Shaun Duke

Shaun Duke is an aspiring writer, a reviewer, and an academic. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Digital Rhetoric and Writing at Bemidji State University. He received his PhD in English from the University of Florida and studies science fiction, postcolonialism, digital fan cultures, and digital rhetoric.

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)

World in the Satin Bag

SFWA Strikes Back…Like A Poorly Made Prequel

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Who would have thought that after SFWA’s earlier debacle, which I discussed here, would only lead to further debacles of complete idiocy? I certainly wouldn’t have. Apparently SFWA has renamed its e-piracy committee and, against just about everyone else’s wishes, has reinstated as its chairman the very man who caused the whole Scribd issue in the first place–Andrew Burt. To put Burt’s reputation as an authority figure into perspective, Cory Doctorow has put it wonderfully in his post: Last August, Andrew Burt, the vice president of SFWA, sent a list of thousands of works that he alleged violated the copyrights of Robert Silverberg and the Isaac Asimov estate. This list was compiled by searching the Scribd site for the words “asimov” and “silverberg” and it included my own novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, a teacher’s guide to great science fiction for young readers, and the entire back-catalog of a science fiction magazine whose editors had placed their work on Scribd. Burt sent an email to Scribd’s management in which he said that this list wasn’t “idle musing, but a DMCA notice.” This is the man that SFWA has put back into the position he was in before, only under a new title. How wonderfully idiotic. So, to prove that it intends to change its policies, SFWA has done nothing at all to change its policies. You see the unmoving logic in that statement right? Obviously some changes have been made on paper, but with Burt returned to the throne how can SFWA expect those textual changes to be acknowledge when clearly Burt has a serious lacck of good judgment in the first place?Charlie Stross has also blogged on this issue, saying something that I agree should happen if SFWA is going to make decisions such as this: Under Dr Burt, the new copyright committee will almost inevitably devolve into a reincarnation of the old piracy committee. If I thought it’d do any good I’d be resigning in protest right now; only the expense of a life membership purchased a couple of years ago is restraining me right now. Clearly the current executive of SFWA is making damaging decisions and ignoring input from committees it appointed, and and in view of this I call on SFWA president Mike Capobianco and the rest of the SFWA executive — including Andrew Burt — to resign immediately. Meanwhile, I’d like to call on all other SFWA members who don’t want to see their organization commit public relations suicide to make their voices heard. At this point I don’t think any of the people running SFWA are going to be resigning, although by all accounts they should if this is the way they are going to think. What exactly is the point of this? Burt has clearly hurt SFWA’s reputation, which it has gone through great pains to earn back, but now they’ve decided to put Burt back where he was? And of course the wonderful Scalzi has weighed in on this issue while providing interest insight to how Burt got to his position in the first place: That said, I think the board choose puzzlingly, to use as polite a word as possible, in its choice of chairman for the new committee, for some of the reasons which Charlie outlines in incendiary but not unreasonable fashion. It would not have been my choice, for those reasons and a few others (the suggestion in the board’s statement that our committee recommended installing the chairman of the new committee is quite obviously in error). I believe the situation was additionally complicated by the fact that the once-and-future chairman is on the SFWA board, and voted on the recommendations, and voted for himself as chairman of the new committee; had I been him, I would have chosen to recuse myself from the deliberations. I think what Scalzi is hoping for is that people like Burt will have considerable amounts of personal integrity. Clearly that isn’t the case, and if such people sit on the thrones of SFWA, what can we expect in the future? Probably more problems not only for writers, but for fans too. Read the posts I linked because they can give you a lot more information than I feel entirely adequate or authorized to discuss, seeing how I am not a published author or a member of SFWA. Still, my opinion is worth something.

World in the Satin Bag

I’m Lazy Today

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That’s not true. Actually, I’m far from lazy. The problem with today is that there’s so much going on out in the world of SF & F that I can’t really ignore it anymore. I subscribe to 170+ blogs and, well, when I see things being repeated over various blogs and the like I have to mention things here. First off, I did a review of The Complete Guide to Writing Science Fiction Volume One by Edge/Tesseract/Dragon Moon that you should all check out here. I also reviewed Neo-Opsis Issue #12, which can be found here. Both are good reads, the latter rather surprisingly (I may be subscribing to that one if nothing beats it out of the top spot). Now for a series of links of interest: This has been all over the blogosphere and I figure if ten or more of the blogs I read regularly mention this then it must be something worth bringing out here. I’ve already mentioned I’m not much into reading online, but for those of you that don’t mind, Solaris has released Chris Roberson’s novel Three Unbroken online. They’ll be publishing a new chapter every week. The press release can be found here. I got the information from Fantasy Book Critic, just so you all know, but it’s all over the net. Futurismic put up this article that discusses the future of thermoelectrics. Basically, this means generating electricity by using heat. An example would using your body heat to power your iPod or other mp3 player. Well, they may have figured it out. That’s a good thing. SF Bookworm has been running a huge series of articles on how to store and care for your books. For some of us who consider ourselves collectors, this is a great series. But I think a lot of us don’t have the means they are suggesting to fully care for books the right way. We can still learn some things like how to keep bugs off your books, etc. Scalzi rants (effectively mind you) about Dragon Magazine’s re-opening to submissions with very bad requirements: giving up all rights to your work for a crappy pay rate. Read his rant, it’s good, and valid. Futurismic has another interesting article about e-democracy, a concept we’re probably not very familiar with here in America. However, in the lovely UK they have a government electronic petition site, which, while not very effective for producing good results, is still a step in the ‘right’ direction. (I put that in quotes because some would argue it’s not the right direction, an argument I could agree with to some extent. This is really only the tip of the iceberg though. I have links saved on my laptop and on my personal computer at home, so expect more links in the next few weeks.

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