We’re nearing the end of the voting period for this year’s Hugo Award’s.  Time to squee just one more time. Aynjel: Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time by K.M. Szpara (Uncanny, May/June 2017) https://uncannymagazine.com/article/small-changes-long-periods-time/ This novellette. Oh my ghod, this novelette. It’s a vampire story and there’s blood andContinue Reading

Pictured above: Me on the Brooklyn Bridge earlier this year It’s my birthday today so I took the day off work to 1. Drink, and 2. Smash Stuff. Although actually I’m going to smash stuff first, because I want to be sober when I’m wielding that sledgehammer. I woke upContinue Reading

(Pictured above: some of my notebooks from the 2006 Clarion West workshop) I know the world is on fire, but the Write-a-thon is happening for TWO MORE WEEKS! Sponsor me! Sponsor another writer! It’s not like I haven’t been writing, I just haven’t been writing essays and progress reports. ThisContinue Reading

Almost a year ago, on my birthday, I was listening to one of my presents to myself (2010 live recording of Les Miserables) and drinking alone (like you do) and came out with some thoughts on the moral philosophy of Les Miz viewed through the Good-Evil Chaotic-Lawful axis of DungeonsContinue Reading

It’s time for everyone in our little literary corner of the world to think about the Hugo Awards, and all the nominees for this year. The Word Witches weigh in on some items they like, an ongoing series: Aynjel: “Fandom for Robots” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad from Uncanny Magazine September/OctoberContinue Reading

This is a story about the last time I went to church, which was about two years ago now, on one of our final family visits to my grandma in Lewiston. It was a new building, which felt like a concert hall or a commercial establishment. A big foyer entrance,Continue Reading

I posted a few tweets a while back, on a topic that has been weighing particularly heavily on my mind since 2016: Among other things, I can’t believe evangelicals are still trying to get all pious about things like adultery, given their near-universal support for DJT. It tells you aContinue Reading

Shown above: Dietrich Bonhoeffer A while back I ran into this quote from famous German anti-fascist, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. [..] Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the useof force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; factsContinue Reading