For those who haven't been following (or those who have but gave up after this blog sat stagnant for a year), "Quack" is the sequel to "Cluck" and is even more fun.  Cluck had undead chickens wrapped in a healthy layer of humor (like some kind of corpsified hors d'oeuvres), but Quack has ... well it has:

I mean, I'm a multiple-award winning author for my skillfully crafted undead-chicken fiction ... and the type of mind that can do that is the same type of mind that secretly enjoys an amazon sales rank measured in millions.

It's the way that it seems so sarcastic, when it says "Amazon Sales Rank: #2,848,012 (see Bestsellers in Books!)" ... as in, "now that you've seen an example of a book that sells terribly, check out some that other people actually read!"

And now, with this review, someone is bound to buy a copy, plummeting the sales rank down into the two-millions, or even worse, into the self-respecting hundreds-of-thousands.

Anyway, I stopped by today and saw the cover art for James' upcoming book, to be published (soon, I think) by ROC under the title "State of Decay."  I'm not exactly sure when it will hit stands, which is why I stopped by, but it's worth watching for: I read an early draft and it's fantastic.  It has a taste that's a bit like Blade Runner, and a bit like brains.  And probably chicken, since everything does.  No zombie chickens (you can't have everything), but there are walking dead types called Revivors, and that should be good enough to support a new author.  The sci-fi- genre needs new talent, so remember: if you don't buy my brother's book it makes you a communist.  So there.

I'll post a review after I read the official published version.

PS - this is the first post that I was able to tag as both 'reading' and 'writing' ... neat.

I'll fill in more detail later, once the official ACSLNE website goes live, but since we were covered by NHPR last night I think it's okay to give a bit more of a teaser (you can hear the NHPR story here, and see a video here). So, for now here are some pictures, starting with the founder of the ACSLNE, in a photo that sums up everything that the league stands for: Courage; Fire; Honor!

This was my combat suit, the Mega Robo Pyro Chicken.  It was a crowd pleaser, and got me 15 minutes of fame on the front page of the Keene Sentinel.  Neither the Sentinel nor NHPR mentioned the method to my madness, which was to promote "Cluck," but that's okay: 15 minutes is still 15 minutes.

This was my first of three opponents, and also the new 2008 ACSLNE champion, piloting under the team name "Wonder boy."  Notice the size of that round?  I constantly hear people say, "meh, I shoot bottle rockets at my friends all the time."  Well, take another look, 'cuz that ain't a bottle rocket.  The other thing I constantly hear people say is, "you're one crazy, stupid, suicidal son of a bitch," and well, okay, you've got me with that one.

More on the sport can be found at the ACSLNE official site (coming soon)!