Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 3,179 entries, all of them here in full.
March 27, 2022 · 102 words
Return to Portales
I will be the guest of honor at the 45th Jack Williamson Lectureship, April 7-9, in lovely and hospitable Portales, NM. Connie Willis will be the toastmaster, and I assume the usual assortment of New Mexico writers and fans will be present, along with representatives of the Williamson family. It occurs to me that I [&h
Read entry →March 24, 2022 · 64 words
Sharing
Mary Anne Mohanraj leads a discussion of writing for shared worlds. Besides myself, there’s fellow Wild Cards writers David Levine (and Mary Anne), and Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman (and Mary Anne) of Tremontaine. This panel was recorded Saturday afternoon at ICFA, and the amusing thing was that though we were all pr
Read entry →March 15, 2022 · 87 words
ICFA
I’m off to the International Conference of the Fantastic in the Arts. Which is held in Florida, where people demand the freedom to infect their friends, co-workers, and family with a deadly virus, but aren’t allowed to say the word “gay.” I’ve got a single panel on Friday, on “the business of writing,” which I [&hellip
Read entry →March 13, 2022 · 63 words
My Kind of Stamp
Ukrposhta, the Ukrainian post office, will release a new stamp based on the iconic moment when the border guards on Snake Island transmitted, “Russian warship, go fuck yourself!” The design, by artist Boris Groh, won a contest over nineteen other entries. I hope that we’ll be able to buy these stamps once they are avai
Read entry →March 12, 2022 · 96 words
Kicking Off
The Kickstarter for Shaper of Worlds, v. III, has kicked off. Here’s your link. Shaper of Worlds features fiction by writers featured on Edward Willett’s Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers. (My interview may be found hereabouts.) Besides myself, contributing authors include Cory Doctorow, James Morrow, Cat R
Read entry →March 10, 2022 · 423 words
Return to Caraqui
I’m currently writing my Great Lost Opus, which is to say the third book in the Metropolitan sequence, which was never written because my editor was fired and his fiction line canceled before I could get started. I’ve been promising it for 25 years, and I’ve decided that it’s time to deliver. Starting work on […
Read entry →March 6, 2022 · 591 words
St. Javelin Bless Ukraine
The heroic resistance of Ukraine has inspired volunteers from all over— most impressively American veterans, who are carrying their weapons and skills over the water to join what Zelensky is calling his “international legion.” Since over the last twenty years the U.S. military has become the most efficient, compe
Read entry →March 1, 2022 · 460 words
Life on a Cruiser
Disney has opened their Star War: Galactic Starcruiser resort. The reviews have not been ecstatic. Billed as the ultimate immersive Star Wars experience, the Galactic Starcruiser (centred on its Halcyon hotel) is a top-to-tail recreation of a Star Wars spaceship. During a two-day stay, which costs around £4,500 for a f
Read entry →March 1, 2022 · 59 words
Kick That Starter!
Editor and podcaster Edward Willett is opening a new kickstarter for Shaper of Worlds, v. III, featuring stories by authors interviewed in his Worldshapers podcast. The actual Kickstarter hasn’t launched yet, but here’s a preview page. I’ll have a story in the anthology, along with Cory Doctorow, Cat Rambo, James Morro
Read entry →February 28, 2022 · 356 words
Bravery
Recent events in Eastern Europe bring to mind a day in Finland’s archipelago back in 2017. Author Marcus Prest had arranged for me to take a boat through the archipelago to an island owned by his outgoing pal Bjorn. Other guests included philosopher Joel and Glen, a retired colonel in the Royal Artillery, now working [
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