2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Minty-Fresh™.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,500 times in 2010. That’s about 4 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 56 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 59 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 14mb. That’s about 1 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was December 26th with 28 views. The most popular post that day was Caledor Cover.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were healthfitnesstherapy.com, z6.invisionfree.com, angryrobotbooks.com, deathuntodarkness.org, and shoutmix.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for ulrika magdova, the first heretic, warhammer art, caledor, and james atlantic.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Caledor Cover August 2010

2

Book Review! Bloodborn by Nathan Long July 2010

3

Book Review – Enforcer by Matthew Farrer July 2010

4

The First Heretic – Can’t Wait! August 2010

5

Book Review – The Crown of The Blood August 2010
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Angry Robot Digital Short Story – Store

PRESS RELEASE
22nd November 2010 ~ For Immediate Release

ANGRY ROBOT ANNOUNCES DIGITAL SHORT STORY STORE

On December 1st 2010, Angry Robot will be launching “Nano Editions”. Exclusive to the publisher’s own webstore at angryrobotstore.com, Nanos are digital short stories by Angry Robot novelists, sold at sensible prices in ePub format, ready to load onto the world’s most popular eBook readers.

Most Nanos will be in the 5,000 – 15,000 word range. Shorter works than that will be automatically bundled with another story to ensure value for money.

Talking of which – stories will cost just 59p each (approximately US $0.95). Readers can bundle a collection of any 10 by any combination of authors, for only £3.49 (US$5.59). The files will be DRM-free and available worldwide. If demand for the stories takes off, AR plan to also sell them via eBook retailers.

Angry Robot Editor Lee Harris said, “Publishing is changing, but our role as publishers remains the same – to find cool stories and bring them to readers. This is another step in Angry Robot’s ongoing plan to embrace the new opportunities digital formats provide – and an excellent way for readers to sample unfamiliar authors, without breaking the bank.”

Authors included in the Nanos series include multi-million-selling novelist Dan Abnett and award-winning short fiction authors Kaaron Warren and Aliette de Bodard, along with many others. We will have at least 30 Nanos available for the December 1st launch, with more added at regular intervals.

Lee Harris
Editor, Angry Robot

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UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record – Most interesting UFO book to date

An Air Force major is ordered to approach a brilliant UFO in his Phantom jet over Tehran. He repeatedly attempts to engage and fire on unusual objects heading right towards his aircraft, but his missile control is locked and disabled. Witnessed from the ground, this dogfight becomes the subject of a secret report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.

In Belgium, an Air Force colonel investigates a series of widespread sightings of unidentified triangular objects, and he sends F-16s to attempt a closer look. Many hundreds of eye witnesses, including on-duty police officers, file reports, and a spectacular photograph of an unidentifiable craft is retrieved and analyzed.

Here at home, a retired chief of the FAA’s Accidents and Investigations Division reveals the agency’s response to a thirty-minute encounter between an aircraft and a gigantic UFO over Alaska, documented on radar, which occurred during his watch.

Now, all three of these distinguished men have written breathtaking, firsthand accounts about these extraordinary incidents. They are joined by Air Force generals and a host of high-level sources – including Fife Symington III, former governor of Arizona and Nick Pope, former head of the British Defence Ministry’s UFO Investigative Unit – who have agreed to write their own detailed, personal stories about UFO encounters and investigations, for the first time.

They are coming forward now because of Leslie Kean, an investigative reporter who has spent the last ten years studying the still unexplained UFO phenomenon. Kean reviewed hundreds of government documents, aviation reports, radar data, and case studies with corroborating physical evidence. She carefully examined scientifically-analyzed photographs and interviewed dozens of high-level officials and aviation witnesses from around the world. With the support of former White House Chief-of-Staff John Podesta, Kean draws on her research to separate fact from fiction and to lift the veil on decades of U.S. government misinformation. Throughout, she presents irrefutable evidence that unknown flying objects – metallic, luminous, and seemingly able to maneuver in ways that defy the laws of physics – actually exist.

No one yet knows what these objects are, even though they affect aviation safety and possibly national security. The phenomenon has been officially acknowledged by numerous foreign governments. For these reasons and many others, Kean concludes that the UFO problem must be more widely recognized and ultimately solved through an unbiased scientific investigation. The material presented throughout this landmark book is sobering, unflinching, and undeniably awe inspiring, and moves us towards a goal of properly addressing this worldwide mystery.

[I took this from the book’s website.   I just became aware of this book and wanted to share it on the blog.  I am getting a copy soon!]

http://ufosontherecord.com/the-book/

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To Teach or Not To Teach

That is a question I have been asking myself alot as of late.

My career is starting to become a string of disheartening experiences each more disappointing than the previous.

I have been a teacher for 5 years and I ask myself more and more each day why I chose this profession.  Perhaps some of my discontent is due to where I work.  After all, I do make my living dodging spit, diseases, and a big heaping pile of random nastiness.

But, I just don’t think that’s it.

Maybe, just maybe, after almost 29 years of life I’m finally starting to figure myself out.

But how do I make it happen?

Wisdom seems to be in short supply right about now.

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Angry Robot – Press Release

PRESS RELEASE:
Angry Robot signs debut novelist for a Manga-inspired science fantasy epic

New Australian author Jo Anderton has signed with genre masterminds Angry Robot for at least two novels in her Veiled Worlds series. The worldwide deal, covering physical books and eBooks, was done by agent Anni Haig-Smith and Angry Robot’s publishing director, Marc Gascoigne. Debris will be published in the autumn of 2011, with direct sequel Suited to follow in 2012.

Series opener Debris introduces us to Tanyana, leader of a energy-harvesting team. Following an accident, she’s dismayed to be demoted to little more than a garbage collector, but it soon becomes obvious she’s been manipulated into that role by the faceless faction she calls the Puppet Men, to uncover a world-shattering secret.

Angry Robot’s man with the cheque book Marc Gascoigne said, “With the ever-increasing popularity of Japanese and Korean anime, manga and computer games, it’s been surprising that there hasn’t been more SF and fantasy showing its influence. Debris’s mix of SF and fantasy themes, exotic future-medieval settings, Dune-esque warring factions, and a fabulous kick-ass heroine is exactly the sort of on-trend science fiction Angry Robot was set up to publish. We’re damned pleased to have Jo on board.”

Jo added, “I’ve been reading Angry Robot books since their first giant, metallic steps and absolutely loving them. Debris started out as an idea about a magical version of the industrial revolution and a scarred garbage collector who saves the world, but still has to pay her rent. Add a few motley companions, a pinch of probably-misinterpreted quantum physics, and far too much time spent in front of various Final Fantasy video games. I’m thrilled my books have found a home at Angry Robot.”

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Firedrake Book Trailer

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My Son is Awesome!

Check out what he is reading.  Go Wyatt!

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The First Heretic – Book Trailer!

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Chad Vader

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Fear of Girls

I came across this again the other day.  I first saw it about 4 years ago and it is just as funny now as it was then.

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