On the rare occasion of a neat and cleaned-up desk, here’s a picture. Does this ever scream “science fiction writer at work”, or what? The eagle-eyed among you will notice that all the gear is Alienware-branded, which means you can probably guess that I occasionally use it for pursuits other than the typing of sentences…
World shut-outers
I bought these Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones more than four years ago, and I’ve used them almost every day. Now the battery holds a fraction of its original charge, and the earcup cushions have started to separate. I could get new cushions, but the battery isn’t user-replaceable, so it’s probably time to retire these. When…
49
I’m turning 49 years old today, which is odd because I often feel like I can’t be that old because I’m not that long out of high school. But the calendar says it’s true, so I guess I really am a year away from the half-century mark. I ran some numbers in my head the…
The name of my next band
Here are the collected band names from a few months of private chats with friends. (I am claiming all of those, by the way.) Schnitzelburger Compensatory Treats Automatic Umlaut Inner Dilbert Bourbon & Carbs Parsimonious Electrons Contraband Soda Strategic Meatball Stockpile Ablative Skateboard Spiky Dong Hashtag Countermeasures Technically Rich Presumably Sedated Heirloom Bling Experimental Bread…
Color palette: New England X-treme
Even 2020 can’t manage to make a big dent in my enjoyment of the fall here in northern New England. This year has been an awful, cortisol-swaddled slog, but that just makes it more important that we carve our own little pleasures out of it whenever we can. For me, one of those pleasures is…
It was a dark and stormy night.
I already have all the wristwatches I’ll ever need, but this one is kind of calling to me…
It’s like getting a gold record
It took a little while, but the set is complete. That’s the commemorative shadow box I got from my publisher for selling over 100,000 copies of POINTS OF IMPACT. That means every single Frontlines novel has sold in excess of 100k. I’ll bask in the completeness of those stats as long as I can, but…
Sci-Fi Shenanigans interview
The Sci-Fi Shenanigans podcast interview I mentioned in my previous post can be found here: http://www.sfshenanigans.com/2020/08/25/sfs-episode-167-marko-kloos-dragon-award-finalist/ Check it out if you want to hear me talk for close to an hour and give no fewer than three involuntary sales pitches for various aspects of Uncle Jeff’s Book and Trinket Emporium. I was on the shortlist…
Longhand writing
In a recent podcast interview, I was asked whether I still write my first drafts longhand. The answer I gave was that the last five or six novels were all written on the computer. (I use Scrivener for putting together my drafts, in case some of you are curious, although I am dabbling with a…
AFTERSHOCKS made the Dragon Awards shortlist in the Military SF category this year. Thanks to whoever voted to get it onto the shortlist! I’ve been nominated before, but I’ve never taken one of those cool trophies home. DragonCon and the awards are virtual this year just like every other con, so I won’t be going…