I’m growing very tired of people telling me, “Well, my system says that…”   I’ve called up the bank, to argue about an error they made, and the answer was that “Well, I’ll look into it, but my system says that there’s nothing we can do.”  (Never mind it was their fault.)  I’ve been awaiting an MRI for three months, and when I call to query, I’m told that “Well, you’re in the system…”  (Which somehow implies that all is well.)  I called Verizon, to inquire about a DSL line for …

In a little over a week Richard Bowes and myself will be reading at the Wold Newton Reading Series in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  The event takes places on February 27th at 6:30 pm, at Word Bookstore, 126 Franklin St.  And lo, there is a Time Out magazine entry on the event, with all the details.  Or check out the Wold Newton site itself.  Also joining us will be musician Toby Goodshank, solo artist and member of the Moldy Peaches, Double Deuce and The Tri-Lambs.  Hope you can join us!

Just thought I’d drop a quick note with some personal updates. Over at the Big Other, Rachel Swirsky recommends my story “The History Within Us,” as an SF&F work with broad appeal.  She says, “…it’s weird and strange and wonderful, and of particular interest for the way it deals with genocide and memory.” Also recommended are stories by Ted Chiang, N.K. Jemisin, and Kij Johnson, among others. Rachel also lists “The History Within Us” in her 2011 Story Recommendations, saying it is “A stunning, emotionally resonant far-future apocalypse, in which the …

Sabotage has nice things to say about “The Hand That Feeds,” my story in Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories.  Tori Truslow writes, “Matt Kressel’s ‘The Hand That Feeds’, which seems to be building towards a romantic criminal escapade through a magical New York, changes tone in a sudden and shocking way that’s very well done. The same story is a particularly bright example of the diversity that is such a strength of the book, with an Indian and a Jewish woman taking centre stage. Jessica and …