My web site

Come visit me at

www.dragonthing.com

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Phobia magazine

Phobia has its first review and a thumbs up! -

Sun 11:37am
Crafty and tawdry, artwork to die for and words to kill you.

Visually enticing, you'll be hooked!

~Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc Best Selling, Triple Award Winning Horror Sinisteria Author.

Check out a copy now from only £1 at - http://witchfinderpress.co.uk


Great news!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

a canticle?

Previous Entry | Next Entry
en Rantus Corpus ... or, something like that.

* Apr. 18th, 2009 at 2:43 PM


after hearing about it I finally got my hands on A Canticle for Leibowitz. It's brilliant, funny, with sharp dialog. The plotting is clever and telling, a warning of the proliferation of arms, post apocalyptic absurdism, almost.

but it's so heavily dependant on the religious and political structure of the catholic church that i feel as if i'm missing half the story, both in attitude and in actual text.

it feels like an affectionate nod to the church as well as a satire, not only of their structure (and therefore man's penchant to complicate religion) but a comment on man's tendency to worship, or at least lable a mystery, anything he doesn't understand. a bit biting, if taken to mean that man has made a god out of a misunderstood man, and yet very like some people to do so.

it seems like the church is a metaphore for man himself, and there is its brilliance, and the wonderful irony of having a jewish man turn out to be a catholic saint, whose to do list is considered a holy relic, oh, i love it.

but there we go with that darned latin. hey, i'm a southern baptist. the only latin i know is coitus interruptus.

and what the hell is a canticle anyway?
and why should i care?


Comments
( Leave a comment )
[info]ghostposts wrote:
Apr. 18th, 2009 08:19 pm (UTC)
did you follow the link?
if you think it sounds ok i'm gonna cross post it
The Chasetown Arms says:
kk
sounds fine
susie says:
good
i'm pissed at the world
a perfectly wonderful book and i'm only getting half of the damned thing
lol
The Chasetown Arms says:
lol that is really annoying
susie says:
so much for our local educational system
texas sux
lol
insert really obnoxious lolspeak here
The Chasetown Arms says:
well you have a famous ex governor
susie says:
lol
omg
i reckon ah had thet cummin
The Chasetown Arms says:
lol

Friday, April 17, 2009

Old Monster Speaks

Old Monster's Abattoir

Reader Mail

Another letter to the Old Monster for your perusal, and it is a dilly! Nothing like throwing a near imponderable to put you into bad case of writer’s block is there? Questions like this one make me sweat frankly so I think I’ll just scratch the surface a bit and hope she can get her research on. Poor kid has one hell of a learning curve ahead of her.

Dear Old Monster,

I have been locked in my parents basement for the last eight years. What should I know about the real world?

Hopefully,
In The Dark And Out Of The Loop

PS: Please help me Old Monster, you’re my only hope!

I’m sorry to have to break this to you, Leia, but if I’m your only hope then I think you’re boned. I’ll have to assume you are somewhere around eighteen for simplicity’s sake as there is no single answer to a question like this. After all, most adults don’t get locked in the basement by their parents, do they? A lot of them should be, but that’s beside the point.

I hardly know where to start. Politically it’s been a hell of an eight years. We’re wrapped up in a war in Iraq that we started over, now get this, a person who didn’t orchestrate an attack the World Trade Center killing thousands, didn’t attack us, didn’t attack our allies, and didn’t have illegal weapons of mass destruction stashed around his country in violation of UN sanctions, and wasn’t hiding Al Quiada operatives in his country. Not when we attacked anyway. Don’t even get me started on who and/or what Al Quaida is… you’ll figure it out soon enough if your Google Fu is strong.

Soooooo– we fragged his country… yeah. Oh, before I forget we also attacked another country and overturned it’s government… sort of. The women still wear Burkas but I hear three men in Kabul have started using toilet paper. Worth every penny of the billions we’ve spent on the invasions, yes?

On the home front we’ve become obsessed with trivial celebrity and shallow attention whoring marketed as reality television. You’ll note that Reality Television is an oximoron. It’s no more real than a cartoon and frankly it barely qualifies as television. This, and its pornographic counterpart the “Girls Gone Wild” videos, allow shows to be made at very low overhead. It’s easy to make a show that doesn’t require plot or storyline (or script writers) and it will likely make a ton of money even if it flops. Television like this almost makes me miss Gilligan’s Island. Almost.

It never took much to achieve celebrity status of course. If you don’t believe me take a look at Paris Hilton. She bought her way into the spotlight regardless of her complete lack of talent, common sense, and a measurable IQ. These things aren’t necessary these days if you start out rich or know who to screw. And before you older folks get on that high horse of yours save it… does the name Zsa Zsa Gabor mean anything to you?

Culturally we aren’t much better off. Wonderful devices such as The cellphone and the PDA and the bastard offspring of both have spared us from the hardships of communicating on the go, personal organization, and literacy; to say nothing of reading comprehension. But you’ll sure look bitchin’ with that Blue tooth headset on behind the wheel of your SUV so no worries, image is everything!

The internet has performed the same purpose of course, but with better graphics and easier input. It seems that the improvements in ease of use of a given bit of technology are inversely proportionate to the decline in most people’s ability to make use of said device. A quick, comprehensive way to frappe’ a human brain in record time. Go Hulu Go!

A few more advancements like these and we won’t need schools. Some fencing around the back forty will keep the sheep contained during class and graduation can be simplified greatly. A quick trip to the kitchen and a sharp blow with a cross-peen hammer and VOILA!.

The Religious Right as a whole and individually is acting the same as it always has: foaming at the mouth, flailing like a drunken hooker in a pig waller at everything that isn’t to their liking. You know, all that post McCarthy bullshit. No change here except a lot of them are managing to get elected to public office. Scary.

If this gives you the impression I’m stalling then you’re half right. More has changed in the last decade or so than can be recounted in a single letter, or for that matter a single book. You have a lot of catching up to do and for this I can only offer my sympathy.

Blood & Stitches,

The Old Monster

Jim Butcher's New Book


Contest! Win a Book, Save The World!

I know this is going to break your heart, BUT we have another amazing book contest for you. We are excited to offer up TEN shiny new hardback copies of Jim Butcher’s Turn Coat book 11 in the Dresden Files series that just released on 4/7/09! Penguin Publishing is sponsoring this amazing giveaway here at Bitten by Books! For the next week you can enter everyday to win one of these copies for your very own. The contest is open to readers worldwide.

****************************************************

Learn more about Jim Butcher here:

Read reviews of the author’s work here.
To visit the author’s website go here.
To visit the author’s blog go here.

****************************************************

Readers, here’s how to enter the contest. You can do ONE or ALL of these things, and each one will give you additional entries at a chance to WIN. We will be giving away TEN brand new hardback copies of Jim Butcher’s latest release Turn Coat! Book 11 in the Dresden Files series. The contest IS open to readers worldwide.

Please note, the prize stated IS the prize you will receive, there will be absolutely no substitutions or changes the prize is non-transferable. If you don’t want the prize being offered, please don’t enter the contest. If you ever win an electronic copy of a book, please note that it is ILLEGAL to forward, give away or copy it in anyway once you receive it. Doing so violates copyright. If we find out that it has been done, you will no longer be eligible to win any of our contests.

1. The easiest way to enter is by purchasing copies of any of Jim’s books in any format! Yep, it is true, if you purchase Jim’s by using this link HERE:
Jim Butcher’s Amazon store
You will get SIXTY entries to the contest for EACH copy you purchase in ANY format from AMAZON.
Books in the Dresden Files series in the order they should be read:
Storm Front
Fool Moon
Grave Peril
Summer Knight
Death Masks
Blood Rites
Dead Beat
Proven Guilty
White Night
Small Favor
Turn Coat

It is NOT mandatory to purchase anything to enter the contests, there are plenty of other ways to enter and win. Just email me a copy of your purchase receipt to racoo.smith @ gmail.com (no spaces). Sorry no faxes or snail mail copies.

2. In order to be entered into this contest the ONE thing you ALL have to do is leave a comment telling us who your favorite Dresden Files character is and what your favorite scene is and the book title it can be found in. No talking = no entries! You can come by EVERY DAY through 4/20/09 and comment for more entries. Good for 10 entries.

3. Buy ANYTHING from Amazon today THROUGH 4/20/09 by using the Amazon search box on the right hand side of our site. We will know if you used the box to search and buy, so please be sure to use it or your entries won’t count. Send me a copy of the receipt VIA email (sorry no faxes or snail mail) for your purchase to: racoo.smith @ gmail.com (no spaces). Good for 20 entries per item purchased.

4. Stop by Bitten by Books and meet Jim Butcher on Wednesday April 29th! Have your questions ready for a live interactive Q&A session with him. Mention you heard about the event from this contest. Good for 20 entries.

5. Spread the word FAR AND WIDE by copying and pasting this blog post in it’s ENTIRETY to your blog, groups etc. You must include the entire post and include the contest banner at the top of the page. Then come back here and show us the links to where you promoted this event and Jim’s interview in this post. Good for 25 entries PER place you post it.

6. SUBSCRIBE to the Bitten by Books newsletter here on the right hand side of the site. This is for new subscribers only. Be sure you VERIFY your subscription, an email is sent with the verification link. Unverified subscribers will not be entered and will be deleted from the mailing list. Good for 10 entries.

7. Spread the word, the more places you post the event, the more entries you get. Post the link to the event / contest today (http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=6046) at another blog, website, Myspace, Ning Group, Facebook, Yahoo Group, Goodreads, Shelfari (any group where it is appropriate). You MUST come back here to this interview and post those links in one response here in this thread. Good for 10 entries per place you post the link to this event.

NOTE: if you post multiple links here, your post will not show up right away. If you don’t see it, don’t keep posting it, we WILL approve your entry later on in the day.

8. Add us as your friend on

Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=59929467915

Good Reads: http://www.goodreads.com/bitten_by_books

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/bittenbybooks

Facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=614064436

Twitter: http://twitter.com/BittenbyBooks be SURE to tweet us after you follow so we can count your entry! @BittenbyBooks

Be sure to mention that you are friending us for this contest so we know to enter you! Good for 10 entries per place you friend us.

9. Be friends with Jim by joining him here:

Newsletter: http://www.jim-butcher.com/list/

FORUM: http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/

Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21815260791

Good for 10 entries each place you friend her on. Please send the confirmation emails to racoo.smith @ gmail.com (no spaces) for each of these places as proof of friendship and to get your entries.

10. Twitter and ask your friends to re-tweet the URL for this event be SURE to include us in your tweet @BittenbyBooks http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=6046. Good for 10 entries each day you tweet it.

11. Add Jim’s website and blog to your blog roll or links page: http://www.jim-butcher.com/

http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/


Good for 10 entries for each place you post each link.

12. Add Bitten by Books to your blog roll or links page: http://bittenbybooks.com if you leave our link up permanently you will always be entered into our contests automatically. Just be sure to stop by each contest we hold and leave the link to where it is so we can give you your entry! Good for 10 entries.

13. Email ALL of your friends and invite them to come by this week be sure to copy me on your email racoo.smith @ gmail.com (no spaces)! If your fiends come and post here and say you sent them, they get FIVE entries and you get TEN entries! They have to tell us who you are so we know who to give the entries to. You can invite as many people as you want and get all the extra entries! We do NOT use any emails we receive for anything other than the contest entries. Once they are counted the emails are deleted.

14. Join the The Blood Bank the Bitten by Books Community! here: http://bittenbybooks.ning.com/ then come back here and tell us your user name. Be sure to post something about yourself on your blog there. Good for 10 entries

GENERAL CONTEST INFORMATION:

The contest ends on 4/20/09 at 11:59 pm PDT and the winners will be contacted the following week. You will receive your prize directly from Bitten by Books. PLEASE LEAVE YOUR FIRST AND THE INITIAL OF YOUR LAST NAME as well as a valid email where we can contact you. REMEMBER the more things you do, the more entries, the greater the chances of winning.

IMPORTANT CONTEST RULES:

1. If you aren’t interested in receiving the prize, offered please do not enter the contest.

2. You have THREE days from the day the I contact you to claim your prize by sending your name/mailing address to me. Failure to contact me will forfeit your prize. BBB can at that time, choose either to re- award the prize to another entrant or not.

3. The prize stated IS the prize you will receive, there will be no substitutions, trades or changes. No exceptions. Please do not ask. If for some reason you do not wish to claim your prize, please let me know as soon as possible. We have the option to re-award it or not.

4. Contest is open to readers worldwide. The prize is shipped directly from Bitten by Books.

5. Bitten by Books is in NO way responsible for the prizes being offered in any of the contests. If for some reason a contributor does not honor their prize, there is nothing we can or will do about it. We are not worried that this will happen, but we want to be very clear that WE are not offering these prizes, the contributor is and it is their responsibility to fulfill their prize obligations.

6. These rules are subject to change or be modified without prior written notice.

7. Contest is void where prohibited.

8. By entering this contest you are agreeing to our terms of entry

Buy his book at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451462564?ie=UTF8&tag=bittenbybooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0451462564

Tags: Author,Contest,Dresden Files Series,FREE,Free Books,Harry Dresden,Jim Butcher,Turn Coat

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Whispering Spirits

Until last night, I suppose the scariest thing I ever saw was in the summer of 1977. My little brother Tommy, Greg Boutter and Danny Harbin (or Leadbutt as we called him because he moved so slow) and myself were down by Black Oak Creek. The Creek, so called because of the fire that raged through these parts a long time ago (my dad said sometime around 1900), wasn’t much more than a stream starting just south of Elberta and never making it into Miflin, which wasn’t more than a mile or two south of Elberta itself.

We built the tree house in an old oak tree east of the creek, pretending we were defending the land from the Indians and keeping the creek water safe for the people inside the fort. Keeping them safe from the ghosts that were supposed to haunt these woods. There were ghosts, what with people dying in the fire, but we weren’t afraid. We were soldiers. Besides, there were
four of us, and together we could kick any apparition’s butt, especially if we were safe behind the walls of our tree house.

We had regular guards posted at the foot of the tree, between the fort and the creek. The remainder of us soldiers kept the tree house headquarters in top military shape. As usually happened, we made Tommy stand guard while Greg, Leadbutt and myself read and debated the newest adventures of Spiderman and The Avengers..

Read Harvest Moon by Ray Kolb at http://www.whisperingghosts.com/ get the free doownload.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Ever Day Fiction

Dangerous Skies, by Gustavo Bondoni on everyday Fiction.com

blogtalk radio: Kim's latest press release

Event: Chat with Charlotte Hughes
"author of Nutcase"
What: Informational Meeting
Host: Introducing WRITERS! radio show
Start Time: Tuesday, April 14 at 5:30pm
End Time: Tuesday, April 14 at 6:30pm
Where: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/kims

Sunday, April 12, 2009

from armand rosamilla

"Vermin" eBook Horror anthology Reading Period Opening
Share
Yesterday at 9:28am
Passing along some information for my fellow Horror writers out there...


Rymfire eBooks Anthology Info

Horror eBook anthology - "Vermin"

Reading period will be April 15th - July 15th 2009

Stories submitted before the reading date or after the reading dates will be returned unread, NO EXCEPTIONS!

What the "Vermin" anthology's theme will be...

Stories about those tiny, menacing feet inside the walls, creatures watching you from the darkenss of the halls at midnight... you tell me, and make it creepy! And PLEASE no generic 'rat-creature in the attic, kills the exterminator, etc.' tales... be original!

Length and submission...

We are looking for tales in the 2,500-7,500 word range. Nothing more, nothing less. We will return (unread) anything not within these guidelines. You can submit a story as either an attachment to the e-mail address in Word or in the body of an e-mail. We do NOT accept snail mail. Please put "Vermin Sub" in the subject of the e-mail and give a word count in the e-mail itself, even if the story also has it listed. Our reading time is usually 6-8 weeks NO multiple submissions, NO exceptions. Reprints accepted.

Payment info...

We pay $3.00* for each story accepted via PayPal. That's it. We are a brand new eBook-only publisher looking to get the name out there and get some quality releases under our belts without making the mistake of so many other small-press publishers and overdoing it in the beginning. We pay everyone once the anthology has been officially filled. If this is acceptable, kindly submit to us.

* Our eBooks will generally sell for around $2.99... we offer the $3.00 flat rate, but an author can earn royalties after each 150 eBooks sold as follows:
~ 1-149 eBooks sold = $3.00 flat advance
~ 150-300 eBooks sold = an additional $3.00 per author
~ 301-450 eBooks sold = a additional $3.00 per author
~ 451-600 eBooks sold = You get the idea...
ALL of the authors will receive monthly sales statements to see where your eBook stands and how your sales compare to the other anthologies

RymfireeBooks@gmail.com

Rymfire eBooks Website http://rymfireebooks.angelfire.com/

Friday, April 10, 2009

talk talk talk

so nice to see the thread for witchfinder.



kim smith is broadcasting on blogradio tonight. cool

met someone through facebook who suggested doing a wikipedia and did one on himself. cool idea.

may do one on whispering spirits, diana casy, daverana, all our authors, flashing swords mag, ect.

weather front

came through last night. grr...

gonna take it easy for a few days and just fool around.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

http://writesville.org/

a new site for writers. I posted "Green Like Her Eyes".

Monday, April 06, 2009

Brooke interviews Paul Levine

Please Welcome Author Paul Levine!

http://brookelondonromance.blogspot.com/2009/04/please-welcome-author-paul-levine.html

Please help me to welcome author, Paul Levine. This former lawyer’s many books have been acclaimed as “Genuinely Chilling” by the Washington Post and as “Mystery Writing at its very, very best” by Larry King on USA Today.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

on the web...

http://aprilfoolsdayontheweb.com/

Molly Harper Release

Release Day Round-Up

Thanks to all that have purchased NICE GIRLS DON'T HAVE FANGS in these first few days. And to those who have left comments on my blog and web site. I still can't believe the book is out on the shelves!

and sold out in a few bookstores...

Kim Smith Hosting Bob Farley on Blogtalkradio

www.blogtalkradio.com/KimS

Upcoming Episodes
Techno-thriller author, Bob Farley

Introducing WRITERS!

Date / Time: 4/5/2009 2:00 PM

Category: Writing

Call-in Number: (646) 478-0319

Robert(Bob) Farley will be with me to talk about his extranormal techno thriller, THRIPZ. I hope you will check out his website, http://www.bobfarley.com/index.html and read the first few chapters FREE!

Mark Your Calenders!