Is there hope for the world’s top-earning female live performer? — Please, I asked this morning, please let me not get like Madonna. I want to stay in touch with the world, I want to be present. I don’t want to be trapped in a nightmare feeling like I have to look forever young … or act like I am, like…

My son Anthony Sterling Rodgers, who I called “Lali,” died in my arms on the night of January 11, 2005. He was exactly six months old. In terms of his eyes, they were blue. I have never felt such fierce love as I did for Lali. …

No individual is perfect or invulnerable — In 2000, I wrote a story inspired by my friend Julie M. Jones, who was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). I didn’t have to be told that I should ask Julie to read the story before I sent it for publication. …

Even the best malls are dying; farewell to an era — Last Friday I stopped work early to go to the mall. I used to live about half an hour from the largest shopping mall on the U.S. West Coast. Now I live a little over half an hour from the largest shopping mall in Florida. The two malls are similar…

Take your own action to protect yourself, women — stop living by what politicians say — I’m thinking about all the “suffragettes” who spent years — decades — of their lives campaigning for the right to vote. It took over 100 years. I remember having dinner at my dad’s house and my stepmom screaming about the right to an abortion. She was shrieking, red-faced, hysterical. I…

thinking about some beautiful, marvelous men who were very good to me … as a writer — Oh Harlan and his pipe. A prop: Harlan Ellison never smoked tobacco, nor did he drink alcohol. The pipe was a ruse, along with his famous irascibility. Harlan Ellison had a softer heart than even mine. And the quiet dignity and carefully chosen words of Algis Budrys, a poet of…

Over 50 of them have been caught — the problem has occurred at 10% of fertility clinics — Theorists have proposed that the main purpose in life for men is to father as many children as possible. They support their thesis using examples like Genghis Khan, who had only 16 known children, of whom he officially recognized only four. …

Under bad management, failing, and little hope of recovery — I lost my house to foreclosure and was forced to file for bankruptcy because I tried to found a diverse publishing company (2012–2016). It’s what they call “startup failure.” One fond (I use this term very loosely) memory: Is She Available? My husband and I spent approximately 300 hours formatting…

She likes to be spanked. This is often called “Sexual Harassment” — I was a published finalist and quarterly winner in the Writers of the Future Contest two years in a row (1998 and 1999). If you’re not interested in sci-fi, here’s the facts: the contest is a good way for writers in the field to get established. It is officially the…