I wrote a children's book called A Bottle of Light back in 1999. I'm proud of it, but have had no luck interesting a publisher in it --- until now.  A major publisher has said, "We like it," but there's a catch: it'll only be available through their directed reading program, to teachers, in classrooms.  No general sales, no distribution to ( Read more... )

Sad story via the CBC: Nobel prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk has fled to the US after death threats that came after (among other things) he talked publicly about the Armenian Genocide of 1915-17.  I have long argued that admitting Turkey to the EU would be a pivotal event in world history, as it would prove that the latter isn't just a "club for ( Read more... )

We were with friends yesterday for brunch.  To keep the children distracted, they put on a DVD of a Nelvana children's show called The Backyardigans, in which five brightly-colored adolescent creatures have musical character-building adventures.  The second episode was called "The Yeti", and as I watched it, a strange sense of deja vu came over me ( Read more... )

1. A science fiction novel I read last year or the year before (though it's older than that), set in a cyberpunk mid-future Russia; turns out the world's last whale is hidden in a tank somewhere, and oh yeah, Africa has gone ultra-high-tech.  Anyone know the title?
2. A humor web site I read religiously during the bubble: it was like The Onion, but ( Read more... )

1. Carpet the stairs, hall, and master bedroom.
2. Finish the kitchen.
3. Finish the baby's room.
4. Learn the words to the following lullabies:
   • Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (all three verses)

Blogging exists so that people whose attention spans are too short to allow real writing can still feel like they're getting some writing done.  Take me, for example --- while two hardworking Russians have been laying carpet in our hallway, I have composed six short articles for my other blog.  I could have used that time to edit a section of The ( Read more... )

As all three readers of this blog will have noticed, progress on The Voyage of the Unshadowed Land has slowed to nearly nil since term started.  With a baby on the way, things ain't gonna get better.  My options are therefore:

1. Give up on writing fiction for the rest of this year.  Easily the most sensible choice, particularly as I have two new ( Read more... )

The Light's Justice left harbor for the first time in the first week of Topaz, 1109. The Bright Sword's Edge joined her at the end of ( Read more... )

1. Throw out most of the stuff on two sets of shelves in the basement and reorganize a third.
2. Put together lecture notes and an assignment for a course.
3. Pick applications for half of those students in the course to write about.  (They were supposed to do this themselves; most didn't.)
4. Groceries at St. Lawrence Market and Loblaws.
5. Learn how to be a good ( Read more... )

The trial began two days later. In accordance with the rules of ( Read more... )