On the Things I’ve Been Reading

So, here’s the situation. I’ve hit a minor lull in my day, so I’m reading comics. Specifically, I’m reading Phonogram: The Singles Club #4. As long-time readers know, I’ve raved about Phonogram before; it’s a cool comic about the power of music and magic. The Singles Club, the second series, takes place on a singleContinue reading “On the Things I’ve Been Reading”

On Nick Hornby’s An Education

I stopped by Amazon today, to check on the status of an order. Normally, I don’t look at the recommendations on the first page, though it did amuse me that Amazon was recommending that I buy a copy of Grand Designs, especially as I wrote the first story in the volume. 🙂 Today, however, IContinue reading “On Nick Hornby’s An Education”

On Today’s Word Coinage

I had to coin a word today. “Hyper-south.” I was writing some dialogue. Two characters were talking about a situation that had gone horribly wrong. “It went south,” as one might say. But then the situation, which really couldn’t or shouldn’t have gotten any worse, did. Saying it went “further south” didn’t work. It wasContinue reading “On Today’s Word Coinage”

On Merlin, Sword-Pulling, and Random Research

Last night I was talking with a friend of mine about the Todd Klein print I ordered, “Drawing the Sword.” I’ve been on a medieval kick since May. The release of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun kicked it off, then a reading of The Saga of the Volsungs to reacquaint myself withContinue reading “On Merlin, Sword-Pulling, and Random Research”

On This Week’s Musical Discovery

I’ve learned over the years that writing is occasionally less a planned activity than it is a series of serendipitous accidents. Consider the BBC’s Scotland Introducing podcast. I can’t tell you why, over a year ago, I started listening to this podcast. But I do. Every Friday, I download the new episode and give itContinue reading “On This Week’s Musical Discovery”

On My Next Publication

Star Trek Magazine editor Paul Simpson announced this today on TrekBBS: Coming soon to a newsstand near you – Star Trek Magazine 20, which includes a wonderful extract from Una McCormack’s great new DS9 novel The Never-Ending Sacrifice. Also this month, courtesy of Allyn Gibson, a complete history of the Borg, including their appearances inContinue reading “On My Next Publication”

On the Good Things About Today

Today was one of those days. Rather than dwell upon the reasons for today’s craptaculence, why not look upon all the things that made today great? Umm… Oh! I got rained on! Three weeks ago, Charm City had turned into East Seattle, and it rained for days upon days. Then, the rains departed, the weatherContinue reading “On the Good Things About Today”