Where does a fan’s responsibility lie? Amazon’s screw-up with A Dance with Dragons

It is by no means any secret now that Amazon in Germany screwed up and shipping about 180 copies of George R. R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons to people who had placed orders. Martin is furious about this, as he should be. A Dance with Dragons is book 5 in the Song of Ice [...]

Holiday weekend posts on writing short fiction

I’ll be out of town for the Fourth of July holiday weekend. My access to the Interwebs may be limited. In order that you don’t feel neglected here, however, I am preparing a series of posts on writing. There will be four posts covering my thoughts on some of the basic areas of writing short [...]

Google+ and Google Takeout

I saw two new Google tools today. One of them won’t be available for a little while, and one of them is available right now. Google+ is Google’s attempt to take on Facebook. It is a social networking venue that appears to address one of the chief concerns that people have with Facebook: that all [...]

The Twitter twipping point

I noted today on my Twitter feed that I have reached what I call (in Elmer Fudd-like tones) a Twitter twipping-point; that is: the point at which your number of followers exceeds the number of people you follow. As of a little while ago, I followed 198 people and had 199 followers. I’m not really [...]

Some good writing advice for those just starting out

My friend, and fellow Arlington Writers Group member, Michael J. Sullivan has been writing a series of posts on writing advice for writers who are just getting their start. Michael knows what he is talking about. He is a best-selling e-book author of the Riyria Revelations series, which later this year will be re-released by [...]

My latest Wayward Time Traveler column is up at SF Signal

In this week’s column, “Conversations with Dead Science Fiction Writers“, I list some of those writers I never got to meet, and what I would like to talk with them about today, if I could. Head over to SF Signal and check it out.

Current events

While I no longer read a regular newspaper or watch the nightly news, I still managed to follow current events thanks to online news sources. Since there have been a few interesting ones lately, I thought I’d mention them: Congratulations, New York, for your demonstration of reason in allowing same-sex marriage. It boggles the mind [...]

Vacation in the Golden Age, Episode 18: December 1940

I did a cursory roll call as I prepared for this Episode, which concludes the year 1940. The list of authors that have appeared in the first 18 months of this Vacation brings up two curious facts: So far as I can tell (and please correct me if I am wrong) none of the authors [...]

My Readercon panels

I got my schedule of Readercon panels the other day. Since the schedule is still tentative, I’ll hold off posting the schedule until it is finalized. But I will tell you that I will be appearing in two panels: We All Produce, We All Consume.¬†Paul Di Filippo, Gemma Files, Robert Killheffer, K.A. Laity (leader), Jamie [...]

This weekend and next

As summer has officially started and the days are getting shorter (here in the Northern hemisphere, anyway) I find that I am growing busier. Summer is typically crunch time at the day job. But we are also now about 2 months away from our little girl being born and things outside of work are busy, [...]

Using Scrivener with writing critique groups

I belong to a few writing critique groups and find them to be incredibly valuable. In fact, I’d wish I’d joined some of these groups before I sold a story. It might have taken me less than 14 years to make that first sale. On the chance that you’ve never been involved in a critique [...]

An open discussion on blog stats

Last year, I made it one of my goals to triple the average daily traffic on my blog. I had a pretty good set of objectives for achieving this. By the end of 2011, I wanted to be averaging three times as many views as I was at the end of 2011. What I didn’t [...]

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Tweets

@FredKiesche It's been so long since the one time I read MITHC that I just don't remember the details. :-( 2 hours ago
@FredKiesche Of course, this was happening at a time when many people thought the U.S. might be invaded by either Japan or Germany. 2 hours ago
@FredKiesche And I love the fact that they can't figure out what unit the .45 is in. Very post-singularity kind of thing. 2 hours ago
@FredKiesche Plus, you've got to love the Heinleinesque gun fights in the midst of a posh restaurant. 1 person w/a laser; the other a .45 2 hours ago
@FredKiesche He's one of those writers I haven't read much of... until recently. Chatted with him a few times at cons. @PrinceJvstin 3 hours ago
@FredKiesche Not buying, but still reading, I take it... I think the industry builds Lent into its business model. 3 hours ago
@PrinceJvstin And the first half of RECRUITING STATION reminded me of Hubbard's FEAR (in tone). Also a creepy story. @FredKiesche 3 hours ago
@PrinceJvstin It is my thesis for the story in my next Vacation post. @FredKiesche 3 hours ago
@PrinceJvstin The villain in the Swanwick story is even creepier than the villain in RECRUITING STATION. @FredKiesche 3 hours ago
@FredKiesche Publishing-related economics classes of the future will devote entire lectures to the cash cow known as the Kiesche Effect. 3 hours ago