Monthly Archives: November 2023
The Big Idea: Felicia Day
Posted on November 30, 2023 12 Comments
As children, we often dream of being a special one, even The Chosen One — but as a practical matter, how would being that special actually be? Especially if life threw you some curveballs on the way to Chosenhood? It’s a thought Felicia Day has considered, in her life, and in her new audio drama, […]
Whatever Holiday Gift Guide 2023, Day Four: Fan Favorites!
Posted on November 30, 2023 39 Comments
For the first three days of the Whatever Gift Guide 2023, We’ve had authors and creators tell you about their work. Today is different: Today is Fan Favorites day, in which fans, admirers and satisfied customers share with you a few of their favorite things — and you can share some of your favorite things as […]
Whatever Holiday Gift Guide 2023, Day Three: Arts, Crafts, Music and More
Posted on November 29, 2023 72 Comments
The Whatever Holiday Gift Guide 2023 continues, and today we move away from books and focus on other gifts and crafts — which you can take to mean just about any other sort of thing a creative person might make: Music, art, knitting, jewelry, artisan foodstuffs and so on. These can be great, unique gifts for special folks […]
New Music: Study of Decay I
Posted on November 28, 2023 2 Comments
Hey, feel like you could use a few minutes of relentless industrial droning? Well, then, have I got a track for you! It started off much more chipper and in a different key entirely, but little by little it ended up here. I guess I’m in that kind of mood musically, as November grinds down […]
The Big Idea: Paige E. Ewing
Posted on November 28, 2023 1 Comment
Fayetteville may not have been on your radar as a hotbed of fae activity, but as Paige E. Ewing is here to tell you, it’s the place to be for her novel, Explosive Chemistry. PAIGE E. EWING: When Solifu, the impossibly ancient Egyptian mystic, held her tiny spider-kin daughter in her arms, she knew she […]
Whatever Holiday Gift Guide 2023, Day Two: Non-Traditionally Published Books
Posted on November 28, 2023 240 Comments
Today is Day Two of the Whatever Holiday Gift Guide 2023, and today the focus is on Non-Traditionally Published Books: Self-published works, electronically-exclusive books, books from micro presses, books released outside the usual environs of the publishing world, and so on. Hey, I put my first novel up on this very Web site years ago and told people to […]
Whatever Holiday Gift Guide 2023, Day One: Traditionally Published Books
Posted on November 27, 2023 98 Comments
Welcome to the first day of the Whatever Shopping Guide 2023 — Our way of helping you folks learn about cool creative gifts for the holidays, straight from the folks who have created them. Today’s featured products are traditionally published books (including graphic novels and audiobooks); that is, books put out by publishers who ship books to stores […]
O Captain, My Captain
Posted on November 26, 2023 16 Comments
I deejayed a dance at a Star Trek-themed convention over the weekend. I set up my DJ stuff on the main stage of the convention, which, naturally enough, had a starship bridge on it. Krissy came up and sat in the captain’s chair, and, may I say, it was a natural fit for her. I […]
Whatever 2023 Holiday Gift Guide Starts Monday!
Posted on November 24, 2023 20 Comments
Every year as the holiday season begins I run a gift guide for the holidays, and over the years it’s been quite successful: Lots of people have found out about excellent books and crafts and charities and what have you, making for excellent gift-giving opportunities during the holiday season. I’ve decided to do it again this […]
Announcing the John Scalzi Humble Book Bundle, Benefitting First Book
Posted on November 23, 2023 26 Comments
Humble Bundle is an organization that bundles up things like video games and books and other stuff that people like to have, offers them pretty cheaply, in various tiers, and then donates a portion of the proceeds to charitable organizations. A couple of months ago, Tor approached me about doing a Humble Bundle project with […]
The Existential Longing for Walkies, 11/23/23
Posted on November 23, 2023 11 Comments
When you really want to go outside and run around, but your human is busy, like, staring into that incomprehensible glowing rectangle of hers. Oh! The suffering! Yes, I realize this is the second “dog walk”-themed photo this week. But look at the pathos here! I couldn’t resist. Here in the US it is Thanksgiving, […]
The Big Idea: Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
Posted on November 22, 2023 4 Comments
Some writers have a “thing” – a niche, a trick, or a trope that they make their own. And then some other writers… wander. In this Big Idea for Being Michael Swanwick, a non-fiction exploration into the life and works of the multiple-award-winning author, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro explains how Swanwick’s thematic diversity is, indeed, his thing. […]
Why There’s No New Scalzi Novel Next Year, Why You’ll Get Two New Scalzi Novels in 2025, and What I’ll Be Up To in 2024
Posted on November 21, 2023 59 Comments
Let’s address that first thing first: Yes, I am currently writing a novel! Also, that novel will not be out in 2024. The reason is actually pretty simple: The date in 2024 that Tor had available for my book to come out was the first Tuesday in November. Which, if you check your calendar, is […]
The Big Idea: Naomi Kritzer
Posted on November 21, 2023 10 Comments
How is the ocean like space? Naomi Kritzer knows, and in her new novel, Liberty’s Daughter, she uses those similarities to the advantage of her tale – and for the adventure her protagonist finds herself on. NAOMI KRITZER: Liberty’s Daughter takes place on a seastead – a collection of micronations in human-made structures floating in […]
Walk? Walk!
Posted on November 21, 2023 12 Comments
Someone is excited about the possibility of a long walk at the local nature preserve! Can you guess who it is? The answer may surprise you! — JS
The Big Idea: M V Melcer
Posted on November 20, 2023 4 Comments
Do you like puzzles? M V Melcer has puzzles for you – in space, no less – and a reason for the protagonist in Refractions to go literally lightyears from home to figure them out. MV MELCER: I’ve always been drawn to puzzles, to books that keep you guessing what’s really going on, that make […]
Music To Close Out the Work Week
Posted on November 17, 2023 10 Comments
I had traveling to do today, which kept me from updating earlier. To make up for it, please accept this really lovely traditional song, sung by boygenius, who are accompanied by Ye Vagabonds, in honor of Sinead O’Connor. It’s a stunner. Good night, and joy be with you all. — JS
Yup, Done With the Former Twitter
Posted on November 16, 2023 78 Comments
Elon Musk, the most unfathomably insecure and pathetic billionaire the world has ever seen, has gone mask-off antisemite, and that means that while I had already reduced my participation on the former Twitter, now I’m off it entirely. I’m keeping the account so that no one can swoop in and take a screenname that’s been […]
The Big Idea: Marie Brennan
Posted on November 16, 2023 8 Comments
When history and myth provide you a tale that is… unsatisfying, what is one to do? If one is Marie Brennan, and the story is The Waking of Angantyr, the answer is: reimagine. MARIE BRENNAN: I wanted the story I was promised. When I was a senior in college and working on my thesis, I […]
A Somewhat Belated Annual Unsolicited Endorsement of WordPress
Posted on November 15, 2023 13 Comments
Usually in the second week of October I make mention that I use WordPress and that I find it extremely simple to use, easy to manage and is a thing that I can endorse for anyone who is looking to have their own space here on the Internet. However, this October I was traveling all […]
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