Dwelling in Possibility

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/04/22/todays-adventures-in-dentistry/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55393

1. Whoops2. It's fine, I'm fine, I'm going to the dentist literally right now to have it fixed3. When you lose a crown and put it under your pillow, the tooth fairy does not leave you so much as a nickel, in what world is this even remotely fair

— John Scalzi (@scalzi.com) 2025-04-22T12:26:48.222Z

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

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/04/22/todays-adventures-in-dentistry/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55393

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/04/20/easter-flowers/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55372

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

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/04/20/easter-flowers/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55372

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/04/18/a-cover-song-for-krissy-your-song/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55350

Watch on YouTube

Because 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

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/04/18/a-cover-song-for-krissy-your-song/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55350

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/04/17/today-in-i-literally-fcking-wrote-this/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55343

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

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/04/17/today-in-i-literally-fcking-wrote-this/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55343

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/04/16/the-official-john-scalzi-social-media-faq/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55320

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

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/04/16/the-official-john-scalzi-social-media-faq/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55320

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/04/14/and-now-two-limited-editions-of-moon-from-the-uk/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55276

Limited editions are having a moment, along with book club editions and such, and above you’ll see two examples of this, for When the Moon Hits Your Eye. The one on the left has a slightly chromatically altered cover, and the one on the right has an alternate cover entirely, but what’s really cool about both are the painted edges. See, look:

Seriously, how cool is that.

I’m digging these alternate versions and I’ think ‘m glad I get author copies so I don’t have to choose between them. I hope this trend will continue.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/04/14/and-now-two-limited-editions-of-moon-from-the-uk/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55276

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/04/12/checking-out-small-town-productions-springtime-market/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55213

A couple of months ago, I saw something while scrolling on Facebook about a “spring time market” at the local county fairgrounds. I put it on my calendar so I would remember to actually try and go when the time came. Well, lo and behold, this is the one weekend of the entire month that I’m not out of state for, and I actually remembered to go to this event!

An organization called Small Town Productions was hosting this Springtime Market at the Miami County Fairgrounds, and after looking at their Instagram, they’re basically a group that puts on pop-up markets featuring local vendors and food trucks, so you can shop and dine within your community.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from it, as I hadn’t seen anything about it since I initially learned of its existence, but I did remember it said “shopping, food trucks, massage, facials, tattoos, permanent jewelry.” I like all of those things, so I figured it would be decent, at least.

Upon arriving, I was thankful to find that there was free parking. The event was held in one of fairground’s big barns, and set up like a farmer’s market/craft show, with all the different vendors’ booths set up inside, and the food trucks stationed outside the barn. The market had opened at four, and I had arrived at about four thirty. Though parking was free, the admission fee into the market was $5. Little did I know that the first 25 people in the door received a special coupon. I got a $5 off any retail purchase, and $5 off any food vendor purchase, as well as a free ticket to two of the organization’s upcoming events. Lucky me!

When I walked in, there was honestly a lot to look at:

It wasn’t absolutely massive or anything, but it was definitely decently sized and set up very nicely.

The first booth I ventured to was called Golden Lights Co., and they had the most adorable bookmark charm bar set up where you could pick out a bookmark, add a tassel/ribbon, and choose from tons of different charms to make your own custom bookmark. They had so many different designs of bookmarks to choose from, as well as some super cute charms. I absolutely loved that idea, but didn’t get one because I don’t really read that much. I did, however, get some stickers, a coloring book, and a candle.

This candle smelled like I was far away on a beach. The coconut and vanilla were really lovely, and it has a wood wick. The owner and the other girl working the booth were both really friendly and I enjoyed chatting with them. I recommend checking out their Instagram, as it seems to be a little more updated than their website.

I moved on to the next booth, which was called Baker’s Pantry. They offered loaves of sourdough, brownies, cookie bars, and more. I ended up getting this big ol’ cookie bar:

This one was oatmeal white chocolate cran. I figured it would be good, but holy moly this thing was so delish! It was chewy, not dry at all, packed to the brim with craisins, and it tasted like she used brown butter to make it. I’m not sure if she actually did, but it definitely had that deeply rich and toasty flavor that is oh-so-yummy. This was so good and only five bucks!

Across from the baked goods booth was Lisa’s Pretzels. She had a ton of different flavors of gourmet hand dipped pretzels to choose from, and honestly I had choice paralysis and just ended up buying a sampler pack that comes with one of everything:

The sampler pack was fifteen dollars, or about fifty cents a pretzel. And here they are all laid out:

So there’s 32 different flavors of pretzels, and one haystack. Not only does each pretzel have a label on the back telling you which flavor it is, but the card that came stapled to the sampler pack has a tiny photo of every different pretzel with its flavor listed right under it. Super helpful, I think. I did not try every pretzel before writing this post, but I did eat half of half of them to get a good feel for the product before commenting on them.

I love how much variety of flavors there is, plus who doesn’t love a haystack? I think some of the most standout ones that I tried were the blackberry cheesecake, coconut, praline pecan, and the pineapple jalapeno. Yes, that’s right, there’s a pineapple jalapeno one and it is spicy.

I think these would be really fun for a party or event, and she does sell party boxes but also does custom orders. (Also, if for some reason you didn’t believe me and counted the pretzels yourself, then yes, you are correct in the fact you only see 31 pretzels and not 32. That’s because I left one in the bag when taking this photo and didn’t realize it until after!)

Continuing my stroll around, there was a syrup shop that sold specialty flavored syrups for coffee and tea, which I think is really cool but I don’t make coffee or tea at home. They had a really cute set up and were called The Good Way if you’re interested in checking them out.

Then there was a booth that had this beautiful build your own bouquet station set up:

Of course, I had to make one:

This bouquet cost me $18 dollars since I had nine stems total. This booth also sold candles and wax melts, and I ended up getting two scents of wax melts, which were nine dollars each:

I looked up the candle/wax melt brand, which is called Five Willows Candle Co., and their candles and wax melts are all premium coconut blended wax. They also say they contain no additives or dyes, and use phthalate free fragrance oils. The lady working the booth was so nice and even complimented my bouquet making skills! I’m not sure if she was the owner but she was very friendly. And they have an Instagram, too.

I also stopped by Pine Grove Living, which is a children’s clothing boutique, because I saw an absolutely adorable sage green sweater that I wanted to get for my cousin’s youngest kid. I didn’t take a photo but it was a really nice sweater and they have an Instagram. The sweater was a bit pricey at $27 but I’ve definitely seen similar prices for stuff at Kohl’s and I’d rather buy from a small business anyway.

I passed by more candle booths, a photography booth, the flash tattoo station, the permanent jewelry station, a pottery booth, a couple different woodwork booths, there was even an animal shelter set up there that you could adopt from and they had PUPPIES! I dared not go over to them because I would have left with a puppy.

I did, however, saddle on up to a booth with some beautiful stained glass pieces. I figured I would only get one stained glass piece because they’re generally a bit pricier of items, but I was shocked to find that all of their pieces were super affordable! I know you’re probably thinking, what do I consider to be affordable for stained glass art? Let’s take a look.

This butterfly was $30.

This moon heart was $45.

And this big one was $38!

All of these pieces were under fifty bucks, and come with a chain to hang it up with. I even got this little plant stake for my one and only house plant that I got two weeks ago:

This booth also sold bars of soap, which I thought was an interesting combination of things to sell, but I did buy two bars which were seven dollars each:

So I looked up their soap brand on Instagram, but couldn’t find a page for their stained glass art. However, in the email receipt they sent me, it says “Dreamland Soap/Opalescent Sunshine Stained Glass.” So I’m not sure why their Insta is only soap but they do have great stained glass art! Anyways, these soaps smelled really nice, the fresh linen was so clean and fresh smelling, and the black raspberry and cream was right up my alley.

So that is everything I bought, but there were lots of other great vendors, too! The one thing I didn’t see that was previously advertised was the massages and facials. I don’t know if I just missed them somehow, but I went around the barn twice and didn’t see them anywhere. That was really disappointing because I would’ve loved to get a chair massage or something like that, I absolutely love massages and think it would’ve made a great addition to all the retail and food.

So, now that the shopping was done, it was time to get some stuff from the food truck and head out. There were only three food trucks, which I honestly thought there’d be more, and for a real meal there was really only one food truck, as one was a coffee food truck and one was kettle corn.

The coffee truck was Beanhive Coffee Co., who I did not get this time but have in fact had a couple times before, as they tend to travel around this area in their cute little cart. They’re good! Definitely give them a try if you see them. They also have an Instagram and Facebook if you want to see where they’ll be.

The kettle corn truck was Cumberland Kettle Corn. I got a bag of regular kettle corn for eight dollars and a bag of caramel kettle corn for ten, though if you bought two bags you got a dollar off your purchase. I tried both and it’s good kettle corn, I do prefer the regular over the caramel, though.

And of course, I had to get food from Lumpia Queen, a Filipino food truck.

This truck was actually at the Miami County Food Truck Rally I went to last year, but last time I only tried something small from them, and this time I got several different things to try.

Here was their chicken pancit, with a chicken lumpia for ten dollars:

These noodles were so yummy and really bright from the lime and green onion. I love noodles so I’m glad I tried this.

I also got the chicken adobo with a veggie lumpia for ten dollars:

These chicken wings were huge and really well cooked, not dry at all. The flavor was barbecue-y and delicious.

And I got an order of beef lumpia on their own, which was $7:

And the money shot:

Talk about yum! These lumpias were so crispy and tasted extra good with the sweet chili sauce. My favorite ended up being the veggie one, but all were good.

They have an Instagram, too.

So, there you have it, my haul from “The Small Town Springtime Market.” I had a great time perusing all these different small businesses and talking with nice people, I’m really happy with everything I got. Still wish I’d gotten a puppy, though.

Anyways, I wanted to post this piece ASAP because the market is actually going on today (Saturday, April 12th) from 10am (right now!) to 4pm. And they’ll be there tomorrow from 10am to 2pm, as well. So I really wanted to let any local peeps reading the blog know about it in case you wanted to go check it out. You can buy your tickets at the door, and they give you a wristband in case you want to go out to the food trucks or out to your car or something.

Have you had Filipino food before? Do you like stained glass art? Would you try the pineapple jalapeno pretzel? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!

-AMS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/04/12/checking-out-small-town-productions-springtime-market/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55213