Monthly Archives: July 2015
Why I’m Disliked: A Ten Point List
Posted on July 19, 2015 178 Comments
(WARNING: Neepery, not directly about Hugos, but somewhat related. Also it is about me observing other people observing me, so there’s a whole lot of me in this post. So: Ego alert. Also, it’s long, because I wanted to get out in one place. Skip it if you just don’t care. I don’t mind! Really!) […]
New Books and ARCs, 7/17/15
Posted on July 17, 2015 23 Comments
Welcome to the weekend — and to get you started, here’s a nice stack of new books and ARCs that have come to the Scalzi Compound. Tell me in the comments which ones excite your “gotta have it” neurons.
Today’s New Glasses
Posted on July 17, 2015 68 Comments
My old glasses prescription was going out of date, so I went to get a new pair. I ended up getting three pairs instead. This is my new general set of glasses. It looks generally indistinguishable from my previous set of glasses, because I liked how they looked on me. They’re progressive lenses, which is […]
Seriously, These Cookies Are Awesome
Posted on July 17, 2015 54 Comments
I made some awesome cookies, and by “made” I mean “combined ingredients that other people have already made to make them even better in combination.” And you can too! Here’s what you do. Get with Trader Joe’s Ultimate Vanilla Wafers, Biscoff cookie spread, and Dandies vegan marshmallows. I suspect the recipe will work just fine with […]
The Big Idea: Stina Leicht
Posted on July 16, 2015 24 Comments
For her new novel Cold Iron, author Stina Leicht took inspiration in one of the genre’s foremost practicioners — but then gave that influence just a little twist. What’s the twist? A change of location. STINA LEICHT: About eighteen years ago, I happened upon an essay about the evils of Fantasy. In it, the author […]
Pluto
Posted on July 15, 2015 72 Comments
Like every other astronomy nerd, I’m super-geeked about all the pictures and data we’re getting from the planet. The only thing I have to add to the conversation that hasn’t already been said that for some reason the photos we’re getting back from New Horizons feel drawn or painted to me, rather than being entirely […]
The Movie Review That Made Me a Movie Reviewer
Posted on July 14, 2015 24 Comments
Here’s something fun: As many of you know, I wasn’t always a novelist — my very first job out of college was as a film critic for the Fresno Bee newspaper in central California. I had spent most of my senior year of college doing freelance music writing for the Chicago Sun Times and New […]
The Things I Find in My Yard After a Heavy Rain
Posted on July 14, 2015 73 Comments
Here you go. Close up of the crawdad, say? Very well, here you are: Also, I found this, too: I don’t know what kind of fish it is. I call it a “yard trout.” Both of these things were perfectly alive, incidentally. The yard trout was slightly beached on the grass, however; I gently pushed […]
Just a Little Rainy Right Now
Posted on July 13, 2015 30 Comments
This is my backyard at the moment, illuminated by lightning courtesy of the ridiculous thunderstorms coming through the area, and long exposure times. The big muddy river-looking thing is in fact a small river of water coursing through my yard, put there by a massive downpour that’s overwhelmed the yard drainage system. Don’t worry, we’re fine; […]
Today’s Adventure in Rural Living
Posted on July 13, 2015 48 Comments
We re-graveled the driveway. For those of you who don’t live in rural parts, when you have a long dirt-based driveway (as we do), in time that dirt can develop ruts and potholes and otherwise become difficult to drive on. To avoid that, and to give the driveway an overall consistent driving experience, we pay a […]
And Now, For No Reason Other Than It’s a Lazy Sunday, a Ranking of My Creative/Artistic Abilities
Posted on July 12, 2015 49 Comments
Also because I figure it might be fun and interesting to list them. So here they are, in order of my own personal opinion of my competency with them. 1. Writing. I mean, duh. You don’t do something professionally and profitably for a quarter of a century without being rather proficient at it. I think it can […]
For Those Wondering Where the Most Recent Site Subtitle Comes From
Posted on July 12, 2015 31 Comments
It comes from this. (For those of you seeing this in the future, after the subtitle has changed, at the time of this writing, the subtitle was “I still dream of Orgonon.”)
Further Tweaking
Posted on July 11, 2015 45 Comments
If you’re visiting Whatever via Web and mobile, you’ll notice I’ve changed up the theme again; the new version is slightly less twitchy and a little bit more basic functionality (like dates/times in comments, etc). I may fiddle with the look a little bit more, but I think this is going to be it for […]
Being and Nothingness: The Series
Posted on July 11, 2015 49 Comments
This morning I updated to Final Draft 9, i.e., the most recent iteration of the most popular script-writing software out there, and because it’s been a while since I’ve used it, I wrote up a short script to reintroduce myself to its functionality. Here it is. EXT. A large vast expanse of nothingness Two dudes […]
New Books and ARCs, 7/10/15
Posted on July 10, 2015 37 Comments
As we approach the weekend, here’s another stack of new books and ARCs for you to admire and yearn after. What looks good to you here? Tell us in the comments!
Who Won That ARC Contest, Anyway?
Posted on July 10, 2015 12 Comments
Why, it was Paul Nikkel! How did he win it? Because I asked my wife to pick AM or PM, then a number between one and 12, then a number between zero and five and then a number between zero and nine. She picked PM, 9, 2, and 0. 9:20pm. The entry closest to that […]
Today’s Quick Answers to a Bunch of Stuff I’ve Been Asked About Recently That I Feel Like Addressing Briefly Because, Hell, Why Not
Posted on July 9, 2015 80 Comments
Some questions asked of me recently in person, via e-mail or on social media. You haven’t written anything much on the Hugos situation recently. Why not? Because at this point it’s boring as shit and neither I nor anyone else has anything new to say about it, and I have better uses of my time. Plus […]
The Big Idea: Charles Stross
Posted on July 9, 2015 23 Comments
Here’s the deal: Charles Stross is awesome and his books are awesome and his Laundry Files series in particular is a hell of a lot of fun. Now Charlie’s here to tell you about The Annihilation Score, the latest installment in the series. You’re gonna have fun. That is all. CHARLES STROSS: The other day (July […]
Win an ARC of The End of All Things
Posted on July 8, 2015 873 Comments
See the ARC of The End of Things that Zeus is assiduously guarding and/or not actually giving a damn about? It could be yours! It could be yours because I’m running a contest to give it away. And here’s what you do to enter: In the comment thread, recommend a book that you enjoyed, which […]
The Barren Field
Posted on July 8, 2015 47 Comments
So, my problem recently is that every now and then I get it into my head, “Hey, I should write a Whatever entry about something,” and then I go through the list of things out there to write about, and by and large the emotion I feel about them is “oh, Jesus, like I give a […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying