If you want proof that good ideas — indeed, big ideas — can come from anywhere, well, Stuart Jaffe’s got you covered with his tale of how his latest novel, The Water Blade, came i… | Continue reading
It’s been an unusually rainy June here in Ohio so far this year, but the one silver lining, as it were, to this is that come sunset, we get some pretty gorgeous clouds going on. Here are a co… | Continue reading
For The Unraveling, author Benjamin Rosenbaum discovered in the writing of the novel that the tale he wanted to tell was not necessarily the tale he was then telling — and to tell the true ta… | Continue reading
The cicadas are single and ready to mingle, as you can see by this trio of them hanging out on our backyard pear tree. There certainly are a lot of them all of a sudden. I hope they find love and t… | Continue reading
This past weekend, I took a weekend trip up to Chicago. Also known as my favorite city! I absolutely love Chicago, despite only having been a handful of times over the past decade or so. This time … | Continue reading
Author Stephen Aryan has taken extra care in his newest novel, The Coward, to bring you a realistic main character. Follow along in his Big Idea as he tells us of the research that went into crafti… | Continue reading
It’s a snapping turtle, which is not great, as they are mean and also can take off your finger (or a chunk of a pet’s nose) if they feel like it. However, it’s currently the size … | Continue reading
It is, in simplest terms, our humanity which makes us human. But what’s in our humanity that makes it tick? New York Times best-selling author Craig Alanson gets into that, in his Big Idea fo… | Continue reading
Not too long ago, I mean, like, in the last couple of weeks, a professional colleague emailed me to tell me some good news and to ask me about something related to our shared venture. I emailed bac… | Continue reading
Just the other day I was all, “Huh, I don’t hear any cicadas, I wonder what happened to them around here.” Today: Yup, they’re about. It’s loud but not overwhelmingly … | Continue reading
A “DAW,” for those of you who don’t know, is a Digital Audio Workstation. I’ve had Studio One by Presonus for a while now but have only now decided to really learn how to us… | Continue reading
I mentioned yesterday I thought it was time that I expanded my somewhat haphazard music room into an actual music studio, which made a few people ask why, in fact, now was the time for this rather … | Continue reading
Author Nancy Jane Moore takes us into her past in her Big Idea, to explain how a favorite (if not outdated) book of hers inspired her new novel, For the Good of the Realm. NANCY JANE MOORE: For the… | Continue reading
For various reasons, I decided now is the time in which I would finally build out the part of the basement I keep my musical instruments, into something actually resembling a functional music studi… | Continue reading
Author Lavie Tidhar is on a mission to bring you the best science fiction in the world — the whole world, not just parts of it. This is a task which takes some doing, as Tidhar explains today… | Continue reading
And yes, she made pretty short work of it, too. Charlie is still a puppy, the world is meant to be chewed upon. Better a small log from the yard than, say, a leg of the dining room table. — J… | Continue reading
Behind every good villain is a great henchman. Yet, we never seem to hear much about these evil sidekicks. Author Veronica G. Henry decided to tackle this problem herself in her newest novel, Bacch… | Continue reading
Nice things are said about me starting at 2:58, followed by an amusing visual juxtaposition. — JS | Continue reading
It may not have escaped your notice that I’m mostly posting pet pics and short bits recently. It’s because a) I’m writing the third Dispatcher novella at the moment so most of my … | Continue reading
I hadn’t thought of this video in probably a couple decades and then suddenly today it was all over my brain. Welcome to pointless freaky eighties surrealism! Pretty good song, if you’r… | Continue reading
Getting older doesn’t have to mean you can’t go on adventures like all the youngsters. This is certainly the case in A. C. Wise’s newest novel, Wendy, Darling. Grab your bag of pi… | Continue reading
I absolutely had to get this one in before the end of May, so welcome to another installment of me reviewing Sakuraco’s monthly snack boxes! This month, they focused on the fact that it’… | Continue reading
May it be a happy and contemplative one for you. Congratulations, we made it to summer. — JS | Continue reading
Or, when you think it’s the neighbor dog in the yard, but it’s not. — JS | Continue reading
I think it’s the right decision, don’t you? Mind you, I did snark about politics in my Twitter feed this morning, so if you really need a hit, you can go there. In the meantime, however… | Continue reading
If there’s one thing I love, it’s fancy toast. Or rather, I love any food that is simple that you can elevate to make into something bougie (or boujee). Because I’m a bougie bitch… | Continue reading
We’re heading into the traditional “start of summer” this weekend (at least in the US), and what better way to start a long, lazy season than with a double stack of new books and … | Continue reading
Actions, as they say, have consequences. For Shadows of Hyperion, author Ryk E. Spoor gives us evidence of how true this saying really is, both for authors in their work, and for the characters and… | Continue reading
“Lodestar,” from Sarah Harmer, one of my two favorite Canadian musicians whose first name is Sarah. Enjoy. — JS | Continue reading
In today’s Big Idea, author Christian Klaver invites us to take a look into the magical world he created for his book-loving daughter. Come along as he explains the inspiration behind Shadows… | Continue reading
When I was younger, I read books like I would keel over and die if I ever stopped. When I say I was an avid reader, I mean I was back to back reading series after series, novel after novel, crankin… | Continue reading
Here in Bradford, the local IGA, the Dollar General and the Rich gas station have taken down their “mask required” signs, and the staff in each have likewise demasked. At the Dollar Gen… | Continue reading
Blast off as author David Ebenbach embarks on his Big Idea by stressing one concept that helped him write How to Mars — It involves characters, and ideas, and the relative importance of each.… | Continue reading
Just in case you were wondering what was up with them. There, now you’re all caught up. — JS | Continue reading
There’s some heavy stuff going on in Sammy H.K. Smith’s Big Idea for her novel Anna, and while it’s a lot to take in, Smith explains how this particular journey is critical for he… | Continue reading
I’m easing back into the habit of walking regularly in the early evening, and one of the things I enjoy as I go for my walks is passing by these neighbors. They are often curious about me, wh… | Continue reading
One of my favorite food bloggers posted a recipe for cookies recently, and they looked so incredibly delicious I was persuaded to click on it. It was a recipe for ginger sandwich cookies. As someon… | Continue reading
For reasons passing understanding, my 1994 film review of Cabin Boy has come up a number of times on the Internet recently (in no small part thanks to this Cabin Boy-related podcast). I thought the… | Continue reading
For pretty much most of my life, my room has been a mess. I’ve always considered myself someone who is a bit disorganized and a little messy, but it’s never really been noticeable becau… | Continue reading
If the answer is “no,” then you’re in luck, Sugar is here to judge you. Harshly. You’re welcome. I nearly forgot to update today but then remembered I didn’t update la… | Continue reading
So, I got my tonsils out last week. A procedure which many of you know went a little sideways, but everything turned out okay in the end! Anyways, now that it’s been several days of relaxing … | Continue reading
Is there such a thing as too much progress? Sometimes we are more preoccupied with the question of “if” we can do something, we don’t think about if we “should”. Such … | Continue reading
My pal Christy Gaitten (seen here on her wedding day in 2000, from a snap Krissy took) passed away yesterday. I don’t think she would want me to get too mushy or overlong in a public remembra… | Continue reading
Just in case anyone here could benefit from a photo of a happy pup in the yard with her tongue out. If you are that person, here you go. If you’re not, well, you still got a puppy photo out o… | Continue reading
And actually, top 5, as it was nestled in at number five when I checked, and of course I checked, because I was curious. This is a pretty good showing for its debut weekend and I’m unsurprisi… | Continue reading
As many of you know, the CDC recently changed masking guidelines for vaccinated folks, and in Ohio, at least, guidelines are also changing — both immediately for vaccinated people and then fo… | Continue reading
Athena has already updated you all on the, uh, exciting events of her week, so I don’t need to go over that again, but I did want to check in to thank the folks who checked in with me or Kris… | Continue reading
Here’s one from Twitter! — JS | Continue reading