Monthly Archives: April 2023
New Music From Me: “Just Here For the Bassline”
Posted on April 29, 2023 12 Comments
Krissy and Athena are away for the weekend, and between eating donuts and pestering the animals, I played around with my digital audio workstation and came out with something with a pretty killer bassline, with a bunch of other bleepy and bloopy stuff around it. It’s kind of if a New Order bassline and a […]
The Kaiju Preservation Society a Locus Award Finalist + Final Two Days For Hugo Nominating
Posted on April 29, 2023 7 Comments
First things first: Kaiju is a 2023 Locus Award finalist, in the category of Science Fiction Novel. This delights me, both for itself, and for the company it keeps. Here’s the full list of finalists in the category: SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL I’m not going to complain about that peer group of novels and novelists. There […]
An Electric Pause
Posted on April 28, 2023 38 Comments
You may recall that roughly two years ago Krissy and I put in a reservation for a Ford F-150 Lightning, the Ford Company’s first all-electric truck. I was excited about this; aside from being a cool vehicle in itself, it had several features I was keen about, including the ability to power one’s house for […]
Reader Request Week 2023: Get Your Requests In!
Posted on April 28, 2023 121 Comments
It turns out that next week is the first week in a while where I am not traveling and/or am slammed by work, so you know what that means: It’s an excellent time to do the annual Reader Request Week, in which you pick the topics, and I write about them! No topic is too […]
The Big Idea: Julie Nováková, Lucas K. Law and Susan Forest
Posted on April 27, 2023 2 Comments
There’s more to life than humanity, and in the hybrid anthology Life Beyond Us, editors Julie Nováková, Lucas K. Law and Susan Forest dig into the differences, why they matter, and why they should matter to us. JULIE NOVÁKOVÁ, LUCAS K. LAW, SUSAN FOREST: Imagine that the fate of a whole planetary biosphere rests in […]
Two Beauts From The Bradford Public Library Sale
Posted on April 26, 2023 33 Comments
Yesterday, my dad and I went to our local library’s book sale. I was on the hunt for old cookbooks, and started rifling through the adult nonfiction to find some gems. I ended up finding three cookbooks total, one of which I already have, so I only ended up getting two. They were a quarter […]
The Big Idea: Cory Doctorow
Posted on April 26, 2023 13 Comments
For years, Cory Doctorow has carved one of the most idiosyncratic paths in the genre of science fiction and fantasy, combining feats of speculative fiction with a life of political and social advocacy in the tech sphere. So it’s no surprise that his new novel Red Team Blues combines elements of both for something new […]
The Big Idea: Kat Howard
Posted on April 25, 2023 2 Comments
Some stories beg to be written, and sometimes characters do the same. In author Kat Howard’s case, she intentionally left a door open for her character to walk through so she could write her again. Read on to see how this turned into her newest novel, A Sleight of Shadows. KAT HOWARD: Dear Reader: I’m afraid […]
Travel By Bullet Out in Print and eBook From Subterranean Press
Posted on April 25, 2023 10 Comments
If you were waiting for the text-based editions of the third installment of the Dispatcher series, good news: They’re out! Both the signed, limited hardcover edition of the book, and the ebook version, are generally available. As the hardcover edition is both signed and limited, it’s a little more expensive. The ebook version is very […]
Goodbye Sidebar Twitter Feed
Posted on April 25, 2023 18 Comments
A note for the folks who visit the site directly, rather than see these posts via email/RSS feed: For several years I’ve had a sidebar widget that posted last several tweets here; Athena has one too. However, at the end of the month Twitter is severely restricting access to its API, the process that lets […]
Mama Mia! The Super Mario Bros. Movie Sucked!
Posted on April 24, 2023 16 Comments
I had low expectations when I went to the theater to see the The Super Mario Bros. Movie, but somehow it was worse than I was prepared for. Maybe that’s my fault for having at least a shred of hope going in, as I had seen from several trusted sources that it wasn’t actually that […]
What the Scalzi Family Foundation is Up To
Posted on April 24, 2023 11 Comments
You may recall that we’ve created a corporation, the Scalzi Family Foundation, to manage and focus our charitable giving out in the world. If you’re wondering what that might entail, here is our first thing. (For those of you who don’t want to click through, we’re sponsoring the Gen Con Writers’ Symposium this year.) — […]
Still In Hollywood
Posted on April 21, 2023 20 Comments
And you see some very strange things while you are here. Cool! But strange. Welcome to the weekend. Any plans? If you’re in Los Angeles, you should come to the LA Times Festival of Books, where I will be appearing on a panel on Sunday at 1pm. But if you are not going to do […]
My Glamorous Los Angeles Experience
Posted on April 20, 2023 9 Comments
One day this will be me! Move over, Nunnally Johnson! (He was a screenwriter, by the way.) This trip to LA has been fun and interesting and I think fruitful so far, with lots of meetings about some cool things which may or may not ever come to pass, but no matter what people have […]
Close To Home: Speakeasy Miso
Posted on April 19, 2023 19 Comments
For a few months, I’d had my eye on an upcoming restaurant called Speakeasy Miso, as I patiently waited for them to open their doors in downtown Troy. Last week, they held a soft opening to showcase their drinks and izakaya style bar food, and I jumped at the opportunity to finally try them out. […]
Happy Birthday, Krissy
Posted on April 18, 2023 57 Comments
She’s fabulous, but you knew that, and it’s her birthday today, which you may not have known. If you wanted to wish her a happy day, you could do so in the comments below. — JS
The Big Idea: Philip Plait
Posted on April 18, 2023 7 Comments
Here on Earth, we have a pretty decent view of the universe (when it’s not cloudy, or when there’s light pollution, or the sun is out, or…). But the universe looks different depending on where in you stand. Or so Dr. Philip Plait suggests, in his new book, Under Alien Skies. PHILIP PLAIT: As someone […]
Flowers, 4/17/23
Posted on April 17, 2023 7 Comments
They’re for Krissy. Because she’s great, that’s why. But I thought you might like to see them too. — JS
My New EP “How Far From Home Do You Want To Go” Is Out Now
Posted on April 16, 2023 7 Comments
Sunday is not the usual day for releasing new music, but then it’s not like my homemade electronic stylings are a cog in a huge music company machine, it’s just me uploading stuff through Distrokid, so: Hey! Guess what! I have a new EP out today! It’s called How Far From Home Do You Want […]
New Books and ARCs, 4/14/23
Posted on April 14, 2023 18 Comments
The air is warming, the buds are blossoming, and, look! A stack of new books and ARCs has arrived at the Scalzi Compound! What here is catching your eye? Share in the comments. — JS
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying