This fits into the category of 'where they always there, or did I just notice them because I've been away for a while?' Not those big expensive ones, the cheap three quid disposable ones with a pre-installed battery. Nice idea, so naturally I got one.
Talking of healthy pursuits, I've set my workplace up now we're back in my old flat. One new Galant desk, and one second-hand Aeron chair. I'll freely admit I nicked the idea of getting one of these from reading Charlie Stross's blog a few years back and, like him, I managed to find one cheap on Ebay - only £200, as opposed to the £900 or so I'd have to pay if I bought one new. And it is very, very, very comfortable.
Serendipity, in the guise of stumbling across a related newspaper article by A.L. Kennedy, where she talks about the relationship between a career in writing and a tendency towards back problems (although my own problems, I think, were more the result of several years working as a graphic designer, where a combination of cheap chairs and daily scruff-of-the-neck deadlines did the most damage).
5/13/2010
SF moribund, my arse.
I sense a certain overly familiar and negative meme arising once more in the wake of this recent Mind Meld article on various author's pick of their top ten. The ire it seems to have caused in one or two small corners of the netverse (here) is reminiscent of similar arguments (here, to which Adam Roberts response in the comments 'Mark, Mark, Mark. So young, so promising, so full of Wrongness' seems almost deliriously apposite). But in this case, the exasperation seemingly arises from the fact many of the works cited are older rather than newer.
What should be remembered is that those books that most fulfill SF Signal's request are almost by definition those read by the contributors at a formative period in their lives, almost certainly the early teens; that these works should then be cited is hardly surprising, and certainly not an indication that sf is somehow in a 'moribund' state.
Consider also that outside of our relatively young genre is a body of literature spanning millennia, and that many works cited as 'classics' outside of our particular field of interest come from a period spanning the 17th to 20th Centuries. I don't see anyone slagging off those particular works as somehow making literature 'moribund' simply by means of their age. Rather, these are books that have stood the test of time, and this is essentially the question SF Signal were asking in their Mind Meld piece.
You want some examples of modern, highly influential, sf-as-burning-cauldron-of-groundbreaking-creativity? Just off the top of my head without even peeking at the bookshelves behind my head, I can think of -
Paolo Bacigalupi: author of The Windup Girl. Hitting 'year's best' or 'decade's best' lists right, left and centre, and justifiably so. Hardly anyone else is dealing seriously with rapid environmental change and the possibility of a worldwide fuel crisis in their fiction.
Cory Doctorow: how can you all forget Cory? His Little Brother is absolutely one of the best books I've read in the past ten years, period. It might be distinctly borderline in the sf sense, but so are a number of classic volumes produced by previous generations of sf writers.
Walter Jon Williams: recently published Implied Spaces & This Is Not A Game. The former takes notions of posthumanism and the singularity and combines them into a brilliant, ludic, almost old-school piece of entertainment. Absolutely superb, as is This Is Not A Game, which is so freaking current and 'now' it's almost ridiculous.
Robert Charles Wilson, author of Spin: More old-school, but out in just the last few years, this justifiably reaped some hefty awards.
Simon Ings: an Eighties Interzone-era author, he's probably the least 'current' of the lot and hasn't published any sf in several years, but in my opinion if you haven't read Ings, you haven't read sf. Few authors have pushed the envelope in the way this particular author has. You haven't read him? Here's some hints: Amazon. Book Depository. Alibris.
Iain Banks: author of...oh, you know. Zillions of books. He's mentioned in the Mind Meld by a couple of authors, but he's hardly an example of sf being moribund, is he? Rather the opposite, I'd say; more like one of our leading cheerleaders.
Chris Beckett: author of The Holy Machine, about to be republished by Corvus. Chris to me reads like a 21st Century take on early Chris Priest, core sf ideas filtered through a discerning eye for characterisation with a distinct 'literary' bent.
Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash, Anathem, Diamond Age, etc, etc... I mean, come on.
Lucius Shepard: one of our most brilliant stylists, as well as works of fantasy he's produced a quantity of near-future and not-so-near future sf that's been enormously influential.
I could go on and on, I really could. Some are young, some not so young. All (with one exception) are current, working writers contributing to the evolution of the field. All are brilliant. Many sell copious quantities of books.
Let's kill this stupid 'moribund' meme right now before it gets any more irritating.
What should be remembered is that those books that most fulfill SF Signal's request are almost by definition those read by the contributors at a formative period in their lives, almost certainly the early teens; that these works should then be cited is hardly surprising, and certainly not an indication that sf is somehow in a 'moribund' state.
Consider also that outside of our relatively young genre is a body of literature spanning millennia, and that many works cited as 'classics' outside of our particular field of interest come from a period spanning the 17th to 20th Centuries. I don't see anyone slagging off those particular works as somehow making literature 'moribund' simply by means of their age. Rather, these are books that have stood the test of time, and this is essentially the question SF Signal were asking in their Mind Meld piece.
You want some examples of modern, highly influential, sf-as-burning-cauldron-of-groundbreaking-creativity? Just off the top of my head without even peeking at the bookshelves behind my head, I can think of -
Paolo Bacigalupi: author of The Windup Girl. Hitting 'year's best' or 'decade's best' lists right, left and centre, and justifiably so. Hardly anyone else is dealing seriously with rapid environmental change and the possibility of a worldwide fuel crisis in their fiction.
Cory Doctorow: how can you all forget Cory? His Little Brother is absolutely one of the best books I've read in the past ten years, period. It might be distinctly borderline in the sf sense, but so are a number of classic volumes produced by previous generations of sf writers.
Walter Jon Williams: recently published Implied Spaces & This Is Not A Game. The former takes notions of posthumanism and the singularity and combines them into a brilliant, ludic, almost old-school piece of entertainment. Absolutely superb, as is This Is Not A Game, which is so freaking current and 'now' it's almost ridiculous.
Robert Charles Wilson, author of Spin: More old-school, but out in just the last few years, this justifiably reaped some hefty awards.
Simon Ings: an Eighties Interzone-era author, he's probably the least 'current' of the lot and hasn't published any sf in several years, but in my opinion if you haven't read Ings, you haven't read sf. Few authors have pushed the envelope in the way this particular author has. You haven't read him? Here's some hints: Amazon. Book Depository. Alibris.
Iain Banks: author of...oh, you know. Zillions of books. He's mentioned in the Mind Meld by a couple of authors, but he's hardly an example of sf being moribund, is he? Rather the opposite, I'd say; more like one of our leading cheerleaders.
Chris Beckett: author of The Holy Machine, about to be republished by Corvus. Chris to me reads like a 21st Century take on early Chris Priest, core sf ideas filtered through a discerning eye for characterisation with a distinct 'literary' bent.
Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash, Anathem, Diamond Age, etc, etc... I mean, come on.
Lucius Shepard: one of our most brilliant stylists, as well as works of fantasy he's produced a quantity of near-future and not-so-near future sf that's been enormously influential.
I could go on and on, I really could. Some are young, some not so young. All (with one exception) are current, working writers contributing to the evolution of the field. All are brilliant. Many sell copious quantities of books.
Let's kill this stupid 'moribund' meme right now before it gets any more irritating.
5/02/2010
Back from Sci Fi London
Back from Sci Fi London, which proved interesting, if something of a flying visit. Someone recorded me blithering on some probably incomprehensible nonsense about the future of publishing for a podcast to be put online at some indeterminate point. Frankly, I'm bushed after all that traveling and flying.
I was only down as a last-minute shoe-in and, I suspect, a replacement for another Tor author who couldn't make it down, but given the short notice and my only recent return to these shores, that's far from surprising. But the panel on the future of publishing proved to be entertaining, and I had the opportunity to finally meet Paul Graham-Raven, renew my passing acquaintance with Tom Hunter, organiser of the Clarke Awards (whom I last spoke to, as I recall, at the 2005 Worldcon), and also meet the editor of SFX magazine.
I also ran into Gary Erskine the comic artist, who worked in Borders books in Glasgow at just about the same time I did. I think he was mildly flabbergasted to find out I'd managed to publish about five books since I'd last spoken to him.
Mainly I was down to take part in a panel and then do a 'coffee with..' event, but when you discount the publisher's representatives and what I suspect were a couple of journalists from the audience, you're left with maybe, er, ten people for us to talk to. As for the 'coffee with...', it wasn't exactly crowded, shall we say, but I did end up having a rather fascinating conversation with a film director of European provenance - it is primarily a film festival, after all. I'm thinking it's about time me and some other of my fellow authors of the fantastic north of the border put together something of our own again. We've done it in the past, and it's generally proven successful. We shall se.
I was only down as a last-minute shoe-in and, I suspect, a replacement for another Tor author who couldn't make it down, but given the short notice and my only recent return to these shores, that's far from surprising. But the panel on the future of publishing proved to be entertaining, and I had the opportunity to finally meet Paul Graham-Raven, renew my passing acquaintance with Tom Hunter, organiser of the Clarke Awards (whom I last spoke to, as I recall, at the 2005 Worldcon), and also meet the editor of SFX magazine.
I also ran into Gary Erskine the comic artist, who worked in Borders books in Glasgow at just about the same time I did. I think he was mildly flabbergasted to find out I'd managed to publish about five books since I'd last spoken to him.
Mainly I was down to take part in a panel and then do a 'coffee with..' event, but when you discount the publisher's representatives and what I suspect were a couple of journalists from the audience, you're left with maybe, er, ten people for us to talk to. As for the 'coffee with...', it wasn't exactly crowded, shall we say, but I did end up having a rather fascinating conversation with a film director of European provenance - it is primarily a film festival, after all. I'm thinking it's about time me and some other of my fellow authors of the fantastic north of the border put together something of our own again. We've done it in the past, and it's generally proven successful. We shall se.
4/29/2010
Sci Fi London
Still busy as hell. Got freelance editing-type work to do and getting things sorted out back in my old flat has become enough of a nearly-full-time occupation that there are times (I joke, but only half-joke) it feels like I'm beginning to forget what the book I'm working on is even about.
But I do at least have the time to say I'll be taking part in Sci Fi London (really not sure about that name) this Saturday at the Piccadilly Apollo; specifically, I'll be taking part in a panel on Future Publishing (ebooks, in other words). After that, there's a chance to have, er, coffee with me at 3pm - I'm slotted in between 'coffee with Adrian Tchaikovsky' and 'coffee with Tony Ballantyne' in which you 'get the chance to have a coffee with some leading lights in SF and Fantasy writing' according to this here web page. I think this is what they call a kaffeeklatsch in SF conventions, but if so it's the first time I've ever taken part in one.
I'm really not sure precisely what the whole 'coffee with...' thing is going to entail, or if anyone's even actually going to turn up; it's a little like a signing session in that you've no idea exactly how it's going to work out. I've never been inclined towards the idea of taking part in a signing session because I've heard too many stories from other authors of sitting around and feeling like a complete lemon when no one comes. Or else they sit in a row of several other authors, all with long, winding queues, but no one in front of their own table.
Not that I've ever been asked to do a signing session, mind you. But I remember seeing Neal Stephenson when his book tour for Cryptonomicon came to Glasgow xxx years back, and if a Big Giant Head like Stephenson who was by this point already a bit of a legend in his own lunchtime can attract only twenty or so people to come hear him speak, then surely there's not much point in the rest of us really bothering. But that, of course, is being typically Scottish (ie defeatist) so for the moment I'll assume it's going to be a glorious merging of wits and intellect in an undoubtedly deeply profound discussion of, er, something or else.
Anyhoo, the other thing I'm taking part in (as I say) is the Future Publishing panel at 1pm this Saturday along with, amongst others, Tom Hunter and Paul Graham-Raven. Kindles, Ipads, the end of traditional publishing and all that jazz. I took part in a similar panel at Eastercon this year, which was enormous fun, I must say. I can be an opinionated git at the best of times, but the elephant in the room on that particular occasion was DRM. If there's one thing that surprised me coming away from that con, it was the number of editors and publishers apparently in favour of DRM to an extent that surprised me. If there's one thing that has me going off on a rant, it's DRM.
Shit, I'm going to have to bone up on this stuff now. Did I ever tell you I have nightmares of taking part in an ebook panel and suddenly spotting Cory Doctorow in the audience looking at me in disappointment and slowly shaking his head? Too much information? Oh well, too late now...
But I do at least have the time to say I'll be taking part in Sci Fi London (really not sure about that name) this Saturday at the Piccadilly Apollo; specifically, I'll be taking part in a panel on Future Publishing (ebooks, in other words). After that, there's a chance to have, er, coffee with me at 3pm - I'm slotted in between 'coffee with Adrian Tchaikovsky' and 'coffee with Tony Ballantyne' in which you 'get the chance to have a coffee with some leading lights in SF and Fantasy writing' according to this here web page. I think this is what they call a kaffeeklatsch in SF conventions, but if so it's the first time I've ever taken part in one.
I'm really not sure precisely what the whole 'coffee with...' thing is going to entail, or if anyone's even actually going to turn up; it's a little like a signing session in that you've no idea exactly how it's going to work out. I've never been inclined towards the idea of taking part in a signing session because I've heard too many stories from other authors of sitting around and feeling like a complete lemon when no one comes. Or else they sit in a row of several other authors, all with long, winding queues, but no one in front of their own table.
Not that I've ever been asked to do a signing session, mind you. But I remember seeing Neal Stephenson when his book tour for Cryptonomicon came to Glasgow xxx years back, and if a Big Giant Head like Stephenson who was by this point already a bit of a legend in his own lunchtime can attract only twenty or so people to come hear him speak, then surely there's not much point in the rest of us really bothering. But that, of course, is being typically Scottish (ie defeatist) so for the moment I'll assume it's going to be a glorious merging of wits and intellect in an undoubtedly deeply profound discussion of, er, something or else.
Anyhoo, the other thing I'm taking part in (as I say) is the Future Publishing panel at 1pm this Saturday along with, amongst others, Tom Hunter and Paul Graham-Raven. Kindles, Ipads, the end of traditional publishing and all that jazz. I took part in a similar panel at Eastercon this year, which was enormous fun, I must say. I can be an opinionated git at the best of times, but the elephant in the room on that particular occasion was DRM. If there's one thing that surprised me coming away from that con, it was the number of editors and publishers apparently in favour of DRM to an extent that surprised me. If there's one thing that has me going off on a rant, it's DRM.
Shit, I'm going to have to bone up on this stuff now. Did I ever tell you I have nightmares of taking part in an ebook panel and suddenly spotting Cory Doctorow in the audience looking at me in disappointment and slowly shaking his head? Too much information? Oh well, too late now...
4/06/2010
waving, not drowning
Okay - just a quick note to let you all know that I am in fact still out there somewhere. I'm now back (along with my other half Emma naturally) in the UK, and back in my old flat in Glasgow (I must admit that on occasion when I venture out into the bleak winter streets I wonder if leaving Taipei was the best idea I ever had, but on the other side of the coin it gets so hot and humid over there it can be just as bad). If I have any other regret, it's that things here in the UK now strike me as being exorbitantly expensive. That's not just relativism - they really are far, far too expensive.
Since February, when I wrote my last entry here, I've been either packing to move to Glasgow or unpacking on arrival. My old flat is in a state of disrepair, and I'm working on getting that sorted out. Between renovation, some part-time manuscript assessment for an agency and working on Final Days, I'm currently getting very little time to do anything like blogging - or else I'm too exhausted. Things will resume, but only once I have the energy - any time between now and the beginning of July, basically.
I did however manage to make it along to Eastercon in London at the Radisson, met my editor for the first time and so forth. It was good to catch up with an awful lot of people I've missed seeing over the past few years. Anyway, onwards and upwards with the work; regular blogging, as I say, should resume at about the same time I don't have anything left to fix in this house.
Since February, when I wrote my last entry here, I've been either packing to move to Glasgow or unpacking on arrival. My old flat is in a state of disrepair, and I'm working on getting that sorted out. Between renovation, some part-time manuscript assessment for an agency and working on Final Days, I'm currently getting very little time to do anything like blogging - or else I'm too exhausted. Things will resume, but only once I have the energy - any time between now and the beginning of July, basically.
I did however manage to make it along to Eastercon in London at the Radisson, met my editor for the first time and so forth. It was good to catch up with an awful lot of people I've missed seeing over the past few years. Anyway, onwards and upwards with the work; regular blogging, as I say, should resume at about the same time I don't have anything left to fix in this house.
2/12/2010
Macbook
So this week I got myself a shiny new Macbook and it is, indeed, very, very shiny. That leaves me with two other, older macs to get rid of before I go home. One is my ibook, purchased a couple of years back, as a cheap refurb from a UK company. The other is a Mac Mini of similar vintage (mid-2000's). Both have served me extremely well, and the ibook has had at least two books written on it.
The Mac Mini, however, has been effectively gathering dust for the past two years, so it's time to sell it. The ibook is going to Emma's sister down south in Tainan (we're off down there tomorrow for a couple of days over Chinese New Year). As good as it's been, it was just starting to get a bit slow for running stuff like Scrivener, the writing software I've been addicted to the past couple of years. The Macbook is clearly an astonishing piece of kit. It's a refurb too, which I should maybe explain for the benefit of those who don't know.
When a computer is sold to someone and turns out to have any kind of problem, it goes back to Apple. I believe they also have a 'cooling off' period for their machines by which you can return them within 14 days if you change your mind. The point is, that if there is a problem, it's usually something very minor, like a faulty battery. All they need to do is swap it out and the machine is quite literally as good as new.
Except none of these machines can be sold as legally new items, so they're sold as 'refurbs'. They also go through a testing process a second time. Now, in the States, where Apple is based, Macbooks of the type I have go for $1000 (£600 or thereabouts). In the UK, they're about £800. Here in Taiwan, it works out at about £700. So given that I got the equivalent of £100 off the cost of a locally-purchased machine, that's a saving of £200 over the UK Apple stores.
Which is nice. Especially when you consider that it's a tax-deductible work expense. And OMG, it plays full-screen HD-quality streaming video...!
But of course I'm much too busy writing to bother with all that. Of course.
The Mac Mini, however, has been effectively gathering dust for the past two years, so it's time to sell it. The ibook is going to Emma's sister down south in Tainan (we're off down there tomorrow for a couple of days over Chinese New Year). As good as it's been, it was just starting to get a bit slow for running stuff like Scrivener, the writing software I've been addicted to the past couple of years. The Macbook is clearly an astonishing piece of kit. It's a refurb too, which I should maybe explain for the benefit of those who don't know.
When a computer is sold to someone and turns out to have any kind of problem, it goes back to Apple. I believe they also have a 'cooling off' period for their machines by which you can return them within 14 days if you change your mind. The point is, that if there is a problem, it's usually something very minor, like a faulty battery. All they need to do is swap it out and the machine is quite literally as good as new.
Except none of these machines can be sold as legally new items, so they're sold as 'refurbs'. They also go through a testing process a second time. Now, in the States, where Apple is based, Macbooks of the type I have go for $1000 (£600 or thereabouts). In the UK, they're about £800. Here in Taiwan, it works out at about £700. So given that I got the equivalent of £100 off the cost of a locally-purchased machine, that's a saving of £200 over the UK Apple stores.
Which is nice. Especially when you consider that it's a tax-deductible work expense. And OMG, it plays full-screen HD-quality streaming video...!
But of course I'm much too busy writing to bother with all that. Of course.
1/23/2010
Apple Predictions
Steve Jobs may at times (reputedly) display all the charm of an angry rattlesnake whose tail has just been trodden on when he throws one of his temper tantrums, but it's not hard to see the man is something of a marketing genius. It's difficult to think of any technology company other than Apple capable of generating quite such a level of fevered anticipation as the forthcoming Tablet.
I was initially interested in this from the ebook and magazine-reading point of view, although it's certain to be a multi-tasking device primarily oriented towards net-browsing or films and (even better) networked games. I'm sure I read somewhere it was expected to use an OLED screen. I've never seen one in action, but if the technology is all it's cracked up to be, maybe it really is the e-ink successor. I'm not well-informed enough to be able to say.
Would I get one? Well, probably not - unless my royalties take a sudden kick upwards - but I'd like to. It's the same with the iphone. I'd love one, but the cost for me is still prohibitive. In fact, I've never spent more than thirty quid for a pay-as-you-go mobile. I use an iBook, but it was bought as a refurbished model for half the price of an off-the-shelf equivalent in the Apple stores.
On the other hand, I read a forum somewhere on the subject of the new tablet - it might have been at mobileread.com - that got me thinking the tablet might turn out to be much, much more than just a tablet, It could very easily turn out to be a desktop or portable computer with only a slight twist on current Apple designs.
It's arguable the Apple tablet computer already exists. Take a look at any iMac, and you'll see a flat slab of screen on a moulded plastic stand, accompanied by a wireless keyboard and mouse. Reduce the screen size and make the stand a foldaway clip round the back, and you have a tablet.
All you need after that is a standard wireless Apple keyboard and mouse, and you're looking at a shrunken iMac - and if it does have an OLED screen, one you can use in full daylight. And if there's one thing that gets me enthusiastic, it's the idea of being able to actually sit in the sun while I work instead of being permanently squirreled away in a dark room with the curtains closed in order to be able to see what I'm looking at.
That would be nice.
I was initially interested in this from the ebook and magazine-reading point of view, although it's certain to be a multi-tasking device primarily oriented towards net-browsing or films and (even better) networked games. I'm sure I read somewhere it was expected to use an OLED screen. I've never seen one in action, but if the technology is all it's cracked up to be, maybe it really is the e-ink successor. I'm not well-informed enough to be able to say.
Would I get one? Well, probably not - unless my royalties take a sudden kick upwards - but I'd like to. It's the same with the iphone. I'd love one, but the cost for me is still prohibitive. In fact, I've never spent more than thirty quid for a pay-as-you-go mobile. I use an iBook, but it was bought as a refurbished model for half the price of an off-the-shelf equivalent in the Apple stores.
On the other hand, I read a forum somewhere on the subject of the new tablet - it might have been at mobileread.com - that got me thinking the tablet might turn out to be much, much more than just a tablet, It could very easily turn out to be a desktop or portable computer with only a slight twist on current Apple designs.
It's arguable the Apple tablet computer already exists. Take a look at any iMac, and you'll see a flat slab of screen on a moulded plastic stand, accompanied by a wireless keyboard and mouse. Reduce the screen size and make the stand a foldaway clip round the back, and you have a tablet.
All you need after that is a standard wireless Apple keyboard and mouse, and you're looking at a shrunken iMac - and if it does have an OLED screen, one you can use in full daylight. And if there's one thing that gets me enthusiastic, it's the idea of being able to actually sit in the sun while I work instead of being permanently squirreled away in a dark room with the curtains closed in order to be able to see what I'm looking at.
That would be nice.
1/21/2010
Books on TV
If I had to pick one thing about TV programs about books that annoy me, it's their relentless middle-classness. I just checked out a UK show called TV Book Club and it's just ... irritating in a way that's hard to pin down. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for books being reviewed on television, and more of it, I say; but does it all have to be so irredeemably cosy?
The one show that doesn't necessarily piss me off in this way - at least in the UK, and at least not all the time - is Late Review. It's not just about books, but they get a reasonably interesting range of people on to talk about film, music,writing and so on. And even when I wildly disagreed with him - which was pretty much all the time - the author Will Self (when they used to have him on) was at least entertaining, giving off the aura of a man trapped at an interminably awful dinner party and desperate to find some excuse to leap up, grab his coat and escape at the first available opportunity. And TV Book Club was like having a window into precisely that kind of stiff and awkward dinner party, but populated by people with their best showbiz faces on.
We live in the age of online video, and yet there seems to be a dearth of quality literary discussion that takes advantage of that technology, particularly when it comes to the sf and fantasy genres. And I'm talking about something with balls, with the kind of rancourous debate and excited opinion-chucking to be found at the best con panels. It's not like we're lacking in opinions - far from it. Yes, there are a couple of interesting podcasts out there, but I live in hope that someone out there with the requisite skill and ambition might just decide to create an online video show about writing and about the genre*. It would be nice.
*I believe there was a Canadian TV show along these lines called Prisoners of Gravity, except what little I've been able to force myself to watch is so astoundingly, toe-curlingly condescending and cheesy, that whatever idiot came up with the idea in the first place should be dispatched without mercy.
The one show that doesn't necessarily piss me off in this way - at least in the UK, and at least not all the time - is Late Review. It's not just about books, but they get a reasonably interesting range of people on to talk about film, music,writing and so on. And even when I wildly disagreed with him - which was pretty much all the time - the author Will Self (when they used to have him on) was at least entertaining, giving off the aura of a man trapped at an interminably awful dinner party and desperate to find some excuse to leap up, grab his coat and escape at the first available opportunity. And TV Book Club was like having a window into precisely that kind of stiff and awkward dinner party, but populated by people with their best showbiz faces on.
We live in the age of online video, and yet there seems to be a dearth of quality literary discussion that takes advantage of that technology, particularly when it comes to the sf and fantasy genres. And I'm talking about something with balls, with the kind of rancourous debate and excited opinion-chucking to be found at the best con panels. It's not like we're lacking in opinions - far from it. Yes, there are a couple of interesting podcasts out there, but I live in hope that someone out there with the requisite skill and ambition might just decide to create an online video show about writing and about the genre*. It would be nice.
*I believe there was a Canadian TV show along these lines called Prisoners of Gravity, except what little I've been able to force myself to watch is so astoundingly, toe-curlingly condescending and cheesy, that whatever idiot came up with the idea in the first place should be dispatched without mercy.
1/18/2010
On Agents
I was reading this article by Dean Wesley Smith on agents and whether they're required or not, and the various myths that float around them. Some people apparently feel they aren't necessary and you're better off keeping that ten or fifteen per cent to yourself.
Despite having several novels out, I'm no expert on publishing. Most of my writing career has taken place at a distance from my publisher of at least several hundred miles. If I meet them at all, it's at the occasional convention. Julie Crisp has been my editor for a couple of years now, and if I can make it to Eastercon this year it'll be the first time I've met either her or any of Tor's current editorial staff. I've met my agent, Dorothy Lumley, in the flesh less than half a dozen times, most usually when she happened to be up Glasgow way. All I can do is offer the details of my own personal experience of having an agent, which can roughly be summed up like this:
If I hadn't had an agent, I would likely never have got published.
This conclusion on my part largely comes down to the four or five year gap between Dorothy taking me on board and my first novel selling. I wrote my first novel in the summer of 1997, having previously sold a handful of short stories. Dorothy was the second agent I posted that manuscript off to. I first got a glimmer of interest from Tor in, I think, late 2002. At that time I'd decided to go for broke and write a second, third, however many novels in order to break through. I finished up Angel Stations, the manuscript I'd fortunately just started work on, and they bought it.
If it had been entirely up to me to send my novel off to various publishers during those intervening years, I'm pretty sure I would have given up altogether and become entirely disheartened. I don't know how many publishers Dorothy sent that first unpublished novel of mine to, but I suspect it was quite a few. Enough, perhaps, to have persuaded me I was better off giving up and getting a 'proper' job than sending it off again and again if it had been entirely up to me.
Instead the long and laborious process of agented submission, rejection and re-submission took place almost entirely outside of my awareness. In fact, I really didn't want to know just how many publishers might or might not be passing up on my book. So when that first glimmer of real interest appeared, it was a very pleasant surprise.
So are agents worth it? In my experience, definitely.
Despite having several novels out, I'm no expert on publishing. Most of my writing career has taken place at a distance from my publisher of at least several hundred miles. If I meet them at all, it's at the occasional convention. Julie Crisp has been my editor for a couple of years now, and if I can make it to Eastercon this year it'll be the first time I've met either her or any of Tor's current editorial staff. I've met my agent, Dorothy Lumley, in the flesh less than half a dozen times, most usually when she happened to be up Glasgow way. All I can do is offer the details of my own personal experience of having an agent, which can roughly be summed up like this:
If I hadn't had an agent, I would likely never have got published.
This conclusion on my part largely comes down to the four or five year gap between Dorothy taking me on board and my first novel selling. I wrote my first novel in the summer of 1997, having previously sold a handful of short stories. Dorothy was the second agent I posted that manuscript off to. I first got a glimmer of interest from Tor in, I think, late 2002. At that time I'd decided to go for broke and write a second, third, however many novels in order to break through. I finished up Angel Stations, the manuscript I'd fortunately just started work on, and they bought it.
If it had been entirely up to me to send my novel off to various publishers during those intervening years, I'm pretty sure I would have given up altogether and become entirely disheartened. I don't know how many publishers Dorothy sent that first unpublished novel of mine to, but I suspect it was quite a few. Enough, perhaps, to have persuaded me I was better off giving up and getting a 'proper' job than sending it off again and again if it had been entirely up to me.
Instead the long and laborious process of agented submission, rejection and re-submission took place almost entirely outside of my awareness. In fact, I really didn't want to know just how many publishers might or might not be passing up on my book. So when that first glimmer of real interest appeared, it was a very pleasant surprise.
So are agents worth it? In my experience, definitely.
1/14/2010
Why I'm Glad We Never Got Our Jetpacks
Even when I was a kid, I had issues with Bladerunner when it came to the flying cars. They looked sort of pretty, but I felt pretty sure that if I lived in a city where one-ton hunks of steel were zooming above me all day long, I'd never go out for fear of some idiot dropping one on my head.
I got thinking about this because over the New Year some news program or other got Jonathan Ross to select a 'tweet of the decade'. The one that won read something like 'Where are our jetpacks? We were promised jetpacks!', as if the internet and the many other technological accoutrements of our time were somehow disappointing by comparison.
Let's be clear on this. Even if the classical image of the jetpack existed - I'm not talking about those ones that hover in the air for about sixty seconds then run out of fuel, I mean the ones in movies or on magazine covers - they'd be banned, particularly in cities. And rightly so. Because, seriously, do you want your drunk neighbour strapped into one crashing through your bedroom at five in the morning when he passes out six hundred feet up?
This is why I'm glad we're in the 2010's, because we can stop hearing any more of that 'this is the 21st Century, so we should have jetpacks' nonsense. What you got instead is a lot better, believe me.
I got thinking about this because over the New Year some news program or other got Jonathan Ross to select a 'tweet of the decade'. The one that won read something like 'Where are our jetpacks? We were promised jetpacks!', as if the internet and the many other technological accoutrements of our time were somehow disappointing by comparison.
Let's be clear on this. Even if the classical image of the jetpack existed - I'm not talking about those ones that hover in the air for about sixty seconds then run out of fuel, I mean the ones in movies or on magazine covers - they'd be banned, particularly in cities. And rightly so. Because, seriously, do you want your drunk neighbour strapped into one crashing through your bedroom at five in the morning when he passes out six hundred feet up?
This is why I'm glad we're in the 2010's, because we can stop hearing any more of that 'this is the 21st Century, so we should have jetpacks' nonsense. What you got instead is a lot better, believe me.
1/12/2010
2010
I've become very focused recently on the new book, which is probably why my 'why, look, it's the 2010's' blog entry is likely to be later than anyone else's on the planet, ever. That's whenever I get around to writing it, that is. On the other hand, I've been doing the occasional piece for BSCReview.com and elsewhere, whenever I a)get round to it or b)can actually think of anything to write about. Which is difficult, given that every time I look at my RSS feeds I seem to be deluged by informed opinion from across the sf publishing world from people who I suspect have a better idea what they're talking about than I do. But hello, yes, it's 2010, and I'm very busy on new stuff. I intend to say something about 2010. Eventually.
Felicia Day's space opera binge
A lot of you will have heard of Felicia Day. She's one of the stars of Dr Horrible's Sing-along Blog, and also of The Guild, an online comedy about a group of World of Warcraft players. I've seen the first season, and it's hilarious.
Miss Day likes to read quite a bit, and is apparently going on a bit of a binge on space opera and hard sf and is looking for recommendations at her blog. You might want to go over and give her some hints.
Not that I'm suggesting you should recommend Stealing Light to Miss Day. Not at all. Why, I'd never be so tacky. In fact, we never had this conversation, capische? (taps forehead, whistles tunelessly).
Miss Day likes to read quite a bit, and is apparently going on a bit of a binge on space opera and hard sf and is looking for recommendations at her blog. You might want to go over and give her some hints.
Not that I'm suggesting you should recommend Stealing Light to Miss Day. Not at all. Why, I'd never be so tacky. In fact, we never had this conversation, capische? (taps forehead, whistles tunelessly).
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