So here it is November yet again, and it is our third time around. I suspect that many of you know the drill, but in case you are new to these parts, I suppose I should take just a moment to explain the ground rules. Exactly what is No Quarter November? Or, as we will occasionally call it this year, Mostly Peaceful November.
From time to time here at Mablog, I have said certain things that might ruffle a feather or two. Mindful of my responsibilities in such cases, I try to make it my usual custom to anticipate any objections and concerns that may arise, and I do so through what we might call my Second Paragraph Rule. Somewhere early on in the offending post I will say something that will hedge my supposed outrageous sentiment around with qualifications and other forms of oleaginous balance. For example, I will say something like “please don’t read this as arguing that all women are fat,” or something equally soothing.
Now there are some people out there who cannot be satisfied, no matter what you do, or how hard you try, right? For them, it is like these qualifications were never even made. They respond to what I write, qualifications and all, nuance and everything, as through it were my purpose to be incendiary regardless of the consequences. They deny that my prose is exquisitely balanced. Despite abundant evidence to the contrary, they persist in denying that I am walking the Tightrope of Steadiness across the deep canyon of Overdone Metaphors.
And so, once a year, throughout the month of November, I do my level best to leave all the qualifications completely out of it. I still believe all of those most reasonable qualifications, most certainly, but during the month of November I count on you to supply the qualifications.
Some of you may have read this far, and you have been thinking “yeah, yeah, I know all that. But in the words of John of Damascus, what’s in it for me?” Aren’t there usually giveaways and stuff? There most certainly are, and this year will be even better in this regard.
2020 has been a sui generis year, a year like no other, and we knew that NQN needed to match. Since a bunch of you probably have all my books on Kindle from the last two years of giveaways, we thought it was time for something new. Alongside the blog posts here from me, there will be surprise announcements coming out of Canon Press every week this month. So stay on your toes and make sure you’re following their social media posts. I will announce the big doings here as well.
You won’t want to miss a thing. If you thought the free Kindle books were cool . . . just wait.