The Cambias Digression

Notes and thoughts on everything from what I had for breakfast to the fate of the Universe.

  • Political-Literary Observation

    In the news one constantly hears journalists and government officials referring to "bad actors" when talking about matters of crime and national security. I think that movie reviewers and theater critics are the ones to guard us against bad actors. Soldiers, spies, and policemen should confine themselves to stopping wrongdoers instead.

    jamescambias

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  • How’s It Doing?

      The Godel Operation has been out for three weeks now. I've done interviews and promotion — there's an interview on the "Event Horizon" YouTube channel due to drop Friday the 27th. I'm sending out signed bookplates in lieu of autographings. Reviews have been good: Publishers' Weekly liked it, and Paul DiFilippo wrote a glowing piece…

    jamescambias

  • Retro-Review: Treasure Planet

    I recently watched the 2002 Disney animated movie Treasure Planet. I am told by my children that we rented it multiple times when they were younger, but I am sure I never actually watched the whole thing. Perhaps I was in the room while they watched it, but my attention was elsewhere. My judgement is…

    jamescambias

  • I Will Sign Your Book Wherever You Are

    There haven't been any bookstore signing events for The Godel Operation, and I haven't been able to attend any conventions in person. But one of my friends had a brilliant suggestion: signed bookplates!  I ordered a batch: they're self-sticking bookplates, about the size of a business card, with original artwork (above) by Emily Cambias, showing…

    jamescambias

  • Baen Free Radio Interview

    The Baen Free Radio Hour sounds like it should be broadcast from hidden antennas deep in occupied territory, keeping the flame of freedom alive. Actually, it's a podcast. They've got an interview with me up now, about — no surprise — The Godel Operation. You can listen to it or watch the video version here.…

    jamescambias

  • Big Idea Guest Post

    I've got a long guest post up at John Scalzi's 'blog Whatever, part of his ongoing "Big Idea" series for writers to talk about their work. For this post I waded deep into the history of how I came up with the Billion Worlds setting and my future plans for more stories in that future.…

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  • Godel Operation: The Page 69 Test

    The 'blog The Page 69 Test asks writers to judge their own works on the basis of a single page. Marshal Zeringue, of the Campaign For the American Reader, describes it thus:  "This 'test' grows out of an observation attributed to Marshall McLuhan, the guru of The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962), who recommended that book browsers turn to…

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  • Godel Operation Interview by Paul Semel

    As I mentioned in my last post, I've been doing a lot of interviews and soliciting plenty of reviews for the release week of The Godel Operation. This is to make sure that people who might like the book hear about it — and I think a lot of people will like the book. All…

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  • Launch!

    The Godel Operation is officially published today. Which is kind of a weird thing to say. I've had a box of copies sitting in my living room for nearly a month. You've been able to pre-order it on Amazon since last Fall. You've been able to download eARCs from the Baen Web site for months.…

    jamescambias

  • Godel Operation Minus One

    Eight . . . seven . . . six . . .  The promotional juggernaut for The Godel Operation rolls on with one day left before the official release date for the book. If you like you can read Marshal Zeringue's "Q & A" interview with me about it on the Campaign for the American…

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The Worldbuilding Index