Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 119 entries, all of them here in full.
March 12, 2022 · 96 words
Kicking Off
The Kickstarter for Shaper of Worlds, v. III, has kicked off. Here’s your link. Shaper of Worlds features fiction by writers featured on Edward Willett’s Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers. (My interview may be found hereabouts.) Besides myself, contributing authors include Cory Doctorow, James Morrow, Cat R
Read entry →March 10, 2022 · 423 words
Return to Caraqui
I’m currently writing my Great Lost Opus, which is to say the third book in the Metropolitan sequence, which was never written because my editor was fired and his fiction line canceled before I could get started. I’ve been promising it for 25 years, and I’ve decided that it’s time to deliver. Starting work on […
Read entry →March 6, 2022 · 591 words
St. Javelin Bless Ukraine
The heroic resistance of Ukraine has inspired volunteers from all over— most impressively American veterans, who are carrying their weapons and skills over the water to join what Zelensky is calling his “international legion.” Since over the last twenty years the U.S. military has become the most efficient, compe
Read entry →March 1, 2022 · 460 words
Life on a Cruiser
Disney has opened their Star War: Galactic Starcruiser resort. The reviews have not been ecstatic. Billed as the ultimate immersive Star Wars experience, the Galactic Starcruiser (centred on its Halcyon hotel) is a top-to-tail recreation of a Star Wars spaceship. During a two-day stay, which costs around £4,500 for a f
Read entry →March 1, 2022 · 59 words
Kick That Starter!
Editor and podcaster Edward Willett is opening a new kickstarter for Shaper of Worlds, v. III, featuring stories by authors interviewed in his Worldshapers podcast. The actual Kickstarter hasn’t launched yet, but here’s a preview page. I’ll have a story in the anthology, along with Cory Doctorow, Cat Rambo, James Morro
Read entry →February 28, 2022 · 356 words
Bravery
Recent events in Eastern Europe bring to mind a day in Finland’s archipelago back in 2017. Author Marcus Prest had arranged for me to take a boat through the archipelago to an island owned by his outgoing pal Bjorn. Other guests included philosopher Joel and Glen, a retired colonel in the Royal Artillery, now working [
Read entry →February 20, 2022 · 190 words
The Praise Runs High
Paul Di Filippo has reviewed Lord Quillifer, and the praise, to coin a phrase, is unstinting. Some choice selections: Williams’s powers of invention have not paled. The interpersonal affairs of all the schemers exhibit the same baroque intricacies of yore. The big military setpieces show a flair for clarity of action a
Read entry →February 14, 2022 · 273 words
Weekend in Boston
I’ll be spending the weekend in Boston, attending Boskone, their annual convention. I hope you’ll all stop by and say hi. Here’s my schedule, for any of you needing to track me down. Fantastic Leadership Format: Panel 18 Feb 2022, Friday 19:00 – 19:50, Burroughs (Westin) In the beginning were the gallant king, th
Read entry →February 14, 2022 · 299 words
The Usual Award Whatsit
It’s that time of year when the thoughts of writers turn to awards, and they try to gently urge their readers to nominator their works. As it happens I had no novels published last year, so I won’t be nudging you toward that award. (I’ll have two novels published in 2022, both a Praxis and […]
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