Chessiecon is coming up! This year, our favorite convention will be online-only. If you're not already registered, there's a token charge of $10 for the weekend of panels, discussion groups, and a virtual masquerade. More information here.

Don's preliminary schedule is:

Friday 27 November:

This week I'm focusing on Resdient Alien, the memoir-type thing I've been dabbling at; I thought I'd include a snippet here. This describes a time of enormous tension in the library system where I worked. A number of staff frustrations with the administration culmionated with a pnew oilicy that allowed the administration to transfer staffers against their will. The Board of Trustees, the group that ultimately ruled the library., got involved in investigating the situation.

This week I've been focusing on Hunt for the Dymalon Cygnet, the followup to Dance for the Ivory Madonna. I thought folks might enjoy a snippet from this work-in-progress. In this scene from an early chapter, elementary school teacher Rita Cuervo is presiding over a morning Socialization Period.

Yesterday Thomas and I, along with our friend Betsy, went to the annual Historical Society used book sale. It was held outside, in a parking lot, and was a pretty standard used book sale: rows of tables bearing cardboard boxes of old books. Everyone was masked, and there was plenty of room for social distancing.

Shortly after we arrived, I heard an exchange between a couple. One said, "Did you see anything you want?" and the other answered, "Well, they're books, so I want them all." I gave a thumbs-up and laughed.

In the U.S., early voting has started. I just want to take this opportunity to urge every eleigible voter to cast a ballot.

The first time I voted was in the 1976 Presidential election (I voted for Carter over Ford). I've voted in every election since.

Like most of us, I've been using a workspace that was primarily temporary. Many years ago, when my upstairs office was conquered by clutter, I moved operations to the main iMac in nthe downstairs hall, wich lived on a tiny, cramped comuter desk. The printer perched on a rickety tray table. When I began my book scanning project, I attached the scanner to this iMac, which is also the home media server (i.e. the palce where I rip our DVDs). Over the years clutter piled up, a set of plastic shelves appeared to hold in-progress work (mostly books to scan), and clutter accumulated.

Thomas and I spent most of yesterday with our gaming group. We're in the middle of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, and having a wonderful time. I thought I'd share some of the background of my character, a Dwarf called Thruf:

For a time in Thruf's forties, his older brother Bhaldrik moved in with him. Bhaldrik, who was a popular actor and bard, suffered a nervous breakdown and took a sabbatical from the stage. Thruf adored his brother, and the few years they spent together in Rhin Boldhivr were among the happiest of his life.

The Sept/Oct 2020 issue of Analog is out with my book review column. I had a short essay on notable water worlds in science ficiton, plus reviews of books by Ctherine Asaro, Francis Carsac, Eric Flint & Dave Freer, Zack Jordan, Kenneth Schneyer, Martin L.Shoemaker, Marc Stiegler, and Brian M. Tissot, as well as Jerry Pournelle's last novel and am amthology of stories about space pirates. You can read the column for free here.

Science fiction conventions are in transition. The pandemic has made in-person conventions impractical; many cons are moving into virtual space. The results have been varied, which isn't surprising—after all, in-person convention culture has been developing for 80 years. We can't expect virtual con culture to emerge full-blown in less than 6 months.

Sooner or later in-person cons will return. However, there's a growing consensus that virtual cons won't—and shouldn't—go away. The future of cons will be a fusion between in-person and virtual elements. The possibilities are endless.

There's a lot of concern about the upcoming national election. In particular, folks worry that the Post Office might not be able to cope with a huge influx of mail-in ballots. Recent reductions in overtime hours have only fed these concerns. What good is voting by mail, if you can't be sure your vote will be received or counted?