Hello and welcome to my blog!
I write science fiction, make electronic music, and blog about my ideas and interests. I live in San Francisco, California with my wife Kia Simon, our daughter, and our mystery-breed dog.
Science Fiction
My Reclaimed Earth science fiction series is published by Flame Tree Press. Don Sakers described Book 1, The Sky Woman in an Analog SF review: ““A well-told story reminiscent of Ursula K. LeGuin or Karen Lord.”
My short stories have appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Strange Horizons and Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores. A few of my favorite authors include William Gibson, Iain Banks, Octavia Butler, David Mitchell, and Margaret Atwood.
A complete list of my published fiction can be found here, with many of the short stories free to read online.
Music
I produce electronic music as Jondi & Spesh, Momu, and other aliases, and run Loöq Records with DJ Spesh. Our tracks have been featured in major motion pictures (Groove), TV shows (C.S.I.), video games (Dance Dance Revolution) and released on a multitude of labels including Bedrock, Renaissance, Proton, 19Box, and Sony BMG. Some of my older tracks are considered classics. You can listen/read more here. Here’s my complete Discography. For years I organized and promoted dance music events and deejayed around the world, but these days I’m happier making beats in the studio with a couple good friends.
Other Activities
I also work as a freelance database application developer and data migration specialist. I have developed and maintained projects for BART, Google Transit, Alameda County, the San Francisco Symphony, and a number of small businesses and non-profit organizations.
In the past I have worked as an event promoter, DJ, movie extra, martial arts instructor, dolphin cognition researcher, and Renaissance Faire fish hawker.
Other activities and hobbies I enjoy: reading great science fiction and fantasy, writing this blog, tabletop RPGs, painting miniatures and making terrain, keeping up on health and nutrition research, and walking our dog while playing Pokémon GO.
About This Blog
This blog is my attempt to explore the idea of systems for living well (not only as individuals, but also collectively as a continually evolving species and biosphere). I write about lifestyle experiments, metaprogramming (my take on spirituality–how to program your own brain), creative work (writing and music), personal finance, health and nutrition, and other topics that interest me. I also let readers know about my latest fiction and music releases.
Material from this blog has been featured on CNN, Shareable, The Doctors (TV show), the front page of Reddit, Ignite SF, Why We Listen (podcast), and numerous other blogs.
While I hope to inspire others and share what I’ve learned, I mainly blog as a form of personal growth. Blogging forces me to refine and develop my ideas, and to examine and better understand my own experiences.
Here’s a list of all posts on this blog. The right sidebar features a search box and a category browsing widget.
Support
If you enjoy my blog and want to help me out, the best thing you can do is to purchase one of my books, ideally by ordering it via your local bookstore, or on amazon. Writing a review and/or telling a friend about one of my books is immensely helpful.
Or buy one of my music releases, either from my label on Bandcamp or from one of the links on my Albums page.
Disclaimer
I’m not a doctor or medical professional. Nothing on this blog should be taken as professional medical advice. I’m just sharing information, opinions, and ideas. Maybe you’ll learn something here, but if you have a health issue, please see a qualified professional. Same goes for personal finance, career, relationship advice, and geopolitical analysis. Use at your own risk.
Comment Policy
My take on belief systems is that they should be malleable, and based on the available evidence. My own beliefs evolve as I learn new things and accumulate experiences. In that spirit, all non-hateful viewpoints are welcome here, as long as they’re expressed reasonably (ideally with some supporting evidence). I have no interest in writing an echo-chamber blog, or having just one type of reader.
That said, please be respectful and reasonably polite, especially to other commenters (even if they are not as sophisticated or knowledgeable as you, or happen to be wrong).
I vet first time commenters, so don’t worry if your comment doesn’t appear right away.
Advertising Disclosure
This site does not currently display any ads. In the past I’ve experimented with the WordPress WordAds program as well as Google’s AdSense program.
To date, none of the posts on this site are sponsored, nor do I have any sponsors for the site in general (if you want me to sponsor me for a product or service I already enjoy using, feel free to get in touch). I do sometimes use Amazon Affiliate links for books I recommend (but I encourage you to purchase books from your local bookstore, if you have one). I also promote and link to releases on my small independent label Loöq Records.
Photography
Banner photographs are from NASA. Thank you U.S. space program!
In older posts I have sometimes used Creative Commons license photographs, linking directly to the original picture. If I’ve used a Creative Commons photograph of yours/you and you’d prefer I didn’t, or you would like a different form of attribution, please let me know and I’ll honor your request.
Contact
I don’t spend much time on social media, but my (somewhat) active accounts include:
If you’d like to send me an email, I’d love to hear from you. As long as your email isn’t:
- A question about a specific blog posts–please write a comment (anonymously if you prefer) instead and I will try to reply. If you are looking for a particular post and can’t find it via search, please try this list of all posts before contacting me.
- A question about a post where comments are closed–I’ve probably already answered your question in the existing comments, if I know the answer.
- A personal health question. Though in the past I’ve written about health topics, I am in no way a medical professional.
- A request to do a guest post.
- A request to post your infographic.
- A request to perform work without compensation.
Except for the exclusions above, please get in touch!