Letters of Note

Every so often, I stumble across something truly awesome online.

I'm not talking about distractions, time-wasters, dancing babies, movie trailers, or social networking.

I'm talking about something so incredibly cool that you have no choice but to share it with others.

If you haven't already seen it, I give you Letters of Note.

I love this site. It is what people mean when they use the phrase, "an embarrassment of riches." Here, you'll find previously unpublished correspondance from Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, Harlan Ellison, E.B. White, Roald Dahl, J.D. Salinger (including a brief, funny review of Raiders of the Lost Ark, which he'd just seen) Philip K. Dick, Walt Disney, Ernest Hemingway, Pete Docter, Kurt Cobain, Hunter S. Thompson, Forrest J. Ackerman, John Candy, Steve Martin, William S. Burroughs, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Conan O'Brien...and the list goes on and on. Some of the lettters are angry, some are hilarious, some are incredibly illuminating, some are astonishingly profane.

All are totally fascinating.

It's updated daily. It reminds me of the fan letter that I wrote to Forrest J. Ackerman myself, when I was twelve or thirteen, and the kind and witty response that I received from him.

It is now officially my favorite site.

Star Wars: Red Harvest - the playlist!

I got my very last notes for Star Wars: Red Harvest from my editor over the weekend, which means that the final copyedited version of the manuscript will be done this week.

Which means it's time to make public...

The SW:RH playlist

To clarify, this is a completely unofficial, I-don't-make-a-penny-off-it list of songs that I listened to while I was writing and editing and rewriting Red Harvest. It's not endorsed by Lucasfilm, Random House or any of the artists, it exists solely on my iPod (although everything's on iTunes if you want it), and I'm posting it here purely for fun.

Cool?

Then turn those blasters up to eleven and listen to this.

1) "Twentieth Century Fox Fanfare" - Alfred Newman
2) "Live Wire" - Motley Crue
3) "10000 Feet" - Wolfmother
4) "Mind Eraser, No Chaser" - Them Crooked Vultures
5) "Alien - Main Title" - Jerry Goldsmith
6) "The Difference Between Us" - The Dead Weather
7) "Fresh Blood" - The Eels
8) "Panic Switch" - Silversun Pickups
9) "Iron Swan" - The Sword
10) "Black Mud" - The Black Keys
11) "Gimme Shelter (Illuminoids Remix)" - Rolling Stones
12) "Burn" - Nine Inch Nails
13) "Friend of the Night" - Mogwai
14) "If the World (End Titles)" - Guns N' Roses

There it is, folks. Fourteen tracks of whack -- I only wish I could hand out copies of this thing when the book drops in January...

How many times has this happened to you?

You’re in an amusement park, Disneyworld, say, or Six Flags, with the family, having an excellent time, when suddenly an announcement is made that some sort of parasitic outbreak has infected the park. Due to its spread and intensity, the park goes into quarantine, with no one being allowed in or out. Meanwhile the parasite in question—passed along by the most fleeting of physical contact—is causing those who are infected to attack and destroy whoever is nearby. You and your family must find your way through the park to some area of relative safety to wait out the outbreak, but even then, the people that you think you know, the people you treasure and trust, have already begun to act differently. Nothing is what it seems, and now you’re all along, surrounded by inhuman predators.

Another vacation ruined.

The Shirt Says It All.

You know you want one.

It's a bust.

Let me begin by saying that I don't make a dime off of this -- and I can't even afford one myself -- but I do think it's very cool that Gentle Giant is making a Death Troopers mini bust. Apparently they're taking pre-orders for October, when the book comes out in mass market, and in fact, if you buy the thing, they'll throw in a copy of the paperback.

Cooool.