Monthly Archives: August 2017
In Which I Am Interviewed For an Hour on the Subject of Photography
Posted on August 31, 2017 3 Comments
By whom? By comedian Jackie Kashian, on her Dork Forest podcast. If you ever wanted to hear me prattle on for an hour on a topic unrelated to my professional capacity, now is your chance. Note: She’s got about five minutes of intro stuff, and then I come in. Enjoy.
Enjoy This Cover of the German Edition of The Collapsing Empire
Posted on August 31, 2017 16 Comments
Nifty, yeah? I think so too. It comes out on October 5, if you’re in Germany, or just like German translations. I’m happy to say that Bernhard Kempen, who has translated most of my work in German before, is continuing the task here. Since I’ve won awards in Germany, he’s clearly doing an excellent job.
The Big Idea: Alan Gratz
Posted on August 31, 2017 14 Comments
The real question to my mind is whether Alan Gratz’s new novel Ban This Book is itself ever banned. It’s possible! And would be recursive! And as Gratz explains below, it would mean his book would join a rather august list of books that have been banned. ALAN GRATZ: A few years back, someone posted […]
Reminder: I’m at the National Book Festival This Saturday
Posted on August 30, 2017 2 Comments
Come see me in Washington DC this weekend! Along with many many other very fine authors. Here’s my appearance schedule. See you there!
September Big Idea Slots Are Filled
Posted on August 29, 2017 1 Comment
The headline says it all. If you queried about a Big Idea for September and I have not yet gotten back to you, everything is all filled up for the month. October and November slots are still open (for October and November releases).
Audie Meets Spice
Posted on August 29, 2017 17 Comments
Such is the latent influence of A Christmas Story that whenever I see a box marked “Fragile” my brain pronounces it fra-gee-lay, and another part of my brain says “It’s a major award!” But in today, the box marked “fragile” that came to my house did have a major award in it: the Audie that […]
The Big Idea: Jaym Gates
Posted on August 29, 2017 9 Comments
California has always been pegged as the “weird” state — and as a native of the state, I just have to say… well, yeah. But in Strange California, the story anthology she’s co-edited with J. Daniel Batt, editor Jaym Gates goes beyond a simple agreement on the strangeness of the state, to dig into what […]
New Books and ARCs, 8/28/17
Posted on August 28, 2017 23 Comments
Happy Monday — here’s a lovely stack of new books and ARCs for you peruse as this week gets started. If you see something you’re interested in, tell us in the comments!
A Very Noisy Cover of Nobody’s Diary
Posted on August 27, 2017 19 Comments
I was left to my own devices today, and rather than just slump on the couch and watch TV, honorable pastime though it might be, I decided to play with my audio software and record another song. This one is from Yaz(oo), the seminal electronic band from the early 80s, featuring Vince Clarke (post-Depeche Mode […]
Porch Tiger
Posted on August 25, 2017 13 Comments
Done up all old-timey. Slow day here at the Scalzi Compound. Hope your Friday has been a good one.
College Delivery Day Update
Posted on August 24, 2017 55 Comments
Child delivered and ensconced in her dormitory room, and she’s pretty happy. I posted the above picture on Twitter and the response was largely, “Wait, she has a single room? As a freshman?” The answer is, yes to both. Apparently this was surprising to people at her college as well. Be that as it may, […]
The End of Summer, and Other Things
Posted on August 24, 2017 43 Comments
Here’s a picture of Athena on the last day of summer. The next day (today, as I’m writing this after midnight) we bundle her and much of her belongings into the minivan and head down to Oxford, Ohio, where Athena begins her time at Miami University. We’ll drop her off, help her get situated, and […]
Genius and Master
Posted on August 23, 2017 59 Comments
Just posted a thought on a friend’s Facebook post that I think I’d like to expand on here. The friend was talking (basically) about how he was annoyed that the fans of a certain person insisted that person was a genius when my friend saw that person’s output as largely just okay. I wrote: Calling […]
A Small But Important Change
Posted on August 23, 2017 11 Comments
Which is: When you type “Scalzi.com” in your address bar, it now takes you to Whatever rather than the static page that I’ve had at the site for years and years. Why? Well, because the static page was static, and not especially helpful, and meanwhile pretty much everything that goes on with the site goes […]
My Personal Feminism, 2017
Posted on August 22, 2017 131 Comments
In the wake of Kai Cole’s piece about Joss Whedon, and some of the reaction to it, I’ve been thinking about what it means to be a man in the public sphere who considers himself to be a feminist. Part of this thought process was also spurred on by seeing some of the reaction to […]
Our Eclipse Here in Bradford
Posted on August 21, 2017 42 Comments
It went well! We had intermittent clouds in the run-up, but for the first half (closing up to the maximum) we had very good views much of the time, and the clouds weren’t so heavy we couldn’t see. I made a box, but then Krissy’s work handed out eclipse glasses, so we used those instead, […]
Whatever Security Update
Posted on August 19, 2017 26 Comments
A small piece of security information for you: Whatever (was well as the whole Scalzi.com) site, now operates using https, for extra added security. Mind you, as this site does very little in the way of transactions or anything security-critical, this may not be a big deal to anyone. On the other hand, Google sent […]
New Books and ARCs, 8/18/17
Posted on August 18, 2017 20 Comments
A very fine collection of new books and ARCs arrived to the Scalzi Compound in the last week, and here’s what they are! See anything you’d like on your own shelves? Tell us all in the comments.
The Big Idea: Anna Smith Spark
Posted on August 17, 2017 15 Comments
The world we live in is not always peaceful… and maybe sometimes we kind of like it that way, whether we like to admit that or not. Author Anna Smith Spark has thoughts on the act of violence, and how it animates the story of her novel The Broken Knives. ANNA SMITH SPARK: The Court […]
Writing About Later, Now: Harder Than It Used to Be
Posted on August 16, 2017 55 Comments
I have a piece in the Los Angeles Times today about the difficulty of writing science fiction in today’s world, and no, it’s not just because one has to wonder if the world is going to be here tomorrow. Here’s the link. Enjoy!
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying