Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 156 entries, all of them here in full.
September 4, 2016 · 441 words
Kings and Kings
Went off to “the historic” El Rey theater last night to see the Gipsy Kings. (I won’t claim to have actually heard them.) I’m aware of the claim that rumba-flamenca is merely flamenco-lite, and I don’t care. I like me that Afro-Peruvian-Aragonese-Andalucian-Havana-Provençal sound, so sue me. So I went to The King (El R
Read entry →September 3, 2016 · 699 words
Reviews in the Nick of Time: Stranger Things
Netflix’s Stranger Things has been widely appreciated for its deft appropriation of 1980s film and music (much of which is actually Seventies film and music, but nevermind), and one acquaintance of mine called it “the movie that Stephen King and Steven Spielberg never made.” I understand that people might enjoy a serie
Read entry →August 30, 2016 · 102 words
Free Books!
I have some advanced reading copies of Impersonations, my new novel, and I’m happy to give them away to eager readers. So I’ll be running a contest, but the contest will be available only to readers of my newsletter. So if you want the books, you should sign up. And even if you lose the contest, […]
Read entry →August 26, 2016 · 112 words
Days of Romping About
I’ll be spending this weekend romping about Bubonicon 48, New Mexico’s plague-friendly science fiction convention, which means I’m unlikely to be posting here. You, however, are welcome to join me at the convention, which is scheduled to be awesome. In the meantime, please remember that my 99-cent sale on Ambassador of
Read entry →August 24, 2016 · 360 words
Thoughtful Question
I had a lovely Worldcon, held in Kansas City, a town which I’ve always found congenial. The event was full of friends, many of whom I don’t get to see nearly often enough, and the days and nights were full of bustle, chat, drinks, and fun. I also got to eat some really good steaks, which you […]
Read entry →August 23, 2016 · 58 words
Homebow
We returned from Kansas City through a big monsoon storm, but once on the ground we were welcomed by what was possibly the brightest rainbow I’ve ever seen. It was raining and I was in a hurry, so this was the best angle I could find on it. You’ll note a second, fainter rainbow just […]
Read entry →August 17, 2016 · 350 words
I Am At The Worldcon
I am in Kansas City, at the 74th World Science Fiction Convention. If you’re in town, come say hi at any of the following events: Science Fiction as Epic Thursday 13:00 – 14:00, 3501F (Kansas City Convention Center) Often science fiction that is epic in nature is dismissed as “space opera,” but science fiction ca
Read entry →August 15, 2016 · 81 words
Progress
I’m pleased to report that my first science fiction novel, Ambassador of Progress, is now on sale for a mere 99 cents. You may find it at Amazon, Google, iBooks, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. Ambassador of Progress is unlike my other SF, in that it’s overtly anthropological science fiction. I think it’s success
Read entry →August 12, 2016 · 70 words
What Rough Beast . . . ?
Oh noooo! What insidious monster do we see sneaking up on the Pride of Baltimore? Why it’s the World’s Largest Rubber Duck, created by the Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman! Which floats 61 feet tall and weighs 11 tons. Apparently that’s big enough to count as a Tall Ship. It would be fun to motor around on […]
Read entry →August 10, 2016 · 93 words
Aces Onscreen
Good news for any Wild Cards fans out there. Universal Cable Productions has acquired the Wild Cards series for television. Longtime Wild Cards writer Melinda Snodgrass will be executive producer, along with Gregory Noveck (REDS, Justice League: the New Frontier). Wild Cards has been a part of our lives since the 1980s
Read entry →August 9, 2016 · 954 words
Too Many Desserts
Friday night with the Tall Ships was a massive disappointment. I signed up for a “VIP Fireworks Viewing” from the brig Niagara, and they’d sent me a schedule telling me that food and beverage would appear on the quay at 8:30, we’d go aboard at 9:00, and the fireworks would start at 9:15. Somehow I assumed that [&hellip
Read entry →August 5, 2016 · 547 words
Epic Sail
Behold the Harald Hårfagr, or Harald Fairhair for you Anglophones. This is the “largest Viking ship built in modern times“— they are careful not to call it a “replica” because it’s not built to the plan of any historical vessel. It’s arrived in North America after an epic five-week transit of the Atlantic, follow
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