Arggghhh - No, no, Ryk Spoor!

[Worldwalker]

Given what started this whole discussion, I'm wondering if we can refer to Ryk generically as a jellyfish, or do we need to use the new politically correct term "sea jelly"?

For those not up on taxonomic weirdness, someone has decided that "fish" -- historically a common name for almost anything wet -- should only be permitted in the names of Osteoicthys, Chondroicthys, and a few weirdos, leaving the jellyfish, cuttlefish, shellfish, etc., all floundering around looking for new names. I find this bizarre since the whole point of common names is that they're the customary folk names, not approved by any official committe; if they were otherwise, they'd be scientific names -- and we'd have to address the author as Chironex fleckeri.

P.S. Fleck, er, I mean Ryk: How did you do the nuclear bomb with cantrips? I've never worked out a version that didn't require a Wall of Force spell.

[seawasp]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

So what about you, Ryk? Seeing as you're a successful author and all, and hence more likely to get the offer: Is there a price for which you'd be willing to publish your perverted sexual fantasies? How about write kiddie porn? Propaganda for the other party? Press releases for BP?

I couldn't accept money for things I can't write. Sexual stuff is pretty much right out. Propaganda... I have to believe it myself. So if there were a political party I believed in (there isn't) I could write stuff for them.

But as long as what they write isn't actually hurting anyone, I have no objection to anyone else making money on writing pretty much anything. I just have sensibilities firmly stuck in the 1950s (despite being born after they ended) so what I can tolerate writing is much more limited than what other people can write.

So if I could bring myself to write things like that, and KNEW I'd be paid the big bucks... sure. If I really feared a backlash against my real name, I could always use a pseudonym. (Hell, many people think I'm already USING one!). Money to keep my family safe, healthy, and living in a fun and comfortable lifestyle for years, or even for life? That's my first and primary responsibility, really.

Really, no one forces anyone to read Ghost, so if it's not their cuppa, they don't have to get the icky all over them. Unlike being forced to read Lord of the Flies, which I was, and hated.

[seawasp]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Great! Look forward to reading it when it comes out. If you want a test reader, when the manuscript nears completion, I'd be happy to volunteer... .

You're welcome to join my beta-reader's group on Livejournal. It's rykspoor_beta (you have to send a request to join, then I approve it). All my material since... well, Boundary, actually, has been on there, and that's several novels, some short stories, and other ... stuff.

[seawasp]

Originally Posted by beachwanderer

Amazing. Now this is one of those treads I love MR for. And which makes me believe we are not too deep in this problem after all.



And welcome to MR, "seawasp"! I like your work, too.

Thanks, Beachwanderer!

Yes, Sea Wasp has been my online name since 1977. Until I got published more people knew me as "Sea Wasp" than my real name. Probably by an order of magnitude.

[DawnFalcon]

Ah Harry, I'm largely in agreement with Ryk's sentiment of "Heh" on his blog given the original source of "no,<author>, no"

And hi, always good to have authors here Ryk. Want a RPG based on any of your works? (Done some work on that kind of thing before for Baen authors, heh) Even if I am still holding a grudge against you for the GCA ARC's being so close together, making me overrun my eBook budget....

[seawasp]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Given what started this whole discussion, I'm wondering if we can refer to Ryk generically as a jellyfish, or do we need to use the new politically correct term "sea jelly"?[

For those not up on taxonomic weirdness, someone has decided that "fish" -- historically a common name for almost anything wet -- should only be permitted in the names of Osteoicthys, Chondroicthys, and a few weirdos, leaving the jellyfish, cuttlefish, shellfish, etc., all floundering around looking for new names. I find this bizarre since the whole point of common names is that they're the customary folk names, not approved by any official committe; if they were otherwise, they'd be scientific names -- and we'd have to address the author as Chironex fleckeri.

You could refer to me as "box jelly", which neatly skirts the "fish" business, or "Cubomedusa". Or as INVISIBLE OCEAN DEATH!!!!!.

P.S. Fleck, er, I mean Ryk: How did you do the nuclear bomb with cantrips? I've never worked out a version that didn't require a Wall of Force spell.

First Edition, Unearthed Arcana: the Mute cantrip (short, I think for "Transmute") allowed you to temporarily change one thing to another. This included composition. So I took two wooden spheres and locked one inside the other; the exterior one was Muted to mithril or something else ALMOST indestructible, or to beryllium, and the other, interior one Muted to plutonium.

Boom. Boom boom boom. BOOOM! as Ivanova might say.

[seawasp]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Ah Harry, I'm largely in agreement with Ryk's sentiment of "Heh" on his blog given the original source of "no,<author>, no"

And hi, always good to have authors here Ryk. Want a RPG based on any of your works? (Done some work on that kind of thing before for Baen authors, heh) Even if I am still holding a grudge against you for the GCA ARC's being so close together, making me overrun my eBook budget....

If you're talking about a PnP RPG, I could do that myself; I've been gaming since 1977 (the same time I started going by the handle "Sea Wasp", in fact) and I tend to use RPGs while I'm writing, or at least to think of a lot of the writing in terms of RPGs. I know the approach I'd use for making either a PNP or a video-game RPG for GCA. The problem would be finding a publisher who wanted to actually release it...

[DawnFalcon]

Er... ePublishing is very much alive and kicking in the RPG world, you can sell - and a number of companies have - just off DriveThruRPG A print release can always come later, but your more hardcore fans are web-concentrated anyway.

And sure, you could do it yourself, but there's this pesky time thing, as you know

[seawasp]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Er... ePublishing is very much alive and kicking in the RPG world, you can sell - and a number of companies have - just off DriveThruRPG A print release can always come later, but your more hardcore fans are web-concentrated anyway.

And sure, you could do it yourself, but there's this pesky time thing, as you know

True enough. Though I'd have to invest some number of hours anyway, if someone else is doing it, simply because I'm the only one who really knows the universe and characters.

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I assume your next action will be to visit your local travel agent and plan a trip to the antipi?

I thought that antipi were what you ordered large plates of before your entrées during a family meal at an Italian restaurant?

"I think we should get 3 hot antipi and 2 cold ones; that should be enough for everyone."

[BenG]

Silly, that would be antipastodes.

[seawasp]

Originally Posted by BenG

Silly, that would be antipastodes.

But if you eat pasta right after eating antipasto you'll explode with enough force to destroy the planet!

[BenG]

I see antipasto warp drives in the future.

[seawasp]

Originally Posted by BenG

I see antipasto warp drives in the future.

And thus did pepperoncini become a strategic resource...

[ardeegee]

Bumpity.

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/07/27...ctopi-oct.html