February 1, 2023 – I just had surgery to replace my heart’s aortic valve. I’d known for a couple of years it had aortic stenosis (inability to pass enough flow) caused by a combination of a birth defect and aging, but only recently did the condition suddenly jump into the “severe” category and require surgery …
November 15, 2022 – My flash piece WANT GOLD is today’s story from Daily Science Fiction! Here’s the link to the story: https://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/aliens/james-r-hardin/want-gold I hope you like it!
September 3, 2022 – A perfect nerd’s holiday! I went to Carnegie-Mellon University’s Robotics Makerspace AI lab and participated in an experiment learning to drive a robot by a combination of voice commands and tilting my head while wearing a hat with sensors in it! And they said they’d pay me for doing it! I’d …
August 2, 2022 – I had a good weekend at the Confluence convention hosted by Parsec, the Pittsburgh science fiction organization (http://confluence-sff.org/). The annual conference was finally back, and in-person! I especially enjoyed reading part of my story “Power to Power” at the Triangulation launch party; I like reading out loud to people. Only bad …
April 18, 2022 – My story WANT GOLD has been accepted by Daily Science Fiction (https://dailysciencefiction.com/)! I don’t yet have any information on when it will appear. More information to follow when I have it. I had a few anxious moments when I misplaced their acceptance email, but I’d just accidentally parked it in the …
April 11, 2022 – My story “Power to Power” will appear in the 2022 edition of Triangulation (parsecink.com), the annual anthology by the Pittsburgh science fiction and fantasy organization Parsec (parsec-sff.org)! Look for it this summer. And thanks, as always, to the Greensburg Writers’ Group for helping me make the story even better.
December 12, 2021 – I had a nice time at the virtual Pittsburgh Writing Workshop yesterday (can someone be “at” a virtual workshop?). Being online was good because a lot more agents than usual were able to attend. Being online was bad because I couldn’t meet the other attendees, nor even know whether other attendees …
November 25, 2021 – Happy Scott Joplin’s birthday (a day late)! I just recently got his “Solace” up to speed on the piano. I’d always admired this odd, non-ragtime piece since I heard it in the movie “The Sting” (even though I was a Joplin fan even before “The Sting” came out), but never spent …
My father passed away last Wednesday, Sept. 8. WWII vet, engineer, singer, spiritual seeker, and generally great guy. I can’t complain too much; he was 97, in decent health until the last week, and being well looked after by the Redstone assisted living home, but still … We all miss him.
April 30, 2021 – Last day of “real” work as I retire early (from my engineering job, not from writing!). Less engineering output, more literary output, I hope!