My siblings and I were raised in a family enamored of the footnote. But then, we had the latest copy of the Oxford English Dictionary at any given moment in time—all twenty volumes, when I was growing up—and we tend toward the digressive in our intrafamilial conversations. So it goes without saying that we […]Read more "“The Rhapsodic Grace Note”–On Its Way Out?"

I’ve been looking through our new Tricky Journeys series, which asks readers to take the place of a famous trickster figures from various multicultural folklore traditions, and it started to remind me of one of my favorite high school teachers. Mr. Raische used to teach us about revoluntionary moments in world history by walking us […]Read more "Contest: Think Like a Trickster"

Happy Ada Lovelace Day! Named for the woman widely considered the first computer programmer, this day has been set aside to highlight influential women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Bloggers: if you feel so inspired, create your own Ada-themed post and link it to the official website! Of course, right now you’ll find […]Read more "Ada Lovelace Day"

I don’t have a personal remembrance of Steve Jobs, but I have, in the course of my computing life, owned a non-trivial number of Apple products (the SE/30 on the right is the first computer we ever had). You may count me among those who believe there is something great about what Apple creates (but […]Read more "Here’s to the crazy ones."

Of all the Graphic Universe book reviews I’ve read, this one takes the cake. For one, it was written by Miriam Katin. Like Lily Renée, Miriam Katin is a remarkable female cartoonist who fled the Holocaust as a child. It’s very fitting that she was chosen to review Lily Renée, Escape Artist. But wait, there’s […]Read more "Miriam Katin Reviews Lily Renée"

Domenica invited author and illustrator Ron Miller to talk about writing and illustrating his new Fall 2011 book for TFCB, Is the End of the World Near? Below are his thoughts—and some cool artwork! My reasons for writing Is the End of the World Near? (cover at left) were twofold. First, I had become very […]Read more "Is the End of the World Near?"

The title of this post might be a little misleading. I don’t actually have any tips you, reader. What I do have is a whole boatload of tip sheets that I should be working on right now. Think of the last book you read. Now write a brief description of the book, a sales handle, […]Read more "Tips"

One of the funny things about publishing—at least in a company that’s been around for a while—is how personal choices can evolve into lucky breaks. An example is XML. When Harry first started the company, printing was done from negative film that skilled technicians called strippers carefully taped into large sheets called flats. Harry is […]Read more "We Have and They Have Not"

Well, not much, at least. Instead, go read Brian Farrey’s blog post for today. “Remember when you were told to just ignore a bully and they’d go away? That’s a lie. It’s always been a lie. Today, they bully you even when you’re dead.” Go buy A.S. King’s Everybody Sees the Ants so it can […]Read more "Nothing to see here"