What the Fuck is Hillary Clinton Doing in a Commercial for Ford Pickups?

I may have to kill my television again before 2016 gets here. I actually couldn't watch this folksy g-dropping piece of dreck until the end, so don't feel that you need to either.

The Smashwords Independent Author Manifesto

Smashwords founder Mark Coker just published a ten-point "Indie Author Manifesto" on his blog yesterday:

"Where once self publishing was viewed as the option of last resort - the option for failed writers and an option marked by stigma and shame - self publishing is increasingly viewed as the option of first choice for many writers.  Over the next couple years I think we'll reach a point where more first-time writers aspire to indie-publish than traditionally publish.  Indie authors are the cool kids club."

As one of those newly independent novelists, please forgive me for plugging (I mean "marketing") my brand-new addition to the glut (I mean "phenomenon"):

Fire Answers Fire at Amazon  
at Apple iTunes
at Barnes & Noble
at Flipkart (India)
at Scribd.
at Smashwords
The Fire Answers Fire page on Goodreads

The Marketing Slogan of the Day

"When in Doubt Drink" was seen on the blackboard in front of Louise and Jerry's Tavern on Washington Street in Hoboken, 25 October 2012.

It's not just a joke.
Imagine how much more peaceful the world would be if the Middle East had more doubt. And more drinking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Update 11/16:  I took and posted this picture only four days before Hurricane Sandy, simply because the blackboard message struck me as funny.  None of us had any sense that New York harbor would see the storm surge it did and that no basement businesses or apartments in Hoboken would be dry when the Hudson River came to town and stayed for a few days..

My Luddite Resolve Is Weakening

I may finally have to get an e-reader.

I've been lugging the heavy hardcover version of Mason & Dixon in my computer bag lately. Its rewards are worth the effort, but I'd love to be able to carry all of Thomas Pynchon's novels at once, and all the time, without a wagon.