Monthly Archives: October 2022
Staying Or Going at Twitter: Ironically, a Twitter Thread
Posted on October 31, 2022 30 Comments
Written this morning and now posted here for archival purposes. I’ll likely have more to say on the topic soon, but at the moment I’m in transit and heading home. Also note that if you’re reading this here, you probably don’t need the links to the site that I have provided. 1. As folks are […]
Tiger Tail and Moon Mist
Posted on October 30, 2022 11 Comments
Here on Sunday at Hal-Con, and I was presented with two regional favorite ice creams: Tiger Tail, which is orange ice cream with a ribbon of black licorice, and Moon Mist, which is basically banana bubble gum. The Moon Mist was a little much for me — 11-year-old me, the one who would shove an […]
Hello From Halifax, Day 2
Posted on October 28, 2022 7 Comments
They have a clock tower! They’re proud of it, I understand. Lovely day here in the Maritimes, and met lots of fab people at Hal-Con. Now off to dinner with friends. How was your Friday? — JS
Welcome to Halifax
Posted on October 27, 2022 17 Comments
When the folks at Hal-Con asked if I would come visit their convention, I said I would if they supplied me with Coke Zero, Tiger Tail ice cream, and a framed picture of either Halifax’s own Sarah McLachlan, or, if one were not available, at least one member of the band Sloan (also Halifax’s own). […]
Universal Yums: October 2022 Review
Posted on October 27, 2022 9 Comments
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another Universal Yums review! If you’ve missed my other reviews, Universal Yums is a snack box company that features snacks from a different country every month. This month, we have Spain, which is actually the first country I ever got back when I used to get Universal Yums in […]
Pepsi Points and the Jet: A Column From 1996
Posted on October 26, 2022 20 Comments
They’re making a Netflix documentary series about the time in the 90s a kid tried to get a Harrier jet from Pepsi, based on a commercial the soft drink maker put out on TV. As I watched the trailer, I had a vague memory of writing a column about it at the time. I checked […]
The Early Vote Is In
Posted on October 25, 2022 27 Comments
Athena and I beat the rush to the polls this November by voting early today. It’s become my tradition to vote as early as I can (presuming I know who I am going to vote for, which this year I very much do) to have it done and not worry that something will keep me […]
The Woolly Bear Is Coming For You
Posted on October 25, 2022 8 Comments
It’s Woolly Bear season, those being not actual bears but the caterpillars of a tiger moth, who wander around this time of year fattening up in order to freeze through the winter and become moths when it warms again, or so Wikipedia tells me. The rumor is that you can tell whether it’s going to […]
My Award-Winning Saturday
Posted on October 23, 2022 25 Comments
Yesterday I picked up an award from my high school for Alumni Outstanding Achievement, and it was both delightful and a little nerve-wracking. I’ve picked up awards in front of thousands of people and didn’t bat an eye; this time it was in front of maybe sixty people I went to school with, who remember […]
Exciting News That Must Remain Mysterious For Now
Posted on October 21, 2022 27 Comments
Hello, everyone! Today I have some good, but vague, news for you all! I have an exciting opportunity in the works, and will be job shadowing a position next week. I’m not going to say what the job is yet, but as long as the job shadow goes well, the position is mine! I figured […]
Loitering in Paradise
Posted on October 20, 2022 16 Comments
I’m now in high school hometown of Claremont, kicking back outside with my laptop and writing on the novel, albeit not with any particular intensity at the moment. Write a paragraph, be mellow for a bit, write another paragraph, rinse, repeat. I’ll pick up the pace soon, but for today I’m happy to go at […]
The Big Idea: J.S. Fields
Posted on October 19, 2022 4 Comments
There are many ways in which small indie presses and large traditional presses differ, and in this Big Idea for the anthology Farther Reefs, co-editor J.S. Fields identifies one that you might not expect. What’s this difference? Read on! J. S. FIELDS: Lesbians. Okay wait. Hear me out. As someone who writes in both traditional […]
The Big Idea: David Walton
Posted on October 18, 2022 5 Comments
Author David Walton offers us a glimpse into the past, the far past, in his Big Idea for his newest novel, Living Memory. Can the past be able to shape the future? Walton has thoughts! DAVID WALTON: Admit it: You wish you could ride a triceratops. As a child, I would have handed over my library card for […]
The Power of Concentration
Posted on October 18, 2022 8 Comments
Flying into California yesterday I saw something I’ve not seen before: the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, which focuses the sun’s rays to generate power. I knew it existed but I’ve never seen it before with my own eyes. It is very bright, which is how I noticed it in the first place. In other news, […]
The Big Idea: Mary Robinette Kowal
Posted on October 17, 2022 25 Comments
“The book was better than the movie!” What about when the book was inspired by a movie? Hugo Award Winning author Mary Robinette Kowal talks to us today about what inspired her to write her newest novel, The Spare Man. MARY ROBINETTE KOWAL: The Thin Man in Space — That’s what The Spare Man is. […]
Here’s Some Sunday Evening Ukulele For You
Posted on October 16, 2022 4 Comments
It’s my pal Jim Boggia playing his uke and singing “Everytime You Go Away,” written by Darryl Hall (of Hall and Oates) and popularized by Paul Young. Why? Because Jim’s an excellent musician, and this version is delightful. Enjoy. — JS
The Big Idea: Ever Dundas
Posted on October 14, 2022 8 Comments
There are typefaces that have passed into infamy for being terrible… but in HellSans, there’s one that’s gone just beyond being terrible into being terrifying. And for author Ever Dundas, this typeface is a metaphor, not for awful kerning and character design, but something altogether more sinister and troubling. EVER DUNDAS: I spent my childhood […]
A Quick Moment of Foliage
Posted on October 14, 2022 13 Comments
I’m traveling a lot this month, which means my usual spree of October foliage photos has been interrupted, but now that I’m home for a couple of days I’ll try to get some shots in. That said, while I was in Kentucky earlier this week, I did get this lovely photo of a Virginia Creeper […]
The Big Idea: Aidan Moher
Posted on October 13, 2022 1 Comment
There are a number of mass culture phenomena that came from Japan to the United States and western culture generally, and in Fight, Magic, Items, author Aidan Moher delves into one such phenomenon, that the casual fan might not know had sprung from there at all. AIDEN MOHER: Back in the 1990s, I became a […]
Once Again It Is Time For My Annual Unsolicited Endorsement of WordPress
Posted on October 13, 2022 7 Comments
And that is because it was around this time, fourteen(!) years ago now, that I switched over to the service to host Whatever. Previous to the switchover I had been beset by issues with the site, stemming from backend hiccups and rough patches that never quite resolved themselves. But once I switched over to WordPress, […]
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