Willett of the Day: Edward S. Willett, merchant

Here’s another interesting Edward Willett of the past. The following biographical sketch, written by Stefan Bielinski , is from the New York State Museum’s site; the links within it point to various sources. The image above is of St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Albany as it appeared when Edward S. Willett became a member of …

Continue reading

My interview with "Weird Al" Yankovic

I write the occasional entertainment preview for the Regina Leader Post. This week I interviewed “Weird Al” Yankovic, and since when I posted that fact in my status update on Facebook I discovered a lot of people were interested, I thought I’d point out that you can read the interview online here. (In the print …

Continue reading

A blast from the past

Someone sent me this photo of Midnight Sun, the a cappella group I sang with in the early 1990s (some rather poor recordings of our music can be heard here). I’m the one closest to the camera, and as you can see, I haven’t aged a– Oh, never mind.

My WorldCon schedule

Well, according to the pocket guide for Denvention 3, the World Science Fiction Convention in Denver next week, this is what my schedule looks like: 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, August 6Reading Tolkien in the early yearsCCC – Room 504 What was it like to read Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy as it came out? Did …

Continue reading

Willett of the Day: Dr. Willett, H.P. Lovecraft character

Some Willetts–though not myself–are entirely fictitious. Such is the case of Dr. Marinus Bicknell Willett, the family physician of Charles Dexter Ward, and ultimately the hero of H.P. Lovecraft’s novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. (The image at right is of the late actor Frank Maxwell, who portrayed Dr. Willett in Roger Corman’s 1963 …

Continue reading

I’ve put another short story online!

It’s “The Wind,” which appeared in Dark Wisdom: The Magazine of Dark Fiction, Issue 11, which, according to their website, was the final print edition of the magazine. In other words, I killed it! I hope it doesn’t come back to haunt me… You can read “The Wind” here. (The background art for the image …

Continue reading

Dogs and cats don’t have to fight

As I researched this week’s science column, I thought for a moment I had already written it, because as I Googled the phrase “fight like cats and dogs,” what popped up but…a column from the Regina Leader Post. That column, by Christalee Froese, which ran July 7, began pretty much exactly the same way I …

Continue reading

Nice review of Marseguro at SciFiGuy

Doug Knipe at SciFiGuy.ca has just posted a very positive review of Marseguro. Key paragraph: Taut well visualized action sequences abound and the main story is drawn to a satisfying conclusion but leaves the door open for next years’ sequel Terra Insegura. Readers of series such as Julie Czerneda’s Species Imperative should enjoy this intelligent …

Continue reading

The writer formerly known as Ed

So I had this dream last night in which SF writer John Scalzi decreed that henceforth he would only be known by the single name SCALZI (always in all capitals). This got me thinking that perhaps I could leap ahead to that level of fame myself and decree that henceforth I will only be known …

Continue reading

Willett of the Day: Daniel Willett, new pro golfer

Today’s Willett of the day, Daniel Willett, was a member of the 2007 Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup golf team, which explains the strange headline on this story from Golfweek: “Walker Cupper Willett Turns Pro.” Until I read on, I thought the guy’s name was, well, Walker Cupper Willett, which seemed a bit eccentric, …

Continue reading

First lines

Io9 had an interesting post on great first lines in SF*, which prompted Scott Westerfeld to post the first lines of some of his novels, which… Well, you know where I’m going with this, don’t you? Here are the first lines of my novels. Are they great? Hard for me to judge. But they each …

Continue reading

They also write who only sit and wait

So yesterday I sent off two sample chapters and a synopsis to my agent, Ethan Ellenberg, for a new young adult fantasy tentatively titled Blue Fire. Now I’m waiting to see if he thinks it’s in good shape to start submitting to publishers, or if he thinks I should work on it a bit more. …

Continue reading