SF/F Links: April April April
Nothing like a few more links to make you grin with joy, right? This time I have quite a few really interesting ones, which isn’t to say that the ones I had put up in previous posts weren’t interesting. I’m just trying to make you more excited about these particular links. Here goes: Vandonovan presents possibly one of the worst examples of purple prose ever thrust onto the public. To make it more entertaining, though, there is fanart (make sure to scroll down for the link, because it’s hilarious). Robert J. Sawyer has some interesting answers to questions about technology (meant for a Turkish newspaper/magazine apparently). Thoughts By Ted asks whether it is ethical to pirate the e-text of a book he already owns for travel convenience (so he doesn’t have to lug the dead tree book around). What do you think? A really awesomely detailed diagram of a sailing ship from back in the day. Check out the website for Iron Sky, a new alternate history movie in which Nazis fled to the moon and then came back to fulfill Hitler’s mission! Discovery has a story about a computer called MEXICA that actually writers fiction stories. I don’t know how good they are, but that’s pretty cool in my book! Here is an interesting chart called the Trilogy Meter, showing (I think) the relationship between the different parts of various famous movie trilogies based on popularity and rating. It’s simple, so don’t be overwhelmed. Scientists studying the human brain and its reactions to the process of reading have made some fascinating discoveries, particularly this one that suggests that we create simulations within our minds of the world presented within a story (not necessarily a fantasy story, but any story). Here’s an interesting post defending readers. It talks a lot about the solitary experience that is reading. I have no idea who the author is defending readers against, but so be it. Elizabeth Willse asks “What Makes Good Fantasy?” Well, what do you think makes good fantasy? I’ll have more links later on. For now, this is it! Anywho!
Nine Reasons Why Airports Should Offer Free Wireless
…or at least dirt-freaking-cheap wireless that doesn’t require you to pay for twenty-four hours of service when you’re only going to use, at most, a few hours… With all my airport problems over the weekend, I figure this is a most fitting list to place here. I wrote it while in the airport (or in the plane) and had it sitting in my blog folder on my desktop for a few days. Here goes: Airline tickets ain’t cheapI mean, I know the recession has dropped ticket costs some in the last few months, but it still costs an arm and a leg to fly from the U.S. to any major western country. I only have two arms and two legs. I can’t keep lending them to the airlines only to have to trade them for pieces of my soul later on. And have you tried to walk in any major airport without a leg? Not fun.I think wireless should come with the cost of the ticket. Free of charge. Security in the U.S. blowsIf you’ve flown anywhere recently you’ll have had the distinct pleasure of experiencing the crapfest that is the security line. Now, Manchester International Airport (not in the U.S., but necessary here for comparison purposes) has become an enormous efficient airport, with what look like busy days being reduced to the business of dead days (it took me all of five minutes to get through security there).The U.S., however, is completely and utterly disorganized. The lines are long, you never know which one you’re supposed to get into, the people in the line smell, the machines are (with exception to SFO) antiquated monstrosities from some far-gone era of pre-9/11 crappiness, and, well, they just suck.Just for that, we should be handed free wireless like candy. Or they could hand out chocolate bars or something. That would be a nice start to repaying us for having to sit through that crap. Airline stores are expensive for no reasonAnd those stores make a lot of money, by the way. It’s not like they’re concerned about business. But we’re still forced to pay ungodly amounts of money for stuff we could get for pennies on the dollar in the real world. That wouldn’t be a problem if it was easy to head off into the real world and buy some cheap burgers, but since we can’t, it sucks. The least these damned companies could do is offer an hour of free wireless for a purchase. Coffee shops do that. Seems only fair, right? Wireless is cheapI mean, come on, it’s not like having a couple wireless routers in an freaking airport is going to cost them mass amounts of money, right? The wireless they do offer charges you outrageous prices for service you can’t really use anyway (cause who spends 24 hours in a freaking airport anyway?). Why couldn’t they just offer cheap wireless instead of this expensive crap? At least then I wouldn’t have much to complain about. I’m awesome and deserve itEnough said. Airplanes suckThey’re frequently uncomfortable, loud, cold, stuffy, hot, and full of screaming children. It’s bad enough to deal with that kind of crap for an hour or two, but when you’re flying to Europe from the West Coast it’s like putting your head through a salt grinder. The least the airlines could do is appease you with free wireless while you sit through the gruesome waits for boarding, the screaming children, and the exceedingly old people who stink up the plain with their elderly farts… Delayed flights and other airport/airline evilsNothing worse than missing a connection because your flight was delayed. Okay, so Hitler and people who think vampires actually exist are worse than that, but delayed flights and missed connections are certainly in the top five hundred worst things ever…I’ll say no more on this subject, since the next one is directly related. Stupid people run airportsThere is some exception to Philly, I think, and SFO (to some degree, at least), but in writing up this post for WISB I experienced the full brunt of airport stupidity. Newark International Airport decided, on the day of my domestic flight back to San Francisco (on a Sunday), that it would change it’s procedures for arriving and departing airplanes. I suspect it had something to do with making the airport more efficient in getting planes up and down (it’s an enormous airport that puts through a lot of planes and people).Well, unfortunately the folks who run Newark are about as intelligent and George W. Bush. Their new-fangled system not only didn’t work, but it blocked up all the runways to the point where they could no longer let planes come in or leave…period. I’m currently sitting in the plane, in the queue, waiting for the airport to tell us we can leave…only we don’t know when that will be. For all we know it could be next Thursday.Now, I’m not sure why this turned out like it did. You would think that such a large airport would have used some sort of simulator for such a change in the system. Apparently not. I definitely think wireless should be given for this…not cool at all. Because it’s stupid not toI mean, come on, you’re a freaking airport, the one place where people of almost every culture are forced to intermingle and never communicate with one another. Airports are supposed to be relatively high tech, fun, and exciting, right? Or is that an illusion from my childhood? Give us the wireless! We wants it! We needs it! With that, I’ll ask you what reasons you think airports should offer free wireless. Leave a comment or send me an email!
Top Five Tools For Writers (in today’s writing environment)
Every writer has tools. Back in the old days they had a dictionary and/or a thesaurus—typewriters too, of course. When computers came around, it changed things, making it easier for folks to type up manuscripts and print them. Now that we’re easily over two decades past the invention of the personal computer (and I’m guessing because I’m writing this from England and currently have no access to the Internet, which was something I took note in this post) it’s interesting to think about all the various tools that have become staples in a writer’s life—or at least in mine (since not all writers use all these tools and some even stick to older writer’s tools).So, I started to think about what might be considered the top five tools for writers in today’s world, based exclusively on my personal opinion and on what I know are used by a majority of writers out there. I’ve intentionally left out things that I think are obvious: computers, laptops, word processors (of any description), and other things that have been around in some significant capacity.Here goes (in order): Web or Software-based Dictionaries/ThesauriPossibly the best tool for any writer who makes use of the computer primarily for writing, these handy tools (such as WordWeb or Dictionary.com) put at your disposal an arsenal of definitions. I particularly like WordWeb, which makes getting definitions or spelling corrections as simple as a click on an icon in your taskbar, but pretty much any tool that makes it easier to find words while writing, without dragging out the process like the old dead-tree forms did, deserves to be on this list. Duotrope, Ralan, and Other Online Market DatabasesIt used to be that not too long ago you had to either already know about the places you were going to submit to or you had to buy one of those Writer’s Digest Market Guides in order to figure out where to send your work. Now we have all sorts of market databases, some of them specific to certain genres (Ralan) and some pretty much wide open (Duotrope). These have made it not only easier for writers, but also easier for small publishers (particularly magazines) to make themselves known to all sorts of writers out there. Critique Services, Forums, and Social NetworkingI don’t know how writers managed to get along without places like Critique Circle or the various forums dedicated to improving one’s writing (such as Young Writers Online—shameless plug). Such places have truly revolutionized how we do writing groups and critiques. Add into that the incredible tool that is Social Networking, in all its various forms (Facebook, Myspace, or even writing specific sites), and you have a collection of endlessly useful things for any writer in today’s highly tech-based world. Database and Note-Taking SoftwareEvernote, StickIt, Freemind, and even Microsoft’s various versions of those programs have all contributed, in my opinion, to making the writing world what it is today. Such programs offer a wide range of ways of keeping track of your writing, and even ways of organizing information about one’s SF/F worlds. Wasn’t too long ago that a writer had to waste reams of paper and countless hours in order to develop and organize all the necessary world building bits. Now all you have to do is have the right program and typing skills (handy knowledge of quick keys doesn’t hurt either). The InternetThis is number one only because I am intentionally ignoring the drawbacks. As a tool, the Internet puts at any writer’s disposal everything from marketing to research. There are encyclopedias, forums, blogs, music sites, databases, etc. (the list is literally endless). No matter what kind of writer you are (whether you write genre fiction or literary fiction), the Internet offers just about everything you could possibly need as far as improving your writing is concerned (or improving the realism of your prose). Now, if only you could cut out all the drawbacks (the Internet is a time sink, after all), then it’d be the perfect tool. What tools do you use for writing? Leave a comment and let me know. I might discover something new and interesting!
Ten Things That Make Me Stop Reading
Hinging off Matt Staggs’ recent post on the same subject, I thought I would talk about what elements in a novel make me stop reading.I’m a notoriously picky reader, especially when it comes to novels. Some of my TAs at school have learned this, and others are probably oblivious, but when I’m not entertained by a book, it instantly becomes a chore and, thus, difficult for me to actually get through (sometimes I stop reading entirely, even though they are school books). Since I already have to read so many novels, I find myself largely becoming uninterested in books that don’t immediately grab me and, thus, I develop a more sophisticated (not necessarily better) taste in literature.Here are ten things that will almost always make me toss a book across the room: Unrealistic Sex ScenesI realize that the uber dork meeting an attractive woman and then having an all-night-romp of passionate, intense love making is appealing, but it’s also incredibly unrealistic and somewhat pathetic. What about nerves? What about guys who aren’t reincarnated sex machines? Most men aren’t super lovers who can go seven times in half a day (I’m looking at you, Greg Bear; that scene in Blood Music was absolutely absurd and seemed too much like a personal fantasy). Of course, most men won’t admit this, but that’s not the point. The point is that sex isn’t perfect. Not everyone who is inexperienced will magically be good at it. Most will suck. Let’s put some of that into our novels, please. The unrealistic inexperienced lanky guy who gives his partner five O-moments in one night is a bit, well, overused and easy to see as poorly disguised personal fantasy. Rape (Used Poorly)Any time when rape is used for shock value, I’m out. The same can be said for scenes following a rape in which the victim seems relatively un-phased. I don’t find rape entertaining; most people don’t. Rape should be put into a story to serve a purpose. This is why I couldn’t stand The Hills Have Eyes 2: the rape scene was there only to be shocking, not to develop a character in a certain way or drive the plot or anything (it was an opportunity to do something disgusting in order to make our skin crawl). I will drop books that do not address rape as an important and emotionally devastating thing. It’s no walk in the park and I want to see that in the writing. Violence For the Sake of Being ViolentI don’t mind blood and gore. But just as with rape, it has to have a purpose. If you’re just showing me limbs being chopped off because you like it, then I’m likely to drop the book. I want violence that takes itself seriously, that tries to convey a scene realistically and with logical consequences. If a character is involved in a war and manages to survive relatively unscathed after seeing all his friends get chopped to bits, how does he respond to that? If your answer is anything like “he goes off and dances to lively elven music while remarking how awesome the battle was,” then I’m out. Being Artistic For the Sake of Being ArtisticConsider this literary snobbery, if you like. I absolutely despise novels that try to do new things with language or story for the purpose of being artistic. The problem I have with a lot of literary fiction is that most of the people who write that stuff are so focused on the art form that they have forgotten how to tell a story. Literature is here to tell and show us stories. Novels that don’t give any attention to the story and all the attention to language and style are ones that eventually get dropped by me. Entertain me with your pretty language; don’t bore me to death. Laggy BeginningsIf it takes more than fifty pages for something to happen that is interesting, then I’m not likely to finish the book. In a 300-page novel, it’s not much to ask for a bit of action or something in the beginning, even if it’s something small. Set up a question or show me something crazy. Do something. You’ve got more space to get me interested in the rest of the book than you had with your editor. The ending shouldn’t be boring, period. Crappy WritingThis one is pretty obvious, right? I’m going to lob all forms of crappy writing in there: bad style, lots of spelling/grammar errors, poor plotting, etc. I don’t think I need to go beyond this except to say that how you tell a story is extremely important. If reading a work is like trying to decipher ancient hieroglyphics, then clearly whatever it is I’m reading doesn’t deserve to be published. Poor Science Played Off Like Legit ScienceI’m perfectly fine with letting slide things like faster-than-light travel, aliens that look human-ish, etc. What I don’t like is when a science fiction author writes a story filled with explanation about some “new” science that, in reality, is actually a load of absolute nonsense. If you want to write fantasy, then write fantasy. If you want to write hard SF, then stick with sciences we know. The one thing that non-hard SF writers do successfully is represent their “fantasy” tropes as just that: tropes. FTL for them is simply there, thus allowing them to focus on the story rather than trying to explain how their FTL works without violating the laws of the universe. Don’t explain to me how FTL works, just tell me it does and move on. Confusing Names and Other Bad Worldbuilding CrapNames need vowels. Fjfjcbvyx is not a name; it’s what happens when your cat runs over your keyboard. The thing that bothers me about some fantasy novels is the endless repetition of the unpronounceable name. This alone isn’t enough, though. There have to be a collection of worldbuilding-related things working together to get me to drop a novel. These include, but
The Book Review Meme
Well, I thought I would jump in on the bandwagon. Here’s the newest viral meme from John of Grasping for the Wind: The Book Review Meme @ Grasping for the Wind1. Grasping for the Wind – INFOQUAKE by David Louis Edelman2. Age 30+ … A Lifetime of Books – A COMPANION TO WOLVES by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear3. Dragons, Heroes and Wizards – ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE by Robin Hobb4. Walker of Worlds – THE TEMPORAL VOID by Peter F Hamilton5. Neth Space – TOLL THE HOUNDS by Steven Erikson6. Dark in the Dark – GHOST STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY by M.R. James7. A Dribble of Ink – THE SHADOW OF THE WIND by Carlos Ruiz Zafon8. Fantasy Book News & Reviews – EMPRESS by Karen Miller9. Fantasy Debut – ACACIA by David Anthony Durham Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Overall Review Afterthought 10. WISB/F&SF Lovin’ Blog – SEABORN by Chris Howard There you have it! Feel free to steal it and add your own!
Ten Reasons Why Fantasy Is Still Awesome
Hot on the heels of my “Ten Reasons Why Science Fiction Is Still Awesome” list, here is my take on the reasons why fantasy is still awesome. This list was much more difficult than the last primarily because most of the reasons I came up with were cliche. I wanted to do something more with this list than just talk about dragons and magic (granted, those things are in this list, just not as separate items). Don’t be scared to leave me a comment.And here goes: PopularityIt seems like the fantasy genre never had to worry about dying out. It’s always been popular and probably always will be because it is the ultimate escape. Science fiction, unfortunately, is limited in scope. It can only go so far before it becomes fantasy. Fantasy can go anywhere, anytime, anyplace (why it doesn’t, I don’t know). And with all the movies, TV shows, comics, etc. being made out of fantasy series, I don’t expect this popular boom to stop. Improves LiteracyYou might disagree with me on this, but I see the fantasy genre as one that has drastically improved literacy across multiple generations and improved the desire to read among the young. Harry Potter may not be the best fantasy or literature in general, but it has fired up the imaginations of kids all around the world. Even Twilight and Paolini’s Eragon have done wonders for literacy and reading. Say what you will about any of these authors. The fact remains that while kids are still picking these books up, they’re still reading. Some of them may move on and try more “literary” things, or some may stick with fantasy, or science fiction, or both. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that they’re reading! VarietyHow many different series are there in fantasy? How many of them are still going? Every year the list gets longer and longer. The genre isn’t letting up. True, I find the automatic move towards the trilogy or the never-ending series tiring, but the one thing you can’t knock fantasy for is the variety. There are so many authors, so many different kinds of fantasy, so many publishers, so many lengths and characters, etc. The tropes are still there, but if you’re willing to flutter along the edges you can find some fascinating, thought-provoking works. MoviesFor some reason it seems like fantasy books make far better movies that science fiction books do. Case in point:The Lord of the Rings movies were absolutely brilliant, as were the books. 2001: A Space Odyssey or Blade Runner? Not so much. Visually they were brilliant, but as far as being entertaining films…not by a long shot.Fantasy has Stardust, Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia, Spiderwick, and Conan (yes, this last one was a good movie for what it was, thank you). Science fiction can’t really compare as far as well-rounded films go. This is referring ONLY to books turned into movies. As far as completely original works in film form, science fiction trumps fantasy every single time (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.). Contemporary FantasyThis “new” trend of fantasy stories that flirt with the edges of the genre are particularly fascinating these days. It’s probably partially because they’re being written by people far outside of the genre (or at least not people who are known as part of the genre), or maybe it’s for entirely different reasons. Either way, contemporary fantasy, as a genre that isn’t all that new and yet feels so, well, fresh, is, in my opinion, revitalizing an already healthy genre. To put it simply, it adds character. Escapism (Still)Fantasy is still the kind of escapism, and I mean that in a good way. While some of its subgenres have become a little tired, new forms are erupting all over the place, drawing people in and giving them the opportunity to see fantastic worlds that never existed, to meet kings and magicians, and to see amazing creatures brought to life. Fantasy is still the only genre that truly offers an escape into the impossible, and it will continue to do so in the future. ImaginativenessThis ties into escapism, but at the same time is separate. Fantasy has an obvious history as the genre of the imagination, where things come to life that otherwise could never exist. Science fiction does a good job covering the possible, but fantasy covers all that stuff that never will be. As such, it’s a genre of imaginative elements, drawn together into new and striking worlds and characters. The cliches are still around, but the longer you look into the genre, the more you come to realize how much creative diversity exists there (it’s interesting, also, to consider that many of those old cliche elements are now being reworked and changed; orcs can now defy their “programming” and be good folks, if you can believe it). Comics/Graphic NovelsWhile I’m sure there are some excellent science fiction comics/graphic novels, most of the ones I have enjoyed have been fantasy, in some shape or form (and almost always some sort of Japanese concoction). Even the superhero genre has a hard time breaking out of the fantasy genre, if that was ever its intention. Granted, a lot of the best comic/graphic novel-based movies were science fiction, but that doesn’t seem to have phased the thriving fantasy comic/graphic novel market. I’m particularly fond of manga (such as the work of Yuu Watase, who did Alice 19th, one of my favorites). Manly Men and Strong WomenUnlike other genres (like cyberpunk), fantasy is populated by strong female leads and manly men. When I say manly men, I mean dudes who wield swords and chop off orc limbs with ease. None of this dork with bifocals waltzing around getting laid by cybernetically augmented super witches crap. No, in fantasy, the status quo is still maintained for the sake of realism. Do any of us really believe that a super dork can land a hot girl one not and spend the next twelve hours