Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 226 entries, all of them here in full.
June 28, 2012 · 608 words
O Rage! O Désespoir!
As most of you probably know, I’ve kept a finger, sometimes a whole arm, in the game business, and there’s nothing I like more than a game based on a literary source. (Particularly if the source is mine.) But of course the literary works chosen for games tend to be, well, full of large-scale violence […]
Read entry →June 27, 2012 · 1,159 words
Year One
It’s been roughly a year since I started making my backlist available in epub formats, so this seems a good time to shuffle through the records and come to some kind of conclusion. And the conclusion is this: Thank God for Amazon! Even if Amazon is yet another megalomaniacal Internet company bent on annihilating all [&
Read entry →June 20, 2012 · 226 words
As We Stagger Half-Blind Onto the Shores of Marathon
Only two days left at Taos Toolbox, and we are narrowing our focus down to the finish line. Yet the participants have somehow retained enough brain cells to make amusing remarks, of which a selection follows. There aren’t enough vegetarians in fiction. I’ve been reading a lot of writing books looking for my soul. While
Read entry →June 18, 2012 · 172 words
Lovely Day in the Neighborhood
It’s been a relaxed weekend here at the Toolhouse, with the students playing tourist or working on their next week’s stories. I’ve taken a couple hikes, though one of them resulted in my sliding down a rock face and scraping the bejesus out of my knee and shin. It’s not bothering me much at present, […]
Read entry →June 15, 2012 · 104 words
Spamwall
A spambot has now targeted this blog. (Fake Gucci bags, anyone?) I’m spending an inordinate amount of time deleting spam. But the spambot is only hitting one topic. Does anyone know how to turn off comments on a single topic in WordPress? I can turn off all comments. I can turn off comments on pages, […]
Read entry →June 15, 2012 · 55 words
Virtual Tee
More quotes from the critiquing ground that is Taos Toolbox. Speaking as a mad hermit. . . That book was so brilliant that I couldn’t finish it. It’s difficult to have an orgasm and stab someone. It would be really cool if Mom gets killed on a business trip. This chapter has white hut syndrome.
Read entry →June 15, 2012 · 192 words
Tolstoy’s Been Nookd!
‘In one of the truly bizarre incidents we’ve seen out of the e-book publishing world, a translation of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace for Barnes & Noble’s Nook platform has replaced all mentions of the word “kindled” with “Nookd.”‘ I actually doubt Barnes & Noble is responsible for this, and I’m inclined to suspect the [&
Read entry →June 14, 2012 · 60 words
Gopher Tuna
Still at Taos Toolbox, still workin’ hard. And, while I’m at it, fighting a spambot infestation. No, I say, I do not want a man’s Gucci bag. Nor do any of my readers. Thank you. While we wait for my brain to be rebooted, please enjoy someone doing to “Carmina Burana” what ought to be […]
Read entry →June 13, 2012 · 109 words
Smooth Entry
Taos Toolbox is moving along— swimmingly, I must say— and has already featured two critique sessions, a couple of lovely catered meals, and a serious literary discussion in the hot tub. Some of the moments of critique stood out, and here they are: Your story gave me a minor epistemological crisis. If you co
Read entry →June 10, 2012 · 73 words
Caine/Mountain/Caine
Nancy Kress and I are up the mountain now, preparing for Taos Toolbox. We have computers, a printer, lots of electric cords, and enough office supplies to equip the Pentagon. Since I’ll be up here for two weeks closely engaged with over 300,000 words of fiction, I likely won’t be posting much. For now, you’ll […
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