If not, then isn’t it just as ridiculous for people who have already tried to launch a digital publishing company and failed, to talk about how to Build A Digital Publishing House? In this case I’m pointing the finger at Kassia Krozser, seeing as Angela James at least already has a proven track record.

Rumour has it that a couple of the other Quartet Press peeps are involved in similar panels. That just seems wrong-headed somehow.

Thanks to you-know-who for the heads up.

The following comment was left on a blog post (by somebody calling himself Barack Hussein Obama Sadaam) that I wrote a while ago, questioning whether or not racism in America had increased since Obama became president:

“I think that racism is increasing.

Minorities act like they want us to be racist to them.

Obama supports the NBA, which has some of the worst (dangerous) black people in the world.

Black leaders, such as NBA superstars, need to lead by example if blacks want racism to go away. I do not think blacks want racism to go away though.

Solution: Have all newborn black babies be adopted by intelligent white people. This will get rid of their terrible language of ebonics along with helping them succeed in life.”

This was my response:

Hey Klan member, Step. Away. From. The. Computer. At least until you learn how to mix with the general public.

People like you are proof that abortion is absolutely neccessary.

If I was to profile you, I would say that you were between 35-45, white, receding hairline, pot belly, you like red meat, can’t get enough of the stuff. You have a dog called Rush that walks with a limp leg because of all the times you’ve bent it over and tried to stick your dick in its arse.
You believe that Hitler was mostly misunderstood, and that the world would be better off without people with brown skin in it.

If you’re married, your wife is having an affair with a real man behind your back. He’s probably black. When you fuck your wife, you like to pretend that it’s your sister’s arse that you’re riding. You didn’t finish school, because you couldn’t work out what those funny emblems were on the exam papers. You’ve since learned that the funny wiggles were letters, and that letters make up words. It took a while, but you got there in the end, way to go you! The black girl who taught you how to finally read and write wouldn’t fuck you though, so that was a bit of a downer. You later stalked her and tried to kill her, so she moved further away from the trailer park where you and your sister and parents lived.

You wanted to be a football player when you were younger, but the black kids were better than you, a fact that you’ve resented all your life. You constantly bemoan the fact that you have a dick the size of a pencil. You know that your wife fakes her orgasms, so you ritually beat her after sex. This gets you off even more than the thought of fucking your mother.

You can’t wait to get your wife pregnant in the hopes that she bears you a girl, oh what fun you can have with her when she gets to her fourth birthday. Oh and not forgetting, you’re probably a Republican, like your parents, and grandparents.

Did I miss anything out? If any of the above is anyway inaccurate, please feel free to post a picture of yourself, your high school certificate, and a copy of your birth certificate. *Smooches*

The great thing about obvious racists like KlanDick Bitch up there, is that you at least know where you stand with him. That’s a good thing, right?

I’m trying something new – every now and again, I’m just going to post random thoughts. Here’s my first attempt:

1. Enough of the John Terry story already. Who. Gives. A. Shit? He cheated on his wife, so fucking what? Half the country are cheating on their spouses as we speak.

2. I’m looking forward to the Chelsea v Arsenal game on Sunday. I hope the Arses spank Chelsea.

3. I have two Christmas presents still in the boot of my car that I haven’t posted off. I must do it today. Really.

4. I’m still dying to see Avatar. I blame TTG for us not having seen it yet.

5. I love Paul Hawksbee and Andy Jacobs on Talksport. I especially love Andy’s bitterness with regards to all things Chelsea.

6. Blogging is slowly but surely becoming a drag, I wonder if I can keep it up for the next year.

7. It’s my birthday soon, I think I need another bag, maybe some shoes, and some boots.

8. How dare ABC fucking cancel Ugly Betty. HOW VERY DARE THEY!!!??!

9. I wonder when Rush Limbaugh last had sex with his wife?

10. What does it say about me that I love watching shows such as One Tree Hill and Glee?

Wow, that was better than a therapist’s couch. You guys should try it.

I do love Margaret and Helen’s blog. Those two old ladies talk so much sense.

Whether they are for real or not, who cares, but whoever they are, they have to be the most amusing, startlingly perceptive, forthright political bloggers out there. I love how they get right to the heart of the matter.

Their latest log is entitled “The Elephant In The Room Is A Kangaroo” and starts:

I really do like this President. He is young and smart… and I think he is trying his best under bad circumstances to do the right thing and create change for good. Not easy these days… Sort of like your convincing Howard that seeing a doctor annually at his age is still preventative medicine. You’ve both got a tough sales job ahead of you.

Lol, I think Howard is Margaret’s long-suffereing husband, for those of you not familiar with the blog.

I really do appreciate his trying to reach across the aisle – as they say – and get Republicans to work towards bipartisanship. But honey, that dog just don’t hunt. Trying to reach bipartisanship with this particular Republican Party will probably achieve bipolarism instead of bipartisanship.

Harsh? Well yes maybe I am being a bit harsh. Part of the problem? Well maybe that too. After all bipartisanship requires a little give and take from both sides. So who am I to suggest that the problem is mainly with the Republicans?

Good questions all of them – particularly because I was the one who asked them. You know me, Margaret. I’m always trying to play both sides of the same issue. Well what do you expect from a woman who invented the all pie diet?

To all my Republican readers out there – I have had quite enough of your nonsense.

If any of my regulars are Republicans, this would probably be a good time to surf away, because these ladies are really not fond of what the US Republican party seems to stand for these days.

Your party gave us Sarah Palin and George W. Bush – dumb and dumber. He’s the guy whose mission still isn’t accomplished and she’s the gal who couldn’t handle being governor of one of our least populous states. Even the “professional” wrestler was able to finish the job in Minnesota.

Your party had an issue with President Obama telling school children to stay in school and study hard. I guess a black man can’t be trusted with your children regardless of his credentials. And your party decided the tradition of separating church and state had an expiration date. You love the constitution but you seem to pick through that document the same way you pick through the Bible – with all the effectiveness of eating corn on the cob through a picket fence.

We are actively involved in two wars, but you just can’t understand why the deficit is so big? Regardless of what you have been told, every time a bomb is dropped, an angel does not get her wings. Hint: Defense spending represents almost one quarter of all federal spending.

I find it ironic that Republicans are screaming deficit, deficit, deficit!, when the war that they wanted is a huge part of the problem, and no matter how much the Repubs want to shift the blame onto Obama, the war is still George Bush’s war, and most of the jack-asses on Fox News were all for it.

Today’s Republican Party has an issue with abortion, but then fights against healthcare reform knowing full well that more than 9 million children lack health insurance. A stretch argument to be sure, but then again 18 19 Children and Counting is a big hit.

My party at least recognizes the need for increased access to birth control. Your party is pro-life right up until they cut the cord and then you turn your attention to electing judges who promote shortening the waiting time on death row

I’ve never understood why being a Republican means that you have to be against abortion. The arguments that are made against the right to have an abortion seem to be founded on certain religious beliefs, which makes it hard for somebody like me to take them seriously. I also find it ironic that a country that is founded on ideals such as freedom of speech, have certain sections who actively believe that a woman’s body is not her own to do as she wishes. That’s what the whole anti-abortion issue is really about. Suppressing women’s rights.

You actually have Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck as your spokesmen. Rush Limbaugh? Are you serious? Even the NFL didn’t want Limbaugh. And Beck… Glenn Beck? When people use the expression ”nuttier than a fruitcake” Glenn Beck is the main ingredient.

Republicans like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Anne Coulter are proof enough that some abortions are absolutely neccessary for the good of the world.

The Republican Party of yesteryear was respectable. You were all about a small government that carried a big stick. Now you are just despicable. You used to be the Party of Lincoln and now – honest to God – you make Archie Bunker look progressive.

It seems to me that most of the politicians who represent the Republican party aren’t interested in the welfare of the people they serve. For them, a lot of their decisions seem to be entrenched in opposing the Democrats at all costs, regardless of whether it makes sense or not. As long as they’re disagreeing with the Democrats, their work is done. I find that utterly selfish and despicable.

If it wasn’t for Fox News you would be irrelevent. That’s right. You have become a party that owes its entire existence to a cable news channel owned by an Aussie. Your mascot should be a kangaroo instead of an elephant. After all, the last guy you sent to the White House arrived there thanks to a kangaroo court ruling rather than an election. He then spent the next 8 years bringing our nation to its knees. How about sitting down and shutting your damn pie holes long enough to see if the guy in office now can actually clean up your mess. Honestly, you are embarrassing yourself.

Fox News. Big fucking sigh. I’m so glad the UK don’t have to put up with such unprofessional and unbalanced news coverage from our news programmes. The news readers over here at least attempt to report the news as it is, rather than lacing the reports with their own deliberate agenda.

Margaret concludes with this:

Look. My party has problems too. It’s biggest problem might be in attempting to please everyone, the Democratic Party seems to please no one. But diversity of opinions is something I am willing to work through. Bigotry and ignorance is not. I mean it. Really.

A-fucking-men.

(not really)

Is there something in the water? in the air?

A 26 year old Connecticut woman is found dead after giving birth to what appear to be full term triplets–and her mother doesn’t think the woman knew she was pregnant. WTF? Really?

An Oregon couple is found guilty in the negligence death of their son. The couple believes in faith healing, and even though they were present when their granddaughter died a few years ago through failed faith healing, they wouldn’t seek medical help for their son. They plan to appeal, by the way.

Honestly now, what the hell?

I guess the majority of you have already heard about the Macmillan v Amazon hatefest, huh?

Well, for those who haven’t, this is the short version:

1. Macmillan Publishing want to solely dictate and fix ebook prices up to $15, and they don’t want retailers involved other than to sell them.

2. Amazon weren’t happy with that so told them to fuck off, by removing the ‘Buy It Now’ buttons from all Macmillan titles.

3. Some authors became angry and blamed Amazon.

4. Some bird over at DA called Rebecca, took it quite personally because she hates, HATES, I tell you, e-books, and wont be shopping at Amazon again because they are depriving her of print books, just to win an argument about ebooks, which she HATES by the way.

5. Amazon gives in, because they want to be able to offer their customers Macmillan titles, what with them being one of the six big publishing houses out there.

That’s about it, right? Some of the details may be sketchy, but for more details, pop over to Dear Author, who have the skinny on the lovefest.

I’m slowly but surely learning to despise traditional publishers who can’t seem to see the wood for the trees. There is absolutely no way in hell I would pay $14.99 for an ebook. That’s practically daylight robbery. Any author who thinks that Macmillan are doing the right thing, needs a good slap. The economy is in the shitter, people are losing jobs left, right and centre, and those twats want to sell ebooks for $15? Crazy bastards. I bet it was a man who came up with that idea.

Amazon are hardly whiter than white though, I’m still fucked off with them over the whole #Amazonfail scandal. Money-grabbing bastards. I hate that they can delete books you paid for, if the fancy takes them. That’s just not effing cricket.

After all of this hoo ha, I’m so grateful that I never got a Kindle, I mean who the hell wants to buy books that aren’t really yours? Surely that’s what libraries are for?

I’ll stick to getting my books from The Book Depository, Amazon suck and they always will I fear.

Well, look at what we have here, apparently RWA have found a way to still stay friends with HQN, after taking away their eligible publisher status in a stand-off akin to the one that took place at the Alamo back in eighteen something or other. I can’t believe it took them so damned long:

Taking into account emerging trends in publishing that may offer opportunities to writers, the task force recommended that RWA adopt methods used by other trade shows and conventions and to shift its method of evaluating publishers as a whole to evaluating publishers by divisions, imprints, or lines.

Under this revised method, RWA will extend invitations to a wide pool of publishers. Invitees may only represent their non-subsidy/non-vanity publishing programs (imprints, divisions, or lines) at RWA’s conference. Space for spotlights, workshops, and booksignings will be allocated to lines, imprints, or divisions that best meet the requirements for “Qualifying Markets.” This new process of evaluation will likely increase opportunities for small presses and e-presses that previously have been excluded.

Of course I’m not surprised, I knew RWA wouldn’t be able to stick to their principles, they need HQN more than HQN needs them. In the words of Mrs G:

RWA 0 – Harlequin 1

I hate to say I told ya so, so I’m just gonna post what my cynical self wrote back in November:

I’m with Mrs Giggles, I wonder how long it will be before the RWA change the terms of publisher eligibility in order to welcome Harlequin back into the fold?

Now let’s wait and see how long it takes before they ‘invite’ HQN back to the fold.

Via Dear Author

I was *this* close to unleash a couple of bitter rants on all of you, when I get this:

Now I’m smiling. Thank you, V, you mood-saver you!

Once again, I had a load of posts on my Google Reader to catch up on, so here are some of the more noteworthy ones.

1. Apparently Avatar has made it to the top spot for the sixth week, and has now grossed $552m in the US, which means that it will probably now eclipse Titanic ($600m ) to become the biggest box office hit ever.
On the other hand, The Lovely Bones isn’t faring so well. It’s possible that people don’t want to watch a film where the main protag is a little girl who was raped and murdered. Shocker.

2. RRRJessica is back from South Africa, and she has pictures.

3. Dear Author has news of more ‘white-washing’ going on at Bloomsbury. Remember the uproar over the cover of Justine Larbalestier’s Liar, and how the black protag somehow took on a white face on the cover? Well it seems that this is becoming a trend. Bloomsbury seems to hate black people on covers. The book that has been white-washed this time is Jaclyn Dolamore’s Magic Under Glass. (more…)

Last week over here in England, two young brothers were jailed for subjecting two other boys, aged nine and eleven to a prolonged brutal attack. The boys themselves were aged ten and eleven at the time.

This is an excerpt of a news report about the attack from September 2009

Two young brothers are facing life in custody for beating, burning and sexually assaulting two boys aged nine and 11. (more…)