We all know Albert Einstein — he’s the personification of “scientist” in the minds of most of us — but as always, there’s more to the icon (and the man!) than we expect. Jim Ottaviani explains what this means in this Big Idea for his (with artist Jerel Dye) graphic novel retellin … | Continue reading
Back in October, I told you all about a cool job opportunity I had coming up, and I’m happy to report back that I did in fact get the position at… wait for it… Twenty One Barrels! If you missed it, Twenty One Barrels is the winery/cidery across the street from me that I recently … | Continue reading
Inspiration can come from anywhere. For author Daniel Church, it came from a long and scenic train ride. Read on to see how this burst of inspiration turned into his newest novel, The Hollows. DANIEL CHURCH: It was a beautiful summer’s day in 2014, and I was on my way to a funera … | Continue reading
Now that control of the Senate has been retained by the Democrats (albeit barely), some post-mortem notes on the 2022 mid-term elections. 1. Even if the GOP takes the House — which it probably will although at this point it may be by as little as a seat or two — this was a shocki … | Continue reading
A tweet from Cory Doctorow reminds me that 15 years ago today, I filed my report on a trip to the Creation Museum, a biblically-themed attraction about ninety minutes south of me in Kentucky. I had been dared to go to the thing by Joe Hill, and I said I would if Whatever readers … | Continue reading
Or, Mitch McConnell learning this evening he’ll be minority leader for another two years. If he lasts that long, that is. Hell of a red wave, folks. — JS | Continue reading
It was 70 degrees here two days ago, and then suddenly November remembered how to November, and here we are: The first snow of the season, and no temperatures higher than the low 40s for the foreseeable future. I see that last year I posted up a video of the first snowfall of the … | Continue reading
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but in author Lavie Tidhar’s case, a single image he thought of was worth a whole book. Read on to see how his newest novel, Neom, came to be. LAVIE TIDHAR: For Neom, my latest SF novel set in the wider world of my Central Station uni … | Continue reading
A brief update on the church: Many of you were wondering what we might call the church, now that it’s no longer officially the Bradford United Methodist Church. We have seen many suggestions, including “Church of the Infinite Burrito” “The Interdependent Church,” “Scalzitology HQ … | 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
Author Steve McHugh was in the middle of writing a novel when his newest novel, The Last Raven, decided it needed to be written, instead. Follow along in his Big Idea to see how it started to take shape, and what it ended up becoming. STEVE MCHUGH: I wasn’t meant to write The Las … | Continue reading
Last week, my dad and I got Planet Fitness memberships. I have never been a member of a gym before, unless you count the YMCA, but I never actually worked out at the YMCA, I mostly just accompanied my grandma to go swimming sometimes. Anyways, we got our memberships, and today ma … | Continue reading
It is not what we take with us when we die, but what we leave behind. Author Emery Robin goes into some detail about this in their Big Idea for their newest novel, The Stars Undying. Read on to see what kind of things end up getting inherited by those we leave. EMERY ROBIN: What … | Continue reading
I actually got up early for you! And apparently it’s going to be the last lunar eclipse until 2025, and who knows what will happen between now and then, so, happy I woke up for this. In the US, it’s election day. US citizens, please vote if you have not done so already. Thank you … | Continue reading
I missed the actual sunset, because I was busy not looking out a window, but these clouds immediately after are still something else. Big day in the US tomorrow, folks. If you haven’t already voted early, remember to vote. It matters. It actually always matters, mind you. But thi … | Continue reading
Because the blue check mark on Twitter is now a symbol of subscription status, rather than being a symbol that Twitter has verified that an account is held by the person it purports to represent, I offer the following, with apologies for the occasional use of the third person, an … | Continue reading
I’ve been playing with the AI art generator Stable Diffusion, and one of the things it lets you do is use a photo for reference. So I went ahead and popped in a couple of pictures of Krissy to see what would come up, and as a text prompt used various iterations of “queen” and […] | Continue reading
Because of the recent acquisition of Twitter by Elon “I overpaid” Musk, people are wondering where on the Internet I am, just in case they abandon that service forever. So, here is where you can find various online iterations of me, more or less in the order I use them. Click on … | Continue reading
A very fine stack of new books and ARCs this week, including some nice limited editions from Subterranean Press. What here is calling to you? Share in the comments! — JS | Continue reading
So far I like it! But what I’ve really noticed about it is how little I’ve had get used to it. With every other iteration of the Pixel I’ve had there was always some significant bit of software, hardware or user experience that called attention to itself and I had to build into m … | Continue reading
Another year, another anthology: doesn’t editor and author Lavie Tidhar have other things to do with his time? No! (Well, maybe, but not to the exclusion of this.) Turns out, he’s on a mission, and that mission has resulted in The Best of World SF: Volume 2. Here’s Tidhar to expl … | Continue reading
Now that we’re several days into the Elon Musk era of Twitter, some additional musings on how we got here and where we’re going. In no particular order: 1. Elon Musk did this to himself. There’s an old quip about how to make a small fortune in publishing: Start with a large fortu … | Continue reading
Sometimes walking in the woods will take you to places you never expected. During the writing of Angel Falls, authors Julia Rust and David Surface went for several walks in the woods, and this Big Idea, they tag-team tell you what they discovered. JULIA RUST & DAVID SURFACE: “I f … | Continue reading
The Pixel 7 Pro that I finally unpacked and fired up today (it arrived last week, but I was traveling) has a new “macro” photo mode, which allows one to get pretty darn close to one’s subject to snap a photo. Here’s me snapping a photo of Spice about an inch and a half from […] | Continue reading
What’s in a word? For Joelle Presby, perhaps the whole world… for starters. In this Big Idea, Presby explains how a single world opens up a whole universe for her novel The Dabare Snake Launcher. JOELLE PRESBY: My big idea is a dabare. When you grow up in an area where everyone e … | Continue reading
Written this morning and now posted here for archival purposes. I’ll likely have more to say on the topic soon, but at the moment I’m in transit and heading home. Also note that if you’re reading this here, you probably don’t need the links to the site that I have provided. 1. As … | Continue reading
Here on Sunday at Hal-Con, and I was presented with two regional favorite ice creams: Tiger Tail, which is orange ice cream with a ribbon of black licorice, and Moon Mist, which is basically banana bubble gum. The Moon Mist was a little much for me — 11-year-old me, the one who w … | Continue reading
They have a clock tower! They’re proud of it, I understand. Lovely day here in the Maritimes, and met lots of fab people at Hal-Con. Now off to dinner with friends. How was your Friday? ̵… | Continue reading
When the folks at Hal-Con asked if I would come visit their convention, I said I would if they supplied me with Coke Zero, Tiger Tail ice cream, and a framed picture of either Halifax’s own Sarah McLachlan, or, if one were not available, at least one member of the band Sloan (als … | Continue reading
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another Universal Yums review! If you’ve missed my other reviews, Universal Yums is a snack box company that features snacks from a different country every month. This month, we have Spain, which is actually the first country I ever got back w … | Continue reading
They’re making a Netflix documentary series about the time in the 90s a kid tried to get a Harrier jet from Pepsi, based on a commercial the soft drink maker put out on TV. As I watched the trailer, I had a vague memory of writing a column about it at the time. I checked […] | Continue reading
Athena and I beat the rush to the polls this November by voting early today. It’s become my tradition to vote as early as I can (presuming I know who I am going to vote for, which this year I very much do) to have it done and not worry that something will keep me […] | Continue reading
It’s Woolly Bear season, those being not actual bears but the caterpillars of a tiger moth, who wander around this time of year fattening up in order to freeze through the winter and become moths when it warms again, or so Wikipedia tells me. The rumor is that you can tell whethe … | Continue reading
Yesterday I picked up an award from my high school for Alumni Outstanding Achievement, and it was both delightful and a little nerve-wracking. I’ve picked up awards in front of thousands of people and didn’t bat an eye; this time it was in front of maybe sixty people I went to sc … | Continue reading
Hello, everyone! Today I have some good, but vague, news for you all! I have an exciting opportunity in the works, and will be job shadowing a position next week. I’m not going to say what the job is yet, but as long as the job shadow goes well, the position is mine! I figured [… … | Continue reading
I’m now in high school hometown of Claremont, kicking back outside with my laptop and writing on the novel, albeit not with any particular intensity at the moment. Write a paragraph, be mellow for a bit, write another paragraph, rinse, repeat. I’ll pick up the pace soon, but for … | Continue reading
There are many ways in which small indie presses and large traditional presses differ, and in this Big Idea for the anthology Farther Reefs, co-editor J.S. Fields identifies one that you might not expect. What’s this difference? Read on! J. S. FIELDS: Lesbians. Okay wait. Hear me … | Continue reading
Author David Walton offers us a glimpse into the past, the far past, in his Big Idea for his newest novel, Living Memory. Can the past be able to shape the future? Walton has thoughts! DAVID WALTON: Admit it: You wish you could ride a triceratops. As a child, I would have handed … | Continue reading
Flying into California yesterday I saw something I’ve not seen before: the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, which focuses the sun’s rays to generate power. I knew it existed but I’ve never seen it before with my own eyes. It is very bright, which is how I noticed it in the first pla … | Continue reading
“The book was better than the movie!” What about when the book was inspired by a movie? Hugo Award Winning author Mary Robinette Kowal talks to us today about what inspired her to write her newest novel, The Spare Man. MARY ROBINETTE KOWAL: The Thin Man in Space — That’s what The … | Continue reading
It’s my pal Jim Boggia playing his uke and singing “Everytime You Go Away,” written by Darryl Hall (of Hall and Oates) and popularized by Paul Young. Why? Because Jim’s an excellent musician, and this version is delightful. Enjoy. — JS | Continue reading
It’s my pal Jim Boggia playing his uke and singing “Everytime You Go Away,” written by Darryl Hall (of Hall and Oates) and popularized by Paul Young. Why? Because Jim’s an excellent musician, and this version is delightful. Enjoy. — JS | Continue reading
There are typefaces that have passed into infamy for being terrible… but in HellSans, there’s one that’s gone just beyond being terrible into being terrifying. And for author Ever Dundas, this typeface is a metaphor, not for awful kerning and character design, but something altog … | Continue reading
I’m traveling a lot this month, which means my usual spree of October foliage photos has been interrupted, but now that I’m home for a couple of days I’ll try to get some shots in. That said, while I was in Kentucky earlier this week, I did get this lovely photo of a Virginia Cre … | Continue reading
There are a number of mass culture phenomena that came from Japan to the United States and western culture generally, and in Fight, Magic, Items, author Aidan Moher delves into one such phenomenon, that the casual fan might not know had sprung from there at all. AIDEN MOHER: Back … | Continue reading
And that is because it was around this time, fourteen(!) years ago now, that I switched over to the service to host Whatever. Previous to the switchover I had been beset by issues with the site, stemming from backend hiccups and rough patches that never quite resolved themselves. … | Continue reading
Hello, everyone! You might remember back in July, I posted a piece over these edible crystal candies I found, made by a company called Misaky Tokyo. Back in September, the company reached out to me and said that a few of their recent customers mentioned that they found out about … | Continue reading
Author Jason Denzel knows the challenge of enticing readers to one book — but what about an entire trilogy. With this Big Idea about the final installment in his Mystic Trilogy, Mystic Skies, Denzel is going to give it a shot… and be sure to check out the book trailer at the end. … | Continue reading