Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 272 entries, all of them here in full.
October 24, 2009 · 314 words
A Fine Phrenzy
I am preparing to leave this coming Sunday for Utopiales, Europe’s largest SF con, where I am one of the guests of honor. After which I will spent a couple weeks wandering around France, basically kicking the tires and looking for cool stuff to write about. (A previous trip to France produced a Nebula-winning novella,
Read entry →October 23, 2009 · 661 words
Net Neutrality is a Commie Conspiracy!
War hero John “a google” McCain is standing up for America yet again! He’s trying to keep the government’s evil hands off our tubes— I mean, our Internets!Yes, children— John McCain has introduced a bill to ban Net Neutrality! In this he has support from brave weeping patriot Glenn Beck, who has publically
Read entry →October 22, 2009 · 744 words
A Writer’s Life
It turns out that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s tax returns were never thrown out. An analysis by William J Quirk shows that Fitzgerald was not the irresponsible spendthrift of legend, but a very careful and reliable earner, who carefully documented his income and expenses. (Though, like all of us, he did sometimes wonder wher
Read entry →October 18, 2009 · 287 words
This Just In: Solar System Tied Up With Ribbon!
Y’know, if you were watching Trek, and Mr. Spock turned to the captain and said, “There’s a ribbon of mysterious energy surrounding the solar system,” you’d just groan and mutter something about the series’ cheezy made-up science. Except it turns out there really is a ribbon of mysterious energy surrounding the solar s
Read entry →October 16, 2009 · 1,315 words
Re View
I revisited my teen years recently by viewing Ken Russell’s Women in Love (1969) and Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist (1970). In my youth I saw both of these movies multiple times, which might just possibly have to do with the fact that both these films have a lot to do with sex. Both these films […]
Read entry →October 14, 2009 · 259 words
Marketing for Publishers
It’s marketing for publishers in the age of cutbacks. [Thanks to Janice Gelb] Let me introduce myself. My name is Gineen Klein, and I’ve been brought on as an intern to replace the promotion department here at Propensity Books. First, let me say that I absolutely love “Clancy the Doofus Beagle: A Love Story” and [&hell
Read entry →October 13, 2009 · 233 words
Space Fab
So here’s the plan. NASA sends an “electron beam freeform fabrication” unit up onto the Space Station. Then, when the aging station needs a part, the fab just . . . prints it.While the EBF3 equipment tested on the ground is fairly large and heavy, a smaller version was created and successfully test flown on […]
Read entry →October 13, 2009 · 671 words
Hardening of the Arteries
The National Security Agency seems to have won its turf war with the Department of Homeland Security over control of the nation’s cyber security efforts. Lt. Gen. Keith B. Alexander is the director of the National Security Agency, the largest intelligence agency in the government, and with little public fanfare he has
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