Monthly Archives: September 2011
One Additional Library Thought
Posted on September 21, 2011 20 Comments
I’ve had a couple of people e-mail me to say that although the Redshirts library auction is over, they’re still interested in donating a little money to my library, and wanted to know how to do it. The answer is just to write a check to “Bradford Public Library” and send it to the address […]
Don’t Give Me Any Ideas
Posted on September 21, 2011 61 Comments
From time to time someone will send me an e-mail with an idea for a story or a novel, presumably because they’re not going to use it but they think it should be used by someone, and particularly by me. I think it’s a sweet and thoughtful gesture, and as soon as I recognize what’s […]
The Big Idea: S.M. Stirling
Posted on September 21, 2011 53 Comments
I often think to myself how lucky I am to have born when I was — not just in a general sense, but in the sense of being a writer. I swear, if I had to write a novel on a typewriter, I might just strangle myself with the ribbon instead. But it’s not to […]
A World Without Star Wars
Posted on September 21, 2011
What would have happened if in 1977, instead of releasing Star Wars, George Lucas released… nothing at all? The science fiction and film worlds would be very different, is what. I detail some of the differences in my FilmCritic.com column for the week. Go and read it and tell the world your own thoughts in […]
“Redshirt” Auction: What it Brought In (Hint: More Than You Think)
Posted on September 20, 2011 73 Comments
So the “Redshirt” auction ended last night on time, and the fabulous Brad Roberts took the pre-pub bound manuscript of the novel — and two rare chapbooks, and two even rarer pre-pub bound manuscripts, and a song played by me on the ukulele and a schadenfreude pie, which I will likely deliver in person to […]
LAST DAY for the “Redshirts” Auction to Benefit the Bradford, Ohio Public Library
Posted on September 19, 2011 24 Comments
Yes! It is the last day! You have only until 11:59:59pm Eastern time to get your bid in to win the pre-publication bound manuscript of my upcoming novel Redshirts, plus a raft of other goodies, the bounty of which only increases as the bids go up. As of this writing the current bid is $6,000, […]
Kristine Blauser Scalzi, 9/18/11
Posted on September 18, 2011 32 Comments
Because any day is a fine day to take a picture of my wife.
Doing Family Things With Family
Posted on September 18, 2011 8 Comments
Because the last time I tried to do family things with random strangers, there was that whole “restraining order” business. And I don’t want to have to deal with that again. So: Hey! See you all tomorrow.
The Voice of a Generation, With a Trenchant Plea We All Need to Hear
Posted on September 17, 2011 35 Comments
The irony is that it is likely to be forwarded to everyone by everyone, thus becoming the very thing it laments. Welcome to the Internet!
Go Maroons
Posted on September 17, 2011 25 Comments
The New York Times has a nice write-up about the football team of my alma mater, the University of Chicago, and what the sport means to a place where the students are proud of the reputation of the school being where “fun goes to die.” (The answer is: Not much, and fun doesn’t actually die […]
This Post Is Dedicated to Joe “I Totally Love RUSH” Hill
Posted on September 16, 2011 30 Comments
You are today’s Tom Sawyer, Joe. Never forget that, my friend.
A Whole Lot of Sky
Posted on September 16, 2011 23 Comments
You guys usually see this view when it has a sunset in it. But today I thought showing off the wide variety of clouds in the sky. I count at least four different types. How many can you find? Yes! It’s a test!
The Big Idea: Christopher Buehlman
Posted on September 16, 2011 14 Comments
You can admire literature for the craft that an author puts into his or her words, but the words are supposed to be working too — building a world that thrills or chills you — and a writer’s real craft is in creating work that does both. Debut novelist Christopher Buehlman has been thinking a […]
“Questions for a Soldier” in Subterranean Magazine #8
Posted on September 15, 2011 21 Comments
For a number of years now, the only way you could get “Questions for a Soldier,” the first short story I wrote set in the Old Man’s War universe — and which features John Perry making an early appearance on the colony of Huckleberry — was to get the increasingly rare chapbook version, which is […]
“Redshirts” Auction Update
Posted on September 14, 2011 47 Comments
First: Gaze upon the Redshirts manuscript, returned to me by the copy editor and full of red marks. Full! Which is to be expected; while I am not a copy editor’s worst nightmare, neither are my manuscripts complete cakewalks. I will be spending the next few days going through the changes and making sure I […]
German October Tour Itinerary
Posted on September 14, 2011 50 Comments
I promised folks I would post dates on my German tour when I had them, and here they are — most of them in any event. I do not have all the details regarding time/cost of event for some of these things, so if you’re in Germany and want to see me and I don’t […]
The Big Idea: Jennifer K. Chung
Posted on September 14, 2011 16 Comments
Quick — you have to write a novel in three days. What do you do? What do you do? Jennifer K. Chung knows: She wrote her novel Terroryaki! for the 3-Day Novel Contest that takes place each year — and won the contest. Along the way Chung learned what writing under intense pressure can do […]
Why Ellen Ripley is a Problem for Science Fiction Film
Posted on September 14, 2011
Over at FilmCritic.com today, I talk about who is the best female science fiction film character in history (you should be able to guess from the picture and headline) and why that’s actually a problem for science fiction film — not for the character herself, but what it means for the genre. Check it out […]
“Redshirts” Auction to Benefit the Bradford, Ohio Public Library
Posted on September 13, 2011 92 Comments
The short version: I have recently delivered to my publisher my latest novel Redshirts: A Novel With Three Codas and am offering a special pre-publication bound manuscript version of the novel to auction to benefit the Bradford, Ohio public library. This is an exclusive and extremely rare version of this novel (only four other copies […]
Quick Takes on Two Things of Passing Literary Interest
Posted on September 13, 2011 139 Comments
As they have been of interest to folks: The YAGay Thing: Which is, briefly, two authors shopping a YA novel were offered a deal by and agent if they swapped the sexuality of a character from gay to straight; they refused and wrote about it here. My particular take on it is that the authors […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying