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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 […]
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
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
“Researcher Wanted” Update
Posted on April 14, 2023 6 Comments
Ten days ago I posted a freelance job listing for a researcher and I wanted to update everyone on the status of things there. One, wow, I got a huge response and nearly 200 applicants, nearly all of whom (at a rough first glance) are ridiculously qualified. This is terrific and I thank everyone who […]
A Small But Important Change to the Big Idea
Posted on April 12, 2023 12 Comments
If you read the Big Idea posts — and you should! — you’ll know at the end of each post there is the post-essay informational part, which includes links to booksellers, excerpts from the book, and then links to the author’s personal site and Twitter presence. Well, starting today, I’m making a change to that […]
In Which I Praise Accountants
Posted on April 11, 2023 45 Comments
Got back our taxes from the accountant today. This year’s taxes are, to put it charitably, a tangle: not only my usual hodgepodge of royalty and option statements, but also matters attending to the church and its renovation, our rental property, interest and investments, and a bunch of other stuff that, were I trying to […]
How To Look Haughty, Featuring Spice the Cat
Posted on April 10, 2023 13 Comments
I mean, just look at that expression. It says “It doesn’t matter to me whether you live, or are thrown screaming into a thresher,” and it says it with style. Take notes, people. This is how it’s done. — JS
How I Will Survive the AI Revolution
Posted on April 9, 2023 56 Comments
I asked the Bing AI to write a paragraph about the Easter Bunny in my style. This is what it wrote, and then this is the conversation we had afterward. Bing: Here is a paragraph I wrote in the style of John Scalzi about the Easter Bunny: The Easter Bunny was not amused. He had […]
Good Music for a Good Friday
Posted on April 7, 2023 2 Comments
From the band boygenius, whose new album The Record is getting all the accolades, and deservedly so; it’s my favorite album of the year so far. Enjoy, and have a reflective and worthwhile Good Friday and/or Passover or final day of the work week, depending. — JS
Springtime in New York
Posted on April 6, 2023 22 Comments
It’s pretty all right, I guess. I’m in town for an event tomorrow (4/7) at the City Winery (details here, if you haven’t seen me write about it here already), and I got in a day early to get situated and to visit around the town. As some of you may know, certain politicians from […]
Working Through the Suck, Musically Speaking
Posted on April 5, 2023 5 Comments
I’ve mentioned before that when it comes to making music and using the stuff for doing that on the computer, I am still at a stage that I would consider “enthusiastic amateur.” This is to say, I like playing with all the toys that I’ve accrued, but my knowledge of how they all work is […]
Wanted: Researcher. Details Below.
Posted on April 4, 2023 43 Comments
I’m looking for a freelance researcher to help me generate some data for my upcoming novel. The data I require will be (to put it mildly) somewhat esoteric but absolutely needs to be rooted in physics and other scientific knowledge that we already know today. The researcher will need some experience in, be able to […]
Reminder: I’m in New York This Friday for the Cabinet of Wonders
Posted on April 4, 2023 5 Comments
I’m going to be performing at Wesley Stace’s Cabinet of Wonders alongside Chris Collingwood (Fountains of Wayne), Dave Hill, Bill Janovitz (Buffalo Tom), Vicki Peterson (The Bangles), Queen Esther, Kim Richey and of course Wesley Stace himself. Most of them will be performing music; I will be doing a reading of something funny. We’ll be […]
New Music: How Far From Home Do You Want To Go
Posted on April 1, 2023 3 Comments
More space-y electronica from me, for you. Not just you, mind you. For anyone! But also, you. Enjoy. (PS: This one rewards headphones) — JS
Trump Indicted and What That Means
Posted on March 31, 2023 46 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. […]
Reader Participation Thread: Music That Made You Stop
Posted on March 30, 2023 126 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? […]
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
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying