Recent articles
July 16, 2026
View From a Hotel Window, 7/16/26: Greensboro, NC
It’s very warm here today, but at least there is shade. I spent the day traveling here in order to be part of the ConGregate science fiction convention this weekend. I will have panels and do other...
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July 15, 2026
Krissy Has a New Toy
Out here in the boonies, many of our neighbors have golf carts that they use for very short trips not on the official roads, like going to visit friends, or hauling their trash cans from their hous...
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July 13, 2026
I Regret To Say That GMail is Now a Spam Farm, or, Why You Should Really Get That Dedicated Email Address Now
If you read this site regularly, then you’ll know in the past year there’s been a marked increase in “AI” spam and scams designed to try to con writers (generally, and in the emails that come here,...
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July 12, 2026
Various and Sundry, 7/12/26
What now? South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham Dead: And it must be said, not especially missed by most people on Bluesky and Threads, although I have to admit not going to X to see how the bots t...
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July 11, 2026
New Cover: “Miracle Car”
These days, Sam Bisbee is an Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated producer of film and television, but at the turn of the century, he was trying his hand at being a musician, releasing a few alt-rock albu...
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July 10, 2026
Various & Sundry, 7/10/26
Oh God, here we go again: Trump’s New Air Force One is a Sitting Duck: More specifically, it “lacks the defensive measures of the previous model,” which might be an issue when one has foolishly sta...
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July 9, 2026
RIP, Bonnie Tyler
At the time one didn’t think of it, because of course one never does at the time, but looking back from the vantage point of 40+ years, “this “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was one of the most 80s so...
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July 7, 2026
Various & Sundry, 7/6/26
Well, this has been a day, hasn’t it? I’m going to be brief about all of it: Graham Platner Accused of Rape: I think Chris Kluwe got the right of this one on Bluesky: I personally kinda tapped out ...
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July 5, 2026
Various & Sundry, 7/5/26
Happy Day After Independence Day! It’s on a Sunday, which means you have time to recuperate! Well, it’s over now: Happy to say this weekend’s event was one that brought an entire nation together, a...
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July 4, 2026
The John Scalzi Collection Returns to Humble Bundle, Supporting World Central Kitchen
Starting today and going for the next three weeks or so, 22 of my books are up on Humble Bundle, and this time my selected charity is World Central Kitchen, which, true to the name, goes around the...
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July 4, 2026
Adventures in Refrigeration, or, How We Have Become Possibly the Midwestest People Ever
Earlier this year we had a rather unfortunate incident involving our 25-year-old stand-up freezer, in which the condenser failed while the thing was full of frozen things, which quickly became rath...
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July 3, 2026
Update: Yup, It’s Hot
It’s currently 93 degrees here (Fahrenheit), but thanks to the humidity the heat index means it feels like 106 (41 Celsius), or so the weather report in my phone tells me, the one that also tells m...
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July 2, 2026
Some Passing Thoughts About 250 Years
In no particular order: 1. No, I’m not feeling particularly engaged with the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, but that’s mostly because a malignant narcissist decided to make a national ...
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July 1, 2026
Farewell, June
I’m still traveling, so no huge update today (although I am fine! Everything is fine!), but I want to post this shot of the Ferris Wheel at Chicago’s Navy Pier the other night. It feels very June t...
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June 27, 2026
View From a Hotel Window 6/27/26: Chicago
There is a parking lot in this picture, but it’s over in the corner, and I think it’s attached to the marina. The rest is convention center and Lake Michigan. Also, hello, Chicago! It is good to be...
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June 25, 2026
Probably the Last Back Deck Construction Update
It’s done and the new deck furniture arrived today. The furniture, like the deck itself, is made of a composite material that is designed handle all the heat/cold/sun stresses of outdoor life, and ...
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June 23, 2026
Dramatic Flowers are Dramatic
For no particularly good reason, here, have some pictures of flowers and plants from around my house that I’ve taken in the last couple of days, which I then photoedited to look dramatic and possib...
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June 22, 2026
Who Won the ARC of Monsters of Ohio?
It was “Bjorn,” who along with 12 others, correctly guessed that the Ohio-native mammal I was thinking of was, indeed, the Prairie Vole. As promised, I used a random number generator to pick a numb...
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June 20, 2026
New Cover: “Comfortably Numb”
What can I say, I was feeling a little ambitious. And yes, I did the guitar solos, but before you get too impressed, please know a) they’re not recreations of the David Gilmour solos, because my am...
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June 19, 2026
Win an Signed, Personalized ARC of Monsters of Ohio!
Tor Books sent me a stack of Monsters of Ohio ARCs, and you — yes you! — can win one, and I will even sign/personalize it for you if you like. Here’s all you have to do to enter: I am thinking of a...
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June 17, 2026
31 Years
The 31st anniversary isn’t usually the one where people get introspective about the nature of marriage and stuff — we tend to like big round numbers for a reason — but last year on this day Krissy ...
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June 16, 2026
The Yard Gets a Facelift
Here at the Scalzi Compound we’ve been having a lot of work done: New garage/barn, new porch railings and entirely new back deck. The good news is all of that work is just about done, with only a c...
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June 16, 2026
Hey, I Wrote an Actual Song: “Really Great”
Apparently the 31st wedding anniversary is the “Write Your Spouse a Song” anniversary, because that’s what I did this year. As many of you know, Krissy and I actually have a three-day anniversary, ...
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June 14, 2026
Happy Flag Day
It seems to come earlier every year, doesn’t it? There may be other things going on today, but if there are, I don’t want to know about them, I’ll just be here with my flag. Also, congratulations t...
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June 13, 2026
New Musical Composition: “Ingenuity”
It’s been a hot minute, as the kids no longer say, since I made an original musical composition; I’ve mostly been doing cover songs recently. But this evening I felt the urge to make something nois...
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June 12, 2026
Various & Sundry, 6/12/26
What? Friday again? David Hockney, dead: Hockney was one of those artists who I didn’t know who they were until I was adult, and then realized I had been surrounded by his work all my life. This wa...
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June 11, 2026
Please I Beg of You Do Not Use “AI” In Your Business Communications
The other morning I was clearing out the multiple daily emails I get from scammers who have used “AI” to praise one of my books in order to get me to use their “marketing” services and/or be on the...
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June 10, 2026
Today in “Words Mean Things”
An interesting jurisprudential development someplace not in the US: A German court has ruled that Google is directly liable for what its AI search overviews say. Previous case law shielding search ...
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June 8, 2026
Various & Sundry, 6/8/26
Hello, it’s Monday, let’s see what’s been going on over the weekend: Spencer Pratt misses LA Mayoral runoff: I’ve not lived in California for decades now, and even when I did never lived in the cit...
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June 6, 2026
Various & Sundry 6/6/26
It’s a bit of a stormy day here. Let’s see what’s going on elsewhere. The “K”-shaped economy comes for laptops: There’s been a trade show this week called Computex (there seems to be a big event in...
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