In an earlier blog post* I described my cat’s relationship to the Time Machine that sits on my desk keeping tabs on what goes on in my computer. When both Pard and the Time Machine were younger, it often made faint clickety buzzing noises, which convinced him that it it contained beetles. A reasonable assumption, since our house swarmed with box-elder beetles that year, and they did get into everything. He enjoyed hunting them. But eating them always appeared to be more a duty than a reward. Presently he gave it up. Then he gave up beetle-hunting altogether, as a boring juvenile pastime beneath the dignity of a mature cat.
Continue readingMonthly Archives: August 2017
My hometown is under water. I’ve been obsessed with following the flood news from the Houston area. I don’t have any family down there any more, but I do have friends in the area. While I’m worried about my friends … Continue reading
It’s tax time! No, really, it is. When you’re a writer, it’s always tax time. Why? Because so many things you do or buy qualify as deductions. But you have to keep track of them. Mileage when you drive downtown … Continue reading
Jeff has already told you the Big Things, like: there was this Worldcon and it was swell (and very crowded!). So I’m just going to throw a jumble of stuff at you, and you can take from it what you … Continue reading
I had the opportunity to attend a writers workshop this weekend with D.P. Lyle and Katherine Ramsland as the two keynote speakers, plus Kathy Flynn and Rhiannon Davis, one a former homicide detective and the latter a forensic analyst. My … Continue reading
King’s Landing, Casterly Rock and Highgarden. After the dark spookiness of Harrenhal, King’s Landing, as disreputable and dishonorable as its rulers were, was a welcome sight. It is indeed a beautiful place, seen from our small plane as we swooped … Continue reading
(This post is part of my Patreon-supported New Worlds series.) Prophecy is all over the place in fantasy, to the point where it’s enough of a cliche that a writer has to tread carefully in using it. The Chosen One … Continue reading
GLOX The sound of liquids when sloshed in a barrel. See squiggle: to shake and wash a fluid out of the mouth, with the lips closed. {From} quaggle, quagmire, or from the sound produced by the action. I love the … Continue reading
My sweetheart and I saw the total eclipse on August 21 with a small group of nice people in Brogan, Oregon. The sky was clear, the birds freaked out, everyone cheered when the sun disappeared, and the darkened sky … Continue reading
This will be told mainly in pictures. We took a ferry across the Baltic to Tallinn, in Estonia, on Monday and walked around the old medieval town there. That was fun, though I got awfully tired of walking on cobblestone. … Continue reading