Why it can be hard to be a science fiction writer

If you don't like down and out and depressing entries, skip this one!!!

I'm often asked if it's hard to come up with ideas. The answer to this is, no, it's not hard. What can be hard is coming up with plausible ideas. I like for my SF to have a ring of truth to it, and given what's going on in the world right now, it's hard to come up with plausible ideas because, quite simply, I'm really beginning to doubt that the human race has a future.

More than 30 people were massacred on an American college campus today. People are blowing themselves up in Iraq for political (read that as religious) purposes...meanwhile, our government continues to wage a crusade against Muslim nations. Notice that I didn't say wage a war...I said wage a crusade. Other than the obvious economic reasons (oil) for us to wage war on these countries, the main reason we're over there is for religious reasons. As always, I'm just spouting opinion, but I think there's some truth to these opinions.

Bush and the neo-cons are highly religious individuals...even evangelical, and they are doing whatever they can to wage war against a rival religion. As many of you know, I'm an atheist, and basically have no use for religion. If someone wants to believe in some kind of higher power, that's their choice...just don't force your beliefs on me...and that's what's starting to happen in this country. Various school systems are trying to implement the teaching of "intelligent" design, while trying to ban anything that has to do with evolution. I read today that a school system in Kansas banned Pokemon because of its evolutionary overtones. I don't know enough about Pokemon to know what in the hell they're talking about...but there it is.

I'm more than a little curious to find out what the reasoning for the attacks in Virginia were, but it makes you wonder where people are safe anymore? We had a school shooting here in Colorado last year, and then there was the shooting at the Amish school. What's wrong with people?

A long time ago, a friend told me something that has stuck with me...I'm not really sure if it was his quote...he was a bright guy, but this sounds too profound for him. We had been discussing the fall of the Roman Empire, and we'd basically agreed that there were no longer any barbarians to come over the hills. To which he responded, "When there are no longer barbarians to come over the hills, a society will create its own." That's exactly what has happened. The United States has abandoned so many of the ideals that made us at least somewhat of a great nation, and has instead decided to embrace, religion, Brittney Spears, and American Idol.

This country is in serious decline, and sadly, much of the rest of the world wants to be just like us.

This, my dear readers, is why I find it hard to be a science fiction writer. How are you supposed to write about the future, when there probably won't be one?

More cycling geekdom

There are at least one or two people that read here that are actually interested in cycling, so I thought I'd at least post something more for them.

Yesterday's Paris-Roubaix looked like it was a great race, but the coverage on Versus left a lot to be desired. All totaled, they showed about half an hour of the race, and the race is about six hours long, so you can kind of fill in the pieces as to just how bad the coverage was. They showed about six sections of pave (bad cobbles) and the finish. They would go to commercial breaks and then come back 30 km further into the race. The announcers had recorded their coverage from France live, so the problem was obviously with the editing. Several years ago they showed it live, and that was still the best coverage I've ever seen of the race.

Usually the race is cold, and often times wet, which devastates the field, but yesterday was the hottest Paris-Roubaix on record, and the race has been run since 1898. The week before they had one of the hottest Ronde Van Vlanderaan ever...makes you wonder.

At least Stewart O'Grady won...he's been deserving of this kind of victory for quite some time...

Less depressing news

While out shopping with Vik and Josh today, one of the twins called me to tell me that she'd lost her first tooth! It's a momentous day for her!

People change

I got a MySpace message from my friend Spencer this morning, and I'd have to say that I'm still kind of reeling from it. When we were in high school, we had a friend, who we'll call "D." Now D was a nice kid...shy, kind of quiet...a little weird (but so were most of my friends.) He was one of those people you knew you could always count on, provided his mother would actually let him out of the house.

The message was a link to information about D's criminal record. Apparently he was arrested for attempted sexual assault! It's still hard for me to believe, because he never really seemed like the type, but I guess it shows you that people can and do change over time. It also makes you realize that everyone is capable of violence. No matter how much we've evolved, there's still enough of the wild in us that we can be capable of horrible acts against one another. Most of us are able to control those urges, but they're always right there below the surface.

Maybe that's why as a writer, I like to create characters that are flawed. Many of my protagonists seem to be on the verge of doing something horrible almost all the time.

As I think about D, I wonder how much of this is a result of the way he was brought up. His mother was domineering and tried to control almost every aspect of his life. Maybe if she would have lightened up a bit and let him live, he wouldn't have turned out this way. Still, no matter what his mother did, it was still his choice to commit this crime, and as a result he bares all responsibility for it.

I'm still in shock!

The Locus Poll closes tomorrow

I posted this a while ago, but since tomorrow's the last day to vote, I figured I'd post it again...Click on the title of this blog to vote...

Locus Magazine has opened up its annual readers' poll, and this year, we've decided we're going to try to make a dent in it. The chances of us winning in any category are pretty slim because this is a MAJOR award, and most of the candidates are BIG NAMED writers. Still, Tyree and I have always had a little Don Quixote in us...so we're going to make a run for it, and at least try to get some recognition for Sam's Dot!
Below you will find a ballot that we've put together that we'd like to encourage you to follow. The main difference between this and the P&E poll is 1) It's a lot harder to stuff the ballot box on this one, and 2) The only nominations that appear on the ballot are those that came from the magazine...which means that you have to do a write-in for all of these nominations. It's kind of difficult, and time consuming, but if you love Sam's Dot...it's worth it. The ballot we put together contains mostly people and stories from Sam's Dot, but if we had extra room, we also tried to come up with some names of people we like as well...
One final note, you can vote for up to five in each topic, and the ballot below lists people basically in the order that we came up with them, not necessarily in the order that we think they belong (so no hurt feelings if you think you're better than someone ahead of you.)
SF Novel:
1) Friends in Dark Places by John Bushore
Best First Novel:1) Friends in Dark Places by John Bushore
2) Forbidden Cargo by Rebecca Rowe
Best Novella:
1) The Battle for Newhome by Terry Hickman
2) Urbania by L.A. Story Houry
3) Tower to Heaven by David Wright
Best Short Story:
1) Generation Gap by Tyree Campbell
2) Points of Departure by Jennifer Crow
3) Abstinence by Sarah Kelderman
4) An Asteroid by Any Other Name by David Lee Summers
5) Entropy by J Alan Erwine
Best Magazine:
1) Aoife’s Kiss
2) Beyond Centauri
3) The Martian Wave
4) The Fifth Di…
5) Champagne Shivers
Best Book Publisher:
1) Sam’s Dot Publishing
2) Nomadic Delirium Press
3) LBF Books
4) Apex Publishing
5) Perplexed Puffin Press
Best Anthology:
1) Erwine-Ecotastrophe
2) Campbell-Esperance
3) Erwine-Just Because
4) Campbell-Bondage
5) Erwine-Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 5
Best Single Author Collection:
1) Flashing the Dark by Bruce Boston
2) Long Way Home by R.D. Robbins
Best Editor:
1) Tyree Campbell
2) J Alan Erwine
3) Cathy Buburuz
4) Teri Santitoro
5) Terrie Leigh Relf
Best Artist:
1) Laura Givens
2) Marge Simon
3) 7ARS
4) Jolene Flasher
5) Anselmo Alliegro

Even more on Kurt

Denver sports writer Woody Paige even commented on Vonnegut's death. Click on the title of this blog and you can see what he had to say...there's a nice twist for those of you in Denver...

More on Kurt

People who watch sports are upset when an athlete they like dies. The same is true for people who watch movies when an actor dies. But for those of us who read, I think losing one of our favorite authors might be harder. The reason I say this is because we actually get to know that person a little. No matter how hard an author tries to keep themselves out of their writing, there's always a part of them in there. Their viewpoint, a bit of characterization, something that is them...and the more you read of that author, the more you see the similarities, and the more you're able to piece together a little of who that person is. I don't think people get that same connection with an athlete or an actor...unless of course they actually get to meet them, and get to know the real person.

Maybe I never met Kurt Vonnegut, but he certainly left an impression on me, and who knows maybe he even helped to form a little of who I am...I know he did as a writer.

I've read a few other postings about him that I'd like to direct you to...


David Louis Edelman's blog

Keith Graham's great story

Jim Van Pelt's LiveJournal story

So it goes

This is a video I found on YouTube. It's not put together very well, but I still found it interesting. I'll have more to say later...

R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut, author of Slaughterhouse Five and many other great novels died Wednesday apparently as a result of head injuries suffered in a fall a few weeks ago.

His writing has played a huge role in my development as an author. I've always been a fan of satire, and in my opinion, no one did it better than him. He was once quoted as saying, "I will say anything to be funny, often in the most horrible situations," and for anyone who knows me...they can see why this man's writing would appeal to my sick and twisted view of the world.

Vonnegut, along with about a dozen authors, are probably the reason why I became a writer...but now you have one less person to blame personally.

Vonnegut will be sorely missed...

Just because I'm a cycling geek

I decided to go with something a little different this time. Some of you might know that I'm a huge cycling fan. I'm into European Road Racing like most Americans are into football. I used to race as a junior...in fact, one of the guys who now rides in Europe (once finished 3rd in the Tour de France), Bobby Julich, is a guy who used to kick my butt all over the Rocky Mountains.

Anyway, I decided to post a cool video I found about cycling...



...and since this weekend is the biggest one day race of the year, Paris-Roubaix, I decided to post a little video about the most notorious section of cobblestones in that race. The riders have to go through the Arenberg Forest...in fact, the road they're riding on was first laid down by the army of Napoleon...

The wait is over!!!

That's right, folks...we finally know who the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby is!!

Now, my next question, who really cares? This is the top news story? It's entirely possible that the US is planning on attacking Iran soon, global warming might be destroying the planet, there's genocide in Darfur, natural disasters all over the world, and this is what people are talking about?

What happened to people caring about real things?

I'm quickly going into bitter mode when it comes to the human race...must be time to crank out another satirical short story...

For now I leave you...just to keep all of you from feeling my wrath...

Amazon Reviews

I've noticed a trend lately where some writers try to plug their novels by pointing out all of the great reviews they're getting on Amazon. Inevitably, most of the writers doing this have had their books published by a vanity publisher...one of those groups that charges you a ton of money so they can publish your book, and rarely do you make that money back.

It's ridiculous to use Amazon reviews as a way of promoting your book. The main reason is that anybody can post a review on their site. So, all an author has to do is go out and get all of their friends to say nice things, and all of a sudden the book is rated five out of five stars, but that doesn't really tell you anything. On the flip side of this, if you piss someone off, they can go to your book's page and pan it, and then they can get all of their friends to do that as well...and yes, this really does happen.

I'll admit that I'm glad to see that one person has reviewed The Opium of the People, and given it five stars, but that doesn't really mean anything to me. For all I know, this might have been a friend of mine who was just trying to be nice. Has it helped me sell anymore copies? Probably not.

If you have a book, and you want real reviews, then you have to try a lot harder. In order to be taken seriously, you have to have reviews from major sources. This is very hard to do for a small press novel, and almost impossible to do for a vanity published book. But it is the only way you'll be taken seriously, and it's one of the best ways to sell more copies...

Characters

Since this is the celebration of Spring, and a Pagan holiday, I decided to get a little lighter today than I have been. Spring? It's snowing and the temperature is below freezing...and we've had quite a bit of freezing drizzle, which is almost unheard of in this area...

Today I thought I'd talk about something that I get asked about a lot. Where do my characters come from?

My protagonists are generally victims of the world they live in. Strangely, as anti-military as I tend to be, a lot of my characters are soldiers...but they're usually soldiers with a conscience. They view the nasty world of war from inside, and don't like what they see. Often that consumes them...yes, I have a bad habit of killing off my characters.

I view oppression in the world as one of the greatest evils, and thus my characters are often oppressed...by religion, society, the corporate world, whatever happens to be bugging me on the day I write.

I also use scientists a lot...and they usually realize that whatever they're doing is being perverted by the government they work for. Are you starting to see a theme here?

As for antagonists, I often try to use people that I can't really understand. Again the military is a big one for me. I know this will piss my friend Vik off, but if you join the military as infantry, fighter pilot, marine, and such, then it means that you are willing to kill. Somewhere in your psyche is the ability to take another human being's life, and that is something I can't comprehend, so I often use those characters. Same could be said for using CEOs of major corporations. I've never understood the goal of raping and pillaging the planet and its inhabitants just to make a buck...so they're often my antagonists. I suppose it's an attempt on my part to better understand these people.

More than anything, my antagonists tend to be amorphous concepts (oppression, environmental damage, war, hatred). There may be people filling those roles, but they're part of a bigger whole, and at times even my antagonists are victims more than participants.

Basically, I guess you could say that my characters tend to be caught up in a world that they have no chance of truly understanding, and they have no chance of being able to control it. Still, it's their struggle that makes them who they are, and even if they fail, they usually give a good fight.

The World is Grey

Yes, I realize that I'm not using the American spelling of grey, but I like the way this one looks so much more.

When did the world become so polarized? These days it seems you're either a liberal or a conservative...you either support the troops or you're against them...you think illegal immigrants should either be deported or given complete amnesty...etc. etc.

There are no right and wrong answers in the world, there are just varying shades of grey. A while back we were discussing global warming here, and it seems like you have to either agree that humans caused it, or they have no effect on it. The answer actually lies somewhere in the middle. I think most of the people who visit this blog probably agree with that, but the people who come here aren't like most of the people in the rest of the world...if you are, why are you reading?

Here in America, nothing can even get done politically anymore because people are so polarized in their ways. Bush or the Congress are either completely right or completely wrong...it doesn't make any sense to me. I'll be the first to admit that I think Bush is one of the worst presidents we've ever had. Just because I believe that doesn't mean that I'll dismiss everything he says, but that seems to be what's called for in America these days. No single political party has the answers to everything, and believing that to be true is ridiculous...but until we stop all the pointless bickering over party politics, we're not going to be able to accomplish much.

On the idea of troops it seems that if you don't want them in Iraq, then that means that you don't support them. This is an idea that is certainly being propagated by the current administration, but it's absurd. My personal feeling is that we never should have gone there in the first place, and I don't want to see anymore of our guys getting killed over something that has been going on for centuries, and is going to be solved by making them become democratic.

I have never been a big supporter of the military. Our military budget has taken away from programs that could have actually helped humanity. Yes, true, we do need a defense, but if we improved out international relations with others, we would have fewer problems.

Once again, I'm not saying anything that is big news to anyone here. In fact, I would imagine that most of you agree that we need to stop seeing the world in black & white.

The War on Terror

Global Climate Change seems to have cooled down here on the blogs, so I'll bring up another hot political topic...the war on terror.

First of all, let me say that most of what you're going to read in this entry and in my other entries are just opinions. There are certainly data to back up my opinions, as I don't usually mouth off about things unless I know a little something about them, but I don't feel like documenting where I'm getting info from...I'm just telling you what I think and feel.

Now, having said that, let me say that the war on terror is a stupid concept!!! You can't wage a war on terror and hope to win. Terror is something that's always going to be with us. As long as there is a group that feels they're being oppressed (and there always will be) terror will be a viable way of striking back at a target that can't be defeated face to face. Believe me, if terrorist backed countries had powerful armies, they'd come after us that way...but they don't, so they resort to terror.

What was one of the first well known terrorist attacks on American soil? Most people would say Oklahoma City, but you have to go back a little further than that. Let's say back to the Boston Tea Party. That's right, America, your country was formed by a bunch of terrorists. Granted, that's an extreme oversimplification of the facts, but there certainly was an element of terror to our revolution against the crown of England.

As a writer, terrorism has always fascinated me. It shows up in a lot of my work, much of it dating to before 9/11. The Opium of the People, which was written before the terrorist attacks has America being governed by a theocracy, and the heroes...the common everyday people like you and me...have to resort to terrorism in order to get their point across. A lot of people don't think that's possible in this country, but look at the civil rights movement and the activities of AIM, the Black Panthers, and others. Or, look at the eco-terrorism we're starting to see here in America from Earth First! and ELF. Believe me, if white Republican America suddenly found itself oppressed, or ignored, terrorism would certainly be an option...although the Neo-Cons are already waging their own form of terrorism on us...but that's a topic for another blog.

Another thing that bothers me about the War on Terror is that this is a religious war against Muslims. If you were to listen to Bush and his cronies, you'd think that only Muslims committed terrorist acts...but what about ETA in Spain, the Colombian cartels, the Chechen rebels, the Russian and Asian mobs? Granted, none of those organizations has every directly attacked the US, but they don't seem to be a priority in any way shape of form for our government. For years I've been reading reports that there are now possible links between the Russian mob, the Asian mobs, and the Colombian cartels. If those organizations really were to link up, they would probably be a lot more dangerous than Al-Qaeda. No, this war on terror that we find ourselves in is completely based on religion and a thirst for oil.

Until the US chooses to deal fairly with the Arab nations, they will continue to hate us and the threat of terror will continue to be there. The US policy is that we only support nations with elected governments that the people are ok with (yes, that is once again a gross oversimplification, but bare with me for a moment.) One of our main allies in the Middle East is Saudi Arabia, a nation with a monarchy that is unpopular with the people of Saudi Arabia, and yet we still deal with them. When we demanded that the Palestinians vote in a government, they agreed. Then when they voted in Hamas, we refused to recognize the government. What kind of signal does that send to the other nations we're trying to "liberate?"

I don't advocate terrorism...I'm basically a pacifist by nature, but my point in all of this ranting is that the US is basically responsible for creating the situation we now find ourselves in. Until the US begins to acknowledge that there is more to the world than the white Judeo/Christian viewpoint, people will continue to want to bring us down...and invading countries to "liberate" them only makes the situation worse!

Silly writers

I was just reading on someone's LiveJournal where they and several other writers were offended by the fact that they got a form rejection from Asimov's. What did they really expect? They get several hundred submissions a month, and I'm sure most of it is crap...they're not going to take the time to actually respond to every submission.

I pretty much expect a form rejection everywhere I go, and I'm genuinely surprised when I get a personal rejection. I myself almost always use something like a form rejection as an editor. The main reason I do that is because many writers take it as a personal attack if you don't like their story, and if you try to tell them what's actually wrong with it, they throw it back at you as if there's something wrong with the editor. Who needs that?

Any writer who is going to be offended by form rejection letters should just get out of the business right now...

Ancestry

On Saturday, after the photo shoot, several of us decided to go to dinner at a great Italian restaurant in south Denver...The Saucy Noodle. I think Spencer will know what I'm talking about.

During dinner, we got to talking about ancestry...one because we were trying to figure out where our waitress was from (Brazil), and also because my friend who was with me is from Russia. Anyway, I mentioned that I'm 1/8 Chickasaw, and of course someone then asked me if I was registered. You see, with the Chickasaw tribe, you just have to be able to prove that you had someone on the Dawes Rolls of 1890, which my Great-Great Grandfather was on. That means that if I wanted to go through the paperwork, I could have myself declared Native American.

And of course, everyone thinks that's a great idea because then you can get money from the casinos. Of course, not every tribe has a casino, and the majority of native peoples living on reservations actually live below the poverty line...but you wouldn't think so with the propaganda spit out by the government.

However, I am yet again digressing. There are a couple of reasons why it can be a good idea to register. For one thing, if there are casino, oil, uranium residuals and such, I could get a portion. Also, if the tribe receives any kind of aid from the government, I would also be eligible. In addition, I would be able to check the little box that says Native American rather than white, and there could be all kinds of benefits to that.

Why don't I? It's actually pretty simple. I don't feel I deserve any of that. I am very proud of my heritage, and would certainly like to help in any way that I could, but I've never lived on a reservation. In fact, I basically grew up in white suburbia, so I don't really know what it means to be an Indian. Therefore, I've never felt that I deserve any of those benefits. Not only that, but anything that I could get would have to be taken from someone else...and there are a lot of people living on the reservations who need a lot more help than I do. I'm basically poor because I choose to be poor...it's called wanting to be a writer.

Not really sure what prompted this post, but there it is...

Love that feeling

One of the best feelings in the world is putting the finishing touches on a new story. You type the last correction, format it, print it out, put it in an envelope, and then walk to the mailbox. That feeling is amazing. The only thing better in the world is selling a story!

Tonight I put the finishing touches on my new story "The Magenta Equations," and when I finished it, I just had that feeling that this was something special. Most writers know that you write story after story, and then one day you write something that's beyond anything you've done before. That's the feeling I get from this story. I really feel like I've just taken a major step in my evolution as a writer. Now I'm just hopeful that some editor will agree with me...

Well, I guess now I have to try and top that story...

This one is priceless

Keith Richards has admited that he snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine. Click on the title to read the entire article.

How is it that this man is still alive?

Skeleton of the Onondaga

My first ever horror story has been published by AlienSkin Magazine. This isn't one of my strongest stories, but you're certainly welcome to read it. Simply click on the title of this entry, and it will take you to the story...

Get to know J

I have a couple of political posts that I'm thinking about writing, but every time I start on them, I get too lathered up...so maybe those will be for the future.

For now, I thought I'd open up the forum for you to ask me questions...nothing too personal...but feel free to ask me whatever you'd like.

It's your chance to find out who the guy is behind all of those disturbing stories...

It helps to pay attention

Earlier today I was updating the Sam's Dot website a bit. Tyree had sent me the cover and table of contents for the new issue of Beyond Centauri. So, I'm renaming the file to make it easier to work with when I notice my name on the cover...

Apparently my childrens' fantasy story that I thought was going to be in an unnamed anthology, was acutally published in this issue of Beyond Centauri...and I had no idea. It's not really a problem because BC is a great zine, and I've never had my name in their before, so it works. It just kind of took me by surprise.

Anyway, if you'd like to read the story, you'll have to buy a copy of the issue. You can order it from The Genre Mall by clicking on the title of this post, and looking for this...

These are great

I hope Locus is going to keep these up for a while. They're the magazines ideas of good April Fool's jokes...

News Roundup

Study Finds Rejection Makes Writers Sexier

K.J. Anderson in Hostile Takeover of Niven's Known Space

Re-Creative, Inc.: Making Genre Writers Useful for a Change

New award established "to honor excellence in science fiction awards"

Neil Gaiman One Step Closer to Sainthood

The Poet

As many of you know, my career was basically launched by James B. Baker of ProMart. Jim's no longer with us, but I've been doing everything I can to keep his memory alive.

Now, Nomadic Delirium Press is pleased to announce the re-release of The Poet by James B. Baker.

Max checked out of reality fifty years ago. When he comes back, he finds himself to be a bum dressed like a priets. He also finds himself to be the only potent man in an otherwise impotent America.

Max eventually reaches the west coast where he finds himself the host of an hour long TV show watched by billions. His adoring fans begin to call him The Poet, and they see him as the savior of the world.

Joined by his triplet lovers, Max sets out to change the world; a world that is more than a little resistant to his efforts. Smothered by his adoring fans and dogged by men intent on killing him, Max's multiple personalities fight their own battle in his mind, and no one is ever sure who will win.

$16.99 + $3.00 S&H

Pre sale price: $13.00 + $3.00 S&H

ISBN: 1-4196-6578-2

If I'm going to die...

...I might as well post some more pictures from the photo shoot...although these were taken by someone much more talented than me...

Photo Shoot

Today, local artist Laura Givens had a photo shoot. She takes the pictures and then manipulates them into paitings that are often used for book and magazine covers. She's done numerous covers for Sam's Dot, including the current on-line zines The Fifth Di... and The Martian Wave. She's also the managing art editor for Tales of the Talisman. As if that's not enough, she is the one responsible for the cover of the latest version of The Opium of the People and she also did Tyree Campbell's Dog at the Foot of the Bed, and she's done the artwork for most, if not all, of David Lee Summers' books.

So, she had a bunch of us dressing up in costumes and acting like idiots...so, yes, someday you might find a rendition of something I did on the cover of a book or magazine...

We got together at Washington Park, which is in southern Denver, and it made me realize just how much I miss that area of town. Right now, I live in a northern suburb, and it's basically cookie cutter neighborhoods. The area I used to live had character, and it was also a lot easier for someone without a car to get around. I really do miss it. I might have to move back their at some point...

Anyway, I don't have any of the pictures Laura took, but I do have some pictures that my friend Viktoria and I took...and if she finds out that I posted a picture of her here, she's going to kill me...so if there aren't any more blog postings, you'll know what happened to me...

Busy, busy, busy

Been super busy lately. Just finished most of the April updates for Sam's Dot, uploaded several new titles to The Genre Mall, and I still have a new title to announce for Nomadic Delirium Press. All that's kept me away from the blog. I also sat down with my co-designer on the new RPG to work out some of the early details.

Later today, I'm meeting up with the phenomenal artist Laura Givens and several other geeks to just have a geekish kind of day. I'll post more on that later...

The blog list

I've updated my blog list so that you guys can see what I do when I'm procrastinating on my writing...

Look over to the right by my book list...you can't miss it...

Former ProMartian makes it big

As many of you know, I used to edit for a company called ProMart Publishing, which would eventually become Sam's Dot Publishing.

Well, the Hugo Award nominees were named yesterday, and Lawrence Schoen, an author I published quite a few times at ProMart, has been nominated for the Campbell Award for best new writer. The award isn't actually a Hugo, but it's handed out at the same time, and it's a very prestigious award.

So, congrats to him, and it's nice to see another small press author make it to the big time!!!

Future Syndicate reviewed again

Quality Book Reviews has done a quick review of Future Syndicate. Click on the title above to read the review...

Amazon Beta Test

I've been an Amazon associate for a number of years now, and they're currently beta testing a new feature which is supposed to search your page for words or phrases that it can link to. I've installed that here on the blog just to see how it might work.

If you scroll down the blog you'll see that there are certain things highlighted. They give you an option to buy titles by that author or on that subject. It only highlights a few, and sometimes the links don't make much sense, but if you don't try it, you'll never know how it works, right?

In theory, if I were to type Mesoamerican Archaeology (that's for you Spencer), it might highlight the phrase...but then again, it might not. There are several things on the blog that I would think would be highlighted, and yet they're not...go figure.

Anyway, it didn't seem to intrusive, so I thought I'd try it out.

Any gamers out there?

I've been a gamer for about 30 years now...as in role playing games, not video games. I started out with Dungeons & Dragons, and then later I got into Traveller and Shadowrun. Now, one of my friends and I are in the process of designing a science fiction role playing game.

So, I wanted to ask anyone that might happen to drop by here if there was anything they would really like to see in a new SF RPG, or if there is anything that they think has been overdone, or should never be done in the first place.

We have quite a few ideas, but since we aren't going to be the ones buying the game, we'd like to hear what others have to say...

Battlestar

Rarely do I comment on TV shows, mostly because I rarely watch TV. In fact, Battle Star Galactica is the only show that I can say that I actually watch every week. The big question is...why? I have such ambivalent feelings about this show, and last night's season finale left me feeling even more ambivalent.

I won't post what happened just in case there are people here who are planning on watching the episode at some future date, and I don't want to spoil what happens.

So, why do I watch this show? The characters are some of the most screwed up bitter people you could ever meet...which is a good reason for me to like them. Although I liked Star Trek, I often thought the characters were a little too much of the goody goody type, and they always resolved their problems with little damage to who they were as characters. BSG characters don't do that. They're all screwed up, and they continue to screw up, sometimes never learning from their mistakes. Although a few of them did get some interesting lessons about who they were last night!!!

There are also some interesting plot twists that make the show interesting, but this also can cause them problems. With the way they twisted the plot lines last night, they're going to have to really pull something out of their hats in season 4 to make it work, or the show is going to fall flat.

What I don't like about the show is that the drama often borders on melodrama. The writers often go for quick emotional solutions to problems that don't come across as believable, or even worse give away more than they really want to.

So, I love the show, I hate the show, I really can't decide. I do know, however, that when the 4th season starts in 2008, I'm still going to be watching...but they're really going to need to impress me if they want to keep me as a viewer...

A new sale

I just received word that my story "Skeleton of the Onondaga" will appear in the April/May issue of AlienSkin Magazine. This is kind of a surprise to me because this story is a horror story...the only one I've ever written. I'm starting to think that it helps to branch out as a writer, considering that the last two stories I've sold were not science fiction.

The sale of this story illustrates something that I often tell people. Writing isn't always just about talent. Perseverance plays a big role in the success of a writer. There are a lot talented writers that give up because this can be a very discouraging field. And then there are other writers who write well, but might not be gifted...they just keep typing away, learning by all of their mistakes, and then eventually start selling. So, if you're a new writer, and you have at least some talent, keep at it!!!

I wrote this story many, many, many years ago, and it's been revised, locked away, pulled back out, buried in peet...sorry, got distracted...Hitchhiker's Guide took over for a minute. Anyway, this story was accepted on its 20th submission. Yeah, I'm stubborn.

I still don't think it's one of my best stories, but obviously somebody liked it. I've sent them other stories, that I thought were better, and they've rejected them. It just shows you that editing is a lot about opinion...so never get discouraged by rejection.

R E S P E C T

This is a conversation I often have with people...usually after they learn from someone else that I'm a writer...

THEM (excitement in their voice): So and so told me that you're a writer, is that true?

ME: Yes.

THEM (even more excited): Wow, that's really cool! So, what do you write?

ME: Science Fiction

THEM (voice falling): Oh...

Then they usually walk away acting like they need to find a sink, some really hot water, and the most antiseptic soap on the market.

Apparently you're only a real writer if you can write drivel like The Grapes of Wrath or The Great Gatsby...or if you just moan and moan about how horrible life has been to you.

I'd much rather tell a story that makes people think, and can possibly make people change their views of the world. Think about how many NASA employees were SF fans as kids...a lot of them! Still, if you write science fiction (and I would assume this also applies to fantasy and horror), you're somehow less of an author.

I have one friend who often claims that I'm a great writer...maybe she's just being nice, I don't know...but she constantly bad mouths science fiction. She claims to hate science fiction books, TV, and movies. Yet, she loves the movies Contact and Independence Day, both of which are clearly SF, although the first is an example of good SF, and the latter is an example of bad SF. My writing, however, is apparently different than those other SF stories...which is a crock. When you read my writing, you can clearly see the influence of Asimov, Heinlein, and Orwell, among others.

People constantly bad mouth the speculative fictions, and yet Hollywood has made a fortune off of the field because people love it...apparently they just don't want to admit it.

Do these people go to a movie and then head home, trying to wash their hands? I can see them in their bathrooms, practically crying as they repeat over and over to themselves:

"Out damned spot..."

That's my rant for now. So, I'll leave you and get back to work...

Coloring within the lines

I'm putting the finishing touches on a rough draft for a new story, and as tends to happen to me, the story doesn't quite fit where it's supposed to. For those of you who aren't familiar with my work, I am generally categorized as a soft science fiction writer. The central issues in my stories are usually psychology, sociology, economics, politics, etc. Of course, a lot of times my work is very hard to categorize.

I had one piece called Entropy which was written as a mainstream/literary story, and I had no luck with it. Since it involved a guy going crazy about the concept of entropy, I figured I could make a few minor changes to it and turn it in to a science fiction story...so I did. The story was rejected over and over again for not having enough elements of science fiction. Finally, the story was sold, and it has been published.

I use that example because I just write whatever comes to mind, not worrying about genre...and then have a bitch of a time selling some of those stories.

This new story falls into that category. This is a hard SF piece, which isn't that strange, except that I used psychology as the hard science. I've basically theorized that psychology has been quantified, and my main character is a quantitative psychologist. That right there will probably get it rejected by some editors for not being real hard science. But, hey, that's how the story wanted to be written, and that's how it's been written. I'm not the first to come up with this idea. Asimov's psychohistory is kind of a quantification of psychology, although I would argue that it's more of a sociology...but that's just apples and oranges. Point is, I haven't invented the wheel, but I certainly seem intent on making things difficult for myself...

The story will probably be done in a couple of weeks, and then off it goes...

More on Global Climate Change

I read an interesting blog today about global climate change. This has a lot more scientific teeth than my opinion piece...so I thought I'd post a link to it. Just click on the title and it will take you over there.

No, Jim, you don't have to comment if you don't want to. I won't bite your head off for disagreeing with me, but I can certainly understand why you wouldn't want to debate an issue where neither of us is going to change our view...

Politics in science fiction

I was going to post another blog today about one of the other hot topics in the news these days, but I decided to put that off for another day.

Instead, I want to talk about politics in science fiction. I've heard some people say that they don't like stories in which politics plays a part. In some ways, I think this is absurd, and in another way I think it makes sense. I think it's all in how the politics is approached.

To some degree, politics plays a part in almost all science fiction. I hear some people screaming, "WHAT?!?!" Let me explain. If you're placing a story in the future, then there were certain events that created the world you're reading or writing about, and politics would be one of the key events. Look how much it effects our lives. Characters of the future are going to be no different. This is what makes me think the idea of hating stories with politics is absurd. Almost every story has politics to some degree.

What I think these people are really talking about is stories where politics is very central to the plot, and there's a lot of that out there. I can see how some people might not like this. There are certainly various plotlines that I'm not especially fond of. I don't particularly like military SF...which has politics in it, but that's ok because there are a lot of people out there that really enjoy a good military SF story.

Now, as far as political SF, I LOVE THE STUFF! Dune, The Foundation Series, the Hyperion novels are just a few examples...and those are some of my favorite books. I absolutely love galactic empire stories.

As a writer, I've tried my hand at galactic empires in short stories, and I've really enjoyed it. The novel I have circulating right now has an alien species that has a small empire, but it's nothing compared to what I'd like to do. One day, I hope to write a novel or a series that spans generations and the entire galactic disk.

I'm curious to hear how others like their political SF...

An Interview

Fellow author Marva Dasef recently interviewed me about Nomadic Delirium Press. The interview is now up on her blog...click on the title and it will take you over there. If you like what you see on her blog, be sure to subscirbe...I'm sure she'd appreciate it, and be sure to subscribe to my blog as well...since you're already here.

And so it begins...

Global warming is a huge topic these days, and I've been reading up on it for more than a decade now. In truth, the term global warming is a bit of a misnomer. Global Climate Change would probably be a better phrase.

My reason for wanting to post this is because yesterday I was reading an article about the fact that the outlying regions of the Marshall Islands are running out of water. There's no doubt that drought is common. It happens everywhere, but there's also no denying that we're seeing more and more drought every year. Some countries use desalinization of the oceans to produce drinkable water, but this is prohibitively expensive, and only available to major countries or the countries that have been made rich by the major countries wanting their oil. Eventually, this will lead to something that climatologists and SF writers have been predicting for a while, which is water wars. We're probably decades away from this, but maybe not.

When the wars do come, most of them won't be civil wars; instead, they'll be wars between the "haves" and the "have nots." It will be a battle of North vs. South. It will almost certainly be Africa that feels the effects of this first, and probably South America won't be far behind. This could easily lead to wars against the wealthier nations in the northern hemisphere. This has been covered in a lot of fiction, but even some non-fiction is starting to take note of this possibility.

A lot of people argue that we're in a warming trend, which is true, but the warming has spread up dramatically over the last couple of decades. Research on ice cores taken in the Arctic, Antarctica, and Greenland clearly show that this is unique in history. It's quite possible that we are now in a warming cycle that will see us reach average temperatures that are the highest in millennia.

Another bad sign is that the ocean currents are slowing down. We have to have these currents running properly in order to regulate global temperature. Slowing currents will also cause species extinction.

I've heard a lot of people say that there isn't any actual proof that this is caused by man, and science has to show that proof until we need to really worry. I hate to tell people, but the purpose of science is to explain with theories. There can never be an absolute answer given by science.

No matter whether man is causing it or not, if there's a possibility that this is all our fault, shouldn't we at least try to do something about it? A lot of Native American tribes followed what they called the Seventh Generation philosophy. The idea was that every decision should be made with the next seven generations in mind. The way things are going, there may not be a seventh generation.

And since this was such a serious topic, I would like to close with something a little lighter. I remember about a month ago I was reading an article where someone was trying to argue that the increase in volcanism was related to global warming...as in global warming was causing more volcanic eruptions. First off, there hasn't been an increase in volcanic eruptions, and secondly, how could global warming cause volcanos to erupt???

An editor's gripes

All I have to say is that I'm amazed by the amount of traffic that has come to my site since I signed up with Feedburner, so I guess you people are actually curious to hear what I have to say about things.

I guess that also means that I should stop talking so much about my books, and talk about some things that might be of interest to everyone. I know a lot of the people that visit these pages are writers, so I figure I'll start with some editorial gripes.

What really peeves me as an editor?

First and foremost, and without a doubt would be people not following guidelines. Sounds simple enough, but you'd be surprised how many people chose to ignore guidelines. When I was accepting submissions for Future Syndicate, it was very clear in the guidelines that we were looking for stories about crime, but we didn't want detective stories. More than half of the submissions I received were detective stories. Tyree and I are currently accepting novella submissions for an anthology, and there is a very specific word length, and yet almost every submission has been far too short for what we're looking for. I also get a lot of horror submissions for the two zines I edit...one is strictly SF...the other SF and fantasy, and the guidelines clearly state no horror, and yet some writers feel compelled to send me horror any way.

Next would be formatting. No matter what publication you're submitting to, whether it's one of the largest publishers in the world or a non-paying market, you should always follow proper manuscript format...unless the editor asks for the submission in an alternative format. Many times I've told writers to use proper format, and they reply, "What do you mean?" At that point, I want to tell them to stop writing if they're not willing to learn how to be a professional, but instead, I point them to a resource that will help them.

You know, I like being able to vent here...kind of nice...you should expect more soon...

Third, never send a revised version of a rejected story, unless the editor specifically asks you to. I rarely comment on stories anymore because people take it personally, but when I do, take it as a gift that I'm trying to help you. It doesn't mean make these corrections and I'll buy the story. A lot of times, there are more problems with the story than just what I've been nice enough to tell you.

I could go on and on, but I think I'll end with cliches. Know what the writing cliches are...sometimes people can pull them off, but usually they don't work. Here are a few that I see most often:

It was a dark and stormy night...

I looked in the mirror to examine my (insert annoying description)

The use of "I" over and over again in first person...

A chill ran down his spine...

Two pages of info dump before anything happens. If you're writing a short story...always start in the middle of the action. You have very little time to grab the reader's (or editor's) attention, so grab it fast.

mad scientists

one dimensional slutty women

one dimensional anything...unless you're writing satire, which is very hard to do

That should be enough for the time being.

Now that I see so many people are coming to visit, I'll try to write more. Maybe I'll even address the current political situation...if you're a Bush supporter, you might want to skip those entries...

Feedburner

I've now added Feedburner to this blog so you can now subscribe to it. Simply look for the little icon on the right side, and you can subscribe to the rss feed. Not sure how all of this will work, as I'm not the most computer savvy person out there, but I'll try anything, and I'm sure I'll have all of the little tricks figured out in no time...

And thanks to everyone for reading!

The Lengths I'll go to to promote my book

In an effort to sell even more copies of The Opium of the People, I've created a quiz to let my friends figure out which of my main characters they're most like. Here are my results:

You scored as Edward Silverberg. You scored as Edward Silverberg. You want the world to change, but you don't want to be the one to do anything about it. Still, no matter what happens, you always seem to end up in the middle of things and somehow change happens around you. Edward Silverberg 85% Kirstin Andrews 70% Shen Wu 60% Father Esmond 25% Gen. Dominick Jensen 10% Which Opium of the People Character Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

If you like the test, you'll love the book! Order it at Amazon.com.

I'm a publisher now?

For the last few weeks I've been trying to help the owners of Nomadic Delirium Press figure out a way to keep the place going. It's not that they were losing money, but they weren't making as much money as they'd hoped to. It's small press...no one gets rich off of this stuff.

So, in a last ditch effort to save the company, I bought them out. Yeah, that's right, as if my life were not already crazy enough, I've opted to become a publisher. What the hell was I thinking???

The first thing I did was get a domain name. They've been on Geocities, and I absolutely hate that site. Pop-ups, as well as spam, are the banes of humanity! The site can now be found at www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com. I just set it up this morning, so it's possible that the domain name hasn't propagated across the Internet, so the link might not work for a couple of days. I'll be making some changes to their site, but the basics of what NDP is are there.

I'm not sure what the definite plans are for the future, but I'm thinking we're going to re-release a novel from James Baker, and then I think we'll also be opening to submissions for two more novels, and probably another themed anthology....but no matter what, NDP will go on!

Unless I end up in an asylum...

Trading cards

That's right folks, a little on-line group is producing author's trading cards. I don't know if they'll ever actually print them up, but for now they're creating virtual cards, which we can use to promote ourselves. I've never been the most photogenic person, but like I always say, I'll do anything to promote my writing...

Future Syndicate reviewed

Future Syndicate, an anthology edited by me and containing one of my stories has been reviewed by Tangent Online. Click on the title of this blog entry to read the review...

Book signing

We had a pretty good crowd at the signing today. Almost filled up all of the chairs in the little bookstore, and we sold quite a few copies of Future Syndicate as well.

There are some pictures from the signing in my photo gallery on my homepage. Click on the title of this post, and you'll go right to my page.

An ego trip

We have a site here in Colorado called SF Colorado. It features news and information about the plethora of writers that we have in this state. A visit there last night found my name plastered all over the top of the page...kind of cool.

Book signing

Somehow I seem to have missed mentioning that Rebecca Bates and I will be reading from and signing copies of Future Syndicate at Who Else Books in Denver on Sunday March 4th at 3:00 P.M.

You can bring any of my titles, or buy them there, and I will be happy to sign them.

Hope to see some of the locals there!

LiveJournal

I'm now on LiveJournal...yeah, I know, I'll go anywhere that I can whore my books, right?

It seems like an interesting place to hang out. I've already run into quite a few authors I know...so drop by and say hi...

The Locus Poll

Locus Magazine has opened up its annual readers' poll, and this year, we've decided we're going to try to make a dent in it. The chances of us winning in any category are pretty slim because this is a MAJOR award, and most of the candidates are BIG NAMED writers. Still, Tyree and I have always had a little Don Quixote in us...so we're going to make a run for it, and at least try to get some recognition for Sam's Dot!
Below you will find a ballot that we've put together that we'd like to encourage you to follow. The main difference between this and the P&E poll is 1) It's a lot harder to stuff the ballot box on this one, and 2) The only nominations that appear on the ballot are those that came from the magazine...which means that you have to do a write-in for all of these nominations. It's kind of difficult, and time consuming, but if you love Sam's Dot...it's worth it. The ballot we put together contains mostly people and stories from Sam's Dot, but if we had extra room, we also tried to come up with some names of people we like as well...
One final note, you can vote for up to five in each topic, and the ballot below lists people basically in the order that we came up with them, not necessarily in the order that we think they belong (so no hurt feelings if you think you're better than someone ahead of you.)
SF Novel:
1) Friends in Dark Places by John Bushore
Best First Novel:1) Friends in Dark Places by John Bushore
2) Forbidden Cargo by Rebecca Rowe
Best Novella:
1) The Battle for Newhome by Terry Hickman
2) Urbania by L.A. Story Houry
3) Tower to Heaven by David Wright
Best Short Story:
1) Generation Gap by Tyree Campbell
2) Points of Departure by Jennifer Crow
3) Abstinence by Sarah Kelderman
4) An Asteroid by Any Other Name by David Lee Summers
5) Entropy by J Alan Erwine
Best Magazine:
1) Aoife’s Kiss
2) Beyond Centauri
3) The Martian Wave
4) The Fifth Di…
5) Champagne Shivers
Best Book Publisher:
1) Sam’s Dot Publishing
2) Nomadic Delirium Press
3) LBF Books
4) Apex Publishing
5) Perplexed Puffin Press
Best Anthology:
1) Erwine-Ecotastrophe
2) Campbell-Esperance
3) Erwine-Just Because
4) Campbell-Bondage
5) Erwine-Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 5
Best Single Author Collection:
1) Flashing the Dark by Bruce Boston
2) Long Way Home by R.D. Robbins
Best Editor:
1) Tyree Campbell
2) J Alan Erwine
3) Cathy Buburuz
4) Teri Santitoro
5) Terrie Leigh Relf
Best Artist:
1) Laura Givens
2) Marge Simon
3) 7ARS
4) Jolene Flasher
5) Anselmo Alliegro

It's finally here!

It seems like I've been waiting for years for this, but today is the official release of the new version of my novel The Opium of the People. In this version I've made some corrections to some stupid mistakes I made in the first version, and it also has some additions that have come out of the Bush Blunder...er, I mean the war in Iraq!

The book is currently available through my website, the Nomadic Delirium Press website, The Genre Mall, Amazon.com, and several other booksellers. If your local bookstore doesn't carry the book, you just need to ask them to order it.

ISBN: 1-4196-2588-8

Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 6

Sam's Dot Publishing's annual best of the web anthology is here. Featuring the top poems and stories from the 2005 versions of The Fifth Di..., The Martian Wave, and Aoife's Kiss.

Most publishers don't last more than three or four issues...if they're lucky. This is an annual anthology, and we're already starting to work on Vol. 7...that definitely says something about the staying power of Sam's Dot Publishing.

The collection was started by ProMart Publishing (the company that became Sam's Dot), and we didn't do our first WWW until we'd been around for a few years. There are very few small press publishers that can say they've been around for more than a decade, and I think a major reason we've lasted so long is because of our wonderful contributors...just look at the cover art on this book!

Here's a complete list of the contents of the new book:

Gravity Well by Benny Grezlik
Guardian Winds by Daniel C. Smith
Thou by Tyree Campbell
Dancing In The Martian Rain by Terrie Leigh Relf
Leveling Mountains by Abby Goldsmith
Harvest People by Bruce Boston
Mare Mortis by Gail Kavanagh
Planet-Side Data Retrieval From The Europa Orbiter by Terrie Leigh Relf
Requiem Mass by JE Gurley
Mother Earth by Marsheila Rockwell
Rivalry by t.santitoro
Repercussions Of The Big Bang by Mikal Trimm
Chambers On Io by Scott Virtes
History Repeats Itself by Aurelio Rico Lopez III
Spy by Adam Banks
Cosmic Harvest by Kristine Ong Muslim
Red Mist by Nicholas Scipior
A Raven Between Two Worlds by Philip Reyth
Seedlings On The Solar Winds by J Alan Erwine
Bloom by Jennifer Schwabach
Brew Of The Gods by Ian Brazee-Cannon
Jim And The Reaper Grim by Adam La Rusic
Avatar by Edward Cox
Changing The Rules by Nancy Bennett

I've updated my website

Since there have been several new titles released recently that I've been involved with, I figured it was time to update my webiste...so head on over, and have a look...

Books are now available from Amazon

Even though we're still a few days away from the official release of Future Syndicate and The Opium of the People, Amazon has them listed for purchase. If you're interested in buying them, scroll down the right side of this blog to the "Amazon Buy Now" buttons!

The Opium of the People: After a near-miss of a giant comet, the American people fall under the control of a radical right-wing fundamentalist Christian government, ruled by the Grand Patriarchs, that slowly strips away their freedoms and establishes a rule of law that even the dictatorships of the 20th Century couldn't have dreamed up.

Forced into virtual seclusion, Edward Silverberg, a former English Lit professor, finds himself on a path that will lead to either his destruction, or the destruction of the Grand Patriarchs...or maybe both.

Future Syndicate: Crime has always been with us, and probably always will be. Future Syndicate looks at what the future of crime might be, and what criminals might be like in the future.

Featuring the works of Jason Sizemore, Bret Tallman, Jason Andrew, Rebecca S.W. Bates, J Alan Erwine, Lavie Tidhar, Bruce Horner, and Rebecca M. Senese, Future Syndicate gives you eight distinct views of what crime might become...

The Opium of the People

Yes, it's the book that just won't die!

Nomadic Delirium Press has announced that a new version of The Opium of the People will be released on Feb. 1st. The book will list for $15.99, but right now they're selling it for $12.00.

It's important to remember that only by ordering through their website will you get the new version. Other sites are still selling the old version. Once the book has been released, it will be available from most booksellers.

This book was originally released by ProMart Publishing, but has been revised and updated with new content and new cover art.

The American government has been overthrown! After a near-miss of a giant comet, the American people fall under the control of a radical right-wing fundamentalist Christian government, ruled by the Grand Patriarchs, that slowly strips away their freedoms and establishes a rule of law that even the dictatorships of the 20th Century couldn’t have dreamed up.

Forced into virtual seclusion, Edward Silverberg, a former English Lit professor, finds himself on a path that will lead to either his destruction, or the destruction of the Grand Patriarchs…or maybe both.

ISBN: 1-4196-2588-8

Future Syndicate

Future Syndicate is an anthology that looks at crime and criminals in the future. The collection was edited by me, and it will be released on January 25th. However, the publisher is currently running a pre-sale on the book through their website. It's just $10 plus shipping & handling.

Right now it's just a pre-sale item, and it can only be ordered through the publisher. Once it's released, it will be available from most booksellers.

Order a copy today!

Just a couple of days left

I just wanted to remind everyone that there are just a few days left on the pre-sale of Just Because at The Genre Mall. Right now the collection is $12.00 + shipping...it goes up to $15.99 + shipping on Jan. 2nd, so if you want a good deal on a collection of works from James Baker, you need to act now!

Click on the title of this entry for all of the details...

Amazon links

I've now added links for a few of my books so that you can order them directly from Amazon.com. I've had several people ask me about that, so now's your chance...

Let it snow!

I just thought I'd upload some pictures I took just after sunrise this morning. We've had close to two feet of snow so far, and the drifts are pretty intimidating. It's still snowing a bit, and we're still expecting another two or three inches.

I would have gotten some better pictures, but I basically can't get off the steps of my apartment unless I want to dive into those big drifts.















You can tell who drove in late in the storm, and who was here for the whole thing...















That's an SUV stuck back there. The white mound behind it is another car...














That's my neighbors car that you can just barely see closest to the camera.

It was ten years ago today

It was ten years ago today
It was ten years ago today that the world lost one of its greatest minds. This is the day that Carl Sagan passed away.
Sagan was well known as a popularizer of science. His PBS show Cosmos had a huge influence on a lot of people, including a ten year old boy living outside of Cleveland.
I was a precocious little geek of a kid that was completely in love with science. I already had a telescope, and I spent hours every clear night outside looking up at the stars, and wondering what might be out there. Then Cosmos came on, and I found that a lot of my questions were being asked on the show, and I loved the potential answers.
Shortly after watching that series, I read two of Carl's books...The Dragons of Eden and Broca's Brain. Some of the material was a bit over my head...I was ten after all...but I understood a lot of it, and he forever changed my life.
It may sound odd, but next to my family, Carl Sagan probably had the biggest influence on my life. I probably wouldn't have become a science fiction writer if I hadn't been exposed to his work.
I never even fully realized what an effect he had on me until I was in college. I can remember sitting on the second floor of the Auraria Campus library...I was supposed to be studying, but instead, I was working on a short story. The story was about aliens living in a gas giant. I thought it was a great idea, but there seemed to be something familiar about the aliens. About six months later, I was watching Cosmos on PBS for the first time since I was ten, and he was describing potential life forms in a gas giant. My aliens were very similar to what he was describing. I hadn't seen the show in a decade and a half, but those aliens had stuck with me, and as I watched the reruns, I realized a lot of other things from that show had stuck with me as well...
Carl Sagan is dearly missed. His voice and wisdom would be greatly welcome in the world we currently live in...

Just Because

Many years ago, James Baker was the first editor to buy one of my stories. Later he would also take me under his wing and give me my first job as an editor. I owe much of my success in this business to that one man.

When Jim was claimed by cancer on September 18th, 2002, I promised myself that I would gather together his stories, poems, and essays and put them into a collection. Unfortunately, time and a job that sucked the life out of me never let me do that.

Earlier this year when I left my real job, I swore to myself that I would finish the book. Now, on what would have been Jim's 81st birthday, Sam's Dot Publishing (the continuation of Jim's ProMart Publishing) has announced that the book will be released on Jan. 2nd.

This book is more than just a collection of one man's works. It also features insights from the people who knew Jim, and it contains a lot of my own personal memories of him...an attempt at drawing a better picture of a man I wish many of you could have known.

The Genre Mall is currently offering the book at a special pre-sale price of $12.00 plus shipping & handling. If you'd like to order a copy, please go to... http://www.genremall.com/anthologiesr.htm#justbecause

New releases

Stay tuned for information on new releases from me...things I've written...thing I've edited...a lot going on.

First announcement will be on Sunday!

A new record...

...and it's not one I wanted. I've gotten three rejections of the same story in a two day period! I didn't even think that would be possible.

The sad thing is that the story wasn't even a simultaneous submission. The first one was a couple of weeks late, but the next two came about four or five hours after I'd submitted the story.

Maybe it's time to go back and re-work this thing...

Harry Potter

I recently watched the fourth Harry Potter movie for the first time. I wouldn't say that I'm a fan, but I like them enough to watch them, although I've never read the books, and never really plan on reading them.

I thought the first movie was quite good, the second was good, the third was worth watching, although I did really like the plot twist in it. This movie, however, was a waste of two hours. There were several places where there were holes in the plot line that you could drive Darth Vader's star destroyer through. My biggest problems with these movies is that the villain always has something to do with the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He's other the villain, abducted by the villain, a good guy with a dark secret, or an idiot....but the plot always revolves around them being a major complication for Harry and his chums to overcome. How ridiculous is that? Can we please get some plot variety at some point...it's all becoming far too predictable...

DAM

Over the weekend, I went to the newly remodeled Denver Art Museum. In some ways, it was quite impressive. They've always had a great collection of American Indian, Pre-Colombian, and Mesoamerican pieces...I could spend days in just those sections. I was somewhat put off by the fact that there was an odd painting of John Wayne in the Native American section with a quote from him stating that what the white man did to the Indians was justifiable because the white man needed the land. This struck me as more than a bit odd considering that if you look around the corner, you can see a picture of a group of what might be Cherokee at the end of the Trail of Tears. That just didn't make sense to me.

The new section of the museum also has a large collection of Contemporary Art, which I have to admit I don't always get. I'm not sure how a bull's head stripped of skin and sitting in formaldehyde is art...if you can explain that one to me, please try...I probably still won't get it. I've never been a fan of Jackson Pollack, and a lot of the contemporary stuff is just cheap knock offs of his work. I'm thinking about soaking my cat's paws in paint and letting her run around on a canvas...I could call it "A Cat's Perspective on Life." Who knows? I might never have to work again.

There was one piece that really struck me. It was an "update" of the Madonna holding Jesus. In this piece, Jesus was actually Hitler as a baby, and he was surrounded by the SS. That piece really hit home for me...

Reading

I've been reading The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Vol. One 1929-1964. There are quite a few stories that I've never read, but I really have to say that so far, my two favorites are the two I read long ago...Mimsy Were the Borogroves by Lewis Padgett and of course, Nightfall by Asimov.

I'm amazed how well Nightfall stands up more than 60 years after it was written. Aside from one glaring mistake at the end, the story would sell to a publisher today. That can't be said for most of the stories in this collection. Although most of them are great, several of them are quite dated. Let's face it, The Roads Must Roll by Heinlein is a great story, but if someone wrote that today, it probably would never sell. Night fall would! The science still works, the voice works, and Asimov does some of his best ever characterization in this story. It's still a masterpiece.

If you really want to examine the roots of SF, I strongly recommend this book. There's even a link on my homepage where you can buy it through Amazon...

The logs are gone

All of my logs for my homepage have vanished. Most likely it's just a glitch with my webhost, but given the people who have been visiting my website...I really have to wonder...

The Book

Well, I've just put the finishing touches on the novel, and now I have to decide if I'm going to submit it, or just put it in a box and forget about it. I had very high hopes for this book, but as I was working on these latest revisions, I realized that there were some things I didn't like about it. Maybe I'm being overly critical...or maybe I'm just sick of this damn story, but the novel seems to be lacking.

First of all, I'm not really happy with the actual writing of the book. Anyone who has read my work knows that I'm a fairly straight-forward writer. I don't waste a lot of time on hyperbole or description. As I always say, "If the sky is blue, it's blue!" However, in this book I tried to simplify my writing even more, basically trying to make it as easy to understand as I possibly could. Why would I do that, you might ask. The reason is simple...the underlying idea of the book is that we can't really understand anything, and that when we understand that we can't understand...that's when we truly understand!

I'm sure that anyone who was raised completely in the Western Philosophical schools just said "What the *&$#?" However, from a Taoist perspective, that statement actually makes sense...although I could have phrased it better. Come on, it's almost one in the morning, and I've been working off and on on this book for the last 12 hours...cut me some slack.

The point I was trying to make was that I wanted a very simple and easy to understand writing style to act as a juxtaposition against the underlying theme. I'm not really sure that I pulled it off.

The second problem I've encountered with the book is that most of my longer works really jerk the readers around, or at least they have parts that really jerk the readers around. Anyone who has heard one of my readings of The Opium of the People will understand. I really like to make the reader uncomfortable when they read my work. I use torture, rape, pillaging, baby killing, whatever I feel like will get a reaction out of the reader. It's not gratuitous...it actually does contribute to the story. In this book, there's none of that. Even when I kill off a friend of the main character, his reaction is rather subdued (although that is in character for him.)

So, what will now happen with this book? I'll probably submit it, but I don't have high hopes for it...however, I have been wrong before...

If you can't find me, look for me in Guantanamo

I posted something about this on the Sam's Dot board, but I thought I'd mention it here as well...just in case...

Lately I've been noticing an abnormally high number of hits to my website from government servers, this has even included several hits from one or more FBI servers. Maybe they've overheard my comments that a sub-title for The Opium of the People could be "What Would Happen if Bush Could Run For a Third Term."

So, if I suddenly disappear, you'll have some idea of where to look for me, although given the current administration, I don't know what good that would do any of us...

MileHiCon Update 3-Sunday

After much sleep deprivation, it was time for the final day of the con. Sunday morning I went to a panel on pitching to an editor at a Con, which also talked a lot about pitching to an agent at a Con. It was all kind of common sense logic, but I still learned a few things from it.

At 11:00, Tyree had a panel called "E-Publishing and Zines." He was on the panel with fellow ProMartian/Sam's Dotian, Carol Hightshoe...as well as Graeme Davis and A.C. Ellis again. This one I basically went to because Tyree was there...I already know quite a bit on this subject, and half the time I felt like I was on the panel with the way Tyree kept asking me questions.

At noon, it was off to the dealers room for another signing. This one went pretty well. We definitely sold some book, and signed quite a bit. I really think Tyree will make a lot of money if he can get in the dealers' room next year. The dealers' room is almost always full, no matter the time, and people are definitely willing to spend money at this con.

At 1:00, Tyree had a panel called"Congratulation, It's an Anthology." This panel was moderated by Ed Bryant. If you're into speculative fiction at all, you should know Ed Bryant, and if you don't, I would suggest you get to know him! I had the chance to have dinner with him last year, and we went to a Henry Rollins show about a month after the con, and the man is just a wealth of information...and a really nice guy as well! I learned quite a bit about how anthologies are done in the major markets, and I think Ed had one of the best comments of the weekend. I don't remember exactly how he said it, so I'm paraphrasing...but he mentioned that he tried to avoid editing anthologies these days because his last anthology had the likes of Dan Simmons, Connie Willis, and other writers of that caliber...and how do you top that?

The last thing I went to was a reading by Rebecca Rowe and Glenn Lewis Gillette. Rebecca just released her first novel a few months ago, and I'd had the pleasure of seeing her read at the Tattered Cover here in Denver shortly after it came out. Her book Forbidden Cargo should be a must read. It's a fantastic first novel! I'd run into Rebecca several times during the Con, and she's just such a nice person that you feel like you have to support her. Josh, who was my entourage for the weekend had been intrigued by her book, and had purchased a copy, so we both figured we'd go hear her read.

That was the wrap-up of the Con. I'm ready for next year's convention already.

Keep in mind, pictures are up on my website, so head on over and check them out, and while you're there, buy a book or two...or three or more....

MileHiCon Update 2-Saturday

Saturday started out with going to a panel called "Should Space Travel be Privatized." The panelists on this one were Eric Boethin, Hugh Gregory, GoH the Stevens', a friend of mine, and editor of Tales of the Talisman, Dave Summers, and one of my friend's dads Tony Muscatello. This was a great panel. There was a lot of information, and I walked out of there with quite a few story ideas...and some possible problems with the novel I'm working on...have to figure out what to do with that...

The next few hours were spent talking to Tyree about various writing and Sam's Dot things. We also spent some time with Ian Brazee-Cannon, a new writer that we were the first to publish...just carrying on the work James Baker set out for us so long ago.

From 2:00-4:00 we were sponsoring the ConSuite. Unfortunately, Tyree didn't bring enough food, and so we had some people who were definitely grumbling...thanks to the Hobbit for going out and getting more food! We spent the two hours selling books, and we did quite well. We sold several copies of Ecotastrophe, and I sold a few copies of my books. In just those two hours, Tyree was able to cover his expenses...so it should be interesting to see what he can do if he can get a table in the Dealers' Room next year.

After that, there was a lull...the few hours around dinner are always the slowest, and without much sleep...it was a little tough to just sit around.

The night ended with the masquerade. A few great costumes, but not a lot of participation this year. Then there was the literacy auction...some great items, but I wasn't about to spend any money there.

Then came the improv. Laura Givens and the improv troupe she belongs to put on a great show. I laughed so hard, I was actually in pain!

101 porn stars go into a bar
Bartender says we can't serve 101 porn stars
101 porn stars say, that's ok, we'll cum again...

Then it was off to more parties...and no sleep.

Pictures are now up on my homepage!

MileHiCon Update 1-Friday

Now that I've had a little bit of a chance to rest up, I'll start the update with Friday...hopefully I'll have pictures up later tonight, but they didn't turn out all that well, so I'm not too thrilled about that.

The day became an adventure even before we got to the con. Driving down I-25, there was an accident two lanes over from us between a pickup and a van. Had either of them been spinning a little more, they probably would have smacked into the cars next to us, and pushed us into the dividing wall...it was that close!

Once at the Con, I met Sam's Dot's Tyree Campbell for the very first time (hard to believe!) We chatted for a while before I had to do my first and only panel, "Where Do Writers Get Their Ideas." I was on the panel with Rebecca Bates (who I'd just published in Ecotastrophe), veteran writer Cynthia Felice, and Con toastmaster Mark Ferrari. The topic isn't all that good of one since basically writers get their ideas from just about everywhere, but we did the best we could with it.

For 4:00 on a Friday, we actually had a pretty good crowd, and I think we entertained pretty well, and hopefully we even educated some people. There were some great questions, and we had such a diverse group of panelists that we proabably could have answered anything that was thrown at us.

At 5:00, I had a reading in the room next door. I was scheduled with Gary Jonas, who I had only met on MySpace (sad, I know,) and we actually had a pretty good turn out for two "lesser" known writers. I read my usual torture scene from Opium of the People, and Gary read something that was a little lighter and more fun. We both read short excerpts and spent the rest of the hour chatting with the audience...and again I think we had a pretty good time.

At 6:00 it was back to the first room I was in for Tyree's first panel..."I Just Started Publishing...Now What?" Tyree was on the panel with Carrie Vaughn, A.C. Ellis, Thea, Hutchenson, Greg Hyde, and Jeanne Stein. Things were a little disorganized, but they managed to get some good info out.

At 7:00, yeah it was a busy day, it was off to opening ceremonies, which are just a chance to get your name mentioned so that everyone can see who's there. As always, any publicity is good publicity.

At 8:00 it was off to Autograph Alley...or sit on my ass and watch everyone down at the Guest of Honor tables. Several people stopped by to chat...but no sales.

At 9:00 it was off to Networking in the Bar, which is always the highlight of the weekend. Most of the authors congregate and just sit around and talk about writing. Just a few of the authors I talked to for a little while that night: Ed Bryant, Wil McCarthy, Cynthia Felice, Dave Summers, Dave Riley, Rebecca Bates, Glenn Lewis Gillette, Thea Hutchenson, David Boop, Rick Friesen, and others. I probably spelled some of those names wrong...and I apologize.

After that it was off to the parties, which were kind of lame that night. Of course, we also had a fire alarm and my friend lost his keys.

That was basically it for that day...

MileHiCon update 0

I have just returned from the con, and I'm dead on my feet. It was quite successful, and I will have more to post on it once I get some sleep!