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.
January 31, 2011 · 976 words
State of Denial
I’ve been watching the Egyptian revolution with more than the usual amount of attention, in part because it’s an absolutely riveting drama, in part to find out whether it’s following the script for Internet-fueled people-power revolutions provided by my forthcoming novel Deep State. The drama remains absorbing, and the
Read entry →January 25, 2011 · 106 words
Diversions
The work is stacking up here at Wordy World, so I’ve decided to entertain you simply by linking to cool stuff. (This classic web log approach seems to work well for Cory Doctorow and his friends.) Item #1 features the belated release of NASA’s (and the world’s) first ultra-thin solar sail. Item #2 tells you […]
Read entry →January 21, 2011 · 57 words
Suiting
The NY Times has created a slide show of famous American space suits, featuring those worn by John Glenn, Buzz Aldrin, and Gus Grissom. Check out the very suit that Alan Shepard pissed in! (No visible effects.) The Smithsonian will send the suits on a traveling expedition this year, as detailed in this related article.
Read entry →January 20, 2011 · 697 words
Tweeple Power
It’s hard to find out what’s happening in Tunisia. I mean, some kinda revolution, okay. But for a revolution that’s supposed to be supported, maybe even created, by social media, it’s actually rather difficult to find online. What’s clear is that, whatever’s happening, Western media missed yet another crucial story. Th
Read entry →January 14, 2011 · 521 words
Official Report: Duct Tape Now Less Awesome
More news from the World o’ Science. NASA has announced that observations from the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope show that thunderstorms generate antimatter. Scientists long have suspected TGFs [Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flash] arise from the strong electric fields near the tops of thunderstorms. Under the right conditio
Read entry →January 11, 2011 · 87 words
Taos Toolbox
It occurs to me that in the last year, three of my former Taos Toolbox students sold novels. (In fact, one sale wasn’t just a novel, it was a whole trilogy.) While I can’t guarantee that every Toolbox graduate will sell a novel, I think the data support the notion that it will increase your […]
Read entry →January 11, 2011 · 46 words
Modest Little Stir-Fry
Tonight I made bami goreng— pork, chicken, and prawns cooked with bok choy, scallions, celery, and garlic. Served on noodles, with a cheerful little fried egg on top. It’s been decades (at least) since this district had an Indonesian restaurant— time for someone to open one!
Read entry →January 8, 2011 · 697 words
Satan’s Screen Time
We went to see The King’s Speech, which was quite good even though there were no surprises, because I’d seem the same story dramatized in a television movie a couple years ago. The story was the same, but the climactic scene was different: in the TV movie, the big scene was George VI’s first speech […]
Read entry →January 5, 2011 · 115 words
Coup
My 1985 novel Knight Moves, translated into French as Le Coup du Cavalier, is now available for your reading plaisir. It’s also gathered an extremely flattering review, which (insofar as I can understand it at all) seems to suggest that the novel possessed the literary qualities of Robert Silverberg mingled with the do
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