Monthly Archives: May 2013
How To Pack For a Three Week Book Tour
Posted on May 11, 2013 75 Comments
First: Don’t check luggage. I have a dozen flights in these three weeks. That’s a dozen chances for four separate airlines to lose my luggage. If you give them that many shots on the goal, they will score, and your luggage will be lost, and as you’re rarely in the same place for more than […]
View From the Hotel Window, 5/10/13
Posted on May 10, 2013 7 Comments
Why, hello, Los Angeles. You don’t change much. A brief time recovering from the 405 Freeway, and then I am off again, to dinner with friends. Don’t wait up. See you tomorrow.
Reminder: San Diego! Tomorrow! Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore! 2pm!
Posted on May 10, 2013 5 Comments
That’s right, San Diego, I will be at Mysterious Galaxy’s 20th Anniversary Party tomorrow at 2pm to sign books, meet people and otherwise be a happy performing monkey for the whole lot of you (and yes, apparently, there will be a limited number of “pre-publication copies” of The Human Division, or so it says on […]
The Big Idea: Ryk E. Spoor
Posted on May 10, 2013 20 Comments
In his Big Idea piece for Portal, a series-ending novel that he’s written with Eric Flint, Ryk E. Spoor delves into two things critical to today’s modern science fiction writers: The secret to writing hard SF, and the secret to bringing a hard SF series to a realistic but (hopefully) satisfying close. Curious? You should […]
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Posted on May 10, 2013 84 Comments
Honestly, I never imagined myself in my mid-40s. Which is not to say that when I was younger I expected I would be dead by now or anything. I never led a life that was either that exciting or depressing. I just simply never imagined myself as a middle-aged dude, because honestly, who does? Who […]
If You Pre-Ordered The Human Division From Jay & Mary’s (And If You Didn’t)
Posted on May 9, 2013 13 Comments
If you did pre-order The Human Division from Jay & Mary’s Book Center, one, your book is in this picture somewhere, and two, I signed it as specified and it will soon be on its way to you. Thank you for supporting my local bookstore, they are awesome and so are you. If you did […]
Tour’s Eve
Posted on May 9, 2013 26 Comments
Things to do: Go to Jay & Mary’s and sign The Human Division pre-orders Get a haircut Pick up various toiletries Run various errands Go out for birthday dinner (one day early, because I travel tomorrow, don’t wish me happy birthday yet) Pack Spend quality time with the pets who don’t actually care that they […]
A Quick Note to Publicists/Editors/Authors About Pulling Quotes from Big Idea Intros
Posted on May 9, 2013 24 Comments
This is inside pool for publishing folks, so those of you who don’t care about that stuff can skip over this to the next post. In the last several months, I’ve noticed a couple of books coming out with blurbs from me that I didn’t remember giving — and what’s happened there is that someone […]
Redshirts a Finalist for the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
Posted on May 8, 2013 15 Comments
Very exciting news. Here’s the Locus announcement plus the full list of categories, which includes as finalists friends like Elizabeth Bear, Cat Valente, Mary Robinette Kowal, Saladin Ahmed, China Mieville, Jay Lake, Paolo Bacigalupi and Cory Doctorow — among many others. Congratulations to all! Here are the finalists in my category of Science Fiction Novel: […]
Busy With a Deadline Today, So Keep Yourself Busy With This Question
Posted on May 8, 2013 241 Comments
Which is: What is your favorite relentlessly popular song? By which I mean: The song that everyone knows (or did know, at the time), that took over the world in its day, which may or may not be good, depending on your definition of these things, but which you still listen to all the way […]
The Human Division Review at GeekExchange
Posted on May 7, 2013 13 Comments
It’s here. And it’s good; I especially like that it talks about the intentionally multi-media aspect of the novel (that’s “multi-media” not “multimedia”), because we intentionally built it from the ground up to work effectively in more than a single medium. It’s nice when people pick up on that. For those of you too busy […]
The Big Idea: Christian Schoon
Posted on May 7, 2013 13 Comments
Humans are very concerned about how we treat each other. We’re somewhat less concerned (in general) in how we treat animals of other species. What will this mean when we meet animals, not only of other species, but from other planets? At what remove will we put them to us then? It’s an interesting thought, […]
The Heretical Thumbs Up: The iPad as Camera
Posted on May 6, 2013 39 Comments
I understand it’s fashionable to make fun of people who are using their iPads (or other large tablets) as cameras, but, you know what? I like using mine as a camera. The huge, hi-res screen is awesome for framing and picture taking. I have several cameras around the house, ranging from a DSLR down to […]
Today’s New Books and ARCs, 5/6/13
Posted on May 6, 2013 40 Comments
Here they are. See anything you want? (I will note that 1001 Secrets Every Birder Should Know by Sharon “Birdchick” Stiteler is a book I actually went out and purchased, because she’s a pal of mine and I’m also a fan of her work.)
Back From the RT Booklovers’ Convention
Posted on May 6, 2013 173 Comments
And here is the very nice award they gave me there. It is interesting, and perhaps instructional, that the comment I got the most as I was showing it off was “wow, that would be an excellent award for murdering someone with.” Yes, I suppose it would be. Not that I have any plans to […]
Obligatory I Am Not Dead Post
Posted on May 5, 2013 19 Comments
Not dead, just traveling. Back to home, this time. Yay! Hope your Cinco de Mayo is full of Cincosity. No, I don’t know what that means either. But it sounds nice, doesn’t it.
SFWA Election Results
Posted on May 4, 2013 1 Comment
In case you missed the Twitter updates about this yesterday, the results of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America board of directors election are in. Steven Gould will be the new president of the organization as of July 1, joining current members Rachel Swirsky, Bud Sparhawk and Lee Martindale (who were re-elected into […]
Having a Fine Time at RT Booklover’s Convention
Posted on May 3, 2013 91 Comments
RT Booklover’s Convention is primarily a convention by and for romance writers and fans, and so the attendance skews heavily female. It’s a very interesting experience, in a positive way, and I’m having a lot of fun. And as you can see from the photo above, I am opening myself up to new experiences, like […]
Man Leaves Internet; Is Still Himself
Posted on May 2, 2013 42 Comments
That headline is basically the summation from Paul Miller, who spent a year offline (on purpose, he wasn’t in jail or anything) and has now posted an article to tell folks what he learned about himself in the process. He’d hoped that being offline would help him get in touch with the “real” him; he […]
The Big Idea: Delilah S. Dawson
Posted on May 2, 2013 35 Comments
Let’s talk about sex. Yes, sex! Why? Because Delilah S. Dawson wants to, and it’s her Big Idea slot, for her new novel Wicked As She Wants. And I am okay with that. So here we go! DELILAH S. DAWSON: Yes, that’s a dude in a blouse with an oiled chest, but I promise you’re in […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying