Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 272 entries, all of them here in full.
May 29, 2009 · 105 words
Quack As Loud As You Like, Mister Duck! No One Can Hear You!
The recent California Supreme Court ruling recognizes all the gay marriages that took place in California during the period in which they were legal, and also legalizes any other damn thing that gay people want to do except call it “marriage.” This has set me to fantasizing about Pat Robertson. (Hey, it was illegal bef
Read entry →May 28, 2009 · 46 words
Pleasing Surprise of the Week
Hey! Jo Walton, author of the excellent Small Change alternate histories, who had previously said some nice things about me, now says some nice things about Dread Empire’s Fall. When a writer with Walton’s talent says I’m good, I just get all squishy inside.
Read entry →May 27, 2009 · 448 words
Baad Movie Digest, Volume One
Oh my. It’s a plot summary of the Turkish Star Wars. . . . My next best guess is that they’re hit by lasers since they both fall down when a man in armor shows up. Turkish special effects are not what you’d call an exact art, and here the picture is severely scratched up, […]
Read entry →May 27, 2009 · 91 words
Portrait of the Youngster as an Artist
I was looking through some old photos the other day and found this picture of me, circa 1984. Looking at the image, I recognized the Student Union building at Texas A&M before I noticed the AggieCon badge on my lapel. I was smack in the middle of writing Hardwired when this photo was taken. The […]
Read entry →May 27, 2009 · 129 words
The Terror. The Terror.
I was visiting yesterday with some friends, and one of them put on the first ten minutes of Team America: World Police. (For those who haven’t seen it, the first ten minutes are the brilliant part of the movie, and after that it’s just so-so, except for Kim Jong Il’s plaintive little song halfway through.)Imagine [&hel
Read entry →May 23, 2009 · 548 words
Reviews Too Late: Twilight
Urban romantic fantasy isn’t really my metier, but I thought I’d catch Twilight on pay per view and check what the zeitgeist has been up to while I wasn’t looking.Filmed in Pale-O-Vision, Twilight was actually a pretty good movie, as far as that goes. (I mean, it is what it is, you’re not going to […]
Read entry →May 21, 2009 · 437 words
Not Girly In Singapore!
This Is Not a Game has garnered a great review from the Straits Times, Singapore’s foremost newspaper! While all of this is interesting, without strong characters and an engaging plot, This is Not a Game would be nothing but another bit of ‘fan fiction’ about the joys of living online. Instead, Williams’ novel is punch
Read entry →May 21, 2009 · 102 words
Cell Tower . . . Tree . . . Thing
Kathy and I were driving through Albuquerque the other day and we saw this . . . object . . . on the horizon. “What is that?” Kathy asked in bewilderment. “Is that a Norway spruce?” No, it wasn’t. It was a cell phone tower cleverly disguised as a Norway spruce. Kudos to whoever thought […]
Read entry →May 19, 2009 · 447 words
Clarkson v Honda
Some say that Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson is a swaggering sexist lout. Some say that he’s a smug, anti-environmentalist, gas-guzzling enemy of the ozone layer. All we know is that he’s done a wonderfully savage review of the new Honda hybrid Insight . . . It’s terrible. Biblically terrible. Possibly the worst new car mo
Read entry →May 19, 2009 · 121 words
Real Science
The National Institute of Health, following the instructions of President O, have released their new guidelines for stem cell research.We are now nearing the end of the two-week comment period. Despite the new guidelines being rather on the timid side of the political spectrum, various conservative religious organizati
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