Five Across
My office has a cut-out for what should be a closet. Instead it’s just a space set back from the rest of the room. Except for the fact that the fronting hides some hidden internal vertical space and...
The Convention Bag Detailed
I’ve been doing conventions for a while now, selling books. Running a con table takes a lot of stuff and a bunch of thought and so I found myself needing to prepare more and more every show. Eventually I...
Networking
So I feel the need to talk about networking. You know, just did ECCC and a lot of ppl go in about “Well it’s a great show to network at, I don’t know how to network, aaaa” and really there...
Pavlov’s Idiot
Back in the dark ages of 2012/2013 the Pebble watch came out. I jumped on the idea quickly. I was, after all, the guy who had email on his phone back when that meant using a Sidekick and making sure it could load...
The Once and Future Queen’s Future
Hey! I heard you have some really important news about The Once and Future Queen? We do. We do. What has happened? Issues #3–#5 of The Once and Future Queen have been cancelled, in print and digital. But there...
Publishing news
A few months ago my first novel in quite some time, THIS STARRY DEEP, was published. In the back of the book it had a small teaser for the sequel THE ENDLESS SKY, to come in 2017. Well that date might slip by a few...
Toy store!
Grey sky hung overcast, a damp chill radiating right through my jacket as I walked across the parking lot toward the rich blue-framed glass doors. Toys ‘R Us. My old enemy. I thought back to every Toys...
Anti-Life
It’s not a mistake that Jack Kirby was the person who invented Darkseid. It’s not an accident, ya know? Darkseid is the character created by a man who fought fascists, in person, and wanted to make sure...
The Ten Albums Thing
I have always liked music. I have not always liked GOOD music. So there’s a meme-like post going around asking people to list “10 albums that made a lasting impression on you as a teenager, but only one...
Everyone has a secret origin.
Everyone has a secret origin. This is mine. Both my parents were in publishing. My father sold his first short story to a magazine when he was 13. This is not bragging. This is a warning. I grew up being taught how...
Time is a bastard.
Time is a bastard. We lose people, we lose heroes and influences, people close to us across a spectrum. 2016 has been a giant honking reaper-fest for a lot of us. David Bowie | Alan Rickman | Carrie Fisher | Garry...
An NYCWTF excerpt
This is a true story. It actually comes from my book NYCWTF which is all 100% true stories. But I was just thinking about this one so I am posting it here, as well. Go buy the book and make my publisher think it...
We all live here
You’re not good enough. Everyone around you hates you because you’re lagging behind where they are. Everyone is laughing in secret. You’re a talentless joke. Keep trying, you can’t catch up...
Do the work
So I got a tattoo today. It’s my 40th birthday, and so I decided to get myself something. Here it is, just after it was finished: Yup, it sits on my inside left arm, where I can see it constantly....
True Blood – the best worst thing ever.
Way back in the far away year 2008 Alan Ball worked to adapt Charlene Harris’ Southern Vampire Mystery series of books into a TV show. That sort of thing happens all the time. What doesn’t happen all...