Essayist
Sunday evening, I had the wonderful opportunity to be the guest on the Three Hoarseman podcast. I chatted with hosts Fred Kiesche, Jeff Patterson, and John Stevens about Golden Age science fiction, Evernote, productivity, what I’m reading, and much more. If you’re interested, you can check out the podcast for yourself.
As always, I sound just like my brother whenever I hear myself speak.
Thanks, once again, to all three of the hosts for having me on the show.
I was fortunate to be asked to write quite a few guest posts in 2014. But my personal favorite was one that I wanted to write. Fortunately for me, John DeNardo and the other good folks at SF Signal were willing to have me, and they published my post, “Daddy, What’s Dungeons & Dragons” on their site in late August.
This post came about because I had seen that a new version of the Player’s Handbook had been issued. I hadn’t played D&D in 25 years, but I ordered a new version of the book, and when it arrived, my son, 5 at the time, saw me open it, asked what it was, and when I told him, said, “Daddy, what’s Dungeons & Dragons?”
I am grateful to SF Signal for being willing to publish the post. If you haven’t seen it yet, and are interested in checking it out, head over there. You might also peruse all of the other great F&SF-related content that SF Signal and its contributors provide on a daily basis.
Last week, I was part of the Hugo Award-winning SF Signal Podcast hosted by Patrick Hester. Among the other guests wereJosh Vogt, Jeff Patterson, Andrea Johnson, Paul Weimer, and Larry Ketchersid, with John DeNardo lurking in the background as always. The topic this week was “Author We Can’t Get Enough of, and Why.” There are some great authors mentioned. I had to make a list while participating.
If you want to find out which author I can’t get enough of (and why I’ve accidentally stood that author up twice), have a listen.
It was a fun podcast, with lots of stuff going on in the background. For instance, while Patrick tried to bait John into jumping into the fray, Larry and I discussed the Churchill biography I’m about to finish up. None of that is in the podcast itself, however. That was all happening in the background as we all tried not to laugh. As always, it was a lot of fun.
The SF Signal Podcast (Episode 257): Authors We Can’t Get Enough Of and Why
Over at the Hugo award-winning SF Signal, I participated in this week’s Mind Meld: Recent SF/F That Deserves More Attention. Also participating: Jessica Strider, Derrick Johnson, and John H. Stevens. I list 5 books that I’ve read this year that I think are worthy of more attention. Head on over to SF Signal to find out what they are.
Over at SF Signal this morning is the podcast we recorded last week on the topic of SF Readers vs. Fantasy Readers. Panelists for this week’s podcast include:
It was a fun discussion. If you are interested in this sort of thing, I’d urge you to have a listen.
Over at SF Signal, Paul Weimer, Mind-Meld Master, has asked the question:
What books do people expect you to love or read, but you don’t? Why?
I answer this question, along with many others, including my friend, Damien Walters Grintalis. Head on over to SF Signal to read what I had to say. (Hint: it has to do with a certain Robert Heinlein novel.)
And thanks to Paul for putting together such a great mind-meld.
Just a couple of items for bleary-eyed folks on Monday morning (a holiday in this part of town, although not for me).
That’s all, folks.
Last Wednesday, I stayed up way past my bedtime to be a part of the panel discussion that makes up today’s SF Signal Podcast, Episode 150, talking about the crazy time we all had at the 70th World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago a few weeks ago. And by “crazy time,” I mean, you know, squeeing over all of the Big Names we saw or talked to. And by “we” I a mean John DeNardo, Brent Bowen, Josh Vogt, JP Frantz, Patrick Hester, and your humble blogger.
Have a listen. I think it was a fun podcast.
I’m still catching up on a few posts I’ve wanted to write since heading home from Chicon. I realize I haven’t yet got to say how thrilled I was when SF Signal won the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine. It was a highlight of the convention to see John DeNardo take the stage and accept the award.
I have been extraordinarily fortunate to be affiliated with SF Signal over the last several years. I sometimes feel like it has been entirely to my benefit. I remember noting sometime in 2008 that a blog post I had written had been picked up by SF Signal’s “Tidbits” and I was so excited by that, I think I talked about nothing else all day. I turn to SF Signal each morning to see what’s happening in the world of science fiction and I’m never disappointed.
And I probably owe a large part of my blog audience to SF Signal. More than a year ago, John got in touch with me to tell me that he liked the posts I wrote on science fiction, and asked if I’d like to write a column for them. That became the Wayward Time Traveler column, which I wrote for nearly a year and which I had a blast doing. It was a difficult, sad, decision to have to stop doing that column–with two kids and other obligations, it just became too much for me. But that column, and the other opportunities the John and the SF Signal folks gave me, lead to one of two big, sustained spikes in my audience here at this blog and so I am indebted to SF Signal not just for the opportunities they have given me, but also for the audience.
The best part of my affiliation with SF Signal, however, has been the friends I have made. This includes, of course, John DeNardo and Patrick Hester. It also includes people like Paul Weimer and Fred Kiesche and several others. Chatting with these folks online is like having a mini-convention. They are some of the biggest fans I know, but they are also among the nicest people I’ve met in science fiction.
What is remarkable about SF Signal is the scope of the genre that it embraces. Not just science fiction, but fantasy and horror. And not just written science fiction (my particular favorite), but movies, television, podcasts, art, music and gaming. Whatever your interest in the uber-genre, SF Signal has managed to cover it. Their tidbits keep you up-to-date. Their mind-melds provides a wide cross-section of viewpoints on countless topics. They have fantastic interviews. They point you to places you can find free fiction online. They highlight new writers and artists. They encourage burgeoning bloggers. They plug their contributors, but are remarkably humble about themselves. They reach out into every part of the science fiction/fantasy/horror genre and they are always a good fit.
I am just so thrilled that SF Signal won a Hugo Award and it was a pleasure to finally get to meet John and Patrick and others affiliated with SF Signal in person in Chicago.
Over at the Hugo-nominated SF Signal, Paul Weimer has put together an impressive collection of author responses to questions about Point of View in fiction for this week’s Mind Meld. So many responses that the Mind Meld is broken into two parts. You can find Part 1 over here. My response, among others, can be found in Part 2.
All responses are interesting and thoughtful and if you are interested in the subject of point of view in storytelling, I urge you to head over and check out both posts.
Today’s Mind Meld at SF Signal asks, “What are the most interesting books in your to-read pile?” You can find my answer there, as well as answers from Patrick Hester, Charles Tan, Paul Weimer, Derek Johnson, Larry Ketchersid, Jessica Strider, Matt Cadin, John H. Stevens, and Fred Kiesche (whose list, in length, puts the rest of us to shame).
While at the Nebula Weekend, I finally had a chance to meet fellow-Codexian, and Hugo- and Nebula-nominated writer, Nancy Fulda, in person. We sat down to chat about her award-nominated story, “Movement” and other things. You can find the interview over at SF Signal.
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