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.
March 16, 2011 · 373 words
Meanwhile, From Japan . . .
Meanwhile we have via Jeff Kooistra a complaint from Japan about the way foreign media is handling the earthquake story. . . . Then my email started going crazy. People from all over the world were writing to see where I was and was I safe. I started to reply but there were too many […]
Read entry →March 15, 2011 · 125 words
Corpse-Eaters
I’ve started getting spam from organizations claiming to be charities engaged in helping the people of Japan. They’re lying, of course. They’ll keep the money and laugh at you while dancing on the corpses of the tsunami’s victims. I’m sure that everyone reading this knows enough to treat this sort of solicitation with
Read entry →March 11, 2011 · 95 words
Science Fiction Bagpipe, Illustrated
So the artist Ward Shelley has achieved a degree of celebrity in our tribe through his painting, in which he managed to encapsulate the history of science fiction in a graphic that seems to otherwise depict a couple of Lovecraft monsters having sex. Or maybe it’s a bagpipe turned inside-out. But I’d like to point [&hel
Read entry →March 8, 2011 · 441 words
Trendspotting
One interesting thing I discovered from looking at my financial data this year is that in 2010 I earned far more in foreign sales than in any other category. I could make a decent, if not spectacular, living writing just for translation into other languages. It would spare me all the weird second-guessing that comes [&
Read entry →March 7, 2011 · 731 words
Reviews Too Late: the IRS Edition
Once again I’ve been slogging through hundreds of inadequately-labeled bits of paper in an effort to get my taxes in good enough shape for the accountant to make sense of them. And once again, I’ve been watching action films in order to make the time pass, if not more quickly, at least with more entertaining […]
Read entry →March 4, 2011 · 40 words
Meanwhile, in a Galaxy Some Distance From Here . . .
I am interviewed again! But this time the questions are all about Destiny’s Way, the Star Wars novel I wrote about ten years ago. Those unfamiliar with the Star Wars Expanded Universe are forgiven, in advance, for being bewildered.
Read entry →March 4, 2011 · 71 words
Another Fine Signing
I’ll be at a signing at Page One in Albuquerque this coming Saturday, beginning at 2:30. Firstly, I’ll be part of a crowd of fine writers signing the new Saberhagen-themed anthology Golden Reflections. On hand will be Daniel Abraham, Robert Vardeman, John Maddox Roberts, and Jane Lindskold. Secondly, I’ll be signing (a
Read entry →March 4, 2011 · 107 words
“I, for one, welcome our new robot overl—- CHOMP!”
Two signs of the coming Robot Apocalypse. First (via Robert) the US Navy has issued a proposal calling for scientists to create: ” . . . swarms of little semi-autonomous machines that can team up to manufacture complex objects (including, presumably, more robots). “That’s right, the only thing scarier than a swarm of i
Read entry →March 1, 2011 · 698 words
Reviews Too Late: Damages
Season One of Damages is the best first season of dramatic television since Season One of Veronica Mars. Which, if you know my tastes, is really saying something. I’ve been obsessively watching this three-year-old series courtesy of Netflix. It apparently never quite found an audience on FX, and has recently moved to a
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