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Post by Jaymz on Feb 1, 2014 17:00:26 GMT
Mini-Update February 1, 2014 UPDATE: The Rifter® #65 shipped on Friday. The book looks fantastic and is on its way to hundreds of subscribers. PR copies (and contracts for contributors) along with distributor copies ship on Monday. I’m happy to say, people are taking advantage of the Rifter® Super-Subscription offer and subscribing at a rapid pace. Outstanding. At this rate, we may see a record number of subscribers. UPDATE: Heroes Unlimited™ Hardcover Edition pre-orders are also selling at a rapid pace. I think you’ll enjoy this attractive commerative edition. UPDATE: Rifts® Northern Gun™ 2. Yesterday was a busy day with sorting, packing and shipping The Rifter® #65 and getting a jump on packing up distributor copies. Earlier in the day, I was dealing with business matters and paying billings. However, I spent four hours on Thursday and Friday evening writing away on Rifts® Northern Gun™ 2. The book is coming along very well. I’ve braved a snowstorm to spend 8 hours working on the book today. Boy, it is snowing like crazy outside at the moment, so I think we’re looking at 5-7 inches by midnight. Wahhh.  Stay warm and game on. Kevin Siembieda Publisher, Writer and Surrogate Santa |
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Post by Jaymz on Feb 1, 2014 17:46:53 GMT
Ok I have to ask....does he not have a computer at home and does he not have the ability to access files remotely from there rather than drive the harrowing streets of suburban Detroit in the snow? I honestly would like to know....if not then can someone please explain to him about this before someone that works there ends up in an accident that really could have been avoided by working at home.
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Post by MacrossMike on Feb 1, 2014 18:15:05 GMT
I’ve braved a snowstorm to spend 8 hours working on the book today. Boy, it is snowing like crazy outside at the moment, so I think we’re looking at 5-7 inches by midnight. Wahhh. "None of you guys are in Michigan, right? You promise not to call me on it if I play the martyr over a few inches of snow that won't even be on the ground until this evening? Seriously, how inconvenient that I have to drive to work like everyone else when the roads aren't perfectly clear!" Good fucking grief... does Kevin honestly expect anyone to take that crap seriously? I live less than 20 minutes' drive from Kevin's offices, my daily driver is a standard family car without 4WD or snow tires, and I've yet to have any problems getting around this winter. Is Kevin's opinion of our intelligence so low that he honestly thinks that anyone will buy this? Snow happens in winter. This is not exactly outside of the norm here... if you live in Michigan and you're not used to driving in snow, there is something very badly wrong with you. This snowfall barely qualifies as "flurries". Someone get this nut a laptop, or teach him how to use VPN to connect his home computer to his office one if he's really that scared of driving in a snowfall so light it doesn't even slow down the pizza delivery guys. |
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Post by Josh Hilden on Feb 1, 2014 18:32:49 GMT
He lives less than 2 miles from the Warehouse, unless he's moved, and no he has no desire to work remotely. He used to publicly question whether Marker was working at all or bullshting him because Jason preferred not to do his writing at the office.
And no I don't believe he has a laptop or a home desk top.
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Post by MacrossMike on Feb 1, 2014 19:21:37 GMT
He lives less than 2 miles from the Warehouse, unless he's moved, and no he has no desire to work remotely. He used to publicly question whether Marker was working at all of bullshting him because Jason preferred not to do his writing at the office. Wait... what? So he lives less than two miles from work, yet he's bitching endlessly about having to drive in the snow? No self-respecting Michigan native would find two miles in light snow even mildly off-putting. For all the drama of his complaining, you'd expect he was driving fifty miles uphill on bald rubber in a broken-down Geo Metro during a record-setting blizzard. And no I don't believe he has a laptop or a home desk top. In this day in age? Even my 88 year old grandma has a home computer... |
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Post by Jaymz on Feb 1, 2014 19:30:15 GMT
He used to publicly question whether Marker was working at all of bullshting him because Jason preferred not to do his writing at the office. That is a great way to treat your employee. No wonder Jason has such high regard for Kevin and Palladium...... |
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Post by Josh Hilden on Feb 1, 2014 20:37:11 GMT
I don't know if he's still only a couple of miles away or not I just know the apartment I've been to.
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Post by damianmagecraft on Feb 1, 2014 21:04:54 GMT
And no I don't believe he has a laptop or a home desk top. In this day in age? Even my 88 year old grandma has a home computer... Which means absolutely nothing. My mother and father are retired and younger than your grandma; and yet do not have any internet capable devices of their own. If not for me living with them they wouldn't even have net service at all. Not everyone is like you and yours. |
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Post by Josh Hilden on Feb 1, 2014 21:31:07 GMT
I will say this, for some writers having other computer options wouldn't help much, they have a very specific environment they are comfortable creating in. Kevin always struck me as that sort of writer.
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Post by Sci-Fi on Feb 1, 2014 21:42:22 GMT
I have to chime in on the snow thing. Living up north. I fully agree with the 'Stop bitching about the weather bullshit you pussy' feelings. 5 to 7 inches of snow by midnight is just another day living in MI. I live 35 miles from town, over a mountain, sandwiched between two great lakes so we get double lake effect snow and 5 to 7 inches over 12 hours is nothing. Everyone goes to work. Kids go to school. It's no big thing.
As pointed out above, his bitching that it's a huge deal seems to be aimed at people that might not know better. It's making a mountain out of a snowhill.
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Post by MacrossMike on Feb 2, 2014 3:56:12 GMT
My mother and father are retired and younger than your grandma; and yet do not have any internet capable devices of their own. Okay, so you have the exception that tests the rule... so what? That's a minority these days. In this part of Michigan, even the nursing homes boast a net cafe and/or public PCs for the residents. Almost every apartment complex is offering WiFi as a basic amenity, as you're hard-pressed to find a house that doesn't have DSL or cable TV and internet*. Every fast food chain and coffee house advertises available WiFi hotspots for customers, and even the nice sit-down restaurants have started to follow in those footsteps. Combine that with the ready availability of cheap laptops, the way just about every business selling something pricey is giving away free tablets just for talking to them, and the ubiquity of smart phones... * A good friend of mine is a Verizon/Comcast sales rep, she's shown me their market penetration numbers... and they are damned impressive. |
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Post by MacrossMike on Feb 2, 2014 3:58:27 GMT
I have to chime in on the snow thing. Living up north. I fully agree with the 'Stop bitching about the weather bullshit you pussy' feelings. 5 to 7 inches of snow by midnight is just another day living in MI. I live 35 miles from town, over a mountain, sandwiched between two great lakes so we get double lake effect snow and 5 to 7 inches over 12 hours is nothing. Everyone goes to work. Kids go to school. It's no big thing. As pointed out above, his bitching that it's a huge deal seems to be aimed at people that might not know better. It's making a mountain out of a snowhill. Even down this way, the snow hasn't been the cause of school closings this winter... it's been the subzero wind chill. 5-7 inches gets you told to suck it up and get behind the wheel. |
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Post by damianmagecraft on Feb 2, 2014 4:05:30 GMT
My mother and father are retired and younger than your grandma; and yet do not have any internet capable devices of their own. Okay, so you have the exception that tests the rule... so what? That's a minority these days. In this part of Michigan, even the nursing homes boast a net cafe and/or public PCs for the residents. Almost every apartment complex is offering WiFi as a basic amenity, as you're hard-pressed to find a house that doesn't have DSL or cable TV and internet*. Every fast food chain and coffee house advertises available WiFi hotspots for customers, and even the nice sit-down restaurants have started to follow in those footsteps. Combine that with the ready availability of cheap laptops, the way just about every business selling something pricey is giving away free tablets just for talking to them, and the ubiquity of smart phones... * A good friend of mine is a Verizon/Comcast sales rep, she's shown me their market penetration numbers... and they are damned impressive. Ubiquity does not mean everyone can or will avail themselves of the service. (and expecting them to do so shows a level of arrogance on your part). Josh said it best. Not everyone can write in every environment. Or even is comfortable with utilizing the services. |
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Post by shawnmerrow on Feb 2, 2014 5:49:05 GMT
Weather is about the most common thing in the world for people to talk about and complain about. Its rather guaranteed if they can understand you its possible to start a conversation with "Hows the Weather" anywhere in the world. Yet every time he mentions the weather some of you freak out, who is overreacting again?
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Post by joshuagoliath on Feb 2, 2014 7:04:22 GMT
That IS a good point Shawn.. BUT (you know that was coming), he tends to write about the weather like it's an excuse that stuff isn't getting done, or like it's a HUGE OMG obstacle he overcame to do his job..
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Post by ninjabunny on Feb 2, 2014 7:06:09 GMT
In am about 40 minutes south we got rain all day and it just froze. Roads are rivers of ice. It's ok If your area at least salts but Monroe county desided it isn't worth it lol.
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Post by Sci-Fi on Feb 2, 2014 8:45:01 GMT
Okay, so you have the exception that tests the rule... so what? That's a minority these days. In this part of Michigan, even the nursing homes boast a net cafe and/or public PCs for the residents. Almost every apartment complex is offering WiFi as a basic amenity, as you're hard-pressed to find a house that doesn't have DSL or cable TV and internet*. Every fast food chain and coffee house advertises available WiFi hotspots for customers, and even the nice sit-down restaurants have started to follow in those footsteps. Combine that with the ready availability of cheap laptops, the way just about every business selling something pricey is giving away free tablets just for talking to them, and the ubiquity of smart phones... * A good friend of mine is a Verizon/Comcast sales rep, she's shown me their market penetration numbers... and they are damned impressive. Ubiquity does not mean everyone can or will avail themselves of the service. (and expecting them to do so shows a level of arrogance on your part). Josh said it best. Not everyone can write in every environment. Or even is comfortable with utilizing the services. I don't think it's arrogant to expect someone that's a writer and a business owner in the year 2014, in modern day America to have home internet access and the ability to write in more than JUST THE OFFICE. And NO WHERE ELSE ON PLANET EARTH EVAH!! That seems... well there's a buncha words for it but none of them nice. How can you be a business owner and NOT have internet access? How can you be a writer and not have a laptop or means to write at home? That's just... mind boggeling. |
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Post by Sci-Fi on Feb 2, 2014 8:58:01 GMT
Weather is about the most common thing in the world for people to talk about and complain about. Its rather guaranteed if they can understand you its possible to start a conversation with "Hows the Weather" anywhere in the world. Yet every time he mentions the weather some of you freak out, who is overreacting again? We're pointing out that -he- is freaking out and acting like the weather is an -issue- as to hardship and something spectacular, when it's par for the course and a 'non issue'. He's all HERMERGURD!!! SNOWZ!!!!" and we're all "you live in MI. Of course there's snow. It's January/February. Did you think you were in the Sahara?" It's not a big deal. He's all "Oh we couldn't get to the office" and we're all "Were you trying to swim along the earth? Because that amount of snow does NOT Stop people in MI from going about their every day lives" It's a disingenuous affected worry/concern/hindrance. It's the equivalent of living in Seattle and going "Oh.. wow... it rained today.... I was lucky to survive the two mile drive to work!! It's been raining for days! I think it's rained at least some every day for a week!!" Well yeah. It's Seattle. lol. That's why people comment on it. He's acting like it's a huge problem and we're lucky he's even making it to work, when there's 5 year olds walking 2 miles just to hang out at their friends house in it, and everyone and their grandmother up north drives through it with no problem all winter long. |
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Post by MacrossMike on Feb 2, 2014 16:51:42 GMT
How can you be a business owner and NOT have internet access? How can you be a writer and not have a laptop or means to write at home? That's just... mind boggeling. Even then, if we assume that there's some sane excuse for not having home internet access and a personal computer in this day in age... what's stopping him from drafting this stuff by hand? I mean, sure... it won't have the precision of a typewritten page and it might take a little longer to produce, but it's a method that's served us well for centuries. There are plenty of jobs where not being able to get to the office makes it impossible to work... but a writer isn't one of them. Especially not now, when everything is composed digitally and you can lug a few hundred books around on a flash drive or SD card about the size of your thumbnail. |
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Post by joshuagoliath on Feb 2, 2014 20:25:12 GMT
Him complaining about snow, in Michigan, in January (and early Feb), is like me complaining about the heat in Tucson in the summer. Or the monsoons that will hit here in the summer. I live outside the city limits, and when the monsoons hit, the yard routinely becomes a 4 inch deep river that's about 1 1/2 acres wide. The unpaved road I have to go down disappears under water, making it almost impossible to avoid the holes that can swallow an entire tire of my car.
That doesn't give me a reason to say "ERMIGAWD! RAIN!" I still have to get places to do stuff.
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Post by shawnmerrow on Feb 3, 2014 6:09:28 GMT
I live in an area that gets a lot of windstorms they happen all the dam time, we even get gusts over 100 MPH every so often. One of the most common things people bitch about here is the wind. As I said people all over bitch about the weather and of course its going to be about the weather they get not the weather half way around the world. As for saying "Brave the snow" don't know about him but most people I know use that expression sarcastically.
For coming in, I do know he has a large reference collection at the warehouse and maybe he just likes working there.
I will never get that some of you need to be angry with him so badly to get worked up over nothing.
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Post by joshuagoliath on Feb 3, 2014 6:41:02 GMT
Shawn, I get what you're saying, I do.
But, when you're talking about someone who is chronically late with stuff, and ALWAYS has an excuse (more than once it's been the weather), when he starts bringing up what a BIG deal it is, it's aggravating.
I spent over a decade living a life where timliness was what mattered. Inclement weather meant planning better. I have literally had to leave a barracks through a WINDOW because the snow had piled up so much overnight that the doors were blocked. Then I had to walk through all that depth of snow for a mile.
Surprise, surprise, I was late. My supervisor, who had to deal with the same conditions as me, was sitting there, almost finished with her coffee. And when I said WHY I was late, guess how effective that excuse was? All these years later, I still remember her words to me: "Weather happens. Plan accordingly. Bad weather, you leave early to either avoid it, or to get through it. Good weather, leave early so you can enjoy it."
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Post by MacrossMike on Feb 3, 2014 14:34:31 GMT
I will never get that some of you need to be angry with him so badly to get worked up over nothing. Basically, what joshuagoliath said... if this were a one-time thing it wouldn't be so bad, but he's acting like a few inches of snow on his astonishingly short drive to work are a sign of the freaking apocalypse. Complaining about bad weather is one thing, but to use the kind of weather that's a fact of life for every Michigander from November to March as an excuse for not getting shit done won't pass the bullshit sniff test. It's one thing to say a few inches of snow made you late for work... it's something else entirely when you're acting as though we should all be thankful that a thoroughly average snowfall didn't bring everything to a screeching halt. As a manager myself, I can understand and even forgive a lot of excuses for not having your work finished in a timely fashion. Hell, I've used a fair number of them myself over the years. There are many kind of legitimate reason for being behind schedule... but lately, Kevin's excuses fall apart under even the most cursory examination. If it were a one-time thing or even just an infrequent thing, people probably wouldn't notice or care... but he's crossed the Wally Line here, to the extent that the usual reaction to his announcements of "I'll have it to you by ______" are usually met with mocking laughter and sarcastic disbelief. |
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Post by Sci-Fi on Feb 3, 2014 19:07:48 GMT
I live in an area that gets a lot of windstorms they happen all the dam time, we even get gusts over 100 MPH every so often. One of the most common things people bitch about here is the wind. As I said people all over bitch about the weather and of course its going to be about the weather they get not the weather half way around the world. As for saying "Brave the snow" don't know about him but most people I know use that expression sarcastically. For coming in, I do know he has a large reference collection at the warehouse and maybe he just likes working there. I will never get that some of you need to be angry with him so badly to get worked up over nothing. No Shawn. It's more like complaing that the sun came up in the morning and you have to go to work when it's light out. "Brave the snow" ? *Shrugs* It's just an every day thing in MI during the winter. if you let a few inches of snow stop you, you'd be locked in your home for about 4 months straight. It's silly. Winds of 100mph isn't an all day every day thing for a third of the year. It's not so common that it's just (pardon the pun) White noise. He's bitching and moaning and acting all put out by every day weather. Not extreme weather. |
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Post by ninjabunny on Feb 3, 2014 20:00:41 GMT
Ok I so have to say south east Michigan isn't the same weather wise as the the UP. I am not saying we have it bad like Kevin is but the last five years have been weak winters this winter had been strong on us .
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Post by shawnmerrow on Feb 4, 2014 5:52:10 GMT
You guys did see the part where he spent 8 hours working on NG2? How many hours did you want him to put in that day? He made a comment about the weather and nothing saying it actually kept him from work, so no idea how your examples of going to work uphill both ways matters.
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Post by Sci-Fi on Feb 4, 2014 8:36:17 GMT
He said he put in 4 hours, two days. It's also some of the first work he's claimed to have done on it since mid December.
Half a day on your.. you know.. job... on a book... that was late for 18+ months ago..... doesn't really seem super excessive to me, mate.
And the point about the weather isn't 'He didn't go in at all' Though he's claimed that the weather kept home others before in the past month.
The point is that he's acting like "HERMERGURD!!!!! SNOWPOCKALIPSE!!! ARCTIC VORTEX DEATH BLAST!!! And yet... Just for you!!! I braved the weather. I fought off the Yeti along the way, with my frost bitten fingers, and I some how, managed to find my way to work, in the Blizzard like that one off the Day after Tomorrow!! Just to put in 4 hours on that booK!! Yes.. yes you may bow before me now and my amazing dedication!"
When little 7 year old, girl scouts are walking through the same weather, more than the 2 miles he has to work, selling Girl Scout cookies and not complaining.
It's disingenuous. He's not even a southerner like me that transplanted north. (And even I laugh at him).
Edit: Yes I know I was being hyperbolic with the way he was acting. It was on purpose to show the sillyness.
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Post by joshuagoliath on Feb 4, 2014 18:02:11 GMT
He said he put in 4 hours, two days. Actually, theres a total of 3 different days, 4 hpurs for the first two, and then 8 on Saturday |
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Post by Sci-Fi on Feb 4, 2014 20:09:57 GMT
Ahh, yes, the next paragraph. That was the claim.
Which boils down to what.. 5.3 hours per day, for three days? *shrugs*
I want my book. I'm tired of waiting.
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Post by ninjabunny on Feb 4, 2014 21:18:06 GMT
Guys lets calm down and stay logical. Right to be angery? Yes. Desire for book understood? Yes. Kevin do what we want? No, but how torn do we say this about sports players and stuff? Is Kevin working on said book? Yes, though not as fast as desired. Will we get this book? Yeah... Late really late and well the luster is kinda gone...
And that is my two cents. I am ninja bunny saying, goodnight America back to you Diana.
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