Humble Bundle.

I've been aware of the humble bundle for a while. They'll bundle up a handful of computer games - usually - from small independent games developers and sell them all to you for whatever you want, or can, pay. If that is 1 cent then that's what you pay. If you respect the work of the developers and you can afford it, you can pay $500.00. And the money is split - under your control - between the developer, a charity and a small charge to keep humble bundle going.

And now, there is a new bundle. And it's BOOKS! 8 lovely lovely e-books. (I hope)

Neil Gaiman and Mercedes Lackey make this bundle more than worth the $11.50 I paid. Cory Doctorow and Kelly Link I've wanted to try for a while.

So since this is a book blog, I thought maybe people might want a peek. The link is below.

The humble e-book bundle

Robert A Heinlein was a very nice man.

I'm a sucker for a lot of things. Seeing people happy together makes me smile every time. Even if I had nothing to do with it. Kittens, Dr Who (That last episode made me cry), kittens, heartwarming stories.

That last, sometimes they seem few and far between. And then something pops out of the woodwork. Click on the link.

Heinlein had a buddy, Theodore Sturgeon who wrote to him complaining of writer's block. By return airmail, Heinlein sent him back a long old letter.

Later, talking about it at a convention, Mr Sturgeon said:

"...I had no ideas in my head that would strike a story. By return airmail—I don't know how he did it—I got back 26 story ideas. Some of them ran for a page and a half; one or two of them were a line or two."

On the site where I read this, below the anecdote (which gets better, seriously, read it) the letter was published. With 26 story ideas. 

I think it would be fun to develop those ideas into short stories or blogs myself. And even more fun if other people did it too, because then we could see what different minds do with the same building blocks.

I have to admit to being hesitant to commit myself to this. I'll probably stop halfway through like I do with most blog challenges.

The one that made me smile the most and want to flesh out more was this one liner, about half way through.

A little cat ghost, padding patiently around in limbo, trying to find that familiar, friendly lap...

If you do end up doing this, let me know when you finish it, won't you. I'll start tomorrow. I have to leave for the WI now.