Monthly Archives: August 2011

A Quick SFWA-Related Thing of Some Importance (to SFWA and SFWAns)

Look, SFWA Active and Lifetime Active members! It’s the ballot for the incorporation of the organization in California, which will allow for a raft of useful benefits to our organization, including tax-deductible donations to the organization and the ability to give grants through our emergency medical fund and legal fund, rather than loans. Mine came […]

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The Sort of Crap I Don’t Get

Over at Twitter, author Adrienne Martini asks me if I get the sort of jackassed comments and e-mails that Shawna James Ahern, a female food blogger, talks about in a recent post, and wonders if it’s a gender-related thing. The short answer: No I don’t get those, and yes, I think it’s substantially gender-related. The […]

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And Now, A Summer Wrap-Up

The great thing about culturally-induced ends to somewhat arbitrary periods of time is that they make handy places one to write assessment articles — which is to say I’ve written an end-of-summer wrapup of science fiction and fantasy films over at FilmCritic.com. If you all go and read it, my AMC corporate overlords will notice […]

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The Big Idea: Marie Brennan

We’ve all heard the expression “good things come to those who wait.” Is it true? Perhaps not always or in all cases, but with her new novel With Fate Conspire, author Marie Brennan found that there might be some advantages to have some time between when one thinks of an interesting story idea, and when […]

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When To Ignore Criticism (and How to Get People to Take Your Critique Seriously)

UK-based writer Damien Walter took exception on Twitter to my notation a few days ago that science fiction fandom was cheerfully ignoring condescending critiques of this year’s slate of Hugo winners, which precipitated a lively exchange between the two of us on the subject of criticism. For those of you who want to check out […]

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First Day of School, 2011

And thus begins seventh grade. Athena has been very much looking forward to the start of this particular school year, so I hope everything goes for her as she hopes and plans. I still think it’s silly to start the school year before Labor Day, but no one ever asks me about these things, so. […]

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Sunday Update

Because I know your weekend is incomplete without hearing from me. Yes it is. * Yesterday I did my Context 24 flyby, in which I drove up to Columbus, did five programming events in six hours and then drove back. While I don’t recommend this as a frequent science fiction convention strategy, as a one-time […]

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Context Reminder

A quick note to remind y’all that I will be at the Context 24 convention today between one and seven pm, for a full block of signings, panels, reading and Q&A. If you’re in the Columbus, Ohio area and wondering what to do with your afternoon, now you know! See you there.  

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Late Hugo Notes

I’ve been getting some e-mail asking me about some post-game kvetching on the Hugo wins and also the possibility of a Hugo for YA, so briefly on each: Post-Hugo Kvetching: Meh. There’s always post-Hugo kvetching, for the same reason there’s pre-Hugo kvetching, which is, people like to kvetch, and/or they have a hard time internalizing […]

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The Big Idea: Jim Ottaviani

For Jim Ottaviani, it wasn’t enough just to write a graphic novel about Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (with Leland Myrick illustrating). In the process writing itself he found inspiration from his subject, and discovered that Feynman’s own maxims and ideas had direct application to his own work. If you’re a writer, might they have […]

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To The Commenter Currently Languishing in My Moderation Queue, and Soon to Be In My Trash Bin

When the first words of your comment are “Apologies for an off-topic comment, but…,” followed by a rather lengthy comment which is indeed entirely unrelated to the comment thread at hand, you are signaling two things: 1. That you are in fact not in the least sorry for your off-topic comment, just like someone who […]

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Last-Minute Appearance Notice: Saturday at Context 24 in Columbus

The folks at Columbus’ Context 24 convention contacted me yesterday with some bad news: Their Guest of Honor, L.E. Modesitt, had to withdraw unexpectedly due to unavoidable personal circumstances, and they were hoping that I might be able to come in and help fill the sudden gap in their programming. I said yes. I am […]

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Five Steps to a Classic Science Fiction Film

Over at FilmCritic.com, I look at what it takes for a science fiction film to be considered a classic by asking five questions; the more questions a film can answer “yes” to, the more likely the film will one day be considered one of the greats of the genre. What are the questions? And do […]

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Earthquake in Virginia

And I felt it here in Ohio, although at the time I just thought it might be a little bit of vertigo brought on by my recent lack of sleep. Very odd. Also and clearly, everything fine on this end. Here’s the latest. Looks like it was a 5.9. That’ll wake you up if you’re […]

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Renovation Recap

Renovation was a lot of fun for me, and here are a few reasons why. I’m not putting these in any chronological order, I’m just dropping them out as they come to me: 1. A whole bunch of my friends made off with Hugos, most notably Mary Robinette Kowal for her short story “For Want […]

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