The president has declared that my father was a terrorist. So be it. He belonged to an antifa organization known as the United States Army Air Corp. They didn't just insult Nazis. They BOMBED THE HELL out of Nazi Germany. He was more a man than the chickenhawk in chief could ever hope to be.

Something odd and interesting is coming your way next Monday. Stay tuned.

My blog just passed another million views. I won't say how few of them it has.

Behold! The opening of "Universe Box," after which my upcoming collection, THE UNIVERSE BOX was named. And it's a charming opening to a very strange story if I do say so myself.

I have arrived in Rockville. Capclave may begin!

Oreos, the self-hating cookies, have a new rival.

Remember the first public demo of the Optimus robot, which turned out to be a man in a robot suit? Here's how much progress has been made since. x.com/Benioff/stat...

Cocktail Hour! Tonight, keeping it simple with Aviations served with crackers and cheese.

The e-book of my dinosaurs-and-time-travel novel, BONES OF THE EARTH, goes on sale Saturday. Details on my blog. floggingbabel.blogspot.com/2025/09/one-...

You want good sportsmanship? Don't start the season with Philadelphia versus Dallas.

C'est finis! Announcement soon.

Campbell's condensed frozen soup.

I've resolved to pen the occasional book review. And so... floggingbabel.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-...

Midnight roses.

I met Poul Anderson once. He told me that in Norway he'd been in an old church which had a crucifix with Christ hanging upside-down.

From the Wall Street Journal: [Robert Louis Stevenson] treated adjectives as enemies, relying instead on verbs [...] in his critique of a young friend's prose, Stevenson besought her to avoid such a phrase as "climbing roses" in describing a garden. 1/2

Life in the City: Predator garage birds.

During the Worlcon, George R. R. Martin talked about making a cameo appearance as a zombie: "They had me chained in the basement and even though I was dead and drooling, I had enough muscle memory that if you stuck a book in front of me, I'd sign it."

I'm tempted to move to Maine so I can vote for this guy. bsky.app/profile/grah...

Went to Ballard Locks. A train passed over the railroad bridge. A seaplane flew over. The draw bridge opened to let a boat through. It went up a lock. Seals were hunting in the river mouth. An Osprey struck the water and caught a fish. 1/2

Salmon gathered to swim up the fish ladder. Indigenous people were fishing. It would take Richard Scarry to do it justice. 2/2

A preview of this year's Halloween story.

"Napoleon... able was he before he saw his elbow." I never really understood that aphorism.

A gull-size wooden tractor Because this AMERICA, dammit!

David Axler at the Worldcon.

Ginger Buchanan at the Worldcon.

Teaching a flash fiction workshop. This reminds me of when Lucius Shepard was urging me to teach at Clarion West. "You Gotta do it, Michael. It makes you feel like Mister Chips."

Andy Duncan.

Brett Cox.

Mary Turzillo.

Geoff Landis.

Kana Foglio.

Frank Catalano

It's my first full day at the Worldcon. What better way to celebrate than by buying an e-book? floggingbabel.blogspot.com/2025/08/sale...

I'm in Seattle at the Worldcon. Ran into Maurizio Manzieri, who is on the Hugo ballot for Best Artist for the third time. He is, he tells me, the only Italian here. All other who might have come didn't want to take the chance.

Life in the arts is strange. "An Empty House With Many Doors" is now a song titled "Ask the Moon." floggingbabel.blogspot.com/2025/08/sad-...

Roses in Little Narnia.

Life in the City: Mall flowers.

See if you can guess which of my novels made it onto an best alternate history novels list. bookbarbarian.blog/discover-the...

The extraordinary Nisi Shawl is crowdfunding a book. Not an ordinary book, however. Rather a strange one. floggingbabel.blogspot.com/2025/08/in-a...

Nearing the end of Gregory Frost's Rhymer: Hel. Ch. XXXVIII: Well, that was unpleasant. Ch. XXXIX: I've been waiting for books for this to happen. Frost is patience incarnate.

Breakfast in Little Narnia: homegrown tomatoes with cream cheese on toast.

It's August 12. Have you stocked up on Halloween candy yet?

Still reading Gregory Frost's Rhymer: Hel. Ch. XXXVI: So much is going on. How can Frost possibly tie it all up in the few pages remaining? Ch. XXXVII: So was the Mary Queen of Scots plot real or manufactured? As Frost convincingly posits: both.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a science fiction writer in possession of a Worldcon schedule, must publish it beforehand. floggingbabel.blogspot.com/2025/08/my-w...

Still reading Gregory Frost's Rhymer: Hel. Ch. XXXIV: The gossip in the English College is wonderfully convincing in the way that prose can be when the writer knows much more than he commits to the page but restrains himself. Ch. XXXV: Kisses in the dark. Nuff said.

I continue reading Gregory Frost's Rhymer: Hel, the third volume in his Rhymer trilogy. I hope these chapter-by-chapter snippets whet your interest in what I consider a major work of fantasy. Ch. XXXII: And another character runs away not with but from the elves.

Ch. XXXIII: With the advantage of hindsight, it's clear that confiding in Kit has shortened the man's life—though Frost, never heavy-handed, leaves that insight for the reader to discover on their own.

Still reading Gregory Frost's Rhymer: Hel. Ch. XXX: “The key to the drunk man's lock on the front door still remained behind a stone in the garden wall.” I looked this up. A drunk man's lock is designed so that someone fumbling in the dark could find the keyhole.

Ch. XXXI: “Were either of you aware that the city of London allows no more than forty taverns? Yet there's no limit to the number of churches. I believe I am outraged.” Only one man in England would dare to blaspheme so casually.