So I discovered last week that bits of roasted cacao beans taste really, really nice when mixed with Old Gold, and ever since then I've been making my own chocolates. But in the meantime, work goes on:

Stephen Baxter, Pamela Freeman, Pat Rothfuss and I compare notes on SF vs F over at The Second Bookgeeks SF and Fantasy Author PanelVoyager online ( Read more... )

If this is doing the rounds ad nauseam, I apologise. I simply had to post it here.

From McSweeney's, Selections From H.P. Lovecraft's Brief Tenure As A Whitman's Sampler Copywriter:

Dark Chocolate Fudge

Dark! All-encompassing, eternal darkness! Human eyes cannot penetrate the stygian blackness of this unholy confection!That one's my favourite, ( Read more... )

"Knowledge is the action of the soul," according to Ben Johnson (1573-1637) and Christmas Cracker Quote #19.

He should have finished the thought: "And imagination is its action movie." But I suppose they didn't have action movies at the turn of the seventeenth century.*

Anyway, here are a few things I learned this morning:

The Force Unleashed ( Read more... )

I've been taking a leaf out of Teh Angriest's book and trying to walk and/or run for at least an hour a day. That means I'm getting to know my new neighbourhood pretty well. Going to and from my city PO Box takes about fifty minutes*, for instance, and that's enough to make me feel virtuous ( Read more... )

A podcast of me reading an excerpt from Saturn Returns is available from AdelaideNow, about halfway down the article by the legendary Tim Lloyd.

My history in his hands sounds very angst-ridden--much more interesting than I could have written it:

"Williams has emerged from a troubled, solitary life to become one of Adelaide's most admired writers ( Read more... )

After weather related-delays in Heathrow, an unplanned stopover and a check-in computer crash in Dublin, some lost luggage and a cryptosporidium outbreak, I am pleased to discover that Galway is really quite delightful. The food is mostly fried (yum), the hot chocolates are delicious (double yum), the summer is cold and wet, and the buildings are ( Read more... )

I'm off on honeymoon* for a while, and it is with some relief that I note, courtesy of these cool flood maps**, that my new home on the Dark Side will stay high and dry should the oceans rise up to swamp Adelaide while I'm gone

(  Here is what our new coastline would look like, raised fourteen metres above the old one: )

psycho_warbaby has given the game away. Today is my 40th birthday, and I am planning to eat my own bodyweight in chocolate.

Thanks to all the responses to my last post. It's been an amazing week. I'm honoured to have such good friends in the LJsphere helping me celebrate it.

... for interviews, apparently.

Steve Wilson of Space Archaeology fame has pinned me down on the issues of Geodesica, Saturn Returns and all manner of interesting subjects. His site is fantastic, too, combining as it does two of my personal favourite things (like Haighs dark chocolate almonds). You should check it out while you're there ( Read more... )