Rob has a favorite hat, which is an Afghan shepherd’s hat called a pakol. He’s had several of these over the years, but the one he wears to the winery is the most comfortable. It is also, unfortunately, undyed wool and so over the years the sweat and wine stains made it somewhat…disreputable. This weekend […]
Weird uses of puppet making skills number 347 — dying a hat Read More »
I believe in cooking shrimp in bacon fat, & @maryrobinette believes in heavy cream, white wine & gouda in grits. — Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) January 2, 2016 So that I can remember what I did with the grits, because they were pretty magical, here is my best approximation of how I made them. We were
Recipe: Grits with gouda, thyme, and white wine Read More »
Rob and I stayed in and had a quiet New Year’s Eve. When we got married, we wound up combining our various cultural traditions into an odd conglomeration of Hawaii and Tennessee. So on New Year’s Eve, we clean from the back of the house to the front, in order to sweep the bad luck
May your New Year be lovely Read More »
Lawrence M. Schoen is joining us today with his novel Barsk: The Elephants’ graveyard. Here’s the publisher’s description: The Sixth Sense meets Planet of the Apes in a moving science fiction novel set so far in the future, humanity is gone and forgotten in Lawrence M. Schoen’s Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard An historian who speaks with
My Favorite Bit: Lawrence M. Schoen talks about BARSK: THE ELEPHANTS’ GRAVEYARD Read More »
Put together by puppeteers in three different cities, including Chicago, we’ve got this holiday video for you. Now you get to play a guessing game about which puppet is mine.
Puppets! Video! A Fruitcake Carol Read More »
Honestly, this is the best thing you will see while waiting for Star Wars. This is Raks Geek director Dawn Xiana Moon who is an amazing dancer. It’s a hilarious and fun performance, but… but you have to watch to the end when they cut back to the anchors. And seriously, if you are in Chicago,
Bellydancing Wookiee causes TV anchors to completely lose it. Live! Read More »
If you’ve seen me talking about Habitica, and thought that it sounded useful but intimidating… We just opened my private guild to the public. It’s called “Ink Slingers.” The description is: For science-fiction and fantasy writers and editors who are actively working in the field and trying to improve craft. But who also need peer pressure
So you want to give Habitica a try… Read More »
I’m reading a short story by a Pakistani author (“Grandma’s Tale” by Amtul Rahman Khatun) and have hit a sentence I need help with. I know all of the words, but I’m having trouble building a picture in my head. For context, the story was written in the early 1960s and she’s describing a wealthy
A Pakistani fashion question — reading story from the 1960s Read More »
Holly Messinger is joining us today with her novel The Curse of Jacob Tracy. Here’s the publisher’s description: St. Louis in 1880 is full of ghosts—mangled soldiers, tortured slaves, the innocent victims of war—and Jacob Tracy can see them all. Ever since Antietam, when he lay delirious among the dead and dying, Trace has been haunted
My Favorite Bit: Holly Messinger talks about THE CURSE OF JACOB TRACY Read More »
Michael Livingston is joining us today with his novel The Shards of Heaven. For those of you who have read Shades of Milk and Honey, Captain Livingston is named after Michael. He is one of my oldest writing friends, and has helped me work out fight sequences on more than one occasion. I read The Shards of Heaven in
My Favorite Bit: Michael Livingston talks about THE SHARDS OF HEAVEN Read More »
Michael R. Underwood is joining us today with his novella The Shootout Solution. Here’s the publisher’s description: Leah Tang just died on stage. Well, not literally. Not yet. Leah’s stand-up career isn’t going well. But she understands the power of fiction, and when she’s offered employment with the mysterious Genrenauts Foundation, she soon discovers that literally
My Favorite Bit: Michael R. Underwood talks about THE SHOOTOUT SOLUTION Read More »
Over the last few years, there have been numerous instances of SF/F conventions failing to provide an accessible experience for their members with disabilities. Though accessibility is the right thing to do, and there are legal reasons for providing it in the US thanks to the 25-year-old Americans with Disabilities Act, many conventions continue to
SF/F Convention Accessibility Pledge Read More »
Karina Sumner-Smith is joining us today with her novel Towers Fall. Here’s the publisher’s description: War. Fire. Destruction. Xhea believed that the Lower City had weathered the worst of its troubles—that their only remaining fight would be the struggle to rebuild before winter. She was wrong. Now her home is under attack from an unexpected source.
My Favorite Bit: Karina Sumner-Smith about TOWERS FALL Read More »
I am painfully aware that until the Paris attacks happened, I was unaware of the bombing in Beirut a mere two days prior. It didn’t trend on twitter. No one on Facebook mentioned it. There wasn’t an option to set my avatar to the colors of the Lebanese flag. And yet the same group organized both
Paris, Beirut, and thinking how to responsibly signal boost Read More »
