Recent articles
August 6, 2026
Generative “AI”: The Guitar Hero of Creativity
So, you’re a person who has decided to embark on a creative journey of self-expression — to make art, in other words. First off, this is awesome! The universe needs more people making art, whether ...
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August 5, 2026
Saja Wants You To Think About What You Did
Did you think you’d get away with it? Did you think he wouldn’t find out? Saja always finds out. And now you’ll just have to live with him knowing. In other news, we’re coming right up on the one-y...
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August 3, 2026
The Shattering Peace a Dragon Award Finalist + 2026 Hugo Voting Reminder
Here’s some nice news to start the week: The Shattering Peace is a finalist for the Dragon Award this year, in the category of Science Fiction Novel. Also in the category: The Faith of Beasts by Ja...
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August 1, 2026
New Cover Song: “Ode to Somewhere”
This cover song has an interesting story to it, which is that it’s a song from a video game called “Deathloop.” In the video game, the singer is supposed to have been a huge star but has lately gon...
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July 31, 2026
Another Reason Not to Use “AI” For Your Writing
Back in February I did a long post about “AI” and why I wouldn’t use it for my own writing, and one of the reasons I gave was “the fact that ‘AI’-generated text is not copyrightable and I don’t wan...
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July 30, 2026
My 2026 LAcon/Worldcon Schedule
Yeah, they got me doing a lot of things this year, plus I’ll be at the Hugos because, you know, up for Best Series and all (hey, remember to vote for the Hugos, okay? You got about another week to ...
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July 29, 2026
New Front Porch Furniture and a Scalzi Compound Outdoor Area Overview
Hey wanna see our new front porch furniture? As you’ll know, we recently redid a lot of our outdoor environs here at the Scalzi Compound — the front porch because a wind storm knocked out a substan...
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July 25, 2026
I’m Taking the Weekend Off So Please Enjoy This Picture of Saja in the Meantime
And look! He’s a mlem going! Truly, a quality cat photo. Have a great weekend, y’all. See you back here on Monday. — JS
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July 24, 2026
Final Full Day of the John Scalzi Humble Bundle Benefitting World Central Kitchen
The Humble Bundle Deal we have going with 22 of my works has been running for three weeks now, and in that time we have raised almost $35,000 for World Central Kitchen — but all good things must co...
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July 23, 2026
The Astra Award Arrives at the Scalzi Compound
And what a handsome statuette it is, too. For those needing a refresher, the Astra is an award given out by the Hollywood Creative Alliance, which mostly has given out award related to film and tel...
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July 22, 2026
Various & Sundry, 7/22/26
Saja wants to know what’s up! Well, my young cat, let me tell you: OpenAI says its “AI” hacked another “AI” company, apparently just for funsies: No, really, that’s the gist of it. OpenAI put the “...
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July 20, 2026
Back Home, 7/20/26
Left North Carolina early in the morning, made it back home to Ohio a little after 2pm, and along the way drove through just about every summer weather pattern short of an actual hurricane or torna...
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July 19, 2026
Perhaps the Loneliest Volleyball Court in North Carolina
It’s the one at my hotel, and it doesn’t look like it’s been used the entire summer long. Which kinda makes sense, this is an airport hotel, after all, and thus, I expect, not a hotbed of competiti...
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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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