I'm just reading the introduction to Fragile Things, and I'm intrigued by your mention of a computer program called Babble that you used in the writing of "Diseasemaker's Croup". I'm really curious about what the program is and how it works, but I'm not able to find other references to it online. What can you tell me about Babble, and how can I get a copy?
A quick Google found me a copy of Babble up on http://www.bradsucks.net/archives/2003/07/08/lyric-generators/
It's strange that no-one's updated or reinvented it in the last 15 years, isn't it? It can make some wonderful things.
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Just to let you know that Jonathan Browne, who runs the Richmond comic shop They Walk Among Us is doing a sponsored cycle up the Mekong to raise money for Diabetes UK. The link is
http://www.justgiving.com/jonathanbrowne
and any attention you can direct that way would be most welcome.
(There's actually an account of a signing you did at TWAU back in the day at http://www.ninthart.com/display.php?article=1185 . It's mostly about Graham Higgins' short story 'Helicopters', though - you only get a walk-on role.)
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I won't embarrass the friend who thought I'd be amused by this by naming him, her or it.... but I was amused -- I am as much of a sucker for iPod accessories as the next person, but I think this one (possibly not safe for work, depending on your workplace) goes beyond what I'd imagined necessary.
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Puzzling over why the Guardian thinks that Google Videos posted by tourists have anything to do with Google per se, and happy to see the return of the fountain pen. (I stopped travelling with fountain pens when you couldn't take ink on planes. I suppose you can again, now.)
Read The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl yesterday. I enjoyed it, as much as one can enjoy a book where you're half-way between landscape and an offstage character, but found waves of empathy with the fictional version of Mr Bendis at his signing in the story, as he has to explain to our hero that he can't read his graphic novel now, and won't make him famous, and has to get on with the signing because he has a line of people....
Oops. Got to run.