Monthly Archives: June 2010
Office in Progress
Posted on June 23, 2010 38 Comments
As most of you are aware, I’ve been renovating my office for the last few months, a process which has included repainting, taking out the old carpet, putting in new floors and shelves, getting new furniture and so on. The office isn’t completely finished yet — we still have new blinds and couple of new […]
Please Stand By
Posted on June 23, 2010 10 Comments
The good news is: Hit my deadline. Go me. The bad news is: My morning is going to be taken up with the running of the daughter over to the doctor’s, because she is feeling poorly, which is sad thing and especially during summer vacation. Be back a bit later with a new Big Idea […]
Science Fiction Films and the Environment
Posted on June 23, 2010
Over at FilmCritic.com this week, I’m looking at environmental themes in science fiction, and whether the oil spill in the gulf means that we’re likely to have more film of an environmental stripe over the next couple of years. The answer may surprise you! Or it may not because by now you know all my […]
I Totally Have a Deadline Today
Posted on June 22, 2010 12 Comments
So can’t play right now. See you all a bit later.
And Now For Some Winsomely Winsome Music
Posted on June 21, 2010 9 Comments
Kat Edmonson, “Lucky”: Because it fits my mood right now, that’s why. Her site also has a fairly nifty cover of “Just Like Heaven,” incidentally.
The Self-Awareness of Incompetence (or Lack Thereof)
Posted on June 21, 2010 83 Comments
Long-time readers of Whatever will remember that a couple of years ago I made mention of the “Dunning-Kruger Syndrome,” in which an incompetent person is not aware of his or her own incompetence. Over at the New York Times, noted filmmaker Errol Morris has an interesting interview with David Dunning, the Cornell professor of psychology […]
Repeat
Posted on June 19, 2010 20 Comments
Hey, remember that thing I did last weekend? When I took the weekend off and had a life outside of the computer? Yeah? Okay, then: I’m gonna do it again. Like, now. See you Monday.
Joe Barton Just Wants to Have His Life Back
Posted on June 18, 2010 163 Comments
There are many ways to distinguish between the two major political parties in the United States, but one of the more obvious ways is in how they choose to implode. Democrats, for example, tend to implode in slow motion, when their own aimless, plodding inertia turns them into lugubrious and easy targets for the right […]
Dude, I am HUGE in Germany + METAtropolis Review
Posted on June 18, 2010 14 Comments
Look at this kickass ad for the German version of The Android’s Dream, off the German iBookstore, in Germany: I love it when publishers spend money advertising my books. Makes me all warm inside, it does. I mean, above my normal metabolic rate (Update: Someone noted that in the US at least the iBookstore doesn’t […]
15 Years
Posted on June 17, 2010 99 Comments
Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of the first date between Krissy and myself, the day before that the 16th anniversary of my marriage proposal, and today, as it happens, is the 15th anniversary of our wedding. Yes, that’s right, we have a three day anniversary festival every year. It makes anniversaries easier to remember, if […]
The Big Idea: Nnedi Okorafor
Posted on June 17, 2010 11 Comments
What do spiders have to do with stories? For most of us, not much of anything, unless the spider gets into the book you’re reading, in which case it might get very physically involved in the story when you squish it with the book. But for Nnedi Okorafor, whose latest novel Who Fears Death is […]
Dateiversary
Posted on June 16, 2010 84 Comments
As constant — nay, fanatical — readers of this site, you’ll recall how yesterday was the 16th anniversary of me proposing marriage to Krissy. Well, today is the 17th anniversary of the two of us having our first date, which for the record, happened at El Presidente restaurant in Visalia, California, followed by dancing at […]
Book Sequels and the Likelihoods Thereof
Posted on June 16, 2010 28 Comments
I’m getting a lot of questions about whether I’m going to write sequels to various books, so it’s time to create a standard document on the topic so that I can refer people to it rather than repeating myself over and over. So, here’s the current status of sequels/continuations for: The Old Man’s War series: […]
The Failure Mode of Clever
Posted on June 16, 2010 80 Comments
So, apropos of nothing in particular, let’s say you wish to communicate privately with someone you’ve not communicated with privately before, for whatever reason you might have. And, wanting to stand out from the crowd, you decide to try to be clever about it, because, hey, you are a clever person, and as far as […]
80s Science Fiction Films: Which Should Get the “Karate Kid” Treatment?
Posted on June 16, 2010
The remake of The Karate Kid made a whole bunch of money last weekend, so now every studio will be looking at 80s movies to reheat and remake. In my FilmCritic.com column, I offer up one science fiction film from every year of the parachute pants decade for their remaking consideration, and try to go […]
One of the Better Questions I Ever Asked
Posted on June 15, 2010 55 Comments
Sixteen years ago today I asked Krissy to marry me. She said yes, and I’ve worked since then to make sure she’s never regretted answering in the affirmative. It’s been worth the effort.
From the “Hey, This is Nice” Bin
Posted on June 15, 2010 23 Comments
And it this: I and Whatever have been nominated for a British Fantasy Award this year in the non-fiction category. How cool is that? My thanks to the folks at the British Fantasy Society for the nod; it’s made my day.
The Big Idea: Leanna Renee Hieber
Posted on June 15, 2010 9 Comments
Author Leanna Renee Hieber likes all things Gothic, and I’m not just saying that because when I met her at Phoenix Comicon a few weeks ago, she was dressed head to foot in a sumptuously Gothic blue and black Victorian-era getup (although she was, and that was my first big hint). The Gothic sensibility is […]
Hugo Voters Packet is Expanding
Posted on June 14, 2010 14 Comments
The folks at AussieCon4 have just sent me a note to tell me that the Hugo Voters Packet, already packed to the gills with nominated works, has expanded to include additional nominated works as well as many of the previously added works in new formats that play nice with your eBook readers, and so on. […]
Two Weeks to Viable Paradise Application Deadline
Posted on June 14, 2010 21 Comments
A reminder to you aspiring writers of science fiction and fantasy: You have until the 30th of this month to get in your applications to Viable Paradise, the week-long science fiction and fantasy workshop that I teach at, along with Elizabeth Bear, Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Steven Gould and Laura Mixon, and James Macdonald […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying