The Cambias Digression

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

  • The Power of Pictures

    Since I'm a writer, I naturally think that all the writer-stuff is important in a work of fiction: the story, the plot, the setting, and so forth. When I gripe about movies that bother me, my complaints are usually about writer-stuff (and music; I pay attention to music). So it's humbling to realize that one…

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  • Evil Characters

    There's an interesting post up at Sarah Hoyt's blog about motivations for villainous characters. She takes the position that no one is consciously evil, and evil behavior is usually motivated by a desire to do good or to fit in. This is a very common view in science fiction; it's practically the default. With some…

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  • Eckener SPEAKS!

    My story "The Eckener Alternative" is now available via podcast, on the venerable Escape Pod audio webzine (or whatever the kids are calling them this week). Download it and listen on your next boring commute through time!

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  • The Editing Paradox

    At the moment I have a lot of editing and rewriting to do. I'm finishing up the first draft of a novel and I know I need to go back and make some improvements. And at my last writing workshop the group gave one of my short stories a thorough working-over, so now there's that…

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  • Tales From the Archive: The Transbalkania Affair

    This is an adventure I ran for my Space: 1889 campaign back in the 1990s. Because this was written for my own use rather than for publication, it's a bit more sparse and telegraphic than usual. Transbalkania is a fictional country in the Space: 1889 universe, a tiny Balkan principality wedged in between Bulgaria and…

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  • My Fiction

    Novels: A Darkling Sea (2014), Tor Books. Corsair (2015), Tor Books. Arkad’s World (2019), Baen Books. The Initiate (2020), Baen Books. The Godel Operation (2021), Baen Books. The Scarab Mission (2023), Baen Books.   Short Stories: “A Diagram of Rapture” (F&SF, April 2000) “The Alien Abduction” (F&SF, September 2000) “Return to Skull Island” (Journal of Pulse-Pounding Narratives #1, 2001) “Train…

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  • How I Did It #9: The Eckener Alternative

    I am ridiculously proud of this story. Back in 2004 I heard that David Moles and Jay Lake were putting together an airship theme anthology, All-Star Zeppelin Adventure Stories. Now, I've been an airship nut since fourth grade. I've written nonfiction articles about them for Airpower and Balloon Life magazines. So I decided that it…

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  • I Recommend You Read This

    Locus magazine just released its 2011 "recommended reading" list for SF and fantasy. My novelette "Object Three" made the cut. You can read it in the November/December issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. UPDATE: Don't forget, Hugo Award nominations for 2012 are open until March 11!

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  • Ozblogging: The Road to Oz, Part 6

    Party Like It's 1909! The guests begin to arrive for Ozma's birthday party, and L. Frank Baum demonstrates an early mastery of the Superhero Crossover subgenre. All the guests are either characters from other Oz books, or from some of Baum's non-Oz fantasies. This book solidly cements all of Baum's fantasies into a single fictional…

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  • Steampunk and the End of the Future

    Two weeks ago I attended the Arisia convention in Boston and had a wonderful time. One thing which was impossible to miss was the prevalence of steampunk costumes among some of the attendees, especially the younger ones. Maybe this was just because the guests of honor were Phil and Kaja Foglio, creators of the steampunk…

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The Worldbuilding Index