Once again, my sister Gwen and I found ourselves at Book Expo America, located at the Jacob Javitz Center in New York City. If you have anything to do with books – read, write, sell, publish, lend, stack or otherwise handle, this is it, folks, an action-packed book and publishing extravaganza, meant to pull the forces of the written word in every available direction. It’s not for the faint of heart or feigning writers, either. If you’re serious, you’re here. No argument. Every May this trade show and convention takes place, attracting literally anyone and everyone who has a connection to the written word. If you think I’m kidding, just click here to see who showed up. Wheeler-dealers haggle over contracts, agents meet editors to sell the next big thing, authors sign books and everyone checks out the free swag.
Gwen and I went to meet up with our agent, Marisa Corvisiero, but also to wander the aisles in search of our genres (Gwen – Women’s Fiction, me – Sci-Fi). Even more, though, are the trends that surface during these events. China, holding the Guest of Honor position, displayed every single genre from children’s to serious modern literature. In the back of the floor, many digital publishing and other services commanded a large swath of space. It seems as if writing the actual story is only a tiny portion of what digital services offers. It’s getting the word out about everything surrounding that book that counts here. All business regarding the writer’s craft, folks!
Of course, there’s always room for a bit of fun, natch.
Our friend Sam Bremekamp, a Young Adult agent and writer, couldn’t make it this year, so we photobombed her way in…sort of…
I made a couple of friends, too.
And, of course, visited the latest in Sci-Fi. I tweeted a few of these, but for some reason my Twitter app shamefully didn’t recognize the term “sci-fi” and instead put either “sci-on” or “sci-it.” Kind of odd, but then again, so is the genre, so I suppose it’s okay.
We ran into a few acquaintances during our travels…
…and we couldn’t quite determine what the message was here, other than magenta and black is a must-have color for a young woman.
As we glanced around the swirl of activity throughout the ginormous floor, gazing at whole booths devoted to famous writers, outsized signs blasting their names while long lines queued up to obtain autographs from hot bestselling authors (books were free, too!), the thought crossed both of our minds: that’ll be us, one day.
Not “some day…” as in waxing wistful.
ONE DAY…as a very achievable goal.
So keep your eyes open, folks! We’re coming to a bookshelf near you.
Wow. I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since I’ve actually written anything. Just goes to show you how quickly time flies when you aren’t paying any attention to it…and maybe should.
Truth is, I’ve been doing a lot of writing on my second novel and I got stuck in a loop – bad one. Knew what I wanted to write, but somehow, the words just refused to form. I have a wide screen display hooked up to my laptop. On the left is the outline and on the right is the actual first draft. The whole idea about leaving the outline up on the screen is to refer to it. And boy, did I ever. And still, nothing refused to come. Inspiration took a vacation, leaving me with no indication of blossoming imagination leading to elation.
Okay, I’ll knock off the rhymes. See? It’s wasting time, but fun. How many words can you come up with that flow well with “inspiration,” eh?
I wondered what could I possibly be missing? Over and over I read my outline and it seemed great. Nice plot development, character growth, trail of crumbs leading on the reader, no saggy middle, a great ending and bridge to the third novel in the four-novel series. And yet, my brain stuck like an ancient bug in amber.
So I did what any self-respecting writer would do: eat chocolate. That took about 30 seconds. Then I straightened up my desk. Two, three minutes. Got a cup of tea, pet the cat, spoke to several members of my household, went through my email, stared out the window. Still no good. Brain…dead.
All right, all right, I said to myself, what’s the problem. Part of it is, I’m a research whore. I can’t stop myself. If I need to find out how pins are made, often I’ll go back as far as the mine where the ore was extracted to create said pin. Will it help the plot to dig so deeply into whatever I need? Probably not, but one can never be too sure. I have a comprehensive notebook filled with details of all sorts. There’s a manila file chock-filled with info printed out. Articles saved on line. Sites bookmarked. All this so I make sure my characters speak with authority, even if they’re in the future and all this research will be ancient history.
Trouble is, none of this helped me stick a few sentences together and I was no further along in my writing.
ARGH!
Usually my husband’s good to bounce around ideas. We had a very good, very long chat about plot devices that might work. Lots of them had real potential. Hammering them out in my head, they all sounded better than great. But then, facing that blank screen?
ARGH!
“You know what,” my sister Gwen said, “what you mentioned, the plot devices that you and Andrew came up with, that is, are good. Really are. But they’re separate pieces. You need that simple elixir that’s going to drag the whole plot along.” Thing is, I thought I had that aspect hammered and nailed down tight. In a way, I did, but not fleshed out enough to make the whole series sing.
And then the helpful hint came that changed everything: Dorothy.
You know, as in “The Wizard of Oz.”
What was that one thing Dorothy wanted most of all, so much that she was willing to drag a cast of weirdos, witches, a wayward wizard and commit murder twice?
She wanted to go home.
That’s it. That simple.
Apply one good think to my lead character and…ah HA! Out it came, the shining star, the exploding microwave…my elixir.
And what a breakthrough! Suddenly, my mind won’t shut off. The words pour out of my fingers as they glide across the keyboard. All I do now, it seems, is come up with exactly what I want to say and get it out. No more stuck, no dead imagination, I’m going all guns blazing and seem to be making up for lost time.
Now, please excuse me while I get back to writing…
Yes, I know it’s a bit hazy, but look! There’s books behind me, a sure sign of a literary radio program. And if any of you have the inclination, you can follow this link to the actual show: http://livestream.com/accounts/3269343/events/4004757. It’s an archive of the webcast. At the very least, you get to see what I look like, or part of me, anyway, since my head was tilted towards our host. Hey, you get a fabulous view of my hair. Occasionally, my profile pops out, and there’s a bit where my entire face is visible.
It was quite an honor to be asked to participate in “Authors in the Round,” hosted by Karen Kenney Smith of Three Worlds Press. Gwen Jones (my sister), Allison Merritt and me were the featured speakers on this program. Gwen writes Women’s Fiction, Allison writes historical/paranormal/fantasy romances and I write science fiction (of course!). It was a lovely evening at this wonderful place named Murray Grove Retreat and Renewal Center in Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey, about a stone’s throw from the Atlantic Ocean.
Karen led us three writers through the writing process, including what made us sit down in front of a computer, let loose our imaginations and string words together like a pearl necklace. What’s weird for me is I never gave much thought to where all my ideas come from and how I managed to squeeze them out into coherent sentences. Talk about putting oneself out there: I even had to read some of the stuff I wrote. I might not be the best person to do that, but I sure had fun acting out one of my main characters. You can hear me talk about my work somewhere in the first 45 minutes, and again towards the very end. Gwen also reads from her work, too – from “Wanted: Wife” and a slam fiction piece for which she wrote. Allison speaks about her latest work, a Viking romance, although, unfortunately, I forgot the title, but it’s on the video.
Take note, fellow bloggers: I mentioned a few of you. I’ve selected a few followers with whom I’ve had some dialogue over writing and such. Wonder who you might be? Well, you can either go to 1:16:00 (approximate) on the link and hear my actual voice speak your names, or you can cheat and let me tell you: Hugh’s News and Views, D.R. Sylvester/Writes and Responsibilities, One Lazy Robot/AntVincino and The Editor’s Journal (I’m sorry I misspoke; I said “The Ladies Journal” instead). I wish I had time to mention all of my followers, for whom I’m very grateful!
So sit back, relax, watch the show and let me know what you think!
One thing that always fascinates me is how the past foresaw (or foreseed?) the future. You know, way back in the day, say, around 1935 or so, the year 2000 seemed as remote as jetpacks (also a futuristic object we’re still waiting on).
Bored, putting off my writing for the day, I chose to do a bit of research. You know, the kind that kind of involves what you’re working on but not really (just because it’s science fiction doesn’t mean it’s my particular brand of it, but it’s sci-fi nonetheless).
Traveling around YouTube, I found a bit of what I wasn’t looking for: fashion.
Women’s clothing seems pretty cool, if not entirely practical. Men’s? Hmm. Overall, I wonder what made these designers think that clothes would progress this way, especially a dress made out of aluminum. I mean, how you gonna sit without scratching the hell out of your body? And what was the reasoning behind metal as fabric? Then there’s the net dress that’s pretty va-va-hoochy-koochie-voom. It’s kind of modest by today’s standards. The bridal dress isn’t out of line with what people’d consider high fashion today. At the end of the video, there’s really no rationale for the male outfit; none that I could find, anyway.
This one has some of the above in it, but what I find funny is that when this video shows the future, it has exactly the same airplanes with a few tweaks, buildings pretty much look the same too and there’s no real innovations, just…bigger things. Why? Could no one figure out how things progressed logically?
Okay, now this one’s not really a prediction, nor is it science fiction in the truest sense, but when you look at it, you’ll know what I mean, and you’ll smile:
Ah, nostalgia!
Right around when this video was made, I was sitting at my desk when our computer guy, Jim, came in with a box and some wires in his hands. “I’m hooking you up to the internet,” he said.
“Really?” I said. “Wow!”
We tinkered about for a moment. Each of us in my department had to keep a little logbook of how long we were on the internet, and why, and that included email. See, they paid by the hour and even then they didn’t want us goofing off on it. So you can imagine how excited I was when I heard that distinctive modem tune that told me I was engaged to the world! Oo!
Five seconds later, it all froze. Log out, unplug, log in, repeat.
Eventually, I did get to this page called Webcraller. It had a search field, plus this “Surprise” button. You pressed it and it kind of gave you a tour of the internet in all of its innocent youth. Why, I saw helpful plans for a plumbing schematic, recipes for pie, horoscopes, bits of news from around the world, pictures of people doing things, and the like. I was hooked! And felt special, too. Right there in my tiny office, on the top of my steel-and-formica desk, the entire world waited for me to log on and discover all its wonders.
Say, if any of you are bored, happen to be nearby and want to participate in an internet radio show, come join me and my sister Gwen Jones LIVE in the studio! This broadcast will also be available online following the show. I can’t seem to get the below flyer to cooperate, but if you click on it, you can get it to enlarge so it’s legible.
Hooray! Today, the Hubble Telescope celebrates its 25 anniversary! And what a celebration it should be, and is. The New York times posted an article today that features astronomers and others involved in Hubble’s history what their favorite photo is.
Here’s one of my favorite images:
This photo is from 2012, and a brief description taken from NASA’s HubbleSite.org follows:
The giant elliptical galaxy in the center of this image, taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, is the most massive and brightest member of the galaxy cluster Abell 2261.
Spanning a little more than one million light-years, the galaxy is about 10 times the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy. The bloated galaxy is a member of an unusual class of galaxies with a diffuse core filled with a fog of starlight. Normally, astronomers would expect to see a concentrated peak of light around a central black hole. The Hubble observations revealed that the galaxy’s puffy core, measuring about 10,000 light-years, is the largest yet seen.
The observations present a mystery, and studies of this galaxy may provide insight into how black hole behavior may shape the cores of galaxies.
Astronomers used Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3 to measure the amount of starlight across the galaxy, dubbed A2261-BCG. Abell 2261 is located three billion light-years away.
The observations were taken March to May 2011. The Abell 2261 cluster is part of a multi-wavelength survey called the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH).
Object Names: Abell 2261, A2261-BCG
Image Type: Astronomical
Credit:NASA, ESA, M. Postman (STScI), T. Lauer (NOAO), and the CLASH team
# # #
But what do I find so fascinating about it?
Click on the above link for larger files of the above photo. Take a look. It’s an amazing assortment of galaxies – tons of them! And they’re beautiful, so beautiful, gems each and every one. This literally took my breath away. Not only are those galaxies millions of light years away, their light comes to us from millions of years ago. What we see no longer is, and who knows what’s taken its place, if anything at all.
Within each of those galaxies floating in the universe are worlds utterly unknown to us. We can fantasize and dream about life on another planet in another galaxy, but the truth is a bit elusive at the moment. Still, we can regard them for what the Hubble brings to us – a beautiful perspective of the universe and its imagery.
If you find yourself a bit bored, sad or otherwise challenged by the rigors of this world, click on the Hubble Telescope site. Explore its pages. Allow yourself to dream and be awed at this portal on the magnificence of nature.
If only there had been a substitute pilot, perhaps one of artificial origin, perhaps the passengers flying that day on Germanwings might’ve experienced an eventless flight.
If only artificial intelligence was just like those robots in those movies, they’d come to the rescue.
Which of the above sentences are true?
Well, in theory, all of them.
Presently, the airline industry is investing in planes operated by either robots or remote operators. Not exactly drones, these alternatives to flesh-and-blood pilots are being designed to work alongside a pilot or, in some instances, instead of one. As it is, the technology is already present in F-16 fighter jets and is credited with saving the life of an American pilot during a battle with Islamic State forces. Airbus uses software that guides the pilots and only seven minutes of the pilot’s time is required to manually fly the plane. Had there been either software or some sort of AI present in the cabin of the ill-fated Germanwings plane, perhaps things might have turned out differently.
But is this an example of AI? Not in the purest sense, but it’s a step in the right direction. Software is making decisions to operate a plane in a specific manner – keeping it aloft – and as such, is preventing tragedy.
With this weekend’s premiere of Ex Machina, a new kind of more complex, believable robot makes its premiere. True, it’s more about the character of the Ava, the new artificial life form. But then again, Steven Spielberg already explored such a concept with his 2001 film, A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Or, why not consider I, Robot – either the film or the masterful Issac Asimov short-story series upon which it’s based? Heck, right now I’m reading his Caves of Steeland it tells the story of a humanlike robot passing for a detective.
One can correctly argue that true artificial intelligence is the result of a manufactured being (i.e. robot/android) thinking and feeling and dreaming and wishing, like Bicentennial Man. And yes, Robin Williams’ character Andrew did, in fact, evolve to close as human as one can get, but he had the benefit of multiple upgrade surgeries to accomplish his goal. But someone had to put that notion in that circuited brain first, right? So instead of God, man becomes His substitute and creates an artificial version of what He rendered.
Now, here’s something to consider: if artificial intelligence is dependent upon its creator, then will the created be only as smart as the person who coded it? What exactly is embedded in that code to get that ‘bot a-thinkin’? Will it reflect the coder’s own limited pool of experiences, or will the code be such that it takes on a life of its own via nano-sperm and ovaries, replicating its own Matrix-y ilk?
Ponder that one and see what your brain comes up with – artificial or not.
Yours truly indicating future site of Starfleet Academy
Okay, so they haven’t even broken ground yet, much less found Vulcans with whom to work, but right behind me is the spot where, in 2161, The United Federation of Planets is going to set up shop and create a Starfleet Academy.
And just exactly what was I doing in San Francisco? Not casing out potential academy spots, for the future or other purposes. No, I accompanied my husband on a business trip and then we had ourselves a much-needed break.
Gretchen and Andrew obscuring an otherwise excellent view of San Francisco, sporting bike helmets
Andrew’s superior officer in command, a wonderfully generous and kind person, offered to guide us out-of-towners on a bike ride from Fisherman’s Wharf to Sausalito, a distance of roughly 8-10 miles, or 13-16 kilometers. As you can see, it was a gorgeous day, a bit breezy perhaps but fine enough to hop aboard our trusty rented bikes and fly like the wind over the Golden Gate Bridge.
Did I mention wind? At some points in the trip, gale-worthy gusts puffed up our jackets and nearly knocked us loose from our seats, but that only added to the excitement. As I chugged up the occasional hills leading to the bike-riding side of the GGB, I reminded myself that my endeavor paled in comparison to those future cadets intrepidly charging forward on into space. Tucked away in the back of my mind lurked the possibility of THE ONE, you know, that ginormous earth-sinking quake just waiting for the right moment to unleash its wrath. You laugh? My first trip to California (Los Angeles, that time) was punctuated by a 6.0 earthquake, forever imprinting in my mind it could happen again.
Shoving that nasty thought away, I turned onto the bike lane and wheeled my way across this legendary span. About halfway across, I turned my head and noticed the Pacific shimmer in the afternoon sun, and a fog bank in the distance waiting to spread across the bay and city. Sky, cloud and sea blended into an undulating band of grey matter converging on the horizon. Hmm, I thought. What mysterious being, event, alien ship or malady is concealed behind that? Will it strike now? Or have the decency to wait until I make it across before it generates wholesale terror?
For me, what’s also kind of remarkable about cycling next to the Pacific is that I grew up on the Atlantic – literally – at a seaside town in New Jersey. I’m used to seeing sunrises instead of sunsets over the ocean. That, and it’s a border, the west end of the continental United States, and beyond it lie countless islands, some states, territories and other nations, until it reaches Asia and Australia, among other places. It’s a bit humbling to regard the Pacific in those terms, but if I were on a spaceship, it’d be pretty meaningless in terms of distance. Earthbound me thought it was pretty cool, though.
Considering how fast the Enterprise will need to travel in order to traverse the wide expanse of space, I made good time across the bridge. In fact, I fairly whizzed across, compared to the nearly standstill traffic (there’s no such thing as rush hour here – it’s all blocked up, all the time). Then up ahead I noticed a sign: YOUR SPEED – 13 MPH. Me? Going 13 miles per hour? WOW! I’m a rocket ship racing into space!
All too soon, the span ended and we turned down a sharp switchback hill leading to the road that would take us into Sausalito. Now I was charging ever close to the future Starfleet Academy – I’d go right past it! Closing my eyes for just a second, I’d be crossing the paths of the places where Spock, Kirk, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, Bones, Chekov and the rest got their start.
Finally, we pulled into Sausalito, a ritzy town housing rich, famous and other personalities. It’s not exactly my taste, but I’d manage it if forced to move there. All of us gathered in a group, parked our bikes and celebrated our tour’s end by heading right to the nearest cafe and downing glasses of cool beers or chilled California Chardonnays (and oh! They’re like sipping a slice of heaven). After, we headed back to San Francisco, ready for dinner and an evening of fun, all the while recounting what an amazing day it had been for such an adventure – all right here on Earth.
How can one humble carbon atom change the world? This mighty element, the giver of life of all that inhabits the universe, never ceases to wonder those who study it, apply it and make good use of its properties. It’s responsible for planets, stars, people, steel, lighting, pencils – if there’s something to use, then it’s a safe bet carbon might have had a hand in it.
But you don’t need a whole truckload of the stuff to create something wonderful. All you need is the tiniest of dabs, smaller than a dot. Graphene, a carbon-based material only one atom in thickness and arranged in a honeycomb lattice, is what Superman is to humans – nearly indestructible. Yet, in its simplest of forms, it’s not visible. Stack it, however, and you have a mighty material even the most powerful of action heroes would have a tough time dismantling.
Haydale, a Welsh firm that specializes in the use of graphene, entered the limitless future of working with this one-atom thick miracle of carbon. One of their projects is partnering with four other European firms to create biosensors for use in the medical field. These biosensors will be used to detect the presence of pesticides, airborne pathogens, drug residues and more.
Metamaterials are constructed with subcomponents that are smaller than the wavelength of the radiation they are designed to manipulate. Additionally, they contain properties that bend light, radio, sound and seismic waves in ways that don’t naturally occur. There’s also testing to see if their properties can enhance magnification, dampen earthquake tremors, block the sun from damaging skin, among other applications.
What’s trending, though, is the combination of the two tiny technologies to produce giant wonders. Now, when the two are combined, near-miraculous innovations occur. Coatings that deflect lasers is one application. The imagination is limitless when it comes to others.
Imagine a sheet of paper electronically charged, composed entirely of graphene and metamaterials. There’s something like that already in the works. Cars become safer, MRIs, X-Rays, most medical equipment completely rethought and repurposed. Even cloaking capabilities, a necessary requirement of every single mode of off-world transportation in science fiction can theoretically become fact.
Look at it this way: carbon is the giver of life, in all its useful purposes and applications. It’s an immortal being, utterly without prejudice. Give it a task, it’ll handle it with pride.
If only the other carbon construction – humans – were so flexible, imagine the kind of place our world would be today.
This sort of thing has been going on for seemingly ever – real estate for sale that’s basically unobtainable – but it’s never stopped anyone from trying and believe it or not, it’s a profit-making enterprise.
Take, for example, LunarLand.com. Since 1980, they’ve been selling offworld prospectors lunar property one acre at a time. And why not? Just about everyone, and I mean everyone, has endorsed them. A quick trip to their website tells you that over 250 celebrities have snapped up lucrative tracts of land, perhaps one day to start a development bearing their name.
It’s not like it’s a great wad of dough you have to shell out, either. For $29.95, you too can lay claim to a spot of your own, and it comes complete with all the documentation you’ll need. So if some pesky astro-, cosmo- or taikonaut trudges through the breccia on your spot, you have every right to give them the boot or charge rent.
So how is this possible? Well, in 1967 a treaty stated that governments can’t own lunar land, but there’s nothing to stop corporations and private individuals from doing so. All property sales are registered with the US Office of Claims Registries, the same office that’s responsible for any land claims. Any government in the world is free to challenge this, but so far, none has.
But is it realistic? Can you really hop in your own rocket, blast off and set up housekeeping/shop in a barren world with little means to support yourself in any way, shape or form?
Ah, that challenge was faced by those intrepid souls who once trod the lands of this country back in time, not knowing what they’d find or if they’d survive the experience. But somehow life carried on, the land was settled and people prospered. Houses were built, highways grew and shopping malls sprang up like crocuses in spring.
So, what are you waiting for! Grab your lunar acreage while the opportunity’s still fresh!
Moon, Stars and Beyond 