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.
February 13, 2022 · 432 words
The Worst
Some days I’m in the mood for a good takedown review, at least if it’s not of one of my books. (And those are often so misguided that they’re funny. I particularly like the ones that complain that I keep interrupting what should be nonstop action scenes with scenes giving psychological complexity to my characters.) [&h
Read entry →February 11, 2022 · 1,149 words
Reviews Too Late: Pandemical Browsing
Like all of you, I’ve been consuming a lot of popcorn TV during the latest Covid blitz. Here’s some of what I’ve seen. The Lone Ranger Reacher. Reacher is so very much the Lone Ranger that the series even shows an episode of the Clayton Moore series in the background during a key scene. (Of […]
Read entry →February 4, 2022 · 107 words
Plowing
Our Arctic adventure continues! The technician will attempt his repairs once he can get parts for our 35-year-old boiler. In the meantime I’m keeping a fire in the fireplace. (Update: the boiler’s now churning out heat just like it ought, but the house is big and the temperature is going up by one degree per […]
Read entry →February 4, 2022 · 157 words
Cold and Colderer
After an afternoon of freezing drizzle, the snow started pouring down late Wednesday afternoon, and by Thursday morning this was the view off the back porch. Despite the sun, the temperature failed to rise above freezing. After a very mild winter, February had come in like a polar hailstorm. I knew the storm was coming
Read entry →February 2, 2022 · 1,063 words
Same Words, Prettier Picture
I’ve long been dissatisfied with the purposefully odd but decidedly amateurish cover I designed for my novel Aristoi, and so I decided to do something about it, and approached the splendid artist Elizabeth Leggett, who very graciously agreed to fit me (and the book) into her schedule. Here are the results. Striking, ne
Read entry →February 2, 2022 · 234 words
I Am Scoundrelized
Once again I find myself bundled with a bunch of other writers. The Science Fiction Writers of America have curated Scoundrels in Space, a bundle of twelve novels, all available for a more than reasonable price. The featured four novels are available for whatever you want to pay, but if you want all twelve, it’ll [&hel
Read entry →January 31, 2022 · 82 words
Audio Books on Sale!
Chirp, which appears to be a division of BookBub, has put a number of my audio books on sale for $4.99. (Their usual price is anywhere between 20 and 30 dollars.) So if you’d like an audio book of The Rift, Hardwired, Implied Spaces, Metropolitan, or City on Fire, and you don’t want to pay […]
Read entry →January 30, 2022 · 139 words
Out of Jail Free
I’m out of COVID Jail, having completed the 10 days of isolation recommended by the CDC following my first positive test. Not that I went anywhere or did anything. I’m not inclined toward frenzied celebration at the moment. I am free of symptoms. Today I ran on the elliptical trainer, did my normal workout, and [&helli
Read entry →January 28, 2022 · 284 words
Pawn Takes Prize
Gabrielle Harbowy attended Taos Toolbox in the last pre-pandemic year, 2019. Since then she’s made good use of her time. A story, “The Dybbuk Ward,” will appear in the March issue of Fantasy magazine, and her novel Aether’s Pawn will appear at the end of February. Here’s a synopsis: Indigo Steelquill — Quills 
Read entry →January 26, 2022 · 67 words
New Arrival
A copy of Lord Quillifer has turned up on my doorstep. I have to say I’m more pleased with the book’s appearance than I thought I’d be. The book’s official released date is February 15, but now that print copies actually exist, they may start infiltrating bookstores ahead of that date. There’s never a bad […]
Read entry →January 25, 2022 · 271 words
Eye-Catching
Behold a proposed cover for the next Praxis book, launching next September. This isn’t the final cover, so the published version might be somewhat different. In the meantime, Tor.com published a piece by James Nicoll on five novels featuring a depopulated Earth, with my Knight Moves among them. Depopulating the planet
Read entry →January 22, 2022 · 215 words
COVID Day Six
Late on Day Five (Friday) I began to feel better, at least insofar as I wasn’t spending hours of every day coughing and sneezing and otherwise spending all my time battling the Phlegm Monster. Just as when I have a cold, the Phlegm Monster prowls from sunset to sunrise, keeping me awake and coughing and […]
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