Monthly Archives: November 2019
A Very Scalzi Christmas is Out!
Posted on November 30, 2019 4 Comments
Just in time for the holidays! As a reminder, this collection features fifteen stories about Christmas and the holidays, including three that are exclusive to this collection: “Christmas in July,” “Jangle the Elf Grants Wishes” and “Resolutions for the New Year.” Plus illustrations by the super-talented Natalie Metzger for every story (and the cover, obviously). […]
New Books and ARCs, 11/29/19
Posted on November 29, 2019 10 Comments
As November fades into the holiday season, we have one last, tall, stack of new books and ARCs for the month. What here is ringing your bells? Tell us all in the comments!
Whatever Holiday Shopping Guide 2019 Starts Monday!
Posted on November 29, 2019 16 Comments
Every year as the holiday season begins I run a shopping guide for the holidays, and over the years it’s been quite successful: Lots of people have found out about excellent books and crafts and charities and what have you, making for excellent gift-giving opportunities during the holiday season. I’ve decided to do it again this […]
Please Enjoy This, the Greatest of All Thanksgiving Songs
Posted on November 28, 2019 9 Comments
I was gonna post an earnest entry on all the things I’m thankful for this year, but then we’d be here for a really long time. This video, on the other hand, is barely 100 seconds long, and is more fun. Enjoy, and enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday.
Zeus and Smudge Welcome You to Thanksgivingtime
Posted on November 27, 2019 15 Comments
It’s after 5pm on Thanksgiving Eve, so we are officially in Thanksgivingtime, in which the early foodstuffs are being prepared so that there will be room in the oven tomorrow for the turkey and other things that need to be made on the day. So cakes and pies and certain casseroles that are reheatable: tonight […]
Very Very Early Pixel 4 Impressions
Posted on November 26, 2019 14 Comments
I had pre-ordered a Pixel 4XL earlier this year and when it didn’t actually arrive on the day the phone came out (or several days after that), I cancelled the pre-order, on the basis that I was willing to pay the pre-order premium because I would get the phone as soon as possible, and Google […]
A Very Scalzi Christmas Down the Last 100 Copies of the Signed Limited Hardcover
Posted on November 25, 2019 11 Comments
Here’s the news from Subterranean Press itself: A Very @Scalzi Christmas is shipping — and we've held back the last 100 copies for direct customers! We had way more orders than we could fill from wholesalers and large retailers, so don't delay in picking up your copy: https://t.co/fVog3LczDE pic.twitter.com/NFl5HvDFSe — SubPress (@SubPress) November 25, 2019 […]
Trying the Astrophotograpy Mode on my Pixel Phone
Posted on November 25, 2019 11 Comments
I haven’t upgraded to the Pixel 4 yet, but one of its star attractions for the camera, the “astrophotography mode,” debuted on the Pixel 3 last week. I got up at a ridiculously early hour this morning for other reasons (i.e., cat woke me up), and the stars were visible for the first time in […]
Reader Request Week 2019 #10: Short Bits
Posted on November 23, 2019 7 Comments
Time to close out this year’s Reader Request Week with some short takes on questions I didn’t otherwise get to: Dean Laws: Hey Scalzi, can you trust photographs anymore? Could we ever? Photographs were being manipulated and altered basically as soon as they were invented, and whether that fiddling was soft focus on a movie […]
Reader Request Week 2019 #9: Writing Short Bits
Posted on November 22, 2019 10 Comments
And now, quick(er) answers to some of the questions about writing that popped up this week in this year’s reader requests: Kufat: Now that you’ve got a bunch of ongoing series, I was wondering how you feel about reader requests. Specifically open-ended things like “I hope we see more of character X” or “Could we […]
New Books and ARCs, 11/22/19
Posted on November 22, 2019 19 Comments
We’re moving in to Thanksgiving week here in the US, which makes it a perfect time to ask which of these new books and ARCs you would be thankful have in your hot little hands in the near future. Tell us in the comments what here is appealing to you.
RIP Gahan Wilson
Posted on November 22, 2019 10 Comments
Family and friends of Gahan Wilson are reporting that the master illustrator passed on yesterday. I can’t claim to have known him, but I was a fan of his since I was a child and one of the great highlights of my career was when Subterranean Press hired him to do the cover for the […]
Reader Request Week 2019 #8: 13-Year-Old Me
Posted on November 21, 2019 16 Comments
Judge Zedd asks: One of my students asked me a question the other day: What would 13 year old you think of your life now? It really got me thinking about the unexpected path my life has taken, and some things that 13 year old me would have been heartbroken about, but adult me is […]
The Big Idea: Colin MacIver
Posted on November 21, 2019 3 Comments
There are few words more laden with negative association than “traitor” — it’s an apparent repudiation of country and of honor. Is there ever a time when there could be more to the word than that? Author Colin MacIver muses on this subject in his Big Idea post for his novel Turncoat. COLIN MacIVER: Throughout […]
Reader Request Week 2019 #7: How My Wife Can Stand Me
Posted on November 21, 2019 26 Comments
Wayne Kearney asks: How does your wife stand you? Being a writer/engineer myself, I require a lot of ‘alone time’ to do my thing. My wife tends to alternate between “Why are you bothering me?” and “Why aren’t you paying attention to me?” How do you work out that balance or do you? Failure is […]
Reader Request Week 2019 #6: Being Entertained as an Artist
Posted on November 20, 2019 20 Comments
Acshenglut asks about: Being entertained as an artist: I’ve often wondered if it is possible for a writer or other artist to look at work in their medium or a related medium (film and plays are still storytelling, for instance) as mere entertainment. Is there such a thing as entertainment for an artist, or is […]
Reader Request Week 2019 #5: Civility
Posted on November 20, 2019 36 Comments
In an email, Pablo asks: Civility: A genuine plea for common understanding, or just another tool to oppress? I mean, why not both? Which is to say that one can genuinely wish for “civility” — a sort of courtly and dignified mode of discourse — without understanding all the ways that “civility” generally favors the […]
Reader Request Week 2019 #4: The Things You Outgrow
Posted on November 19, 2019 46 Comments
For this entry, Amysrevenge wants to know about: Things you fall out of love with as you age. Example: Heinlein was super relevant to 22 year old me in 1997. He was enjoyable to 33 year old me in 2008 in a nostalgic sort of way. He basically isn’t relevant to my interests anymore at […]
Reader Request Week 2019 #3: Blogging With Extreme Confidence
Posted on November 19, 2019 6 Comments
David Orr asks: One noteworthy aspect of your blogging style is your extreme confidence. If you have an opinion to offer, you may caveat it in various ways, but usually not in ways that indicate any uncertainty. For instance, you rarely prefix statements with “I think that” or “Probably” or other indications that while this […]
Reader Request Week 2019 #2: The War Between the Generations
Posted on November 18, 2019 55 Comments
Cristoph asks: What’s your take on the generational conflicts of our time, currently manifesting in the “Ok Boomer” saying? I think it’s par for the course, actually. Generational conflict makes for a good story and for good copy, and for the last 100 years or so in the US, at least, there’s been a low-grade […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying