Answered: Why do I have to learn this?

I just ran across an amazing essay by physicist Ethan Siegel titled, Why do I have to learn this? It's a wonderful piece of persuasive writing that must be shared.

Ethan has a very good blog called Starts with a Bang in which he answers mostly science questions in an informative and entertaining way. I like his breezy style, which usually never shorts the reader on facts, but still keeps the eyeballs moving quickly. With rare exceptions his posts are uniformly excellent.

As a parent, former student, and former physics instructor, I find his latest piece to be a true marvel. It's easily the best answer to the age-old student question that I've ever read, and I wish I'd written it. I think every 5th or 6th grader should read it, and then read it again in high school. No doubt some kids wouldn't be moved, but they should all be given the chance.

His full essay of the subject can be found here. Enjoy!

GenCon 2015

GenCon 2015 has come and gone, and I have a few observations or comments.

First of all, Marc Tassin did a truly amazing job organizing and running the Writers Symposium. It gets better every year, and I'm proud to call him my friend and fellow writing group member. Terry Brooks was the Big Kahuna Guest of Honor this year, but there were so many other talented and pleasant guests.

I didn't attend many panels this time (more on that below), but I do want to mention how much I enjoyed Geoffery Girard's presentation on "Query Letters, Pitches and Synopses." This was aimed at writers who have a novel ready or nearly ready to start pushing on an unsuspecting world of agents and editors. As Geoffery himself admits, the information and advice in his talk isn't new, and you can find it in many places. His presentation, however, was energetic, well-organized, joyful, and most importantly useful! The best part for me was the exercise of writing the infamous "elevator pitch", and then practicing it with all the other people in the room. We did this many, many times, including repetitions during which the listener purposefully interrupted your pitch with questions. Speaking for myself (and prolly most of the other students), it got easier every time. By the end of the pitch session I was very comfortable, and happy to field the interrupting questions. Great job, Geoffery! If he repeats this talk at GenCon or anywhere else, I highly recommend it.

I also attended the "What Editors Want" panel with Jim Minz of Baen Books, and Marco Palmieri of Tor, among others. I won't delve into the details, but I must repeat a quote that Jim read out loud near the end of the session. It's from Calvin Coolidge:

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

This is so flippin' true that it should always be included when printing The Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy. My life is a testimonial to this. Take it to heart!

One more little note about the Symposium. I got to meet Kameron Hurley again, and deliver my apology in person! (See my previous blog entry with her name in the title.)

Okay, the reason I didn't attend many panels was because I wanted to spend more time with Alex, and simply have fun together playing games and gawking. On that account, the trip was a complete success! I look forward to next year, but we gotta get a room closer to the con.

Toadless in Toledo

I like playing Scrabble. The intellectual challenge, while narrowly focused, is almost always enjoyable. Sure, there are times when you're staring itchy-eyed at a rack full of i's and u's, cursing the gods of distribution, and wondering what's new on Netflix. But mostly I look at such circumstances as an opportunity to be creative and clever. From such desperate times words like VUG and TUI are discovered.

I really like playing Scrabble with my friends George and Tom. The mental challenge remains strong, but the geeky fun of discussing words and etymologies, real and fanciful—especially fanciful!— can be as much fun as a drunken game of spoons.

And then there are the weird discoveries. According to The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD), Fifth Edition, there is a remarkably small number of objects or feelings you can be without. For example the word TOADLESS exists, meaning "Having no toads," but there is no entry for FROGLESS. Apparently one can never be without frogs. There is an entry for FISHLESS, but not FOWLESS. Nor can you be CATLESS, DOGLESS, COWLESS, PIGLESS, or CLAMLESS. Somehow each of us always possesses at least one of these animals, and myriad others.

You can also be LOVELESS, but not HATELESS. It seems we must retain at least a dab of hate at all times. That would explain a lot.

You can be SUCKLESS, although inexplicably that is defined as "Having no juice." Let your mind wander.

There are far too many other examples to count. (The OSPD usually doesn't have words longer than 8 letters, so we may never know if one can be GIRAFFELESS.

What's the point of all this? Not much except whiling away a few spare minutes. I do wonder about the circumstances that led to the need for creating the word TOADLESS. "Excuse me, but I'm lookin' for a load of toads? You got any?"

Maybe some things are meant to stay a mystery. I guess I'll turn my mind to other fascinations, like the word REBOZO. Yeah, that's real.

The Other Side of Space: 2nd Draft

I finished the second draft of my MG/YA science fiction novel a couple weeks ago. Alas, it was too late in the year to follow Dave Farland's example. He says that he'll go to a grade school or middle school and work with teachers who will ask their students if they want to read the book. Dave will pay each student to read and simply mark any words that he/she doesn't understand. Once all the participants have done this, he'll meet with them, and it usually leads to an active discussion about all aspects of the book. He says it works very well.

Unfortunately the school year is over. Still, my number one target audience (my son!) now has the book in his hands. I've never been more anxious about someone reading my work. I'm trying to keep myself from pestering him about what he thinks so far, but it's tough. I've been keeping busy with other projects, as well as getting back on the agent-research train.

Part of that research has included reading more MG/YA/SF (runnin' out of letters here!), with my most recent being Marissa Meyer's Cinder. I'm about two-thirds through the book, and it's been a terrific read. The story is a creative twist on Cinderella, with the heroine being a cyborg in a world where they are property. I won't give away plot points, but Ms. Meyer has so far very nicely succeeded in 1) making me care about Cinder and 2) cranking up the tension with multiple instances of jeopardy and emotional suffering for her. Good job!

God's War by Kameron Hurley

I owe Kameron Hurley an apology. She doesn't know me, doesn't know about this debt, and likely wouldn't recall if I told her. Still, I do.

I met her, briefly, at WorldCon in Chicago almost three years ago. She was a panelist on something—a promo for Nightshade Books if I recall—and at the end she had a copy of her debut novel God's War to give away. I turned out to be the lucky recipient, but before she handed it to me she asked, "Are you really going to read this?" To which I replied something quick and positive like, "Absolutely!"

I read the first page or two that evening in my hotel room, but then I put the book aside. It hadn't grabbed me by the throat immediately.

About three weeks ago I finally picked her novel up again. I gave it a second chance, and I'm happy to report that it was well worth it.

This isn't really a review, and I don't want to spoil anything for the odd person who might actually be reading this, so I won't give much detail. I will say that Kameron paints a truly fascinating world on a planet inhabited by the spiritual descendants of Muslims, who use bug-based biotech for much of their needs, and who are engaged in a very long war.

Having just written that, I realize that it would be easy to think the book was primarily a milieu-type novel.* This is when the special world of the story is dominant.

What I read, however, is an action-y book about characters and relationships, with some complexity and mystery to the plot. In fact, I would have to say a bit too complex, or at least too mysterious. A fault I find with the story is that some characters and events are shaded too much, with insufficient explanation. I found myself wondering on a few occasions, "Why did that just happen? Who the heck is she?"

I get what Kameron was doing. The technique of showing events as they happen, without explaining everything at the time, makes for a more realistic story. She used this very effectively with significant portions of the back story of the main character named Nyx, and at least one other. Yet she over did it in several other places. (Whether or not she meant to is another question.) This didn’t stop me from reading once I got momentum, but the road could have been just a bit smoother.

What more than makes up for the road bumps, however, is the depth of characterization of Nyx, and some of her team. She is a tough, driven, sometimes-bounty hunter, yet very far from a stereotype. She's drawn gradually and completely, with multiple blended aspects of her personality. Just like a real person. She's admirable and detestable. She's intimidating and pitiable. She's the best friend to have at your back, and the worst. She's strong, and vulnerable, and wise, and stupid.

There's one scene in which the ruthless killer Nyx is comforting her friend and teammate while he goes through a particularly humiliating full body search. That may not sound like much, but for his situation and culture, the process is agony, and Nyx knows it. She can't truly help him, but she stays by his side, softly doing what she can.

I read that scene three times when I hit it, and thought to myself, "Wow. I wish I had written that."

Then I finished the book. As I already said, it has some flaws that didn't need to be there. But it is powerful, and compelling, and it makes me wish that I had written the character of Nyx.

So, I apologize to you Kameron Hurley, for taking almost three years before reading the novel that you gave to me. And I thank you, sincerely, for providing an experience that I expect will stay with me for a very long time.


*See Orson Scott Card's M.I.C.E. quotient. http://triton.towson.edu/~schmitt/311/pages/tsld004.htm And if you're a writer, I highly recommend his books Characters and Viewpoint, and How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Terry Pratchett walked the black sand

He made death less scary, and life much happier.

The Other Side of Space Completed!

Okay, so it's only the first draft, but it feels fantastic. The final fourteen to fifteen chapters (out of forty-one) went pretty quickly. More importantly, I enjoyed writing them more so than any other large chunk of text I ever produced. I'm not saying it's my best work, but I had such fun writing it, even the more challenging bits.

I'm feeling a strange mixture of pride, relief, and to a certain extent a little bit of loss. I'm reminded of what Churchill said about his History of the English Speaking Peoples.

"Writing a long and substantial book is like having a friend and companion at your side, to whom you can always turn for comfort and amusement, and whose society becomes more attractive as a new and widening field of interest is lighted in the mind." --  From Churchill's The Gathering Storm.

Not that I'm suggesting my little fiction story is worthy of even cleaning up Mr. Churchill's cigar ashes. It's simply the idea of a long piece of writing being a friendly comfort that resonates. Of course my friend and companion is still there, patiently waiting to have his face mashed and his limbs twisted as I begin the second draft, but it's not the same thing as fresh creation.

I hope to finish the re-write in short order, and then present it to my son Alex. I wrote this one for him.