Monthly Archives: March 2023
The Big Idea: Stark Holborn
Posted on March 31, 2023 1 Comment
Thinking about the potential change your choices carry can be paralyzing in the decision-making process. Such is the case in author Stark Holborn’s newest novel, Hel’s Eight, and in Stark’s own journey for writing it. Follow along in the Big Idea to see how overcoming this led Stark to the writing of this novel. STARK HOLBORN: […]
Trump Indicted and What That Means
Posted on March 31, 2023 36 Comments
(Photo by Gage Skidmore (see original), used under Creative Commons license (CC BY-SA 2.0). Additional editing and typography by me.) The question has never been whether Donald Trump is a criminal. Everyone knows exactly what he is. The question has always been whether he would ever be called to account for any of his crimes. […]
Universal Yums: March 2023 Review
Posted on March 30, 2023 14 Comments
Welcome, everyone, to another Universal Yums review! The last one I did was in November, and then I paused my membership because the holidays were coming up and I knew I was going to be too busy/too full of holiday goodies to be able to focus on snack boxes. But the pause-period is over, and […]
The Big Idea: Tiffani Angus & Val Nolan
Posted on March 30, 2023 3 Comments
Have you always wanted to give speculative fiction writing a go, but felt like you could use a hand, or two, or five? Authors Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan are here to lend you all the hands you might need with their new guidebook, Spec Fic For Newbies. TIFFANI ANGUS & VAL NOLAN: A Short […]
Reader Participation Thread: Music That Made You Stop
Posted on March 30, 2023 122 Comments
I’m thinking a lot about music these days, in no small part because of my own fiddling with the form, so I’m curious: Can you think of a song that so affected you that the first time you heard it, you stopped everything else you were doing to listen to it all the way through? […]
The Big Idea: J. L. Worrad
Posted on March 29, 2023 2 Comments
What is an urban legend without people to tell their tale, and spread fear into the hearts of others? Luckily, author J. L. Worrad is here with a new novel to keep the legend of his hometown monster alive. Read on to see how he utilizes this boogeyman in The Keep Within. J. L. WORRAD: Have […]
New Music: City At Night
Posted on March 28, 2023 5 Comments
One of the synthesizer plugins I have has a preset called “Los Angeles 2019,” and if you’re nerd enough to get that this label is meant to evoke Blade Runner, then you’ll understand why I had to play with it. This is what came out. Dark, clattery and slightly spooky. Enjoy. — JS
The Big Idea: Lavanya Lakshminarayan
Posted on March 28, 2023 3 Comments
Coming up with one main character can be hard enough, but author Lavanya Lakshminarayan came up with over twenty in her debut novel, The Ten Percent Thief. Read on to see how all these individual stories took form and shaped into one book. LAVANYA LAKSHMINARAYAN: I first met my arch-nemesis burnout when I worked in videogames. […]
The Spareness of Early Spring
Posted on March 27, 2023 2 Comments
That moment when the world has begun to warm, but the trees haven’t quite caught up with the news. In another month, these branches will be full of new leaves. For now, though, still bare as in the dead of winter. Makes for a pretty shot, however. — JS
New Books and ARCs, 3/24/23
Posted on March 24, 2023 16 Comments
It’s the first book stack of spring! What here would you want to read over a newly blossoming weekend? Share in the comments! — JS
And Now, Me Singing “Just Can’t Get Enough” at the 2023 JoCo Cruise Final Concert
Posted on March 24, 2023 29 Comments
There’s a story here. Every year on the JoCo Cruise (the nerd extravaganza cruise I participate in annually, on which I act as head of its literary track, moderate panels, do readings and DJ a nerd prom), there’s a final concert on the last full day of the cruise. The musical performers for the year […]
Smudge Watching Spice, Spice Watching Birds
Posted on March 23, 2023 2 Comments
You know Spring has sprung when the cats station themselves by the windows and chitter, apparently trying to convince the newly-active birds to come closer, for reasons. The birds, it must be said, are generally not convinced, and even if they were the cats still have a pane of glass between them and their feathered […]
The Big Idea: Leopoldo Gout
Posted on March 23, 2023 2 Comments
A beloved part of childhood celebrations has a darker past than most people realize — and for author Leopoldo Gout, this is only one secret that the past holds, which came to be part and parcel of how his novel Piñata came to be. LEOPOLDO GOUT: Piñatas can be seen as a symbol of hiding […]
Trying Out A New Recipe: Iced Lemon Loaf
Posted on March 22, 2023 23 Comments
I haven’t baked anything in a while, and it was starting to make me sad, so I said to myself, well why don’t I just bake something? So I did! I chose this lemon loaf for a couple different reasons, the first being that I scrolled past it on Instagram and thought it looked good […]
The Big Idea: Blair Austin
Posted on March 21, 2023 3 Comments
Philip K. Dick once asked if androids dreamed of electric sheep; author Blair Austin wonders about the dreaming habits of another entity entirely in the Big Idea for his first novel, Dioramas. BLAIR AUSTIN: What if the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition (1906-11) fell asleep and began to dream? Since I was young, I’ve struggled with […]
Equinox Sunset, 3/20/23
Posted on March 20, 2023 8 Comments
Welcome to Spring, and longer days. Unless you’re in the Southern Hemisphere. In which case, sorry, shorter days for you. Don’t worry, we’ll switch places in about six months. — JS
Krissy and I Have a Band: Introducing OEMAA and “Parking Space”
Posted on March 19, 2023 61 Comments
During the pandemic, lots of people took on projects to keep themselves busy; mine was building out a music room with an eye toward eventually writing and recording music. Along the way Krissy expressed an interest in bass guitar, so I got her one and told her that she and I would form a band […]
Friday Night Music: MaryLeigh Roohan
Posted on March 17, 2023 6 Comments
I met MaryLeigh Roohan on the JoCo Cruise, and I was told she was a musician and then she and I geeked out over Emmylou Harris, so I endeavored to look her up when I got back on land and had a decent internet. And, wow, is she ever a musician; this song “The High […]
A Big Day For the Church
Posted on March 17, 2023 12 Comments
It might not look like much, but the picture you see here represents an important milestone in the renovation of The Old Church: That chimney has been capped and tuckpointed, and those white slats have sealed up an area where wind and water could get in, transferring both cold and moisture to the interior of […]
Brandon Sanderson and the Scalzi Award
Posted on March 17, 2023 10 Comments
In addition to writing a book or two that you may have heard about, Brandon Sanderson does a number of podcasts, and in this episode of one of them, he talks about many things, including something that is called “The Scalzi Award,” which he, and only he, has. What is the Scalzi Award, and how […]
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