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Brett Schmidt gives us a nice back to school cover for the month!
This month has been a brutal month for me, so check back in a day or two to make sure everything is online. I've had a niggling health problem that has altered my work schedule to a day on, a day off and it's played havoc with my sleep schedule. Instead of doing what I should have been doing with the CT, I've been trying to sleep or sleeping. So, things are rolling a little late, but as my health problem is finally starting to resolve, I hope to get back to some modicum of normality soon.
I suppose you could ask, "Well, exactly what IS normal, Sheryl?" and I'd have to respond, "I don't exactly know what normal is, but if I find it, I'm giving guided tours," and "At least I know what's normal for me." So there you have it, next month I'll still have procrastinating writers, but the editor will be back on the ball.
Speaking of writers trying to get my goat, check out Jess Willey's Did I get What I Paid For? column. He's been twitting me in various online media over the past month about one of my personal favorite comics of all time. Yeah, Killraven is in the Chris Claremont over wordy mode, but it was the 1970's and it was the closest thing the Big Two were getting to an adult science fiction comic. Jesse didn't like it, but that's fine with me, because when Jesse doesn't like something, it's generally funny. If I had a thin skin, I wouldn't have lasted in nursing for the last 27 years.
Jamie Coville, who I think averages about 6 conventions a week, has another con report for us this month, covering the 2010 HobbyStar Toronto Fan Expo. Jamie says he is going to cut down on his conventions next year, and I don't blame him. Conventions are great, but if you do too many, they all start to seem the same. If you pick and choose the ones you go to, you get a better personal experience for yourself. I'm plenty grateful for all of the con reports Jamie has written in the past year, but I'm all about having meaningful life experiences, too.
Rick Higginson has written what I think is an important essay. I think he makes a very valid point about name calling. How many of us have followed a discussion thread on the internet only to have it devolve into name calling? I think it was fine when it was limited to usenet groups and message boards, because you could write it off to "the crazy internet people." When it makes it into the media and into the political arena, it has gone too far. So please go read it.
There's a heck of a lot more good stuff, so take some time and look around. Next month things will be back to normal around here and maybe I'll have found the time to write up all of the reviews of the books I have read since my little health problem sidelined my life.
Sheryl Roberts
Editor, The Collector Times
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