Thursday, January 9, 2014

J. R. R. Tolkien on Fantasy

A lovely quote, worth re-reading over time:

Recovery (which includes return and renewal of health) is a re-gaining—regaining of a clear view. I do not say “seeing things as they are” and involve myself with the philosophers, though I might venture to say “seeing things as we are (or were) meant to see them”—as things apart from ourselves. We need, in any case, to clean our windows; so that the things seen clearly may be freed from the drab blur of triteness or familiarity—from possessiveness. Of all faces those of our familiares are the ones both most difficult to play fantastic tricks with, and most difficult really to see with fresh attention, perceiving their likeness and unlikeness: that they are faces, and yet unique faces. This triteness is really the penalty of “appropriation”: the things that are trite, or (in a bad sense) familiar, are the things that we have appropriated, legally or mentally. We say we know them. They have become like the things which once attracted us by their glitter, or their colour, or their shape, and we laid hands on them, and then locked them in our hoard, acquired them, and acquiring ceased to look at them.
[…]
Creative fantasy, because it is mainly trying to do something else (make something new), may open your hoard and let all the locked things fly away like cage-birds.

The whole article is here.

Monday, January 6, 2014

GUEST POST: Mary Rosenblum on How To Handle Bad Reviews

Paul Klee
What do you do when you get the really nasty review?

You know, we don't teach writers about reviews and reviewers and we should. Everybody thinks of 'good' and 'bad' writing as a standard. If it's 'good' editors and readers will love it! If it's 'bad' nobody will publish the story and readers will hate it. Alas, that mean that many authors who had a really good story felt like failures when they couldn't sell it to a publisher, when it was a matter of simply not suiting the publisher's target audience. The quality of the book was excellent, the publisher felt it wouldn't get the huge numbers of sales they needed in order to show a profit.

Self-publishing has let authors take their stories directly to readers and they vote with their mouse-clicks. You either sell or you don't, but we all know that it's a bit of a slow process at first, that self-publishing is all about the long tail. Meaning your sales are probably not stellar at first, with only one or two books out. So, the feeling of 'success' or 'failure' gets put on hold. Gotta wait to see how many people like it…

Enter the reviewers.

We love Authority. Authorities Know A Lot. Authorities Pass Judgment and They Are Gods. Reviewers Are Authorities And Therefore, They Are Gods.

Really?

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Nice review of COLLABORATORS

Starship Reckless offers a thoughtful pairing of novels from 2011/2012 and now. Collaborators was one of the current novels discussed.

Collaborators shows how a non-terrestrial culture interacts  with a stranded human starship whose crew, bolstered by its formidable  technology, forgets that they are not gods and interfere heavily in the  politics of two adversarial nations.  The major conflict is nuanced by  ambiguities and dilemmas on all sides and at many levels.

Wheeler’s Quaker beliefs are visible (including the refusal to  indulge in charismatic saviors) and the parallels to the havoc wrought  by imperial-nation interventions on earth are clear.  The alien biology  and first-contact dynamics are handled unusually deftly; the narrative  polyphony weaves complex melodies and harmonies.  Wheeler’s world is effortlessly immersive and teems with fully realized characters.

(For those of you new to this blog, Deborah Wheeler was my former name and I still use it for novel-length science fiction. Although I am married to a Quaker and attend Meeting, I am myself not a member.)

Friday, January 3, 2014

For Your Award Consideration...

Now that 2013 is over, it's the season of award nominations.For those of you who might be
nominating work for the Nebula and Hugo Awards, here are my own offerings:


Novels:

  • The Children of Kings (with Marion Zimmer Bradley), DAW, 3/13
  • Collaborators (as Deborah Wheeler), Dragon Moon Press, 5/13
  • The Seven-Petaled Shield, DAW, 6/13
  • Shannivar, DAW, 12/13

Novelette:

  • “Among Friends” (Quakers, the Underground Railroad, and a slave-catching automaton), F & SF (3-4/13)

Short story:

  • “The Hero of Abarxia”, When The Hero Comes Home 2, ed. G. Harbowy, Dragon Moon Press
  • “Pearl of Tears,” Sword & Sorceress 28, ed. E. Waters, MZB Literary Works Trust

Thursday, January 2, 2014

[Personal] 2014 - The Year of the Hike?

Photo by Cleo Sanda
2014 looks to be The Year of the Hike. Already been on one, in addition to jaunts with the West Park Women's Walking Society.

Some background. When Dave and I were courting, we developed a custom of hiking on Sunday afternoons, usually on the trails in back of my house, where we could take Oka. Somehow, those went by the wayside when we moved into our current together-house. We have access to a lovely road that leads into town (the afore-mentioned West Park) but it's paved and has only a few gentle hills. Recently we've been talking about getting back into hiking, taking advantage of our current dog-hiatus to go places we can't take a dog. So, Waddell Creek (Los Osos State Park) - just gorgeous. And as soon as I figure out how to get my phone to talk to my computer, I'll put up pics.

The West Park Etc. evolved from various pairs of us becoming exercise-buddies. The walk into town, a nice outing with the added benefits of taking stuff to the bank, post office, library, etc., is beautiful and there's not much traffic. Often, it was just me and one of my neighbors, one of whom also works at home, the other used to work night shift. In recent months, a musician has not only joined us but often is the Organizing Whirlwind. Thanks to my friends, I'm now back to doing that walk about five times a week, and I can tell the difference in my endurance and leg strength.

The incredibly mild weather has made these walks even more pleasurable, plus there's the push to get them now before it rains. When it rains. If it rains. Please Rain God, let it rain.