I mentioned this on Twitter yesterday: https://twitter.com/scalzi/status/1153297544253861889 Here's the full story on it. Yesterday I flew home from Spain, where I'd spent a week at the Celsius 232 festival in Aviles. It was a lovely time, and the first two legs of the flight -- … | Continue reading
I mentioned this on Twitter yesterday: https://twitter.com/scalzi/status/1153297544253861889 Here's the full story on it. Yesterday I flew home from Spain, where I'd spent a week at the Celsius 232 festival in Aviles. It was a lovely time, and the first two legs of the flight -- … | Continue reading
For his Big Idea for The Reefs of Time, the first of his Out of Time series, Jeffrey A. Carver talks about structure -- of his story, the universe, and other important things. JEFFREY A. CARVER: Big ideas are the meat and potatoes of classical science fiction, but sometimes they … | Continue reading
Whenever I take pictures of the moon, I get asked how I did it and what equipment I use. So I wrote a piece about that in the current issue of the fanzine Journey Planet, which is focused on the moon and (also) the moon landing of Apollo XI, which took place 50 years ago… | Continue reading
As a well-known pie enthusiast, I believe pretty much all pie is magic. But in Midnight at the Blackbird Café, author Heather Webber takes the "pie is magic" concept even further than that -- and in the process opens doors to questions far beyond what might be in the pie filling. … | Continue reading
It's pretty here, and also, I wrote a chapter this morning, so it's also apparently conducive to getting work done, so that's nice too. How are you? | Continue reading
Here I am in Aviles, Spain. It's very pretty here. Also, I've been up for 24 hours, so I am very tired. I'm going to have a nap now. | Continue reading
In today's Big Idea, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone are feeling epistolary, which, considering the letter-writing format of their collaborative novella This is How You Lose the Time War, is entirely appropriate. AMAL EL-MOHTAR and MAX GLADSTONE: Dearest Max, I write to you from … | Continue reading
Where I am a guest of the Celsius 232 Festival. I expect to be mostly busy with that for the next week, but may post a few pictures here and there (and there are a couple Big Idea pieces for you to look forward to this week as well). You kids have fun while I'm… | Continue reading
A tall and fairly impressive stack of new books and ARCs this week. What here is something you'd want to take into the weekend with you? Share in the comments! | Continue reading
The New York Times last week ran a piece called What Middle-Class Families Want Politicians to Know, which featured interviews from a number of Americans, discussing their economic concerns and fears. The thing is, the large majority of the households represented in the piece hav … | Continue reading
Author Sean Grigsby has a theory about people. It's... not terribly optimistic. But it does have relevance for his latest novel, Ash Kickers, which features firefighters in a slightly alternate version of the world. One with dragons! SEAN GRIGSBY: Whatever catastrophe nature thro … | Continue reading
Nothing like a little late night horticulture. Sleep well! | Continue reading
In December, when I started edging towards 200 pounds and was getting winded walking up the stairs in my house, I decided to start exercising and counting calories, with an eye toward getting in better shape, and getting down to 170 pounds. My original hope was to hit 170 pounds … | Continue reading
Is the glass half empty or half full? If you're Kali Wallace, writing here about her new novel Salvation Day, you might say that it doesn't matter, that's the only glass we have. KALI WALLACE: We're doomed. You don't have to take my word for it. Ask anyone! We're killing the eart … | Continue reading
And assures you that you're gonna make it through this week juuuust fine. Busy writing today. See you later. | Continue reading
In the wake of a recent mild uptick in people being angry at me for existing, a question in email, which I am paraphrasing for brevity: What do you think these people are hoping for with these posts? What's their endgame, and how do they think it will affect you? Well, in the cas … | Continue reading
364. And only one person guessed it, so congrats, Lynne Everett! The ARC will be winging its way to you, oh, probably Monday. Thank you to everyone who played along! | Continue reading
If you're the sort of person who is determined that you and I are to be enemies, and you were at the top of a long stairwell, I wouldn't push you down the stairs. But if you happened to trip on your own shoelaces, I might chuckle to myself the entire time you fell. | Continue reading
Military science fiction is a popular genre, and certainly Marko Kloos knows that, having written the very successful "Frontlines" series. But for his new series, which begins with Aftershocks, Kloos decided he wanted to try a different strategy, regarding "MilSF." Here he is to … | Continue reading
They were pretty without the fireworks. As for the 4th in general, this is what I had to say about it today on Twitter: This 4th of July I am celebrating the better nation I know we could be, and committing myself to the work it will take to become it. Also, I'm having pie.… | Continue reading
Spice has all the fireworks she needs behind her. She'll probably get more over the next couple of days, to be sure. | Continue reading
Hey! Want to win this ARC of A Very Scalzi Christmas, a collection of Christmas-related stories from me, including three new, never-before-published stories (including one ironically called "Christmas in July")? Well, you can! Here's how: 1. I just rolled a number between 0 and 9 … | Continue reading
It's not every day that you get invited to meet one of your heroes. In this Big Idea for Hawking, author Jim Ottaviani talks about planning to meet a man he and the book's artist Leland Meyrick absolutely admired... and how things didn't quite go to plan. JIM OTTAVIANI: With a fe … | Continue reading
As an addendum to last week's post about our minivan, which held the license plates "Not Cool," being towed off after 16 years of service, here are Krissy and Athena attaching said plates to Athena's new vehicle, a GMC Terrain. As we all know, the soul of a car is contained in it … | Continue reading
To catch you all up with what's going on with me: One, I have not finished The Last Emperox yet. But I've taken down the "semi-hiatus" notice because, well. At this point I'm just gonna do what I'm gonna do. Don't worry, I have more than two weeks to finish it. At this point. Two … | Continue reading
He's got an itch. He's gonna scratch it. As the Senior Cat at the Scalzi Compound, Zeus sees relatively less media attention than the others, particularly Smudge, who is lately the star of the the show. So I thought it would be nice to give him a moment in the spotlight, as it we … | Continue reading
Well, since you asked: 1. Kamala Harris: Because she's hella smart, pretty savvy and because I think her background and daily practice in politics shows she's not scared of anyone, least of all the Republicans. I also suspect that she would put together a very fine cabinet of equ … | Continue reading
Whilst I was away in Los Angeles, schmoozing entertainment executives, the ARCs for A Very Scalzi Christmas arrived from Subterranean Press, and they are lovely and seasonal and full of sugary goodness. Why, it's just like Christmas in... late June! In any event, a nice thing to … | Continue reading
Yesterday I came across a recent fanzine with a rather emphatic editorial about (and against) me, and my influence on the Hugo Awards and on science fiction and fantasy fandom in general. I posted a link to it on Twitter, and the editorial -- and I -- became the subject of much c … | Continue reading
Spare a moment, if you will, to think upon our 2003 Honda Odyssey minivan, which today, after sixteen years and over 200,000 miles, was towed away by a local charity to an unknown destination and future. The minivan has for the last few years been the daily driver for Athena, who … | Continue reading
Weirdly enough, the last time I was at this hotel, I was given this room. It's the John Scalzi Memorial Room now, I suppose. Here I am back in LA through very early Friday morning. And once again here for meetings and pitches and what have you. Exciting times, indeed. And who kno … | Continue reading
It turns out as much as I love my PixelBook -- and I do -- when it comes to writing long-form documents while travel, Google Docs still chokes on large files, and both the Web and Android app versions of Word are really really bad for my particular writing workflow (it's because … | Continue reading
I post lots of photos of Krissy but somewhat fewer of the two of us together, mostly because I'm the one holding the camera and I usually don't think to do the selfie thing. This time I did. This is us this last weekend in Washington DC. She's gorgeous. I'm smug. This is the stor … | Continue reading
For the longest day of the year (here in the northern hemisphere, anyway), one of the highest stacks of new books and ARCs we've had for the year to date! What here in this super-sized stack would be what you'd want to read late into evening? Share in the comments! | Continue reading
It feels very Washington-ish, if you know what I mean, although I would not hold it against you if you did not. I'll be here for several days for the American Library Association conference. But today is a free day! Which I am, uh, spending in my hotel room, trying to catch up on … | Continue reading
Here's a view I see a lot these days: The interior of Dayton's airport, before I'm off again to elsewhere. Today it's to Washington DC, where I'm doing an event with Sarah Gailey tonight at Loyalty Bookstore (come see us!), and then attend the ALA conference this weekend. Then I' … | Continue reading
Fun fact: As of today, Krissy and I have been married for 24 years. Also fun fact: Every day I get to be married to Krissy is a good one. Many of those days are great! And some of them are genuinely spectacular. I hope you have a very good John and Krissy Got Married… | Continue reading
https://youtu.be/rNywx7rjVLU I woke up this morning and checked Twitter and discovered that Neil Gaiman had told me to take a hike -- or more accurately, he had tagged me as someone he challenged to walk 2,000 steps by Refugee Day (which is June 20th) as part of #StepWithRefugees … | Continue reading
Gaze upon it, if you will: The latest stack of new books and ARCs to arrive at the Scalzi Compound. Do you see anything here that intrigues you? Share your thoughts in the comments! | Continue reading
It was gray and rainy all day, so the fact there's a sunset to see at all is a minor miracle. And it was a good one. | Continue reading
An essay in the Guardian, entitled "Want to be a male ally? Start by cleaning the house" and the discussion of the essay over on Metafilter has prompted me to have some thoughts about house cleaning and relationships. These are in no particular order: 1. Essays like this feel pur … | Continue reading
In his Big Idea for Three Laws Lethal, author David Walton introduces you to those who hold your life in their (figurative) hands -- whether you like it or not. DAVID WALTON: Don’t look now, but intelligent robots are about to decide if you live or die. Somehow, while we weren't … | Continue reading
Threw you a curveball on that last one, didn't I. Hey, goths can have color from time to time, they just have to be morose about it. | Continue reading
I agreed to do a 5k run with my friend later this year. I made clear to them that I couldn't promise I wouldn't vomit at, like, mile three, but they were undeterred. It's a few months away so I have time to prepare, at least. Honestly who am I and what have I done… | Continue reading
In his new novel The Grand Opera, author Richard Kadrey takes a bit of swerve -- and creates a world both like and unlike our own, in a particular time, and in a particular place. RICHARD KADREY: I’ve been thinking about The Grand Dark for a long time. Years, in fact. But I could … | Continue reading
And Oscar-nominated animation director Jennifer Yuh Nelson is coming on board as Supervising Director. All the details (that has been announced anyway) are in this Hollywood Reporter article. Before you ask, I don't have any other information that I can share about anything, so a … | Continue reading
Surprise! I have a short book of (mostly) Christmas stories coming out this year, each featuring art from Natalie Metzger. It'll be out in November, and available in a signed, limited hardcover edition (perfect for holiday giving!), and also in eBook. And it features three new st … | Continue reading