Reading 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…
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Sex and science fiction, Part One
I recently did a one-hour interview for BBC Radio 4 about how science fiction uses sex and gender to tell stories about…
Read moreLatest report on Hild
I’m nearly two-thirds of the way through reading Hild. Parts of it most definitely rock the thunderdome. Parts of it, well, let’s…
Read moreMeet Hild
Photo taken with crapcam. It turns out that 976 pages is nearly 11cm (4.5 in) high. I don’t have a scale, so…
Read moreMy coming out story
Today is Coming Out day (in the US, tomorrow in the UK). I’ve been out, very out, since I was sixteen. I…
Read moreBooks are journeys
I love books. I love my Kindle–I’ve read more novels per month in the last two years than I did before I…
Read moreVideo of me reading in Los Angeles
Here’s video of me reading from Slow River last month at the LLF Emerging Voices Writers’ Retreat in Los Angeles, where I…
Read moreWhat are you reading?
It’s a lovely sunny day here. Perfect. Yesterday it rained. All day. Hard. Tomorrow it will be too hot. By the weekend…
Read morecalling all queer writers in the north east: party!
Just got this. It looks like a great opportunity for queer writers of all stripes and persuasions to meet, drink some free…
Read moretake me away from it all…
I read an article in the Guardian a couple of days ago, which I’ve been pondering on and off since: “[A]s more…
Read morestressing out? read a novel
An article in the Telegraph about how reading reduces stress–even six minutes can be enough to reduce the stress levels by more…
Read moredoing it for pleasure
After a reader (thanks, Jennifer) reminded me, in a comment to “advice for girls,” that reading is pretty damn important I was…
Read morenovels make us better people
Bela Lugosi as Dracula (1931). Bram Stoker’s character embodied the worst excesses of aristocratic dominance. Photograph: Kobal According to an article in…
Read moreFriday audio: Always
So I learnt something this week: doing a reading with a hangover is not easy. Still, for you, dear reader, I struggled…
Read morethe Golden Notebook Project
On November 10th, a fascinating experiment in interactive online reading will begin. In the words of Bob Stein, of the Institute for…
Read morevideo of me reading
Here are two videos of me reading at Hugo House from my memoir, And Now We Are Going to Have a Party….
Read morebuy me a drink
From: Kai Jones I have a question: can I buy you a drink if we’re ever colocated? Just as a thank you…
Read moreBooks! Beer! Babes!
For those of you who will be in or near Seattle on Tuesday, 6th May, I’ll be doing a reading at Hugo…
Read moreintelligent, promiscuous reading
From: Jean R “…has anyone reading this ever done that?” you asked in response to an Ask Nicola query. Hello Nicola, well…
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