Saturday, August 29

Holy Shit, it's working. Do you realize we have attracted an Honest to Jesus Right-Wingnut?

I happened to check the profile this "A Truman North" -- the "crimmigrants" guy . . . his email address, no lie --

conservativedigest@yahoo.com

It seems a reasonable guess that the other two tongues-in-search-of-rimjobs were either him, or his friends.

(Is "tongues-in-search-of-rimjobs" too harsh? Should I just call them Seekers of the Dirty Sanchez? Is there any truth to the allegation that Dirty Sanchez is a crimmigrant? We report. You decide.)

These people spend their free time Googling things like "public option," and then drop in to spew whatever Limbaugh and Boehner have been spoon-feeding them.

Honestly: I'm flattered. Keep it coming, scumballs.

The more time you spend trolling on blogs like mine, the less time you have to wave Obama-is-Hitler signs at town meetings.

32 comments:

Craig R. Dawson said...

Weird. It's so artlessly manufactured..the controversial comments they leave. Shrug. Back to books...

IlyaP said...

Obama...is...Hitler?

Say what? For real?

Knightfall said...

Yeah, I really don't get their argument.

These Birthers/Death-Panel Crusaders don't like the idea that they'd be paying for government-run health care (even though they already are. Medicare, anyone?) yet, they're already paying (with ze tax dollars) for all these people who DON'T have insurance, who can only show up at the hospital emergency room when they get injured.

It really is a no-brainer. You're losing money either way. At least with the public option and so on you're paying for a MUCH better result. Basic utilitarian ethics.

Unknown said...

I guess that makes me a crimmigrant, right? Sitting INSIDE the healthcare system, I can tell you right now it's even more screwed up from the inside. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the planned reform will go far enough.

Oh, and Matt, get that tip jar up, will ya, like Jason says.

Unknown said...

Speaking of tip jars...

I've been pondering creating a fan site...would like to chat about options and permissions etc.

If you are interested would you be so good as to contact me off-line?

Dornicus said...

Matt,
Sorry about the job, but damned if I'm not glad to hear you're writing at a faster rate. Your recent work has certainly been cause for nothing but schoolgirl-like excitement at the prospect of new work.

I've been re-reading CBK the past couple of days, after having re-read Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle earlier in the summer, and I enjoy all of them more and more each time.

And the 12 friends I've loaned copies of your Caine books agree with me. Mostly.

The rest can fuck off.

-Mike

PS - Any chance of an Iowa City stop on your next promotional book-signing tour?

Please?

We've got a relatively famous bookstore (Prairie Lights), and uh, umm...bars.

MWS said...

Dornicus --

If I ever do another promotional tour, I will certainly try to include Iowa City. I really like that town, despite the fact that the Writer's Workshop turned me down . . .

Freya --

I might try to reach you in some other format, but I don't know who you are.

Ilya --

Yes. For real. They have posters of Obama with the toothbrush moustache colored in. American politics stopped having any discernable relationship with reality right around 1994, when (some) Republicans contended that Bill Clinton was a drug smuggler who'd had his friend Vince Foster murdered. The fact that this contention was largely cribbed from Tom Clancy's CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER was apparently lost on them.

Unknown said...

Good point, you don't! Well I'm a fan but not a creepy or psycho one, I promise. I was hoping my email address would attach to my post. If it doesn't this time, let me know and I'll I'll post it.

Unknown said...

no such luck. Try this: angoliant at gmail dot com

Craig R. Dawson said...

Freya, good call. If you end up doing that, let's list the FB fan page (and vice-versa) and start creating some cross traffic.

Unknown said...

Absolutely! Already on my list of things to include.

Pizzope said...

On the subject of fan sites, I know there is indeed a facebook fanpage for you Matt with ~200 people.

Best of luck to Freya in her efforts.

Aaron Renfroe said...

I'd donate to a Matt health-and-continued-writing fund.

Dornicus said...

Matt,
I'm kind of in shock that they turned you down. It'd probably be amusing to let the people in charge of that decision know what they missed.

Still; makes it hard for me to place faith in the program.

You should totally teach for them, though. I dunno if it's by invitation, but if it is I'll definitely suggest it to anyone willing to listen.

If you'd be interested in teaching, that is.

I might just be caught up in my own geeky tide of "Holy crap how rad would it be to have Matt Stover as a professor/teacher?", but hey, a guy can dream, right?

-Mike

WarlordGrego said...

If Matt becomes a professor, I'm leaving the army and enrolling at Iowa.

Also, Matt, if you do another book tour, you have to come to Indianapolis, or Lexington, ky.

You have to.

MWS said...

I don't hold it against them.

First off, I wasn't all that good then (despite my 800 in English on the GRE). I knew more about lit and grammar 'n' shit than I knew about writing.

And the stuff I like -- Violence, Madness and Death (Oh My!) -- is a bit more melodramatic than their usual taste. I'm not sure they'd take me NOW, as a student.

That being said, however, I'd LOOOOVE to teach there. I'd really like the chance to share with people all the stuff I've had to discover on my own, because I'm interested to find out if it can be taught at all.

If it can -- if this turns out to be something I can share -- I might be doing World Literature a favor.

Because there are a lot of people who come out of the IWW who write stunning prose -- who are a hundred times the writer I'll ever be -- but nobody's explained to them the elements of a novel that will make a major house want to write you a big check.

Sure, small press, uni press, that's all great. Writing for an audience of one's peers and all that. But if any of the students are like me, they want to be READ. By millions, if possible.

Over on TheForce.Net, my posts have a sig line cribbed from Isaac Asimov:

"My idea of a properly-run universe in one in which everyone in it reads everything I write."

Also, having been an instructor at the IWW would greatly increase my chances of landing a comfy uni instructorship in some clement land where I can spend my declining years writing about Caine's descent into senile dementia.

And Greg --

Lexington is already on my list. Brian Delambre of Joseph-Beth Booksellers has been a huge Caine supporter for more than a decade; he's been promoted out of the store, but I'd still love to do an event there.

WarlordGrego said...

That Joseph Beth's is a wonderful bookstore, that is actually the place that Aaron Allston started out his FOTJ tour, and I got to meet him about two days before his heart attack.

Guy said...

Have you given thought to writing an e-book about what you've learned in making a profitable churn at writing, even if you just pimped it out on your site? Like Scalzi with his first novel, and Stephen King with his...plant story thing? I'd buy the ever loving shit out of that in a heartbeat.

MWS said...

I'm likin' you better and better all the time, Guy.

Knightfall said...

That e-book would be a great idea. I'd buy that.

Might I also add that people usually seek out author's blogs either because they love their work or they want to learn from them, to pick up the occasional tips and experience the mind behind the fiction.

I think simple things like updating the blog and making it look shiny could really help traffic (yer profile pic is still MIA, for example).

This isn't me trying to get you to relieve yourself of your secrets. If you keep up the blog more often, you'll get more fans involved/excited about what you're working on, and then they'll just about follow you to the Kingdom of Cant and back.

That might pay off in the long run more than a tip jar...which I'd also support.

Michael said...

Matt,

I'm taking an ethics class right now at Harper, and would love it if you came in and 'philosophized' with us.

-Michael

Unknown said...

Like Knightfall1138 said, the more people who read you, the more people who read you. If we can have a website that comes up when people Google you it can direct them to your blog, your fanpage on facebook, and, most importantly, where to buy your books. It can also list appearances and provide info on how to invite you to conventions etc if you like. Which is why I'm offering to build a site. angoliant@gmail.com

Incidentally I work for Mile High Con which is a SF literary con in Denver. I'll push your name for an invitation - unless you don't do cons.

MWS said...

I have been known to do cons from time to time -- and I love Denver.

I did try to send an email from my AOL address:

brkngmad at aol dot com.

It may have been caught in your spam filter.

Unknown said...

Ah spam filters - love 'em and hate 'em.

I'll send you an email shortly. Let me know if you don't receive...

Craig R. Dawson said...

MWS, if you're interested in teaching, why not cut out the middle men? Maybe host something virtual? Like a series of seminars or whatever. Doesn't have to go all Uncle Orson or anything, all online could be easy and effective. Might be easier to develop than a whole book on the subject, and quicker to cash too.


Gotomeeting dot com, is supposed to be super cheap. Knightfall and Guy are right, there is a demand for this, especially amongst your fans. I bet several of us would sign up for that immediately.

Michael said...

you damned right we'd sign up. maybe the curriculum could include a couple of Stover short stories....

Knightfall said...

Not to mention the fact that if you're (allegedly) working on a God of War novel, you could totally drum up hype by doing a small interview for Kotaku.com.

They've already done an article on the book, so if you actually went in there and gave them the skinny, that would send many people this way. It could be like a response article.

In the gamer community, God of War is a big deal. I'm the only gamer I know that hasn't played it, and you'd be surprised at just how many exasperated sighs I receive about that fact. It's practically grounds for a hazing. xD

So the thousands that frequent Kotaku will definitely eat that up: an author's summary of the lore and what went into the adaptation of it.

Guy said...

"God of War novel" was the first thing Google suggested when I typed in just "God of War" (the second thing when I just put in "God of"). I thought I was the only one who hadn't played the game; good to know I'm not alone! I was actually doing a search to figure out what the game was even about. People must be looking forward to it.

...do I really have to say I'm one?

I'll go looking for author interviews. Yourself, Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, Scott Lynch, so on and so forth. On the Fantasy Book Critic blog there's an interview with someone who even mentions that Heroes Die is one of his favorite books, and on a Canadian comic book blog there's an interview with a DC comic book artist who says the same thing.

MWS said...

Um . . .

No. I can't, right now.

And I can't even tell you why I can't. Someday, the truth may be told. Depending . . . on factors I can't tell you about.

Knightfall said...

Oh, I bet. Sony probably has a sniper rifle trained on you at all times making sure nothing leaks. Nothing's a better motivation to the writing process than a laser sight streaming in through your window.

Nah, I was just mentioning it. I'm sure if Sony had it their way, not even you, as the author, would be privy to what's in the novel. Just wanted to let you know that there is a legion of gamers ready to embrace such an adaptation of Kratos' story.

Build it, and they will come.

Sam R said...

I am in total agreement im an american that moved to canada cause my wife is canadian and the health care is awesome here, i mean every time i watch the news and they say how canadians are dying and they have to wait in line, i just wanna throw something cause its the biggest load of bullshit ive ever heard, i mean you dont feel good you go to the doctor and if your really sick you go to the hospital and all you have to show them your health care card and you get in right away, i just had my tonsils out like a year ago and i would hate to think what my bill would have been if i was still in the states, when i left i didnt have health care and there was no way i could have afforded it, then their like "canadians pay more taxes", but dont really feel like i pay any more at all i make about the same i did now then when i was in america, and even if i pay a little more i GET FREE HEALTH CARE PEOPLE so it makes up for it in a big way. i mean im not really a super big fan of micheal moore but people need to watch Sicko its all true. But anyway Matthew you are awesome some of the best books ive ever read and i keep bugging my wife but i swear im gonna name my firstborn son Caine.

rebecca said...

Hi. Just putting in my 2cents - I'd definitely love a way to support Matt, whether that be through a tip jar or perhaps buying e-copies of short stories etc off the site. The e-books/short stories won't really cost you much besides time. Just an idea.

And I'd love to see a fan site :)

I joined the (new?) fan page on facebook, and I'll join the other if I can find it.