Monthly Archives: January 2007
Molly Ivins, RIP
Posted on January 31, 2007 21 Comments
Aw, hell. Molly Ivins has passed on. She was one of the best political columnists around, someone who could turn a phrase so well it’d bite whoever she was writing about right square on the ass; just ask Dubya, who was a favorite target of hers. I’ve long admired her writing and her passion for […]
Wednesday Author Interview: Adrienne Martini
Posted on January 31, 2007 8 Comments
Over at By The Way, I’m interviewing journalist and author Adrienne Martini, about her book Hillbilly Gothic: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood, which is, in Martini’s words, “about families, Appalachia and mental illness — but funny, in the weird way that I seem to be funny. It’s like a good bluegrass song, complete with […]
The First Last Colony Review; Intriguing Pre-Review Comment
Posted on January 31, 2007 39 Comments
It looks like someone out there has read the ARC of The Last Colony and reviewed it on their LiveJournal; the review said “It’s like reading a well-done episode of Deep Space Nine.” This is not how I would have described it, personally, but I always did like DS9, so I’ll take the compliment. The […]
Chunky McChunkerson Gets His Fat Ass Off the Couch
Posted on January 31, 2007 65 Comments
I’m clocking in at over 170 pounds these days, which is a bad thing for someone of my size and frame and age; really, at this point I’m just a couple of doughnuts away from the “spiritually defeated middle-aged white man” look, and as you might expect that’s really something I’d like to avoid if […]
Upgrade Day
Posted on January 31, 2007 44 Comments
This should be fun. Depending on how fun it is, I may be working on it a while. However, so far, so good. I’ll let you know when my PC is back among the functional. On a side note, this is why it’s nice to have a PC and a Mac. While one is upgrading, […]
The Place to Which the Good Ship Lollipop Goes
Posted on January 30, 2007 23 Comments
Athena had a school assignment in which she had to make a project with exactly 100 pieces to it, and this is what she came up with: A candy island. The land is colored marshmallow, the trunk of the palm tree Rollos and the palm leafs sectioned candy fruit wedges. All on a shoebox ocean. […]
A Novel in a Weekend?
Posted on January 30, 2007 22 Comments
For those of you who find the pace of National Novel Writing Month a little too leisurely, Gabe Chouinard has got your number: I’d like you to join me, therefore, in the first annual urban drift Novel(la) in a Weekend challenge, if you dare. It will run from (your) Friday afternoon (February 2) until Monday […]
How to Hit a Deer
Posted on January 30, 2007 78 Comments
Yesterday while Krissy was heading to work, a deer bolted out into the road and struck her car. As anyone who has ever had a vehicular encounter with a deer will tell you, this is usually a fine recipe for totaling your car. Due to Krissy’s good reactions and smart driving skills, however, her car […]
Off the Grid: An Open Thread
Posted on January 29, 2007 149 Comments
Athena’s home sick today (she’s not horribly sick, merely just sick enough that it’s best she not head to class and infect all her friends) and I have plenty of non-blogging related things to catch up on, so I’m going to skip out on all y’all today. Try to have fun without me. This is […]
Happiness Is…
Posted on January 29, 2007 28 Comments
Being sufficiently competent at touch typing that I can type on my laptop in a completely unlit room and still make only about the same number of typos that I make when I can see my keyboard perfectly. It’s finally happened at age 37! I can die happy!
Technical Request
Posted on January 28, 2007 58 Comments
Mac users of Firefox: For some reason the “White Castle = Not Hamburgers” single entry is causing Firefox 2.0 on my Mac to choke; the page comes in fine on all other browsers including Firefox 2.0 for the PC and Safari on the Mac. If you’re on Mac and have Firefox 2.0, could you check […]
TAD Review in the San Antonio Express-News
Posted on January 28, 2007 7 Comments
It’s a positive review, which makes me happy, and pats me on the back for “cleverly subtle writing” while noting that “the bizarre factor is off the charts.” I’m subtly bizarre! That’s what I’ve been saying for years. It’s also a take on the book that is pretty much entirely different from any other review […]
Tempting, Tempting
Posted on January 28, 2007 24 Comments
Quick note: The Amazon ranking for Coffee Shop right now is at 1,057, which (aside from the fact it was in the low 300,000s yesterday, so we’ve had a healthy uptick) I’ve been informed may be the highest Amazon ranking yet for a Subterranean Press book. Now, this is primarily because Subterranean Press sells the […]
Coffee Shop Review in Booklist
Posted on January 27, 2007 21 Comments
Hey! Booklist reviewed You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop: Scalzi on Writing, and it’s a really positive review. Aside from calling me “One of sf’s most inventive rising stars,” which is always nice, the review says: Whether advising how to handle rejection or debunking concerns over online book […]
White Castle = Not Hamburgers
Posted on January 27, 2007 223 Comments
“Chuck in Chicago” went to an In-N-Out Burger store in Arizona and was disappointed in the fare he received, which is unfortunate, and something I suppose could happen, although I personally have yet to be disappointed with the service and food I got at In-N-Out. But when he left a note about it here on […]
Sunset With Venus
Posted on January 27, 2007 15 Comments
Say hello to the first sunset picture of 2007, and look! As an extra added bonus, there’s Venus, saying hello. This is the first really clear sunset we’ve had in a while, which is kind of frustrating for me, since I had been hoping to see Comet McNaught earlier in the month. I suppose I […]
Old Man’s War, German and French Editions
Posted on January 26, 2007 16 Comments
Someone in one of the comment threads was wondering if there were any German editions of my books, which prompted me to go to Amazon.de and find out if the German translation of Old Man’s War was listed. And indeed it is: Apparently in Germany it’s going by the name Krieg der Klone, which, somewhat […]
Another Thing I Want To Know…
Posted on January 26, 2007 23 Comments
Who was the idiot who switched my 401(k) last year to a 100% allocation to a managed bond fund? I mean, holy crap. It’s like someone somewhere said, “hmmm, how can we make sure this 401(k) achieves the smallest amount of performance humanly possible? I sure as Hell know I didn’t do this. I suspect […]
The John Scalzi Experience — LIVE In YOUR Town!
Posted on January 26, 2007 169 Comments
My publicist says I can mention this now, so: I’ll be doing a book tour this spring, in support of The Last Colony, in late April and early May. We’re still scheduling dates and locations so I can’t give you specifics at the moment, however I can say that we do plan to tour the […]
Spanking — And Not the Fun Kind
Posted on January 26, 2007 61 Comments
Out in California, an Assemblywomn named Sally Lieber has proposed the state outlaw spanking — not between two consenting adults, because how would it be California without a little recreational spanking? — but between adults and children; specifically, the proposed law would make it a misdemeanor to paddle kids under the age of four, with […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying