Best Tacoman 2014
I was truly honored to discover last Thursday that I was named “Best Tacoma 2014” by the Weekly Volcano. It was a surprise, even though there was a big smiling picture of me on the cover. Mary and my friend Marguerite convinced me to do the photoshoot without knowing what it was for, and I’m glad I trusted them. Jason Ganwich took a wonderful photo, too! We were on the rooftop deck of one of the Triangle Townhomes (across from the Grand Cinema) to get this shot. Sometimes I worry I’m too scattered–parks, small business, writing, nonprofits and on and on. Read more…
TinyLetter
I’m trying something new. (That’s right–another new thing. Because why not?) TinyLetter bills itself as “email for people with something to say.” It’s not built for promotional emails with custom HTML designs and all that jazz. Simple, easy. I’ve subscribed to a few of these, and decided it was time to try it out. This is different than my regular author newsletter, which is exclusively used for alerts about new book titles and new formats. I didn’t want to water that down, which is why I’m trying out this new system. It’s an experiment. Sign up! First email comes out Sunday. (email image from Read more…
New look
I’ve been feeling the familiar itch to find a new look for this ol’ blog. It was leading to a lack of updates, too. I wasn’t happy with the look of the blog, so I didn’t want to spend much time updating it either. I finally found a little bit of time I hadn’t expected, so here we are! A brand new minimalist look. In addition, I’m working on some cool new features for the site, so hold tight!
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.
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…
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