Monthly Archives: April 2015
My Day in a Wheelchair
Posted on April 22, 2015 83 Comments
As most of you probably remember, when I was in Australia I tore a calf muscle and spent several days on crutches and have since been using a cane to get about. The good news is that everything’s healing as it should — at this point I’m keeping the cane around as a precautionary measure […]
A Thing to Remember When Dealing With Sad Puppies
Posted on April 22, 2015 1 Comment
[On second thought, this was not well-argued and I’m withdrawing it until I can more fairly and accurately make the point I want to make. Will update when I do. In the meantime, note to self: Don’t write screeds when operating under lack of sleep — JS]
Perth, Melbourne and Los Angeles: A Photo Set
Posted on April 21, 2015 11 Comments
I’ve spent most of April away, in Australia and Los Angeles, for conventions and for book festivals. Along the way I took a fair amount of pictures, including some lovely shots of the King’s Park Botanical Gardens in Perth and of Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. If you’d like to see them — and you […]
Keeping Up With the Hugos, 4/20/15
Posted on April 20, 2015 702 Comments
Hey, look, I’m home! Finally I’ll have a Hugo post whose comment thread I’ll be around to moderate. So let me present some not-terribly-organized thoughts on the current state of things (if you missed my previous Hugo-related posts on Whatever, they are here, here and here; also, File770 is doing a fine job keeping up […]
It Should Come As No Surprise That Once I Acquired a Cane This Picture Would Become Inevitable
Posted on April 19, 2015 59 Comments
I’m going to use this picture now for so many things. Photo by Athena Scalzi.
What Was Waiting for Me When I Came Home
Posted on April 19, 2015 15 Comments
I mean, aside from child and pets and house and my own bed: Three weeks worth of books sent, which I will catch up with and post during the week. As Athena said: “It’s like Christmas, but for work.” Yes, well. In other news, I am home. And I get to be home for, like, […]
Off Again
Posted on April 17, 2015 9 Comments
I’m doing things and stuff in the real world over the weekend, including my appearance this Saturday at the LA Times Festival of Books with Wil Wheaton, and then flying home. So this is very likely the last you’ll see of me in this space until Monday (or possibly late Sunday). If you’re in Los […]
I Love LA
Posted on April 16, 2015 14 Comments
Mostly because this person is here with me at the moment. And that’s all you get today, people. See you tomorrow.
The Latest Hugo Conspiracy Nonsense Involving Me
Posted on April 15, 2015 1 Comment
In the wake of one of John C. Wright’s Hugo-nominated stories being disqualified for the ballot because it was previously published on his Web site, howls of bitter indignancy have arisen from the Puppy quarters, on the basis that Old Man’s War, a book I serialized here on Whatever in 2002, qualified for the Hugo […]
The Big Idea: Bishop O’Connell
Posted on April 14, 2015 22 Comments
For The Forgotten, author Bishop O’Connell thinks very seriously about a famous Arthur C. Clarke quote and how it can apply to the world of fantasy. Would Clarke be proud? Perhaps! BISHOP O’CONNELL: Let me preface by saying that I’m not a scientist. I’m just a layperson who took some classes in college and enjoys […]
The (Likely) Cone of Silence
Posted on April 10, 2015 6 Comments
I’m working normal human hours at the convention over the next couple of days and then flying back to the United States the day after that, so updates here will be sparse, if present at all. If you can’t survive without me over the next few days I’m likely to be on Twitter a bit, […]
My Latest Accessories
Posted on April 10, 2015 100 Comments
Short version: My leg got painfully sore last night walking back from Strictly Business: The Musical, I went to sleep hoping it would get better, it did not, and thus this morning I went to the hospital today at the urging of the hotel doctor, who was worried about the possibility of deep vein thrombosis, […]
The Big Idea: David Walton
Posted on April 9, 2015 10 Comments
Quantum physics gets a workout in Superposition, the new novel from Philip K. Dick Award winner David Walton. He’s here to catch you up on how abstruse, higher-order physics works for action and adventure. DAVID WALTON: I love stories that tie my mind in knots. Stories like the film Inception, that juggle multiple layers […]
Cover Reveal and Release Dates for The End of All Things Novellas
Posted on April 8, 2015 23 Comments
First, isn’t that cover gorgeous? It’s from John Harris, of course. Second, as you know, The End of All Things, my next novel, is comprised of four novellas, each of which to be released electronically before the debut of the print/combined eBook edition. If you follow this link to Tor.com, you will get to see all […]
The Big Idea: Betsy Dornbusch
Posted on April 8, 2015 10 Comments
Wherever you go, home draws you back — for good or ill. This is something the hero of Emissary learns in the course of novel; author Besty Dornbusch is here to expand on the concept for the rest of us. BETSY DORNBUSCH: A decade ago I wrote a book called Exile in which a man […]
Human Shields, Cabals and Poster Boys
Posted on April 7, 2015 1 Comment
I’m awake too early to leave for the airport but too late to go back to sleep, so as long as I’m up, some additional thoughts on the recent Hugo-related drama. * I’m feeling increasingly sorry for the nominees on the Hugo award ballot who showed up on either Puppy slate but who aren’t card-carrying Puppies […]
The Big Idea: Ken Liu
Posted on April 7, 2015 30 Comments
Myths and legends and ancient stories come down to us to be told and retold, but what needs to be done to keep those retellings fresh — and to avoid cliched narrative traps? Ken Liu gave this question very serious consideration for The Grace of Kings, and presents his own solution here. KEN LIU: At […]
Follow-up on Finishing The End of All Things
Posted on April 5, 2015 43 Comments
Because it’s always fun to do a post-mortem on one’s books when one is finished writing them. * First, some of the fiddly bits: This book is a direct followup to The Human Division and continues the scenarios, events and characters found there. It also wraps up the larger story arc begun in The Human […]
This Year’s Lenten Observance in Review
Posted on April 5, 2015 20 Comments
For Lent, I gave up ego searching, i.e., checking Google and other places to see if people were talking about me, and if so, what it was they were saying. I thought giving it up would be difficult, but after the first couple of days, it was actually really no problem at all — although […]
A Note About the Hugo Nominations This Year
Posted on April 4, 2015 245 Comments
It is: 1. Yes, I’ve seen the slate. The slate shows up even in Australia! And I woke up early because I crashed from exhaustion last night before 7pm. Finishing a book takes it out of you. 2. I’m very pleased for the several friends and/or writers who are on the ballot this year. This includes […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying