Monthly Archives: September 2006
Open Thread: “Facts”
Posted on September 6, 2006 172 Comments
I’m busy writing other things today, so I can’t play around here. So here, have an open thread. Suggested theme: “Facts.” It’s in quotes there for a reason. Some examples: 1. The English words “Butter,” “Buttress” and “Button” all have the same etymological root. 2. The ancient Hittites believed that the center of intelligence in […]
How to Make an Author Feel Special, Book Seller Division
Posted on September 5, 2006 14 Comments
Sending him a congratulatory card and really excellent chocolates is a fine way to do it. I mean, really, how cool is that? I wish more book sellers would send me really excellent chocolate. Hint, hint. (This is the book seller who was kind enough to pass along these good thoughts and chocolates, incidentally, and […]
Signed Editions of OMW & TGB, With Free (US) Shipping!
Posted on September 5, 2006
A bit of self-pimpery here: If you’ve been hankering for a signed copy of Old Man’s War or The Ghost Brigades but have despaired that my “hiding out in rural America” ways will keep your dreams forever unfulfilled, or something like that, there’s good news! The superultramegafabulous folks at Borderlands Books have a bunch of […]
Signed Editions of OMW & TGB, With Free (US) Shipping!
Posted on September 5, 2006 11 Comments
A bit of self-pimpery here: If you’ve been hankering for a signed copy of Old Man’s War or The Ghost Brigades but have despaired that my “hiding out in rural America” ways will keep your dreams forever unfulfilled, or something like that, there’s good news! The superultramegafabulous folks at Borderlands Books have a bunch of […]
The Miracle of Teh Intarweebs
Posted on September 4, 2006 22 Comments
This is how it is: Somewhere on my desk is the DVD of the film Lucky Number Slevin, which I am writing up a review of now (verdict: eh, Tanantino-ish. What ya gonna do). I need to remind myself of the DVD extras, but my desk is a mess and dragging out the DVD would […]
A Matter of “When” Not “If”
Posted on September 4, 2006 43 Comments
Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin dead by animal mishap. As noted, not exactly surprising. Still very sad.
Sunset 09/03/06
Posted on September 3, 2006 11 Comments
It’s been a month since I’ve posted a sunset picture here. And that’s just sick. So: Good night!
Promoting the Cause of the Campbell (Tiara)
Posted on September 3, 2006 19 Comments
The Dayton Daily News ran a big full-page story on my Campbell win today, which was awfully nice, I thought. Even more cool is that they used (with permission, of course) Keith Stokes’ fine picture of me at the award podium, wearing the Campbell Tiara. The caption of the picture even reads “John Scalzi, wearing […]
Some SFWA Inside Pool
Posted on September 3, 2006 22 Comments
For those Whatever readers who are also members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Association of America (SFWA for short), SFWA member Derryl Murphy is doing an informal poll of members, asking: “What Should SFWA Do For Me?” (“Me” in this case being “you,” not me, John Scalzi (or me, Derryl Murphy)). If you’re […]
Looking Back on “Being Poor”
Posted on September 3, 2006 10 Comments
A year ago today I wrote the “Being Poor” piece, which I suspect in the interim has become the single most widely-read piece of writing I’ve ever done. To which I say: Good. It was extremely difficult for me to write, because of its subject matter and because so much of it is taken from […]
In Other News, Spin Won The Best Novel Hugo This Year
Posted on September 2, 2006 43 Comments
As long as we’re all going to do the “science fiction writers outraged on behalf of other science fiction writers” thing, allow me to say, briefly, that one of the worst things about the recent contrempts regarding a certain science fiction writer being a public jackass at the Hugo ceremony is that it’s taken the […]
A Minor Domestic Incident, As Related By Krissy
Posted on September 2, 2006 30 Comments
“Well, it all started when Athena wanted a piece of cheese. So I got the block of colby jack from the fridge, put it on the cheeseboard, and started slicing.” “Then, as I was slicing myself a piece, it occured to me — hey, this isn’t my usual cheeseboard.” “So I picked it up to […]
On Mail
Posted on September 2, 2006
After only about a week, I think I’ve finally caught up on all the mail I let sit fallow while I was on vacation. So: If you sent me mail any time between the 19th of August and now, and I did not respond to you, it’s very possible your mail was lost in the […]
Coffee Shop; Soliciting Subterranean Magazine Comments
Posted on September 1, 2006 12 Comments
I’ve been so busy that I’ve quite forgotten to show you my cool new toy: The ARC for Coffee Shop (Subterranean Press | Amazon), which Bill Schafer at Subterranean was kind enough to forward to me while I was at Worldcon, so I could wander about casually and show if off to people. Which I […]
If I Ever Teach College Students…
Posted on September 1, 2006 48 Comments
… My own version of this would likely be the first handout. And then I imagine that my second class would have half the students of the first. Which would be fine. The only thing I would add to it would be the notation that should a parent call or e-mail me to complain that […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying