MSNBC is shocked, shocked to discover that Pat Buchanan is a racist, rightwing, Nazi-loving asshole.

I know, who saw that coming?

In 1977 he wrote: "Those of us in childhood during the war years were introduced to Hitler only as a caricature…Though Hitler was indeed racist and anti-S… Read full post »

Even people who have a scientific turn of mind are often disappointed with the Theory of Evolution. It’s very blunt and plain. It has no frills. It has no emotional lift for the soul. Ursula Goodenough once wrote in The Sacred Depths of Nature: “The Scientific version of… Read full post »

This week Romney was trying to make an innocuous, pedestrian and clichéd point that he cared the most about the middle class. To clarify that point he said that he didn’t worry about the rich because, well, duh, and he didn’t care about the poor because they had… Read full post »

For the vast majority of human history, people have been embedded in small tribes. Only in the brief last five minutes of that history have we found ourselves in groups of millions of people. It's a problem, psychologically.

As I write this I am surrounded by about… Read full post »

Nanowrimo is a wonderful thing. It's a great personal challenge. You write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days in the month of November. If you have always wanted to write a novel and you never have, it's perfect. Challenge yourself to write 1700 words a day, every day for a month/… Read full post »

What I wanted to write about this time is the conflicting streams of authoritarianism and anti-authoritarianism that flow through the GOP today.

Recently, Chris Matthews talked about the GOP being “junk laden” by the southern segregationists, religious conservatives and the neocons/… Read full post »

I was surprised at how bored the kids were with the Wizard of Oz.  It's a children's movie. They are the correct demographic for it. Music, singing, magic, witches, animal costumes, 100 little people...what's not to like? It had been a lot of years since I had seen… Read full post »

There is an interesting post over at the NYT from a few days ago called  "Good Minus God" by Louise M. Antony.

She says:

"I gather that many people believe that atheism implies nihilism — that rejecting God means rejecting morality.  A person who denies God, they reason,… Read full post »

Andrew Sullivan has some of the smartest readers in the world. (I should know, I'm one of them!) He has a series of blog posts talking about intellectual property laws and how the world is changing in that respect. One of his readers said this:

This assumption

… Read full post »

Because of the blizzard of self-published ebooks priced at .99, someone asked me how you find treasure amid the trash.

I approach a .99 book the same as any other, look at the cover, the blurb, read the sample. The cover MUST be somewhat professional looking… Read full post »

I once wrote most of a novel based on the speculation about what would happen if someone from another century had access to modern technology? What would the Mongol Hordes have been like if they’d been equipped with Uzis instead of bows and arrows? Think what Genghis… Read full post »

And I'm probably lying.

 I don't really have the personality to write a "real" blog where you get wonderful inspiration, tips, life hacks, and 10 Ways to Save Your Relationship.

But I like to talk and be friendly. I can do those things. I have avatars and personnas around… Read full post »

Merlin's Gate is a dark world where owning books, weapons or products of modern technology will get you a one-way ticket to The Pit--and all tickets to The Pit are one way.

This is a long short story (or a very tiny novel) for your snacking pleasure.
http://smashwords.com/b/27178


Also....
Chapter 6 of H… Read full post »

Chapter 5 of Heart of the Tengeri is up on my blog. If a wizard hands you a potion and tells you to drink it...you should think it over carefully.

http://coganbooks.blogspot.com/

I entered "The Worst Dragon Hunter" in the Red Room flash fiction contest.
----

My husband is the most incompetent dragon hunter that ever lived.

When Gerald went after Dragon Falco I knew he would screw it up somehow. Falco was famous in dragon-hunting circles. A half… Read full post »

Chapter 4 of Heart of the Tengeri is up on my blog. Amanazar travels
to Mount Kitiyana where, it is rumored, Kantazar went mad toward the
end of his life.

http://coganbooks.blogspot.com/

She's so small, he thought. And only eighteen years old. How difficult to think of her as a queen! She'd hardly grown since her father died.

"I'm sorry, Majesty," said Bokadan. "But if you go looking for the Heart yourself the first Jakaeli you meet will skewer you like… Read full post »

The next morning, the darkened sky wept with fitful rain. Amanizar's duties began at sunrise with a symbolic hour of prayer and fasting after which she attended formal state breakfast. She had spent most of the meditation brooding about last night's assassination attempt. Captain Gelir had sent… Read full post »

Over the next year I will post a new chapter of The Heart of the Tengeri every Friday, so check this week's episode!

http://coganbooks.blogspot.com/

 Here is a taste:

 Queen Amanizar inherits a crumbling empire ringed with encroaching enemies led by her deposed older brother. The only wa… Read full post »

Andrew Sullivan has some of the smartest readers in the world. (I should know, I'm one of them!) He has a series of blog posts talking about intellectual property laws and how the world is changing in that respect. One of his readers said this:

This assumption needs to be examined because… Read full post »

This is like a good Hobbit speech--short and obvious--and I really like that about it.

A good query consists of these things:

[Agent name], [genre], [personalized tidbit about agent], [title], [word count], [protagonist name], [description of protagonist], [setting], [complicating incident], [verb], [v… Read full post »

Making something out of nothing is what artists and writers do. It's the very definition of "creative."

From IGoogle's thought for the day:

"The road to hell is paved with adverbs" -- Stephen King

 Money quote:

I'm trying VERY hard to clear my inbox. If I don't have to respond I won't. I'm committed to answering every query letter I get. But, it has to be a query.

http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2009/06/whats-not-query-letter.html

An excellent blog post. Money quote:

Getting published today involves more than writing your book (as you know), so blogging and Twittering agents are constantly giving tips about queries and proposals and marketing your book. But here’s the thing: All that stuff is irrelevant without a good book.

ht… Read full post »