Point of View

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Point of View: Finding a New Balance

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balancing - deposit photos

Things have shifted. My regular readers will know that my life has changed significantly in the last three months. In addition to our own business, my writing, and the Sacramento Book festival, I’ve added two new things to the mix. Moving to a new place, which was exponentially harder than I thought it would be and still isn’t really over a month and a half later, and managing the Nebula Awards/Nebula Con. Each of these things is like a full-time job, and I am struggling to adjust. * deep breath * I am adjusting. I recently likened it to a … Read more

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Point of View: If I’m Not Writing, Am I Still a Writer?

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writer staring out window - deposit photos

I’ve been given an extraordinary pair of opportunities – running the Sacramento Book Festival, and also stepping in to help run the 2026 Nebula Convention for the SFWA nebula awards. But with great power comes… great lack of writing time? I found myself extremely limited at a moment when I’m trying to move forward on the number of projects, and I’ve had to drop at least one of them, due to simple lack of time. Which brings up the question, if I’m not writing, am I still a writer? I know, I know. In the grand scheme of things, the … Read more

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Point of View (Un)Settled

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chaos - help - deposit photos

It’s done. * whew * We’re moved into our new place, and everything’s back to normal again. * laughs maniacally * I wish. We took possession of the new place back on February 25th, and then spent two grueling weeks painting, shelf lining, moving boxes and small furniture, and all the other little things you have to do when you move: address changes, purchasing shower curtains, making install appointments, walkthroughs, unpacking all those boxes, and on and on. All while trying to reply to emails and keep at least some parts of the business humming. Oh, and did I mention … Read more

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Point of View: A New Flash Story

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AI Prompt - deposit photos

Hey all… we’re going into move mode this week, so there won’t be a newsletter next Monday. For my “column” this week, I banged out a flash story that’s been bouncing around in my head this week… hope you enjoy it! Vibe Science “It’s really incredible.” Trevor stared at the wall of video call faces in his Vibe Scientist group. Fifty of the most important Vibe Science influencers. Most of them were nodding in agreement.  “I’m leveraging all the main LLM’s—Clod, Grope, Capricorn, TalkDDT—into one super powered AI client, trained on the entirety of human knowledge, with a specialization in climate science.” … Read more

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Point of View: “I’m Your Number One Fan”

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Elizabeth Nunziato and Jason Kuykendall in Misery at the B Street Theatre

It’s “fans” week here at the worldwide headquarters of J. Scott Coatsworth, Incorporated. First off, a tale from the dark side of fandom. We saw an amazing production of Misery (the play) – written by the same guy who penned the screenplay for the movie. It was produced at our local B Street Theatre, and featured two of our favorite local lead actors – Elizabeth Nunziato and Jason Kuykendall – who are married in real life. It was a surprisingly funny production, bringing out all the latent dark comedy in the piece, mostly due to Nunziato’s great talent as an … Read more

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Point of View: A House in (Good) Chaos

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man with boxes - deposit photos

Hey y’all… just a short missive from me today. Life is going to be crazy for the next few weeks/months. We’re moving at the start of March, and are madly packing boxes, buying furniture, and finding homes for some of our old stuff. If you are in the Sacramento area and want some artwork (or various pieces of furniture or appliances), let me know and I’ll tell you what we have. I’m also busy organizing the Sacramento Book Festival, coming up on April 19. We have a fantastic team – I am by no means doing this on my own … Read more

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Point of View: But Is It Art?

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painter - deposit photos

I was just thinking about the difference between a writer and an artist. A writer, of course, is a kind of artist, crafting their works with a pen instead of a brush. And I’m going to make some generalizations in this column, so please bear with me. It seems to me that art – the kind you make on paper or with a physical medium like sculpture, is more of a focused craft. It requires lots of concentrated time working on a single piece to get it right. I enjoy drawing, and I’m pretty good at it, but I don’t … Read more

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Point of View: The AI War

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AI robbot arm wrestling a human man - deposit photos

We’re in the middle of an AI war, but it’s not the one you are thinking. Yes, every company of any size is trying to shove generative “AI” down our throats, scraping our content without commission, and filling their apps with AI “functionality” that in many cases makes those apps work worse than they did before. Notice how your voice to text is suddenly less accurate, and won’t type the right word sometimes no matter how many times and how clearly and slowly you say it? Microsoft has taken this to the next level, renaming its Office suite, a brand … Read more

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Point of View: What Do We Owe Our Readers?

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thoughtful writer - deposit photos

i’ve just received a wonderful review from a friend for Down the River, the second book in the River City Chronicles. In it, the reviewer talks about how the story provided such a great escape from all the awful things going on today. It made me think once again about the responsibility that we, as authors – and especially those of us who write speculative fiction – have to our readers and to the world at large. On the one hand, as a purveyor of science fiction, part of what I try to do is to reflect on what’s happening … Read more

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Point of View: Cocooning

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cocooning - deposit photos

We started off 2026 with great hopes. Maybe this year would be different. Maybe things would finally start to change again, for the better. And then… Venezuela. And then… Renee Good. With this current administration, it’s always a new outrage, a new spectacle, always a new something horrible shoved in your face, each one more awful than the last. And so I am cocooning. I am spending the time I used to spend doomscrolling the news reading books instead. I am taking that space that he has been occupying in my brain for the last year, and allocating it instead … Read more