Several sources in ufology have suggested that based on the condition of the alien bodies found at the Roswell sites early July, 1947, the alien ships must have crashed on approximately 30 June.

To celebrate the culmination of their Sci Fi month in June, Logan North Library in Brisbane is launching Stargate SG-1: Roswell  (Yay! We got to keep the brilliant cover) on the 70th anniversary of the crashing of the Roswell ships, on Saturday afternoon, June 30, 2007.

How cool are those librarians????

Sonny will be giving a two hour presentation and Q&A session on World Building for novels and games prior to the launch, mainly directed at students and educators interested in creative industries careers. The presentation will touch on diverse skills, including English, geography (social and physical) , politics, ecology, astronomy, anthropology (physical and social, particularly mythology) and so forth. Hopefully, without me there, Dudley won't be helping with the PowerPoint presentation, and it should go off without a hitch:)

Of course, you don't have to go to the presentation in order to be part of the book launch!

Now, the best thing about all of this is that it's entirely free - and that includes the snacks and beverages - conditional on booking it with Logan North Library, of course.

So, hop to it all you Brisbane Stargate fans! Free munchies and drinks await you!

Phone (07) 3412 4140 (Amanda Platt)
Email: libraries@logan.qld.gov.au
Attention: Amanda Platt

This is not yet advertised officially - and their library staff are as yet unaware of the details - so bear that in mind if you're going to book early.  And please feel free to pass this around, because its going to be a fun party and I can't be there *mournful sigh*, so you'll all have to have a drink for me and stop Sonny having too much of a good time in my absence)

I am jealous now:)

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On another note, regarding yesterday's blog, thanks to Blue, who was able to put my mind at rest. Hercules is a hoax. See the details here.

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If you'd like to vote for my daily ramblings, follow the link on the Blogger's Choice logo. You do have to register to vote, but it only takes a minute or two.

My mother used to tell me that no matter how bad you thought your lot in life was, there was always someone who had it worse.

This phrase leapt to mind earlier this evening, when Mount Bruce (all 45 kgs of Mount Bruce) decided the only place in the whole house he wanted to sit, was on my lap.

So there I am, being slowly crushed to death by this mountain of canine muscle-did I mention how much this wretched puppy weighs?-when Secondborn (who was sitting comfortably on the couch  across the room, mind you, surfing the net on her laptop - hence the reason Bruce opted for my lap) declares "Oh my God!"

This phrase, uttered out of the blue, tends to get one's attention. Trying to look over the top of Bruce, wondering how long my oxygen would last, I asked her what at prompted her exclamation.

"You are never allowed to complain about how big Bruce is again," she told me. "Someone just emailed me this. Check it out."

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If you'd like to vote for my daily ramblings, follow the link on the Blogger's Choice logo. You do have to register to vote, but it only takes a minute or two.

We've nominated the Jennifer Fallon Blog for a Blogger's Choice Award in four different categories: Best Celebrity Blog, Best Blog About Stuff, Best Entertainment Blog and Best Pop Culture Blog.

If you'd like to vote for my daily ramblings, follow the link on the Blogger's Choice logo. You do have to register to vote, but it only takes a minute or two. (Schizophrenics may have to register twice). I won't win, of course (pretty sure Rosie O'Donnell has it stitched up), but it's nice to be on the list and I do get to use the groovy little yellow dude logo on my site:)

So...time to make your votes count people! And thanks in anticipation of your support.

While you're there, why not vote for a few of the other categories as well? There are quite a number of them (Rosie O'Donnell seems to have the Worst Blog category stitched up too...hehehe)

And in a further burst of good news... Treason Keep, Harshini and Eye of the Labyrinth all went to reprint this week in Australia. I'd tell you how many reprints there have been, except I stopped counting all of them when Medalon got to 15 in Australia, so who knows...

I wrote a line of dialogue today that had one character asking another to "cut me some slack". After I wrote it, I started to worry that it was a little too contemporary, so I went looking for the origins of the saying. Turns out it's a nautical reference from sailing ships and has something to do with rope and hoisting sails, so I was in the clear.

But in the process of looking for the origin of "cut me some slack", I came across all sorts of other interesting sites, and quite a few that listed new words in the English language.

So... here you are, a chance to improve your WORDROBE, [that's a person's vocabulary, in case you're wondering. A blend of word and wardrobe. Seriously]

These little gems were collected by members of the class Linguistics/English 215, Words in English: Structure, History and Use, at Rice University 1996-99.

• ANDROPAUSE (OR VIROPAUSE), n. The end of virility. [blend of virility and menopause
• A.S.S. GRADUATE, n. A long-winded person (who's attended the "American Sidebartending School"). [Lingo used by journalists covering the O.J. Simpson Civil Trial. Found in Newsweek]
• AUTO "DENTIST", n. One who repairs dents, hail damage, and other types of minor damage on automobiles. ["dentist" to mean "one who repairs dents."]
• BFE , adj. Very far away: Beyond Fu**ing Egypt. also B.F.E., b.f.e. [Acronym. Egypt was chosen somewhat arbitrarily as a country on the opposite side of the world. Variant: Bomfoq Egypt]
• DEFLICTED,adj. Affected with a condition that misshapes or distorts. [Blend of "afflicted" and "deformed."]
• DISORIENT EXPRESS, n. A state of confusion. [novel formation].
• F.I.N.E, adj. acronym (F*cked up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional). Usually derogatory; indicated by tone of voice.
• FURTHER-FETCHED, adj. Beyond far-fetched [Compound further and fetched]
• GLOBOBOSS, n. A cosmopolitan executive that has the ability to perform well across the globe.
• ITO'D, v. To get hit on the head, especially with a TV crew's boom microphone. *
  
• LOSINGEST, adj. In last place, worst off, lagging behind the rest. ["losing"+ superlative]
• MCJOB, n. A job in a service related field with low pay, low prestige and little opportunity for advancement [analogous word formed from prefix Mc- and job ].
• MEANDERTHAL, n. An annoying individual moving slowly and aimlessly in front of another individual who is in a bit of a hurry [blend formed from meander and neanderthal ]
• POPAGANDA, n. Music that is popular with the general public, and has purpose or is trying promote particular ideas. [Blend of pop (clipping of popular) and propaganda]
• PSYCHODRAMATIC, adj. very crazy (psychotic) and overly dramatic. [blend of psychotic and dramatic]
• SARCASTROPHE, n. An embarrassing and catastrophic event occurring when an individual attempts and fails to use humorous sarcasm [blend of sarcasm and catastrophe ].
• SCHIZO, n. A cup of coffee made with equal parts of caffeinated and de-caffeinated coffee [clip of schizophrenia].
• SHOPGRIFTING, v. to 'rent' something for free by purchasing it and then returning it within 30 days for a full refund. [Compound of shop + grift "to swindle"]

And my favourite...

• INTERQUEL, n. A television production that dramatizes a story lying temporally between the story in the original production and that of its sequel. [Analogical formation from model word sequel, first extension  prequel via re-cutting to form new morpheme quel; then prefixed with inter- 'between']
  

If you're interested, the full list is here. In the meantime, I won't worry too much about these words. Can't use them anyway.

Although I am thinking of writing an interquel...

*They have a word for this now????

There are builders in my kitchen jack-hammering the old tiles off the wall.

The little dogs are outside complaining, JoJo the Cat has disappeared. Stevie the Cat is sitting on the dining room table, supervising the work, totally unfazed by the noise.

We sent Mount Bruce to work with Secondborn this morning to get him out of the house. He gets orgasmically excited over the vacuum cleaner. God knows what he'd do when he heard a jack-hammer start up.

Needless to say, I'm not getting a lot of work done. So I've been wasting time surfing the net where I came across this post about the 16 First Rules of Fiction.

So, here they are... and the link to the blog where I found them, which is a truly fascinating and informative site, even if the author (Geoffrey K Pullam) does spend an inordinate amount of time discussing everything that is wrong with The Da Vinci Code.

16 First Rules of Fiction.

• Show, don't tell, 
• Be readable; grasp the reader's attention.
• Don't explain.
• Know your characters.
• Drop the reader right into the middle of the action.
• You can do anything.
• Write what you know.
• You can't talk about fiction.
• Be true to the characters and let the story flow from them.
• A relieved sigh ALWAYS brings trouble.
• Truth is stranger than fiction, so appeal to the sense of absurd to gain credibility.
• Never, ever, let your readers be confused about the precise geographical locations of your minor characters.
• The narrator can't die.
• Create a believable universe out of nothing.
• It is not real life, but it must somehow honestly represent something of real life.
• The voice may be yours, but the characters are just characters.