almost 6pm and I’m toast.
Just having a really, really, busy day. First working day of the month is Stat time so I get to load up WebTrends and a few other in-house programs for web site monitoring. Lots of fun… except when some dependant systems don’t generate their required file and we (well, really, Marc-Andre) spend the morning/ afternoon hunting down the systems and support people involved. Sheesh.
In other news… Chantale managed to make Top Seller for Mutual Funds in her District!! What an honor for her 🙂 Scotia Bank has no idea how lucky they are to have her on staff. She achieved 183% of her YEARLY objectives. In 3 months. Rock on, love! 🙂 (can you tell I’m super proud of her? 🙂 )
Finally, in SF news…
Death fails to Silence SF Master
Spider Robinson authorized by the Robert A. Heinlein Trust to write a new RAH novel.
Vancouver writer Spider Robinson has been authorized by the Robert A. Heinlein Trust to write a novel, “ROBERT A. HEINLEIN’S VARIABLE STAR,” based on a detailed outline and notes completed by Mr. Heinlein in 1955 and recently rediscovered. The book was sold to editor Pat LoBrutto at Tor Books for a six-figure sum by Eleanor Wood, agent for both Robinson and the Heinlein estate.
“There simply are no words adequate to describe what it’s like to be writing with the Grandmaster, reports Robinson. I can imagine no greater honour, responsibility, challenge or sheer joy. I still can’t wrap my mind around it. The first book I ever read, Robert’s ROCKETSHIP GALILEO, found me when I was six — eerily enough, the same year he outlined VARIABLE STAR.”
Born in Butler, Missouri in 1907, Robert A. Heinlein is universally acknowledged as the greatest science fiction writer of all time. The 49 books and innumerable short stories he produced between 1939 and 1987 defined the field, and set a standard which even today is seldom achieved and very rarely surpassed.
He was the first writer named a Grandmaster by the Science Fiction Writers of America. He is perhaps most widely known outside the field for the novel STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND. A graduate of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, he died May 1988 in Carmel, California.
Born in New York in 1948, Spider Robinson has published 30 books since 1973, and won the field’s top honour, the Hugo Award, three times. In 1984 the New York Times Book Review called him, ‘the new Robert Heinlein.’ His most popular series, about a tavern called Callahan’s Place, inspired the creation of the world’s largest non-porn newsgroup, alt.callahans. He currently writes an op-ed column, ‘Future Tense’, for Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail.
‘Maybe a musician asked to complete an entire album of unreleased John Lennon songs — from his best period — would grok how I feel’, said Robinson. ‘If, that is, half the proceeds were earmarked to promote one of Johnny’s dearest dreams.’
‘The VARIABLE STAR project is intended to help the Heinlein Trust continue to fund the annual $500,000 Heinlein Prize for commercial manned spaceflight, a goal Mr. Heinlein famously believed to be crucial for humanity’s long-term survival.’
More details over at www.spiderrobinson.com