Monthly Archives: April 2007
Yeah, I Couldn’t Just Leave It Alone
Posted on April 14, 2007 41 Comments
I posted a response to SWFA VP Howard Hendrix’s ignorant outburst here.
Since People Keep Asking
Posted on April 13, 2007 44 Comments
Yes, I’ve seen the current SFWA vice-president’s rant about “webscabs” and how they’re rotting SFWA from the inside, or whatever. No, I don’t particularly have anything to say about it, other than to classify it as something akin to a buggy-whip manufacturer railing against the pernicious influence of the automobile. In any event, I suspect […]
Why It’s Good to Have a Day Job
Posted on April 13, 2007 42 Comments
This week we paid out what is known, in technical terms, as a “buttload” of taxes. First, as we did well last year, we paid a fairly not small sum that we owed despite paying our quarterly taxes in a diligent fashion (when one is self-employed the government makes you pay out every three months, […]
Grass and Sunsets
Posted on April 12, 2007 20 Comments
Over at By the Way today I wrote about the recent speculation that plants on other planets might not be green at all, but red, or orange or purple; naturally I had to engage in a bit of Photoshoppery on along that line. The thing is, no matter what color the grass is, the sunsets […]
On E-Mail, the Deletion Thereof
Posted on April 12, 2007 36 Comments
I don’t want to expend too much thought on what a lying sack of crap the White House is regarding all those missing e-mails of theirs, but let me just say this: I have in my personal possession about 60,000 e-mails dating all the way back to January 9, 1996, so if you’re a real […]
TLC and Other Stuff
Posted on April 12, 2007 50 Comments
With five days to go before its official release, The Last Colony is beginning to slip out into the wild; here it is at the Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio, as photographed by Jeff Hentosz. Jeff admits to positioning the book for maximum photogenics; I have no problem with that so long as it […]
Lee Iacocca is One Cranky Old Man
Posted on April 11, 2007 44 Comments
And if you think I’ve been mean to Dubya, you should read this, in which Iacocca, who is (or was, at least) a lifelong Republican as far as I know, takes a hammer to our president. One wishes it were published, oh, three years ago, when it might have done some good, rather than now, […]
Yes, I’ve Seen the “Quest for the Perfect Bacon Sandwich” Story in the New York Times
Posted on April 11, 2007 22 Comments
All y’all can stop sending me e-mail links to it now, thanks. I wrote about it over here, on By The Way.
The Last Colony Review in the Pioneer Press
Posted on April 11, 2007 21 Comments
Hmmm. Looks like I’ll have to send my legions of angry spider monkeys to harass this critic: The good news? ‘Colony’ is good and hard. The bad news: It isn’t quite as much fun. OK, I understand Scalzi could only take the geezer-turned-buff-warrior gimmick so far. But the new novel seems a bit humorless as […]
Ficlet Spotlight: Rachel Swirsky
Posted on April 10, 2007
Over at the Ficlets site, Rachel Swirsky is a guest Ficleteer, offering up three ficlets for folks to read and play with. Rachel, as some of you might recall, wrote the absolutely fabulous short story “Scenes From a Dystopia,” which opened up the “science fiction cliches” issue of Subterranean magazine that I edited (if you […]
Various and Sundry 4/10/07
Posted on April 10, 2007 8 Comments
Some stuff for you today: * For those of you who love your audiobooks, buckle in: Subterranean Press has released a free audiobook version of Kage Baker’s short novel Rude Mechanicals, read by Mary Robinette Kowal, for your personal auditory pleasure. I’m happy to say the success of the audio version of “The Sagan Diary” […]
Rock and Roll is in My Blood!
Posted on April 10, 2007 25 Comments
Dig this: in the 80s and 90s, my uncle Gale played in a band called “Thief,” which was your basic local cover band. As I recall, they did pretty well, doing the sorts of gigs you need cover bands for. What I didn’t know is that they did a promotional video for themselves back in […]
Pardon Me While I Roll My Eyes
Posted on April 10, 2007 88 Comments
Okay, about this “Blogger Code of Conduct” thing: Whatever. I’ll be ignoring this entirely (after this post, obviously). Some reasons for this: 1. This is my site and I couldn’t care less how anyone else thinks it should be run; anyone else who thinks they should have a say in how the site is run […]
State of the Scalzi
Posted on April 9, 2007 12 Comments
As you might be able to guess from the picture above, the state of the Scalzi at the moment is a little frazzled and tired. San Diego was fun, getting home less so, and of course as soon as I got home the first thing I had to do was get right to work. Whee! […]
I Hate Flying
Posted on April 8, 2007 61 Comments
My 12:10pm flight today has been delayed until 11:00pm tonight, and all things being equal, I imagine the airport gods will find some way to poke and taunt me some more. So who knows when I’ll actually get home. Here, have an open thread. To get you started: Write a haiku about flying. Here’s mine: […]
Happy Easter
Posted on April 8, 2007 13 Comments
I’m heading home on a reasonably early flight, so I can’t play with you all today. For all of you of the Easter-celebrating persuasion, have a Happy Easter; for everyone else, have a good Sunday. See you tomorrow.
A Question For You to Consider
Posted on April 7, 2007 53 Comments
Having a fine time in San Diego, thanks for asking — the students and faculty at Thomas Jefferson Law School, which I spoke at, were lovely people, and I’ll no doubt talk about that more when I get back home. But for now I want to throw open to discussion something which came up last […]
“The Last Colony” Contests
Posted on April 6, 2007 13 Comments
Looks like I’m not the only one ramping up to do stuff with The Last Colony: At the moment there are two different giveaway contests going on for the book. The first is through Tower.com: The folks there are setting up an interview with me and are soliciting questions from folks like you, about the […]
San Diego, City of Dreams
Posted on April 6, 2007 34 Comments
Well, actually, perhaps not, since I have no memory of any dreams last night, except the one where I consumed a series of delicious, savory In-N-Out Double Doubles. But since I actually did consume a delicious, savory In-N-Out Double Double last night, not more than a few minutes after departing the airport parking lot, it […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying