The news, from the Los Angeles Times. He could do things with a guitar that literally nobody else could do, and possibly no one else will do again. As they say, there goes part of my youth. May he rest in peace. https://youtu.be/pQ9pYwCKopE | Continue reading
Inasmuch as I have, in fact, already voted for Joe Biden, I think it's both safe and reasonable to come out and endorse the man to be President of the United States. I also think it's reasonable to point out that this endorsement will not precisely be the most fulsome and ringing … | Continue reading
This year there are many good reasons to vote early, but for the Scalzi family, two stood out, one practical and one existential. The existential reason is that this year out of all other election years voting is under attack, specifically by the party in the White House and by t … | Continue reading
The image above was posted on Facebook today, and I had an immediate reaction to it, which I posted on Twitter: "The problem with this picture is, having grown up in the 80s, I assumed they are looking at the end result of a US-Soviet nuclear exchange, and this is the very instan … | Continue reading
I'll repost my tweet about it here: https://twitter.com/scalzi/status/1313132248263282690 Also, it's the last day to register to vote if you live in: •Arkansas •Arizona •Florida •Georgia •Hawaii (allows same day registration on Election Day) •Indiana •Kentucky •Louisiana •Mississ … | Continue reading
I've been using Fitbits for a couple of years, first to help with my weight loss and exercise regimen, and these days to help maintain my current weight and otherwise keep on top of my health (in a very general, this-is-not-an-actual-medical-device way). Fitbit recently announced … | Continue reading
Yup, I'm playing with lenses and photo editing software again! Because it's fun, that's why. Also portraiture is inherently interesting for itself, and I'm usually willing to pose for myself whenever I want, unlike the cats and some humans in the house. Hope you're enjoying your … | Continue reading
Let's start off the first weekend of October with this very fine collection of new books and ARCs! What here would you like to read over a crisp autumn weekend? Tell us all in the comments! | Continue reading
Come one, come all, down to Nebula award-winning author Jane Yolen's Big Idea, where she will be the ringmaster and show you her dark carnival of short stories that is Midnight Circus. JANE YOLEN: I admit it. I like small pieces of writing. I was a poet first, even as a child. I … | Continue reading
There is of course irony, of the cheap, Alanis Morissette sort, of a man so heavily invested in denying the reality and severity of the COVID-19 virus contracting the thing and joining the millions of his fellow Americans who have suffered from it, and risking becoming one of the … | Continue reading
When I was younger, like fourteen or fifteen, I started listening to some pretty odd music, and watching the even odder video accompaniments. I would spend, like, a decent chunk of my free time watching these things, and then one day I stopped like completely. But I rediscovered … | Continue reading
The human brain comes in almost infinite varieties, but for the future that Tom Doyle imagines in his novel Border Crosser, his question is: Will all of those brains, and the humans who possess them, be welcome? TOM DOYLE: Does the far future have a place for mental illness? This … | Continue reading
Sometimes, despite all your efforts to the contrary, you have to think about being the hero. Or so author Rebecca Coffindaffer might argue, in the context of her novel Crownchasers. REBECCA COFFINDAFFER: I love a reluctant hero. I’ve loved them ever since I sat, wide-eyed, as my … | Continue reading
Last night, after catching up with a debate that it turns out I was 100% correct not to watch live, and thus still have a TV that's functional because I didn't throw something heavy at it, I wrote this on Twitter: https://twitter.com/scalzi/status/1311161302904123392 Now it's the … | Continue reading
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for (since last Monday)! I have picked a handful of questions from all your lovely inquires. If I didn't pick yours, I'm sorry, there were seriously a ton of really good ones that I did not pick simply because I didn't have a solid, cle … | Continue reading
Do you love a good villain story? Who doesn't enjoy a nice anti-hero now and again, right? Take a trip to the dark side with author Lauren Shippen's newest release, A Neon Darkness, and see just how bad a good person can be. LAUREN SHIPPEN: I never thought I would write a villain … | Continue reading
Because it's been a long day, and you deserve a moment of beauty. -- JS | Continue reading
Does the New York Times' extensive and highly-researched dive into Donald Trump's taxes tell us anything we didn't know before? As a practical matter, yes: Donald Trump actively avoided releasing his taxes for years, and now we have the actual facts and figures out in the open -- … | Continue reading
First: as we recently did a survey of fancy jams here on Whatever, a reader (who I will let self-identify if they wish in the comments) sent along a type of jelly I had not heard of before: mayhaw jelly, "mayhaw" being a seasonal fruit in the South of the US, apparently ripening … | Continue reading
https://youtu.be/9bSbqasCnkg It's not that I was having a stressful Saturday -- it was in fact mostly fine! -- but the world is a lot these days, isn't it, and you might need a moment to center yourself. This lovely new song by musician Rachel Croft just might do the trick for yo … | Continue reading
I've always loved video games. My whole life, I've been enamored with the gaming world, from the PS2 to the Nintendo Switch, from arcade machines at the movie theater to the PC (which is obviously the best but we'll save that for another post). But there is one thing I've been no … | Continue reading
And it is: Brach's Mellocreme Pumpkins are the best mass-produced, fall-themed candies of them all. Discuss. -- JS | Continue reading
Last night, I wrote a post for the blog. It was only about seven hundred words, and it took me probably an hour or just over that to write it. In the post, I was talking about how much I liked a piece of media, and telling all of you to consume the media, too. However,… | Continue reading
In which I will discuss my Number One Top Audible Plus Listen(ed to) audiobook Murder By Other Means, and other things about writing and life and cats and stuff and things. If you're not doing anything tomorrow (September 24, 2020) at 8pm, come on by. And if you are doing somethi … | Continue reading
It's very dramatic. It would be lovely if this was as dramatic as this autumn was going to get. But I wouldn't count on that. -- JS | Continue reading
I had a doctor's appointment today (spoiler: I'm fine, everything's fine), and I was excited about it because I haven't been out of the house for a while and also I bought some new masks and I was excited to try one of them out. The new masks are triple layer (one of the layers… | Continue reading
Who needs to be the Chosen One at the age of thirteen, or to save the world at sixteen? With The Four Profound Weaves, author R. B. Lemberg takes us on a fantastical journey with an older character, one whose story has just begun. R. B. LEMBERG: I’ve been writing in Birdverse, my … | Continue reading
Hey, everyone! Today I thought I'd mix it up and have a Q&A. I've been writing on the blog for over a month and a half now, and I thought to myself, these people read my posts, but how much do they really know about me? Obviously, you probably know at least some stuff, considerin … | Continue reading
This will sound slightly ridiculous, but I can't tell you how nice it is to have reasonable internet speeds after close to two decades of having to make do with substandard bandwidth relative to the rest of the county. When I moved to Bradford in 2001, the only local internet pro … | Continue reading
Sometimes, good things can emerge from bad circumstances. Author Karen Osborne's newest book, Architects of Memory, is a prime example of that. What started as a medical emergency spiraled into a novel about facing one's fragility. Read on as the author shares her emotional journ … | Continue reading
In the more innocent days of 2010, I commissioned artist Jeff Zugale to create the amazing image above, of me as an orc, doing battle with a totally ripped Wil Wheaton, who is astride, of course, a unicorn pegasus kitten. The image was designed to evoke wonder and curiosity, like … | Continue reading
It's not a bad plan, to be honest. I may emulate it. -- JS | Continue reading
This just in: A new stack of books and ARCs that have come to the Scalzi Compound! What here is ringing your proverbial bells? Share in the comments! -- JS | Continue reading
I don't always listen to albums, but when I do, there are usually only a couple of songs on it that I enjoy. Usually one or two, sometimes three, and on rare occasion, maybe four or so. But I have never in my life enjoyed an album in its entirety. Until I came across Ammunition… | Continue reading
I have been doing rather a lot of virtual events and other video-related things this year, and thus is was decided that I should have a ring light, in order to light my face flatteringly and otherwise even out things, in terms of basic luminosity. It arrived today and I have inst … | Continue reading
Hey, remember all those teen movies with the girl cliques? So does Hannah Abigail Clarke. Their new novel The Scapegracers is one of the things that happened when these films and the author collided. HANNAH ABIGAIL CLARKE: I wrote The Scapegracers when I was 19 because I was lon … | Continue reading
In 1980, which is now -- Jesus -- 40 years ago, Ronald Reagan asked a question of the American people: "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?" Reagan asked this question because he was running for president against Jimmy Carter, and it was in his interest to make … | Continue reading
Everybody come on down to The Rude Eye of Rebellion! In today’s prize package we have: dark comedy, torture based reality entertainment, and a slow-brewing Marxist revolution! Now please put your hands together for your host, J.R.H. Lawless! J.R.H. LAWLESS: If The Rude Eye of Re … | Continue reading
And as you can see, it is a very important picture of Spice stretching. Sorry to make you wait for this vital information. -- JS | Continue reading
Sometimes, it takes a try or two, or a rewrite here and there, to really nail down a story. Author Mark Oshiro tells us about just that as he takes us through his Big Idea, Each of Us a Desert, and shows us that we shouldn't be afraid of reframing our narratives. It might turn ou … | Continue reading
When I was a kid, I went to Camp Willson, a YMCA summer camp in Bellefontaine, Ohio. I went for nine years. The first time I went, I was seven, and the last time I went, I was sixteen, and I was a counselor in training that time around rather than a camper. I had… | Continue reading
Assassination isn't always personal, sometimes it's just business. And sometimes the people carrying out the business are from a different dimension and are dressed like nightmarish monsters. It's all part of the gig in author Paul Michael Anderson's newest sci-fi/horror novel, S … | Continue reading
Well, this is a lovely way to start the week: Murder By Other Means, the sequel to The Dispatcher, has topped Audible's new "Top Audible Plus Listens" chart, across all categories, not just science fiction and fantasy. This is the equivalent of topping the best seller chart, sinc … | Continue reading
Once again it is September 13 and once again I am reminded that on this day in 1998, I decided to start writing on my website on a regular basis, writing about whatever came to mind that day -- thus "Whatever." Twenty two years is a fairly long time; in fact, it's long enough tha … | Continue reading
Just hanging out in my office, you know, like she would, because she is my spouse and all. I don't mind. Quite the opposite, in fact. Hope you're having a good September weekend. And if you're on the west coast, I hope you and your loved ones are safe. -- JS | Continue reading
Here at the Scalzi Compound, we are big believers in jam. My mom and I just made homemade peach jam two nights ago, and my dad is a frequent buyer of "Frog Jam" at a local place, and it's a general rule we don't buy cheap jam in this household. Maybe it's a little bougie,… | Continue reading
Doing the right thing isn't always easy, and a lot of the time, it's easier just to do nothing. But when you decide to make a stand, are you willing to risk everything, even your life, for the cause? Authors Glen Zipper and Elaine Mongeon explore this idea of self-sacrifice for t … | Continue reading
Audible asked me, "Hey, wanna talk to Zachary Quinto about your novella that he is narrating?" and I was, all, like, "Why yes, yes, I do." And so here we are, talking about it. Enjoy. https://youtu.be/wAnieGlNt7I -- JS | Continue reading