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An Appropriate Cover: “With Or Without You”

Fun fact: Bono, the lead singer of U2, has the same birthday as me: Today, May 10. So I thought it might be fun to essay one of his band’s more famous songs. It’s not going to replace the original, to be sure, but I enjoyed putting it together. Additionally, a thing I learned today: […]

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54

Well, I’m no longer in my “early fifties,” I’m smack dab in the middle of them, and of middle age. And you know what? So far, at least, my fifties have been terrific. I’m very definitely in the part of my life where I am comfortable with who I am and what I’ve done with […]

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Cover Reveal: Starter Villain

Tor Books has a history of giving my novels some pretty terrific covers, and, hey, guess what? They’ve done it again! Please enjoy the cover of Starter Villain, featuring, as it does, a tremendous executive-level cat. And, yes, cats are integral to the plot of the novel. How? You’ll have to read the book to […]

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Reader Request Week 2023 #10: Short Bits, Part Two

More short answers to pressing questions! Let’s get right to it: Theorboast: I would love to see you rate some unusual musical instruments for suitability in your band. Theorbo? Theremin? Hurdy-gurdy? Duduk and tar? As it happens I do own a theremin, and also some other vaguely unusual musical instruments such as an Omnichord, a […]

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Reader Request Week 2023 #9: Short Bits, Part One

And now, short answers to some of the questions that I otherwise did not get to this year: Karen A. Wyle: What does it mean to retire from self-employment? Is there any purpose in declaring, to oneself or others, that one is Retired? If you stop working for a living, and don’t plan to start […]

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Reader Request Week 2023 #8: The British Head of State

Just in time for tomorrow’s coronation, this question from Miles B: I’m British, and I’m curious what you (Americans in general, but obviously you in particular) make of the way we determine our head of state? For those of you who might be unclear about this, the head of state of the United Kingdom is […]

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Reader Request Week 2023 #7: Money Among the Generations

David Goldfarb asks: Something that occurred to me to wonder about, a while ago: as someone who grew up poor, how do you feel about your daughter’s attitude towards money? I’ve seen posts from her where she talks in a fairly casual way about spending what to me (also upper middle class! pretty close to […]

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Reader Request Week 2023 #6: An Update On the Church

Several folks in the request thread have asked for an update on the church, with some additional information about what it takes to renew and refurb an old building like this into something useable. As it happens, today we got another milestone in its refurbishment under our belts, so it’s a fine time to catch […]

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Reader Request Week 2023 #5: That Big Damn Contract, Revisited

Will Glass wants to know: How’s the Big Damn Contract going? Hard to believe it’s been 8 years. Not that any of this is our business of course, but since you’ve talked about it a fair amount, your avid readers are curious. Are you satisfied with the deal you got? From Tor’s perspective are they […]

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I’m the Guest of Honor at the 2023 Budapest International Book Festival

For those of you who can’t read Hungarian, which admittedly includes me, this is what the article screenshot above says, via Google Translate: John Scalzi will be the guest of honor at this year’s Book FestivalThe Budapest International Book Festival, which is now being held for the 28th time, is a noted event of the […]

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Reader Request Week 2023 #4: My Memory

Granny Roberta says: I had a really good question a while back but I forgot to write it down. (Remembering the actual question was never an option.) So how’s YOUR memory holding up? As far as I can recall, it’s about as good as it ever was, which is to say, not particularly good or […]

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Reader Request Week 2023 #3: Our Giant Lawn

–E asks: You have this giant lawn. I don’t get the sense you do much more than mow it (or rather, Krissy mows it). What do you use your giant yard for? Throwing balls for the dog, I’m sure, and taking photographs of yourself in dresses, but do you ever picnic in your yard? Did […]

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Reader Request Week 2023 #2: The Future of Social Media

Stars & Arrow asks: I’m curious about your thoughts on the future of social media, beyond the current doom-spiral of Twitter and the struggle to figure out a replacement for that. I keep thinking of all the ways social media has been used in the past, particularly in countries where speech is more limited, and […]

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Reader Request Week 2023 #1: The Fallout From Abortion Restrictions

Time to begin this year’s Reader Request Week, and why not start on an absolutely-non-controversial-in-any-way topic, suggested by LadyCat: Quick sum up: What are your thoughts about your family, specifically your wife and daughter, remaining in Ohio for the long term due to its strict limits on abortion and the spillover from this into other […]

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New Music From Me: “Just Here For the Bassline”

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 […]

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The Kaiju Preservation Society a Locus Award Finalist + Final Two Days For Hugo Nominating

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 […]

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