The journal

October 17, 2007 · 638 words

Suspense (Not)

As I mentioned over here, I’ve been watching Season Three of Deadwood. Which I have now completed, so consider this a great bigspoiler warning!. . . tick. . . tick. . . tickWhat an unfortunate season! The episodes were filled with wonderful writing, terrific production values, and first-rate actors, but Milch neglected

October 16, 2007 · 126 words

Appearances

Twice again, I venture before my public.Tuesday, October 16— hey, that’s tomorrow!— I’ll be doing a reading and signing at 3:30 at the New Mexico Tech library. If you’re in Socorro County, by all means drop by.On Saturday, Oct 20, Title Wave Books in Albuquerque will be celebrating a significant anniversary

October 13, 2007 · 0 words

Man of the Year

October 12, 2007 · 1,212 words

The Romance of Steam

I’m a sucker for the romance of steam. Steam boats, steam locomotives, steam cars, steam monorails, steam zeppelins . . . I like the whole steampunk vibe so much that it’s amazing I’ve never written anything that fits into that category. It should be no surprise, therefore, that this last weekend found us in Colorado,

October 11, 2007 · 676 words

Suspense

I’ve been watching the third season of Deadwood on DVD, and I’m about halfway through. (No spoilers in the replies, please.)I felt a surge of pleasure when I spun the first episode and heard David Milch’s trademark combination of complex syntax, baroque vocabulary, and utter obscenity. It’s the language that makes this

October 9, 2007 · 30 words

Moskau in English

If you’ve been wondering what the hell 1970s German band Dschinghis Khan is singing in their astounding video artifact “Moskau,” here’s the answer.“Mister Disco summoned it.” Carry on.

October 8, 2007 · 225 words

Fantasy— the Literature of Alienation?

So the other week I was at the Jemez Symposium with Steve Donaldson and Jane Lindskold, and our interlocutor asked, “So what is this ‘fantasy,’ exactly?” Or words to that effect.I came up with a rather boiletplate answer, that while SF’s contract with the reader was “What you’re about to read is possible (however unlik

October 8, 2007 · 24 words

How Much is That in Imperials?

We now have a new interplanetary currency.It’s called the Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination, or Quid.Here’s the story. (Thanks to Janice Gelb)

October 5, 2007 · 718 words

Heaven and Earth

I’ll be offline for a few days, so I thought I’d entertain y’all with another flashback video review, dating from February of 1994.Tonight’s Hong Kong Klassic was “Royal Tramp I.” (Though I couldn’t read theChinese on the back of the video cassette, the fact that there was a sequelreassured me that the first one was [&

October 4, 2007 · 1,188 words

Jemez

The Symposium in the Jemez was most enjoyable. We got two nights at a guest house, free meals, and free trips to the hot springs in exchange for a couple hours’ pleasant conversation in front of an audience. Let’s just say that we didn’t hate it. The Jemez Mountains (pronounced HAY-mez) are named after the […]

October 4, 2007 · 1,114 words

Pink Force

It’s been a busy week, and I’ve been too occupied to post much here. So instead I offer this flashback from June of 1994, from the online diary I was keeping at that time. My apologies for the weird formatting. The system doesn’t seem to want to let me correct it. Pink Force Commando was […]

October 1, 2007 · 44 words

Ambiguous Souvenir

This could be a metaphor. Or an allegory. Or the visual equivalent of found poetry. Perhaps it could be thought disturbing. Or odd. Or quaint. Or amusing. It’s a snail on a jawbone. But it could also be any or all of the above.