10 Sep 2012

Which Is Scarier?

posted in: personal news, quirky | 0

I was about to flip off the TV last night when I saw what was playing in real-time: a B-52s concert on PBS, recorded live in 2011. Fascinated, I dropped into the couch like a baked potato and watched for a while. I’ve always liked the B-52s, from the time I first heard “Rock Lobster,” back in the day.*

Thirty or so years later, they still sounded pretty good. But when my daughter came over and said, “Wow, I thought they’d look older. They look really well preserved,” I winced a little. Because I was kind of thinking just the opposite. Not that they don’t look well preserved, but the truth is, I still picture them as they looked, well, back in the day. Their stage moves had that slightly awkward quality of aging rock stars still trying to look young. I thought with a shudder of how I might look, up on stage, trying to come off as vibrant and hip. [Ow.]

But what really got me was the shots of the audience, wearing silly headgear and gyrating to the music. And that’s when I wondered which is scarier: the sight of an aging rock band still truckin’ on, or the sight of the aging Boomers who turn out to see them? Speaking, you understand, as an aging Boomer.

On the other hand, they all looked like they were having a really good time—so who am I to criticize? Besides, as I zoned out and listened, I got an idea that I needed to help me work out problems in my current chapter. Keep on truckin’, guys!

*circa 1979 or 1980

Here, enjoy “Love Shack” live in Athens!
10 Sep 2012

Back Home Again!

posted in: personal news | 0

I’ve actually been home from my retreat for about a week and a half. I knew I was in the right house when I walked in and heard Allysen yell, “Hi. Why isn’t this @$#@! printer working?!” And the dog was plaguing the cat and needed to go out, and I learned that friends were coming over the next night, bringing a newly-arrived Pakistani exchange student, and the family had really intended to have the house clean before I got home. Really!  Ah… home sweet home! There is no finer!

31 Aug 2012

The Last Day

posted in: faith issues, personal news, writing, writing retreats | 0

For the last day of my writing retreat, I opted to spend the afternoon at the Cape Cod National Seashore. Communing with the ocean where the waves meet the shore has always been, for me, a great way to center my thoughts and find perspective. A great way to remember that I am something small (not unimportant, but small) in a reality much greater. A great place to listen for the whispers of God.

When I’m away from the ocean, I forget how beautiful it is! And today I found possibly the greatest beauty in a place I’d seen before—stopped and looked at briefly before—but never taken the time to walk around and absorb. That’s the salt marsh estuary behind the National Seashore Visitors Center.

There’s something about the peacefulness of a salt marsh that’s almost spiritual. It’s God-breathed, teeming with life, a biologist’s dream, and a remarkable buffer between land and sea that has elements of both. Grass, fish, birds, amphibians, fresh water and salt, the open ocean just beyond the protective spit of sand. You can almost close your eyes and see the millions of years of geologic change and biological evolution that brought you this place of quiet ferment, this thing of beauty that helps clean the sea and protect its young, and at the same time shields the land from the sea’s fury. On this occasion I didn’t see any charismatic birds or other animals, but in quiet contemplation I did feel the hint of divinity, and of the deep works of time.

Interestingly, I also perceived more clearly some things that have been eluding me, details that might well be important to The Chaos Chronicles, and to the story behind The Reefs of Time. In the salt marsh I saw some things I needed to know about the translator (this will make sense only if you’ve read at least one of the books), and even about the enemy that makes life in the galaxy so fraught with danger in this new book. I also realized I probably need to add a couple of new chapters in the next draft, chapters set way back in deep, deep time. So you see, sometimes the quiet, personal times like standing and contemplating the ocean’s edge are exactly what the writer of far-flung futures in space needs. I’m grateful to have had the chance.

Here are a few more pictures. The open ocean over the dunes was pretty wonderful, too.

(And considering that I was holding my cellphone camera at arm’s length and aiming blind, I thought the “self portrait of the artist” came out pretty well.)

30 Aug 2012

Images from a Writing Retreat

posted in: personal news, trains, writing, writing retreats | 0

No, not of me writing. How boring would that be! Here’s some of what I saw and did during break times.

A few shots of my surroundings at the motel, with kibitzers:

Ducks, who later started grouping casually around me,
as they discovered my M&Ms
Geese (but you knew that)

A lone hen

 
Rollerblading along the Cape Cod Canal, after a hard afternoon of writing and relaxing:

Sagamore Bridge from bike path

Looking toward eastern end of canal
 The Cape Cod Central Railroad’s scenic lunch train:
Train in Hyannis station

Going the distance on rollerblades, to the other end of the canal, 13 miles roundtrip. Followed by an excellent meal of fish & chips & local IPA.

Bourne Bridge from bike path
Railroad Bridge near west end of canal

Alas, I must pack up today and bring it to an end! It’s been great!

28 Aug 2012

Going Alien Goes Live!

posted in: ebooks, personal news, publishing, science fiction, short stories | 0

Drum roll, please. Thanks, you can stop now. I said, thanks, you can… thank you. 

It’s official; it’s live; it’s up for sale! My second of two short story collections, Going Alien, has just launched. Look to the east, in the sky. In the sky. See that bright spot of light? That’s Going Alien, on its way into space, where the aliens are!

Here’s what it looks like when it’s not a spot of light in the sky. It’s up now in the Book View Café store. It’ll be up momentarily at Amazon, too—and Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. It’ll be up, as the world turns, in all of the other stores, like Apple and Sony and Kobo.

About the stories. I’m always leery about rereading my own stuff. I mean, what if I don’t like it? What if I find it amateurish and derivative? What if I hate it? Well, to my own delight (and relief!), none of that happened! I actually really enjoyed reading through these stories, published over most of the years of my career. All of them, by the way, have bona fide aliens in them. And all have accompanying introductions with my reminiscences about the writing of them, and how they fit into the general scheme of my career.

Here’s the list of stories, most of them appearing for the first time since their initial publication in places such as original anthologies edited by Roger Zelazny and Orson Scott Card, and in magazines like Galaxy and Galileo.

  • Shapeshifter Finals
  • Love Rogo
  • What Gods Are These?
  • Life-Tides
  • Alien Persuasion
  • Though All the Mountains Lie Between

If I may offer a review quote from an editor I asked to look at them: “These stories are great! I’m really enjoying them!” And, “This illustration is beautiful!”

Okay, the editor, Allysen Palmer, is technically also my wife, but still. She’s a genuine professional editor. And she seemed really objective as she said that to me.

Why not give it a try? No aliens were harmed in the making of this ebook, and it’s affordably priced at $2.99, wherever fine ebook story collections are sold. Right alongside my first collection, Reality and Other Fictions.

Going Alien at
Book View Café | Kindle | Nook | Smashwords
 

27 Aug 2012

Writing Retreat, August 2012

posted in: personal news, writing, writing retreats | 0

This week finds me once more on Cape Cod, holed up this time in a motel (B&B too expensive), hoping to log some serious writing time on The Reefs of Time. Actually, at least half the goal is to give myself some solitude for a few days, so I might start hearing my thoughts over the already-fading din of everyday life. Mental restoration is the first step, and at least as important as the words I hope to get written. If you’re hoping to see the finished book (as I am), thank Allysen for arranging for me to come down here and press Reset.

I don’t expect to post much online while I’m here, but coming soon is an announcement about my new book of short stories. The work is done, and the announcement is already written, coiled, and ready to strike at the preordained moment.

Now, if you’ll excuse me while I look for the Reset button…

25 Aug 2012

Neil Armstrong, 1930 – 2012

posted in: farewells, personal news, public affairs, space, tributes | 0

A giant of a man died today, and I feel great sadness, even as I celebrate my own birthday. Neil Armstrong has left us.

I remember it like it was yesterday: July 20, 1969, holding my breath as the Apollo 11 Lunar Module finally landed on the Moon, with Neil Armstrong at the controls. And then, some hours later (late at night in Huron, Ohio), watching the grainy black and white TV images of Armstrong, and then Buzz Aldrin, stepping onto the surface of the Moon. I knew then that the world would never be the same, and that history would forever be divided between the time before humanity walked on another world, and after.

Neil Armstrong steps off the Eagle

Neil reads the plaque declaring that Apollo 11 has come on
behalf of all Mankind.

A defining moment for humanity, but also one for me personally. Many of my friends lost interest in the space program soon after, but I never did. To me it was, and will always be, one of mankind’s grandest adventures.

Others will write more knowledgeably of Armstrong’s life and career. But I’m pretty sure of one thing: a thousand years from now, if we’re still around, the name Neil Armstrong is one that people will remember.

One small step… and another, and another. Godspeed, Neil Armstrong.

Bootprint on the Moon

25 Aug 2012

Return of the Cyclist

posted in: personal news | 0

My daughter Lexi has returned from a bicycle ride that took her from Boston up and over to southern Vermont, then down to Bard College (her alma mater) not all that far north of NYC, and finally back home to this suburb of Boston. She’s one tired athlon. I didn’t lift a finger, but a tip of the hat to the friends and strangers who helped her or put her up en route. 

She has started a blog of her own, by the way. It’s called Of Chains and Grace. It’s about her walk with God and the Spirit, and if you’re open to that way of thinking, you might enjoy it. She doesn’t hold much back, and I find it beautiful and moving. (But of course I’m her father.)

Yes, this is the same daughter who used to be on her high school wrestling team. She’s now in graduate school in mechanical engineering, building on her undergraduate degree in math.

Kids these days!

22 Aug 2012

An Even Shinier “The Chaos Chronicles: Books 1–3”

posted in: ebooks, publishing, science fiction | 0

If you’re one of the excellent people who have bought a copy of my omnibus ebook of the first three Chaos books, I have good news for you! (At least, I hope it’s good news.) The book has gone through a complete reformatting and general steaming and dry cleaning, and the new, vastly improved version is now up in the Kindle store, the Nook store, Smashwords, and eventually will also be in the Book View Café store, the Apple and Sony stores, Kobo, and wherever Chaos Chronicles books are sold. No actual prose was harmed in the making of this new ebook! It’s the same thrilling story, unchanged except it looks way better on your reader now. (If it’s a Nook, the centered text will actually look centered—not a slam-dunk certainty on a Nook, as it turns out. Or in Aldiko on an Android, for that matter.)

Please be my guest and go back and download the updated version. I’m reasonably sure you can do that without cost, though if you ask me the actual mechanics by which you do it, I’m suddenly going to go all vague on you and excuse myself to go get more coffee. But let me know if you have trouble.

If you haven’t yet sprung for the ebook, well, pay no attention to me; I’m just going to sit in the dark, mumbling to myself about lost opportunities. ($6.99 for three books, are you kidding me?)

By the way, the individual novels, Neptune Crossing, Strange Attractors, and The Infinite Sea are also going to get an update—coming soon, as soon as Ann (who’s doing most of the actual work) finishes up. I’d love to give them new covers, too, but that must be a project for another day.

1 … 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 … 148