I fear my house has become a massive cold spot for bizarre, inexplicable occurrences clearly supernatural in nature. It began a few days ago in the form of random manifestations in the various bathrooms that, like crop circles, seemed to contain some sort of otherworldly messages in their design. I provide photo documentation of the…
March 19, 2009: A Taste of the Other Side. With Cheese! And the Hugo Nominations.
I know a guy who spent a month living with an indigenous tribe in South America. Over the course of four weeks, he ate what they ate, drank what they drank, did as they did and, generally, lived as they lived. When I asked him the obvious question - Why? - he informed me that…
March 12, 2009: Author Nancy Kress Answers Your Questions + The Mailbag!
Talk about a quick turnaround. I sent author Nancy Kress your questions late last night. Fast forward seven hours to this morning when I woke up to discover an email from Nancy in my inbox. She was done! Well, a big thank you to Nancy for squeezing us into her busy schedule. Last year, she published two books, Dogs…
March 10, 2009: The Culinary Highlights, Some Dogs Discussion, and Dog Discussion
I’ve been watching so much Gordon Ramsay of late that it’s led me to do the unthinkable. I’m actually cooking at home. Last night, I made butterlicious rib steak with grilled asparagus. Today, it was crispy-skinned salmon with potato salad and oven roasted tomatoes. So I’m staying in more which is a good news/bad news…
March 9, 2009: Dogs, by Nancy Kress
Something has gotten into the dogs in the tiny community of Tyler, Maryland. They are turning on their masters, normally well-behaved pets suddenly engaging in grisly, unprovoked attacks. What's gotten into them, it turns out, is a virus that attacks the brain’s rage centers, transforming poodles and pitbulls alike into dangerous predators. And, when it…
February 11, 2009: More Big Book of the Month Club News. And the Mailbag!
I’d like to take a moment to invite fence-sitters and prospective first-timers to join our Book of the Month Club. HOW IT WORKS: I’ll announce the upcoming titles and include a brief synopsis of each and a date for the commencement of discussions. For those interested, the pertinent information is available in the right…
February 4, 2009: Celebrity Freak-Out, Book of the Month Club Push, and The Mailbag
By now, most of you have probably heard Christian Bale’s expletive-ridden tirade from the set of Terminator: Salvation, a four minute+ outburst triggered by the Director of Photography stepping into Bale’s line of sight during filming. A lot of you are expressing outrage at the actor’s behavior. Others, seeking to defend him, are quick to…
January 21, 2009: Book of the Month Club Announcements, Guest Authors, and My Luck is About to Change!
I’m going to start off today’s entry by announcing the titles for next month’s Book of the Month Club discussions: Infoquake, by David Louis Edelman From the publisher: “Natch is a master of biologics, the programming of the human body. He's clawed and scraped his way to the top of the biologics market using little…