Author Archives: admin
Amores II:11
You swore to me, Graecinus, that no man could love two women at the same time. Because I believed you, I was unprepared and now (poor thing!) find myself in love with two women at the same time. Either is … Continue reading
Amores II:10
You swore to me, Graecinus, that no man could love two women at the same time. Because I believed you, I was unprepared and now (poor thing!) find myself in love with two women at the same time. Either is … Continue reading
The Gods Return
The religion of the Isles is based on the Sumerian triad of Inanna, Dumuzi, and Ereshkigal. The fact is of more significance here than it has been in the previous books of the series. The magic (which in the Isles … Continue reading
Newsletter #42
Dear People, I’ve turned in THE GODS RETURN, the final book of the Crown of the Isles trilogy and of the whole Isles series. I hadn’t fully appreciated that till a friend congratulated me on completing my largest project thus … Continue reading
Newsletter #41
Dear People, First, a note on the format. Thirteen of the thousand-plus subscribers couldn’t read #40. They tended to be computer professionals who had, I suspect, very advanced electronic security. (Nothing had changed at our end.) People who have similar … Continue reading
About Me
I was born on September 24, 1945, in Dubuque, Iowa. In 1967 I graduated from the University of Iowa with a BA in History (with honors) and Latin; married my wife Jo (one son, Jonathan, born 1973); and entered Duke … Continue reading
With Hank Reinhardt Sword
Amores II:9
Amores II:9A Alas, Cupid, whom I never could abandon! Ah, boy who fills all my leisure thoughts–why do you punish me, a soldier who never left your standards? You wound me in my own camp! Why does your torch burn … Continue reading
Drake’s Hammer
Miniature wargamer Mike Buonagurio created a blower command tank named Drake’s Hammer, using the head from one of the rare Drake figures from Ground Zero Games attached to a Slammers tank commander body.
My Motorcycles
I got my first motorcycle, a very battered Honda CL-175, in 1973 when we moved from town to a house in the country. I’d never much liked driving a car and a friend (whose youth was much more reckless and … Continue reading
Niagara Falls
My wife and I visited Niagara Falls in June. Here I boldly go where Frederick Church (and many others) went before.
Amores II:8
Cypassis, only goddesses could be worthy of your perfected skill at arranging hair in a thousand styles, and the skill which I know you possess for stolen pleasures is not at all that of a farm girl. You’re a treasure … Continue reading
Baen Dinner
On April 17, 2007 Toni Weisskopf hosted a Baenish dinner at the chef’s table (which turned out to be a work table in the prep room; we were sitting on bar stools) of the Angus Barn in Raleigh. From left … Continue reading
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, March 2007
Amores II:7
Do you think it’s my whole purpose in life to defend myself against your new accusations? Even though I succeed, it’s wearing to have to fight all the time. If I happened to look up at the crowd filling the … Continue reading
Other Times Than Peace
Contents: Lambs to the Slaughter Men Like Us The Day of Glory The Interrogation Team A Death in Peacetime Dreams in Amber Safe to Sea The Murder of Halley’s Comet The Hunting Ground The False Prophet A Grand Tour Other … Continue reading
The Mirror of Worlds
I’ve based the religion of the Isles generally on that of Sumer: the sacred triad of Inanna, Dumuzi, and Ereshkigal. The words of power, however, are the voces mysticae of the documentary magic common in the Mediterranean Basin during classical … Continue reading
Whispers Magazine
In 1971 August Derleth died. He’d been publishing The Arkham Collector, a little magazine associated with his fantasy small press Arkham House. (My only published poem appeared in it.) Stu Schiff, a long-time collector and at that point a dentist … Continue reading
Jim Baen
Jim Baen called me on the afternoon of June 11. He generally phoned on weekends, and we’d usually talk a couple more times in the course of a week; but this was the last time. In the course of the … Continue reading
Amores II:6
My girlfriend’s parrot, her winged mimic from the Dawn-lighted Indies, has died. Flock to its funeral rites, birds. Come, dutiful winged ones: beat your breasts with your pinions and tear your delicate cheeks with your unbending claws. Pluck out your … Continue reading
Self-Portrait
A bookseller asked if I’d sign bookplates for her; sure, I said. (I always say that.) But this time instead of using a commercial product, she wanted to create personalized bookplates with Photoshop. She asked if I still had the … Continue reading
ConStellation 2006
Some Golden Harbor
I’ve based the setting of Some Golden Harbor on political and military events taking place during the early 5th century BC in Southern Italy (Aricia, Cumae, and the Etruscan federation). All right, that’s a little obscure even for me, but … Continue reading
The Forlorn Hope
THE FORLORN HOPE started in 1980 with a phone call from Susan Allison, who had just taken over as SF editor of Ace Books after Jim Baen left. Ace hired her away from Pocket Books, but earlier she’d been Jim’s … Continue reading
The Complete Hammer’s Slammers – Volume 1
This volume features all of the Hammer’s Slammer short fiction, as well as all of the interstitial material from the original Slammers collection, new artwork and new interstitial material. Volume 1 also features an introduction by Gene Wolfe and an original Slammers story, … Continue reading
Amores II:5
No love is so important (get away from me, Cupid with your quiver of arrows!) that I ought to wish so often that I were dead. Woe is me! I wish I were dead when I think of how many … Continue reading
World Fantasy Con 2005
The Sharp End
THE SHARP END is a book many people tell me is one of their favorites; they’re generally surprised to learn I don’t have a high opinion of it myself. I’ve given various reasons for my ill feelings, all of them … Continue reading
Amores II:4
I don’t dare try to defend my unfortunate practices or to engage in battle falsely on behalf of my flaws. I’ll confess them if it does any good to admit mistakes: I have no control over my actions in this … Continue reading
Borderlands Books August 2005
Amores II:3
Woe is me, for you who guard my mistress are neither male nor female; you can never know the mutual joys of Venus. The fellow who first gelded a boy should suffer the same injury himself! If you’d felt the … Continue reading
The Way to Glory
The general political background of the RCN series is that of Europe in the mid-18th century, with admixtures of late-Republican Rome. (There’s a surprising degree of congruence between British and Roman society in those periods.) Major plot elements in The … Continue reading
Millennicon 2005
The Square Deal
THE SQUARE DEAL started when a friend noticed that many publishers had books based on games but that Tor did not. She sold Tom Doherty, Tor’s publisher, on the idea of books set in the Car Wars universe of Steve … Continue reading