Monthly Archives: January 2017
A Boy and His Hat
Posted on January 14, 2017 54 Comments
It is a good hat, I think. (But not really mine. I borrowed it from my pal Jess for the photo. That said, it really doesn’t look bad, all things considered.) How’s your weekend so far?
View From a Hotel Window, 1/12/17: Boston
Posted on January 12, 2017 12 Comments
The first one of the year. No parking lot, but there is a street with parking on it, so I have that going for me, which is nice. I’m here in Boston visiting friends, with no scheduled public events. Sorry. However, next weekend I will be at the Confusion convention in the Detroit area, and […]
So I Spent My Entire Day Dealing With a Recalcitrant iPhone Upgrade and the Result is I Want to Murder Everything and Everyone, and Am Thus Not Fit Company For Other Humans, So Here, Have a Picture of a Cat
Posted on January 11, 2017 67 Comments
As for me, fuck it, I’m having ice cream for dinner.
The Big Idea: Nick Cutter
Posted on January 10, 2017 10 Comments
Author Nick Cutter has an obsession, and it’s in his latest novel, Little Heaven. It’s an obsession with an aspect of human nature that involves spirituality, and possibly, gullibility. It’s an obsession he’s here to explain to you now. NICK CUTTER: You write enough, you likely reach a point of familiarity with your obsessions. Those […]
Reminder to Authors: Route Blurb Requests Through Editors/Publicists
Posted on January 8, 2017 50 Comments
Dear authors: A reminder: Per my blurb policy, which I’ve had on this site for years, and for which a link is prominently featured on the sidebar that appears on every page of the blog, please do not send requests for book blurbs directly to me. I will reject the request. Have them come through […]
New LA Times Article, Plus Thoughts on Essays
Posted on January 7, 2017 40 Comments
First, and in case you missed me talking about it on Twitter yesterday, I have a piece up at the LA Times site (a version of it is also in the Sunday newspaper) about getting creative work done in the Trump years — some advice about how to keep focus when it’s likely to be a […]
The Big Idea: Rusty Coats
Posted on January 6, 2017 16 Comments
I’ve known Rusty Coats since he and I were twenty-something newspaper columnists geeking out over Coen Brothers films together, so it’s no surprise to find him today with a novel, Avalon, full of noir and speculative elements. Today in 2017’s first Big Idea essay, he’s talking about how to build a virtual city, meant to be […]
I Completely Lost Track of Time Today and This Evening’s Sunset is a Total Bust, So Here, Have Yesterday’s Sunset Instead
Posted on January 5, 2017 8 Comments
It was pretty, I think. Unlike today, which is just low clouds with sullen spats of snow. Winter, it is here, and it’s moody.
The 2017 Awards Consideration Post
Posted on January 3, 2017 7 Comments
Do I have work for you to consider for this year’s awards? I do! Here they are: Best Novella: The Dispatcher (10/16, Audible) Best Collection: Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi (12/16, Subterranean Press) Aaaaaand that’s it, I think. There are individual short stories I’ve written that are eligible, including in Miniatures, but […]
Miniatures Audiobook is Out
Posted on January 3, 2017 14 Comments
As most of you know, the print and ebook editions of Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi came out on December 31 (here’s the Amazon link); now, today, the audio version of Miniatures is also available for your listening delight, available through Audible. I just listened to it myself, and while I should […]
Mark It
Posted on January 2, 2017 50 Comments
Monday, January 2, 2017, 9am-ish: Work officially begun on Head On, the sequel to Lock In. Wish me luck!
Sunset, 1/1/17
Posted on January 1, 2017 6 Comments
Today I went on a date with my wife, wrote something I liked, and got a pretty sunset out of the day. 2017, you’re off to a decent start. Keep it up!
The New Year and the Bend of the Arc
Posted on January 1, 2017 1 Comment
As we begin 2017, there is something I’ve been thinking about, that I’d like for you to consider for the new year. It starts with a famous quote, the best-known version of which is from Martin Luther King, but which goes back to the transcendentalist Theodore Parker. The quote is: “The arc of the moral universe […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying