I just found the announcement that Renard's Menagerie #5 is now available for ordering, and with it my whimsical short story about the evolution of parrots, "A Matter of Scale".

This was an older story and one that was pure fun to write. I wrote it back in 2005 as an application story for Odyssey, and so also thanks go to the famously wise Jeanne ( Read more... )

Since it's official, just posting a note here that I'll be teaching a game workshop at this year's Context, a very cool convention in Columbus, OH.

Via the workshop website:

Erin Hoffman: Interactive Narrative and Game Design(Sunday, September 28th, 11am-2pm ( Read more... )

Over the last couple of months I've experienced a strange confluence of influences. Call it collective unconscious or determinism or blind stupid coincidence, some of it happens because of the things I surround myself with while trying to puzzle through the big game of life. For me this is indelibly entwined with writing (which, as I've said, for ( Read more... )

The more I work in the areas where I work (which frequently feel more like play, and the more they feel like play, the better the results I tend to get), the more I think that my entire profession, or series of professions, can be distilled into a single concept of the science of choice ( Read more... )

Happy New Year, all. A fruitful and prosperous 2008 to all ye who read here. Since last we met I have covered about 6000 miles and delved womanfully into the fiery crucible of the holiday season, to emerge altered, if not renewed. My tales of fish head soup will be forthcoming. Also, Japan is spending $44.7 billion to create the world's fastest mag ( Read more... )

Through the magnanimity of Ellen Datlow I received a copy of Inferno in the mail just before Christmas. As I told Ellen at the time, I was primarily interested in the book for thehollowbox, who had been chomping at the bit to get his hands on it for months. So it will be a less-than-surprising Christmas present, and as per the agreement on Ellen's blog, pre- ( Read more... )

With Naomi Novik's recent announcement about the Organization for Transformative Works there's been a renewed energy in discussion of fanfiction and its impact on the specluative fiction community. I'm not really going to comment on the OTW -- I tend to concur with John Scalzi on its feasibility and potential danger to the fanfiction community ( Read more... )

Hey all you bibliophiles -- my fellow '05 Odyssey grad devilwrites is running a Pyr Books giveaway over at her journal. Check out her three posts on the Pyr rundown to get an idea what each is about.

I very coincidentally only recently became aware of Pyr distinctly -- I knew of them in a vague sense, but had become more aware after talking to Lou Anders ( Read more... )

Or "Let's give 'em something to talk about".

It's lately been in vogue to trash World of Warcraft, and it's no new thing that something popular should be heavily criticized. When you reach a certain level of visibility you draw fire from people who like to rage against The Man and from people who don't dig the trend and therefore get irritated by ( Read more... )

I am back from Montreal and about as flattened as I've been in awhile. A very uniquely terrific conference, though, and one I would make a repeat visit if I thought I'd still be in the northeast next year. But I suppose if Tom Buscaglia can fly out from Seattle for it I have little excuse. We shall see. Considering the short amount of time I spent ( Read more... )