Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 268 entries, all of them here in full.
February 4, 2010 · 66 words
Airship Hotel
This is a hoax. (Despite what you may have seen on CNN.) This is only a hoax. (Despite what you may have read in the Daily Telegraph.) Do not consume except with a dose of salt. If they built this thing, they would have no way of controlling it and it would crash and kill […]
Read entry →February 4, 2010 · 397 words
Rupes Weighs In
So far I’ve been watching the Macmillan-Amazon feud with a degree of disinterest— other than my wide-eyed jaw-dropping awe at Amazon’s bad, irrational behavior, and my compassion for my fellow authors who are being screwed, I have no books with Macmillan, so I didn’t really have a dog in the fight.But now Rupert
Read entry →February 3, 2010 · 388 words
Speeding Past in the Blink of an Eye
While I was enjoying a pleasurably distracting weekend and unable to properly follow events, a huge earth-shaking contretemps broke out between publisher Macmillan/St. Martin’s/Tor and Amazon, to determine which business model will prevail on the Internets of the Future. The whole thing seems to have flown past in an e
Read entry →February 1, 2010 · 189 words
. . . and Other Stories
I’m pleased to report that I’ve signed contracts for The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories, to be published by Night Shade in April 2010.Yes!!! You have only a few weeks to wait!!! Night Shade moves fast!(Actually the book has been in production for a while now. The actual contract was somewhat delayed, though.) T
Read entry →February 1, 2010 · 1,235 words
Story. Plot. Imagination.
Yesterday I saw Terry Gilliam’s new movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus— yes, a month or more after the rest of you saw it— and I came out of the theater with a theory. But first, a brief review. The movie is dreadfully slow. Much of the dialog just meanders about and doesn’t advance the […]
Read entry →January 30, 2010 · 192 words
When Latin Tattoos Go Wrong
I knew people tattooed idiotic dog-Chinese on their skins, but Latin? Latin from an online translation program? You know, I liked Pulp Fiction a lot, too.But I didn’t like it so much that I needed a quarter of my chest devoted to Sam Jackson’s badass Biblical quotation. I sure as hell didn’t need it put […]
Read entry →January 28, 2010 · 438 words
The Obligatory Hugo Pimping Topic
I notice that other writers are out in the blogosphere doing what they do best: working hard to get folks to give them awards. Yes!!! It’s Hugo Nomination Time! I’ve never pimped for awards (at least, not in such a public place). I’ve always made the assumption that you know damn well what I’ve published, […]
Read entry →January 27, 2010 · 178 words
Zero Rupees
A new weapon has been deployed in India’s war against official corruption— the zero rupee note. . . . the idea was first conceived by an Indian physics professor at the University of Maryland, who, in his travels around India, realized how widespread bribery was and wanted to do something about it. He came up [&h
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