The Strunk and White avalanche is still continuing. July 12 got only 19 views less than July 11. Links are popping up in various places as well, including one in a Making Light open thread in this comment.
Meanwhile, absolutely no one cares about my long post about contemporary German literature with lots of linguistics and POV neepery. Not that I’m really surprised, it’s a classic example of the Bacon Cat Law of Internet Popularity in action.
So far the influence of my sudden internet fame on my e-book sales has been slight. I did sell two additional books since the whole Strunk and White madness began, but at least one of those went to a regular reader of this blog. Again, this is not unexpected, because legions of xkcd readers googling for Strunk and White slash will not necessarily be interested in my e-books. Nonetheless, I’ve already sold more books than I expected in the first month and the month is not even half over.
And now have a linkdump:
A blogger with the evocative name The King of Elfland’s Second Cousin offers this interesting post about fantasy, romance and the borders of intimacy and imagination, inspired by Jacqueline Lichtenberg’s series of posts about intimate space and romance in speculative fiction.
Lynn Viehl a.k.a. Paperback Writer just started a series on quantum writing, i.e. juggling multiple projects.
The Atlantic has an interview with George R.R. Martin.
In Time magazine, critic and fantasy writer Lev Grossmann offers a surprisingly detailed and fair explanation of fanfiction, what it is and isn’t. Considering how often fanfiction is misrepresented in what is commonly called “the mainstream media”, this article was a pleasant surprise.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung offers the following great article on internet freedom, net neutrality and the increasing regulation attempts of politicians by Anke Domscheit-Berg (in German). There’s nothing here that the regular reader of technology blogs hasn’t heard before, but considering that Germany is the country where droves of people – most of them people who are not regular Internet users – were terrified of Google Streetview of all things, where politicians seriously consider banning Facebook parties* (i.e. parties organized via Facebook – I suppose it’s okay if I organize the party via Google Plus or Twitter or livejournal) and have seriously proposed “broadcast hours” for blogs to protect children from evil internet content (obviously no one realised that it’s always 3 a.m. somewhere in the world), an article in a classic old media outlet that lays down the facts is important.
The Guardian offers a gallery of the SF art of Chris Foss. The Asimov books I devoured early in my SF-reading career and that blew the mind of 16-year-old me were mostly UK editions with Chris Foss covers, so those images bring back memories of the time when SF was new, amazing and just plain wonderful.
*Ironically, the party that proposed that particular bit of nonsense is now having its local meet-ups, summer festivals and other events – announced via Facebook – crashed by net activists.
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