Monthly Archives: September 2021

Entry Points

Posted on by

The subject of entry points in speculative fiction came up recently. Entry points meaning which author “gateway drug” got you interested in sf/f in the first place. That’s not always easy to pin down, especially the further away you are in experience (and years) from that point. Then there’s the complication that it’s usually more than one. For example, I discovered Andre Norton and Robert Heinlein at about the same time. Even so, they weren’t the first.

That honor (or blame) goes to Nelson S. Bond.

Not a name that’s on everyone’s lips these days. Small wonder. A lot of his work was for radio plays, and some early television, but before that he wrote mostly short stories for the pulps, and the bulk of his work in the field was done before I was born. It was just an accident that I stumbled across one of his stories not too long after I learned to read. That was “Lancelot Biggs on the Saturn.”

It had it all: space as a normal working environment, worn-out cargo ships, deadly space pirates, life or death situations…and on top of that, it was still funny. The same anthology also had stories by Robert Heinlein (“The Black Pits of Luna”) and H.G. Wells (“The Truth about Pyecraft”), but nothing resonated quite like that gangly screw-up, Lancelot Biggs. I never connected with Asimov at all except for some of his non-fiction. I came back to Heinlein later of course(see above), but I wasn’t ready at the time. I had to go through Nelson Bond to get to Heinlein and Edgar Rice Burroughs, and I had to get through Heinlein before I was ready for Ursula Le Guin and Fritz Leiber. Everything in its proper order and proper time, I guess, but something has to start it all…and perhaps teach that a little humor goes a long way.

So. What was your entry point?

Processing the Process

Posted on by

Last week I sent out a short fable (Acana’s Smile) to the mailing list. Yes, I know I need to be working on Other Things, but every now and then one needs a break. Also, I wanted to get it down while the image/notion was fresh in my mind. I also remember where the story came from and I don’t always know these things.

I was thinking about Madam Mim. Or more specifically, her duel with Merlin over Arthur in the movie version. I mean, I’ve read The Once and Future King and, as much as I hate to say it, the movie version of the duel was better. Why? Because Mim was a far more interesting character than she was in the book. There was a sort of fun-loving evil in the movie Mim that was totally lacking in the other Mim, who was there to be a threat but was pretty much a cipher otherwise.

Which got me thinking about magical duels in general and what it might be like to see it from the other side. Maybe things were more complicated than they appeared. So Acana’s Smile, which has nothing to do with Merlin or Mim or even Arthur, other than the initial seed. It, as usually happens, became it’s own thing in the process.

And now for something (almost) completely different. Among my many writerly duties is writing book descriptions for works of mine. Primarily, to give potential readers(one hopes) a hint of what’s going on inside. Since I don’t claim to be a master marketer (Yes, thanks again Captain Obvious), I was curious to get some feedback. So I’m going to post the latest version from All the Gates of Hell and ask the obvious question, whether you’ve read the book or not, would this get your attention?

“Ever get the feeling You might be in hell?

What if you were right?

What if that wasn’t the worst part?

Thanks to one misguided good deed, a young legal aid named Jin Hannigan discovers the truth. Her small town where nothing much ever happens? Yes, it’s hell…well, one of them, and no, that isn’t the worst part.

In the pantheon of gods, the Goddess of Mercy has a crucial role. She must decide who is worthy to advance on the Wheel of Life and Death…and who is not. Now, standing before the Gates of Hell, Jin learns the secret she kept from everyone, including herself—She is the Goddess of Mercy, she has a pile of work to do, and she’s way behind.

It’s only the fate of the entire cosmos. No pressure.

Her job aside, Jin has no idea why she chose to abandon her responsibilities and incarnate as a mortal without any memory of her true self. Jin needs to find that reason before her past finds her.

A delightful tale with twists, turns, and—surprise—a few laughs along the way.”

Why not come along?

Word Again

Posted on by

I have my disagreements with MS Word, and I’ve mentioned them here a time or two. This was the first time I’d ever seen Word arguing with itself.

I was working on a manuscript with editing suggestions turned on. I know that throws some people off when they’re composing but I find it helpful…usually. Sometimes I’m not entirely sure if a comma is in the right place or whatnot and getting flagged in the Review Pane and having the quick check helps me keep the errors down.

Annoying, sure, but sometimes useful. That was, until today, when I caught Word arguing with itself.

That was a new one.

Word flagged a parenthetical statement and claimed that it did not need a comma. I took the comma out. Then Word flagged the new sentence, and I swear now it complained that a comma was absolutely needed. I put it back in.

I see you’re way ahead of me here.

Yep, now it told me to take the comma out. I told Word to take a hike and kept going. The flag is still there, looking all error-ly, but it’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Part of writing anything is knowing when to take advice and when…well, not. Especially from a low-level AI that can’t make up its damn mind.