Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 3,179 entries, all of them here in full.
December 20, 2024 · 234 words
Hoodoo
From 2006, taken from a balloon adrift over Cappadocia, in central Turkey. The terrain in Cappadocia is spectacular and craggy, featuring “fairy chimneys,” hoodoo spires, cliffs, hidden valleys, and signs of habitation going back thousands of years. The closest analog I’ve seen to this country are parts of the Colorado
Read entry →December 16, 2024 · 71 words
Ironclad
Here I am in 1987 taking command of HMS Warrior, Britain’s first ironclad warship. Henry VIII’s galleon Mary Rose had just been put on display, and of course HMS Victory is there in all its glory. My gaming group had been intensely playing my Privateers & Gentlemen roleplaying game, and I plundered the gift shop [&hell
Read entry →December 10, 2024 · 229 words
Meridian
From 1995, a picture of Kathy at the Royal Observatory, at Greenwich. She’s standing on the prime meridian, but the scanner’s cut off her feet so you can’t see it. The photo may have been taken by Sue Casper or Gardner Dozois, who joined us on the excursion. We were zigzagging our way to the […]
Read entry →December 8, 2024 · 322 words
Lepidoptery of the Mind
When we were in New York State in October, we spent half a day cruising around Ithaca, viewing Kathy’s alma mater of Cornell. We didn’t see much, because pouring rain pretty much confined us to our car. But there was one exhibit I really wanted to see, which was for some reason stuck in a […]
Read entry →December 3, 2024 · 219 words
Latomia
This modest bit of Sicilian landscape has an infamous history. This is the Latomia dei Cappuccini, an ancient stone quarry on the north side of the city of Syracuse. In 413 BCE, the Athenian attempt to capture Syracuse collapsed, and the entire Athenian army, its allies, and 200 ships were forced to surrender. The capt
Read entry →November 29, 2024 · 98 words
The Green Hamster Plague
No doubt you all remember my Nebula-winning story, “The Green Leopard Plague,” which revolves around a contagious virus which allows people to take energy direct from the sun. Well, guess what? I’ve scored another hit on the WJW Predict-O-Meter! According to this video, “scientists” (as they are always called in these
Read entry →November 26, 2024 · 86 words
Row of Cheaters
From 1980, Olympia in Greece, home of the original Olympic Games. The row of plinths on the left memorialize those caught cheating. Their home cities were expected to purchase a bronze statue of Zeus to be placed on one of these plinths, which was then carved with the name of the cheater, the name of […]
Read entry →