IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 577

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 horror, I found this insight in line with WIRED FOR STORY: “ 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…” – Lou Morgan (The Guardian)

H Trope: Halloween horrors
Current Event: http://www.examiner.com/article/a-halloween-real-life-horror-story-about-a-real-life-monster

It’s All Hallows Eve – or Hallowe’en – in Minneapolis, inside the city, not far from a park, though EVERY place in Minneapolis is not far from a park.

On the city’s north side, there’s a doctor’s clinic; it bears the stamp of approval of Planned Parenthood, most of the insurance companies operating in the state – and recently had a new addition put on.

Kehlanna McGee is a young graduate of the Minneapolis Community and Technical College with a new degree in nursing – she just turned ninetnne. She’s a voracious reader and takes on the night shifts at every clinic and hospital she’s ever worked in because it gives her more time to READ. She recently bought the collected works of Stephen King and has entertained the idea that now that he’s dead, she might like to take over his spot! With a couple of publications in small emagazines, she spends what time she’s not working or reading…writing.

Trayvon Dehvahn is also a nursing school graduate, but he’s got med school in him plans. In particular, he’s really interested in cloning and biotechnology. He’s a reader, too, but has been working his way through the classics like DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA, THE TELL-TALE HEART AND OTHER WRITINGS, SOMEETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES and the host of others.

When the new addition opens, they both get a job there and taking the training, both choose the new night shift in the ER. That’s where they meet the doctor who usually works that shift, Dr. Edgar B. Stevenson. He’s quiet, efficient – but when Trayvon and Kehlanna – who’ve started talking and seeing each other after work in the morning – start to notice that virtually all of the women who come to the clinic for abortions have one at 24 weeks, they wonder about it.

One night, a woman who is obviously farther along than 24 weeks comes in. Trayvon later enters the absurdly inaccurate records and talks to Kehlanna. They return to the clinic during the regular day shift and take an elevator down to Dr. Stevenson’s office and surgery. There, they discover a room. From the room, they hear noises. Noises that sound like voices. Voices crying out, not as infants cry, but as children cry out to be set free…

Names: ♀Unique black America name; ♂ Unique black American name
Image: https://cdn.britannica.com/40/11740-004-50816EB1/Boris-Karloff-Frankenstein-monster.jpg

POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY: CHICON 8 – Alien Aliens Part 24 “What Is It with Desert (and Ocean) Planets?”

Using the Programme Guide of the 2022 World Science Fiction Convention, ChiCON 8, which I WOULD have attended in person if I had disposable income, but I retired two years ago, my work health insurance stopped, and I’m now living on the Social Security and Medicare…I will be using the Programme Guide to jump off, jump on, rail against, or shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. My opinions may bring glad hearts to some, or cause others to wish to stomp me into the muddy ground of Lilydale Park shortly after a long rain…

Dune: desert planet. Endor: forest moon. Science fiction is full of planets with only one biome. Why is a habitable ocean planet feasible but a desert planet isn’t? Come and discuss planetary ecologies of fiction, as informed by the biomes on the planet we know...

G. David Nordley: writer, physicist, astronautical engineering consultant; Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society; American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Emma Johanna Puranen: writing bridges astronomy, statistics, and media studies, studies fictional exoplanets, and the ongoing dialogue between scientists and science fiction writers; how has real exoplanets impacted the way writers world build
Julie Nováková: Czech author in Clarkesworld, Asimov's, Analog
Phoebe Barton: writer in Analog, On Spec, Lightspeed; history of science fiction
Valentin D. Ivanov: Bulgarian astronomer; dynamics of star clusters, formation of stars, brown dwarfs, and exoplanets around such objects; helped develop idea of planemos planetary-mass objects which are massive enough but do not become stars

Every summer for the past 25 years, I’ve taught a class to gifted and talented young people called ALIEN WORLDS. As a retired science teacher (from elementary through high school, I have taught every (school) science from Astronomy to Zoology!), I teach my alien worlds class STRICTLY from a science point of view of science. For example, when the students create their “alien intelligence”, they have to not only be part of the ecology of the world they make, but ALSO, they have to have descended from a primitive form of life which still exists on the planet.

As I DO teach fourth graders through high school sophomores, I can, in one week, only touch on the rudimentary rules of evolution. BUT, most of the kids get it.

As well, prior to allowing the evolution of life on their alien worlds, they have to HAVE an alien world! A Power Point slide I leave up and come back to several times during the all-day, week-long class is this: “NO FOREST MOONS OF ENDOR, DESERT PLANETS OF JAKKU, JUNGLE PLANETS OF DAGOBA, OR ICE PLANETS OF HOTH!!!!!” I don’t even allow the World City of Trantor…um…I mean CORRUSCANT…

I spend time teaching that no single world will have (in fact, I use that rarely-used word, “impossible” a single biome and that George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg have led them wrong (ever since I seeing STAR WARS during its opening week, in the theater, in 1977…I was a newly-turned 20 years old and had just finished two years at a Lutheran junior college – where the two biology professors taught evolution!!!)

The likely phenomenon that all planets will have multiple biomes is apparently what this session is all about.

BUT, it was the rider that intrigued me: Why is a habitable ocean planet feasible but a desert planet isn’t?

My off-the-cuff answer is that an ocean world can’t NOT have variable biomes. As well, water and air have totally different properties. Perhaps the most important is that when air is heated, the heat dissipates fairly quickly – living in Minnesota, we see this obviously after an excessively hot day (Minnesota’s highest recorded temperature was 115 deg. F on July 29, 1917 in a town named Beardsley (one of the western-most points of the state (in the “bump”) cools off dramatically. Once the sun is down, as long as the humidity isn’t excessive, the temperature drops fairly quickly.

This is NOT the truth for water. In addition to being on the edge of the Great Plains with wild temperature swings (record: 72 degrees F, 1970); a portion of our border is the shore of Lake Superior. Superior contains 10% of Earth’s surface fresh water; that mass of water (along with the other Great Lakes) “…acts like a heat sink that moderates the temperatures of the surrounding land, cooling the summers and warming the winters. The lakes also act like giant humidifiers, increasing the moisture content of the air. In the winter, this moisture contributes to heavy snowfall known as “lake effect” snow.”

Even strictly speaking, Humans and all other land life is confined to only 25% of the surface of the planet – practically speaking, Earth already IS a water planet. If you want to get REALLY picky about, all life starts in water of varying viscosity – I had an amniotic sack around me until just before my mom “broke water”. I scramble a good half dozen water sacks for birds every week…

At any rate, the response to why you can’t have a world that’s entirely desert – is that CHEMISTRY NEEDS WATER TO HAPPEN.

And if you raise the flag of Arrakis at me, I’ll just drop a rock on it – Arrakis is no more a “desert world” than Sahara is a dry desert – the sand may be dry, but try as you might, you can’t eliminate the fact that Sahara exists on a planet that is 71% WATER…and while we all pretend that there’s no water on Dune – there IS water on Dune. It’s how the Fremen survive – and water has to come from the HUMAN component of Dune in order for the still suits to work…

Minimal water on Dune – absolutely. But except for some very rare cases, I doubt life could have evolved there. The fact Shai Hulud is made of flesh and not rock is proof that Dune has water and while water isn’t ABUNDANT, it is there – proving that you can’t have a totally dry planet.

All planets are water planets. H2O is essential for the activity of cells as we know them. ANDROMEDA STRAIN aside, life as we know it has water in it in some amount.

THAT’S why you can have all-water worlds, and a true, totally dry desert world would be impossible.

Oh, a quibble that bothers me every time I watch it? In Episode VI: The Empire Strikes Back? Hoth CAN’T BE AN ICE MOON/PLANET/WHATEVER: Seventy-one percent of the oxygen we breathe comes from algae IN THE OCEAN. Twenty percent more comes from Prochlorococcus, a cyanobacterium, or a blue green bacteria – so there’s 91% of the oxygen comes from…plants in water. The rest? Soil and rocks, plus atmospheric free oxygen created through radiation and occasionally lightning.

SO: you CAN have a life-bearing oceanic world (you live on one); but you CAN’T have a life-bearing desert one…

The rest of those alien worlds would have to be somewhere in between – dryer or wetter than Earth; and maybe with LOTS of deserts (and there you’d have to define your TYPE of desert – some are cold, some hot, some are Antarctic, and some are Sahara. And you have the driest place on this planet: “The Atacama (west of the Andes on the coast of Bolivia) is the driest place on earth, other than the poles. It receives less than 1 mm of precipitation each year, and some areas haven’t seen a drop of rain in more than 500 years.”

You know, I don’t think I’m done with this whole planet thing...Later!

Program Guide: https://chicon.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/PocketProgram-5s.pdf
Image: https://i0.wp.com/chicon.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/chicon2022-logo-1.png?fit=640%2C365&ssl=1

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 576

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.

F Trope: Fairy Tale
Current Event: http://www.moonlyf.com/2013/07/the-magic-onions-2013-fairy-garden.html
"Fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already because it is in the world already. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St George to kill the dragon." —GK Chesterton

Leyla Manghirmalani wrinkled her nose at the overpowering smell of onions and called out, “Jie? What are you doing?”

Jie Busiri leaned back from his dorm room desk, holding a chopping knife and said, “What’s it look like?”

“That you’re stinking up the whole dorm floor on purpose?”

“No, not stinking up anything. I’m calling the onion fairies,” he said it like he was a little kid.

Leyla shook her head, “Another one of your lame attempts at recreating ancient fairy magic?”

“Hey! That’s not fair! Didn’t I make it rain last week after I did that Lakota rain dance?”

She snorted, “After checking the weather report for three weeks straight and then picking a day even the weather divas all agreed had a greater than ninety percent chance of rain.” She waved her hand in front of her face and backed up, “I don’t want to weep over spilled onion juice. I’ll come back...”

“No! Wait!” Jie grabbed something from his desk and strode across the room, chopping knife in one hand.

Leyla laughed, “If I hadn’t known you since pre-school, I’d have just gone running down the hall dialing 911 and telling them a freshman U of M student had just gone crazy.”

Jie shook his head, handing her a piece of pink gum. “Chew this, it’ll keep your eyes from watering.”

“Why didn’t you just soak them in cold salty water?”

He looked at her like she was crazy and said, “They won’t be magic then, stupid.”

“Hey! Don’t call me stupid! You’re the one they’d throw in the loony bin if they asked why you were chopping onions!” She chewed and stepped into the room and her eyes didn’t tear up automatically. “Hey, it works.”

He blew a bubble and said, “Why do you think I’m doing it?”

“I thought you wanted to be struck by your onion magic?”

He sniffed in disdain and went back to his chopping board. “I’m not interested in helping myself. I’m going to place the slices of onions with a slice of mushroom on top...”

Leyla cut in, “If I get a plain hamburger from Mac’s, can I just put them on and make a Whopper?”

“Ha, ha, ha,” he said, chopping again. “Just wait and see how well our floor does on finals – then we’ll see who has the last laugh!”

They hung out the rest of the night and Leyla helped him place the mushroom and onion slices in the rooms of the people willing to go with his craziness. By the time they were done studying and onion-placing, it was past two in the morning. “I gotta get some sleep,” she said, “I have a chem final first thing.”

Jie gave her a hug, saying, “I made sure I put the biggest onion slice in your room and I piled the rest of the mushrooms on top of it.”

“Oh, thank you so much,” she dead-panned. “Thank you so, so much for your fairly wonderful generosity.”

He smirked then said, “Just you wait, Leyla Higgins, just you wait.”

She smiled at the MY FAIR LADY jab and headed for bed.

Names: ♀Iran, India, ; ♂ China, Egypt
Image:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/98/71/e5/9871e52bbc09c525af21b8f6471eab15.jp

Slice of PIE: Creating Alien Aliens, Part 23: Speculative Biology and How It Might Affect Alien Behavior...

Using the Program Guide of the World Science Fiction Convention in Dublin, Ireland in August 2019 (to which I will be unable to go (until I retire from education)), I will jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. The link is provided below where this appeared at 7 pm on Friday the 16th…

Speculative Biology: An introduction to the art and field of speculative biology (aka speculative evolution). Panelists addressed three questions, focusing on how we make the relevant plants and animals scientifically plausible: What is the future of life on Earth? How might life on Earth have turned out differently if events had occurred differently? What could life on other planets be like?

Dr Helen Pennington: Moderator, Plant Health Evidence and Analysis
Mick Schubert: writer, editor, science consultant: paleontology, evolution, genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology
V Anne Smith: computational biologist
Adrian Tchaikovsky: author

While this was surely a fascinating discussion and I would have loved being there, I wasn’t. I’m using the idea to look at where this subject is leading me.

A novel I wrote (that awaits a more…mature edit than I was able to provide when I finished it) deals specifically with speculative biology. OUT OF THE DEBTOR STARS concerns a Milky Way where there are only two sapient people – Humans (which we know about) and the WheetAH, plantimal aliens who are described as “short, needle-less, barrel cactus-shape” and card-carrying members of the Plant Kingdom (having evolved from Euglena-like, Volvox-like, pitcher plant like, pea aphid-like, green sea slug-like, spotted salamander-like organisms).

Obviously, they should have vastly different ways of viewing the universe.

My problem is that they don’t in my novel.

As part of this universe, I’ve got a single published story in Cast of Wonders (link here: https://www.castofwonders.org/2011/12/episode-20-peanut-butter-and-jellyfish-part-1-by-guy-stewart/ I LIKE the universe, but I don’t think I’ve reached a point where I can write aliens believably – and I’m not sure why.

In another universe I created, I’ve got Humanity desperate to join a Unity of Sapients. In that universe, some of the aliens I’ve invented: “*ting* – planet bound, crystalline lifeform that communicates by phased radio pulses.”; “Benkaithanintanis – a space-living, asteroid-sized intelligence”; “Field-of-Dreams – a semi-autonomous intelligent plant/amoeba that occupies thousands of hectares on its home world and colonies. It communicates through chemically induced dreams.”; “Kifush – they’re a partially disconnected intelligence, ‘system non-integrated colonial arthropod’. A monstrous pill bug holding the leashes of smaller pill bugs of various sizes.”; “Leviathan – ocean-going “eel” that communicates entirely by taste.”; “Pak/Gref – primate-descended mobile, sensory/cognition invasive Gref “units” of a massive ocean-born “worm”, the Pak.”; “Ybraith – neon Nautiluses suspended from balloons”; and the “Zham Woyi – Queen mother is giant sea star with square limbs studded with crystalline prisms that refracted light and trailing a parachute, made of lead and leaded crystal.”

I haven’t worked out all of the biology yet (though I have it for the Pak/Gref and the Benkaithanintanis), but I’ve got several of them sketched out.

The last is Confluence versus Empire universe. It’s currently confined to exploring one planet, a puffy Jupiter called River. I sometimes refer to this as the River Universe. I’ve got a published story in there (from the defunct PERIHELION Magazine. You can read it here: https://theworkandworksheetsofguystewart.blogspot.com/2021/06/prince-of-blood-and-spit-perihelion.html)

In this universe, there are no aliens. Humans have split into two factions that coalesced into civilizations. In the Confluence of Humanity, genetic engineering is practiced to the edges of possibility. ANYTHING is legal and manipulation of the Human genome has created people capable of living anywhere – including a Human who is an 18-kilometer across flying manta-ray-like creature whose internal organs and spaces have been rearranged to form a living ambulance.

The Empire of Man has laws that all boil down to one essential paradigm – anyone who is less than sixty-five percent Original Human DNA is “not human” and without rights. Time has eroded the sharpest edges of that law. People who are slightly less than 65% can get an education, own property, and have a few other civil rights, but in essence, they are not truly Human. The Imperial Family maintains its Original Human DNA at 95%. DNA stored from the early 21st Century is the Imperial Standard (some modifications for health and life extension purposes are permitted.)

So, those are the three Universes I write in. All three have challenges and are fun to work in. I’ve had stories from all three published at one time or another, so my work is at least somewhat believable.

Of the participants above, the only I’ve read is Adrian Tchaikovsky. His CHILDREN OF TIME is an absolute stunning read! Otherwise, he writes fantasy (which is fine, but in most cases, not my cup of tea). The world-building in the first book is amazing and the concepts staggering!

One last thing, in creating alien aliens, I’m not sure I ONLY mean aliens who are obvious. In my reading, I’ve found that changing a single paradigm, you end up with people who are, by all appearances and most behavior, entirely Human. However, their underlying beliefs and behaviors are as alien to me as say, James Cambias’ lobster-like, intelligent Ilmatarans. Miles Vorkosigan’s world appears “normal” to us, but the underlying assumption, that children produced via something called a “uterine replicator” are totally normal…and makes for alien (and entertaining!) thinking.

So, something I need to get better at is to make my aliens both MORE alien while at the same time being believable:

First: “For aliens to be utterly alien and stay that way, a story still needs to have something understandable for the characters to press against…[This is] the strange paradox that writing about aliens entails across all of fiction. For aliens to remain truly alien, then we must not understand them. But once an alien isn’t understood, we run into the problem above of having no drive for our characters to work toward with regards to the aliens.”

Second: “How will you approach the alien in your story? Will you make them utterly incomprehensible? Where then, will your drive be in relation to that alien? Or will you make them more understood by the characters, acknowledging that you’re losing some of that “utterly alien” factor in exchange for the ability to have drive and vision understood (or capable of being understood) in one or both parties?”

Last: “…it is important to understand the distinctions between them, as well as what kind of story they may help or hinder, so that you can best decide where you will draw the line. Do you want alien aliens? Or do you want aliens, IE sapient beings that are different in culture, thought, society, etc, but that are still understandable for the most part, even if their logic seems strange?”

This is going to take practice. It’s going to take me going back to my note pad and trying to look at this.

I’m also going to pick ONE alien to make more alien…and I think “Marrowbones & Cleavers” might be the best story to start with! (I’ll let you wonder a little while and come back to it later!)

Resource: https://maxonwriting.com/2021/10/04/being-a-better-writer-alien-aliens-and-the-conflict-of-drive/ , https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna43346718
Program Book: https://dublin2019.com/whats-on/programming/programme-schedule/
Image: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Fc2NTNgRL._AC_.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 575

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: Intelligent Robots
Current Event: This Arizona wildfire was predicted to go down in history as the Third Largest in that state. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43290922/ns/weather/ If it continues much longer, it may well go down as the second largest – maybe even the biggest one ever. They’ll bring in everything to stop it. Eventually, there will be robots – not humanoid ones like in I, Robot, but more like water, fire and chemical squirting tanks. Or possibly like the robots above. Of course, they’ll have to have a certain amount of autonomy. So what happens to them after the fire?

Djamel Ahmed was panting hard. Nika Novak said, “Keep moving! You’d think you were seventy-three instead of twenty-three!” Resisting the urge to pass him along the newly-wooded trail they followed in the Minnesota Boundary Waters Canoe Area inside the Superior National Forest, she said, “What kind of evidence are you looking for,” she said, “Exactly this time, if you don’t mind.”

She pulled alongside him. After the massive fires of 2028 that left the northern part of Minnesota essentially devastated, a bioremediation team had gone in to see if they could manipulate the recovery time. The estimates at the time had given more than a century until the forest would even be capable of sustaining a few small Human settlements. Meanwhile, the main source of revenue for most of the region had been tourism. She missed Djamel’s first few words and blushing, said, “I’m sorry, my mind started to drift. I was thinking about the bioremediation team…”

“See, that’s my problem, as soon as I start talking about robots, people’s mind turn off! Everyone wants to talk about the ornate biodesigns for the new trees, and birds, and mammals, and…”

She couldn’t help but snicker. He paused to turn and scowl at her. She held up her hands, “I surrender! I surrender! I’m a roboticist, too!”

“Yeah, but you see robots as just shovels with wheels and programming! I’m thinking about some of the robots they sent up here to fight the fire…”

“Ohhhh,” she said, trying very hard to keep the sarcasm and giggle out of her voice. She swallowed hard and said, “You still don’t have any evidence for the survival of your proto-artificial-intelligences?”

He snorted, hawked phlegm, and spit, then said, “None.” He stopped, spun and said, “And if you tell anyone, I’ll…I’ll…I’ll.”

“You’ll kill me until I’m dead? Yeah, I know. But really, Djamel? How long are you going to hold onto your absurd belief?” Nika said.

“It’s not absurd, just highly unlikely.”

She couldn’t help it, she snorted, “That there are colonies of sapient machines here who survived the fire and have hidden out because they know we’ll decommission them if they show up? Come on, Djamel! What’s the actual probability? Really! Your specialty in robotics is probability – don’t tell me you haven’t done the math. I know you!”

This time, when he spun around, he was actually angry. Nika regretted pushing him, but if someone who really cared about him, if she didn’t do it, who would? She lifted her chin, staring him down, crossing her arms over her chest. She knew he wouldn’t do anything to her. He’d come out to her their freshman year, then begged her to come to countless family gatherings as his “date”. She’d done it because he’d been there for her after a particularly bad streak of poor discernment of boyfriends. But, “What’s the real probability? If you can’t tell me, who can you tell?”

He made a face, sighed, and stepping back, said, “A hundred percent.”

She used an expletive she rarely used and even though his eyes widened, he stood his ground. For a moment, she was speechless. Then she heard the sounds of an electric motor behind her. He was smiling; maybe the most joyous smile she’d ever seen on his face. She turned slowly…

Names: ♀Slovenia ; ♂ Egypt
Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Falcon_9_Demo-2_Launching_6_%283%29.jpg/220px-Falcon_9_Demo-2_Launching_6_%283%29.jpg

WRITING ADVICE: Short Stories – Advice and Observation #21: Stephen King “& Me”

In this feature, I’ll be looking at “advice” for writing short stories – not from me, but from other short story writers. In speculative fiction, “short” has very carefully delineated categories: “The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America specifies word lengths for each category of its Nebula award categories by word count; Novel 40,000 words or over; Novella 17,500 to 39,999 words; Novelette 7,500 to 17,499 words; Short story under 7,500 words.”

I’m going to use advice from people who, in addition to writing novels, have also spent plenty of time “interning” with short stories. While most of them are speculative fiction writers, I’ll also be looking at plain, old, effective short story writers. The advice will be in the form of one or several quotes off of which I’ll jump and connect it with my own writing experience. While I don’t write full-time, nor do I make enough money with my writing to live off of it...neither do most of the professional writers...someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what I write. When I started this blog, that was NOT true, so I may have reached a point where my own advice is reasonably good. We shall see as I work to increase my writing output and sales! As always, your comments are welcome!

Without further ado, short story observations by Stephen King – with a few from myself…

====================

Eight years ago, at BIBLIOSTARTV.com, during an interview, Stephen King said, “I started with short stories when I was 18, sold my first one when I was about 20. And produced pretty much nothing but short stories. I wrote a couple of novels, but they were not accepted and a lot of them were so bad that I didn’t even bother to revise them, but the short stories were making money and I got very comfortable with that format and I’ve never wanted to leave it completely behind.”

While my entire PUBLICATION history has been with short stories, I HAVE written ten or twelve novels…yeah, seems a waste, doesn’t it? But, the fact is that it’s not! My very, very, very first attempt at writing a novel called PLANET OF STORMS was…weak in so many ways. The worst part about it, is that I can’t recall ever having plotted it out! My most recent attempt? It took me eleven years to write. Not the actual writing – I posted it as blog entries starting in 2011, I finally gave up when I couldn’t figure out how to end it, and so few people were following it that it hardly seemed worth it. I shelved the whole project until early last year. I sat down, copied and pasted ALL of the individual blog entries into a single document. I’d done the story from four/seven points of view.

What’s that mean? I had three entirely Human characters: Paolo, Aster, and Stepan – modeled on the Apostle Paul, Queen Esther, and the first martyr, Steven. The fourth character was modeled after Daniel, Shadrach, Meshak, and Abednego – but instead of four individuals whom their Babylonian captors renamed them “Mishael, Hannaniah, and Azariah. Daniel was also given the Babylonian name Belteshazzar. These four young men represented a small number of people who remained faithful through this time of exile.” In my novel, MARTIAN HOLIDAY, the four became DaneelAH, MishAH, HanAH, and AzAH – they were clone siblings and had no status but Artificial Human – they were slaves.

I have tried a couple of short stories in the world of MARTIAN HOLIDAY, one or two haven’t found homes, but I’m hopeful for my most recent story…

“[Stephen] King put a nail in his wall on which to hang rejection slips from publishers. Each rejection slip was a reminder that he was closer to his breakthrough. Every one of us faces failure. Each failure is a critical juncture that forks the road into two paths: resignation or perseverance. Most people won’t continue pushing past their first failure.” (Stephen King’s Top 13 Writing Tips; Bobby Powers (2019); writingcooperative.com )

I did – and after starting to keep track in 1990, it took another year before I actually began to sell my writing. I wrote a variety of types: short stories, essays, articles, curriculum (paid for, actually: Newton’s Apple, and regular TV series, THE NEW EXPLORERS – the combined for which I was the Science Museum of Minnesota’s 1995 Teacher of the Year (wined and dined in Washington DC along with 49 others, one from each state), met my legislators (and have a photo of me with the late, great Paul Wellstone…he was very short!), a collection of science-based children’s sermons [which I sold outright for $100 to a VERY pious (read: sketchy) Christian publisher who told me hardly anyone would buy it, so it wasn’t worth my time to get royalties or anything. It’s still in their catalogue: http://store.csspub.com/prod-0788012940.htm. Don’t buy it from them…if you must, buy it used.); letters to the editor, local newspaper articles, and in 1997, I saw the publication of two stories in MAJOR magazines (for which I was paid an (at that time!) INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF MONEY) in CRICKET: The Magazine for Children, and ANALOG Science Fiction and Fact. I thought I’d ARRIVED!

“Write with the door closed. Rewrite with the door open. Your stuff starts out being just for you, in other words, but then it goes out. Once you know what the story is and get it right — as right as you can, anyway — it belongs to anyone who wants to read it.” ‘To me,’ Bobby Powers, ‘that quote means I need to put in the hard work to produce something before I go around raving about it. Talking is too easy. Only after I’ve finished my first draft do I allow myself to show it to others to gather their feedback.’” Ryan Holiday (American author, modern Stoic, public-relations strategist, owner of the Painted Porch Bookshop and host of the podcast The Daily Stoic) notes, “Talk depletes us. Talking and doing fight for the same resources.”

Despite the wisdom of the Aged, I rarely have others read my unpublished work. I suppose that that hies closer to what King suggests when he says, “Once you know what the story is and get it right — as right as you can, anyway — it belongs to anyone who wants to read it.” I just don’t think it means to hang on until you’ve shown it to your writing buddies. That’s never worked for me – even when one of my writing buddies was Bruce Bethke (originator of the word “cyberpunk”). I gravitate Holiday’s philosophy. (Actually, I was reflecting that virtually NO ONE in my family and immediate circle of friends has EVER read anything of mine that’s been PUBLISHED, let alone a draft piece.) When I have attempted to have others read my pre-published “stuff”, they’ve generally not gotten the point, or missing entirely that a character is a recluse because his skin is piebald (dark and light, irregular patches from head to toe). A reviewer wrote: “ The romantic subplot is unnecessary, and somewhat adolescent.” I wanted to say OF COURSE IT’S ADOLESCENT! The veterinarian has NEVER had interaction with adult women (or adolescent women for that matter!). “…with an over-the-top villain who acts in unbelievable ways.” What would be a believable way to act toward people whose ancestors tortured your father during the Korean Conflict? She loathes them and wants them all to die…I believe that the Islamic Fundamentalists who crashed their planes into the World Trade Center Towers in New York had a bit of “over-the-top, who acted in an unbelievable way”… If they hadn’t acted unbelievably, we would have caught them. Today, they wouldn’t have managed to pull it off…

In 2006, Nathaniel Rich & Christopher Lehmann-Haupt interviewed King for THE PARIS REVIEW. When asked if he really admired so many short story writers, he said “…short stories themselves have become a niche market, short stories are an even smaller market, and so you want to make people as aware as possible that this stuff is out there. But even a superstar has favorites! He could write another blockbuster 1000 page novel. But he said, “I often write [short stories] between novel projects. When Lisey’s Story and Cell (both published in 2006) got done, I was flat. I tried to start another one, but I couldn’t, so I wrote a couple of short stories. Then I began to read all these stories for Best American—a dozen, two dozen, three dozen, a hundred—and finally I got rolling on another novel. I mean, I’ve always got a couple of ideas for future stories whenever I’m working on something. But you can’t think about what you’re going to do next. You’re like a married guy who’s trying not to look at women in the street.”

Well then…that explains the short story I’m working on right now, “Nuking Ukraine”! I can’t get it out of my head…then because it involves a cross-Ukraine trip carrying a nuclear package…and I’ve never been there…I have to use Google World to “see” the area the tractor trailers (4 of them) are driving through (what it was like 1-5 years ago!) to describe what they see and how they’re traveling…

I’m drawn to the story often during a day, even when I can’t work on it at the moment (like now – I’m getting this ready to go up on my blog tomorrow), I’m still thinking about it; still plotting it (even though it’s going to be shorter than 6000 words, the plot has to draw the reader in and excite them in the same way it excites the main characters – and me for that matter!

So, there you go! A bit of wisdom from Stephen King – I’m glad to read that he and I seem to have some connections as writers; and I’ve learned something new in reading about how much he loves writing short stories!

References: https://www.mhpbooks.com/stephen-king-on-why-writing-short-stories-is-important/#:~:text=In%20an%20interview%20with%20Bibliostar,as%20Misery%20and%20Gerald's%20Game. ; https://writingcooperative.com/stephen-kings-top-13-writing-tips-69dbbcbb4cc2?gi=05ba78099d7c ; https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5653/the-art-of-fiction-no-189-stephen-king ; https://thesarcasticmuse.com/2015/03/13/stephen-kings-advice-writing-short-stories/ ; https://www.bibliostar.tv/stephen-king-on-the-craft-of-short-story-writing/ ; STEPHEN KING ON WRITING: https://www.abebooks.com/Writing-Memoir-Craft-King-Stephen-Pocket/30082098144/bd?cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade0to10-_-product_id=COM9780671024253USED-_-keyword=&gclid=Cj0KCQiA_P6dBhD1ARIsAAGI7HBxnyr5dtROPSoTJXTm_J6rSk3I9yfXoMfv6OGcGo5kNDsnD9YZIJYaAstwEALw_wcB
Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhK6miXJMTMNyB3kzq-r6I2LVCTZJj0CDS0dPV2Qapl6e9rZPuHx2u5QKcKT1QGeDg1_tPMv-lpnuSr_eiBjwPXmex9mcgtuH2-SUtZEpGWV0_HdtJQelVt5K69NulJBUqNju5GNjHgQibXsIo4NeWpTOj4ai85jCRjMHOtwtkqshzxFvZPUSjXZNq6=s320; https://scontent-ord5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/333721556_2334864636671898_3276839151544924151_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p526x296&_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=24i5gArYUxUAX-eACP3&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-2.xx&oh=00_AfCCiTxr4rzQwsD8SuNs0L5SUXWQwOQy9V4gEK7y-9ypwA&oe=640128C6

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 574

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 horror, I found this insight in line with WIRED FOR STORY: “ 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…” – Lou Morgan (The Guardian)

H Trope: amusement park goes berserk
Current Event: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/11/us-theme-park-death-idUSTRE76A64O20110711

On a sweltering, record-heat summer day with nothing else to do, fourteen-year-old Wakou Itou and his friends scoot under the fence of the FUN-ON-WHEELS amusement park and have themselves a fun day – mostly by following cute girls, scaring animals and mocking park workers.

Especially one of the clowns at the entrance of the (very) unbusy “Kiddie Land”.

Security chases them away a few times; and once the clown himself gets mad and chases after them, a well-thrown rock from him catches Wakou in the ear. Furious he turns to beat up the clown – and security walks around the corner.

Him and his friends leave the “Kiddie Land” to go to the closed roller coaster, Plunge Of Death. It’s been closed for a month while police and other authorities investigated the death of an Iraq War veteran who plunged from the heights in an as-yet unexplained accident.

Wakou and friends spend half an hour looking for the exact place he hit the ground by looking for blood stains. The sun goes down and the closing of the park is imminent.

“Let’s go kick that stupid clown’s butt,” Wakou exclaims and leads the pack back to “Kiddie Land”. Overhead, there’s a flash of heat lightning and Wakou feels a strange surge of something at the back of his neck. Ahead, the lights of “Kiddie Land” flicker, blaze then fade. Under the arch of lights, the clown is staring at them. His red wig seems to glow…

Names: ♂ Japan

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

POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY: CHICON 8 – Alien Aliens Part 22 Does ANYONE Have the Right To Terraform Another World?(Alien Aliens Part 22)

Using the Programme Guide of the 2022 World Science Fiction Convention, ChiCON 8, which I WOULD have attended in person if I had disposable income, but I retired two years ago, my work health insurance stopped, and I’m now living on the Social Security and Medicare…I will be using the Programme Guide to jump off, jump on, rail against, or shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. My opinions may bring glad hearts to some, or cause others to wish to stomp me into the muddy ground of Lilydale Park shortly after a long rain.

Colin Alexander: (moderator) writer, SF and F; pseudonym for Alton Kremer, physician, biochemist, medical researcher
Eva L Elasigue: writer - poetry, short story, and scripts
Kevin Wabaunsee: writer, biomedical research news editor, editor @ Escape Pod, Prairie Band Potawatomi.
Sue Burke: author, literary translator

If we terraform a planet, what happens to the living things that evolved there? Would an "Earth-like" planet have living things we could live alongside? How might Earth life integrate into an alien ecology? This panel will contemplate the ecological impacts of making another planet more Earth-like.

For ME, the first clear idea of altering a planetary environment in order for an intelligence to live there were the chtorr-a-forming alien Chtorr in David Gerrold’s novels that introduced the idea in WAR AGAINST THE CHTORR. That book is “Set in a devastated early 21st century United States with logical expected advances in current technology such as a fledgling moon base [it] describe the invasion of Earth by an alien ecology. The story is unusual in that the tactics used by the aliens eschew the usual direct attack in favor of terraforming the ecosystem.” (Like I noted above, that should be “chtorr-a-forming” our ecosystem to conform to their own.

While I didn’t see the presentation, I’m hoping that someone brought up Gerrold’s book. Lately, it seems that the Human creature has entered a time of deep, almost religious self-recrimination; consistently now bringing to light events that happened in the past and attempting to either make reparations to the descendants of those who were most harmed by the event (I live in the state where “On December 26, 1862, following the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, the federal government hanged 38 members of the Dakota tribe in Minnesota. It was the largest mass execution in United States history.” (For an in-depth discussion, follow this link: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/11/09/dako-n09.html), and obsessing over details that may or may not be incidental – just as obsessively denying that either the event ever took place, or trying to put the event “into historical perspective” (Whatever that means. Usually it seems to mean, “They didn’t know what they were doing because that’s just the way things were then. I’m not responsible.”)

My question is why would we think that Humans alone would consider terraforming a planet to suit themselves?

Because we’re the only intelligent life in the known universe (– please don’t use the movie CONTACT’s argument that “Carl Sagan said, 'I'd say if it is just us ... seems like an awful waste of space.'" to somehow convert me to your POV that there JUST MUST BE ALIENS. As far as I can tell, Sagan never said this. It is “creatively expressed in the movie version of Carl Sagan’s novel, Contact…” – but thus far, there is NO evidence that there is life anywhere but HERE. A plethora of life, even more lifeforms if you consider all that have gone extinct (without Humans lifting a single, evil finger) – but anywhere else?

Nada.

In fact, if you want to get into the ethics of terraforming, let’s look at the Chicxilub Event. If you’re going to insist that THERE MUST BE INTELLIGENT ALIENS, then you have no choice but to consider the possibility that Earth was terraformed by asteroid impact that finished the extinction of the dinosaurs and initiated the upward climb and Age of Mammals. Even with today’s technology, Humans altered the orbital trajectory of an asteroid: “NASA has confirmed that its DART spacecraft has altered the trajectory of the asteroid that it crashed into two weeks ago, demonstrating the potential of this tool for planetary defense. A trial run at planetary defense has proven successful. Oct 12, 2022, https://physics.aps.org/articles/v15/156#:~:text=NASA%20has%20confirmed%20that%20its,this%20tool%20for%20planetary%20defense.&text=A%20trial%20run%20at%20planetary%20defense%20has%20proven%20successful.

So why do I harp on this point? Because if it’s possible, AND there is intelligent life Out There, then WE are as vulnerable as we assume other planets are.

As Earth’s “twin”, should we terraform Venus? Someone already thought of that in the 70s. Watch this. I show it to my Alien Worlds class every year. “Mind-slaughter” (1977) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVj2mgrTtU8 It STILL gives me the creeps! On the other hand, altering its atmosphere will NOT make it habitable. Venus will continue to have a day that would see (for example) the sun rise on the First Day Of Spring (March 20, 2023), and set 37 weeks later on December 4, 2023…I doubt that life As We Know It would survive after 243 days of daylight. Of course, the night would be the same if you stayed in the same place - 243 Earth-days long. The only way you could make Venus livable for Humans is to change the planet’s atmosphere, rotation...And therein lies the question implicit in any discussion of terraforming: “Who gave YOU the right to change…”

OK, what if we changed HUMANITY instead? Well, you could always change Human behavior. Create Humans with a society that would move with the incredibly slow terminator line… and therein lies the question implicit in any discussion of Humanoforming (aka, Genetic Engineering): “Who gave YOU the right to change Humanity…” For a novel that deals with this issue, try THE CHILDREN STAR (2009), by Joan Slonczewski. Fascinating read.

Do I think we just throw all caution to the wind and willy-nilly start to change planets, moon, atmospheres, and asteroids to make way for MORE Humans?

No. But I DO think we should take into consideration the possibility that if there IS Intelligent Alien Life Out There, that we may have already been the victims of terraforming – or may become the victims in the future.

So, aggression or naivete? Which one is the path to colonizing the Solar System, the Orion Arm, the Milky Way, and eventually the Universe? I leave that for an intellectual exercise of your own. I've certainly stirred myself up...

Program Guide: https://guide.chicon.org/; https://locusmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/chicon-8-twitter.png[GS1]
Image: https://space.nss.org/wp-content/uploads/terraforming-mars-large-kevin-gill.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 573

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: Witchcraft For World Peace!!!
Current Event: http://wildhunt.org/2016/02/call-for-global-witchcraft-community-to-unite-against-terrorism.html

Saga Pai-Teles shook her head then said, “How much do you really expect us to accomplish?”

Djamel Vlach sighed, “I’m sure nothing, but what else can we do that might even conceivably make a difference? I’m not a soldier, and unless you enlisted in the Royal Marines or fought a stint with the Aegis Mercenaries in the past few months, I’m pretty sure you don’t have much experience with fighting, either.”

“But we’re not ‘fighting’ – not like that anyway. Our powers are of Earth, wind, ice, fire, and water.”

“Sounds like the name of an American band from the nineteen seventies.” She frowned at him and made a faint movement with her fingers. He laughed, “You think charms and wardings are going to be able to stave off the black market weaponry of Daesh, or Boko Haram, or the Taliban?”

“Shows how much YOU know! We’re not here to fight anger with anger. We’re here to fight anger with the power of nature and of the true spirit of Humanity. There are way more...”

Djamel wasn’t listening to her. His eyes had grown wide. “OK! Now you’re talking! Taking out Daesh with a hurricane or an earthquake or even a flood is totally cool! I could get into that and I even have a couple of spells that enhance water movement!”

“That’s not what I was talking about,” she stopped talking abruptly. “Then again, I have a couple of other spells that help anyone who’s got a gift for dowsing.”

“What’s that?”

She looked at him steadily and when she had his complete attention, she said, “Dowsing is all about FINDING water, Djamel. If I could find the water…”

“I could direct it.” Djamel scowled again. “My powers aren’t that…um…powerful.”

“Mine, neither. What we need is someone who can magnify or enhance our simple powers,” Saga said.

“I don’t have simple powers! They’re plenty strong enough!”

“That’s not what I meant! In order to deal world peace and muffle terrorism in our time, we have to overcome terror with peace. But it can’t be done if we’re weak.”

“We need, like, a talisman.”

“A crystal, or a…” Sag was saying.

Djamel cut her off, “The Vial of Trench!”

“What’s that?”

“A Vial of water collected from the bottom of the Marianas Trench.” He looked down at her, “Can you think of a more powerful talisman to increase our mission to bring peace on Earth than focusing our meager powers through a vial of water from the bottom of the Earth’s sea?”

“I can’t…”

“We’ll do it and it’ll start now?”

Names: ♀ Finland, Portugal; ♂ Algeria, Hungary
Image:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/98/71/e5/9871e52bbc09c525af21b8f6471eab15.jpg