Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 3,174 entries, all of them here in full.
January 18, 2017 · 106 words
New Year, New Career
I just want to remind everyone that the submission period for Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy, is far from over. There are still places available, and if you take your writing seriously and want to move in the direction of having a writing career, sending in your application [&
Read entry →January 12, 2017 · 905 words
Revisiting the Classics: The Man in the High Castle
With The Man in the High Castle premiering its third season on Amazon, I thought I’d seek out the book on which the series was based. I didn’t want to see the TV version before re-reading the book, because I wanted to see how well the original material was adapted. It took me a while, but […]
Read entry →January 10, 2017 · 52 words
Wild Cards x 5
If you haven’t tried Wild Cards yet, here’s your chance. Tor has bundled the first five Wild Cards books into a single ebook, and put it for sale at Amazon and their own MacMillan site (which has links to other retailers). Check this out. Lots of good reading for cold winter nights.
Read entry →January 4, 2017 · 663 words
Padding
I’ve complained here and there about stories that don’t actually seem to get anywhere, or which get lost in a detour for a few hundred pages before finding the path again, or that can’t seem to work out what they’re about. Lately I’ve been watching a lot of television with much the same problem. Original Netflix [&hell
Read entry →January 3, 2017 · 171 words
Goodbye Cruel Year
I wish you all a most successful and peaceful 2017. I had a very pleasant New Year’s Eve in Santa Fe, at GRRM’s annual party. Here’s George and Parris, toasting the end of 2016 while fireworks burst behind them. George used to regularly host New Year parties back in the 1980s, but then he went […]
Read entry →December 28, 2016 · 170 words
Stick to the Ribs
Got any leftover ribs from your beef roast? Here’s something to do with them. Slather them with mustard. Then cover them with bread crumbs. Then put them in the broiler, turning as necessary, until they’re brown and crispy and sizzling. Eat them with your fingers, as your caveman ancestors did. I got this from Vincent
Read entry →December 27, 2016 · 547 words
That Warehouse, Looming
So I’m reading along in this novel, and I come to the scene where the protagonist, desperate to find the answers to his questions, decides to go into the abandoned warehouse alone, knowing that the bad guy is there with all his minions. Or maybe it’s not a warehouse, but the bad guy’s manor house. […]
Read entry →December 25, 2016 · 206 words
Filling and Fulfilling
So here’s a shot of last night’s roast beast, fresh from the oven. I splurged on a USDA Prime rib roast, the price of which quite startled me. I sprinkled it with Indonesian white pepper, garlic, and allspice (the Finnish housewife’s best friend), and then dusted it with flour before tossing it in the oven. […]
Read entry →December 21, 2016 · 268 words
Carols
This is the time of year for caroling. But what do we actually know about carols? For one thing, carol services are very recent. They were invented in 1880 by Edward White Benson, the Bishop of Truro. And what do we know about him? He later became Archbishop of Canterbury and his whole family had […]
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