Monthly Archives: March 2015
Novel Completion Queries, Day Sixteen
Posted on March 31, 2015 49 Comments
Is the novel finished: NO Today’s question: What’s the longest amount of time you’ve ever slept, from head down on the pillow to head up? “Sleep” in this case meaning actual sleep, not a coma, trauma-induced unconsciousness or any such thing (actual sleep related to things like colds and flus totally count, however). My answer: In high school, […]
View From a Hotel Window: Perth
Posted on March 31, 2015 24 Comments
Taken earlier today, before I took a jetlag-laden nap. I was mildly concerned that if I took a nap in the afternoon I would be unable to sleep this evening, but now it’s evening here in Perth and I’m here to tell you, I will have no trouble sleeping. 34 hours of travel is exhausting. […]
Novel Completion Queries, Day Fifteen
Posted on March 30, 2015 86 Comments
Is the novel finished: PROBABLY NOT (I might have finished it on the plane, but that seems unlikely to me, and as I’m writing this ahead of time because I am likely still on the plane, I don’t know for sure) Today’s question: Your favorite stuffed animal from your childhood (or heck, if it’s one […]
Dear Ernie Cline
Posted on March 29, 2015 24 Comments
Dear Ernie: As I was packing clothes for my trip to Australia, I came across an old t-shirt for VIP, your high school band. Man, I don’t remember how long I’ve had this shirt or how, in fact, I came in possession of it — I seem to remember a trip to Texas and fighting […]
Novel Completion Queries, Day Fourteen
Posted on March 29, 2015 104 Comments
Is the novel finished? NO Today’s question: When was your first flight on an airplane? If you remember, where did you go? Aside from it being your first plane trip, was there anything notable about it? My answer: It was when I was five, and my sister and I got on a plane — unaccompanied! […]
Novel Completion Queries, Day Thirteen
Posted on March 28, 2015 126 Comments
Is the novel finished? NO Today’s question: Name a product brand (or two) that you are not entirely rationally attached to. This is usually expressed is a rivalry (Coke vs. Pepsi, XBox vs. PlayStation) but doesn’t have to be. My answer: I think Coke Zero is obvious, so I’ll mention a less known one: I […]
I’m Participating in Nerdcon: Stories This October in Minneapolis
Posted on March 27, 2015 9 Comments
And what is Nerdcon: Stories? This informational video might help: There’s also this ginchy Web site, with even more information. And for those of you who stubbornly refuse to follow links, the guests (aside from me) include: John and Hank Green, Holly Black and Cassie Claire, Katherine Woodson, Patrick Rothfuss, Mary Robinette Kowal, Welcome to […]
Novel Completion Queries, Day Twelve
Posted on March 27, 2015 126 Comments
Is the novel finished? NO Today’s question: What is the furthest away you’ve ever been from your home? My answer: So far, Melbourne, Australia, which is (or so Google tells me) 9,807 miles from my current hometown of Bradford, Ohio. However, that record is about to be broken, because on Sunday I get on a plane to […]
The Big Idea: Cat Rambo
Posted on March 27, 2015 14 Comments
How long does a world exist for an author before it makes it into a novel? Sometimes it can be a long time indeed. As Cat Rambo explains, the world in which her novel Beasts of Tabat takes place was a land she knew and wrote about well before this novel came to be. CAT RAMBO: […]
Novel Completion Queries, Day Eleven
Posted on March 26, 2015 132 Comments
Is the novel finished? NO Today’s question: When you were fifteen, what was your favorite electric or electronic object? These can be computers, toys, phones, televisions, game consoles, etc. You get the idea. My answer: Eddie Chowaiki’s Macintosh. He had one of the first of these computers, and I was in his dorm room constantly, using […]
Proof That Science Fiction Is the Literature of the Future, and That I Am the Prognostication MASTER
Posted on March 25, 2015 96 Comments
In The Android’s Dream, which I wrote over a decade ago now, I reached into the thinky crevasses of my brain to conceive of a thing that no human had dared to dream of: white chocolate M&M’s. Yes! I was the first! They came from my very thinkmeat! And people said to me then, well, hold […]
Novel Completion Queries, Day Ten
Posted on March 25, 2015 46 Comments
Is the novel finished? NO Today’s question: Do you feel lucky? My answer: I do, but I also believe strongly that with luck it isn’t the “lucky” thing that happens to you, but what you do in the aftermath of that event that matters. You?
Today’s New Books and ARCs, 3/24/15
Posted on March 24, 2015 26 Comments
Likely the last collection of such until I get back from my travels down under. So: See anything here that rings your bell? The comments await your vote!
Novel Completion Queries, Day Nine
Posted on March 24, 2015 167 Comments
Is the novel finished? NO Today’s question: What’s the first book you remember reading — meaning, the first book you were able to read on your own, front to back, without help from someone else. If you can’t remember the title, describe the contents/story of the book. My answer: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue […]
Novel Completion Queries, Day Eight
Posted on March 23, 2015 135 Comments
Is the novel finished? NO Today’s question: In honor of convention runner Peggy Rae Sapienza, who passed away yesterday: Name the first convention you went to. It can be a science fiction/comics/nerd-oriented convention (which I suspect is most typical for this crowd), but I’d also count conventions/shows for other enthusiasms as well — cars, video […]
RIP, Peggy Rae Sapienza
Posted on March 23, 2015 26 Comments
Saw these tweets this morning: I regret to inform you of the passing of my mother, Peggy Rae Sapienza, '98 Bucconeer #WorldCon chair, '07 Nippon North American Agent… — Laudato Si at a Social Distance 🐝 (@EricPavlat) March 23, 2015 … co-chair of #WorldFantasyConvention (#NebulaAwards) for #WSFS for the last few years, mother of 2, […]
Novel Completion Queries, Day Seven
Posted on March 22, 2015 89 Comments
Is the novel finished? NO Today’s question: Salted caramel. Thoughts? My answer: I mean, I like it well enough when I have it. But I think the craze got a little carried away. Not everything has to be salted. You? (Extra credit: Do you pronounce “caramel” as “Care-a-mel” or “car-mel”? I usually tend toward the […]
Novel Completion Queries, Day Six
Posted on March 21, 2015 131 Comments
Is the novel finished? NO Today’s question: Favorite Saturday morning cartoon, if you are of an age to remember when cartoons were only shown on Saturday morning (if you’re too young for that, spare a moment for those of us who suffered in such deprivation). My answer: The Bugs Bunny show (in its various incarnations) because […]
In Which Mary Robinette Kowal Reads My Sexy, Sexy Tweets
Posted on March 21, 2015 26 Comments
So yesterday evening I was feeling saucy and decided to invite all of Twitter in my Lair of Sexiness™. It went a little something like this: I have retired to the bedroom, LADIES. And GENTLEMEN. And THOSE OF A CERTAIN GENDER FLUIDITY. You are ALL welcome in my LAIR.(porn music) — John Scalzi (@scalzi) March […]
Novel Completion Queries, Day Five
Posted on March 20, 2015 63 Comments
Is the novel finished? NO Today’s question: What year of your education do you remember as being your best — “best” for whatever metric you like (most enjoyable, most academically successful, most memorable, etc, or any combination). Choose any year between kindergarten and the completion of your formal education. My answer: I’d say it was my […]
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