Attending “Night School” At Joui Wine
Posted on June 4, 2025 Posted by Athena Scalzi 4 Comments
Last night, my most favoritest wine bar in all of Dayton was hosting a new type of event they’re trying out. I decided very last minute to go and check it out, so I snagged myself a ticket just a few hours before the event. It’s called “Night School,” and is basically a much more casual and fun version of an educational lecture, and you get to drink during it!
If you didn’t catch my post back in January where I talked about the cocktail class I attended at Joui Wine, Joui is a super cute, lovely wine bar right in the heart of downtown Dayton. It has plenty of open space, beautiful colors and art, a stunning bar, and of course, incredible service, drinks, and food that are amazing every time. It’s truly a delight to visit.
My mother and I attended their burlesque brunch event this past Sunday (which was so awesome), and I thought, there’s no way I could go to two Joui events in one week. And then I thought, well why the heck not? And I’m so glad I did!
This Night School event was the first of its kind, and they already have more lined up for future dates. Each Night School is about a different topic, with a different expert brought in to talk about their field of expertise. This one in particular was titled, “When Marijuana Wasn’t Cannabis: A Botanical and Legal History,” and the expert on the scene was Dr. Sarah Brady Siff.
Upon arriving, I was greeted and checked in, and handed a drink voucher. I had no idea when I bought the ticket for twenty dollars that it came with a drink included, so I was stoked about that. It was basically a free drink in my mind because I thought I was just paying twenty dollars for the talk itself, so it was like a sick bonus to be handed the drink ticket.
Joui put together a special line up of drinks you could redeem with your ticket:
While I was super curious about the Cannabis Spritz and thought it was cool they’d include that given the topic of the evening, I just opted for the Prosecco. It was a lovely Prosecco, very crisp and bubbly.
Joui had moved their stylish furniture around and set up an area for the speaker with a microphone and all that jazz, and then set up a few rows of black folding chairs for the audience, but you could also sit at the bar or in the back at the high-top tables. At each table next to the chairs was a printed out packet and pencils. The packet was basically like a bunch of PowerPoint slides and you could follow along with the speaker as she went over everything.
Y’all, I learned so much about cannabis. Not just about the plant itself (which we learned plenty about the actual plant, too), but also about its history, both in terms of its legality/criminality over the years, and how the press and government talked about it. Check out these headlines included in the packet:
Dr. Siff also talked a ton about how indigenous cultures viewed marijuana, how colonizers and the US government tried to eradicate the plant, how white people demonize minorities by associating marijuana with minority groups like Mexicans; it was all super interesting and also upsetting. But that’s like, all of history.
At the beginning of the lecture we were told we could get up and get a drink at the bar or use the restroom at any time, don’t be shy. Well, people were definitely shy and I of course ended up being the first person to get up and get a refill on my beverage. But at least I inspired a few other people to get up, as well, though. What can I say, I’m a trendsetter.
For my second beverage, I got a cocktail instead of wine. There was a ton of great ones to choose from:
Specifically I got the Low Rise Jeggings, with vodka. The owner said she was out of lavender syrup, so she used blueberry syrup to make it and it turned out amazing:
Isn’t it so pretty! It was fruity and refreshing without being overly sweet, the perfect summertime drink to sip on throughout the rest of the lecture.
At the end of the lecture, there were five glass jars on each table that each had a colored scrap of paper inside. We were given a worksheet with the colors listed on it, and we were supposed to smell the jars and write down if a color was cannabis or not.
There was cannabis, hops, peppermint, ginger, and a very smelly variety of geranium. I had written down that the hops were cannabis, as well, which like I should’ve known it was hops and not cannabis because I worked at a cidery for crying out loud! I know what hops smell like (obviously I don’t)! Anyways that was a fun little interactive activity.
After the lecture, Dr. Siff took questions and hung around for a little bit after to talk with people. I spoke with her and she ended up giving me several extra printed out pages of information for me to read and look at, which was really cool. She was super friendly and did an awesome job explaining everything in a really interesting and engaging way. I feel like I learned so much, honestly.
The event as a whole was great, especially considering it was only twenty bucks. I definitely want to go to their future ones that are in August in September. The August one is over DEI and why it matters so much, and the other is over quantum physics. As you can see, there’s already a huge variety happening in terms of topics which is great.
I implore you to check out Joui Wine even if it isn’t for one of these cool events, and follow them on Instagram if you’re in the Dayton area.
Is this a topic you would’ve been interested in? Would you have tried the Cannabis Spritz or is it not for you? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!
-AMS
The Big Idea: Kalla Harris
Posted on June 4, 2025 Posted by Athena Scalzi Leave a Comment
Sometimes, great ideas can stem from just a single word. Author Kalla Harris talks about her single-word-inspiration in the Big Idea for her debut YA novel, The Ground That Devours Us. Follow along as she takes you through the many changes this story underwent; you’ll be dying to read it.
KALLA HARRIS:
The Big Idea for my young adult debut, The Ground That Devours Us, came from another Big Idea. Yep, you read that correctly—two ideas were meshed together to create this diabolically plotted dystopian novel set in a post-apocalyptic Charlotte, NC.
My writing group, lovingly called HQ, can take some of the credit. In 2020, we started a creative writing prompt challenge for the month of October, and each day we’d write a short story based on a specific word. The word in question? Blood. I didn’t think much about the story when I sat down to write it, only that I was going to type out a few quick paragraphs and be done with it. Except when I started, the words began to flow. Suddenly, a scene unfurled in my mind: a sarcastic teenage girl fighting a zombie prince to the death. Spoiler: there was a lot of blood. As the words appeared on the page, so did the setting. A dying world full of slayers and zombies with supernatural abilities. What started as a short story turned into a full-fledged chapter, which quickly devolved into late-night outlining sessions in my pajamas.
Over a few months, that single chapter became an entire novel. My main character, Ruby, was a hardened zombie hunter who needed enough kills under her belt to gain access to a human compound on the other side of the decimated city she lived in. There, she and her twin sister would finally be safe from the flesh-eating creatures that go bump in the night, including that (unfortunately cute) zombie prince from the writing prompt.
After revising, I entered The Ground That Devours Us into a writing program called Pitch Wars. I didn’t get in, but two of the incredibly talented mentors I’d applied to offered to work with me on the side, although they did warn me that their feedback would suggest significant changes.
Oh boy, they weren’t kidding. I ripped the story to shreds. Cut characters, subplots, and entire settings. Amid the chaos, the idea of switching out zombies for a new paranormal creature was tossed around, and that’s when it hit me: vampires. I wanted to create a unique take on the ever-familiar “bloodsuckers” pop culture knows and loves, giving them abilities that matched the apocalyptic setting, such as earth-walking, and trading out their fangs for infection-spreading, sharp fingernails.
As the ideas churned, my new Big Idea formed: What if Ruby was a vampire hunter who lived in the human compound? What if said human compound may not be the saving grace she thinks it is? What if the zombie prince from the writing prompt was now a ruthless vampire named X who turns Ruby’s twin sister? What happens when Ruby has to team up with X to keep her sister “alive” long enough to find a cure for vampirism?
These questions quickly turned into realities on the page. They became huge plot points and fundamentally changed how Ruby interacted with her world and the characters that live in it, including her sister and X. This Big Idea ultimately landed me with my editor (and literary agent!) and placed me on the path to traditional publishing. Regardless of which Big Idea you look at, though, if you plan on picking up The Ground That Devours Us, expect lots of blood.
The Ground That Devours Us: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Bookshop
Author socials: Website|Instagram
Read an excerpt.
A Charlie Picture For Your Tuesday Evening
Posted on June 3, 2025 Posted by Athena Scalzi 8 Comments
The title really says it all, don’t you think?
May you enjoy the rest of your Tuesday!
-AMS
Well, CAN You Prove You’re a US Citizen?
Posted on June 3, 2025 Posted by John Scalzi 82 Comments
In New York magazine this week, an article about how US citizens who have been detained by ICE can have an exceptionally difficult time proving that they they are, in fact, US citizens, or will have the ability to prove it before they are sent off to El Salvador or Rwanda or anywhere else in the world this embarrassment of an administration wants to unconstitutionally send people. And, while acknowledging the fact that it’s deeply unlikely I, a middle-aged white dude who lives in rural Ohio, will find myself attracting the attention of ICE in the first place, the article does raise a larger and sadly growingly more pertinent question: How many US citizens could, in fact, prove that they are US citizens at the drop of the hat? Leave aside for the moment the absolutely correct argument that it should not be incumbent on any of us to do so, and focus on this particular question. Can you, directly and/or indirectly, show that you have citizenship here in the US?
The gold standard physical proof of this would be an official birth certificate from within the United States (or naturalization certificate), followed by a valid US passport, followed by a REAL ID driver’s license. To obtain a US passport the first time, you need that official birth certificate or a US naturalization or citizenship certificate. For the REAL ID license here in Ohio, where I live, you need proof of US citizenship (passport or birth certificate) and a social security number, proof of Ohio residency, and, if your name has changed due to marriage or other reasons, legal proof of the name change, from a marriage license or a court-ordered name change.
So: Can you quickly lay hands on an official copy of your birth certificate? Do you now have — or indeed have you ever had — a valid US passport? Do you have a REAL ID-compliant drivers license/state ID card? Do you know your Social Security number (or have access to the physical card itself)? If you’ve ever changed your name, do you have ready access to your marriage license and/or court documents approving that name change?
These are not trivial questions, since in 2024, the Brennan Center noted that over 21 million US citizens of voting age don’t have ready access to documents proving their citizenship, and that the percentage of minority US citizens without these documents is higher than the percentage of white citizens. When the rubber hits the road, nearly ten percent of US citizens can’t easily prove they are citizens. These include some of the people most vulnerable to “accidental” deportation from this country — and I put “accidental” in quotes here because it’s been made very clear that this particular administration doesn’t see deporting US citizens, particularly ones of color, as an actual problem.
Ask yourself whether you have ready access to these sorts of documents, starting with the most critical of these: a legal copy of your birth certificate. If the answer is “no,” then for your own safety (not to mention your ability to vote, which is also pretty important), it might be an excellent time to go about getting those documents and storing them somewhere safe. For the moment, the CDC has a page that can help you find official records in the various US states and territories, and there are also third party companies who can help you locate and obtain various records here in the US. Will any of this cost you money? Of course it will, this is America! But then you will have them, and that’s a good thing.
Personally, if you’re a US citizen, I strongly recommend getting a US passport, including the US passport card (I’ll explain why below). Get them for identification purposes, even if you don’t have immediate plans to travel outside of the US.
Let’s turn these questions back to me, since I am exhorting all y’all to have these documents at the ready. Do I have any/all of these documents ready to go?
In fact, yes. I have a certified copy of my birth certificate in a fireproof lock box. I have a current passport — indeed I renewed it last year, just before the change of administration, in order to avoid any delays due to intentional or inflicted incompetence on the part of the State Department — and I have had a REAL ID for several years, since I saw no benefit in not getting that as soon as possible.
I don’t typically keep my US passport with me when I travel domestically (it stays in the lockbox with the birth certificate), but I do have a US passport card in my wallet at all times, which aside from being useful for land crossings to Mexico and Canada, also “is proof of U.S. citizenship and identity” according to our own State Department (and is also the equivalent of a REAL ID for US domestic air travel purposes). Importantly, the REAL ID Ohio driver’s license which also lives in my wallet is not proof of US citizenship, “just” of legal US residency. So I keep both the passport card and my REAL ID drivers license on me when I leave the house.
Will any of this keep an ICE stooge from looking at one’s various forms of ID and deciding they are fake? Nope! That said, having both a REAL ID and a passport card makes it that much harder for such absolute bullshit to stick after the fact (also, memorize your Social Security number). Do I resent that I live in a time and place where having two forms of ID on me at all times, including one that explicitly tags me as a US citizen, is just about required? Sure do, although this is tempered by the fact that I was doing this anyway, long before it was a defensive posture against my own federal government.
Again, I am white middle-aged dude, and live in rural Ohio, so the chances of ICE getting up in my face about anything is pretty damn low. But if they did, and decided the forms of ID I had on me were fake and tossed me into ICE detention, what else do I have going for me? Well, as noted, I have those other forms of ID in the lockbox. I also have provably US citizen parents, both of whom are still living, complete with birth certificates of their own. Their parents were also provably US citizens. I suspect three full generations of provable US citizenship would be difficult for even this administration to brush aside.
(And before that? Well, everyone came over before (European) immigration quotas and controls were a thing. I have relatives here on the North American continent going back to the 1640s, which is to say, long before the racist-ass current president’s progenitors hied their sorry hides over from the mother country. Which to be clear ought not to fucking matter, as regards US citizenship. But here we are in 2025.)
The other thing I have going for me is that I am, well, me: both well-enough off financially that I could mount a reasonable legal defense, and well-known enough that if ICE actually tried to disappear me, bluntly, it would be noticed by more than my immediate family. Heck, my birthplace is in my Wikipedia article (and even if some troll changes that now, the article history will show it). This doesn’t mean my life wouldn’t be miserable before I got sprung, mind you. Just that it would be difficult for this administration to credibly argue they didn’t know what they were doing before they attempted to ship this particular US citizen into some extranational hole.
Again, at this point, I do not see ICE or anyone else trying to expel me from our national borders. I am, statistically and otherwise, as safe as anyone in the US can be from the unconstitutional fuckery being perpetrated at the moment by our federal government. Also, in the current “show me your papers, no these papers are fake” environment, “safe as anyone in the US can be” is not actually safe at all, especially with an administration that is clearly contemptuous of the US Constitution and the protections it affords not only our nation’s citizens, but everyone who is on our soil. If anyone here lacks constitutional protections, we all lack them; our “rights” exist at the whim of bad people.
For all that, if you’re a US citizen, you should have ready access to your documentation. If you don’t have your birth certificate on hand, get a certified copy of it. If you don’t have a passport, get one, including the passport card. And yes, spring for the REAL ID. We don’t exist in the just world where these don’t matter for your personal security. In the world in which we exist, they are useful to have.
— JS
Giving Into Instagram Ads: Thigh Society
Posted on June 2, 2025 Posted by Athena Scalzi 19 Comments
I recently realized that a lot of my posts lately have been starting with “I was scrolling on Instagram when I got an ad for this,” and then I’d buy the thing and tell you all about it. So I figured I’d just start calling it its own thing at this point since apparently a lot of what I’m doing is being influenced by ads and writing about whatever I just bought.
For today’s “I saw a hundred ads for this thing and finally bought it,” we have the Thigh Society shorts. I have been patiently waiting until summer to tell y’all about these shorts, and it’s finally June so I feel justified in saying that this is in fact, the must have item for summer.
So, basically, Thigh Society sells one product. As they say on their website “we only do slip shorts, and we do them the best.” Very true statement, it turns out. Now, while the only thing they sell is slip shorts, they do have several different versions of the shorts, and they come in multiple colors and sizes. Honestly I have only seen maybe two other clothing brands ever that do XS-6XL. That is some serious range, and much appreciated by someone such as myself.
When it comes to choosing which style of short to get, I knew there was only one choice for me. The one with the pocket. I also wanted ones that weren’t sheer, and The Cargo is one of their shorts that’s actually opaque instead of sheer or semi-sheer. I specifically wanted the pocket one because I don’t like to carry a purse. If you are someone who always has a bag whilst out and about, it may be less of a need for you and you could opt for their cooling ones or even cotton ones. But I gotta have my dang pocket.
If you had asked me before I bought these shorts if I ever thought I’d be obsessed with telling anyone and everyone about a pair of shorts, I’d have said no way. Despite getting tons of ads saying I needed this product, I thought, I definitely don’t need that. Little did I know I did need them all along! They have been so incredibly useful and are something I am genuinely glad I bought.
I am tired of trying all these different “chub-rub” powders and creams to prevent chafing. I will say, out of everything I tried, First Aid Beauty’s Anti-Chafe Stick is my preferred product, but still, I don’t really prefer using products like that when I can just wear a super comfortable, breathable undershort instead.
Chafing is more than just annoying, it’s like a genuinely painful thing that has prevented me from doing activities I want to be doing! Like you’re telling me walking hurts when you’re chafing? Life is so unfair sometimes. These shorts have single-handedly prevented any and all chafing for me every single time I’ve worn them.
I wore them under all my dresses on the Joco cruise this year, and I wore them in California and Texas when it was hot as hell outside. They’re honestly just perfect for traveling and walking around in, and they are so easy to pack and to launder. Plus, on the Joco cruise deck when it was super windy, I didn’t have to worry about Marilyn Monroe-ing anyone.
I’m not saying you need these shorts, but I am saying if you are someone who is prone to chafing, who likes walking around, exploring, traveling, all that good stuff, and live somewhere that summers are hot, you might want to grab a pair or two of these (plus you get free shipping when you buy two).
Even though I have several pairs of The Cargo, I’m thinking about buying some of the non-pocketed ones to wear as sleep or lounge wear because they’re seriously just that comfortable.
What products do you like to use for chafing? Have you heard of this brand before (they’ve been advertising to me for like one entire year on Insta at this point)? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!
-AMS
View From a Hotel Balcony, 5/30/25: Claremont, CA
Posted on May 30, 2025 Posted by John Scalzi 18 Comments
And what a fine view of a parking lot I have today! I’m on the balcony of my hotel room because it’s a nice morning, and it’s going to get up to the 90s today, so I should enjoy being outdoors while I can. Even if the view is of a parking lot.
I’m in Claremont because this is where my high school is, and tomorrow the class of 2025 is graduating, and I’ll be giving the commencement speech to them. I will be full of wisdom! Or, well, something, anyway. I figured I would get in early to avoid travel mishaps and see a few friends. So far this plan is working excellently.
(For those of you wondering what I will actually say to the Class of 2025, be patient: I will inevitably post it here, and I understand there may actually be video as well. Also, no public appearances this time out, sorry.)
I really like being in Claremont; it’s the town that I generally list, as convenience’s sake, as my “hometown,” because my high school is here. In reality my “hometown” is a general smear across the Eastern San Gabriel Valley, since I also spent significant time in Azusa, Covina, Glendora, San Dimas and La Verne growing up. But that’s hard to explain to people. Claremont it is. There are much worse places to be from.
Anyway, at the moment and I suspect for the rest of the weekend I’m feeling a pleasant nostalgia buzz. I’m gonna go ahead and ride this for a while.
— JS
Recognizing Where Accessibility Is Being Implemented, Featuring TabBuddies
Posted on May 29, 2025 Posted by Athena Scalzi 35 Comments
Recently, while scrolling on Tik Tok, I saw a video from Tab Buddies where they were promoting their product, aptly named the Tab Buddy. It’s a small gadget that helps you open soda cans, and they even have a bigger version that can open larger cans like canned vegetables or soup cans, even cat food cans. Here’s a video giving a rundown of their product and the different versions they sell:
@tabbuddies Replying to @aliteralcommunist Thank you for the love and for giving us a jumping off point to delve into one of our most frequently asked questions- which Tab Buddy is best for me? Let’s discuss 💕🥫✨ #tabbuddies #tabbuddyxl #accessibility #kitchengadgets #kitchenhacks #arthritis #assistivetech #disability #nailhacks
When I first saw this, I was intrigued. I’d never seen something like this before, but the product immediately made sense to me because I’m someone who has had acrylic nails before. When you have really long nails, it can be hard to do a lot of regular tasks, like opening a soda. Even if you just have a regular manicure, a lot of activities risk chipping your polish or nails. I distinctly remember that opening soda cans was not the only issue I faced with long nails, but it was certainly a frequent one.
In the comments of the video I saw talking about their product, there were tons of comments from people saying they didn’t understand why someone would pay money for something you can just do normally, and that they were a waste of money and plastic, and represent over-consumerism. Tab Buddies actually does address a lot of these comments, and one thing they said that really stuck with me was “if you don’t see a need for it, it probably isn’t for you.”
While I had immediately thought of how useful it would be for someone with long nails, I hadn’t even considered how much it could help someone with arthritis, carpal tunnel, fine motor issues, and tons of other things that make something as “simple” as opening a can of soda difficult. Heck, I’ve even been on the other side of the nail thing by having too short of nails, where everything I interact with hurts because I tore my nails off too short again (part of why I got acrylics in the first place was so I wouldn’t rip my nails off).
There’s a whole myriad of reasons, disability or not, why someone might find a Tab Buddy useful. Plus, I have had so many times where a can is simply really hard to open. Mostly tinned fish cans. Those suckers do not want to open! I wish I had had one of these back when I did a tinned fish review.
Anyways, what I’m getting at here is that just because you think it’s unnecessary or useless, doesn’t mean it actually is. And I have a personal example of this I’d like to share.
I think it was just about three years ago when I was perusing the pasta aisle in Kroger. Then I saw it. A bag of fully cooked pasta that you put in the microwave for 60 seconds. And then I thought to myself, “man, how lazy can someone get.”
I regret this thought a lot. But, as soon as I thought it, I immediately began thinking of ways in which this product would be useful. Fully cooked pasta in a bag that you can just heat up could be so useful in instances of houselessness, a power outage, an inability to access clean, running water, a lack of pots and pans, so many reasons! Not to mention if you’re struggling with depression, OCD, ADHD, or anything else that can make cooking a meal for yourself challenging. Or maybe you’re just a busy mom, or a college student, it could literally be helpful to anyone and everyone.
I remember standing in the aisle and quite literally immediately began addressing why I had the ignorant, negative reaction I did to bagged, fully cooked pasta. I think a lot of people could stand to do the same in Tab Buddies’ comments.
Accessibility is important, and products that provide accessibility are necessary, even if you don’t initially see why.
Personally, I’m glad I stumbled across Tab Buddies. I’m about to order like five of these suckers. I love their fun designs, especially the calico cat paw, this rainbow, their citrus collection, and this adorable snowman. Of course, if the designs aren’t your style, their classic, minimalist style comes in plenty of different colors and sizes. I personally really want an XL one for the dang tinned fish cans I mentioned. All of their designs come with a keyring strap or a keychain hole so you can take yours with you anywhere!
Did any of the designs catch your eye? Have you heard of these before and I’m just late to the scene? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!
-AMS
The Big Idea: Caitlin Rozakis
Posted on May 29, 2025 Posted by Athena Scalzi 13 Comments
While being the “chosen one” and attending a magic school may sound spectacular and all, what happens to the parents of said chosen child? New York Times Bestselling author Caitlin Rozakis explores this idea with a modern twist in her newest novel, The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association. Come along in her Big Idea as she shows you that maybe magic school isn’t so different from regular school after all.
CAITLIN ROZAKIS:
There’s a school for magic. It’s secret, hidden from mundane reality. If you’re one of the few lucky chosen, you’ll be whisked away to find that the world is far more wondrous—and dangerous—than you ever imagined. Jaw-dropping classics, ancient traditions, dark prophecies, paranormal teachers, bizarre sports, high stakes tests, you’ll face it all—hopefully with a ragtag band of misfits you learn to call friends.
It’s an incredibly common trope these days, and like many of us, I practically raised myself on it. I yearned to be told I was special. Who wants to learn algebra when you could learn to cast fireballs and befriend monsters? But then I grew up.
And had a kid of my own.
Suddenly, I was looking at all those magic school adventures in a whole new light. (It’s almost as traumatic as when I re-read Calvin & Hobbes and realized I identified with the mom.) Because think about it for a second—someone is proposing sending your child away to a place you’ve never heard of, with the promise that when they come home, they’ll be able to set the curtains on fire with their minds?
And don’t get me started on the school supply list. Yeah, I can probably grow some verbena in a pot on the deck over the summer, but you want me to send in a toad for a familiar? Where am I supposed to get a toad? PetCo doesn’t sell toads online, but they have axolotls, does that count? Can I catch one in a creek? Is that even legal, or are there laws about catching wild amphibians? Maybe this a “magic toads only” thing and I have to find a magic toad breeder. What if magic toad breeders are like puppy mills and that’s horribly unethical—oh crap, the next thing on the list is an athame, who thought it was a good idea to give children ritual daggers?
The thing is, modern parenting is absurd. Adding werewolves only makes it a little more ridiculous. After all, the school is already nut free; if half the kids have soy and shellfish allergies, is it really that much harder to accommodate the folks with sensitivities to silver, cold iron, and sunlight? (I say this as a parent of a kid who had dairy, egg, peanut and tree nut allergies that had to be steered around and am forever grateful to the parents who were willing to send in vegan alternatives to the class cupcakes.)
So as I started tackling the school system and parenthood and all the ridiculous demands the world put on my own family, I also started reevaluating some of my favorite tropes. I wondered what happened to the kids who failed their magician dueling class and so didn’t have a diploma for their resume. Whether someone needed to sign permission slips for field trips that could leave half the eighth grade maimed. Why there could be monsters living in the basement who eat the occasional child, and yet somehow no furious parents were showing up in the headmaster’s office. Because if there’s one constant across education today, it’s furious parents.
In The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association, Vivian is a perfectly mundane mom with no idea that magic is real until her kindergartner is bitten by a werewolf. Suddenly, she finds herself trying to navigate the politics of a hidden magical school she never knew existed. There are high stakes tests, planar incursion drills, bullying, and a dark prophecy. Actually, it’s not that much different from mundane schools (except that last bit).
But just like in mundane parenthood, the biggest hotbed of drama is…the other parents. When her peers can summon ghosts and cast fireballs and supply a unicorn for a birthday party, Vivian finds herself distinctly outmatched. Which will be more stressful—a foretold curse that sounds more like her daughter every day or the PTA WhatsApp chat?
The one thing that holds true across schools both real and magic, for both kids and adults, is that the key to keeping your sanity is finding that band of misfits you can be friends with. I know I would not have made it this far if I had not managed to make allies—with dedicated teachers, thoughtful administrators, and other parents whose kids are also facing the same challenges. The majority of us just want what’s best for our kids. But figuring out how to get there? Sometimes that’s going to take a little scrying.
The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|BAM|Bookshop|Powell’s
The Big Idea: Guy Gavriel Kay
Posted on May 28, 2025 Posted by Athena Scalzi 8 Comments
Author Guy Gavriel Kay believes that sometimes, summarizing a book can be a disservice to it. So how do you talk about your novel in a way that encapsulates everything you want it to, without giving away too much, and while keeping the reader hooked? Follow along in the Big Idea for his newest novel, Written on the Dark, to see how it’s done.
GUY GAVRIEL KAY:
So, GGK, what’s the new book about, eh?
Ah, anonymous interviewer, are you so tired of life, that you ask this of me? Understand in your bones and marrow that I am truly Canadian. I can summon Canada geese to deal with you. You really don’t want that to happen, trust me.
Say what? I don’t understand —
Of course you don’t. All right, let’s try this. Some of us (well, me?) take the considered view that War and Peace or The Lord of the Rings or Song of Solomon can be made to sound trivial, silly, shallow if boiled down to a paragraph’s worth of sound bite. Some of us (me!) also know that’s the Way of the World today for books, pitching a novel as a vibe, or as ‘The Godfather meets Ted Lasso!’, to make it easily grasped.
[Pause for someone to say ‘I’d read/watch the shit out of that!’]
[OK, fine, you can say it too, John. You know you want to.]
Truth is, I’ve always felt that nothing I’ve ever written has one single Big Idea. (Tigana is probably closest.) I’m focused on complicating things, multiple ideas, on nuance, on letting readers decide what they find in or take away from a book. (That’s gonna happen anyhow, might as well embrace it!) But as every release date nears (May 27th in US/Canada, 29th in UK, for Written on the Dark) I know I need to prep some sort of answer as the tour and online interviews begin.
Or also, you know, write a short essay, as here. (Thanks, John.) Because just about every interviewer (see top of this essay) is going to ask, given that a) it’s a fair question and b) it is an easy question to ask.
Problem is, like Canada geese, I will protect my young (the book!). That means pushing back against oversimplifying and trying not to distort the story myself with a flippant summary, or even a serious (but too fast!) one.
But here’s something I can say that’s more than a vibe and honestly reflects some things I think as to writing about history and how the past plays in terms of today — which is what I like to do, and what I did in this book.
A wise man who was not Mark Twain wrote that history may not repeat, but it rhymes. (His name was Theodore Reik and he was a psychoanalyst — make of that what you will — but it always seems to be credited to Twain.) I share that thought. I write with that idea in mind. It is one of many reasons why most of my books take place in a not-quite past, with many different settings, under two moons. What one reviewer called ‘history with a quarter-turn to the fantastic.’ If I do it right, this use of the fantastic — because we are not quite here, because there are elements of the supernatural — causes reader and author to share with each other that we are, indeed, rhyming with the past, not trying to pin the present down with it precisely.
Written on the Dark is inspired by France (and Burgundy, and England, and Italy) during the Hundred Years’ War of the 14th and well into the 15th century. It takes its cue, its opening scenes, from the assassination of a very important figure in the city of Orane, which is fairly close to being Paris. (Parts of the book are something of a love letter to Paris, actually.) Its main protagonist is modeled on the celebrated tavern poet, possible murderer and certain thief, François Villon, who is likely best known for asking in a verse, ‘Where are the snows of yesteryear?’ My version of the poet, Thierry Villar, gets entangled in the investigation of the assassination at the start of the book. Why? Well, gosh, there’s a novel that answers that. I, er, wrote it!
But here’s where the idea of, well a Big Idea meets the notion of the past rhyming with the present. I became interested in thinking about people who are just too powerful to be made to face the law. Where the risk to those who might try to pursue justice can cause them to decide that their duty to family, city, even to a turbulent, endangered country, should perhaps lead them away from that investigation. These fears, and moral quandaries, and political realities, are part of the book.
A bit of a rhyme with today, you think? With America, and several other countries right now? Well, yes. But here’s the thing: I began writing the book two years ago, after my usual period of research. Its themes started emerging for me back then, not in the current circumstances of the world. And that, I suppose, might be a big idea for me…that events in our time have antecedents in so many periods and places. That themes of power and justice (and of tavern poets and power, and of women and finding a space for themselves and their desires in the world) are always with us, in one form or another.
You can write about yesterday’s snows — or the snows of an almost-yesterday — and say things that might resonate for readers as they look up from the page at their own time. I want people reading in my books about people they come to care for, set in a world essentially 600 years ago — and also thinking about … well, about right now. Not for lessons! I’m offering a story not giving a lecture. But as John indicates on this blog, with the very concept of these guest posts: novels do have room for substantial ideas too. Page turners can have us thinking: as we read, and after we’re finished.
I suppose this feeling lies behind every book I’ve ever written. That the snows of yesteryear have never gone away. Where are they, François Villon asked in a poem. They are right here with us, I’ll answer, in stories we can tell, and read.
A friend wrote me this spring after reading an advance copy of this newest novel that ‘maybe every book you’ve done has been written on the dark, trying to find the light.’
I’ll live with that.
Written on the Dark: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|BAM|Bookshop|Powell’s
A Birthday Bonanza In Columbus
Posted on May 27, 2025 Posted by Athena Scalzi 19 Comments
Today is my best friend’s golden birthday, and as much as I wanted to celebrate it on her actual birthday, circumstances led to us celebrating it on Saturday. And we had the most funtastic day ever! Today I want to share with you all the super-awesome things we did so you can check some of these places out if you also happen to live in Columbus.
So, Saturday morning, I drove to Columbus and picked my friend up at about eleven in the morning. To get our day started right, we needed coffee. My friend is gluten-free, so the obvious choice for the job was none other than Cherbourg Bakery in Bexley. Named after the town in France, Cherbourg actually has two locations, one in Columbus and one in Cincinnati (named Cherbourg Cyprus). It’s a dedicated gluten-free and nut-free bakery, and it’s absolutely wonderful.
The little neighborhood it’s in is darling, and the inside is so cute and welcoming. They offer tons of different gluten-free baked goods, from savory items like quiche and strata to sweets like lemon bars and cookies, you’re sure to find something yummy. I’ve had the strawberry donut, lavender muffin, and both the quiche and strata. Everything was so good you wouldn’t even know it was gluten free!
I especially loved that the strawberry donut and muffin weren’t overly sweet, and the donut was clearly made with real strawberries. The strata had sun dried tomatoes and mozzarella in it which is obviously a bomb combo.
Aside from the food, they have coffee. They make their syrups in house, so while they are a bit limited on flavors (usually vanilla and one other), they taste extra good. Last time my friend and I went, we got their butterscotch lattes which are seriously so good, but this time we went for an iced vanilla latte. Also good!
Coffee in hand, our next stop was the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. While my friend has actually been here before many times and is a member, I’d never been before and I knew she wanted to show me it at some point, and also who doesn’t love visiting a conservatory on a lovely day?
The conservatory was so cool, there were so many beautiful flowers, funky cacti, incredible bonsais, it was great. There were even a couple of water features!
I especially loved these pink blossoms:
They have a cute little gift shop which I would’ve loved to look at but we were a tiny bit short on time since we had our spa appointments at 1pm.
We spent the next few hours at The Head Spa, a luxury scalp and hair wellness micro spa in Dublin, just north of Columbus. I found them on Tik Tok months ago, and have been dying to find an occasion to go. I knew right away that I wanted to try their Grand Experience, because I’m bougie like that. I went to schedule my friend and I through their online booking, but realized I couldn’t book for two people at once, so I called instead.
I ended up speaking with the owner, and she helped me to find a time and day that they could take both me and my friend for the Grand Experience. I really appreciated her willingness to work with me on this and her friendliness throughout!
My friend and I were led to our private rooms, and the experience began. The spa suites were atmospherically lit, and the heated massage table even had purple lights underneath, which was perfect for me.
To start, my esthetician (is that what they’re called if they do hair and skin stuff? Or is that term just for skincare? Oh well, you get the idea) did a scalp analysis using a microscopic lens, and I got to see my scalp super up close on a screen. It was kind of freaky to see like, my hair follicles and skin so zoomed in, but other than being a little oily my scalp looked pretty good!
Based on what she saw, she put together a line up of products to use on me throughout the session. To start, she placed a heated eye mask on me, massaged some oil into my scalp and hair, and used a high frequency comb on me. I had never heard of this technology before, but basically it looks like a glass comb that’s attached to a machine, and it delivers tiny shocks to your scalp to stimulate follicle growth. I absolutely hate getting shocked, but this literally didn’t hurt at all and was basically just like, small tingles. It was also a very brief segment of the treatment so it really wasn’t a problem to get through.
Next, she used a scalp exfoliator product and used two brushes at the same time to work it into my scalp and brush through my hair. This part felt so good, I was already so relaxed. There was something about having two brushes at once that just felt extra good. I was worried about my hair getting pulled at the ends, but the brushes went through effortlessly, it was amazing.
The showerhead they use to rinse your hair feels so good, too, and the temperature was perfect. Everyone knows the best part of getting your hair washed at a salon is when they use the shower part on you.
Honestly some parts are a little fuzzy because I was so relaxed I was kind of drifting in and out of consciousness a bit, but there was of course shampooing and conditioning going on, scalp massagers that look kind of like big salad tossing equipment but feel incredible, ice globes were implemented at one point, I don’t even know!
What I do know is that a facial is included in the Grand Experience, as well as a hand and foot massage, and that portion of the treatment was seriously bomb. The facial started with a cleanser that she used two fluffy fan brushes to apply, and it felt like a cloud was being administered to my face. Again, something about using two at the same time just gives it that je ne sais quoi.
There were some other products she gently massaged into my face and I felt like I was in heaven. And best of all, you know when you’re at a hotel or a spa and the towels have a particular smell to them where it’s like, oh yeah that’s a towel that has been used by other people and run through the laundry a gazillion times? The towels here actually smelled GOOD! I could hardly believe it. The heated towels felt and smelled great.
The neck and shoulder massage, as well as the hand and foot massage, came with a scrub, and I love a scrub. Sugar, salt, coffee, all scrubs are good scrubs. There was a massage portion, and then applying the scrub portion, and then a little bit of massage with the scrub on portion. All of it was great. The entire time that was going on, the rainfall shower was on and water was gently cascading through my hair.
Finally, after everything was rinsed, massaged, exfoliated, yada yada, the Grand Experience ends with a blowout, so my hair was dried, brushed, and left looking silky and beautiful! Usually the drying and brushing is my least favorite portion of getting my hair done at a salon, because I feel like they really rip through your hair and pull a lot, but my girl was so gentle.
I even thanked her for being so gentle and told her she didn’t hurt me once, which is really hard to do because I’m very sensitive. She told me she is actually tender headed, so she tries extra hard to be gentle, and boy does it show! I was also concerned before getting the treatment that by the end, my scalp would be so touched-out and overly sensitive from being messed with so much, but the opposite ended up being the case. I thought I’d be tired of having my hair played with and scalp massaged, but I was ready for more immediately.
Everything was so enjoyable, I seriously can’t recommend The Head Spa enough. My friend also very much enjoyed her time, and said her girl was nice and very friendly, too.
I wish I lived closer because I would visit all the time if I could. It’s honestly so worth the drive though, I might start making special trips out for it. It isn’t cheap, especially the Grand Experience, but I think it’s more than worth it with the level of luxury, uniqueness, expertise, and friendliness that comes with it.
If I didn’t paint a good enough picture, here’s a Tik Tok from them giving you a basic rundown! It doesn’t include everything I got, but it covers the gist of things:
@theheadspa614 ✨ What is a Head Spa Treatment? Let us show you! ✨ Step into a world of relaxation and scalp rejuvenation! 🌿 Here’s an exclusive look at our Signature Treatment, complete with an optional blowout add-on for that perfect finish. 💆♀️✨ 🌟 Signature Treatment – $145 🌟 Blowout Add-On – $45+ Because self-care starts at the roots! 💕 📍 Located in Dublin 📅 Book your appointment today and treat yourself to the ultimate head spa experience. 💖 📞 Call Us – 614-305-4017 #HeadSpa #Relaxation #ScalpCare #HealthyHair #HairGoals #Blowout #DublinSelfCare #headspa #japaneseheadspa #hairspa
After our relaxing spa session, we grabbed another fun beverage at Tous les Jours, a French + Asian bakery and cafe chain. I got their iced honey lavender matcha which is totes delish, and a small egg custard tart. My friend got a hazelnut macaron because they’re gluten free, as well as an iced ube latte which doesn’t actually have any coffee in it, it’s just like ube milk basically.
Second beverage of the day in hand, we headed over to Clay Street Ceramics to paint some pottery. While this place accepts walk-ins during their normal business hours, they also take after hours reservations. Since they closed at 4pm on Saturday, I knew we were just barely going to miss it. I emailed them and asked if just the two of us could come at around 4:30, and they said of course!
It was my friend’s first time painting pottery, which is so wild to me because she’s really good at painting and likes artsy stuff. She picked out a serving platter to paint, and I picked a sunflower catch-all tray. It was just us in the small but cute shop, and the employee was super helpful and offered tons of tips. It was so much fun!
Finally, it was time for dinner, which my friend’s boyfriend came along for. We went to The Pearl, specifically the Short North location and not the Dublin location, though I kind of wish I had picked the Dublin location instead since I like that area so much.
I picked The Pearl specifically because it has so many gluten-free options. Not only are a lot of the dishes just without gluten anyway, but pretty much all of the dishes with gluten can be made to be gluten-free.
Plus, I have heard for years that The Pearl is a nice restaurant worth checking out, and I was excited to finally try it. I was surprised to learn that it’s more like a gastropub than specifically a seafood restaurant, though they do have an oyster bar. It has a warm and inviting feel, while remaining upscale with its atmospheric lighting, leather, wood floors, and backlit bar shelving. Plus, the bathrooms were really nice, and even had lotion and mouthwash available to use. Now that’s classy.
We each started off with a cocktail, my friend with a Blueberry Mojito, her boyfriend with an old fashioned, and myself with “The Cure,” which contained Ketel One Peach & Orange Blossom Vodka, guava and passionfruit, mint, and Cava. It was balanced, sweet and tart from the passionfruit, overall a delicious cocktail. My friends said theirs were fantastic as well, with the old fashioned being noted as “incredibly smooth.”
For appetizers, I simply had to ask what the “Devils on Horseback” were. Turns out they were bacon wrapped dates stuffed with gruyere and served with a shallot based chimichurri on top. And man oh man, were they delicious. Our server said they were his favorite appetizer and I can see why. The sweetness of the dates, creaminess of the gruyere, saltiness from the bacon, slight acidity from the chimichurri, my goodness. Absolute 10/10.
We also got the garlic shrimp as a starter, which came with smoked tomatoes and crispy shallots, and was in a chili butter with parsley. The bread that came alongside it was marked with an “allergy” skewer, which reassured my friend that it was safe, because according to her it didn’t taste safe, that’s how good it was. If gluten-free bread doesn’t taste bad, she gets concerned. But thankfully, it was just really good gluten-free bread!
For my main, I picked the Arctic Char with roasted cauliflower, cauliflower puree, and an aged balsamic vinegar over it. I do find it a bit odd they doubled up on the cauliflower for this dish, but you won’t hear me complaining. I love cauliflower, especially cauliflower puree! I think it’s one of the best things you can do with cauliflower.
Also, the server explained what char was to me, because I didn’t even know it was a fish. He said it’s sort of similar to salmon, but with thinner filets and like a more mild flavor. Apparently it’s also a freshwater fish and they live in colder waters. Learn something new everyday.
I ended up really liking the fish, though I think I might prefer salmon. The cauliflower puree was great, as I said I quite enjoy cauliflower so overall this dish was a win for me.
My friend had some trouble deciding, but ended up choosing the sea scallops with corn puree, roasted tomato, and charred green beans. The dish came with five sea scallops, which was actually more than I was expecting. In my experience when you order a scallops entrée, it usually comes with only three. She let me try a bite, and the scallops were cooked perfectly, very tender and had a great flavor.
Her boyfriend got the hangar steak, which came with kimchi fried rice and a fried egg. It’s actually the dish pictured at the top of the “menus” page on their website if you want to see it! He offered to let me try it, but I’m always afraid that kimchi will be too spicy for me. Either way, it looked great.
To accompany our entrees, my friend and I tried one of their mocktails. We got the “Right On Thyme,” which was a non-alcoholic gin plus a lemon herb infusion. It was light, herby without being overpowering, and served in a cute glass. We love a mocktail moment.
Not only was all of the food and drinks totally amazing, but our server was fantastic, too. He was so friendly and very knowledgeable about the menu, and was constantly reassuring my friend that everything was going to come out gluten free when she placed the order, and then again when he would actually bring out the order and serve it to her.
My friend and I had such a fun day and I’m so happy I got to celebrate her golden birthday with her. I absolutely loved everything we did and I’m so happy she did, too. I feel so grateful that we got to spend the whole day together and do such awesome stuff. It really was the best.
Have you ever heard of a head spa before? Does it sound like something you would enjoy? Have you been to The Pearl? Perhaps their Tampa location (random, considering they only have the Dublin and Short North location besides that one)? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!
-AMS
The Big Idea: Jim C. Hines
Posted on May 27, 2025 Posted by Athena Scalzi 7 Comments
Sometimes you have an idea so grand, it simply cannot live in just a few pages. Hence why author Jim C. Hines decided to tell a longer tale than the one he originally created with his newest novel, Kitemaster. Come along in his Big Idea through the whirlwind it took to get here.
JIM C. HINES:
Kites are really damn cool.
That was my big, exciting revelation twenty-plus years ago that eventually led to Kitemaster.
It started while I was reading a Zelazny novel. I don’t remember the title and I couldn’t tell you the plot, but it included a reference to fighting kites. I’d never heard of fighting kites before. I remember my fascination at learning people would coat part of their kite lines in ground glass and glue and fly them forth to battle other kites, trying to cut each other’s lines.
Learning more about fighting kites led to me writing a short story called “Gift of the Kites,” about a child who fights to save his grandfather by battling Death’s kite. But that was just the start.
Historically, kites have been used for pulling carts and wagons, for fishing, even to lift soldiers into the air to better observe the enemy. We’ve used them for everything from scientific research to pulling kitesurfers across the water. The world’s longest kite was more than 6000 meters in length (a dragon kite flown at the 2015 International Kite Flying Festival above Chongqing City, China).
I developed a character, Nial, who could control kites and the wind. Then I built a world for her, one where the winds never stop, where giant ribbonlike serpents fly among the clouds and the stars themselves flow with the wind and kitemasters pilot kite-and-sail-powered ships through the sky.
I wrote another short story, this one called “Kitemaster.” But the short story was too, well, short.
Remember that kernel of “Oh, cool!” that began with fighting kites? That was the heart of my worldbuilding as I developed “Kitemaster” into a novel-length work. I wanted more wonder and amazement. I wanted cliffsides that created neverending music as the air rushed past the cave mouths. I wanted spirit kites carrying the dead to the stars. I wanted—
Well, I can’t spoil all the surprises.
The resulting book, Kitemaster, has its share of trouble and darkness. Nial is a widow trying to find a path forward. Her friends Xao and Vikaan carry trauma of their own. Like most worlds, theirs has its share of cruel and unpleasant people.
But there’s also joy and wonder. I loved writing the scene where Nial first goes up on a kiteship. The circumstances aren’t exactly ideal, but that can’t stop Nial’s excitement as they race away from the ground, as she feels the wind’s growing power flowing around and through her…
Amidst all of this is the quieter wonder of Nial reconnecting with the world and with her newfound friends. The trust and love she builds with them are as powerful as anything in this world of magic and endless wind.
That’s where Kitemaster came from: love and wonder and excitement and really cool kites.
Kitemaster: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|BAM|Bookshop
Happy Memorial Day
Posted on May 26, 2025 Posted by John Scalzi 13 Comments
I hope you’re observing it in the manner you believe is the most appropriate for you. For some it’s quiet contemplation, and for others it’s grilling hot dogs, and for some it’s both. And if you’re not in the US, it may just be Monday. Among other things I spend the day thinking about the freedoms and ideals those whom the day commemorates fought for, and how to make sure those freedoms and ideals continue to survive in the current day. Would be a shame to lose them now. Let’s all try not to do that.
— JS
About That Deal, Ten Years On
Posted on May 24, 2025 Posted by John Scalzi 42 Comments
Ten years ago today, the New York Times published the story about me getting a 10-year, 13-book contract with Tor Books, along with $3.4 million advance. And as it is, in fact, the tenth anniversary of an ostensibly ten-year contract, I thought it would be useful to check in and see where things are with me, with the contract, and with the future of my writing career. First, for context, the article I wrote when the news of the deal broke, and the article I wrote at the five-year mark. For this, the ten-year article, allow me to bring in your favorite and mine, my fictional interlocutor. Hello, sir!
I resent that you woke me up for this. On a Saturday.
Totally fair. Go ahead and ask your questions.
Ugh, fine. First: Have you, in fact, written thirteen novels in ten years?
I have not!
So much for Mister “oh, I never miss a deadline” over here.
Two things here: One, I do actually only rarely miss a deadline, and then for good reason, and also usually only by a couple of weeks at most, so there, and two, my release schedule is primarily dictated by Tor, my publisher, so if I didn’t write 13 books in ten years, it’s mostly because Tor decided that schedule was not actually what they wanted.
So how many books have you written in those ten years?
For Tor? I’ve written eight: The Collapsing Empire, Head On, The Consuming Fire, The Last Emperox, The Kaiju Preservation Society, Starter Villain, When the Moon Hits Your Eye, and The Shattering Peace, which comes out in September. Outside of that I’ve written four novellas, a bunch of short stories, some which have been made into two published collections, and two collections of essays. Plus four screenplays for Love, Death + Robots. So I would say I haven’t exactly been slacking.
I mean, I guess.
Thank you.
Why didn’t Tor want all thirteen of those books within ten years?
That timeframe was partially built on the idea that three of the novels I wrote would be young adult novels. Putting out those novels would run on a parallel track, because the YA market is not the same as the adult SF/F market, so we could release them on a schedule not too far off from by main releases and not worry about them cannibalizing sales. But then I didn’t end up writing the YA books.
Why not?
For a combination of reasons. One, in the ten years since the contract was signed the dynamic of the YA market has changed considerably, and yes, that is a euphemism, and two, the adult science fiction I was releasing was doing really well in terms of sales and market presence. So the question came down to, do we want to spend the time/effort to try to crack a wildly-changing market, or keep building sales and audience in the market we’re already strong in? Guess which we picked.
You took the coward’s way out!
Maybe. But the coward’s way out let me buy a church building, so I can’t say that I regret it.
What’s going to happen to the YA books on the contract?
As a matter of the contract, we’ll convert those books from YA to adult books, so I will still owe the three books, I’ll just write them for the adult market, and put them in the adult market release cycle. The YA books I was planning to write weren’t science fiction novels, so I’ll come up with new ideas for those novels. Which is fine. Coming up with ideas has never been a problem for me.
As for the ideas I came up with for the YA books, a number of things could happen with them. I could pitch them as film/TV ideas — and in fact one of them had already been optioned for a TV series a few years ago, I “sold it in the room” a while back, but it didn’t pan out in development — or I could retool them and write them as novellas, or I could hand them off to another writer to build out, or whatever. There are options. They just won’t be YA novels from me at this point.
Even at a “one novel a year” schedule, you’re still slightly behind, you know.
Maybe. On the other hand I can’t complain. For example, I didn’t have a novel come out in 2024 because, as it happened, the one day Tor had open on its schedule for a book from me was Election Day in the United States, and oh boy we didn’t want to put a book out that day. We bumped When the Moon Hits Your Eye to March 2025 instead. That turned out to be a pretty smart maneuver, not just in avoiding election nonsense, but because the previous book, Starter Villain, has had some really strong legs, and we were able to promote the paperback release in October, putting the book back into bestseller lists for weeks at the end of the year, and into the holiday season.
The long-term contract isn’t just about “a book a year, every year” even if, on average, that’s the goal. It’s also about having the long-term flexibility to map out the best course for all the books we have to work with. Sometimes, as in the case with Starter Villain, that means letting them have a little extra time in the spotlight. The schedule is a guideline, not a rule.
That sounds like something a slacker would say.
Well, I’ll have two books out in 2025, if that’s really important to you. And another in 2026. And so on, for a while.
So your “ten-year” contract looks like it will take fifteen years at least.
That’s about right.
And everyone’s just okay with this lackadaisical schedule.
It seems so. One, as I’ve mentioned before, it’s not like Tor or I am losing money with this release schedule; we ran the numbers a while back and this contract’s been in the black for everyone involved for years now. Or to put it another way, hey, remember last year, when I got a ten-book extension to the already existing contract?
Yes, I do, you woke me up for that one, too.
Sorry.
No you’re not.
Anyway, my point in mentioning that is that we’ve done well enough on the first contract that we’re pretty sure Tor’s already in the black for what they’ll owe me for the extension.
So they got you for cheap, is what you’re saying.
That’s not what I’m saying.
Discount Scalzi.
No.
Half-Price Hugo Winner.
No.
By Grabthar’s Hammer, what a savings.
Stop that.
I promise nothing.
Fine. They’re not getting me for cheap, I assure you. I will be buying whatever questionable guitar I like for some time to come. What they are getting, and by design, is a pretty safe bet. I sell decently out of the gate and extremely well in the backlist and it’s all set up so none of us is reliant on a single book being “make or break” for the whole enterprise. There’s flexibility and margin, and in publishing, that’s a rare thing indeed. It’s a contract designed to weather storms, and these days, that’s an extremely good thing.
You’re talking about the whole “The US is currently run by a dickhead working very hard to destroy its economy and global standing” thing, aren’t you.
Not just about that, but certainly about that too, yes. I sell a lot of work to foreign markets and the current administration making the country look bad isn’t a great thing for any US-based author. It means I have to think about what and how I write — for example, whether I write books that take place in the US, as Starter Villain and (largely) When the Moon Hits Your Eye do. It may be that for the next four years at least, I spend more time in space, and in futures where the current administrative fuckery will be less of a drag on my potential sales. We will see what happens! The nice thing, however, is that we — me and Tor — can plan and prepare as well as anyone can for what the (immediate) future brings.
Hey, a decade ago, weren’t there a bunch of dudes who were furious about your deal, or arguing you could have done better for yourself, or that you should have self-published, or whatever?
There were!
Man, what even happened to them?
I suspect at least some of them are asking themselves the same question. In a general sense, it’s possible that they should have spent more time focusing on their own careers and work, and less time focusing on the careers and work of other people.
If you could go back in time to 2015, would you sign the same contract again?
Pretty much? I understand this sort of contract is not for everyone; not everyone wants to know what they’re doing professionally, and who with, for a decade or more, or wants the pressure of being on the hook for multiple unwritten books. But as for me, back then, I was pretty sure in a decade I would still want to be writing novels, and I would want to be doing it with people and a publisher who were all in for my work. Turns out, I nailed that prediction pretty well. And from a financial and career point of view I can’t say that it hasn’t benefitted me tremendously.
Now, to be clear, other writers have sold more than me, or gotten bigger advances than I have, or have won more awards than me, in the ten years since that contract made the news. But I’ve sold enough, been paid enough, and have been awarded enough to make me happy and then some. I’m happy with the work I’ve done in this last decade. I’m happy with how it’s been received. I’m happy with where I am with my career and life. Much of that is because of this contract. So, yeah, I would do it again. I kind of did, last year, when I signed that ten-book extension.
With that extension you’ll be writing until 2040 or so.
Barring death or significant brain injury, yes, probably.
What will you do then?
I’ll be 70 then. I have no idea what 70-year-old me will want, except possibly a nap. Ask me then.
Do I have to?
I mean, you’re my fictional interlocutor, you literally have no other function, so, yeah, probably.
Ugh, fine.
That’s the spirit.
— JS
New Books and ARCs, 5/23/25
Posted on May 23, 2025 Posted by John Scalzi 10 Comments
Just in time for Memorial Day, a hefty stack of New Books and ARCs that have come to the Scalzi Compound! What here would you like to have for your long weekend reading? Share in the comments!
— JS
My Experience With Meal Prepping For A Friend
Posted on May 23, 2025 Posted by Athena Scalzi 28 Comments
At my age, I have started to have more and more friends decide to start families. Settle down, get married, have kids, the works. So many of my peers and even close friends are choosing this path, and it’s been hard for me to think of ways to support them through this journey of theirs. Sometimes I feel disconnected to my friends because of it, since I just can’t relate at all to what they’re going through, but at the end of the day I still want to be there for them and be a good friend. But I couldn’t figure out how.
About a month ago, I was scrolling on Tik Tok, and this video from Mad About Food popped up (click on it if it doesn’t show up for you or if the window here is wonky):
@mad_about_food ✨ meal prep for a new mom ✨ I dropped this food off to a friend who recently had her first baby because there is nothing better when you’re a new parent than someone else cooking for you. Full recipes at the link in my bio! 🍳 meal prep breakfast sandwiches 🍝 stuffed shells with meat 🍪 oatmeal chocolate chip cookies 🥗 apple cider vinaigrette
Meal prep for a new mom. It was genius! How had I not thought of that? Food is basically my love language. I should’ve realized sooner that making food for my friends was the answer I had been searching for. It’s helpful, practical, and something I can do to help that doesn’t involve dirty diapers!
The menu seemed simple enough: breakfast sandwiches, stuffed shells, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. All of that seemed pretty cheap, easy to make, and convenient to have on hand to bake whenever they were ready. So let’s talk about if it actually was, in fact, cheap and easy.
Step one was gathering ingredients for everything. I had to assess how much I had on hand already, and what I needed to go buy. The recipes themselves are pretty simplistic. There’s nothing you wouldn’t be able to find at the store, and no special expensive ingredients or anything like that.
For the breakfast sandwiches, I needed to go buy all the ingredients. The breakfast sandwiches required a dozen eggs, but the cookies also required eggs, so I bought an 18-count of eggs. She uses bacon in the video, but I opted for Canadian bacon so I didn’t have to actually cook any bacon.
First, you blend up a dozen eggs with a container of cottage cheese and bake it. I thought that was a strange mixture of ingredients, but it baked up so nicely and came out perfect! Once the eggs cooled and I cut the sheet of baked eggs into twelve squares, assembling the breakfast sandwiches was so easy. Just split the English muffin, put a square of egg on it, top it with Canadian bacon and a slice of cheddar cheese (I used Sargento), and that’s really it.
Like she does in the video, I individually wrapped each one in foil and put each one in its own freezer sandwich size Ziploc bag.
Let’s talk dishes. I used a mixing bowl and an immersion blender, a 13×9 baking dish, a knife, and a baking sheet. Not bad!
For the stuffed shells, I did in fact need to go buy every single ingredient. The recipe contains a lot of common pantry items though that you might have regularly, like the pasta and the marinara, and I’m sure some of you have a log of ground beef as a regular grocery you buy. I will say normally I have Italian seasoning but I had just ran out last week so I needed a new bottle.
Anyways, the stuffed shells were not too complicated. You cook the meat, and you mix the meat with the ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella. I did this in a stand mixer, but you can totally do it by hand if you want. You cook the shells, you wait for them to cool, and then ya stuff ’em. Top the shells with sauce and more mozzarella and bada bing bada boom, stuffed shells. Easy peasy! Do not bake it after you assemble it, whoever you’re gifting it to will just throw it in the oven when they’re ready to have it!
The dishes count on the stuffed shells was considerably higher than the breakfast sandwiches. I used a pan and spatula to cook the meat, the stand mixer bowl and attachment, a pot to boil the pasta, a strainer, several measuring cups and measuring spoons, and a spoon to scoop the filling with.
Finally, for the cookies, I can’t believe I’m saying this but I had every ingredient on hand! Please, hold your applause until the end. Though, my brown sugar was sadly rock hard, so I bought a new bag of light brown sugar. Other than that, I didn’t have to buy anything for the cookies.
The cookies were second nature to me, as cookies are my favorite thing to make and I do it semi-regularly. Plus, when making cookies, the stand mixer is your best friend. So, it was no trouble mixing the butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and dry ingredients, and folding in the chocolate chips. It was quick and easy and honestly the biggest issue I faced was spilling some oats all over the counter.
In the instructions she says to chill the dough before rolling it into balls, and usually I’m tempted to skip this step because I’m impatient, but I actually listened. And thank goodness I did because even after that hour chilling, when I was rolling the dough into balls it was definitely like, very heat sensitive. I don’t know if my hands were just hot as heck for some reason or what but I almost had to put it all back in the fridge because the balls were just becoming hot messes.
But, I managed to make all the balls and instead of baking them, you just freeze the balled dough. Then the person you’re gifting them to can bake as many as they want at a time. They could just take two balls out and bake up one or two cookies, or they could put the whole tray in at once. Very convenient.
Dishes for cookies were the usual suspects, the stand mixer bowl and attachment, various measuring cups and measuring spoons, a rubber spatula, nothing too wild.
I bought everything at Kroger, and after buying the ingredients as well as disposable trays like in the video, plus some Ziploc bags and aluminum foil to cover stuff with, my total was a little less than a hundred dollars. And the time I spent actually preparing the food was probably about five hours, six if you count the time it took to do dishes and clean up. Admittedly I am sort of slow when it comes to cooking, though. Things that take “only thirty minutes” will take me double that time, if not more.
So, it took like a full afternoon and a decent chunk of change for ingredients, but honestly I think it’s worth it and I’m just happy I found something that I can contribute to a friend who is going through something as monumental as becoming a parent. My friend was so happy to receive the food, and that made me happy in return! It was a great feeling, and I can’t wait to do it all again for my other pregnant friends. I have a lot of those right now, it seems.
Do you make freezer meals often (this was my first time)? Do you like Canadian bacon? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!
-AMS
The Big Idea: Christy Climenhage
Posted on May 22, 2025 Posted by Athena Scalzi 2 Comments
The world can be a dark and scary place. It would be foolish not to acknowledge this, but to author Christy Climenhage, it’s also important to acknowledge the ways in which we all keep on keepin’ on in the trying times. Follow along in the Big Idea for her debut novel, The Midnight Project, and see how the world is ending, and yet still going.
CHRISTY CLIMENHAGE:
There are lots of themes underlying my debut sci-fi thriller, The Midnight Project: genetic engineering gone wrong, man-made ecological collapse, what it means to be human, what exactly is wrong with late-stage capitalism and the commodification of science. But for me, the Big Idea behind my book lies in the resilience of the two main characters who just keep going as everything collapses around them. The book asks: how do we live a good and meaningful life in a crumbling world? How do we muddle through the pre-apocalypse?
I’m slightly appalled by how familiar this fictional dystopian world feels – powerful billionaires, dying pollinators, corporate greed, off-the-charts scientific possibilities but everything is spiraling into disaster. These days (today, I mean), I can read about ultra-rich men with a messianic complex who want to save humanity while carelessly destroying the environment, or mining companies that want to strip the ocean floor before even bothering to map its ecosystems. Philip K. Dick and Octavia Butler would weep. J.R.R. Tolkien would be mightily pissed off at the companies stealing words from his realms to name their businesses.
I suppose the world of The Midnight Project is rooted in reality as well as fiction. I wrote it and re-wrote it during the darkest part of the covid-19 pandemic when we were all just getting up and getting on with it. The bad news “out-there,” until it encroached on “in-here.” The work piling up even while the stores closed, the hospitals filled and everyone stayed home. The kids still in school, online, then in-person, with the rules changing every five minutes to try to keep them safe. No enrichment, no entertainment, just everyone hiding under their rock, trying to get by, putting food on the table, getting the laundry done. I suppose it’s typical of late-stage capitalism that even as the world was crashing down, everyone still needed their paycheque to cover groceries.
Of course, when I talk about today’s world in pre-apocalyptic terms, I’m not being prescient. I’m recognizing the fear and anxiety that underlays much of what is happening in the world right now. And the feeling of powerlessness that might make a person desperate enough to attempt to create an oceanic hybrid human just to feel they could make a difference. In Frankenstein, the monster’s creator is motivated by a dark ambition to create life and then is horrified at the result. In The Midnight Project, Raina is motivated by money and ambition but also wants to salvage something good out of the circumstances she finds herself in. In her heart, she is motivated by a desire for redemption.
In the midst of cataclysmic problems around the world that just keep piling up, our two genetic engineer heroes see an opportunity to do some good in the world, or at least try to prevent someone else from doing worse. It’s not much, but it’s within their control, and their abilities.
Going back to the today’s reality for a second, I think it’s normal to wonder how to live a meaningful life in our current circumstances too—how to lead a life filled with hope, ambition and purpose. And I can’t deny how much I relate to the two main characters of The Midnight Project, Raina and Cedric, just getting up and going to work every day, in spite of everything barreling toward them. So, according to the story, and my own experience, how does one muddle through the pre-apocalypse? Let’s take a lesson from our plucky heroes.
First, Raina and Cedric hold onto their comforting routines. They drink coffee together every morning out of the same mugs, watch the Holo-News and compartmentalize their lives. Then they turn to the hard work of inventing deep-sea human hybrids. The big bad world out there, the safe world inside their laboratory. They keep tabs, they know what’s happening in the outside world, but they hold it at bay and get on with the things they need to do to get by. They ignore some things. As Raina says, “They were trying times and I only wanted to try in certain ways.” They get up, they go to work, they keep solving their problems. One step at a time. One foot in front of the other. With perseverance. With persistence. With, occasionally, steely-eyed determination.
Second, at the heart of everything, Cedric and Raina hold fast to meaningful relationships, even if they’re isolated and cut off. Even if those relationships are themselves imperfect. They cling to comfort and each other and keep drinking their coffee to the bitter end (bitter, get it? Because it’s coffee).
And finally, through it all, they try to do just a little good in the world, even when it feels like the world is too big and too far gone to make much of a difference. As Cedric says, “We cannot fix the world. But in this tiny corner of it, perhaps we can control our own destiny, at least for a while.” This little bit of agency and momentum is the way they light a candle against the darkness. This is the way they cleave to hope in the pre-apocalypse.
And maybe there’s something in that for our trying times too.
I Have Plumbers in the House Today and Also Am Backing Up All My Computers, Here Are Some Pictures of Flowers
Posted on May 22, 2025 Posted by John Scalzi 8 Comments
Not a plumbing emergency, thankfully, but we need to replace some things, and as it happens the (multiple) plumbers needed to replace these items all had today available, so: Plumbingpalooza! The backing up of computers is coincidentally timed, but, you know, today is as good a day as any. While I’m dealing with that, here are some photos of flowers from the house and Camp Krissy. Enjoy!
Atlantic Camas.
A yellow rose!
Midnight irises.
English lavender.
— JS
The Big Idea: Adam Oyebanji
Posted on May 21, 2025 Posted by Athena Scalzi 11 Comments
Inspiration can come from anywhere, even from a nautical legal case from the 1700s. Author Adam Oyebanji lets us glimpse into some marines’ tragic pasts in the Big Idea for his newest novel, Esperance. Dive in and see where the waves take you.
ADAM OYEBANJI:
If I were ever reckless enough to confess my faults, I’d admit to being nosy, easily distracted and addicted to tea. To my mind, at least, these are forgivable foibles. People in glass houses and all that. However, I’m also a lawyer and pretty freaking unrepentant about it. A wig and gown in England, charcoal suits in Illinois, juries in both places. Feel free to judge, but if you do, remember that judges are lawyers too. I’m just saying.
Before I was a lawyer, though, I was a law student. In England. Which is important, because law in England is an undergraduate program in a country where the legal drinking age is eighteen. Torts in the afternoon, tequilas in the evening, and who has time for mornings? The high-pressure seriousness of a US law school is mostly missing. I say “mostly” because some people are incapable of a good time at any age. So, let’s acknowledge them in passing and move on. Law school English style is one part learning, one part good times with a dash of heartache. Oh, and get this. In my day it was ABSOLUTELY FREE. We got paid to go there. Hand to God.
Admittedly, this was a long time ago. So long ago, in fact, that we cracked open actual books instead of laptops. Books that, in addition to the assigned reading, contained hundreds of cases that were of absolutely no interest to my professors.
But if one happened to be a hungover law student who was both nosy and easily distracted, the assigned reading could rapidly lose its allure. Who cares about the rule against perpetuities anyway?
Now that I come to think about it, and having practiced law for more years than I’m going to admit to, I still don’t care about the rule against perpetuities. But I digress.
The point about a nosy, easily distracted law student poking about in a book is that it’s a book. Books, unlike a computerized law report, are completely non-linear. You can riffle the pages and land on something completely different almost without conscious effort. Forward, backward, upside-down if you like, it’s all too easy to get lost in other people’s long-ago legal troubles, because those, let me tell you, are way more interesting than whether X has created a future interest in property that vests more than twenty-one years after the lifetimes of persons living at the time of the creation of the interest. (You cannot make this stuff up).
Rather than deal with the assigned boredom, I spent a chunk of this particular afternoon in the Eighteenth century: duels, infidelity, murder and, of course, marine insurance.
Now, when it comes to boredom, the law of marine insurance is hard to beat. Except for this. If a marine insurance case makes it into a law report, the underlying disaster, the thing that triggers the insurance claim, can be kind of interesting. In this particular case, from 1783, the claim arose out of a voyage of such incompetence and cruelty that just reading about it took my breath away. People died. A lot of people. And all anyone seemed to care about afterward was the value of the claim. I had nightmares about it. Even now, I sometimes have dreams so vivid I can hear the waves slapping against that ancient, wooden hull, the screaming of lost souls as things go horribly, irretrievably sideways.
And that might have been it, had it not been for my addiction to the stuff that made Boston Harbor famous. I’m standing on my front porch, well into my sixth cup of tea when it hits me: the big idea. Why not use the facts of this nightmarish shipping claim as the inciting incident of a novel? And not a historical novel, but a sci-fi one, where the consequences carry forward to the present? A story about a Chicago cop who’s in way over his head, chasing a seemingly invincible criminal dead-set on writing an old wrong. A story about a woman out of her own time and place prepared to do drastic things in expiation of sins that are not her own. A story where human justice clashes with inhuman crimes in a deadly conflict of values. Why not, once I’ve finished my beverage, go back inside and write that story?
So I did. I called it Esperance.
Esperance: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Books-A-Million|Bookshop
Author socials: Website
Close To Home: Gem City Catfé
Posted on May 20, 2025 Posted by Athena Scalzi 14 Comments
Do you like cats and coffee? Of course you do! And so do I, which is why I’m here today to tell you all about Dayton’s finest cat cafe, Gem City Catfé. If you’ve been reading the blog for a long time, you may remember I mentioned this catfé back in 2020, where I showed off a pretty enamel pin I got from the catfé the first time I went back in 2019.
It had been so long since I’d visited again that it totally fell off my radar for a while there, but I remembered it existed thanks to my friend Lauren, when she said we should go together. So we did! And it was so awesome that I went back the next day with Bryant, and honestly I’m ready to get back in there again already! Between the delicious drinks, friendly service, comfy decor, and, well, the cats, there’s no way you won’t fall in love with this place.
Gem City Catfé opened back in 2018, and is partnered with Gem City Kitties, a non-profit rescue, to provide plenty of kitties for you to come and pet and play with while enjoying a beverage. Whether you’re in the mood for matcha, a specialty latte, bubble tea, or even a cocktail or wine, they’ve got you covered. Personally, I really love their maple turmeric latte, and recently tried their Bee’s Knees matcha, which is a lavender honey matcha that was absolutely divine. I got it both days I went last week, iced of course. And have you ever seen such crazy combos for boba before?
I am definitely going to have to try one of these at some point because they sound wild.
If this all sounds great to you, but you’re allergic to cats, there’s no need to worry. The catfé actually keeps the café and the cats separate. The café itself and the sealed off cat lounge have different air filtration systems. And, you can still watch the cats play and sleep and be cute through the glass if you decide to stay on the café side.
If you want to visit, they do accept walk-ins when they can, but there is a capacity on how many people can be in the cat lounge at one time, so I highly recommend booking a time slot online ahead of time. The cat lounge fee is $10, but you can actually get a membership that’s $25 dollars a year, and then after that initial $25 it’s only $5 for entry for yourself and anyone visiting with you, too.
Alright, I’m done yapping, and now you get your reward… cat pictures!
What a distinguished gentleman!
Look at those beans!
A pink nose and pink beans, a double feature.
The windows are popular spots, apparently.
And here we have my absolute favorite cat from the catfé, Nola. She was the sweetest, friendliest, chillest cat. She was so cute and just wanted to be pet. I love her so much, and unless her adoption fell through last minute, she should be in her new home as of yesterday. Whoever got her is truly lucky.
I am so serious about coming here more often now, so y’all can be expecting some cat photos on my Bluesky or Insta. Speaking of Insta, be sure to follow Gem City Catfé!
Have you ever been to a catfé before? Are you allergic to cats? Which is your favorite from the photos? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!
-AMS
My Own Books Come To Me
Posted on May 19, 2025 Posted by John Scalzi 5 Comments
In this case, in order, the ARC for Constituent Service, the UK ARC for The Shattering Peace, and the Italian edition of the 20th anniversary reissue of Old Man’s War, all of which arrived within a couple of days of each other. It’s kind of neat to see my publishing history represented thus.
— JS
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying