Struggling Word Guy.com

The Penultimate Link in the Story Chain

2013-04-26T06:26:00.001-07:00

The tale is almost done. You can find links to all the other sections here.

---

The Princess and the Imp opened up a portal to Assembly and rushed through. Behind them, they dragged Santa (but not Santa) with Assembly General chasing close behind. Just as General Protection Fault was about to pass judgment on the 1337, just as the Assembly General was about to scoop up his bride in his heinous embrace, “Wait!” Shouted Princess Zyx, hoisting the Marriage Contract and pointing to the Android’s transcript,

“I move that this whole matter be declared a mistrial!”

Burblegax tugged at the hem of her skirt, “Princess, what are you doing? You’re not trained in combat Lawyering.”

Princess Zyx looked down at the imp, “If you’ve ever trusted me, trust me now.”

General Protection Fault smiled with teeth of the cruelest binary, “Thank the Code, Narrative bugs have proliferated until the entirety of Assembly is under threat. I warn you though princess, if you retreat to the ‘it was all an autistic child’s dream’ defense you will be subject to the stiffest existential penalties possible.”

Princess Zyx cursed under her breath, causing some cartoon birds that had flown up to attend her in her hour of need to faint. How had he known her plan? Well, now she’d have to go with plan B…

General Protection Fault forged a Gavel and Bench of nanomachines, banged with great enthusiasm.

“Order in the court! Order in the court!”

The android and the elf scrambled to get close to Princess Zyx, try and provide her with legal counsel. She held up a finger to shush them.

“Now,” Said General Protection Fault, “Who will you call as your first witness?”

“I call…

---

M Todd Gallowglas will be bringing it all home this afternoon! (Link to come)

Genre Underground's Tell a Story Day Event

2013-04-20T20:50:00.003-07:00

As I posted about previously, I'm participating in the Genre Underground's "Tell A Story" Author Chain (organized by the incomparable M. Todd Gallowglas). The story has truly gone off the rails but I'm enjoying the ride. What follows is my first contribution, but you should really follow it from the beginning if you have any desire to comprehend what comes next (although to be honest, I think reading this story might be the surest way to lose any comprehension).

Start the Story Here

or

Follow Along Here

***

Alice wielded the microplane grater, fending off The WeebleWobble TeapotBot’s attacks and shredding through it to create thin curly cues of mozzarella-like metal. “Now!” She yelled, “While it’s distracted!”

“Oh, ok.” He said, throwing his red vial at mass of robot.

The glass shattered, and hundred gallons of Marinara sauce exploded outward filling the machine's servos. The robot sputtered, sparked; went finally still.

Alice dusted herself off, stepped back towards the portal to her restaurant. “Here,” she said, tossing the elf a small fortune cookie. “This one’s on the house.”

Absently, the elf put the cookie in his pocket as the portal closed behind Alice.

Now, he had a score to settle with Assembly General and an escape attempt to make good on. He couldn’t trust the court, not now, so the only way to gain justice for Princess Zyx was to dispense it himself.

Exiting the the foundry, the tremendous Fortress Boudoir of the Assembly General loomed as the most imposing structure on Assembly, taunting the Elf to -as the kids on the naughty list would say- “Bring it!”

The elf ran towards his fate.

***

“A spell only a lawyer can cast?” The lawyer asked, remembering dimly something in one of his early lectures as he stepped around the wreckage of Bunny-bots.. He stroked his chin, “Hmm, yes, If I remember correctly it is a ‘frowned upon’ form of Legalese, Minutaemancy. I didn’t think there were any practioners left, after the docket wars of...” The lawyer shook his head, resisting his instinct to turn everything into a closing argument. “In the meantime we have a elf to catch, a uncooperative summoned witness to secure, and a nearly shredded plan to salvage. It was all going so well until the spell interaction in the bar...”

“Hey, Withered Grapes!” The regenerating troll yelled from across the foundry floor, freeing itself from the wreckage of the security bot. “I still got a bone to pick with you.” He cracked his knuckles and his neck, hoisted one of tree-trunk thick robot arms like a club. “Or, all your bones... heh.”

The android powered up auxiliary weapon systems and the lawyer flipped through his portfolio, trying to find the most relevant combat appropriate clause.

The largest bookshelf the lawyer had ever seen crashed through the ceiling, bringing down a rain of
debris and smashing the troll bouncer flat. The mahogany shelves were filled with thick leather bound tomes chronicling case law from endless centuries in the thousand thousand planes. The books spun, opened, their fluttering pages forming a loose portal.

From out of the center stepped Gratzgia Snulgrithn aka Snolthrign Giatztarg with an expression like the canary that ate the cat.

“You’re in trouble now boyo,” she said, smiling with all three of her yellowed teeth, “I got my own lawyer.”

From behind the beasttender-cum-hair snake stepped a beautiful, perfectly coiffed woman with dark brown eyes that could terrify a basilisk. The android’s atmospheric sensors detected that the temperature on the foundry floor had lowered several degrees from no discernible cause. The lawyer swallowed, rubbed at the pale circle where his wedding band used to sit on his finger.

“Well, aren’t you going to introduce me?” The woman said.

“Paralegal Android 1337 allow me to introduce Evenlyn Mundus-Bane Senior Associate...”

“Actually, I just made partner.” She corrected.

“Evenlyn Mundus-Bane, Partner of the Firm Stoker, Benchley & Mundus-Bane.” The Lawyer exhaled, “Also, my ex-wife and the most black hearted woman ever born to any sentient race this side of the nineteen hells.”

“Charmed, I’m sure,” she said, nodding towards 1337, before continuing with the lawyer “Irwin you’re looking well. Now, pleasantries dispatched, shall we get down to business?”

The lawyer turned to the android, “You catch up with the elf,” before opening his portfolio to the hidden clauses and finest of the fine print housed in the back. “I’ll handle her.”

***

Next Post From Christopher J. Garcia

Genre Underground's: Story Chain

2013-04-14T17:53:00.000-07:00

The Genre Underground's Story Chain starts Monday the 15th and I'll be participating! It'll be over a dozen indie authors creating a collaborative story post by post and link by link. It's going to be a tonof friendly oneupsmanship and I'll post more details as I get them.

A Method to the Madness

2013-04-13T17:46:00.002-07:00

The next print anthology featuring my work has an awesome cover

and a release date (June 6th 2013).

Can't wait to read everyone's supervillian advice essays.

Indie Game: The Movie

2013-03-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

Indie Game: The Movie is a documentary that tells the interlocking stories of three indie games and their creators: Fez – Phil Fish, Super Meat Boy – Edmund McMillen & Tommy Refenes, and Braid – Jonathan Blow. I'd previously played all the games mentioned (with the exception of Fez) and enjoyed them. I'm a gamer since I can remember so -if nothing else- viewing this film was fascinating as it allowed me to follow along (post play) with the thoughts and philosophies of the creators who made these games.

It's an incredible privilege to see into the minds and lives of the people who make popular, idiosyncratic art. Film has a documentary tradition (because it's filled with filmmakers) and writers have endless stacks of memoirs to chronicle their journeys and their struggles. But video games are still a young art form, and one often dismissed (Ebert's 'video games are not art' comments spring to mind). Which is part of what makes Indie Game: The Movie's reverent discussion of games all the more special.

The cinematography is lush and gorgeous and oftentimes clever; in no hurry to move on with the narrative. But the so very true, so very relatable stories of creators struggling to make (and make their living at that making) is what truly powers this film.

As a writer, the creators I'm most familiar with my own ilk and their own peculiaties when it comes to acts of creation. And while they're all amazing, and have all helped me develop as a creator; by spending so much time with writers I sometimes lose sight of the larger picture by becoming mired in the minutiae of writing specifics. Basically, sometimes I develop artistic nearsightedness. More than anything, watching a film like Indie Game: The Movie, helps me take a step back and see the universal aspects of making art: the agony and ecstasy and doubt and hope and triumph of it all.

It's a rare pleasure to find a work of art that lives up to the legacy of the work it chronicles. And that’s exactly what Indie Game: The Movie is. I highly recommend this film.

Condor Recap

2013-03-25T12:03:00.001-07:00

Earlier this month, I got to attend Condor and enjoyed it thoroughly. Played some Pathfinder, tried out a game called Artemis (cool concept, multiple players each with their own station and responsibilities each control a subsystem of a starship: can't wait to see this evolve into PVP), sold some books, created a live episode of of the John vs Patrick podcast (which I'm still editing), spoke on two zombie panels (which was awesome), and participated as part of the 'Delphic Oracle' (which was an absolute blast).

Speaking at Condor

2013-03-07T13:08:00.000-08:00

Condor is one of my favorite local conventions and I'll be participating in the programming this weekend. I'm doing the Delphic Oracle, Zombie Identification, and 'Where the Walking Dead Went Wrong: How to Really Survive when the Dead Walk' panels (the latter being my own pitch). Additionally, I have an Autograph session and something I named a 'Beginner's Guide to Podcasting - The Podcast | The Workshop' with my JohnvsPatrick cohost (his name is a hidden riddle only the cleverest listeners can deduce).

In the past, I fear I might have been overzealous at Conventions: tried to be everywhere and do everything. (I participated on over a dozen panels at last year's Conjecture). To be perfectly honest, I always tried to be the most engaging, omnipresent, and interesting guy in a (sincere, but ultimately silly) effort to forward my writing career. This time, I'm looking forward to taking it easier; relax, play a few games, and focus on enjoying the experience organically.

If you're attending, be sure to say 'hi.'

The San Diego Library Local Authors Event 2013

2013-02-06T14:00:00.000-08:00

This last Friday, I attended the 'Local Authors Event' at the San Diego Library.

My gorgeous wife and I.

Hey, look at that - I'm happy!

Was a good time, met some great people like Brae,

Brian,

and Ryan and Jusin of So Say We All.

Here's some more pictures.

CHEMO under glass.

It felt vaguely sacrilegious to walk around the library with food and drink.

Median age: around 60.

I really, really wanted to tip these guys to play anything by ACDC or Motorhead. Because, apparently, I'm that guy.

And that's pretty much it. Speeches were made, writers were praised for being writers and told just how special they/we truly were. I was even given a medal (which I was too embarrassed to wear). I think artists, and writers amongst them, get more than their fair share of praise because we tend to have better PR.

But when everything is said and done, it does make me incredibly proud to know that my book has been placed with the library.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb errr... Day Job

2013-01-15T17:13:00.002-08:00

For the past two years I've been introducing myself as a writer when asked about my job. I've been putting the hours in and making money at it, but not "good" money: I've been making something more akin to subsistence money. Two weeks ago, I went back to work for a bank in a financial sales capacity.

Although I do think the dress code really helps accentuate my junk.
The gig is ridiculous for a lot of reasons, but the money is decidedly not ridiculous. Perhaps more importantly, the health insurance coverage is critical and by working a regular 9-5 I will (hopefully) allow my wife to pursue her dream of being a full time photographer this year. Which I feel is a little like us being a tag team.

So pretty much this...

But here's the rub: one of the first things people want to know when I claim to be a 'writer' is 'full time?' It’s the mark of legitimacy, for some it’s the only stamp of approval possible, and an easy sorter to find out if I've 'made it' (whatever the heck that means) or if I'm unmade… I guess? Basically, if I’m not ‘full time’ then for some I’m only kidding when I claim to be a writer.

I feel as though it was an important turning point for me to be able to transition from answering 'I'm unemployed' to 'I'm a writer' back in the day, and now there's a temptation to answer 'I'm a banker' and lose the hard won confidence needed to be completely honest about who I am and what I’m doing with my life. Because, when everything is said and done it's much simpler to say 'I work in insurance' or 'I'm a student' than to lay claim to what I actually care about and open myself up to the easy, terrifying judgment of other.

As always, money gets in the way of understanding: we feel the pressure to allow the source of our income to be the primary determinant for our identity. Well, fuck that. If you want to talk about how I pay my bills, that's one conversation. If you want to talk about what I do (primarily) the simple answer is 'I'm a Writer.' Despite the temptation to obfuscate, to quibble about titles and what makes a writer ‘real;’ when it comes to my profession nothing substantive has changed. I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing. I am no less a writer than I was three weeks ago.

Now I just need to keep repeating that until I believe it.

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Gutter-A-Go-Go

2012-12-26T23:40:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite websites -the Cultural Gutter- is doing an online indiegogo fundraising campaign to keep paying their authors. If you have a free minute, be sure to check out their awesome rewards.

Also, can I just say that henceforth Godzilla should always walk around in a party hat whilst baring cake?

CHEMO's recent Sales Rank Increase

2012-12-07T12:28:00.000-08:00

I love this chart because it makes me feel close to being #1.

(In case you can't see, after the recent 'Black Friday Reads' Promotion, my novel CHEMO went from #578,000 to #75,020. So, I'm not making Colbert money, but it looks like I sold a few copies. If only getting through the next 75019 ranks was easy as getting through the last 503000...)

Campbellian Heroes versus Serial Heroes

2012-12-05T12:15:00.000-08:00

Conversations with my writer friends got me thinking about Campbellian Heroes vs Serial Heroes, and how each is used in fiction.

Campbellian/3 Act/Movie/Arc Heroes

These are probably the ones we're most familiar with nowadays. Lots of theorists and writers helped make this a formula, but the modern day origin is probably easiest traced to writer/comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell (by way of Star Wars, which was deliberately modeled on his writings).

Joseph Campbell, not to be confused with Bruce Campbell.

Mr. Campbell posited there is a certain story structure we see pop up over and over in mythology: what he described as the 'Hero's Journey.'

Basically, we have our hero (usually young, naive, and with meaningful parentage) who is called on an adventure but who resists the call until fate forces his hand. The hero then journeys/quests (usually with a false victory, a martyred mentor figure, and an eventual rally) culminating in an internal victory which leads to an external one (Trust the force Luke...). There's more to it (and research on the subject is fascinating) but you're already intimately aware of the formula: it's what 'powers' Star Wars, Transformers and just about every other blockbuster (for better or for worse).

For these kinds of stories, the trappings (space wizards, a witness protection program amongst the Amish, a talking pig) are of a distant secondary importance to the hero's emotional journey which proceeds with expected beats.

Serial Heroes

These heroes are perhaps a little less popular, but only just. If Campbellian Heroes dominate the Movies, then Serial Heroes dominate television. Think Sherlock Holmes and Watson, Mulder and Scully from X-Files, and so forth and so on. These characters are noteable nowadays because, largely, they don't change. Scully remains the skeptic, Mulder remains the believer, and Sherlock Holmes remains the brilliant man that forever at risk of being crippled by his own ceaseless intellect. We like these characters as they are, and series often draw power by exploiting existing tensions as long as possible without actually changing the characters or the setup.

These characters have to arc/resolve issues eventually, but doing so is the moment of the story's greatest peril.

Superheroes

Superheroes -or at least the most popular ones- are an interesting hybrid example. By and large, their origin stories usually follow the Hero's Journey (there's a reason people refer to superheroes as the modern moythology) but after this they usually become serial heroes (i.e. the continuing adventures of Spider-man).

Writers play with emotional change -and pull it off to a greater or lesser degree- but the core of the Superheroes remains unmoveable, unalterable. Peter Parker will never get over his complicity in the death of Uncle Ben (and this guilt will motivate him to protect Aunt May to insane levels) and Bruce Wayne will always be a nearly supernaturally driven trillionaire shaped by the death of his parents. They're designed so that they can never ever 'win.'

I think this explains why mainstream movie makers focus so much on the origin story aspect and why the superhero reboot movie cycle continues to shorten: because it's the part of a superhero's story that best fits the Hero's Journey/3 Act Template template. As for 'the continuing adventures of' part, results are hit or miss on making this part work.

Horror and the Serial Villain

Obviously, this isn't a binary but -more probably- closer to two poles on a spectrum. Despite us loving their essential nature, Serial Heroes have to change--if only a little--in order to remain compelling. Campellian/Movie/Arcing characters have to posses an interesting core that shines through no matter how they transform (one reason that Vader works in the original Star Wars trilogy but not in the 'prequels' at Vader's serial core is ruthless menace).

I consciously tried to structure my own novel -CHEMO: How I Learned to Kill- how 'like a season of your favorite television show' which was effective I think, but still led me to have to perform substantial rewrites to make sure the characters 'clicked' with the readers.

For me, the irony is that what Hollywood (or at least the Marketers) really seems to want are Serial Heroes -ones they can make movie, after movie, after movie about- but they insist on using the Campbellian formula to try and engender audience sympathies. It's not that the two models are wholly incompatible, just that they represent different character design and story philosophies. This confusion leads to that fact that most of the Serial Characters we see over and over again are actually horror villains: Jason, Michael, Chucky, Freddy, et al.

We come back to this face over and over again...

Which makes me think I should really write some experimental story where the villains have traditional emotional arcs while the 'good guys' remain largely unchanged... hmmm food for thought definitely.

So what do you think? Who are your favorite heroes that don't change?

Black Friday Reads

2012-11-23T12:12:00.000-08:00

A bunch of my indie author peeps have gotten together to release our books as black friday reads! For when you're waiting in line, and wanna check out a new author for only 99 cents! If you need something to read -or have been wanting to check out CHEMO- nows your chance.

Link

Not Dead I've just been Trying to Write a Novel in a Month

2012-11-22T21:24:00.001-08:00

The Image

.The Reality

NaNoWriMo 2012

2012-11-04T21:51:00.001-08:00

This year I'm participating in NaNoWriMo. My project is a science fiction novel tentatively titled 'Terms of Service' all about 3d printing, antique forgers, weird post scarcity economics, and revolution (better synopsis to come). As of tonight I'm 4100 words in. While this is shy of the goal (5800 words) I'm feeling good because 1) this is further than I've ever been and 2) I should be back on track by this time next week. Any writer friends who want to add me, or anyone who wants to track my progress feel free to click on the picture at the top of this post or the handy dandy button on the side of the blog.

CHEMO: The Pieces of Erica Smith on Dunesteef

2012-11-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

Rish and Bigg do an amazing job with the story and are in fine form with their trademark silliness. Seriously, do yourself a favor and go have a listen.

http://dunesteef.com/2012/10/29/episode-136-chemo-the-pieces-of-erica-smith-by-j-m-perkins/

Interview

2012-11-01T08:00:00.001-07:00

Over at the Alliteration Ink blog, I'm participating in a Round table interview with a bunch of the other Crimson Pact authors. They're releasing the answers day by day, and it's really fascinating reading the responses of the other contributors.

Crimson Pact Giveaway and Trick and Treat

2012-10-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

They're giving away a copy of an Anthology I contributed to The Crimson Pact: Vol 4 over at Goodreads. You should enter to win right away!

Giveaway

Also, remember to check out Genre Underground's Trick and Treat Event which is still happening now!

House of Leaves, SCP-Wiki, and 'Explorable' Fiction

2012-10-16T18:40:00.000-07:00

By far, the most popular thing I've written on this blog is How to Read House of Leaves. I enjoyed the hell out of the book (even if it scared me) and I tried to come to grips with what it meant to me in an essay.

This is my best attempt to summarize.

Recently, I've become quietly obsessed with SCP wiki. The SCP wiki purports to be the archives of a Men in Black style organization tasked with claiming, studying, and securing all the 'Wierd/Supernormal/Dangerous' shit. (Kinda like CHEMO, except a lot less killy.)

What I realized is that there are some parallels in why I enjoy and how I read the SCP-Wiki and House of Leaves. Namely, I didn't read/consume the pieces linearally so much as explored them. Because of the structure, no two people will experience a book like House of Leaves the same; in fact no two 'readings' by the same reader will yield identical paths. The SCP-Wiki, House of Leaves, and probably other works I've never heard of use explorability to add emotional power to the work, to induce existential vertigo, and to make the experience that much more interesting and unique.

Explorability in Fiction

It's not like any of this is new: people have been talking about Hyperlink fiction for at least twenty years. Moreover, mythologies are inherently explorable. I think that's one of the aspects that gives the Cthulhu mythos (and, I suspect, Slender Man) such power and appeal. We all hear about Cthulhu somewhere different (through a different entry point) and we all follow that interest into different self contained work which -nonetheless- connects into an overarching piece of explorable fiction. But I think we're going to be seeing more and more explorability even as we figure out better and better ways to reward participants and creators (even if we're not rewarding them with money, which is certainly the case with all contributors to the SCP wiki).

Nowadays, we mostly get to explore cute versions of inter-dimensional horror.

There are more techniques to infuse 'explorability:' Transmedia and Metafiction are inherently explorable as is layered fiction. Other pieces are designed to have a multiplicity of entry points (I suspect most common entry point for the SCP Wiki is SCP-173). Snippets, short segments that resist efforts to place them in an exact sequence lend themselves to exploration. Links, footnotes, fascinating sidequests, and anything else that throws the 'reader' off the obvious path.

Shared worlds seem to be the perfect place to experiment more with fiction that possesses explorability.
Explorability lends itself to a number of uses: it can give a work of fiction a sense of existential vertigo (like House of Leaves), or can simply allow for a framework where more people can contribute (like a mythos), or even give a versimilitude (which, despite its own best efforts, SCP-Wiki has in spades).

I think it's a truism to claim that no two people read the same book in exactly the same way. But, whatever
variance in interpretation, a traditional novel has a discrete path: you read one page after another until you're done. You watch one frame after another, you beat one world after another, moving forever from left to right. Increasingly however, creators are eschewing linerality in favor of explorability; and I think this will only increase as we move forward.

PS As I mentioned in my last post, I'm participating in the Trick and Treat blog event. I just want to share a fellow blogger with every post. You should check out M. Todd Gallowglas and especially enjoyed his World Con wrap up.

Book Printing, Reading, and Metal Editions oh my!

2012-10-10T16:30:00.000-07:00

I've had an interesting week and a half...

Monday the 1st I received the printed copies of novel, CHEMO: How I Learned to Kill. I will never be able to explain how much joy this brought me.

Tuesday the 2nd I began shipping them out. Now, I have a customs slip for Tasmania and the UK up on my victory wall.

Wednesday the 3rd I practiced my readings for Conjecture.

Thursday the 4th I finished the metal edition prototype.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday Attended Conjecture, had my first reading/signing, participated on awesome 11 panels, met many, many awesome people (like Nicole aka Hello, the Future!) and had an absolute blast. Also met M. Todd Gallowglas and agreed to take part in the Trick and Treat blog swap event (hence the new buttons on the sidebar there).

Monday the 8th My family and I traveled to LA to be on Price is Right. The show was full and we didn't get on, but we'll be returning in November with priority tickets.

More posts coming soon (both Conjecture and the Trick and Treat event both deserve their own posts), just as soon as I get caught up on sleep...

Self Publishing: From Vanity to Legitimacy Conjecture 2012

2012-10-09T15:35:00.003-07:00

Poster for my Reading this Saturday and Sunday

2012-10-06T09:04:00.000-07:00

At Conjecture, which is being held at the Town and Country Center. You should really come and say hi if you can!

CHEMO Proof

2012-09-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of me doing final edits on the printer's Galley proof of my novel CHEMO: How I Learned to Kill. I've been excited about the process, but for some reason as I worked it didn't feel real. But then I switched the font to Garamond and spent three hours trying to wrangle Crop Marks and it hit me: people paid me to publish my book. I'll be able to hold and touch and smell my book.

I'm not sure I'll ever stop smiling.

P.S. I now treat the phrase 'Crop Marks' as a very offensive curse because seriously, fuck you Crop Marks.

My Conjecture 2012 Schedule

2012-09-26T22:43:00.001-07:00

I will be attending Conjecture 2012 where I'm speaking on 11(!) Panels and will be having my first reading and first signing! I'm currently the perfect mix of nervous and excited, although in the coming week and a half the nervous quotient may exceed recommended levels...

The Normality Field: Why Isn't It the Future Yet? (Moderating)

Panel 1: Fri 10/5 3:00 PM, 60 minutes.

In 1993, William Gibson said "The future is already here —
it's just not very evenly distributed." But even in the
rich, future-dense regions (like Southern California), we
didn't feel like it was the future in 1993, and usually we
still don't. We've absorbed technologies that older SF
writers expected to take decades to generations longer for
us to achieve. Why hasn't the fact that we're living in an
SFnal world penetrated our cultural consciousness? And what
would happen if it did?

------------------------------

Self-Publishing: From Vanity to Legitimacy

Fri 10/5 5:00 PM, 60 minutes.

Self-publishing was originally referred to as "vanity
publishing" because only the friends and family of the
author would read the book. Now with the huge success of 50
Shades of Gray, and before that Eragon, self-publishing is
becoming a viable way for new authors to break into the
publishing world.

----------------------------------------
"Why is Rue Black?" Colorblindness, Privilege, and Reader Assumptions

Fri 10/5 6:00 PM, 60 minutes.

Many readers of The Hunger Games skimmed over the
description of the character Rue, assumed she was white,
and reacted with horror when a brown-skinned actress was
cast in the film to play a character whom the author
plainly stated had brown skin. In SF&F's potentially
infinite universe, why is the assumed default for
characters still white (and usually male)?

----------------------------------------

This is Horrible, Give Me More: The Appeal of Dystopias

Fri 10/5 8:00 PM, 60 minutes.

Why do we devour so many books and films set in grim
totalitarian states or post-apocalyptic wastelands? It's
especially popular in YA literature, where it may be an
extension of one of the main themes of Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, "high school is Hell".

----------------------------------------

Buying It Again: Evolving Electronic Media

Sat 10/6 11:00 AM, 60 minutes

Music went from vinyl to cassettes to CD to downloads.
Video went from tapes to DVDs to Blu-Ray to downloads. Now
books are going from print to downloads—but proprietary
e-reader formats make it harder to change platforms if you
want to keep reading what you've already bought. Charles
Stross has argued that publishers need to get rid of DRM to
keep serious fans, especially genre fans, happy—and avoid
driving them toward piracy. How much of a cost is it to
read books (or watch movies) on multiple, changing
platforms with incompatible formats?

----------------------------------------

Mining Urban Legends for Material: From Men in Black to InCryptid

Sat 10/6 12 Noon, 60 minutes

The folklore of the modern age and how it surfaces in our
entertainment: Area 51, chupacabras, vanishing hitchhikers,
jackalopes, and beyond. Consider Men in Black, Warehouse
13, Sanctuary, Supernatural, and Seanan McGuire's
InCryptid.

----------------------------------------
Cleaning the Gene Pool: What's a Flaw?

Sat 10/6 2:00 PM, 60 minutes.

In Keith Harlman's The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual
Corpse, he depicts a chilling future where the 'gay gene'
is identified...and prenatal testing followed by abortion
wipes out most homosexuals in utero, while gay kids born
after the test get shipped off to 'camp' when they test
positive. Who has the right to decide that a trait should
be removed from the population, cither through prenatal
screening or gene therapy? Can we have the foresight to
know for certain that we won't need that trait in the
future? Is it ethical to try to wipe a relatively harmless
trait out of a population for aesthetic or philosophical
reasons? Yeah, go ahead, get rid of all the fat
people...now deal with a famine, or an ice age. Oops.
----------------------------------------

Can the Constitution Survive the Internet?

Sat 10/6 5:00 PM, 60 minutes

Can the freedoms guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution
survive the age of technology we are only beginning to
enter? Will we end up with David Brin's Transparent Society
or a world more like that of Cory Doctorow's Little
Brother? How will individual rights fare as our paradigms
continue to shift?

----------------------------------------
Reading: J.M. Perkins

Sat 10/6 6:00 PM, 60 minutes

----------------------------------------

Standards in Science Education

Sun 10/7 12 Noon, 60 minutes.

State and national standards determine the science
curriculum in public education. Twenty years ago,
California actually spent half the biology year on ALL
types of organisms (classification, ecology, lots of
botany), while now it's only about animals (except for
knowing the importance of other things in ecology and
photosynthesis) -- and half the year is spent on molecular
biology (including a lot of molecular genetics and cellular
physiology). Botany is gone. The new standards are just
coming up, but aren't out yet. There is also a discrepancy
between state standards and national standards.

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Signing: J.M. Perkins

Sun 10/7 1:30 PM, 30 minutes.

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Unintended Consequences of Electronic Games

Sun 10/7 2:00 PM, 60 minutes.

Back in the early 90s, gamers started using video games to
generate movies (and even a realtime talk show, in Halo,
called This Spartan Life!) -- a process called "machinima".
MMORPG economies have had economic impact in the physical
world, from gold farming to Second Life real estate riches.
(See Edward Castronova's 2001 paper "Virtual Worlds: A
First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian
Frontier".) Early this year, Minecraft was adapted as a
design tool for 3D printing. And a few months ago, when
media critic Anita Sarkeesian launched a Kickstarter
campaign to produce a video series analyzing images of
women in electronic games, an enraged male gamer responded
by designing and distributing a game in which the player
beats the crap out of an avatar of Sarkeesian. What other
unexpected uses will develop for electronic games?

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Media Tie-Ins: Today's Pulps?

Sun 10/7 3:00 PM, 60 minutes.

Are the Star Trek, Star Wars, Buffy, and videogame novels
of today the equivalent of the pulp novels of the 40s and 50s?

Tor.com Rejection Letter of the Day

2012-09-10T10:55:00.001-07:00

I'm proud that I've advanced as a writer to the point that, when a story of mine is rejected, the response tends to be personalized and encouraging as opposed to the form rejection standard. As a point of fact, I recently received a very nice rejection letter for my story 'Blood Tusk: Lord of All He Surveys - A Child's Primer' from Tor.com that I wanted to share. I'll just cut right to the awesome bits:

This is the best kind of weird... Let me just say that this made me laugh so hard that frankly, I almost had to change my pants. I sincerely hope you send us more of your stories in the future

Too bad the (admittedly bizarre) story wasn't quite right for them.

If you haven't been checking out Tor.com, you really should. The site puts out some of the best speculative short fiction on the web, and they do it for free while still paying professional rates.