Category Archives: Science Fiction

Logging Some Forward Progress on My Novel

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It feels good to get some writing done, and be a little closer to completion on MARE NUBIUM. Since my unanticipated hiatus, I’ve pushed my self-imposed deadline back from Halloween to the first of December — and if I make it, I will meet my goal of completing the novel this year.

And as of today, the thing is a little over 75,000 words long. I still think this draft is going to run over my planned 100,000 words, and therefore will need some trimming in the edit, but so far I feel pretty good about it. Hopefully other people will feel good about it, too!

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Science Fiction Blog Aggregator

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I look at blog aggregators every once in awhile when I need source material and don’t want to paw through a bunch of regular search results. Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop is one of my favorites; I see that “writing” is a new topic on it, though I might recommend it be subdivided into genres.

One of the newer aggregators I consult is http://42blips.com/, an aggregator devoted to science fiction and fantasy. I can’t remember where I first saw this — probably on Futurismic or BoingBoing or somewhere like that — and I don’t know how useful it will be in the long run, but for now it’s pretty interesting to look at.

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Novel Status Update

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A little progress on MARE NUBIUM, having crossed the 55,000-word threshold tonight. It’s somewhat slow going, but I’m still having fun with it. Hopefully some readers will get the chance to have fun with it, too.

[BREAK, BREAK]

In the “This Day in Space History” file, ten years ago today the Russians launched Soyuz TM-28 to the Mir space station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The spacecraft returned to earth the following February, but one of the cosmonauts stayed aboard Mir for a year. (The Mir station itself deorbited in 2001.*) See this page for more on the Soyuz TM-series spacecraft.

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*The main character in my story “The Rocket Seamstress,” a worker at Baikonur, considered what she thought of as the ignoble fate of Mir.

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Obscure SF References in Real Life

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Do you ever have an odd science fictional reference pop into your head while doing something mundane?

The other day I was doing my usual not much and happened to rub my eye: I came away with an eyelash on the pad of my finger and carelessly flicked it away (we have to feed the vacuum cleaner something) before I thought, Wow, I’m glad we don’t have those DNA analyzer-scanners like in GATTACA.

An odd reference, I know, but I’m an odd person. As Mike Yaconelli paraphrased, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd.”

So, what SF references have you encountered in daily life?

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Sphericity — That Is, Being Well-Rounded

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My friend and brother sent me a link to an essay entitled “On Stupidity” — it included this bit that reminded me of RAH:

Different generations have different ways of knowing — different configurations of multiple intelligences. Pick your era and your subject: How many of us know anything about farming anymore or how to read the changing of the seasons? How many of us know how to repair an automobile or make a cake from scratch?

(Link: Chronicle of Higher Education.)

For those who don’t recognize the initials, RAH would be Robert A. Heinlein, one of the Grand Masters of Science Fiction. The English professor’s quote above made me think of one of my favorite RAH quotes from “The Notebooks of Lazarus Long”:*

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

I’ve always liked that sentiment, and thought at one point about planning a course of study around it. I called it “Sphericity,” as in the title of this post, by which I meant being well-rounded. Some people seem to get there naturally because they take (or make) the opportunities to explore a broad range of interests; other folks may need a little help.

How well-rounded are you? And would you add anything to Heinlein’s list?

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*The “Notebooks” formed part of his novel TIME ENOUGH FOR LOVE, but many of the aphorisms stand well on their own.

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Halfway Home

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Passed the 50,000 word mark in MARE NUBIUM, after finally realizing that I’d started the last chapter in the wrong point of view and going back to re-work it. What I probably should’ve done is just inserted a note to the effect of “rework this” and pressed on, but it seemed too big an issue to leave unresolved.

It’s a wonder I finish anything. According to my 100K goal, I’m halfway through with the novel; who knows if the final version will be 90K or 120K, but it will be a wonder if I finish.

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Trinoc*coN Report

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Today I made it to the last bit of Trinoc*coN, the local Raleigh-Durham SF&F convention.

I caught the tail end of a panel on whether Harry Potter is destined to become a literary classic (the panelists and audience were each about evenly split between “yes” and “maybe”), then was on a panel about the paranormal in fiction and nonfiction. We had an interesting discussion amongst ourselves until a few audience members straggled in … but such is the hazard of Sunday morning panels.

I moderated a panel on SF’s broken technological promises, which was okay … but I’m not a very good moderator. The panel was entitled “Where’s My Flying Car?” and one of the panelists took that rather literally — he brought a nice PowerPoint slideshow about flying cars, which we all enjoyed, but we spent so much time on actual flying cars that we didn’t get to discuss some of the broader promises SF has made.

The highlight was seeing Hank Davis and Laura Haywood-Cory, both from the main office of Baen Books. (Laura got me on the guest list in the first place.) Hank was on the “Flying Car” panel, and as the most widely read of all of us he kept us firmly anchored in the genre. Laura did a great job moderating the very enjoyable panel on Southern Fandom.

This year’s Trinoc*coN was a small affair, a “relaxacon” as it’s known — more laid back and less programming-intense than usual — but very well done and I was pleased to be invited to be a part of it. Kudos and thanks to all the organizers and volunteers!

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Back from the beach, off to a con

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Just returned this afternoon, lightly sunburned and heavily fatigued, from a week in Myrtle Beach, and tomorrow I’ll head over to Trinoc*coN, a local SF&F convention. It’s a “relaxacon” this year, with minimal programming, but even so they got a big-name GOH in Catherine Asaro.

I’ll contribute the “minimal” to tomorrow’s programming: I’m on a panel on “The Paranormal in Fiction and Nonfiction” and I’ll moderate “Where’s My Flying Car?”, a panel on the failure of technology to live up to our more fantastic dreams.

For now, though, let’s see if we can add a few more words to the novel-in-progress. Best to any and all!

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Finally — 45,000

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I had such a good streak going of nearly 5,000 words a week, and then July hit and my writing time dropped to almost nil. First was the weekend in northern Virginia for the wedding, then a few nights of Vacation Bible School prep, then the weekend in Massanutten for the family reunion, and then this last week doing Vacation Bible School nearly every night and most of the day on Saturday.

At least I’m a few words closer to the goal for now. This being “vacation week” (so to speak, it’s a working vacation for me), it remains to be seen how much writing I’ll get done. But at least I’m still moving in the right direction.

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Forty Thousand

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Is it strange to count the progress on my novel in 5,000-word increments? Maybe, but I’m doing it anyway.

As of tonight, MARE NUBIUM is a little over 40,000 words long — which, as my writing friend Eric James Stone pointed out on his blog, is the length criterion for status as a “novel.” However, since there’s also the story criterion — i.e., a story that’s complete and hopefully coherent — I’m not there yet.

But it feels good to be making progress!

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