Night’s Fall Critters

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It’s that time again. I’m in need of beta readers for Night’s Fall.  I figure that editing of the first draft will be done by the end of January, so “February” is the date I’m looking at for Santa’s little helpers to read the book. Like last time, I’m after the especially talented among you.  Those people who can read, and mark up, a manuscript (110,000 words) in two to three weeks. There will be two teams — more on that in a bit.  The thing though is that I’m really interested in what you like about the story.  It’s super easy to tear something to shreds, but it’s just as important (perhaps a little more so) to know what sticks with you, what you wanted to read more of, and whether you liked the damn story.  The likeable aspects of the story Read More …

About That Weber

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Got a new BBQ.  It’s awesome. We’ve done some pretty interesting food experiments so far.  Pizza didn’t work out so well — I turned it too hot, which gave a little too much of that smoky flavour — but we’ve had some other amazing successes. Spatchcocked chicken?  No problem.  First, de-spine your bird. Then, put it on the BBQ.  Breast-side down at first, then flip.  You’ll need to time it yourself, but 15-20 minutes a side is probably good in our Weber on low. Once you’ve cooked your bird, let it stand for a good 10 minutes before you slice it.  Try to ignore the neighbours queuing at the fence, because it smells divine. Last night we went a bit crazy and made potato “waffles” in the iron, with grilled tamari-marinated thighs and vegetation done on the Weber.  The waffles Read More …

Good Retail Experiences

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Sometimes you get impressed by people who do their jobs with flare and style. Meet Brent*.  He had this to say over the break: Without a doubt, had the BEST retail experience in NZ at the @nike store in Wellington amidst their Boxing Day sale. Total professionals! — Brent of Zealandia (@BrentfromNZ) December 26, 2015 * This is not a story about Brent being amazing.  Sorry. I was in the mood for some new workout gear, so saddled up the horse and wandered into said Nike.  They were amazing.  Stress free, helpful advice, nothing was a problem, everything available in my size (often a trick, because Medium is right in the middle of the bell curve of standard distribution — I tend to find only size skeleton or bison are left locally).  I got my workout gear, a new hoodie, Read More …

How I Came to Own Amazing Headphones

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I lost a dongle, okay? Rewind the clock.  Back in, oh I think it was November, I was travelling to fair Auckland.  This particular day was a fairly long day in a workshop, and I left with a sense of accomplishment plus a migraine.  I curled up in my seat on the plane, put on my headphones — Sony’s Wireless Golds — and cried myself to sleep.  When I landed in Wellington, I packed up my stuff, and got off the plane.  Or rather, I packed up almost all my stuff: the USB dongle that allows the Sony headphones to connect to a PlayStation or Personal Computer were lost.  Fell out of the bag, is my guess, and my brain was saying no to just about everything and didn’t give me the necessary prod. I’m pretty sure my fly was down for Read More …

On the Subject of Remote Play

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Warning: this post is about video games. TL;DR: If remote play capability in the four walls of your home is a big deal for console choice, I suspect the Xbox One is a better solve for your problems.  It’s not like the PlayStation TV is a shit solution, but it’s sub-optimal due to its constrained TV output.  The Vita, with it’s shoddy control surface, is horrible in almost every way.  On a related note, make sure you get a DualShock 4 rather than recycling your DualShock 3s for your PS TV — the lack of a touch pad is killer.  Your PC can probably recycle your old Xbox 360 controllers, which is another plus in favour of Microsoft’s option. Long version follows. When I started my job with MSFT, I found myself on a plane a lot.  I also found myself Read More …

Where I Am: 2016 Edition

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I thought it would be useful to let you know where I hang out online. 1000 ways to get in touch with me:1. text2. email3. tweet4. facebook…999. writing with my blood on a wall1000. telephone — Sarah Houghton (@TheLiB) January 4, 2016 (I stole this idea from Larry, who is more of a media superstar than I can ever be). RSS: This site spits out RSS for the newsreader of your choice.  Here it is. Mailing List: behold.  New signups get a free ebook copy of Night’s Favour. Facebook: I’ll post here from time to time, because I get that a lot of people CBF with blogs ‘n’ shit. Twitter: I spend a lot of time lurking on here.  140 characters is about the most of any one human I can take, so it’s perfect.  @ParryForte is my ‘hood. Instagram: I, Read More …

Cover Art

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I’m at that delicate phase where I need to find some new cover art. You know, I feel … the pressure.  Night’s Favour’s cover art was pretty outstanding — I’d like to keep with the theme, but that piece did seem fairly one-of-a-kind.  I don’t want Night’s Fall’s cover to seem less than it’s prequel. Know any artists who want to do some cover art?

Facebook and the Devil

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I’ve had a long, distrustful relationship with Facebook for a while. Maybe it’s my professional history in IT security or government privacy, but whatever, the way Facebook seems to treat people — and their data — gives me the heebie jeebies.  My main reason for using Facebook was to keep up with the play in my karate dojo, but during 2015 my work, life, and the universe applied so much pressure I needed to step back from that. Thus, do I need Facebook anymore? I’m conducting a small, controlled experiment.  Here’s what I popped up* yesterday: Next weekend, I’m planning to go through and flense my Facebook friends clean, and reduce Facebook to a news agregator and “Richard Parry Author” system.  I won’t be responding to friend requests for a little while, if ever.  It’s quite interesting embarking on this phase Read More …

Sweet Baby Jesus

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New Years Eve hit pretty hard. We had a bunch of family together, and sat about drinking and talking shit until about 3 or 4 AM.  I made good use of caffeine mixed with alcohol to preserve a wakeful state.  Because of that, I suspect my state the next day was slightly more ruined than it should have been. You’ll be happy to know, dear reader, that this impacts Night’s Fall not a whit — that’s in the bag, so to speak, so there’s no drunken angsty writing going on here.  If you wanted drunken angsty writing, too bad.  Anyway, we got ourselves a new Weber barbecue — which is amazing — and cooked up a fairly massive feed along side drinking beer, wine, cocktails, and then back to beer again because we got thirsty. In retrospect, that may have Read More …

Smokin’ Hot

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Merry Christmas, all of you. I know it’s been a shade on the quiet side around here, and that’s because I’ve been slaving over a hot keyboard.  I wanted to finish Night’s Fall‘s first draft this year, and this evening I nailed it. As y’all probably know, there’s a few steps still to go before you can have it in your mits.  Lots of editing, rewriting, editing, critique, rewriting, editing, and general anxiety attacks still to go.  I need to find a bunch of beta readers to tell me if it sucks!  But … there it is.  I can enter Christmas Day knowing how this story ends. Have a safe Christmas.  See you next time.