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.
December 23, 2019 · 108 words
Gifts for Readers #6: The Vessel of Ra
Taos Toolbox veteran Catherine Schaff-Stump has had quite the year. Her complex 19th Century familial fantasy novel The Vessel of Ra appeared along with its sequel The Pawn of Isis. Demonic beings in the form of Egyptian gods have attached themselves to the Klaereon family, and require a sacrifice of each generation: e
Read entry →December 21, 2019 · 47 words
Happy Solstice!
From this day, things will only get better. Unless you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case things will get, at least, darker. Unless y0u’re of the view that things will only get worse, in which case I have to admit that you may have a point.
Read entry →December 20, 2019 · 125 words
Gifts for Readers #5: Nosy Newfie Mysteries
I think you can fairly claim that a mystery-solving dog falls within the realm of speculative fiction, don’t you? Taos Toolbox veteran Aleksa Baxter has devoted an entire series to her detecting dog. Here’s the word on Book II, published earlier this year (there are three more): Now that the pesky matter of her grandpa
Read entry →December 19, 2019 · 90 words
Home of the Wakanda Ducks
The US Department of Agriculture has listed Wakanda on its web site as a free-trade partner. The department’s online tariff tracker hosted a detailed list of goods the two nations apparently traded, including ducks, donkeys and dairy cows. In the Marvel universe, Wakanda is the fictional East African home country of su
Read entry →December 17, 2019 · 306 words
Gifts for Readers #4: Nemesis
Here’s Number Four in this year’s list of new books by veterans of Taos Toolbox, the master class in science fiction and fantasy. (And by the way, if you are a Toolbox vet, and have published something in 2019 that I don’t know about, feel free to drop me a line, okay?) Today’s works from Brian […]
Read entry →December 15, 2019 · 195 words
Gifts for Readers #3: Causality Bomb
This is the third of a series of posts highlighting this year’s achievements of Taos Toolbox veterans. Today’s subject is Terry Gene’s Causality Bomb, which comes complete with its own sequel, Causality Rebound. A MIND-BENDING AND SUSPENSEFUL JOURNEY INTO EXISTENTIALISM AND THE INTER- CONNECTEDNESS OF THE HUMAN RACE. T
Read entry →December 12, 2019 · 199 words
Gifts for Readers #2: Riverland
This is the second item in this year’s roundup of 2019 books by veterans of Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy. Today’s item is from Fran Wilde, who won the Andre Norton and Compton Crook Awards for her novel Updraft. She’s also received multiple nominations for the Hugo, Locus, a
Read entry →December 11, 2019 · 272 words
Gifts For Readers #1: Enemy Immortal
Time again to do my year-end roundup of books published by veterans of Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy. Jim Meeks-Johnson’s Enemy Immortal is a fast-moving, action-oriented space opera that starts at a full sprint and then speeds up from there. Here’s the blurbage: An alien col
Read entry →December 11, 2019 · 168 words
Volodya Again Raises His Balding Head
It’s nearly New Year, and once again I’m in competition with Vladimir Putin for the world’s most admired wall calendar. Putin’s calendar features photos of the President of the Russian Federation meeting with statesmen and world leaders. There’s not a single photo of him with his shirt off! It’s like he’s not even tryi
Read entry →December 2, 2019 · 69 words
Ready Those Manuscripts!
December 1 was the first day for submitting applications for Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy, which will run June 7-20, 2020. Nancy Kress and I will be teaching, assisted by George R.R. Martin and indiepub guru E.M. Tippetts. Every year we have a record number of submissions, s
Read entry →November 28, 2019 · 147 words
Snow Day
We awoke this morning to a beautiful carpet of snow covering everything in sight. Unfortunately this meant that our Thanksgiving guests were snowed in, and couldn’t come, and so we’re faced with the prospect of dealing with a 22-pound turkey, bacon and sausage stuffing, and other trimmings all on our own. We did, howev
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