Monthly Archives: February 2006
Hangin’ With the Larbalesterfelds
Posted on February 28, 2006 27 Comments
As long as I’m doing the mad crazy book pimp thing, let me not neglect Scott Westerfeld, whose concluding volume of the Midnighters Trilogy, Blue Noon, comes out tomorrow (but is available to order off of Amazon today). The Midnighters books are excellent YA, but you don’t have to be an angst-ridden teen to enjoy […]
Dictionaries, VanderMeer, Pyr, Politics, Birthday
Posted on February 28, 2006 12 Comments
Fell asleep at 8:30, woke up at 3am: Man, I don’t even know what’s wrong with me. Anyway, now that I’m officially not tired, I thought I might write up an “odds and ends” sort of thing. Looking back after having written it all I realize it’d probably read better broken up into at least […]
In the Groves of Academe
Posted on February 27, 2006 25 Comments
This is interesting: I’m being taught! Which is to say that Old Man’s War is being used in a literature survey class at Clarkson University by professor Joseph Duemer. The class is on colonialism, which makes it a reasonable fit, since there’s a colonial governmental structure in the book. However, it doesn’t appear as if […]
Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades e-Books: The (Semi) Official Announcement, Plus a Long Writing Screed
Posted on February 26, 2006 46 Comments
I’m getting tons of e-mail asking me about this so let me tell you what I know: 1. Yes, Tor will be putting out official electronic book versions of Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades. 2. The release dates for the e-Book versions of OMW and TGB are “very soon now (probably in March)” […]
Octavia Butler
Posted on February 26, 2006 6 Comments
Steven Barnes has a blog entry reporting that SF writer Octavia Butler has died. I don’t know anything else about it at the moment than that, but I thought I would pass the information along. When/if there is other verification of this news, I’ll note it. Update, 4pm: Blogger Edward Champion writes that he called […]
InstaPodcast
Posted on February 26, 2006 11 Comments
As I mentioned earlier in the week, I was interviewed by Glenn and Helen Reynolds for their podcast series. The podcast is now up, and you can get the relevant links to it through this Instapundit entry (or this Dr. Helen entry, if you prefer). Also on the podcast is Tim Minear, the producer of […]
International Embarass Yourself as an Artist Day
Posted on February 25, 2006 10 Comments
Elizabeth Bear throws down a challenge to the writers: Okay, I double-dog dare you. Go ahead and post the awfullest, grottiest, ancientest piece of juvenilia you still have a word processor that will open. I’ll wait. Then we can all congratulate ourselves on how far we’ve come. I can do that. Behold “Ice Machine,” a […]
Entertainment Weekly Review of TGB
Posted on February 25, 2006 7 Comments
And it’s written in publicist-friendly pull-quote form: “A mix of Starship Troopers and Universal Soldier, Ghost evokes awakening, betrayal, and combat in the best military sci-fi tradition.” Yeah, that’s just about guaranteed to go on the paperback edition of the book somewhere prominent. And it got a grade of “B+,” which makes it the second […]
Incompetence in Action
Posted on February 24, 2006 36 Comments
This is why the Bush Administration is the worst presidential administration in 150 years: It spends five years trying to convince Americans that swarthy Muslims represent enough of a threat to US safety and security that the Administration is required to expectorate all over the Bill of Rights in order to keep us safe from […]
TGB @ SFBC
Posted on February 24, 2006 12 Comments
For those of you in the Science Fiction Book Club, you’ll be happy to know that The Ghost Brigades is now available in an SFBC edition. If you’re not in the SFBC but the idea of being so gives you a wiggly feeling inside, the book club’s current introductory offer lets you get five books […]
Uncle John’s Visits Hollywood
Posted on February 23, 2006 6 Comments
Oh look, another Uncle John’s book I contributed to has hit the stores: Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Plunges Into Hollywood. As per the Uncle John’s tradition, the individual articles are not attributed so unless you have a truly excellent eye for my writing, you’ll not know which pieces are mine. And, frankly, I wrote these […]
Heh, and Indeed.
Posted on February 23, 2006 10 Comments
An amusing interview of Tobias Buckell by Jeff VanderMeer. Speaking of interviews, I recorded one yesterday with Glenn and Helen Reynolds (aka Instapundit and Dr. Helen) for an upcoming podcast, in which we discuss various things about Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigades, and selling books online. I’ll let you know when that goes live. […]
Free Speech For Everyone, Even The Dickheads
Posted on February 22, 2006 41 Comments
In e-mail, a request to comment on the plight of “historian” David Irving, who has been punted into an Austrian prison for denying the Holocaust happened, and doing so while actually in Austria, where such activities are criminal. Seems that Austria, birthplace of Hitler, gets a little twitchy when people suggest Der Führer wasn’t, in […]
Subterranean Magazine Cover Art
Posted on February 22, 2006 6 Comments
Because I love you all so much, here’s an early look at the cover art for the Scalzi-edited “SF Cliches” issue of Subterranean Magazine, which will be out later this spring. The cover is by Hugo and Chesley-winning artist Bob Eggleton (who did the artwork for “Questions for a Soldier,” you may recall) and reproduces […]
Friendpimping on a Wednesday Morning
Posted on February 22, 2006 10 Comments
Because you don’t read enough blogs, here are two more for you to go check out. First: SeeLight, the personal blog of writer Claire Light, whom you may remember as a guest blogger here last July. Claire’s FAQ entry is already a classic of the form. Second, The Little Blog of Murder, which is the […]
Athena’s Latest Plush Thing
Posted on February 21, 2006 4 Comments
So, just how does Athena feel about her new plush doll of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”? Well, pretty much as you’d expect. God, I love my kid.
Miracles and Wonders, or, Holy Crap
Posted on February 21, 2006 28 Comments
Two signs that The Ghost Brigades is doing okay today: The Ghost Brigades is actually available in my local bookstore on release day. As many of you may remember, I kvetched long and hard about the fact I never once saw the hardcover of Old Man’s War in my local bookstore in the year between […]
Subterranean Sale
Posted on February 21, 2006 7 Comments
Along with the release of The Ghost Brigades, here’s something those of you in a purchasing mood might be interested in: Subterranean Press is doing a two-day sale in which if you buy four books on their sale list, you’ll get 40% off. Both Agent to the Stars and “Questions for a Soldier” are on […]
My iTunes Top Ten
Posted on February 21, 2006 41 Comments
Stephen Green of VodkaPundit has done a musical meme based on one I suggested a while back. Mine was telling what ten randomly selected songs your iPod or iTunes pulled up; his is showing off the top ten most-played tracks from your iPod/iTunes. Stephen Bainbridge has followed suit, and I suppose as I am the […]
The Ghost Brigades: Officially Out!
Posted on February 21, 2006 17 Comments
It’s time: The Ghost Brigades is now officially released and should be available at your favorite online and real-world stores. As always, I encourage you to head over to your local bookstore and demand a copy, but as I can’t link to every single real-world bookstore, here are the links to TGB at Amazon, Barnes […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying