Monthly Archives: February 2005
Jeff Gannon, Liberal Victim
Posted on February 18, 2005 15 Comments
Frankly, I’m surprised we haven’t heard something like this out of right-wing radio, concerning the whole Jeff Gannon issue. Or maybe, we just haven’t heard it yet. (For LiveJournal/RSS feed gackers, there’s a link to an mp3 file here.)
A Vaguely Word-Related Post
Posted on February 18, 2005 9 Comments
The school called today to let me know Athena had an earache and fever, so she’s home today, and here’s something to warm this writer daddy’s heart: Athena sat down in front of her white board and started writing without even the slightest suggestion of such an activity from dear ol’ dad. She writes words […]
The S.L. Viehl Memorial Self-Pimpage Entry
Posted on February 17, 2005 11 Comments
A nice review of Old Man’s War at Bookloons: “Think of the movie Coccoon, morphing into Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, and you’ll have an idea of what Old Man’s War is all about.” Heh. That works. Apropos to Old Man’s War, I’ve seen a couple of reviews and comments that remarked on the fact that […]
PublishAmerica Douses Self in Kerosene, Lights Match
Posted on February 17, 2005 53 Comments
(Those of you not familiar with the recent PublishAmerica contrempts, about which I will now vent, go here for some background. If you are familiar with it, please continue.) What an ass: In an exclusive interview with SCI FI Wire, the president of PublishAmerica defended his company against charges by a group of SF and […]
“Agent” Info and Appearance Reminder
Posted on February 16, 2005 9 Comments
Gaze upon the advance uncorrected proofs of Agent to the Stars, of which I was sent five. It’s very nice to see the novel in actual booklike form. Those of you who have expressed interest in owning a copy will want to make sure you’re loitering about the site at the end of the month, […]
Covenant Marriage is Stupid
Posted on February 16, 2005 223 Comments
Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and his wife Janet renewed their marriage vows the other day under Arkansas’ more strict “covenant marriage” law, under which, according to this news story, “couples getting a covenant marriage agree to seek counseling before they wed and before they seek a divorce. A covenant marriage also requires a two-year wait […]
Conventioneering
Posted on February 15, 2005 2 Comments
Well, this is nice: Noreascon refunded me my membership fee, on account it made a profit (or some such). I have rolled it over for an Interaction membership, so now the net cost of the Interaction membership will be about $30. Thanks, Noreascon! In other news, I just bought my Interaction membership and booked a […]
2004 Nebula Nominees
Posted on February 15, 2005 6 Comments
As I was on the Nebula short fiction jury this year, it behooves me to post the final list of Nebula nominees (list gacked from Gwenda Bond): 2004 Final Nebula Ballot Novels Paladin of Souls, by Lois McMaster Bujold (Eos, Oct 2003) Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, by Cory Doctorow (Tor, Feb 2003) […]
Scalzi’s Overloaded Minestrone
Posted on February 15, 2005 18 Comments
Every now and again I get it in my head to make dinner — not just phone in a pizza order or heat up some ravioli, but actually make something. In those cases I tend to make either chili or minestrone. I’ve already posted my Random Chili Recipe, so here is the recipe for Scalzi’s […]
Happy Valentine’s Day
Posted on February 14, 2005 7 Comments
(For those of you tuning in via RSS aggregator, there’s a cartoon here.)
HTML in Comments
Posted on February 13, 2005 4 Comments
I’ve long disabled HTML in comments, basically to help my readers avoid accidentally clicking through on comment spam. But now that I seem to be managing the comment spam well enough, there’s no reason not to let real live human commenters use HTML when they want. So: Comment HTML for everyone! (except spammers, of course.) […]
A Link You Don’t Get Every Day But Should
Posted on February 12, 2005 8 Comments
Personally, I think it’s always a happy day when a professional dominatrix links to my writing advice, and suggests that much of the advice translates neatly into her of field of professional endeavor. Well, and I imagine it does. You can add your own “writing is a dominant/submissive exercise” allusions here (“Why do you think […]
My Musical Top Ten
Posted on February 11, 2005 38 Comments
Was scrolling through my computerized music collection today and thought to myself: Which bands to I have the most music from on my computer? And now I know: 1. Depeche Mode — 157 songs (lots of remixes in here) 2. The Beatles — 137 songs 3. U2 — 126 songs 4. The Cure — 110 […]
Moderated Comments
Posted on February 11, 2005 6 Comments
Since a couple of people have asked about it to me in e-mail, a quick reminder: I’m moderating comments more than seven days old, because that’s the easiest way to stop comment spam from actually showing up on the site. What this means is if you comment on an entry that’s more than a week […]
Propaganda
Posted on February 10, 2005 45 Comments
Science Fiction writer S.L. Viehl is apparently annoyed at my incessant pimpage of Old Man’s War: The book has been the topic 28 times in January, and 7 since the beginning of February. I can’t count the book-related links, my calculator doesn’t have that many places. The cover art for this book has been slapped […]
My Politics Since Bush
Posted on February 10, 2005 28 Comments
As long as I’m writing entries on reader comments and e-mails, I’ll note a reader sent me an e-mail suggesting I’ve moved to the left politically since Bush came into office, and that my readership is far more lefty than it used it be, say, a couple of years ago. My thoughts on both of […]
The Money Involved
Posted on February 9, 2005 27 Comments
Someone asked in one of the comment threads: If the first printing of Old Man’s War sells out, will I have earned out my advance? So I crunched the numbers and the answer is: Yeah, it looks like it — the first print run was about 3,800 copies, and my math shows my break-even point […]
The Trackback of the Beast
Posted on February 9, 2005 8 Comments
For all of you who suspected: Proof I am the devil.
Other People’s Books
Posted on February 9, 2005 16 Comments
Someone recently asked me what I was reading, to which my immediate response was a quick laugh — like I have time to read for fun right now. Nevertheless, I have been buying books, and here’s some of the most recent. From the bottom up: The Ancestor’s Tale, by Richard Dawkins — Dawkins is the […]
Finding Old Man’s War
Posted on February 8, 2005 19 Comments
Well, the good news is Old Man’s War is selling really well. The bad news is that it’s selling well enough that the first print run is almost entirely sold through, and copies of the book are getting scarce. Amazon, BN.com, Booksamillion and even (gasp!) Wal-Mart are currently out of copies and are listing waits […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying