Monthly Archives: November 2015

Whatever Holiday Shopping Guide 2015, Day One: Traditionally Published Books

Welcome to the first day of the Whatever Shopping Guide 2015 — My way of helping you folks learn about cool creative gifts for the holidays, straight from the folks who have created them. Today’s featured products are traditionally published books (including graphic novels and audiobooks); that is, books put out by publishers who ship books to stores […]

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The Stamos Connection

For years I’ve been told that a certain picture of me as a teenager (on the left) suggested that I was (and suppose am) an unauthorized clone of actor John Stamos. I have never really seen it, personally, but then over Thanksgiving John Stamos released his prom picture (on the right; he’s in white), and… well. I […]

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Poverty and the Appropriation Thereof

I was pointed to this article entitled “The Troubling Trendiness Of Poverty Appropriation,” in which the author, July Westhale, notes her discomfort with what she sees as the hipsterization of things that she considers to be poverty markers, such as modular housing (now upsold as “tiny houses”) and cheap foods. She notes: In writing this, and […]

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Whatever Holiday Shopping Guide 2015 Starts Monday!

Every year in the first week of December I run a shopping guide for the holidays, and over the years it’s been quite successful: Lots of people have found out about excellent books and crafts and charities and what have you, making for excellent gift-giving opportunities during the holiday season. I’ve decided to do it again […]

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The Deal Is Done

So, here they are. These five contracts you see above encompass thirteen books and ten years. The general details of these contracts were agreed to six months ago, but the fiddly bits took time to sort. I got the final versions of the contracts, signed by me and the folks at Tor, just this morning. […]

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The Big Idea: Michael Livingston

In his debut novel The Shards of Heaven, author Michael Livingston is hunting some big game indeed. And possibly changing the course of history — and myth — in the bargain. MICHAEL LIVINGSTON: My Big Idea in The Shards of Heaven was to make mythic artifacts real — and that meant killing God. Hold up! Put […]

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The Big Idea: Martin Rose

The politics of modern life are difficult. Are they more difficult when monsters are thrown into the mix? For the answer to that question, we turn to Martin Rose, and My Loaded Gun, My Lonely Heart. MARTIN ROSE: On the surface, My Loaded Gun, My Lonely Heart looks and seems like carefree pulp, disguised in […]

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The Big Idea: Matt Mikalatos

Sometimes the unexpected shows up right in front of you, and as Matt Mikalatos discovered in the writing of Sky Lantern, where it takes you from there can be equally unexpected. MATT MIKALATOS: My Big Idea crashed in my front yard. On a rainy day last November, I found a flattened, burnt-out sky lantern on […]

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