![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
scalziwhatever_feed
Any author can tell you that events in their own life can have an impact on their fiction. As we learn in Heather Tracy’s Big Idea for Only a Chapter, sometimes those events have a bigger impact than we might have expected.
HEATHER TRACY:
When I began writing what would become Only a Chapter back in 2015, the working title I had then was “Faceless Man.” I knew I wasn’t going to call the book that, but I couldn’t come up with anything better. I still have several drafts of the original version saved with that name on my computer.
The big idea for the original version of the book came from dreams I had in high school through college of a faceless man who would do huge romantic things like fly me on a private jet to New York City to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway with the original cast, then he proposed. The dreams were always very vivid, and I could always tell the man was wearing a tuxedo, but I could never see his face. Sometime after dating my now-husband for a while, I realized that when he and I originally met at my senior prom, he was wearing a tux. In different ways, a lot of the things in my dreams did happen, but much less sensationally. For instance, before he proposed, he took me to see a local production of A Chorus Line.
In “Faceless Man,” Clare had these dreams, they pointed her to this dream guy, and that was about it. The story was fun, but pretty flat. There wasn’t enough heart. There wasn’t enough tension. I put the book to the side for almost nine years.
Then, after completing breast cancer treatment in early 2023, big idea number two hit me (seriously, I can never have just one big idea for these things): What would happen if Clare had breast cancer, but also, what would happen if she didn’t? What if the story had two timelines with the ways her life could go if that dreaded phone call went two different ways? I had obviously been contemplating this scenario in my own life and thought it would be therapeutic to work it out through my fiction.
The final version of the book still has the faceless-person dreams, but this time, they’re different depending on the timeline. Clare’s bisexual, and in one timeline the dreams start pointing her toward a male, and in the other a female. In the timeline where she has breast cancer, the cancer diagnosis and story are my own, though fictionalized slightly to work within the confines of the narrative.
Oh, and the title? When I announced on social media that I had breast cancer back in 2022, I said on social media that “Cancer is only going to be a chapter in my life, and not the whole story.” Thus, Only a Chapter was born.
Only a Chapter: Amazon|Space Wizard
scalziwhatever_feed
Ever have that dream where your teeth fall out? Well, it’s not a dream in my case; last night, while chewing, one of my crowns tried to escape. Fortunately I realized what was happening before I bit down, and therefore saved the thing for the appointment my accommodating dentist arranged for me this morning.
The good news is the crown is now safely back in my head; the less great news is now this formerly-permanent crown is a temporary, and I have to go back in a couple of weeks to get a new permanent crown. Dentistry is confusing, y’all.
Anyway, that’s been my last 15 hours. How are you?
— JS
scalziwhatever_feed
See, isn’t that nice? Lowers your blood pressure all the way down, it does. We could all use that right about now.
— JS
scalziwhatever_feed
I got a new camera (a Nikon Coolpix P1100, review coming at some point), and one of the things it does really well is zoom in real close to far away objects. I tried it on the sunset today, and, yup, it got in real close. Enjoy.
— JS
scalziwhatever_feed
At the local nature preserve. No need to pick them! I brought them to you anyway!
And happy Easter, if it is a holiday you celebrate. And if you do celebrate it, I hope you endeavor to live your life in a manner worthy of the redemption that Christ offered you.
— JS
scalziwhatever_feed
There are not many physical things I actively covet in this world, but for a while now I’ve wanted a classic Eames chair. I couldn’t bring myself to purchase one because they are, in two words, stupidly expensive. There are less costly knock-off versions, of course, but in this particular case the knock-offs don’t do the psychic trick for me. If I was going to ever make the splurge, I wanted the “real thing.” After all, it was going to be my ass in the chair. But I — reasonably! — balked at spending more for a chair than I spent for my first car (even adjusting for inflation, I just checked).
Then three things happened: One, I came into some unexpected money that did not immediately have to go to bills. Two, a friend pointed out that Design Within Reach was having a 25% off sale, which meant the chair new did cost less than that first car. Three, the world is on fire, so, you know what? Fuck it. I checked with the family’s chief financial officer (i.e., Krissy) to make sure there were no objections, and then put in the order. The chair was originally supposed to arrive around my birthday, but they got it out a little early, and now here it is in my office.
And how is it to sit in? Very nice! I’m typing this while plopped down in it, and everything is groovy and it smells great. I suspect I will be sitting in it quite a bit. There was some discussion about whether to have it here or at the church, and I decided I would rather have it here than travel a couple of miles to visit it. The one drawback to having it here, however, is that I have pets, with claws and fur, to scratch and schmutz up the thing. So enjoy this picture of it without the blankets I will be using to cover it when I’m not in fact sitting in it.
(And what about the chair that was previously in the corner the Eames now occupies? It’s likely to go to the church, where there is more than enough space for it and where it will get to play with lots of other chairs. Until it gets moved, it’s residing in the dining room, which itself is undergoing some renovation, and where, as you can see, Smudge has already found it and is happy resuming his practice of napping on it. It’s a nice chair (as you can see by the fact it also has a blanket to keep it from being schmutzed up) and I’m sure it will live a long and happy life in its new environs.)
The only real downside to the Eames chair, for me, the World’s Laziest Person, is that it comes with an actual owner’s manual; apparently I will need to oil the wood on the chair once a year or so, which, ugh, fine, I guess. I do plan to keep the thing, you know, for the rest of my actual life, so I suppose I should take care of it.
Also, this marks the end of my “expensive furniture” habit. I’m too cheap, and we have too many pets and chaos for any more of this stuff. Everything else is bought with the idea it will be colonized by fur-bearing miscreants who will use it for parkour. This is fine. They can enjoy the rest of the furniture. This one thing is for me.
— JS
scalziwhatever_feed“Two covers in one day? Scalzi must really be at loose ends without his spouse!” Well, yes. Yes, I am. Mopey and lonely and vulnerable to maudlin songs about depressed cowboys, apparently. Anyway. Here’s the Eagles. Enjoy.
— Js
scalziwhatever_feedBecause she’s away and I miss her and I wanted to make sure she had something from me on her birthday, and she’s moving around so flowers would be difficult to send. This is of course the famous song from Elton John. Folks paying attention will note I made one lyrical change, because while Krissy’s eyes are sometimes green, they are never blue.
Also for music production nerds, I finally figured out comping, and the vocal performance here is from fifteen different takes. And still I have a couple of bum notes! That’s on me, not the DAW.
In any event, enjoy this birthday present to my wife.
— JS
scalziwhatever_feed
She’s the best person I know and I love her the most, but I think you all know that. I’m happy she’s in my life and I get to be in hers. And it’s her birthday! May she have many more, and may I be here to see them.
— JS
scalziwhatever_feed
You know who thought up a subscription-based defense model in his book Starter Villain? FUCKING ME THAT’S WHO. That smug fascist owes me a percentage. I won’t get it, of course and if I did get it I would donate that shit to all the “woke” things he hates so fast it would make his brain swim.
Incidentally, national defense as an outsourced subscription is a horrible fucking idea, even when it’s not run by a billionaire dweeb strung out on ketamine and self-loathing. But the current administration is not what you would call smart, so.
This is not a great timeline, y’all.
(click on the headline to go to the actual story)
— JS
scalziwhatever_feed
Many moons ago I wrote a primer here for how I used social media, but time has passed and how I use social media has also changed a bit. So I decided it might be useful to have a new and updated Social Media FAQ, detailing who I am, how I use social media, how I manage both my presence in those spaces, and how people get to access me there, or not. This FAQ is meant to be useful but not necessarily exhaustive, and will be updated when necessary or desirable.
Let’s begin!
First, who are you?
I’m John Scalzi. I’m best known for writing science fiction novels, although I do (and have done) other things as well. Here is a brief biography, and here is a bibliography of my work.
Why do your social media bios only read “I enjoy pie”?
I mean, I do enjoy pie.
Yes, but you have other things of interest about you.
Sure, but I’m okay with people deciding they want to follow me on social media for the quality of the material I place in those spaces, and not for other reasons — and it turns out quite a few people follow me on social media without knowing anything else about me. Then they are surprised that I have a life outside what they see there.
You have a lot of followers. How did you manage that?
One or more of the following: I am notable outside of social media, so some people follow me because of that; I’m interesting and amusing on social media, and frequently reposted because of it, so people often find me because of that; in the case of Bluesky, I was an early adopter (I joined when it had only 46k users), so I have some momentum there because of that. I didn’t and don’t go out of my way to get followers on social media; people follow me or don’t.
If I follow you on social media, will you follow me back?
Maybe but you shouldn’t expect me or anyone else to do that out of a sense of quid pro quo. Most of the people I follow on social media are people that either I know from elsewhere, or are people with whom I’ve interacted on social media and found interesting and fun. The best way to get me to follow you on social media is to be a good follow in your own right. If it bothers you that I won’t automatically follow you when you follow me, I’m okay with you not following me.
What do you post on social media?
I post random thoughts, stuff about my professional life, some social/political musings, lots of pictures of my pets, some pictures of my spouse, and now and then musical compositions I’ve created, plus other various stuff. The percentages of what I post vary depending on the site, and some sites I’ll forgo certain types of content entirely (for example, I almost never post political content on Facebook or Instagram). It’s a mix of thoughts and interests and concerns. I do it because it’s fun for me and as an introvert who lives far away from most of the people he knows, it’s a convenient way to get a manageable dose of socializing.
What are your politics?
In this era of political discourse, and in the context of the United States, I am rather to the left and have a strong dislike of the policies and politics of the US right.
I don’t like that!
That’s your prerogative but I’m not obliged to care. If you don’t want to see my political content in your social media, I suggest you only follow me on Facebook and/or Instagram. Otherwise it will show up.
How about I debate you on your politics on social media instead?
Yeah, I don’t do that now. There was a time that was fun for me, but it stopped being fun, both on a personal level and as a matter of general social media discourse, a long time ago. Also, there’s the matter that most of those who actively want to “debate” online are less interested in substantive discussion than they are trying to hijack an audience of followers and then attempt to gish gallop their way through them. So I don’t argue or “debate” on social media anymore, and if someone makes a nuisance of themselves about it in my comments, I’ll hide their comments and/or block them.
But if you don’t debate me, I win!
Okay, you win. Congratulations.
Do you block people often on social media?
These days, more than I used to. Much of social media is populated by trolls, bots and chuds, and they will come into my comments, especially but not exclusively on posts about social or political topics. What they want is attention, and I’m not inclined to give it to them or let them extract attention from others. I now subscribe to the policy of “don’t engage, just block” when these sorts show up – no argument, no snarky comment before punting them, just a quick dump of their ability to comment then or on future posts.
Bots, trolls and chuds are easy to block, but I also block others who in my opinion seem disproportionately out of sorts about something I’ve posted, whose first contact with me is rude, angry or otherwise obnoxious, those who decide that my comment threads are the perfect place for their largely unrelated soapbox or merchandise, or who I otherwise suspect would have a happier social media experience if I wasn’t in it. I block on vibes at this point, basically, and in return I actively encourage people to block me too, if they find me obnoxious or otherwise interminable on social media. I’m not offended! I’m not for everyone!
I don’t want to be blocked by you. How do I avoid that when talking to you on social media?
Mostly, just be nice. Also, remember that “the failure mode of ‘clever’ is ‘asshole,'” which is to say that you should consider whether the bit of snark you’re thinking of offering is going to land like you hope it will, especially if you are interacting with me (or anyone!) for the first time. When I see a comment I think is over the line, I will often try to see whether the person offering it has a history of obnoxiousness in their comments, or if they are just being momentarily clueless, but honestly I don’t always have the time, and sometimes I’m not in the right mood. These days in those cases I will simply err on the side of “block.” Likewise, if your first interaction with me (or anyone else) on social media is to be rude, or to criticize or be the “well, actually” person, you will come across as tiresome and pedantic more often than you might imagine. You need to ask yourself if that is what you really want to accomplish.
In general, remember that while you can comment on anyone’s post, no one is obliged to have the reaction you intended, or to give you the interaction you hoped for. Also remember, bluntly, that most social media services have millions of members, and that you probably won’t be missed if what you say to someone ends up meriting you a block. I personally stop thinking about those I block within seconds of doing so. I never think about them again!
But what if I really disagree with something you said and want to tell you?
Then you have the choice of being angry and/or obnoxious to me about it, and getting to tell me about it in my comments or via tagging exactly once, or being measured about it and possibly being able to talk about it, or other things, further. Your choice! Alternately, disagree with me however you choose to and just don’t be in my comments or tag me about it; these days I don’t generally wade into social media discussions that I haven’t been explicitly invited to.
(Note well that I do occasionally search my name to find professional mentions (reviews, etc) and will sometimes see discussions about me thereby; I’ve made it my policy these days not to engage with them, although if someone in the discussion seems especially annoyed with me I might decide to free them of any chance of seeing me again on that social media service, and block them. Some people are offended by this, but, eh.)
People are (obviously) allowed to disagree with me, or dislike me, or otherwise think negatively about me or my work. Including you! Live your truth! But if you’re going to bring that to my social media door, try not to be awful about it, or that door is going to shut in your face.
What about free speech?
You are free (within the constraints of a social media site’s user agreement and moderation policy) to say whatever you like. Neither I nor anyone else, however, is obliged to listen. People seem to be rather intentionally “confused” about this recently. I am not.
But.. but… echo chambers!
One, “echo chamber” is the card obnoxious people slap down when they want a free pass to irritate other people without consequence, predicated on the false premise that no one actually exists outside that single instance of social media, and two, if I choose to live in an echo chamber on social media, that’s my business, not yours, thanks.
I have an important subject I want to talk about and I’d like you to amplify my post. Will you?
Possibly but unless I know you directly and/or can verify what you’re asking me to amplify is not in fact a scam, probably not. I am selective on what I repost to my followers and I don’t have a lot of time to verify that what I am being asked to promote is real. Mostly these requests are ignored, or if they’re placed in my comment threads, hidden from general view.
This is not to say I don’t repost and amplify posts! But those tend to be ones that I find personally intriguing, and I tend to repost them without solicitation.
I think you should talk about [subject you think is important] on social media and/or I find your silence about [subject you think is important] on your social media telling.
That’s fine but I talk about what I choose, and don’t talk about what I choose as well. If I choose not to talk about something, it might be because I don’t know enough about it, or feel that others are better qualified to discuss it, or have decided that it’s something I prefer to deal with offline rather than online, or believe there is no useful way to talk about it online without ramping up an outrage machine, or it’s something I don’t, in fact, care much about, or any other number of reasons, singly or in combination. You are free to be disappointed! I understand. However, that does not oblige me to comment on it more than I choose to. Alternately, you may wish I would shut up on a certain particular topic. In that case you are free to mute/block/unfollow me.
I want to DM you about something. May I?
I don’t typically let people direct message or otherwise privately message me on social media services, unless we are mutually following each other, and even then it’s not generally my preferred method of communication, especially for business-related discussions. If you need to reach me, use my email.
You seem to have a lot of rules.
Yes, I do! Although they are mostly guidelines. I can’t make you follow them, all I can do is mute/block you if you run afoul of them. The thing is, I’m on social media to have fun — to see friends, to chat with people new to me, to have a good time and to occasionally speak my mind about things I think are important. Sometimes in order for social media to be enjoyable, it has to be managed, otherwise the opportunities for others to make it less fun and enjoyable increases. Everyone has their own rules and guidelines they follow on social media. These are mine! They may not be yours, and that’s fine. You do your social media in the way that works for you.
Where can you be found on social media?
Here is the current list of places I hang out online, and what I tend to post on each service. It’ll be updated as I go along.
— JS
scalziwhatever_feed
Welcome back to another tale from the Windy City! In this exciting third installment of my trip to Chicago, I’ll be telling you all about a restaurant called Siena Tavern. There were quite a few commenters last time that mentioned I should’ve asked The Langham’s concierge for dining recommendations, and I’m happy to report that I did in fact do so, and even had them make the reservation for me. They are helpful like that.
When we talked to the concierge, we mentioned we didn’t want a steakhouse, and Bryant doesn’t like seafood or sushi at all (tragic), so the concierge asked if Italian sounded good. We decided it did, and were told about Siena Tavern, an elevated Italian restaurant only a few blocks from our hotel.
When we arrived, I immediately liked the vibe of the interior. Large, semi-circle shaped booths, atmospheric lighting from the thin Edison style bulbs that were hanging from the ceiling, and a strange amount of gold framed mirrors. It was a unique style, modern yet comfortable. The first thing that caught my eye was the large, oval shaped bar. It was sleek and sophisticated looking, but I felt the beauty of the bar was detracted from by the TVs. I recognize it’s more of a personal distaste for screens in restaurants, and probably doesn’t bother other people as much, but I just think flatscreens are not the vibe if you’re not at a sports bar.
We were seated and presented with a paper menu. The restaurant is fairly dim, so each table has a mini lamp on it that makes it easier to read the menu:
I loved the idea of the “forget about it” option, where they just bring you four courses and a dessert and you get what you get, but I didn’t opt for it this time around. If I go back, I am so totally doing that next time.
Aside from the water we were brought, which was served in pretty green glasses, we ordered these two beverages off their Zero Proof menu:
I got the Lavender Bramble, with blueberry lavender, lime, lemon, and blackberries. Bryant got The Imposter, which was peach nectar, mint, and ginger beer. These were both super tasty! The lavender wasn’t too overpowering in mine, and they were both perfectly fizzy and fun, really great flavor combos. These were both $9, which I find to be a pretty good price for a mocktail. Aside from the mocktails, they have a really nice alcohol selection with some seriously interesting sounding cocktails.
We decided not to get an appetizer (very unlike me), and got two entrees, three sides, and two desserts.
The concierge had recommended two things when telling us about Siena Tavern, the first being the gnocchi, the second being the squid ink pasta. While I was very tempted to try the squid ink pasta, as I’ve never had it before and it sounded interesting, I cannot deny that gnocchi is my most favorite of all the pastas (or pasta-esque dish, since I know it’s not really a pasta). The concierge made the gnocchi sound so enticing, I simply had to get it:
Truffle cream with fried sage and pancetta. Sounded pretty dang good. Well, the concierge steered me right. This gnocchi was absolutely wonderful. Pillowy and soft gnocchi, creamy and trufflicious sauce, salty pancetta, it was a beautiful dish with all the best flavors and textures. Definitely one of the best gnocchi dishes I’ve ever had, I highly recommend these bad boys. It was $26, which I think is perfectly good for a main dish with truffle in it.
Bryant picked the braised short rib:
The short rib was served on top of a white truffle risotto, and had a red wine demi glace. The meat was fork tender, and the risotto had a nice truffle flavor without being overwhelming. I will say it was a little bit of a smaller portion of meat for sixty dollars, but it was definitely good. The short rib is one of their more expensive items, so I would say go ahead and splurge if you really love a nice short rib, but they do have more modestly priced options.
For the sides (which are listed as for serving two) we got these roasted carrots:
I am super picky about roasted carrots, and I really loved these ones. They were served on top of whipped ricotta, and topped with a spiced agave and pepitas. The agave sauce was like liquid gold, sweet and sticky goodness that highlighted the natural sweetness of the roasted carrots rather than overpower it. The whipped ricotta provided a rich, creamy contrast to the crunchy pepitas, and overall this was a balanced dish that I highly recommend.
We also got the caramelized Brussel sprouts:
Not to be confused with their shaved Brussel sprout salad, this side dish of Brussel sprouts is caramelized and served with pancetta. I think in the photo it kind of looks like a small portion of Brussel sprouts, but it was definitely enough for two, and I even took some in a to-go container. I liked the Brussel sprouts, I think the pancetta is a really classic addition that you can’t go wrong with. They were good but not like, the most amazing Brussel sprouts ever.
And our final side was the parmesan fries:
Served with ketchup and a lemon garlic aioli! While these fries were actually really good and nicely crispy, the presentation of them threw me off. So far, all of the dishware had been very nice pieces, especially the Brussel sprouts bowl, and in fact was a point of conversation between me and Bryant because we liked the dishes so much. So to be served fries in this weird tin can thing was honestly more amusing than anything else. I did really like the aioli, though.
All of the sides were fourteen dollars each.
And finally, something sweet to end the meal. Bryant opted for the tiramisu zabaione:
I felt like you couldn’t really see the dessert that well in the photo since it’s like, all inside of the glass, so I tried to get a little cross-section shot for y’all:
(It’s really not much better of a shot because it just kind of looks like a big ol’ spoonful of whipped cream.)
We had never heard of zabaione before, but apparently it’s an Italian dessert made with egg yolks and sugar, and is basically just like a light custard. So tiramisu custard, essentially. Honestly, there wasn’t much coffee flavor, and it just didn’t make much of an impression. Sadly I fear that this dish suffers from the issue of two really good things being combined to make a not-as-good thing. Like, we would’ve rather just had regular tiramisu.
For my dessert, I picked the orange olive oil cake:
This cake was seriously the bomb dot com. The cake itself was so dense and moist from the olive oil, and had a wonderful orange-y flavor that wasn’t acidic or overpowering. The vanilla gelato was so creamy and decadent, and you can literally see the vanilla beans in it. The candied orange was a really pretty garnish that added a nice contrast of texture, and overall the whole thing reminded me a lot of Crêpes Suzette. This dish was truly divine.
Both desserts were fourteen dollars, so everything together was close to $200.
As for the service aspect, it was pretty good. I wouldn’t say it was amazing, but the waiter did a perfectly fine job. I would say he just wasn’t the overly friendly type. Which is fine, not everyone has to be all the time. He was more like, a chill guy, I guess.
All in all, we really liked Siena Tavern. Good atmosphere, good prices, and good food. I would definitely go back and try the squid ink pasta, or maybe next time I’ll go for their brunch.
Have you been to Siena Tavern before? What were your thoughts? Have you had squid ink pasta? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!
-AMS