Recent articles
May 24, 2026
A Farewell to Shelley(ness)
My friend Shelley Combs died, suddenly, a week ago. I found out about it the other day when her ex-husband posted about it on Facebook, and it was fair to say I was shocked. She and I had messaged ...
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May 24, 2026
Charlie Met a Skunk
It did not go well for her. Nor, it must be said, did it go particularly well for us, since Charlie has now swamped the entire house with a gassy, onion-y skunk smell. Currently all the windows are...
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May 22, 2026
New Cover: “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight”
I got myself a new musical instrument (one of these) and I thought I would give it a spin on a cover song. For reasons that are known only to the subterranean recesses of my own brain, this is the ...
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May 20, 2026
In Retrospect I Suppose This Demise Was Inevitable
“He died at the hand of the Coca-Cola Company” has a fitting ring to it, doesn’t it. (Spoiler: I survived. Bearly.) — JS
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May 19, 2026
Three Flowers For You
We visited a botanical garden today. Please enjoy these botanicals. You can click on the images to expand them. In order: Foxglove, Lotus, Coconut Orchid. T’was a lovely day. — JS
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May 18, 2026
Total Ohio
Fun fact: Ohio is the only US state to have a flag that is not rectangular — ours is a pennant. Also fun fact: I hardly see anyone ever fly an Ohio state flag. They will fly to Ohio State flag, whi...
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May 17, 2026
New Cover: I Won’t Back Down
Because this is a sentiment that is surely timely. In addition to singing, I’m playing bass on this one. I tried chugging along with the guitar but it sounded just terrible, so the guitars on this ...
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May 16, 2026
The Scalzi Family Foundation is Donation Matching for the Documentary “One Act,” Directed by Pamela Ribon
It’s fair to say that Pamela Ribon and I have come up together in the world. Back in the before times, she and I both started blogging when blogs were still called “online journals,” and our first ...
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May 14, 2026
Suddenly, Irises!
Athena started the bloomposting yesterday and here is my contribution: the irises in our front yard, which are in their annual two-week period of blooming, followed by 50 weeks of just being green ...
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May 11, 2026
Raising the Roof
In the further adventures of home renovation, the back deck has been laid and now the roofing is being put up, for shade and to keep rain off the deck. It’s looking.. pretty good! There’s more to b...
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May 10, 2026
57
I’m fifty-seven today, and today is the first birthday that I can actually say that I can really feel I’m getting older. I have an arthritic knee now, which if I don’t take medication for will remi...
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May 8, 2026
Hey, “AI” Still Sucks
I still ask “AI” questions about me from time to time, just to see what it knows about a moderately notable science fiction author and whether it will still make up things when it doesn’t know some...
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May 7, 2026
Getting Decked
The current state of the new back deck: In progress! The astute among you, who also remember anything about the previous deck, will notice two differences so far. Most obviously, those tall posts, ...
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May 5, 2026
I’m In TIME Magazine Today
Would you look at that, TIME asked me to chime in on what tech innovation defines American life at the moment, and while my answer is not surprising (a few others in this list also picked it, in on...
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May 4, 2026
The Big Idea: Matt Harry
In his new novel Ashland, author Matt Harry posits a world that is a little bit… gooey. If you don’t know what that might mean, or what it would mean for anyone who has to live in that world, never...
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May 4, 2026
And Now I Reveal the Contents of My FBI File
Turns out… it’s nothing. I sent in a Freedom of Information Act request in April, after the unpleasantness regarding the Correspondent’s Dinner attacker, because I was curious if it or indeed anyth...
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May 2, 2026
View From a Hotel Window, 5/2/26: Chicago, IL
I’m staying north of the river, which is unusual for me. Also, the parking lot you see in the photo isn’t for my hotel. But it is a parking lot! Forms were obeyed. I’m on town because tomorrow I’m ...
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May 1, 2026
Back to the Very Very Basics
For reasons that are not important now, I have found myself in the possession of a lightly used but still somewhat recent Asus Chomebook, of the sort that one can pick up for less than $200, with 4...
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May 1, 2026
And Now, a Fairly Noisy Cover of “First of May”
“First of May” being of course Jonathan Coulton’s immortal celebration of spring, love, and outdoor recreation, possibly the most gentle song ever to drop multiple f-bombs. I thought, what if “Firs...
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April 30, 2026
Requiem for a Back Deck
After 30 years of existence, our back deck is no more… at least for the few days it will take to build the new one. The previous deck had given good service, but over the years it had become splint...
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April 29, 2026
The Porch 2.0
You may remember that last month the Scalzi Compound was hit with 80mph winds and as a result part of our porch railing was blown out, which was the excuse we needed to replace it entirely with som...
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April 27, 2026
This Week’s Weird Sideswipe by Current Events
Apparently it’s true: The fellow who came to the Correspondent’s Dinner the other night with a bunch of weapons (and who, it should be noted, came nowhere the president or anyone else in the ballro...
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April 24, 2026
An Anecdotal Observation About Career Longevity
As most of you know I spent much of this last week in Los Angeles, taking meetings with film/TV folks and pitching things to them, both from books I’ve written and ideas I have currently not connec...
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April 24, 2026
Construction Time Again
Spoiler: We are not going to die. But we are going to get a new porch railing, as the much of the last one was blown out by 80 mph winds we had a few weeks ago. The porch railing was 30 years old a...
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April 24, 2026
New Cover: “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”
Because the song’s been rattling around my head for the last couple of days, particularly the Bryan Ferry cover version. So when I got home I thought I would give it a whirl. I hope you like it. — JS
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April 22, 2026
Still in Hollywood
Although this picture is actually of the Pershing Square Metro Line escalator, nowhere near Hollywood in terms of actual Los Angeles geography — look, we’re going for the metaphor here, okay. What ...
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April 21, 2026
Old Man’s War Series a Hugo Finalist in the Best Series Category
This is fabulous news: The entire Old Man’s War series, from OMW to The Shattering Peace, has been nominated for the Best Series Hugo this year. What a lovely accolade. Here is the entire category:...
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April 21, 2026
When the Moon Hits Your Eye the Winner of the Astra Book Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
The Astra Awards are an award given out by the Hollywood Creative Alliance, and in previous years have been primarily for film and television, but this year they have branched out into books as wel...
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April 18, 2026
Happy Birthday Krissy
Shown here in the midst of prepping our taxes for our accountant, not this week but a couple of months ago, because she’s organized about that, and that is, in fact, one of the many, many things I ...
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April 17, 2026
Last Night in Decatur
A couple of people showed up to see Brandon Sanderson and me have a chat. Let’s be clear these are mostly Brandon’s folks; I was a value-add here. A very nice value add to be sure! But definitely t...
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