2 Dec 2005

Kudos to Julia

posted in: science fiction | 0

Did I mention that my daughter Julia recently won a cash award for a short SF story she wrote for last summer’s international science fiction writing contest? (It was sponsored by a consortium that included UNESCO, the European Space Agency, and other groups I’ve never heard of—and also, in the U.S., the National Space Society.)

She got word last summer that she’d won the U.S. portion of the competition for middle school aged kids, and that her story was going on for international judging. She didn’t win that final stage, and had assumed that her only prize was the knowledge that she’d won the U.S. section. But several months later, out of the blue, came a check in the mail. At age 13, she’s now earned more per word for a short story sale than I ever have in my entire career! You go!

1 Dec 2005

Harry Potter 4

posted in: science fiction | 0

One of the things my family did on Thanksgiving was to go see the new Harry Potter movie, Goblet of Fire. I quite enjoyed it—although I found myself thinking of an old episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, in which, during a particularly long sequence of gloomily lit black-and-white scenes (involving some sort of swamp creature) one of the robots turned to the others and said, “We should all get together and buy this movie a light.” That’s kind of how I felt about Goblet of Fire.

The kids enjoyed the movie, but less so than the gr’ups. I’m not sure if it’s because of the increasingly dark character of the films (both literally and figuratively) or because of all the parts that were cut. I may have benefited from not remembering the books very well. When the third movie came out, both girls foamed at the mouth about what an abomination it was—though they later softened to conceding that it was possible to enjoy it if they thought of it just as a movie and not as an adaptation of a book they loved. Still, everyone in my family agrees that—never mind what the critics say—the first two movies were the best.

I’ve been working hard on Sunborn, which is why I haven’t been posting much here lately. If you don’t see me much for a while, that’s probably a good sign.

15 Nov 2005

Writing Retreat

posted in: science fiction, writing | 0

Wow. There’s nothing like getting away from the daily grind and sitting in a beautiful location. Near the ocean. Fire in a fireplace. Peace and solitude. (The jacuzzi turned out to be at another place, where I am not; but that’s okay, I don’t even mind.) I’m already making better progress on the book. Plus, I spent a couple of hours walking along the salt marsh and the beach, watching crows, playing chicken with the waves (and losing). This is great. I should do it more often.

Something about a fire in a fireplace and writing: they go together like, I don’t know, wine and cheese. (Hey, there’s an idea…)

15 Oct 2005

Dark Matter, Don’t Go!

posted in: science, science fiction, space | 0

A new study reported on Space.com suggests that dark matter, that mysterious stuff that astronomers believe helps hold the galaxies together, might not exist, after all. Researchers Fred Cooperstock of Northeastern University and Steven Tieu at the University of Victoria invoke general relativity to explain the cohesiveness of galaxies.

To which I say, No no no no no—don’t do it! The plot of Sunborn depends on dark matter to hold things together (so to speak), and if you pesky, upstart physicists go explaining away dark matter by other means, what does that leave me holding in the bag? Nothing, that’s what. Quantum vacuum, at best. And what good does that do me?

Maybe this will turn out to be wrong. But maybe not. I get very annoyed with the ephemeral nature of knowledge, sometimes.

5 Oct 2005

Rocket Races!

posted in: science fiction | 0

Some time ago, I wrote a novel called Roger Zelazny’s Alien Speedway: Clypsis. (It was a share-crop effort, based on work by the late Roger Zelazny and put together by the late Byron Preiss.) It was about a kid named Mike Murray, who travels to a future star system, Clypsis, which is dedicated solely to the sport of spaceship racing. It was great fun to write, and from the feedback I got from readers, fun to read as well.

Well…Fast Rewind to the present. This story on Space.com reports a planned annual event under the aegis of the “Rocket Racing League,” featuring actual races of piloted “X-Racer stock rocket planes.” The first races are planned for October of 2006, in the skies of New Mexico. This is so cool, I can’t wait. Spaceman’s luck, everyone!

But in the meantime, they’re planning an exhibition of X-Prize competitors in Las Cruces, New Mexico for this weekend, Oct. 9. (Wish I could go.) And the X-Prize winner, Spaceship One, is about to go on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Wish I had my own private rocket plane to go to all these events!

26 Sep 2005

WriteSF.com Is Live!

posted in: science fiction, writing | 0

I think I forgot to mention that my online guide to SF and fantasy writing, oddly enough called Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy, is now available online for anyone to peruse and use. It’s not what you’d called finished, exactly. It’s proving to be a much bigger job than I realized to fix all the funky formatting from the earlier html, and get all the navigation links in place. But the first handful of lessons are in good shape, and you can get around the whole course using the contents page.

The guide covers the fundamentals of story writing, including getting from idea to story, world building, creating human and alien characters, plot and conflict, language and style, finishing what you start, workshopping, submitting to publishers, and more. It’s geared to the younger aspiring writer, but I hope could be useful for anyone looking for a little jump start.

It grew out of a course I created for MathSoft’s StudyWorks Science some years ago, and now I’m putting it up for free as a public service. And SFF.Net is hosting it as a public service, as well.

If you know of any young aspiring writers, send ’em over. And please spread the word.

It’s at writesf.com.

19 Sep 2005

posted in: science fiction, writing | 0

Tim was asking which of my books I think has the best movie potential. The short answer is: all of them. But I suppose you’d rather have the longer answer. I thought so.

Well, I have long felt that Star Rigger’s Way was perfect for making into a movie, partly because it’s got a lot of very visual elements, plus it’s a fairly simple and straightforward plot. I also think Eternity’s End would work well, because it has really interesting visuals and is a more complex work. So, really, it would be great as a 6 or 8-hour miniseries.

On the other hand, the Chaos Chronicles are my choice for a 12-hour miniseries! The escape from Neptune, the arrival at Shipworld, the attack of the boojum, the undersea world of the Neri…they could do great things with all this!

The problem is, nobody is signing on for the rights to any of these. Not even a nibble from Hollywood. Come on, Mr. Spielberg, give them a try! You’ll like them. Are you listening?

Okay, okay, it’s not tomorrow yet. (Well, actually, it is, I suppose.) Anyway, I’m going this up, so you get two posts in one night.

Tomorrow I’ll try Tim’s question about Google and showing pages. (Which I knew nothing about until I saw Tim’s question!)

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