Fatherhood Times Two
Last month, Mary and I were very excited to welcome our son Simon into the world. This little guy is super cute, and we have had a great first few weeks together. His big sister Hannah seems to like him as well, which is great. It’s tough to write about parenthood, since it’s one of the oldest subjects people have written about. I don’t have a lot of new things to add or original ways to say them. Steve Jobs once said, “Our children are our hearts running around outside our bodies.” And that sounds about right to me. So I’ll leave Read more…
More on Media
I haven’t updated every episode on the blog, so you might not know that Media Carnivores, the new podcast Media Carnivores that I co-host with Brent Hartinger, is still going strong! We are currently in the Top 50 New & Notable podcasts in TV & Film on iTunes! Some of our most recent episodes are: “Is HBO Better Than Regular TV?” “What Is It Like To Have Your Book Turned Into A Movie?” and today’s episode: “Is Amazon Evil?” You can go check all of those episodes out at mediacarnivores.com but if you are an iTunes user, please consider subscribing to the show Read more…
Did you get my author update?
A few weeks ago I sent out an author newsletter. My pledge is to email whenever I have a new title out or a new format. That’s it. You should totally subscribe. Yes, I talked about Media Carnivores and the translations of my books here on my blog as well as in the newsletter. But the newsletter contained this helpful writing update as well that hasn’t appeared on the blog until now: I’ve made some real progress in my work on The Iron Harvest, the next book in The Lattice Trilogy. I’ve also been working on a new book in my series Read more…
In the family way
This might be old news to blog readers, but sometime this month, our family clan will be adding one more. It’s amazing to think about all the changes that will come with adding one more little one to our family–especially because the first two years with this one (pictured above exploring the beach at Kopachuck State Park) have been so wonderful. I’ll post photos of our new son (yes, we’re having a boy!) sometime in the future. But you’re more likely to see that first photo on Twitter or Facebook because it’s a lot easier to post there than to here.
No more getting lost in translation
In 2012, Kindle opened up KDP publishing to non-English speaking Europe—Germany, Spain, France, Italy—and ever since then I’ve viewed getting my books translated into other languages as a sort of Holy Grail to self-publishing. There’s so much of the world that doesn’t speak English–I’d like to make my books available to them! Right now, I can sell in foreign markets, but they are still English-language copies. And, yes, it feels good that someone in France or Italy can buy my books right now. But in practice, no one really does. Out of the 20,000 books I’ve sold—a lot, certainly, but not an insanely high amount, and Read more…
Media Carnivores: Summer Blockbusters
The second episode of Media Carnivores is about the Hollywood summer blockbuster season that we are just kicking off with Spiderman and Godzilla. I love movies–small indie films and big loud boisterous blockbusters. But there has been a growing trend for the last ten years where all the big movies of the summer are either adaptations, remakes, or sequels. Brent and I talk about the trend of Hollywood going for the safe properties, and whether there are “concept” action movies that are going unmade. We cover a lot of ground, but the episode comes in nine minutes shorter than the last one. Read more…
Announcing the Media Carnivores Podcast
So here’s a really fun new project! Seattle author Brent Hartinger and I are starting a podcast called “Media Carnivores.” The first episode is online or you can subscribe directly from iTunes. There’s a Twitter feed for the episodes too. So what are “media carnivores?” Brent and I coined this term, so we get to decide! Media carnivores devour media–books, movies, television, plays. Everything. This podcast is our chance to talk about it. Not just about the shows we’re watching. But about what it all means. About where media is heading, as best as we can guess it. Sometimes that means talking about our Read more…
Why isn’t the sky blue?
This Radiolab story about the color blue has fascinated me for years. I re-listened to it again last night and it’s still great. A mix of science, linguistics, and Homeric poetry. Why did Homer use the phrase “the wine-dark sea?” Why does he never use the color blue? In the entirety of the Iliad and the Odyssey, there’s no reference to blue! Why is that? Why is it linguistically the last color added to languages across the world. It’s a great segment if you want to find out. It’s hard not to listen to this and wonder what it is that Read more…
The Martian by Andy Weir
(I haven’t written a “formal” book review in awhile. But why not? It’s kind of fun. Here’s a review of The Martian by Andy Weir.) Mark Watney just got stranded on Mars. Believing he was dead, his fellow astronauts left Mars in the ship that is Watney’s only means of escape off of the planet. Alone in a hostile environment, he has enough food and water to live for a few weeks, but with the next Mars mission four years away, what chance does he have of surviving until then? Watching Watney try to eek out years of life on a Read more…
This post brought to you by…
Trying something new! I’ve created an affiliate account for Audible.com. (I know. Big whoop.) But now that I have a couple books on there, it seemed worth trying. If you’ve been thinking about joining Audible, please use this affiliate link that will get me a small bonus. You’ll help support my book-writing even more! I’ve put an ad in the sidebar, too. It’s way down there below the book titles. But it’s there if you want it. Thanks! Try Audible Now and Get A FREE Audiobook! [Affiliate Link]
^