Monthly Archives: January 2010
Brief Administrative Note Re: Deleted Comments
Posted on January 19, 2010 25 Comments
This is a general comment, but goes particularly to the person who I recently booted off a thread and subsequently sent their comments to the trash: As a point of information, when I’ve decided that you’re done with a thread and that your subsequent comments will not show up on the thread, I don’t actually […]
Just Arrived, 1/19/10
Posted on January 19, 2010 7 Comments
Let’s see what we’ve got: * A Stain on the Silence, by Andrew Taylor. Taylor won the 2009 Cartier Diamond Dagger from the UK’s Crime Writer’s Association, which is going to be awesome in an upcoming game of Clue. In this literary thriller, a middle-age fellow discovers a daughter he never had — on the […]
A Small Piece of Advice to Hopeful “Big Idea” Participants
Posted on January 19, 2010 11 Comments
It is: Query first, and don’t write up a Big Idea piece until/unless you have a confirmed date from me. Why? Because there are going to be times when I say “sorry, no space,” and you’ll have written that essay for nothing. And I’d hate for you to waste your time like that. So, please […]
The Big Idea: Mark Teppo
Posted on January 19, 2010 19 Comments
Got faith? This question is more complicated than it seems here in our world — and in the world of Mark Teppo’s Codex of Souls series, of which the newly-released Heartland is the second installment, it’s even more complicated than that. Why? Because in Teppo’s world, faith has a quality to it that’s distinctly different […]
From the “Is There Nothing Sacred” Category
Posted on January 18, 2010 43 Comments
Surely, I thought, surely there is not such a thing as a cover of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” where the word “guitar” has been replaced by the word “keytar.” But then I remembered: this is the Internet. I’m as appalled as you are. Appalled, you hear me.
Workspace Context
Posted on January 18, 2010 26 Comments
For everyone congratulating me today on the tidiness of my workspace, I present to you the uncropped desk: I hope that puts to rest any accusations of personal desktop organization. Thank you for your time.
Workspace
Posted on January 18, 2010 35 Comments
This is how I’m working today: Manuscript for the Tor version of METAtropolis on the desk (which I am proofing), with keyboard to the side just in case I need to type something. On the monitor: my inbox and a PDF of the Subterranean Press version of METAtropolis, from which I am double-checking the Tor […]
Helping Shawn Powers
Posted on January 17, 2010 25 Comments
Shawn Powers, a friend of Whatever and also a frequent commenter here, has had a very bad day: His house has burned up. The good news is Shawn, his wife and children are safe; unfortunately their pets were victims of the fire. Friends and co-workers have set up a place for other friends and concerned […]
Today Is Family Time Day
Posted on January 17, 2010 37 Comments
So I won’t be here. If you have a family, why not spend time with them too? Unless, you know, you don’t like your family, in which case I guess you can just sit at home, dreading Thanksgiving from 11 months off. But to keep you busy whilst I am away, a question: So, ever […]
Cult Pop Interview
Posted on January 17, 2010 2 Comments
If you’re wondering what to do with your Sunday, I’ll note you can spend about fifteen minutes of it watching me being interviewed on Cult Pop, the Michigan-based interview show specializing in science fiction and fantasy. The interview was done during last year’s Penguicon, so I’m being interviewed about Zoe’s Tale and METAtropolis, both of […]
Today’s Observation on the Subject of Language
Posted on January 16, 2010 27 Comments
“D’oh!” is a shockingly (and perhaps, depressingly) useful addition to our matrix of human verbal expression. Discuss. (Also, this is all I have for the day. Hey! It’s Saturday! Cut me some slack.)
Instant Podcast 1/15/10
Posted on January 15, 2010 20 Comments
So, I had about a half hour to kill so I asked people on Twitter to ask me questions that I could answer in a podcast. And here is that very podcast! It is 29 minutes and 5 seconds of only the finest of ramblings. Enjoy. And if you wish to download it, here you […]
Things I Don’t Miss
Posted on January 15, 2010 156 Comments
Apropos of nothing (no, really), here are some things from life which no longer really exist and which I am glad do not. 1. Stupidly expensive long-distance charges. After I left college, I tried to keep in touch with all my friends by phone, and it added up because depending where they were, calling pals […]
The Big Idea: Alan DeNiro
Posted on January 14, 2010 23 Comments
Are you prepared for a Scythian invasion? If your answer is some variation of “Bwuh?” then congratulations, you are like most people, who wouldn’t know a Scythian from Parthian, or indeed if either were people, or, say, a type of insect or breed of sheep. And this would also make you suited to live in […]
Avatars, Blades, Spiders
Posted on January 14, 2010
Over at the AMC column this week, I answer questions on whether Avatar is actually more popular than Transformers, what’s going on with the Spider-Man franchise, and what the heck Blade II is doing in my list of decade’s best science fiction. Won’t you go have a look? Presently?
Sunset 1/12/10
Posted on January 13, 2010 14 Comments
Offered up mostly for that speck in the upper left, which is Jupiter.
Agent Auf Deutsch
Posted on January 13, 2010 58 Comments
Received a package from Germany today which was not full of marzipan and schnitzel, damn it, but was full of copies of Agent der Sterne, the German version of Agent to the Stars, complete with the now-standard Laser-Shooting Spacecraft Not Appearing in the Book. This is not me complaining, however, as Heyne, my publisher, seems […]
Today’s Completely Context-Free Statement Which Will Make No Sense to Any Of You Now But Will Later, If You Remember It, Which You Probably Won’t
Posted on January 13, 2010 50 Comments
It is: It’s been a clarifying couple of days, it has.
Interviewing the Larbalestier Way
Posted on January 13, 2010 7 Comments
Following up on my recent kvetch about lazy interviewers, Justine Larbalestier has a rather more useful piece up on how to interview an author. If you’re planning to do an interview of an author at any point in your life, ever, you might as well go check this out and follow its advice. The only […]
Various & Sundry 1/12/10
Posted on January 12, 2010 40 Comments
Little bits, because I can’t seem to think at length today: * Clearly the most important topic of the day is whether one is on Team Leno or Team Conan, and while I am personally on Team Why Would I Watch TV When There’s Left 4 Dead 2 To Play, I think it’s pretty clear […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying