Author: ianrandalstrock

Giving Donald Trump too much oxygen

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Dear CNN and MSNBC (I’m sorry, those were the only two news channels I could get to yesterday):

I found it ironic, watching your coverage August 3rd, that so many of your anchors, reporters, pundits, and guests repeated the comment that “Donald Trump is sucking up all the oxygen in the political room,” while what you were doing was giving it all to him. The story that you gave wall-to-wall coverage yesterday—a grifter, liar, and multiple business failure had been indicted and was being arraigned for serious crimes against the American people—could have been adequately covered in five minutes at the top of the hour with another one-minute recap at the bottom.

From your business point of view, I understand the appeal: your team didn’t have to ferret out actual news stories, and it’s much cheaper to just keep talking about politics as if the election were next week, rather than fifteen months in the future. But maybe we need to bring back the fairness doctrine, and give all the candidates equal air time. Because Donald Trump’s third indictment—as serious as the alleged crimes are (and I sincerely hope he is quickly found guilty)—certainly did not merit our undivided attention all day yesterday. When the trial is actually happening, sure, we’ll need to see that. But the preliminaries we’re suffering through? The live coverage of his motorcade from his golf course to Newark Airport? Were you proud of the story you were telling yesterday? I wouldn’t have been.

Home from Baltimore

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IMG_9436
Ian Randal Strock and Laurie Strock at the Mensa Foundation Reception, held during the 2023 American Mensa Annual Gathering.

I’m back from Mensa’s Annual Gathering where I took (checks phone) seven pictures of fireworks, one of the moon, and none of the event or people there. I was too busy participating and socializing to remember to take pictures (though I may appear in one or two photos others took).

Now I’m home (and I slept for 13 hours last night), I’ve got (checks in-boxes) more than 400 emails waiting for me to attend to, not to mention a dozen text messages, some paper mail, and who knows what else. I’m working through it all as quickly (and efficiently) as I can, as well as the projects that were waiting for me the whole week I was gone. So you should hear from me soon, but not immediately.

Also, I’m going to take a little more of a break here, and head into Manhattan for the movie at Bryant Park this evening. See some of you there!

[Edited a day later to note that I actually do have a picture of people from the AG: this shot of me and my sister.]

Book signing in Boston

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Untitled-150We are delighted to announce that on Wednesday, August 23, at 7 pm, we will be having a book event for Jewish Futures at Brookline Booksmith! Editor Michael A. Burstein will be moderating a panel discussion with me as the publisher, cover artist Eli Portman, and contributors EM Ben Shaul, Abraham Josephine Riesman & SI Rosenbaum. If you’d like to attend, please use the link to let the store know you will be there! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jewish-futures-stories-from-the-worlds-oldest-diaspora-tickets-667143473087?fbclid=IwAR1rINPQkYChS-w_ISSURifRYdnL9QwNuOO9mhQ2UCbP7MPe7phtplva1e4

Impending computer retirement

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I fear it may be time to get a new computer. This one is almost six years old, and while it does almost everything it’s supposed to, and I like it just fine, too often it takes too long to boot up. And sometimes, it does so incompletely, so I have to restart two or three times in sequence to get it going properly. Thus, I’m assuming replacement (before it totally dies, so I can transfer files) is my best option <grump grump over unexpected expense>.

I’m looking for suggestions, while noting my probably incredibly finicky wants and needs:

At this point, I’m too stuck in my habits to switch away from Windows to Apple. The current computer is an HP, and I have had no complaints (other than this glitching system, which I assume is a symptom of age, not manufacture), but neither am I wedded to the brand.

I’m adamantly opposed to “subscribing” to the programs I use, especially since I often use the computer while not connected to the internet.

I use WordPerfect (I have my old copy that still does everything I want it to), PhotoShop (ditto: my old copy), Excel, Microsoft Word (because too many other people use it, so I have to use it sometimes, even though I prefer WordPerfect), PowerPoint, Chrome (for web browsing), Adobe Acrobat, PDFsam Basic, and Calibre, Kompozer, and Sigil (for ebook creation).

I do book layout and cover design on the computer, so this 17″ monitor is pretty much a minimum. On the other hand, I also have to use the computer on the road, so anything much bigger/heavier might be a problem (big fingers, so typing on a tiny tablet keyboard would not be easy).

So (to anyone who’s had the patience to actually read all of that): any suggestions?

Busy day in publishing-land

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Untitled-150It’s been a busy — but productive — day here in publishing land.

I woke up early, hoping to get a lot done. But looking back on the not-yet-complete day, there’s been even more accomplishment than I expected.

One of those accomplishments which I can talk about include finalizing and revealing the cover of the forthcoming anthology Jewish Futures, edited by Michael A. Burstein, with cover art by Eli Portman.

And then, following up on emails from two friends, and a slew of people looking to download a non-existent ebook, I was able to finalize and make available the ebook versions of Barry N. Malzberg’s essay collection The Bend at the End of the Road.

Beyond those, there was a bunch of not-yet-talking-about-it-publicly work that got done, and I also managed a little time for my own writing. So yes, it’s being a pretty good day.

Mike Pence announces his campaign for high priest

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I just listened to Mike Pence announce his campaign for pope… er, priest… um, religious leader. I mean, wow! From his point of view, every right listed in the Constitution is a “god-given right.”

It started with his wife’s introduction of him, noting that he is here because of his humility before god. And then he took the stage to introduce himself, telling us he is a Christian first, a conservative second, and a Republican third. Well, that’s very nice, but we don’t (or shouldn’t) elect religious leaders in this country.

It’s almost like he’s forgotten the last phrase of the Constitution’s Article VI: “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” While he wasn’t saying his Christianity is required to be president, he certainly made me—as someone who is not a Christian—feel like I won’t be welcome in his United States.

Mind you, none of this is a surprise; it’s nothing new from him. It’s just that a Christian President Pence would not be hidden by the masking effect that Vice President Pence had in Grifter-in-Chief Trump’s shadow.

Longer AFK than anticipated

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If you’ve been waiting for an email response from me recently, I regret that I’m going to have to ask you to wait a little longer.

The last time I had my computer on was Thursday, doing a full back-up prior to leaving for Balticon. Then I was at the hotel all weekend. The convention ended Monday afternoon, and then I was in the wilds of western Virginia seeing friends and business associates. Got to civilization Tuesday night late, only to discover some computer difficulties. Those difficulties have finally been resolved, but it’s Thursday afternoon, I’ve been away from the keyboard for a week, and I’m leaving dark and early in the morning for ConCarolinas. I’ll be back from that convention late Sunday night, so I should finally be able to start working my way through the email backlog Monday.

Again, I’m sorry. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

And if you’re going to be at ConCarolinas, here’s the reminder that you’ll be able to find me at my dealer table in what they call Authors’ Alley (NOT the dealers’ room). Scheduled to be open 3–8pm Friday, 10am–7pm Saturday, and 10am–2pm Sunday.

The panels I’m scheduled to be on at ConCarolinas are:

Friday at 10 PM in Olmstead: “The Ethics of Using AI and Machine Learning in Content Creation” with Bishop O’Connell, William C. Tracy, and Brandon N. Whitworth.

Saturday at 12:30 PM in Olmstead: “How to Destroy the World” with Charlie Kaufman, Darin Kennedy, Cisca Small, and Mel Todd.

Sunday at 12:30 PM in Keynes: “Walking On Sunshine and Where’s the Beef” with Samantha Bryant, Nancy Northcott, and Amy Ravenel.

Sunday at 1:30 PM in Walden: “Mars Wants What?” with R.M. Hamrick, Michael Mammay, Edward McKeown, and Sumiko Saulson.

Back-to-back science fiction conventions

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I’m hitting the road on Friday for a couple of weeks. It started with two science fiction conventions on successive weekends, and I’ve decided to extend the in-between and after time, so I’ll be away for a while (with, probably, intermittent on-line access).

This weekend, I’ll be at Balticon in Baltimore, Maryland. As usual, I’ll be at the Fantastic Books table in the dealers’ room for a lot of the time. But programming put me on a slew of panels while the dealers’ room is open, so I hope to have friends staffing the table while I’m elsewhere panelizing. (That’s also a round-about way of saying I might have to miss one or two of the panels I expect to be on.)

If you’re looking for me on those panels, my schedule is:

Friday at 4:00 PM in Gibson: “So, you want to be a writer?” with Joshua Bilmes, Monica Louzon, and Michael A. Ventrella.

Saturday at 2:30 PM in Club Lounge: “Are classics still relevant? Is older SFF ‘unreadable’?” with AD Boorman, Max Baskin, Randee Dawn, and Mark Roth-Whitroth.

Saturday at 4:00 PM in James: “Making Old Hats New” with Eric Hardenbrook and Mark L. Van Name.

Sunday at 1:00 PM in Mount Washington: “Editors Can Be Your Friends” with Scott H. Andrews, Joshua Bilmes, Bjorn E. Hasseler, and Joy Ward.

Sunday at 2:30 PM in James: “Honing the Writer’s Craft Through Short Stories” with Scott H. Andrews, Elektra Hammond, and Alex Shvartsman.

Sunday at 4:00 PM in Club Lounge: “The New World of Publishing” with Joshua Bilmes, Shahid Mahmud, and Alex Shvartsman.

Sunday at 8:30 PM in Guilford: “Plot a story from audience input” with Randee Dawn, Michael M. Jones, Ken Schrader, and Mary G. Thompson.

The convention wraps up Monday, and then I expect to overnight somewhere in Virginia with friends, and then drive down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for a couple days.

The following weekend, June 2-4, I’ll be at ConCarolinas for the first time (in Charlotte, North Carolina). I don’t have a table in the dealers’ room, but I will have a table in what they call Authors’ Alley. I fear the table space may be limited, meaning I’ll only be able to show a smattering of the Fantastic Books books that are available. We’ll see. New convention: new experiences.

The panels I’m scheduled to be on at ConCarolinas are:

Friday at 10 PM in Olmstead: “The Ethics of Using AI and Machine Learning in Content Creation” with Bishop O’Connell, William C. Tracy, and Brandon N. Whitworth.

Saturday at 12:30 PM in Olmstead: “How to Destroy the World” with Charlie Kaufman, Darin Kennedy, Cisca Small, and Mel Todd.

Sunday at 12:30 PM in Keynes: “Walking On Sunshine and Where’s the Beef” with Samantha Bryant, Nancy Northcott, and Amy Ravenel.

Sunday at 1:30 PM in Walden: “Mars Wants What?” with R.M. Hamrick, Michael Mammay, Edward McKeown, and Sumiko Saulson.

After that convention, I’ll probably spend another week or so in the Carolinas, before heading back home to New York. Should be quite an adventure! Hope to see lots of you there (and there, and there…).

Relaxing Mensa Weekend

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I’m on the road again this weekend. This time, however, no panels, no dealer table, no business meeting…. I’ll be at Boston Mensa’s Cape Cod Mini RG: our annual trip to the Cape the weekend before it opens for the summer season. It started life as a mini RG because it was smaller, with no programming. Now, it’s nearly as large as some of the regular RGs I attend, but still no programming. Hoping for a good, relaxing time, a quite respite from lots of editing and ramping out to produce Jewish Futures and a few stolen minutes here and there from my own writing and… well, you get the idea.