Mindbat

Absurdistan: a fat, paranoid slob has a series of misadventures. Wasn’t that a book called A Confederacy of Dunces?

I subscribed to the new Tor.com newsletter this year, drawn by the offer of free ebooks (without DRM!) delivered every week. I haven’t had a chance to read all the books they’ve sent, but it’s been nice getting books in my favorite format (Mobipocket) without having to worry about DRM getting in my way. I [...]

…or rather, your donations! Strange Horizons is a weekly speculative fiction e-zine that’s completely free to readers but still pays their artists and writers. Each year they hold a donation drive to help cover their costs. The current drive ends June 30th, and they only need $3,000 more to reach their goal. If you’re a [...]

John Scalzi’s put up a couple of recent posts about the business of writing.  The man knows what he’s talking about: he made over $160K from his wordsmithing skills last year. If you haven’t read his books, you should; they’re straight-up science fiction with good characters facing tough choices, and he has a very easy [...]

A friend recently wrote to me about encountering her first instance of racism directed against her, because she isn’t Jewish. I started to reply with: “I’m surprised you’d find such prejudice alive and well in a Blue State, in the 21st century,” but stopped myself. How could I write those words? They’re a trite response [...]