John C. Wright's Blog, page 213

New Mind Meld at SFSignal!

The fine fellows over at SFSignal, which I read every day, have made the classic blunder of asking my opinion on something, and, inevitably, I wrote an essay rather than a paragraph. But they asked me about my two favorite topics: Books, and Me. What are my memories surrounding the books I hold dear? What book or books hold special memories for me?

Here is the beginning of my answer:

I am not sure how to answer this question, since the actual act of reading the books I best remember is not itself

The Awful Truth About Publishing

A glimpse of the writing trade from the inside for your enjoyment and edification: http://arhyalon.livejournal.com/76311.html

Here is the second in a series depicting the odyssey of my patient, beautiful and talented wife, Mrs. John Wright, her travails in finding an editor. Her first meeting with Jim Frenkel is mentioned, as well as the mystery of the Manuscript in the Carved Wooden Box. I make a guest appearance as someone who refuses to sleep any more on the floor forever.

My comment: the mys

The Chicago Way

The White House is asking all right-thinking and loyal Americans to help compile a list of persons known or suspected to oppose the government take-over of our health care industry. Here is the exact wording:

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the

How do you pronounce your wife's name?

My wife is the beautiful and talented Mrs. Wright, who writes under her maiden name L. Jagi Lamplighter.

It is one of those rare names, like Galad Elflandsson or Morgan Llywelyn, that seem particularly designed to be the name of a fantasy writer.

But I am often asked, how is the middle name, "Jagi" pronounced? Is it "JA-gai" or "jay-GEE" "Ya-gee" or "Jay-jee" or "Yuu-dshee" or "Za-zee" or how?

As her husband, I can answer that question.

Her middle name is pronounced "!Kthoo-llrh-Uu-www" (accent on

Message to the Unknown Fan

I was at World Con this weekend, and there was a lady who come up to me with a bag of books on Sunday, asking me for a signature. She said she had been trying to catch up with me the whole con. Unfortunately, I was about to begin a panel were I was speaking, and I dared not be rude to the paying customer seated for the panel, so I begged the lady to wait until the panel was done, when I would be more than happy to sign, and she was kind enough to agree.

I really wanted to sing whatever this fan

The Odyssey of Writing PROSPERO LOST

My adorable and talented wife, She Who Must Be Obeyed, has published to her website an account of the trials and tribulations she suffered with the patience of Job in order to get her novel published. As a public service to all would-be young writers out there, she tells of what, if her experience is typical, one might expect.

Here is a link to Part One.
http://arhyalon.livejournal.com/75048.html

I am not sure in what part of her history, we come to the scene where she is sitting in the ashes, sc

World Con! WORLD CON!!

Personal Appearance! John C. Wright will be attending Anticipation, the 67th World Science Fiction Convention, in Montréal, Québec. Thursday 6 August - Sunday 9 August, 2009. See you there! (The con itself goes to Monday, but I will be departing Sunday).

My beautiful and talented wife and helpmeet, Mrs. John C. Wright (who writes under her maiden name L. Jagi Lamplighter) -- soon to ecclipse me in fame as Mary Shelly surpassed Percy B. Shelly -- will also be there, celebrating the publication of

24 hour TV supervision -- Going to Bed on Time

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/115736/Sin-bins-for-worst-families

The Children’s Secretary set out £400million plans to put 20,000 problem families under 24-hour CCTV super-vision in their own homes.

They will be monitored to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals.

Private security guards will also be sent round to carry out home checks, while parents will be given help to combat drug and alcohol addiction.

Her Majesty's Government is als

News from the Dying Earth

Sales have been going well for Songs of the Dying Earth. I cannot say I am surprised, the editors (George R R Martin of GAMES OF THRONES fame and Garder Dozois of ISAAC ASIMOV fame) managed to get the most legendary living figures in the fantasy field to contribute, including such luminaries as Tanith Lee, Neal Gaiman, Kage Baker, Glen Cook, Dan Simmons, George R.R. Martin, Tad Williams, Robert Silverberg, and yours truly.

The editors sent me an update, which I pass along to you: 

Subterranean P

Pornography, Nihilism, Flappancy and Parochialism.

An essay by David Warren entitled The Killing Fields. It discusses the work of a sociologist named Masaryk, whose work, while being properly scientifically verifiable, does not please the somewhat unscientific idolaters of Science, and lies supine in obscurity.
It was Masaryk's thesis that suicide rates, already at historical highs, and climbing, in the more industrially advanced parts of Europe by the 1880s, would continue to rise through the decades ahead, with decreasing religiosity and incr