Chris Cutler's Blog

I really love fairy tale adaptations. I tend to agree with Debora Geary who said, "Fairy tales have more logic holes than the average conversation with a three year old." These stories are full of improbable incongruities that have nothing to do with pumpkin coaches or fairy godmothers. And so there is something inescapably fun about unpacking motivations that could drive our beloved characters into their bizarre situations. There is something incredibly satisfying about rearranging backgroun...

I'm thrilled to announce that a short story of mine called "Heart of a Thief" will be published in an anthology set to release on April 10. I will post a link as soon as the book is available.

Here is the cover and the publisher's description:

Whatever happened to “happily ever after”? 

Heroes search for happiness, villains plot revenge, and nothing is as easy as it once seemed. Gretel suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, an orphan girl questions Rumpelstiltskin’s legacy, a monster...

Disclaimer: I recognize that there are important societal issues to consider when discussing overpopulation. This is a math/science post, so I'm planning to completely ignore those.

"Humans are overcrowding the planet!" is a concern that crops up at least once a generation. Up until now, I have had little patience with the doomsayers. The idea that a family's children after the first (or second or third) are a burden that the world cannot accept is disturbing and offensive to me. Yes, there ar...

Sticky words of the week:

clerestorylemniscatecallipygianinsouciance

One of my favorite scientific realizations is the idea that all of the trees and plants we see are basically solidified air. Photosynthesis is the process of using energy from light to turn air (carbon dioxide) and water into sugar, and that sugar is then used both as fuel and as a structural building block to make more plant.

I've wondered how much photosynthesis actually happens on earth, and recently looked up the answer. Current best estimate: 150-175 petagrams per year, or about 0.45 peta...

Kelley and I were talking about space last night, partly because the Cassini probe completed a dive between Saturn and its rings, and partly because Jace has been been learning about planets. We watched this excellent video, which starts out comparing the sizes of various planets and stars, then zooms out to compare the scale of galaxies and more.

Such mind-boggling vastness can make one feel very small, so naturally we tried to counter that by thinking of the tiniest things in...

This is the second in a series of posts recommending useful resources in various areas. These are apps or tools I use regularly. Today's topic is: Books and Entertainment. All apps are for Android, and links will take you to the Google Play store.
[image error]Overdrive (website and app) is the standard portal for borrowing digital content from public libraries. I have checked out tons of ebooks this way. Reading them in the Overdrive app works fine, but when possible I get my books in kindle format...

This is the first in a series of posts recommending useful resources in various areas. These are apps or tools I use regularly. Today's topic is: Commuting in Boston.
Apps referenced are for Android, and links will take you to the Google Play store.
First, the item not specific to Boston: Shuttles operated by many universities and hospitals across the country are tracked by the TransLoc Rider app. I used this one both in Atlanta (Emory) and here in Boston (LMA/Harvard), and the real-time locat...

I had a wonderful time attending Boskone, the convention of the New England Science Fiction Association.

The guest of honor, and the reason I decided to go, was Brandon Sanderson. I was very excited about the opportunity to talk about his books with him and with other fans, and I was not disappointed. We got to discuss the magic systems and some of the background plotting in his books, along with his research and future plans.

You may recall a previous post in which I rewrote one of his epic fa...

Monster Jam is a traveling monster truck show, and you can try to guess which two lucky guys got tickets for Christmas. We went last night and had a blast!


My previous exposure to monster trucks was limited to the smash hit "He's a Monster" on Truck Tunes, so it was a brand new experience for both of us. Some things were expected and others were surprises.

At least a third of the audience was under six years old, and half of those were sporting cool earmuffs like Jace got to wear. It was a good...