The Cambias Digression

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

  • Arkad’s World Review From Booklist

    One of the most anxious times for a writer is just before the book hits the stores, at the moment when the first reviews appear. You may like what you've written, your editor may like it, your wife and the people in your writing workshop may like it . . . but none of that…

    jamescambias

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  • Look What Arrived!

    Christmas came about a week early this year! Look what arrived: freshly-printed copies of Arkad's World! If these volumes have reached my house, there's at least a sporting chance copies are getting to Amazon's warehouses or your local bookstore. Get your copy now! I honestly believe this is the best thing I've written. Getting it…

    jamescambias

  • Post-Thanksgiving Food Bragging Post

    This year we had two and a half guests for Thanksgiving1and so decided to really pull out all the stops for an epic meal. The menu: Hors d'Oeuvres Pickled Herring in Sour Cream    Oyster Patties Cremant de Bourgogne Viandes Roast Stuffed Breast of Turkey    Sous-Vide Breast Turkey en Mole Juliénas Beaujolais Legumes Oyster Stuffing    Tamales Roasted Brussels Sprouts    Roasted…

    jamescambias

  • Watch the Skies!

    If you do, and you're in the Southern Hemisphere looking at the constellation Norma, you might see a supernova, accompanied by a gamma-ray burst. Any day now . . . which of course means any day in the next few thousand years. Astronomical events take place over long time scales, except when they don't.

    jamescambias

  • Mr. President, We May Be Looking . . .

    . . . at a wargames GAP! Apparently the Pentagon needs to find replacements for the generation of beardy wargame grognards who are starting to fail their final saving rolls. Here's an article about the problem from War on the Rocks.  

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  • Things I Want Other People to Write

    I've never written fan fiction. When I was young, it felt like cheating or plagiarism to write a story set in someone else's fictional setting, or using their characters. (This was before the whole concept of "shared worlds" or "expanded universes" arose, and all works actually had a single identifiable creator.) And when I was…

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  • Most Infuriating Thing I’ve Seen Today

    I drove past a hair-styling parlor with a fancy custom neon sign showing a pair of scissors and the name of the place: "A Notch Above." Huh? It should be "A Cut Above." Hair parlors all have lame-ass pun names — Mane Event, Short Cuts, Shear Magic, Curl Up and Dye, Cutting Edge, Hair Today, etc. …

    jamescambias

  • Random Encounters: The Ruined Arcology

    It seemed like Utopia: a city in a single building — high-tech, secure, and "sustainable." Shopping, entertainment, health clubs, offices, and services all in one gleaming structure. When the giant multinational company built it, the planners envisioned a hundred-story "company town" filled with fifty thousand workers and executives. They'd get coddled and cared for in…

    jamescambias

  • Arkad eARC Available!

    If you can't stand to wait for a printed copy of my new novel Arkad's World (and aren't picky about things like copy-editing), the electronic Advance Reading Copy is now available. Read a free sample or buy the whole thing here at the Baen Web site. I honestly think this is my best book yet.…

    jamescambias

  • Random Encounters: At Scintillation

    You've wandered into the amazing Holiday Inn Centre-Ville in Montreal, but there's some kind of odd event going on. Over the course of the weekend roll 1d20 every hour during the day to see who or what you encounter. Roll Twice and Combine Plot-Advancing Encounter: Someone or something related to whatever brought you to Montreal in…

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The Worldbuilding Index