Monthly Archives: June 2008

Reminders of a Science Fictional Nature

Because you need to be reminded of these things, darn it! * First, a reminder that I’m the author Guest of Honor at InConJunction, which takes place this weekend in Indianapolis. You should come. It’ll be fun, trust me. And for those of you who already know you’re coming, here’s my programming schedule: Friday, 2pm: […]

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A Note of Appreciation for Michael Capobianco

As many of you know, last year I ran for president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America as a write-in candidate against Michael Capobianco. Among the reasons I ran was that I was concerned that Michael, who had not recently published, might be out of step with some of the challenges faced […]

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Not That I’ve Been Keeping Track or Anything

After two months of just barely missing the mark, the site finally broke past the one million unique visitors mark, and with one day and three hours to spare: What does it mean? Not much, considering I don’t run advertising on the site, and also because, as a friend recently noted, it’s not that a […]

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What a Scandal Doesn’t Look Like

I’m seeing some folks getting all hypervent-ally over a new tidbit of news, in which Newsweek discovered that Cindy McCain was behind on the property tax on some of her property, to the tune of some amount less than $10,000; apparently she was in arrears on the taxes for fours years and were about to […]

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Upholding the First Law of Cat Lounging

Which is, of course, “all lounging cats must attempt to take up the maximum possible space.” This is especially applicable on desks and beds. Notice Zeus’ extended paw action to claim extra desk space. He’s a pro. Also for your amusement, the following pensive portrait: I see this as being his author photo for his […]

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Re-Hipify Me: A Weekend Assignment

So, despite buying a lot of music and having ready access to Rhapsody and indeed the whole of the Internet (and, um, having been a music critic for many years), I’ve fallen prey to a malady common to many people in their late 30s, in which I’m more or less clueless to new musical artists. […]

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Internal Book Workings

Answering a couple of questions I’ve gotten recently about the mechanics of the book-related stuff here: * First, for those who were wondering about the disposition of the Duck and Hate Mail contests: The winner of the Duck contest will be declared on Monday. The Hate Mail winners, I suspect, will follow shortly thereafter, because […]

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The Book Haul, 6/27/08

What came in this week? Quick notes: * I’m really excited to get Cycler, which is the first novel of my good pal Lauren McLaughlin, and which has a hell of a premise, which you might be able to infer from the cover, and the apparel of the model — and if you can’t infer […]

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The Big Idea: David J. Schwartz

If Spider-Man — and indeed the entire Marvel canon — has taught us anything, it’s that being a super-hero isn’t as easy as it looks. But if you think that’s difficult, try writing one… especially when you’re aware of all the inherent flaws of the genre, no matter how much you love it. In Superpowers, […]

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DC v. Heller

The Supreme Court upheld the appeals court overturning Washington DC’s ban on handguns. I’ll post the link to the decision when it goes up, and maybe offer my thoughts when I’ve glanced through it; until then, here’s a thread to comment on the ruling and other recent SCOTUS decisions. Remember: Civility is nice. Update 1: […]

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Help Build a List of New SF Film Classics

For my AMC column today, I review the American Film Institute’s list of the Top Ten SF films of all time (verdict: the list doesn’t suck), and note that the list stops at 1991. What does that mean? Well, an opportunity to create a list of the Top Ten SF films since 1991, of course! […]

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The Difference a “Big Post” Makes

A couple of years ago I talked about the concept of “Big Posts” — posts that draw in more than the usual number of readers to a blog — and what they mean for growing the readership of a blog over time. If you’ve not read that post, click that link and check it out, […]

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Off to Charity

You may recall that in April I put up my short story “How I Proposed to My Wife: An Alien Sex Story” as shareware, for people to read, and if they liked, to send me money for. When I put the story up, I noted that half of the proceeds would go to the Lupus […]

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If Only I Had Known

Henceforth, whenever mail, electronic or otherwise, delivers to me news I don’t wish to hear, or act upon, like the President of the United States, I shall simply not open it, and therefore, it won’t have happened. I’m kicking myself now about all the mortgage payments I have stupidly made over the years. And now, […]

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Interesting News for the Members of Company D

Got my copies of the German version of The Last Colony today, and put it next to the other books in the series so you can see the wild variety Heyne, my German publisher, provides each new title in the Old Man’s War series: I have a sneaking suspicion I might know what the cover […]

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A Musical Walkback

Robbie Robertson and U2: Sweet Fire Of Love – Robbie Robertson I remember playing this song for a kid in my college dorm who was absolutely insane for U2 and watching him go insane because a) he didn’t recognize the song instantly and b) that his heroes somehow managed to put out a song that […]

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