Category Archives: Climate Change

"Dr. WarmLove or: How I Stopped Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Heat"

So I had the odd Flashback Experience of being visited last week by a college roommate I had not seen in twenty years (and we were roomies much longer ago than that, at the University of Texas, in Austin, circa … Continue reading

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Chris Nolan's "Interstellar" as Half-Baked Cli-Fi, or What Does Matthew McConaughey Eat in Outer Space? Pretzel Ions?

So I must first confess I’ve never been seduced by the eye-candy of Christopher Nolan’s films: Yes, they’re imaginative, clever, outlandish and topical. I’m all for that. But at some point they tend to turn so “Hollywood” that you have … Continue reading

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The Heat Is On: Melting Santas and Family Values in the Era of Climate Change

So I haven’t blogged in—oh, just about forever (over two months)—but I’ve been fine and dandy, thank you very much, and trying to keep my ducks in a row: Besides being a professor, and all that entails, mainly I’ve been … Continue reading

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Melting Ice Caps v. The In-Laws, With a Derisive Sneer at Marco Rubio

So I haven’t written much about Climate Change in a while (and in fact haven’t blogged, due to the hectic rush at the end of the term, but that’s over with, thank god) and here comes a batch of bad … Continue reading

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Review of Chang-rae Lee's "On Such a Full Sea" in the Dallas Morning News

So my review of Chang-Rae Lee’s new novel, On Such a Full Sea, appears today in the Dallas Morning News, here. It’s a good book, with a soft-spoken, measured narrative voice.  Although some might say, “Not another dystopian novel!” I … Continue reading

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A Postmortem on Dan Brown's "Inferno," and What's That Aron Ralston Dude Up to Now?

So apparently Aron Ralston—the solo rock climber who cut his own arm off when trapped by a boulder, as portrayed in James Franco’s 127 Hours (2010)—has run afoul of the law, to the tune of “domestic violence,” which hopefully did … Continue reading

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On Stephen D. King's "When the Money Runs Out: The End of Western Affluence," With a Nod to Gus Van Sant's "Promised Land"

So I’ve been reading Stephen D. King’s When the Money Runs Out: the End of Western Affluence, which seems like a perverse act. Of all the things to read in the world, why this? It’s mainly about macroeconomics, the global … Continue reading

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Guest Blog Post on Dan Bloom's "CliFi" Blog

So I have a guest blog post/interview on Dan Bloom’s “CliFi” blog today, here. As I mention in the post, I’m working on a novel set during a catastrophic wildfire, and there’s one going on right now west of where … Continue reading

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Review of Kent Wascom's "The Blood of Heaven," Plus a Mission Debrief

So my review of Kent Wascom’s impressive debut novel, The Blood of Heaven, appears today in the Dallas Morning News, here. It’s a rollicking book, and I have to say I keep thinking of that Hatfields & McCoys miniseries whenever … Continue reading

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On "The Road," Choking on Smoke

So I’ve owned a house in southern Colorado for ten years, and during that time have seen our summer weather go up and down, some years wet and some years dry, only it always seems to be trending toward hotter … Continue reading

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