Metaxu Cafe

I've started visiting and have become a member of MetaxuCafe. It's a place for literary bloggers and people who read literary blogs. The front page is set up like Arts & Letters Daily or The Page, except with headlines and comments from literary bloggers. There's a page for all the headlines of the day. Inside, there's a forum to discuss blogging and literature and the meeting of both. It seems like a really good service and I'm trying to get more deeply involved in it.
In other news, I've nearly completed changing my blog roll. I've taken some sites out and added others. If you have questions about why you were placed in one category or another, ask away and I'll try to explain myself. Also, if you want to tell me if the links are more helpful this way, or if you have other suggestions, feel free.

Sequel to A.E. Van Vogt's Null-A books announced

The Slush God led me to his article on a sequel being written to A.E. Van Vogt's Null-A series. I can't understand this interest in writing sequels to books by dead authors. John Gregory Betancourt did it with the Amber books and a sequel to Blade Runner (more of a sequel to the movie though) was written. (Sorry, no link, I can't remember its title or who wrote it.) There was also those prequels to Dune.
I can't understand why any writer would want to do this. For a check, I suppose. Does the writer, John C. Wright, know anything about General Semantics, the inspiration and guiding order behind the Null-A books? The books are a lot of fun whether you buy GS or not. Still, with the inspiration left behind, could the books go on. And really, should they go on without Van Vogt?
I'm a huge fan of Van Vogt. His writing is so weird and original (while certainly being very pulpy). I can't imagine anyone pulling off his kind of writing.
Looking on the bright side of things, maybe this will mean more of Van Vogt's books will be reprinted. You can already pick up the World of Null-A. You can read the first chapter of that book here.

Science Fiction vs Fantasy, science vs. magic and other madness

Ted Chiang looks at "Technology, magic and consciousness" and starts opposing magic vs science. It's quite an odd argument, especially when you are talking about real world science vs. fictional world magic. Jeff Vandermeer and his Evil Monkey are inspired by a locked door and a bottle of vodka to go on an extended discussion of the subject. He finds Chiang's argument unsatisfying. So now, Cheryl Morgan has jumped in and redefines the whole thing. See if you can follow along.

Author ages

I often wonder if other people are as obsessed with author's ages as I am. I've wanted to write fiction since I was, I don't know, 8 or 10. Yet, in college I chose journalism instead and have had a steady career in that. But I've never given up on the dream to write fiction and I've never stopped writing it.
Now, I'm 35 with 12 years of journalism behind me and not a single published short story. Of course, this worries me and makes me think I'm one of those wannabes who whines about writing and never does anything about it. But it's not true, I write constantly, I'm just never happy with it. In the last few years, I've made a more serious effort in improving my fiction and I'm working toward submitting it.
All of this is just preamble to why I'm obsessed with author's ages. I'm constantly trying to find out how old an author was when they published their first short story. Almost down the line, they were 20 to 25 years old. They don't always meet with terrific success at that age, but they've already begun submitting and selling.
Gene Wolfe -- one of the late bloomers as far as publishing goes -- had his first story published in 1965 when he was 34 (according to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction) and his first novel in 1970 when he 39. Even with him, I've already missed a deadline!
The thing is, this is all pretty silly. There's no age limit to writing. As long as a writer keeps at it with dedication, there's no limit to the age he can begin. I certainly don't look at someone's age when I'm reading a story. I just worry I've passed my prime, my window of opportunity to be a fiction writer has passed. But that's silly, it's all just some neurosis of mine.
Right?

Nanowrimo at an end

So Nanowrimo has come to a close for everyone. It looks like more than 9,700 people have won this year. I have no idea how many joined, so I really can't say what that means.
Cybele, Morrow Planet and Ruth Nestvold are among the winners. Congratulations to them and everyone else.
Writer Ian McDonald has some thoughts on Nanowrimo:

Depressed by all the eager beavers in the NaNoWriMo horde --but I just know that I tried to crack out that much wordage in a month, it would be excrement --I'd be writing ahead of myself. I need to think and think carefully about who's going where why how and what he or she needs to achieve and develop from it. I know from past experience (even though I write from a detailed synopsis that the book gets sold on) that if I can't see where I'm going --a kind of literary relativity where events ahead are so foreshortened I can't navigate around them) --it results in slack, reactive and indulgent writing. Two pages a day (bit more because I'm playing catch-up, as Henry Kelly used to say on 'Going for Gold') But hats off to those who can, and did.

Actually, I think most of the Nanowrimo novels will have a large portion of excrement in them. But that's not really the point. It's a game, first of all, a rush to the end. Second of all, it's inspiration for writers. That's the way it's working for me. After finishing, I've already started working on a short story and hope to keep working on words every day. I've said this before, but I'm getting fed up with my dilly-dallying instead of writing. If I'm every going to write fiction, and sell it, I have to get serious and I'm getting too old to wait any longer.
And really I should be writing right now. So congratulations to all you winners out there.

$10m for socks, $0 for good fiction

Paula Guran gets outraged over SciFi Channel's $10 million marketing plan for its new show "Triangle." The main feature of this plan: Socks. Not pairs of socks, but single socks left in various places.
The reason this galls so much, outside of the ridiculous amount of money spent on advertising a miniseries, is the idea that 1/100th of that budget could have been used to keep SciFiction going.
Speaking of which, The EDSF Project, have you picked out your story yet and written an appreciation? Well, why not? And don't forget that until January, new fiction is still going up at SciFiction.

Nanowrimo, Day 28: It's all over, folks

Well, I've done it. I've completed Nanowrimo 2005. This makes the third time I've completed the event. (I joined up last year, but gave up in the first week.) I did about 50,700 words. The story came to an end with the characters off on a new quest.
I feel a little depressed now that I'm finished. I didn't do as much with it as I hoped I could. I accomplished a few things though:

• I finished the story.


• I found I have a rhythm to my writing; a steady pace works well with me.


• I found I need to work more on characters and to plan out a plot beforehand.

I also know I need to spend more time in my writing, not the rapid pace of Nanowrimo. I need to continue waking up every day and writing more, but do it methodically. That's what I hope I get out of this year more than anything: the will power to sit every day and write. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm a winner.

My take on Marc Laidlaw's "Jane"

My appreciation of Marc Laidlaw's Jane is up at the EDSF Project. Give it a read and, more importantly, read the original story. And while you're at it, there's some other great appreciations like Matt Cheney on "High Weir" or Mike Morrow on "The Transcendent Tigers, and plenty of others.
Also, the Project is still looking for people to sign up for stories. There's more than 300 stories, many of which are science fiction classics, so pick out a story and write something about it.

Nanowrimo, Day 24 through 28

Well, it was the Thanksgiving weekend but I still managed to get a lot of writing done. And then I took a day off Sunday, which was nice. Today, I got back to things and wrote another 3,000 words, the most I've done in one day. I'm trying to wrap things up and I'm at 49,820 words now. I'll definitely be done tomorrow.
My novel seems to be an "And Plot" type of story, as recorded in the Turkey City Lexicon:

And plot
Picaresque plot in which this happens, and then that happens, and then something else happens, and it all adds up to nothing in particular.

I think this is probably endemic to Nanowrimo. If you don't decide what the story is about at the beginning, you end up sending characters to one place, then another and they get in trouble and they get out of trouble and they never seem to go anywhere. That is definitely my problem. I got all tangled up at one point and the plot just sort of circled around a couple of things that don't much matter to the characters interior lives.
Anyway, that's what it is and I'm still very happy with having returned to Nanowrimo this year.
Hope everyone else is doing well and nearing the finish line.

Changes

The links bar to the right may look a little odd for a while. I'm going to make some changes to it, make it more useful. Currently, I've added categories Authors, Online Fiction, and Random. There will be more categories to come and links will be sorted out. Some links will be removed, many will be added. It could take a while though. If you have any suggestions or other changes you'd like to see on this blog, use that button labeled comments below (or e-mail me at w3irdwrit3r at yahoo.com).

Nanowrimo, Day 23: Sad chapter

My characters are dealing with the death of that main character from two chapters ago. All rather sad, but necessary. I wrote another 1,700 words today.
I find it interesting that I write almost the exact same way everday. I wake up, avoid writing for about an hour. Then I write about 400 words in one big gulp. Then, I go do something else (laundry, dishes, reading, whatever) and waste another hour avoiding the story. Then I go back and do another 400 to 600 words. And then on and off for the next hour I write a paragraph here, a paragraph there, until I manage to get over 1,666. I almost always end over 1,700 words. This pattern continues almost every single day. Is my brain just geared to writing a certain number of words before a distraction is required? I remember reading that A.E. Van Vogt always wrote in 800 word chunks. He would work his characters into a problem in that many words, then go relax and think about the situation until he found a way out. I wonder if this kind of thing is common among all writers?
I'm up to 40,938, about a day and a half worth of writing ahead of where I have to be. I still would like to add some more to that, but tomorrow it's going to be hard to do that. And since I don't know if I'll be posting again, I'll just say happy Thanksgiving to all you Americans out there, and to everyone else, have a happy Nov. 24.

Nanowrimo, Day 22: Action!

I'm still a little worried that killing off that character yesterday may have been a bad move. He may have been an emotional center of the novel, although I'm not sure I ever pulled that aspect off. So instead, today's writing, all 1,800 words of it, was all action. People on motorbikes duking it out try to deliver a message. Fun stuff. Belongs, at best, to the pulps. Still, nothing wrong with that. The novel is now at 39,165 words. Just another 11,000 or so to go. I'm wondering if I can wrap this novel up in 50,000 words. If I don't, I guess it's not a problem, I'll just have to keep writing into December. I would hate to just drop the thing.

Jeff Ford posts "Bright Morning"

Jeffrey Ford has posted his short story "Bright Morning" at 14theditch. The story is one of the best (although its so hard to pick a "best" one) stories from The Fantasy Writer's Assistant and Other Stories. It's such a terrific collection, if you haven't picked it up by now, do it! It'll be the best thing you've done for yourself in years. (By the way, Matt Cheney was inspired by Ford's story post to put up a portion of the interview he did with Ford in Fantasy Magazine.)
I'm waiting now for The Empire of Ice Cream, Ford's next collection.
In other news, I got my copy of "The Cosmology of the Wider World" from Shocklines. I can't wait to read it, but I've kept away from fiction while I'm doing Nanowrimo. I'm sure I'll write more about it in December.
And one more thing, there are appreciations of Ford's "Empire of Ice Cream" and "The Scribble Mind," as well as Ford's own appreciation of Gardner Dozois' "Fairy Tale," up at the EDSF Project. Check them out, and while you're there, sign up for a story to appreciate. I should be sending my appreciation out in the next day or so.

Nanowrimo, Day 21: Darkness

Today I actually killed off a main character. I can't decide if it was a good idea or not. Too late now, I've got to plunge ahead with Nanowrimo. I'm up to 37,350 words, which is about a day ahead of where I need to be. I would like to gain a little more than that, because Thanksgiving weekend may be tough. We'll have to see if I can pad up the next few chapters.

Nanowrimo, Day 19: Cliffhangers!

Have a few minutes to blog this weekend. I just completed Chapter 19, I'm now at 34,117 words. I am being so consistent, it's thrilling. My chapters all seem to naturally end at around the 1,700 word mark. The process feels great and even some of the chapters don't feel as lousy as they once did.
I've been taking to cliffhangers. Actually, every time I've done Nanowrimo, cliffhangers have inserted themselves into my work. I think it comes with working without a net. You just naturally lead your characters into some kind of trouble and the next day you try to figure out how to get them out. In my case, I've put three sets of characters into cliffhangers. Now I have to figure how to get each one of them out, keep the overarching plot moving and bring these three groups back together again. And I'm looking forward to it.

Prisoner remake

Cheryl Morgan says she has a bad feeling about an attempt to remake The Prisoner. Here's what SciFi Wire says:

Damien Timmer, who has been lined up to executive-produce the show for Granada, told Broadcast the new series would take "liberties with the original" and would not retain its arty feel.

Well, of course its going to take liberties, but any creator saying it won't "retain its arty feel" worries me. Plus, there really is no need to remake the show. It's one of the few classics television has produced.

Nanowrimo, Day 17

Not much to say about Nanowrimo today either. I did another 1,700 or so words. That seems to be my usual amount. I'm up to 32,374. Moving right along.
I do wonder how I can resolve my plot. I have plenty of action and things happening, but there's no overarching theme or story for the whole thing. I guess that's what happens when you don't plan out far enough and you're writing as fast as you can. Ah well, it's all grist for the mill. I'm sure I can use some of this stuff after I rewrite.

The geek novels

At Morrow Planet, Mike starts a new meme, based on this article. So show your geek cred and bold the novels you've read:

1. The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four -- George Orwell
3. Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? -- Philip Dick
5. Neuromancer -- William Gibson
6. Dune -- Frank Herbert
7. I, Robot -- Isaac Asimov
8. Foundation -- Isaac Asimov
9. The Colour of Magic -- Terry Pratchett
10. Microserfs -- Douglas Coupland
11. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson
12. Watchmen -- Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
13. Cryptonomicon -- Neal Stephenson
14. Consider Phlebas -- Iain M Banks
15. Stranger in a Strange Land -- Robert Heinlein
16. The Man in the High Castle -- Philip K Dick
17. American Gods -- Neil Gaiman
18. The Diamond Age -- Neal Stephenson
19. The Illuminatus! Trilogy -- Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson
20. Trouble with Lichen - John Wyndham

12 out of 20, not too bad. Do I lose geek cred if I say I'd never heard of No. 20? I have read some of Wyndham's other work however.

Nanowrimo, Day 17, also SciFiction

Wrote another 1,748 words, bringing me up to 30,657. Not too shabby I think.
I don't have much more to say about that, so let's talk a little about SciFiction and the EDSF Project. First off, more than a hundred people have signed up to the Project. That's great! But there's still hundreds more stories to be appreciated, so if you haven't already, go sign up to write about a story!
While you're there, check out some of the appreciations that have already gone up. (For instance, Jeffrey Ford's appreciation of Gardner Dozois' "Fairy Tale.")
In other places, La Gringa called Ellen Datlow, the editor of SciFiction, and checked on her well being. Gringa says:

Anyway, it was nice to talk to Ellen. She sounds upbeat and positive about the whole situation, and is looking toward projects for the future. She said that she's been overwhelmed by the kindness and grace flowing in her direction out of the skiffy community the past few days.

Well, my dear Miz Datlow, on behalf of the skiffy community at large, may I just say this?

You have earned this community's respect.

I would like to add my own voice to that. She most certainly has. Datlow's work has been a presence in my life for as long as I can remember reading science fiction, fantasy and horror, starting way back with Omni magazine and through her many anthologies and right up to her Year's Best work and SciFiction. And then there's the influence she's had on the field. She has brought so many great writers in and (from accounts I've read) has had a terrific influence on their writing. Ellen Datlow deserves a magazine created just for her editing, and it should be done immediately. Anybody got tens of thousands of dollars to spare to create a good magazine? It would be worth it.

Elsewhere, Charles Coleman Finlay looks at how online fiction is surviving and urges everyone to contribute to Strange Horizons. He also mentions some of the other great online fiction markets that deserve money and attention: Ideomancer, Infinite Matrix and Fortean Bureau. I would also add ChiZine to his list. And I'm sure there's more. Do what you can for them.

SciFiction: What you can do

With the death of SciFiction, people are looking for what they can do. Well, I offer two things.
First, write to feedback@scifi.com and tell them how you feel about SciFiction. Don't be insulting and don't slam the SciFi Channel. Instead, tell SciFi Channel why SciFiction is great and why you are disappointed in seeing it go and ask them to reconsider their decision. Who knows, if enough people do this maybe they will actually think about it.
Second, check out The ED SF Project. (I believe that stands for the Ellen Datlow SciFiction Project, but I haven't seen it spelled out.) It's a blog put together by Dave Schwartz to show appreciation for the five and a half years of great stories SciFiction has put up.

Here's my idea.

By my count there are 320+ stories archived at the site. I'm willing to bet that there are that many SF writers/critics/fans/what have you who have some sort of presence on the web. So I'm thinking, let's all of us write an appreciation of one of the stories.

Here's the list. There are plenty of stories left to be chosen. I encourage everyone to pick one and write something about it. I've picked Marc Laidlaw's "Jane."
With all the attention this thing is getting (its been linked to from Bookslut and BoingBoing as well as every science fiction blogger in the universe), I must say I'm slightly intimidated. Not to mention I'll be writing an appreciation alongside people like Jeffrey Ford, Jeff Vandermeer, Ted Chiang and god knows who else. But it's a great idea and I think everyone who loved SciFiction should get involved and pick out a story.
Don't know which story to write about? Go to the SciFiction archive and start reading. Everything there is good.