Monthly Archives: April 2022
New Books and ARCs, 4/29/22
Posted on April 29, 2022 21 Comments
As we head out of April and into May, here’s another very fine stack of new books and ARCs that have come to the Scalzi Compound. What here makes you want to take it into a brand new month? Share in the comments.
A Housekeeping Note re: Book Blurbing
Posted on April 29, 2022 9 Comments
I have had to turn down five(!) book blurb requests this week, so it’s worth making an official public announcement so people know it’s not personal. That announcement is: I have a book due in about a month and I have a large number of works that I’ve already promised to look at with an […]
Your Late April Church Update
Posted on April 28, 2022 39 Comments
Most of you are aware by now that we bought a church in our town and are now in the process of renovating it, and and I know many of you are curious about how that renovation is coming along. So, here’s a brief update: It’s coming along pretty well! Let me walk you through […]
The Big Idea: Kali Wallace
Posted on April 28, 2022
Current events have had a hand in Kali Wallace’s newest novel Hunters of the Lost City, but as Wallace points out in this Big Idea, some elements of it are taken from facts that are perennial, for better or worse. KALI WALLACE: You ever have one of those ideas that you really, really wish you […]
Damn, It’s 8pm and I Meant to Update Earlier But I Got Distracted By Shiny Objects So Here’s a Cat
Posted on April 27, 2022 8 Comments
Spice doesn’t judge. (This is a lie, Spice is in fact very judgy, but she’ll still come back for pets and scritches, so that’s okay.) Also, as I noted on Twitter earlier today, there’s a new Journey song! And it’s very Journey! None more Journey! Why not listen to it, and enjoy it, or judge […]
On the Matter of the New Twitter Boss and Other Things
Posted on April 26, 2022 82 Comments
Elon Musk is buying Twitter, apparently mostly just because he can, and people are — strangely! — worried about whether a thin-skinned ego monster of a billionaire who has problems relating to humans and appears to equate “free speech” with trolling is going to make a service already rife with trolls and and bots any […]
The Big Idea: Alma Katsu
Posted on April 26, 2022 2 Comments
Do we learn from the past? And how does the past inform today, and the art that is created in it? These are questions Alma Katsu is confronting in this Big Idea for The Fervor, and is inviting you to confront them as well. ALMA KATSU: The Fervor is a novel about the Japanese internment. […]
My Time in Los Angeles
Posted on April 25, 2022 11 Comments
To be short about it (because I’m at the airport, waiting on a flight): It was lovely. I saw friends, I had meetings and strategized about projects that are in various stages of development, and I hung out at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books with a bunch of writers I like and admire, […]
The Big Idea: Mar Romasco-Moore
Posted on April 21, 2022 3 Comments
Some people seem to attract attention the moment they enter into the room. Then there are others who… don’t. In I Am The Ghost In Your House, author Mar Romasco-Moore explores what it means to be the latter, in ways that might surprise you. MAR ROMASCO-MOORE: Every day on the bus to school I’d eavesdrop. […]
View From a Hotel Window 4/21/22: Los Angeles
Posted on April 21, 2022 6 Comments
Not the most scenic of views — I daresay it feels kind of like a view you might get at a hotel in New York — but the hotel is lovely and I will be busy with meetings and events regardless. I’m here for film/TV stuff during the week and for Los Angeles Times Festival […]
The Big Idea: Nicola Griffith
Posted on April 20, 2022 7 Comments
Knights and legends and the dream of the British Isles… but for author Nicola Griffith, something was missing. What was it, and how does Spear offer it to reader? Griffith explains in this Big Idea. NICOLA GRIFFITH: I’ve loved the Matter of Britain since I got my first library card. I dragged home every bit […]
A Month of The Kaiju Preservation Society
Posted on April 19, 2022 70 Comments
It’s now been a month (and change) of The Kaiju Preservation Society being out in the world, so I thought this would be a nice moment to catch up with the book and answer some questions I’ve been asked about it, and also talk (very briefly) about what’s next for me. Because that’s what having […]
The Big Idea: Steven Kotler
Posted on April 19, 2022 2 Comments
Some famous musicians once said that all you need is love. It’s a nice sentiment, but in this Big Idea for The Devil’s Dictionary, author Steven Kotler might instead recommend a different-yet-related emotional state as the one we all need. STEVEN KOTLER: I stopped trying to categorize my writing a long time ago. Still, if […]
Happy Birthday Krissy
Posted on April 18, 2022 66 Comments
This seems to happen every April 18: It’s Krissy’s birthday again! And, as ever, she’s just fabulous, and I love her tons. For her birthday I bought her a rice cooker (this one) and will be taking her to dinner. If you were to wish her a happy birthday in the comments, that would be […]
The Big Idea: Chris Panatier
Posted on April 18, 2022 2 Comments
How do we know what we know? In Stringers, author Chris Panatier posits a wild premise… and an even wilder way of getting that knowledge out into the world. CHRIS PANATIER: Stringers features individuals who have knowledge they can’t explain called, well…“Stringers”. Our main character Ben’s knowledge centers on three distinct areas: nitty-gritty of animal […]
Reader Request Week 2022 #10: Short Bits, Part Two
Posted on April 17, 2022 21 Comments
And now, as promised, the final installment of this year’s Reader Request Week, zooming through some of the remaining questions: Michael Fuss: How much do you think your readers from other countries (actually, in my case, other language areas) should read authors from their countries (language areas) over authors from, for example, the United States?Another […]
Reader Request Week 2022 #9: Short Bits, Part One
Posted on April 16, 2022 10 Comments
On the weekends of Reader Request Weeks, I gather up a bunch of the questions I didn’t get to during the week and try to address them briefly. I often part them out between writing questions and general questions, but this time I don’t feel like doing that. That’s right! I’m very minimally shaking up […]
New Books and ARCs, 4/15/22
Posted on April 15, 2022 21 Comments
Welcome to your Easter and Passover stack of new books and ARCs! What here is catching your eye on this weekend of reflection and celebration? Share, as always, in the comments. — JS
Reader Request Week 2022 #8: Whatever, Changing
Posted on April 15, 2022 12 Comments
David S (not the same David as from earlier in the week) asks: Has success spoiled John Scalzi? I recently re-read Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded, which is full of what my grandfather would have called “piss and vinegar”. Whatever used to be biting and savage. Now it’s all “look at what I bought”, and […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying