Just marking this as the day it occurred to me that the Streets of Flame Quartet may need to become a quintet. This all relies on very, very raw turns of events in HEATSTROKE HEARTBEAT, which only exist in my head and a notebook, so all of this is highly abstract and none is guaranteed.… Continue reading The Nona maneuver
Author: Matt
The square-cube law
I posted some quick thoughts on generative AI on a closed Facebook group for the Alliance of Independent Authors. Then I tried to find them and, WOW, is searching a Facebook group a miserable experience. So here they are, in case I ever want to find them again: I think the philosophical question here is… Continue reading The square-cube law
2022: An epilogue
I obviously haven’t made as much use of this blog as I’d have liked since I resurrected it this summer. Figuring out how to balance this with writing, the newsletter, and the other 95% of life is an ongoing project. But I’ve got a bit of free time at this end of 2022, and since… Continue reading 2022: An epilogue
“I believe at this point they changed their language”
My doctor told me that sometimes pregnant women get itchy, it’s normal. That seemed like a banal description of my experience, so I trolled around the Internet, eventually finding a website called itchymoms.com. Here I learned about a condition called cholestasis of the liver, in which bile leaks into your bloodstream, slowly poisoning your bloodstream,… Continue reading “I believe at this point they changed their language”
The journalists, the nihilists, and the chaotic neutrals
The amount that Twitter omits is breathtaking. More than any other social platform, it is indifferent to huge swaths of human experience and endeavor. I invite you to imagine this omitted content as a vast, bustling city. Scratching at your timeline, you are huddled in a single small tavern with the journalists, the nihilists, and… Continue reading The journalists, the nihilists, and the chaotic neutrals
Leeks & lentils
The most recent episode of Maintenance Phase is a journey through a scandal I hadn’t heard of: the severe poisoning of dozens? hundreds? of people who’d eaten Daily Harvest’s leek and lentil crumbles. The episode is worth a listen end to end; Michael expands this one story out into a tour through recent changes in… Continue reading Leeks & lentils
“A bridge too far”
The resolution approving Bridge Point 8 was “memorialized” tonight. This apparently means spending an hour and a half fixing typos, then opening the floor for 15 minutes of public comment. Both sides of the issue were vigorously represented HAHAHA JESUS ARE YOU KIDDING, literally no one who’s not (a) on the planning board or (b)… Continue reading “A bridge too far”
$7.69
Matt Levine, Money Stuff 2022-11-01. We’re talking low prices. Currently reading: London Rules, Mick Herron.
The ALLi sorting hat
Every so often I listen to the Alliance of Independent Authors’ podcasts. Tonight’s listen is the October 2 episode of the Creative Self-Publishing podcast, “How to Build Your Publishing Team,” wherein Orna Ross and Howard Lovy profile three types of author-publisher: The lean publisher, who focuses on frequency, volume, ranking, and low cost; The engagement… Continue reading The ALLi sorting hat
King? Or jester?
We watched Hasan Minhaj’s new Netflix special, THE KING’S JESTER, this weekend; spoilers follow. It makes for an interesting contrast with HOMECOMING KING. The overall structure is similar, an arc punctuated by digressions, and Minhaj is still very deft at circling the digressions back to the main arc in unexpected ways, usually embroidered with some… Continue reading King? Or jester?