Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 207 entries, all of them here in full.
June 28, 2011 · 558 words
Low-tech High Tech
Via Chris Mills, it’s the tale of FabFi’s contribution to the movement for Internet freedom sponsored by, among other things, the American government. The American effort, revealed in dozens of interviews, planning documents and classified diplomatic cables obtained by The New York Times, ranges in scale, cost and soph
Read entry →June 27, 2011 · 88 words
Ebook Updates
All three Maijstral books have been uploaded to Smashwords. Smashwords pretty much requires that books be submitted in Microsoft Word, a program I’ve never used because it was designed by aliens intent on world conquest. But I’m better at Word by now, and I’m happy to report that my Smashwords .epub formats are now [&h
Read entry →June 21, 2011 · 310 words
Maijstral At Last!
Okay, kiddies, the ebook versions of the Maijstral books are online! The Kindle editions of The Crown Jewels may be found hereabouts, and Rock of Ages over in this direction. (For some reason the middle book, House of Shards, is held up “for review” at Amazon, and has been for days now. Which to […]
Read entry →June 20, 2011 · 1,850 words
Maijstral (Comedy is Hard)
I thought I’d write down some thoughts on the Maijstral books, in anticipation of their imminent release in e-formats. (And first of all, the matter of pronunciation. I pronounce it My-STRAHL. You are, however, welcome to pronounce the protagonist’s name any way you like. I’ll know who you’re talking about.) I wrote th
Read entry →June 19, 2011 · 137 words
Dad’s Day
So here it is Father’s Day. And here’s my dad, a picture taken on a fishing trip before I was born. What to say about the man who nurtured me, supported me, worked hard to keep food on the table, kept me out of trouble, and helped to knock down Hitler? My dad wasn’t a […]
Read entry →June 19, 2011 · 122 words
Born to Fly
So I’m bummed by the death of Clarence Clemons last night, and I thought I’d post a tribute video. I found quite a number of videos of Clarence doing just his solo from “Jungleland,” which is justly famous, but they were just the solo, and I hate cutting up a song. So here’s the whole […]
Read entry →June 19, 2011 · 941 words
Farewell Fermor
I see from the papers that Patrick Leigh Fermor (DSO, OBE, COP, Chevalier Ordre des Arts et Lettres, etc.) has died, alas before I got a chance to track him down and share a bottle of ouzo with him. (He couldn’t wait, I suppose. He was 96.) I have written elsewhere about his marvelous memoir […]
Read entry →June 14, 2011 · 276 words
Free At Last
Let it not be said that we are not living in a free and open society. After all, the National Security Agency just declassified a 202-year-old book on cryptography. (I didn’t know the NSA was around 202 years ago to classify the book in the first place!) In addition to the cryptography text, the NSA […]
Read entry →June 13, 2011 · 41 words
The Critics are Unanimous! (Pretty Much . . . )
The latest Locus has not one but two reviews of Deep State. (The book appeared four months ago, but what the hell, I’ll take reviews where I find them.) Fortunately, one of the reviews is available online. Check it out.
Read entry →June 13, 2011 · 130 words
Write-a-Thon
Want to write? Want to encourage someone else to write? You can do one or both of these at the Clarion Write-a-Thon, which begins on June 26! You can agree to sponsor a writer and pay by the word! You can be a writer, and receive encouragement from your sponsor! Or you could both write […]
Read entry →