robert.admin – Page 171 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

December 25, 2014

Phantom (Review)

hen I first cracked this brick-thick novel open, I wasn’t sure what I was reading. Was this some sort of parody? I was reminded of The Further Adventures of Captain Gregory Dangerfield, a novel about an English hero perfect beyond perfection. Rich, cunning, trained, handsome, and adventurous, that book was a lampoons of men’s adventure books. And when I first started reading Phantom, I thought it was the same sort of thing. My evidence? Lord Alex Hawke (yes, an English lord, complete with an estate and bazillions of dollars to play with), who is respected in society yet also an […]

December 20, 2014

To have and have not (Review)

his one’s been on the Hemingway stack for years, part of a wifey Christmas gift from long ago. Been meaning to read it. And then, tired of modern plot devices (and having seen the namesake movie with Bogart over at an outdoor showing), I decided I had to read it. Well, the movie was good. And the book was nothing like it. Yeah, better. Much better. To Have and Have Not is a collection of four short stories following the declining fortunes of Harry Morgan, an honest, pragmatic, and (at times) ruthless man who owns a boat and plies the […]

December 18, 2014

I hate: Backstabbers

hate backstabbers. So, first, at least make it worth it. If you are going to backstab me, don’t make it easy for me – keep my whip. But I also ask that you make it worth it – have that gold idol under your arm. Leave me to die. Don’t just pick up corporate brownie points by ratting me out. I mean, shit, I’ve been backstabbed major by corporations – I’ve had two that owed me backwages or cut my wages to keep the lights on fire me. I’ve been fired for nepotism – when the little family-run business found […]

December 18, 2014

I Hate (DOG EAR)

was struck by two things while I went around my Saturday errands (if you must know, a trip to the dump and then the blood bank (26 gallons!). The first was an NPR piece on a 13 year old who got mentioned on the sports broadcast for predicting something about sports (don’t ask me – I have no idea what they are talking about)). He’s got a twitter feed with a bunch of people and he got a nugget and published it – it went viral and now he’s on easy street (you don’t think that’s not going to show […]

December 17, 2014

OpsLog – LM&O – 12/17/2014

hort entry tonight. Not much to say about the sleepy week before Christmas. Everyone was in a good mood. The layout was purring. When it came to writing warrants, I had them pretty much figured when people called – no waiting. So here’s what I want to know. I ran on the L&N recently. In a four hour session, I wrote 84 warrants and was bushed at the end of it. And it was full-bore dispatching, working non-stop to get all those trains over the division. But on the LM&O (which is scaled as a longer railroad and has more […]

December 15, 2014

New York – Day Two – The Big Cold Lady

ong day today – took the subway first thing out to Battery Park where we caught the ferry to the base of the Statue of Liberty. Interesting that the last time I was out here, when I was seven, it was cold and bleak, too. Anyway, got to check out the monument’s museum and all the cool things there. Also got to go all the way up to the top of the pedestal (all 176 steps, which is nothing compared to my 14th floor office at work – like after a fire drill when the lobby is packed with everyone […]

December 15, 2014

New York – Day One – Hitting the City

ur latest travels – my mom decided to sponsor the entire family for a trip to New York City, up to Christmas Eve. And that’s good – I haven’t been there since I was seven. And it would be a good test of JB’s resilience – given her injury and the complications that came from it. Okay, so you gotta understand – this was one packed day. Up at 3am, on the road for the airport by 4am, in the air by 6am, and in New York shortly after 8am. Interesting to see this city (this ‘living reef’ as HG […]

December 14, 2014

I hate: Jawas

hate jawas. Not those little shadowy creatures with the tan sand-robes and the glowing bulb eyes. No. But I hate the ones I saw today. The wife and I walked over to Juniors, the local breakfast/lunch joint that is our Sunday tradition. Came in and there they were – six teens sitting at a table, five of them with their hoodies up. “I can’t abide those Jawas! Disgusting creatures!“ -C3PO The deal was that the Corrine merchants were having a shopping drive over the weekend, with wares on the walks, a book show (got an invite but didn’t attend) […]

December 14, 2014

Accelerando (Review)

f I had to review this comment in a single line, I’d tell you this – it’s Snow Crash for a new century. Accelerando follows three generations of a family, from 2010 (or so) through the hundreds of years to follow. We start with Manfred Macx, a “venture altruist” (meaning he has great ideas, but because he thinks the economics of scarcity is a dying concept, he’s giving them away to make others rich and hasten the in the brave new world). He’s married to a business-blade dominatrix, a rocky on-again, off-again, divorce-and-hatred sort of thing (she rapes him and […]

December 11, 2014

Torpedoes Los! (DOG EAR)

can’t tell you how many times I’ve posted Indigo out. It’s been launched at agents for about two years. At first, three would go out and as soon as two rejections came in, I’d launch another barrage. Then, as noted HERE, I realized it had been months. Inertia – just part of getting old. What is confounding is how much pressure I put on myself about this. I actually worried. And worrying about submissions is like worrying about a trip to the corner grocery story (the what?). I’ve got submissions down to a science. I’ve got different letters for […]