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 8, 2009 · 62 words
Avalé This!
The week’s mail brought copies of the new l’Atlante edition of Implied Spaces, translated by our very own Jean-Daniel. The title seems to translate as “Pocket Worlds.” Or maybe “The One Who Gobbles Worlds.” It has to be admitted that either meaning would fit the story. I have a feeling the Benjamin Carré artwork isn’t
Read entry →June 6, 2009 · 295 words
Fun With Swine Flu
Where has Walter been this week? I hear you ask. I’ve been in the mountains above Taos with a bunch of friends, eating well, hanging out, and trying to get the hot tub to work. (Stuck valve now fixed.)All was well until yesterday, when one of our number came down with flu-like symptoms and confined […]
Read entry →May 30, 2009 · 1,427 words
Day Four: Hattushas
Part of this was typed on a Turkish keyboard when I was actually in Turkey, so you may find some of the typeface unusual. On our first full day in Ankara we decided to leave town, sınce Obama was vısıtıng and the entıre central cıty would be shut down. (Lıttle dıd we know that he […]
Read entry →May 29, 2009 · 105 words
Quack As Loud As You Like, Mister Duck! No One Can Hear You!
The recent California Supreme Court ruling recognizes all the gay marriages that took place in California during the period in which they were legal, and also legalizes any other damn thing that gay people want to do except call it “marriage.” This has set me to fantasizing about Pat Robertson. (Hey, it was illegal bef
Read entry →May 28, 2009 · 46 words
Pleasing Surprise of the Week
Hey! Jo Walton, author of the excellent Small Change alternate histories, who had previously said some nice things about me, now says some nice things about Dread Empire’s Fall. When a writer with Walton’s talent says I’m good, I just get all squishy inside.
Read entry →May 27, 2009 · 448 words
Baad Movie Digest, Volume One
Oh my. It’s a plot summary of the Turkish Star Wars. . . . My next best guess is that they’re hit by lasers since they both fall down when a man in armor shows up. Turkish special effects are not what you’d call an exact art, and here the picture is severely scratched up, […]
Read entry →May 27, 2009 · 91 words
Portrait of the Youngster as an Artist
I was looking through some old photos the other day and found this picture of me, circa 1984. Looking at the image, I recognized the Student Union building at Texas A&M before I noticed the AggieCon badge on my lapel. I was smack in the middle of writing Hardwired when this photo was taken. The […]
Read entry →May 27, 2009 · 129 words
The Terror. The Terror.
I was visiting yesterday with some friends, and one of them put on the first ten minutes of Team America: World Police. (For those who haven’t seen it, the first ten minutes are the brilliant part of the movie, and after that it’s just so-so, except for Kim Jong Il’s plaintive little song halfway through.)Imagine [&hel
Read entry →May 23, 2009 · 548 words
Reviews Too Late: Twilight
Urban romantic fantasy isn’t really my metier, but I thought I’d catch Twilight on pay per view and check what the zeitgeist has been up to while I wasn’t looking.Filmed in Pale-O-Vision, Twilight was actually a pretty good movie, as far as that goes. (I mean, it is what it is, you’re not going to […]
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