A fairly light week this week, but then we have the online Nebulas at the end of next week. Very interested to see how this works. While the scale will be reduced and the spontaneous personal connections can’t happen, the online modality does make it possible for people to participate without having to buy airline tickets and hotel rooms. So, maybe there is a silver lining here that we can find a way to use in the future, even after we can have in-person conventions again.
Took a look at my to-read pile and it is heavy with non-fiction, particularly history and biography. So, why does a guy who writes science fiction (and has been reading science fiction since he was ten) spend so much time reading history? Part of it, I think, is that the old saying, “truth is stranger than fiction” is really true. In fiction, the writer has to convince his reader (and his editor in a traditional setting) that the story is credible, that it’s believable. History, on the other hand, is simply what happened regardless of crazy or unlikely it might seem. I like that. It is a good place to get ideas.