The Cambias Digression

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

  • Accidental Prophets and Texas Sharpshooters (Part 3 of 4)

    Last time I explained how the Hieroglyph anthology didn't accomplish its goal, because of the very nature of science fictional prediction. If you look at those iconic Hieroglyphs from my earlier list through the lens of metaphor and plot device it becomes quite clear how many of them were invented as story elements first and…

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  • Lend Me Your Ears

    The Tenacious Reader blog has a very favorable review of the audiobook edition of Corsair up. Evidently it sounds as good as it looks on the page. I suspect congratulations should go to the good people at Audible.com, especially the reader Victor Bevine.  

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  • Accidental Prophets and Texas Sharpshooters (Part 2 of 4)

    (Note: this essay can be read in its entirety at the Hieroglyph website.) In my last post I described the history of the Hieroglyph Project, and ended by saying that it failed. How did the Hieroglyph anthology fail? It's full of great stories, it got good reviews and it sold well. By any normal definition…

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  • Accidental Prophets and Texas Sharpshooters (Part 1 of 4)

    One thing I've discovered about being a science fiction writer is that it somehow makes me into a futurist. Because I write stories with spaceships and aliens in them, people think I must have some kind of inside line on how the world is going to look a century from now. In fact, that seems…

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  • Corsair Gets Bit!

    The lovely and talented Fran Wilde invited me to contribute a recipe and some book discussion to her "Book Bites" blog. I picked Flamenco Eggs and mused about which character from Corsair would be most likely to make it. Read the whole thing here.

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  • Science of Sci-Fi at M.I.T.

    Tomorrow evening I'll be entering the august and notoriously long halls of the mighty Massachusetts Institute of Technology to take part in a panel discussion on "The Science of Sci-Fi." It will be held in M.I.T. Room 4-231 (wherever that may be) at 7:30 p.m. on May 13, and is open to the public. We'll…

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  • Bloggers Join the Pirate Crew

    A couple of heavyweight science fiction book blogs have put up reviews and interviews about Corsair. Here's The Qwillery's take, and here's My Bookish Ways. Both of them liked the book, so they're now honorary members of my space pirate crew, with the right to say "Arr!" at space resource development projects.

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  • More Big News

    If the launch of Corsair isn't enough, this week I was pleased and honored to learn that A Darkling Sea is one of the finalists for this year's Locus Awards in the category of Best First Novel. I guess that means I'll be taking a trip to Seattle in June. (Locus, founded by the late Charles…

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  • LIFTOFF!

    The Space Pirate is launched! Corsair is now available — and I'm proud to report that the good people of the mighty Amazon have named it one of the Best Books of May 2015. Captain Black the Space Pirate says check it out.

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  • T Minus 24 Hours!

    The countdown clock is running and Corsair is on the launch pad. The official publication date is tomorrow. You can get it in hardcover, ebook, or audio book format. Whichever version you choose, you get an exciting and funny tale of piracy in space, all scientifically plausible. As a proper pirate story, it has buried…

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