A Trip South by Ursula K. Le Guin Back in the days, I did considerable traveling around the country to talk or teach or read from a new book. Only once did I get hooked into a regular book tour, … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: November 2015
There are a number of grammar myths current in the genre writing community. A lot of people seem to believe, for example, that commas exists to mark pauses when, actually, they show logical relationships between parts of a sentence. Strunk … Continue reading
Ardent Forest by Nancy Jane Moore The young women approached the box to pay their respects to the Governor. “Daddy,” Cecily said. “Governor,” said Rosa, wondering exactly when she had stopped calling him “Papa Guy.” “Daughter,” said the Governor, beaming … Continue reading
In order to discuss this young adult fantasy, I have to get sort of spoilery. I try to avoid specifics, but I do talk about the general outline of the book. So, Court of Fives, described in various places as … Continue reading
Chaz Brenchley’s SF Novelette “The Astrakhan, the Homburg and the Red Red Coal” will be featured in Gardner Dozois’ Year’s Best Science Fiction anthology (#33) for 2015. The story was originally published in Lightspeed magazine’s June special issue (#61)—Queers Destroy Science Fiction. Conga-rats … Continue reading
Read WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN in previous installments. Continuing – Question 5: WHY The question of motivation has been discussed a lot, to the point of being made fun of. Remember that immortal exchange in ‘Galaxy Quest’: “You’ve got to … Continue reading
There is something meditative about raking leaves. While you’re methodically gathering up what the maples have shed there’s really nothing else to do but think. It seems as though it should be prime time for mental bookwork for the novel … Continue reading
When readers have asked me about the gestation of what became Táin and Remscela, I usually say it was a project that took about eight years from start to finish—beginning the summer I bicycled across Ireland to the year when … Continue reading
Yes, we like Supergirl. Why? Melissa Benoist is the main reason. Her Supergirl is earnest and trying hard to do a job she knows is probably too big for her, but dammit, she’s going to do it anyway. She also … Continue reading
I always use fresh black-eyed peas. The fresh ones are much finer and creamier in texture, and never grainy. You can also taste some faint yet distinctly flavorful and complex sugars in the fresh peas, sugars that go stale when the peas are dried. Be aware that ham hocks are all hat and no cattle. You get maybe two tablespoons’ worth of meat for each ham hock.
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