When a stray comment on social media last year alerted me to the presence of a wildlife sanctuary that offered wolf encounters a mere hour’s drive away, I raced upstairs…Continue readingThe Day of the Wolf
There will be much written on Vonda McIntyre in the coming days. An obituary is linked at the end of this. It tells you the facts. The short sharp summary…Continue readingVonda in memory and dream
Commencement Address Dear graduating class, I am so very happy to see you. To know that you are out there. That you exist. Because – make no mistake – in…Continue readingBehind the Superstars
ALL fiction is fantasy by definition – but for the purposes of this listicle let me just make it clear that I am using “fantasy” in its more commonly applied…Continue readingOn writing tales of pure wonder
Writers are often asked which books that they read in childhood were most beloved, or most influential, or … Well how about the books that were embarrassingly wrong. There was…Continue readingThe Apache who never were
Someone in my hometown is putting together a reading series and sent me an email asking whether I wanted to participate. I said sure, and asked if they had any…Continue readingWhy is ‘genre’ a dirty word?
This past Christmas two specific books found their way onto the pile: The first was a (signed no less) hardcover edition of the latest Longmire book by Craig Johnson, ‘Depth…Continue readingWhen good authors go awry
I have been thinking about trees quite a lot recently. Perhaps that is because the massive trees surrounding my home are pictures of incredible beauty as they groan under the…Continue readingDeath of the Golden Spruce
The Science Fiction Worldcon was in Yokohama, Japan, about a decade ago. I attended, as a panelist and a pro, partly because it was a chance to experience Japan, something…Continue readingA city named Hiroshima