Monthly Archives: February 2008

Modeling the Latest in Empowerment Wear

Athena, showing off the t-shirt sent by a friend who also happens to be insanely nuts about WNBA basketball. When she opened the package and saw the shirt, she said “And I’m not a cheerleader! It’s like they know me!” Well, yes. And as a bonus, she just started in a 3rd/4th grade YMCA basketball […]

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An Excellent Choice

Michael Moorcock will become this year’s SFWA Grand Master. See? If you ever start one of the major movements in science fiction literature, maybe you can be an SF Grand Master as well! Something to shoot for, anyway. This is a great and wholly appropriate choice for Grand Master, in my opinion. And yes, there’s […]

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Sock Addiction Claims Another Victim

Not even Ghlaghghee is immune to the charms of a catnip-filled sock. Shortly after this picture was taken, Zeus wandered by and tried to run off with the sock. Ghlaghghee’s veto of this action was fairly robust. Yes, she is cute and fluffy, but she’s definitely no pushover. And now I’m off. Illness over the […]

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Publicists/Editors/Writers: I’m Seeking Big Ideas

Hey there, all you crazy book publicists, writers and editors: As most of you know, once or twice a week I like to use this space to put a spotlight on writers with new and recently-released book, specifically in a feature I call “The Big Idea” — in which the author writes a bit about […]

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Only One Can Prevail!

Today was sent not one but two copies of Superpowers, the upcoming super hero novel by David J. Schwartz, which immediately made me suspicious. Two copies? Of a super hero novel? Nonsense! One of them is obviously from Bizarro Earth (or the nearest non-trademarked version thereof) and sent to confuse and trouble me. Either that […]

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Happy Birthday, Deven

Today is my pal Deven Desai’s birthday. He’s, uh, 36, I think. 37? Maybe 37. Somewhere in that area. Yes, it’s bad I can’t remember specifically, but it’s early and I’m groggy. This is my excuse for the day. For all day. What I do remember is that he’s a fan of Siouxsie and the […]

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Some Stats, Post-Free eBook

I was curious whether releasing Old Man’s War as part of Tor’s free eBook series would have any sort of immediate impact on sales of my books, so I had a friend with access to BookScan check out if there was any sort of significant movement in the last week. So, according to BookScan, in […]

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Looking for People Like Me

Am I the only person in the world for whom earbuds won’t seat securely in their ear? Thanks to the iPod, earbuds have been the preferred mode of earphone for five years now, but personally I can’t keep them in; they fall out unless I keep my head absolutely rigid. Which is not what happens […]

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Today is International Make Up a Word Day

I have an amazing number of things to deal with today that do not involve writing here. So I’m off for the rest of the day. However I know that your lives will be a meaningless shell without something to do here. For that reason I am declaring today International Make Up a Word Day, […]

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Totally Bogarting the Sock

In the mail yesterday: organic catnip from these folks. Put a little in the toe of a worn sock this morning and presented it to Zeus. Then eventually tried to take it away. He was against that.  I think I’ll be rationing his intake from here on out. But judging from the reaction, that’s primo […]

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My Oscar Batting Average

Four out of six this year — not as good as some years, but not as bad as others. And I’m delighted to have been wrong in the Best Supporting Actress category, since I’ve been a huge fan of Tilda Swinton since Orlando, and I am thrilled she’s been recognized in her awesomeosity. I don’t […]

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The Minor Detail People Often Miss

Michelle Sagara makes a very cogent observation here about a small detail people often miss when they use me as an example of how a blog can help you sell your novel, that small detail being that I had a Web site a decade before I sold that first novel, and had been accreting an […]

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Movies and Books

A couple thoughts on things: * Oscars tonight, and on looking at my Oscar picks piece from the day the nominations came out, I think my picks are still pretty solid. A couple of additional thoughts, however: I’d say for Best Picture, No Country for Old Men looks more like a lock than it did […]

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The Worst Presidents?

Athena is learning about the presidents these days, not through school, but via the Animaniacs, whose “President’s Song” she is memorizing much in the same way she memorized their “50 states and their capitals” song (clearly, Animaniacs are her Schoolhouse Rock). While she was running down the presidents in the songs, and because she is […]

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Indulging My Indulgences

The rock band Journey debuted their new lead singer Arnel Pineda at a concert in Chile two nights ago. How did the dude do in the “Can he sing like Steve Perry” sweepstakes? Judge for yourself (note: I found the volume level here a little low, let it play and adjust your own volume levels […]

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Possible Presidencies

We’ve been having fun with a certain candidate for the president of SFWA here, but in the comment threads at least a couple of people have asked a good question: What if Andrew Burt does become SFWA president? Is it truly the end of SFWA? Partly to keep those folks who are now well and […]

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