JOURNAL

Writing adventures and related musings.

“Incidentally, there is support for Wijeratne’s story”: a response to file770 and a record of the Nebula Award madness

I’m going to tell you a story. This is about being nominated for the Nebula Awards [1], and accusations, and fury. I’m going to tell it slow and in much detail as I can, because I want to, and because context is important. I have seen much slinging of words but no context. When I started writing this, it was 8PM. I had intended to use the writing of this… Read More »“Incidentally, there is support for Wijeratne’s story”: a response to file770 and a record of the Nebula Award madness

Mammals and dinosaurs

A light analysis of the current state of the publishing industry, including the ripple effects that indie publishing can have on traditional models. Featuring big indie collaborations, warring states, James Patterson, and more.

Reading Robert Heinlein

I re-read Starship Troopers today. It has been so long since I read it that I had forgotten almost everything but the core themes of the book. Reading it was a reminder of why Heinlein alone among the Big Three – the other two being Clarke and Asimov – remains one of my favorite writers. In Sri Lanka, where I live, this idea is minor heresy among those who actually… Read More »Reading Robert Heinlein

Civilization: resilience

A wonderful writers’ group I’m part of recently started discussing civilization. There were many sub-discussions, but one thing struck my interest: someone pointed out that our civilization, unlike any that has gone before is global, networked across the entire planet. And thus, how it might fall cannot be predicted from studying past empires, which were just isolated pockets without the network effects.