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.
July 3, 2016 · 53 words
The Final Hours
We’re down to the last hours of the 99-cent sale on Voice of the Whirlwind, so if you want an inexpensive ebook with a preposterous number of five-star reviews, now’s your chance. Check out the links at Amazon, Google, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, and Kobo.
Read entry →July 1, 2016 · 194 words
Super. Liminal.
I’m still slogging through the final pieces of the book, trying to mop up the subplots in something resembling an organized manner. But you don’t have to wait for my new work to be published, you can read something by me right now in Lightspeed Magazine! Admittedly “Surfacing” is a novella that’s decades old, and that
Read entry →June 29, 2016 · 66 words
Struggle
I’m fully engaged in trying to finish a novel, while also preparing for this year’s Taos Toolbox, so I’ve not been posting much here. I recently came across a quote from Vladimir Nabokov: “In a first-rate work of fiction the real clash is not between the characters but between the author and the world.” I’m […]
Read entry →June 27, 2016 · 60 words
That Seems to Have Worked Out Well
My new sale has put Voice of the Whirlwind at #1 for SF at Kobo, and landed me on Amazon’s best-seller list. Which is not bad for a thirty-year-old book. Should you desire a copy for your ownself, feel free to click the link to Amazon, Google, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, and Kobo.
Read entry →June 24, 2016 · 454 words
WRX– First Impressions
Britain didn’t merely shoot itself in the foot, but managed somehow to slice off both legs below the knee. At least it will be cheap to visit there in the future, if I can avoid being eaten by the starving cave dwellers lurking in the cellars of the once-great metropoleis. But anyway I want to […]
Read entry →June 22, 2016 · 279 words
Return of the Whirlwind
The recently-ended promotion of Hardwired turned out to be the best ever, so I’d like to thank those of you who clicked the buy button. On the theory that one should reinforce success, I’m hoping to repeat or even top Hardwired’s sales with a 99-cent sale on Voice of the Whirlwind. You may find VotW at Amazon, Google,
Read entry →June 16, 2016 · 115 words
Smokin’
So I was making the black roux gumbo of Chef Francoise le Vison, and when I make the roux there’s enough smoke to set off every fire alarm within a hundred yards. But this time the alarm for the whole lodge went off, and the whole building was evacuated except for maybe half a dozen […]
Read entry →June 13, 2016 · 71 words
Dueling Hams
Does anyone remember the TV series “Slings and Arrows,” which opens with the theater manager being run over by a truck full of hams? That’s probably how Tim Minchin feels in this tribute to the Bard, which features a rather formidable cast. This one’s been around for a while, but it hasn’t been available in […]
Read entry →June 13, 2016 · 121 words
How Much Work Could a Workshop Shop if a Workshop Could Shop Work?
I’m up a mountain in northern New Mexico, at the Rio Hondo Workshop. We’re in a beautiful valley of the Sangre de Cristos, so what did I do? Hike in the beautiful mountain wilderness? Go bird-watching? Get a workout on the ol’ mountain bike? Nope, I spent the day cooking a meal for twelve people. […]
Read entry →June 7, 2016 · 736 words
The Scum Also Rises
It’s been a couple months since we’ve heard from the Panama Papers, the 11.5 million documents extracted from the Panamanian law firm of Mossack Fonseca, and detailing the financial shenanigans of the rich, famous, and connected. After various revelations about Putin’s clique, David Cameron’s father, Li Xinping’s relat
Read entry →June 7, 2016 · 255 words
Nothing to See Here
“There would be absolutely nothing wrong with that except for the fact that absolutely everything is wrong with that.” You may have seen this already, but I thought it deserves as wide an audience as it can get, so here it is. There are all sorts of ways to buy debt in our country, and […]
Read entry →June 4, 2016 · 258 words
Greatest
So, who was the greatest martial artist of the 20th Century? Here’s a clue: he died last night. There are always going to be arguments about who could beat who, under what circumstances, under what rules. Maybe Joe Louis (or Joe Lewis) could have beaten Ali in the ring, maybe someone named Gracie or Silva […]
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