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Blog postYesterday I talked about number sense in quite a bit of detail, and sure enough, several of my Twitter buddies began talking about it with me. Even more naturally, they all wondered how good their number sense was and where they stood compared to everyone else.This is not a surprise. Every living thing that has eyes seems to love a mirror. I've never met readers or students who learn a new idea without wondering if it applies to them. This is why so many medical students suffer from hypoch
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Blog postREVISION ON 10/1. My spouse would like to link to this blog to promote our tutoring business, and of course I'm all in favor of that. But, she said, the only image on this was one of me, and she has always hated that picture. "You look drunk in it," she says. As the owner of Tutoring Colorado, she doesn't like that in her main subcontractor for math, apparently.
So this is exactly the same text as before, except that at the request of my wife, partner, trusted advisor, and -
Blog postI fairly often hang out at the Chronicle of Higher Education, because although I'll probably never teach any more college classes, it was such a big part of my life for so long that the place just feels like home. Anyway, Ben Yagoda, who is quite a good writer, is one of the regular bloggers at Lingua Franca (subject matter of which is supposed to be "Language and writing in academe", and he wrote a little meditation about the real meaning of Will Strunk's famous dictum, "Omit nee
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Blog postI'm going to be attending Bubonicon, the New Mexico/Albuquerque area sf convention, this weekend. I haven't been much of a con-goer for quite a long time -- my last few were the Las Vegas SFRA in 2005, the Anaheim (2006) and Denver (2008) Worldcons (the latter somewhat under duress, as a fill-in for my agent at the time) and a very brief one afternoon visit to MileHi Con last fall. Prior to that I was fairly regular about going to the damned things but didn't like most of the ones I attended af
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Blog postThe last episode of "Silence Like Diamonds" is now up, and those of you who have been waiting to read it all at once should get busy, because after this piece, I shall have no caution at all about spoilers. Yip and everybody are going to find out what it was all about, you're going to find out what happens to everyone, and in short, after this ep, the story's over and it's time to go find another story.It is a truth universally acknowledged among writers that endings are hard. Lawrence
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Blog postEpisode 9 of "Silence Like Diamonds" is up, and as befits the next-to-last episode of a serial, or the penultimate scenes of a novelet, it's pretty much nonstop action. If you're coming in for the first time, you could just start at "Silence Like Diamonds" Episode 1 (episodes are short and you can pretty much read it all at a sitting if you don't stop off to argue in the comments). There's a complete episode list here. I explain
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Blog postMuch noise is being made about the Internet of Things these days by the sort of people who make noise about such things, and I suppose all that noise is good for something. Perhaps it is good for keeping such people employed so that they don't end up at Starbucks screwing up my coffee order.* For those of you who missed out on it, the idea (of the Internet of Things, not my coffee order) is that eventually we will be surrounded by devices that have sensors, memory, intercommunication, and
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Blog postFirst of all, because it matters most of all, I'm gratified that I'm getting email from many of you, little flares of discussion on Twitter, and informed multisided argument over at Light Reading about "Silence Like Diamonds". That little adventure novelet is honestly drawing more attention and creating more conversation than some of my novels. (Possibly it even deserves to.) Thanks, guys, not only could I not have done it without you, by definition, if there hadn't been a you, I would
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Blog postSo I was sitting across the table from a brave young soul who has recently entered the dark swamp of fractions. We were working our way toward the concept of the common denominator, and why you need it for some operations (like addition and subtraction) and not for others. And in the midst of it, he suddenly asked, "Is that what my teacher means when she keeps saying I can't compare apples and oranges?""It might be," I said, temporizing like any good tutor trying to fig
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Blog postThe estimable Jerry Green, a loyal fan if ever there was one, recently read Finity, and his response, via Twitter, was:Jerry Green @jerrygreener 3h3 hours ago
@JohnBarnesSF why did you mention Finity in your blog, i bought it in Hardback! amazed i kept reading you, what were you trying there?Ah, I thought. Another fan I will have to point toward my blog post about Edmunds. Now where is the most recent version of that?
I discovered to my conste -
Blog postPhil Plait, who signs himself "Bad Astronomer" over at Slate, and lives in my part of the planet, is usually a marvel of rational, sane entertainment and good science writing. But even Homer nods, and this particular Slate post is freaking silly.
I tried three times to post this comment, but alas, Slate is playing its "an error occurred, try again," game. An error occurred, mistakes were made, unfortunate events have happened recently, the passive voice was used, -
Blog postSo Episode 6 of “Silence Like Diamonds” is up and for those of you who have just come in, there’s a longer explanation here, or just start with Episode 1 and read your way forward (at 1000 words per episode, you can’t be very far behind). It’s part of a ten-episode serial being published at Light Reading, an online publication that is read by people in the advanced communications industry. So far over in that community, the most conversation generated by “Silence Like Diamonds”
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Blog postThere are a good solid hundred things that make alternate histories fascinating to me, but there are 3 reasons why, every week at my local bookstore, I sadly return most alt histories to the shelf, unbought and never to be read:a. a huge fraction are about what are viewed as the critical moments in making the modern US: the Civil War and World War II.b. an equally huge fraction are a
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Blog postExplaining first things first: I'm blogging on Tuesdays and Fridays, lately, because my serial novelet, "Silence Like Diamonds," is running at Light Reading, a tech-news oriented website covering advanced communications systems. You can browse back through this blog or just hop over there and start reading, but in any case, Episode 5 (out of 10) is now up and running, or will be by the time you read this, so if you haven't started yet, you have a bit of catching up to do.One idea
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Blog postThere is a sentence in "Silence Like Diamonds" -- oh,that? How nice of you to ask. The fourth episode is up now, over at Light Reading,and if this is your first time here you can find my explanation here and Light Reading's explanation there. If you really just wanted to read a good story, go read! This will wait!(Smiling and waving as a few folks leave the room)RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, IT'S ABOUT TO BE MATH IN HERE!(crouching behind podium until pandemonium subsides, addressing
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Blog postSo once again I'm flogging my serialized novelet over in Light Reading, an I-hope-fun bit of light summer adventure fiction, set in the near future. And since there's another episode up -- Episode 3, "Principle One" -- go ahead, scoot on over and read that! -- I thought I'd talk about something that's already been in the story in Episodes 1 and 2, since Mitch has made dire threats about what he will do if I blog spoilers for my own story. (I won't, Mitch. Really, I won't. Could y
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Blog postSome of you have started reading the serial novelet by me over at Light Reading, "Silence Like Diamonds." Episode 1 came out last Friday; as I write this, Episode 2is a few hours from being officially live, and that link should already be working for anyone who likes that "advanced peek" feeling.
While the serial lasts, I'm going to try to say something around the time each episode comes out.
The whole trick with this "credible near future" stuff is arit -
Blog postThis'll teach me to do anything interesting, ever. Literally the day after posting the first action-heavy scene in Father Lucifer, chaos of an almost entirely good kind (CAEGK, which sounds like a noise a cat makes bringing up a hairball) erupted into my life. This is rather like what some other writers refer to as a Sekrit Project, which is probably a reference to something or other that I missed along the way. Anyway, can't talk about it yet, will be great if it happens, and
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Blog post<<<< top of chapter 1 <<<< prior section
Night was rushing across the sky, swarming over the last glints of sun that poked out between the mountains, with a chill coming on. Stacy pressed close to me and I put my arm around her. That was nice. "Here's the thing," she said. "I had this idea that I could get away from my idiot parents and steps, once and for all, if I could just make one good score. You know how good that can sound." " -
Blog post<<<< top of chapter 1 <<<< prior section
Chapter 3The Tree Trunk Grill was not some diner they fixed up to be all nostalgic and shit. It was your basic college dump, with a worn out counter, low enough to have regular chairs at it, and booths around the outside that were about half naugahyde and half duct tape. "Tiny Tim" Brady, the old fat guy that ran it, was this big‑ass sports fan. Also a very enthusiastic one. But only for the sports and -
Blog post
<<<< top of chapter 1
<<<< prior section
§Gayle arrived looking terrified and excited, like anyone starting a job they have big hopes for and really need. I introduced her to Breit. He stared a hole in her shirt while he emphasized that everything on the menu was to be called only by the godawful obscene name he'd given it. Gayle had warned us that she'd have to learn everything, and she did. Megan put her through Cash Register 101 (&q -
Blog post<<<<<Beginning of the book
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§I knew Breit hated to be awakened before nine, so I phoned him at 8:30 from the lobby of the City‑County Building. The hawwnkks and brakkk‑k‑k‑s from his end could have been a walrus receiving the Heimlich maneuver."Detectives in Denver are unlicensed," I said. "Anyone can be one. Even an ex‑felon illiterate oaf like me. They were going to start licensing them a cou -
Blog postFather Lucifer
by John Barnes
this book is dedicated to the memory of James Crumley. I think I remember everything he ever said to me, and I hope that wouldn't disappoint him.
"I wouldn't touch him with a barge-pole myself," said Mallow. "There is a limit to human charity," said Lady Outram, trembling all over. "There is," said Father Brown dryly; "and that is the real difference between human charity and Christian charity. -
Blog post<<<<<Beginning of the book
Chapter 2Just when the calculus was getting exciting and they were about to prove to me that trig functions were infinitely differentiable, which I'd been worrying about since I was a little bastard, Breit came in. The top of his head was a slightly different shade of brick red because he'd been out in the sun. He looked way too fucking cheerful.Megan said, "Too big to be a space station, Luke," and I looked down for a second becau -
Blog postFront material: I claim copyright under US and international law. But for the moment, while this blog is up, feel free to download and copy as long as you don't change things or pass it off as someone else's work.
By way of preface: I'd wanted to do a hardboiled detective series about a contemporary young detective in Denver for a long time. For a variety of reasons, my agent didn't like the idea much, and didn't put it in front of editors, preferring to ask for yet one more re
Titles By John Barnes
Patton's Spaceship (The Timeline Wars Book 1)
Jul 8, 2014
by
John Barnes
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Caesar's Bicycle (The Timeline Wars Book 3)
Jul 8, 2014
by
John Barnes
$7.99
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