Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 77 entries, all of them here in full.
March 12, 2024 · 286 words
Shining, Darkly or Otherwise
Here’s a brand-new March release, and another in our survey of books by veterans of Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy. My Stars Shine Darkly is the first book in a new YA series, featuring a young heroine’s attempt to escape the dystopia into which she was born. Living […]
Read entry →March 9, 2024 · 247 words
Glassical Glass
Here’s another in the series of works recently published by veterans of Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy.. Dorothy Winsor attended the very first Toolbox in 2008, and has been publishing regularly in the time since. I’ve often felt that glassmaking and glassblowing was magical,
Read entry →February 27, 2024 · 160 words
Spooky Kitty
I’m not your ordinary gumshoe. My name’s Nina Cohen. Born: 1898, died: 1912. I’m a poltergeist in a human body. I work from home as a private investigator. I watch entirely too much TV, and I talk to my cat. Say hello, Djinn. Meow. Thus begins Dead of Winter, the second in James R. Strickland’s […]
Read entry →February 6, 2024 · 239 words
Toolbox in ’23
Here’s the second in my survey of works published by graduates of Taos Toolbox in 2023. The Kuiper Belt Job is the first in David D. Levine’s Cannibal Club Chronicles, a new adventure series following a collective of highly shady individuals. Once upon a time in the Solar System, there was a gang called the […]
Read entry →February 4, 2024 · 182 words
Don’t Sleep. Just Read.
The new Wild Card book, SLEEPER STRADDLE, launches on February 6! The book contains a new story by me, “Semiotics of the Strong Man,” and features two of the series’ most popular characters. SLEEPER STRADDLE features stories about Croyd Crenson, known as the Sleeper and created by Roger Zelazny. Roger created the most
Read entry →January 30, 2024 · 519 words
From the Time Capsule
I went through an old file cabinet drawer yesterday to see if it was time to send some of the paper to (1) the shredder, or (2) the archives. The stuff in the cabinet dates from 1975-1982, my earliest years of trying to write professionally. Right up front was a massive research file for the […]
Read entry →January 25, 2024 · 190 words
Toolbox Scores Again
Here I begin a survey of works published by Taos Toolbox veterans in 2023. First up is Refractions by M.V. Melcer, a far-future novel that features intrigue, action, and an all-consuming mystery at its heart. Nathalie has joined a rescue mission to the once-thriving settlement at Bethesda, which has lost communication
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