james_nicoll

Long time Cardamom Addict readers know this handsome boy to the left--this is, of course, Mr. Bean. If you follow my @cardamomaddict Twitter account, you know things have been rough for this dear old cat these past few weeks. Unfortunately, one week after being diagnosed with both liver and pancreatic cancers, this lovely boy passed away.

Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are comment(s); comment here or there.

scalzifeed

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/05/21/gosh-were-all-really-impressed-down-here-i-can-tell-you/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=21900

Me last night at the venue for my reading, which was the Methodist church right across the street from the University Bookstore in Seattle. Here I am looking at the patron of the establishment, hoping he would not strike me down, in my naughtiness.

He did not.

Thanks to Daniel Christensen for the photo.

Seattle was lovely. On to Portland now — or more accurately Beaverton, where I am at Powells, tonight, 7pm. If you’re in the Portland area, I hope to see you there.

shakennstirred

http://www.gwendabond.com/bondgirl/2013/05/tuesday-hangovers.html

• Whoops, sorry to disappear, but I predict a return to more regular entries starting now. At least until circus edits land. In the meantime, I'm accumulating research material for a new thing and pecking away at a collaborative project with C that has been major fun so far. And soon now The Woken Gods will be dipping its myth-infused toes into the waters of People Reading It Early and so I must. stay. busy. But what easier way to dip my non-mythical toe back into the blog than the sharing of some amassed links and the closing of tabs? There isn't one, so.


• Speaking of The Woken Gods, I started a little pinboard for it, if you want a look-see.


• You may have seen this already, but I love it so here it is anyway: a photographer does a series of photos of her five-year-old daughter not as a princess but as various heroic real women.


• The cast of Better Off Dead, where are they now? (I want my two dollars!)


• Great think piece by the fabulous Anne Helen Petersen: "The Enduring Post-Feminist Dystopia of Bachelorette."


• Excerpts of letters from Italo Calvino are running at the New Yorker: "I’m a regular guy, I like well-defined outlines, I’m old-fashioned,
  bourgeois. My stories are full of facts, they have a beginning and an
  end. For that reason they will never be able to find success with the
  critics, nor occupy a place in contemporary literature." Good reading.


• This news story about the resurfacing of a 27-year-old CIA wig is just about perfect.


• Terrible magicians in pop culture. LOVE. (Via David.)


• An interview with Hot Key's editorial director that has some interesting insights into UK sales figures.


• Janni Simner kicks off her "Writing for the Long Haul" blog series with a wonderful piece from Cynthia Leitich Smith. (I, too, have an expensive grocery habit.)


• This post Austin points to sums up a large part of why I still keep up this blog, and probably always will, and why I don't really worry about how many of you there are (just grateful that you stop by, period). (Also, in the age of platform purchases and inevitable migrations, I believe that having a space you own becomes ever more important.)


• And, finally, two things via the Awl: Replacement similes for after all the animals go extinct ("(18) Brave as a lion = Brave as a freelancer") and the annotated wisdom of Amy Poehler ("Right now I'm singing along to books on tape. I typically pop in something like Stephen King's The Stand, and I love singing along to that kind of stuff.").

james_nicoll

Alec Ash: How did you start writing science fiction?

Fei Dao: When I was at middle school, 16 or 17, I started to read a lot of sci fi. I read the magazine Science Fiction World, and became more familiar with sci fi literature. I liked it because there was a lot of imagination and novelty in it. At that time, my dream was to become an author. When I started out, I didn’t think at all about writing science fiction. Back then I felt sci fi was very difficult to write, and needed some knowledge of science, so I could only appreciate it but not write it myself.

Like many post 80s authors, I started out writing campus stories about young people in school. But I couldn’t get them published. Until one day in university, I wrote a science fiction story on the side, and sent it in to Science Fiction World. I was just giving it a go, I had no idea that that first story would get published [in 2003]. A year later, I had another idea, and that second story also got published. So that encouraged me, and I started writing sci fi.

Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are comment(s); comment here or there.

james_nicoll

It seems some companies don’t enjoy free publicity. Due to legal protests from Ferrero, which owns the Nutella brand, the organizer of World Nutella Day has said she is canceling the unofficial holiday, as well as the event website and Facebook (FB) and Twitter accounts dedicated to celebrating the creamy, chocolatey, hazelnut spread.

Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are comment(s); comment here or there.