Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 3,175 entries, all of them here in full.
November 19, 2008 · 355 words
Memory
Every so often, a memory comes out of the blue and illuminates a bit of the past that I had thought gone forever. I have certain memories from my infancy. I remember my first birthday, and the toy blue rubber motorcycle cop that my Aunt Josie gave me. I have some indistinct memories of standing […]
Read entry →November 17, 2008 · 789 words
Genres That Die
I was watching Operation Petticoat last night in TCM, and I realized two things: first, this is a movie in which the two male leads are made up and lit to be prettier than any of the women; and second, that the film belongs to a dead genre, that of the service comedy.Once it was […]
Read entry →November 17, 2008 · 260 words
Meet Little Nemo
Meet the latest member of our family. I don’t think his name is Nemo (though it might be). I’m calling him Nemo for the moment because I haven’t figured out what his real name is. I’m very bad at naming animals. Usually my friends do it, or Kathy. Maybe you will come up with the […]
Read entry →November 14, 2008 · 898 words
Reviews Too Late: La Vie en Rose
In Implied Spaces, I wrote a completely gratuitous scene in which I, using Aristide as a mouthpiece, expressed my admiration for Edith Piaf. “Who could forget Piaf?” Aristide asks, with some incredulity.Not me, obviously.La Vie en Rose is a biopic about Piaf, and it’s not a cheerful film. It’s very long and it’s filled
Read entry →November 14, 2008 · 386 words
Remembrance
Is that a poppy in your lapel, Walter? Dave Bishop asked a question in regard to the photo of me at Tech preparing to talk to Mike Fincke. The answer seemed worth giving at greater length, so here we go. Yes, that is a poppy, though it’s not on my lapel, it’s just stuck on […]
Read entry →November 14, 2008 · 175 words
Hear Me! Hear Me Now!
Alert reader Minax has informed me that Voice of the Whirlwind and Hardwired are both available in audio format! This was news to me, even though the books seem to have been available since July.Oh, I knew that Blackstone Audio had purchased the audio book rights. Their check cleared and everything.It’s just that nobod
Read entry →November 11, 2008 · 456 words
I Talk to the Spaceman
So here I am (top) earlier today, as I prepare to talk to Colonel Mike Fincke (below), who happens at this moment to be the commander of the International Space Station. Can I just say that this has been the highlight of a really great couple of weeks? It turns out that Colonel Fincke is […]
Read entry →November 9, 2008 · 429 words
Tiger Lillies!
When we were in Calgary, my agent took us to see the Tiger Lillies in concert. (Can I just say that I really like my agent? ) I knew vaguely about the band and their New York success with Shockheaded Peter, but I’d never actually heard them play. The concert was Halloween night, which was […]
Read entry →November 7, 2008 · 808 words
Edits
While I was in Canada, I spent a good many hours wrestling with the copy-edited manuscript of This Is Not a Game. The relationship between a writer and copy editor is complex. For one thing, it is the job of copy-editors to point out an author’s mistakes, and that is never fun for the author. […]
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