Re: I, Row-Boat

In “I, Row-Boat,” by Cory Doctorow, Robbie is a sentient rowboat who ferries human-shells out to the reefs to go diving. One day, that day gets ruined when someone out in the noösphere decides to give the reef sentience. The reef hates it so much, it wants to Kill All Humans. Robbie, however, is an […]

Do Bees Sleep?

I’ve been wondering if bees sleep since I saw all these black bees zooming about in the early evening. They seemed to be chasing each other. Then they clustered on a few stalks of grass, jostling and fighting for the good spots, until they finally settled down. When I looked them up, I was told […]

Don’t write about an elephant

I wasn’t planning to write about politics here, but the most interesting thing I did today was vote in an all write-in election. A write-in campaign always seems so rebellious and democratic, since it’s usually mounted by a candidate who gets shut out of the ballot. I remember voting for Sal Albano (background toward the […]

Nothing to See, Move Along

I got nothing. Well, that’s not exactly true. I’ve got (hold on, lemme check) 60 drafts I could finish, but right now, none of them seem worth wrapping my arms around the cat (the real laptop) so I can work on them for more than 15 minutes. Anyway, I have been thinking I want to […]

To Say Nothing of the Dog

As I said earlier, deciding that I want to figure out how to insert the teeniest bit of humor in my own writing, means I have an excuse to read funny things, and feel like I’m being productive. One of them is To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis.

Fall vegetables

This curly eggplant is one of the third batch of Oriental eggplants I’ve expecting to harvest. Every time I remember how tasty the previous ones have been, I also remember a Japanese proverb cited in one of my favorite (non-writing) blogs: don’t your daughter-in-law eat autumn eggplant. Nobody seems to know what it means. Is […]

The Fabric of Reality – Part I: The Good Stuff

Back in June, I wondered how long it would take me to read The Fabric of Reality, by David Deutsch. Well, it took just about a week. This is not a book to tackle at the end of the day. The book is so challenging, it’s physically tiring to read and think about and react […]

Re: Od Magic

I’m not sure what’s more amazing about the first chapter of Od Magic, by Patricia McKillip: the appearance of Od, a giantess with mice in her hair; or the successful execution of a 12-page flashback. We meet Brenden Vetch about to enter a magical door under a cobbler’s shoe. He thinks back to how miserable […]

Re: The Girl in the Glass

Like The Night Whiskey, The Girl in the Glass, by Jeffrey Ford has plenty of darkness, but it’s a far more pleasant ride along some of the stranger undercurrents of the Great Depression. Our hero is Diego, a clever and resourceful Mexican immigrant who masquerades as the mysterious Hindu swami Ondoo. His adoptive father and […]

How to Keep Cats Out of the ‘Nip

Bees like catnip, but everyone knows cats love it, the fresher the better. If you try to grow some for them, they’ll eat the plants right to the ground if you let them. So we don’t let them.