Monthly Archives: March 2022

The Regrettes: Anxieties

Weird little video. Pretty good song. Traveling tomorrow for my appearance at Little City Books in Hoboken at 7pm, as part of the Hoboken Literary Weekend. If you’re in the area, come by and say hello. If you’re not in the area, uhhhh, have a good Friday, I guess. — JS

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The Big Idea: Marion Deeds

Whether in the real world or in a world of fantasy, power is a currency that always compels. In this Big Idea for Comeuppance Served Cold, author Marion Deeds essays the persuasiveness of power, and how it informs the alternate Pacific Northwest she’s created. MARION DEEDS: Magic is a form of power. Who has it? […]

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And Now a Brief Musical Interlude

One of my favorite bands in the last decade or so has been The Naked and Famous, originally from New Zealand but now with the principal members, Alisa Xayalith and Thomas Powers residing in Los Angeles. The band recently announced a hiatus, which makes me sad as a fan, but Xayalith and Powers are doing […]

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The Big Idea: Jess Montgomery

William Faulkner once said “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” It’s a sentiment that Jess Montgomery can certainly appreciate, since her new novel, The Echoes, deals with something very close to that idea. Here she is to explain further. JESS MONTGOMERY: Can we ever outrun our pasts? I think the answer is… […]

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Return of the Space Toilet: A One-Month Update

A month ago I wrote about our having installed a very fancy “intelligent toilet” and offered my initial reactions to it, and promised to do a follow-up about a month later. It’s now a month later, and here are my thoughts about the Space Toilet today: 1. I’m still delighted with my purchase, as the […]

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The Big Idea: Gareth L. Powell

If you don’t think that science fiction is affected by the events of moment, than Gareth L. Powell has some news for you: oh, boy, is it ever. In this big idea for Stars and Bones, Powell explains how world events caught up to his story in strange and unexpected ways. (Disclosure: As you can […]

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A Night on Cat Mountain

Photoshop has some new filters that run a picture you might have through some pre-existing artwork, and so I took a picture of Spice and ran it through a filter of a painting of mountains. The result is not displeasing. Yes, this is what I am doing with my Sunday (I also wrote an essay, […]

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View From a Hotel Window 3/25/22: St. Louis

I don’t know, it’s kinda trashy. But St. Louis is lovely, and the hotel in general is nice, so there’s that. Tonight is the last event of this stretch of the tour, 7pm at the St. Louis Public Library. Please come by to say hello! And then I go home for several days. Hooray! But […]

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The Big Idea: Joe R. Lansdale

Frankly put, Joe R. Lansdale is an American literary treasure, and his characters Hap and Leonard are a substantial portion of the reason why this is so. So a collection of Hap and Leonard stories? Yes, sir, more please, sir. Here’s Lansdale talking about his collection Born for Trouble, and where he, and his characters, […]

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View From a Hotel Window, 3/24/22: Iowa City

And look! It’s a library! (Actually I suspect it’s not a library anymore because there’s a newer library off camera to the left. But it was a library, once, and that counts.) Tonight I’m at Prairie Lights bookstore, one of my favorites, and the festivities begin at 7pm. Tomorrow I’m at the St. Louis Public […]

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View From a Hotel Window, 3/22/22: Parma

Aw, hell yeah, pure parking lot goodness. Of all the hotel window shots this trip, this one is definitely the most parking lot-licious. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Tonight: Parma/Cleveland! At the Parma-Snow branch of the Cuyahoga Public Library! 7pm! Tomorrow: Boulder! At the Boulder Bookstore! 6:30 (I think, doublecheck […]

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The Big Idea: Kenneth Hite

Location is everything — or, if not everything, then still quite a lot, especially when considering the work of foundational fantasist H.P. Lovecraft. For Tour de Lovecraft: The Destinations, master games writer Kenneth Hite gets out the map and takes us traveling, from Arkham to Innsmouth, in pursuit of terror and tourism. KENNETH HITE: The […]

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Jonathan Coulton and Aimee Mann Sing “Red Shirt”

Recorded at the final JoCo 2022 concert. For those of you who don’t know, I commissioned this song from Jonathan when Redshirts came out a decade ago. It’s a lovely song, made even lovelier by the fact that Aimee freakin‘ Mann is singing background on it here. My life is delightful sometimes. Back on the […]

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The Big Idea: C.G. Volars

There are tropes in literature that we all know, and, well, maybe not always love. For Static Over Space, author C.G. Volars thought about the tropes and what might happen if you flip them… and them flip them again, in an entirely different direction. C.G. VOLARS: Here’s a bit of irony for you: I first […]

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The New Chair

Oh, hello. First, I am home for two! Whole! Days! in the middle of the tour, which is not to say that I am not currently touring; I have an online event in a couple of hours from this writing, in fact, with the Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona. If you’re seeing this before […]

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View From a Hotel Window, 3/18/22: Brookline

The sun is out today! Well, at least some of the time. I will take that. Also, Brookline, hello! I am in you and looking forward to the event tonight at 7pm at Brookline Booksmith. Tomorrow: United Theater in Westerly, Rhode Island! First, me, at 7pm, and then Pacific Rim, at 9pm! How cool is […]

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KPS Workplace Guidelines

Here’s a fun little thing I did over at Tor.com today, assisted by their able graphic artists: The Kaiju Preservation Society Workplace Guidelines: The Too-Short Version. It’s what you need to know to survive a world that has massive creatures who could step on you like you step on an ant. Not everything you need […]

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