I’m so lonely I could cry...

If you are old enough, you might remember that line from an Elvis song. Fortunately, I seldom feel that particular pain. Hubby, kidlets, other relatives, church folks and my work-out buds are enough companionship for me. Too much, sometimes.

But there is a new kind of lonely out there, and you’ll find these folks online, parked in front of a television with no “off” switch, or both. They’re the ones who sign up for emailed political newsletters, shopping newsletters, dating services, the latest releases from their favorite publisher of erotic romances, and even “breaking news from Elvis.com.” Yes, the king has been dead for thirty years, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some sort of news that the lonely can enjoy. The lonely can also tell you what’s going on with Paris and Britney and Branjolina, but they aren’t gonna volunteer at the clothing closet or sign up for Ladies’ Night Out at church. They’re too “busy” or too “tired.” When trouble comes their way, they consult Dr. Phil online or email their prayer request(s) to strangers, since there is no one else to ask.

Addiction is a term applied to folks who over indulge when using drugs, alcohol, or even food, but it really should be applied to those who have decided to deal with loneliness via an over indulgence in media. Sociologists are warning that despite the increased means of instant communication that people are becoming increasingly disconnected from their immediate world. Yes, we’ve heard about the dude in China who fell over dead, after non-stop gaming at an internet café so long that he starved or something. Most people’s problem isn’t that blatant, but parents can’t be parents if they’re too busy watching the screen to watch the kids.

How about you? If you’ve got hundreds of emails each week in your Yahoo account, but you don’t actually know these folks, if you buy your clothing and jewelry from QVC, if your lover exists only in the pages of a romance novel or in an email from True.com, and if you know more about Nicole Richie than your neighbor, you may be suffering from this post-modern phenomenon.

And the worst of it is, you are so lonely....

A Generation without Heros

I have been wrestling with a manuscript for about a year. This story is finished, in that it has a beginning and ending, an engaging main character, sufficient world building for the reader to understand the situation, a supporting cast of entertaining minor characters, and approximately 86,000 words. But it isn’t ready for primetime.

What’s wrong? That, dear reader, is what I’ve been wrestling with for months. I’ve come to the conclusion that it lacks peril and heroism. In fiction, peril is absolutely necessary. At each break in the story, a reader must wonder how the main character will overcome the challenges before him (or her) and succeed or fail. If the possibility of failure is lacking, then there is no real peril, no real conflict, and you are left with a boring storyline.

Peril, real danger, requires heroism to overcome it. And that seems to be this novel’s failing. A hero must reach within and come up with a strength that he (or she) didn’t know he possessed.

When I was taking American history in high school, our teacher, an experienced older lady once observed, “Yours is a generation without heros.” I do remember those exact words. Since it has been some thirty years since she made that statement, my memory fails regarding her exact follow up, but it probably went something like this: The American Revolution had John Paul Jones, the Civil War had Ulysses S. Grant, World War I had Alvin York, World War II had Audie Murphy. Which heros she listed doesn’t matter, so much as the ones she didn’t list. At the time I took that class, we were at the end of the Vietnam War, and heroism wasn’t being recognized as such, hence her remark about my generation.

Recently, Bruce Crandall, a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military honor, some forty years after his exploits saved many lives in that same unpopular war. His heroism was finally acknowledged by the medal, but the recognition by our generation is still sadly lacking. The story was all the way back on page 15 of the New York Times. No doubt, more important matters were on the minds of modern citizens, like the final resting place of the iconic Anna Nicole Smith.

Yes, I grew up in a generation devoid of heros and heroism. A writer pulls from experience, and I am having trouble with heroism in my fiction. That’s the problem of growing up in a generation without heros.

(Note: I posted this a couple of days ago on the SFReader Forum under World Events. Some of the replies were quite thought provoking.)

The Author who cried, “Book Signing!”

Almost everyone knows the children’s cautionary tale of the little boy, bored with herding sheep, who cried, “Wolf!” just to get attention. Yes, we all know that after a while, no one would come, because no one believed him. Of course, the little boy ended up as the victim of a wolf, his cries going unheeded, for obvious reasons.

During the summer, I posted the news on my “events” page that I was signing at the Decatur Book Festival on Labor Day weekend, but a few days before the event, my invitation was rescinded by the bookstore, due to problems with the accommodations at the venue. But, not to worry, in September I would be signing at a nearby restaurant, at an event sponsored by the same bookstore. That event was postponed by the bookstore, due to problems with the schedule at the restaurant. But, not to worry, the event would be held in October, at the same restaurant. Since this plan seemed more definite, I posted the event on various community calendars and on my website, and I sent out a notice to members of my Yahoo group. I got an email this week, explaining that this event won’t be happening, again due to problems at the restaurant. However, I now begin an author day, along with a couple of other local writers, for a book signing at the bookstore, in November. It is my job to get my book into the hands of readers, even when that means having to be flexible, and for the most part I do enjoy such promotions.

I’m posting this for anyone curious about the ever changing “upcoming events” page on my website. My greatest fear is that I will finally get my opportunity to reach this audience, but I'll be sitting alone for my hour at the store. Isn’t that what happens to authors who cry, “Book Signing!” and it never happens?

What happened to the Decatur Book Festival?

The Festival is going to happen, and it is going to be big. Alas, I won’t be attending. My invitation was extended by the good folks at Tut’s Books and ever since they invited me, they’ve been waiting for confirmation regarding their booth. Apparently there is a huge amount of interest in this event and all the spots are now taken, unless someone backs out at the last minute. The proprietor at Tut’s has been quite gracious, and I do think she made every effort to get one of those booths on the old courthouse lawn.

Whether or not it matters is an unknown. I have no idea if any of the book festival attendees would have bought copies of my books. Especially when DragonCon, the big science fiction convention, will be taking place at the same time, but at four large hotels in the downtown area. The good news, as I see it, is that I can quit being concerned about traffic in Decatur, and whether or not my order from Booklocker will make it on time. Now, I will just get ready for a signing at Tut’s in mid-September.

After that, I will have to look for other opportunities, For the most part any promotions I do need to be out-of-towners, in that I’ve done all I can do locally to make people aware of my books. The staff of the Jackson Herald and the publishers of Living Jackson have been especially helpful in that regard.

Con- ventions

When I rode motorcycles, which I did from roughly age ten when I got a used minibike, until age thirty-three, when I parked my Honda 650, many people got the wrong idea about my personality. I never owned a leather jacket, have no tattoos, and never smoked anything. I don’t even curse often. However, the bias against my favorite mode of transportation followed me despite a total lack of interest in Hell’s Angels, Harleys and especially choppers. I preferred bikes with more zip, actually.

Hopefully, reading and watching science fiction are not always associated with being terminally weird, either. Oh, some people will always associate sci-fi with nerds. My interest in science fiction began in childhood, as I watched Star Trek along side the early efforts of NASA, but I’m not obsessed with the genre nor as weird as the stereotypical sci-fi fan.

I attended a science-fiction convention once, some years ago, because one in Atlanta was hosting James Doohan and Michael Dorn, and my long term love of Star Trek won out over any concerns I had about Alanta traffic or the attendees. Both of these gentlemen made excellent speeches, and I loved getting their autographs. The con, as these are now called, was quite an experience. The dealer’s room— a huge place filled with vendors hawking overpriced pins, comics, magazines, and 8x10 glossy pics of TV and film stars— was amazing. Even more amazing were the costumes, both in number and variety. As I stood in line behind a woman who was trying to look like Uhura, the communications officer on the original Star Trek, she informed me that her young son had made her costume. I had no trouble believing that. Many of the other costumes were quite professional, however. Being dressed in business casual, which I always deemed appropriate for a weekend trip to Atlanta, somehow felt downright odd.

One of my very best friends has a son who publishes sequential art— that’s comic books in layman’s terms— who says I should try hawking Trinity on Tylos at science fiction conventions. A really up and coming science fiction writer from this area, a guy who has published fourteen books, is speaking at Liberty.con in Chattanooga and at Dragon.con in Atlanta later this year. So, perhaps that is good advice. Maybe I should dress up, too. Not as a Trek character, of course, but I could dress up as a biker, since I never did that when I rode the various motorcycles that I owned during my youth.

BTW, I still have my motorcyclist’s license, but I haven’t ridden anything on the street larger than my daughter’s scooter for a number of years. Motherhood is a great responsibility, not to be taken lightly. But I could get a black tee shirt and a leather jacket with star shaped studs, I suppose, and try the con-vention. What do you think?

Will Write for Food— Not!

I’ve had some interesting comments regarding my new novel, and fortunately, those who have read it seemed to really enjoy the story. One person commented on the ethics and convictions of the characters. Another mentioned the commitment to motherhood.

However, I’ve been a bit disappointed by the number of people who have said they won’t even look at it because they “don’t care for science-fiction.” Marketing people have this comment for such a situation, “There’s no market for it.” Going with that idea, either I switch genres or find something else to do. At this point, I’m tempted to find something else to do.

A “hack writer” is someone who writes for hire, which is the opposite of an artist. Yes, I’d like to get paid for my work, but if there is no market for that writing, and I simply try to write what is salable to the masses, without any creative spark from me, then I will descend into being a hack, sorta like standing on the side of the road with a “will write for food” sign.

Ironically, only about seven percent of books sold are science-fiction, yet five of the top ten movies of all time are science-fiction (Star Wars, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, SpiderMan 2, Star Wars Episode III, Revenge of the Sith, and Star Wars Episode I, The Phantom Menace.) I’m not quite sure why this dichotomy exists. Perhaps science fiction is best in a more visual medium. But there is also this troubling statistic: an estimated 44 million Americans are not literate enough to read a book intended for an adult audience. Maybe I should try movie scripts.

Have you seen V for Vendetta?

I won't write a review per se of V for Vendetta, because there are many of those available, but I would like to comment on it. I can't believe that it will be anything more than a cult classic in a year or so, but for right now, it brings the role of science fiction as literature to the forefront.

Joseph Campbell described science fiction as mythology for modern man. Back in graduate school, I wrote a paper or two on themes found in science fiction, and there are a number of classic themes on which virtually all sci-fi must rely, including man vs. machine and utopia/dystopia. V for Vendetta is a modernized Nazi movie, and often looks more like the alternate history theme rather than the dystopia it intends to portray. Yet, the literate script and an unusually complex plot which never loses the viewer seem unusual. I have grown accustomed to most sci-fi on the screen being neither literate nor clear-sighted, and V for Vendetta is both.

Probably, some viewers will be intrigued by the “terrorism” controversy. Others will be enticed to view the film by the voyeuristic glimpses of Natalie Portman being shaved bald which are in the trailer, but this flick is more complex than most screen versions of graphic novels. However, after all the quotes from Shakespeare and emotional epiphanies are done, it is still a story about a dude in a mask who blows stuff up. All during the movie, I simply could not forget that it all began as a comic.

At its best, science fiction offers another way to examine what it means to be human, and in that V for Vendetta doesn’t fail.