Monthly Archives: July 2019

The Big Idea: Derryl Murphy and William Shunn

Authors Derryl Murphy and William Shunn weren’t necessarily looking to collaborate on a story. But then a chance encounter on the road set events into motion that would result in Cast a Cold Eye. I’ll let the two of them take it from here. DERRYL MURPHY and WILLIAM SHUNN: Derryl Murphy: My mind often wanders […]

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The Big Idea: Christian McKay Heidicker

How scary is too scary? Or not scary enough? And does the calculus change when you’re writing for a younger audience? These are the questions that Christian McKay Heidicker confronted when writing Scary Stories for Young Foxes. Don’t be frightened: His answers await you below. CHRISTIAN McKAY HEIDICKER: When I started work on Scary Stories […]

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My Dublin 2019 Schedule

As many of you already know, I will be attending the Dublin 2019 Worldcon, where I will hang out with friends, maybe watch some of them win Hugos, and — oh! By the way! — do a few events as well. Here’s my schedule at the convention. 15 Aug 2019, Thursday 14:00 – 14:50, Level […]

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My 300 Mile Lyft Ride From Chicago to Bradford

I mentioned this on Twitter yesterday: My car reservation was cancelled. There are no one way rentals in Chicago for love our money. My rescheduled flight doesn't get me home until tomorrow. So, fuck it, I'm taking a Lyft home. — John Scalzi (@scalzi) July 22, 2019 Here’s the full story on it. Yesterday I […]

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The Big Idea: Jeffrey A. Carver

For his Big Idea for The Reefs of Time, the first of his Out of Time series, Jeffrey A. Carver talks about structure — of his story, the universe, and other important things. JEFFREY A. CARVER: Big ideas are the meat and potatoes of classical science fiction, but sometimes they collide with one another like […]

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Taking Pictures of the Moon

Whenever I take pictures of the moon, I get asked how I did it and what equipment I use. So I wrote a piece about that in the current issue of the fanzine Journey Planet, which is focused on the moon and (also) the moon landing of Apollo XI, which took place 50 years ago […]

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The Big Idea: Heather Webber

As a well-known pie enthusiast, I believe pretty much all pie is magic. But in Midnight at the Blackbird Café, author Heather Webber takes the “pie is magic” concept even further than that — and in the process opens doors to questions far beyond what might be in the pie filling. HEATHER WEBBER: Have you […]

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The Big Idea: Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

In today’s Big Idea, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone are feeling epistolary, which, considering the letter-writing format of their collaborative novella This is How You Lose the Time War, is entirely appropriate. AMAL EL-MOHTAR and MAX GLADSTONE: Dearest Max, I write to you from the past—knowing you’re presently asleep while I’m awake, three hours’ worth […]

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Off to Spain

Where I am a guest of the Celsius 232 Festival. I expect to be mostly busy with that for the next week, but may post a few pictures here and there (and there are a couple Big Idea pieces for you to look forward to this week as well). You kids have fun while I’m […]

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They’re Not Middle Class, They’re Well-Off, and That Should Worry You

The New York Times last week ran a piece called What Middle-Class Families Want Politicians to Know, which featured interviews from a number of Americans, discussing their economic concerns and fears. The thing is, the large majority of the households represented in the piece have a six-figure income; while there is one fellow whose reported […]

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The Big Idea: Sean Grigsby

Author Sean Grigsby has a theory about people. It’s… not terribly optimistic. But it does have relevance for his latest novel, Ash Kickers, which features firefighters in a slightly alternate version of the world. One with dragons! SEAN GRIGSBY: Whatever catastrophe nature throws at us, people always seem to make it worse. Not all of […]

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