Omnibus Post

Since I don’t have one all encompassing subject, I thought I’d throw down a few things to catch-up.  

Sickness Absolutely Sucks:  First and foremost, the last twenty days have sucked.  A dry, hacking cough that comes in spells, they last for upwards to two minutes straight.  At the end of it, I’m curled up into a ball, my stomach crying out like I just finished 500 sit-ups, face flushed and eyes bloodshot.  Sounds like fun, right?  I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.  It got so bad that I started scaring my girls; while I was on all fours trying not to die, my youngest got the courage to come and rub my back, consoling me that ‘everything will be alright.’  Cute, right?  

One particularly bad night found me bruising several ribs and straining my diaphragm, making it pretty hard to breathe and near impossible to sleep.  After watching one of my bouts, the doctor pretty much just confirmed I didn’t have pneumonia and prescribed a narcotic cough suppressant (goodness doesn’t methadone work like charm); sure made going to work an unusual experience.  Three doctors later and I am still coughing like an idiot.

Frustrating NaNoWriMo:  As a result of the previous issue, my NaNoWriMo has so far been a bust.  Its pretty hard to commit to writing when all you want to do every waking minute is go to sleep.  And stop coughing.  It’s not that I don’t have the material to work with, just neither the will or the physical capability to concentrate long enough to capture what I would.  Things have improved enough for me to work on this blog post, which means I will soon be addressing my significantly deficient contribution to NaNoWriMo.  Do I think 50k is doable?  Likely not, but I’m gonna’ give it my damndest, despite work.  I may have to cut back on the cough suppressant and just hope my body is near done fighting this bug off.

Work Life:  Normally fairly hectic and occupied throughout the day, there are bouts of time where I’m suddenly without anything critically occupying my time.  Under these circumstances I typically open up whatever I’m working on at the time and throw down whatever I can in the time I have.  Most recently a rash of documents and administration seems to have eaten away these pockets of time.  Next week I’ve been requested/tasked to run a Base-wide security training exercise.  It’s been a while since I’ve been in an operational context and I’m looking forward to getting back to tradecraft and pointy-end of stick activities.

Queensryche:  I’ll admit that the Empire album (released 1990) had some absolutely spectacular tunes.  The depth and impact of the lyrics, combined with the soaring (and sometimes haunting) voice of Geoff Tate made this one of my favourite bands during that era.  For almost two decades though, I completely lost touch with their music.  Not until a recent trip of reminiscence on YouTube did I come across Silent Lucidity, one of their greatest hits.  I then did a quick search to discover the factions that split the band.  That said, I spent some time searching for the songs on their recent albums and have to say that the addition of Todd La Torre has rekindled the older vibe, and quite frankly, rekindled my interest in the band and their music.

Reviewing Woes

Going through the ms for OF DESOLATION AND OMENS, I realized something of a glaring oversight regarding one of my two protagonists.  Tori’i Soki is the daughter of the Emperor, and from her introduction, the sole heir after a nasty assassination of her older brother, Tori’i Hakata.  I had never intended to be coy about her particular age, so I simply pegged her at 16 to 18 years old.  Trying to develop the voice of a girl of this age isn’t so much a problem as a kick to the teeth sometimes; one of the primary purposes of this revision. 

One of the elements of a young woman of this age and in her position would be the continuation of the dynasty.  A quick and simple solution would have been to concentrate on the Hakata elements of primogeniture and simply say this was where the Emperor was hedging his bets.  Unfortunately this still ignores Soki as a viable match to someone in the J’in Empire.  This courting process would likely include complex and motivated pieces of political manoeuvring, particularly from the families of the potential suitors as they vie to make their ‘candidate’ the most desired match.

As an added element to the social structure to the story, it also adds a layer of complexity to the character I realized is lacking.  This isn’t an over-arching problem that forces a re-write.  I have the solution which will limit the impact, but the fact that such a glaring issue could have gone unseen simply underscores the need for new eyes on an a project, be it a beta or looking at your own ms after a sufficient period of time.

Ho hum.  Time to review my research notes for Japanese and Chinese courting rituals.

Get Your Geek On! Oh, And Write Too.

One of my favourite past-times, aside from writing speculative fiction, is playing table-top war games.  Warhammer 40k was the first one that caught my attention, back in grade 7 when one of my classmates brought in his older brother’s White Dwarf magazines.  White Dwarf is a Games Workshop publication for all their games, Warhammer 40k inclusive.  I saw the pictures and read the army descriptors and the various units and fell in love.

 

Not until years later did I get into the game.  Other game systems joined my repertoire of table-top gaming, now dwindled back down to just my 40k armies.  The cost of the game in terms of cash for the models and time to paint the miniatures certainly curtails how much I get to play, but I still game as much as I can.

 

 

 

The odd thing is how much my wife accuses me of being a closet gamer.  Frankly I consider myself a closet geek.  Being an officer in the military certainly doesn’t lend itself to bragging rights over playing games involving little painted plastic models, or writing thus far unpublished speculative fiction for that matter (aren’t I the optimist).  On that vein, it seems that a lot of writers keep their passion a secret, tucked away and reduced to when their friends or colleagues aren’t around.  Described as such, it almost sounds like an addiction.

 

Getting together with other gamers certainly lets me get my geek on; no pressure, same interests, etc.  The people certainly vary, in age, employment, income, you name it.  Great, now I’ve made my gaming group sound like a rehab session; group therapy for the gaming afflicted.  Living with a major military base nearby does draw more than its fair share of military personnel into the hobby.  There is a gaming club on base, primarily for tabletop gaming, which I unfortunately can’t participate in due to timings and distance.  The local gaming store is the only real venue, which includes a number of the base club players as well; I can say with certainty that I am one of the few officers that shows up to play.

 

I was more than a little surprised by the recent email and phone call from another captain that used to work in my Branch, asking whether I played Warhammer 40k.  The cryptic email was worded almost in code, or certainly would have looked that way to the uninitiated.  We talked and I discovered someone else with the same passion for tabletop gaming.

 

Then I wondered about how this reflects on my writing hobby.  Not everyone is open about this little part of their lives, almost embarrassed or afraid how others would react – especially so when you ask them to read your work, or they themselves ask.  What will be their reaction?  Will they enjoy it?  Will they hate it?  Agents and publishers are strangers, phantoms unknown at the other end of an email address that make a yes or (typically) no judgement.  When dealing with friends and family, things somehow seem more personal. 

 

I’ve never allowed anyone to read my fantasy manuscript, largely because it was far from finished, let alone polished.  Now that I’ve completed the final draft, I’ve started sending bits and pieces off to be reviewed, to see where it stands.  It’s soon off to either finding a beta reader or through the rounds with agents and publishers.  This leads me to wonder, how many others out there have closeted their ambitions to being a published author from friends and family?  Is it something you keep hushed away?

 

NB:  For the sake of clarity, I don’t want anyone to think I have minimized the trials of those with addiction.  In my position I am privy to the sometimes sordid and wretched results this may cause.  I would also like to applaud those who have beaten their particular ‘dragon’ or continue to fight their personal battles.

NB 2:  I feel I must make a statement about the recent and, in my personal opinion, atrocious handling of the whole 'Space Marine' is a trademarked term for book and e-book publications.  As you can imagine, most any reasonable person, typically a concept used in the basis for legal decisions, would find any credence to GW's claim.  I don't think they have a leg to stand on and am absolutely thrilled to see Amazon re-offer the book that caused the kerfuffle. 

Book Cover Rant

As an unpublished author, I can’t honestly say this could qualify as anything more than a rant.  I’ve never had the opportunity to wonder how a publisher would approach the cover art for a book written by yours truly; I can imagine a certain amount of trepidation.  Just how important can cover art be?  Well, depending on the genre, I imagine near make-or-break.  Genre fiction would likely be one of the more influenced.  The story is definitely the key ingredient to the sale of a book, but for science fiction, fantasy and horror, I can only assume it would have a certain impact.

I understand series that have been in print for years like to refresh their look with new covers.  I remember reading the David Eddings Belgariad and Mallorean series and years later realizing that they had somehow gone through a total revamp; the same could be said for Terry Goodkind’s Sword of the Truth series or any other that has seen prolonged popularity.  Both publishers updated the covers with something that remained true to the feel of the stories.  You can’t look at them and wonder what genre you’re holding.

Downloading books to my Kobo, I decided to revisit an old Christopher Golden series.  I have the first three in physical form, the latest two in e-book format.  When I bought them, I seriously wondered what the heck I was getting into.

By case in point, I raise the following changes:

Take away reference to the Bram Stoker award (which a non-genre reader may or may not even get), why do I get the impression I’m about to read a Harlequin novel?  Here’s the latest cover, a continuation of the ‘new and current’ cover art.  I understand it is the publisher’s responsibility to make the book as sellable as possible, yet I have to wonder what possible paradigm brought this and the remainder of the current artwork as the cover art for a horror novel.  Sometimes I really wonder WTF is going through their minds….. 

Really, the scariest thing about this whole scenario is that they (the publishing house) somehow sought and received approval to place these on the cover of a vampire novel.

The most recent book I’ve completed reading is Throne of the Crescent Moon.  Very good read, highly recommend it; great pacing, fantastic dynamic between characters and a refreshing and new spin on the genre.  One look at the cover I knew what was what: main characters are there, action is defined and bad guys are suitably hinted at.  I view this cover as a 10/10 for content and presentation.  Hopefully the author had some play in its concept.

TV Shows That Were Too Good to Cancel

For anyone familiar with the history of science fiction television programming, the cancellation and subsequent re-launch of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek (Shattner, Nimoy, et al) is something of an outlier.  Television programmes are in the business of selling advertising to subsidize network expenses; the higher the rating, the more people watch and the more you can charge for ads (akin to the Superbowl, to a much lesser degree).  When it comes down to the wire, networks may cannibalize their own shows to allow more successful show to flourish, or throw out a sacrificial lamb to compete against another network’s super-show. Those that fail to make the grade of some arcane advertising revenues less expenses and any number of other factors get cancelled, sometimes rescheduled to another time slot (sometimes akin to cancellation). Then there are the half-season shows, thrown into the mix in January; concept programmes that perhaps didn’t make the September line-up but stand a chance, if small, later in the season.

Now, I understand the business model of the networks (several case studies during my MBA certainly help).  Science fiction programmes are a tricky breed to sell to the masses.  Star Trek has its fan base, an extremely dedicated one, making that show a relatively easy sell.  Shows that start from scratch make for a dicey start for executives to swallow.  Outside of specialty channels (SciFi, Space, ShowCase), getting a science fiction programme in Prime Time is up against stiff competition; fantasy is in an even worse jam.  The masses typically go for standard fare programmes: reality TV (personal hatred for this type), legal/police drama (which I like, yet how many Law & Order, NCIS and CSI clones do we really need?) or comedies of one type or another.  Science fiction and fantasy programming doesn’t take well to network television - we'll see if Grimm and Once Upon a Time  have the legs to prove me wrong... I hope so.

In some cases this problem transcends from network TV over to the specialty channels as well.  Lack of adequate viewers fails to justify the advertising space charges to companies buying commercial time.  Two particular shows that suffered this fate were Firefly and Stargate: Universe. 

Firefly lasted a half-season before getting cancelled, something that sat very poorly with the show’s fans.  I actually didn’t get to watch this show until it came out on DVD, and only after the movie-conclusion Serenity.  Firefly was something quirky and completely different than what was on TV at the time; a western-style show set in outer space that didn’t sell well with the executives.  I can honestly say this was a travesty to television.  The pacing was great, the characters wonderful, the acting and graphics superb.  The follow-up Serenity made due by wrapping things up in a way that makes Firefly one of the more endearing shows cancelled before its time, in my humble opinion.

Stargate: Universe was another breed of show that didn’t quite make the cut either.  The third outing from the Stargate franchise, it departed from its campy predecessors in both setting and style.  Sure, there were enough similarities to ensure it fit the mould, yet far enough that it didn’t keep enough people tuned in to be renewed.  I’m just finishing the second, final season and I can’t say enough about how well this show could have gotten.  After getting away from the Lucian Alliance threat, they inserted two threatening enemy races that could have easily pushed into a third season.  Like Firefly, they rushed several of the final episodes to close the arcs out before the show ended.  A gritty and edgy programme, the loss of Universe is untimely and ultimately a loss for the franchise as a whole.

 So ends my obituary/rant of sorts for two fine programmes and the loss of soul Prime Time seems headlong rushing to embrace.  Someone hand me another scotch and give me the one-liner response to who won Survivor and Dancing with the Stars, which CSI or Law & Order cast should be axed and “who did it” in the most recent cop/legal drama .  It appears this is the only programming safe for water cooler discussions.