Monthly Archives: February 2010
Knowing When Not to Bigfoot Someone
Posted on February 28, 2010 64 Comments
Someone local to me did something that annoyed me, and I wrote a post about it. And then after I wrote I realized that what this person did, did not rate me venting to 40,000+ people about it, especially since a) this person is a normal person, not a public personality, b) this person doesn’t […]
A Birthday Tune
Posted on February 28, 2010 20 Comments
In honor of my friend Deven’s birthday today, here’s a Thomas Dolby song he likes: I also got him a mathematical proof, but the margins here are to small to express it. Maybe for Christmas.
The Awesome Yet Terrifying Power of Abba Zaba
Posted on February 27, 2010 68 Comments
Behold the Abba Zaba, a taffy candy bar. Also behold one of Athena’s teeth, which had been loose. The tooth met the Abba Zabba, and the taffy adherence power of the candy yanked the tooth right out of Athena’s jaw. I would have found it alarming if I were her, but she apparently seems to […]
TGE Review at SFReviews.net, Plus a Bonus Childhood Story
Posted on February 26, 2010 41 Comments
SFReviews.net has published a complimentary review of The God Engines, which includes this blurb-worthy bit: In its surprising final third, when assumptions are overturned, beliefs are challenged, and our heroes’ sense of what’s right and wrong in the universe is thrown into chaos, The God Engines shifts into high and redlines right across the finish. […]
The Big Idea: N.K. Jemisin
Posted on February 26, 2010 31 Comments
Author N.K. Jemisin has a lot to be excited about today: Yesterday saw the release of her debut novel The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and the book is getting the sorts of reviews, starred and otherwise, that most debut authors can only dream about (“Multifaceted characters struggle with their individual burdens and desires, creating a complex, […]
Today’s Irony Twofer
Posted on February 25, 2010 58 Comments
This direct mail solicitation from Reason to get me to subscribe to the magazine is ironic for two reasons: 1. That’s not my house they’ve circled there, it’s my neighbors, so if “they” go looking for me there, man, won’t the Harshbargers be surprised! 2. I already have a subscription to Reason magazine, which you’d […]
This Manuscript Hires People
Posted on February 25, 2010 140 Comments
Apropos to Charlie Stross’ piece today about what goes into making a book and why it’s not just as simple as tossing out a bare manuscript to whomever might be willing to buy it, I’d like to point out something that I think gets overlooked as a net benefit to books being made the way […]
Handing You Off to Charlie Stross Today
Posted on February 25, 2010 54 Comments
On account that Charlie is going to school you on the matter of How Books Are Made, because, as Charlie notes, the idea that the only two people needed to make a book are the author and the consumer is a bit of contemptible nonsense: This is a bit like saying that in commercial air […]
Technical Note Re: E-mail
Posted on February 25, 2010 2 Comments
My primary e-mail address (john@scalzi.com) is likely to be down in the next couple of hours (8am – 10am Eastern, 2/25/10), as I’m busy fiddling with it. Don’t be surprised if any mail you send me during that time bounces back. I don’t imagine there’s anything so essential that it can’t wait until after 10am […]
Video Games Into SF Movies
Posted on February 25, 2010
Over at AMC this week, I’m looking at science fictional video games I think could make decent movies — if they could avoid that thing Hollywood does to video games when it makes them into movies. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. As always, if you have thoughts or comments, leave ’em over at […]
Just Once I Wish I Could Have a Normal Picture of Me and My Daughter
Posted on February 24, 2010 58 Comments
Well, actually, no. No I don’t. There’s something very “Community theater version of Dracula” about this picture, isn’t there? It’s really a picture of us before her school’s father-daughter dance last weekend. A rather less dramatic picture of the two of us is here.
Zeus Works on His Cheshire Cat Trick
Posted on February 24, 2010 14 Comments
Hmmm. Not quite there yet.
The Big Idea: David Louis Edelman
Posted on February 24, 2010 22 Comments
Hey: Do you like your life? If your answer is “sure, but it could always be better,” then David Louis Edelman would like a word with you. Edelman is thinking about humans and their capacity for dissatisfaction, and how that concept relates to his acclaimed “Jump 225,” trilogy, of which Geosynchron is the concluding volume. […]
Signed Chapbook for Auction at “Con or Bust”
Posted on February 24, 2010 5 Comments
Hey, remember how I was telling you about the French language chapbook of my story, “After the Coup?” Well, I’m auctioning off a signed copy over at Con or Bust, which is LiveJournal group set up to help bring fans of color to Wiscon and other science fiction conventions. Other authors and science fiction folk […]
Stargate Universe: I’m Back For Season Two
Posted on February 23, 2010 47 Comments
I’ve been sitting on this news for a bit and suddenly realized that, hey, there’s no reason to be sitting on it: I’ve been asked, and have agreed, to continue as the Creative Consultant for Stargate: Universe for the show’s second season. Indeed, I’m already looking at scripts and chatting with producers and giving notes, […]
The God Engines: Hugo Consideration Edition
Posted on February 23, 2010 44 Comments
First, because I know this will come up: Yes, Subterranean Press and I are working on an official electronic version of The God Engines for everyone else. Patience, please. Second, I’ve been led to understand by numerous e-mail from a far distant land the natives call “Australia” — wherever that is — that physical copies […]
USA Today Piece on Science Fiction and the Oscars
Posted on February 22, 2010 27 Comments
I point to it because I am quoted in it. Yes, I am just that self-serving. But it’s a pretty good article, even without the bit I provided. I was interviewed for the piece while I was loitering at the airport in Atlanta, waiting for my connecting flight, so for several moments I was that […]
Just Arrived, 2/22/10
Posted on February 22, 2010 20 Comments
Look what the cat dragged in: * White Cat, by Holly Black (Margaret K. McElderry): Holly’s latest YA, featuring a good kid in a family of black magic con men, drawn unwillingly into one of their schemes. We’re big fans of Holly’s stuff here in the Scalzi household, and this one looks particularly cool. Out […]
The Big Idea: Robert McCammon
Posted on February 22, 2010 17 Comments
Surprise! While usually I post one or two Big Ideas a week, this week there are three. Because sometimes I overcommit. Hey, it happens. It’s not like it’s a bad thing. Especially in this case, because this week’s first Big Idea comes from New York Times bestseller and Stoker and World Fantasy Award-winner Robert McCammon, […]
One Star Reviews Revisited
Posted on February 22, 2010 71 Comments
Because I think in the wake of Nebula and Norton nominations it’s relevant to do so, here are some snippets of one star reviews of my recent work, via Amazon: The God Engines: It is hard to believe that John Scalzi wrote this hot mess! Bad premise, bad plot, bad characters, bad ending – the […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying