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FREELOADING by Chris Ruen
A couple of weeks ago, the normally clever OR Books offered a "pay what you want" premium for Freeloading: How Our Insatiable Appetite for Free Content Stifles Creativity. I wanted to pay nothing, so I...
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Meanwhile, 2800 miles away
Can you spot my sister's mailbox?Three feet of snow; power still on though. STRONG ISLAND, WHAT?
View ArticleI like this panel because my name is in it
I won't be at Boskone, a convention I enjoyed back when I lived in Boston, but I was pleased to see that they are offering a panel based a post I'd made last year:Saturday 15:00 - 15:50, Writing...
View ArticleEveryone Loves Listicles
If you like to read, and counting to five, check out my listicle over at Locus: Five Obscure Books I Recommend you Read. A promise: actual obscurity.And while you're at Locus's website, why not click...
View ArticleRamen Shop
So for Valentine's Day, it was Ramen Shop, recently opened by a trio of what the papers are calling "Alice Waters alums". So it's fancy ramen.I was never much for ramen. I love Italian-style noodles...
View ArticleSo you see what the problem is...
Over at the SFWA blog, there is a discussion of short stories, and this is a part of it:There is a story I’ve never published and never submitted called “The Magic Box,” about computers. I wrote it way...
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The Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair
There is some controversy over the Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair this year, specifically the change in location from the increasingly expensive County Fair Building (which also must include payment for...
View ArticleThis Is It
I am 41 today. I started this journal when I was 29. I've lived in five states and have done many things.Here is my last science fiction story (any published after this one was actually written before...
View ArticleRetirement Present or BAMS!
Got some good news (for myself) today from Otto Penzler. Check it:Dear Mr. Mamatas,I am very pleased to inform you that your story ["Thy Shiny Car in the Night" from Long Island Noir] has been selected...
View ArticleWriting web copy is not for amateurs
Someone sent me this link to the White Privilege Conference, which appears to be a Quaker event. Quakers can attend this conference for only $180. Non-Quakers, $360. But the conference really is open...
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Rich Table SF
We went to Rich Table last night for a friend's party. We were offered a prix fixe menu, which I am against in party situations. Despite or because RT is the It restaurant of the moment, I wasn't...
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Baked Alaska
I swear this is not turning into a foodie blog.As someone who grew up in the 1970s, I necessarily was exposed to a lot of 1950s nostalgia. Grease, Happy Days, that sort of thing. And people back then...
View Article"Arbeitskraft" for Illiterates
"Arbeitskraft" is now available as a part of an Audio CD anthology Steampunk Specs. I had no idea that people still listened to audio books on CD—and until I got the copy yesterday I didn't realize...
View ArticleHugo nomination reminder
The Hugo nomination period ends on March 10th, so don't forget what to vote for in Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form:DEATH TO DR WHO! DEATH DEATH DEATH!
View ArticleSaturday quick links
I've been very busy. Too busy to post. See this press release about the video game Fable and the construction of an "internal bible" of the setting for future writers to use? That's me. I'm doing that....
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Silver Linings Playbook
Highly implausible.The central conceit of this film is that Pat—some devastatingly handsome* schmoe from the otherwise dumpy-proley (and well-rendered) suburbs of Philadelphia—wants to get back...
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Paul Bearer
Not thirteen hours ago, the Bleacher Report asked about the Undertaker's upcoming Wrestlemania match, When might we see Paul Bearer and Paul Heyman in a clash of words?Well, we won't. William Moody has...
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