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.
August 3, 2009 · 278 words
Reviews Too Late: Banlieue 13
“Banlieue” literally translates as “suburb,” but colloquially means “the hood”— the French have saved their inner cities, but at the cost of moving the Projects out into the country. In this French film produced by Luc Besson, Banlieu 13 has been walled off from the rest of France, and given over to the gangs. We
Read entry →August 3, 2009 · 573 words
Worldcon Schedule
My schedule for Anticipation, the Montreal Worldcon:When: Thu 14:00Location: P-513BTitle: Twitter, Facebook, My Space: Social Media and WritingSession ID: 766All Participants: James Strauss, Jenny Rae Rappaport, Mary RobinetteKowal, Walter Jon Williams, John PicacioModerator: Mary Robinette KowalDescription: What’s all
Read entry →August 1, 2009 · 115 words
West of Java
Some really gorgeous pictures of Krakatoa during its current eruption. With an explosive force 13,000 times the power of the atomic bomb that annihilated Hiroshima, the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa killed more than 36,000 people and radically altered global weather and temperatures for years afterwards. The eruption was s
Read entry →July 31, 2009 · 117 words
Soul Storage
Is your life weighing you down? Lighten up! If your soul is keeping you from finding the happiness you deserve, there is an easy, painless and safe solution. Remove it, store it, and walk away a happier person. The Soul Storage Company’s patented De-Souling™ technique actually allows its clients to have their souls rem
Read entry →July 30, 2009 · 193 words
Strange States
Oxford University physicists have created a brand new form of matter. Scientists claim to have created a form of aluminum that’s nearly transparent to extreme ultraviolet radiation and which is a new state of matter. It’s an idea straight out of science fiction, featured in the movie “Star Trek IV.” (Cuz there’s nothin
Read entry →July 30, 2009 · 598 words
Revisiting the Classics: Fahrenheit 451
I recently re-read Fahrenheit 451 for the first time since I was 14. I found the book full of surprises, in part because I retained more vivid memories of the Truffaut film, which I’ve seen multiple times, than of the novel, which I’d read only once, and long ago. The first thing that surprised me […]
Read entry →July 28, 2009 · 304 words
15 Books
Ish tagged me with the 15 Books meme, in which— quickly, and without giving it a lot of thought— you write down the top 15 books that will always stay with you. I’d like to start another meme, in which you actually think about this stuff before hurling a list before the public. Here’s the […]
Read entry →July 23, 2009 · 444 words
Movable Memoir
Scribner is about to release a revised, bowdlerized edition of Hemingway’s A Movable Feast. A Hemingway grandson has substantially revised the book, apparently to make his grandmother (aka Hemingway Wife #2) a more sympathetic character. He’s dropped the last chapter, which he claims was written by Mary (Hemingway Wife
Read entry →July 22, 2009 · 258 words
My Fame Advances
The Review Fairy has been good to me this week.First, This Is Not a Game got a nice review in the Seattle Times. Fast-paced and with an immensely satisfying resolution, “This Is Not a Game” uses the latest true-to-life phenomenon of “Alternate Reality Games” to make its gripping story’s grasp tighter, more relentless,
Read entry →July 21, 2009 · 306 words
Northrop Builds a Horten
Northrop has built a replica of the world’s first het-powered flying-wing stealth bomber, the Horten Ho 2-29. First built and tested in the air in March 1944, it was designed with a greater range and speed than any plane previously built and was the first aircraft to use the stealth technology now deployed by the [&hel
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