Monthly Archives: July 2020
The New Chair Arrives
Posted on July 31, 2020 28 Comments
I wrote last week about my need to purchase a new office chair, and lo and behold, as if by magic (and by “magic” I mean “by means of ordering it online and paying for it to be delivered by the retailer”), it has arrived at the house and is ensconced at my desk. It […]
New Books and ARCs, 7/31/2020
Posted on July 31, 2020 10 Comments
As we turn the corner into August, here’s a final stack of new books and ARCs for July. What here appeals to your inner reader? Share in the comments!
Why I Like Photography
Posted on July 31, 2020 27 Comments
In fact, the picture above typifies many of the reasons why I enjoy taking pictures, getting them ready for presentation, and then showing them off to the world. Let me enumerate them for you now. 1. I have a lot of photogenic subjects around me: Krissy, obviously, and the cats, but flowers and clouds and […]
Five Things: July 30, 2020
Posted on July 30, 2020 84 Comments
Oh, hello! How are you? I have a few things I’m thinking about today: Hey, did you know? Our economy is shit! Specifically, the last economic quarter is absolutely the worst on record, either on its own (in which the GDP shrank more than nine percent) or on the especially dramatic “annualized” basis (which has […]
The Big Idea: Lif Strand
Posted on July 30, 2020 2 Comments
Music can be life changing, but as Lif Strand found out in writing Evolution Device, turning that life-changing feeling into a novel can be a challenge worthy of the gnarliest of musical performances. LIF STRAND: Music is powerful stuff. It enters the ears and takes over the brain. If that isn’t power then I don’t […]
Five Things: July 29, 2020
Posted on July 29, 2020 64 Comments
Well, well, well. Let’s see what we have here: Ask your doctor if sex with demons is right for you: By now we’ve all heard that those “American Frontline Doctors” and their video touting hydroxychloroquine and no masks were such a level of bullshit that even Facebook felt compelled to pull the video, but I […]
The Big Idea: Richard Cox
Posted on July 29, 2020 8 Comments
Good things come to those who wait… and learn. That might be the theme of this Big Idea by Richard Cox, for his novel House of the Rising Sun, which experienced a pause in its writing and in doing so just may have arrived at precisely the right time. RICHARD COX: Before I started work […]
This Web Site is Free
Posted on July 28, 2020 35 Comments
This morning I went and opened up a SubStack account, for a couple of reasons. The first was to take “Scalzi” off the market on SubStack; I do this pretty much which every social media site, for branding consistency across the Internet. Second, at some point or another I might decide to do something I’ll […]
The Big Idea: Ferrett Steinmetz
Posted on July 28, 2020 9 Comments
What does your cell phone or XBox have to do with AI-laden weapon systems? Ferrett Steinmetz has an inkling, and in this Big Idea for his new novel Automatic Reload, he lays it out for you. FERRETT STEINMETZ: You’re already too slow for technology. You knew that the first time you used a calculator; it […]
Site Changes Coming in August
Posted on July 27, 2020 80 Comments
The Short Version: Athena Scalzi is coming on board Scalzi.com/Whatever as a writer and editor starting August 4. She’ll be taking over some administrative tasks, posting her own entries and helping me update and possibly expand the site. The Less Short Version: Athena is taking a gap year from college, more or less, partly because […]
The Big Idea: Cindy Lynn Speer
Posted on July 27, 2020
So, what is The Key to All Things? Aside from the title of the new novel by Cindy Lynn Speer? The good news is, we have Speer here to tell you what it might be, and how it relates to her tale. CINDY LYNN SPEER: I came through the central driving idea for The Key […]
I Present to You the First Cherry Tomatoes of the Season
Posted on July 26, 2020 26 Comments
From our tomato plants, one of which you can see fuzzily in the background of the photo. And how were they? Pretty good! One’s own tomatoes have a tendency to be juicier and more flavorful than store-bought, because they are allowed to ripen on the vine, and these were no exception. Soon we will be […]
The Virus Claims Yet Another Social Event
Posted on July 25, 2020 16 Comments
Krissy’s extended family congregates every year in early August for a reunion, an event that a few years back had its 100th anniversary — but because of the virus, there will be no reunion this year. The family skipping the reunion has only happened once before, in concert with World War II, so if you’re […]
Nostalgia Vu
Posted on July 25, 2020 45 Comments
I woke up this morning with a song from the 2001 film Josie and the Pussycats in my head, and because of that felt mildly wistful for the era in which it came out, the sort of Millennial Moment just before 9/11, with its boy bands and first Internet Bubble and all the sorts of […]
This Just In: Krissy is Coming to End You
Posted on July 24, 2020 32 Comments
Oh, don’t look so shocked. You know what you did. (Yes, that’s right, you didn’t recycle. And, you forgot to cut up the plastic rings on that six-pack! You’re doomed. Doomed, I tell you!) Enjoy the rest of your Friday. And may God have mercy on your soul.
Help, Help, I Can’t Be Published!
Posted on July 24, 2020 57 Comments
I don’t actually expect sense from David Brooks, but this particular tweet, to entice people into a column whining about the current state of discourse, was especially eye rolling to me: Christopher Hitchens was one of the great essayists in America. He would be unemployable today because there was no set of priors he wasn’t […]
JoCoCruise Postponed
Posted on July 23, 2020 16 Comments
Well, this is sad news for me and about 2,000 other nerds: The safety & well-being of our attendees, crew & performing guests are of the utmost importance to us. So we have made the difficult decision to reschedule JoCo Cruise 2021 to March 5-12, 2022. If you were booked for 2021, check your email […]
Chair Life
Posted on July 23, 2020 89 Comments
My office chair, which was your basic Staples Special, blew its pneumatic cylinder a couple of weeks ago, and in the interim I’ve been using Athena’s desk chair, which I don’t like much because it’s not terribly comfortable and it doesn’t have arms, which it turns out are things that I need if I want […]
Blog Changes Update Update
Posted on July 22, 2020 61 Comments
Turns out I couldn’t CSS my way out of some particular problems with that previous theme; let’s see how this one does.
Five Things: July 22, 2020
Posted on July 22, 2020 29 Comments
Having spent my morning plugging away on the web site, I now turn my attention to what’s going on (waves abstractly) out there: Ohio’s Speaker of the House is in some deep shit: Turns out you’re not supposed to (allegedly) take bribes! Which I suspect Larry Householder probably knew, but I guess he thought that […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying