Journal

I’m on my way from San Francisco to Seattle, where I will be reading at the SFWA reading series on Tuesday. I’m taking the train, because I find it restful, compared to any of the other travel options. Here, have some photos. Last night they brought me a split of champagne, and now I’m heading off

I’m doing a fair bit of traveling over the next couple of months with the book tour for Without a Summer. I thought it was worth mentioning that if I have two appearances in the same town, I don’t do the same reading at each. Sometimes I’ll be in period costume, sometimes I’ll have a puppet

I left the house this morning for another leg of the Without a Summer book tour, and it was snowing. Granted, it’s thematically appropriate weather, but so unnecessary. I am seriously contemplating titling my next book, Perfectly Lovely Weather, Thank You. Other than a brief period where it looked like I might not get on the flight because it

There are several new characters in Without a Summer. This is one of my favorites of them, Mr. O’Brien. Now the image itself is a composite of a couple of different paintings from the period, the base of which is Portrait of an Artist, by Michel Martin Drolling. Having grown up wearing glasses, I loved the idea

We begin with an audio glitch and a jumbling of our usual intro. Why? Because it breaks rhythm, and sometimes you may actually want to do that. Narrative rhythm is the pattern of story elements and associated structures that help drive the reader’s pace through a book. Consciously managed, narrative rhythm is a a critical

These don’t actually look like the teddy bear spiders in my story “Jaiden’s Weaver” but they remind me of them. And also… dancing contest between the male spiders! How cool is that?

One of the audiobooks I narrated recently was The Far Time Incident by Neve Maslakovic. Frequently, the books I record aren’t SF, but this is a time travel murder mystery. It was a great deal of fun, in part because the main character is an admin assistant. Thanks to the time travel lab at St. Sunniva

Dave Wolverton, aka Dave Farland, has spent his career following the mantra of “pay it forward.” He teaches workshops, supports developing writers and sends out daily emails with writing advice. Now he needs our help. His sixteen year old son, Ben, was in a longboarding accident and has had massive injuries. He’s been in a

I’m hopping on a plane today and flying to Houston, TX where I will read at Murder by the Book. I’ll be reading from Without a Summer and maybe, possibly, have a sneak preview of the fourth book. Oh, and party favours! And a puppet show! And I’ll be in a Regency costume. 6:30 tonight. Where:

I went to Launch Pad in 2008 and it was an amazing experience. Basically, they cram a college level astronomy course into a week, and gear it specifically for improving science literacy in the arts. Launch Pad is an education/public outreach effort supplementing Mike Brotherton’s space-based astronomical research.  Our primary goal is to teach writers,

As if he needs the help, Brandon challenges Mary, Howard, and Dan to help him brainstorm an A.I. short story. Brandon hands them some setup, and off they go. The ground may have been well-tread in the past, but this particular brainstorming session is full of great ideas that incorporate religion, cargo cults, puzzles, and