Now he’s gone, too, after a long, difficult illness that he never stopped fighting.
It’s some years since we saw him in Dublin. It was a pleasure to be with him, even for such a short time: he was a smart and funny guy.
We will miss you, Jim. Go well.

Posted in Fantasy and science fiction 1 Comment »

And so, to my great sorrow, passes one of the most senior, and certainly one of the most beloved, of YA fantasy writers: one of the first of us to break out, over the course of years, into worldwide fame, and to general agreement that she “wasn’t just writing kid stuff”.
She was […]

Posted in Fantasy and science fiction, Writing, Young Wizards 5 Comments »

“My name is Turambar,” cried Turin, “and Evil have been all my ways.”
“And my name is Niniel,” wept Nienor as they fell into each other’s arms and she became heavy with child. And lo, when Glaurung told her she had shagged her brother and Turin had been slain on his quest to rescue Húrin, […]

Posted in Fantasy and science fiction, Humor No Comments »

I thought that for my offering to this noble group effort, I would bring along something that people have been asking about on and off for a while: something of a rarity, one of the very few extant short works set in the Middle Kingdoms universe.
“Parting Gifts” is, I think, the first piece of short […]

Posted in Fantasy and science fiction, Writing 3 Comments »

Oh dear, oh dear.  Not safe for those who don’t like the F word and its variants.  But visually hilarious.
Technorati Tags: Star Wars, gangsta, rap

Posted in Alien lifeforms, Fantasy and science fiction, Media, Music, Online life No Comments »

This has been in the pipeline for a while.YoungWizards.com is now running under the Drupal content-management system, which will make it capable of handling its own blogs, forums, and other goodies. YW.net will follow suit shortly.
Feel free to stop by and kick the tires!
Technorati Tags: Young, wizards, Nita and Kit, Diane Duane, […]

Posted in Computer stuff, Fantasy and science fiction, Home life, Online life, Writing, Young Wizards No Comments »

I roared. Someone email this to JKR, quick…
The seventh and last installment of boy wizard Harry Potter and his antics at Hogwarts, sinisterly titled Harry Potter and the Deathly Gallows…
Whoopsie!  (snicker)
Technorati Tags: J. K. Rowling, JKR, Harry Potter, deathly, Hogwarts, July, 21

Posted in Fantasy and science fiction, Humor, Typos, Writing 1 Comment »

The transfer to The Big Meow’s new hosting provider at Lunarpages has gone smoothly, and the new installation of Drupal 5.0 is now up and running. Everything seems to be working OK, but if those of you who read this and venture over there should find anything strange going on, please register so that you can […]

Posted in "The Big Meow", Computer stuff, Fantasy and science fiction, Online life, Writing No Comments »

It’ll all be here.
(BTW, is it just me, or are we having a solar flare / CME? It sure looks like one.)
Technorati Tags: Peter S. Beagle, Peter Beagle

Posted in Fantasy and science fiction, Media 1 Comment »

A goddess in the making, or a demon reborn…?
In the remote mountain village where she was born, Mariarta dil Alicg lives the untroubled life of a peasant girl…until, soon after a mysterious stranger’s arrival, she starts to hear voices in the wind. The voices whisper strange secrets in Mariarta’s ears — promising her the power […]

Posted in Computer stuff, Fantasy and science fiction, Online life, Raetian Tales, Writing 1 Comment »

Jeez, that film got dreadfully spanked in the reviews.
This is something of an issue for me, as one fantasy film’s bad fortune affects all other potential fantasy pitches far more than the previous few films’ good fortune will; and in a household where pitching fantasy film is something that’s more likely to happen pretty […]

Posted in Fantasy and science fiction, Media, Writing 5 Comments »

On the delightful John Scalzi’s last list of his 51 best personal writers’ blogs in SF and fantasy, OOA ranked 49th. Now it seems we rank 36th.
Well, coolness, but don’t ask me why. (And don’t ask me whether I’m SF or fantasy, either. I prefer to saddle the Great Divide and confuse everybody possible, […]

Posted in Administrivia, Computer stuff, Fantasy and science fiction, Online life No Comments »

Ron Moore is going to be writing the screenplay for the new version of The Thing. (via Variety and various other sources)
Go Ron!!
(And something from the Variety article that seems to have slipped under the radar: “Moore, who’s repped by CAA, just scripted an “I, Robot” sequel for Fox.”)
Technorati Tags: Ronald D. Moore, […]

Posted in Fantasy and science fiction, Film and TV, Media, Note to self No Comments »

More info about this has been added to the original post, if you’re interested: scroll down, or click here.
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Posted in Fantasy and science fiction, Film and TV, Home life, Star Trek and other licensed properties, Writing No Comments »

I just want to take a moment to link to this, in which the excellent Wil Wheaton gives us an in-depth analysis of the episode.
While reading it I had to stop several times to clean the tea off the keyboard, and (since Peter is still snoozing upstairs, having had a late writing night) restrain myself […]

Posted in Fantasy and science fiction, Film and TV, Online life, Star Trek and other licensed properties, Writing 12 Comments »

For those of you who might have been interested in this appearance:
Due to convention sponsorship difficulties, DD and PM’s appearance at the Fargo Fantasy Festival in Fargo, North Dakota has been rescheduled for September 21-23, 2007.
William Shatner is the featured media guest: other guests will be announced. Please see the convention website for further details […]

Posted in Conventions, Fantasy and science fiction, Travel 2 Comments »

Or so they say.
Technorati Tags: transformers, transformers movie, transformers film

Posted in Fantasy and science fiction, Media, Toys 3 Comments »

Our major satellite TV provider, Sky, will shortly be showing all six Star Wars films at once on Sky Movies. As part of the promotional campaign for this, they’ve constructed some amusing little thirty-second spots, a couple of which are styled like their own ads and use Sky voice talent and onscreen presenters. (The “VI” […]

Posted in Fantasy and science fiction, Humor, Media, Online life No Comments »

So CopperCon was a blast (as was the heat in Tempe: like a blast furnace…). Met many cool people, and had a super time. Had time to touch base with our fellow GoH, the excellent (and very busy!) Marc Scott Zicree. Ate the terrible Jack In The Box tacos for breakfast twice. (Don’t ask what […]

Posted in Conventions, Current events, Fantasy and science fiction, Home life, Uncategorized No Comments »

Okay, now I’m rolling my eyes really hard. Not yet completely freaked…until this happens twice.
Via the excellent kerithwyn:
Unfortunately, I need to report an “oops” regarding the lulu.com printing of Raetian Tales 1: A Wind from the South. I ordered it and received the shipment very quickly…only to find that while the cover was correct, the […]

Posted in Computer stuff, Fantasy and science fiction, Humor, Online life 1 Comment »