Thomas Leo “Tom” Clancy, Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist and historian best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, and for video games that bear his name for licensing and promotional purposes. Seventeen of his novels were bestsellers, and more than 100 million copies of his books are in print. His name was also a brand for similar movie scripts written by ghost writers and non-fiction books on military subjects. He was a part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles and Vice Chairman of their Community Activities and Public Affairs committees.
Category Archives: Self Publishing
I’m a chili snob. There. I said it. A little personal insight into the twisted mind of Shawn E. Bell.
For decades I’ve cooked chili, attended chili cook-offs, sampled great (and not so great) chili, and traveled wherever there was chili to be had. I’ve amassed hand-written notebooks and computer directories that are chock full of recipes for every kind of chili known to man. I’ve had quinoa chili, white chili, black bean chili, bison chili, squirrel chili, varmint chili, Texas chili, Cincinnati chili, con carne and straight chili. Chili from Pink’s, Tommy’s, Hemingway’s, Wienerschnitzel, and many other restaurants that touted this awesome food.
Wherever there is chili to be had, I am there.
…and other stupid blog post titles.
To say that the landscape of publishing has dramatically changed over the last five years is an idiotic statement. The landscape of publishing has been dramatically changing since it’s inception. Just because someone finally noticed — after the printing press dramatically changed the landscape; after offset printing dramatically changed the landscape; after the computer dramatically changed the landscape; after the desktop computer dramatically changed the landscape; after Amazon dramatically changed the landscape; after Mobi dramatically changed the landscape; the Kindle dramatically changed the landscape; etc. — that there are no longer any walls stopping a writer from becoming a published author and that the gatekeeper concept is passe, it doesn’t mean the landscape has ‘dramatically changed.’
It just means that they’re not particularly observant.
Chris Angotti, the Director of Programs over at NaNoWriMo sent out an email blast to everyone on the mailing list for NaNoWriMo about the summer program. If you’ve never tried to write 50,000 words in month you should. That’s what NaNoWriMo is all about. Camp NaNoWriMo is the off-season alternative to the ginormous November writing event, and it offers much more in the way of flexibility – but just as much fun and excitement. The word goal is up to you – anywhere from 10,000 to just shy of 1,000,000 words – and it’s up to you to make it happen!
From the email:
You’re invited to return to Camp NaNoWriMo, running this April and July!
We first imagined Camp simply as an off-season alternative to National Novel Writing Month, but it’s evolved into much more than that: writers choose their own projects—from novel sequels to scripts to pop-up books—and find cabin communities (and often new friends) to support them. Continue reading
On this day in 1915, the fourth (and final) Sherlock Holmes book The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle was first published as a novel. The story was first published as a serial in the Strand Magazine between September 1914 and May 1915. Legend has it that the story is based on the “real-life exploits of the Molly Maguires and Pinkerton agent James McParland.” One of the unique things about this novel is that – like Doyle’s first Sherlock Holmes novel, a Study in Scarlet – there is quite a bit of “omniscient narration;” exposition that recalls story events that are unknown to Holmes or Watson.