Diversions: Summer 2009

It's time I came clean: I do not like massively long blog sidebars stuffed with links that few notice and fewer click. Trim and pared down, that's my style. But what's a guy to do when he wants to share online finds and still maintain a neat template? Enter Diversions, a new series of quarterly posts that will appear under the "Fun Stuff" section. Because writers need a break, too ...

• Ideas often start from quick snatches, in everything from a fleeting image to a simple proposition. The folks at Flashy Fiction had the stellar idea of offering a picture or sentence a day with the goal of jump starting your writing. Participants can tell their super-short stories in the comments of each post. Note that regular ISLF commenter B. Nagel is one of the seven editors. So, B., how exactly did you end up being the only male among those six lovely ladies?

• Many years ago in a life now far, far away, I used to review movies, which is good work if you can get it. Strange Culture, a film blog that covers both popular and independent cinema, brings me back to days spent scrawling on a legal pad in the back row, a Maglite clenched in my fist.

• My iPod exists for audiobooks, and nothing makes a sweaty afternoon mowing the lawn move faster than listening to a good story. But the grass just keeps on growing, and my bank account doesn't seem to keep pace. Where can a person find thrilling tales for free? Why, at Transmissions From Beyond, that's where! TTA Press, publishers of Interzone, Black Static and Crimewave have syndicated quite a few of their stories via podcast, all of which are read by professionals or by their authors. Of the ones I've listened to so far, standouts include "A Handful of Dust" (a supremely creepy crime tale), "Longing For Langalana" (classic sociological SF about the nature of love) and "Feelings of the Flesh" (epic fantasy in the vein of Robert E. Howard).

• Jeeps and jumps! Grappling hooks and raptors! Pith helmets and monocles! There's nothing like an Off-Road Velociraptor Safari. But don't blame me if you inadvertantly while away your entire afternoon ...

(Picture: CC 2006 by Anders B.)