For those who don’t know, Kirkus is one of the major publishing trade magazines, and a starred review means that they are holding out your book as one of special note. And guess what? Kirkus gave When the Moon Hits Your Eye a starred review! (You may have already surmised this fr … | Continue reading
Specifically in this case a Tenor Baritone guitar? I mean, I already have a tenor guitar (more than one), and I have a baritone guitar too. Why would I need a tenor baritone? That’s just silly. And yet. Here is one anyway. A mystery, it is. Anyway, hi. How are you? — JS | Continue reading
First substantial snow of the season overnight. It won’t stay too long — it’ll be above freezing for the rest of the week — but it’s pretty while it’s here. — JS | Continue reading
Writing can take you places you never expected. For author Maurice Broaddus, that includes the offices of some higher ups in his community. Read on to see where else his newest novel, Breath of Oblivion, has taken him. MAURICE BROADDUS: I get called into the principal’s office a … | Continue reading
As you may know, 2025 is the 20th anniversary year of Old Man’s War, and to celebrate, there will be a new installment in the series, which will come out in September of 2025. Before then, however, we’re taking the previous six novels in the series and giving them a new look and … | Continue reading
When you have the chance to write a sequel, you do it… right? Well, for Alan Smale, the answer was not as straightforward as all that. Come find out why he hesitated at first to write Radiant Sky, and why now he’s glad he did. ALAN SMALE: So, to review: Radiant Sky is the sequel … | Continue reading
And in what is possibly a first for this series of photos: an ice rink! Because I guess it is that time of year, isn’t it. This is also the last hotel shot of the year, as tomorrow’s Books By the Banks is my last public appearance of 2024. After this I crawl into a […] | Continue reading
For her new novel Alibi, author Sharon Shinn strays a bit from what she’s usually known for, to mix another genre of literature into her storytelling. What mysteries has she uncovered from this process? Read on! SHARON SHINN: I write speculative fiction with a high romance quotie … | Continue reading
Sometimes as an author you find a character, and sometimes the character finds you. In this Big Idea for Storm Waters, author Kat Richardson introduces a character who stopped by… and then stayed for a whole adventure. KAT RICHARDSON: Classic mysteries, golden age American crime … | Continue reading
I have had my MINI Countryman since April of 2011 (here’s the post where we went to pick it up, you can tell it was a long time ago because Athena is shorter than I am), but it was only last night, on my way back from an event in Medina, Ohio, that the car […] | Continue reading
We can’t all be Jedi, or captains of the Enterprise, but maybe we can be Ellen Ripleys, maybe we can be heroic in our own right. Venture on and see how author Andrew Romine explores this concept in the Big Idea for his newest novel, The Mosquito Fleet. ANDREW ROMINE: How Do You W … | Continue reading
Art imitates life. Or maybe life imitates art? It certainly seems that way in author Yaroslav Barsukov’s Big Idea for his newest novel, Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory. Come along and see for yourself the parallels drawn between our two worlds. YAROSLAV BARSUKOV: When I was writin … | Continue reading
We’ve come to that time of the year again, where folks begin to think about their holiday gift giving, and at least some of you think about books as the perfect gift. Well, they are! But would make them even more perfect is getting those books signed and personalized. Every year … | Continue reading
It’s been a year since I left the former Twitter, in terms of posting there, but I kept the account active so that tweets that were linked to from elsewhere would still be active, and to keep anyone from using my handle there, since it’s been identified with me for 16 years and I … | Continue reading
Let’s get physical – about a type of fantasy activity that generally not thought to be physical at all. But as William C. Tracy explains in this Big Idea for Physical Magic, incorporating the physical into the magical opens up new worlds possibilities. WILLIAM C. TRACY: I’ve been … | Continue reading
This starts out about me, and then becomes about others, too, so stick with it, it’s going places. Over on the former Twitter and elsewhere, at least a few awful people have been publicly celebratory that I and some other writers are disappointed in the recent election result. Wh … | Continue reading
That’s literal, not metaphorical, and it was a lovely one. Thought you might want a little shot of beauty for your day, that’s all. — JS | Continue reading
Why is it different? Because the version I was initially thinking to write would mostly have been yell-y, and while I certainly do yell-y well, at the moment I’m not feeling it. Maybe that’s the only four or so hours of sleep after a whole day of intercontinental travel talking ( … | Continue reading
Food is more than just fuel for our bodies. According to author Lavanya Lakshminarayan, food is well, pretty much everything! Dig in to the Big Idea for her newest novel, Interstellar Megachef and see what she’s been cooking up. LAVANYA LAKSHMINARAYAN: I’m here to convince you th … | Continue reading
Up in the air in one of those planes that has tinted windows. The effect is pretty neat. A long day of travel ahead. I’ll be home late. See you all on the other side of it. — JS | Continue reading
I have little to say at the moment other than it would take a miracle for Trump not to win this, and I’m not exactly confident the miracle is coming. It’s not great! I will have more to say later, but I’ll need to get back over the ocean and gather my thoughts first. Take […] | Continue reading
Spooky month may be over, but horror stories never go out of style. Author Gregory Frost is here today to terrify and thrill you with the Big Idea for his newest collection of stories, Beyond Here Be Monsters: A Collection of Creatures and Curiosities. GREGORY FROST: The title of … | Continue reading
Two weeks ago, I went out to California to visit some family, and my cousin suggested that she and I take a mini trip down to San Francisco. I thought that sounded like a great idea, and happily agreed. We bounced some ideas around of what we wanted to do while in the city, and [ … | Continue reading
No, not that one (I’m not dead yet!), but the one in Nantes, more formerly called Porte Saint-Pierre, which used to be part of the gates of the city of Nantes. The oldest part of the structure dates back to the third century CE, whilst the youngest part is from the 15th century, … | Continue reading
They’ve been keeping me busy here at the Utopiales Festival, with panels and signings and meeting booksellers and fighting evil demons that have arisen from the hellish underworld below Nantes, France (one of these is a lie, guess which one). It’s been just lovely, I have to say, … | Continue reading
From small things, mighty things can grow. So Sariah Wilson learned when she came upon what would eventually blossom into her Big Idea for A Tribute of Fire. SARIAH WILSON: Three years ago I was writing my rom com, The Seat Filler, and wanted to use a line about Cassandra, the Gr … | Continue reading
And honestly, who doesn’t need a metal heron? Doing metal heron things? In a herontastic manner? I myself was not aware how much I needed one until I arrived here in Nantes. And now I’ve been wondering where this metal heron has been all my life. In other news, hello, I’m in Nant … | Continue reading
So often we hear stories about someone, but rarely does that story come from the person it’s about. This can lead to these people becoming sort of legends. Authors David Sandner and Jacob Weisman explore this idea in their Big Ideas for their newest collaborative novel, Egyptian … | Continue reading
If there’s one thing I love, it’s a good Dreamworks movie. In fact, a huge portion of my favorite movies are Dreamworks movies, like How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Road to El Dorado, and of course, Megamind. With all these iconic classi … | Continue reading
Here in town for the Utopiales Festival. I’m signing books and talking on panels. And then after that I have signings in Brest and Paris. It’s a whole French tour. Nantes is currently a little gray but otherwise lovely. I hope it’s lovely where you are as well. — JS | Continue reading
I’m off to France for eight days, returning two days after the election (yes, I have voted). And so, in the fervent hope that I am not going to be coming back to an incipiently dysfunctional fascist state when I return, may I suggest the following while I am away: 1. Vote, if you … | Continue reading
I have picked the winner and have notified them. When I get their shipping information I will spill the beans on which moon it was. Patience! — JS | Continue reading
Tension takes many forms, some of them good, some of them bad, and some of them delicious. In this Big Idea for Only Cold Depths, author Jennifer Estep gets into tension, when to make it… and when to break it. JENNIFER ESTEP: The Moonlighting curse is real, y’all. The idea takes … | Continue reading
As we all know, someday we will die. And when we do, there will be an obituary summing up your into life into a couple paragraphs. Author Eden Robins has used (fictional) obituaries to weave together her second novel, Remember You Will Die. Come along in her Big Idea as she tells … | Continue reading
(Photo adapted from an official White House photo by Lawrence Jackson) This last week the billionaire owners of both the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times prevented their newspaper editorial staffs from endorsing Kamala Harris for President of the United States. The ratio … | Continue reading
It’s been a minute since I’ve done a cover song, so here is one for you, originally from the band Death Cab For Cutie. If you’ve never heard it before, it’s a very sweet song about the inevitable blackness that awaits us all — and it’s a love song! Because of course it is. The [… … | Continue reading
As we head into the final week of the Spooky Season, here is a hefty stack of new books and ARCs that have come to the Scalzi Compound in the last couple of weeks. What here would you like to have haunt your reading lists? — JS | Continue reading
The sky was absolutely cloudless yesterday. Today, it is positively cloudful. I don’t know if “cloudful” is a real word, but it should be. So much more flavor to it than “cloudy.” Especially when you have clouds like this. With the clouds, some rain. Which is good. We could use s … | Continue reading
Today in our Big Idea for High Vaultage, co-author Chris Sugden is here to tell you of a tale of futures past — and what that bygone future means for the present we live in today. CHRIS SUGDEN: What the hell, exactly, is going on? Or even roughly? Any port in an epistemological s … | Continue reading
Well, good news, then, since I got some ARCs and I am going to give one away here on Whatever. To win it, just answer this question: What moon am I thinking of right now? (I have emailed myself about this particular moon so that I have dated, time-stamped proof of which moon I wa … | Continue reading
In his Big Idea for Happy Town, author Greg van Eekhout delves into what it takes to tell young readers the truth — even in a story which has, you know, zombies. There’s a lot to consider, so let’s get into it. GREG VAN EEKHOUT: “Please wait and remain happy, help is on the way. … | Continue reading
Like yesterday, I’m seeing brick; this time, however, it’s more of a distance away. Tonight’s event is at 7 at the Unity Temple on the Plaza, hosted by Rainy Day Books (all the details are here). If you’re in Kansas City I hope I’ll see you there. Tomorrow: Boulder! I’ll be at th … | Continue reading
How do you wrangle your own characters back into a new story when you already promised them a happy retirement in the last book? This was something author Michael Mammay had to figure out for the protagonist of his newest novel, Darkside. Tune in to his Big Idea to see just how h … | Continue reading
Which is to say, for one day only (specifically, until 11:59 Pacific Time on September 4, 2024), Starter Villain’s audiobook is available for $1.99. This has apparently prompted a lot of folks to run out and get it, because the book is currently perched on top of all of the ranki … | Continue reading
Everything is well and I’m having a fabulous time, both in the city and at Norcon. In lieu of a more substantive update, please accept this photo of a fountain with toddler, trash can, and thirsty pup. It feels like a very “in the city” moment. — JS | Continue reading
I’ve been told for a while that people were having a problem accessing my site via the Feedly RSS feeder, which I have steadfastly maintained was not because of anything I had done. And I was right — apparently there was a longstanding issue between Feedly and WordPress which kep … | Continue reading
Left the house almost exactly 24 hours ago and it’s been a long 24 hours. But I am in Oslo and ready for NorCon this weekend. But first: A whole lot of sleep. — JS | Continue reading
Slow news weekend, am I right? Some thoughts on the current state of things, in no particular order. 1. I was not a fan of the idea of Joe Biden leaving the race, and I still have my suspicions that Biden was done dirty by the Democratic Party. I’m not happy about that. This is [ … | Continue reading