Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 3,174 entries, all of them here in full.
June 9, 2011 · 49 words
Freakish Fun
My good friend Melinda Snodgrass has a new Wild Cards story up on Tor.com. You can read it for free. Consider it an introduction to the newly-released Wild Cards anthology, Fort Freak, tales of the mean alternate streets of New York, sixty-odd years after the Wild Cards outbreak. Enjoy.
Read entry →June 6, 2011 · 1,007 words
The Big Finish
I just finished playing Dragon Age: Origins, the console game, to its conclusion. For the fifth time. While I like this game a great deal— enough to go through the sixty or so hours of gameplay no less than five times— it must be said that I truly hate the finale. It’s a brutal slogfest […]
Read entry →June 6, 2011 · 251 words
Mischief of the Moment
Just a few notes from odd corners of the world press. You’d think that the, with the failed rapture a couple weeks ago, the world’s quota of religious silliness has been filled, but apparently not. The Vatican has closed the 1700-year-old Monastery of Santa Croce after “abuses of a liturgical and economical nature,” wh
Read entry →June 2, 2011 · 211 words
Jewel In My Crown
Behold the new cover for the upcoming ebook release of The Crown Jewels. I slapped it together myself with Photoshop and a piece of stock art. Not bad, if I do say so myself. And it achieves the principal objective of an ebook cover, which is to remain legible when reduced to postage-stamp size. I […]
Read entry →May 31, 2011 · 295 words
Aristoi Remembered
The fine writer Jo Walton has written an equally fine analysis of Aristoi on the Tor.com blog. It’s not a rave filled with nothing but praise, but that’s jake with me. It’s a great analysis of what in the book works, and what doesn’t, for Jo Walton— and since she’s a very smart reader, that’s […]
Read entry →May 26, 2011 · 352 words
Royal Blood
Important UPDATE below: According to a new book by Richard Sugg, the British royal family regularly dined on human flesh. As well as bones, skin, and internal organs. A new book on medicinal cannibalism has revealed that possibly as recently as the end of the 18th century British royalty swallowed parts of the human bo
Read entry →May 26, 2011 · 114 words
Crowdsource Success!
I know I’ve reached the big time when I see my name in Techdirt. So helloooo, all you people out there! Buy my books! Thanks to you lovely readers, I now have some excellent, readable files of Days of Atonement, Angel Station, and Knight Moves. These will all be made available soon through electronic outlets. […
Read entry →May 24, 2011 · 323 words
Obey: I Am Your Cult Leader
The recent excitement over the failed Rapture has brought to mind the fact that I have often thought that, if only I were a sociopath, I’d be really, really rich now. I’d start a religion, like L. Ron, and make a lot of money, and not pay taxes. It would be a damn good religion, […]
Read entry →May 19, 2011 · 118 words
Orbiter Montage
Exciting moments at the Cape, condensed. We arrived predawn. Yes, that is an alligator cruising along in the lower left. The sun arrives. Main engine start. (Five seconds before liftoff) A tower of brilliant flame, brighter than any camera can record. The orbiter vanished into low cloud just as the sound reaches us acr
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