SF Signal Mind Meld question

February 25th 2009 at 2:21 pm

This week SF Signal asked me:
Which books and writers have influenced your stories? What statements or challenges are asserted in your own work that you pass on to future writers?
You can see my answer, as well as answers by Minister Faust, Jay Lake, David Edelman, and others, here at SF Signal.

The appeal of the lawless elite

February 23rd 2009 at 4:07 pm

Kate Nepveu has a write up of her reactions to Sly Mongoose up at 50 Books POC where she wonders about the character Pepper being a part of the lawless elite.
I think Kate’s on to something. I struggle with action/adventure writing in that I both a) enjoy the genre in a big way but b) [...]

Houseboat vs boat

February 18th 2009 at 11:14 am

Kat Richardson rightly lays down the difference between a boat and a houseboat. Having grown up living on a boat, I find that people who haven’t seem to think I lived on a houseboat.
Would have been a bitch to sail a houseboat from the USVI to Puerto Rico.
Just saying…

Spine cracker

February 16th 2009 at 11:19 am

There are people who treat the book-as-a-physical-artifact, who love the physical object. I have a bit of that in me, I can’t ever bring myself to annotate or write on printed books. I think that came from all those years of not being allowed to in school.
But other than that, for me a book is [...]

The end of a cool, busy week

February 14th 2009 at 4:04 pm

I made it back from New York. La Guardia was so windy, however, it took me a while. My initial flight out was canceled, and watching large planes buffeted about by the wind as they tried to land, was glad I didn’t have to take off in that mess.
However it did cost me a hotel [...]

Times Square

February 9th 2009 at 7:58 pm

Am bumming around in New York for the O’Reilly Tools of Change conference and some other meetings this week. Right now I’m relaxing at a bar looking out at Broadway St. While waiting to go to a Twitter group meet up.
It’s nice to be back in town. Would be nicer if I hadn’t cut [...]

Kindle 2.0, but that’s not the interesting news

February 9th 2009 at 2:53 pm

The new Kindle is out. It looks less like an artifact from the 80s and more like a consumer device I’d consider buying, although still a bit expensive for my tastes. Plus, without a backlight for late night reading in the dark, I’m still not on board.
However, buried in the news stories of the Kindle [...]

Self avowed geek reviews Ragamuffin

February 8th 2009 at 9:07 am

Self avowed geek (who also self identifies via email as Berry Henderson) reviewed Ragamuffin on his LJ. I think he liked it
For the opposite point of view, a reviewer on Amazon accused me of ‘Vagueness bordering on incoherence.’
Same book, too.
The subjectivity of the reading experience is humbling and fascinating.

Carl Brandon Feb. reading recommendations list

February 7th 2009 at 12:05 pm

February is Black History month, and the Carl Brandon Society’s members have voted on a list of books they think worth recommending.
Dark Matter: A Century Of Speculative Fiction From The African Diaspora, Sheree R. Thomas, editor, Warner/Aspect, 2000
Sly Mongoose, by Tobias S. Buckell, Tor Books, 2008
Fledgling, by Octavia E. Butler, Seven Stories Press, 2005
The [...]

Smart for two in Bluffton

February 7th 2009 at 9:50 am

The Smart for Two, something I usually only ever saw in cities and other non-Midwest areas, is now representing up in the 45817:

It’s cute, and it’s here!