PrazeItScienceFiction

How to Write the Setting of a Book

Link :

Here's a step-by-step explanation about how to write the setting for a novel including choosing your scope, researching material, writing and editing the scene. Learn tips, tricks, and useful references.

A Review of Philosopher's Apprentice by James Morrow

The Philosopher’s Apprentice by James Morrow is one of the most amusing novels I’ve read. At the same time, it asks interesting questions about how clones and children are treated by society and raised by their families.

Something of the Night, Paul Cave

Title :                Something of the Night

Author:             Paul Cave

Publisher:         Apex Books

                        PO Box 7086

                        Clacton on Sea, Essex, UK CO15 5WN

                        http://www.apexpublishing.co.uk

ISBN:              1-904444-72-5

 

“Something of the Night” by Paul Cave, tells the story of humans forced into small communities to survive after a meteorite crashes into the Earth and sending a cloud of dust into the upper atmosphere. With the world shrouded in darkness, the vampires take over, increasing their numbers to the point where a nice meal of human blood is a luxury worth fighting over. But humans haven’t been defeated yet. Not as long as the Ray of Hope existed.

 

Trapped between two armies of vampires under Ezekial on one side and Raphael on the other side, hero Jacob Cain takes the battle straight to their heart. Jacob is a tough believable soldier who has lost something very precious, his wife. He wants her back, assuming she has survived.  Jacob is aided by his two nephews, Elliot and Daniel.

 

A side story features the incredibly talented Mr. Fleas, a terrier that keeps people out of trouble and is a cute replacement for Lassie. Mr. Fleas is owned by Squirrel, the pudgy but talented mechanic that keeps the human vehicles running and the woman he loves, the cute Alice Hammond who thinks of him as a friend and loves Elliot.

 

The plot contains many good twists and subplots including several groups of human survivors brought into the human stronghold and a group that keeps attempting to rescue the Ray of Hope. Jacob finds his mission to penetrate the camp of Ezekial and find his wife sidetracked into downtown New York where he and new found friends must duke it out in the heights of skyscrapers against the unexpected. There’s never a dull moment in this book because the action is intense, the betrayals set up and executed, and the confrontations with some serious bad guys and some bad guys that have good intentions.

 

The book ends with a tremendous battle but along the way, the horror of war is highlighted in many ways. Survival isn’t easy and is frequently cold, grim, and dirty. This isn’t a typical vampire book, very little time is spent on blood or gore or seduction. Instead it’s a fast paced action book where competition between two forces with opposing needs is highlighted. The positive ending doesn’t cure all the problems of the world, but some of the people in charge are shown that they have a clue that cooperation is a better policy than extermination.

Rings of Jupiter by David Walton, Talebones

My favorite from the Spring 2008 edition of Talebones was "Rings of Jupiter" by David Walton. It's a fun story of love, pregnancy and trust in a relationship that's aggravated by explosions, hibernation and mismatched flights that keeps one thinking about what facts can mean in the face of trust and distrust. It comes complete with illustration by Bob Hobbs that helps set the stage of a momentary glimpse of rings seen from Jupiter's dark side. At the end of the story, like the writer wanted, I too, doubted what I believed. That's a fun sensation.

I have to admit, I immediately rushed out to find more information about Jupiter:

Wikipedia

Nine Planets.org

NASA

SolarViews -- this has a picture and data about the rings

Definitely a fun exercise since my last visit to Jupiter with Ben Bova's novel.

Relics of Eden by Daniel J. Fairbanks--a word dissected

Relics of Eden by Daniel J. Fairbanks is one of those enticing viral sort of books, you buy one then find you end up buying another and then a third and fourth. What is fascinating about this book and several others I've read on the topic of the human genome is that the investigation is complex, detailed, focused and also quite wide spread. Before reading this book, I read "Genome" by Matt Ridley where I was introduced to the basic terminology of the genome project and what discoveries were being made. In Relics of Eden, I learned a bit about the process by which researchers studied the genome to find evidence for the support of evolution and what that evidence meant. Daniel Fairbanks suggested Deep Ancestry by Spencer Wells as a related book on the topic and I found "Y The Descent of Men" by Steve Jones. It is fun to explore ourselves from the interior of the cell, all the way up to society.

Charles de Lint workshop, Hugo House, Seattle

<P>I attended the Charles de Lint workshop on Heroes and Villians yesterday at Hugo House. The class was fun and I learned a bit more about mythic novels and heroes and villians. The focus of the class was to make our bad guys more gray and less black and white and therefore much more realistic. This is good advice. I appreciated the exercised, including a fun one on writing e-mails. It worked for me since it helped bring out two of my characters voices rather strongly.</P>

Engine of Recall by Karl Schroeder

Title : The Engine of Recall

Author: Karl Schroeder

Publisher: Robert J. Sawyer Books

Red Deer Press

Trailer C

2500 University Drive NW

Calgary, Alberta Canada T2N 1N4

www.reddeerpress.com

ISBN: 0-88995-323-6

 

"The Engine of Recall" is a collection of science fiction short stories written by Karl Schroeder with a theme of out of the way places, according to the author's prefaces to each story. Stephen Baxter gives a good introduction to the collection explaining many of the stories. I found most of the stories to be lively, with riveging and immediate problems for the hero or heroine. Technical content is interesting.

 

I liked "Halo" best because it combined real emotion a mother has at the thought of danger to her children, attachment to a stranger due to a shared problem, and an interesting premise.

 

"Pools of Air" has the most interesting premise with a journalist team documenting a flight into Jupiter's surface where something goes wrong with the Wave Rider, their transport. In this tale, two of the main characters have to face their fears in order to survive.

 

"Solitaire" was immediately interesting when a young woman decides to make a friend of an anti-social alien in order to solve her own problems. The adjustment of the two alien species to each other and eventual conflict makes interesting reading.

 

In "The Dragon of Pripyat" and "Alexander Road" readers are introduced to Gennedy Malianov, a  Soviet environ hero with an unusual set of skills including virtual reality control of large, military weapons. Military themes run throughout most of the collection. A couple exceptions are "Hopscotch" which deals with an unusual relationship between a scientist studying improbable events and a man who wants someone more stable and "Making Ghosts" which deals with a virtual reality application where the main characters deal with meeting themself when their brain is copied onto a computer.

 

Overall, I found most of these stories to be well told, imaginative and worth a read. Most people that like science fiction will find themselves intrigued.

Reading Again, Science and Speculative fun with Odyssey Gene

With the edits to my novel finished and it submitted to an agent, I've finally had time to get caught up on my reading. I started the Philosopher's Apprentice by James Morrow, to my amusement. It's a fun read due to the author's tone. I've managed to get ensconced on a tropical island with some wacky geneticists with a problematic young lady so far. I started my reading splurge with the Odyssey Gene by Kfir Luzzato, a story of a young man who discovers unexpectedly that his gene's make him an outcast and his subsequent growth into a new person on a new planet.

Studying blogging with some Masters at BlogLog and Pijoo

I've been planning a number of changes to this blog and have learned a bunch of tips from some expert bloggers at BlogLog and Pijoo. I find this blog too cumbersome with far too many topics. I hope to break them out into several topic items soon. It takes quite a bit of organization and planning to develop a blog that targets a given audience and have it recieve attention. My experience here though has been fun, just learning to keep with it, manage the blog, put up photos and links. The Typepad Help pages and Help desk have helped me to do many tasks that I wasn't sure how to even begin.

Auburn Good 'ol Days

Went this morning to bring my chapbooks and anthologies to the book fair at the Auburn Good 'ol Days festival. This morning square dancers were practicing, the grills were firing up, veterans, dog training, and lots of vendor tents will set up. This afternoon and tomorrow there are readings and an open mic on both days. Looking forward to seeing more. I hope to get some attention for :

Beacons of Tomorrow : A collection of speculative fiction featuring:

"Onion Worlds" by Ray Veen, "The Ow Shop" by David Densley Thomas, "The Exchange Program" by Madeline Bay, "Race to the Summit" by Paul Lamb, Adam of Argotha by C.S. Larsen, my story "WARM, inc.", "Monkey Blood" by Terry Lindner, "The Stein Collection" by Kathryn Mattingly, "Dotting the i" by Gary Sleeth, "The Pit" by Eric Pinder, "Galen the Deathless" by Danielle Parker, "Time Off" by R. Gatwood, Custom Appraisal by Susan Mattinson, "Chalice of Evensade" by Erik Goodwyn, "Viper 3" by T. J. Starbuck, "Foliage" by F. R. Jameson, and "Deconstruction Fireflies" by Kristi Petersen and Nathan Schoonover

Anti-Ice and the Tacoma Museum of Art

Went to the Tacoma Museum of Art with my parents, found easy parking and handicapped access and some great exhibits. It's next door to the Glass Museum, but we didn't see it this time. There is many Chiluly works in the Tacoma Museum of Art, and the shared courtyard has an interesting showcase with his works. We went to see the new St. John's Bible exhibit. Artists in Wales are doing a modern version of a Celtic bible with handscribed pages, original artwork, gold leaf and an approved version that most religions accept. It was quite beautiful and interesting to see.

Finished reading Anti-Ice by Stephen Baxter--it was a fun trip to the Moon, some alternate history of the time between the two World War's and some neat inventions including an energy source brought from space.

The Digg Paradigm: Community Spirit vs. Active Promotion

Everyone knows that having an article hit the front page of a popular social bookmarking site is an instant traffic boon that can't be ignored, but how do you get to the front page? Learn more about the issues involved.

read more | digg story

Harrison Hotsprings Trip Tired Me Out so Reading

Harrison Hotsprings was a nice escape for a few days of swimming in the lovely heated pools in the rain. Played golf at Sandpiper Golf Course, that was fun. Visted Minter Gardens--I love the blooms of all types. Lately we've been smelling the heavenly scent of Black Locust--blooms on the trees are either white or purple and hang in clusters. Walk the neighborhood now and then between golf outings.

Finished reading Joanne Vanderhooft's collection of Poems titled Ossuary--really different, very musical, neat artwork -- I'm just beginning to learn what's out on Shakespeare's Monkey. Two favorite poems from Kaleidotrope -- Spring in the Lab "... Genetics you explain, as you pile outcast limbs. ..." by Alyce Wilson -- a partially creepy, partially sensual lab poem and "A Manual for GoodHousekeeping in the Age of Global Warming by Miranda Gaw including "Our men feathered our nests / here in the heart of the atom"--quite a shift from dropping tar at one point. S. A Kelly had a really fun piece titled "The Grass Spider" in the Dec issue of Star*Line.

FREE College Graduation Announcements

All you need to know about FREE College Graduation Announcements and the internet sites that offer to let you print, email or ship them and the costs involved along with some background about the tradition and etiquette.

read more | digg story

Nancy Kress class and birthdays

I had developed part of a short story--starting by writing the dialogue and fleshing it out, on my moon story series with Nancy Kress' class held on my birthday at Hugo House titled Writing in Scenes.  I'm receiving the last bits of feedback from critters critiquers.

Sleep Optional, Feedback from Christopher Meeks

So, here I am at night, I can't get my husband to quit talking to me--I guess he feels deprived, and I have tons of work to do. I finally lost my patience and said to my dearest husband, when am I supposed to get anything done. His reply was that sleep was optional. Groan. SO much for sympathy.

My husband has started the latest at Univision titled "Fuego en la Sangre" or Fire in the blood.  It has a potent lesson to writers about how to start a book with a bang--every day for the first two days, 1 character died and on the third day two--a mother and her child. Scary to think that death is good.

I heard back from Christopher Meeks who invited everyone to his book opening "If you or any or your readers are in Los Angeles on June 13th, the book will have its publication party at 8 p.m. at the Beverly Hills Public Library (444. Rexford Ave) with four actors each reading/performing a story. I was approached by the library to have this, and it looks to be a special night. You're invited! (Note: the library charges a small admission to pay for the actors. The food and drink are free."

Makes me wish I lived in LA. Well, almost--Seattle is still my idea of heaven.  And I do love hearing back from authors I've reviewed.

Oops, bad hard drive, thank heavens for backups

I lost my article I wrote Sunday, along with my notes and my short story draft I started in Elizabeth Hand's class on Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic stories titled "This is the Way the World Ends" organized by Nwmediaarts. Still, the exercise of picking a protagonist, an antagonist, a large problem, a personal problem and a setting was an interesting and productive example. I did manage to plot out a story and lay out the conflict, problem was there was no science meat in it so I probably wouldn't have worked it anyway. Quick is good. Well thought out and meaningful is better. I was happy to learn Ms. Hand had a story in my subgenre called the Glimmering, got a recommendation on one of Nancy Kress' novels--the problem with prolific writers is knowing where to start with their books. Ms. Kress is teaching a class on writing in scenes next month at Hugo House--my birthday present I guess.

Some useful procedures for love coupons and all about free business cards

I was amused when I did the research on free business cards, because of my findings. I did order new cards, they arrived in about a week looking pretty good. The first time I heard about love coupons was from my sister who gives them to her kids, her husband, and my parents and some of my niece/nephews as gifts. This way she agrees to do something for them but not always. Its a great way to have a date with that loved one. Here's how.

Writing Science Fiction and Books

Tips for Writing a Science Fiction Novel

Do Coloring Books Make Senior Citizens Brainier?

Top Ten MindBlowing Science Fiction Books

More fun coming down the road in the next months.

NW Media Arts, Hugo House and James Patrick Kelly Class

Sunday I had the fun opportunity to attend a class sponsored by NW Media Arts, Richard Hugo House and taught by James Patrick Kelly. Mr. Kelly is on the faculty of Stonecoast Creative Writing MFA Program at the University of Southern Maine. I read his work in Feeling Very Strange. He taught a class about how to analyze your stories to find what is working and what is not. We did a few exercises to introduce ourselves to class members, look at our strengths and weaknesses and look at what we think is missing in our stories. I was surprised to be put on the spot about my plans for my first novel. I was even more surprised to find out the class was recorded, two thirds of the way into it. That's the problem when you're older and have to drive 45 minutes somewhere and your most important duty when you arrive isn't showing up at the class, but visiting the facilities.  I had fun, had some insights about my short story and about my novel in progress.