In the late 70’s I was a Tolkien geek. I’ve mentioned this before. I wasn’t a Tolkien geek in San Francisco or New York or any other big city, where I might have seen ‘Frodo Lives’ painted on a wall, hung out with other Tolkien club members, and visited science fiction & fantasy conventions. Nope.…
Read More Middle Earth MerchThanksgiving Day (cooking, eating, couch-nesting, and family fights.) Black Friday (shopping in the chain stores and big-box stores, for often illusory bargains.) Shop Local Saturday (support your local businesses! Trust me, you will mourn them if they go.) Cyber Monday (buy everything online, some of which you probably cynically priced at a chain or local…
Read More The stages of Thanksgiving‘Tis the season when I wax emotional about the folks who’ve made my writing life possible: My friends and family, who have put up with so much to get me to this place. My adversaries, who’ve added spice and determination to my life, tested my limits, and taught me the value of both humility and…
Read More Holiday gratitude…and can its marketing staff. Like many people, I don’t go to movie theaters anymore. I’m selfish. With access to a friend’s good satellite service and decent home theater, the only things I’m missing out on are screaming kids in movies too adult for them, people talking over the movie, overpriced tickets, even more overpriced…
Read More The flop that wasn’t, or why Disney needs to trust itself…Andrew Piper says that e-readers will doom the act of reading. He even has a new book out about it, from the University of Chicago Press, which I am fairly certain will also be available in digital form. Edited to add: yep, it’s on Kindle. He wrote a Slate article about it, too. I call…
Read More The death of reading?Last May, author Neil Gaiman gave a commencement speech portraying the artist’s life. “Walk toward the mountain,” he said, meaning do those things that will add to your chosen career. Give weight to choices that will help you become a better artist, not merely those which pay bills and siphon time and love. Really, I…
Read More Neil Gaiman explains why we are here