Getting a jump on Mardi Gras, it’s Etta James, Dr. John, and the ever-dapper Allen Toussaint on “Groove Me.” All passed now, alas. I was surprised to see Dr. John on guitar. The legend has it that he started as a guitar player, but had to switch to piano after some of his fingers were […]

I’m in a general state of non-compliance with the universe right now, a result of a full schedule of panels, meals, malt beverages, and fun at Boskone, plus jet lag following yesterday’s ten hours in a steel tube crossing the country while battling a 120-knot headwind, which turned the aircraft into a kind of hard-sided […]

There are still places available at Taos Toolbox, master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy, taught this year by Nancy Kress and Walter Jon Williams, with George RR Martin and indiepub guru EM Tippetts. Taos Toolbox has a proven record of helping writers develop into full-fledged professionals.  If you’re serious about writing for […]

Some notes on what I’ve been viewing. The Feed, on Amazon, is about a phone-free future in which practically everyone has social media implanted in their heads.  Not only are they online all the time, but the Feed records their lives continually on “mundles” (which I’m guessing is a portmanteau of “memory bundles”) so that […]