The Elephant in the Book
Thank you, J.Z. York! I just finished York’s debut novel, Pulse. I’ll do a full review later. Bottom line: good book, worth reading. But that’s not the topic of this post. I’m thanking York for addressing the elephant in the book. An Elephant in a Book is a situation (tech, weapon, disease, technological advance, social…Read More
Author Fair Tomorrow!
Come out to meet me at Copperfield’s books at the Author Fair tomorrow, May 13th. Look for an orange canopy directly across from the FREE SNACKS! I’ll have some giveaways going. See you there!
A novella is born
May the fourth be with you. My novella, OrcLand, went live on Amazon today! This is a story of Will and Feral taking a break from saving Spark to solve the mysteries of OrcLand. The AI, Morrigan, has other ideas. Check it out here! If you have Kindle Unlimited, you can read it for free.
The Handlebars of Kwajalein Atoll
Just got back from Kwaj. It was my first trip. Kwajalein Atoll is in the Republic of the Marshall Islands and is only about 9 degrees north of the equator. Kwajalein Island is the largest island of the atoll. There are only a few cars/trucks; since it’s only six miles around the perimeter and there…Read More
Copperfield’s Books in Houston
I first went to Copperfield’s in 1998 and loved it. Tons of books. Well organized. Cozy. Coffee bar. It smells of books. Most of my sales are ebooks. I get it. Probably half of my reading time is with ebooks. The convenience is unsurpassed – at least until books can be projected on my Args….Read More
Book Review: Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
Kowal won a Hugo for this novel, and it was well deserved. When I read the blurb, I thought of Hidden Figures – the true story of women who worked, unseen, in the space program. Unseen because of both their race and their sex. There are similarities, but Kowal’s work is original and unique, and…Read More
Boots, Shoes & Fashion
When publicist Ben Cameron told me that he had an interview set up with Linda Hobden (@LindaHobden) of Boots, Shoes & Fashion fame, I was skeptical. While I routinely wear boots or shoes, no one has even associated me with fashion. Perhaps she thought I was someone else? No, Ben assured me, Linda is quite…Read More
The AIs Fight Back
I write about AI; I think about AI; I talk about AI. Isn’t it fair to give them the chance to do the same regarding me? I set out on a quest to find out what various well known AIs had to say about SPARK. I asked OpenAI’s GPT-4, Chat GPT-3.5’s successor, Bing AI, and…Read More
Book Review: Consilience (and the Latest SPARK News)
A couple weeks ago, Tim Ferriss had Michael Mauboussin on his show. Among many other topics, they discussed the concept of consilience. When Mauboussin mentioned E.O. Wilson’s book as a great place to learn more, I bought it. This is a book that explores the idea of bringing together knowledge from different fields of study…Read More
SPARK News
This Saturday, March 18th, I’ll be appearing at Third Planet Sci-Fi Superstore in Houston. I’ll be there from 1-4 PM to talk about the series, sign books, and generally nerd out with other sci-fi fans. They are located at 2718 Southwest Freeway. Check out their Facebook page and show them (and me) some love. First…Read More