Author: christopherbarzak

  • Smart-asses, welcome

    Jenn Reese has an interesting and fun entry in her journal today that revolves around playing a certain kind of game.  Here’s how it works at Jenn’s place: Post something positive about a presidential candidate for whom you *do not* intend to vote. -Giving credit to Clinton for being female or Obama for being black…

  • Singularity’s Ring

    I read part of this debut novel of Paul Melko’s at the Blue Heaven Novel Writing Workshop several years ago, and loved it then, lots and lots. If you like hard science fiction with lots of humor and heart, Melko’s Singularity’s Ring is where it’s at. I can’t wait till my copy of the final,…

  • Highbrow/Lowbrow

    If you haven’t read the article by Charles McGrath in the Times about highbrow/lowbrow distinctions in literature in the wake of the author in England who won a settlement in court by claiming that fumes from a shoe factory near her house caused her to write a thriller, which she claimed was a fall from…

  • I’m kind of getting my hopes up

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LOvWoK_8f8&rel=1]

  • Why so long

    Sometimes people ask me why it takes so long for a book to come out after it’s been turned in. This article in the NYT today is a pretty decent answer.

  • Your favorite collections

    In a recent post on short stories, one my local booksellers (hi, Amy!) said her store would put up an end-cap display of collections, and would take suggestions for which collections could be interesting. So I’ve decided to ask here, where many of the people who visit this journal are readers and writers of short…

  • Ever wonder what happens at Spec-fic Conventions?

    Read the witty and insightful and sober essay, I Like Writing But Hate Being a Writer, by Richard Bowes.

  • Finding voices

    One of the things I love about the internet is being able to access so many interviews, speeches, debates, lectures and articles by so many authors, artists and thinkers around the globe.  When I recall life pre-internet, and how these items seemed further away and took more time and energy to seek out and find…

  • Another room down and done

    Two views of the new dining room.

  • What’s the story?

    Laura Miller is one of my favorite reviewers of fiction.  Her reviews consistently show evidence of a reader engaged in an enthusiastic, thoughtful relationship with whatever she’s reading, even those books that don’t pass muster with her.  Earlier tonight I came across a review she’s written of Connie Willis’ most recent collection of short stories,…