IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 503

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Regarding Fantasy, this insight was startling: “I see the fantasy genre as an ever-shifting metaphor for life in this world, an innocuous medium that allows the author to examine difficult, even controversial, subjects with impunity. Honor, religion, politics, nobility, integrity, greed—we’ve an endless list of ideals to be dissected and explored. And maybe learned from.” – Melissa McPhail.

Fantasy Trope: Historical Fantasy (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HistoricalFantasy)
Current Event: http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/bay-city/index.ssf/2015/12/the_spirit_of_christmas_was_al.html

Filip Dybdahl sighed then said, “All of the magic has gone out of the world.” He was working a potion to lay down gold circuitry on an enchanted matrix for a board to be packed off into space. The telescope the University was working on for the United Nations would help astrologers make more accurate horoscopes for each of the signatory countries. Non-signatories would just have to take their chances with fate.

Shrugging, Maja Wiig said, “Our ancestors didn’t help keep the saints alive, you know. They could have been Catholic, but chose to be Protestants instead. Killing off all the saints, as it were.”

Filip grunted. “If there was one bit of magic I could call back,” he began.

“Don’t!” Maja exclaimed.

“What’s wrong?”

“Don’t you know anything about the intersection of the real and the fantastic?”

He straightened up, thumbs going into the small of his back, shaking his head. “I had the same fundamental courses you did before I sat for my Masters in Alchemy. What are you talking about?”

“You remember when you took that elective class in Classical Egyptian Incantations?”

“Duh. Professor McGuillicudy said if I wanted to get my bachelor’s I had to take her class.”

“Yeah? Well I took a physics class instead.”

His eyes widened. “You took Planar Mathematic Spells for Physicists?”

She shrugged again. “Calculus was always fun for me. Conjuring gravity anomalies was a great way to meet boys with brains.”

“So you learned about this what, ‘intersection of the real and the fantastic’? What’s that supposed to mean?”

She scowled at him and said, “You sound pretty hostile. I don’t know if I want to tell you about it. Especially if you’re standing there ready to bite my head off. Whatever happened to your Scandinavian coolness?”

“It heated up when we got here. The Massachusetts Institute of Thaumaturgy isn’t exactly a place where I can lay back on my frozen butt and bask in the glories of my previous accomplishments! I’ve had to fight against these Gud forbannet Amerikanere for everything I’ve gotten.” He swung a flat-handed chop at her. “You have, too!”

She surrendered with both hands up and a laugh, “You’re the one who wanted to bring back the magic of Christmas!”

He opened his mouth to continue his attack, then closed it. He closed his eyes, then put dug one thumb into each temple, adding, “I’m tired. Not myself.” He looked up at her and for a moment, his gaze was bleak. “And I miss home. It’s Christmas…”

Names: ♀ Norway; ♂ Norway
Image:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/98/71/e5/9871e52bbc09c525af21b8f6471eab15.jpg

WRITING ADVICE: Can This Story Be SAVED? #29: “Breaking Into Space Station COURAGE” (Submitted 3 Times Since May 2018, Revised 1 time)

In September of 2007, I started this blog with a bit of writing advice. A little over a year later, I discovered how little I knew about writing after hearing children’s writer, Lin Oliver. In April of 2014, I figured I’d gotten enough publications that I could share some of the things I did “right”. I’ll keep that up, but I’m running out of pro-published stories. I don’t write full-time, nor do I make enough money with my writing to live off of it, but someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what I write. Hemingway’s quote above will remain unchanged as I work to increase my writing output and sales, but I’m adding this new series of posts because I want to carefully look at what I’ve done WRONG and see if I can fix it. As always, your comments are welcome!

ANALOG Tag Line:
When a practice emergency becomes a REAL emergency, two girls must figure out how to work together to save their lives.

Elevator Pitch (What Did I Think I Was Trying To Say?)
Two thirteen-year-old girls are ready to take the test that will allow them to work under supervision outside of Space Station COURAGE. Can they overcome their dislike of each other to save their lives?

Opening Line:
Her stomach floated outside the airlock of SPACE STATION COURAGE.

Onward:
It was still inside her body. Candace Mooney had read what to expect in microgravity. She refused to get space sick in front of the other thirteen-year-old floating across from her. She said, “We need to calculate the orbital insertion trajectory so we can…”

“That’s like trying to program a computer before you turn it on,” said Mayra Mendez-Ybarra. “We need to build the satellite before we calculate anything.” She turned around slowly with a jet from her finger. Parts of a satellite floated near her, tied with elastic bands.

What Was I Trying To Say?
Honestly? I was trying to break into a market that has been closed to me since I made a stink about getting paid. The magazine is high in its field and has a pay-on-publication policy. Many writers are as happy as I was to accept that because getting published in it carries a great deal of weight. They had a brief period of financial crisis, and I after my story was published, I sent emails several times asking for payment. Then I did an end run around the current editor to the editor that that had published me. She must have said SOMETHING, because I was paid very shortly thereafter. BUT, I have not sold anything to them since then…

Or, the story was total crap.

The Rest of the Story:
The girls work together to get back into the space station safely, doing a bit of engineering and taking advantage of one them having an eidetic memory…um…conveniently…

End Analysis:
Possibly a bit too much coincidence in this story – it’s less about them figuring things out, like in “Mystery on Space Station COURAGE” than it is about remembering stuff at the perfect moment…

I thought I learned a long time ago that in kid’s stories, it has to be about the kid’s actions. Coincidence in a short short (actually it’s flash fiction, technically) is OK, but only sort of off stage. This was too blatant and really not about them working together – not at its core.

Can This Story Be Saved?
Absolutely, I might even submit the story under my daughter’s name just to see what happens, though I’d have to create a new Submittable account and I don’t know if it would be worth the effort…but maybe!

Image: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9f/22/3b/9f223b1e57a36e14db3eb13715fbe3f9.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 502

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Octavia Butler said, “SF doesn’t really mean anything at all, except that if you use science, you should use it correctly, and if you use your imagination to extend it beyond what we already know, you should do that intelligently.”

SF Trope: whistle-blower averts scientific disaster
Current Event: http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/news/x1907513188/Panel-Dam-report-is-reliable, (background) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klamath_River

The essence of this story is that the Klamath has four dams on it. For some time (and, I might point out, under an EeeeeVil RePUBliCan Administration) this river was intently studied. Just before GW Bush left office, an agreement was reached in principal; Obama et al made a detailed scientific study and from what I gather, the decision that has to be made by March 31, 2012 is contentious, bitter and filled with lots of angry people pointing their fingers and shouting obscenities and invective.

Republicans and Democrats BOTH!

Into this little story, how about we toss two teenagers and stir in Shakespeare; in particular Romeo and Juliet?

Let’s make it interesting, too:

Torina Lawvor is a smart and sassy high school senior who plans on leaving the Klamath Basin, going to UCLA and becoming a lawyer to return and practice in the area. Strong-willed, sharp-humored, she’s driven away more boys than she can count. She’s OK with that – she plans on getting the letters JD after her name BEFORE she gets the letters MRS in front of it. Her dad is an artist and Mom is on the Klamath Tribal Council; she’s the youngest of five kids. The only girl, all of her brothers have been fishing guides, computer programmers or farmers.

Sander Baine is a smart and argumentative high school senior who plans on going to New York to go to film school at Ithaca College. He believes that life on Earth needs to be documented in a format that doesn’t depend on delicate electronic and digital storage technologies. His dad is probably going to be the dam destruction Project Supervisor, and he’s there to scope things out and check out the living situation. Tomás’ mom died of a particularly nasty and fast-growing breast cancer when he was twelve. He was an only child.

They meet – and they are on opposite sides of the controversy. Mom Lawvor and Dad Baine do NOT like each other and they both think the other is arrogant and narrow-minded.

Threats. Counter-threats.

And Torina and Sander both love running long distance – and literally bump into each other on a running trail. They eventually laugh – and then part “enemies” when they find out their parents on opposite sides of the Klamath Basin controversy. Then they meet again. Then another time. Then they end up helping to find and rescue a lost child...and nearly die when extremists set off what panicked residents call bombs, but the police say they were “fireworks out of control”. They find out the truth and even though they sometimes can’t stand each other, they...

Image: https://mk0spaceflightnoa02a.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/49956692363_f73a7a6a69_k.jpg

Slice of PIE: Creating Alien Aliens, Part 1 (Redux...)

NOT using the panel discussions of the most recent World Science Fiction Convention in Dublin, Ireland in August 2019 (to which I be unable to go (until I retire from education)), I would jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. But not today. This explanation is reserved for when I dash “off topic”, sometimes reviewing movies, sometimes reviewing books, and other times taking up the spirit of a blog an old friend of mine used to keep called THE RANTING ROOM…In 2020, this was my most popular post. I bring it back up because I'm writing about aliens again and I need to do some thinking about what I'm trying to do...

I have created three universes.

In the first, it’s Humans alone. We genetically engineer ourselves to fit the varied environments we encounter. The overarching conflict is between the Empire of Man and the Confluence of Humanity. The first considers someone Human if they are 65% or more “Original Human” DNA. If you’re less, you’re considered SubHuman. The second sees ANY genetic manipulation to be A-OK. 

In the second, it’s us and mobile plants. Humans have gone deep into space and encountered the WheetAh, mobile plants reminiscent of a giant saguaro cactus crossed with a pitcher plant. The conflict is as obvious as it is inevitable – we eat plants. They eat rodents; hence the pejoratives each lays on the other. We call them Weeds; they call us Weasels.

In the third, we are junior members of the Unity of Sapients, some fifty extremely different intelligences (I can’t say species – as in Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species – as there are smart minerals, arthropods, collective, herd, and individual intelligences in the Unity. We haven’t even been certified sapient. (definition: adjective – having or showing great wisdom or sound judgment; Orig –1425–75; late Middle English sapyent < Latin sapient- (stem of sapiēns, present participle of sapere to be wise, literally: to taste, have taste), equivalent to sapi- verb stem + -ent- -ent

So, I’ve written stories in all three universes. How many in each have been published?

Confluence/Empire: I’ve written seven; only one has been published.

WheetAh: Written two; one published.

Unity: Written seventeen, four published…which seems good, until I point out that the four published stories didn’t contain aliens.

So, I CAN’T write believable aliens.

Why not?

Writers who have written believable aliens: David Brin, Julie Czerneda, Hal Clement, James White, Alan Dean Foster, CJ Cherryh, Larry Niven, Octavia Butler, SL Viehl, and others that escape me; clearly depict them. But HOW?

I’ve been doing some superficial analysis and it seems that when Humans and aliens interact closely and the alienness is narrowed down to one or two SPECIFIC differences; the ones that somehow cause the problem; that’s when the aliens are acceptable.

For example, CJ Cherryh’s atevi. Basically giant Humans with golden eyes and coal black skin, bipedal, five digits, and sexually compatible with Humans (though not reproductively compatible); have one difference: they have no concept of love. In place of love, they have a profound sense of association. All large, mammalian life forms on the Earth of the atevi have this same biological urge – to associate under one strong leader. The single Human who interacts with them, Bren Cameron, understands this and can speak their language fluently – but he still makes mistakes when under pressure to assume that the atevi “feel” about him as he does about them. This creates countless situations of tension and have driven the story line for some TWENTY novels over a quarter of a century of time. The reason I go back repeatedly is because I want to see what happens next as the Human population grows and the atevi advance in technology and eventually reach parity with Humans; and possibly visit Earth.

Another example is James White’s famous Sector General novels. Twelve novels spanning over thirty years of writing, they depict the life of a small group of Humans on a massive space station away from the “main thoroughfares” of a vast interstellar civilization as they interact with countless alien cultures and medical personnel. Languages, medicine, morality, humor, and emotions are touchstones – and points of conflict – for the series.

So – what have I learned with my brief analysis?

1) Aliens and Humans HAVE to interact closely; intimately. (I tried this with “May They Rest” and it was quickly bounced by five magazines and my favorite, to which I’d sold several stories…) In “A Complications of Sapients”, my character and an alien, “cockroach” sapient interacted VERY intimately – and didn’t sell…

2) I need more aliens than Humans. I did this in “Peanut Butter and Jellyfish”, podcast from CAST OF WONDERS. It took place on a trimaran carrying cultural exchange WheetAh. Humans need to be at a disadvantage. The aliens should be at an advantage.

3) It needs to be a BROADLY threatening situation. I think I did this in “The Princess’s Brain”, but I’ve got to go back ad reread it. I DID do this in “The Krasiman, Monkey Boy, and the Frogfather”, but that didn’t sell, either.

So, I’m ready to try something new. Cron plus the above…should give me an alien story that will sell.

                                                            

Resource: https://writepop.com/writing/writing-realistic-aliens/, (I’ve used this one: ) https://www.amazon.com/Aliens-Alien-Societies-Extraterrestrial-Life-Forms-ebook/dp/B00B2B8FOO, https://nypost.com/2018/02/24/heres-what-aliens-probably-look-like/,

Image: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3321076413_10.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 501

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them

H Trope: Hitchhiking ghost
Current Event: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BewareOfHitchhikingGhosts

Fatima Ozturk peered out through the tiny port of the Space Station Courage repair pod – the SSCRP affectionately known as a “Scrapper”. She said, “What are we supposed to be looking for?”

Her lab partner, Durante Ghandour shrugged, “The query marker path on the screen says we’re supposed to look for a malfunctioning satellite positioning dish.”

“How are we supposed to know if it’s malfunctioning?” Fatima muttered. She shot a look over to Durante. He wasn’t exactly her first choice of partner, but he WAS supposed to be some sort of history genius.

Durante leaned forward and tapped the display screen. “It says that it will be obvious.”

She nodded. “Bent then, most likely.”

“I’m just thinking it might be obvious to you, you’re the mechanical genius. Besides, I’m not sure I’m excited about being here.”

“How can you not be excited? We’ve been running 3D sims ever since we started Class 14! I am SO ready to be in space!” She shook her head. She hadn’t taken him for an agoraphobe.

“Not that I didn’t want to be out here – it’s just the timing…”

Piloting the pod forward, Fatima growled when the computer made a course correction she was just about to make. “It may look like I’m doing the job, but Station is still flying this toolbox.” She concentrated on keeping them oriented toward the body of the station while scanning the com dishes that came up on the screen. She tried to get a visual inspection as well as the two windows swept around. “What about the timing?” she asked as they flew to the next com dish cluster.

“Nothing. You’ll think I’m lunar.”

“I already know you’re lunar, so tell me already.”

Durante bristled, “What do you mean you know I’m lunar?”

She shrugged – a tough move in the heavy EVA suits they had to wear. They wouldn’t graduate to thinkskins until they turned eighteen and could sign all the paperwork saying they were responsible for themselves. “Forget it. What about the history of being here?” She figured that might deflect him.

She was right as he said, “This place we’re in right now? This is where Laika and Vladislav Volkov died. Practically the same place.”

“Who?”

He sighed then said, “The Soviet space dog? First living creature in space? She died around this point when the launch of Sputnik 2 overheated. They lied for about sixty years, then let the truth out. Then, three Soviet cosmonauts died in June of 1971 when their ship pulled away from a really primitive space station and a valve got stuck open and leaked all their air out.” He gestured out the window, “I expect their…” He lurched forward, banging his helmet against the thick quartz, whispering, “Yaa ilaahee!”

Names: ♀ Turkey; ♂ Italy, Egypt

Image:  https://cdn.britannica.com/40/11740-004-50816EB1/Boris-Karloff-Frankenstein-monster.jpg

Finished My 200,000 Word Novel Yesterday...MARTIAN HOLIDAY...that is all

 

Take four characters from the Bible: Queen Esther; Daniel (his real name) and Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego (their Persian names); Steven the Martyr; and Paul the Apostle...

Put them on Mars in the 24th Century.

Add Artificial Intelligence, Human Clones (who are shades of blue to keep them separated...), and an underground.

Toss in Martian artifacts that point to extraterrestrials once having been stranded there...

Then outlaw Old Organized Religions and replace it with the Unified Faith in Humanity and have a bit of harassment going on...

And you have MARTIAN HOLIDAY...(PS - The word "holiday" has another definition linked to the Roman Empire...)

This is IT for today (oh, my foster-daughter got married yesterday, too!

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 500

I started IDEAS ON TUESDAYS a decade ago!

To mark the occasion? The first post I ever made. (Also, I thought I’d add the three gems of wisdom from master practitioners, regarding three of my favorite genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror!)

First, the ORIGINAL POST:

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them.

February 22, 2011

Ideas On Tuesdays 1: ReVisiting Fermi's Paradox...

This is going to be a regular feature on POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS. Rather than irritating you though, I'd like to both challenge and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them -- and that you can post in the comment section.

My wife ran across this on msn.com:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41686017/ns/technology_and_science-space/

The comment at the end paraphrases Fermi's Paradox: "the apparent contradiction between high estimates of the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of evidence for, or contact with, such civilizations."

Idea: What if every world with a technological, pre-atomic civilization is provided with a gate linking them to other worlds with other intelligences -- but the instant an atomic explosion occurs, the gate closes forever?

Posted by GuyStewart at 5:00 AM 

Labels: Fermi's Paradox, Ideas On Tuesdays

And the wisdom?

Regarding Science Fiction: “Octavia Butler said, ‘SF doesn’t really mean anything at all, except that if you use science, you should use it correctly, and if you use your imagination to extend it beyond what we already know, you should do that intelligently.’”

Regarding Fantasy: “Melissa McPhail wrote, ‘I see the fantasy genre as an ever-shifting metaphor for life in this world, an innocuous medium that allows the author to examine difficult, even controversial, subjects with impunity. Honor, religion, politics, nobility, integrity, greed—we’ve an endless list of ideals to be dissected and explored. And maybe learned from.’”

Regarding Horror: “Lou Morgan in The Guardian wrote, ‘We seek out…stories which give us a place to put our fears…Stories that frighten us or unsettle us - not just horror stories, but ones that make us uncomfortable or that strike a chord somewhere deep inside - give us the means to explore the things that scare us.’”

I continue to look forward to tossing ideas out there to see what surfaces!

Image: https://cms.qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ideas-Social1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200&h=630&crop=1

Slice of PIE: In Terms of My Writing, “Just What AM I Most Passionate About?”

NOT using the Programme Guide of the 2020 World Science Fiction Convention, ConZEALAND (The First Virtual World Science Fiction Convention; to which I be unable to go (until I retire from education – which I now have!)), I WOULD jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. But not today. This explanation is reserved for when I dash “off topic”, sometimes reviewing movies, sometimes reviewing books, and other times taking up the spirit of a blog an old friend of mine used to keep called THE RANTING ROOM…

As an exercise in getting to know a casual friend of mine better, we’ve been exchanging questions and observations with each other. I’d asked about his interest in three seemingly unrelated sports, one IN high school, the other two after he graduated from high school. To my un-sports-interested-eyed, they seemed completely disconnected! Competitive swimming, flag football, and curling…

After he answered my query he sent one of his own. I’d forgotten that one of things that had drawn us together when he was a student on my “list” – as a counselor, we were assigned students by grade level, and as he was a homeschooled “kid”, my fellow counselors deferred to me as we’d homeschooled both of our kids for a period of time -- was an interest in writing...

We found out we had quite a few other things in common, and recently we reconnected. So one of his response questions was about my writing. I responded by sharing the four “worlds” I write in, then he asked the following:

“Wow, this is awesome! I think it’s the coolest when you have stories like example 3 above where you have a well-crafted universe and can continue deeper into it with multiple stories. Obviously a similar sci-fi vibe to each of these... where did that inspiration stem from? Was it something you read as a kid that changed your interest in reading and writing? Was it the science background? Just what you are most passionate about?”

I was startled by that last question – and it was made all the more disconcerting because my last two submissions to my favorite magazine, ANALOG Science Fiction and Fact, have been rejected.

So that I do this in a logical stream, let me answer each of the separate questions:

Where did that inspiration stem from? Was it something you read as a kid that changed your interest in reading and writing?
The inspiration has come from the people I’ve read since Louis Slobodkin in SPACESHIP UNDER THE APPLE TREE and Eleanor Cameron in WONDERFUL FLIGHT TO THE MUSHROOM PLANET entered my life in sixth grade. That was the year I discovered science fiction. Those two books drew me in and led me down the path to Robert A Heinlein, Andre Norton, Madeleine L’Engle, Murray Leinster, and finally to the stories that launched me into the life of a writer, John Christopher’s WHITE MOUNTAIN books, THE WHITE MOUNTAINS, CITY OF GOLD AND LEAD, and POOL OF FIRE. These were hard books to read because Humans had been enslaved by aliens and technologically batter back to the 1930s.

When I finished those books, I didn’t want them to end, so I started writing my own stories. Predictably for a 12 year old, they were pretty BAD!

Was it the science background?

Of course! I was crap a sports because I was a tubby little twit with a mouth. My one venture into sports was ‘cause Dad made me. Remember, this was in the time when if you were rotten, the coach told you so and let the rest of the kids do it, too. We didn’t HAVE feelings in sports. So, I spent my one summer playing baseball on a team of 8 and 9-year-olds in LEFT field…

I didn’t discover science until junior high, and then I was hooked…NOT GOOD, mind you. I was no Einstein and was scared to death of Physics. I loved biology. That led to more science fiction reading, and eventually a bachelor’s degree in biology education. I was a teacher and I finally had the tools to HELP other kids not have a wretched school experience. I also learned to keep science FUN! That helped me in my writing, though I didn’t get my first SF story published until early in the 90’s.

Just what you are most passionate about?
So, we arrive at the startling question I’ve been thinking about since I read it this morning (Thanks a lot, Mr. J Stiglicz!) – what IS it that I’m most passionate about?

First thing I’m passionate about is what I spent most of my adult career doing: teaching science. All of the stories I write have a firm FOUNDATION in science; most of them push past the established and into the speculative. But, as in ANALOG Science Fiction and Fact, I work to keep it realistic, if not real.

Second thing is FUN! I usually can’t write “funny” science fiction, but my characters can have a sense of humor. I love to laugh, and I often made my students laugh. I work to make my readers laugh – though I sometimes lapse into too much seriousness; and maybe that’s what’s been wrong lately. A couple of stories in ANALOG had funny bits in them; the characters laughed and so (I hope) the reader laughed. Then I go too serious. I’m NOT a serious person; at least not all the time. I like to make people laugh; I like to laugh. THAT has to change back!

Third thing though, is that I work to write about equity. I will be the first to admit that I’m a big, old, fat, white guy; inheritor of every privilege known to Humanity. But I typically don’t write from that perspective. Again, and again, and again, I will turn people to WRITING THE OTHER: A Practical Approach by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward. They say that someone like me CAN write characters who are NOT like me. There are ways to do it, considerations to make, and sensitivity to be grown and cultivated. But it CAN and HAS TO be done. (See my essay here for more detail: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/07/possibly-irritating-essay-its-mistake.html)

All writing is metaphor, science fiction and fantasy more than any other genre. There ARE no Vulcans from the planet Vulcan…but there ARE biracial Humans and they have to build a shell around “themselves” that can only rarely be lowered. I am privileged and I can be whoever I want to be and there’s no one who can effectively criticize me. But a lesbian woman does NOT have that freedom. So, you can write about difficult issues in SF. A universe I created is split between the Empire of Man, and the Confluence of Humanity. In the Empire, you are NOT Human unless you have 65% Original Human DNA (as compared to the original Human Genome Project’s 2003 database.) If you are LESS, then you aren’t Human.

The Confluence of Humanity rose up to counter that; and for THEM, no amount of genetic engineering will make you anything less than FULLY HUMAN…unless of course, you happen to be a giant, hollow manta ray who was designed from another Human’s DNA to be a living ambulance in the skies of a gas giant…then WHO WILL TREAT YOU AS ANYTHING BUT A MONSTER AND AN ALIEN?

So in answer to JS’s question, “So what are you most passionate about?” I say three things: teaching science, fun with science and with life, and lastly, I can ask hard questions and I am free to explore what it’s like to be Other. When I don’t understand, I ASK. (Sometime ask me what happened on the Cinco de Mayo when I had become the sponsor for the Hispanic Culture Club the first semester I was a temporary counselor…)

Now you know, but equally importantly, NOW I KNOW WHAT I’M PASSIONATE ABOUT.

(PS – I’m also passionate about the fact that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior…but that’s something I only share with those who are close to me, though…ask me someday about the eulogy I was asked to read at the side of a friend of mine who couldn’t read it during her father’s funeral…)

Image: https://futureofworking.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/what-are-you-passionate-about.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 599

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Regarding Fantasy, this insight was startling: “I see the fantasy genre as an ever-shifting metaphor for life in this world, an innocuous medium that allows the author to examine difficult, even controversial, subjects with impunity. Honor, religion, politics, nobility, integrity, greed—we’ve an endless list of ideals to be dissected and explored. And maybe learned from.” – Melissa McPhail.

Fantasy Trope: Sword & Sandal (A period set in ancient biblical or mythological times…Sword and Sandal flicks…were especially popular in The Golden Age of Hollywood…Expect the landscape to resemble sand dunes and/or rural Spain throughout, making those sandals look more attractive.
Current Event: Ben Hur (2016) (http://www.stevensaylor.com/StevensBookshopDVDNewMovies.html)

Ota Kte stood on the high bluffs above the roaring, churning brown of the Great River.

Shappa Hollow Wood shook her head and flipped her moccasins over the cliff.

“Shappa! Stop playing!”

“Hardly playing, Ota. I threw it to check the speed of the river water.”

He scowled at her. “This isn’t a joke.”

“I don’t appear to be laughing, consort.”

“I’m not your consort, you’re mine!” She muttered something crude. “You can’t say that!”

“I am not your wife. I am your consort. I am here to cement our factions, not produce children or dynasty.”

“You can’t…”

“I agreed to be your consort because one of your ‘braves’,” she snickered, “Invaded the…territory of one of our major agents.”

Ota snorted then sighed. “Fine. You were saying?”

“I’m testing current speed and direction,” she turned to stare steadily into the distance. I just saw the moccasin disappear from my view.” She paused, “My guess is that it traveled seventy steps in fifteen heartbeats.”

“How do you know that?”

She looked at him, shook her head and said, “Have all of your women been as stupid as a bleached skull?” She stepped around him. “You will need to know the speed of the Great River at this moment if your canoeists intend to outperform the Ojibwe canoeists.”

“We will be better than them by virtue of our…” he paused, then finished lamely, “virtue.”

She sighed and continued down the path from the bluffs to the horses waiting below. As much as she loathed her position in this faction of Lakota, she adored the horses that gave them their advantage over her father’s defiant raiders. Despite their surrender of her physical body to Ota – by the wisdom of the medicine woman, One Who Sings To The Stars – Shappa held tight to her spirit. One Who Sings kept the spirit talisman close by her side with an echo of Shappa’s spirit in the deepest part of her herb satchels. Only her father and youngest brother knew of its existence. Her father because his plan was to humiliate Ota the leader; her brother because no one would think to give such important information to such a young, unimportant person.

Ota had followed her, hurrying clumsily down the rocky trail. She wondered again how such an idiotic man would be made a leader. He called after her, “Consort! Attend me!”

She turned and held out her hand for him to take. He did, roughly, then pulled her to himself as if he were one of the pale-skinned creatures on the shore of the Ilhuicaātl Atlántico come recently to those far lands. Her father had agents spread over the length and breadth of the earth. A tribe of a cold land toward the rising sun called it all the Land of the Haudenosaunee. They told of strange behaviors of strange men and women. She pushed away, saying, “The race will start soon, my consort. You must speak to them; encourage them that they may bend these Ojibwe people to the path of your plans.”

His already thin lips vanished in irritation, but he knew the wisdom of her words as well. He released her and sullenly clambered onto his horse. By contrast, she floated up to the strong back of her horse. Smiling, she added an action that would advance her father’s plan for this silly man, saying, “One of your braves looked at me the other day…”

Names: ♀ Lakota Sioux; ♂ Lakota Sioux
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