Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 181 entries, all of them here in full.
February 21, 2013 · 213 words
More Notches on the Ol’ Toolbox
The Science Fiction Writers of America have announced the Nebula nominees for this year, and I’m excited! Not because I’m nominated, because due to the usual inexplicable series of errors I haven’t been. (I await the recount. Or failing that, cosmic justice. ) But Taos Toolbox has reason to be proud! Saladin Ahmed, who
Read entry →February 19, 2013 · 1,089 words
And Speaking of Fiction
So over in the New Republic, of all places, Ian McEwan (“One of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945”) asks what happens when a novelist loses his faith in fiction. And I found myself nodding in agreement as I read along.. Novels? I don’t know how or where to suspend my disbelief. What imaginary Henry […]
Read entry →February 19, 2013 · 276 words
Eyeballs. Still Sucking.
Still blind. Kinda. Off and on. This morning I went to my regular eye doc, and he opined that my problem was the result of cells being knocked off the “flaps” that were cut in the surface of my eyes in order to lase the corneas underneath. My flaps are lacking cells, therefore there is […]
Read entry →February 15, 2013 · 236 words
Blinded By The Light
Okay, making this brief . . . Yesterday, buoyed by stories of people having the operation and leaving with perfect vision, I had Lasik to correct my vision problems. Let’s just say it didn’t go as well as I could have hoped. I have become so sensitive to light that, pretty much, I can’t see. […]
Read entry →February 8, 2013 · 179 words
Why, It’s Clarion!
Did I forget to mention Clarion? I was probably in Australia when the application period began for this granddaddy of all science fiction workshops, and I neglected to mention it to you. At any rate, the application period is still ongoing, so you can still get in your application, which of course you will want [&helli
Read entry →February 7, 2013 · 156 words
Nupdate!
No updates here! Nupdate! It’s rare that a post of mine generates such unanimity, but it looks as if the question I asked in my last post has been answered. The Rift will therefore hit the net unaltered, except for the usual tweaks and small improvements. People reading the novel will experience an alternative universe
Read entry →February 5, 2013 · 702 words
Revised? Updated?
As you all surely have noticed, not least because I keep nagging you about it, I’m reissuing my backlist in ebook form. I have only two books left, one last privateer book and The Rift. (Plus, of course, a whole lot of short fiction.) The privateer book just awaits sufficient time to format it and […]
Read entry →February 4, 2013 · 93 words
Objective Confirmation of My General Swellitude
Every single thing I published in 2012 ended up on Locus magazine’s recommended reading list. Both of them! Yes! You may consider this objective confirmation of the fact that I’m just as swell as I think I am! And just in case it slipped your mind what I published last year, here they are, along […]
Read entry →February 1, 2013 · 473 words
Mindermast
I see that Moriarty has raised his hoary head in yet another Sherlock Holmes adaptation, and that therefore the series is almost certain to go to go off the rails. A pity, because I was getting to like it. It’s all very well to do Sherlock Holmes, even modern adaptations of Sherlock Holmes. (My […]
Read entry →January 31, 2013 · 854 words
Reviews Too Late: Zero Dark Thirty
Jessica Chastain has two movies in the theaters at this moment. Mama is a horror film, and Zero Dark Thirty isn’t. Without having seen the first, I suspect the second film is far, far scarier. It’s fortunate that I heard a lot about this movie before I saw it. I knew to be prepared for grueling torture […]
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