Author: Kelly McCullough

Kelly McCullough writes fantasy, science fiction, and books for kids of varying ages. He lives in Wisconsin with his physics professor wife and a small herd of cats. His novels include Numismancer, Winter of Discontent, the WebMage and Fallen Blade series — Penguin/ACE, School for Sidekicks, Magic, Madness, and Mischief, and Spirits, Spells, and Snark — Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan. His short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. He has Patreon and Ko-fi pages for those who are interested in supporting his work more directly. He also dabbles in science fiction as science education with The Chronicles of the Wandering Star — part of an NSF-funded science curriculum — and the science comic Hanny & the Mystery of the Voorwerp, which he co-authored and co-edited — funding provided by NASA and the Hubble Space Telescope. Kelly on Twitter, Facebook, G+, ello

Friday Cat Blogging

Tail!

Yesh, mashter, whatever you command, just rub my belly first.

There’s something wrong with my gravity and I resent it.

Toldja I’d fit. Now shut up and help me out.

Notice how the tile and grout compliment my fur.

I fluff at you, sir. I fluff most mightily.

Crossed Blades Excerpt Now Up

I should probably note that you can read the first chapter of Crossed Blades now. Here.

The Inklings Effect

One of the odd/cool things about my life these days is the juxtapositions. I will see someone I know online linking to the incredibly cool or important thing that they’ve just read and I will follow the link to find out that said thing was written by someone else I know, often a friend.

I’ve come to think of it as the Inkling’s Effect. When I was younger, I was baffled about the degree to which all these cool people who DO THINGS seem to know each other (e.g. Lewis and Tolkein in the Inklings). It seemed a powerful coincidence. As the years have gone by, it’s become obvious to me that there is no coincidence involved. People who DO THINGS are naturally drawn together by, well, doing things. What would be strange is if they didn’t know each other.

The older I get, the more cool people who DO THINGS I meet, and the more I find myself encouraging and mentoring people who want to DO THINGS.