Tag Archives: politics

New Year’s Night 2015/2016

2016 is approximately five hours old where I am, so a Happy New Year to all readers and followers of this blog. As always, WordPress/Jetpack offer a yearly report and the 2015 report for this blog may be found here. … Continue reading

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More 2015 Hugo Reactions

I posted my massive Hugo reaction post yesterday with links to other reaction posts. But considering that the 2015 Hugo debate started well before the nominations were announced and lasted through the entire period between the announcement of the nominations … Continue reading

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How the 2015 Hugos proved against all odds that SF is becoming more international and more diverse

I guess by now you’ve all heard the news. After an unprecedented four and a half months of fighting, debate and ever more bizarre escalations, the 2015 Hugo Awards have been awarded Saturday night and the Sad and Rabid Puppies … Continue reading

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Eurovision 2015 – Blandness wins and blandness loses

This weekend is not just a long weekend in both Germany and several other European countries (Pentecost/Whitsun) as well as the US (Memorial Day), it also happens to host one of the biggest global TV events in the world, the … Continue reading

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In Memoriam Günther Grass

Yesterday, German novelist, poet and artist Günther Grass died of a lung infection aged 87. His death caused an outpour of tributes and condolences from writers and politicians worldwide. Deutsche Welle and The Guardian have collected a few of them. … Continue reading

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The obligatory 2015 Hugo nomination reaction post

So the 2015 Hugo nominations were announced this weekend and the noxious Sad Puppies as well as the even more noxious Rabid Puppies managed to push many of their choices onto the ballot and completely dominate all three short fiction … Continue reading

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Cora engages in some Hugo kvetching – and a great George R.R. Martin interview/feature

The nominations for the 2015 Hugo Awards won’t be announced until April 4th, but the annual Hugo kvetching has already begun. Okay, so it already began back in January, but it’s currently ramping up for the second round of kvetching. … Continue reading

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A few words on VAT and pricing

As you may or may not know, from January 1 on, the European Union has changed the way that VAT (value added tax, similar to sales tax in the US) is calculated for cross-border transactions, including online sales. Previously, VAT … Continue reading

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“Good Bye, Lenin”, Thuringia, ambiguity and the vanishing of two countries

Warning: There is a lot of blather about German politics in the following, so if that bores you just skip this post:

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New German spy story available – Neue Spionagegeschichte auf Deutsch erhältlich: Auf der anderen Seite des Vorhangs

I have a new release in German, namely the German language version of The Other Side of the Curtain. I initially planned to announce the new release on November 9 to tie in with the 25th anniversary of the fall … Continue reading

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