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  J M Beal

A guest post about space operas and jibber jabber.

5/22/2015

6 Comments

 
As promised, below you will find a guest post. I could gush on and on about Briane's book, Codes, but that's arguably not what you came to read today. So, check out the post about great books Briane left us, and then stay tuned at the bottom for more news about next weeks Contest of Awesome!
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Last week, JM posted a list of the five greatest books ever written, and as I was getting ready to write this post, I figured I would take the easy way out and do something that’s more or less the same thing see if I couldn’t try to come up with my own list to spark debate while also providing a little insight into what makes me, as a writer and a reader, get excited.  And having just written my own [sure to be best-selling have you bought it yet why not?] sci-fi novel, Codes, it made sense to focus on that genre.

I’ve been reading, and writing, science fiction since I was just a kid, starting with comic books and Star Wars novelizations before I was even 10 years old -- materials which spurred me to write my own copyright-infringing space opera, Stardogs, when I was 11.  Stardogs told the amazing story of a young, hotshot fighter pilot who manages to get away from his dreary life on a backwater planet to become a pilot for the Space Rebels, and near the end of the story the hero uses his piloting skills to blow up a space station.  My mom, my earliest fan/critic, read it and said dryly that she was pretty sure she’d seen that plot somewhere.

I eventually got a little more creative in my writing – Codes hardly steals from George Lucas at all! – but that early attempt at creating my own (?) universe shows the effect great stories have on me: when I’m reading a truly excellent story, half of me is thinking oh man I’ll never write anything this good and the other half is wanting to rush to my laptop to see if I can’t after all come up with a story at least that good. So when I sat down to come up with a list of sci-fi books that are the all-time greatest, a bunch sprung to mind as either inspiring me to want to write something at least that good, while some of the others simply stuck out as great stories.  I listed all the greatest books I could find, and then whittled them down and down as far as I could.  I wanted to get to five, but in the end, I just couldn’t pick any that I didn’t think deserved to be on a list of the greatest books ever.

Enough with the jibber-jabber! Let’s get to that list, beginning with:

6. John Dies At The End (David Wong): 

First off, this book should be an inspiration to every person who ever posted their stories on their blog and hoped for the best. (It’s not just me, right?) Wong began writing this story as a serialization, and then it got picked up by a publisher, and then he wrote a sequel which was nearly as good as this one and almost made this list in its own right, and then the book got made into a motion picture, only because it didn’t feature soft-core bondage nobody really paid any attention to it.  Also, the movie was terrible. Don’t see it. Read the book, though: the story of two guys fighting weird animals coming through from another dimension into their town is hilarious, sad, dramatic, weird, and overall a rambling fun time that gets really really freaky at the end of the story. 

How it made me a better writer: 

Reading John Dies and it’s sequel This Book Is Full Of Spiders Seriously Dude Don’t Touch It helped me remember that stories ought to be fun, and that science fiction can literally go anywhere and do anything and you can bend the rules in all sorts of ways and still have a great story.

5. Startide Rising (David Brin): 

David Brin is one of my all-time favorite sci-fi writers. Without making a big deal of it the way some writers do (Larry Niven *ahem*) Brin manages to write the kind of science fiction I think of as “hard” sci-fi, based on what seems to be fairly realistic science, but he keeps it relatable and doesn’t overwhelm you with math and engineering and the like.  Startide Rising is the first in his “Uplift” saga about humanity venturing into the wider universe after having helped make dolphins and chimpanzees sentient starfaring races in their own right, and it manages to be a massive space opera spanning an entire system (if not a galaxy) while also feeling intimate and close-up.  What’s most amazing about the story is that Brin’s dolphins and chimps and aliens aren’t just humans with fins: they manage to have unique personalities that fit together with the species they are.  That’s actually rare in sci-fi.  Too many times, nonhuman species are more or less just regular people in a costume, acting the way a human thinks an alien would act.

How It Made Me A Better Writer: 

Brin’s science is a good example of “show, don’t tell.” The science-y talk in Brin’s stories fits in well with the plot and doesn’t drag or slow it down.  Whereas some writers (Niven, again) will spend pages explaining something they find interesting, Brin works it into the story in a fairly organic way.  It makes reading his books less like reading a technical manual and more like reading a novel.  It’s going to be necessary, in speculative fiction, to explain some things, but if you can do it without resorting to putting a teacher in a room with a chalkboard, so much the better.

4. The Sparrow (Mary Doria Russell): 

This was recommended to me by author Andrew Leon (The House On The Corner, Shadow Spinner), and I’m glad I took his advice.  The Sparrow tells the story of humanity’s first contact with aliens, on another planet – but the mission is undertaken by the Jesuits on behalf of the church, rather than by a government or corporation.  I was initially concerned that the story would be preachy – aliens and God are a tough mix – but The Sparrow managed to be philosophical and weighty without ever becoming didactic or ponderous, and was one of those rare books that had me anxious to keep on reading it.  I’d actually regret it when I got too tired to read it at night.

How it Made Me A Better Writer: 

I’ve always thought writing should have a point – not necessarily a moral, but something to say, a reason for telling the story.  The Sparrow was perhaps the first book in which I thought the point, the thing the author was trying to say, was just: think.  I’m sure Russell had some idea of her own themes, but the overarching idea I got was that she just wanted people to ponder the ideas she’s wrestling with.  Sometimes, writing about things you don’t yet understand is more compelling.

3.  Stranger In A Strange Land (Robert Heinlein): 

Valentine Michael Smith might be the single most memorable character ever created, and this weird, wonderful book, which I first read when I was about 19, has haunted me for nearly 30 years.  Haunted in a good way.  Smith’s human-raised-by-Martians-come-back-to-Earth character manages to upset the entire world, one person at a time, enraging people and making them fall in love with him as he tries to understand our society.  The ending of the book is somehow both peaceful and disturbing in ways that make it stick with you.  It’s the kind of book that just pops into your mind at odd times of the day or night.

How it Made Me A Better Writer: 

Stranger is more or less the Platonic ideal of how to build a complete story out of an elevator-pitch concept.  The thesis statement for this book is that simple: Imagine a human raised by Martians, come back to our society as an adult: what would happen? Everything in the book, from the simplest to the most outrageous moments, seems to flow organically from that idea. There isn’t a single moment in the book that doesn’t seem a natural next progression.  It’s a work of art.

2. Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut): 

I don’t have to say what this one’s about, right? Everyone’s read it, or hopefully will.  Billy Pilgrim’s travels through time, to World War II and then to Ilium, New York, and then Tralfamadore, are a funny, sad, sweet story that has weight well beyond the slim novel.  I read Slaughterhouse when I was in high school, and I’ve never forgotten it.  I remember it almost verbatim, even though I’ve never gone back to re-read it.  I’m not even sure I could, as it’s devastatingly sad in its simplicity.  Plus, it has the single saddest scene I have ever read in a book: the part where Billy goes to a cave with his parents, when he’s a kid.  I know there are sadder things that have happened, both real and imagined, and there are even more terrible things that happen to Billy, but that’s the scene that gets me, every time I think of it.

How It Made Me A Better Writer: 

Vonnegut’s stories are so sparse as to be almost nonexistent; he uses a paucity of words and just enough “science” to make his books sci-fi rather than fiction, but somehow the books add up to more than the sum of their parts, primarily because of the emotion Vonnegut conveys.  Using minimalist techniques, Vonnegut communicates a wealth of sadness, in that good kind of way: sadness because people are what they are, and the world is what it is, even in a made-up futuristic society of aliens.  Reading Vonnegut helps me realize that books should convey a sentiment as well as a story: they can tell how you as the author feel about something, without being direct about it.

1. Angelmaker (Nick Harkway): 

I had trouble deciding which of Harkaway’s three books to put on here, but there was no doubt that one of them should be.  Harkaway might be the best pure writer I have ever read, by which I mean that every single word he uses counts.  I have no idea how he does it, but Harkaway writes these big sprawling books that go off on seeming tangents for pages, if not chapters, and introduce a willy-nilly of characters and ideas and then bam! They all come together like a jigsaw puzzle made of magnets.  Angelmaker features a watch/clock repairman who is called in to work on a bit of steampunk-ish beehive-esque art, and who then unwittingly turns the thing on, learning too late that it might be a doomsday device.  That description in no way does this book justice, though.  Harkaway’s stories are outrageously entertaining, his characters are memorable, his language is phenomenal, and the books deserve to be read, then cast in bronze and put on a pedestal, and then read again, in front of large crowds of people cheering him on and urging him to write another book.  Read Angelmaker, and then read his other books (The Gone Away World and Tigerman) and see if they don’t ruin you for most other books.

How It Made Me A Better Writer: 

Forget it. It didn’t. There’s no way anyone can do what Harkaway does.  We can try, and plenty of people can write great stories or books, but nobody will match him.

Briane is the author of Codes: Robbie had an ordinary life, until she walked into Gravity Sling. Now he’s seeing coded messages everywhere, being chased by shadowy big-corporation goons, and questioning literally everything about the world as he knows it. Some questions need answers. This Phillip K. Dick style debut science fiction novel raises questions about how people use technology and each other.

Links:

Follow Briane on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianePagel

His blog: Thinking The Lions: http://www.thinkingthelions.com

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So many new books to read that really should not be new...

Anyway, are you excited about the contest? I'm excited about the contest. Also, I might be mildly panicking about AwsomeCon still. As one does. 

Update about the Contest of Awesome (which I shall call it from now evermore) I'll be posting the first scavenger hunt clue/trivia question Monday morning! Then, I'll post it again about noon because I know sometimes feeds are strange, strange creatures. As soon as we have a correct answer I'll tweet, but I won't announce the day's winner until the end of the day. That way I can check and make sure the first correct answer I see is actually the first correct answer. 

Now I just have to go decide what Monday's prize is...
6 Comments

Guest Blog: Women in Sci-Fi by Ashley K Voris

5/1/2015

1 Comment

 
This week's Sci-Fi Friday post comes from Ashley K Voris, who's awesome kids picture book about puppies came out last week. You should totally go check it out, and then scroll down to read about her favorite women in Sci-Fi.

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Hello, everyone. Today's Sci-fi Friday will be hosted by me, your friendly neighborhood Ashley. I have been asked to write a post and so I have. Fair warning, I like to ramble, go off on tangents, and write in ADD. I will try to keep that to a minimum since this is not my blog.

My Top 5 Favorite Women in Science Fiction

Before we begin, I would like to point out that this list in MY opinion. There are plenty of kick ass women out there in space, but these are the ones that I like. Please feel free to add to the list in the comments. Also, possible spoilers.

1. Captain Janeway- Star Trek Voyager
I love Star Trek. I was introduced to it early since my grandmother was in love with Kirk. (Hey, who wasn't?). My favorite was TNG, and there were plenty of great women in the series that were really awesome, but Janeway was my favorite. She had the best resting bitch face. She was a real leader. She believed and encouraged her crew to do their best with what they had. She picked them up when they failed but did not put up with any crap. She wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty and do work on the ship. She was strong and she could lead.

2. Princess Leia- Star Wars
Okay, so this one is a gimme. But, honestly, though, total badass. She steals plans for the Death Star. Survives torture and her planet being destroyed right in front of her. Gives so much sass to the scruffy looking nerf herder. Yeah, she falls in love with him, but she does it on her terms. She is not afraid to fight for what she believes in and fight she does. She also, eventually, (according to canon that they will hopefully keep) becomes a Jedi. Princess Leia with a light saber? Yes, please.

3. Zoe Washburn- Firefly
How can I have a list like this and not include Zoe? She is a war veteran and second in command of Serenity. She is not one you want to make angry. She is not afraid to call out Mal when he needs it, like in “Serenity” when Mal shot the guy holding on to the vehicle thingie. She can take a bullet and still kick your butt. She was married, but again, it was on her terms. When Mal hired Wash, she couldn't stand him. “He just bugs me.” Even after losing her husband, she still did what she had to do to put the ship back together and protect her crew.

4. Donna Noble- Doctor Who
The thing I loved most about Donna was the lack of romantic attachment. We had to deal with the Rose/Ten love drama that, after a while, was really annoying, followed by the Martha trying to get Ten to fall in love with her while he was still mourning Rose. I mean, yeah, Martha finally realized that it wasn't going to happen and left, but still the constant, “Oh the Doctor doesn't love me boo hoo” made me was to reach through the TV and smack her. It seemed that way with the other companions as well. Sarah Jane, for instance, was rather upset when Ten showed up again and even told Rose to find her if she needed to one day because she understood the heartbreak that comes with falling in love with a Time Lord. Donna, on the other hand, just wanted to travel. She just wanted to see the universe and be a friend. She didn't want anything other than to be a friend. She also wasn't afraid to call the Doctor out, if needed. She had sass and charisma and such a big personality. I adored Donna. I was really upset the way her story arch ended, but that is what happens when you watch Doctor Who. You can't get attached.

5. Samantha Carter- SG1
I just recently discovered SG1 and it makes me both sad and happy. Happy that I discovered it, but sad that I missed out when the series was on TV. From the very first time she came on the screen and gave O'Neil such crap, I was hooked. It was wonderful She was able to hold her own in a cast full of men. She had a Ph.D. in astrophysics, very knowledgeable in quantum mechanics, a Gulf War veteran, and a leading expert on the Star Gate. And...AND....she was blonde and pretty, showing me that I can be pretty and smart at the same time. She had a zero tolerance for chauvinistic macho man crap but handled it with the grace and dignity of a lady or in some cases, with sass and a fist. I love Dr. Carter.


So there you have it. My list. I could go into much more detail about each person, but that would make this a ridiculously long post and turn into a tl/dr post. I would like to add a couple of Honorable Mentions to my list.

Ellen Ripley- the Alien franchise
Sarah Connor- Terminator
River Song- Doctor Who
River Tam- Firefly
Kira Nerys- Star Trek: DS9


What are some of your favorite strong female characters in sci-fi? Other genres?


So great big thanks to Ashley, I'm always pleased to not have to write a post. Come back next week, where I'll find some way to bend an entire week of posts around the book I'm launching in less than two weeks! 
1 Comment

Guesty posts of guestness

8/1/2014

0 Comments

 
This weeks Sci-Fi Friday is brought to you by my friend Michael. You can find his regular blog here.

Lovely, wonderful Michael got me his post well on time. The fact this is happening on Sunday instead of Friday might possibly have something to do with me spending a weekend at the lake without any kind of internets.

Anyway, gorge the eyestalks.


Recently this blog discussed the flying cars that we were all promised when the future got here. This romanticized flying car future has yet to materialize though and our continued yearning for it masks an overlooked truth: no one has been promised a flying car utopia since like, the 1950s. More recent generations were promised corporate-run dystopias, which we’ve been delivered by the way. But I don’t want to talk today about flying cars or about the cyberpunk future we live in. I want to talk about something awesome.

You know what’s awesome? Time travel is awesome. I love time travel stories! When done right, they can offer an in depth look at a setting and its characters from multiple perspectives in a short amount of in-universe time.

Groundhog Day is a great, light hearted introduction to this style of story. If you aren’t familiar with the movie, basically Bill Murray’s smarmy character is trapped in a town during Groundhog Day and forced to relive the same day again and again. Not even death is an escape for him, as he simply wakes up in bed the next day.

Why does he repeat the same day again and again? How does this time loop work? Why is it centered on Bill Murray’s character? We never get the answer to these questions in the movie; and why should we? Those questions aren’t what the story is about. The movie is really about the growth that the setting forces on Bill Murray’s character and the people he meets and gets to know along the way.

Part of what I love about Groundhog Day is how over the course of the movie, you see Bill Murray interact with several minor background characters who you might not give much thought to if you saw them walking down the street, but Bill Murray has all the time in the world to get to know the personal life stories of everyone in town and so do we as the viewers.


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Figure 1 Several people on YouTube assure me this is definitely a time machine. Why doesn’t the media cover this?!
Ultimately, that movie is a romantic comedy. What if we’re in the mood for something more adventurous? There are plenty of great stories in the time travel genre that fit this qualifier as well! To name another movie that everyone will know: Back to the Future is a perfect example of this. Marty McFly has great adventures as he tries to stop his parents from breaking up and cause him to never be born because of events that he changed when he went to the past. It’s a lovely introduction to time paradoxes and definitely recommended for anyone who wants time travel itself to play a bigger role in the stories. The characters are often wrestling with what they can change in the past to affect the future without causing unintended consequences. Another standout example of this sort of film is Looper which I won’t talk about too much here, but it follows this same sort of slightly more involved time travel film.

But finally we come to my favorite sort of time travel story: the structured time travel story. Now, don’t take that to mean that other time travel stories aren’t structured, but rather it’s the type of story that spends an (often non-trivial) amount of time laying down the rules of how time travel works before the characters go and muck things up and then either have to deal with the consequences of their actions or figure out how to work within the rules to set things right. One example of this is the 2004 movie Primer, which I adore, but it’s a very difficult movie to follow specifically because of how it doesn’t hold your hand as characters are bending the fabric of space-time to their whims. Therefore, I won’t spend more time on it other than to recommend it to you.

Another lovely example of this sort of story is Steins;Gate, a visual novel (which itself is a topic I could easily write a whole blog post about) and the inspiration for this post. In this game, a group of friends accidentally invent a time machine and spend the first half of the game experimenting with it and learning the rules of the system only to find themselves in a horrible trap of their own design.

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Figure 2 Dr People, the time travellers' drink of choice.
What I find so powerful and attractive about the game is how the time travel allows for the player to go back in time and interact with other characters differently. A little insight here, provoking a reaction there, it all lends itself to the player developing an intimate relationship with each character, even those who at first seem ancillary.

Time travel stories are captivating and have so much more to offer than what I’ve written about here. If you’re usually turned off to Sci-Fi involving time travel I hope you’ll be intrigued to seek out recommendations of stories that are lighter on the time travel and bigger on character driven interactions. If you’ve never thought about using time travel elements in your stories before, then consider it as a specialized tool for certain settings that let you show similar (or even the same) events from an evolving perspective as your viewpoint character learns more and more about the plot of a story. Time travel, I submit to you all, is awesome.

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    There's a link to my bio at the top of the page, but for these purposes it's probably best to just say I'm strange.

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