Ketchup

I’ve also managed to read a few books this summer, and lately I’ve been on a tear for Douglas Preston. I guess I’ve been living under a rock! This guy’s books are awesome good fun.

First we have The Codex. I won’t get into plot descriptions except to say I had to wonder if Preston has actually visited the interior jungles of Honduras. This book literally reeked of swamps and bugs. It was fun but didn’t hit me as hard as Blasphemy. There were a few threads in the narrative that only barely tied together or faded suddenly into nothing, which left me to the book an overall grade of a “B.” There was never any question that the hot feisty heroine and the cool-headed hero would fall madly in love — that’s just a given — but there were two other characters in the line-up who were especially original and fantastic, Borabay and best of all Don Alfonso. When a character's dialogue makes you laugh out loud, you know it's being done right. In my mind, these two carried the book.

Next up was Tyrannosaur Canyon, which I liked even better than Blasphemy. A+. What I’m noticing about Preston’s work is that his books are remarkably accessible and straightforward despite the unique, high concepts involved in each book. I admire that a lot. At least 60% of Tyrannosaur Canyon is straight-out action, and yet it’s loaded with science, paleontology, geology, and cutting-edge military tech. Perfect. As someone who grew up steeped in science fiction, I had to smile when one heroine declared that the big surprise at the end was so unexpected that even generations of science fiction writers never imagined such a twist... I mean, at least 100 pages before the big twist was officially revealed, I was thinking of books and films like Calculating God, Assemblers of Infinity, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but honestly: A+. This is great stuff. Highly recommended.

Labels: Douglas Preston, Recommended Reading, The Codex and Tyrannosaur Canyon

Amidst the ongoing excitement, I've also recently become JEFF-E, which is like WALL-E, only better. Jolly Enthusiastic Frank Fast-Enunciator, that's me. Last week I was glad to be on a local NPR show called Insight here in northern California with host Jeffrey Callison. This guy was well-prepared and threw me a couple fast balls. I'm on about forty minutes into the show. You can find the program available now as a podcast here.

Also this week, I was the guest author on Cult Pop, a cable show that runs in Detroit and two dozen other cities in Michigan with our good host Jim Hall. Cult Pop also plays on the web right here. Brace yourself. I was highly caffeinated for this program! :)

Upcoming, I'm slated for an appearance on Tech Now, which, as you might guess, is a technology-oriented show. We're going to talk about nanobots, book trailers, and the fluid ever-frightening future of publishing. Be there on the cutting edge with us! Syndicated by NBC, Tech Now plays up and down the West Coast in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego as well as on the web. Their site is here. More info on Tech Now when the date firms up.

Busy busy busy. I have several more fun things to share but no time to blog. Probably I'm going to sell my wife and kids. Think of how many hours that would save me. Not to mention the money! The bidding starts at $750,000.00.

Labels: Cult Pop, NPR, radio TV appearances, TechNow

One of the reasons I've been especially overwhelmed this summer is because I do things like this. No, you're right, I haven't been launching off cliffs in big powder since early springtime... but it turns out that if you spend a lifetime throwing stunts like this, maybe there's a chance that one of 'em eventually won't work out so well. Who knew?

Back in March 2006, I broke my leg in three places between ankle and knee and became one-sixteenth Wolverine, i.e., my leg was reinforced with a 14" titanium rod, a 4" plate, two bolts and five screws. Hooray.

The crazy part is that I never missed a ski season, although I had to take it pretty easy in 2007. The bummer is that the metal hurt all the time. The screwheads rubbed in the soft tissue. I definitely didn't want to be 65 with this junk still in me. It had to go. My surgeon said we could have removed the hardware last spring, but then he would have insisted that I didn't ski at all this year. Life is short. I would rather be in pain for another year and ski than not be in pain and not ski. Follow me?

This spring I was finally 110%. We pulled the hardware, I'm rehabbing, and I expect to hit the slopes hard again this coming season... maybe with my skis on the ground instead of in the sky.

The main lesson here? Breaking your leg badly is expensive and painful, but most of all it's a massive time-suck. Between pre-op visits, surgery, recovery, post-op visits and physical therapy, I figure I've dropped four full weeks of writing time, which is a serious bummer. So I'm behind. But the new book is ASS WHOMPINGLY COOL. That's actually the real terminology in the publishing industry. The acronym is AWC, as in "Oh, yeah, Jeff's new project is AWC." :)

More soon.

Labels: The Ex-Titanium Man

A friend emailed this to me today...

Sorry to have been absent. It's pretty silly when you're so busy that you don't even blog for weeks at a time. I do finally have my next set of photos organized to reveal just why and how someone would need a garbage bag accessory in the pool. More soon! Maybe! Busy busy busy!

Labels: Medical prototype nanotechnology cancer cure

Recently, Diana and I also managed to carve a few hours out of our relentless lives to really relax. Here you have it all. Pool. Raft. Daiquiri. Douglas Preston's The Codex. Garbage bag and duct tape.

Hmm. What's wrong with this picture?

Labels: Summer In Style