Monthly Archives: October 2007
A Lot of Money for a Book
Posted on October 24, 2007 36 Comments
It’s been brought to my attention that someone is selling a new (i.e., unread) copy of Agent to the Stars for $999.95 (here’s the link for verification, although if you visit it after today, who knows if it will work). My thoughts on this: 1. At that price for a book, does taking a nickel […]
Dream in Paperback
Posted on October 24, 2007 33 Comments
FedEx brought a whole box of these today: And I have to say, they look great. I think the cover looks even better on the paperback than it did on the hardcover — the more compact layout suits the design — but even more cool is the fact that the book’s cover is a festival […]
John Scalzi’s 2008 Convention Schedule
Posted on October 24, 2007 33 Comments
This is another one of my famous “put it up there to refer people to” posts; this one is my current list of science fiction convention appearances for 2008. January 18 – 20: High-Voltage ConFusion (Troy, Michigan) — I’ll be the toastmaster for this; the other Guests of Honor are Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier […]
The Big Idea: Jeff Somers
Posted on October 23, 2007 7 Comments
Over at Ficlets, we continue our Big Idea series with author Jeff Somers, who sounds off on his book The Electric Church, which is your “teched-out super-assassin has to whack an impossible target sort of against his will” sort of thing. Orbit liked it enough to use it to launch their line of books here […]
Ooooo… Scary
Posted on October 23, 2007 29 Comments
Yeah, I fiddled with the background to make it Halloweeny. Sue me, I’m a sap this way. Also, for those of you with PCs, the header will look better if you have the “Chiller” font, which you can get here. If you Mac folks can suggest a suitable “spooky” font for that flavor of computer, […]
A Slightly Stale Halloween Treat
Posted on October 23, 2007 17 Comments
As proof that the Internet never forgets, someone posted onto USENET a Halloween poem I wrote a decade ago and subsequently completely forgot about, possibly because it wasn’t especially good; the meter was all wonky, for one thing, and content-wise it more or less reads like I drank too much cough syrup, hallucinated and declared […]
The Big Three
Posted on October 23, 2007 120 Comments
Yesterday Warren Ellis posted monthly subscription and newsstand numbers for the “Big Three” science fiction magazines in 2006 (and threw in the circulation numbers of Interzone as loose change); he got them from Gardner Dozois via the last Year’s Best Science Fiction compilation. The numbers are not spectacular: 15,117 for Asimov’s (no newsstand numbers reported), […]
The Thing I am Glad About Today
Posted on October 22, 2007 29 Comments
That Athena doesn’t give a damn about Hannah Montana. I do believe she lumps the show in with all the other live-action tween shows like Drake and Josh and iCarly and The Suite Life of Zach and Cody, which she unreservedly believes are pure evil, which is of course something I encourage. That said, there […]
A Real Conversation, Slightly Fictionalized for Dramatic Purposes
Posted on October 22, 2007 42 Comments
(Phone rings. It’s a FRIEND, in California) Friend: So, I’m here in San Diego, and everything is on fire. All of California is on fire. Fire reigns here. Me: That’s very nice, but I think your fascination with this fire thing has blinded you to the actual big news story of the weekend. Friend: Which […]
RSS Feed Reminder
Posted on October 22, 2007 21 Comments
After three weeks, I’m still getting people popping up claiming to be surprised Whatever is still an ongoing concern because their RSS feed has not been updating. So for anyone who still needs it, here’s the current RSS feed: http://scalzi.com/whatever/?feed=rss2 Please update if you need to. I know some folks are concerned about me missing […]
Introducing the John Scalzi Collection
Posted on October 21, 2007 7 Comments
This is another one of those “you really need to click through” links. No, no, you really do. I’m totally making this a Livejournal icon.
Kodi, Lost Deep in Thought
Posted on October 21, 2007 49 Comments
Is she thinking: a) “Did I leave the gas on?” b) “I really do think everything is better with steak” c) “That squirrel doesn’t look like it gets chased nearly enough” d) Other? If d), please insert your suggestion below.
For Janny
Posted on October 20, 2007 27 Comments
My pal Janny, who is fabulous, and who went to high school with me, tweaks me about claiming Hayzie Fantayzie’s “Shiny Shiny” is the worst song of the 80s: you know you love this song. i heard it blasting from your dorm room and saw elfin shadows mimicking the moves on the drapes. Lies, despicable […]
A Little More on People Like Me
Posted on October 20, 2007 42 Comments
Rachel Swirsky, who I think is one of the best new writers in genre (and possibly outside of it as well) reheats the discussion of my “colorblind” writing or lack thereof in the context of JK Rowling’s recent relevation that Dumbledore is, like, totally gay, and focuses on the fact that both Rowling and I […]
Gamechanger?
Posted on October 19, 2007 16 Comments
Possibly: Every novel on Man Booker Prize shortlist to be available free for online readers Discuss.
Yes, I’ve Seen the Bacon Candy Bar
Posted on October 19, 2007 24 Comments
You can stop sending it to me now. I’ll also note that this is still the ultimate in chocolate-covered pork products.
“Don’t Set Off His BrainPal!”
Posted on October 18, 2007 12 Comments
Read Old Man’s War? You need to see this. Seriously. See what you’re missing by not hanging out at Whateveresque?
How to Irritate and Annoy People in the Name of Blogging
Posted on October 18, 2007 134 Comments
I came across this blog piece today, in which a number of ostensibly popular bloggers share how they would leverage off-blog time to increase their blog’s hits. I found it to be a fantastically depressing piece, because so much of the advice boils down, essentially, to this: “become a starfucker for more popular bloggers.” Mind […]
Appearance Note
Posted on October 18, 2007 13 Comments
Whoops! I meant to note this earlier, but I’ve been preoccupied. So I’ll do it now. If you live in the Western Ohio/Eastern Indiana area and want to see me in person, but don’t want to bother me at home and/or risk having me set the dog on you as you roll up my driveway […]
Blogcutting
Posted on October 17, 2007 42 Comments
Not too long before the 2004 election, I decided to stop reading political blogs entirely, because basically they were making me antsy and irritated, and also I noticed that if I wrote about politics here after reading a stretch of polibloggers, I ended up really screedy, and not in the good “hey this is amusing, […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying