If you see the typeface change on the site, don’t panic, I’m just checking a few things. — JS | Continue reading
This was a pretty good year for Whatever in terms of visitorship. Not only that, but for the first time in a couple of years the majority of the most popular posts on the site were posts that were … | Continue reading
I think my Christmas gifts of a sweater and a flat cap lend me a certain continental charm. Once I am done terrifying the younger generation with stories of eating shoes to survive in the Great Sta… | Continue reading
Happy Christmas Eve! As is now tradition here at Whatever, I have once again on this day gathered what I think are some of my strongest posts of the year into a handy list for you to peruse at your… | Continue reading
Athena’s 22 today, and while she can (and may!) give her own thoughts about being that age to you, on my end I think this last year has been an eventful one for her. As it has been for most o… | Continue reading
Which is that for some people there’s a UI bug that puts the “Exit Mobile Version” banner over the “Post” button when you want to leave a comment. I verified it being … | Continue reading
Short version: I co-wrote a Christmas song with the musician Matthew Ryan and through New Year’s Day we are offering it free, as a gift to you (yes! You!). You can download it now from Matthe… | Continue reading
Since many of you who frequent this site are complete nerds, you’re probably aware that in tonight’s sky Jupiter and Saturn are within a tenth of a degree of each other, which is their … | Continue reading
It’s “Don’t Go Away” by The Summer Kills. Their entire album, Last Night We Became Swans, is worth seeking out. On another subject entirely, come back tomorrow (12/22) aroun… | Continue reading
And it’s a pretty good one. Here comes winter, folks. May it be full of beauty. — JS | Continue reading
None of you! 577 comments, not a single one correctly guessed the song I was thinking about. Which, incidentally, was this one: “Santa Claus’ Party” by the Lex Baxter Orchestra No… | Continue reading
Like pretty much all my other video game posts, I’m severely late to the game (no pun intended). Today I’m here to talk about the wildly popular Rockstar game, Red Dead Redemption 2. Ev… | Continue reading
He’s very pensive! And possibly thinking about what he wants for Christmas, which will likely be a catnip toy. Man, that catnip hits the spot. Hoping you’re having a lovely Friday, folk… | Continue reading
You wanna win it? Here’s how you do it: I’m thinking of a holiday song right now. Guess which one it is in the comments. That’s it! Now, THE RULES: 1. One guess per person. Don… | Continue reading
There, I said it. I’m not happy about it, but it’s the truth. I miss high school. When I was in high school, I hated it. Not just a normal amount, the way every teen does, but like, ext… | Continue reading
I posted this on a Twitter thread yesterday but I think it’s worth noting here as well: Not long after Athena had her COVID test, I had one as well. It came out negative, but it was also a le… | Continue reading
The thing about “happily ever after” is that it skips over so much. What happens when you don’t skip “ever after?” Is it actually happy then? Sam Hawke has thoughts on… | Continue reading
And he is happy to see you! All right, that’s all you get today. See you tomorrow. Now, shoo! — JS | Continue reading
There are still Hawaii’s electoral votes to count, but they’re electorially superfluous at this point. California sent Biden (and Harris!) over the top in the electoral votes, sealing B… | Continue reading
When the universe is at war, what is life like for those in caught in the middle? Author Leonard Richardson gives us a glimpse at those who are caught in the middle of a galactic war, but have thei… | Continue reading
Some fellow on Twitter decided to impugn my manhood by comparing me (negatively) to John McLane, the hero of Die Hard. So, as one does, I checked in with Steven deSouza, the screenwriter of Die Har… | Continue reading
I didn’t think this movie would make me cry. I knew the first two on my list, The Fault in Our Stars and Coco, would make me cry, but I never expected this charming romantic comedy to be on t… | Continue reading
Hey! Look what just arrived! It’s 2020 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, which was won by The Last Emperox. More accurately, it’s the trophy for it, which is lovely, and indi… | Continue reading
It’s “Chinese Satellite” by Phoebe Bridgers, from her Punisher album, which I had not listened to previous to today, but which has been showing up on a bunch of “Best of 202… | Continue reading
In case you missed it, last week I got tested for COVID. And it sucked. Now you shall all know: Yes, I had corona. This made me one of about 9,000 positive cases in Ohio on the day I was tested. Wh… | Continue reading
You know about werewolves, but if that’s all you know about, you don’t know the half of it… or in the case of the Were Chronicles, you don’t know the third of it. Here’… | Continue reading
For no good reason other than I felt like it. What it lacks in polish it makes up for in being short! Enjoy. — JS | Continue reading
Hades is the first roguelike game I’ve ever experienced. I’ve never played a dungeon crawler type game before, nor did I know what a roguelike even was before I started playing Hades. F… | Continue reading
Ooof, I’m a little out of it these days. This is for a combination of factors. I’m behind on the novel, which I’m writing slower than I would like. One part of the reason I’… | Continue reading
If you’re going to note that one of us ages better than the other, it is known. — JS | Continue reading
Tired of reading about characters that are always perfectly optimistic and seem almost inhumanely bright and bubbly? Author Rachel Mans McKenny has a perfect main character for you in her newest no… | Continue reading
For everyone who ordered books this year from Jay & Mary’s Book Center: All the books have been signed as of last night and will begin winging their way to you starting today. We ended th… | Continue reading
You had to have known this one would be on the list at some point, right? If this movie isn’t on your list, I question whether or not you have tear ducts at all. Disney, Pixar, and Disney-Pix… | Continue reading
I noted last week that WordPress was transferring me over from its now-shuttering-VIP hosting tier to its business tier, and that there were likely to be a couple of changes, mostly not on your end… | Continue reading
Slow day here at the Scalzi Compound, so, here, have a picture of our hibiscus plant, which we potted and placed in the garage for the winter, so it wouldn’t die in the cold. The hibiscus is … | Continue reading
For the last four days, the Whatever Gift Guide 2020 has been about helping you find the perfect gifts for friends and loved ones. But today I’d like to remind folks that the season is also about h… | Continue reading
I made it ten months into the pandemic without getting tested for COVID. Honestly, I think that’s a pretty good run. I know several people that have to get tested frequently for work or schoo… | Continue reading
A near-lifelong, almost forgotten about idea of author Matthew Castleman’s ended up turning into his newest novella, Privateers of Mars. Read on to learn how a child’s drawing transmute… | Continue reading
For the first three days of the Whatever Gift Guide 2020, I’ve let authors and creators tell you about their work. Today is different: Today is Fan Favorites day, in which fans, admirers and satisf… | Continue reading
First, you should know that Amazon took out a big damn ad celebrating The Last Emperox and put it up in midtown New York, and that got the social media folks at Tor books pretty excited. So natural… | Continue reading
But still lovely to see: A big ‘ol advertisement for The Last Emperox in NYC, through the good graces of Amazon, which included the book in its annual Best Books of 2020 list, along with, of … | Continue reading
The Whatever Holiday Gift Guide 2020 continues, and today we move away from books and focus on other gifts and crafts — which you can take to mean just about any other sort of thing a creative pers… | Continue reading
Last night WordPress, which hosts Whatever, switched me over to a new plan, which has additional and/or different functionality from my previous plan. Most of this functionality relates to the back… | Continue reading
Hey, did you know we had an election last month? Seems so long ago now, I know, but it's true! And in the wake of the national, state and local elections -- and the attendant hoofraw about the results -- we here in the US have been getting a bit of a refresher in what… | Continue reading
Today is Day Two of the Whatever Holiday Gift Guide 2020, and today the focus is on Non-Traditionally Published Books: Self-published works, electronically-exclusive books, books from micro presses, books released outside the usual environs of the publishing world, and so on. Hey … | Continue reading
The weather forecast was that the snow would begin this evening, but when has 2020 waited for anything? It started this morning and while it's not been in great amounts, it also never really stopped coming. And thus: lots of white to welcome in December. Which apparently will sho … | Continue reading
Welcome to the first day of the Whatever Shopping Guide 2020 — Our way of helping you folks learn about cool creative gifts for the holidays, straight from the folks who have created them. Today’s featured products are traditionally published books (including graphic novels and a … | Continue reading
Like most teen girls in the 2010s, I was enamored with The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green. I read it during my freshman year of high school, and the movie came out when I was a sophomore. I also met John Green when I was a sophomore at NerdCon, so that was like, really… | Continue reading