Posted on March 23, 2022 42 Comments
How is Kaiju a bestseller? Let’s add it up! New York Times: #10 (Combined Print & eBook) USA Today: #19 (This list covers all books sold in the US) Audible: #6 (Audiobook Fiction) Los Angeles Times: #4 (Hardcover Fiction) Indie Booksellers: #10 (Hardcover Fiction) Amazon: #15 (Fiction, across all formats) You know what? This is […]
Posted on November 15, 2022 12 Comments
The headline pretty much sums it up. I’m pleased on both counts. It’s nice to be appreciated here in the bottom half of 2022. That said, if you would like to vote for Kaiju for in the Goodreads Choice Awards (or for any other nominee, if in fact you prefer them better, although if you […]
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 […]
Posted on August 11, 2022 13 Comments
And, well, that’s pretty damn cool. Here’s the whole ballot of finalists, and at the bottom of that I’ll put in a link so you can go vote for whomever you like. 1. Best Science Fiction NovelLeviathan Falls by James S.A. CoreyThe Kaiju Preservation Society by John ScalziGoliath: A Novel by Tochi OnyebuchiYou Sexy Thing by Cat RamboShards of […]
Posted on February 7, 2023 5 Comments
This is a small thing but worth noting: Inasmuch as Bookshop.org is taking over sales for Indiebound.org starting March 1, I’m going ahead and making Bookshop.org one of the default bookseller links for the Big Idea pieces, along with Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Powell’s. Existing Indiebound links will stay in place (because I am […]
Posted on May 26, 2023 3 Comments
It’s a special talent to write in a language that you’ve learned along the way. In this Big Idea for author Yukimi Ogawa’s new collection of short stories, Like Smoke, Like Light, she explains why this choice was an essential one for her. YUKIMI OGAWA: Years ago, somewhere on the internet, I saw someone remark […]
Posted on January 24, 2023 43 Comments
I, like many others, have been watching The Last of Us on HBO Max. I have also been watching it with subtitles, and I’m shocked at how garbage they are. You would think that such a huge, expensive, and widely-anticipated show would cater better to its subtitle-using audience, but you’d be severely disappointed. What do I […]
Posted on November 28, 2022 95 Comments
Welcome to the first day of the Whatever Shopping Guide 2022 — 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 […]
Posted on November 3, 2022
Another year, another anthology: doesn’t editor and author Lavie Tidhar have other things to do with his time? No! (Well, maybe, but not to the exclusion of this.) Turns out, he’s on a mission, and that mission has resulted in The Best of World SF: Volume 2. Here’s Tidhar to explain. LAVIE TIDHAR: The Best […]
Posted on February 15, 2023 5 Comments
This Big Idea, for Jane Yolen’s new book The Scarlet Circus, tangentially involves me! In, I must admit, pretty flattering way. JANE YOLEN: I have loved John Scalzi, his work, and his Big Idea column for many years. I even wrote a bunch of stuff for him along the way. But in the manner of fantasy […]
Posted on October 19, 2022 4 Comments
There are many ways in which small indie presses and large traditional presses differ, and in this Big Idea for the anthology Farther Reefs, co-editor J.S. Fields identifies one that you might not expect. What’s this difference? Read on! J. S. FIELDS: Lesbians. Okay wait. Hear me out. As someone who writes in both traditional […]
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 […]
Posted on February 23, 2023 59 Comments
Technically yes, as this New York Times story about people flooding science fiction magazines with AI-generated story submissions makes evident. But realistically, no, because all these generated stories are kinda trash, and anyway, it’s not the AI that’s flooding the submissions pile with crap, it’s people — scamsters looking for a quick shot of money, […]
Posted on May 11, 2023 11 Comments
Cooking is for everyone, and Jules Sherred is reminding everyone of that with his new book Crip Up the Kitchen: Tools, Tips and Recipes for the Disabled Cook, which aims to help make the activity more accessible to those who might have previously felt excluded from it. JULES SHERRED: If you were to ask my […]
Posted on November 29, 2021 94 Comments
Welcome to the first day of the Whatever Shopping Guide 2021 — 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 […]
Posted on March 15, 2022 34 Comments
Finally! My newest book, The Kaiju Preservation Society, is out and in the world (or at least, in the US and Canada, the UK edition comes out on Thursday). It’s available in Hardcover and eBook, and also in Audio, read by Wil Wheaton. You can get it at your local bookseller, or online: Amazon|Barnes & […]
Posted on February 23, 2023 7 Comments
They say good things come to those who wait. They also, however, say that the waiting is the hardest part. In both cases, Susan McDonough-Wachtman has reason to understand each aphorism, and in this Big Idea for the aptly-named Snail’s Pace, she explains why. SUSAN McDONOUGH-WACHTMAN: I started writing Snail’s Pace in 1984. 1984! I […]
Posted on July 18, 2022 6 Comments
I was curious about getting my musical compositions onto streaming services, and I was recommended DistroKid to do this — for a flat annual fee they will get your music up onto just about every service that streams music. I went ahead and used my most recent musical track (now subtitled “The Vince Clarke Fan […]
Posted on June 6, 2022 2 Comments
Today’s Big Idea is Super-Sized, because author Dave Creek has not just one, but two, new books out in the world, released simultaneously. How did this happen and how do his books — Watcher of the Skies and Chanda’s Homecoming — relate to each other? Dave is here to give you all the details about […]
Posted on December 1, 2022 9 Comments
Author Leah Vernon knows something about persistence, as this Big Idea about the years-long struggle to publish the story that would become The Union tells you. What is the story that motivated her through all this time? Read on to discover. LEAH VERNON: What would you do with boundless privilege? The kind of privilege that […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying