Sunday night as I write this. I’m sitting amid the rubble of a whole weekend spent doing illustration. Pencils. Colored pencils. Scissors. Kneaded erasers. Tortillons. Paints. Odorless paint thinner. Markers. Tissue paper. Illustration board. Reference photos. As I say, rubble.
And all this is strewn across the standard rubble that quickly takes over life when you live in a fifth-wheel and have to work, eat, and Web surf at the same tiny table.
It’s so bad at the moment that when my fellow hermit Joel came over for dinner earlier he not only had to cook it himself — outside — in the rain. But then we had to eat at his place because I didn’t have the energy to clear a spot.
I expect he didn’t mind too much. Dinner was filet mignon. Completely wrapped in bacon and grilled to perfection on my beloved Pyromid. (Gawd, I love this paleo diet!)
Anyhow, the illustration, in case you care to know, is for Backwoods Home. They asked me to do the cover for the upcoming Hardyville book, and inexperienced though I am, how could I refuse that? BTW, they apologize that the book’s not out yet, but it’s moving right along now and the people to whom I promised copies last March shouldn’t have to wait more than a month or two.
BUT. All that means I’m too darned tired to collect Monday miscellany links, and waaaaay too darned tired to write Brilliant Thoughts.
So I’ll leave you with a short little video I borrowed from Radley Balko’s blog. It’s not only 44 of the most cheery seconds you’re likely to have today; it’s a 44-second object lesson in the differences between cops in the U.S. and cops in less brutal places. This is what happens when you point a video camera at a police officer in Sweden. (Hint: He doesn’t beat you up, erase your video, and charge you with disorderly conduct, illegal wiretapping, or interfering with an investigation.)
I hope I’ll be up to More Intelligent Things shortly. In the meantime, I’m sore, tired, and buried in too much stuff to think.
The Malmo, Sweden policeman video is a classic. What a hoot.
Didn’t know Hardyville was becoming a book … I’ll get in line to purchase a copy (or two).
Cheers.
Can’t find any place on the BHM bookstore to pre-order a copy of Hardyville … where can I sign up?
Cheers.
🙂 Thanks, desert fox. I’ll ask Dave and Lenie about pre-orders. That’s a good idea. Will post whatever I learn.
And yeah … love that video. I think that’s one I’ll keep around to watch any time I need a boost in my faith in my fellow humans. It’s a real 44-second anti-depressant, for sure.
If it’s not too much to ask, can you also publish in an e-book format? The epub format is a standard, but mobi (for Amazon Kindle) would also be acceptable. Thanks.
Cheers.
It’s not too much to ask at all — but that’s beyond my control. To the best of my knowledge, BHM publishes its books only on paper. But again … I’ll ask. This may be a question I should take to Oliver-the-webmaster, BHM’s tech guru.
Look at the background: shadows mean direct sunlight, tourists in shorts, no ice. It’s probably 75 degrees F. This police man is having a natural Swedish reaction to a too-brief summer: joy.
We get nude bicycling events for our 8 weeks of sunshine.
Cheers from pdx.
Wow… he’s …HUMAN!
I notice the cop does not sport the militarized “thug rug” hair cut upon his cranium, either. I think there is a connection.
Kent, I noticed the haircut, too, and had a similar thought. I also noticed his physique isn’t as donut-filled as is the typical U.S. cop’s. I know; can’t draw too many inferences from a single example. But the blimpy bodies and thug-wannabe hair-shaves that cops in these parts favor don’t bode well.
Got word from Dave this morning that they expect to be able to take pre-orders soon. It’s just a matter of knowing the final page count so they can set a price.
As to any e-book format, I still need to pursue that. But it appears BHM has actually pulled back from e-formats in the last few years, as so many people have ripped off their content.
Oh yeah, I should also add (in the interests of full disclosure) that this book is a compilation and updating of the four “story” arcs that I did toward the end of Hardyville’s online run. It’s not all new material, though it does contain a bit of new material.
It’s too bad that BHM has gotten into the same mind-set as all the big (dinosaurs) book publishers concerning e-books.
If they are adamant about not publishing e-books, then you should reserve that right for yourself and publish the e-book version through Amazon. If you are worried about digital copies being “ripped off” then note that Amazon e-books are published with DRM and locked to the person who bought them.
I am sure you are aware that Amazon is now selling more e-books than hard copies … although that will probably level off after the current e-book reader (device) hype settles down a bit.
BTW – you might be interested in the fact that since I, like you, live in a 5th-wheel travel trailer, I have extremely limited space for printed books. So I scanned, into digital format, all my dead-tree books that I wanted to keep … including my complete set of all the Claire Wolfe books. What hurt the most was that I had to literally rip the books apart in order to scan them. Since many of your books were signed copies, I guess I will miss out on their “Collector Value”. Bummer.
Cheers.
Really looking forward to the Hardyville book. I will definitely be pre-ordering once they are ready. Good Luck Claire also as things come together on your new place!