I apologize for the recent silence. Since the holidays, I’ve been focusing on the ebook/magazine. I’ve been writing bits and pieces, and trying to work these pieces into the format.

Pieces like Listeria. Bits like footnotes. I have a Kindle Paperwhite, but I’m also testing the formats in several other readers available on iOS. So far, here’s what’s seems good, and what seems, well, not so good.

First, my physical Kindle keeps getting better and better. A recent update apparently added a footnote feature that displays the footnote in a little window. Previously, it moved you to a footnote page, usually at the end of the book. If you accidentally exited the book while on the footnote page, which I’ve done more than once, the synced location marker would get saved with no easy way to reset it.

I’ve only added footnotes to my test tonight, but I’ve found that the Kobo Reader for iOS does the same thing as the Kindle, although the Kindle apps for iOS do not (disappointing, but hopefully this will change on a future update).

Another recent bit I’ve been playing with is drop caps. The Paperwhite and the Kindle iOS apps make the drop caps bigger, as you can see in the image above, but the Kobo app renders them in the way I expect them to appear (see image below).

Other iOS-based readers I’ve tried and been less impressed with include: Nook (maybe the physical Nook reader is better than the app, but the app kind of sucks); Bookperk (which is more of a book discovery app, but has an epub reader built-in; drop caps are good, but footnotes still go to a footnote page; occasionally bad formatting, but works well enough for an afterthought feature); iBooks (Nice rendering; drop caps are great; footnotes flip to footnotes pages at end); and Blio (Drop caps render nicely, but footnotes are as weak as the others).

I’m also working on putting together other content for this issue. And it isn’t too late to submit your work for the Cowering In Fear#, so hurry and get your submissions in to submissions@nationalpasquinade.com.

From everyone at the National Pasquinade, we wish you a merry Christmas and a happier New Year.

I’ve been on Twitter for a long time. The 140-character limit adapted well to my preference for short-form humor so, for me, it was a better fit than Facebook.

This week, I hit the 1,000-follower milestone. I’m so thankful for the amazing people choosing to pay attention to @pasquinade, hoping for that occasional flash of brilliance in the form of a clever one-liner (odds are that it could happen soon).

So, thank you. Tell your friends about @pasquinade and maybe next week I can post about hitting the 2,000-follower mark. More likely, it’ll be some silly #hashtag war, but we are all dreamers, are we not?

In the days, weeks, months, and years following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, I felt like my sense of all that is funny was violently stripped from my soul. This feeling persisted for a very long time, but slowly it subsided and, gradually, I healed.

Terrorist groups like ISIS and Al Qaida have since made many smaller, but no less tragic, attacks commonplace around the world. Including the recent attacks in France on Charlie Hebdo and the tragedy of November 13. We live in a world now where these mass killings are a weekly, if not daily, news story. And throughout it all, more than ever, we need to retain our sense of humor.

We’ve tried bombing these cowards, even succeeding in killing a few in the process, but maybe we need another tactic. Let’s mock the bastards! Come on, internet! Do what you do best: bully the terrorists until they run home crying to their mommies! Then bully their mommies for raising such weak children!

Through it all, National Pasquinade is with you, Paris, and the World (as are the beings of a small undiscovered planet of surprisingly-strong mantis-like creatures who “Like” and “Favorite” everything they can on social media, whether or not they really like it).

Postscript: Since posting this earlier, I’ve come across another blogger’s more serious words on this subject. You can check out Serial Word Abuser‘s post at https://serialwordabuser.wordpress.com/2015/11/14/a-brief-word/.

I had a blast tonight tweeting the GOP Debate while I was watching the Caps lose to the Penguins, 3-1. Keep in mind that I was not watching the debate, although I did see the occasional tweet about it.

All the tweets used the hashtag #TweetTheDebateWithoutWatchingIt (if you’re so inclined to go read them).

 

Currently, the cover for the Cowering In Fear # is a bit empty. Any ideas for what should go on the cover? Anyone willing to lend their talents to creating the opening image? (Seriously, no pressure.)

Also, I’ve added a Facebook page for the magazine. So, please, click over to http://www.facebook.com/nationalpasquinade and like us.

And, as always, you can follow us on Twitter at @pasquinade.