Monthly Archives: November 2010
Cosmic Coincidences
Posted on November 12, 2010 43 Comments
E-mail this morning (actually late last night, whilst I was asleep) wondering why, regarding Agent to the Stars, I hadn’t credited William Tenn’s short story “Betelgeuse Bridge” as an inspiration. Agent to the Stars, as most of you know, is about a movie agent who gets the job of trying to introduce a slimy but […]
The Leaning Tower of Just Arrived Books
Posted on November 11, 2010 45 Comments
I mention to people that I often get ten to 20 new books/ARCs sent to me a week, but there’s nothing like a little visual representation of how many books come my way, so, here, this is roughly the stack of books which have arrived since I returned home from World Fantasy on the first […]
NaNoWriMo and Kvetching
Posted on November 11, 2010 99 Comments
Over at her own site, Mary Robinette Kowal notes that at the moment there are some published novelists who are bagging on National Novel Writing Month and calling it waste of time and a bad idea for aspiring writers. She counters this by noting that her novel Shades of Milk and Honey (which is fabulous, […]
A Daisy Dog Update
Posted on November 11, 2010 37 Comments
We’re closing in on the one-month mark of our ownership of Daisy, so I thought I’d catch you all up on her status. Basically, it’s gone very well, and she’s become pretty fully integrated into the Scalzi clan. In particular, the cat/dog issue seems to have been resolved to everyone’s satisfaction: The cats seem to […]
And Now, A Highly Informal Note on Veterans Day
Posted on November 11, 2010 18 Comments
Thanks, folks. I appreciate the service. Picture taken from this story about a veteran’s rifle brigade.
Holiday SF/F Films
Posted on November 10, 2010
Over at Filmcritic.com, I’m going over the holiday season’s science fiction and fantasy film loadout, and guessing how each of those films will go in the box office battle. Here’s a hint: That tiny little film featuring a cult character named Harry Potter? Might do okay! Come look at the rest of my thoughts on […]
Cooks Source Apology
Posted on November 9, 2010 101 Comments
A real one, it seems (real meaning “from Judith Griggs”). It’s up at the Cooks Source site. The good news is that there’s an apology to Monica Gaudio, along with the assertion that indeed a donation has been made to the Columbia School of Journalism, as Ms. Gaudio requested. So that’s good. The rather less […]
“Fuzzy Nation” in the UK; “Coffee Shop” at Tor.com
Posted on November 9, 2010 12 Comments
Two things: * First, I was asked whether Fuzzy Nation will be out in the UK at the same time as the US. My answer: Dunno. At the moment we’re shopping FN to UK publishers, so it’s really a matter of who wants it and then I suppose whether they want to time its release […]
“Election” Results
Posted on November 9, 2010 25 Comments
Last week Subterranean Press and I did an experiment, by taking “An Election,” a short story SubPress bought from me, posting it here and running ads in it for SubPress product. When one publicly announces one is running an experiment, it’s fair to then also publicly present the results of the experiment for people to […]
“But Honestly, Monica”: A Song For These Times
Posted on November 8, 2010 14 Comments
It’s kind of awesome: Context (for those three of you who still need it). The song is by this guy. Well done, Arlojeremy. Hat tip.
Look What I Got in the Mail Today
Posted on November 8, 2010 46 Comments
It’s my Fuzzy Nation ARCs! And I may — may — have one to offer up to one of you folks. I just have to think of a suitably sadistic fun contest for it. Stay tuned. In the meantime, let me just say: Soooooo pretty. Also, the “Marketing Plans” on the back cover tell me […]
Monday Morning Update
Posted on November 8, 2010 61 Comments
AS IF YOU CARE. 1. Back home again after a weekend away. Where did I go? What did I do? Sorry, that’s classified. But I will say that when that race of superintelligent badgers emerges from its sett outside of Omaha, Nebraska and claims dominion over the whole of the Midwest, you should not be […]
Nothin’ But Blue Sky
Posted on November 5, 2010 13 Comments
Wait, that’s not right. Well, never mind that now. What I really want to tell you is that I’m taking the weekend off, starting this very second. I may check in with Twitter, but most of the time I won’t be online. Because I’ll be having grand adventures. Or sleeping. Mostly sleeping. But you never […]
B&N Search Update, Buying My Books, and, You Know, Stuff
Posted on November 5, 2010 21 Comments
A couple of quick notes on things relating to ME ME ME ME ME: * I kvetched a couple of days ago about Barnesandnoble.com’s search listings on “Scalzi” calling up a bunch of craptacular insta-books with content sucked in from Wikipeidia, rather than, you know, my own books (or the books of the other occasional […]
Follow Up to Cooks Source and World Fantasy
Posted on November 5, 2010 76 Comments
Some post-mortem thoughts on two big things in this last week: * I suspect everyone involved was mildly surprised at how quickly and expansively the Cooks Source thing blew up; aside from the Internets explodinating about it, the thing got picked up by the Washington Post, the LA Times, Gizmodo, Forbes, MSNBC.com and so on. […]
Fuzzy Nation Release Date
Posted on November 4, 2010 48 Comments
I have been alerted as to the release date of Fuzzy Nation: May 10, 2011. Which is my birthday. WHICH IS AWESOME. That is all.
If You’re Feeling Charitable Today
Posted on November 4, 2010 7 Comments
I have three things for you to think about giving some money to. One, Strange Horizons, the fabulous online science fiction magazine that published my very first science fiction story oh-so-many years ago, is in the midst of its annual fund drive. You’ll remember last year that Whatever folks took them over the top with […]
The Stupidest Thing an Editor With Three Decades of Experience Has Said About the Web Today
Posted on November 4, 2010 162 Comments
It is, in a response to a writer complaining that the editor’s magazine stole something she wrote on the Internet and used it without compensation: But honestly Monica, the web is considered “public domain” and you should be happy we just didn’t “lift” your whole article and put someone else’s name on it! Get the […]
Dear Barnes & Noble: Crap is Cluttering Up Your Author Searches
Posted on November 3, 2010 54 Comments
Received an alarmed e-mail today from a reader, who was concerned that when you type the word “Scalzi” into the search function at Barnesandnoble.com, the first several listings are for shabby-looking books that appear to be illegal compilations of my work (here’s one of them). In fact they’re not, but what they are isn’t substantially […]
(New) New Theme Notes
Posted on November 3, 2010 70 Comments
As threatened, I changed the theme I’m using for Whatever (this one is called “Fusion“) and then fiddled with it to get it to my liking. It is largely there at the moment — I like what I’m seeing in any event — and so while I may fiddle just a tiny bit more with […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying