![\"Locksmith's](\"https:\/\/www.webomator.com\/grafx3\/blog\/patently_absurd_locksmith_shop.jpg\")
\n\nAs I said in my last post, I’ve been busy; I still am. I’m working on my tenth illustration for Patently Absurd<\/em> since the end of June. <\/P>\n It’s not a bad average when you do the arithmetic, but I spent twenty days on the picture we see here. That’s slowed me way down since the beginning (the first five pictures went very quickly) but I knew what I wanted here, and it was obvious that it would take a bit of time.<\/p>\n Sometimes what you need is a little, cluttered shop filled with the things that clutter little shops, and if all those things are unique and new then your next twenty days are pretty well spoken for.<\/p>\n I kind of expected it to take twenty-one<\/em> days. So if you squint a bit and tilt your head just right, it looks like I’m ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n That’s why I look a little squinty and twitchy just now.<\/p>\n It’s not working, though. When I lose the squint and straighten up my head I can see that I’m far behind where I’d hoped to be by now. So it’s likely that the blog will remain quiet for awhile longer.<\/p> I think it was one of Tim Powers’ characters who once said “If it was easy, they’d have got someone else to do it.”<\/p>\n I was pretty happy to see this latecomer of Switchboard<\/em> reviews at Sci-Fi Fan Letter<\/a>. Among other things, there’s this:<\/p>\n I loved the characters in this. Dash is so much fun, and Nola\u2019s got a good mix of spunk and intelligence. The Campbell kids are\u2026 something. They were both great and terrifying to follow. <\/p>\n The world-building was great. The switchboard is sort of an internet, if history had taken a different path. The priests of the spider god were fun, and kept the old school pulp feel. The robot League and the interactions between robot and human people show a positive future that\u2019s often lacking in modern SF and something I enjoyed seeing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The book’s done very well over at Goodreads<\/a>, with forty ratings and twenty-six reviews; at Amazon it has a good, solid rating, but only twelve reviews.<\/p>\n Hint: those Amazon reviews are really helpful at the Amazon site. So if you’ve read Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom<\/em>, consider adding a review at Amazon<\/a>. Thanks!<\/p>\nSlaves of the Switchboard of Doom<\/h3>\n
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The Lair of the Clockwork Book<\/h3>\n