Monthly Archives: July 2021

The Temp Toilet

Earlier in the year, the toilet in our en suite bathroom stopped working as it should and we decided it was time to replace it. Also, and coincidentally, we decided that 2021 was the year we were going to do a complete overhaul of the bathroom, which included but was not limited to the toilet. […]

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The Big Idea: Brad Parks

Sometimes the Big Idea of one’s book is… well. Not something that you would contemplate in real life, but might make an intriguing premise for one’s novel. Brad Parks knows a little bit about this, as it relates to his newest work, aptly entitled Unthinkable. BRAD PARKS: I love my wife very much. So, naturally, […]

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A Twitter Thread on Shopping Agreements

Archived here for posterity. 1. Team Scalzi was approached today with a query about a “shopping agreement” for one of my properties. A “shopping agreement” is basically where a film/TV producer asks permission to pitch a work in a room without having paid an option up front… 2. … with the idea being that if […]

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The Big Idea: Greg Van Eekhout

There’s a special time in everybody’s life, and by “special” we mean “really confusing and also seriously what the heck is going on?” It’s that special time that Greg Van Eekhout covers in his novel Weird Kid, and along the way he gets into why being a weird kid is, kinda, sometimes, awesome. GREG VAN […]

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The Problem With Pingbacks

Small housekeeping note: In the last couple of days it’s become clear that “pingbacks” — notifications from other sites that they are linking to posts here — are being used for spam purposes, so I have disabled the ability for pingbacks to be displayed. What does this mean for you, the faithful reader of the […]

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“I Ate a Bug and It Was Delicious”

Sugar, a connoisseur of small arthropods. She knows what she likes. In other news, Athena is on vacation this week, and I am finally at a point where I am likely to finish this novella I’ve been dragging out, and also we have guests coming, soooo things may be slow here until the end of […]

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Stuck Out At Sea

Doldrums /ˈdōldrəmz,ˈdäldrəmz/ noun a state or period of inactivity, stagnation, or depression. Like a ship in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, I am going through a doldrum. July has been my least productive month on the blog in the past year, and I’m not very happy about that. I’m not really sure why I’ve been more […]

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The Big Idea: Nicholas Bowling

Open your chakras and come along in author Nicholas Bowling’s Big Idea, as he tells you of his journey for happiness. Or at least, his journey to writing his new novel, The Follower. NICHOLAS BOWLING: The Big Idea for The Follower started out as (and perhaps still is) a pretty stupid joke. There was a […]

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Darke County and COVID Contradictions

Cases of COVID are on the upswing again, in Ohio as well as nationwide, so I thought I would check in with the CDC and see how my county is doing. Darke County, Ohio is not particularly well vaccinated — we have something like a 31% vaccination rate (I and my family are of course […]

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The Big Idea: Catherynne M. Valente

Humans are garbage. Or perhaps, as author Catherynne M. Valente has it, it’s more accurate to say that the world that people live in is actual garbage. Come along in her Big Idea as she tells you all about Garbagetown, the not-so-trashy setting for her newest novel, The Past Is Red. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE: Wonderful […]

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Seeing Things In A New Way

You ever just sit back and think… “holy shit do I need glasses?” — Athena Scalzi ⭐️ (@AScalzi98) July 13, 2021 A few months ago, I started noticing that things I looked at every day that were not previously blurry had become blurry. The clock on the stove from the couch, the subtitles on a […]

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The Big Idea: Dan Rice

In author Dan Rice’s Big Idea, he shows us a world beyond our own, alongside a world that happens to be our own. How is this possible? Follow along as he tells us a bit about his inspiration for his debut novel, Dragons Walk Among Us. DAN RICE: Is there a world before our eyes […]

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A Comment On Anxiety

Back in the summer 2018, I wrote for the blog like I do now. For my last post of the summer, I mentioned that I felt bad I never responded to anyone’s comments the entire time. I proceeded to say that if I could do it over, I would’ve responded more. Yet, it’s been almost […]

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More Thoughts On Loki: Episodes 4-6

I didn’t think that this post would be the last of its kind, as I expected there to be episodes 7-9, like with WandaVision, but alas, season one of Loki ends with just six episodes. I’m going to assume that season two will also have six episodes, but I guess we’ll see when it gets here. Anyways, […]

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The Big Idea: Nicole Kornher-Stace

They say you should always know your audience, but in author Nicole Kornher-Stace’s case, she took this saying literally. Follow along in her Big Idea as she tells you about who she wrote Jillian VS Parasite Planet for, and why. NICOLE KORNHER-STACE: Since approximately five minutes after I started publishing, my mom has been telling me I should […]

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