Monthly Archives: May 2017
Hey, Wanna Watch Me and Cory Doctorow Talk for an Hour About Super Nerdy Stuff?
Posted on May 13, 2017 6 Comments
Sure you do! Here you go. This is from when Cory and I did a stop together at Google during our book tours.
Diversity, Appropriation, Canada (and Me)
Posted on May 13, 2017 77 Comments
So, I’ve been following this thing that’s been happening in Canada, where (briefly), Hal Niedviecki, a white editor of a literary magazine, in an edition of the magazine focusing on the indigenous writers of Canada, wrote an editorial in which he encouraged white writers to include characters who weren’t like them, saying “I’d go so […]
That James Comey Thing
Posted on May 13, 2017 56 Comments
I tried writing about the James Comey firing earlier in the week and got mostly a lot of GRWARRRRGHNNNNGHFFFFFK out of it, so I decided to let it be, and anyway, at this point there’s very little to add to it that hasn’t already been said elsewhere, mostly relating to Trump being incompetent, possibly criminal, […]
New Books and ARCs, 5/12/17
Posted on May 12, 2017 16 Comments
Hey, look! More books and ARCs! Who’d’ve thought? If you see something here you have an interest in, tell us all in the comments. We want to know.
The Dispatcher a Locus Award Finalist!
Posted on May 12, 2017 5 Comments
In the “novella” category. I’m super pleased. Here are the other finalists in the category: The Lost Child of Lychford, Paul Cornell (Tor.com Publishing) The Dream Quest of Vellitt Boe, Kij Johnson (Tor.com Publishing) Hammers on Bone, Cassandra Khaw (Tor.com Publishing) The Ballad of Black Tom, Victor LaValle (Tor.com Publishing) Every Heart a Doorway, Seanan […]
A Senior Day Moment
Posted on May 12, 2017 5 Comments
Not graduation day; don’t let the robes fool you. Senior day is the day the seniors are handed out their awards and scholarships, take their final class pictures, and then are dismissed until graduation day, two weeks hence. Technically Athena has already graduated — she finished up a semester early — but she’s walking with […]
The Big Idea: Michele Tracy Berger
Posted on May 11, 2017 15 Comments
Hair matters, in a lots of ways we (or, well, I, a balding middle-aged white dude) don’t often think about. But Michele Tracy Berger has, and has made it central to her novella, Reenu-You. She’s here now to talk a little about hair, about culture, and about her work featuring both. MICHELE TRACY BERGER: What […]
48
Posted on May 10, 2017 88 Comments
My 47th year was a pretty productive one: Three books of mine were published (The Dispatcher, in both audio and print; Miniatures; and of course The Collapsing Empire), one video game I worked on was released (Midnight Star: Renegade), I toured all around the country and saw lots of people, I had some work optioned […]
The Big Idea: Gregory Benford
Posted on May 9, 2017 29 Comments
For author and scientist Gregory Benford, his new novel The Berlin Project isn’t just a matter of speculative fiction — Benford has some very real connections to the people and characters that play a role in his alternate history. Benford’s here to lay out where fact meets fiction meets friends and family in this tome. […]
Hitting Tech Sufficiency
Posted on May 8, 2017 52 Comments
I was recently gifted with a Google Chromebook Pixel, which although now two years old is still the most specced-out Chromebook you can get (the version I received has an i7 processor, 16 gigs of ram and a 64GB SSD, as well as a retina-like touchscreen). I was delighted to get it, and can attest […]
The Big Idea: Carrie Patel
Posted on May 8, 2017 2 Comments
During the thinking about and writing of The Song of the Dead, author Carrie Patel came to appreciate traffic jams. Why is that? And how did it help in the construction of her novel? Patel is here to tell you. CARRIE PATEL: One of my most vivid memories from grad school is of a negotiation […]
Prom 2017
Posted on May 7, 2017 30 Comments
Athena and Hunter went and got all dressed up for their senior Prom night last night, and of course I had to take a ton of pictures, because that’s what I do. If you’re curious to see the results (and to look upon a fabulous Belle dress), the entire Flickr album is here. Enjoy!
New Books and ARCs, 5/5/17
Posted on May 5, 2017 20 Comments
For your Cinco de Mayo delectation, this lovely stack of new books and ARCs! What seems especially tasty today? Let us know in the comments.
The Big Idea: Gwenda Bond and Christopher Rowe
Posted on May 5, 2017 3 Comments
Gwenda Bond and Christopher Rowe are writers, spouses and collaborators on the middle grade detective novel The Supernormal Sleuthing Service: The Lost Legacy. So it’s only natural — and indeed perhaps inevitable — that they would collaborate on this Big Idea as well! GWENDA BOND and CHRISTOPHER ROWE: Gwenda: We decided to write our Big […]
The Brain Eater
Posted on May 3, 2017 100 Comments
So, let’s say, there’s this writer. (It doesn’t have to be a writer. It could be a musician, or painter, or actor, any aspirant in any creative or indeed competitive field, in which there will be many who participate but few who will end up on top, commercially or critically.) Let’s also posit this writer […]
The Beehive Shrinks
Posted on May 3, 2017 28 Comments
Well, this is sad news to me: The Fresno Bee, which is the newspaper I wrote for lo those many years ago, has basically killed off its local arts and sports coverage, in the process laying off eight reporters, including my very dear friend Donald Munro. Donald worked at the Bee for 26 years and […]
New Books and ARCs, 5/2/17
Posted on May 2, 2017 25 Comments
Lots of books came to the Scalzi Compound while I was out on the last leg of the tour — and here’s the first stack. What in here calls to you? Tell us in the comments!
The Big Idea: Malinda Lo and Alaya Dawn Johnson
Posted on May 2, 2017 5 Comments
After reading this Big Idea piece by Malinda Lo and Alaya Dawn Johnson about Tremontaine, the serial novel written by them and a host of others, based on the Swordpoint novels by Ellen Kushner, I guarantee you won’t think the same way about… chocolate. MALINDA LO: I first read Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint after I had already […]
Catching Up On the News, Alas
Posted on May 1, 2017 85 Comments
Hey! Hey, Scalzi! It’s me, your imaginary interlocutor! Oh, you again. I thought I got rid of you. Only while you were on tour, pal! Now I’m back and here to ask you more leading questions about politics so you can rant! (sighs) Fine, but I’m keeping my answers short. Sure you are. Shut up. […]
May Day Kitten Picture Plus Other Various Things Upon My Return Home
Posted on May 1, 2017 12 Comments
First: Look! Kitten! A very serious kitten, it appears, taking the first of May very seriously. Second (and so on): So, I’m back home after two weeks on the road and after five weeks of touring in general, which means a lot of catch up — dealing with non-critical emails and business-related things and stuff […]
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