anniepearson

Wendy of Wensend blog invited me to write a guest post, after she read and reviewed The Grrrl of Limberlost. My guest post explains how “Comedy of Manners” (the Rain City series tagline) applies for the characters in The Grrrl. You can read that post on Wendy’s blog.

The Grrrl of Limberlost is told from multiple viewpoints: A security programmer following a major malware problem, an injured PTSD guy protecting his family from vengeful gangsters, and a porn-farm IT admin with a whacked world view.

Let me further tweak your interest in The Grrrl of Limberlost. Although you can browse the first 10% on Amazon, here’s the first chapter, introducing Samsara Byron—the security programmer and riot-grrrl with personal and professional problems.

1. Sam Refactors Reality, sans Caffeine

Christmas eve morn, as I traversed the ice sheet cascading down Madrona Drive, a dark-eyed junco flittered up from my blind spot and bashed itself against my car window.

I accelerated, unable to help the poor creature as its heart pounded four hundred panicked beats in the minute it would take to die. Yet I could have prevented a pointless death, if only I’d seen what was coming. Continue reading →

As managing editor at Jugum Press, I’m working to publish translations by Enrique Prado of major opera librettos in Spanish.

My editorial and production tasks closely resemble my twenty years’ work on technical tomes for Windows driver developers. This content, however, is farm more emotionally charged. And proofreading Windows pseudo code never prompted as many laughs as proofreading Don Pasquale.

However, it may be that some of those old Windows programmer publication projects prompted as many tears as Tosca, though less blood on the floor.

Project background: Continue reading →

Jugum Press is proud to present A Boy from Wannaska and A Girl from Sellwood as part of the “Voices of History” series, for which Lisa Tilton produced yet another great series of covers. … because Marjorie Wright Mortensen gave up on me and decided to write these stories herself. Continue reading →

As the owner, managing editor, art director, and acquisition editor of Jugum Press: I’m a grown woman and I can do what I want.

And thanks to POD technology, I can finally answer to the siren call of freedom I first heard from the bearded, bushy-browed former CPUSA activist in the Southern Oregon College copy shop:

“Freedom of the press belongs to those who own the press.”*

Continue reading →

My new post on Steyer.net looks at coping with being the oldest member on your tech writing team. Here: saving you the effort of searching for the whole Lewis Carroll poem:

“You are old, Father William,” the young man said,
“And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head—
Do you think, at your age, it is right?”

“In my youth,” Father William replied to his son,
“I feared it might injure the brain;
But now that I’m perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again.”

Continue reading →

That’s Italian for ‘so easy, even I can make it’—as my kids will tell you, I daydream too much in the kitchen. However, it’s December, so I’m required to produce this favorite, using a recipe from a former manager, who learned it at a famous Italian cooking school.
You can do it!

4 ½ C flour – reserve ¼ C
2 ¼ C sugar
4 large eggs
1t vanilla
Salt

grated lemon peel — the one time a year I use this
Continue reading →

I don’t know what “best” means, so I can’t compose such lists. I typically obsess about books and movies that are critical failures or, gasp, in bad taste.

My list contains the authors and series that I read in an obsessive manner: retreat to bed or sofa, and read until I reach the last page—and then start over or download the next one by that author.

Jo Nesbo: Police and The Bat
Only last year my friend Chip turned me on to Jo Nesbo. So this year I had only the new release (Police) and, at last, the translation of his first novel, The Bat. As a writer, I’d love to achieve everything that Nesbo does. Police, however, didn’t have everything that I wanted from this series, mostly because I didn’t like the sociological choice of bad guys. I don’t want to apply my PC choices to my favorite authors. This is a great series, the most recent of which I read obsessively but without total satisfaction.

Police: A Harry Hole Novel

Andrea Camilleri: Inspector Montalbano Mysteries (Stephen Sartarelli, trans.)
This is my favorite all-time detective series and one of my top “comfort reads.”
When genetic modification becomes possible under my health care plan, I want Andrea Camilleri author genes grafted into my DNA. This is the only mystery writer (that I read) who uses the same damn formula every time and yet amazes and astonishes me anew in each story. The great advance this year for me was to have “Montalbano’s First Case” in hand—to see how Inspector Montalbano begins as a character.
Treasure Hunt Montalbano’s First Case

Ginn Hale – The Rifter Series
This is the most satisfying series I found this year—and the first one that I found via another writer’s Twitter feed (hi Leta Blake! Congrats on your new top-seller!)
The Rifter series has everything I want out of fantasy-adventure: sterling character-driven excitement, pacing, inventive alternate universe, love drives and conquers all. The only thing I wish Ginn Hale would do is revise the covers or title tags, so it’s easy for a compulsive reader to identify which one to download next in the middle of the night.

The Shattered Gates (The Rifter)

Attica Locke: Black Water Rising
I found Attica Locke because a friend made me listen to her Chautauqua.
Great character-driven mystery, although for the mystery genre, the lead character spends too much time studying his own misery.

Black Water Rising

G. Willow Wilson: Alif the Unseen.
Had to call in sick the day I started this book, because once I started, I couldn’t stop. And I’m self-employed. The alternative universe, the characters, the inventive conflict, the tension in the pacing: this is what I want from fantasy-adventure!

Alif the Unseen

Denise Mina: Gods and Beasts
Whenever there’s a new Denise Mina novel available, I download immediately. Then I have to wait days, weeks, months until I feel brave enough to enter her dark, Glaswegian universe. Mina creates complex, intriguing characters and then forces them to deal with shit deeper than anything you’d ever want in your own life. Once again, in Mina’s Gods and Beasts, she leads you into a significant understanding of how people think and function—then hits you upside the head with surprising plotting.
If you are asthmatic, keep your rescue inhaler nearby.

Gods and Beasts

Kate Atkinson: Life After Life
I was a Kate Atkinson fan before her Jackson Brodie series, so I’m familiar with her themes that have cross-generational stories braiding over time. So Life After Life wasn’t a surprise—except that her writing (always exquisite) jumped up a coupe of levels beyond what she’d done earlier. Human Croquet was the other title I read this year (having obsessed over all the others). If your 15% preview of Life After Life feels too literary for you, then try the Jackson Brodie series, which starts with Case Histories.

Life After Life

Don McQuinn: The Moondark Saga
Don’s a pal of mine, and I read this series when it first came out in paper. It’s a delight to find this again, since my first read was long enough ago that re-reading allowed me to discover elements I’d forgotten. This is an obsessive read—and the second time through, it’s easier to slow down and focus on the magnificent character development and the intricacies of the alternate dystopian universe.

The Moondark Saga

Kristine Kathryn Rusch: Retrieval Artist series
I spent the year studying the indie publishing world, and anyone involved in that will quickly find Kris Rusch on www.kriswrites.com. After reading the first great business title from Kris, I started in on her Retrieval Artist series, saying aloud to myself (I swear it!), “Science fiction left me behind long ago.”
Then, I got wrapped into the series and found everything again that science-fiction did for me in junior high and high school. Super-inventive universe, intriguing characters, each story with a satisfactory conclusion, and yet begging you to download and read the next as soon as possible. Kris says she’s got a set of titles she’s working on in this series, so there’s no immediate gratification in 2014 for Retrieval Artist fans. However, if you haven’t read her yet—you have the exciting opportunity to start at the beginning and immerse yourself in all of them.

The Disappeared Blowback

Jason Vail: Stephen Attebrook mysteries
In February I published Bone-mend and Salt, Book 1 in the Accidental Heretics series. Immediately, the Amazon alsobot recommended Jason Vail’s medieval mystery series. I read all three books, and read compulsively. Vail’s series ranks as the best of medieval fiction I found this year: great detective character, faithful historic details, compelling conflict and resolution in each story. And I just found #4: The Girl in the Ice – in time for staying up all night to read it.
I shall start 2014 by reading his Lone Star Rising alternative history series.

The Wayward Apprentice A Dreadful Penance

Charlie Newton: dark mystery
I found Charlie through Don McQuinn’s recommendations. He’s doing exciting, gritty work—perhaps too gritty for people who settle on mysteries from big-name writers. These are extraordinarily well-paced, character-driven thrillers…but I’m warning you, the point-of-view characters are not warm and cuddly.

Start Shooting Calumet City: A Novel

Ian Rankin: Detective Inspector Rebus
My Ian Rankin obsession date sway back. So of course I pre-order, and wait for it to magically appear on my reader months later. Therefore, I’m going to use this opportunity to rant about NOT being able to order UK editions as soon as they are available, and having to wait some absurd amount of time to read a new UK / European title in the U.S. Especially since I’m no longer in the UK or EU on a regular basis, I’m personally annoyed. This applied for the release of Police. Then I have to listen to people rave on Twitter and Facebook about a book that I can’t easily obtain.
The foundation question: When will the publishing industry enter the 21st century?

Standing in Another Man’s Grave (Detective Inspector Rebus)

Kage Baker: the Company Series.
It’s so sad that we don’t have Kage Baker with us any longer.
Clearly, this was an impulse buy on my part—a futile attempt to bring her back. Of you haven’t obsessed about Kage Baker’s Company series, start with In the Garden of Iden. I hope I get amnesia so I can read this series again for the first time, with the same wonder.

In the Company of Thieves

Donna Tartt: The Goldfinch
Finishing off in December with this book that’s on the front table of most bookstores right now—which doesn’t usually cause me to pick up a book and read it. I read an inspiring review, however, and liked the preview. I’m only 10% in—so far, this book is allowing me to identify what a lazy slut I am as a writer.

The Goldfinch

My new blog post at Steyer.net explores Manager motivations around setting boundaries, focusing on issues for contract workers in technical communications.

I believe the issues in this post make sense for other kinds of Manager/Team Member relationships. However, the Steyer.net post offers guidelines for workers. Here are some watch-the-line recommendations for managers:

Be aware of cliques in your team.
Avoid joining or encouraging them.
Be 100% inclusive in all social invitations, whether for morale-building exercises or holiday parties.
Recognize “over sharing” situations.
If you’re uncomfortable with what you’re hearing about your team member’s personal crisis, it’s time to draw the line.
Know how to handle “over sharing”:
“I’m sympathetic. But I’m not comfortable knowing more than I should as your manager.”
Don’t play psychologist or doctor.
Know how to refer outward to HR or Benefits resources.
If you have doubts about anything, discuss it with your HR partner:
— Accommodations that are appropriate to offer.
— How to change repeated conversation from sympathetic listening to active direction.

Me? I’m retired from management and now only provide direct services or consultation. I’m grateful that I no longer have to shoulder the manager’s burden of both caring for and setting boundaries for people that I manage.

Don McQuinn says that he’s finding new music by typing chapter titles from Nine Volt Heart into Pandora.

Me? I listen to KEXP because I’m hungry to hear what new songwriters are doing. I first heard many of the songwriters mentioned in Nine Volt Heart on KEXP, or back when it was KCMU, or KBCS.

It’s important to support musicians, who inspire and add value to everyday life, by paying for their music. The list of song titles from Nine Volt Heart is here, to help you find songwriters who have influenced contemporary music.

“A Fool Such As I,” lyrics by William Trader

“A World Out of Time,” lyrics by Henry Kaiser and David Lindley Continue reading →

My “Managing Up” post on Steyer.net is up today.
The focus is on tips for contract technical communications professionals … though I think it applies for any team where you might find yourself working in strange circumstances.

I’m grateful for early review comments from past team members, who reminded me of some of our more unusual experiences, plus great ideas for how to keep your head down and survive.

I think I’ll tag this as “technology strategy” — after all, isn’t coping with organizational insanity part of any thoughtful tech-strategy plan?