It might not look like much, but the picture you see here represents an important milestone in the renovation of The Old Church: That chimney has been capped and tuckpointed, and those white slats have sealed up an area where wind and water could get in, transferring both cold an … | Continue reading
In addition to writing a book or two that you may have heard about, Brandon Sanderson does a number of podcasts, and in this episode of one of them, he talks about many things, including something that is called “The Scalzi Award,” which he, and only he, has. What is the Scalzi A … | Continue reading
Which is, as you all know, my upcoming novel, to be released this September (September 21 in the UK, to be exact). The UK cover is of a kind with the UK cover of The Kaiju Preservation Society, which I think is pretty nifty, as both books are set in contemporary time, even with t … | Continue reading
In her novel Moths, author Jane Hennigan does a table flip on the world we know to reveal some things that are truths in any world we might happen to live in. JANE HENNIGAN: Why did you make the men suffer so much? Do you just hate men? Is that it? This is the sort […] | Continue reading
Taken last week during the JoCo Cruise. Don’t know if you know, but I think she’s pretty great. — JS | Continue reading
If you live in or near New York City and have a hankerin’ to see me live and in person, oh, boy, do I have news for you: I’ll be part of Wesley Stace’s monthly variety show, the Cabinet of Wonders, this April. I will be appearing alongside (deep breath): Chris Collingwood (Founta … | Continue reading
Victories are dramatic, but victories don’t have to be the end of the story. In today’s Big Idea for her novel Bitter Medicine, author Mia Tsai looks beyond the usual climax of a tale to find another part of the story. MIA TSAI: There are a lot of hooks floating around in Bitter … | Continue reading
Hey, everyone! I’m back from my amazing week aboard the JoCo Cruise. And what a week it was! Per usual, it was full of friends, fun, and sun, as well as fantastic events and interesting ports. This JoCo was my sixth, which meant I already had so many friends from previous years o … | Continue reading
One, I’m delighted that it won, it was my favorite film of the last year, and more widely, it was the most “this story could only be done as a movie” movie of 2022, so a win at the awards that are meant to celebrate the singular nature of the medium is pretty great. And […] | Continue reading
Have returned from the 2023 edition of the JoCo Cruise, which was in many ways one of my favorites of the several I’ve been on. A longer report later, until then enjoy this photo from Coco Cay in the Bahamas (the young lady you see in the photo is my niece, who came with us […] | Continue reading
You think you know family, but maybe your family isn’t quite like the family in Elle Marr’s novel The Family Bones. And maybe that’s a good thing, but as Marr explains, this family here makes for interesting reading. ELLE MARR: Who among us has never returned from a family event, … | Continue reading
Fun fact: 25 years ago today, I registered Scalzi.com as domain. Why? Because I was about to get laid off from America Online and I needed a new email address, and I figured, what the hell, get my own domain because that way I would never have to change my email again. And guess … | Continue reading
In The Shadow Galaxy: A Collection of Short Stories and Poetry, author J. Dianne Dotson explores spanning multiple genres and styles within a small package. J. DIANNE DOTSON: Back in the 1980s, I moved to a place called Gray. Its name essentially summed up my initial ambivalence … | Continue reading
At the moment we’re all sort of freaking out about the uses of “AI” in text and art, because even as overhyped as it is, it’s still exhibiting some genuinely transformative skills it didn’t have even a year or two ago, and those skills will only get more refined as we go along. P … | Continue reading
Most people say that humor is subjective, but for author Karen Katchur, it was a craft that needed to be studied. Come along in her Big Idea to see how she studied comedy to write her newest novel, The Greedy Three. KAREN KATCHUR: When I was a kid in the late 70s, we played a lot … | Continue reading
When I won an Alex Award in 2015 for Lock In, what that consisted of was an email from my publicist saying, “Hey, you won this award,” and a some congratulations from around the Internet. This year, when I won it for The Kaiju Preservation Society, I got a surprise phone call set … | Continue reading
What is described by translator Michael Berry as a sci-fi dystopian novel may actually be somewhat of a familiar tale to you. Come along in his Big Idea to see how Hospital, by Han Song, ended up being a perfect representation of his own life. MICHAEL BERRY: During a recent podca … | Continue reading
As most of you know, very recently Scott Adams, the creator of the “Dilbert” comic strip, went full racist – or more accurately, went full racist again, just in a way that was entirely unignorable – and as result had his comic dropped by hundreds of newspapers and then by his syn … | Continue reading
Sometimes, when you start writing a novel, the book is about one thing. As the writing and editing process goes on, however, the book will reveal itself as being about, if not something else entirely, at least, something more. What was that “more” for J.A. Tyler in his novel Only … | Continue reading
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to my “Close To Home” series, where I feature local eateries that are totally worth checking out! For today’s feature, I’m so excited to be sharing Crafted & Cured with y’all, because they just opened earlier this month right in the heart of down … | Continue reading
Have a hankerin’ for some fine new reads? This week’s stack of new books and ARCs has you covered. What here piques your interest? Share in the comments! | Continue reading
Technically yes, as this New York Times story about people flooding science fiction magazines with AI-generated story submissions makes evident. But realistically, no, because all these generated stories are kinda trash, and anyway, it’s not the AI that’s flooding the submissions … | Continue reading
They say good things come to those who wait. They also, however, say that the waiting is the hardest part. In both cases, Susan McDonough-Wachtman has reason to understand each aphorism, and in this Big Idea for the aptly-named Snail’s Pace, she explains why. SUSAN McDONOUGH-WACH … | Continue reading
If you been saying to yourself “Boy, I wish I could hear John Scalzi mangle an English accent while massacring one of Depeche Mode’s few cheerful songs,” then, boy oh boy, is today your day! Here’s me taking a whack at “But Not Tonight,” off of the band’s Black Celebration album. … | Continue reading
Back in November, my dad and I started working out together at Planet Fitness. My goal at the time was to lose twenty pounds by March. It seemed realistic and achievable to me, given the time frame. Alas, that didn’t end up happening. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve even gained wei … | Continue reading
Weirdly, and despite my well-known love of deep-fried dough, I somehow made it through 53 years of life without ever once eating a pączki. I can give any number of explanations for this, none of them good; heck, I lived in Chicago for years, the heartland, if you will, of Polish- … | Continue reading
New York Times bestselling author Matt Ruff is back with his first ever sequel, The Destroyer of Worlds. Follow along in his Big Idea as he tells what led him to write a continuation of Lovecraft Country. MATT RUFF: This novel is a departure for me. Over the course of my career, … | Continue reading
I had never heard of the band Sleep Token until the past year or so, and their music was definitely not the type I usually listened to. However, there was something about their sound that was unique to me and I liked it. Recently, they came out with a new song that is just unbeli … | Continue reading
If you follow Humans of New York, you may remember about a year and a half ago when HONY did a story over an Irish bar owned by a woman named Mary O’Halloran. After the bar got shut down due to the pandemic, HONY created a special fundraiser where you could pay $30 dollars for [… … | Continue reading
I’m here for your book festival! Here are all the details. If you’re in the area, I hope I’ll see you this weekend. In the meantime: Look! A tree! — JS | Continue reading
On one hand, the fact that today the temperature hit the upper sixties in Ohio in February may be a worrisome indicator of where things are going. On the other hand, it still was a beautiful day to hang out in the yard with the dog. So, you know. Take your silver linings where yo … | Continue reading
This Big Idea, for Jane Yolen’s new book The Scarlet Circus, tangentially involves me! In, I must admit, pretty flattering way. JANE YOLEN: I have loved John Scalzi, his work, and his Big Idea column for many years. I even wrote a bunch of stuff for him along the way. But in the … | Continue reading
Today, I visited somewhere I have been wanting to go for months, and I am so excited to finally be writing a piece over the Swan Room Tea House in Findlay, Ohio! The Swan Room Tea House is located right in the heart of Findlay, just off the main street. It’s a Bracketed Italianat … | Continue reading
What do you get the woman who has everything, on Valentine’s Day? In my case, you get her a song! More accurately, you go down to your basement music studio and bash out a quick-and-dirty version of the 1990 song “That Ain’t Bad” by the Australian band Ratcat. Why? Because it’s a … | Continue reading
Writer Robert Benchley once noted that you can do anything, as long as it’s not the thing you’re supposed to be doing. Paz Pardo knows a little bit about that – in fact, it’s one reason why her colorful new novel The Shamshine Blind is now out in the world. PAZ PARDO: What if emo … | Continue reading
Here’s a song for you. — JS | Continue reading
I mean, besides the reason I’ve already noted several times, which is that there are only so many times you can say “The political right in the United States is unambiguously all-in on bigoted authoritarianism and white supremacy and has no interest in helping any American, just … | Continue reading
Smudge has the right idea. I am aware there is the Super Bowl today, mind you. But I suspect I’ll end up following Smudge’s example. — JS | Continue reading
This week’s stack of new books and ARCs is actually two stacks, heavy on reissues and limited editions. What here would you like to give to your valentine — or keep for yourself? Share in the comments. — JS | Continue reading
An internet friend sent me an amazing package full of goodies, and I wanted to come on here and share a few of them with y’all. We actually did a sticker trade, which was good for me because it prompted me to organize my sticker collection a bit and put things in my sticker binde … | Continue reading
Slowly but surely things are moving along in the church renovations. Krissy has gotten herself a pretty fantastic desk set, and it’s been installed, and now she’s doing work in her new office space. She’s not entirely done decorating — that chair she’s in is temporary, and there … | Continue reading
“Ghosts Again,” ahead of their upcoming album Memento Mori, their first after the passing of fellow DM member Andy Fletcher. So, in terms of song and album, all too appropriate. Also, pretty decent song, in the late-era Depeche Mode style. The band had been about, in one iteratio … | Continue reading
There are times when your brain turns to cheese, and is not good for anything useful, and yet you are not tired enough to sleep. For times like this, I turn to How It’s Made, the TV show where, to bland-yet-weirdly-compelling background music, the creation process of every day ob … | Continue reading
This is a small thing but worth noting: Inasmuch as Bookshop.org is taking over sales for Indiebound.org starting March 1, I’m going ahead and making Bookshop.org one of the default bookseller links for the Big Idea pieces, along with Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Powell’s. Existing … | Continue reading
The world has systems. Systems have rules. Or are they more like guidelines? In today’s Big Idea for A Hacker’s Mind, security expert Bruce Schneier takes a look at systems, how they are vulnerable, and what that fact means for all of us. BRUCE SCHNEIER: Hacking isn’t limited to … | Continue reading
What was the assignment? I can’t tell you, it’s secret! But it was fun and enjoyable and it was kind of neat to parachute into it at just about the last minute. And also, a picture of cats and toe beans is a win for everyone. Hope you had a fabulous Monday, folks. — JS | Continue reading
Me: Hey, you wanna know what’s the weirdest thing in the world? Krissy: (sighs) What’s the weirdest thing in the world? Me: Why did you just sigh there? Krissy: I didn’t sigh, I just exhaled heavily. Me: That’s actually the definition of a sigh. Krissy: You were telling me about … | Continue reading
I’m traveling today to DJ a friend’s birthday party this evening (yes! You can hire me as a DJ! For weddings, birthday parties and bar/bat mitzvahs!), and aside from what I usually play, this friend also requested a sprinkling of mashups and/or reinterpretations of popular songs … | Continue reading