Category Archives: Personal history

Specialists

Posted on 2 February 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

For years I’ve been bemused by TV commercials that show shiny happy people living glorious lives, with a narrator who claims the benefits of some prescription drug that you should consult your [particular specialist] about. (I gather that such commercials … Continue reading →

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Mouse in the House

Posted on 15 September 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

Last night I woke up around 1am to the sound of our two cats scrambling in the front corner of the bedroom after something, with accompanying odd noises. Something behind a row of books in a low bookcase there, apparently. … Continue reading →

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Play and Stranger Danger

Posted on 6 September 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

From Sunday’s New York Times Book Review: Does Our Cultural Obsession With Safety Spell the Downfall of Democracy?, by Thomas Chatterton Williams, reviews two books, including THE CODDLING OF THE AMERICAN MIND: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting … Continue reading →

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Late Night Notes from the Final Night of This Year’s World Science Fiction Convention

Posted on 28 August 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

(This post drafted on Sunday 19 August, late night in my hotel room; cleaned up and posted today, Tuesday 28 August.) I’m in San Jose, late on a Sunday night after this year’s Hugo Awards have been presented, and after … Continue reading →

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Daily Matters: New Books; Flash Drive; The Piano, and the Discomfort of Art

Posted on 9 August 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

Tuesday August 7th: My main contributions now, to Locus Online, are the weekly Bestsellers page (I spend an hour or so compiling rankings of SF, fantasy, and horror books listed on mainstream bestsellers lists, from New York Times, LA Times, … Continue reading →

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My First Web Page

Posted on 16 July 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

The subject of old websites came up on a Facebook thread yesterday, particularly pages created on various platforms that are now extinct, like sff.net or compuserve.com. Long before I created this blog, first in Blogger and then in WordPress, I … Continue reading →

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From the Ridiculous to the Sublime: My Own Journey to 2001

Posted on 3 April 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

Yesterday, April 2, 2018, was the 50th anniversary of the release of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, still regarded as the best (or at least one of the best) science fiction films of all time, and as among the … Continue reading →

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Intro

Posted on 28 March 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

This is the blog and homepage of Mark R. Kelly, the founder of Locus Online in 1997 (for which I won a Hugo Award in 2002 — see the icon at right) and of an index to science fiction awards … Continue reading →

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Desert Trip: Stars and Planes

Posted on 11 February 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

This Sunday evening I am concluding a weekend trip to the high desert of southern California, to an area where I grew up as a small child and subsequently spent many family weekends and subsequent summer weeks and weekends throughout … Continue reading →

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Mrs. McPherson’s Antidote to Despair

Posted on 20 July 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

my husband is dead and it’s lonely now      though still i enjoy the bright sun in my morning kitchen where i      sit and drink coffee and remember. the kids are gone off with their own      lives and … Continue reading →

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