8 Things for 08

For 2008, I am offering a quartet of lists eight items long. These are in no certain order, but might make readers think of their own favorite things.

Eight books I have read more than once and will no doubt read again
1. Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein
2. The Impossible Virgin, by Peter O’Donnell
3. Friday, by Robert A. Heinlein
4. Touch the Wind, by Janet Dailey
5. Shards of Honor, by Lois McMaster Bujold
6. The Ivy Tree, by Mary Stewart
7. Contact, by Susan Grant
8. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Eight songs I could listen to over and over again
1. I Won’t Last a Day Without You, by The Carpenters
2. The Phantom of the Opera, by Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman
3. The Music of the Night, by Michael Crawford in The Phantom of the Opera
4. Memory from Cats, by Andrew Lloyd Webber
5. Any Dream will Do, from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, by Andrew Lloyd Webber
6. My Favorite Things, by Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music
7. Jambalya, by The Carpenters
8. Put Your Hand in the Hand, by Elvis

Eight movies to see again and again
1. Star Wars
2. Gone With the Wind
3. The Sound of Music
4. Galaxy Quest
5. Star Trek, The Wrath of Khan
6. Cat Ballou
7. The Dollmaker
8. Ben Hur

Eight things I am passionate about
1. A great story (mine or other folk’s)
2. My family
3. My church
4. My friends
5. Teaching
6. Decent transportation
7. Never spending all day cooking or cleaning
8. Not wasting money

Ready any bad books lately?

Over on the SRReader discussion board, someone posted a topic, “The Worst Book You Ever Read” which was interesting to me in a couple of ways. I could write on the worst book I began but was unable to finish, and there is an ever-growing pile of those. As I get older, I am simply less tolerant. Oh, it's selfish, I know, but I have a finite number of years on this planet, and I don’t want to spend many of my precious minutes reading something I don’t like. If I am being paid, such as reading the essays my students write, that’s one thing. But when I am reading for fun, I often set books aside before I finish and look for something that I find more entertaining. However, I have read a few bad books, in their entirety, for various reasons.

The worst book I actually read from cover to cover was Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, a novel required in my freshman English class in undergraduate school. At least I remember it as the worst. Some thirty-three years have passed since I read it; therefore, Joyce’s novel may not have been as bad as I remember, but I still tout it as a fantastic cure for insomnia. I do remember going to sleep almost every time I read a significant portion of that stream-of-consciousness experiment.

Recently, I read one of E. E. “Doc” Smith's classic space operas, which have been rereleased as eBooks, just as a research item. I chose Triplanetary, and it ranks high on the list of worst books that I actually read. One interesting aspect of this yarn was the love story. Our hero, his girl, and his superior officer have been captured and the young lady has been separated from the men. Our hero, Conway Costigan, fears for his lady’s well-being. The dialogue is a bit melodramatic: “We’ll do something,” Costigan declared grimly. “If he makes a pass at her I’ll get him if I have to blow this whole sphere out of space, with us in it!” Nowadays, I think he’d have more to worry about than the villain merely “making a pass” at his lady-friend.

His prose is also dated. For instance, Einstein proposed calling the medium through which light travels in the vacuum of space “ether,” and Smith embraces this term, using it over seventy times. Smith’s climactic space battle scene is filled with lines like this: "Crimson opacity struggled sullenly against violet curtain of annihilation." About a third of this scene was written in passive voice as well.

Still, Triplanetary was an interesting look back at what was SF entertainment in 1934. Obviously, the genre has come a long way from these tales from a by-gone era.

I'm an eBook fan!

I have numerous bookshelves in my home, and I use spots (such as the ample space atop my kitchen cabinets) to store books as well. My children’s friends call our house “the library” which is a better label for it than “a messy house,” which is how hubby views it.

However, I do tend to let the paperbacks and hardcovers stack up, while I read all of the eBooks I can get onto my PDA. That is in part due to having it with me— I usually tuck my Palm into my purse, so wherever I am, I have those eBooks. Last week, I was at my doctor’s office for my annual physical, and they were just a bit behind, so the visit took up over two hours, and I spent quite a bit of that time reading. (Regs, by Nina Osier, a science fiction book which really made me say, “Wow!” and I don’t do that often.) The Palm had seventy seven titles on it the last time I looked, and most of those are novels, rather than short fiction. Try putting seventy paperbacks in your purse....

Yes, I have Marjorie Liu’s new paranormal romance in my TBR stack, but it was Osier’s book which got the nod, and that was due to it being in electronic format. I have a borrowed novelization of the life of Mary Magdalene which I do want to read as well, but it is large and heavy, so it is gathering dust. Instead, I just began reading a new Angela Verdenius eBook, which I had with me while I was waiting for my kids to emerge from school.

Some of my friends and relatives look at me as if I have lost my mind when I tell them that I prefer eBooks, but the truth is the number of unread titles on my Palm is fewer than five, and the number in my TBR stack on the shelves at my house is a tall stack (and it is growing). Actually, there are too many to put in one spot, but let’s just say that I have quite a few.

My friend, Malcolm Campbell, recently commented on eBooks as well, and he makes a case for them, but in a different way. Do take a look at his entry posted as Trick Falls.

The Gift Horse

In the two plus years it has been available, I have had quite a bit of feedback from The Gift Horse, far more than I’ve gotten from Trinity on Tylos, and much of it has been positive, but not all, of course. At the end of each calendar year, I think about canceling my contract with Booklocker. Oh, it isn’t really expensive to keep it up— less than the price of a meal at a good restaurant— but having my “self-published” title still in print sometimes makes me feel like a lesser author. While I believe that there are some really good self-published books out there, the stigma does exist.

However, the business person in me insists that as long as there are people interested in buying it, I should go on another year. A fellow writer suggested that I get the rights back to The Gift Horse and market it in tandem with another suspense story, a Work in Progress, but one fairly close to being finished, to an epublisher. Since it only sold two copies in eBook form (and one of those was to me) that would be a new audience, I suppose.

I’ve been fortunate, in that the owner of a gift shop here in town bought twenty five copies of The Gift Horse early this year, and Living Jackson Magazine chose to review it recently. For whatever reason, this somewhat outlandish but very suspenseful tale continues to be read, enjoyed, and occasionally spark controversy.

More than once, I’ve been asked what these books have in common, since they do reflect differing genres of literature. Both of these books have heroines who are willing to sacrifice something of themselves to be what someone else wants them to be. In our society, people profess to be liberated and self-motivated, but that is a fallacy. If you don’t believe me, go to any place where young people gather and watch them act like the folks they see portrayed in various media. Some will play sluts, some act and dress like rappers and pimps. Oh, the gods of our age come to us via small rectangular boxes— television, computer screens, and the like. But they are perhaps more demanding than those who dwelt on Mount Olympus in the days gone by, who only wanted an occasional sacrifice. Nowadays, bowing to the god of media is a 24/7 duty.

Eating my Royalties

I seldom eat fast food. That’s not to say that I don’t eat out— I sometimes do, but I don’t usually eat at fast food restaurants. Typically, the only reason I choose one is if I am by myself, and then I almost always choose Chick-Fil-A.

This past week, however, my Epson CX6400 printer laid down and died. It was only a couple of years old, but it was good and dead, so I went shopping for another printer, and by gosh, I didn’t want an Epson. I bought an HP, because we still have a couple of those which function, but they are so old that they have serial connections, and I only have one Mac old enough to have that, and it is a computer that I don’t really use. However, this entry isn’t really about printers.

After having bought the fancy HP all-in-one at an office store near the Mall of Georgia, I looked around for something to eat, and there was a Burger King right on the corner. I went in and let someone else go ahead so I could read the menu. Wow, are there a lot of new things since I ate there last. That guy didn’t take long, so I had to decide on something, so I picked a Whopper combo. I’d heard of that. And it only cost $4.23 (taxes included), which is about what I got in my last royalty check.

"Want cheese?" The clerk asked.

"No, that has a lot of fat."

"What size fries did you want?"

"What’s the smallest?" I asked, knowing that they are filled with fat, too.

"Medium." The clerk replied, bored.

I got medium fries and a medium diet drink, which I had to get for myself from a machine along the wall. The sandwich was huge, and the fries were okay. I thought I had managed pretty well until I went into a bookstore. When I picked up my wallet at the checkout counter, it was wet. It seems I managed to get some ice in my purse when I was getting my own drink.

That wasn’t such a big deal, as I threw the ice into the trash outside of the bookstore and laid my things out on the car seat to dry while I drove home. No, the worst part was learning via an internet site called CalorieKing that my fast food lunch had a thousand calories in it. What a bargain!

After LibertyCon

Hubby and I arrived home on Sunday afternoon after a couple of evenings in Chattanooga. LibertyCon was so much more literary than the other cons I’ve attended, it just might have been called LiteraryCon. Most of the “name” authors were with Baen books, including Special Guest Travis Taylor, John Ringo, and Julie Cochrane. I renewed my acquaintance with dark fiction writer Chris Barber and her husband, met editor/writer Judith Geary, and met author Stephen E. Cobb and his sister who was being photographer/gopher for him.

While driving home, I asked hubby what he enjoyed most, and although we agree that Travis Taylor may be the smartest person we’ve ever heard talk for an appreciable amount of time, The Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, directed by Bill Ritch, was the most entertaining. Speaking of Travis Taylor, he is not only smart, he is a superman when it comes to endurance. He was scheduled for seven hours straight on Saturday, and he didn’t even take lunch— I watched him scarf down some KFC during a panel and keep on going.

Due to my juggling schedules, I didn’t get a room at the con hotel, so I looked at TripAdvisor.com and found a great hotel at an attractive price near the Con. We stayed at the Wingate Inn, near Hamilton Place Mall. Our stay featured a clean room, a really good breakfast buffet, high speed wireless internet, and not a great view. When I went in the first evening, a glance out the window revealed a giantic Barnes and Noble, so close that it was just about all we could see, which is rather ironic. I went to sell books, because Whiskey Creek Press doesn’t have any distribution to such vendors, so here I go hawking books at the con. The name authors seemed to think it was weird that we hauled our own books and other stuff around, but one attendee thanked me for “doing my job.”

I appreciate the people who came to the panels and “readings.” The people I met did indeed reinforce the idea that LibertyCon is the south’s “friendliest science fiction convention.”

In Memory of Jim Baen

Since I have no idea if any science fiction fans ever read this, I don’t know if you’ll recognize the name Jim Baen. As a publisher, he was one of the more influential people in modern science fiction and fantasy. He died June 28, after having suffered a massive stroke on the 16th.

I didn't know him, although I once met his executive editor, Toni Weisskopf, at a writer’s conference. I am a great fan of Lois McMaster Bujold, whose debut manuscript was picked out of the slush pile by Baen. Through the sort of nurturing along that is rare today, but a trademark of Baen Books, she became a literary star. The Baen imprint is also home to David Weber, John Ringo and many other writers whose work I have enjoyed. Unlike most other publishers, he regularly took on new, unagented authors.

Baen's friend, David Drake, wrote an obituary, which is available online here:
http://david-drake.com/baen.html

Certainly, I hope that his friends and family will be comforted by the knowledge that he made a real difference in the lives of many people who never met him.

Universal Themes in Trinity on Tylos

In my last post, I mentioned some themes, typically found in science fiction, which are in Trinity on Tylos. Good stories, regardless of genre, will have themes that appeal to many people. Spoiler alert— again, there might be some details in this post which you wouldn’t want to know if you have yet to read Trinity on Tylos.

Motherhood is the most important job in the world— Some in our society frown on the sacrifices that women have often made for their offspring, thinking that these keep the women from reaching their full potential. Yet, thank goodness, quite a few young women continue to bear children and devote themselves to rearing them. Venice becomes a mother in an unusual manner, one that makes some readers cringe. (Good– if the book didn’t challenge the reader’s thinking just a bit, then it would be boring.) Never-the-less, once she joins the mom club, she doesn’t shirk her duty, and that is one definition of character.

Duty trumps personal desire— That theme isn’t popular in our culture at the moment, but it has been part and parcel of heroism through out history and will be again. If man is to succeed in the future, he will have to reverse this trend toward egocentric selfish behavior. Both Venice and Alathea make decisions which might seem unrealistic for today’s audience, especially sacrificing their personal safety for that of their shipmates, and that is one reason I set this story in the future.

Human beings can be both fallible and honorable— Superheroes were invented within the past hundred years, and popular fiction and film have embraced the idea that to be heroic is to be invulnerable. Yet, history is filled with examples of people who were far from perfect, yet were held in great esteem. From Moses, who became the spokesperson for the Israelites, despite being tongue-tied and inarticulate, to Patton who was a great general, despite a gruff personality, many great men who wouldn’t fit too well into Superman’s tights have been heroes. In Trinity, Captain McPherson believes he is doing the right thing, even when Venice makes it plain he is not. Despite this flaw, he is an honorable man who continues to lead the crew of the Excalibur effectively. Captain Mac is human, with all the foibles associated with that label.

Love can last through many trials— We tend to throw in the towel rather quickly when it comes to relationships nowadays. Venice loses her spouse early in the story, but she never lets go in her heart. Although he is separated from his wife, Steve quietly continues being the executive officer of the Excalibur, but he doesn’t seek a new lover, for the same reason. In a serially monogamous society, readers may have trouble empathizing with their steadfast love, but real love can last long and overcome incredible odds.

A fan of The Gift Horse asked why I chose a futuristic setting for Trinity, and I did so because some of the themes might not work as well in a contemporary story. But Trinity is a relationship book and an action/adventure story at the same time. Some of my readers have said they didn’t expect to enjoy a science fiction yarn, but they did like it, and I believe that is because Trinity is much more than a space opera.

Buy your book at Downtown Interiors

There is a gift shop in my hometown called Downtown Interiors, which is featuring books and CD's created by local residents. Both The Gift Horse and Trinity on Tylos are there, so stop at 100 N. Public Square and see all the nice home furnishings and gifts.

Thanks to those who came by to visit and buy books on Saturday. If you need a copy of either book— to read or as a gift, please stop by Downtown Interiors.

Holiday Sci-Fi?

What should a fan of science fiction have on her (or his) Christmas list?

I’d include one or two of Linnea Sinclair’s books, which are being re- released by Bantam Spectra. In a post back in July, I commented on a review I read for one of her books, Finder’s Keepers. My favorite is An Accidental Goddess, which is due out in December. The main character, Gillie, wakes up 350 or so years in her future and finds that she’s been deified while she was out of action. The resulting sci fi romance is quite a good read.

Catherine Asaro has a new book coming in December as well, and she’s seldom written anything I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. This new addition to the Skolian Empire series is entitled The Final Key.

David Weber has a new book on the shelves. I’m behind on Honor Harrington’s adventures, having purchased The Shadow of Saganami, but not having read it as yet. I did note that At All Costs was published in November. Fans of military fiction and space operas usually like Weber’s sagas which are set in Honor’s universe. His publisher, Baen Books has announced an enlarged version of my favorite of his books, Path of the Fury. I’ve never gotten enough of Alicia DeVries, so I’ll no doubt pick up a copy of In Fury Born, but I’ve been hoping prequel or a sequel for many years.

Star Wars fans can pick up the newly released Episode III, Revenge of the Sith, or indulge in the DVD version of the original trilogy. I find it interesting that the whole saga, all six episodes, is now available on DVD. I can watch the original trilogy over and over, but I don’t find Episodes I or II worthy of repeated viewings.

If you have any younger Star Wars fans, the impossible to find toy this season is Hasbro’s “Build Your Own Lightsaber” kit. I’m still trying to get one for my 12 year old son. Wish me luck!

Relics

For anyone reading this who doesn’t know, my father, who had been a widower for a number of years, died late last year, and I was named executrix of his will. In addition to doing quite a bit of paperwork, this puts me in charge of disposing of the personal property of the estate, which is a small farm, and toward that end, I’ve contracted with an auction firm to hold an estate sale. Knowing that I lack space, I spent quite a bit of time poring over what was left after my parents’ passed, looking for small things which would help me remember the good times we shared.

Shorty’s saddle will have to be auctioned away, as will most of the power tools, because I married a city boy and we don’t have a barn for such things. The 52 Ferguson tractor that I drove when I was twelve will go, as will my Dad’s 68 Peugeot. Even mom’s cookware is boxed up to be sold.

Daddy did some woodworking during his middle years, so I took one of the bowls he made on his twelve inch wood lathe. I also took some practical items from the kitchen, to augment what I already own. Mom was the secretary/treasurer at our church for more than two decades, and when she retired, they gave her some beautiful dishes, which go quite nicely with my dining room color scheme, so I got those as well. As expected, I picked up the photographs, a stack of framed prints as well as a few albums and one box of folks I don’t remember at all.

Some of the relics I took were of no value, but I wanted them nevertheless. The last check my mother wrote, which was to me, for a small sum. I don’t remember the reason for the check, but it was dated less than a month before she succumbed to the cancer that ravaged her body. Her college text books were still on the shelves, so I got her grammar book and literature books. My dad’s harmonicas and pocket knives represented different facets of his personality, so I took them as well.

In a box in a back closet, I found the formal dress my aunt made for me when I represented the Alpha Chi Honor Society at a college dance. Honestly, I can’t remember ever being that slim! From that same closet I grabbed my oil painting kit, so I could throw those horrible paintings away myself. My daughter wanted the Quiji Board. I never derived any insight from the that, so I rather doubt she will find it anything more than a curiosity. The chess set that my grandmother gave me was there, which was a keeper, of course.

It’s rather odd to think what items around here will be the “keepers” when we are gone, and our children go through this same process. I hope they want to keep copies of the books I wrote, if nothing else.

What makes a great title?

Books and movies benefit from great titles, but jobs don’t. Really.

The movie title, Traffic, worked because that one word has multiple meanings and provokes differing emotional reactions. Single word titles are often strong and resonate well. Other single word movie titles include Hitch, Jaws, and even Airport. Novelists have used single word titles just as effectively. Carl Sagan used the title Contact for a book, which later became a movie. Susan Grant used it again for a futuristic romance. Even ordinary words become extraordinary when used by a masterful writer. Remember Stephen King’s It?

Meaningful phrases work well as titles, of course, and some have become part of our cultural heritage. Gone With the Wind evokes images in the minds of people who have neither read the novel nor seen the movie. That holds true for many titles, from A Tale of Two Cities to Easy Rider.

On the other hand, increasingly people who have ordinary jobs seem to want extraordinary titles. In federal government the highest ranking member of the President’s cabinet is called the Secretary of State. In most small companies that title was viewed as so lowly that the job title changed to office manager, which then evolved to administrative assistant, and now the same job is administrative professional. Impressed yet? If not, don’t worry about it, because that job title will no doubt grow again, in a quest for more significance. The same thing goes for repairmen who become maintenance technicians and so forth. As for doctors who haven’t graduated from a medical school...they are not even worthy of comment.

Writers, however, still understand that a brief, strong title works best. Need another example? How about the television show Lost? The same show could have been entitled Otherworldly Happenings in an Exotic Locale After an Airliner’s Unexpected Decent, but I doubt it would have generated the same interest in the viewing public.

What’cha Readin’?

I’m always reading something. Usually, when I’m in a waiting area— a prime time for reading print— someone will either ask or comment on my book’s cover. My latest reads are quite different, but I’ve always had eclectic tastes. They do share one characteristic— they're all rather short.

I just finished The FairTax Book by Neal Boortz and John Lindner. This hardcover book was a bit of a surprise, because I found their treatment of this complex idea just a bit simplistic. However, the authors wanted to make the idea understandable for a general audience, and in that they have succeeded beyond my expectations. Perhaps more importantly, this book could be what the writings of Thomas Paine were to the American Revolution, a means of clarifying a concept so that the general public can more readily embrace it. Despite its short length, or even because of it, this could be one of the most important books of this decade. If you haven’t heard about the FairTax, do yourself a favor and look it up. For the past two weeks, the book has been the number one bestseller on the New York Times list, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find.

I read Skyfall by Catherine Asaro in a couple of evenings during the past week. Asaro is a physicist by trade, a retired ballerina, and an award winning writer of what some call science fiction romances. Her books are as unusual as her resume, and just as accomplished. Skyfall is a prequel to her Skolian Empire series and is a bit less complex than most of the other novels. While not the best book in the series, this one would make a great starting point for a reader new to the Skolian Empire or for someone new to Asaro's writing.

Hawken’s Heart, by Suzanne Brockman is a reprint of one of her early titles, a contemporary romantic suspense piece. Brockman writes taut thrillers with modern characters and situations which seem to be drawn from current events. Many of them feature Navy Seals as heroes, making them a loosely connected series. Her more recent titles have become increasing more complex, with several story lines, even jumping through generational timelines, but her early tales are direct and plenty of fun. Light reading, perhaps, but never dull. I’ve not finished this one, but thus far I haven’t been disappointed.