Mary Robinette Kowal

In the latest Glamourist History book, I have a discussion of glamour in different parts of the globe. One of the participants is a native Igbo speaker. Although she’s speaking in English during the conversation, I have a couple of phrases where she uses her own terms rather than the European ones. I’m looking for someone who […]

I am slightly calmer now, although I do keep looking over at the Hugo to make certain it is real.  There are three questions people kept asking me after the Hugos. Who did your hair? – Dolly and Rhonda who were amazing and wonderful. Did you write the lyrics to the Retro Hugos song? – No. Those were

In May of 1919, W. E. B. Du Bois published an essay called, “Returning Soldiers.” We return from the slavery of uniform which the world’s madness demanded us to don to the freedom of civil garb. We stand again to look America squarely in the face and call a spade a spade. We sing: This

I am not terribly coherent, but “Lady Astronaut of Mars” received a Hugo tonight. Thank you, all of you.      

Tonight at 8:00pm in London, I’ll be hosting the Retro Hugos with Robert Shearman. There’s an opening number. A 12 piece band. Sound effects. And a dress based on one from 1939. You can watch the entire thing streaming at http://www.ustream.tv/hugo-awards. I am spending most of today in rehearsal until my hair and makeup team arrives.

For the Retro Hugos ceremony, I’m wearing a dress based on one from 1939, the year of the first WorldCon. I want hair to match so… Do you know a hairdresser in London who would be available on Thursday 14 August to come to the con (ExCel, London Docklands) and put my hair up? Something

The short form of this post is that you should go back Uncanny Magazine on Kickstarter. The long form is that I’m seriously excited about Uncanny, a new magazine created by Lynne and Michael Thomas. For full disclosure, Lynne and Michael are some of my dearest friends, so I am not unbiased in my excitement about the magazine. Now,

Last year, I hosted a guest post from Elise Matthesen about how to report harassment at a convention. It was useful and touched on an incident she had experienced by way of example. This is a follow up, which I think provides a representative example of why so many women who experience harassment don’t report it.

If you wonder what a good marriage looks like, allow me to introduce you to my parents. Mom and Dad met in ballroom dance class. I asked Mom once, what first caught her attention about Dad, and she said, “He was the best dancer.”  It’s something that they’ve continued doing, but if you spend any time

So I’ve been tweeting some things about how I was working on a military SF. And how I was working on an audioplay. And how I realized that Alan Tudyk would be voicing one of the characters… But I haven’t been able to tell you what it was, until today. There’s a game — a

I’m mean, sure, his mother’s maiden name was Walker which just happens to be the maiden name of Jane Austen’s mother. And yes, my parents live at Robin’s Roost, which is the old Walker farm that just happens to have been in our family since the mid-1800s, but that’s total coincidence. Clearly, my family has a long

So, the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, has unveiled a forensic recreation of Jane Austen. Allow me to tell you a story, that is purely fiction. Jane Austen was very ill in 1817 and her family called for the Doctor. Though this good gentlemen did his best, there was nothing that could be done for