Monthly Archives: March 2016

The Big Idea: Myke Cole

Author Myke Cole is back with Javelin Rain, another admixture of modern military and magic. But writing fantasy doesn’t mean reality can’t come inform or come through in the writing. No, as you’ll read, Cole’s own experiences inform the worlds he’s creating. MYKE COLE: This one’s a bit personal, so hang with me. Relationships are […]

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My New Writing Gig

So here’s a cool thing: I, along with nine other folks, am one of the Los Angeles Times’ book section’s “Critics at Large.” This means from time to time in the pages of the Times, I’ll be writing about books, the universe and everything. I’ll be joined in this endeavor by Marlon James, Laila Lalami, […]

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The Big Idea: Sam Sykes

For the record: I don’t own that particular hat. Other than that, everything Sam Sykes says about me in this Big Idea piece for his new novel The Mortal Tally is 100% accurate. Especially the part about the ventilation shafts. SAM SYKES: Aside from his immense popularity, staggering wealth and a super-cool hat that says […]

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My Review of Batman v Superman, and Its Reviews

Note: This piece will have minor spoilers, so if you haven’t seen it, be aware. First, I had a good time at Batman v Superman, a fact which is probably seated in the fact that a) I don’t appear to care much about whether either Batman or Superman occasionally kill the people who are actively trying […]

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The Big Idea: Kate Forsyth

Fairy tales have the power to amaze and entrance, not only for the fantastical elements they carry, but for what of ourselves we can see within them. Author Kate Forsyth has an attachment a particular fairy tale, as the title of her non-fiction book The Rebirth of Rapunzel suggests, and it’s an attachment that has its […]

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Reader Request Week 2016 Wrapup

If you missed any of last week’s Reader Request Week entries, here they are in one handy spot. Just click the link to go to the specific entry. Reader Request Week 2016 #1: Living Where I Do Reader Request Week 2016 #2: Will Humans Survive? Reader Request Week 2016 #3: How, and If, I Will […]

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How to Take Four Pretty Cool Shots of Lightning

It’s simple! 1. Point your camera in the direction of an active thunderstorm. 2. Take five hundred pictures in a row. 3. Sort through them to find the ones that have lightning in them. 4. Of those sixteen, pick the four best. 5. You’re done! Next up for me: Learning how to take long exposure […]

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Reader Request Week 2016 #10: Small Bits

And now we’ve come to the end of another Reader Request Week! Let me scroll through the questions quickly and see what topics I can answer briefly: Steve C: Has there ever been an artistic field you wish you could pursue if you had time enough? Have there been things you tried and then realized that […]

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Reader Request Week 2016 #9: Short Bits on Writing

This is the part of Reader Request Week where I quickly blast through a bunch of questions on writing. Ready? Strap in. Marc Criley: If you had J.K. Rowlings’ money in the bank, so complete freedom to write whatever and however you wanted, would go off in new writing directions? Experiment with topics and styles? Well, […]

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Nikon D750 First Impressions

I’ve had my new Nikon D750 for a couple of days now, which is enough time to offer up my first impressions of it for those of you who have an interest in such things. Not entirely surprisingly, I like it a lot. It’s a definite improvement over my previous DSLR, the Nikon 5100, which, to be […]

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Reader Request Week 2016 #8: STEM and STEAM

Andy Farke asks: For decades now, various think-pieces have commented on a divide between sciences and humanities. “The Two Cultures” by C.P. Snow is an early version of this, but it is manifested today in discussions about STEM and STEAM, the value of liberal arts, and discussions on the purpose of a college education. To […]

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Reader Request Week 2016 #7: Writers and Ego

Patricia Ruggles asks: You’ve confessed before to being at least somewhat egotistical. Do you think it’s possible to be a successful writer if you don’t have a pretty big ego? Writing is notoriously solitary, and requires long periods of continuous performance without a lot of positive reinforcement. Doesn’t take a pretty good opinion of yourself […]

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Reader Request Week 2016 #6: Why I Don’t Drink or Use Drugs

There are a couple of people in the thread who asked this, so I’ll just use Thomas Hewlett’s question to represent them: You’ve mentioned several times that you don’t drink alcohol. I do a lot of work with addiction/recovery and I’m wondering about your relationship to alcohol and drugs and what led to your decision […]

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The Big Idea: Jim Ottaviani

His was one of the first intelligences behind the concept of artificial intelligence, and yet Alan Turing is defined not only by what he said on the topic, but also by what he never got the chance to say. Jim Ottaviani, author of the graphic novel The Imitation Game (Leland Purvis, illustrator), graces this site […]

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More Photos From the New Camera

When I got the new camera, I skipped the kit lens that came with it and bought two specific lenses instead: a 50mm f/1.8 prime lens (which doesn’t zoom), and a 28-300mm f/3.5 – 5.6 zoom lens (which zooms rather a lot) which comes with vibration dampening, so presumably at full zoom you won’t get […]

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