The Onion A.V. Club interviews Randy Newman. I love Newman's stuff. The interview is nothing special, no big revelations. But now I have to find out more about this "The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1" that's coming out.

Here is an interesting article on Peter Straub from Publishers Weekly. The writer talks to Straub, his publisher and his editor about his position and how he is going to be marketed. Makes for interesting reading, not your usual profile.
Straub is one of those writers I always want to read more of, but rarely do. I have "Koko" sitting on my shelf, I should probably get to that. He had a terrific novella a few years ago, I think it was called "Mr. Chubb and Mr. Cuff." It made it into all the year's best horror anthologies. It was very good and very creepy.

Can't... stop ... blogging hand.
Wizard Entertainment has comic book babe archives, the latest in creepy geekiness. (But you know you love it.)

Bookslut has a new issue up. Check it out. It's one of the best book sites out there. It's also got a great blog.

This live journal post, nihilistic_kid: Letters To (And From) A Young Dipshit, is cynical and absolutely correct. The more of Nick Mamatas's stuff I read on the Web, the more I want to buy his books. About time I did, I guess.

"Everywhere in the lights from the Enterprise were hundreds of the aggressive, cannibalistic cephalopods that can grow to 6 feet in length and weigh up to 100 pounds. Surrounding the boat was a sea of writhing tentacles from opalescent squid aglow with chemical luminescence, a living light show."
It's not giant squid, but it's an exciting story. (And by the way, it's good to see Henry Miller is still writing.)

Look kids, it's Halle Berry as Catwoman! Why exactly does Hollywood keep pushing the superhero-sadomasochism connection? (As if that picture doesn't answer the question.)

According to the most famous Dr. Who, Eddie Izzard will playthe new Dr. Who. At first I was taken a back. But now I like the idea. Dr. Who was always funny and quirky. He was never a transvestite. But then, he's a Time Lord, what can't he do?

Well, Nanowrimo has started, so I should start writing a bit about it here. Last year, I wrote a 50,000 word horror novel (actually it was slightly over 50,000 words, but I can't remember by how much.) It was fun, difficult, agonizing and wonderful. After I was done, I had a very bad 50,000 word novel on my hands and a great feeling of accomplishment. I knew I could do it, I could write a whole plot, I could stick with something to the end, and there were even parts that weren't awful.
This year, I'm going to be more ambitious. I'm going to write a fantasy novel. I've loved fantasy since I was a kid reading "Wrinkle in Time," "Lord of the Rings" and all the Conan stories (plus movies like "Dark Crystal," "Krull" and "Conan.") As I've grown up, fantasy has remained a major force in my reading habits. My favorite current writers are all fantasy: Jeffrey Ford, Jeff Vandermeer, China Mieville. And even my favorite horror writers tend toward fantasy and the supernatural.
But I've never been able to really finish a fantasy story. I always stall. I love coming up with worlds and strange visions, but putting them to use has been tougher.
But that's what is great about National Novel Writing Month. You're free to experiment without feeling like something good or relevant has to come out of it. So this is the year I'll write a fantasy story. (Unless I change my mind by Nov. 1.)
My inspiration came from a dream I had a few days ago. It was about a guy (in the dream it was me, in the story it won't be) who lives on a secluded mountainous island. He has 20 wives, all of whom are trained assassins. In the dream, a giant monster attacked the island and the wives fought it back.
I don't think that exact scene will be in my story, but this character and his 20 assassin wives will be. I don't think they will be major characters, but they'll be important to the story.
So does that sound goofy enough? I'm hoping I can make it sound more serious in the narrative. The dream was a lot of fun though.

Holy crap! SBC is offering DSL for $26.95?!? I have to call my phone company and see if I can get in on this deal. I need DSL bad.

This British teenager took a really neat photo of a meteor burning out in the atmosphere. NASA was so impressed, they put it up on their Web site.

Gothic.Net is back online after nine months off. The site has had its problems, but it has always had good horror fiction (including work by Caitlin Kiernan, Tom Piccirilli and Ramsey Campbell among others) so check it out.

A book columnist has a crisis of faith. He stares at a 700+ page book and can't decide whether he will be able to read it. I always wondered if this kind of thing happened to reviewers (the good ones, who won't review if they haven't read the book). I would think it would take a lot of enjoyment out of reading. (Link via Bookslut.)

ScienceDaily: "'Scientists have wondered for a long time why madness and creativity seem linked,' says Carson. 'It appears likely that low levels of latent inhibition and exceptional flexibility in thought might predispose to mental illness under some conditions and to creative accomplishment under others.' "
Now I can understand why I would do something like Nanowrimo. I'm crazy.

The Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys are online! You can buy them, raise them etc. Almost everybody I know tried to raise Sea Monkeys at one point in their childhood. I know very few people who actually saw the little things grow to full size though. One kid I knew actually managed to do it. He showed me the creatures. God, they were awful, ugly little monsters. If most people knew this is what they looked like full grown, they'd never have bought them. The Sea Monkeys Web site actually includes a picture of the creatures grown, which I think is probably not a good idea. Stick with the cute pictures of underwater monkey creatures with a little crown. That's what sold everybody on it.

I won't pretend to really understand this article: Object big enough to see with microscope could be in two places at once. However, I find it fascinating. What if scientists were able to make humans do this? When you are in two places at once, is your consciousness duplicated? Or is one of you a mindless drone? It would be a way of showing whether the mind, the soul, whatever, was a physical part of our being or not (or exists at all). (Of course, even then it couldn't prove its existence or nonexistence.) I see a great science fiction story in these theories. Of course, Schrodinger's cat has been around for a long time and people have probably already explore this theme. But I can't remember a story about it.

Courtesy of The Fortean Times comes this article on the PANAWAVE. I tell you, Japan has the best cults. I mean, we Americans come up with some great, zany stuff, but the Japanese are just the masters. We can only hope to reach their level of weirdness.

There's an interesting profile of The Far Side's Gary Larson. He's basically made a lot of money and given up doing his cartoons. That seems to be the gist of it. Too bad. He was one of the funniest cartoonists out there. At least Berkley Breathed is coming back.

This is an exciting new blog (well what he's doing is new): American Hot Wax. Michael Daddino has decided to review every American #1 single since 1950. As he put it: "These are the kinds of challenges I like taking up: the stupid ones." It's just starting but he already has some interesting reviews of things like the "Theme from the Third Man" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." I'll have to keep a watch on this, it seems like fun.

Well, as of yet I've no good linkage for you today. Sorry. But lucky you, I've called in sick to work today. (Nothing serious, just a general feeling of total crappiness.) So I have the rest of the evening to dig up some interesting Web news.
I finished Robert Twigger's "The Extinction Club" and sort of agree with the review I linked to earlier. The book doesn't really go anywhere. Twigger rambles on about extinction, secondhand book shops in Egypt, swallows, the Boxer Rebellion and the deer the book is about. To his credit, it's all interesting. But it doesn't add up to much.
Now I'm not sure what to read next. I have so many short stories yet to read, and I've read a few of those already. But I'm not sure if I want to jump into another novel now. With Nanowrimo coming, I'm not sure I want to tie myself into one genre. We'll see how I feel.
Speaking of Nanowrimo, the signups for new members starts tomorrow. Actually, I'm hoping the forums open up tonight at midnight, which will give me something new to do. This year, Connecticut actually has a municipal liaison. That means we have somebody to organize parties and give out gifts and what not. I'm glad somebody took up that job.
Well, that's all of my ramblings for now. I'll link if I find anything of interest, as always.