Oct18

What I learned at CapClave

on October 18th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
Posted In: Deep Thoughts

I spent last weekend in Gaithersburg, MD for CapClave — a reader’s con put on by the Washington Science Fiction Association.  Overall I had a good time meeting a few new people and connecting with the old friends that I usually only get to see at cons.  But in addition to all of the usual, I learned something new about myself — I don’t like the down time.

See, when you’re a guest panelist at a con, there’s two basic modes you’re in.  Either you are on a panel (talking, debating, etc) or you aren’t (the down time).  In both modes you are “on” (the only time you aren’t “on” is when you reach the sanctuary that is your hotel room) and it can get pretty exhausting, but I discovered that I prefer to be on panels.

Now usually, a con will put you on about five panels spread over the weekend.  For whatever reason, I was only given two panels ::sniffs armpits, seems okay::, both on Friday, and a reading on Saturday.  The reading got nixed when Terry Pratchett made a surprise appearance for an hour from noon to 1:00.  My reading was at 12:30.  Unsurprisingly, nobody showed up (including me, though I did peek in just to make sure).  The end result was that I had a lot of down time when I wasn’t on a panel.  I went to see a few of my peers on their panels and browsed the dealer room and chatted up a few folks, but it just didn’t work for me.  I do fine with it in smaller doses but doing it all day made me feel a bit like a used car salesman.  If I have to do one or the other all day, I’d rather get exhausted on panels.

I now know that I make far better connections and have a lot more fun when I’m on a panel.  I get to meet new authors and debate the topic with them — in fact, several of my closest writer friends came out of being on panels together.  I get to meet new readers, too — they come to see Author A but they also hear the rest of us, and usually by the end of a weekend, one or two or more have taken an interest in my work.

On top of all that, I think I feel a little Jewish guilt if I’m not on enough panels.  After all, that’s why I was invited to the con in the first place.

I’ll get to put my new perspective to the test this weekend at RoundCon inSouth Carolina.  This is a media con that’s trying to build its literary track.  It’s much smaller, just a handful of authors, but it should give me a good balance of panels versus down time to observe how I feel.

How do you all feel at cons?  As fans, do you prefer to meet an author through a panel or schmoozing in the halls?  For those of you who’ve been panelists, what’s your view?

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Oct11

Lines in the Sand

on October 11th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Posted In: Deep Thoughts

With all the turmoil in today’s publishing world, I feel safe in saying that there’s only one thing anybody can say with absolute authority — nobody knows what the heck is going to happen.  It’s true.  Anybody who tells you otherwise is full of it.  There are just so many variables — almost all of which comprise some human element — that to attempt a serious prognostication is to make gods laugh and mathematicians weep.

Besides, most of these predictions come with an agenda in the wings — good or evil, still an agenda.  That bugs me.  But what gets me most is that all these people drawing lines in the sand are doing just that — drawing lines in SAND.  Sand is impermanent, and so is the publishing situation.

The indie cheerleaders draw their lines saying we don’t care about the traditional press anymore.  We’re going it alone, and the hell with you.  The indie revolution has arrived and in a few years there won’t be traditional publishers anymore.

Sounds great, right?  Who doesn’t like a good stand against authority?  Only problem is that line is bunk.  The fact is that while some major publishers probably won’t survive the changes that are occurring, the majority will.  They’re already in the process of being in the ebook market and though they still have a lot to learn in regards to formatting and pricing (something readers will impact more than indie-publishers), they’ll figure it out.

On the other hand, the traditionalists draw their lines all over the place — you have to do it their way or you aren’t “legit” is a common one.  Another is that indie work is inferior.  But all the good work coming from indie moviemakers, indie bands, indie painters, indie clothes designers, small business owners, etc, etc, prove how viable they are.  Does indie produce bad work sometimes?  Sure.  I have to sift through a lot of indie music to find the gems I use for The Eclectic Review, but after almost 280 shows, each with 3 songs, I’ve found over 800 good tunes — actually many more.  Some good tunes I couldn’t use because of timing in the song or lyric content.  Point is: there’s good indie stuff and there’s crap — just like in the traditional press!

Another favorite line is that when the traditional pubs finally get their act together, they’ll destroy the indies for good.  Sorry, guys.  That genie’s out of the bottle.  That ship has sailed.  When the trad-press finally makes a real effort to push out the indies, they will fail because the new distribution lines being used have proven to be effective.  Why would Amazon close down its indie market when they make a killing off it?  And if through some backroom deal, they agreed to do so, there are too many other outlets opening up — B&N, Smashwords, Apple, Kobo, etc, etc.  Any one of them would be thrilled to take the business Amazon would give up.

Get it?  Indie/Trad press — they are both here to stay, warts and all.  They both have good and bad points to them.  All this bickering is silly and stupid.  Because when it all settles down, writers and readers are the big winners.  They both get more choices, more ways to produce or find quality work.  And even the Traditional publishers win — they get to focus on the biggest, most successful authors.  They can use the indie world as their own minor league, and once they’re willing to put up real money, they’ll swoop in and take the winners rather than playing Russian Roulette all the time.

So, to my fellow readers, writers, and publishers, I say this: knock it off.  I’m tired of all the stands everyone is trying to take.  This sandbox is big enough for us all, and all those lines are just going to disappear anyway.

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Oct04

Women Kickin Butt — Sarah Connor

on October 4th, 2011 at 5:30 am
Posted In: Deep Thoughts, Movies

Continuing the Women Kickin Butt series, I thought I’d look at one of the greats — Sarah Connor. There are many reasons she’s awesome, but for me, one of the coolest things about watching this character from The Terminator through T2 (we won’t talk about the other film incarnations. I like to pretend they didn’t happen) is to watch the growth of Sarah. Remember The Terminator? Take a look at her in the first act of that film — a low-paid, ill-treated waitress, 80′s big hair, soft skinned, almost cutsy, screaming her way through the insanity that happens to her. Now, take a look at her in T2 – tough, rock-hard muscles, calm and cool, in control, one kickin-butt woman who’s ready to take down names. And don’t you dare mess with her kid.

This growth of character is not something we always get to see with heroines — especially lately. Xena, Buffy, Ripley are all fully-formed butt-kickers, or at least close to it, when we first meet them (don’t worry, I’ll be profiling all of them in this series down the road). Heck, even in my own book, The Way of the Black Beast, Malja is already a gifted warrior. We might get to learn about their early days at some point, but their growth is found in other ways — through relationships, through trusting friends, through survival, etc. In fact, when Sarah Connor moved to television, her character had to find growth through these other ways, too.

Watching Sarah Connor on film go from a typical, American 80′s girl into a killing machine that almost forgets she’s human is not only a triumph of excellent writing and film work, but an impressive acting display by Linda Hamilton. In fact, what makes her character even more intriguing is that while The Terminator follows her change from girly-girl to defender of the earth, T2 watches her nearly become like her enemy and she must learn how to be human again.

I think that aspect of her is one reason heroines often are more interesting than heroes. A lot of heroes, especially in fantasy and science fiction, are almost one dimensional. They are the Heroes! But we tend to write our heroines with a little more humanity and that gives them more power in the end. Obviously, this is sweeping generalization, but I know we could list quite a few one-dimensional heroes. I wonder how many, if any, one-dimensional heroines we could name. Maybe Red Sonja?

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Sep27

Samurai 7

on September 27th, 2011 at 5:30 am
Posted In: Anime

In 1954, Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa wrote, directed, and edited a “little” movie called Seven Samurai.  He was already a pretty big name in Japan at the time, but this film cemented his reputation and would eventually lead to worldwide fame.  The movie, about a small village that hires a ragtag group of samurai to defend them to the death against insurmountable odds, has been

from the original Seven Samurai

noted for its wide reaching influence in film and storytelling in general.

There’s the well-known American western, The Magnificent Seven (1960), which is not only influenced by the basic storyline of the Kurosawa film, but also adapts several scenes doing little more than switching katanas for Smith & Wessons.  Another well-known film, the Pixar animated feature A Bug’s Life (1998), also draws heavily on the story — having Flik sent out to hire “warrior bugs” (which turn out to be circus performers) to defend his small ant colony against the insurmountable grasshoppers.  But my favorite adaptation of this tale is the anime series, Samurai 7.

Produced in 2004 by Gonzo and directed by Toshifumi Takizawa, the series follows the small village of Kanna which must give up the majority of its yearly harvest to bandits (in the form of giant mech warriors).  These bandits are the remnants of a war fought in the not-too-distant past.  The village sends out a few of its members to go hire seven samurai to defend their village.  The parallels are obvious, but since the anime lasted 26 episodes, they embellished on the story a lot, creating intriguing subplots (one involving a sadistic yet childish ruler is particularly good) and exploring some of the lesser samurai to a greater extent.

One aspect of the series that I love is the mixture of science fiction elements (mech warriors, steam-driven mechanical men, all kinds of computers and technological creations) with

The anime Samurai 7

fantasy elements (some villagers can divine water and the samurai have superhuman capabilities) with samurai elements (swords, honor, etc).  It’s a great mixture balanced very well.  Blending and balancing genre is something I attempt with The Way of the Black Beast, so I can tell you first hand — it ain’t easy!  But when it works, it can be extremely satisfying.

Of course, there are many people who don’t like to mix these genres.  But just as peanut butter and chocolate go great together, so do science fiction and fantasy (and samurai!).  If you’ve never tried it, there’s plenty of good material out there — especially since more and more Japanese genre books are being translated into English.  I certainly recommend Samurai 7, both as an anime and a genre-mash-up.

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Sep20

Book Release! The Way of the Black Beast

on September 20th, 2011 at 9:00 am
Posted In: Books, Books, The Way of the Black Beast

Here it is! The cover of my new book:


Here’s the blurb:

Malja wants answers.  She wants to know why the two most powerful magicians in all of Corlin ripped her from her mother’s arms, raised her only to fight, and then tossed her away to die at age ten.  She wants to know why they are trying to recreate the spells which caused the Devastation that wiped out most of the world’s population, leaving behind skeletal cities and abandoned technology.  And she wants to kill them.

With Tommy, an orphan bearing the tattoos of a sorcerer, she crosses this shattered land.  Despite the challenges they face — crazed magicians, guitar-playing assassins, mutated beasts — Malja pursues her vengeance with a single-mindedness that may destroy all she holds dear, forcing her to make a terrible choice between the family she lost and the one she has built.

 

It’s available as an ebook through all major channels — Kindle | Nook | Smashwords.  Print version is coming soon.

Enjoy!

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