Of course you know, Bob,
that Doctor McCoy wasn't merely comic relief,
as in, "Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor not a ______!"
He also kept score,
as in, "He's dead, Jim."
and updated anyone who tuned in at the half-hour commercial break,
as in, "Well, Spock, synopsis of first half-hour..."

I suspect Chekov spent the first two seasons
working at The Federation's Department of Redundancy Department.

Hmm, I hadn't thought about it but book trailers don't tend to do much for me. In fact, I usually only watch them if I happen to already know about the book and be checking the author or book site. The informational trailer makes the most sense logically but wouldn't make me interested unless I already was curious. I liked the example of the comedic one as it would make me want to find out what the book was about. And if it's funny enough, viewers will share with their friends which just increases promotion.

I loved the "As you know, Bob" article. Sadly, I just finished reading a book by an established, award-winning author (not “Self-Published") and the entire book felt like one long information dump. Rinse & repeat - every single chapter. To quote the bottom line "Don’t Be Boring!" - I was so bored. And sad. I'm supposed to write a review for this book. And it's a lot harder to write an honest review when I'm stressing about not being mean. (There's more to it than the dump, which just makes it worse....)

Excellent selection! Especially enjoyed Seanan's and Tex's.

I liked the "As you know, Bob" article. My (least) favorite of this is the military debriefing, in which everything is explained in a meeting with the Brass that explain the entire operation in about a page, including the exchange "permission to speak freeley, sir." The obverse of that is the maniacal dictator that explains all his plans to his henchmen, countrymen, etc. ala Hitler at Nuremberg. I always wonder what happens after the baddie delivers that speech. Are they all "yeah! Let's go!" or do they mill around for awhile and eat cake?

Hey Jon, I just found a post that I thought should be shared & I didn't want to wait till Friday! http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=7531

It's called "The New World: Publishing: Killing Your Sales One Shot at a Time". It's about the mistakes many indie writers make when designing their covers.

Oh - I just found his post immediately after that one - a part 2: "The Other Foot" - general mistakes indie writers make; promoting instead of writing, only having one print format, pen names, etc.

http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=7582

Oh, and apparently, your pick of the week (Kristine Kathryn Rusch) is his wife!