Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 3,180 entries, all of them here in full.
November 19, 2017 · 50 words
La Zona Tropical
Possibly because the weekend made it clear that winter is here, I’ve decided to create and live in my own tropical zone. Let’s start with some music! Here’s the Oceanic band Te Vaka singing “Papa E.” Which should not be confused with another song called “E Papa,” by Carlos Santana.
Read entry →November 17, 2017 · 150 words
Don’t Blame the King
Here we have the famous Vasa, a 64-gun ship of the line commissioned (and largely designed) by Gustavus Adolphus, which capsized and sunk after sailing something less than a mile on its maiden voyage. It was salvaged intact in 1961, and now is permanently moored in a house built for the purpose. You have to say [&helli
Read entry →November 15, 2017 · 237 words
Yes This Is A Game
So the Kremlin released “irrefutable proof” that the US is aiding the Islamic State in Syria, by using AC-130 gunships to cover fleeing IS troops in order to use the survivors to further dastardly American objectives in the region. (Even given the confusion and bizarre policy shifts of the US in the area, I find [&hell
Read entry →November 14, 2017 · 107 words
Skyscape
I’ve come down with the same upper-respiratory infection that I’ve had on five previous occasions over the last year. I’m pretty well disgusted with it by now— though I know it’ll be over within a week, I can also look forward to getting it again inside the next two months. Yes, I have an […]
Read entry →November 10, 2017 · 268 words
My Favorite Season
It’s my favorite time of year. Summer in New Mexico is too hot and I spend my days hiding under the air conditioner. During spring a ferocious dry wind can blow for weeks, even months, sucking the moisture out of everything living. Winter is mild, as winters go, but it’s still winter, and I’m allergic. That […]
Read entry →November 9, 2017 · 575 words
Memoirs
I’ve spent six of the last seven days either traveling to the World Fantasy Convention in San Antonio, or attending, or traveling home. I’m very tired now, and in retrospect I probably shouldn’t have tried quite so hard to have a good time. My reading on the trip out was Just Kids, Patti Smith’s memoir of […]
Read entry →November 4, 2017 · 105 words
The Next Quillifer Contest
So . . . where am I now? Identify this location, and win a free audio book of Quillifer. I’m calling off the previous contest before we go through all 700 of the world’s stratovolcanoes. The picture was of Mt Ngaurohoe in New Zealand, which stood in for Mt. Doom in the Lord of the Rings […]
Read entry →October 29, 2017 · 91 words
We’re Baaaack!
Taos Toolbox, the two-week master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy, is getting set for 2018! The workshop (June 17-30, 2018) will be taught by Nancy Kress and Walter Jon Williams, along with special lecturers Carrie Vaughn, indiepub guru Emily Mah Tippetts, and special guest George RR Martin. This is Ye
Read entry →October 26, 2017 · 302 words
October Surprise #4
Hey, I’ve released the four Dagmar Shaw near-future thrillers volumes as ebooks! New and improved, the first two with covers by Roberta Berto, and the last two with provisional covers that will be replaced by Berto covers as soon as she gets back from a trip. Which provisional cover you get depends on where you’re [&he
Read entry →October 26, 2017 · 260 words
The Nutella War
Conflicts within a former Soviet republic are now posing a threat to the world’s supply of Nutella, the disturbingly tasty Italian hazelnut-chocolate spread. Hazelnuts are the second-largest export (after copper ore) from the Republic of Georgia, which is the third largest exporter of hazelnuts in the world. Georgia ha
Read entry →October 23, 2017 · 254 words
Punch-Drunk
I haven’t been posting for several days, because I’ve been trying to finish The Accidental War, which (according to the publisher) is Book IV of the Praxis series, but which (according to me alone, apparently) is Book VI, because I count Impersonations and Investments, and they don’t. See? It even has a cover! Though t
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