Ganked this off Twitter soon as I got home.  The tweets are from Emperor Hutchins in regards to Playing For Keeps by the Mighty Mur Lafferty.

I am just thrilled that Playing for Keeps did so very well and will be picking up my copies soon as the first paycheck rolls in and the bills are paid.  Seriously, Mur, you RAWK and congratulations!

Originally posted on 4/21/2008 by FlippantMoniker about the Playing for Keeps podcast(which is why the original cover is still here).  Repost value - it’s Mighty Monday, there’s no better reason than that.

Well, now I’d like to yammer a bit about Mur Lafferty’s Playing For Keeps.

Fantastic!!

This novel is set in a very recognizable future, where a small fraction of the population has developed super powers. There are the usual players: Heroes, Villains, Police.. But there are also those people who’ve developed.. Hmm.. let’s not call them “powers”. Let’s call them.. special quirks. There’s a chick who will never drop her bar tray. There’s a dude who shoots poop out of his hands. Ooh ooh, and a guy who has ultimate, unquestioned power and control.. over elevators. And then there’s our heroine: Keepsie. Her special power: nothing belonging to her can be stolen.

The story is comfortable and easy to follow. Mur’s performance and writing are really, just delightful. She’s got some teeth, and characters to buy the farm, but it’s not a slaughter fest, which I appreciated. Ooh ooh! And another thing I loved.. Occasionally things would come up in the story, and I’m all like “Wait a minute.. That’s not right because of X Y and Z!!” Then, come to find out, I was right. It’s fun, it’s well put together, and I cared about the characters. Brava! Brava!

I feel a little compelled to say at least something negative, I mean, this isn’t much of an exercise in critique if all I do is gush, right? Hmm, Well, okay, in the beginning, it’s a little hard to keep track of the heroes and their powers. Or, well, the Pseudoheroes. Everyone is very normal, very average (and I think that’s the point) but, I found myself in a couple places wishing I’d kept a list. This levels out though.

Okay, the next thing is not a complaint, so much as a “I hope in the second book she…” statement. Next time, I’d like more in depth exploration of the would be heroes’ powers. We got a great look at them in this book, but if there is a sequel and series to follow (hope hope beg plead hope) then that is one thing I’d like to see more of, How the powers feel to use, how they become instinctive- second nature.. Stuff like that.

Again, we got a great look at that in Playing For Keeps, but I’d like to see even more in the next one.

Seriously, scroll through the entries here, cause there’s a vblog story that’s a lot of fun! And there’s merchandising! That means you can go buy stuff. So, naturally, I compell you. Compelllll compellllll!(Not gonna say it’s adult, compared to other stuff, but there is some violence, some death and some kinda graphic stuff. If you’re SUPER squeamish, maybe have someone screen the “eeeew” bits for you )

Regrettably not having running water and not being in my house most of the weekend has kept me from finishing the review I promised you all about Playing For Keeps – the novel.  I’m about 2/3rds through the book and hope to have it finished tonight or tomorrow.  I promise you’ll still get the review.

For now, I want to wish Mur Lafferty the best of luck with her Amazon.com run today, and if you want to pick up your own copy of this excellent story you can do so by clicking on the Playing for Keeps banner in the side bar.  Let’s shoot Mur to the top, huh?  She definitely deserves it!

Today you’ll see Nick’s review of the original podcast and I’ll try and get the book finished and reviewed for you tomorrow.  We’ll see what’s going on with the powers that be and if there’s water and I’m not too worn from work.

Hope you all have a super day, avoid the Zupra and go enjoy Playing for Keeps.

And could someone leave a comment about how well Mur does when all is said and done?  I don’t have net access from work.

Thanks!!

I thought I knew my posters.  I collected them as a child and used them for wallpaper.  Empire Online just proved me so very, very wrong.  So I’ll pose the same question to you that I failed to answer.  Can you guess all these movies from just these letters? I only scored 18 out of 46.  Guess I need to look at them better next time.  But I wish you luck if you decide to try your hand at it.  It’s not as easy as you might think.

I will say that as a little bit of a trivia game, it’s a fun way to waste a bit of extra time.

Rating:

Hi folks!  Just wanted to share with you the PDF of Mur Lafferty’s Playing for Keeps (warning BIG FILE, may take some time to load).  Though if you follow just half the stuff I do you probably already have it. =D  My review will be up Monday to coincide with the BIG release of Playing for Keeps on Amazon.com.

Go out and get yourself a FIRST life!

So, for a couple years now (it feels that way) I’ve really envied anyone who can get onto the virtual reality community called Second Life.  See, when I was in High School, I wrote a story (more like a 346 page novel) based in a scifi / fantasy setting, where people could log in to a VR universe.  Therefore, when Second Life came out I was all, “Pa- Payow!”.  But, I never had a computer that could run SL until just recently.

My buddy wyped Vista off this computer I have and installed some .. linux stuff and low- and behold, I can run SL!  So, I run right out, download and install it, and get to tooling around.

My High School fantasy come true.  Two years of waiting and envy have come to and end.  I am on.  Second Life.

Dun, Dun, Emming Effing Dumb!  What a friggin waste of all that emo and plex!  I mean, my computer isn’t super graphix max awesome, yeah, but it’s not shoebox with wires either.  So, I log in, wait for things to res. Wait for the world to render, wait for my avatar to appear and then..  nothing

I’m in a weird looking world comprised of bunches of random props that just do not relate to one another, watching a bunch of awkwardly animated characters mull around striking arbitrary poses while making occasional lewd noises.  I met one of my friends there who gave me a cool dragon costume, and then was promptly assaulted by someone wearing assless pejamas with smiley faces all over them who was trying to cyber hump me to some stupid techno song I haven’t heard since 2002.

I can fly.  Wee.  I can walk around under water.  Wee.  I can look at creepy avatars.  Wee.

OR I can slam my fingers in a car door and get about as much enjoyment out of my time.  OOH my gawds, people, What a waste of bandwidth and time.

Sure, there may be some worlds therein with neat scenery and pros with which you can interact in some meaningful way.  Maybe there is a plot SOMEwhere - or SOME role-playing, but damned if I have the patience to find it.  So, I say BOOO!   BOO to Second Life.

Boo, Boo, Boo, it’s a waste of your first life, Boo.  I’ll be sure to write even more about how I hate it after I log out. IN- a few hours.

Its like internet crack, and the HIGH isn’t even that good!

Rating:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 25 Release Date for Mur Lafferty’s Playing for Keeps

Swarm Press is pleased to announce the upcoming release of breakthrough podcaster and author Mur Lafferty’s newest novel of superheroic action Playing for Keeps. Originally a self-released “podiobook,” this new printed version of Lafferty’s novel is due to hit shelves on August 25, 2008.

Playing for Keeps by Mur Lafferty.

Welcome to Seventh City, the birthplace of super powers. The First Wave heroes are jerks, but they have the best gifts: flight, super strength, telepathy, genius, fire. The Third Wavers, like bar-owner Keepsie Branson and her friends, are stuck with the leftovers: the ability to instantly make someone sober, the power to smell the past, absolute control… over elevators.  They just aren’t powerful enough to make a difference… at least that’s what they’ve always been told. But when the villain Doodad slips Keepsie a mysterious metal sphere, the Third Wavers become caught in the middle of a battle between egotistical heroes and manipulative villains.

“Playing for Keeps grabbed me and kept me reading straight through when I should have been plotting a new fantasy series for Tor Books. Mur, thank you. Tor, however, does not thank you.” – David Drake, author, Hammer’s Slammers.

Mur Lafferty is an American podcaster and writer based in Durham, North Carolina. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated with a degree in English. Her nonfiction work has appeared at www.SuicideGirls.com, as well as in the magazines Knights of the Dinner Table, PC Gamer, Computer Games, Scrye, and SciFi Magazine. Her short fiction has appeared in Hub, Escape Pod, and Scrybe. She was, until July, 2007, the host and co-editor of Pseudopod, and is currently the host and creator of the podcasts Geek Fu Action Grip and I Should be Writing. Visit Mur online at www.murverse.com

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Media: to schedule an interview with Mur or to request a review copy of Playing for Keeps, contact publicist Matt Staggs at mattormeg@gmail.com.

With a name like “The Devil’s Panties” I’m sure many of you are wondering where the porn is, but Jennie Breeden’s tag line says it the best “Not Satanic Porn…Honest.”  Instead what you get is a semi autobiographical webcomic jam packed with humor.  You get to wonder through Jennie’s life and mind as she works her way through life, family and …dun dun dun… Conventions!

Unfortunately, while at DragonCon ’07, even knowing who she was I walked right passed her booth.  Why?  Because at that time I hadn’t read enough of her comics to know that I should have been on hands and knees kissing her flaming leather boots.

Aside from having a wonderful sense of humor, Jennie is also a brilliant artist.  She places a lot of sketches up for filler when need be and the pieces look like they should be breathing.  Additionally she’s designed her own deck of playing cards using characters in various poses and clothing to adorn the faces.

Judging by her photo galleries from various Cons, she is a very approachable person who enjoys meeting her fans.  Even so, I’m not so sure I’d want to be near her were I male and kilted.  I’ve seen, and heard, that she’s got a mean hand with a leaf blower.  Some of the men certainly don’t seem to mind, they even signed a waver for a calendar.  But, she was nice and actually posted a warning as to when the kilt blowing party would be at this year’s DragonCon.

The Devil’s Panties has been around since 2001 and she’s swiftly approaching her 7th anniversary with the comic.  WOOT!  Her skill has grown in leaps and bounds with both humor and artistic style since it premiered.  I do advise that you take a peek, I think you’ll find it worth the time as she, and the comic, are all around awesome.

Already a reader?  Share your thoughts on The Devil’s Panties in the comments.