Monthly Archives: October 2010
Just Arrived, 10/14/10
Posted on October 14, 2010 13 Comments
All this talk of electronic books today makes me want to tell you about the physical books which have arrived at my house in the last week. And here we go: * The Wonderful Future That Never Was, Gregory Benford and the Editors of Popular Mechanics (Hearst Books): Or, hey, this is where your flying […]
Reading Electronically: A Review
Posted on October 14, 2010 105 Comments
A few months ago I was given a Nook by a friend, who thought it would be something I could use. I appreciated the gesture; I wasn’t going to go out of my way to buy a dedicated eBook reader, but if one was going to be given to me, I’m sure I could find […]
Shorts and Singles
Posted on October 14, 2010 16 Comments
I’ve been asked if I have any thoughts about the newly announced “Kindle Singles” thing from Amazon. The idea would be to publish shorter works via Amazon — 10k to 30k words is the range I hear batted about — and price them commensurately. The question then becomes whether there is a sufficient market for […]
Some Whatever Stats Geekery For You
Posted on October 13, 2010 48 Comments
I’ve had a couple questions recently about stats, as in, how many people visit daily and where they come from and so on. It’s been a while since I did a public airing of statistics, so here’s what I know, at the moment. First, a long-winded introduction and caveat: I no longer have a really […]
Lopsided Cat Wishes You to Know He Finds the New Chair Marginally Acceptable
Posted on October 13, 2010 23 Comments
I mean, no, it’s not a bed made from the entrails of all the rodents he’s disemboweled over the years, but then, what is? Well, except for the rodent entrail bed I made for him last Christmas. But that didn’t last; items like that never do. Until I make him another, this new chair will […]
Harry Potter Gets Flattened
Posted on October 13, 2010
Over at Filmcritic.com this week I talk about Warner Bros.’ decision not to release the next Harry Potter film in 3D — and why it’s probably the smartest thing they could do for the film. Check out my reasoning and as always, feel free to leave your own thoughts and comments. Harry would want you […]
Book Covers From Distant Lands
Posted on October 12, 2010 22 Comments
Hey, wanna see some of my book covers from Romania and South Korea? Sure you do: The one on the left is the Romanian version of Old Man’s War, which took a long and arduous path to publication but finally made it into print this last week; the one on the right is the Korean-language […]
On Where to Send Me E-Mail
Posted on October 12, 2010 7 Comments
Folks: Yesterday’s short outage notwithstanding, if you want to send me an e-mail and you want me to actually see it, the very best place to send it is to my “john@scalzi.com” address and not to any other service I might be on, including Facebook. I don’t check in to every social service I’m a […]
METAtropolis Out in Germany + Sequel News!
Posted on October 12, 2010 8 Comments
If you happen to be in Germany, or, really, any German-speaking country, today is the release date of the German version of METAtropolis. Look how bright and shiny it is! You just want to go up to it and hug it. Go and buy seven. In other METAtropolis news: Hey, did you know there’s going […]
The Big Idea: Matthew J. Kirby
Posted on October 12, 2010 13 Comments
When in doubt, simplify. This is a piece of advice that has general application but particularly works for writers, who can get lost in the thickets of their own words and ideas. Just ask Matthew J. Kirby, whose middle-grade novel The Clockwork Three (which just received a coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly) has it […]
You Say You’d Like Some More Music? Well, Fine
Posted on October 11, 2010 5 Comments
Somewhere along the way I became a The Academy Is… fan, mostly because I like me some power-pop cake with emo sprinkles, and that’s what the band serves up. Here, have some. That’s off the band’s Lost In Pacific Time EP, which is available on Amazon, iTunes and all the usual places.
E-Mail Glitchination
Posted on October 11, 2010 9 Comments
My primary mail account seems not to be accepting incoming e-mail and has not been for the last 90 minutes or so, so if you sent me mail in that time I haven’t gotten it. I’m looking into it now. Update 2:26: They’re propogating a fix; it may take up to an hour for it […]
My (Unsolicited) Annual Plug for WordPress.com
Posted on October 11, 2010 5 Comments
As many of you know, for the last two years (the second anniversary was yesterday) Whatever has been housed not on my own Scalzi.com site, but on WordPress’ VIP platform. At the time of the switch it was suggested to me that WordPress would offer nearly entirely burpless service, and given that I had spent […]
A Little Historical Perspective
Posted on October 11, 2010 13 Comments
Ten years and one week ago, I was mulling writing a second novel, the one which would eventually become Old Man’s War. I think it might be useful for folks to see now what I was thinking then, particularly in light of my recent entry on finding the time to write. — Oct 2, 2000 […]
New Office Chair
Posted on October 10, 2010 36 Comments
Just picked up: The new guest chair plus side table for the office: The chair is deeply comfortable, I have to say. As in, when you sit in it you have roll to save against catnapping. I mean, if you want to save against catnapping. And why would you? We had the chair special ordered […]
Viable Paradise 14
Posted on October 10, 2010 22 Comments
As earlier noted, the reason I wasn’t here much in the last week was because I was at the Viable Paradise writing workshop, at which I and other science fiction pros offered advice and information to newer writers. The workshop this year was very good; I expect you’ll see a number of VP14 students selling […]
A Visual Representation of My Literary Workshop Critique Style
Posted on October 9, 2010 25 Comments
Yup, that’s about right. In other news, I am now back at home. I’m going to spend it catching up with family. See you tomorrow.
Heading Home
Posted on October 9, 2010 3 Comments
I’m off to Ohio after a week at Viable Paradise. What a lovely time. But it will be nice to be home. I’ll ping you again on the other side.
Yes, I Know I’m on Google Quote of the Day
Posted on October 8, 2010 25 Comments
You don’t have to send me an e-mail/Tweet/Facebook note about it. Thank you, though. For those of you who lack context, the quote is from Old Man’s War, and John Perry talking about his marriage. It’s not a direct assessment from me about my marriage.
The Big Idea: Paul Crilley
Posted on October 7, 2010 7 Comments
The Big Idea series here is predicated on the idea that one big concept can motivate the creation of art, but saying this doesn’t discount the idea that authors can want or desire to accomplish a number of things in their book. For The Invisible Order, Book One: The Rise of the Darklings, author Paul […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying