Too tired to brain. Have an open thread.

[seanan_mcguire]

I am too tired to brain today. Here; have an open thread. Ask anything, bring up anything, whatever makes you happy (although I ask that you avoid detailed book spoilers—I have forums for that).

I will brain later, but right now, I have the dumb.

Comments

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Why are you so fond of machetes? I find the bowie knife to be far more practical.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

They're pretty.

[deire.livejournal.com]

I have the anxious. Could you use the dumb to throw sticks for me to run fetch over and over and over till the anxious and dumb wear off? ;)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

FETCH, DEIRE, FETCH!

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

What are you planning to eat for lunch today?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Probably peas.

[mac-arthur-park.livejournal.com]

I have the OCD starting new second job today (researching the menu, wondering how I am going to pronounce the food I'll be shilling, setting up every possible scenerio in my head....yes, this is why I write). I might actually prefer the dumb. ;)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Aww.

You'll be awesome.

[lostwind.livejournal.com]

With the understanding that the Seanan is a busy hive-mind, and has many projects going on, and those projects take up much of her time, and we support that in its fullest... Will there be further developments in the Velveteen Vs.-verse anytime before the end of 2010?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yes, actually! I'm trying to wrap up Sparrow Hill, and then it's back to Vel. Next is "Velveteen vs. the Secret Identity," wherein she and Tag get more serious.

[grey-lady.livejournal.com]

I hate what I'm working on right now. Tell me something amusing that the cats are up to?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

This morning, they ENGULFED me. Like, serious OCEANS OF PURRING FLUFF, as they tried to keep me from leaving the bed (and hence, potentially leaving the house).

It was adorable. And futile.

[hsifyppah.livejournal.com]

Diet THE BLOOD OF THE INNOCENT. It comes in a really disturbing can. It's really much better for everyone when DDP is available.

[sdelmonte]

What horror films/books/TV shows/comics of a recent vintage - let's say since January 2009 - can you recommend? I am curious if you read American Vampire, which almost but didn't quite work for me.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I haven't yet, because it hasn't come out in trade. I'm really loving Haven, and I loved the heck out of The Thaw. Oh, and John Dies at the End, and Ex-Heroes, both awesome books.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

How are platypi effected by the zombie virus in Feed?

[lysystratae.livejournal.com]

Probably not at all, since they only get to be about 5 pounds according to wikipedia

[ceitfianna]

Is there a genre that you just can't read or watch because you know too much about it?

This was brought up by discussing the eras of historical fiction and why sometimes studying such eras making enjoying serious fiction about them hard.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I sometimes have issues with movies about plague. I tend to swear at the screen a lot.

[kiyala.livejournal.com]

A fleet of dragons go to war with a fleet of alien warships. Which side wins?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

The viewer.

[jeffreycwells.livejournal.com]

I'm going to a launch party in San Francisco! FOR A BOOK I HELPED WRITE!!!

What's, um, a launch party?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I'm totally excited! Even if I'm going to miss the party ('cause I'm in Ohio that weekend). We have to have dinner while you're in town, and before I leave town.

A launch party is a public event to celebrate the release of a book. There are often snacks. People come to tell you how awesome you are. I sometimes have a raffle. Lots of books are sold. It's cool, and a lot of fun.

[shiyiya.livejournal.com]

Have you ever played the flash game Pandemic (and Pandemic II), in which you evolve a virus (or a bacteria or a parasite, they have their own advantages) and try to infect and kill everyone in the world?

(Or Infectonator, in which you turn everyone into zombies and kill them.)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Stupid Madagascar. :(

[bigherman.livejournal.com]

Traditionally/naturally-dyed protein-based fabric uses iron as a mordant. Do you think that having as much as 7% iron content in a fabric would deter fae? Is this an excuse to wear black?

[bigherman.livejournal.com]

Uh, I mean to get a black color with natural dyes on protein fibers (wool, silk, alpaca, yak down) you need to use an iron mordant. (Other mordants won't quite get you black.)

[jeffreycwells.livejournal.com]

Oh, and:

Slaughtering K-A infected cows to eat results in certain virus amplification in the carcasses, but what happens if you slice a steak off a still-living cow? Can you eat that?

(And yes, I know, they're probably steers. It's just funnier to say "cow".)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

No. But if you can swallow a whole cow at once, you're golden.

Iguana has become the other white meat.

Re: Facts about Seanan

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Awwwwww.

[bearhand.livejournal.com]

netHack - Barbarian or Priest?

And do you ditch your pet as soon as possible or do you get it killed off?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I never played.

[archangelbeth]

As a tie-in to the platypodes question... Do zombies of different species cooperate the way human-only zombie-packs apparently do? Does the zombie lion hunt with the zombie lamb sheep?

And......... Not asking what the answer is, but does the author know the answer (yet) as to why/how zombies apparently become more intelligent in larger groups? Or is this a mystery of the universe, not to be plumbed but only accepted because it makes zombies... um... cooler is not the word, but hopefully you know what I mean.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yes, they do, and yes, I do.

[seattlejo.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, when you were in town I let my social anxiety get to me and didn't come out to meet you. You're just so cool! I was afraid I was going to drool on you or something.

Yes indeed. Seattlejo =dork since 1975

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm sorry you didn't come out, but maybe next time? I understand the glassy-eyed stare, I promise.

[asphaltangel.livejournal.com]

I hope that Feed gets some of its readers interested in blogging on campaigns (because that would make the bloggers staffing the presidential WAY more fun- all politicos should have an appreciation for zombie lit). Despite the lack of zombies (so far), it's a really, really cool job. I still can't believe some of the things I got to do in '04.

On post-zombie presidential races... Do Dixville Notch and Hart's Location still carry out the midnight vote?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yes.

Yes, they do.

[beable]

Did you know that if you are sort of half watching a vampire TV show (I think it was called Gates or Gate or something like that) and change the channel to Boston Legal without realizing it (again - because it's not something I watch much), that it becomes *very* difficult to figure out the plot.

From what I could tell, it started with this girl getting these pills to keep her from killing people. And then there were people talking about a missing woman, and this secret community enclave and there were police and stuff, and they seemed to know about it. And then after the commercial (at which point I must have accidentally bumped the remote), there was a weird woman who looked plausibly vampiric trying to seduce a guy in a suit who looked like William Shatner. And for some reason the rest of the episode seemed to be in court, and it was all about all about a murder and defending someone wrongly accused, so I kept waiting for it to go back to other parts of the storyline, because surely covering up a vampire's meal as a murder investigation could only be part of the story. And this weird guy kidnapped someone (he seemed too dorky to be head vampire, but hey - people were avoiding entering his space without permission!) and sang Chipmunks Christmas Carols at her.

It now occurs to me that the next wave on Youtube should clearly be doing TV show mashups, because buried in there was probably a plot that could have made sense if only I had given it my full attention.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

...yes. TV show mashups should be the next big thing.

How to ruin a perfectly innocent game of Pokemon

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Catch a Mareep. (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Mareep_(Pok%C3%A9mon)) Note that it's essentially a sheep and after a whole afternoon of Sean of the Sheep (kid LOVES it), I have Sean on the brain.

But this one's female. NO PROBLEM.

And then I start playing with it. And realize just what I'd done.

"Seanan uses THUNDERSHOCK!"
"Seanan is hurt by poison!"
"Seanan's STATIC has paralyzed its opponent. It may not be able to move!"

...

Fuck yeah, Seaking...indeed. 9_9

So help me, the shiny version of this thing had BETTER been orange and green, so help me.

Re: How to ruin a perfectly innocent game of Pokemon

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

HA!

That's awesome.

[hiza-chan.livejournal.com]

So, Feed broke me and now all I want to do is read zombie books. Sadly, the only one I own is World War Z and I've read that a couple times. Any recommendations? (This applies to zombie movies as well, of course.)

If you don't mind another opinion ...

[inkedhistorian.livejournal.com]

"The Living Dead" (anthology) for a variety of awesome stuff, "Breathers" if you want zombie perspective and a little campiness, and Toothless (comes out Oct 31) for historical/crusade era zombies (I read a review copy, and OH AWESOME, plus it's on the serious side, like WWZ). "Day By Day Armageddon" is also dark, more military minded (main character and author are both military men) and included man vx man as well as man vs zombie. "The Walking Dead" is a great graphic novel, and for that matter so is "Lurkers" (though Lurkers is a one shot and WD is a series, currently being made into a TV show).

[markbernstein.livejournal.com]

How goes the quest for a second Maine Coon? And once the quest is successfully completed, where will you sleep?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Extremely well, and I will sleep in a sea of puffy blue.

[vincentursus.livejournal.com]

Do you have any pointers regarding the care and feeding of a genetically engineering pet velociraptor?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Do not feed it your fingers.