haterific tales of cats out there: Cats as evil manipulators, environmental disasters, etc. And now there's an article about whether all that noise is true.

Turns out - much not, some yes.

Number 18 In the Top 20!

Amazon.com has bestseller categories for every type of book. The categories follow the BISAC system (Book Industry Subject and Category, if you were wondering). Anyway, in the Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Humorous Bestseller list, guess who is #18?

That's right! It's The Wrong Sword.

Granted, it's a smallish category. But that still means I am on the SAME AMAZON FRONT PAGE as books by Ben Aaronovitch, Diana Wynne Jones, Neil Gaiman, and - yes! - Terry Pratchett. (When you're up there with the Brits in Humorous Fantasy, you're automatically in the Big Leagues.)

And since most browsing shoppers only check out the first page of these lists, being #18 out of #20 is a Big Deal.

And Carrying on the Asimov Theme...

In Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel, most of the nutritional needs of the vast population of Earth is met with specially-engineered fungi and yeast. It's a not-uncommon trope elsewhere in SF, too - Vernor Vinge uses it in A Deepness in the Sky, for instance, when he mentions the "bactries" the starfarers use to concoct organic materials.

So, we took a step down that road today.

Why Does That Work? Foundation

The info dump is a classic danger for any writer of speculative fiction. You've put so much thought and effort into creating a world unlike our own...how are you going to convey that world to your readers, so that they can understand your story? Tell too little, maybe they'll be lost, and give up. Tell too much, and their eyes glaze over. All too often, the new writer dumps dozens of pages of exposition onto the reader before ever getting to the story itself, and is subsequently savaged by their writers group.

That's the classic mistake. The info dump.

Needless to say, many of the past masters of science fiction were also masters of exposition. They found dozens of sneaky, clever ways of getting the information into the story, and a few kludges too.

The Paper Proof Is on Its Way

The book proof of The Wrong Sword is on its way; it will be here by Monday. I may make one or two changes. Then it will be available in all its dead-tree glory alongside the electronic version on Amazon and elsewhere.

There's a lot to be said for physicality. There were certain cover-art questions that I couldn't answer based on files on a screen.

Fingers crossed.