home words bio links
Praise for the
Milkweed Triptych
"A major talent... I can't wait to see more."
—George R. R. Martin
"Mad English warlocks battling twisted Nazi psychics? Yes please, thank you. Tregillis's debut has a white-knuckle plot, beautiful descriptions, and complex characters-- an unstoppable Vickers of a novel."
—Cory Doctorow on Bitter Seeds
"Ian Tregillis triumphantly concludes his astonishing, brilliant, pulse-pounding debut trilogy, The Milkweed Triptych."
—Cory Doctorow on Necessary Evil
"Tregillis' conclusion of the Milkweed Triptych is the pièce de résistance of the series. Necessary Evil is a perfect marriage of science fiction, fantasy and alternate history."
—RT Book Reviews (4.5 stars, Top Pick) on Necessary Evil
"Darkly fascinating…A thoroughly fascinating conclusion to an imaginative tour de force."
—Kirkus on Necessary Evil
"A cross between the devious, character-driven spy fiction of early John le Carré and the mad science fantasy of the X-Men... Despite the jaw-dropping backdrop and oblique plotting, the narrative is driven by character and personal circumstance...
Grim indeed, yet eloquent and utterly compelling."
—Kirkus on The Coldest War
"The characters come alive via [Tregillis's] imaginative dialogue and his storyline will keep readers spellbound and on the edge of their seats with an intense sci-fi/alternate history thriller plot."
—RT Book Reviews (4.5 stars, Top Pick) on The Coldest War
"Well-drawn characters and a feel for time and place make this an excellent journey into an alternate Britain."
—Library Journal on Bitter Seeds
"Engrossing... Tregillis ably mixes cold war paranoia with his mythology."
—Publishers Weekly on The Coldest War
news words bio links contact
Close
Breakfast With the Beatles
Recent Blog Entries:

The End: NECESSARY EVIL Is Out! - 5/1/2013, 10:29 AM Because I Haven't Posted About tDCS In A While - 4/8/2013, 04:07 PM Announcing the NECESSARY EVIL Signing Tour - 4/5/2013, 05:15 PM Nuclear Deterrence in a Blood Magic World - 2/22/2013, 09:41 AM Guest Post #2 at Charlie Stross's Blog - 2/17/2013, 04:41 PM Guest Post at Charlie Stross's Blog - 2/15/2013, 09:17 PM A Conversation with Charlie Stross - 2/8/2013, 11:06 AM NOW OUT in the UK: THE COLDEST WAR - 2/7/2013, 12:22 AM Clarion Is Accepting Applications for the Class of 2013 - 1/27/2013, 06:38 PM Holy Smokes! Cover Art for Something More Than Night - 1/23/2013, 09:44 PM

Show all blog entries
Sunday, September 11 2011, 10:53 PM

was the name of a Sunday-morning radio show that I frequently enjoyed whien I lived in upstate New York. 

It's also how I spent my Saturday morning, after (finally) recovering many gigabytes of music from the dead laptop. 

So far, as far as my own personal usage patterns go, the new Mac gets a solid "A" in every category except one.

And that's a pretty nitpicky one at that.  But.  I've found typing special characters (accents, umlauts, tildes, etc.) to be extremely cumbersome.  I reckon I'm doing something wrong.  But all I know is that after banging out a WWII novel or two, I should be able to type umlauts like some kind of umlaut-typing demon.  And I could on the old machine.  But, so far anyway, not on the new one. 

But it's a small price to pay for enjoying major improvements in every other way.

Close
Comments (8)
Huh. - Adrienne, Monday, September 12 2011, 12:05 AM
If ZI'm not mistaken, and I well could be since I haven't used a Mac in about 3 years, an umlauted o (?) is option+u o. So you press option and u simultaneously, then release and press o. Or it's not, in which case I've been both useless and annoying. Glad we had this chat!

SIGH - Adrienne, Monday, September 12 2011, 12:09 AM
Please edit that last comment to read anything other than "ZI'm." It's like a fancy-pants Invader Zim, or a really bad German accent. Either is a fine description, but I welcome any others you might have.

Written in the Key of Special - Scott Denning, Monday, September 12 2011, 01:11 AM

That's what you get for typing "special characters".

Were your characters mundane, everyday, pedestrian, there would be no problem.

But no -- you have to have an Grandfather Accent, an Uncle Umlaut, a Great-Aunt Tilde.

Mind you, I thought how you handled Ernest Emdash was brilliant. And Sergeant Stuart Superscript will always be one of my favourite adventure heroes. (Though I am still saddened by where you took poor Simon Semicolon...)

But maybe you could back off just a bit on the flash, mate, and give us some plain old Bobs and Brads, eh?

Aaaaauuuuummmmlaut - Tengland, Tuesday, September 13 2011, 09:54 PM
Isn't "ñ" that Irish New Age singer? (You know -- "Enye".) Actually, it's what keeps the old Spanish canon from falling into a cañon.
Untilde we meet again.

Special characters - Cale, Tuesday, September 13 2011, 11:26 PM
Love "Bitter Seeds!" Waiting impatiently for the follow-up.

Maybe these links will help your special character issue:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/8164.html

Re: Huh; SIGH; Written in the Key of Special; Aaaa...; Special Characters - Ian, Wednesday, September 14 2011, 09:46 PM
Hey, what dö yöu knöw? It works! Zi'm in your debt, Adrienne. Now I can get back to my true talent: designing album covers for Mötörhead.

Scott, you have listed some of my favorites. Although my all time favorites (I say with no small amount of pride) would have to be those star-crossed lovers, Peter Pilcrow and Agnes Ampersand. Though I am fond of the Emdash family as well: valiant Ernest, wallflower Elise, drug-dealing Eddie...

Terry, just so you know, I'm stealing this line: Actually, it's what keeps the old Spanish canon from falling into a cañon. Well played, sir.

Thanks, Cale! Really appreciate the kind words. I hope you enjoy the follow-up just as much :) And thanks for the Mac pointer!


untitled - Tim Keating, Thursday, September 22 2011, 10:33 AM
I was in the Apple store this weekend and lo, the overhead monitor featured a tip that directly addresses this. Apparently, in Lion, you can now just hold down the character you want and a little menu will pop up giving you access to the accented versions of the character. Probably not as fast as option+u for your most common case, but handy should you suddenly need a diacritical or a ligature or something typographical.

Re: untitled - Ian, Thursday, September 22 2011, 11:10 AM
Thanks for the tip, Tim! This could be just what I needed. I'm going to fiddle with the settings in Lion tonight to see if I can figure out how to do this. Much obliged, sir.



Add Your Comment:
Your Name:
Email Address or URL:
Title of Comment:
Comment Body:
 
Close

Interviews
Interview with SFX Magazine
Unwalkers interview [English | French ]
Interview with Speculate! Podcast Interview with Adventures in SciFi Publishing
Ian Tregillis on the Sword and Laser Podcast
Ian Tregillis on John Scalzi's The Big Idea
Interview with Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview with SFRevu
Interview with Mad Hatter Book Review
Interview with Apex Books

Interview at Literary Musings Interview with Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
An interview with the authors of Busted Flush at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview with Travis Heermann at The Write Line
9-way interview with the contributors to the Wild Cards novel Inside Straight at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview in the February, 2008 newsletter of the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
An extended interview with Ian Tregillis by Ty Franck, on www.wildcardsbooks.com.

There is a plethora of online shops, offering you to make the best buy Cialis generic.

All information about Buy Flagyl Online for the treatment of trichomoniasis striking the genitourinary system