Monthly Archives: September 2019
The Thing I Splurge On, Travel-Wise
Posted on September 29, 2019 50 Comments
Tomorrow I start on a week-long trip to Australia, the itinerary of which goes as such: Dayton to Houston to Auckland to Melbourne to Canberra. It will take over 40 hours, and includes an epic 11-hour layover in Houston because, well, that’s just how these things work sometimes. The length and general nature of the […]
Sunset, 9/27/19
Posted on September 27, 2019 10 Comments
After the week we’ve all had, we deserve a good one.
New Books and ARCs, 9/27/19
Posted on September 27, 2019 16 Comments
As we head into the final weekend of September, here’s a stack of new books and ARCs for you to consider. What here would you like to close out the month with? As always, share in the comments.
And Now, To Celebrate a Haircut, We Present Two Sides of John Scalzi
Posted on September 25, 2019 19 Comments
The first look is one I like to call “Newly Divorced Suburban Dad Makes His First Tinder Profile”: The second is “Man Wrongly Convicted is Finally Released, But Prison Has Changed Him”: I don’t know, maybe I have them reversed. It’s so confusing. Also: Hello, in addition to getting a haircut I broke a tooth […]
Well, It’s Been a Day, Hasn’t It
Posted on September 24, 2019 122 Comments
The working day started off with Boris Johnson’s proroguing of parliament called unconstitutional in an 11-0 decision by the UK’s Supreme Court, and finished off with Speaker Pelosi announcing a formal impeachment inquiry against President Trump, because it appears he tried to blackmail a foreign power to go after his political opponent. Which is not […]
The Big Idea: Annalee Newitz
Posted on September 24, 2019 12 Comments
Time Travel! Annalee Newitz is playing with it in their new novel The Future of Another Timeline! Or, perhaps, has been playing with it already, or will have been playing with it at some unspecified point in what might have been the future! Maybe! They’re here now to sort all the timelines out for you. […]
Tools, Not Rules: A Twitter Thread
Posted on September 23, 2019 71 Comments
Posted here for posterity: 1. Looking at a conversation of some crankybottoms dissing me (among others) as a postmodern scribbler who has no time for the great writers of western civilization and therefore has no knowledge of the “deep norms” of genre and therefore my writing sucks. Well — 2. Being accused of having no […]
How I Spent My Week Away From the Internet
Posted on September 22, 2019 18 Comments
Here’s what I did! 1. Wrote more in The Last Emperox. It was good, you’re going to like it, I think. Still have more to do, expect me to keep focusing on that until it’s done. 2. Went out and saw friends on several different occasions. This involved a lot of driving, so I drove […]
Away For a Week
Posted on September 15, 2019 7 Comments
Why? One, to get work done on the book. Two, because I feel like it. I’m also going to take a week off Twitter, too. Aaaaand probably won’t read news or otherwise see what the outside world is up to during that time either. I figure the planet can get along without me for seven […]
New Book and ARCs, 9/13/19
Posted on September 13, 2019 17 Comments
It’s Friday the 13th, and here’s a very lucky collection of new books and ARCs that have arrived at the Scalzi Compound. What here would you feel lucky to have? Share in the comments!
21 Years
Posted on September 13, 2019 33 Comments
Oh, hey! Whatever is now old enough to go drinking. It probably won’t go drinking, because I don’t drink, and also the blog is not an actual person, but I admit it’s amusing to think of my blog suddenly ditching me to go out on a bender, then coming back and drunkenly slurring out what […]
Declaring Hot Take Bankruptcy, Probably Through September
Posted on September 12, 2019 27 Comments
So, I’m waaaaaaay behind on The Last Emperox (it’s my own damn fault), and as a result I’m now clacking away furiously and also, as it happens, very happily employing my nanny software during the day until I get my writing quota done. What this means is that when I sign back on to Twitter […]
The Big Idea: Sean Carroll
Posted on September 12, 2019 17 Comments
I’ve been aware of the “Many Worlds” interpretation of physics for some time — longtime readers of mine know it’s intimately connected with space travel in my “Old Man’s War” series of novels. But in the real world, how does it connect to the actual physics we know and (profess to) understand? Actual physicist Sean […]
The Big Idea: Alexandra Rowland
Posted on September 10, 2019 15 Comments
Tulips, bitcoin, fantasy worlds — how to each relate to the other? Alexandra Rowland knows, and in their Big Idea for A Choir of Lies, they are happy to lay it all out for you. ALEXANDRA ROWLAND: Do you like coincidences? Here’s a cool one: From November of 1636 to February of 1637, the Netherlands […]
Trade Reviews for A Very Scalzi Christmas Are In
Posted on September 9, 2019 9 Comments
And it looks like it’s going to be a merry Christmas for my little book, as it’s gotten positive reviews in Publishers Weekly, Booklist and Kirkus. And what do they say? From Publishers Weekly: “Scalzi (The Consuming Fire) unleashes his wicked wit in this stocking stuffer miscellany of mostly goofs and jibes directed at the […]
New Books and ARCs, 9/6/19
Posted on September 6, 2019 27 Comments
Oh, hey, look at the time: It’s “A stack of new books and ARCs” o’clock! As it often is on Fridays afternoons. What here looks enticing to you? Share in the comments.
The Big Idea: Steven S. Drachman
Posted on September 6, 2019 2 Comments
In today’s Big Idea for The Innocent Dead, a famous Muppet is revealed to be a master of teleology by author Steven S. Drachman. And that’s not the wildest idea on display today! STEVEN S. DRACHMAN: My Watt O’Hugh books (they’re now at long last a “trilogy”) are about a time-roaming 19th century gunman and […]
The Gunn Center Makes a Change, and Further Thoughts on the Reassessment of John W. Campbell
Posted on September 6, 2019 79 Comments
The Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas has announced that it’s changing the name of its annual conference from the Campbell Conference (named after Analog editor John W. Campbell) to the Gunn Center Conference. In the same announcement, it notes that it is discussing alternative names for its […]
The Internet Sends Me Flowers
Posted on September 5, 2019 24 Comments
Seriously, these flowers arrived on my doorstep with a note that said “Congratulations for just being a pretty awesome person” and it was signed “The Internet.” And, well. I’m actually touched. Whether I am actually awesome enough to truly deserve flowers from the Internet remains to be seen, but I certainly appreciate the vote of […]
The Big Idea: Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe
Posted on September 5, 2019 3 Comments
Reboot, reimagine, reinvent — there is nothing new under the sun, as they say, and humans find ways of looking at old stories in new ways. This is an idea that acclaimed editors Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe have taken to heart in their new anthology The Mythic Dream. Here they are to go into […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying