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<title>Karen Traviss RSS Feed</title><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/index.html</link><description>Author&#x27;s blog</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:rights>&#xa9;Karen Traviss 2012</dc:rights><dc:date>2013-02-06T15:05:08+00:00</dc:date><admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://www.realmacsoftware.com/" />
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<lastBuildDate>Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:04:57 +0100</lastBuildDate><item><title>At last</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2013-02-06T15:05:08+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/ac23c8490886d2b324a3589f5a5c1aae-44.html#unique-entry-id-44</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/ac23c8490886d2b324a3589f5a5c1aae-44.html#unique-entry-id-44</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[(null)]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Good cop shows where you don&#x27;t expect them</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2013-02-04T12:39:33+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/2eeb8530678472f320c0f5e8ab78f1bf-43.html#unique-entry-id-43</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/2eeb8530678472f320c0f5e8ab78f1bf-43.html#unique-entry-id-43</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I don't have much time or tolerance for the BBC's weak offerings these days, but I'll almost forgive them for continuing to inflict the increasingly dire Silent Witness on licence payers in exchange for their efforts in bringing us Ripper Street.  

...Ripper Street is entertaining, it's relevant, it actually has very good historical context, it's beautifully cast, and it's full of grey-area characters.    It's living proof of how the B list cast of history (real or otherwise) and the secondary story are way more interesting to explore than the headline ones.   Yes, I know I would say that, wouldn't I, but I think that's where compelling stories lie -- in the untold tale and the forgotten characters, rather than in endlessly rehashing the decaying remains of the visible and done-to-death. 

...I look at Ripper Street much as I looked at Life On Mars or Eternal Law -- that I would have died happy if I'd written it.    I can see the strings and admire its construction from the professional side, but it can also make me forget that I can see all that and allow me to simply savour it like a regular viewer. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Stop the presses: Cameron actually delivers</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-12-19T14:29:45+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/ab5e477d53179d0808c429670f56c4ab-42.html#unique-entry-id-42</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/ab5e477d53179d0808c429670f56c4ab-42.html#unique-entry-id-42</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I still have almost nothing positive to say about the Government, the Opposition, and the assorted ghastlies who surround them. 

...I have to say I was expecting the government to kick this one around until they lost it, in other words stalling until all the Arctic veterans were dead.   There are only 400 of these brave old boys left, and the powers that be have been dicking around over this for a callously long time. ...  I've got another word for it, but I'm trying to cut back on my liberal use of profanity these days.  


...In case you don't know why these veterans deserve the modest recognition of a medal, here's why.


...I note from the same speech that the WWII veterans of Bomber Command have finally been recognised too, after particularly shabby treatment. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>What you want for Christmas</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-12-03T13:53:07+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/4fad37ed8a3684cb2fed2b0c1ea7e43b-41.html#unique-entry-id-41</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/4fad37ed8a3684cb2fed2b0c1ea7e43b-41.html#unique-entry-id-41</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I've worked out how the best way to revise a manuscript on it -- best for me, that is, because you can adapt this app to fit your individual needs.


Basically, it's a one-stop shop app to create, manage, output, and even publish big, complex documents -- and it can be customised to your personal needs and working style because there are multiple ways of doing everything.   I have no idea how I ever managed to write books without it, to be honest, although I do have disturbing and poorly-suppressed memories of wrestling with massive Word docs that crashed endlessly and vanished into the pit of file corruption, never to be coaxed out again. ...  Having said that, I suspect that I would benefit from going back to the good old typewriter and its  "right first time or else" newsroom disciplines that made me, but as I'm signed up to the digital process, Scriv is my best mate on that journey.


...It'll take you some time to learn to use it fully (I still haven't, I admit, and it may be some years before I do) but it earns its keep from day one while you learn. 

...This is for people who already know how to do the job, but need a much more functional word processor that's also a filing cabinet, pin board, thought organiser, outliner, and research tool. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Congratulations&#x2c; sheep.</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-12-01T12:07:00+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/ca369b012e8344c2f4cc87fcaf387937-40.html#unique-entry-id-40</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/ca369b012e8344c2f4cc87fcaf387937-40.html#unique-entry-id-40</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[If you're a politically aware reader, then you'll know that the Leveson enquiry published its  report on press behaviour  this week-- behaviour as in bad,  all that phone hacking and intrusion stuff. 

...But however much hand-wringing concern and righteous indignation on behalf of the powerless has been poured over the Leveson report, this has very little to do with ordinary people or even celebs and luvvies being treated badly by the press. 

...We already have a heavy-handed legal response to Twitter over here, and people have been jailed for moronic posts that don't actually appear to be illegal, simply cretinous and offensive, the kind of thing that if said in the pub would get you a socially educational punch in the face so you'd learn not to do it again. 


...But for me, tolerating semi-literate virgin morons in their mums'  basements who don't actually break real laws is a price worth paying if genuine comment that offends politicians, the police, and other powerful groups can be made equally freely. 


When the Leveson enquiry was announced, my immediate thought was that MPs were so angry about press exposure of the vast scale of their expenses-fiddling that they would exploit the enquiry to make sure that they never got outed by the media again, and that they'd cynically use genuine, ordinary victims of press intrusion as a Trojan horse to do it. 

...Dan Hodges (a Labour Blairite,  so not exactly on the same political page as me by any stretch of the imagination) sums it up the whole sorry spectacle far better than I ever could, so I'll just leave you with his comment and suggest you read his blog post. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>More books&#x2c; and a boiler</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-10-09T15:51:54+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/211d283a66392558c1c0f02cb90db9a1-37.html#unique-entry-id-37</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/211d283a66392558c1c0f02cb90db9a1-37.html#unique-entry-id-37</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[My first creator-owned novel in a while is out in August 2013 from Simon & Schuster -- GOING GRAY. ...  But you know me well enough to realise this isn't going to be about home hair colourants.   It's set about 10 to 15 years from now, so no ansibles, aliens, or post-apolcayptic far-futures this time.   Lord knows the current era is bleak &ndash; and weird &ndash; enough...


...THE THURSDAY WAR (my second Halo novel, featuring those naughty ONI black ops boys and girls of Kilo-Five)  is out now, and the audiobook will follow shortly.


...But when the plumber put a new header tank at a much higher position in the loft yesterday, and swapped my immersion heater for a new model whose gross weight wasn't 95% limescale, I discovered that water can both be very hot and also flow into my kitchen sink in copious quantities, a state of bliss hitherto unimagined. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Batman: Arkham Unhinged</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-09-25T14:41:56+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/742ac3da735b00a95cb1449cc95b9dbb-36.html#unique-entry-id-36</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/742ac3da735b00a95cb1449cc95b9dbb-36.html#unique-entry-id-36</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[In fact it's on sale from today: I'm now writing a weekly Batman series for the fine folks at DC Comics, namely ARKHAM UNHINGED, starting with issue 44. ...  If you've got a smartphone or a tablet, you can find it via your comics app of choice, otherwise it's available here.  

...But this is me, so it's "Look, what if you lived in Gotham, and this happened in YOUR town?"    Never before have I been able to combine my painfully-acquired knowledge of city hall,  the police, and what billionaires wear under their armour in one book. 


As my friend Sean put it when I told him I was "doing Batman": "Dinner dinner dinner dinner  dinner dinner dinner dinner BATMAN!"  ...  Although we did talk about the security implications of having a bleedin' great projection of a bat shining from Gotham PD's roof. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>New stuff</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-09-03T00:50:38+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/d11965d40e67eb9e39463886ad8b926b-35.html#unique-entry-id-35</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/d11965d40e67eb9e39463886ad8b926b-35.html#unique-entry-id-35</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I apologise for the lack of advance notice or even basic information, but for various reasons it's been kept under tight wraps.   So the new Traviss thing that can't be named yet will be (should be) available from the end of this month. 

...The only clue I can give you at the moment is that it's something I'd never thought I'd work on. ...  It's turned out to be even more fun that I expected, enabling me to go down some paths I hadn't tried before.


My policy for the last couple of years has been that life's too short to work on anything that isn't fun, so maybe that goes without saying. 


Oh, and a reminder thatTHE THURSDAY WAR is out on October 2, so if you haven't pre-ordered that yet, now's the time. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>More reliable than a garden strimmer</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-09-03T00:00:43+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/bcb6d205bc7f1996d3eb6a9d84323ed5-34.html#unique-entry-id-34</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/bcb6d205bc7f1996d3eb6a9d84323ed5-34.html#unique-entry-id-34</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[ Red Dwarf is back.    That makes me very happy.   Most series (of anything, not just TV shows) outstay their welcome and grind on long after they're creatively dead, but a handful not only never seem to get stale but are also capable of resurrection. ...  In fact, Red Dwarf wouldn't be Red Dwarf without the original line-up.


The only TV-related news that could possibly top this would be David Jason being talked into a new series of Frost.    I shall now withdraw to sing the Arnold Rimmer song.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Harry Harrison</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-08-15T09:34:09+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/a8749a8bae920b3c4e6996e65ef2d9e3-33.html#unique-entry-id-33</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/a8749a8bae920b3c4e6996e65ef2d9e3-33.html#unique-entry-id-33</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I had the privilege of being on a panel with Harry at Worldcon in Toronto a few years ago. ...  I've been on a lot of panels with a lot of people, but if I tell you that one of the few books I've ever read &ndash; and pretty well the only one I ever re-read, and re-read several times over the years -- was Harry's Bill The Galactic Hero, then you'll get some idea of why actually doing a gig with him was a big deal for me.   I was 13 when I first read the book (yes, without moving my lips... ) and it never diminished on re-reading. ...  I tracked down a signed hardcover of BTGH and took it with me to Toronto to ask Harry to re-sign it.  


...Another panellist -- an environmental researcher -- grabbed his hand and shook it, and told him that reading one of Harry's books had made him choose the career he did. ...  I imagine that whoever the con had put on that panel, they too would have had their own Harry moment to shake his hand for. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Reality check</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-08-13T08:42:53+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/b307a22ea134beb11783942e66727694-32.html#unique-entry-id-32</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/b307a22ea134beb11783942e66727694-32.html#unique-entry-id-32</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Nevertheless, I avoided all Olympic coverage as best I could, but there was no hiding from it if I wanted any news of the outside world, not even if I switched off the TV and relied on the internet. 


...Anyway, there are three particular things that hiked the ol' Traviss BP to four figures during this pointless period in our nation's history: the bizarre claim by David Cameron that the games had somehow saved Britain, the relegation of actual news to an afterthought both on TV and in papers, and the incessant abuse of the word "hero."


...Having been involved in projects hosting big sports events and other costly extravaganzas, I can reveal that consultants will swear blind that the local economy will make three times what it costs you to stage it. 

...There was a strange irony in watching some pundit on the news yesterday saying that athletes would give kids better role models than Kim Kardashian (quote) although I don't know why the interviewee didn't patriotically use a British Z-lister as an example.   True, a bit of healthy exercise, sensible eating, and self-discipline is a lot more worthy of emulation than behaving like the cast of TOWIE, but I'm not sure that millions of  kids aspiring to being sports stars is actually what this country needs either, whether economically or morally.  

...Many of them are paid, supported, or sponsored in some way to basically do sport full-time anyway, so this isn't the old Olympian amateur ideal, and it's no coincidence that the ones who do it full-time win most of the medals. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Thank you&#x2c; Noah in Reno</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-08-05T20:16:39+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/e8873ed825a1d816c94d91d5eb8b7d39-31.html#unique-entry-id-31</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/e8873ed825a1d816c94d91d5eb8b7d39-31.html#unique-entry-id-31</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[This is a message for Noah of Reno PD, in case he checks out this blog.   You sent me a terrific message but your return address isn't showing correctly, so I can't get back to you, alas.   I just wanted to say thank you.   I really appreciate it. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Self-publishing -- another slush pile?</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-08-04T10:31:02+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/8395f7ce08ac229525c3c5a3ad35e2a1-30.html#unique-entry-id-30</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/8395f7ce08ac229525c3c5a3ad35e2a1-30.html#unique-entry-id-30</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[And that's all it is -- nobody has cast a commercial or editorial eye over it, and that means it's going to be pretty much like the pile of manuscripts that builds up in every publisher's office; maybe one or two glittering nuggets in a pile of rubble. 

...It's bad enough walking into a bookstore and trying to decide what to buy unless you know in advance exactly what you're looking for, which is why publishers pay to put books on front tables and end caps. 


Self publishing might look terrific -- no cruel editor or evil corporation to stand between you and that adoring readership you're sure is out there for you -- but it's only really (potentially) terrific for people like me, who already have an established name to persuade readers to part with their cash.  ...  If I decide to cut out the middleman and publish creator-owned novels in e-book format, that self-published book will appear on the Amazon, B&N, or iTunes page with my other titles, which is my shop front online. 

...The other point to bear in mind about self-publishing is that a lot of writers actually need editors, and I'm guessing that the average new writer who tries to break in via self-publishing has never been through the editorial mill.   I'm not claiming that every editor is competent or behaves professionally  (I could tell you some horror stories) and I'm not saying that all published books are thoroughly edited (it's an industrial  production line, after all) but the trial by fire of having a commercially-aware stranger look at your stuff is the big test for any new writer. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>What every writing course should teach</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-08-01T09:32:25+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/f6f106e5db2bc24ba36a6a66e7a64df1-29.html#unique-entry-id-29</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/f6f106e5db2bc24ba36a6a66e7a64df1-29.html#unique-entry-id-29</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Ed is a treasure trove of insight and great fun to talk with, but calling him an acting coach (or an actor, or author, or teacher) doesn't quite do him justice, nor does "acting for animators" sum up what he can teach you. 


...If you're wondering whether you can launch a glittering literary career by shelling out a small fortune for a writing course or embarking on a creative writing degree, save yourself some time and money and take a look at Ed's web site first. 

...It doesn't matter if those people are aliens, animals, or talking trees, either, as long as we can relate to them in some way.   The basics of how to tell good stories are very simple, but like all simple things -- stop smoking, go on a diet, whatever -- actually doing them, and doing them successfully, is a lot harder.    This newsletter  (the July one, if you come to this link later in the year) tells you pretty well all you need to know to be a writer, or any other kind of storyteller for that matter.


...Without a grasp of story, you're just stringing words in a row, which might look pretty on first inspection but that'll never quite make it as a great novel. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Served the UK faithfully? Then we&#x27;ll deport you.</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-07-22T11:30:16+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/f3d9838c043744f198aac292169e0e0e-27.html#unique-entry-id-27</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/f3d9838c043744f198aac292169e0e0e-27.html#unique-entry-id-27</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[This was supposed to be the year we could show our pride in Britain, but with every passing day, I find more reasons to be utterly ashamed of my country. 

...Because we don't make all our own laws and have handed over a big chunk of our legislative powers to an unelected body in Brussels, we can't kick out the scum of other people's countries when they've committed crimes here. 

...Apparently putting your life on the line for this ungrateful cesspit of a nation isn't enough, and Lance Corporal Isimeli Baleiwai - a Fijian - has to get out in a matter of weeks.


...I'd really hoped we'd get some respite when the lying war criminal Blair was deposed, but it's one lesson I still hadn't learned even at my age: that there's always another arsehole to take their place.   I quit the Conservative party on the day in 2005 that David Cameron described himself as Blair's heir, and I should have realised then that anyone who thought aping Blair was a selling point was going to be an unmitigated disaster in office, as well as dangerously stupid.


...And while our pointless Foreign Secretary, William Hague, is trying desperately to talk us into yet another Middle East war we haven't thought through and can't even resource, we're falling over ourselves to spit on the very men who'll no doubt be called on to sacrifice themselves for whatever current overseas adventure takes the fancy of the chinless, gutless, and clueless fools we managed to elect.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Holy Grail of Squashes</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-07-19T12:56:41+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/73775dbe9798c12ec75275819636453f-26.html#unique-entry-id-26</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/73775dbe9798c12ec75275819636453f-26.html#unique-entry-id-26</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Today I came to the end of a long, tedious month of medical tests during which almost no stone -- except my brain -- was left un-turned, or at least un-scanned, un-ultrasounded, or un-imaged in some way. 

...They have an irresistibly dense texture and taste like a cross between chestnuts and sweet potatoes underpinned by a hint of savoury meatiness, with so much beta carotene in them that it takes a good scrubbing to get the stain out of your hands. 

...I suppose if you're going to have a food you can't say no to, it's better to crave squashes (or avocados or mackerel, my other faves) than pies.   But despite having a diet of such wholesome purity that it would make Gillian McKeith's food habits look like Waynetta Slob's, it doesn't seem to have made that much positive difference to my health. ...  Okay, I'm in better nick than most people of my age and lifestyle, but I didn't spend the gross national debt of a small country on all those diagnostic procedures for fun: I'm living proof that diet alone isn't the key to all Britain's health problems. 

...If you prefer Bacardi Breezers, Gregg's pasties, and chicken tikka masala, and if you pay your taxes and accept responsibility for your own actions, then you should be free to eat what you like without the government bringing in legislation to make you eat your greens. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Comic Con</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-07-12T00:11:03+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/e476fdf7610c7802ba57550d800eca63-25.html#unique-entry-id-25</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/e476fdf7610c7802ba57550d800eca63-25.html#unique-entry-id-25</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I'm not attending Comic Con this year, but I understand from fans who've already arrived in San Diego that there's an advert in the souvenir booklet saying that I'm doing Halo signings.   Sorry, but I'm not, and I'm not actually sure why anyone thought I was.   I've had to skip the con this year for a long list of reasons, one of which was spending this afternoon in an MRI scanner.   So if you're planning to swing by to see me, I'm the best part of 6,000 miles away.   Sorry! ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Great Britain: a nation unfit for heroes</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-06-28T11:26:55+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/134e587a801fd183dcbf32fccebd44cb-24.html#unique-entry-id-24</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/134e587a801fd183dcbf32fccebd44cb-24.html#unique-entry-id-24</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[A news item tipped me over the angry edge yesterday, and I draw some comfort from the fact that I wasn't the only one spitting nails about a cafe-bar in Coventry that refused to serve coffee to some soldiers in uniform who were attending the funeral of a comrade.   I was going to keep my outrage to myself for a change, but then another news item today -- the long overdue memorial for the air crew of Bomber Command in WWII -- reminded me there's a shameful sickness in Great Britain that dates back at least to Kipling's day and probably long before. 

...Most people recognize that this was appalling, but what worries me is the nature of the apology from the owner, assuming he's been quoted accurately:  "I have since been made aware of why these soldiers were in Coventry and had I known of the circumstances, I would have willingly served them." 


...Here's a small selection of recent and ongoing causes for national shame: soldiers still stuck with unfit accommodation; 55,573 men of Bomber Command killed in action but cold-shouldered for doing their duty, recognised only seventy-odd years later when most of the survivors have died: and the veterans of the Arctic Convoys, a handful of survivors of that terrible campaign still struggling for a medal after David Cameron -- when he wasn't Prime Minister, of course -- promised to make sure they got it. 

...A real test of nationhood is not how much jingoistic noise we make about some indefinable thing we call a country and regard as some variant of sports fandom, but how we treat those who commit themselves to lay down their lives to protect our interests when told to do so, something no other job -- not firefighters, not police, no other profession at all -- requires. 

...Ask your MP what he or she has done (not just paid lip service to) to support our servicemen and women, and how they voted on key issues: if they've done sweet FA, then don't vote for them, and tell them why you're not going to vote for them. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>I love the smell of novelty in the morning.</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-05-29T07:45:36+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/5fdab047cef227154aa9459c6f7edb07-23.html#unique-entry-id-23</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/5fdab047cef227154aa9459c6f7edb07-23.html#unique-entry-id-23</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I'm a planner by nature, but I finally accepted that a five-year business plan is just a flexible framework that can always accommodate a good but unexpected opportunity.   The last seven or eight years have been a stream of unanticipated gigs out of left field, and it's been well worth shredding the old plans to do them. 


...I'm now working on two completely fresh projects -- one novel series, one comic series, both of which will be revealed in due course -- that I wouldn't have imagined myself doing a year ago. ...  I was so amped by this new comics gig that I redecorated the entire house in under a week, disgorged the contents of my cupboards onto the charity shop, and shampooed all the carpets. ...  Okay, it totally buggered my back, I'm still scraping paint out of my hair,  and my right arm's going to take a little time to recover, but my batteries were fully recharged. 

...While clearing out the closets for charity, I'll admit that I didn't have the courage to donate Humphrey the Humping Chihuahua, who I found at the back of a cupboard with batteries flat but his pervy smirk still intact. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Time to buy THE SLAB. Just do it.</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-04-30T16:10:42+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/e9af913ae1c87918a3a5ddf0635f5a95-22.html#unique-entry-id-22</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/e9af913ae1c87918a3a5ddf0635f5a95-22.html#unique-entry-id-22</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I confess to being a bit confused by all this, but as far as I can tell THE SLAB is out in paperback in the UK on Thursday May 3, in e-book in the US on the same day, and in hardcover in the US on May 8.   Well, whatever order it's happening in -- there's no excuse for not buying it in some format or another from one of these fine retailers. ...  There isn't.   I now have a Nakaya pen habit to support,  as well as a growing pash for Design-Y notebooks, so get out there and start purchasing to keep me in the upmarket stationery supplies to which I've become accustomed. 


There's also Danitrio.    Just sayin'. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Slab in my hand...</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-04-06T21:14:25+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/123f81061d42b8bc3a6f3322a46d6d88-21.html#unique-entry-id-21</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/123f81061d42b8bc3a6f3322a46d6d88-21.html#unique-entry-id-21</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Lovely Ed at Simon & Schuster sent me an early copy of GEARS OF WAR: THE SLAB yesterday and the cover is very tasteful in the flesh. ...  There are a few laughs, but while this is a story of indomitable human spirit in the face of misery and degradation, it's not going to leave you with any warm fuzzy feelings. 

...I haven't given up collecting; I've just decided to focus on Japanese pens in future and urushi ones in particular. ...  I hadn't realised how much more until I laid out all the pens I'm selling and beheld the table covered with ranks of insufficiently-used nibbed waifs.   There were, I confess, an awful lot of them: curious and lovely things, like a 1930s Doric with an adjustable nib, an Onoto under-over feed, a museum piece from the 1870s with a vast nib and a wooden ink chamber, some Esterbrooks, and lots of 51s and Snorkels.  

...Sorting them out did reunite me with the lovely Danitrio Brillante (one of only 200 made) and my old-style Omas Paragon (also no longer made) with a Mottishawed nib, neither of which I remembered I had. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>74 days</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-04-02T18:03:41+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/b77b3b7c29dc65e174f2dad6d7508e77-19.html#unique-entry-id-19</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/b77b3b7c29dc65e174f2dad6d7508e77-19.html#unique-entry-id-19</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[It's the 30th anniversary of the start of the Falklands War.    I can add very little to that, other than to say I don't forget. ...  A member of my family worked around the clock to prepare one of the ships.   People I know came back from it.    Stories the survivors and widows told me stay with me to this day, some of those stories uplifting and some of them heartbreaking.    It lasted 74 days, but if we forget those short weeks, and those who died in them and were damaged irreparably by them, then we're fools.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title> What gets rewarded gets done.</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-03-23T08:24:58+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/c45f6461812fdcbc8a8ec655f74e43c2-18.html#unique-entry-id-18</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/c45f6461812fdcbc8a8ec655f74e43c2-18.html#unique-entry-id-18</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Cop dramas are my fave form of entertainment, and in the couple of hours I have spare a week I try to catch up on the best ones, but I can live with the fact that not everything in life is the way I'd like it to be, because I'm old enough to vote. 

...For me, cop shows that personally involve the cop in the crime have to make a thematic point of it (vice squad cop gets involved with tart,  undercover cop gets in too deep etc) or else they've jumped the proverbial shark. ...  Okay, the point of DSD may well be that having a troubled sexual past, the heroine indulges in risky behaviour that results in getting too close to perves, but as a viewer all I see is a silly, unprofessional cow who just isn't credible and makes me want to change channels. 

...What I didn't do was have a massive online nerd tanty and demand that the producers remade the shows to my personal specifications, because, y'know, that's the kind of thing that makes you look like an utter tit.


...To be honest, I'm not sure that I would have explored the case -- I don't know if ME3 has a good ending (endings) or not and I don't have the time to find out for myself.  

...But as any mother will tell you, when little Johnnie has an embarrassing tantrum in the supermarket and lies screaming in the middle of the breakfast cereal aisle hammering his heels and soiling his pants, the last thing you do is buy him the pile of sugar-coated artificial colourings that he's demanding. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Sequel to Glasslands</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-03-21T16:50:28+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/3a7d1dcbe7e0727e2800857137848010-17.html#unique-entry-id-17</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/3a7d1dcbe7e0727e2800857137848010-17.html#unique-entry-id-17</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The sequel to HALO: GLASSLANDS is out on October 2 and it's called THE THURSDAY WAR.


In case you don't know, a Thursday war is the Royal Navy's old term for a sea-training or pre-deployment exercise at sea, because they often started on a  Thursday.    How that fits in with the shady carryings-on of Kilo-5 relates to UNSC Infinity - God bless her and all who connive and plot in her.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Characterisation demands planning</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-02-27T13:11:59+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/bdd85687e6a872ac92155bfc8c51ae66-16.html#unique-entry-id-16</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/bdd85687e6a872ac92155bfc8c51ae66-16.html#unique-entry-id-16</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Sometimes that's factual stuff - Character X worked for Organisation Y and so would have known fact Z, so don't build a story on withholding that from the reader - but frequently it's about the mental fabric of the characters themselves,  about their family and upbringing. 

...You have an indefinite run usually with no firm planned end in sight for the story arcs, so you can't plan the character arcs in every detail: the writing team will change frequently over the life of the series, which can easily be thirty or forty years, not weeks:  actors will come and go for all kinds of reasons: and you have to churn out several shows a week.  

...But there are some basics of characterisation that you should always bear in mind so that you don't end up with characters who suddenly change their fundamental nature, and not in a good or managed way.


...If you've never revealed in your character's thoughts that he has a brother, then nailing one on halfway through the series or sequel is going to jar at best or stand out like a sore and rather dumb thumb at worst.


...Unless the point is to suddenly reveal the character as not what they seem - and that's something you can never achieve if you're showing what's happening inside their head, unless you take the delusion route -  then retrofitting the fundamental family dynamics stuff just doesn't work.


...Work with the character, follow their natural flow, and ramp up the drama along the way by thinking smarter about where their family set-up and psychology would take them rather than grabbing for the first relative or secret you can think of and squeezing that square peg into a round hole that it was never designed to fit. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Back to basics</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-02-13T16:12:36+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/770a5a00945401785f62a3139a5d87af-15.html#unique-entry-id-15</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/770a5a00945401785f62a3139a5d87af-15.html#unique-entry-id-15</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Some of you probably remember that I was never exactly keen on Twitter, and that I didn&rsquo;t so much embrace it as hold its limp, clammy hand in a weak, disinterested kind of way until I could let go when I was no longer under external pressure to do it.  ...  Rather than pull the plug on Twitter now that I&rsquo;ve evaluated it and decided it&rsquo;s not earning its keep, I&rsquo;m going to go back to my blog and let a clever piece of software Tweet the link instead. 


...For my part,  responding on Twitter is exactly like getting e-mails - it&rsquo;s not a broader discussion and I get asked the same questions multiple times because few people click on through and follow the whole exchange, or check back through the entire timeline. 

...If you followed me to ask questions or generally make contact, you can click on the CONTACT ME link on the right-hand menu here and talk to me by e-mail. 

...A blog requires more time to read, and digesting it isn&rsquo;t something you can usually do on your iPhone under the table while you&rsquo;re in a boring meeting.    But I&rsquo;m happier not Tweeting because it&rsquo;s just not me, not at all, and the effort required to find stuff to tweet is greater than blogging when I&rsquo;ve got something concrete to communicate. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Fun with a sock</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-02-12T22:27:08+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/Animex%202012.html#unique-entry-id-13</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/Animex%202012.html#unique-entry-id-13</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[It&rsquo;s one of those experiences I&rsquo;ll look back on one day and think: now that that changed the way I worked.   Where else could you sit down to dinner with a group of animators and level designers and get a masterclass in puppetry from a former Muppets and Fraggle Rock puppeteer? 

...The festival has a heavyweight cast of speakers from the most interesting parts of the game and animation world as well as an audience of very smart students, and I&rsquo;m still marvelling at a rather clever game demo from a group of Norwegians who sat down to discuss it with me.   I wish I hadn&rsquo;t run out of time in the informal sessions -- I could have kicked ideas around with students for a week and never felt bored. ...  Animex went a long way towards topping up my depleted tanks of enthusiasm, and I think it&rsquo;s the first time in ages that I felt like writing something for the hell of it rather than because I&rsquo;d signed a contract and had to. 


...It&rsquo;ll take me weeks to process all the nuggets I picked up, but just spending a week with top-class people whose skills are different from mine and who love their craft was a massive tonic. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Best thing on the box</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2012-01-26T22:02:05+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/5f3464ba1c51149079c87c89d97ee6ca-12.html#unique-entry-id-12</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/5f3464ba1c51149079c87c89d97ee6ca-12.html#unique-entry-id-12</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[If you&rsquo;re not watching Eternal Law on ITV (that&rsquo;s UK television, although I know folks in the US who manage to see it) then you&rsquo;re missing something special.


It&rsquo;s by the guys who wrote Life On Mars (the real UK version, not the hideously stupid US remake) and Ashes To Ashes, and if anything it&rsquo;s even better.   Okay, the same team did Bonekickers, which was shockingly bad, but I get the feeling they weren&rsquo;t actually responsible for what appeared on screen.  ...  If I had to choose between watching Forbrydelsen and this series for some hypothetical reason, it would be a very tough call. 

...It&rsquo;s about barristers (trial lawyers) who happen to be angels, but it isn&rsquo;t the usual mawkishly preachy crud I associate with angel-based fiction. ...  You have to have a soft spot for angels who go up and sit on the roof of York Minster to have a smoke and drink a few bottles of red.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Testify&#x21; The Book of Barriers.</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2011-10-05T20:07:39+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/Book%20of%20Barriers.html#unique-entry-id-11</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/Book%20of%20Barriers.html#unique-entry-id-11</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[&ldquo;I've done it the other way where I've been presented with what I call a book of barriers &ndash; you always get to a certain point where you say, 'you know by doing this you've closed off that?&rsquo;&rdquo;


...Just as the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, the story bible was made to help the storyteller tell the story, not to strangle it to death, stymie the writer, and ultimately kill the joy and glory of a tale.   Which is why I&rsquo;m so unwilling to feed the wiki culture, where fans pursue me for detail that hasn&rsquo;t even been determined and get miffed when I won&rsquo;t give them definitive information that actually doesn&rsquo;t really exist yet. ...  By all means enjoy your hobby - which seems less about enjoying fiction that extracting data from it, if I might &ldquo;opine&rdquo; -  but writers don&rsquo;t owe wiki editors explanations or content. 

...Learn to spot how much is enough to get on with the story, and add no more - and if you do, don&rsquo;t treat it like holy gospel that can&rsquo;t be challenged or changed. ...  It might or might not make your product better, and frequently it won&rsquo;t if you change keystone elements of the story, but it&rsquo;s not real, and therefore you can rewrite it.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The creator/consumer barrier</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2011-09-27T08:14:41+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/The%20creator-%20consumer%20barrier.html#unique-entry-id-10</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/The%20creator-%20consumer%20barrier.html#unique-entry-id-10</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[So some folks accept my creative process - that I absolutely have to stay one side of the consumer/creator line or the other - even if they don&rsquo;t understand it, and some refuse to accept it can possibly be.    It really pisses some people off that I volunteer the information that I don&rsquo;t read novels or play games*, as if they can even know from what I write that I don&rsquo;t, or as if it&rsquo;s somehow part of the deal the writer has with audience. 

...I had to shove myself back across that line where the story has to be born, and use my grounding technique: imagine this is a real world, happening to real people, and imagine what&rsquo;s going on their minds as this is happening to them. ...  And then I was back in the world where I have to operate creatively: where I have to live through those fictional events as if the characters are real, living, breathing, feeling, human beings, and experience what they experience, and describe it. 


...For you to feel it through the filter of paper or pixels or game, then it has to be a high concentration of reality and feeling to make it into your mind and put you in the character&rsquo;s moment. 

...It&rsquo;s just a way to convey what I felt on behalf of a character who doesn&rsquo;t exist outside of a strange unspoken agreement between you and me to believe they&rsquo;re real for a few hours. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Peer pressure</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2011-09-26T13:48:27+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/7f79c8fc6d84544ca756098ac8ec0834-9.html#unique-entry-id-9</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/7f79c8fc6d84544ca756098ac8ec0834-9.html#unique-entry-id-9</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Yes, I&rsquo;m tweeting now.   Against my better judgment, but when you&rsquo;re literally surrounded by Cliff Bleszinki, Rod Fergusson AND Greg Mitchell, who makes the Master Chief look like a short-arse, and told it really would be a very good idea to relent and bloody well sign up NOW, then there&rsquo;s nowhere left to run.   I was in a weak moment. ...  And I was so pleased with the way the game had been received that I would have said yes to anything right then, so I just handed my phone to Rod and let him corrupt my media purity.


So let&rsquo;s see how it goes.  @karentraviss  And it does no harm for any writer to learn how to say things in 140 characters or less, I suppose.   Welcome back to the lost art of the telegram.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The best of times</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2011-09-17T11:46:41+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/The%20best%20of%20times.html#unique-entry-id-8</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/The%20best%20of%20times.html#unique-entry-id-8</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I loved it from the first frame of the first trailer I saw without even knowing what it was - or what it would become for me - back in 2006: I have continued to love it through four years of solid slog, laughs, and occasional hair-tearing moments: I have loved it while working in all its media formats,  as novels, comics, and game: and now the story arc has reached its fruition. 


...A book is just mine, a solitary thing that I produce several times a year and can keep producing until they nail down the lid: I&rsquo;m interested in sales numbers, naturally, because I&rsquo;m a money-grubbing bitch and these Smythson handbags don&rsquo;t pay for themselves, but if someone doesn&rsquo;t like a book, it doesn&rsquo;t bother me because I know I&rsquo;ve worked my arse off on it, I can look myself in the eye and say I gave it my best shot,  and enough people will like it to keep me in the purchasing habits to which I&rsquo;ve become accustomed. ...  But I don&rsquo;t care if they&rsquo;re good or bad, because I used to be a reviewer (movies) in my early journo days, and I know what goes into that particular pork pie, so I just don&rsquo;t look at them. 

...I was already aware of the media response, obviously, because I&rsquo;d been doing promo stuff in the run-up to the release, but just seeing Gears 3 getting the kudos it deserved - in a paper that happened to be sitting there - gave me a football moment: my team had won the cup. 

...I&rsquo;ve worked on some projects where the primary product has been mediocre or the people working on it haven&rsquo;t cared much about it, but I&rsquo;ve kept my end up and made sure the product I&rsquo;ve been responsible for has been the very best I could make it. ...  But when you work on something that&rsquo;s solid quality in every aspect,  like Gears, where you know that everyone on the team is as committed to it as you are and that team is made up of the very best people in the business, then it&rsquo;s pure, unalloyed satisfaction.  ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Xboxing (Gears 3 event herogram)</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2011-09-08T11:58:11+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/Xboxing.html#unique-entry-id-7</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/Xboxing.html#unique-entry-id-7</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I spent yesterday at Shoreditch Studios doing the UK media preview of Gears of War 3, which, unless you&rsquo;ve been living under a rock for the last year, you&rsquo;ll know is on sale on September 20 and is a thing of beauty and grace which you must buy.   I say that not only because I wrote it,  as false modesty isn&rsquo;t my style any more than it&rsquo;s Baird&rsquo;s, but because it also happens to be true. 

...Anyway, I mention the media preview because it was one of those events where you see PR at its best. 

...I am, as many of you know, an old spin doc as well as a former journo, so I&rsquo;m doubly unforgiving of slack PR or sloppy event/ press management. ...  The lovely guys at Xbox UK and JCPR (part of Edelman UK) laid on a truly excellent day and impressed the arse off me. 

...Clear instructions for participants (i.e. the likes of me) and hands-on minding by event staff to make sure I&rsquo;m gainfully employed and adding value during the gig. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>GLASSLANDS galleys</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2011-08-10T15:17:19+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/Glasslands%20galleys.html#unique-entry-id-5</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/Glasslands%20galleys.html#unique-entry-id-5</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[So the galleys of HALO: GLASSLANDS are done and dusted, and the book is now grinding through the production machine to emerge as a shiny TPB  on October 25.   If you&rsquo;re going to HaloFest in Seattle in a couple of weeks&rsquo; time, then you might even get a few spoilers from me if I&rsquo;m in one of my rare good moods. 

...And thank you to all those readers who&rsquo;ve enquired about my welfare in strife-torn Blighty. ...  But it&rsquo;s business as usual here, and I&rsquo;m not only from Portsmouth, I also have my own baseball bat.    NSFW moment of the day: as ever, the Daily Mash sums it up so much better than the so-called real media, who seem to be standing on a chair and screaming like girls. ...  You get paid a hell of a lot more than the average British soldier, who has to face much more dangerous bastards than 16-year-old yobs, and there&rsquo;s no Health & Safety law or union rep to look after him. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>It didn&#x27;t happen overnight.</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2011-08-08T23:18:48+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/Overnight.html#unique-entry-id-4</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/Overnight.html#unique-entry-id-4</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[For those of you watching the coverage of riots in London and wondering if that Olympics 2012 ticket was such a good idea, this lawlessness didn&rsquo;t spring up overnight from nowhere.   Nor did the police suddenly become incapable of dealing with it in the last 12 months.   I&rsquo;ve got zero time for Cameron and Clegg, believe me, but the roots of this are in the previous 13 years on Labour&rsquo;s watch.   And no wonder the police can&rsquo;t cope with actual criminals.   They spent the last decade or so filling out their overtime claims and using the Terrorism Act to stop photographers from taking pictures of public buildings.   After that, feeling collars again must be quite a stretch.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Before you start to feel sorry for Piers Morgan... </title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2011-08-05T13:26:36+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/Before%20you%20start%20to%20feel%20sorry....html#unique-entry-id-2</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/Before%20you%20start%20to%20feel%20sorry....html#unique-entry-id-2</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[...just remember why he was fired from his job as editor of the Daily Mirror:


...Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan has been sacked after the newspaper conceded photos of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi were fake.


In case you&rsquo;re wondering, the pictures looked unconvincing and posed even on first glance (especially the &ldquo;action&rdquo; shots) and even a local newspaper&rsquo;s picture editor would have done a lot of very careful verification before publishing them.    The Mirror went ahead and printed them on its front page, putting our troops&rsquo; lives at even more risk than they already were. ...  It was seven years ago, but a lot of us over here haven&rsquo;t forgotten. 


So allegations about the Mirror phone-hacking Heather Mills on his watch really don&rsquo;t shift the needle on my outrage-o-meter after that.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Straight from the author&#x27;s mouth</title><dc:creator>Karen Traviss</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog  - adult content </dc:subject><dc:date>2011-08-03T00:47:54+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/b0db4479ead858b34faa751a145f0b89-0.html#unique-entry-id-0</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.karentraviss.com/blog/files/b0db4479ead858b34faa751a145f0b89-0.html#unique-entry-id-0</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I&rsquo;ve not been a regular blogger for some time now, on the grounds that there are already too many gobshites out there opining as it is. ...  And I can summarise my worldly views in one line, because I&rsquo;ve had many years to refine them to a single, pure, glistening stream of vitriol: all politicians are scum, I&rsquo;d do anything for our lads and lasses in uniform, and I like  fountain pens, pork rinds, and gadgets. 

...I tossed a coin on whether to hire a professional designer to do my web site again or whether to plunge in and do the revamp myself using a flint and a stick.   In the end, with a lot of advice from the excellent Sean Timarco Baggaley, fellow writer and old friend, I discovered an authoring tool that&rsquo;s almost Traviss-proof. ...  Maybe I&rsquo;ll find time to learn to add bells and whistles one day, but for the time being, this&rsquo;ll work okay.


...Now all I have to do is work out whether to use my TV/ radio voice, or yer actual Pompey one. ]]></content:encoded></item></channel>
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