Dina's Lair of Doom

I’ve talked before about SOPA.

This time I’m screaming about it. Via my friend Audry Taylor on her Facebook:

A TOTAL BLACKOUT is being threatened by AOL, Google, Facebook, eBay, PayPal, Twitter, Wikipedia, Yahoo and many more major companies if Congress is dumb enough to try and pass SOPA. Be prepared to say goodbye to everything you use, either temporarily out of protest — or possibly forever if SOPA passes. http://matadornetwork.com/change/google-amazon-facebook-may-shut-down-to-stop-sopa/

This blog is a WordPress blog, hosted through another company that hosts my website. My domain name is registered through another. THIS AFFECTS ME and will ultimately affect you as well. I use Google all the time for so many things. If you use Gmail, Yahoo mail, anything, chances are good you’re not going to even be able to access your email if this happens.

Something has to be done.

A quote from the above article:

According to the watchdog group Maplight, right now pro-SOPA contributions to Judiciary Committee members outweigh contributions from those opposed about 4 to 1.

As I said on Twitter, it’s a crying shame that in America law is made by those who can buy the most votes. Anyone who knows me knows I hate politics. I even wrote something about it once. It was called “Apathetic Isolationism – the Rant of the Disillusioned American.” I wrote it in 2004, so this political hatred of mine is nothing new.

Point being, stop SOPA. I’ve limited my concerns to things that I can do something about, and I’ve already done what I can to stop this idiocy. I’ve written my congressman (yeah, like he’ll care) and have posted info in various places where people might still see it and maybe pass it along.

And that’s all I can do. I’ll go make with the words now, and hopefully we’ll still have an internet by the time I get done with this novel.

Remember the 80s, when the Internet wasn’t an everyday thing? Want to go back to that? That’s what this bill is going to do. It’s going to bust technology back 25 years or more, and if that’s what you want to happen, do nothing. Let’s not even talk about the freedom of speech aspect. I have work to do.

But it is an undeniable fact that the year is indeed winding down, and Mel over at Mel’s World is having a celebratory giveaway of books. There are some amazing authors/series up for grabs, so get over there and enter. All you have to do is comment! Oh, yeah, and she’s offering my book too, ’cause she’s nice like that.

Clicky here to go see!

In addition to myself there are books by Skyla Dawn Cameron, Sarah-Jane Lehoux, Colleen Helme, Jaime Saare, Sharron Houdek, and more!

Great way to end the year, so go forth and enjoy!

To all friends, fans and family:

THANK YOU!

Because of your readership, I’ve won the Book of the Week award at Long and Short Reviews!

Whoo hoo! Promo and bragging rights! I’ll go for that.

Again, thank you all! This really means a lot.

*tiny squee* Eeee! (IdonothaveanarmyIdonothaveanarmyIdonothave…)

I know it's pink. Shut up.

Normally Google Alerts tells me about reviews and such, but sometimes it misses for whatever reason. It missed this one, so the email I got yesterday was a bit of a (nice) shock.

Not only did it contain a link to a stellar review and a shiny button with which to show it off, but it informed me that All Wounds had been nominated for Book of the Week on their site! From their mail [sic]:

Your story “­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­All Wounds” was reviewed by us this week here: http://longandshortreviews.blogspot.com/2011/12/all-wounds-by-dina-james.html and is up for Book of the Week honor this weekend (voting runs from Saturday, December 10th through December 11th). We thought you might like to know. You can find the information here on Saturday:

http://www.longandshortreviews.com/LASR/index.htm

Wow. WOW, I say. So what happens if I win this nomination? Again, from their email:

The winning author gets a nifty button and the privilege of having their book or story featured at the top of the Long and Short Reviews home page the entire next week, as well as getting a custom made animated banner from Goddess Fish Promotions to publicize their review and the win!

That’s a pretty sweet deal. I like shiny banners and promo!

So if you liked All Wounds, would you mind heading over to the review site and voting for me? There’s no registration (that I saw) and it’s just one click on my name then one for the vote button! (You can also click to see the results once you’ve voted!)

Thank you, lovely friends and fans!

Best Book Rating from LASR!

I put a signed, personalized copy of All Wounds up for auction at this fundraiser for Terri Windling. If you can help, please do. There’s loads of art, books, and other things up for bid – even COOKIES. Please go look and spread the word about this fundraiser!

From their “About Us” page: “Beloved editor, artist and writer Terri Windling is in need, and we are asking for your help in a fundraising auction to assist her. This auction will combine donations from professionals and fans in an online sale to help Terri through a serious financial crisis.”

EXCEPTION TO MY “NOT POLITICAL/ACTIVISTY” THING. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Continue reading →