Monthly Archives: December 2014

My Own 2014

Well, you know. It was all right. Career-related highlights: Lock In came out and hit the NYT and other hardcover bestseller lists, which was nice. It also sold very well in other formats, including audio, where (or so I was informed) it’s become Audible’s number one pre-ordered audiobook ever, no doubt helped by the dual narrations from […]

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Pet Pictures 2014 (Plus Bonus Ghlaghghee Update)

Here’s Ghlaghghee resting in a papasan chair in the basement, which has, post congestive heart failure, become her favorite place to hang out. I’m fine with this because it’s only a few steps from the litter box, and given that the medicine we feed to her twice daily is a diuretic, this means that the […]

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Today’s Best Twitter Correspondence

Dear @logitech: Your trackpad kept glitching for several days. Nothing seemed to help. However, I finally fixed it. pic.twitter.com/MQNIFosIdP — John Scalzi (@scalzi) December 29, 2014 @scalzi Hi John! Interesting approach. Did you try reaching out to customer support? http://t.co/tYv4YsY9mY — Logitech (@Logitech) December 29, 2014 As annoyed as I was with the trackpad, I […]

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Hell Yes, I’m a Feminist

A couple of years ago, I wrote a piece on my personal feminism, in which I noted that while I can be considered a feminist on the fundamental level of “women are entitled to the same rights and privileges as men, with everything that implies in terms of access to education, economic opportunity and personal liberty,” […]

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Subscription Model Squabbles

So, authors, you’ll all remember when, in the middle of the Amazon-Hachette spit-fight, I noted that Amazon isn’t your friend, it’s a business entity with its own goals, which may only tangentially align with yours (and the same goes for Hachette)? Surprise! Authors are upset with Amazon. Again. For much of the last year, mainstream […]

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The Top Ten Whatever Entries for 2014, Plus 2014 Traffic

So, which entries on Whatever were the most popular in 2014, how was traffic to the site, and how was my general online reach? These all have interesting answers, or at least interesting to me. Let’s delve, shall we. First, here are the top ten most-visited posts on Whatever in 2014, according to the WordPress […]

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On Being Accused of Confessing to Awful Things

(Note: Folks who get triggery about discussions of rape should tread carefully here, both in the text and the links.) Got a concerned email this morning from someone who saw online an assertion that I was a “self-confessed rapist.” I knew before reading further this was likely to be Theodore Beale (aka “Vox Day”) continuing […]

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Best Longform Twitterings, 2014

It's times like this when I muse on the wisdom of Paul McCartney, when he sang "Jude Jude Judy Judy Juda Juda WOW WOWWOW." Think about it. — John Scalzi (@scalzi) December 26, 2014 I spent a lot of time on Twitter in 2014, partly because I traveled quite a lot this year, and partly […]

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Whatever Best of 2014

2014: Not exactly a vintage year in my opinion. Nevertheless, a year in which I wrote several things here worth remembering here at the end of this year’s days. This year the memorable pieces were primarily about writing, and sexism and/or discrimination, with the latter being viewed particularly through the odious nonsense of GamerGate. About US […]

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Sixteen

In the old days, when Athena was much younger, the only way she knew it was her birthday was when we would burst into her room first thing in the morning with a cake and candles and sing “Happy Birthday” to her. Eventually she figured out the date, but we still burst into her room […]

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Script Notes on The Birth of Jesus

Dear Matt and Luke: We just read through your story treatment of The Birth of Jesus. We love it. Love it. Seriously, “love” is not nearly the right word for what we feel about what will almost certainly become a perennial seasonal classic. I hope the two of you have made space for awards on […]

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Ghlaghghee Update

I know many of you are curious about how Ghlaghghee is doing, so: She’s still with us and the medicine she’s taking to clear out the fluid in her lungs seems to be doing the job, since she’s not been having any of the troubling horking coughs which were troubling her before. On the other hand […]

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Nerds on a Boat

Over at Wired there’s a piece on the JoCo Cruise, the annual pilgrimage of nerds and geeks to the Caribbean, via a cruise ship, whilst they are being entertained by nerd celebrities like Jonathan Coulton (for whom the cruise is named), Paul & Storm, and, this year at least, me (I’m running a writing track […]

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Worst Date In 5 Words

It was a Twitter hashtag. I was bored. SUE ME. "My ankle monitor is itchy." #WorstDateIn5Words — John Scalzi (@scalzi) December 19, 2014 "First date with a human!" #WorstDateIn5Words — John Scalzi (@scalzi) December 19, 2014 "Promise I won't snort mustard." #WorstDateIn5Words — John Scalzi (@scalzi) December 19, 2014 "The moon's full tonight? Uh-oh." #WorstDateIn5Words […]

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