Monthly Archives: September 2018
1998/2018: Whatever 20/20, Day Twenty: Sunsets
Posted on September 20, 2018 9 Comments
I really started taking sunset pictures in 2005, the first year I had a dSLR camera. Here’s one sunset picture for that year, and every year since. (Incidentally, tonight’s sunset? In the header image.)
The Big Idea: Cheryl Low
Posted on September 20, 2018 1 Comment
In Detox in Letters, author Cheryl Low thinks about magic, down the grimy, dusty details — and also gauges the limits of what magic can do. CHERYL LOW: The Crowns & Ash series began as an exploration of magic. Or maybe just a love letter to it. All my life I have loved magical worlds. […]
The Whatever Digest, 9/20/18
Posted on September 20, 2018 48 Comments
Good morning! Let’s see what’s up. *** Frank Oz says that Bert's not gay and he should know because he created him. I mean, Frank, a lot of parents feel the same, but then their kids come out anyway. https://t.co/iFYHx8gC05 — John Scalzi (@scalzi) September 18, 2018 I posted the tweet above the other day […]
New Books and ARCs, 9/19/18
Posted on September 19, 2018 16 Comments
Lots of new stuff, so this will be a two-stack week here at the Scalzi Compound. Here’s the first stack of new books and ARCs for the week. Anything catching your eye? Let us know in the comments!
1998/2018: Whatever 20/20, Day Nineteen: Hobbies
Posted on September 19, 2018 16 Comments
I’m not sure I had hobbies in 1998. I definitely didn’t have the hobbies I have now, back then. Hobbies are, for the purposes of this entry, things you do that you enjoy for themselves, and not because you plan to make it a professional part of your life to any extent. I think it […]
No Whatever Digest Today But Here’s a Picture of Smudge Looking Like He’s Just Seen the Boogeyman
Posted on September 19, 2018 8 Comments
He’s just yawning, mind you. But still. No Whatever Digest today mostly because my morning was tasked with getting teeth cleanings and otherwise taking care of offline business, and I have more things to take care of this afternoon. As an aside, some of you have mentioned to me the “Whatwitter” feed is down in […]
The Big Idea: Myke Cole
Posted on September 19, 2018 5 Comments
What is a hero? For Myke Cole, the answer to this question is not exactly the one that usually applies. It’s a thing that helped to fuel the writing for his latest, The Queen of Crows. MYKE COLE: Five years ago, I wrote about a singular experience. I know we live in the age of […]
1998/2018: Whatever 20/20, Day Eighteen: Health
Posted on September 18, 2018 21 Comments
The difference between 1998 and 2018 as regards health is that in 1998 I never really gave thought about my health, and now I think about it a lot. Why? Because I’m older and because (as noted earlier in this series) I weigh more than I used to, and because over 20 years I’ve had […]
The Big Idea: Edward Willett
Posted on September 18, 2018 10 Comments
For his novel Worldshaper, author Edward Willett posits another type of authorship entirely… one with literally global implications. EDWARD WILLETT: Authors sometimes talk of their fictional worlds as though they lived in them. They’ll speak of characters taking on lives of their own, unexpected plot twists, settings that complexify beyond what was intended. In reality, […]
The Whatever Digest, 9/18/18
Posted on September 18, 2018 55 Comments
Let’s see what the world has for us today, shall we? *** To begin on a high note, congratulations to my dear friend Mary Robinette Kowal, who has just announced a three-book, six-figure deal with Tor Books. The deal covers two more books in her “Lady Astronaut” series plus a standalone novel. The Verge has […]
1998/2018: Whatever 20/20, Day Seventeen: Kids
Posted on September 17, 2018 22 Comments
When I started Whatever in 1998, I didn’t have a kid. But I knew one was coming, since Krissy was pregnant. Her due date was December 17, but as it turns out, and in the first indication that this child was truly my child as well, the baby was kind of lazy and in no […]
The Whatever Digest, 9/17/18
Posted on September 17, 2018 44 Comments
Let’s start the day off with something pretty, shall we. Like these sunset clouds from last night: I’m often asked how much I Photoshop my sunset pictures, and the answer is, it depends on the day. With that said, this photo pretty much accurately recreates what the sky actually looked like when I took this […]
1998/2018: Whatever 20/20, Day Sixteen: Hair
Posted on September 16, 2018 46 Comments
I’ve not been a fan of my hair these last twenty years. Honestly, my hair and I have never been on the best of terms. I come from a family that doesn’t have great hair; it tends to be thin and wispy in the best of circumstances, and I, who started balding at around age […]
1998/2018: Whatever 20/20, Day Fifteen: Music
Posted on September 15, 2018 28 Comments
In no particular order, a playlist of 20 songs from the last 20 years that have stuck with me.
New Books and ARCs, 9/14/18
Posted on September 14, 2018 23 Comments
Halfway through September now, and here is a very fine stack of new books and ARCs to note the occasion. See anything you’d like? Tell us in the comments!
1998/2018: Whatever 20/20, Day Fourteen: Day Jobs
Posted on September 14, 2018 12 Comments
I did actually have a day job in 1998. Well, for about a quarter of it. I worked at America Online as its in-house writer and editor, and got laid off that March. I got laid off not because I was a terrible employee, but because my group was being dissolved and while everyone else […]
The Whatever Digest, 9/14/18
Posted on September 14, 2018 15 Comments
Let’s start this off with a picture I took this morning. I call this one “Worlds on a String.” See, there’s an upside to spiderwebs everywhere. *** I was in Columbus last night to take part in a panel at the Religion News Association’s conference, on science fiction and religion (appropriately enough, given the conference […]
The Whatever Digest, 9/13/18
Posted on September 13, 2018 23 Comments
First: This banner from the Subterranean Press web site, which I got a giggle over: I love it because I think Nate Taylor, the illustrator, did a perfect job drawing me. I look ridiculous, but in a fun and affectionate way, which I think is perfect, both for me and for the book. I may […]
1998/2018: Whatever 20/20, Day Thirteen: Whatever
Posted on September 13, 2018 20 Comments
One, today’s entry title is a little reflexive. Two, it doesn’t feel like it’s been 20 years. But I don’t think anything ever does. Time is a funny thing which spans backwards and forwards from you, but at the moment it’s only ever now. You keep living right now, and being now, and in my […]
Announcing Virtue Signaling and Other Heresies: Selected Writings From Whatever 2013 – 2018
Posted on September 13, 2018 31 Comments
Today, on the 20th anniversary of Whatever, I am absolutely thrilled to announce the upcoming publication of Virtue Signaling and Other Heresies: Selected Writings From Whatever, 2013-2018. This new collection from Subterranean Press collects some of the best writing from Whatever from the last half decade, with my words and thoughts on politics, personalities, social […]
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