Blog
Querying My Novel
I've been querying my novel for about two months now, and so far it's basically emailing out or pasting into Query Manager and waiting, punctuated by surprisingly nice form letters. I mean, I got A LOT of rejections sending out my short stories (and also sold ten),...
SQL Performance Tuning in Bulk in AWS
My company recently moved to AWS, so I’ve been looking for more information specific to SQL Server performance tuning in AWS. Unfortunately, a lot of what I’m finding is marketing copy devoid of technical detail. Apparently, moving my data to the cloud is great for...
Paleo Wolf
It’s almost the full moon, and I’m out of sick time. I’m tired, and itchy, and I shaved this morning and have a five o’clock shadow at noon. I just want to curl up under the conference table and take a nap. Instead, I go to the lunch line in the cafeteria downstairs....
A quick “back up all databases” script
Mostly so I can link it to a post that's getting traffic... Declare @DBname varchar(255), @SQL nvarchar(max), @today nvarchar(50), @servername nvarchar(50) set @today = convert(nvarchar,GETDATE(),12) set @servername = REPLACE(@@SERVERNAME,'\','-') select @DBname =...
Would the Novel I’m Querying Be Censored by the Chengdu WorldCon Hugo Committee?
Short answer: Probably not. Long answer: The book is set in 18th century Prussia (mostly Bavaria), 19th Century Prussia (Berlin) and Britain (London), 20th century Berlin and New York, and 21st century Greater New York Metro Area. The only reference to China is where...
Ondine’s Curse
She knew the signs of drowning; she’d seen it many times. Mouth below the waterline, arms pressing the body up out of the water for a breath. He didn’t cry out for help, but then again, they never did. Breathing took precedence. He didn’t kick, didn’t thrash. He didn’t have the energy to waste.
Immortal Gifts invites readers to re-evaluate the meanings of things such as life, death, freedom, hate and love from the first page. Katherine Villyard manages to capture some of the most poignant questions we ask ourselves as we go through our individual lives. Is it worth being able to live forever if, in the end, we’ll lose the ones we love to mortality? Is Death really the ultimate enemy to life, or is death just life’s misunderstood old friend? To stop hate, do we need to restrict our freedoms? This book makes readers ask and answer tough questions not only about the characters and plotline, but about their own beliefs, understandings, and dreams.