Monthly Archives: May 2022

The Big Idea: Bishop O’Connell

From small beginnings, big things can arise — and when they do, suddenly you may find yourself doing a lot more worldbuilding than you originally planned. In this Big Idea, author Bishop O’Connell goes into detail about how the world of Two-Gun Witch became a more intensive project than its tuneful origin might have implies. […]

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A Twitter Thread: OMW and “Best Of”s

From earlier today. Posting here for archival and conversational purposes. 1. I saw someone posting the “Best of 21st Century” Locus Poll from more than a decade ago (on which Old Man’s War topped the SF list) and wondering how the top tier of the books on the list have held up in the time […]

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Iris, 5/28/22

It’s been raining on a more or less constant basis for the last couple of days here, which is no fun for various reasons but at least allows me to get in a couple nice photos of droplets on the irises in the front of the house. The good news is the rain is meant […]

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Universal Yums: May 2022 Review

When I mentioned that I was going to be doing snack box reviews again, someone commented that I should consider trying out one called Universal Yums. Little did they know that that was the brand I was planning to do all along! This is actually not my first time trying them, though, as I used […]

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RIP, Andy Fletcher

Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode has died, and it’s a sad day for everyone who went to high school when I did (and at my high school in particular, where Depeche Mode was worshiped as unto gods). Andy Fletcher would not have been my bet to be the first DM member to leave us, and […]

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Housekeeping Note Re: Search

Several of you have noted that the search widget in the sidebar appears to have gotten bunged up and was offering up 404s when you tried to search something. Indeed it was, so I uninstalled the search widget and then reinstalled it. Now it seems to work fine. Whether it will continue to do so […]

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The Big Idea: Kate Heartfield

They say behind every great man is a great woman, but what happens when that woman has a magic book and has decided she’s had enough of the patriarchy? Author Kate Heartfield takes us back through history, with a brand new perspective. Follow along in her Big Idea for The Embroidered Book to hear a new […]

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Post-Creative Lassitude

The writing on the new novel is coming along; it needs to be soon(ish) and now that I’m actually home from promoting The Kaiju Preservation Society, making progress on it is moving along more efficiently, which is nice. I’m in the zone where I will write a chapter (more or less) and then, when I’m […]

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Spoiler-Free Thoughts On “Uncharted”

Hello, everyone! Now that we’ve gotten the long, emotional post that always comes with returning to the site out of the way, I can start doing my reviews and recommendations and whatnot! For the summer’s first review, I’ve decided to go into uncharted waters and review a video-game movie. Before I begin this review, I […]

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View From a Hotel Window 5/20/22: Gaithersburg, MD

No parking lot, but there is an auto dealership across the street, which makes up for it, I think. I’m in Gaithersburg for the city’s book festival, and tomorrow I am being interviewed at 3:15 at the Dashiell Hammett Pavilion. I’ll be talking about The Kaiju Preservation Society and anything else I’m asked about, I […]

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When Everything Goes Right

By the time you read this, Love Death + Robots Vol. 3 will be live on Netflix, and those of you who subscribe to the streamer will be able to dig into its nine episodes and enjoy the varied and wildly contrasting stories, styles and aesthetics of each segment. One of those episodes is one […]

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Academic Purgatory

Back in January, I briefly returned to the site to post a piece on how I did at community college during my semester away from the blog (not well, in case you missed it). And since I am once again returning to the blog after yet another semester, I thought I’d update y’all on how […]

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The Big Idea: Oliver K. Langmead

Punching billionaires: Can it be done? Should it be done? In this Big Idea for Glitterati, author Oliver K. Langmead offers a mechanism for it that is (probably) unlikely to get one landed in jail for it. OLIVER K. LANGMEAD: Capitalism isn’t working too well right now, and one of the most grotesque symptoms of […]

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“Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting,” Ten Years On

Ten years ago this week I thought I would write a piece to offer a useful metaphor for straight white male privilege without using the word “privilege,” because when you use the word “privilege,” straight white men freak out, like, I said then, “vampires being fed a garlic tart.” Since I play video games, I […]

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And We’re Back

Hello, everyone! Thank you all so much for the warm welcome back to the site! I am thrilled to be back (even if I don’t act that way at the staff meetings). I was excited to begin with, but all your kind comments have really made me look forward to being on the blog this […]

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