Testing The New Blog: This is just a test of the new version of blogger. Had this been an actual blog post, you'd have gotten bored and stopped reading by now.

Writing Question For Non-Writers: Okay, this question is about writing, but it's for readers.

In his book on writing comics, Peter David says that it's good, if your characters are in a situation that's beyond what you would encounter in real life, to acknowledge this by having your characters say something like, "This is like something out of a comic book!"

So the question for readers is, when you read something like this or hear it in a movie, does it make the story seem more real or does it pull you out of the story, as you're reminded that it's just a book or a movie?

The Medicine Show Rolls On: Issue 3 of the Intergalactic Medicine Show is out.

Winner!: As it turns out, I won one of the pro edits in the raffle, the one from Diane Goettel, one of the editors of the no-longer-in-danger Apex Digest.

Now to pick a story . . .

Savin' Apex: Apex Digest is a sci-fi horror magazine. Note there is no slash in there. That is because it is not a sci-fi/horror magazine. It is a sci-fi horror magazine.

In other words, the guys go up on rocketships before they get eaten by the monster.

And now, they've become the latest in a string of magazines to offer "cries for help."
It seems about once a month, one magazine or another is pleading with the masses to send them money, to please help keep their market online.

I'm not sure how I feel about this trend.

See, it was different when Ralan did it. Ralan is a free website that writers use all the time. Heaven knows I use the heck out of it. Ralan puts a good deal of money, time, and effort into that site, and quite frankly, I think Ralan provides enough writers with enough of a service that he deserves to live off of it. Every writer should send Ralan 5% of any sale they made to a market they wouldn't have known about without him. If he says, if you want this, I need money, people need to pony up if they want to keep the service.

But the magazines, I'm not sure, and I'm not sure why.

I think the first reason why is this: That by taking a business that's struggling, and giving them a donation, you're literally "Throwing Money" at the problem. It takes care of the symptoms of the problem--the lack of money--but not the causes--possible problems with the business plan, problems with the books, etc.

It's like giving money to that brother who you love, but who you know is just going to blow it and be back next month asking for more money.

The second reason? They're asking writers. It wouldn't be so bad if they were asking the readers. But the vast majority of the time, when I see these save ____ posts, they're being made of writers. Which to me, is a little upside down. Could a sci-fi market imagine going to, say, their publisher, and saying, "Hey, I'm in financial trouble. Can you give me money so I can keep operating?" And yet, the writers are providing a service to the magazine just as much as the publishers are--and we're going to feel just as disinclined to want to do business with that magazine in the future because of it.

If you can't sell readers on your magazine, your magazine probably isn't financially viable.

Okay, so the good news?

Jason Sizemore, at Apex digest, seems to be avoiding both of these mistakes.

I found out about the subscription drive from his newsletter for readers, not writers. Presumably he was hoping some of the people who buy the news stand copies would go ahead and buy a subscription. While I have seen it posted on writer's websites, those posts have all been made by other people, not him.

And he's explained the exact financial situation on his blog, so you can see for yourself whether you think this will be a repeating problem (It seems he had a one-time, unexpected bill come up which, when paid, will leave him debt-free with his publisher, and in a better position in the future).

He certainly never just asked for money. It was all about selling subscriptions--so it's even better than a PBS pledge drive.

Of course, if you like the feeling of an old fashioned pledge drive, Mary Robinette Kowal of Shimmer magazine (yeah, you read that right--a different magazine all together) set up a raffle with tons of cool prizes. And the best part? You can enter just for the stuff you want, and support a magazine that publishes good quality stuff.

So go check out the magazine, see if it's your kind of thing, and then maybe pick up a subscription. Or go for something cool you see in the raffle. But stay away from the editing stuff--that's mine, all MINE!!! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!

Or try for them. Whatever.

Biggest Loser: Figured I'd post this here, instead of on my other blog, since it has nothing to do with weight loss.

On this season's The Biggest Loser, folks from all 50 states were flown in, but only a little over a dozen got to stay--the rest have to go it alone at home.

Anybody else notice how, despite the seemingly "tryout" nature of the selection process, that the two biggest television markets, California and New York, both managed to get their folks on the show? In fact, the four most populous states all got their folks on.

(Also worth noting in that link is that Washington DC has more folks in it than Wyoming.)

Also changes over at Dial-A-Song.

Um, yeah.

Those mildly wacky guys over at mildlyamusing.com have started a blog.

Who Wants To Be A Superhero: Okay, I'll admit to watching Stan Lee's contribution to the reality show world.

I've got to admit to having mixed feelings about the show.

Now I realize that absolutely nobody in the world is watching it except me and my wife and a couple of people who might be related to the contestants, so I can't talk about this the way I could talk about, say, 24, which everybody watches every week (don't you?).

There have been some moments of genuine heroism on the show--the best was when Monkey Woman (yes, Monkey Woman) fought to reach a goal for nearly twenty minutes with two big guard dogs that probably weighed more than she did dragging her down.

But for the most part, the show is kind of a joke. Really tongue in cheek, and even silly at times. You can't tell whether they want us to take any of it seriously or not.

And basically, that's what the final three came down to. One guy who was taking it super-seriously, and a couple of people who weren't.

The guy who's taking it seriously is Feedback. This is a guy who grew up on Marvel comic books, and considers Stan a surrogate father--his real Dad killed himself when he was young. Like I said, serious.

And then there are the other two--Major Victory, a Superman parody who used to be a stripper and spends all his time joking and prancing around like a goof, and Fat Momma, a heavy-set woman who, quite frankly, I think is as shocked as anybody else that she's made it this far (last week she locked herself in a closet until a producer would come let her tell him she shouldn't really be on the show any more. The other two competitors talked her out of quitting, but quite frankly, she was right).

So this week, who do they boot off? Major Victory. Why? Because he wasn't setting the tone Stan was looking for. Never mind that Major Victory basically set the tone for this show. So much so that he's the one whose image is on most of the advertising, and on the season one DVD. His tone might have been right for this show, but not for Stan's show.

Look, quite frankly, I agree with the decision. I'm rooting for Feedback--he's kind of the Everynerd of the show, and more of the kind of competitor I was hoping the show would be full of.

But to make the decision while Fat Momma was still around--that's just silly. Major Victory versus Feedback would have made the perfect finale, and would have been a whole lot of fun. And I think everyone, including the producers, knew that. Stan knew it. It was a no brainer.

So why didn't they do it?

Major Victory has an estranged daughter. And all along, he's said he's doing this for her, wanting to become a hero in her eyes.

See, next week, the ending is going to be about the winner. And Stan and the other producers knew they didn't want Major Victory to win. But they love the guy, and wanted to give him a send-off they wouldn't have time for next week. So they bumped the guy, even though it made no sense, just so they could give him a "moment" with his daughter.

In their mind, it works out perfect. Major Victory gets a grand send-off, next week Feedback wins, and everybody, including the loser, Fat Momma, is delighted. It's like they moved the one woman who knew she had no business there into the finals so no one, not even the loser, would "taint" the victory of the winner.

This is how reality TV works, folks. It's not a competition. It's not a game. It's a scripted, produced, show.

Podcast People I've recently taken to downloading podcasts of various podcasts off the internet to play on the way to work instead of the Radio.

Look, I'm telling you--forget whatever chipper pair of Morning DJs you listen to in the morning because you saw their airbrushed mugs splattered across a billboard somewheres, that pair of lightweights you find yourself praying will just shut up and play another Jessica Simpson song.

Go find yourself some good podcasts. There's all kinds of stuff all over the place for whatever you're interested in. And I mean what you're interested in specifically. You don't have to wade through some "Sci-fi" podcast wading through some discussion of whatever B horror movie SciFi Channel showed last night--you can get a podcast just for, say, Serenity. If your thing is one-handed fire-juggling on waterskis, you can probably find a podcast for it.

What? You actually like your radio? Well, guess what. Chances are, they also do a podcast. One that doesn't include the commercials. I've actually downloaded a two hour show (Jillian Michaels on KFI AM 640) that clocked in at one hour. It's like having Tivo for the radio.

Anybody still listening to radio the old fashioned way is a Troglodyte.

Granted, I still don't have a Tivo, and still watch TV the old fashioned way, but I'm not doing the stupid radio any more.

Maybe I'm like Archaeopteryx.