Rhonda Eudaly

I misnamed his book in my previous posting. It’s Ghost Brigades not Ghost Soldiers - which is INDEED the book J.Cheney refers to about the WWII South Pacific Theater and the atrocities done to the POWs.

Sorry for the confusion. It has been corrected.

Disclaimer - I’m not doing these in any particular order at the moment.

Continuing with the Military SF them, I’ve recently read John Scalzi’s Ghost Brigades[asa]0765354063[/asn].

I have to admit WHY I read the book. 1) Scalzi’s going to be the GOH at ArmadilloCon next month. And 2) Ghost Brigades has been on my “To Be Read” Shelf since World Fantasy last year. Nothing like motivation to read something. BUT… I’ve also heard and read some good things about Scalzi through the blogosphere, so it wasn’t like took serious arm-twisting to read the thing…

Okay, so Ghost Brigades, I thought had a great opening. Then got slow for a while while he did the backstory on how these guys are made. BUT… even though it was slow, it was fascinating in that weird, freaky way that DUDE! Scalzi’s universe could actually happen. One of my awesome geek/writer friends has already said he wants a BrainPal.

Once he got through that part, though. It booked - pun COMPLETELY intended. It was a GOOD story. Discovering self, another self, evolution of self, along with mystery, intrigue, stuff blowing up, Giant Space Rock Turtles, and jellybeans. What’s not to love? There’s a good mix of lessons, darkness, and humor. The exploration of humor I completely dug. And his take on Humanity in space, I could see that happening, too.

Again, going back to military SF. It’s not always my thing. But now I understand why John Scalzi is now more-or-less mentioned as John Scalzi. It’s something I aspire to, myself, as writer.

Here’s the kicker… it’s one of the books that was passed off to my husband. Now, we like the same genres, but honestly, we don’t read a lot of the exact same books. Our library is extensive that way. But Ghost Brigades is a shared book.

I’m starting this with a kind of “Year In Review” thing. (And I wrote this all out the other night and it’s FREAKIN’ LONG, so I’m breaking it up.

From March 2007 to Now (because I’ve gone back to them). I’ve read a lot of Allan Cole and Chris Bunch. I read the entire STEN series. Which I LOVED.

The Sten Series is classic Space Adventure (though not quite Space Opera). It’s military, but not overly so. Which is good because I go in spurts when it comes to military SF. But what I really liked about the entire series it reminded me of the Vorkosigan Series by Lois McMaster Bujold (I read her first — which is why it goes that way).

The element that I dig in both these series is the fact that they both use Non-Traditional Heroes (Bujold’s a bit more blatantly). But Sten never asked to be a hero, he was shanghaied into it, and still manages to keep a sense of honor and duty despite seeing harsh realities and having to do less than glorious things.

Oh, and Sten has an AWESOME sidekick. A big, heavy worlder SCOTSMAN!!!! Alex ROCKS.

These books are out of print, but are available on Amazon and used book stores. Depending on the printing you get depends on whether they’re “Cole and Bunch” or “Bunch and Cole”. But TOTALLY worth reading. They’re fun. There are lessons to be learned. And some really cool twists and turns. Check them out.

Now for the time leaps… I’ve also read Far Kingdoms and am CURRENTLY reading Warrior’s Tale which is their Anteros series. This one is classic FANTASY, so completely different. But still with good heroes, good bad guys, magic, quests, and twists you don’t really see coming. It’s totally different than the Sten books, but still hold up.

What I like about the Anteros. Is actually it’s more a “Sequence” than a “Series”. The books (so far) tell interwoven stories focusing on different characters. So you don’t HAVE to read them in order — it makes a bit more sense if you do, so you KNOW what the Far Kingdoms are, etc. — but you don’t have to. I’m glad they did it this way, because the POV character in the 2nd book was someone I really wanted to know more about in the 1st book, but couldn’t.

These are also iffy to find. If you CAN, find the first printing with the Tom Kidd Covers (he signed them Gnemo). THOSE rock so hard, and are some of the basis of Tom Kidd’s Gnemo stuff. The Parkinson covers aren’t BAD, but they’re not as integral to the story as the Kidd Covers. Nor are they as detailed. The Kidd Covers just ROCK.

As most people who actually know me now know — I’ve once more been thrust into the Freelance Writer World. That’s upbeat speak for, my “day job” decided I wasn’t the “right fit” for them yesterday.

At least this time it was a FULL DAY after I got back from the Most Amazing ApolloCon. But that makes 3 out of 3 FULL CONVENTIONS I’ve attended (ConDFW doesn’t count because it was too close to RadCon and I wasn’t there for all of it. ConDFW was my breather con) in 2008 where something majorly impacted my life right after I got back. I lost a job, had my job moved to another town in the same city, and then lost that job.

Note: NEVER, EVER say… “Gee, I wonder what’s going to happen when I get back from THIS con.” Stupid Horror Movie Rookie Mistake #17.

However, there is a plan in place. Plot bunnies to be fed and cared for before they hop off to Jay Lake… etc. All is not lost. Weird, but not lost.

So to celebrate this turning point… I’m starting a new segment in my website…

What am I reading. I never go to the “What YOU should be reading panels” - because I’m a stubborn person. If someone tells me I MUST read something, that’s a Sure Fire way to get me NOT to read it.

SO… I’m going to tell people about what I have read. What I’ve thought of it. You might be able to see some of my weird influences. Maybe I’ll be able to connect some dots.

I hope you enjoy it.

I’m back from SoonerCon in OKC. There will be a more detailed report later when I can actually string words together to make sentences coherently.

You’ve been warned…

SoonerCon ROCKED!!! If you weren’t there, why not? If you’re a SoonerCon ConCom reading this — Thank you so much for the great party. We had a real blast. It was invigorating and stimulating and productive and randomly bizarre. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

You have a great staff, great spirit, and great energy. I wish you all many more years of convention success, and hope to be part of it.

Now… Google alerts… A couple of posts back I mentioned that I might be on the radio– apparently that conversation my have gone live. I didn’t hear it back, and she went on to another topic. They must have a Google Alert (much like I do) that let’s them know when someone mentions them on the internet publicly. So, yes, this will get back to them.

Anyway, I decided to write this post, and saw I had comments to moderate, and get this… one was from Gene and Julie saying awfully nice things about me. Awwww…. I have a link to them in my “Favorite People” now.

Considering I had no computer keyboard this weekend (long story), so I couldn’t post. And one of the emails I could check (with mouse use only) was a rejection letter. That comment was SO COOL to see.

So if you don’t believe what you read, or what you see in person. Check out my unsolicited radio host endorsement: Imagine our suprise when such a famous and magnificant writer would call our show! And she was soooo nice…

Okay, ego, back into your cave now.

Come see me at SoonerCon this weekend

My Schedule:

Friday, June 6
6 p.m. Room 404
I LOVE TO LAUGH
B. Grezlik
WM Simmons
R Eudaly

Saturday, June 7
Noon - Room 102
Meet YardDog Press
The Pack

3 p.m. (90 min) - The Atrium
YardDog Press Traveling Road Show
The Pack

5 p.m. - Exhibitors Hall
Autographs
G Oliver
R Eudaly

Sunday, June 8
10 a.m. - ConSuite
KoffeeKlatch
L Donahue
R Eudaly
L Killough
J Mandala
S Satterfield

Noon - RM 102
The Author as a Brand
J Ringo
D Chester
S Rosen
R Eudaly
G Jonas

I love the Gene and Julie show on 103.7 FM (KVIL). I called in this morning.

The topic was how women change names when they get married. Told my story. Not quite as funny as some, and yes, I use real names. But most of you know them anyway. D’OH…

But seriously, cool show. Julie is a lovely person to talk with. And I don’t know how they do it - they’re a married couple doing a radio show. But it’s a fun way to drive in to work in the morning.

And it was a kinder gentler writing pimp.

I didn’t know Bob that well. I’ve met him a few times through other people and ConDFW. He was pleasant to me.

I’m shocked beyond words at his sudden passing. I grieve for those who knew him, loved him, and are devastated by his loss.

MYTH Adventures was some of the first SF Humor I ever read. I’d like to think some of the work I do now has been influenced by Bob (and Piers) in a good way. I LOVED the PHULE series. My late best friend introduced me to those. Bob was able to do humor without flirting with “stupid”. I appreciate the skill that takes much more now.

He was an icon, a power, a character. Even when we were pissed off at him for not leaving his home in the wake of Katrina, it was out of respect and caring.

He will be missed by many.

Yes, I know… Bad Rhonda, no biscuit. After teasing everyone with regular updates, I fall off the face of the earth for 2 weeks.

Just so you all know, I started a new day job last week. It’s all writing. Writing about bankruptcy and social security and legal stuff.

I’m THE writer on site. There are three freelancers they have been using who are newbies, so I’m having to write, edit, teach, etc. And right now I’m seriously overwhelmed, and am still in the process of discovering just HOW MUCH work there’s going to be here.

I might be sporadic for a while — especially while I’m trying to get my bearings and figure out what the heck I’ve gotten myself into.

I should be starting Round 3 of ROTA editing soon, which will hopefully be the last round before publication clean up.

My other writing is going to be sporadic as well for the same reasons.

There are a lot of ropes to learn, but it’s a great opportunity.

Sorry for the radio silence.

I finally did something I shoulda done a long time ago and kept up with instead of freaking out this morning and running around like an idiot.

I finally put together my “Book” - for the non-fic stuff. I found the newspapers and magazines and websites that I’ve had stuff published in (for the most part) and put all that stuff in sheet protectors and in a notebook. Though it fills a 1″ binder, it’s still not a lot but having it all together (and knowing I missed some stuff probably), it’s still a nice bundle.

… AND… I know it doesn’t include the fiction (one piece is in the book, but that’s just because it was the very first and is very, very short — and it was in a magazine back “in the day”. But I have representations of my work going back to June 1997.

So I do have evidence of writing for the last 10 years. That’s pretty cool.