Recent articles
October 16, 2026
Blurb Hiatus Through the Rest of 2026
I’m six weeks out from a book deadline, which means all of my brain is going to be dealing with that and I will have no brain cycles left to do much of anything else, including evaluating new ficti...
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October 15, 2026
My First Science Fiction Short Story, Published 25 Years Ago Today
What was it? A short story entitled “Alien Animal Encounters,” which I sold to Strange Horizons magazine, and which they published on this day in 2001. Prior to this story, I had never submitted a ...
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October 15, 2026
I’m in the New York Times Today, Talking About Monsters
You know, as you do. The article is a list of science fiction monster novels (or at least, science fiction novels with monsters in them), staring with the early 19th century and going through to ea...
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October 14, 2026
The Big Idea: William C. Tracy
There’s much to discuss with Pressure Magic, but what’s really the big sell (at least up front) is a very large magical animal. It’s not just me who thinks so: author William C. Tracy is super-exci...
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October 14, 2026
Horse Apple, With Dog
It’s the time of the year where horse apples (also known as Osage oranges) are thick on the ground at the local nature preserve. I call them “brain fruit” because, well, look at it, it kind of look...
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October 12, 2026
First Impressions: Dell XPS Googlebook and the Googlebook OS
As someone who has, over the years, found himself deep in the Google ecosystem of hardware and services, I had been curious about the Googlebook concept for a while — whether it would be basically ...
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October 9, 2026
View From a Hotel Window 10/9/26: New York City (Again)
Wait, wasn’t I just in NYC? Indeed I was, and now I’m here again, this time for New York Comic Con, where tomorrow I have a panel, a signing and another signing. You should totally come to see me. ...
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October 8, 2026
Colonoscopy Post-Mortem
First, so as not to bury the lede: It went great, there’s nothing in my colon they are the least bit concerned about, and I don’t have to come back for another colonoscopy for a decade, which I thi...
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October 7, 2026
Away From Keyboard Today
Why? Because I’m getting a colonoscopy today, that’s why. That’s gonna take up some time, and then afterward I am likely to be in a semi-dazed state afterwards thanks to the lingering effects of se...
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October 6, 2026
Voting: Done!
Ohio started early voting today and my book tour literally starts on Election Day, so this morning Krissy and I got ourselves over to the Darke County board of elections to vote early and in person...
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October 4, 2026
A Different Side of Me
The inside! I mentioned a few days ago I was suffering from a shoulder impingement and that I had an appointment to get the ball rolling in dealing with it. The first step in doing that was to get ...
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September 30, 2026
FYI: Writing Things Moving Slower For a Bit
I’ve fallen behind a bit on correspondence and other stuff recently, for the reason that I have an impinged shoulder at the moment, and have had for a few weeks, and it’s getting progressively wors...
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September 29, 2026
How I Handle Fan Mail and Requests, 2026 Edition
I get fan mail, which I think is awesome. Also, in the world we live in, which includes “AI”-generated scams and other phishing expeditions, it’s necessary to set some expectations as to how I hand...
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September 27, 2026
And Now, For Their 35th Anniversary, My First Two Professional Movie Reviews
First off, look at that dork. What’s going on with his hair? Why is he tugging on his ear? Did he really think round glasses were right for his face? Someone needs to go back to 1991 and give that ...
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September 25, 2026
View From a Hotel Window, 9/25: New York City
It’s a classic view for sure. Why am I here? Tomorrow afternoon I will be talking science fiction at the Villa Albertine, as part of the Villa Albertine’s overall fall literary festival. That link ...
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September 24, 2026
Our Thrilling New Purchase
Our washer and dryer set had been with us 15+ years and were really showing their age. The dryer’s closing mechanism had to be negotiated with in order to be fully secured, and our washer had final...
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September 24, 2026
And Now, Just Because it’s Pretty, Succulent Flowers After the Rain
How are the drops of rain suspended like that? Spider webs. Lots and lots of spider webs. Honestly, even after 25 years of living out in rural America, I am constantly surprised at how many spiders...
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September 23, 2026
The Big Idea: Mary G. Thompson
As the great Whitney Houston once sang, I believe the children are our future — but in Precious Children, author Mary G. Thompson posits a very different future with some very different children… a...
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September 21, 2026
A Sweary Paean To Autumn, Told in Bluesky Form
It went a little something like this. And if you’re thinking, “this is kinda like that McSweeney’s post“: well, yes. — JS
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September 20, 2026
50th Anniversaries and When I’ll Hit Them
I read an article in the Irish version of The Times about the band U2 being together for 50 years now, dating back to their first gathering as a group in drummer Larry Mullen’s kitchen, on Septembe...
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September 18, 2026
I Assure You All That My “Dad Joke” Powers Are At Their Full and Terrible Peak
I regret nothing. — JS
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September 17, 2026
Announcing the Midwest Monster Tour, November 3 – 15!
If I have a book coming out, then I must be going on tour to support it — and indeed I will be this November, supporting my new and critically acclaimed novel Monsters of Ohio! This time around we ...
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September 14, 2026
Today in “Places You Might Not Expect to Find Me”
Behold these history textbooks: World in Motion, Vols. 1 &2. They were sent to me today. Why, you may ask? Because I contributed to them both, by writing an introduction that went into both vol...
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September 13, 2026
Bacon Cat 20 Year Anniversary + 28 Years of Whatever
Time is a fickle beast. One day you’re light-heartedly taping bacon to your cat as a way to procrastinate from writing a novel, causing a viral sensation that briefly makes your site one of the mos...
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September 11, 2026
Revisiting “The Speckless Sky,” 25 Years Later
I wrote about the day on September 12, 2001, and I don’t think I can improve much on what I said then, so here is that piece again for you. September 12, 2001 Yesterday, where I live, the sky was p...
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September 10, 2026
NYC Appearance: September 26 at the Villa Albertine
And what is the Villa Albertine, you may ask? It is the French Institute for Culture and Education, and is a division of the French Embassy in the United States. I will be taking part of the Villa ...
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September 9, 2026
The Big Idea: K. Ancrum
One of the eternal question in speculative fiction is: Is this fantasy? Or is this science fiction? And does the answer matter? For Adam, Mine, author K. Ancrum takes a stab at this question, using...
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September 9, 2026
Photo of a Cat, Annoyed That He Was Made to Go to the Vet
Cheer up, Saja. It happens to all the cats, sooner or later. Also, fun fact: Saja has officially been with us for just over a full year now. We fostered him for a couple of weeks and then decided t...
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September 8, 2026
Monsters of Ohio Starred Review in Library Journal
This actually happened, like, a week ago, but I’ve been busy traveling all over the place, so I’m noting it here now: Hey! Monsters of Ohio got an other starred review in the trades! This one is co...
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September 8, 2026
Happy Birthday, Star Trek
As I note in the Instagram post above, I have a particular reason to celebrate the existence of Star Trek: Without it, I wouldn’t have written Redshirts, or at least, if I had written something lik...
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