Jim Nelson's Blog, page 24

Interview with NextSpace: “Looking Ahead: Tips for Successful Career Transitions”

Earlier today Charity Yoro of NextSpace coworking posted an interview with me. On a pleasant afternoon a couple of weeks ago, sitting in Old Mint Plaza drinking New Orleans iced coffee (it was a rough slog), we talked about work, writing, and finding a balance between the two:

Capitalizing on the e-book revolution, Jim found that it was pretty easy to self-publish, as long as you could manage independently promoting your product. So last July, long before the announcement of the end of his co...

“Never open a book with weather”

“In the Rain”, Sascha Kohlmann (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Every profession, hobby, and field of study has its share of lore, that is, its own body of unsubstantiated knowledge distributed by word-of-mouth and emails, often winding up in textbooks and reference material. Most “common knowledge” is lore. Everybody knows that Macs can’t get viruses—but they can get malware, and they do. Everybody knows that the French eat better than Americans—but watch the Parisians line up at McDo’s for their Quarter Poun...

Twenty Writers: Yoshihiro Tatsumi in retrospect

See my Introduction for more information about the “Twenty Writers, Twenty Books” project. The current list of reviews and essays may be found at the “Twenty Writers” home page.

Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Tokyo, 2010. (Yasu. CC BY-SA 3.0 Wikimedia Commons)

Last night I learned Japanese manga artist Yoshihiro Tatsumi had passed away at the age of 79. Revered as the grandfather of gekiga (a darker form of manga, akin to graphic novels or alternative comics here in the United States), Tatsumi was known in...

Rangaku, sakoku, and the Japanese cargo cult

A quote I came across while reading William Gibson’s Distrust That Particular Flavor, a collection of his essays and assorted non-fiction:

In 1854, with Commodore Perry’s second landing, gunboat diplomacy ended two hundred years of self-imposed isolation, a deliberate stretching out of the feudal dream-time. The Japanese knew that America, not to be denied, had come knocking with the future in its hip pocket. This was the quintessential cargo-cult moment for Japan: the arrival of alien tech…

Im...

The Man in the High Castle: Amazon takes on Philip K. Dick’s first masterpiece

Philip K. Dick

Let me preface this with an admission: I am not a diehard fan of Philip K. Dick. I am not a “dickhead”, in the parlance of his devotees. It’s self-evident to me that the quality of his output is more varied than his admirers are willing to admit. Their reliance on that timeworn science fiction apologia—PKD was a man of “ideas”—is proof to me that his legacy is not as secure as the other sci-fi greats. Yet I return to PKD’s books once every couple of years like a miner hiking up...

Save the date: Write Club, 8pm February 17th @ The Make-Out Room

I’m one of the contestants lined up for the next Write Club SF! As their slogan goes, “Literature as Bloodsport. Prize Money to charity,” which means this event has a heart—ripped beating from each contender’s twitching, still-warm body.

I hope you’ll make it there and root me on. I’ve selected St. Anthony’s as my charity, so this great nonprofit will receive the proceeds if I win. At Write Club the audience selects the victor, so your attendance counts in more ways than one.

Write Club SF
8p...

Save the Date: Write Club, 8pm February 17th @ The Make-Out Room

I’m one of the contestants lined up for the next Write Club SF! As their slogan goes, “Literature as Bloodsport. Prize Money to charity,” which means this event has a heart—ripped beating from each contender’s twitching, still-warm body.

I hope you’ll make it there and root me on. I’ve selected St. Anthony’s as my charity, so this great nonprofit will receive the proceeds if I win. At Write Club the audience selects the victor, so your attendance counts in more ways than one.

Write Club SF

8pm –...

Save the Date: Write Club, 8pm February 17th @ The Elbo Room

I’m one of the contestants lined up for the next Write Club SF! As their slogan goes, “Literature as Bloodsport. Prize Money to charity,” which means this event has a heart—ripped beating from each contender’s twitching, still-warm body.

I hope you’ll make it there and root me on. I’ve selected St. Anthony’s as my charity, so this great nonprofit will receive the proceeds if I win. At Write Club the audience selects the victor, so your attendance counts in more ways than one.

Write Club SF

8pm –...

Twenty Writers: Dashiell Hammett, The Flitcraft Parable (from The Maltese Falcon)

See my Introduction for more information about the “Twenty Writers, Twenty Books” project. The current list of reviews and essays may be found at the “Twenty Writers” home page.

On sale now!

Edward Teller Dreams of Barbecuing People

Dashiell Hammett was a prodigious writer, but in the most lopsided kind of way. He wrote north of a hundred short stories in less than five years, grinding out new stories every month for an insatiable readership, the result of a workhorse work ethic the pulp magazin...

Ring in the New Year: FREE ebooks on Kobo and Apple iBooks

For the next month (or so), my short story collection A Concordance of One’s Life and novella Everywhere Man will be available to download for FREE on Kobo and Apple’s iBooks. That’s right, free, as in no money. Get ‘em now:

A Concordance of One’s Life: Kobo / iBooks

Everywhere Man: Kobo / iBooks

While you’re at it, be sure to download my latest novel Edward Teller Dreams of Barbecuing People. It’s not quite free but available for the cut-rate bargain of 99 cents on Kobo, iBooks, and Amazon.

(Why...