Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 230 entries, all of them here in full.
September 12, 2008 · 191 words
What Should I Be Reading?
I’ve read some disappointing stuff lately. Either the subject matter didn’t float my boat, or the book was structured badly— with 200 pages’ worth of padding, say, or with a climax that happens two-thirds of the way through the book instead of toward the end, or with a protagonist so dumb that he makes a [&hellip
Read entry →September 12, 2008 · 433 words
Since Y’all Asked . . .
Ralf asked me in another topic about my policy on DRM. I don’t actually have one, because I don’t produce software, so what I’ve got amounts to mere observations.I’m for whoever owns the work releasing it with whatever conditions he wants. People can accept or reject it on that basis. If he says, “You can […]
Read entry →September 11, 2008 · 85 words
Miners’ Ink
I’ll be in Socorro this weekend, for New Mexico Tech’s first-ever science fiction convention! Also attending will be SM Stirling, Jane Lindskold, and David Lee Summers.My guess is most people will be attending to see Nichelle Nichols, who will be signing autographs for twenty bucks a pop. (Dang! And up till now I’ve be
Read entry →September 7, 2008 · 293 words
SPORE!!!
Spore, the world’s most eagerly anticipated video game ever, releases this weekend. I wrote it. Or rather, I wrote all the dialog and some of the situations in the space game, which is the last— the ultimate, if you will— of five interlinked games that make up Spore. (There’s not a lot of call for […
Read entry →September 7, 2008 · 293 words
SPORE!!!
Spore, the world’s most eagerly anticipated video game ever, releases this weekend. I wrote it. Or rather, I wrote all the dialog and some of the situations in the space game, which is the last— the ultimate, if you will— of five interlinked games that make up Spore. (There’s not a lot of call for […
Read entry →September 7, 2008 · 769 words
My First Rodeo
It had occurred to me a few years ago that while I had lived in the southwest for many years now, I’d never been to a rodeo. Since rodeo is a backbone of the culture, particularly here in rural New Mexico where I live (I see kids practicing for rodeo events all the time), it […]
Read entry →September 4, 2008 · 772 words
Chinese Commies and Others
I had an essay half-written on the Olympics before my life got busy, and then the Olympics were over, and the whole effort became irrelevant. But it’s suddenly grown a strange resonant pertinence, so here I go.I intended to comment on the various Chinese attempts to control the Olympics and its public perception, and h
Read entry →September 2, 2008 · 75 words
She Could Not Blink Her Eyes
My mother passed away peacefully this evening, age 92. I was with her.Five weeks ago, she was living independently in her own home. Whatever happened to her— there are symptoms but no diagnosis— happened fast. It was a relief that she didn’t linger.I have already written a tribute to her here.I have a vast
Read entry →August 29, 2008 · 287 words
Lawyers, Fun, and Money
So when I was in Denver I found myself reading to lawyers. Yes. Lawyers.Aaron Hughes, a lawyer who happens also to be a fan, invited me to his firm during lunchtime for pizza and a reading. I had nothing better to do at that hour, I walked into the board room of this upscale law […]
Read entry →August 22, 2008 · 89 words
Better Than The Olympics
I was never one of those fancy-dancy martial artists. I never did “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” I was more “punch like a piledriver, kick like an ox.” Instead of dancing around, I’d just make some subtle adjustments and then— hey, it’s steamrolling time, baby!Every so often I’d have to spar with [&h
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