The Cambias Digression

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

  • We’re Living in a Japanese Anime Series

    Terror and violence are spreading. War looms. And a couple of super-robots go to school.  This is pretty much the plot of every Japanese animated series ever made. Except now it's reality.  If you live in Greater Boston, this is bad news, because while it means you now have super-robots to defend the city against…

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  • Trader Joe’s Reaches the Pumpkin Singularity

    Maybe it's because I grew up in Louisiana. Pumpkin pie was not a common dessert when I was a kid. At Thanksgiving we ate pecan pie, and I remember my grandmother making sweet potato pie a few times. I heard of Pumpkin pie, from the song "Over the River and Through the Woods" or various…

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  • Excerpt From A Neglected Collaboration

    Piglet has on rare occasions whispered disjointed and irresponsible things about what he saw in the Heffalump trap: "the empty jar", "the fawn-colored fluff", "the nameless cylinder", "the condensated milk", "the primal gold jelly", "the West Pole", "the eyes in the darkness", "the very bouncy animal", "the Thing of Little Brain" and other bizarre conceptions;…

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  • Empire of the Dragon Khan

    That's actually a pretty good fantasy novel title . . .  This weekend I will be an "attending professional" (kind of like a guest, only not as cool) at Dragon-Con in Atlanta. You can find me (if you can find anything in the massive crowd of Star Wars stormtroopers, anime catgirls, superheroes, and Klingons) at…

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  • Star of Blog and Podcast

    There's a new podcast up at New Books in Science Fiction & Fantasy, with me in it. I was honored to find out that I was Rob Wolf's first repeat podcast interviewee (podcastee?). In this one we talk about Corsair, the Hieroglyph Project, and the chip on science fiction's shoulder.

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  • The Decline of Musical Hipness

    For half a century, music was the badge of hipness. What you listened to determined if you were a cool, enlightened person or not. Clothing, hair styles, taste in movies, political opinions — these all had a role, but ultimately music trumped everything. You could be the coolest kid in high school with all the…

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  • Scenes From a Book Tour

    Two of the events from the late Tor Books Big Summer Author Tour and Giant Spider Jamboree are now available on video. Everyone who missed our live appearances can experience the wonder and glory of Elizabeth Bear, Me, Max Gladstone, and Brian Staveley. The first video is our appearance at Google NYC:   The second…

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  • Showdown at Phoenix

    SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! At the BIIIG Phoenix Books in Burlington Vermont! THE ULTIMATE DRAMA SHOWDOWN! The Tor Books Summer 2015 Author Tour ends with a four-way Literary Duel! THIS IS THE BIG ONE! Brian "Madman" Staveley, Max "Maximum Stone" Gladstone, Elizabeth "The Grizzly" Bear, and James "L." Cambias compete to out-drama each other in readings…

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  • Everybody’s Invited

    To the penultimate stop on the Tor Books Big Summer 2015 Hot Air Balloon Steel Cage Deathmatch and Author Showdown! On July 25 we'll be appearing in Brattleboro, Vermont at 6:00 p.m. Important note: although the event is hosted by Everybody's Books, the actual event will not take place at the store. Instead, you can…

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  • Scouring the Shire

    This evening at 6 p.m., the Tor Books Big Summer 2015 Writin' Regatta and Author Swimsuit Beauty Contest arrives at Northshire Bookstore in horse-obsessed Saratoga Springs, New York. This is our only stop in New York State, so be sure to come out for an evening of readings, book signing, and discussion about how we…

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