December 2007

World in the Satin Bag

Writing Projects (a meme that you all have to do)

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I thought for this post I’d get all of you out there involved on your blogs. The object of this meme is to give a brief explanation of all the writing projects you’re currently involved in and then tag people to do the same. I’m tagging everybody with this post, just because I can. So I’m currently working on the following: The Lies of Venicia: A science fiction novel that should be around 90,000 words when it’s finished. I’m hoping to keep it closer to 80,000, but it’s turning into a bit of an epic and I don’t think I could clear up all the story lines in anything less than 90,000. Marx Ignatia–Private Eye: That is a working title. This is a novella I’m currently writing because I hit a small snag in The Lies of Venicia. It’s a cyberpunk story that is connected to another story I wrote, but only loosely. Asher: Another working title. This story is related to the story above, but from an entirely different perspective and an entirely different story. It’s in the editing phase and I think a bit of moving stuff around will strengthen the story. I’ll be submitting it over the quarter break. The Spellweaver of Dern (WISB Book Two): I’m not writing it yet, but I am thinking about it and getting prepped to start writing. I hope to be able to finish it in serialized form by October of 2008. I think I’ve come to the point where I don’t think I’ll be selling the WISB series, but giving it for free. This might make me a ‘web scab’, but I defend myself in saying that I’m only offering this series for free and don’t intend to offer a lot of other stuff for free (except excerpts). This, hopefully will either put me in a position to complete the series as a trilogy, or end the series with this book. It depends on how it goes when I get to writing it (which will be in the same manner as I wrote the previous book). Death By Poking: I’m a little irritated with this story at the moment. It’s a short story I wrote for the Machine of Death Anthology some time ago. Its problem is that I’ve spent too much time world building and for a short story that isn’t so good. I’m going to reduce the setup a little and hopefully won’t ruin one of the sub plots. Untitled Collaborative Project: My girlfriend, who is also an unpublished writer like me(who is in the process of editing her book, which I am irritated about because I really like the story as it is) thought it might be fun to do a collab project together. I think it’s a neat idea (on a side note we both knew each other professionally before we became friends and then became a couple). I have no idea what it’s going to be about. It’s going to try to play on both of our strengths, so we are going for a scifantasy type story I think. I’m more of a scifi writer than a fantasy writer, although I enjoy both tremendously, and she is the opposite, but doesn’t enjoy scifi all that much. This is a project I think we’ll start over the break and just fiddle with here and there. I’m thinking of a novel for really young kids because it would be somewhat easier for both of us to write (something like a fantasy story for 8-12 year olds). Alright, so what are you working on? You’re all tagged!

World in the Satin Bag

Human Decency…where did it go?

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This has absolutely nothing to do with science fiction or fantasy, but after my recent experience at the gas station I feel it necessary to rant about this particular subject.    Now, I’m new to the Santa Cruz area, and I’m also new to the concept of directed traffic at gas stations. I’m used to a small town environment where lines at the pump pretty much don’t exist, and when they do it’s very clear where you can go to get in line and people, generally, don’t care about the direction of traffic so long as they end up at the pump at some point in the day.    Well, this is apparently not the case in Santa Cruz. Now, because I’m so unused to this new concept of directed traffic at the pumps, I pulled up to the Safeway pump, go behind a lady who was pulled in to a spot in the opposite direction of the cars on the other end. I assumed that “hey, I can pull in behind her and be set to go”, thinking there weren’t really that many cars on the other side since I couldn’t see beyond the lights of the station. I didn’t see the sign that directed traffic, because I am not inclined to look for a sign since I’ve never seen one in my life anyway. On a side not, almost every gas station in the entire city of Sacramento that I had the pleasure of going to don’t have signs either, and I don’t get this sort of treatment there either.     Now, it’s clear that I have made a mistake and pulled into the station incorrectly. I can acknowledge this and I am sorry that I cut in line, even though it wasn’t intentional.    Well, when I pulled up to the pump after this lady left, I thought I was okay. I pulled in, started pumping my gas, and all the way until the 12th gallon (since my car takes 13 or some such) the gentleman in front of me decided he had to say something. Prior to this someone had made a comment about making sure idiots don’t pull in there, which didn’t make sense to me at the time, because I wasn’t aware the whole time I was sitting there that I had broken some law and committed treason against the United States of America.    Anyway, so this gentleman decided to ask me at the end of my pump “do you always cheat people out of their gas?” Firstly, I didn’t know that pulling into the pump cheated someone out of gas if they were going to be able to get gas at some point that night anyway (actually, in a matter of minutes really). Then it dawned on me. “I’ve pulled in the wrong way, oh my gosh…” (I said that within my head in an apologetic manner). The problem here is that this gentleman addressed me with disrespect and indignation, and a slight touch of hatred, something I’m also not used to at a gas pump, and apparently this sort of behavior is rampant in the bay area (which is making me dream of the day I can move the hell out of here).    So I start to apologize, because I am sorry that I messed up here. His response? “Well, can’t you read?” while pointing in an obscure direction as if from my vantage point I’d be able to see some magic sign that isn’t facing me in the first place. Again, I tried to apologize, not realizing what is going on, but he continues on with his rude behavior, treating me like I’m some illiterate buffoon who is incapable of any sort of remorse.    By this point, I almost don’t care anymore. In fact, I have an entirely different approach to this situation now. Why hadn’t this man, if he cares so much about all these people behind him, politely come up to me while I was sitting and waiting and gently explained to me that I was pulling in wrong? Maybe then he would have known that I’m just a new person to the area, because I would have said so, and I wasn’t used to having signs and the like, and that I’m terribly sorry. After that I would have pulled around to the line and waited my turn accordingly. Or, he could have gently explained to me as I pulled up what was up. He had more than enough opportunities to get his point across without having to be rude and indignant, and without proving himself to be a proponent of the increasingly frequent destruction of human decency in this country. But he did none of these things. Neither did any of the people who supposedly were upset at my accidental mistake, or anyone else at the pump. Neither did the lady who was in front of me who I thought was pulled in correctly in the first place.    In fact, this man did nothing to help correct a mistake. He assumed that I was being a complete jerk without figuring out that “oh hey, he’s just a new kid, not used to this sort of thing and maybe I should simply explain to him what is going on”. No, no such thing happened. I was labeled and treated like a pile of garbage, as if I weren’t even human anymore. I’ll be honest in one thing. When someone begins to treat me like crap, I get upset, but I don’t show that emotion. My stomach gets tied in knots, sometimes I get a little ill, and immediately any remorse I once had at that particular moment is completely gone. I literally don’t care anymore and I actually have a sick moment where I am glad that I’ve done something wrong as if perhaps I’m going to prove a point. But no such point is ever proven. People can’t forgive others in this country any more (that might be too general of a statement).    To be honest, my mistake

World in the Satin Bag

Links Links Links

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This will be my last post of links for the next few days unless something really crazy happens. I’ve just found so many interesting things (to me at least). So here goes: OF Blog of the Fallen has written a really insightful post on book reviews. Any of you who do book reviews and perhaps feel inadequate at times should read it. I’ve taken a lot from it and intend to use some of the things I’ve learned in future reviews (most particularly the part about using quotes from the book as examples). Cambridge University Press will be releasing a book on Modern Fantasy Literature. Read about it here. The link includes a list of the articles that have been commissioned. This looks really rather promising for anyone interested in reading deeper into the genre. BlueJoe has written an interesting article about SF and the human condition, addressing the difficulty of bringing non-SF writers into the genre. Alternately, BeamJockey tracks the entire history of how the idea of ‘antimatter’ got into science fiction. This is really rather interesting when one tries to consider how certain ideas became fixed within genre (regardless of what genre it is). An example of how Amazon and people have a darn good sense of humor. Trust me, this is funny. Read the product reviews too. USA Today has an excerpt of an essay by Nathan Fillion (the guy who played Malcom Reynolds in Firefly and Serenity). If you didn’t love him before, you’ll love him now. Firefly is my favorite science fiction TV series. Nothing has ever come close to taking it. For having only one season it is so well put together. Every episode is amazing. Okay, enough of that. List Universe has a list of the Top 10 Errors in Science Fiction Movies. Generally I would have to agree with all ten points, although given the present state of anti-gravity it is rather silly to think that something like an anti-grav machine using gravitons would never be invented or plausible. This is why quantum physics makes no sense to anyone that is normal. Basically: by looking at the Universe we may have reset its clock, which means things might die sooner. Read the article to see if it makes more sense to you. Even if you’re not into SF, you should look at this zoomable view of the Carina Nebula. Simply gorgeous. I’m always amazed at how beautiful space is. Granted, I love this little planet, but space is constantly providing new things to gaze upon. Mice could hold the cure to cancer? Sounds crazy, but maybe it’ll work. The short story is they’ve bred a mouse that can fight off otherwise lethal doses of cancer cells and as a result they can be used to cure other mice that have cancer. Any form of cancer. It’s more complicated than that, I’m sure, but read the article and come to your own conclusion. Brain cells and the Universe–are they similar? Have a look at this image and tell me what you think. It’s really rather mind boggling to think about. Maybe we’re more connected to the nature of the universe than we thought. I’m a guy, so on occasion I have to admire something that looks really cool. Meet the Javelin Speedsled. Concept cars are neat. Can we break the light speed limit? Well, these guys think they have through quantum tunneling. Time travel and light speed are related concepts, so, this is rather interesting if there is some logic to it. There you go. Enough links from me for a while.

World in the Satin Bag

SFWA: The Aftermath

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I just thought I’d show everyone who reads this blog just how bad the reinstatement of Mr. Burt really is. Here is the aftermath just in this first day: Tobias Buckell, an author I deeply respect as some of you know, has decided to cancel his membership to SFWA. Read his full post here. You should read it because he offers a lot of insight into all that is going on, including an lovely link to what I’m about to link you all to. Mr. Burt has put a post on the SFWA livejournal that has sparked a lot of very angry comments asking for his resignation, including some posts from Scribd and members challenging his view that people should give him a chance even though his post is clearly one of bitterness and an example of his disinterest in keeping friendly relations with Scribd, even though Scribd is working on efforts to keep illegal posting of artist material at bay. That’s all for today. More will likely spring up over the following days though. You can be sure of that. Don’t get me wrong. I like SFWA. It is a good organization, in general, but right now I’m not too happy about their policies either. (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this)

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