Frank Zappa, “Weird Al” Yankovich, and Me

By | | ,
2 Comments

Now THERE’S a headline I never thought I’d write, and I get to do it courtesy of Dr. Demento!

Weird Al and Dr. Demento
(“Weird Al” Yankovich and Dr. Demento. Photo by Genevieve, from Flickr under Creative Commons.)

I felt as if I was levitating when I learned that two — not one, but TWO — of my songs had been played on The Dr. Demento Show since the beginning of the year. (Sure, since then other things have brought me down, but when I think about this it still puts a smile on my face.)

“Another Romulan Ale” seems like an appropriate song for New Year’s, and Dr. Demento played it on his first show of 2014. And, sure enough, Frank Zappa and “Weird Al” Yankovich were on the playlist — along with Cheech & Chong and Bob Dylan. Quite a group!

Then on the 1st of March the Dr. did a show focusing on music related to science fiction:

This week Dr Demento presents The History of Science Fiction in Song…from “Stardrek” and “Banned from Argo” to “Tauntauns to Glory” in 80 minutes…plus “We Won’t Give ‘Em Sex,” “Winestoned Plowboy,” “There’s a Baby On the Plane”, more.

Folks familiar with science fiction and fantasy music (a.k.a. “filk”) know that “Banned from Argo” is arguably the most famous filk song of all time. So it’s one thing for Dr. Demento to decide to play “Tauntauns to Glory,” but for him to list it in the show description in the same breath as “Banned from Argo” … that took this whole experience over the line into surrealism, even before I realized I was on the playlist again with “Weird Al,” this time plus Devo, Nat “King” Cole, Frank Hayes, and Leslie Fish.

So, yeah, good times!

If you like “Romulan Ale” or “Tauntauns” or some of the other songs from Truths and Lies and Make-Believe, and think Dr. Demento should play more of them, he has a song request form you can fill out. That would be cool, or I’d be much obliged if you would post a review on Amazon or iTunes or CD Baby or elsewhere. That would be awesome!

Meanwhile, as the Dr. would say, stay “deeeee-mented”!

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Want Some Insight Into Our Publishing Process?

By | |
2 Comments

Then we have a podcast for you!

Two weeks ago at Mysticon, Baen Books editors Tony Daniel and Laura Haywood-Cory joined Baen author Tom Kratman and me — the slimy contractor “Slushmaster General” — for an episode of the Baen Free Radio Hour entitled “A Roundtable on Making the Book.” We talked a little about the creative process, a little about the submissions-and-selection process, and a little about how a novel goes from submitted manuscript to finished book.

Here’s a direct link to the podcast episode, which also includes part 2 of the serialization of “Murder on the Hoch-flieger Ost,” by Forever Engine author Frank Chadwick.

Hope you enjoy it! And let me know if you have any questions.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

A Quick (Late) Report-Out on MystiCon

By | |
Comments Off on A Quick (Late) Report-Out on MystiCon

Wow, it’s already been more than a week since MystiCon! I can’t keep track of the days these days.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I trekked northwest to Roanoke, Virginia, for MystiCon, which in just a few years has become one of the hottest small convention tickets in the Southeast. The 2013 convention sold out during the event, and the 2014 convention sold out before it even started!

All of my panels went well. Author Guest of Honor Todd McCaffrey led a half-dozen of us through a humorous “Delphic Oracle” exercise in which we had to formulate answers to the audience’s questions but each of us could only say one word at a time. The “Science of Star Trek” panel I moderated covered a vast array of real and imaginary technology, though I was disappointed that Media Guest of Honor John De Lancie had not been scheduled to join us.

My reading was enjoyable for me, and presumably for my audience since they did not run screaming into the hallways. I mixed a few songs with the opening of my story “Lightweaver in Shadow,” which will appear in a Baen Books anthology this November. The Baen Traveling Road Show went as expected, though I wished it would have had a look at the cover art for that anthology.

The Baen Barflies organized a little soiree in the ConSuite on Saturday night, and Speaker-to-Lab-Animals invited me to bring my guitar — so I debuted my new song, “The Books We Call Baen” (sung to the tune of “The Hero of Canton”). It went over pretty well, and I followed up with a couple other filk songs including “The Monster Hunter Ballad.”

I had time to take in a couple of panels, including a songwriting panel with Bella Morte, and enjoyed several conversations with friends old and new. Finally, I found Sunday’s self-promotion panel to be interesting and a bit liberating, since I still cringe from time to time whenever I veer too close to crass commercialization.

Speaking of crass commercialization … I also sold a few copies of my CD. So, all in all, a good trip and another resounding success for the convention staff. Great work, everyone!

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

I Have Some Pretty Cool Friends …

By | |
Comments Off on I Have Some Pretty Cool Friends …

And some of them just made the short list for the Nebula Awards!

Nebula Award Logo

Here’s the full list, with my friends marked in bold:

BEST NOVEL
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler (Marian Wood)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman (Morrow; Headline Review)
Fire with Fire, Charles E. Gannon (Baen) — I’m particularly pleased that this was nominated, for reasons that may or may not be obvious
Hild, Nicola Griffith (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Red: First Light, Linda Nagata (Mythic Island)
A Stranger in Olondria, Sofia Samatar (Small Beer)
The Golem and the Jinni, Helene Wecker (Harper)

BEST NOVELLA
“Wakulla Springs,” Andy Duncan & Ellen Klages (Tor.com 10/2/13)
“The Weight of the Sunrise,” Vylar Kaftan (Asimov’s 2/13)
“Annabel Lee,” Nancy Kress (New Under the Sun)
“Burning Girls,” Veronica Schanoes (Tor.com 6/19/13)
“Trial of the Century,” Lawrence M. Schoen (lawrencemschoen.com, 8/13; World Jumping)
“Six-Gun Snow White,” Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean)

BEST NOVELETTE
“Paranormal Romance,” Christopher Barzak (Lightspeed 6/13)
“The Waiting Stars,” Aliette de Bodard (The Other Half of the Sky)
“They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass,” Alaya Dawn Johnson (Asimov’s 1/13)
“Pearl Rehabilitative Colony for Ungrateful Daughters,” Henry Lien (Asimov’s 12/13)
“The Litigation Master and the Monkey King,” Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/13)
“In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind,” Sarah Pinsker (Strange Horizons 7/1 – 7/8/13)

BEST SHORT STORY
“The Sounds of Old Earth,” Matthew Kressel (Lightspeed 1/13)
“Selkie Stories Are for Losers,” Sofia Samatar (Strange Horizons 1/7/13)
“Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer,” Kenneth Schneyer (Clockwork Phoenix 4)
“If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love,” Rachel Swirsky (Apex 3/13)
“Alive, Alive Oh,” Sylvia Spruck Wrigley (Lightspeed 6/13)

RAY BRADBURY AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC PRESENTATION
Doctor Who: “The Day of the Doctor” (Nick Hurran, director; Steven Moffat, writer) (BBC Wales)
Europa Report (Sebastián Cordero, director; Philip Gelatt, writer) (Start Motion Pictures)
Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, director; Alfonso Cuarón & Jonás Cuarón, writers) (Warner Bros.)
Her (Spike Jonze, director; Spike Jonze, writer) (Warner Bros.)
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Francis Lawrence, director; Simon Beaufoy & Michael deBruyn, writers) (Lionsgate)
Pacific Rim (Guillermo del Toro, director; Travis Beacham & Guillermo del Toro, writers) (Warner Bros.)

ANDRE NORTON AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Holly Black (Little, Brown; Indigo)
When We Wake, Karen Healey (Allen & Unwin; Little, Brown)
Sister Mine, Nalo Hopkinson (Grand Central)
The Summer Prince, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Levine)
Hero, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
September Girls, Bennett Madison (Harper Teen)
A Corner of White, Jaclyn Moriarty (Levine)

DAMON KNIGHT GRAND MASTER AWARD: Samuel R. Delany

SPECIAL GUEST: Frank M. Robinson

___

I admit to some disappointment that other folks I nominated did not make the list, but with the exception of the dramatic works and the individual categories, I have at least one friend who is a finalist for each category. I think that’s pretty cool!

Or, at least, I think my friends are pretty cool …

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Living in Interesting Times — 30 Years Past 1984

By | | ,
2 Comments

How much is our world in 2014 like the 1984 that George Orwell described?


(George Orwell. Image from Wikimedia Commons.)

In other words, how much of our world as it exists now — particularly the technology-saturated Western world — would Orwell recognize as reflecting his cautionary tale?

The television in my living room doesn’t watch me watching it, the way the citizens’ did in the novel, but it certainly has enough electronics to keep track of what I watch and deliver that information to marketers without my being aware of it. And my laptop has a camera that could have been watching me as I typed this blog entry — and it could have done so without my knowledge. In addition, consider the proliferation of closed-circuit TV surveillance cameras in big cities around the world. Orwell might say we were indeed living in the world of his novel.

And remember, his novel was written in 1947-48, and published in 1949.

I can think of a few other parallels between our world today and the dystopia Orwell envisioned:

  • In the novel, Oceania is locked in a near-perpetual war with Eurasia and Eastasia. No matter how hopeful about (or intent we are on) extricating ourselves from the Terror War, it seems likely the terrorists will have different ideas (something I wrote about in my 2002 essay, “Yogi Berra, Polybius, and the Recurring Jihad”). And that says nothing about the rise of Chinese power and the resurgence of Russian ambitions (e.g., their looming presence over Ukraine).
  • In the novel, history is frequently rewritten to excise people and ideas that have fallen out of favor, something that was observable in Orwell’s day especially in the Soviet Union. Today, the ‘Net and its archives may prevent that kind of complete removal, but here in the U.S. some “progressive” historical interpretations are changing the perceptions of our traditional heroes — history being rewritten not to excise, but to diminish, people and ideas no longer favored.
  • In the U.S. recently we have seen a lot of animus toward the “top 1%” as well as emphasis on the shrinking middle class and the expanding ranks of people dependent on the government for their support. In some respects this seems to mirror the class structure depicted in the story.

And of course we have Orwell’s famous concept of “doublethink,” which we encounter almost daily at both ends of our political spectrum. Especially with respect to the idea of personal liberty, many people at either end seem simultaneously to support and resist personal freedom; or perhaps those who support all personal freedoms equally, from bearing arms to abortion, just don’t attract much attention.

What do you think? Even though it’s 2014, are we close to 1984?

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Damage Done, the Operative Said

By | |
2 Comments

Or, The Vicious, Small-Stakes Politics of the Science Fiction Community.

I’ve been watching yet another brouhaha in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Or, to be precise, not really another one, more of a continuation of the one from last year involving the editorship of the SFWA Bulletin.

And as I skim over some of the posts that people have made about the matter, with one exception (dealt with below) it all reminds me of this quote:

Academic Politics Are So Vicious Because the Stakes Are So Small

My old boss had a very similar quote on her bulletin board, attributed to Henry Kissinger, but the idea was articulated in (political scientist Wallace Stanley) Sayre’s law, which states that “In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake.” This “law” is appended with “That is why academic politics are so bitter.”

I venture to say that SFWA politics also involve relatively small stakes, and the vitriol expended on them is far out of proportion to the issues.

Which brings me for the moment to the exception I alluded to above, viz., the tendency to resort to ad hominem attacks instead of addressing the issues. It’s at least understandable in electoral politics, where scoring points may rally the base or shake up an opponent, and where the stakes are higher because the issues involve nontrivial impacts on people’s lives. Scoring points that way can even be amusing, if done with panache. But it’s usually unnecessary if one has a principled position to defend and a sound argument based on valid premises. Unfortunately, in these SFWA proceedings I detect much more inflammatory rhetoric than reasoned argument or entertainment. Perhaps I should not be too surprised: after all, writers are in the business of producing dramatic works. But unwarranted personal attacks raise my hackles, especially when directed at friends of mine; and I count as friends people all along the conservative-liberal spectrum, with whom I will stand when they are attacked even if I disagree with them on any particular matter under debate.

Which brings me back (in my convoluted way of thinking) to the actual matter under debate, specifically the infamous-within-SFWA-circles petition circulated after SFWA advertised for a new Bulletin editor, and the SFWA President’s assurance that the petitioners have nothing to fear. The president wrote that he saw “versions [of the petition] and they express concerns for something that does not and will not exist: Specifically, the editor of the Bulletin will not have to go to any selection or editorial review board to approve material.”

I submit that, even if true, that really doesn’t matter anymore.

The statement itself seems contrary to the Bulletin editor job advertisement — seen below in a screenshot taken yesterday — which reads that the editor will “Participate in [the] proofing and review process with select volunteer and board members.” But even if that enigmatic item does not refer to an editorial review board, it doesn’t matter because the idea of the Bulletin editor having much in the way of autonomy evaporated with the dismissal of the previous editor over the “warrior woman” cover and the Resnick-Malzberg historical article that violated an unwritten, unspoken taboo by noting a female editor’s attractiveness.


(Screenshot of the SFWA Bulletin editor job advertisement, taken February 17, 2014. Click to enlarge.)

Does anyone realistically believe that the new editor of the Bulletin will not be aware of that precedent, and that it will never prick the back of their mind like some mental sword of Damocles? Right there in the job description are references to a vague “vision” and unspecified “SFWA standards,” and many vociferous members no doubt stand ready to enforce the standards as they see fit. As the Operative in Serenity said, in a different context to be sure, “Damage done.”

So came the latest brouhaha: some members and nonmembers signed a petition expressing concern over the editorial board notion, which if formed would only institutionalize the weakened position of the editor. And their petition was met, as such things often are, not with thoughtful objections but with scorn, ridicule, and anger. None of which will make much difference in the long run, because the castle keep of editorial (and authorial) license was stormed last year and now lies in rubble.

All of this seems to me clear examples of the viciousness of organizational politics over stakes that are pretty trivial.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

My MystiCon Schedule

By | |
Comments Off on My MystiCon Schedule

Next week I’ll head to Roanoke, Virginia for the MystiCon science fiction and fantasy convention.

On Friday, 21 February, I’ll be on a panel called “The Delphic Oracle” with author Guest of Honor Todd McCaffrey and some other good folks.

The Delphic Oracle is an improv-based panel wherein the panelists, one word at a time, one person at a time, answer the audience’s questions about the future (or summer camp) in an irreverent homage to the ancient Oracle of Delphi. Hilarity invariably ensues.

Saturday the 22nd will be a busy day. First up is “The Science of Star Trek” panel, with Baen Books author and editor Tony Daniel, et al, which I will moderate.

Star Trek props and gadgets are now a part of our real lives. You can see the influence of Star Trek communicators, daily logs and tricorders in the modern cell phone and tablet designs. Even the ability to replicate objects is becoming a reality through 3-D printing. Why has Star Trek influenced technological advances and what’s the next to become reality?

After that I’ll have a “Koffee Klatch” — reading a story, singing a song, talking with anyone who comes by — then in the afternoon we’ll have the “Baen Traveling Road Show & Podcast” featuring author Tom Kratman.

On Sunday I’ll be on a panel with Gail Z. Martin and other authors called “Tooting Your Own Horn.”

Done properly, self-promotion is an important part of building a career. Poorly executed, self-promotion can do more harm than good. Our panelists will discuss what works and doesn’t work along with these common questions: Do book signings really help a small author? Are bookmarks and/or postcards effective at garnering attention? Does a blog help or hurt an author? Does an author have to have a website?

Hopefully amidst all that we’ll have some folks interested in filking, and as always I’ll have a few copies of my CD for anyone who wants to buy one (or more than one!). And, since it looks as if we’re due for a warm-up over the next few days, my travel back-and-forth should be fairly easy.

If you’re going to be at the con, look me up!

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

More Podcast Plays

By | |
Comments Off on More Podcast Plays

Last Friday my Lord of the Rings-inspired song, “Mortal Men,” was played on the Baen Free Radio Hour, and two weeks before that the podcast included my song, “Steampunk Pirates.”

Steam-monocle
(Image: “Steam Monocle,” by -=Kip=-, on Flickr under Creative Commons.)

If you want to listen:

BFRH 2014 02 07: Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, David Weber’s Shadow of Freedom Part 47
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller discuss A Liaden Universe® Constellation Volume 2; “Mortal Men,” a song from Gray Rinehart; and David Weber’s Shadow of Freedom Part 47

BFRH 2014 01 24: Ring of Fire author Iver P. Cooper, David Weber’s Shadow of Freedom Part 45
Ring of Fire alternate history series author Iver P. Cooper discusses his new novel 1636: Seas of Fortune; Gray Rinehart’s “Steampunk Pirates”; and David Weber’s Shadow of Freedom Part 45

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Let Me Know if You Nominate One of My Stories

By | | ,
Comments Off on Let Me Know if You Nominate One of My Stories

Strictly out of ego-boosting curiosity, if you happen to put one of my stories into an otherwise-unused spot on your Nebula or Hugo Award nomination form, I’d be interested to know about it.


(My best story of 2013 was in the July issue of Asimov’s.)

For readers who don’t follow the science fiction and fantasy field, the Nebula Awards are roughly equivalent to the Oscars or the Grammies, while the Hugo Awards correspond more to the People’s Choice Awards. Nebula nominations are due this Friday, and Hugo nominations are due the end of next month.

Of my eligible fiction published last year, I think my best story was definitely the novelette, “What is a Warrior Without His Wounds?”, which appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction in July. It’s the story of a double amputee given the chance to have a whole, healthy body again — but at a terrible cost. (I also published two short stories last year: “A Star That Moves,” in LORE in April, and “The Entropy Box,” published in October in the Writers for Relief III anthology edited by Davey Beauchamp and Stuart Jaffe. Of the two, I think “A Star That Moves” is better.)

Of course, my other creative pursuit of 2013 was Truths and Lies and Make-Believe, but there’s no music category for the Nebulas or the Hugos. However, if you suggest any of my songs for a Pegasus Award I’d be interested to know that, too.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

A Book of Truths

By | |
6 Comments

Following up on a conversation I had with a friend at the last science fiction & fantasy convention I went to, I’ve been thinking about the relationship between truth and fact.

Bible Study
(“Bible Study,” by .:[ Melissa ]:., on Flickr under Creative Commons.)

Specifically, that truth and fact are not the same thing.

A fact is a provable assertion, something verifiable by applying an operational definition. A factual assertion will be true, or it cannot be considered factual. Truth, however, especially what we might call “capital-T truth,” is bigger, broader — higher and wider and deeper — than fact. It may be based on fact, but it may also be based on logic or intuition or revelation because truth goes beyond fact.

The conversation we had specifically dealt with Scripture, and the difficulty some people have with it. Within the Christian church, for instance, many believers seem unwilling or unable to face up to metaphors, translation issues, and other problems with the Biblical text. Their faith at times seems to be in the Bible itself — in what they believe is an infallible text — rather than in God.

On the other side of the divide are my atheist friends, some of whom are lightning-quick to mention errors or points of disagreement with the Biblical text. Indeed, some appear to use such things to justify their decision to deny even the possibility of God’s existence, action, and love for humanity.

In each case, the formula seems to be “If any part of the Bible is inaccurate or problematic, then the whole of the Bible cannot be trusted.” Some Christians go so far as to treat Jesus’s parables, his teaching stories, as if they described historical events because they cannot abide the thought of Jesus telling a story that might not be “factual” even though it illustrates a “truth.” On the other side, I understand that some atheists go so far as to claim that Jesus was not a real historical person, though I have not personally encountered anyone who voiced that opinion.

I wonder at the deeper motivations involved. Do my Christian brethren ignore problems because at heart they want to believe and any textual difficulties will shake their beliefs? In a similar way, do my atheist friends point out problems because at heart they do not want to believe and the textual difficulties provide them a ready excuse?

Regardless of the underlying reasons, many believers and atheists alike seem to want or expect or demand that the Bible be a book of facts that has some truth in it. That seems to me a shallow outlook; in my estimation, it’s more accurate to say the Bible is a book of truth that has some facts in it.

And to me that makes a world (if not a universe) of difference.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather