Monthly Archives: April 2019

The Big Idea: Clark Thomas Carlton

In the immortal words of Steve Martin, “Let’s get small.” How small? Well, in Clark Thomas Carlton’s latest novel, The Prophet of the Termite God, it’s going to be very small indeed. CLARK THOMAS CARLTON: Yep, it came to me in a dream, the Big Idea about a far-flung future where mini-humans live as the […]

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The Last of the April Blossoms

One small regret I had of spending half of April away from the house is that the crabapple tree in the front yard had not yet blossoms, and I thought it was likely that I would miss them this year. Fortunately, the tree was still blossoming when I came back yesterday. They’re past their peak […]

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Hello From Budapest

Having a great time, wish you were here (this particular here is the Parliament of Hungary, which is very ornate). Tonight is for packing and tomorrow is for traveling, and I’ll have a fuller update of my adventures once I’m home. The short version is that our trip to London and Budapest was everything we […]

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View From a Hotel Window, 4/26/19: Budapest!

Today’s picture taken at a later hour than usual because we got in late and went to dinner with my Hungarian publishers and translators straight from the airport. It was a fabulous dinner. I ate quite a lot. It seems  unlikely I will remain awake much longer than it takes to write this post. Good […]

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The Big Idea: David Quantick

For his novel All My Colors, author David Quantick had his protagonist do a very bad thing. No, not murder. No, not assault. Something much worse: Plagiarism! Of a sort… DAVID QUANTICK: There was this short story. I could remember how it began and how it ended, but that was all. I forgot the name […]

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Meanwhile in London

There are massive skeletons floating over crowds of humans while Charles Darwin looks on approvingly. As he would. Also, I have an event tonight at Forbidden Planet here in London at 6pm which you should come to if you happen to be in the area. That is all. Tomorrow in Budapest!

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The Big Idea: Meg Elison

Today in The Big Idea, author Meg Elison delves into her latest novel The Book of Flora, and radical power of a single, very short, word. MEG ELISON: It’s impossible to talk about the third and final book in a series without talking about the whole thing. The big idea of the third book rests […]

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View From a Hotel Window, 4/23/19: London

We’ve moved into town and are staying at the hotel we were at for our 20th anniversary, and which also happens to be reasonably well located for the meetings and meet-ups I have planned over the next couple of days. Ytterbium, this year’s Eastercon, was lovely and everyone involved was also lovely, and we could […]

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View From a Hotel Window, 4/18/19: Heathrow

It’s a parking lot, not only in an entirely different country, but in an entirely different continent! And Heathrow Airport is in the background, which is actually cooler than it sounds. I’m here for Ytterbium, this year’s Eastercon, where I am a Guest of Honor, and everything is lovely so far. The convention begins properly […]

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The Big Idea: Lara Elena Donnelly

When, as a writer, you find yourself caught between two tropes, what do you do? And is it a bad thing that you’re confronting two separate writing tropes in the first place? In her series that began with the book Amberlough and continues now in Amnesty, the third book, author Lara Elena Donnelly confronts her […]

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The Big Idea: Ashok K. Banker

For this Big Idea, Ashok K. Banker writes an epistolary essay to someone who is not me, about his new novel, Upon a Burning Throne. Who is the recipient of this letter, and why is sent to them? Read on. ASHOK K. BANKER: Hey there, Effie. We’ve known each other a while, you and I. […]

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View From a Hotel Window, 4/12/19: Los Angeles

Los Angeles is looking a little noir today.  And I had an adventure getting here; my connecting flight from Chicago was diverted to Denver when it was discovered that the toilets on the plane wouldn’t flush. I mean, fair call, and probably the right decision, but I had a meeting this afternoon I needed to […]

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The Big Idea: Michael Moreci

If you’re a writer, is it better to be the proverbial tortoise or the proverbial hare? And does either matter as long as you’re still running the race? Michael Moreci considers this topic today in his Big Idea, and how it relates to his newly released novel, We Are Mayhem. MICHAEL MORECI: Selling books is […]

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How Not to Congratulate Someone

I wrote this on Twitter today, and am posting it here both for archival purposes and also because, hey, it’s applicable in this medium as well. A general statement because it’s happened to me more than once here on Twitter and elsewhere: So, hey, if I’m noting a good thing happening in my career and […]

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Top of the Heap, For a Bit

For a bit of time Sunday night and Monday morning, I was Amazon’s #1 author — not just for science fiction, or for science fiction and fantasy, but for all books. JK Rowling was number two, James Patterson was number six, and Stephen King was number ten. So, that’s nice for me. I’ve been in […]

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