Crucial vote tomorrow
Last night, the Washington state House Judiciary Committee passed by a vote of 7-6 the bill to extend the freedom to marry…
Read moreMonth: January 2012
Game of Thrones Season Two trailer
Clearly the producers have taken on board the popularity of Peter Dinklage and his character, Tyrion. Also, the palette looks much darker….
Read moreAvailable for rent: the Acropolis
Parthenon (Cornell) Parthenon (Brooklyn Museum) These two photos were taken a long time ago. But this is how the Acropolis looked when…
Read moreMS on Dr Kiki’s Science Hour
The huge news that MS is a metabolic disorder and not an autoimmune disease hit the web afresh this week. On Thursday,…
Read moreGalactic Suburbia Award
This morning I woke up to a lovely surprise: I’ve been awarded the first Galactic Suburbia Award for activism and/or communication that…
Read moreResilience
A student of mine, Eric Nguyen, has edited a marvellous book, Resilience: To be queer and young is to be STRONG. To…
Read moreScience Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Translation Awards are awarded annually for works of speculative fiction translated into English from other languages. There…
Read moreAll is well with the world
Yesterday was an astonishingly sunny day here in Seattle. I was serenaded by a fat bird at breakfast: And in the afternoon,…
Read moreWashington marridge about to become marriage?
About an hour from now, the Washington State legislature will open hearings on two identical same-sex marriage bills, HB 2516 and SB…
Read moreLibraries rock
Fans of Green County Public Library (Ohio) made this supercut of scenes from TV and film about libraries. Libraries rock. If you…
Read moreIt Was the Snow
A picture of our street taken Friday Thursday afternoon by our favourite photographer, Jennifer Durham (who took these snapshots with her phone),…
Read moreI’m a woman writer: I am unspeakably privileged
If you believe Teddy Wayne, I am, as a writer, unspeakably privileged: I’m a woman. In “The Agony of the Male Novelist,”…
Read moreHow to take down a mammoth
Still snowing. Huge icicle hanging outside our kitchen could probably take down a mammoth. There’s an ice storm warning in effect for…
Read moreMarooned
It started snowing in earnest first thing Tuesday morning: It stopped yesterday, but everything stayed frozen. Today it’s a little warmer, but…
Read moreHow I look now
photo by Riva Lehrer, January 2012 This photo is by the artist Riva Lehrer. It’s low-res and not well-lit because it’s just…
Read moreI need amusement!
Snow is coming down. It will come down all day. Tomorrow there will be a lot more. I won’t be able to…
Read moreSnow day
Today is a snow day. I’ll be watching this and thinking about Hild: I’m grateful for modern conveniences: light, heat, the ability…
Read moreSome blog stats
It’s been a while since I gave you a peek behind the curtain. So here are some relatively arbitrary statistics about this…
Read moreBoundless blue beauty
Here’s a photo taken earlier this week–Wednesday afternoon–looking out over Puget Sound. The long low bit is Bainbridge Island. Behind it, the…
Read moreFreedom from money worries leads to great writing
I’ve always believed that writers do their best work when they are unhooked from the financial hamster wheel. Finally, I’ve found someone…
Read moreArthur, Hild, and the challenge of the historical novel sequence
Wikimedia Commons Yesterday I started rereading Gillian Bradshaw’s Arthurian trilogy. I’ve always loved Hawk of May. And I like Kingdom of Summer…
Read moreFood glorious food
This is the kind of thing I’m eating for dinner on my new food regimen*: steak (grass-fed, and cooked on a Foreman…
Read moreReading distinguishes us from other animals
At the end of December the Guardian ran a story about reading and empathy: Psychologists from Washington University used brain scans to…
Read moreNo available brain
It’s been a busy day. All bandwidth taken. I forgot to blog. Ooops. Oh, well. As someone not a million miles from…
Read moreWatch art being born
Just what we all need for a relaxed Sunday: soothing video of Donato Giancola, a popular f/sf artist, creating an oil painting…
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