I think everyone has a favorite band that literally no one else they know has ever heard of. Not in the gatekeepery “I’m so unbearably hipster I only listen to bands that broke up even before they recorded their album” sort of way, but in the enthusiastic “I don’t understand why … | Continue reading
I don’t think most people would make a connection between my military science fiction novel Old Man’s War and the works of the famously earthy-crunchy singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, but there is one, and it’s pretty significant: her song “Beloved Wife,” which was originally … | Continue reading
My inclusion of this song is pretty simple: Late 2016 was a pretty rough ride, emotionally, and I needed something anthemic to keep my spirits up. “Higher” fit that bill pretty well: Quiet(ish) verses raising up to big fist-pumping choruses, catchy, defiant lyrics, and a spirit o … | Continue reading
This anniversary edition of new books and ARCs has some excellent limited editions from Subterranean Press along with new work from other publishers. What here is calling to you? Tell us in the comments! — JS | Continue reading
I decided to highlight Concrete Blonde today because today is my and Krissy’s wedding anniversary, and when we met and for a long time afterward, Concrete Blonde was Krissy’s favorite, and still remains high up in her personal musical pantheon. When Krissy entered my life, the am … | Continue reading
I was going to say “sometimes you get lucky,” but I don’t think you get to 27 years of marriage by luck. I got lucky when I met Krissy. We’ve both been working on it since then to stay lucky. It’s worthwhile work. I hope to keep doing that work for at least as long […] | Continue reading
There are any number of reasons why “Tear In Your Hand” has remained in my mix of Highly Significant Songs, but possibly the most important reason is that it’s rooted into a very specific place and time for me: Fresno, California in the early 90s. This is where I had gotten my fi … | Continue reading
Cats and witches are a duo as old as time. But when the cat is a frenemy rather than a familiar? Now that’s a little more unique. Come along in Karen Heuler’s Big Idea to see the dynamic she created between a witch and her most unusual co-worker in The Splendid City. KAREN HEULER … | Continue reading
Specificity is a valuable thing when it comes to popular music, which is a thing that I’m not sure everyone who makes pop music always understands. Popular music, after all, is meant to appeal to a wide number of people, to hit charts and be turned into viral TikToks and so on. O … | Continue reading
This past Sunday, I ventured down to Cincinnati to visit my friend, and she took me to Italianfest in Newport, Kentucky! Which is right across the river from Cincinnati. I had never heard of Italianfest before, but apparently it’s been going on since 1991. I wasn’t sure what to e … | Continue reading
How do you write a book that reaches past its target audience, to readers that have never tried your genre before? According to author Stephen Cox, you have to lean into the things that make it genre defying in the first place. Follow along in his Big Idea to see how he does this … | Continue reading
I believe I was slightly behind the rest of my generational cohort in coming to k.d. lang. Most of the people who I know admire her work came on board with it in the All You Can Eat days, with “Constant Craving” being the Canadian singer’s biggest pop hit, now and then. I thought … | Continue reading
It’s been said that you should write what you know, and for author Sam J. Miller, that’s pop culture. Read on to discover how he transformed the pop culture that inspired him growing up into his own story of his own making, Boys, Beasts & Men. SAM J. MILLER: My first stories were … | Continue reading
It must be an interesting moment to be Kate Bush. 39 years after her masterwork Hounds of Love came out, it’s back, thanks to a canny placement of its song “Running Up That Hill” in the hit Netflix series Stranger Things. And when I say “it’s back,” it’s actually to say that it’s … | Continue reading
A number of years ago, when Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans, killing a thousand people who had chosen to stay in the city when the storm hit, there were people who wondered why they didn’t just leave. The answer, I knew, was: because they were poor, and they couldn’t just g … | Continue reading
As the weekend approaches: Another set of new books and ARCs for you to consider. What here would you be happy to read on a lazy Saturday or Sunday afternoon? Share in the comments. — JS | Continue reading
I don’t usually turn to Time for musical recommendations, but in late 2000, I happened to have a subscription to the magazine and the magazine, in turn, happened to recommend Sarah Harmer’s album You Were Here as the top debut album of 2000, and one of the top ten albums of the y … | Continue reading
A couple days ago, I went to a local used bookstore. After doing some perusing in the main area, I saw they had a shelf in the back with brown paper bags. They were mystery bags, with a book inside, the genre of which was written on the front of the sack, along with the […] | Continue reading
Today I formally did something I’ve been meaning to do for a while: I created an LLC to handle my myriad business interests. I did this for various legal and financial reasons, none of which are probably of any real interest to anyone who is not actively involved in my day-to-day … | Continue reading
Some bands and musicians you have to grow into, and/or have deep introspective thoughts about, and some you get right from the word “go,” no additional thinking required. For me Garbage is in the second category. I first heard them with the single “Queer,” and two things were imm … | Continue reading
How many ways are there to tell a classic story? As many ways as there are people to tell it. In Wrath Goddess Sing, author Maya Deane finds a new way to tell one of Western Civilization’s oldest tales. MAYA DEANE: I’m going to let you in on a secret: there is no one single […] | Continue reading
What a sunset looks like during a tornado watch. In case you were wondering. (We’re fine.) — JS | Continue reading
A quarter of a century ago — so long ago that this site did not even exist — I wrote a long essay entitled “Why I Have a Soft Spot for Sarah McLachlan.” To get right to the spoiler, it was because, in no small way, I identified with her. As I wrote at the […] | Continue reading
They say not to meet your heroes, but that’s exactly what Ren Hutchings’ protagonist, Uma Ozakka, does by means of time travel. Travel through the Big Idea behind Under Fortunate Stars and see how their fates intertwine. REN HUTCHINGS: I’ve loved time travel stories for a very lo … | Continue reading
There were a lot of good things about The Bad Guys, and I enjoyed watching it, so what is it about this movie that made it mediocre? When I saw the trailer for The Bad Guys, I was thrilled that a movie with such a unique look was coming to theaters. Ever since 3-D animated movies … | Continue reading
This is the oldest song in my Personal History of Music, dating from Armatrading’s 1977 album Show Some Emotion, but that’s not when I encountered it. I encountered it nearly 20 years later, when it popped up on the soundtrack of the 1995 film Boys on the Side, which starred Drew … | Continue reading
We all want to be heroes, but how realistic is an individual saving the world? Author Samit Basu explores this idea in his newest book, The City Inside, making his characters focus on what they can save in their own worlds. SAMIT BASU: My Big Idea, initially, was to write a near- … | Continue reading
My path to Taylor Swift and my appreciation of her as a musician and songwriter was a bit backward from how I think it’s usually done, either by me or by other folks. Usually there’s the music first: a song or album that catches our ear and makes us want to listen, and having lis … | Continue reading
Today’s Big Idea is Super-Sized, because author Dave Creek has not just one, but two, new books out in the world, released simultaneously. How did this happen and how do his books — Watcher of the Skies and Chanda’s Homecoming — relate to each other? Dave is here to give you all … | Continue reading
Over on Reddit, there’s an interest group (or “subreddit”) called “Im14AndThisIsDeep,” where the gist of the subreddit is to show a bunch of images/statements/gifs/etc that seem deeply profound if you are young and inexperienced, and, uhhhh, less so if you have any knowledge of t … | Continue reading
The thing about Eddi Reader is that there are just too many songs to choose from to represent her excellence: Nearly all the songs from Fairground Attraction, the neo-skiffle band she emerged from with a bang (including the just-about-perfect pop song called, appropriately, “Perf … | Continue reading
In March of 1996, I left the job I had been working at for five years — film critic for the Fresno Bee — and joined a then up-and-coming technology company called America Online as their in-house writer and editor. I had joined AOL for two reasons: The first was that the Bee want … | Continue reading
For the past decade, I’ve had a tiny strawberry patch by my house. Most years, I fail to do anything with them, except maybe make some jam, but nothing spectacular. This year, I decided I would try to use them for a freshly baked pie. It seemed so aesthetic and simple. So, I got … | Continue reading
We are all part of some sort of fandom, and some fandoms are better known than others. In By Your Side, author Erica Friedman explores a vital, but possibly lesser-known, group of fans. ERICA FRIEDMAN: Every day someone discovers a new fandom. How awesome is that? Right away that … | Continue reading
“Maps” may or may not be the best rock song of the 21st Century (it was released as a single in September of 2003), but I can say that when I heard it for the first time, my reaction to was “Holy shit, that one’s a keeper.” The song had the quality in which it […] | Continue reading
Magic, monsters, and New York Style pizza. Three things you can expect to find in author Alex Shvartsman’s newest book, The Middling Afflication. Come along in this Big Idea to see what else lies within the city that never sleeps. ALEX SHVARTSMAN: The big idea behind The Middling … | Continue reading
For June of 2022, I’ve decided that once a day, every day, I’m going to write a post celebrating some of the music and musicians who were (and are) important to me over the years. Over the course of this month, I’ll cover music that spans more than 40 years, from 1977 to 2018, wh … | Continue reading
If you could rewrite history, what would your version of it look like? Author B. L. Blanchard took up the challenge in her newest book, The Peace Keeper. Find out how her new past looks today. B. L. BLANCHARD: What if North America had never been colonized? Sit with that idea for … | Continue reading
Really, it might be the most important photo you see today. Look at this happy dog. Just look at her. Back to your regularly scheduled Tuesday. Thank you for your attention. — JS | Continue reading
From small beginnings, big things can arise — and when they do, suddenly you may find yourself doing a lot more worldbuilding than you originally planned. In this Big Idea, author Bishop O’Connell goes into detail about how the world of Two-Gun Witch became a more intensive proje … | Continue reading
Everyday, I get on Tik Tok, and everyday, I see someone make focaccia. And every time, I think, I would really like to try that. It took me a couple months, but I finally did it, and it turned out so amazing and was so easy that I knew I had to come bestow the […] | Continue reading
From earlier today. Posting here for archival and conversational purposes. 1. I saw someone posting the “Best of 21st Century” Locus Poll from more than a decade ago (on which Old Man’s War topped the SF list) and wondering how the top tier of the books on the list have held up i … | Continue reading
It’s been raining on a more or less constant basis for the last couple of days here, which is no fun for various reasons but at least allows me to get in a couple nice photos of droplets on the irises in the front of the house. The good news is the rain is meant […] | Continue reading
When I mentioned that I was going to be doing snack box reviews again, someone commented that I should consider trying out one called Universal Yums. Little did they know that that was the brand I was planning to do all along! This is actually not my first time trying them, thoug … | Continue reading
As we amble into the Memorial Day weekend here in the US, here is a nicely eclectic stack of new books and ARCs for you to consider. What here do you want to take into summer with you? Share in the comments! — JS | Continue reading
Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode has died, and it’s a sad day for everyone who went to high school when I did (and at my high school in particular, where Depeche Mode was worshiped as unto gods). Andy Fletcher would not have been my bet to be the first DM member to leave us, and […] | Continue reading
Several of you have noted that the search widget in the sidebar appears to have gotten bunged up and was offering up 404s when you tried to search something. Indeed it was, so I uninstalled the search widget and then reinstalled it. Now it seems to work fine. Whether it will cont … | Continue reading
I watched Jujutsu Kaisen last month (on Crunchyroll, but you can also find it on HBO Max), and while I really enjoyed it and thought it was good overall, I had a hard time following the magic system the world is based around, and thought I’d share my complaints with y’all and see … | Continue reading