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Apr 24

Actually, that cover IS a classical work of art!I would touch it without protective gloves.I've seen worse. Far, far, worse.Interesting, but I would still read it in public.Middlng: Neither awful nor awfully goodWould not like to be seen reading that!Awful... just awful...That belongs in a gold-lame picture frame!Gah... my eyes are burning! Feels so good!Good Show Sir! (Average: 8.67 out of 10)
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155 Responses to “Technical Difficulties”

  1. SI Says:

    Are commments working?

  2. SI Says:

    Looks like it. So… what’s everyone else up to today? *twiddles thumbs*

  3. Tom Noir Says:

    I think if I was sitting beside Space Sheep in the waiting room I would get the heck out.

  4. Yoss Says:

    Anybody else try clicking the image to see what’s behind space sheep?

  5. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    @SI: well, I’m eating a meal. And after, I’m scheduled to practice my shouting. Later on, I plan to hold perfectly still, presenting my lumbricoid physique under a sheen of manly sweat, whilst nude trollops and hummingbird whales throw themselves at me simperingly and the unsheathed blade in my inexplicably metallic hand catches the fading sunlight and goes TING! Just in case a cover artist pops by, you know.

    Really, I should have done that all earlier in the week, but things happen, you know.

  6. Phil Says:

    Yes, Yoss, I tried clicking. No hidden devil’s dumplings today.

    If there are any publishers passing by, one of them is bound to buy the rights to that image. Perfect for the latest Tanith Lee novel.

  7. NGpm Says:

    I find it hard to believe that the technical documentation on a Cray supercomputer would be that small. Perhaps that’s just the company directory and he’s looking to call the IT manager … or finding someone to blame for having kicked the power cord out.

  8. Alessandra Kelley Says:

    Is it solar flares, or is this something to do with the server catching fire?

  9. fred Says:

    I’ve got a good idea what tech boys favorite ST-TNG episode was.

  10. Jaouad Says:

    It’s what I’ve always liked about Cray: excellent user interface design. What other computer had cushioned seats integrated in its CPU? But really something you would only expect on one of those hilariously bad SF covers. Oh wait.

  11. Phil Says:

    I bet those cushioned seats are heated, too. How else to dissipate all the CPU’s heat. This is why computer-tech has his sleeves rolled up.

  12. GSS Admin Says:

    @Jaouad – Exactly! I loved Seymour Cray’s vision of, “If you are a paying over a million pounds for a computer, it has to bloody look amazing!” Don’t really make it like that anymore.

    And Phil, under those seats are the power supplies and refrigeration units.I wonder if they did get nice and toasty!

    @Alessandra – Yep! Looks like we are having problems restoring things… STILL. I tried whipping the server admin last night. Maybe I should have let him work instead.

    And also Phil’s right. My photoshop skills are open for hire if any of you publishers are interested. I can put space sheep on any photo you want! For the right price that is. I accept booze as payment too!! 😉

  13. Pat Says:

    I am going on Ebay now to find a Cray sofa.

  14. THX 1138 Says:

    Because of these technical difficulties I am now reduced to forlornly taking books down off my shelves, quietly making sarcastic comments about them, then replacing them with a sigh.

  15. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    @THX: for the sake of my childhood, please fall asleep before you reach Winnie the Pooh.

    (No nudes last night, after all. Instead, I took my wife out to dinner and we had a delightful time. Take THAT, Baen!)

  16. GSS Admin Says:

    More problems! Hopefully will be back very soon!

    Does this comment work? The answer is… yes!!

  17. Tom Noir Says:

    Mo covers? Mo problems!

  18. Dave K Says:

    But…
    But if you can post the Space Sheep & the comments work then, then what is not working?
    Isn’t that all that’s needed?
    Just confused about the nature of the technical issues is all.

  19. ecthroi Says:

    this site is going downhill that cover isn’t funny it’s just dumb

    1/10.

  20. Jaouad Says:

    I am so glad it’s just Space Sheep, and not C.S.Lewis looking on in disapproval.

  21. L.B. Says:

    It’s the rating system that’s down, Dave K. It’s one of the biggest things that keeps me coming to this site.
    I hope that the wise minds at GSS are making good progress on getting the rating thingie up and running again. 🙁

  22. admin Says:

    Yes! I have figured out the issue and now trying to fix it but work is getting in the way. BAH!!!

    We’ll be back up tomorrow in some shape or form!

  23. admin Says:

    Bah… Can’t upload… tags have gone missing… all I can do is add CS Lewis into the technical difficulties message…

    Productive morning so far.

  24. Jaouad Says:

    CS Lewis appears to have a bad case of retinal burn-in there, poor chap. Must be all those nipples he’s being forced to look at on this site.

  25. GSS Admin Says:

    Do comments work?

    HaZAAA they do!

    Sit tight… I’ve got the server monkey doing his thing.

  26. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    I WENT ON HOLIDAY FOR ONE WEEK AND ALL I GOT WAS SPACE SHEEP AND CS LEWIS.

  27. B. Chiclitz Says:

    You may not believe this, being a somewhat skeptical lot (bless your decadent souls), but last night I dreamed the site went down, scout’s honor.

    And when I woke up, my pillow was gone!!

  28. Jerk of all Trades Says:

    At least we are spared the elevator music.

  29. GSS Admin Says:

    Ok… we’re actually all good to go. A bit late in the day to post anything… well UK day anyway. Maybe I should consider others a little more!

    Anyway, I will leave this here until tomorrow when we have an amazing cover going up. It’s a collection of stories… they are always the worst!

    In the mean time I think we should question B. CHiclitz’s strange dream powers while listening to this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj0ChLVTpaA

  30. Bibliomancer Says:

    GSS Admin calls in the Geek Squad!

    Problem solved.

  31. B. Chiclitz Says:

    Oh no! The eternal four-chord progression with a bridge to nowhere! Vibraphone included for free. I’d like to claim this formed the soundtrack to last night’s dream, but that wouldn’t be true. However, @ Mr. GSS Admin, I’m sure it will be haunting TONIGHT’S rem interludes. Thanks—not! 🙂

  32. GSS Admin Says:

    Well the good news is… we’re moving to a new server 😀

    The bad news is… the old one is broken…

  33. Bibliomancer Says:

    Is this that extra special Cover Number One Thousand that we’ve been promised?

    I heard that “Jizzle” and “Fetch, the Party Clown” were hired for the entertainment at the Thousand Party:

    http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2013/02/jizzle/

    http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2011/09/the-fetch/

  34. Tag Wizard Says:

    Good observation, today’s post is indeed #999.

    But discounting honorable mentions, technical difficulties, and test posts, we’re on 984 terrible(xcellent) book covers.

    #1000 should roll around sometime during the week of November 4.

  35. GSS Admin Says:

    Still broken… still broken….

    #1000 should roll around January 2016 at this rate.

    Chinese server Good Show Sir will be stealing all our hits!

  36. Bibliomancer Says:

    I am not surprised at these “technical difficulties” Good Show Sir is currently experiencing.

    I’ve spent years investigating GSS involvement in a vast international conspiracy. Latest events have given proof to my theory that Good Show Sir is a CIA front organization hosted on NSA computer servers in Utah! The purpose: to harvest contact lists and metadata of US citizens lured to its international webpage conveniently located at goodshowsir.co.uk.

    The proof: NSA collects millions of e-mail address books globally from yesterday’s Washington Post.

    The “technical difficulties” of the server: NSA’s $1.5 Billion Data Center Waylaid by Electrical Nightmare.

    The slow response to responding to email complaints: Here’s The Letter Telling NSA Staff To Go Home For The Government Shutdown.

    Wake up Sheeple!

    Meanwhile at Chinese Good Show Sir reliable servers are no occident! Our staff of several thousand child programmers and tag wizards make sure the site never goes down. Because we never change the homepage!

  37. Jaouad Says:

    @Bibliomancer: Yes, that’s what they would have you believe.

    But, evil always containing the seeds of its own destruction, they made a fatal mistake. I quote: “(…) the electrical system itself was built by architecture firm KlingStubbins.”

    “KlingStubbins”? Come on, who do they think they’re kidding?

    CAPTAIN, WE HAVE A KLINGON!

  38. B. Chiclitz Says:

    Careful careful, GSSers—they are most certainly monitoring this exchange. I think it’s time to use the Trystero Mail Service, via W.A.S.T.E.

  39. FearofMusič Says:

    *sotto text* fools! can ye no see the machinations of the illuminati! aye, they would suppress gss because of the merciless mocking of militancy yon fellow posters evince towards ‘the baenians’ aye, and there’ll be no mercy from such as those.

    andbi’m thinking there might be avspy, aye a rat in our midst. it won’t be me as names names though.. i would never accuse, not i. i would never suggest it could be, say, someond claiming to be organic matter in a state of decay and possessing oversized… MESSAGE FORBIDDEN

  40. fearofmusic Says:

    diSregArd pREvioUs tRaNSmis… mesSaGE

  41. Bibliomancer Says:

    Unfortunately it was discovered after the latest server failure that GSS Admin never bothered to back up any of the files. He is now scouring the local bookshops and re-photographing the missing 984 covers.

    Tag Wizard had the foresight to make paper copies of all the comments but typing them back in will be taking longer than expected.

  42. Rags Says:

    So…………how about that local sports team huh?

  43. Bokrug the Beleaguered Says:

    Yesssss. And it lookss asss if it might rain. How are the wife and kidssss?

  44. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    @BtB: Oh, don’t you recall? You ATE them at the Courtship Rite party we had back at the first. You drove all the guests gibbering MAD. You leveled the house, the landscaping AND the neighbours’ places. And then you had the nerve to say the canapés had grown cold.

    Done any more work on the new place?

  45. GSS Admin Says:

    Must be that time of year again when the server monkey needs to protect us from Chinese haxors. A change of music though! Enjoy the Ceefax riffs!

  46. Kripslod Says:

    Nice to see the disembodied floating head of Professor Lewis again. We just don’t see him enough lately.
    Sorry your sever is letting you down yet again, but this notification is, in many ways, more enjoyable to look at than many of the covers presented here.

    A Kripslod is a device or tool that is both useless and dangerous (see the Easi-Eater from 1950’s Australia) I think your server might just count as a Kripslod, but only if it gives the techs massive shocks as they pass by it.

  47. Peppermint Says:

    Oh, we lost such a giant when the analogue signal was turned off didn’t we?

  48. Bibliomancer Says:

    Apparently you are having technical difficulties. Those cricket scores are not up to date.

  49. rev Says:

    It might not be 2001 anymore, but England are still losing.

    This made me really nostalgic. I miss bad late night tv and stupid teletext. I miss getting fall-down drunk while watching the test pattern.

  50. Tat Wood Says:

    @bibliomancer: they’re trying to spare our feelings.

  51. B Chiclitz Says:

    I guess that’s why my comment on “Juxta-Position” has been awaiting moderation for the past umpteen hours. I was puzzled, since there’s not even a whiff of bondage involved.

    @Bibliomancer—if you’re seeking scores, St. Joe’s beat VCU 65-61 yesterday to squeak into the NCAA—the Hawk will never die!

    Unfortunately, this comment will probably be awaiting moderation until after they’ve been eliminated.

  52. GSS Admin Says:

    Still having problems. I’ve sacrificed a goat to the server daemon.

    You might notice your comments being flagged as spam or sitting as “waiting for approval”… not much we can do about that at the moment. Sorry!

  53. Tom Noir Says:

    This intolerable! GSS fans are now in talks with Chinese GSS about taking over.

  54. 死英语牙本體 Says:

    @Tom: that is an extraordinary rumour which I cannot confirm. I can confirm that I am acting as the Bishop of East Anglia, and I’m here to give out the Fyffe-Chulmleigh Spoon for Latin.

  55. Bokrug the Beleaguered Says:

    We warned you, yessss we did, about trying to ssssave a few poundsss by hiring a Tcho Tcho IT team. Yessss. Even a shoggoth knowss better. If you insisst on being so obsstinate I will be forced to send the Hounds of Tindalos to correct thisss matter.

  56. Bokrug the Beleaguered Says:

    Perhapsss I shall do that anywayss. When my laptop became infected with the ‘Colour from Space’ viruss after I foolishly tried to download the music of Erich Zann they had my computer back in form in no time. At quite a reasonable rate toi. Though for the sake of your soul you may want to keep an Elder Sign pendant upon you at all times.

  57. fearofmusic Says:

    Sung to the tune of “Oh Isabella” by Clutch. (with due respect and apologies to Mr Neal Fallon)

    ‘Sussed out in Croydon,
    Forced to return,
    To Chelsea, with a technical manual,
    and nothing much learned,

    Foul council of leeches,
    at the Microsoft help desk,
    Say ‘Patience, continue to hold,
    it’s tea time in Mumbai’,

    Oh GSS your server’s gone down,
    kneel at the sword, scream at the clouds,
    Ohh GSS will this never end?
    The server’s betrayed you no covers again… ‘

    And by the way, if you’re having issues with Anglo-Sino relations, so to speak, I know a fellow in Taipei who can, shall we say, correct things. Just saying…

  58. GSS Admin Says:

    Fear… your words sing true yet again.

    Sorry down again, you’ll see you’re comments with the ole awaiting moderation flag. If we find them in the flood of enlargement product posts we’ll try to approve them!

  59. Bibliomancer Says:

    Welcome to the Gala 5th Anniversary Technical Difficulties Extravaganza!

    In the future comments will only be accepted by snail mail. Please be sure to attach the proper postage for international mailings.

  60. L.B. Says:

    How am I gonna figure out the postage for here to there? :'(
    In other news, the sheep’s been found jetskiing in Maui and Mr. Lewis’s disembodied head’s at Sea World in Florida for Spring Break.

  61. GSS Admin Says:

    That’s right people. It’s time for the now weekly technical difficulties message.

  62. Pep Says:

    You’d think that Space Sheep and CS Lewis’s disembodied head would have tech support moving a little faster eh?

    Oh well, the soothign tunes of Ceefax will help.

  63. fearoftechnicaldifficulties Says:

    Noooooooooo! Not again! Well wonderful. Now I’ll just have to actually get some work done. Damnit.

  64. L.B. Says:

    We need RX on this job. He’ll fix this whole mess up.

  65. GSS Admin Says:

    Maybe RX could rip the face off the server monkey! People need their covers! GaaaaaHHHH!

    Still broken… sorry!

  66. Chinese GSS Says:

    With your server down so long you must be losing a staggering amount of revenue. When do the Good Show Sir staff layoffs begin?

  67. Kripslod Says:

    To my dearest Good Show Sir,

    It is indeed a sad time. Just yesterday, I observed three, apparently in all other ways, perfectly normal people standing in front of a news stand. They were mirthfully mocking the covers of the various periodicals. But it was a forced and strained euphoria brought on by wretched withdrawal.

    This morning’s news brings reports of concerned and frightened parents from across the globe. It appears that many kindergarten-age children are being approached by strange and desperate adults requesting—nay, imploring—that they draw book covers with their little crayons and coloured pencils.

    The mind is forced to see tragic visions of what might be. Respected Citizens forced to seek their wanton pleasure in libraries, bookstores, and art galleries, rather then in the dignified privacy of their own homes. The mind revolts at such revelations!

    I must, with much revulsion, report that I too have felt an ever growing desperation. Just today, I found myself furtively entering my study and after securely setting the bolt on my door, I spent several minutes listing the deficits apparent in the cover of the “Forty-First Edition of the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics”.

    The shame! To be brought to this low!

    Come back, Good Show Sir! You are most truly and sadly missed!

    Respectfully,

    D. J. Kenny (a.k.a. Kripslod)

  68. B. Chiclitz Says:

    The whole world is starting to look like a bad cover. I see disembodied sheepsheads cloaking fair damsels on the street. C.S. Lewis sat beside me on the train—and smirked!

    Oh yes, we have seen the apocalypse, and it is “Baen.”

  69. GSS Admin Says:

    Dear Kripsiod,

    I am sorry for your frustration and trust me, we are doing everything we can to force someone doing the bare minimum to do everything they can to do everything we need to do properly… at maximum level!

    In the mean time please find attached a rough draft for the new Dr. J. R. Asimov cover.

    Yours faithfully,

    Good Show Sir

    Yes.. those are cat nipples!

  70. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    @admin: forget your stinkin’ server. I want nineteen copies of this book, and I want them presto!

  71. Kripslod Says:

    @GSS Admin.

    I’m pleased to report that, “The Incredible Journey of Timanus the Man Cat” is available on the Chinese Good Show Sir! Website. They just need your credit card, mother’s Maiden Name, the name of your first pet, and the bank and routing number of your checking account (or the exact location of the coffee tin you hide in your back garden)

    On a more serious note, you realize since you can add a picture on your post you have hit upon the answer to your server problems. We can just use another web discussion site to show our examples of awful covers and comments about same. We could use http://math.stickenchange.org/ (I’m certain they will not mind. After all, who sits around discussing math questions anyway?

    P. S. Please stay on the net! I was hoping you send you a copy of the cover of volume two of my science fiction series. I guarantee it is 210% pure anti-Baen!

    Waiting your return with baited-breath,

    Respectfully,

    Kripslod (and besides writing I’m very good at that math stuff)

  72. fearofmusic Says:

    @GSS Admin: seriously, make that book happen. make it real. please.

    seriously. i would buy one for every person i know. that’s five copies guaranteed sold right there.

  73. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @GSS Admin—those are some nips. Are you sure this isn’t “Tiresias the She-Man Cat”?

  74. Bibliomancer Says:

    After some dedicated statistical research (looking at two covers) I’ve established a correlation between when Good Show Sir posts a devil-themed book cover and severe “Technical Difficulties”. This happened a year ago after we mocked Devilday and just last week we just had our fun with the Devil’s Daughter.

    These are the only two covers on the site with “devil” in the title. Wake up and smell the sulfur! GSS better stop messin’ with Beelzebub!

  75. fearofmusic Says:

    this is starting to feel like that movie where the fellow finds himself trapped reliving the same day over and over. trainspotting, wasn’t it?

    and i can feel c.s.lewis trying to plant horrible impulses in my subconscious mind. time to wrap all my thingd in aluminum.

  76. NCB Says:

    @fearofmusic – Ground Hog Day. (“I got you, Babe…blah blah blah”)

  77. GSS Admin Says:

    Sorry still down! I have sent a begging email to a couple of people. At least the comments are still working!

  78. Bibliomancer Says:

    @GSS Admin — I know how you feel. My car wouldn’t start a few weeks ago. I sent a begging email to a couple of people. My car still won’t start but at least the radio is working!

  79. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @Bibliomancer—wrap the car in aluminum (that’s “al-lou-min-eee-um”); always works for me.

    @GSS Admin—perhaps these “technical difficulties” are something more . . . sinister, more . . . deliberate, more . . . Ellisonian than you or we suspect?

  80. L.B. Says:

    Baen’s finally getting revenge!

  81. fearofmusic Says:

    I am becoming greatly concerned about these ongoing ‘difficulties’, and have begun to suspect, although it pierces my heart to the quick to admit so, that there is indeed a greater and more nefarious conspiracy at play here .
    I have it from the most unreliable and disreputable of sources that someone, who may or may not have any actual similarity to a certain GSS Admin, may or may not have been seen larking about Hounslow with a particular MP known to be of low character and questionable morals. Said parties in question were seen indulging in Chinese take away in the presence of a large group of Urban Fanrasy LARP enthusiasts while extolling the virtues of Cantonese cuisine and cosplay. Hints and allegations of an unseemly nature, which I shall not repear, lead me to believethat there is a secret connection between said parties and certain memmbers of the illegal and forbidden Uzbekistan Fantasy Writers Underground. Such a thing I need tell no one would be a colossal betrayal of all we hold dear.
    I only pray that I am but as delusional as I appear to be. For the sake of us all.

  82. Kripslod Says:

    @ Fëåŗøfɯŭşıč Could this also involve a renegade band of Edomite paragendered Furry dinner roll players and exo-continuüm Knights Templar? If so, we will all soon need to hide in our parent’s cellars with our heads tightly bound in tinfoil (the Sn type, not the Al. It is getting harder and harder to get the genuine pre-World War II stuff) and surviving on only our stash of strawberry toaster pastries, Erbswurst, canned haggis, and ultra-pure spring water? !! ?

  83. B. Chiclitz Says:

    My god, it’s a conspiracy, a false flag, a fifth columnist, a mole, no, two moles, no, a legion of moles, burrowing, boring, insinuating evil negative energy under the guise of “technical difficulties” into this formerly pristine Eden. It’s Y2K, it’s the Mayan death calendar, it’s Nostradamus—Great Scott, Good Sirs, who among us will man (or wo-man) the parapets?

  84. Rev Says:

    @B. Chiclitz – manning the parapets would surely prove ineffective against a conspiring legion of burrowing moles. Might I suggest you rethink your strategy?

  85. Chinese GSS Says:

    Apparently GSS Admin has retreated to his Fortress of Solitude.
    Has he been defeated by the Technical Difficulties kryptonite?

  86. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @Rev—oops . . . better get back to that Clausewitz. 😉

  87. GSS Admin Says:

    @Chinese GSS

    Well you know how much I love standing in a room looking at statues of my friends!

    And you are all right there is a conspiracy! Although you are all wrong! It’s Einstein’s brain communicating telepathically with the Lizard monarchy! And cats… it’s all pretty sinister and I have had to kill several people… I mean lizards… so far.

    On a serious note, I miss terrible covers! I am again begging for the server to be fixed. This is what you get when you don’t pay for a service and just rely on a dear dear friend… WHO WON’T FIX IT! GHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA Maybe I should say can’t fix it… because he’s just not very good at his job! HA! Take that. I’m kidding, I love him like a mancat brother.

    Really trying to get it fixed!

  88. GSS Admin Says:

    Here’s my latest TWEET, in capitals for some reason, just to help us get by!

    Not a terrible cover. A 3d place mat thing. I’m pretty sure all those animals are stoned! http://pic.twitter.com/6dl5zhWemi

  89. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    Giraffe’s neck looks awfully serpentine. It must have double the number of cervical vertebrae that it should.

  90. L.B. Says:

    Reminds me of Graeme Base’s early years.

  91. THX 1138 Says:

    Is the place mat merchandising from a Saturday morning cartoon tie-in with the new Noah movie? Needs more Russell Crowe.

    Anyway, it is a shame the internet’s reserves of sarcasm have taken a beating while GSS is down, but on the plus side the now-legendary “Technical Difficulties” entry has a record-breaking number of comments. Here’s to the hundred!

  92. Bibliomancer Says:

    The “Technical Difficulties” post should be pinned in the sidebar with “The Pre-1000” and “Random Terrible Cover” links.

    It would be a shame to lose all these wonderful comments when (if) the site resumes operation.

  93. Kripslod Says:

    But we in GSS shall be remembered-
    We few, we happy few, we band of siblings;
    For they to-day that mocks this retched cover with me
    Shall be my sibling; be they ne’er so snitty,
    This site shall gentle their condition;
    And gentlebeings on Earth now-a-bed
    Shall think themselves accurs’d they didn’t submit their diatribes here,
    And hold their petty opinions cheap whiles any speaks
    That nitpicked with us upon Saint Asimov’s day.

    This comment is a repeat–courtesy of, “The Best of the Kripslod”

  94. Jaouad Says:

    Dear God I’m gone for a few weeks and look at the state of this site. There’s no help for it now. Evidently the only thing that can get the server running again is

    THE REBOOT THAT CAME TO SARNATH

  95. fearoftechnicaldifficulties Says:

    this is madness! madness i tell you! this has gone far beyond reason i tell you! my friend the marmalade spoon is aabsolutely certain tthat this is no more than a ploy on behalf of admin to drive up comment counts on old covers. fear not, i did not take lightly such blasphemy! verily did i cast him out from the biscuit tin in which i have been forced to shelter here in my mother’s cellar. rabid weasels sent by those who must not be named quickly seized him and took him into the wormhole which is currently connected to the furnace via a transatomic displasia.

    i will hear no harsh words against gss! none!
    gss is our buddy, gss is our pal!

    come back to us….. soon.

  96. Bibliomancer Says:

    Won’t be long before that “Jul29” up top shows the correct date.

    Like the stopped clock that’s right twice a day.

  97. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @FoTD 95—that marmalade spoon has recently been seen in the company of a runcible spoon. I’d check on that if I were you.

  98. fearoftechnicaldifficulties Says:

    @Z. Tilcihc: shhhhh.. you don’t use words like that! St Louise is listening!
    myself i was definitely not proposing a transdimensional rift manipulation by the Iavierontian Industrial Cabal in an attempt to insert cortex bombs in those most… what’s that? really? hmmm.
    the paramecium think we should consider an instance of lacunar amnesia striking admin. hmm. it’s possible.

  99. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @FoTD—a transdimensional rift manipulation of St Louise’s lacunar amnesia? Why, man, that has the footprints of Sir Spoon Runcible, master of both the mixed metaphor and subterranean trenchery, written all over it. I was about to call for a mass manning of the parapets again, but I have learned, sadly, that it is to no avail.

  100. Bibliomancer Says:

    100!!! Ding Ding Ding!

    What did I win?

  101. Frank Says:

    @Bibliomancer: I think you won this post popping up in RSS. Probably for comment 96 though.

  102. GSS Admin Says:

    NO! NOOOOOO! Things were fixed… things were working! It’s broken again this morning!!!

    WHY GOD…. WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    *breaks down and crys in a heap of book covers*

    Maybe I should actually read some of these…

  103. GSS Admin Says:

    Well only one thing I can do to make me happy today. Going to rent a DVD from chinese GSS.

    This one looks good.

  104. Chinese GSS Says:

    You have selected wisely. Thor 2: Loki Gets Hammered

    May I also recommend: Break So Bad, Season 5. It is Danger Funny!

  105. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @Bibliomncer 100—I set that up for you, dude.

    @Chinese GSS 104—link not working. Probably too much lead-based paint in the cover.

  106. Chinese GSS Says:

    @Honorable Chiclitz — Link works OK. Maybe the staff at your assisted living facility has installed some kind of website blocker on the computer in the common room.

  107. Bibliomancer Says:

    @B. Chiclitz — Thanks for the assist! I’ll return the favor when comment #200 rolls around in a month or so.

  108. Bibliomancer Says:

    @GSS Admin — I’m amused you took my suggestion and pinned a (broken) link to The cult post! Technical Difficulties!, on the sidebar.

    Love that dry British humour! (Cue the Benny Hill music)

  109. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @Chinese GSS—Honorable thanks. Link now working. Not worth effort.

  110. Stevie T Says:

    Every day I stop by, in hope. Every day, my hopes are dashed…

    Cry, cry my children for lost GSS!

    **sob**

  111. Stevie T Says:

    I’m starting to refer to this place as Technical Difficulties Show Sir….

  112. Chinese GSS Says:

    @Honourable Chiclitz — Please accept apologies for my inscrutable attempt at humour. As a gift to you, please stop by the Chinese GSS website for a complimentary movie and malware download of your choosing.

  113. Bokrug the Beleaguered Says:

    Ftagn! These sso called difficultiesss would tessst the patience of Nyogtha!
    I’ve suffered infernal tormentsss at the handsss of shoggoths that didn’t lasst thisss long .

  114. L.B. Says:

    Is that Thor vs. Geddy Lee? Also, the guy working on yer server must be a Baen supporter.

  115. Rev Says:

    @L.B – that’s Thor and Loki, breathlessly awaiting the judges scores after another stunning routine in the mens artistic pairs quarter final.

  116. B. Chiclitz Says:

    At this point I am awaiting the arrival of someone who has read Technical Difficulties and claims it’s a really good book and we should stop making fun of it like a bunch of cretins.

  117. Bibliomancer Says:

    The Kindle version of Technical Difficulties has very different cover art than shown here.

  118. Kripslod Says:

    @ B. Chiclitz, I don’t think anyone would be foolish enough to call “We Are Experiencing Technical Issues” a really good book by any stretch of the imagination, but you do have to admit that the illustrator did a fine job of showing the terrible angst inherent in the task facing the Cray technician. And the intensity of Professor Lewis’ eyes—it moves one to tears. I certainly hope no one seeing this fine work of art has the nerve to speak of it other than deep respect and admiration!

    @ Bibliomancer, I believe you have found an advertisement for a completely different book. I does however well illustrate the need for caution when servicing the plugboard of an IBM 407® Punchcard Tabulator. We were ALWAYS sternly instructed never to place both hands into the Control Panel Area without first ascertaining that the plugboard was firmly engaged.

    Additionally, we worked for a rather conservative company and so we were required to wear both a shirt and a “safety” tie at all times when we were making an on-sight service call.

    How times have changed. I understand that recently many large international companies have begun trading-in their venerable tabulators for newer digital computers. If you ask me this digital craze is just a passing fancy. Give me good old Oak Tag.

  119. B. Chiclitz Says:

    One thing our Technical Difficulties has in common with the “erotic office tale” of the kindle version is that both will leave you “sore and begging for more.”

    Maybe a slightly different sort of sore and a slightly different form of begging.

  120. NGpm Says:

    As we enter day 116 of the hostage situation, the gremlins who are holed up in the system have yet to make their demands known ….

  121. Jaouad Says:

    @Bibliomancer #117 – Aha, so THAT’S what’s underneath Space Sheep and C.S. Lewis:
    Fifty Shades of Cray!

  122. L.B. Says:

    Just checking in. Will the site be up and running by May 4th? Great time to run a bad Star Wars book cover. Well, I can hope, can’t I?

  123. Tom Noir Says:

    Is this a bad time to mention that I’m working on an American version of this site?

    It’s going to be called WayToGoDude.com.

  124. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @NGpm—I think they want to annex all of Eastern Ukraine. Will diplomacy prevail, or will it eventually have to be boots on the ground?

    @Kripslod—yes, I have been haunted, even in my very dreams, by the angst-ridden visage of the good Professor.

    @Biblio—that Kindle book is touted as “an erotic office tale,” one that will leave us “sore and begging for more,” which sounds a lot like the situation here, though I think it’s a different sort of sore and a different form of begging.

  125. Mr Dalliard Says:

    @Tom Noir #123. You’re a bit late, though yours has a catchier title. http://bit.ly/1hvHS7x

  126. GSS Admin Says:

    OK… so the site is still down. A month later… I am so sorry for all 10 of us that care! Maybe that’s being generous.

    @Dead Stuff – Though it has given us plenty of time to support the latest Dr. J. R. Asmiov book 😉

    The depressing thing is people are still sending in covers, and there is still enough Tom Noir sent in covers to last a life time.

    At least comments seem to be working again. But most of the backend is completely broken.

    I’ll calling up the server admin now and going to shout at him till he does something!

    Just keeping you all updated. We here at Good Show Sir care about the community, especially if the community wants to gang on the server admin, possibly kidnapping him to make something happen!

  127. GSS Admin Says:

    Whoever gave him a swift kick in the giblets! Thank you! 😀

  128. Dead Stuff With Swift Giblet-Kicking Says:

    Np.

  129. L.B. Says:

    Can we sic Christopher Lee on yer evil server-guy? He will prove incredibly effective, I imagine.

  130. Bibliomancer Says:

    Are you dead yet?

  131. GSS Admin Says:

    It was a good run! We got four posts…before the site died again. We’ll start tomorrow and see if we can break that record!

    GO TEAM GSS!

  132. Tom Noir Says:

    You guys know that there are other companies that host servers, right?

  133. GSS Admin Says:

    There… are? 😉 Yeah we’re looking at who to move to! Unfortunately work has been exceedingly busy for the web monkey and myself so we have a pub meeting soon to discuss our migration plans!

    I’ll be paying top dollar, so I intend on placing some well placed adverts and DVD rentals stolen from chinese GSS.

  134. Rev Says:

    I just read this tweet:

    @GoodShowSir We are happy to host your website on our servers. Your new domain will be http://goodshowsir.enlarge.co.ck

    and nearly splurted coffee all over the screen. Funniest thing I have read in weeks. Good show Sir!

  135. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @Rev—I’m guessing that was an enlarged coffee you nearly splurted.

  136. fearoftechnicaldifficulties Says:

    first we had admin but no server. now there is a server but no admin. has the sino/borg conspiracy come to pass? is admin now becoming assimilated with his new masters in a dank cellar in chengdu? or does the new girlfriendthink all these silly covers ‘cchildish’? i suppose that would then make this a human difficulty rather than a technical one.

  137. GSS Admin Says:

    YEP – You guessed it more problems.

    Comments aren’t working so I am afraid you will get an “awaiting moderation” message. Sorry!

    I want to move, I really do, but the server guy is in America… working or something.. BAH!

    Here’s a picture of a sad cat:

  138. Kripslod Says:

    @ fearoftechnicaldifficulties: I don’t think Admin’s new lady friend cares about sci-fi covers–good or bad. She just hangs around because he has tuna and salmon.

    Of course I shouldn’t talk. All I have to talk to is a plush thylacine perched on volume two (N-Z) of The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.

  139. Tom Noir Says:

    Are we down again? Or is it just a bank holiday? I can’t tell the difference. There should be some sort of status update on the main page or something.

  140. GSS Admin Says:

    As ever… the site is broken. So here’s the news. I have found my new hosting, I am now trying to get the web site transferred which will take a little bit because I am going on holiday. WOOO! I’ll bring you back plenty of foreign covers, to join the AMAZING ones Tat Wood has sent in! And for those that want it I’ll get some sweets too.

    Sorry, everyone will still see the comments awaiting moderation error for a little bit longer.

    Oh also… have one of these:

    ( •_•) ( •_•)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■) YEAAAAAAAHHHHHH

  141. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    I’ll take Toblerones and Topic bars, please. ^_^;

  142. Bibliomancer Says:

    Testing. Testes … one … two. Are we up yet?

  143. fearoftechnicaldifficulties Says:

    By holiday I hope you mean round the world jaunt visiting dozens of exotic locales to bring us the finest covers from all seven continents? I certainly hope your travel agent didn’t talk you into that great bargain package to Ukraine.

  144. Bibliomancer Says:

    “He’s dead, Jim”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH7KYmGnj40

    Good Show Sir – 2009-2014 – R.I.P.

  145. THX 1138 Says:

    Au contraire:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuoKNZjr8_U

  146. Kripslod Says:

    The famous Max von Plunk Indeterminacy Principle states that it is impossible to specify simultaneously the position of a new server (e.g.: USA, GB, N. Korea, or Papua New Guinea) and the speed of destruction of your irreplaceable data (e.g.: In 9 months, hard drive with data on it will be melted down by small children in fourth-world country. Or in 2 weeks, platters in hard drive (holding your data) will be destroyed by IT professionals “Hey, Dude! If you take out a hard drive while it’s still running it’s like a gyroscope or something!”

  147. FearöfMusic Says:

    Please please please PLEASE make no adjustments to the lovely resurrected GSS. I am very much loving the randomness of letters, symbols, and numbers which have taken the place of my moniker in older posts (many of the combinations which I’ve apparently trademarked) Plus I am really enjoying the occasional closed loop in the random awful cover generator which will take me back to the cover I was just perusing.
    Really, please don’t change any of it. Just the right touch of chaos to be charming!

  148. JohnBobMead Says:

    Um, still down, I guess. Pity, I greatly enjoy this site. Even though I’ve never submitted a cover. I’ve recognized a good many covers, though.

    edit: Oh, we are live, there are new covers, just no message saying we’re no longer technical difficulties. I feel so stupid. Go look at the new postings, it’s all good stuff.

  149. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    I am not really confident, but I think it’s a man sitting on a red suitcase and he seems 😐.

    Not bad, CaptionBot, although you seem to miss the forest for the tree…

  150. Tom Noir Says:

    This post should probably be retired! GSS is full steam ahead these days!*

    *knock on wood

  151. GSS ex-noob Says:

    And if more voters had gone for bold leadership, Lord Buckethead would have brought back Ceefax too!

    We could have had it all, rolling in the deep (<– nationalised)

    (I quite liked his manifesto!)

  152. GSS Admin Says:

    So… I might have just noticed something wrong with the database again. Oh dear. At least it’s still running, but it might come back to haunt us! Time to come out of sweet sweet database retirement.

    EDIT – False alarm I think I’ve got it sorted. Time for another breakfast pina colada!

  153. Leak Says:

    Shouldn’t it say “Our technical difficulties are experiencing technical difficulties” by now? 😛

  154. Bruce A Munro Says:

    It’s back! I was starting to get worried.

  155. Dave Van Domelen Says:

    Huzzah! Sort of back!

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