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.
March 30, 2009 · 854 words
Banana Republic
The challenges the United States faces are familiar territory to the people at the IMF. If you hid the name of the country and just showed them the numbers, there is no doubt what old IMF hands would say: nationalize troubled banks and break them up as necessary.Today’s required reading is “The Quiet Coup” by […
Read entry →March 30, 2009 · 82 words
Public-Spirited Pigs
George Orwell’s Animal Farm was rejected by Faber & Faber before being published a years later by another publisher.The editor who wrote the rejection was TS Eliot.“Eliot wrote: “After all, your pigs are far more intelligent than the other animals, and therefore the best qualified to run the farm – in fact there couldn
Read entry →March 29, 2009 · 103 words
Amoebas Threaten Texas!
A giant colony of genetically identical amoebas is oozing through Texas! Scientists say the discovery is much more than a mere curiosity, because the colony consists of what are known as social amoebas. Only an apparent oxymoron, social amoebas are able to gather in organized groups and behave cooperatively, some even
Read entry →March 27, 2009 · 652 words
Reviews Too Late: the IRS Edition
At long last I have brought my taxes under control, and will deliver them to the accountant tomorrow. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I tend to watch action films when I’m absorbed in digging through old envelopes full of receipts. Action films don’t require a lot of my attention, except in the parts where […]
Read entry →March 27, 2009 · 125 words
The Glory Keeps On Accruin’
I’ve returned from my trip out of town to discover that even more praise for my book has been distributed throughout the web! (Such good taste you people have!) Over at BookGeeks, Sam opines: “But this is an important book – perhaps the point at which ARGs become mainstream . . . “ Fantasy Book […]
Read entry →March 19, 2009 · 203 words
Special Cool TINAG Web Page!
Orbit has created a special web page just for This Is Not a Game. There are descriptions of the book, a thrilling excerpt, and a special surprise Not a Game, which I won’t spoil by giving away here.Elsewhere in cyberspace, Sci Fi Wire has reviewed TINAG:“Dagmar Shaw is our main protagonist in this novel, which [&hellip
Read entry →March 16, 2009 · 110 words
The Financial News
For those who still have questions about the Madoff scandal, enlightenment may be found courtesy of those lovable characters on Sesame Street. Meanwhile, in Metropolis, Lex Luthor asks the government for a bailout. And, as a followup to the classic Jon Stewart evisceration of Rick Santelli and CNBC, we have the utter c
Read entry →March 14, 2009 · 100 words
Toy Time
I have replaced the sad, smashed Altima with a new toy, a brand-new Eclipse GS. (I just keep buying silver sporty cars. Can’t help myself.) The 2.4 liter engine will keep this little honey zipping along the roads in style. It’s a lot less expensive than the Altima, will get better mileage, and will probably […]
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