Monthly Archives: March 2014
Reader Request Week 2014 #8: What Writing Lurks In the Shadows?
Posted on March 20, 2014 22 Comments
Katy asks: Is there anything you’ve written that is sitting in a drawer/file cabinet that will never see the light of day? Not really, no. The very first novel I wrote was Agent to the Stars, which I sold shortly after Old Man’s War (the second novel I wrote) was published. All the other novels […]
To Note The Passing of Fred Phelps
Posted on March 20, 2014
I have donated $100 to The Trevor Project. And that’s all I’m going to say here about the passing of Fred Phelps.
Twenty Years Online
Posted on March 20, 2014 41 Comments
Above, you see the very first verifiable evidence of me being on the Internet: A USENET post, on the sci.astro newsgroup, dated March 20, 1994 — twenty years ago today. For trivia fans, it was posted from my apartment in Fresno, where I was working at the local newspaper as their film critic, and if […]
Reader Request Week 2014 #7: Editorial Independence
Posted on March 20, 2014 68 Comments
Dpmaine asks: How do you intend to maintain editorial independence given that you are now working with one of the largest international media conglomerates, headed by a notorious right-winger billionaire? Context: My book Redshirts is in development as a limited TV series at FX, a cable station owned by 21st Century Fox, owned by Rupert […]
Reader Request Week 2014 #6: Enjoying Problematic Things
Posted on March 19, 2014 82 Comments
H. Savinean asks: I would like to hear your thoughts on liking problematic things, e.g. media with historically accurate but objectionable portrayals of gender/race/etc., media with no historical excuse for the above, media that simply ignore women and people of color, comedians/actors/writers who plant their feet firmly in their mouths way too often… It’s something […]
Reader Request Week 2014 #5: Hitting the Lottery
Posted on March 19, 2014 70 Comments
Dan Miller posits an event: You just hit the lottery big time – say $200M after taxes. You can now write exactly what you want for the rest of your life. What will you write? What will you not write? How much time will you spend writing (vs. goofing off, vs. managing the charitable foundation […]
Reader Request Week 2014 #4: How I See You, Dear Reader
Posted on March 18, 2014 78 Comments
This question comes from Sassy Coconut: How do you see us (readers of this blog)? What are we to you? Are we a faceless mass murmuring in the background? Gargoyles on the edges of your posts cackling and shoving each other around? Or are we mice scurrying through the sea of grass that is this […]
Reminder: Two Weeks to Get Your Hugo Nominations In
Posted on March 18, 2014 5 Comments
We’re on the downslope of the nomination time for the Hugos, so if you’re an eligible nominator (if you were a member of LoneStarCon 3 or a current member of Loncon 3 or Sasquan, that’s likely you) you have until the end of the month to get in your nominations. Need suggestions? Here’s some from […]
Reader Request Week 2014 #3: How I Stay Happy
Posted on March 18, 2014 28 Comments
Kate George asks: You seem happy and well balanced. You have a great daughter and although I don’t know much about your wife you speak well of her. You are fairly consistent on your blog and don’t seem to have much angst about the times you can’t be here. How to you maintain your equilibrium, […]
Reader Request Week 2014 #2: Writerly Self-Doubt, Out Loud
Posted on March 17, 2014 16 Comments
Beej asks: I’ve noticed a recent trend among the SF/F writers I follow on twitter in which they question their abilities as writers. As a very successful writer who seems pretty self-confident, do you have moments of doubt in your ability? What do you think drives it, both in yourself and in the profession as […]
Reader Request Week 2014 #1: Travel and Me
Posted on March 17, 2014 39 Comments
Let’s get started with this year’s Reader Request Week, then, shall we? This year it seems the most popular particular topic is travel: Several people have asked why I travel (or don’t), where I’ve traveled (and where I would recommend not traveling), the difference between my personal/professional travel, etc. So in an attempt to make […]
Still Weekending
Posted on March 16, 2014 14 Comments
With our houseguest. But while I am off, check out this article about a recent steampunk cruise in the New York Times. You might recognize a notable science fiction and fantasy author in the pictures. No, not me. Also, remember: Still time to get in your Reader Requests!
Guests! Again! Later!
Posted on March 15, 2014 4 Comments
A different weekend, a different guest in the house. So I’ll be off the blog for today (and possibly tomorrow). In the meantime, remember to suggest topics for Reader Request Week, which starts Monday (in the comment thread at the link, not here).
An Opportune Moment to Note a Thing re: Baen Books
Posted on March 14, 2014 123 Comments
Oh, look: A stack of new Baen books arrived at the Scalzi Compound, not 45 minutes ago. Here they all are (not shown: the nice Balance Point mug that was also in the package). This makes it a lovely time to address something that people have been asking me privately, which is whether my recent […]
Reader Request Week 2014: Get Your Requests In!
Posted on March 13, 2014 259 Comments
Huh. Looking at my schedule for the next couple of months, it appears that next week is the only week through mid-June that I am not going somewhere or coming back from somewhere, and it’s the only week where I don’t have a batch of Big Idea pieces scheduled. Which makes it the perfect week […]
The Big Idea: Denise Kiernan
Posted on March 13, 2014 23 Comments
Fiction and non-fiction are different categories of storytelling — but in both cases the author has to decide what to tell and how to tell it, shaping the story so that it is a story, rather than just a leaden bundle of information. When researching the real-life information the would become The Girls of Atomic […]
An Anecdotal Observation, Relating to Robert Heinlein and the Youth of Today
Posted on March 12, 2014 227 Comments
As it’s relevant to yesterday’s discussion: About a year ago Athena was wondering what she should read next, and wandered into my office to look at books. Since she was amenable to suggestion, I went ahead and offered her Starman Jones, which is one of my favorite of the Heinlein juveniles. She looked at it […]
A Plea to Current and Future Worldcons, re: Announcing the Hugo Nominations
Posted on March 12, 2014 191 Comments
Dear Chairs and Committee members of Loncon 3 and all future Worldcons: Could you please, please, please and for the love of all that is good and sweet in this world, stop announcing Hugo nominations on the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter? Seriously, it’s absolutely idiotic really not a good idea. Here’s why, from the […]
1979 Called and It Wants Its Tuffskins Back
Posted on March 11, 2014 156 Comments
Here’s a genuine blast from the past: On Facebook, my pal Gary Mizuhara unearthed our fifth grade class picture from Ben Lomond Elementary School in Covina, California, all the way back in (gasp) 1979. See if you can guess which of these kids is me. I think it’s pretty easy to figure out which one […]
The Orthodox Church of Heinlein
Posted on March 11, 2014 385 Comments
If you’re an aficionado of passive-aggressive fannish xenophobia, in which the frothing distrust of people who aren’t just like you is couched in language designed to give the appearance of being reasonable until you squint at it closely, then you’re not going to want to miss this piece by Baen publisher Toni Weisskopf. It’s a […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying