The cuckoo is known as a brood parasite. They lay their eggs in other birds' nests and leave the foster birds to all of the hassle of foraging and trying to feed the cuckoo's babies.
Even worse, the cuckoo grows more rapidly than other birds and the baby cuckoo pushes all of the parent bird's real fledglings out of the nest so they get all of the food and attention.
Mebbe cuckoos aren't all that cuckoo.
The funny thing is the baby cuckoo is often larger than the parent birds, who must be thinking they're raising baby Shaq's or something.
Imagine them trying to push the cuckoo out of the nest for that first flight.
Anyway, I don't need to be pushed.
We all have demands on our time, and to better optimize mine, I've decided as a YA author I need to go out and work on a blog more directly aimed at my target audience.
So I've started my own blog, http://www.fangplace.blogspot.com.
I appreciate the Acme Authors letting me be their Monday blogger for so long - we supported each others stuff and enjoyed the varying styles and POVs. Thanks to everyone who occasionally commented on my weirdness and stuff.
I'll blog one more time next week, so it's just farewell for now.
Meanwhile, get yourselves over to FangPlace and subscribe!
Norm
http://www.normcowie.com
The Adventures of Guy series
Fang Face (coming in Aug)
Showing posts with label fang face. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fang face. Show all posts
Monday, February 2, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Introducing ... FangPlace! Woo! Yay!
First, an announcement ... if you like to read more of my craziness, check out my new blogspot, http://fangplace.blogspot.com .
More weird stuff, with an emphasis on the Undead ... er, teens.
Anyway, someone I know and very much respect (really, really respect) touched on something that reminded me of a post I'd done once before. I want to repeat it because, well, I'm getting old and you repeat things when you get old.
Here goes:
Guess what time it is? Time to vent again! Yaaaayyy!!!!! Wheeeee!!!!
And can you guess what it’s going to be about this time?
I thought not.
Even I, myself, am not too sure.
Ha! I lied. But the sentence above should have given you a hint. And I’m sure those of you with bumpy brains not only figured what it meant, but also figured out what I was going to say. Which is pretty darned good, considering I don’t know, myself.
Look! There was another hint! Did you get it this time?
Okay, okay, I’ll get to the point.
Michael Jordan, you know him? Bald guy? Bad knees?
Anyway, Michael Jordan was interviewed once, and he said something along the lines of, “The other guys and myself really beat the pants off of Detroit.”
Now do you get it?
That’s right, the word ‘myself.’ The most abused word in the English language besides ‘excuse me.’
Yeah, I know, ‘excuse me’ are two words. And they’re abused for opposite reasons. “Excuse me” should be said more often, and ‘myself’ should be used less often.
Back to Jordan. And we don’t mean that place out by Syria. What His Airness should have said is, “The other guys and I really beat the pants off of Detroit.” Not myself.
Way too many people are using the word ‘myself’ instead of ‘I.’ And worse, it’s people who should know better. Radio personalities, government officials, even teachers! These people should know better!
Not only that, but because they are getting radio and television time, their mistakes are being broadcast to a large audience, who all think to themselves, “Hmmm, Michael said, ‘the other guys and myself.’ He’s a Floydillionaire (a really big number), and a graduate of the University of North Carolina. He must be using the word correctly.”
Then, at work, they all say, “The rest of the staff and myself are going out for lunch.” And head off to go buy Mc-Whoppers.
I realize that this is way better than saying, “Me and the rest of the staff are going out for lunch.” Of course, these are both wrong, even if you switch the ‘me’ or the ‘myself’ with ‘the rest of the staff.’ Either way you put it, it has to be ‘eye.’ Er, ‘I.’
Aaaarggghhhh. It drives myself crazy!
Norm
check out my books!! no, don't check them out ... buy them! read excerpts on my website
http://normcowie.com
http://fangface.homestead.com
More weird stuff, with an emphasis on the Undead ... er, teens.
Anyway, someone I know and very much respect (really, really respect) touched on something that reminded me of a post I'd done once before. I want to repeat it because, well, I'm getting old and you repeat things when you get old.
Here goes:
Guess what time it is? Time to vent again! Yaaaayyy!!!!! Wheeeee!!!!
And can you guess what it’s going to be about this time?
I thought not.
Even I, myself, am not too sure.
Ha! I lied. But the sentence above should have given you a hint. And I’m sure those of you with bumpy brains not only figured what it meant, but also figured out what I was going to say. Which is pretty darned good, considering I don’t know, myself.
Look! There was another hint! Did you get it this time?
Okay, okay, I’ll get to the point.
Michael Jordan, you know him? Bald guy? Bad knees?
Anyway, Michael Jordan was interviewed once, and he said something along the lines of, “The other guys and myself really beat the pants off of Detroit.”
Now do you get it?
That’s right, the word ‘myself.’ The most abused word in the English language besides ‘excuse me.’
Yeah, I know, ‘excuse me’ are two words. And they’re abused for opposite reasons. “Excuse me” should be said more often, and ‘myself’ should be used less often.
Back to Jordan. And we don’t mean that place out by Syria. What His Airness should have said is, “The other guys and I really beat the pants off of Detroit.” Not myself.
Way too many people are using the word ‘myself’ instead of ‘I.’ And worse, it’s people who should know better. Radio personalities, government officials, even teachers! These people should know better!
Not only that, but because they are getting radio and television time, their mistakes are being broadcast to a large audience, who all think to themselves, “Hmmm, Michael said, ‘the other guys and myself.’ He’s a Floydillionaire (a really big number), and a graduate of the University of North Carolina. He must be using the word correctly.”
Then, at work, they all say, “The rest of the staff and myself are going out for lunch.” And head off to go buy Mc-Whoppers.
I realize that this is way better than saying, “Me and the rest of the staff are going out for lunch.” Of course, these are both wrong, even if you switch the ‘me’ or the ‘myself’ with ‘the rest of the staff.’ Either way you put it, it has to be ‘eye.’ Er, ‘I.’
Aaaarggghhhh. It drives myself crazy!
Norm
check out my books!! no, don't check them out ... buy them! read excerpts on my website
http://normcowie.com
http://fangface.homestead.com
Monday, January 19, 2009
Dubya
Well, as my "Official George W. Bush 'Days Left in Office' Countdown Clock counts down the last few hours of the most current administration, I thought I'd take a few minutes to reflect on the wondrous accomplishments of the Bush administration over the last eight years.
(here's where our moderator inserts a disclaimer saying that my views are not necessarily shared by the other wonderful Acme author bloggers. See below for some discussion on this.)
Anyway, as the pendulum swings from conservative to something not so conservative, I thought it would be fair if I thought long and hard and in fairness, did my best to catalog some of the changes for the better that came after Y2K.
If you'll recall, when Y2K loomed upon us, we all waited for the turn of the century with bated breath, fearful that the change from one century to another would bring about cataclysmic results as everything crashed to a halt. Little did we realize that the catastrophe wouldn't begin until November.
But enough about that. Now it is time to celebrate those things that have changed for the better since Dubya. We will search through the economy, environment, education, foreign relations, health care, the poor, and find that nugget of gleaming redemption for our outgoing President.
Okay, here goes ...
(I'm so excited.)
Hee, hee.
[crickets]
Already then, see you next week!
Norm
(by the way, if you have some question about how a seemingly political-like post fits into this author blog, read my Adventures of Guy books. You'll see that politics, attorneys, greed, poverty and other social statements are interwoven all through my books. George W. Bush is a major character in my WIP third book in the series)
www. normcowie.com
www.fangface.homestead.com
The Adventures of Guy
The Next Adventures of Guy
Fang Face (YA vampire fun, coming Aug 09)
Missing (coming Feb 09)
The Heat of the Moment
(here's where our moderator inserts a disclaimer saying that my views are not necessarily shared by the other wonderful Acme author bloggers. See below for some discussion on this.)
Anyway, as the pendulum swings from conservative to something not so conservative, I thought it would be fair if I thought long and hard and in fairness, did my best to catalog some of the changes for the better that came after Y2K.
If you'll recall, when Y2K loomed upon us, we all waited for the turn of the century with bated breath, fearful that the change from one century to another would bring about cataclysmic results as everything crashed to a halt. Little did we realize that the catastrophe wouldn't begin until November.
But enough about that. Now it is time to celebrate those things that have changed for the better since Dubya. We will search through the economy, environment, education, foreign relations, health care, the poor, and find that nugget of gleaming redemption for our outgoing President.
Okay, here goes ...
(I'm so excited.)
Hee, hee.
[crickets]
Already then, see you next week!
Norm
(by the way, if you have some question about how a seemingly political-like post fits into this author blog, read my Adventures of Guy books. You'll see that politics, attorneys, greed, poverty and other social statements are interwoven all through my books. George W. Bush is a major character in my WIP third book in the series)
www. normcowie.com
www.fangface.homestead.com
The Adventures of Guy
The Next Adventures of Guy
Fang Face (YA vampire fun, coming Aug 09)
Missing (coming Feb 09)
The Heat of the Moment
Monday, December 22, 2008
Frozen Normsicle
I like doing book signings. I don't know why ... probably cuz I like messing with people, having fun and talking about my books and stuff.
It took this kind of love to go to Borders in Alaska, er, Orland yesterday ... I mean, get this ... negative three degrees plus thirty mile per hour gusts equaled one frozen dude. My beard went cryogenic in the fifty yards between my car and the front door.
This was my first signing at this Borders, this after having to reschedule once since they had a bit of trouble getting the books in.
But now they had them, so I went in search of readers who aren't afraid to use their funny bones.
My table was set up within view of the front doors, next to, get this, a display for the AARP. How DID they know that I just received my AARP card a week ago? What? I get discounts now. I'm stoked.
Anyway, they had fifty books all ready for me, twenty five of each of my first two books. Time to sell 'em.
There were two factors to consider, the cold outside and the cold economic environment. Americans are being more cautious with their money now, and you can see them think hard before parting with any of their hard earned bucks.
But at the end of five hours, I had just seven left. I sold out "The Adventures of Guy" and eighteen of its sequel, "The Next Adventures of Guy."
Do the math. This comes out to about one book sold every seven minutes. Factor in three people who thrilled me with LONG stories about how they were going to write a book someday, or had written three chapters of the next bestseller ... and I'm, like a polite smile pasted on my face - watching people who might actually buy my books walk past us... and, of course, none of the wannabe authors bought a book.
Grrr..
I'm not Grisham or Stephenie Meyer or any of those other best selling authors. I can't just sit at my desk and just happily sign as people line up to buy my books. I have to go up, song-and-dance my books, and get them to read a bit of the story. I have to razzle-dazzle, get them interested, and then close the sale.
So a book every seven minutes is pretty darn good.
Speaking of Stephenie Meyer, something happened during the signing that gives me reason to hope that I will someday improve on the seven minutes. I had a copy of the cover for my upcoming YA vampire/humor book "Fang Face" on the table. When people heard the magic word, 'vampire', their eyes lit up, and they'd invariable say, "let me know when that book is out!"
I'd hand them a business card with Fang Face's website (www.fangface.homestead.com), and ask them to check it out and read the excerpt. Hopefully, they'll remember me in August.
Well, I had a great time, and I think Borders will have me back soon.
Hopefully, my beard will be thawed out by then.
Norm
www.normcowie.com - autographed books available on my site (eye wiggle)
The Adventures of Guy
The Next Adventures of Guy
The Heat of the Moment
Fang Face (coming Aug. 2009)
It took this kind of love to go to Borders in Alaska, er, Orland yesterday ... I mean, get this ... negative three degrees plus thirty mile per hour gusts equaled one frozen dude. My beard went cryogenic in the fifty yards between my car and the front door.
This was my first signing at this Borders, this after having to reschedule once since they had a bit of trouble getting the books in.
But now they had them, so I went in search of readers who aren't afraid to use their funny bones.
My table was set up within view of the front doors, next to, get this, a display for the AARP. How DID they know that I just received my AARP card a week ago? What? I get discounts now. I'm stoked.
Anyway, they had fifty books all ready for me, twenty five of each of my first two books. Time to sell 'em.
There were two factors to consider, the cold outside and the cold economic environment. Americans are being more cautious with their money now, and you can see them think hard before parting with any of their hard earned bucks.
But at the end of five hours, I had just seven left. I sold out "The Adventures of Guy" and eighteen of its sequel, "The Next Adventures of Guy."
Do the math. This comes out to about one book sold every seven minutes. Factor in three people who thrilled me with LONG stories about how they were going to write a book someday, or had written three chapters of the next bestseller ... and I'm, like a polite smile pasted on my face - watching people who might actually buy my books walk past us... and, of course, none of the wannabe authors bought a book.
Grrr..
I'm not Grisham or Stephenie Meyer or any of those other best selling authors. I can't just sit at my desk and just happily sign as people line up to buy my books. I have to go up, song-and-dance my books, and get them to read a bit of the story. I have to razzle-dazzle, get them interested, and then close the sale.
So a book every seven minutes is pretty darn good.
Speaking of Stephenie Meyer, something happened during the signing that gives me reason to hope that I will someday improve on the seven minutes. I had a copy of the cover for my upcoming YA vampire/humor book "Fang Face" on the table. When people heard the magic word, 'vampire', their eyes lit up, and they'd invariable say, "let me know when that book is out!"
I'd hand them a business card with Fang Face's website (www.fangface.homestead.com), and ask them to check it out and read the excerpt. Hopefully, they'll remember me in August.
Well, I had a great time, and I think Borders will have me back soon.
Hopefully, my beard will be thawed out by then.
Norm
www.normcowie.com - autographed books available on my site (eye wiggle)
The Adventures of Guy
The Next Adventures of Guy
The Heat of the Moment
Fang Face (coming Aug. 2009)
Monday, November 3, 2008
Blatant Self-Promotion ... yep, all about ME!!
I had last Monday off so that you guys could all read cool stuff by Austin Camacho. I'm sure you all enjoyed it as much as I.
Speaking of me and myself ... I, of course, spent the time productively and diligently working on my next book.
Hah, I'm lying, of course. I watched Monday Night Football.
Anyway, I didn't have anything to write tonight ... heh, lying again.
No, actually, I'm not lying, I'm not going to write today. I'm going to point y'all at a really cool interview that Billie Williams of Manic Readers inflicted on me, ... er, ... gave to me, ... er, ...um ... interviewed ... uh...
Here's a slice:
(okay, I'm not very tech savvy, so do one of the three):
1) If the link is live, click this ... http://www.manicreaders.com/index.cfm?disp=authorInterviews&iid=67
2) If the link doesn't work, cut and past the link onto your browser.
3) If 1 and 2 don't work, go to www.manicreaders.com - go to the 'authors' drop down menu - choose 'interviews' - then pick "Norm Cowie October 27, 2008" (easier than it sounds)
4) Try 1,2 and 3.. .and if they don't work, well, turn on Monday Night Football
A fun interview ... so I hope you check it out.
Norm
www.normcowie.com
Fang Face (young adult - coming 2009)
The Adventures of Guy ... written by a guy (probably)
The Next Adventures of Guy ... more wackiness
The Heat of the Moment
Missing (coming 2009)
Speaking of me and myself ... I, of course, spent the time productively and diligently working on my next book.
Hah, I'm lying, of course. I watched Monday Night Football.
Anyway, I didn't have anything to write tonight ... heh, lying again.
No, actually, I'm not lying, I'm not going to write today. I'm going to point y'all at a really cool interview that Billie Williams of Manic Readers inflicted on me, ... er, ... gave to me, ... er, ...um ... interviewed ... uh...
Here's a slice:
The reason you find the humor in everyday life is because you examine it. Did you always write humor? If not, what did you write before humor? What genre haven't you tried that you would like to write? (Though I can't imagine that, I'm sure if you wanted to try something that you wouldn't have already done it.)
Yeah, humor's my thing. Let's see. I wrote a horror book ... didn't sell. Then I wrote a kidnapping thriller ... didn't sell. But don't tell anyone. (Wait... I just did). I didn't mention above ... mostly because I knew I'd mention here below ... that I write an award-winning humor/business column for a credit magazine. The subject of construction law is so dry that the Sahara would weep, so I spice up the articles by making them fun and breezy; and I pick on attorneys for their bad spelling and for being poo-poo heads. Well, a few people noticed and they sent me emails and money ...no, not money ... anyway, they asked me to keep doing it. So I wrote a funny book where attorneys, telemarketers and Grand Prix drivers are the bad guys.
Fang Face is due out in 2009 - do you dare give us a sneak peek? I'm intrigued by the idea of "a funny vampire book" to use your own words.
I’m all a-trembly with excitement about it! Most writers just gloss over all of the funny things that can happen with vampires. Not me. The premise is that a teenaged girl … Erin, gets bitten by a vampire … twice. It takes three bites to turn her all the way. So her parents and sister go, “Nuh-uh, we’re not going to let her to over to the Dark Side.” So they start wearing garlic necklaces and making blood smoothies and stuff. Meanwhile, as she becomes more vamp, her fangs grow in (messing up her braces), she gets more Goth-like, darker, prettier. The guys at school, of course, start noticing … so do the girls. But here’s the kicker. Erin’s becoming so pretty, more than pretty …but she can’t see her reflection. Bummer. The book offers sympathy to vampires that you might not see in another book, like how important a clean neck is to good vampire hygiene. There’s a lot of other stuff, but I don’t want to ruin the surprise.
There's a lot more, too much for here, so go check out the entire interview:(okay, I'm not very tech savvy, so do one of the three):
1) If the link is live, click this ... http://www.manicreaders.com/index.cfm?disp=authorInterviews&iid=67
2) If the link doesn't work, cut and past the link onto your browser.
3) If 1 and 2 don't work, go to www.manicreaders.com - go to the 'authors' drop down menu - choose 'interviews' - then pick "Norm Cowie October 27, 2008" (easier than it sounds)
4) Try 1,2 and 3.. .and if they don't work, well, turn on Monday Night Football
A fun interview ... so I hope you check it out.
Norm
www.normcowie.com
Fang Face (young adult - coming 2009)
The Adventures of Guy ... written by a guy (probably)
The Next Adventures of Guy ... more wackiness
The Heat of the Moment
Missing (coming 2009)
Monday, October 6, 2008
I know a guy when I see one
(my apologies if you find this too political .. I posted this on Myspace and received favorable reaction from both Republicans and Democrats. We're just having fun, y' know. Anyway, it'll get pulled if it's too much)
My wife and I were watching the Vice Presidential Reality Show the other night, and then my wife grinned and said, "She reminds me of you."
"How's that?"
"She doesn't have any clue what she's talking about."
"Huh? Oh... wait ...yeah, I think I know what you're saying."
And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Sarah Palin is just like me.
She has a pretty good sense of humor, she's not an idiot, she knows that 'icing' is a hockey term, not just something for a cupcake. Not only that, but she's an engaging speaker and she has nice legs. Um...well, okay ... that's her virtue, not mine.
Anyway, besides the stuff above, the other thing we have in common is she's a guy.
Yep, a guy.
Think about it.
I mean, sure, she doesn't look like a guy. In fact, she's quite pleasant to look at, and I, like most guys, wouldn't mind seeing her naked.
But she is a guy ... and I can prove it.
Here she is, vying to become second banana to the most important person in the world, interviewing with national political consultants who make politics their life, then debating ... well, in word only ... that was no debate ... anyway, she's getting ready for the biggest event in her life ... and ...
... she 'winged' it.
She didn't know a thing. Her vague generalities, refusal to answer questions that she couldn't answer anyway, emphasis on misleading points, ... well, that's 'winging' it.
Ask any guy who comes home from having sneaked out to play golf, and forgets to think up an excuse beforehand. Or the guy who has an important meeting on Tuesday morning, but stayed up too late watching MNF. We know 'winging' it when we see it.
A woman never 'wings' it. They treat life and important events like Thanksgiving meals. They prepare, get ready, obsess, think, exchange ideas ... and nothing goes in the oven until it's ready.
But not Sarah Palin.
She 'winged' it.
Does this bother me? Not as much as you might think. I mean, the political pundits and Republicans were raving about what a success she was because she didn't perform to their lowest fears. And, as history has shown us, a low bar doesn't seem to be an obstacle to being a Vice President. I mean, ... can you say, Spiro Agnew, Dan Quayle, Richard Cheney?
You can't get worse than these three stooges.
Oh, and were they all Republicans? My bad.
And she ignores facts. How 'guy-like' is that? I almost thought I was watching myself on television. Remember when Palin chided Biden for comparing McCain to Bush. She said something like this, "There ya' go again, Joe, looking to the past..."
The past? George Bush is the standing President.
Then she goes off to extoll the virtues of Ronald Reagan.
Ronald Reagan?! That was almost twenty years ago.
I nearly swooned in admiration of the deft way she pulled this off.
But then another thought occurred to me during this whole debacle. As you know, Republicans have been rallying around her, calling her a fresh outside voice, a breath of fresh air ...
What kind of attacks do you think we would have seen if someone exactly like Sarah Palin ... had been the DEMOCRATIC candidate?
Yep, it would have been ugly.
But I'm not calling anyone a hypocrite ... nope, not me. I'm just saying that she's a guy.
But I'd still like to see her naked.
(don't tell my wife)
Norm
www.normcowie.com
The Adventures of Guy
Fang Face - coming Aug 2009
(check out my new website: www.fangface.homestead.com)
My wife and I were watching the Vice Presidential Reality Show the other night, and then my wife grinned and said, "She reminds me of you."
"How's that?"
"She doesn't have any clue what she's talking about."
"Huh? Oh... wait ...yeah, I think I know what you're saying."
And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Sarah Palin is just like me.
She has a pretty good sense of humor, she's not an idiot, she knows that 'icing' is a hockey term, not just something for a cupcake. Not only that, but she's an engaging speaker and she has nice legs. Um...well, okay ... that's her virtue, not mine.
Anyway, besides the stuff above, the other thing we have in common is she's a guy.
Yep, a guy.
Think about it.
I mean, sure, she doesn't look like a guy. In fact, she's quite pleasant to look at, and I, like most guys, wouldn't mind seeing her naked.
But she is a guy ... and I can prove it.
Here she is, vying to become second banana to the most important person in the world, interviewing with national political consultants who make politics their life, then debating ... well, in word only ... that was no debate ... anyway, she's getting ready for the biggest event in her life ... and ...
... she 'winged' it.
She didn't know a thing. Her vague generalities, refusal to answer questions that she couldn't answer anyway, emphasis on misleading points, ... well, that's 'winging' it.
Ask any guy who comes home from having sneaked out to play golf, and forgets to think up an excuse beforehand. Or the guy who has an important meeting on Tuesday morning, but stayed up too late watching MNF. We know 'winging' it when we see it.
A woman never 'wings' it. They treat life and important events like Thanksgiving meals. They prepare, get ready, obsess, think, exchange ideas ... and nothing goes in the oven until it's ready.
But not Sarah Palin.
She 'winged' it.
Does this bother me? Not as much as you might think. I mean, the political pundits and Republicans were raving about what a success she was because she didn't perform to their lowest fears. And, as history has shown us, a low bar doesn't seem to be an obstacle to being a Vice President. I mean, ... can you say, Spiro Agnew, Dan Quayle, Richard Cheney?
You can't get worse than these three stooges.
Oh, and were they all Republicans? My bad.
And she ignores facts. How 'guy-like' is that? I almost thought I was watching myself on television. Remember when Palin chided Biden for comparing McCain to Bush. She said something like this, "There ya' go again, Joe, looking to the past..."
The past? George Bush is the standing President.
Then she goes off to extoll the virtues of Ronald Reagan.
Ronald Reagan?! That was almost twenty years ago.
I nearly swooned in admiration of the deft way she pulled this off.
But then another thought occurred to me during this whole debacle. As you know, Republicans have been rallying around her, calling her a fresh outside voice, a breath of fresh air ...
What kind of attacks do you think we would have seen if someone exactly like Sarah Palin ... had been the DEMOCRATIC candidate?
Yep, it would have been ugly.
But I'm not calling anyone a hypocrite ... nope, not me. I'm just saying that she's a guy.
But I'd still like to see her naked.
(don't tell my wife)
Norm
www.normcowie.com
The Adventures of Guy
Fang Face - coming Aug 2009
(check out my new website: www.fangface.homestead.com)
Monday, September 29, 2008
Cyberbooks
There are two things I wanna ramble about today, the first is a book published in 1989 by Ben Bova called CyberBooks.
I was just walking through the aisles of the library and the book fell off the shelves, bounced off my bald spot and shaved off a bunch of chest hairs as it slid down to thump onto my arthritic toe.
Just kidding, I picked it up because the chick on the cover looked EXACTLY LIKE MY WIFE WHEN SHE WAS TWENTY THREE ! (the pretty one, not the one with a couple thingeys popping out of her dress)
Not a little bit like her... but a dead ringer.
It was spooky, man.
In fact, a couple days later it was sitting on the counter and my daughter strolls by, skids to a stop and goes, "Whoa. What's this, Mom? This looks just like you."
My wife looks at it and 'erped' in surprise.
My other daughter goes, "Huh, I thought she looked familiar."
In other words, the cover made quite the commotion in my house.
It got even weirder as I read it. It wasn't a great, great read as in a real page-turner. But here's the thing ...the book was about a guy who invents an electronic gizmo that can download e-books. It was described down to the screen, buttons and scrollers exactly the same as the Kindle... which is 'amazering' considering Bova wrote the book twenty years before Kindle hit the Amazon River, er, streets.
The other cool thing about the book is the Bova, though he's won many awards, obviously never forgot his early roots. There's a lot about book rejections, publishers who overlook great literary works in favor of some drivel that will sell ... and frankly, just about everything that authors bitterly complain about.
All in all, a very innteerrestingg read ... if you're an author.
I'm getting kind of tired, so I'm not going to spend as much time as I thought on my second point.
Spiderwebs.... I mean websites.
I took the weekend to update my website, but then I tackled a fun project. With my first humor/vampire YA book Fang Face coming out next summer, I decided I wanted to set up a separate website for the book. So all day yesterday I played with the site.
I'm not a great Webmaster. In fact, I'm more like a Webplebe, but I think I pulled off a pretty fun site. It's still incomplete, since I don't have any reviews, excerpts or other stuff yet, but go check it out www.fangface.homestead.com .
Anyway, gotta go ..
Norm
www.normcowie.com
www.fangface.homestead.com
The Adventures of Guy ... written by a guy (probably)
The Next Adventures of Guy ... more wackiness
The Heat of the Moment
Fang Face (coming Aug 09)
Monday, July 21, 2008
Way Up Northbrook
I kept driving and driving ... past the Hinsdale Oasis ... past O'Hare ... past the exit for Wheeling ... past a deer carcass on the side of the road ... and then, just before bonking my head on Wisconsin, there it was ... the Lake Cook Road exit.
I drove past it by mistake because I was checking out the fine mini-van driving next to me.
Yeah, mini-van. A real man's vehicle, right?
Not really. What really happened was I was checking out the tanned, halter-topped young lady who was riding a bright yellow crotch rocket in the middle lane, causing all kinds of swerving and stuff from the guy drivers all around trying to keep two eyes on her and a third eye on the road.
Anyway, I lied, I ripped my eyes away from her at the last minute and didn't miss my exit.
So I took the exit to really, really, really North Brook (they laughingly spell it Northbrook) and as I drove on Lake Cook road, I looked at Lake County on my left and Cook County on my right, wondering where they came up with the name Lake Cook road.
Then I drove to the huge Borders Books at the corner of Waukegan and Lake Cook and went inside to my booksigning.
Not really. Actually, I drove past the huge Borders Books and a minute later pulled in the parking lot of Max and Benny's , a popular restaurant, deli, bakery with an awesome reputation and food that lives up to it.
Yep, my first signing in a restaurant.
Five of my fellow authors from the anthology, The Heat of the Moment had assembled to eagle, er, hawk the anthology and our own individual books. Joining me were fellow Acme blogger Margot Justes, Bob Goldsborough, Amy Alessio (congrats on the baby, Amy!), Kevin (I'm a fireman, buy my book) Helmold, Christine ... um, Ver ... Verstra... uh...
(wait, I need to look it up)
Here ya' go, Chris Verstraete. I knew it all the time. Yeah, and I wasn't looking at the girl on the crotch rocket.
Anyway, we were all here for our first ever booksigning at a restaurant.
Whoo-hoo!
We were excited ... all pumped up... ready to risk carpel tunnel, dried out ink pens and clumsy busboys.
But I'm not going to lie. The crowd was less than overwhelming. I mean, the staff at the restaurant was very gracious and supportive. They put copies of our books in the front along with an author or two (Kevin, Bob and I took turns), and they let us use their public address system ... I doubt they'll let me do it again in the future ... heh, heh.
But having a signing at the hours 3-5 pm on a Saturday just wasn't conducive to having a large number of people. The few that came to eat were pleasantly surprised to learn that six authors were in the building, but again, there weren't many there then.
The owner came by and remarked that it was not the busiest time to sign, and wondered why we had picked a slow time (actually, one of his managers did - but beggars can't be rich, er, choosers).
Anyway, we had a great time. Bob, Margot, Kevin, Amy and I have had a few joint signings together, and it was fantastic to finally meet Chris. Margot's family came out to support her, and they are cool, not just fantastically good looking and intelligent. We all like each other so it was worth doing.
So I'm sure we'll find somewhere else to sign, be it Canada, er, Wisconsin, I mean, Northbrook or wherever.
Plus, there are rumors that there will soon be another anthology ... stay tuned!
Norm
www.normcowie.com
The Adventures of Guy ... written by a guy (probably)
The Next Adventures of Guy ...more wackiness
The Heat of the Moment
Fang Face (my first YA! coming Aug 2009)
I drove past it by mistake because I was checking out the fine mini-van driving next to me.
Yeah, mini-van. A real man's vehicle, right?
Not really. What really happened was I was checking out the tanned, halter-topped young lady who was riding a bright yellow crotch rocket in the middle lane, causing all kinds of swerving and stuff from the guy drivers all around trying to keep two eyes on her and a third eye on the road.
Anyway, I lied, I ripped my eyes away from her at the last minute and didn't miss my exit.
So I took the exit to really, really, really North Brook (they laughingly spell it Northbrook) and as I drove on Lake Cook road, I looked at Lake County on my left and Cook County on my right, wondering where they came up with the name Lake Cook road.
Then I drove to the huge Borders Books at the corner of Waukegan and Lake Cook and went inside to my booksigning.
Not really. Actually, I drove past the huge Borders Books and a minute later pulled in the parking lot of Max and Benny's , a popular restaurant, deli, bakery with an awesome reputation and food that lives up to it.
Yep, my first signing in a restaurant.
Five of my fellow authors from the anthology, The Heat of the Moment had assembled to eagle, er, hawk the anthology and our own individual books. Joining me were fellow Acme blogger Margot Justes, Bob Goldsborough, Amy Alessio (congrats on the baby, Amy!), Kevin (I'm a fireman, buy my book) Helmold, Christine ... um, Ver ... Verstra... uh...
(wait, I need to look it up)
Here ya' go, Chris Verstraete. I knew it all the time. Yeah, and I wasn't looking at the girl on the crotch rocket.
Anyway, we were all here for our first ever booksigning at a restaurant.
Whoo-hoo!
We were excited ... all pumped up... ready to risk carpel tunnel, dried out ink pens and clumsy busboys.
But I'm not going to lie. The crowd was less than overwhelming. I mean, the staff at the restaurant was very gracious and supportive. They put copies of our books in the front along with an author or two (Kevin, Bob and I took turns), and they let us use their public address system ... I doubt they'll let me do it again in the future ... heh, heh.
But having a signing at the hours 3-5 pm on a Saturday just wasn't conducive to having a large number of people. The few that came to eat were pleasantly surprised to learn that six authors were in the building, but again, there weren't many there then.
The owner came by and remarked that it was not the busiest time to sign, and wondered why we had picked a slow time (actually, one of his managers did - but beggars can't be rich, er, choosers).
Anyway, we had a great time. Bob, Margot, Kevin, Amy and I have had a few joint signings together, and it was fantastic to finally meet Chris. Margot's family came out to support her, and they are cool, not just fantastically good looking and intelligent. We all like each other so it was worth doing.
So I'm sure we'll find somewhere else to sign, be it Canada, er, Wisconsin, I mean, Northbrook or wherever.
Plus, there are rumors that there will soon be another anthology ... stay tuned!
Norm
www.normcowie.com
The Adventures of Guy ... written by a guy (probably)
The Next Adventures of Guy ...more wackiness
The Heat of the Moment
Fang Face (my first YA! coming Aug 2009)
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