Monthly Archives: January 2013
The Big Idea: Sharon Short
Posted on January 31, 2013 24 Comments
Sharon Short made a name for herself as an author of mystery novels — but sometimes an idea comes to you from outside the usual places. In the case of her mainstream novel My One Square Inch of Alaska, that idea came from the northern wilderness… and the 1950s… and a cereal box. Here she […]
Troll Report: Active With Increasing Chance Of Stupid
Posted on January 31, 2013 247 Comments
At about 3:30 this morning, Zeus the cat (pictured above) came up on the bed and batted my nose to be let out; his punishment for waking me up at 3:30 in the morning is to be thrown out of the house, so I guess everybody won with that. Nevertheless, having now been woken up, […]
I Don’t Even Know Why This Exists, But It Does And It’s In My House And I Have a Spoon
Posted on January 30, 2013 106 Comments
Seriously, I don’t know what evil genius said “I know, we’ll take a cookie and make a paste out of it and then put it in a jar,” but whoever you are, sir or madam, you are diabolical and I salute you. Because, holy crap, this stuff is amazing. If you gave me a jar […]
Today’s New Thing
Posted on January 30, 2013 31 Comments
Although I’m cutting back on public travel this year, I’m still going a few places here and there and wanted to be able to take a guitar with me, but I’m hesitant to take the tenor guitar because it doesn’t have a travel case (they are strangely hard to find for tenor guitars) and it’s […]
Off to Get My Head Drilled
Posted on January 30, 2013 26 Comments
This morning is when I get my root-canaled tooth permanently caulked up, so I’ll be out until early afternoon at least. In the meantime, please enjoy Scott Edelman’s newest creation: I Hate It When That Happens. He has a point.
RIP, Richard Stern
Posted on January 29, 2013 40 Comments
There’s an obit in the New York Times for author Richard Stern, who passed away last week from cancer at the nicely advanced age of 84. Fans of literature will remember him (as the obit notes) as a somewhat obscure part of a coterie of writers which included Saul Bellow and Phillip Roth, the author […]
The Big Idea: Myke Cole
Posted on January 29, 2013 37 Comments
Shadow Ops: Fortress Frontier, the second book in Myke Cole’s Shadow Ops series, is out today. And on this auspicious occasion, Cole wishes to think on subjects like competence, training, preparation and readiness — and what happens when life takes all of those things and just chucks them out the window. MYKE COLE: Life’s got a way […]
The Human Division, Episode Three: We Only Need the Heads is Now Live!
Posted on January 29, 2013 41 Comments
Hey! Weren’t you just saying that you were wishing it were Tuesday, so you could get the next episode of The Human Division? Well, now it’s Tuesday, and now “We Only Need the Heads” is available for your perusal — nay, fervent enjoyment. This one’s about 9.9k words (i.e., close to the average size of […]
Today’s Big Ol’ Stack of New Books
Posted on January 28, 2013 86 Comments
Some of these are finished books and some of them are ARCs. Tell me which ones you’re excited about in the comments.
A Note to Some Folks in Countries Where They Are Being Charged a Lot For the Episodes of The Human Division; Plus a General Note About Episode Lengths
Posted on January 28, 2013 103 Comments
Just got a (justifiably) cranky e-mail from a guy who paid something like $3.50 for “Walk the Plank,” the second episode of The Human Division, and was annoyed that he got 32 pages for his money. Here’s my thought on this: 1. We (i.e., Tor and I) are charging 99 cents an episode, or an […]
Various and Sundry, 1/27/13
Posted on January 28, 2013 21 Comments
Mostly links. * First, did you know that there is a picture of me, Mary Robinette Kowal, Charles Stross, Patrick Rothfuss and Jim C. Hines, signed by each of us (and by Al Bodgan, the photographer) up for auction, to benefit the Aicardi Syndrome Foundation? And that this particular picture, in this particular format, is […]
Today’s Musical Question
Posted on January 28, 2013 97 Comments
When did the hip music of today start sounding like sea shanties and campfire singalongs? I think I missed that turn of events. It’s something to do with Mumford and Sons, right? I assume those guys are responsible for everything in music these days that involves a guitar and/or a full beard.
The Churrosity Continues
Posted on January 27, 2013 44 Comments
And you know what? They were awesomely delicious, too.
Guitar Days
Posted on January 26, 2013 22 Comments
A question from the gallery: Aside from fake Dylan songs, how are you doing with your guitar? My correspondent is asking about my tenor guitar, which I’ve had for about nine months now. As a partial answer, listen if you dare to the following musical clip, which features me both singing and playing guitar. As […]
All Right, Fine, Here’s What I Think About JJ Abrams Directing Star Wars Episode VII
Posted on January 26, 2013 210 Comments
It’ll be fine. Really. One, JJ Abrams is a perfectly decent director, who does a decent job with human beings, which is more than you can say about the last dude who directed a Star Wars film. Two, as Super 8 made explicitly clear, Abrams thinks of himself as being in the Spielberg school of […]
A Moment of Financial Clarification
Posted on January 25, 2013 124 Comments
Every once in a while someone in the comments here says, usually as an aside to something else, that no one becomes a writer to get rich. So as a point of clarification, and to give everyone else who is slightly exasperated by this sort of comment something to point at: Hey, I became a […]
My Sugary Flying Adventure In the Air
Posted on January 25, 2013 39 Comments
The background for this series of tweets: My flight out of LA yesterday was delayed, and I ended up in DFW with lots of time to kill. A service representative from American Airlines gave me a couple of food vouchers. A nice lady from @americanair gave me a couple of meal vouchers for my troubles. […]
The Office: Now Spotless
Posted on January 25, 2013 53 Comments
This is how awesome my wife is. Plus, for the fan club, the video features all three cats.
Today I Hurl Myself Through The Air
Posted on January 24, 2013 21 Comments
So writing here is likely to be sparse. I may update from the plane, either here or on Twitter, if it has wifi. Otherwise, you’re on your own today. Not in a deep existential sense; we’re still all interconnected in that magical Web called life. Just, you know. I’m busy. With flying. And everything around flying.
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying