Book scraper yak shave
Hi friends, I wrote about how trying to get all of my book reviews and notes out of Goodreads turned into a weird programming side quest. "Yak shaving" is...
The pleasure of the in-between days
Hi friends, I wrote a blog post about my favorite holiday of the year, the in-between days from Christmas to New Year, the intercalary interstitial...
Good morning, Boston
Hi friends, I wrote a new blog post that you might enjoy. Good morning, Boston, and New England, generally This is going to be one of those stream of...
Text-to-speech is not just screen readers
Hi friends, I wrote a blog post about how I read books using text-to-speech. Text-to-speech is not just screen readers: How and why I use synthetic voices to...
Worship the sun
Hi friends, The days are short and the nights are long*. Even in California, December makes the earth's axial tilt felt, and I long for the brief hours of...
The science fiction to German philosophy pipeline
Hi friends, I wrote about some books I've been reading, and the books they led me to read as a result. Some excerpts from The Unique and Its Property by Max...
Pie season
Hi friends, I wrote a new blog post that you might enjoy. It's all about the pies I have been making for the last month or so: cottage pie, steak and onion...
See the sky?
Hi friends, I wrote a new blog post about the James Turrel skyspace in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Seeing the obvious in the Turrell skyspace: The...
Books I'm not reading
Hi friends, I heard that some of you like lists of books, so I made a list of books. Not to give away too many spoilers for my blog post, but one of the...
Our precious bodily fluids
Hi friends, This week's post has been a long time coming. I mean, I've been thinking about it for a couple of years, and then held off posting until the...
Sword and sorcery and the mid-career hero
Hi friends, The last weekend before NaNoWriMo feels like a good time to share my theory about sword and sorcery and what makes those stories tick. I present...
The worst syllabus ever
Hi friends, I wrote a new blog post that you might enjoy. Another one about current events! This one is about the weird syllabus tacked on to the latest...
Is Batman a furry?
Hi friends, There's a new thing on my blog that you might enjoy. I posted this persuasive essay on Tumblr last year, but hardly anyone saw it and 'tis the...
Shaky Saturn, you're my guy
Hi friends, I wrote a new blog post that you might enjoy. Because you're cool and signed up for my newsletter, you get to learn about it first. Shaky Saturn,...
I did not choose the succulent life
Hi friends, I wrote a new blog post that you might enjoy. It's about how I got tricked into filling my house with succulents by Big Succulent. There are a...
A poem for the fall equinox
Hi friends, You may ask, how can this be, two posts in one week? Well, it's a special occasion, the Autumnal Equinox, and I thoutght it would be nice to...
Thinking about thinking about the Roman Empire
Hi friends, I wrote a new blog post about, yes, for a change, a real trending topic. Everybody is thinking about the Roman Empire this week because of a...
The Gate of Pinecones
Hi friends, I wrote a new blog post that you might enjoy. It’s a poem about choosing to do something dangerous on purpose. I also talk a little bit about the...
Hair metal fantasy Cymbeline in McLaren Park
Hi friends, I wrote a new blog post that you might enjoy. Normally I post on Fridays or very late on Thursday, but I'm sending this one sooner because it's...
The inner life manifest as supernatural in The Shining
Hi there, I wrote a thing. Like, just a few minutes ago. I thought I'd tell you about it here first. The inner life manifest as supernatural in The Shining:...
Haunted manuals, or hauntology and bitrot
Hi friends, I always forget something. Like I forgot to send a newsletter when there was a new blog post for (checks watch) almost two months. Oops. Sorry...
Can we imagine magic without words? plus a book review of the Chronicles of Tornor
Hi friends, Happy Pride Month! I have two new blog posts to share with you. One is about magic and one is about gay magic. Can we imagine magic that isn’t...
These streets aren’t made for walking, but that's just what we'll do
Content warning: The linked post has a description of a person driving a car hitting a person walking. Hi friends, I went to Los Angeles for the Memorial Day...
A walk through the presidio and science-fiction murder mysteries
Hi friends, I wrote a new blog post that you might enjoy. I also realized that the newsletter I sent last week didn't have a working link. Oops! Sorry about...
Science-fiction murder mysteries by Jack Vance and Arkady Martine
Hi friends, I wrote a new blog post that you might enjoy. If you joined this newsletter back when it was called Angry About Literature, well, here's one...
One bug may hide another: Debugging my garden, metaphorically and literally
Hi friends, This week's blog post is about gardening, in the sense that I am digging up patches of dirt and putting plants in them. Except, instead of tasty...
Fragments from the first year of the plague
Hi friends, The latest blog post is a collection of fragments of poetry and drawings. Even if you're not 100% into poetry, you might want to check it out for...
What's your tactical ballgown?
Hi friends, I wrote a new blog post that you might enjoy. I just finished reading Promises Stronger Than Darkness by Charlie Jane Anders. It's the last novel...
A sort of review of The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz
Hi friends! Well, it seems I'm sending this newsletter every Saturday after the Friday when I publish a blog post. I hope you don't mind the delay terribly....
Logocentrism again? Yes, it's another post about Derrida
Hi friends, I posted a new piece on my blog. This week, I take you along with me on my Columbo-like journey of bumbling confusion to figure out what the heck...
What is the place of the potato in the great chain of being?
Hello friends, In the last two weeks, you replied to let me know that you'd like to get an email when I post something new to my blog. Well, I have posted...
Not Strictly Speaking Literature
Oh hello. It's been a while, hasn't it. Well you wouldn't believe the stuff in my drafts folder. There is definitely still some literature I have to write...