Random Synaptic Transfers

Iiiiiiiitttttt's Heeeeeereeee!

2010-11-27T23:39:00.004-07:00

Hey folks! Wicked Initiations has landed!

Pick up your copy at:

Amazon.com

Amazon.ca

The Book Depository

"Wicked Initiations is a book that shows a craftsman's touch. The characters are wonderfully realized and develop throughout the story in a setting that is both strange and familiar at the same time. The plot twists and turns and kept me spellbound. I was sorry to see it end."

~ Michell Plested, GET PUBLISHED Podcast.

“Wicked Initiations is an original take on vampire mythology, plucked from a magical desert that will bewitch you and make you one of its own.”

~Emerian Rich, author of NIGHT'S KNIGHTS

"Jennifer Rahn is not only gifted with a wonderful imagination, but also a great talent for writing about the worlds that teem within that imagination."

~Mike Bennett, UNDERWOOD & FLINCH Podcast.

"Jennifer Rahn has created a unique fantastic word full of complex magic and environments, and has let loose interesting characters to follow through this world."

~Karl Johanson, Editor of NEO-OPSIS Science Fiction Magazine

“Smart and well-written, Wicked Initiations, is deliciously dark and totally captivating. I was hooked. A daring and vibrant new voice on the female literary frontier, Jennifer Rahn demonstrates a solid talent for conjuring up fully realized characters and detailed worlds. She’s a writer to watch.”

~Nathalie Mallet, author of THE PRINCES OF THE GOLDEN CAGE
and THE KING'S DAUGHTERS

"[Jennifer Rahn is] one sick puppy."

~Barb Galler-Smith, author of DRUIDS

A Dragon Moon PODTHOLOGY: The Pod Complex

2010-03-20T16:05:00.002-06:00

It's almost here! The Podthology POD Complex from Dragon Moon Press.

ElectroFunkSeppuku, Baby!

From publisher Gwen Gades:

A Dragon Moon Press Podthology: The Pod Complex – is an anthology of some of the best stories ever podcast. Since podcasters are some of our most beloved authors, we thought we should celebrate their achievements in book form. So we’ve collected together some of the best of the medium, and included a few about podcasting to jazz it up a bit, and put on one of my favorite all time covers (that we’ve done) and here you have it! Coming to you in April.

Tim Reynolds: Renaissance Man of Calgary

2010-03-14T08:27:00.009-06:00

The very first time I attended ConVersion, Calgary’s annual science fiction and fantasy convention, I was fortunate to meet my publisher Gwen Gades (Dragon Moon Press), who subsequently introduced me to a soft-spoken man named Tim. He was wearing a brown vest over a dress shirt, and carried a leather portfolio with him, looking very much a school teacher. Not coincidentally, one of Tim’s degrees is in Education. The other degree is in History. So . . . naturally he must be a history teacher, right?

Tim Reynolds is – are you ready for this? - a Calgary Transit bus driver, an Independent (self) publisher (Cometcatcher Press), under which imprint he has released (or will release) unto the world Stand Up and Succeed (2nd edition 2008), The Cynglish Beat (April 2010), How the Beluga Lost Its Colour (Illustrated children's book coming 2011, Winner of The First Annual Great Canadian Fable Contest,), When Anastasia Laughs (currently being novelized from original screenplay), Made in Heaven: semi-autobiographical fiction (TBA. Tim’s note: Needing a serious edit before submission), and A Stable Full of Loons (written on a manual typewriter over a Labour Day long weekend as part of International 3-Day Novel Contest). He has also recently completed edits on the novel The Psilent One, which he has submitted to a publisher for consideration. When not writing and editing his own manuscripts, Tim is a freelance editor and/or slush pile reader for Dragon Moon Press, for whom he has selected and edited Nina Munteanu’s Darwin's Paradox, and has just finished coordinating the assembly of Podthology - Dark, Light & Twisted Tales from the Podosphere, an anthology in which all stories have been podcast previously or are about podcasting, and to which he has contributed the short stories Uncle Julius and From Anna to Yousef.

His current projects include finishing layout and submission of The Cynglish Beat, planning a comedy-based fundraiser called "Beat Cancer With a Shtick", novelizing one of his original screenplays (a ghost story), planning a unique space-travel anthology, and plotting the sequel to The Psilent One.

In addition to all that, Tim is also an active stand up comic, having performed at Yuk Yuk’s in Calgary & Toronto, as well as The Laugh Shop and The Comedy Cave in Calgary, an international travel photographer with contributions to the Conde Nast Traveler (calendar), the National Geographic Traveler (Room With a View page), and has published 20 postcards, 2 posters, 2 covers on Alive Magazine, as well as photos in 7 books. He also paints and received an honourable mention in L. Ron Hubbard's Illustrators of the Future Contest. Tim can also claim ascendancy to the monikers of Editorial Cartoonist - St. Marys Journal Argus, 1985-1987, Graphic Designer, Canoe Wrangler, and Grandfather.

Barbara Budd, on CBC Radio's As It Happens has called Tim “Canada's modern-day Aesop."

I call Tim the man who changed my life. He also picked my baby out of the slush pile, The Longevity Thesis.

Is there anything left to know about Calgary’s Renaissance Man? He agreed to answer a few questions for me so that I could find out.

JR: Why do you write?

TR: For me, to not write, would be to die. That may sound a bit melodramatic, but I`m brimming with stories to tell and if I don`t tell them I might just bust wide open.

JR: What would be the best thing that could happen to you?

TR: To win the lottery. For the obvious reasons, but also:

i. So I can concentrate on writing and editing where I want (around the world)

ii. To further my education and foster links in the publishing and Hollywood for my works.

iii. So I can set up a science education/experience foundation where sci-fi writers

of all ages and levels can be exposed to CERN, NASA, JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), radio telescopes, observatories.

JR: Your opinion: agent or no agent?

TR: I would love one. I lucked into my meagre publishing contacts. I'm lousy at sales, so an agent would really help, though. A writer's job is to write. Let the agent do the dealing. Once the book is published, then the writer becomes a sales person. Having an agent would simplify this process, I would think, especially with the various electronic rights to be negotiated these days. I think every writer should familiarize themselves with the standard contract and clauses, but if I could get a good agent/manager (and needed one) I'd do it.

JR: Which do you prefer: publishing under your own imprint, or that of a separate publishing house?

TR: Any idiot with cash or credit can publish under their own imprint, but to write something that a reputable publisher likes and is willing to publish is an achievement to be proud of. Now, if you self-publish and get a distributor AND make sales, then that's terrific, but it takes a lot of energy that could be used for writing.

JR: How do you go about setting up your own in-store signings?

TR: i. Scope out the store. Does it seem like the kind of store your readers would frequent?

Would your steam-punk-biker mystery readers shop for books at Everyone-is-Beautiful Book Shop?

ii. Introduce yourself to the person in charge of consignments. Make sure you have a

fresh copy of your book you can let him or her have for consideration. Don't worry, it'll probably end up part of the shelf on the stock, not being a free hand-out.

iii.Once my book is on the shelves in the store I will either email or drop by to set up a

signing. Carry your date-book, calendar, PDA with you so you can book your signing right there on the spot. Being prepared makes you look more professional. Also make sure to give yourself enough time before the signing to have any materials you'll need done. Materials? Banners, signs, bookmarks, postcards, giveaways...

JR: How is Stand Up and Succeed doing? How do you keep up interest in the book and promote sales?

TR: It's not doing well, but sales reflect my efforts. Realizing that it has a very specific (small) readership, I'm now using it more as a calling-card and appreciation gift. Because it espouses my philosophy on just about everything, I once used it as a resume and it actually got me the job. I will still do a signing every few months, just to keep my face in front of the public and the booksellers.

JR: What advice would you give to someone wanting to sell their books through their own website?

TR: Don't print a lot of stock, unless you're going to go all out with marketing/advertising. And don't spend more on advertising etc. than the book will bring in sales. Have another outlet for your books, like Amazon. Now, if your book is tied directly to your business (Investment Broker/"The Ten Best Investments of the 21st Century"), then have excerpts from the book on your website, any testimonials you've received and, of course, a secure way for readers to either purchase the book directly on the website or to at least order them by email. For a start, study the websites of publishers who are selling on the web and model your site after the best parts of theirs.

JR: What inspires you to write?

TR: The world around me. Really. Dreams, books/articles I've read, shows watched, life experienced. It all comes into play along the way.

JR: How do you get around writers' block?

TR: I have many (many many) projects on the go and all in different stages of development, so if I'm not in a writing place, maybe I'm able to work on a cover design, or a book layout, or the interior artwork for a children's book. And if that doesn't work, get out, take a walk, go to a movie, have dinner away from your in-home office. But remember to take a notebook or voice recorder just in case inspiration hits suddenly. Writer's block for me really only comes when I try to remember something I thought of earlier but can't, and get hung up on it because I didn't write it down.

JR: What are five things on your bucket list?

TR: (in no particular order)

i. Ride in a hot air balloon.

ii. Have a publisher like one of my stories enough to buy it and first look at the sequel.

iii. To spend a few weeks/months writing and sketching in and around Paris & Venice.

iv. Swim with dolphins & pet a tiger (and live to tell about it!)

v. Take flying lessons.

vi. A book signing in San Francisco.

JR: In one sentence, what impact has your life had on the world?

TR: I like to think I've made a few more people smile, laugh and think.

Thanks, Tim, for a wonderful interview and for being THE BEST SLUSH PILE READER EVAR!!

Big Heart, Big Smile, Big Voice: An Interview with Emerian Rich, Dark Mistress of the Podosphere

2010-03-06T09:12:00.005-07:00

At a diminutive 5-foot-nothing, Emerian Rich remains a force of nature not to be trifled with. This amazing lady is one of the friendliest, most enthusiastic podcasters on the 'net, and she spins the meanest vampire story out there. In addition to being the hostess of the wildly popular Horror Addicts podcast, she is also an accomplished artist and novelist. Her current offerings include the recent Night's Knights publication, Artistic License, Dusk's Warriors (the sequel to Night's Knights), as well as Star Struck and Sweet Dreams, which she presents under the author name of Emmy Z. Madrigal. One of her short stories will also be included in an upcoming anthology to be released by Dragon Moon Press.

I met Emerian through Podiobooks.com, and was delighted to find someone so talented and encouraging of her fellow podcasters. She recently agreed to be featured on this here blog, and answered a few questions for those of us curious about the Dark Mistress of the Podosphere.

JR: How long have you been podcasting?

ER: Since June 2007.

JR: How did you get into podcasting?

ER: I had been recording my books for some time for my husband and me. I didn’t know other people might like to listen as well. When my husband told me other people were doing it online, I jumped at the chance to get my work out there.

JR: What attracts you to the gothic and vampiric?

ER: Darkness and the creatures of darkness have always intrigued me. The beauty of the full moon casting light onto a savage sea... The power of black wings against the moonlit sky… The serenity of a graveyard just before dark… These things make me happy! There’s also a sort of freedom that these powerful beings have that I envy. To be able to go anywhere on the globe, to meet whomever you choose, to sleep in!

JR: What were you like as a kid?

ER: I was a total tomboy. I beat all the boys at arm wrestling and sports. I grew up poor, in mostly rich neighborhoods, so I had to do something that would make me valuable to them. Don’t ask me about sports today, I don’t follow them at all.

JR: The cover art for Night's Knights is kickass. How was the image generated?

ER: Yes, that cover is awesome! I was very lucky to run into the artist, Christen Kojnok, right before I went to print. She is the photographer and the model. You can find out all about her at: http://christenkojnok.com/ I’d like to say it was created by magic, but I’m sure it had something to do with photoshop. Christen has a lot of beautiful art. I just wish I had projects enough to use them all!

JR: Tell us about the print version of NK. Are you satisfied with your publishing experience? What has been wonderful about it? What would you change?

ER: I love my book Night’s Knights. It was really hard work and a learning experience, but I wouldn’t change any of the hurdles I went through because they taught me to persevere. Next time I will know how to format correctly the first time and will understand the steps I must go through. The most awesome part is seeing my name on a beautiful book like that. Sometimes I just stare at it. Is that really my book?

JR: How long does it take you to generate one show? What software program(s) would you recommend to someone who was just starting? What kind of podcasting rig would you suggest?

ER: I led a whole panel on this in Second Life and it can been seen on line here: http://emzbox.ning.com/video/video/listFeatured I would recommend anyone serious about podcasting to watch these videos because we take the beginner through 5 steps that will let them understand and determine if it’s right for them to pursue. My show HorrorAddicts.net takes about 4 hours prep, 2 hours taping, 4 hours editing, and 2 hours posting/promoting. So that’s about 12 hours for every episode, and that is only because I have been doing it so long. This is not something one would take on unless they love it! Novel chapters can take more or less time depending on which way I will be podcasting it and if I am having anyone else do voices.

JR: Do you do public appearances? Are any coming up?

ER: Yes, I do. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, so if you have an event you’d like me to come to, please let me know. I’ve done cons, readings, I’ve even sold my books at concerts! The next con I will attend is Baycon. You can find out more about that at http://www.baycon.org. For those who can not see me in person, I am on Second Life regularly. I just finished reading my book chapter by chapter there and I record Horror Addicts there every other Sunday at 9:30am PST. Come to my shop Quills to see the schedule of dates and featured authors! My shop is located in beautiful downtown Book Island.

JR: What are your fans like?

ER: It’s strange because you would think that my fans are just all a bunch of goth kids like me. But, I actually have a wide range of listeners/readers that include every age, every walk of life, and every religion. Most people are confused when I tell them I have Christians listening to my book. Yes, it is a horror book about vampires, but I think the heavenly theme draws them to it. I was raised by ministers, so it’s not a stretch that the ritual of religious life bleeds into my writing. I’ve been told, that’s what they find appealing. For the horror fans, they love the vampire battles and the bloody gorey stuff. You could say there’s something for everyone.

JR: How do you find time to do it all?

ER: I have no clue. I have a full time job, a four year old, and this big writing career that comes at me 24-7, 100 miles an hour. I use my time wisely, try to budget time for every project I have going and hope that my emails don’t get too piled up. Thank goodness for holidays and weekends or I would never catch up!

JR: What projects are you working on now?

ER: HorrorAddicts.net Season 4 is in full swing. I’m finishing up my sequel to Night’s Knights, Dusk’s Warriors, and hope to have that podcasted later this year. I also have a third book to my Sweet Dreams Series which is a musical romance based on seniors in high school and their dreams for the future. That will be coming very soon. I’ve got a short coming out in April in an anthology from Dragon Moon Press, and another short will be airing soon in an Asia-inspired anthology. I just started a short I could not get out of my head based on the San Francisco 1906 earthquake. Waiting in the wings is Artistic License, a horror romance which combines modern life with a group Edwardian people trapped in a house. Geez… I’m tired already!

JR: What is the origin of your name (which is also kickass)?

ER: Thank you. Emerian is a derivative of my grandfather’s name Emerson, who I loved dearly. He was the one who inspired my imagination and he taught me how to tell stories.

JR: If you could learn anything, what would it be?

ER: Everything! I am a knowledge addict! I love researching and finding out little tidbits I can add to my writing. As far as things I’ll never be… I’d love to be able to play piano (my short fingers aren’t the best start!) or a linguist (my memory is really bad when it comes to remembering languages!).

JR: If you could be anything, what would it be?

ER: A writer. Just a writer. Not an employee of anyone else, not a two or three jobs at a time person… Just a writer, with time to write everything that’s in my head before I forget it!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Emerian Rich
Writer, Artist, Podcaster
http://www.emzbox.com
HorrorAddicts.net Hostess
dashPunk.com Staff Author
Sweet Dreams Series / Office Angst
Night's Knights print novel - October 2009

TimeStream: An Interview with J.D. Williams

2010-02-28T04:46:00.004-07:00

If everything you believed was a lie, could the truth kill you?

Nick Grant doesn't know what to think when a mystery woman warns him that he's in danger from the future. 100,000 years in the future to be exact. Suddenly, this small town college kid finds the fate of the world rests on his shoulders. If he doesn't solve the secret of the TimeStream, everyone he's ever known will be lost forever.

TimeStream is a science fiction novel available from Lyrical Press, Inc.

Here it is! I've finally gotten my hands on a spanky new copy of my buddy J.D. Williams' novel, TimeStream!!! It was recently released as an ebook, which is really cool, since that means I can read it in the dark with one hand while looking like I'm doing something technologically important in addition to feeling good that no trees were harmed in the making of this product and knowing that it is immediately available to everyone on the planet without shipping costs. Awesomeness all round.

I remembered the opening chapters of the novel from when I offered up a critique or two way back when J.D. and I were both members of the Critters group. And then – something new! I will finally get more information on that mystery woman who is tantalizingly mentioned in the book teaser posted on J.D.'s website!!

With renowned authors like Dave Duncan extolling the value of POD publishing, the New York Times being emailed daily to people's Kindles, the formation of the Space Puppet Books "consortium" and my own publisher ranting on the general lack of appreciation of ebooks as being a lot of hard work and just as worthy of respect as traditional print, it seems that J.D. is striking out into relatively new territory that is slowly but surely earning its place in the contemporary mainstream.

Being a new author myself, and still establishing my own presence, such topics interest me greatly, so I had a few questions for J.D. on his publishing experience.

1) Tell us about TimeStream.

TimeStream is a science fiction novel that doesn’t really start out clearly as science fiction. It’s a mystery at first. What’s going on? Why do strange coincidences happen around college student Nick Grant? Why does he believe he’s been seeing the same woman pop into his life every six and a half years, and why doesn’t she seem to be aging?

There’s a logical explanation to what’s going on — “logical” given that this is a science fiction novel, and anything plausible is possible. The fact the book is labelled “science fiction” gives a little away right up front. Hopefully I keep the reader guessing, and hopefully the reader is happy with the revelation of what’s going on. And that’s only part of the story. Once Nick learns what’s going on, he still has to save himself and everyone he’s ever known.

2) How long did it take you to write?

Oh, this one took way too long, years and years, but it’s an aberration. I was trying to write this one when there was too much going on in my life.

3) Were there any blocks that you had to get past? If so, how did you manage?

Blocks? Oh yeah. Life. Marriage. New job. Kids. I don’t think there were many of the normal writing blocks involved in TimeStream. And the only way to manage Real Life and writing is to persevere. Finding times to write far outnumbered the times I had any kind of writer’s block. Like I said, this one took way too long to write.

4) Describe for us your journey in finding TimeStream a home.

I first submitted the manuscript to traditional publishers in the 90s. This was so long ago, there were like nine major science fiction publishers that would look at sample chapters to unsolicited manuscripts. Some of these publishers aren’t even around anymore. The rejection was disappointing, but out of nine submissions, I received four personal rejection letters, which I eventually learned was a big deal. All four personal letters had a common theme: The idea didn’t grab them.

I worked on the opening more and submitted to a few smaller publishers and several agents, still with no success. During all this, the length of the manuscript went from 171,000 words down to about half of that. By 2000, I decided it would be better to take what I’d learned and apply that to my next novel, rather than keep reworking TimeStream.

So while I was writing novel five, and then six, and then seven, other things happened. Things like Lost the TV show and the novel The DaVinci Code became big hits, and people got into stories revolving around a big central mystery. People wanted to be patient and enjoy the process of investigation and discovery. Did that help TimeStream? I’m not sure, but, hey, the novel is published now. Coincidence? I dunno.

The best factor for me was in 2008. Renee and Frank Rocco launched Lyrical Press in New York. In 2009, a good writer-friend of mine suggested I submit something to Lyrical. Looking over their mostly romance catalog, I selected TimeStream because, in the end, it’s a love story, so I gave it one more quick polish and submitted. This was all done by email. I got a confirmation of submission receipt after a day or so, and a “we’ll get back to you in about two weeks.” I think it was two days later, maybe three, that I received their offer of publication. I was so busy emailing friends, I forgot to reply to Renee and say oh yeah, thank you, I accept the offer of publication.

5) What was the biggest thing you edited out of TimeStream?

The biggest thing was a subplot about illegal drug use. Nick’s friends, worried about his strange behaviour, wonder if he might be using drugs. So they go to talk to a student who’s supposed to be the biggest drug user on campus, always shows up stoned for classes, doesn’t socialize with anyone supposedly because he’s doing drugs all night. Turns out it’s all an act in case he can’t handle college. He doesn’t use drugs at all. If he fails, he wants to be viewed as a failure because of drug use, not because he wasn’t smart enough.

So now I have a novel set right after the wild and crazy 60s, and there’s no drug use mentioned whatsoever anywhere in it.

6) Would you have preferred a traditional publisher?

Traditional publishing is evolving, and I think I prefer being on the wave of innovation than on the shelf of stagnation. The way things worked out, TimeStream going ebook, is perfect. Print books don’t have the shelf life they used to. I remember as a kid seeing the same titles again and again on the shelves. At some point I would like to see TimeStream in print, but right now an ebook is just fine. And I think the price being less than a standard mass market paperback is more inviting to readers to take a chance on an unknown author.

That being said, a lot of Lyrical’s behind the scenes business is just like a traditional publisher. TimeStream had a copyeditor and a line editor, and there were responsibilities I had to get my manuscript as close to perfect as possible, all just like at a traditional publisher. So the front part of my publishing experience with Lyrical was just like a traditional publisher.

The end result, though, is an ebook that gets listed at set sites, such as Fictionwise and Amazon.com, unlike in traditional print publishing, where bookstore chains can choose how few, if any, copies to purchase for their stores. So to me, this is a better way these days for a new author to start building a readership.

7) How are you marketing TimeStream? Are there tactics which you find more effective than others? What do you find does not work?

Wow, I’m afraid I’m under-marketing TimeStream so far. One friend keeps chiding me to update my website and create a TimeStream page and do a TimeStream book trailer. I guess once TimeStream was picked up, my mind switched to “write the next book” mode instead.

I might be taking a too analytical approach to marketing an ebook, but I’m looking for things that will put my book title or my name in front of potential readers. It’s vital to have an author’s website, but who’s going to come by that by chance? So I’m concentrating on things that will find potential readers, not just sit there hoping readers will find it.

(Jen's Note: Despite "under-marketing", TimeStream has been in the top 25 recent science fiction bestsellers on Fictionwise.com for the last three weeks, including hitting as high as number 9 for one week!)

Posting on message boards is good. And I’m doing interviews like this!

One marketing idea I’m pursuing is writing short story tie-ins.

I have a short story coming up in an anthology from Dragon Moon Press that concerns a future technology called Remote Eyes, where computer connections are placed inside people’s eyes to take the place of conventional monitors, so that they can see data displayed seemingly before their eyes. The short story is a crime drama, but the concept of Remote Eyes is the basis for my sixth novel, which I will have re-edited soon. The theory is, readers will see this story and hopefully that will spark interest in the novel.

For an upcoming novel, tentatively titled Dilation’s Ripples, I already have plotted out several related short stories. One is already written, and another is nearly finished. I’m going to send those around as I work on the novel itself.

Of course, each story published gives me the chance to add a short bio, which will include “author of the novel TimeStream” and “please visit my website.”

Now, because TimeStream depends a lot on what its secret is, it’s just about impossible to write a related short story without giving away the secret of the TimeStream. But if I should ever do a sequel to the novel, that would open up all kinds of TimeStream short story possibilities.

So short story tie-ins are good, but the obvious problem is, you can’t simply say, “I’m going to write a short story” and it’ll be published.

8) Did you have an agent for this sale? What are your views on agents in general?

I did not have an agent for this sale. Will I want an agent down the line? Possibly.

This may actually be a good time to be a beginning author, because small publishers are doing innovative things, getting ebooks on the market and in front of a lot of potential readers, and you don’t need an agent to approach small publishers.

One thing I would want to consider down the line are international sales in foreign languages. This is one area an experienced agent can really help you out.

9) I love the cover art. How much input did you have into the design?

The cover is by the wonderfully talented Renee Rocco. Lyrical asks for general author input, what you would like to see incorporated into the cover, and from there Renee generates something that takes into consideration the author’s preferences and marketing realities. I mentioned the Ascendant, a key character in the novel, and I got an Ascendant on the cover. The pose, layout and type design were all Renee’s.

After seeing the cover the first time, I asked for a couple of tweaks, all of which diminished the cover’s effect, so I had to send Renee an email that began, “Renee is always right, Renee is always right.” We went back to almost the same design as what she had first sent me.

10) Is there anything you would have done differently?

Nope, not on TimeStream.

Like I said, the stars just seemed to align on this one. I wrote a book that I couldn’t manage to sell previously, tastes may have changed, Lyrical Press came into existence, a friend urged me to submit to Lyrical (thank you again, Manda!!) and now TimeStream is published. I can’t complain.

11) What's next for J.D. Williams?

Well, in between short stories here and there, and book trailers, Remote Eyes is the next big project. After that, it’s Dilation’s Ripples, my first project to be intended as a trilogy. It’s sort of Firefly meets Battlestar Galactica. I had started it once, but put it aside when I thought it was too much Battlestar Galactica. But after a little plot tinkering, it’s now an adventure with some serious underlying themes that show what I hope are some new wrinkles to time dilation, in addition to delving into some troubling aspects of human nature.

Also somewhere in here I hope to complete a heroic fantasy novel I started a while ago. Being mainly a science fiction writer, I couldn’t get myself to accept magic as ever happening, but once I came up with a science-based system of how magic might occur — and I’ll admit, it’s farfetched — I came up with a story I liked. But so far it’s really long, and it’s not even completed yet. Why do fantasy novels always run long? That’ll get worked on sooner than later.

And who knows? Maybe there’s a sequel to TimeStream down the road too.

Jennifer, thank you for taking the time to interview me! I plan to return the favor soon!

Man Behind the Scenes: An Interview with Michell Plested

2010-02-15T15:27:00.003-07:00

I first met Michell Plested (call him "Mike", if you want to avoid making him cringe) at ConVersion 2009, where I had been on a book marketing panel with a group of friends. We had included podcasting as an essential tool for reaching our target audiences. The name of a particularly useful website had escaped me and I was about to start turning beet red when someone in the audience supplied me with the answer.

"Podiobooks!" came the kind voice. That had been Mike, who came up to the panel afterwards to introduce himself. I realised then, that I had seen him before, this quiet presence at earlier cons, usually engaged in conversation somewhere in the dealers' room. It turned out that Mike knew much more about podcasting than I did, and probably should have been on the panel himself. He is the 'caster and author behind the Irreverent Muse website and the Get Published podcast, wherein he looks "at writing from an amateur's perspective". In my view, Mike seems to be anything but irreverent. When asked what sort of mythical creature or hero he'd be, I found his answers to accurately reflect how he came across in real life: either a griffin or Wesley from the Princess Bride. A computer technologist and self-described perfectionist, he regularly interviews published authors about their craft and serves it up bi-weekly. In his spare time he writes and releases episodes of the comedic Galaxybillies. Like many of us before (and still to come!) he would also like to see his fiction in print.

I decided to ask Mike a few questions, to give him a chance to distil his own perspective on the writing world, and be the interviewee for a change. As can be seen below, his views are sage, well-balanced, and in my opinion, very useful for a beginning writer trying to establish a foothold in the publishing world.

JR: What is at the core of your inspiration/reasons to write?

MP: Writing is my escape and my hope. I love creating and telling stories. Writing lets me do both.

JR: What hobby/volunteer activities are you engaged in with the Calgary writing community? How did you get into those?

MP: NanoWriMo every year (since 2006), writing my blog, writing [and producing] my podcast. All of these activities started with the group blogging site "StartingWriteNow" which I was invited to join in 2005. I’ve also been involved as a volunteer at the Calgary Young Writer’s Conference for the past five years. I got into that through my daughter. I volunteered the first year she attended and I’ve gone every year since.

JR: Agent or no agent? What are your views?

MP: I think an agent is essential if you really want to make a career (or a well-paying hobby) out of writing. The first book or two probably doesn't need to be agented just so you, the writer, can get exposure to the entire process.

JR: Favourite book/comic as a kid? What made it special?

MP: Favorite books - too many to list, but everything by Anne McCaffery (especially the Dragon Riders of Pern). Comic books: Green Lantern, Legion of Super Heros, Iron Man, Teen Titans (I could go on like this for a while).

JR: Critiques: how do you perceive them? What advice do you have for people writing them or receiving them?

MP: Critiques are necessary both from a writing and a receiving perspective. I would suggest that people writing critiques not focus on the nitty gritty rules of writing so much as the story itself and always try to be positive. When receiving them, remember that the person who wrote the critique is giving you his/her time to provide the feedback. And feedback is GOLDEN! You can never get too much. You don't have to follow the critique, but it helps to understand how others see your work. Treat it as a positive thing.

JR: What sorts of things do you like to see/not see in a novel?

MP: Good characterization and dialogue are more important to me than extensive description of setting although I am working to buff that up too.

JR: What is your philosophy in approaching a publisher?

MP: Treat a publisher as a professional, learn what they are looking for and try to create a friendly relationship with him or her. Help the publisher if you can.

JR: How long does it take you to write a novel? Do you have a particular process that you go through?

MP: Tough question. My first novel (90K words) took 7 years. My second (50K) took three weeks . The biggest difference between the two (other than the amount of time) was I had the confidence I could do it with the second one. I like to come up with a story idea, decide who the characters need to be and work out how they would do particular things. Once I have that, I have my outline and I can write it. The characters usually deviate from the outline (they take me places I didn't expect) but come back to the approximate ending I expected. I try to write a little every day.

JR: Is there anyone in the Canadian writing community that you admire or would like to emulate for a particular reason?

MP: Robert J Sawyer because he has absolute confidence in his own abilities and is a HUGE promoter of new writers.

JR: Is your creativity inherited or are you a "first gener"?

MP: Inherited, I think although my ancestors expressed their creativity in different ways.

JR: How many of your works are currently sitting with publishers? Any good leads yet?

MP: I have a couple books out there right now. I just received a rejection but the best rejection one can get. It came complete with a page and a half of comments and suggestions with the added bonus that the publisher wants to see the revised manuscript.

JR: How is your podcast doing? Have you noticed any particular demographic picking it up?

MP: I've gone from 20 downloads in the first month (probably half were me) to where I've got well over 150 regular listeners (month 12). It's a slow process but it is coming. The demographic is aspiring authors for the most part. The GalaxyBillies story already has more than 50 listeners after the first month and I haven’t even started promoting it yet.

Good Luck to you, Mike, and I'm looking forward to seeing you in print!!

Con-Version 25

2009-08-23T21:17:00.011-06:00

My membership badge. Idn't it gonna look cool hanging from my lab coat?-------------------------------------------------------------->

One of the reasons I was happy to move to Calgary (aside from landing an awesome postdoc position) was the constant activity in the writers' community, especially for SF & F. Calgary is home to IFWA (the Imaginitive Fiction Writers' Association), EDGE Science Fiction & Fantasy, and for a time my own publisher, Dragon Moon Press (a partner of EDGE). Each August, the Calgary Science Fiction and Fantasy Society hosts Con-Version, which as you may have surmised from the title of this posting, is now in it's 25th year.

This year, the theme of the convention was SteamPunk, which as you can imagine, brought out some very intricate costumes, and was also heavily geared towards the craft of writing. The guests of honour included Tanya Huff (Blood Books), Terry Brooks (Sword of Shannara), and Robert J. Sawyer (Neanderthal Parallax).

I'm not familiar with Tanya Huff's work, but was encouraged to see that a writer as prolific as she is has a book out from EDGE, which will also be releasing one by Dave Duncan (The Alchemist's Code). One can't help but be encouraged by seeing one's own publisher going up in the ranks!

Robert J. Sawyer has always been a prolific speaker and teacher, and this year he really impressed me with what I consider to be as great a contribution to Canadian speculative writing as his own works: the way he encourages and nurtures others. In one of his Saturday morning panels, he bolstered the confidence of many budding authors by pointing out in the audience all the new/undiscovered talents sitting there; he knew them all by name and could easily recite their successes from memory. The message was that all of us could make it happen.

He also confirmed something I've been futilely insisting on for years. According to him, too much detail can detract from a story. In his words, the more you over-direct, the less interactive the reading experience is. For example, if a woman is described as beautiful, the reader will fill in his own image of that beauty. If the author gets carried away with the detail, the reader may not find those details in line with his or her own ideals and the impression is ruined. (Thank you!!!)

It was also quite the thrill to actually see Terry Brooks in person - how many of us went nuts over the Shannara series in junior high?

As for us little people, I was very happy to read for the first time in public, an excerpt from my upcoming novel (from Dragon Moon Press), Wicked Initiations. I had a small audience, but considering I'm relatively unknown, it was very encouraging that some complete strangers showed up. When I was done, I received the best compliment I've ever gotten in my life, when Barb Galler-Smith (Druids) said to me, "Jen, you are one sick puppy!" (That was exactly the reaction I was going for!)

My friend Tim Reynolds (Stand Up and Succeed) started off Sunday morning with "Your Con-Version wake-up with Bongo Boy Tim Reynolds: Performance Reading and Live Recording of The Cynglish Beat". Immediately after that, we sat on a panel with childrens' author Simon Rose (The Heretic's Tomb), where we discussed "Promoting your work in the 21st century".

I was also pleased to see several Canuck writers, including Nathalie Mallet (The King's Daughters), Hayden Trenholm (Steel Whispers), Lynda Williams (Okal Rel Universe) and up-and-coming novelist and podcaster Michell Plested.

If all goes well, next year should be even more interesting. I'm hoping to have 4 or 5 things out to promote, so keep your fingers and toes crossed for me!

The Case of the Disappearing Words

2009-03-04T21:45:00.012-07:00

(Simon Rose is a children's author who lives in Calgary, AB, Canada. He has written six books, gives many appearances at schools and presents writing workshops for adult authors. He is also a contributor to The Complete Guide to Writing Science Fiction: Volume One, published by Dragon Moon Press. You can connect with Simon on Facebook, MySpace, or www.simon-rose.com.)

I came into the lab early one morning, hoping to get a few experiments started before lunch, which can be a challenge on the best of days as things don't always turn out the way I hope they will and science can be an unpredictable thing. As I donned my lab coat and got things started up, I recorded what I was doing in my notebook so that I could look it over later and hopefully interpret my results in some meaningful way. Halfway through the morning, I looked back through my notes and noticed what I had written didn't make sense.

"Hmm. Perhaps I should have had more coffee this morning," I mused, trying to correct the last page. When I flipped a few more pages back, I realised the problem was much more serious. Half a page of my notebook was completely blank, and as I watched, another word just vanished, making a little pop and spewing a small cloud of ink into the air.

"This can't be!" I exclaimed, and wrote a few more words on the newly blank page. They promptly disintegrated, this time a little bit faster. When I rewrote the words a third time, they were cast from the page almost angrily.

I knew I needed expert advice. I couldn't continue to do experiments without recording the results, as that would be a complete waste of time. I needed someone who knew the English language better than anyone else, and that would be someone from England, where they invented English in the first place. I went to talk to my friend, Simon Rose.

According to his schedule, Simon was to read one of his books in the children's section of the Crowfoot Library that afternoon. Knowing how careful Simon is about his work, I was fairly certain he would be there early to set up and make sure everything was perfect before the reading would start. As I drove there from the lab, I saw something rather strange developing in the sky over the library. At first I thought it was a trick of the light, but then, reasoning that it was much to early for the sky to be changing colours thought that something even more serious must be going on, because even though the weather in Calgary can be unpredictable, rarely does one see a large, purple vortex churning up the sky!

I pulled into the parking lot and raced to the library entrance, wanting to warn the people inside, but when I pushed through the glass doors – I found the library eerily empty. Where was everyone? Had they disappeared like the words on my page? Where was Simon?

I made my way to the children's section and saw that an armchair had been set next to a table, on which Simon's books had been displayed, as well as a sign that read, "Author reading today! Meet Simon Rose!" Next to the table were Simon's briefcase and his left shoe. So he had been here! But where was he now?

A strange, intermittent hissing sound started up behind me. Ominous, electronic, it sounded at the same time as a flickering light that cast weak shadows over the table and armchair. I slowly turned to find myself staring at one of the library catalogue terminals that appeared to be trying to turn itself on. Then, the screen came to life, but it didn't invite me to search for books. It showed me the image of an old man's face, flickered to the outside of a castle, then the entire screen turned into another vortex, which sucked me in.

"Help!" I shouted, trying to grab onto something so that I wouldn't become lost in the swirling mists within the computer screen, but it was too late. I was tumbling helplessly through the dark winds until I felt someone grab my hand and pull me out. I found myself sitting on a cold concrete floor with my left shoe missing.

"I hate it when that happens," said Simon, casting an annoyed look at my left sock. "Must be a problem with the dimensional transfer relays."

"The dimen-hawa-what?" I inquired.

"Dimensional transfer relays. I use them all the time to research my books. They allow me to travel through time and space so that I can observe events first hand and make sure I get things right. Here, let me help you up."

Simon helped me to my feet, then went to over to some video screens which seemed to be hooked up to several security cameras. He had quite the lair, complete with holes in the ceiling for fireman poles, complex computer equipment, a Nintendo Wii, a wine cellar, and the slickest, dark blue PT Cruiser I had ever seen. It was so blue it was difficult to see, and it had wings on the sides with jet packs and torpedo launchers.

"What is this place, Simon?" I asked.

"It's my transdimensional junctional nexus node. I know that term sounds redundant, but when you consider the overlapping of the multiple universes that's required for it to work, and the 14-D model used to describe it, it becomes obvious that that's the best way to describe it."

"O . . . K." I had dropped calculus after first year undergrad, having been unable to follow it. Thus, I had no idea what Simon was talking about now.

"Simon," I began, "several words have gone missing from my notebook, and then I saw this great, big purple vortex over the library, and everyone inside was gone. Do you know what's happening?"

"Yes, it's the work of my arch nemesis, the nefarious Dr. Samuel Johnson."

"The man who wrote the dictionary?"

"The very same. We became literary rivals during one of my research trips through time, when I went to research the year 1756. I should have known back then, that he had written the Dictionary of the English Language to commandeer English as we know it today. I couldn't foresee that it would lead to him having control over every word in existence." Simon pressed a button at the bottom of one of the screens, and the face of the old man I had seen on the library catalogue computer appeared. "There he is," said Simon, "and this is his castle." He pressed a second button, and the creepy looking castle I had seen before also appeared.

"But what about the purple vortex? And all the people in the library?"

"Oh, not to worry. I've transported all the people to safety, and the vortex is mine. That's how I travel between dimensions. What we really need to be concerned about is what Dr. Johnson is doing to our words! His first attempts to mess things up was by convincing Americans that it would be a good idea to stop doubling consonants before adding suffixes in some words, but not all. 'Signalling' is now 'signaling', same as 'traveled', but 'stopped' still has two 'p's, and the 'u' has been taken out of almost all the '-our' words except for 'glamour'. It's how he seeks to confuse us. But it didn't work. Both the Americans and the British are completely secure in their spelling, and only the Canadians are confused, which hasn't done much to affect the world economy. He's taken it further now, determined to mess us all about, and has gone into actually making the words disappear!"

"You can do that by writing a dictionary?"

"If you also have a transdimensional junctional lexiconal nodal derectifier, you most certainly can."

"I see."

"Well, we've got no choice. We'll have to storm his castle!"

"We?"

Simon ignored my confusion and opened a copy of The Emerald Curse. "Karakor!" he called. "We've got a mission. Meet us at Johnson's castle, and bring the pen!"

A demonic green hand arose from the pages of the book and gave a salute.

"Right, Boss!"

"You too, Isabella and Luke!" Simon tapped on the covers of The Heretic's Tomb and The Clone Conspiracy. "Isabella, bring the resurrection amulet, and Luke, we might need some clones!"

"Oh dear," I said. "This does not sound good."

"Well we've got the stuff," said Simon. "May as well bring it along. Might come in handy."

We got into Simon's PT Cruiser and buckled up.

"I usually ride shotgun," said a gruff voice through the open passenger window. I looked over to see a dog talking to me.

"Not this time, Maggie," said Simon. "I need you to hold down the fort."

"Hrm, ruff," said the dog, before slouching off to play with the Nintendo.

Simon revved up the engine, fired up the rocket jets and punched a few buttons on the dash. The front end of the car tilted upward as a large door slowly opened in the ceiling. Simon put on a pair of sunglasses with all sorts of blinking lights and electrodes on them, pulled on a pair of black leather gloves with even more electronics and wires snaking out of them, and flipped up the collar of his black leather jacket, which had what looked like circuit boards imprinted on the underside.

"Does flipping up your collar give you access to those electronics?" I asked him, "Or does it protect you from evil signals being sent into your brain?"

"No," said Simon, "but it does make me look extremely cool."

The car rumbled up the launch ramp, then rapidly picked up speed until we shot out of the launch bay and into the sky. The rocket jets shot long bursts of fire, propelling us forwards, but not up.

"This thing doesn't actually fly," said Simon, "so we're actually just jumping over to the castle."

"How nice to know," I said weakly, wondering when the airbag on the passenger side had last been inspected.

We hit the road with a fairly rough bump, but otherwise remained intact without setting off the airbags. Simon hit the gas and we sped towards the castle at alarming speed.

"Um. Simon. There's a wall in front of us," I said. "A really solid looking one."

"Yeah," said Simon, grinning. "I've been wanting to try this for a long time. I don't get to drive like this in Calgary."

He flipped open a cover on the stick shift and pressed a red button that was underneath. A volley of eight rockets shot out from under the car wings and blasted a gigantic hole in the wall. We sped through the dust, not waiting for it to clear so that we could see where we were going and crashed into a wall of books. Simon floored the gas pedal, reversed and spun the car around so that we were hurtling down a brick-lined corridor before the books fell on us. At the end of the corridor was a large, steel door that looked reinforced with other bands and bolts of metal, with the words "Secret Laboratory of Dr. Samuel Johnson. Do not enter!" stencilled on it in red paint.

"Are we going to shoot through that too?" I asked, wondering if Simon would let me fire the missiles.

"Nope. Out of explosives."

We skidded to a stop outside of the door and got out of the car, me with one shoe still missing. Simon, I noticed, had on a very nice pair of black leather boots with large buckles up the side of the legs. He pressed a series of buttons on the side of one of his gloves and waited patiently while it made several beeps and chirps.

"I'm just letting my gloves hack the door," he explained.

"Simon! Come in, Simon!" came a tinny-sounding voice from somewhere. Simon pressed his fingers to one ear.

"I read you, Isabella. What's your status?"

"You killed Karakor with that explosion!"

"Well, use the amulet to resurrect him! Then tell him to draw in a door for us with the emerald pen so that we can get in. I don't think my hacker codes are working."

"Right, Boss!" came a gravely voice. Karakor must have already been restored.

A wooden door magically appeared at the bottom of the steel door and we opened it and ran through. I nearly screamed in fright as I saw that Dr. Johnson had transformed his body into that of a sixty foot tall scorpion, his eight legs tapping restlessly as he scurried in front of us, and ten little boys were trapped in his two front claws. Several books lay open on the floor.

"Rose," he sneered. "Did you think that you were the only one who had control of an emerald pen? As you can see, I've drawn myself a new body. One far more powerful that you with all your pathetic little gadgets. And as for all of your little clone boys, they are useless. Useless! Mwah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! You can't stop me. I shall continue to destroy words!"

As I watched, Johnson's scorpion tail came down on a book page and destroyed another word. In all the books around his feet, several puffs of dust came up from the pages as the same word was destroyed on every page it had appeared.

"Wow," said Simon. "You're even more annoying than I remembered. Jen, pass me that football."

"Which one?" I asked, looking around. Simon sighed in exasperation.

"The soccer ball," he said, pointing at it.

"Oh, right." I handed it to him, and Simon elegantly booted it right into Johnson's face, better than David Beckham could have done. Johnson screamed in rage and dropped the clone boys, who immediately went into ninja mode and began duct taping rockets to the scorpion's legs.

"I thought you were out of rockets," I commented.

"I am. Those are Johnson's."

"Ah."

Simon punched more buttons on his gloves and set off the rockets, which shot Johnson right through the castle roof. Then, again pressing fingers to his ear he said, "Zortan, do you copy?" An unintelligible string of syllables came out of the earpiece. "Right," said Simon. "You've got incoming. Make sure it never lands. Thanks, Zortan. Next time, dinner's on me."

Simon turned to me and gestured that we should go over to one of the video screens. He tapped in a few commands and outer space appeared, but the planets seemed to be out of order.

"That looks different," I said. "Are the planets arranged differently because we've gone through your transdimensional whatsit?"

"Hmm. Partly," said Simon. "In this version of reality, Zortan and his fellow Martians decided putting the planets in alphabetical order would make it all easier to remember. Also, after they'd done it, they found that winter on Mars was a lot more pleasant. Not as toasty."

I thought about that for a moment. "That must mean Earth is really close to the sun," I said.

"Yes. No one really lives there anymore. Global warming, you know."

"I see. So there are Martians in this alternate universe?"

"Oh yes. There are Martians in all dimensions, they're just rather shy, so we don't normally see them in our reality. Look, there he goes."

I turned to the screen and saw a tiny flash of light on the Martian surface. A small white dot flying through space eventually connected with the struggling scorpion. After a few seconds the screen flared blinding white as Johnson was destroyed.

"Will my lab book be restored now?" I asked.

"I'm afraid not," said Simon. "Look, the words are still missing in these books."

"I can fix that!"

Karakor arose like mist from the ground, clutching an emerald pen in one hand. "I will rewrite the words in the master copy of Johnson's dictionary, and then, all will be restored."

"Thanks, Karakor," said Simon. "You're doing a fantastic job."

"I always do," replied the demon.

"Well, Jen," said Simon, turning to me. "Let's get you back to the lab, shall we?"

"Sure. But you've missed your appearance at the library."

"No I haven't. I'll just make sure I teleport the people and myself back into the library at the correct point in the space-time continuum, and all will be as it was before."

"You're awesome, Simon."

He just grinned.

World Fantasy Convention 2008

2008-11-08T20:33:00.014-07:00

The big weekend has finally come and gone, the great coup for Calgary and Canadian genre publishing, the World Fantasy Convention. Needless to say, I had a great time. How could I not, with so many wonderful people there? The venue was the Hyatt Regency in downtown Calgary, and while the hotel was very nice, getting there by car was a nightmare -- I had to wind my way around the C-Train, several incomprehensible one-way streets, construction, and believe it or not, a movie set. I'm still trying to find out which movie it was.

Thursday, October 30th:
This was the first day of the con. EDGE had hosted a pre-con party the night before, featuring a band called "The Plaid Tongued Devils", but I had worked all day, was feeling a bit under the weather, and chose not to attend in favour of being fully "on" for the actual event. When I picked up my badge and banquet ticket at the reservation desk, they also gave me a little red chip, which I was instructed to take to "the book room" across the hall. On surrendering the chip to the book room attendants, I was given a large bag full of promotional books. It was pretty heavy, and in my estimation, worth the price of entry! I had intended to listen in to some of the panels, but got so caught up chatting with friends I hadn't seen in a few years that it fell by the way side. I also went through the dealers' room and found my publisher, Gwen Gades at the Hades Publications booth. We ended up going out for supper with some other writerly types and by the time we got back, it was a bit late and the day had caught up with me, so I sat in on a reading by children's author Simon Rose, and decided to leave after that.

Friday, October 31st:
I attended many panels this day, and they were truly excellent. TOR publisher Tom Doherty spoke about how he formed his business, artists discussed how to craft soft backgrounds, David Morrell and David Drake spoke about violence in fantasy, and Barbara Hambly, Patricia McKillip, Irene Radford and David Keck talked about Medieval Mysteries. Stephen R. Donaldson was supposed to be on the "violence" panel, but for some reason did not attend any of his panels or readings. Despite that, I felt this was one of the best panels, as horror writer David Morrell has a fantastic sense of humor, and David Drake, a Viet Nam vet, had plenty to say about how his life experiences affect his writing. He was bluntly honest and impressed me greatly. David Keck (another David!) must be one of the funniest and most inventive people on the planet. If the writing thing doesn't work out for him, he could easily pursue a career in stand-up comedy.
Gwen treated us to dinner at a local chinese restaurant, then the evening was left open for the "Autograph Reception". I had assumed this was only for the big names, but it was actually for anyone who had signed up as an author, editor or publisher. So when I was finished running around getting autographs from my favourite authors, I managed to get in on the action myself - I signed and sold one book. Well, I might have had more success if I set up shop earlier, but getting Barbara Hambly to sign my copies of her books might have been a once in a lifetime sort of thing. This was the only part of the conference where Stephen R. Donaldson was sighted!

Saturday, November 1st:
I went to a few panels and readings on Saturday, but spent most of the day at the EDGE/DMP booth. Gwen and I officially signed the contract for my second book, currently called Wicked Initiations, which is the prequel to The Longevity Thesis. I was interviewed for the EDGEcast, had a signing "appearance" (no one came so I just chatted with Anita Hades - don't schedule these things too close to lunch!!) and then went upstairs for a multi-author book launch put on by EDGE and DMP. They served lots of gooey chocolate.

Sunday, November 2nd:
This was banquet day, when the World Fantasy Awards were presented. Tad Williams was the MC, and he gave this absolutely hilarious speech describing the history of fantasy writing. He changed everything to say all had evolved from cavemen situated in the North American continent, specifically the US, and tried to convince us that fantasy has never been written by any non-American ever. According to him, apparent Canadian fantasy writers are actually "geographically confused Americans", and Guy Gavriel Kay does not actually exist. The event was over by 3:30, so I spent the rest of the afternoon in the pub with some other writers, gossiping and discussing business. Good times.

New Story Posted

2008-07-30T23:33:00.002-06:00

Hi Peeples,

I've got a new short story posted at novel-storm.org, under Short Stories, Sci-Fi. It's called Jonas of Shotz. If you happen to take a look, feedback would be welcome.

Enjoy!

Novel Storm

2008-07-07T20:44:00.005-06:00

As a new novelist, I'm always looking for ways to promote myself as a writer, and one way to reach new readers is through distributing short stories in places where my target audience will hopefully see them.

I've been finding that it's much harder to get a short story accepted than an entire novel! In reality, all I need from my short stories, is for them to be seen. I really don't need the $20 - 50 that most magazines pay, I don't need to be spending as much in postage, and the rejection letters are disheartening to say the least.

The readers who do manage to find my short works are very encouraging.

Here's one comment from "Terry", who read "From Alpha to Omega" on MySpace:

"That was very cute and fun Jennifer, and I liked the ideas in it. Well done."

And this is from "Damon", who read "Karmic Intrusions" on Novel Storm:

"I enjoyed your story very much. Interesting concept, the sci fi with a micky spillaine detective type feel to it's narative quality. I haven't read a first person story in quite some time and it felt like I was listening to you tell the story. You are a very talented story teller and I look forward to reading more...very well done."

While I do care what editors and critics think of my work (very much so!) the readers are the ones I really enjoy connecting with.

Novel Storm is the mind-child of Matt Townsend, who invites other writers on the home page of his website with the following passage:

"Have you written a complete Novel, Childrens Book, Short Story, Poem or Script? Would you like others to be able to read it?

Have your creative talent displayed in an online virtual book and made available for people to read, turning the pages just as they would a physical book. This will surely create a fantastic buzz about your literary work in the forums. You can earn money from your posts and as always there is the prospect of having your work published. Some areas of the Novel-storm site are absolutely free; others may require a small nominal charge to become involved in a project.

Upload your submission now."

For short stories and poetry, there is no charge for uploading, but for illustrations and novel chapters, there is a submission fee of £2.50, however, "Novel-Storm will endeavour to present completed novels to chosen publishing companies in an effort to get the books published. In the event of a publication, 80% of the profit derived from the sale of the published novel will be distributed between the contributing authors and illustrators as advised by Novel-Storm in advance. The remaining 20% is retained by Novel-Storm." More information is available by clicking on the "Terms and Conditions" link at the bottom of the page.

I asked Matt what the traffic was like on his site, to which he replied, "We are 1 month old and have had over 340,000 hits to date." Not bad for getting my name out there as a writer.

Considering the ease of publication, and friendliness of the administrator and effectiveness of Novel Storm as a promotional site, I think I know where my future short stories are going!

From Alpha to Omega

2008-06-20T18:19:00.001-06:00

One of the most beautiful things in the universe, is the universe itself. It's a dynamic thing, a body in motion, at the same time silent, volatile, vibrant and peaceful. For the twelfth time, Ricca Lipski woke from stasis to regard the silent burning gases that were stars and nebulae, and bask in their cool irradiation while waiting for his body to come up to the right temperature. He wouldn't be able to make this journey more than another two times; he was getting too old and heavy. Using Greene's String-Slice Travel, the trip was shortened to a phenomenal 5 gigaparsecs each way, from one end of the "coiled spine" of the universe to the other, and he had been making it ever since he had been old enough to finally leave the university with his own fellowship. His mission in life was to measure the rates and directions of the expansion of the universe. The continual trips from one end of the "spine" to the other were to re-measure these points over time, which allowed him to make corrections to his calculations, so that he could painstakingly piece together a map the universe in four dimensions. He was hoping that he could extrapolate from his data, the position of all mass in the universe at time zero, essentially providing the final evidence that the "Big Bang" theory was either true or a pile of bunk. It probably wouldn't earn him a Nobel Laureate, but it might get him published in Science. The concept of the universe having a coiled spine was his own, and his theory essentially stated that either one end of the spine or the other, called the Alpha and Omega points, respectively, had to be the centre of the universe, the initial position of the primordial bolus of matter that had exploded in the Big Bang, as these were the only two non-moving regions in all of existence. Once he had completed collecting his data between these two points, he could finalize his map and present his model of the origin of the universe. The initial concept had gotten him his doctorate, but Omnus was the only journal willing to accept the speculative manuscript without the completed model. Not bad for a start, but it wasn't really his idea of a serious publication.

His body hit 35°C and he began shivering. This was the unpleasant part, but it only lasted as long as it took for the freighter to dock momentarily with the hotel port and eject his stasis pod into the waiting arms of the concierge.

The hotel staff were exceedingly friendly and saw him to his room with an excess of inappropriate patting and smiling. It was funny, he mused, when he was young and gawky, the ladies wouldn't come near him, and now that he was growing portly . . . well, perhaps now they saw him as harmless. Or a complete quack. He had been interviewed by the National Enquirer just before he had gone into stasis, and forgetting himself once they got him going on his subject, had given one of the best lectures of his life. He had earned a standing ovation from the reporter, and regretted not having delivered that speech to the Discovery Channel instead.

It was when he was dressing for supper that he first noticed the cracks. Branching upwards from his waist, he saw a deep red fissure running up his right side and towards his back. He was completely shocked. He hadn't felt a thing, and it didn't hurt now. Not convinced that it was actually there, he ran his fingers over it, and was dismayed when the edge of the crack erupted into a series of blebs that protruded from under the skin.

"I need a doctor!" he called, and began to curse the freighter captain for not having frozen him properly.

Forty-five minutes later, in the infirmary, the fissure was still in his side, but the blebs had retracted. The doctor tried again to seal the rupture in his skin, and finally, at her wits end, used an old fashioned needle and thread to sew it shut. Ricca lay there on his good side, with one arm lifted over his head, listening to the doctor mutter over and over again, "I don't understand why it doesn't bleed!" That, thought Ricca, was completely irrelevant. The doctor should be putting her efforts into understanding how it had happened in the first place, so that she'd make a good expert witness at the freighter captain's trial.

The stitches pulled a bit, but otherwise were not uncomfortable and did not stop Ricca from enjoying his dinner. It turned out that the concierge was his great-great grand nephew, who had planned a surprise 250th birthday party for him (he had been frozen for 185 of those years), and sprung it on him once he had escaped from the doctor. There were many bottles of champagne, many balloons, and many polite people who seemed truly appreciative of the series of mini-lectures he delivered between refills of his glass. It was nice to still have family around, especially at the Alpha end of the spine, since he would most likely finish his travels at this end and settle here to write up his findings.

"So tell me, uncle," said the concierge, whose name was also Ricca, "which way is the universe expanding? Towards the Alpha end, or the Omega end?"

"I really don't know just yet. And it may be that the universe is not expanding infinitely, but expands and contracts rhythmically in a sine wave pattern, not moving continuously in one direction. This was difficult to measure for the longest time until cryogenics and light speed travel became a practical reality. But now, I think I'm really close. You know, it seems strange, but either this contraction cycle is approximately 13 years, or the universe really is expanding in only one direction, and just swirling by the Omega point. Each time I am here, the universe seems to be expanding. Each time I am at Omega, the universe seems to be contracting. Or perhaps my perception is biased, and what I'm really witnessing is the universe flowing around the Omega point, which perhaps creates an eddy, like a motionless rock in a stream. It just looks like a contraction. Oh! Once I have this model put together, it will be so much clearer."

Young Ricca grinned appreciatively, genuinely enjoying himself. "Perhaps, uncle, you have named the endpoints of the spine more aptly than you intended. Perhaps Alpha is the beginning of the universe, and Omega is the end. All matter is flowing from one to the other."

Ricca was momentarily flabbergasted. "How can that be?" he asked finally. "We'd see an increase in the mass of New Portugal, as it sits right next to the Omega point. Or it would be showered constantly with incoming meteorites, or something. It hasn't been observed!"

Young Ricca smiled and nodded considerately. "Of course. I'm only a poet, not a scientist. I think of things differently."

At the end of the party, Ricca returned to his rooms and was feeling quite tired, even after having slept for the last 13 years. He went straight to bed without giving much thought to his evening routine, rationalizing that he could take care of it in the morning. His dreams were filled with accolades and brown nosing as he presented his completed model to the Intergalactic Coalition for the Study of Quantum Mechanics (ICSQM). And then he saw it. In his dream, he held up the holoimage of the 4 dimensional model, turned it in his hands, played it back and forth through time, and watched, fascinated, as the flow of the universe moved past the limits of his data, showing him the origin of the universe . . . and then the end of it. And then he was distracted, as the butt-kissing president of ICSQM came to shake his hand in front of all the news media, and handed him a book.

"What is it?" Ricca asked in his dream.

"Your biography," was the answer. On the cover of the book was Ricca's name, and the exact date of his birth, followed by the exact date of his death.

He woke and sat up in a cold sweat.

In the dark of the hotel room, Ricca counted on his fingers the number of years of life his dream predicted he had left and came up with the number 13.

"Oh, you're being silly," he told himself. There were more important images in the dream, and he prodded his memory for the model he had seen ever so clearly. He replayed it in his mind, moving backwards in time, and then suddenly, when it reached the end of his data, he forgot what he had dreamt. Annoyed at the lapse and his own morbid fascination, he replayed the dream the other way, almost terrified that he would remember how he had seen the universe end. He reached the end of his data . . . and forgot. What had he seen?? It had been almost like a convoluted funnel, turning inwards on itself, folding inside out, but then what???

"Ah well," he sighed, and lay down again. Two more trips and then he would find out the proper way, with real data. The stitches along his side were a bit itchy, but he supposed that meant the crack was healing. If it went away quickly enough, he might not even bother suing the freighter captain.

Then next morning, he was delighted to find that young Ricca had arranged access to the Astronet Processor, which had been improved greatly during his last stasis sleep. He uploaded all of his data to the processor and began to construct his model, based on what he had so far. Astronet had several marvelous programs, including internal extrapolation functions, that allowed him to correct several of his vectors, and predict the best points of measurement for his next journey. Finally, he plugged in the last of the predictive algorithms, and with great relish, clicked on the function that would construct a graphical representation of the universe (making certain assumptions about the missing data). It did indeed look like a convoluted funnel that turned inwards on itself at the narrowed, farmost end (the Omega point), but the actual shape was difficult to discern. He removed the 4th dimension, and the model became a "snapshot" that was no longer in motion. Then he "sliced" through the 3-D construct to have a look at a cross section. The first horrifying realisation, was that he had completely miscalculated the location of the Omega point. He had been off by fifty three parsecs. How could he have been so wrong? He irrationally hoped that the National Enquirer would accept his apologies for having given them incorrect information. Ricca corrected the location, then clicked on the "linearize" function, to straighten out the structure and allow him to see what it looked like in only two dimensions. The structure was entirely too simplified and didn't make any sense. Keeping it linearized, he re-layered the 3rd dimension, and then stared at the graphic in disbelief. The second horrifying realisation, was that the Omega point wasn't the end of the universe at all. In fact it wasn't even the end of the coiled spine. He had a sudden creepy-crawling feeling ice its way over his skin, as he thought about having to retract his thesis. Don't be silly, he told himself. It was just a prediction, and still publishable. The modification of the theory will just show that I've made progress. What was the Omega point then? From the linear image, the universe appeared to be a long tube, with regularly spaced, periodic bulges, and the Omega point was like a constriction, that in four dimensions, would force the tube to convolute and fold into another set of directions, and then it would continue on with its periodic bulging. The predictive algorithms made it seem very likely that there were more than one set of Alpha and Omega points, each set demarcating discrete portions of the universe, and acting as anchors to seemingly hold the entire universe in place. Wondering why he had never found these points before, and where they might lie in the universe, he marked his original Alpha and Omega points with bright green, the others in bright red, and allowed the structure to fold back into its natural convolutions. He then set the whole thing in motion. The coiled spine reappeared, and the other points were nowhere in sight. Ricca sighed in exasperation and reset the model so that it would start at the beginning of his data, and move forwards only. The universe expanded, seemingly flowing in various directions, all eventually turning towards Omega. Then the entire universe imploded at point Omega and all matter clumped into one mass.

"What?" exclaimed Ricca angrily. The model was no longer moving, and he thought that the program had crashed. He hit a few keys, and the message popped up: "Continue simulation?" He clicked "Continue" and waited. After a few moments, the mass exploded, just like the Big Bang, and the universe re-expanded into a little bubble.

"Oh, this is entirely wrong!" He ran his hands over his face, and then pulled back in a fright. Had he felt cracks on the right side of his face? "Ricca!" he called his nephew. "Ricca, what's happened to my face?" The concierge came at once and took his uncle to the doctor. Neither one of them turned to see that on the graphic simulation, the debris of the universe had moved aside to reveal a bright red dot at the point of the explosion's origin, and after a few moments, as the universe unfolded a bit further, a second red dot winked into existence, right at the proper location to form a coiled spine between itself and its partner. All matter in the predicted universe was expanding outwards from Alpha2, and through convoluted, non-linear motions, was moving towards Omega2. Then it cycled again, imploding at Omega2 and re-expanding at Alpha3. A little while later, the housekeeping staff sympathetically shut down the simulation and logged off Astronet.

In the clinic, young Ricca was trying to soothe his apoplectic uncle who was inventing several methods of freighter captain torture and dismemberment. Instead of stitching the cracks shut, the doctor had filled them in with temporary synthetic tissue (unfortunately she only had it in purple), and had ordered Ricca to stay put until she had determined the cause of his rupturing skin, and why it did not bleed.

"Please be calm, uncle. You don't know whose fault it is, if anyone's. Your health is the most important thing now. Don't think of things that make you angry."

Ricca sat up again and pushed aside his nephew's arms. "I need to make sure my probes are recording properly. I don't have time to sit around here! In a few weeks I'll have to make my next journey back to Omega."

"You're too close to your work, uncle. It's affecting you badly. Take a step back from it, and I'm sure you'll be fine."

Ricca stood tried to ignore that last statement. Of course he was close to his work. That was his whole life! That was what he was, right down to the very core of his being. He was prevented from leaving by the doctor, who had just returned from her lab.

"Dr. Lipski, you've got a very unusual condition," she said. "I've never heard or seen anything like it. The strange blistering that you described when the cracks first appeared, it hasn't disappeared at all, just internalized. Here, you can see it on your body scan." The doctor pressed a key on her wristband and a hologram of Ricca's insides shot out from projectors in the wall. Indeed, several bulges were seen across the simulated peritoneum and muscle walls of the abdomen. "They appear to be migrating from your right side to your left. I would like to try magnetic resonance to prevent this from getting worse."

"What would that do?" Ricca asked.

The doctor looked sheepish as she replied, "Well, essentially I want to try to push everything back into place. I think I can do this with magnetic forces. I know it's a bit alternative, but it's worth a shot."

After twenty minutes in the magnetic chamber, Ricca's wounds began to bleed. He called this out to the doctor, who seemed pleased.

"That's a good sign that things are no longer being pulled to the left," she called back.

After forty minutes, the temporary tissue patch had been pushed out of place, and the stitches on his side no longer pulled. It took only a few minutes more for the doctor to seal up the cracks by conventional means. She seemed both relieved and satisfied as she released him.

Three weeks later, his data and new calculations carefully stored in his media case, Ricca bade a teary farewell to his nephew. The next time they would meet the concierge would be in his late fifties, and the relationship would necessarily be different. He didn't tell his nephew this, but before getting into his stasis chamber (first class this time), he had fired off a message to his lawyer to begin proceedings against the freighter captain. Hopefully, there would be a settlement waiting for him the next time he was at the Alpha point, and he could buy his nephew some new suits.

Upon arrival at New Portugal, 13 years later, Ricca's stasis chamber was automatically re-routed to the secondary destination, Arbitan, three parsecs away. The transport captain duly logged the vital signs of his passenger before sending him off, and other than noting that the metabolic activity was a bit higher than it should be, there were no abnormalities.

Arbitan was a pacifist colony, and while they tried to keep their technology up to date, they felt a bit backwards in terms of worldliness, and thus were confused when they thawed out Ricca's stasis chamber and attempted to wake him up. The window plate was frosted up from the inside, which prevented them from seeing through it. A passenger was there all right, all the sensors said so, but there was a strange vacuum inside that made it difficult to lift the lid. Worried that he might suffocate, they pierced the gasket and equalized the pressure before manually overriding the locking mechanism. The chamber seemed empty except for a thin rod of some strange, compact material. They were about to contact the transport captain, and ask what he had meant to ship in this chamber, when the rod suddenly unfolded, and expanded from left to right into a human being: male, thin, about 25 or 26 and completely speechless. He didn't seem to know who or where he was. The documentation didn't help, it obviously had gotten switched. There was no way this boy could be Dr. R. Lipski, unfrozen age of 65. They ran the recording logs on the freezer which spat out a hologram outlined in green light, of a rather portly, older gentleman going through the freezing process. Over the course of the 13 year journey, cracks appeared along his right side, and his entire body pulled all the way to the left, the movement of pixels on the hologram seeming to flow through an invisible funnel, until they formed the thin rod they had seen on opening the casket. The simulation continued, showing that after the vacuum had been released, the pixels reappeared, and flowed outward from whatever unseen dimension they had been in, now moving towards the right until the new body had been formed.

"Well, I've never seen that before," commented the Arbitan mayor. "Must be some kind of new shipping technology that rejuvenates you as you sleep. We don't have anything like that! I expect we'll be needing to get our systems updated again."

"Orlan!" said his wife. "You've just been through an update. Remember the doctor told you not to become your work. It'll be the death of you!"

"Sweetheart," the mayor responded, "sometimes my work makes me feel like a new man."

THE END

The Best Free Software for Protecting your Computer

2008-06-13T21:10:00.003-06:00

Annoying as it is, having the larger corporations become more and more protectionist about their products is resulting in the beefing up the open source communities, rather than having the effect of getting the consumers to open up their wallets wider. It seems that making the Nerd Community grow ever more disillusioned is a good thing for the planet, and Collective Humanity thanks them, as they offer the fruits of their labours for free, undermining the efforts of the software giants and their money generating monsters. (Yes, I am referring to Vista, and BTW, I think the new copyright protection law will have the same effect in the entertainment industry, which could turn out very nicely for us small time content producers who would like to have all the disillusioned folks come our way. PLEASE download my stuff. I won't come after you for it!)

For the longest time, I used to recommend SpyBot Search and Destroy for eliminating unwanted spyware, adware, tracking cookies, and those sorts of things. While I think the work the originator is doing will generate him tonnes of good karma, there are two major problems with SpyBot these days: (1) Look alike programs that totally bugger up your system if you install them thinking you actually got SpyBot and (2) I'm very sorry to say this, but it just doesn't work that well anymore. I ran three different programs this morning, looking for whatever crap was slowing down my machine, and unfortunately, SpyBot performed the poorest -- it reported finding nothing, while AdAware (I just get the freebie, not the "Plus") and the AVG Free version 8.0 virus scanner found a whole mess of things. After clean up, my machine boots in about 1/3 the time it took before.

I also found that AdAware and AVG ran a lot faster, and are much more aggressive with their updates. In retrospect, I'll probably just use the last two from now on.

Unrelated to malicious code, I also have to mention the Open Office productivity suite, which is completely free, and does everything you would need Microsoft Office for, AND convert files into PDF format without having to purchase the Adobe plug in. Kudos to the community which produced that beauty as well.

Need Some Extra Cash?

2008-06-09T19:19:00.001-06:00

I don't think American Comedians need to worry about losing their jobs to Canucks:

The Perfect Nominee for Sainthood

2008-06-05T23:01:00.003-06:00

I think Prime Minister Harper should consider some special award for Mrs. Fearnall. You go, girl! Don't let anyone stop you! You are saving lives and there are many, many more of us behind you than against you.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/05/shaved-head.html#socialcomments

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080605/cancer_fired_080605/20080605/?hub=TorontoNewHome

Adult Food Allergies

2008-05-24T19:41:00.004-06:00

Food allergies and related irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) can be the most devastating things a person can experience in a lifetime. This is especially bad if you don't actually know what you're allergic to. Imagine being afraid to eat, yet still being tremendously hungry. Symptoms of food allergies usually include bloating and diarrhea, which can develop to such a great extent that it pervades into every aspect of your life and has a negative impact on work and social activities, as well as your health.

In my case, I thought I had lead poisoning or something. All my life, I had been able to eat just about anything without any problems. After graduating and moving to another city and buying a condo, all in the space of a year, some pretty nasty things started happening. First of all, I was chronically fatigued. Having just finished a PhD, I didn't find this unusual, attributing it to merely the effects of staying up late to read journals, and ignored it. I then began to develop IBS, but again, chalked it up to stress and figured I could live around it and that it would eventually clear up. I started paying attention when I got chest pains, frequent heart palpitations, blackouts and my hair began to fall out rapidly. That, of all things, finally made me go to the doctor, where I was diagnosed with iron deficiency anemia.

As can be seen on many anemia forums, taking iron supplements doesn't really work, and can worsen IBS. Also, elemental iron can build up in liver-damaging deposits. I wondered why this had happened to me so late in life and so suddenly, when it would have made more sense if it had been a chronic problem, or developed slowly over time.

I was determined to grow my hair back! Not to mention, kick my gut problems so that I would no longer be afraid to eat at a restaurant or go to a conference where I wasn't 100% certain of where the washrooms were. I am now a firm believer in dietary "cures" for problems such as these. Through controlling my diet, and keeping a food journal, I was able to identify which foods were making me worse, and avoid them, giving my gut time to heal. After it did heal, I'm happy to report that I can eat several of the things I had to avoid before, and the anemia is completely gone. In hindsight, here's what I think happened:

1) Incomplete digestion - This happened for two reasons. Stress can trigger the adrenergic responses of the autonomic nervous system, which is the "fight" side of the "fight or flight" response. This suppresses the "vegetative" side of things which includes digestion, specifically secretion of the enzymes needed for digestion. Secondly, because I was constantly in a rush, I would eat in a hurry and not chew properly. Chewing mechanically separates food, increasing the available surface area for digestive enzymes to work, and the motion of chewing sends signals to the pancreas, stomach and liver to begin secreting more enzymes. Prolonged time in the mouth also gives the salivary amylase time to initiate digestion of carbohydrates and starches.

2) Initial gut inflammation - I attribute this one entirely to stress. When there is something wrong with the body, the immune system kicks into high gear so that it can find the problem and repair it. This makes epithelial (skin) barriers leaky, to facilitate the movement of white blood cells through the body's tissues, as they hunt for the problem. The intestine is continuous with the outside skin, and therefore is also protected by a layer of epithelium that separates the body core (blood, bones, etc) from what is inside the gut (food, bacteria, etc).

3) Immune response to food - In order for the immune system to "see" foreign proteins, which they are programmed to destroy, the protein must either carry an archetypal pattern which the white blood cells immediately recognise (usually these proteins are bacterial in origin) or it must be presented to the white blood cells by another cell -- a process called "antigen presentation". A fully digested protein is converted into peptides that are three or four amino acids (the basic units of proteins) in length. Peptides need to be at least 7 to 12 amino acids long to fit in the presentation molecule (MHC molecules) that cells use to "show" foreign proteins to immune cells. If improper digestion is occurring, more larger peptides may be around to be "shown" to leukocytes which will subsequently react to them, leading to more gut inflammation. In an attempt to remove the offending substance, the gut will increase its contractile motions, leading to much unpleasantness and discomfort. The leakiness of the gut just makes the whole problem worse, as normally undigested food should just pass through the bowel with minor discomfort. Since there is increased permeability, there is greater opportunity for contact between the food and the immune cells.

4) Chronic gut inflammation - We have to eat, so the gut is continuously exposed to offending substances. Because the gut is continually trying to purge, absorption of nutrients goes way down, leading to problems like iron deficiency anemia.

5) The fix - Food journaling is where you write down everything you eat and how you felt afterwards. This really helps identify what to avoid. Chewing properly is also essential, and I believe the most important step in solving the problem. No alcohol, since it can strip the epithelium and make it even leakier. No working while eating. Focusing on the food also helps with your body gearing up to digest things properly. Absolutely strict adherence to a hypoallergenic diet for at least 6 months -- this gives your gut time to heal and restore the epithelial barrier, as well give your B-Cells time to settle down into memory cells, which is their less active state. Lots of fibre, which is broken down to butyric acid by bacteria in your gut. Although controversial, butyric acid is believed to force epithelial polarity, which is a state in which the barrier function is intact. Food rotation. Don't eat the same thing every day, since that would increase the probability of your immune system "seeing" it. If the food causes a little bit of inflammation, you might not notice it, but the leakiness has started, which may lead to a bigger problem.

6) The good news - Once the epithelial barrier is reestablished, it's again possible to eat foods that you reacted to previously, since they will pass through the gut without getting into the underlying tissue where the immune cells are lying in wait. If the immune cells don't see the peptides (now properly digested thanks to slower chewing and not reading scientific journals during supper time!) there is no inflammation, no diarrhea, and proper absorption of nutrients, such as iron. Yay! My hair has grown back, my resting heart rate has returned to normal -- abolishing chest pains, and I am no longer afraid to eat at restaurants or go to conferences.

7) Extra info - The trick to growing back hair after a nasty bout of anemia is to get your blood back. Iron is only one component, and if you were short of that, you were probably short of a couple other things, like vitamins B6, B7 (biotin), B12 and folic acid. I know, I know, biotin is in practically everything we eat, but if you're not absorbing it well, it's still a problem. If you have to take iron, Floradix has the least impact on the gut and doesn't taste too bad. However, if you want to avoid iron deposits in vital organs, using a cast iron skillet, eating lots of leafy greens, and combining your iron foods with a mild acid, like orange juice, works pretty good. Also, it's recommended to avoid calcium for two hours before and after eating iron containing foods, since the two elements can compete for absorption. Supplements can help in the initial stages, but like I said, I think dietary sources are best for long term management of the condition.

Adventures in Tarot

2008-05-03T10:48:00.007-06:00

I've heard from some friends that tarot cards are evil. I really don't see how this is so, as they are simply dead tree products, the same as a phone book. I side with the explanation that they simply allow a conversation to go on between a person and whatever unseen entities might have something to say. I figure that since the entities may be there whether I can see them or not, believe in them or not, or might be entirely a figment of my imagination, it makes absolutely no difference whether I speak to them or not. Thus it doesn't make sense to me to get worked up about tarot either way. No matter what I say or do, it changes nothing. So by way of introduction, I'm presenting the idea that if you're interested in them, great, if not, that's OK but be advised that I'm going to be blathering on about it for the rest of this post.

In terms of who or what you might end up talking to when using tarot, I think that's entirely dependent on which direction you throw out your question. Several tarot users simply ask "The Universe". Others use "Angel Cards" to ensure they only speak with the Divine. There are also cards with Jesus on them, or Elvis if that's more your thing. Still others make secular use of the cards, setting them up as a focal point for their own thoughts during meditation, thus carrying on a conversation with themselves. The selection of the deck probably has a lot to do with the sort of answers that come to you. For example, if one were to select the "Harmonious" tarot, you'd have equivalent thoughts when sending out the question. Likewise for the "Necronomicon" cards.

The basic idea behind tarot is that the images, colours and symbols on each card are meant to suggest an idea to the reader. These ideas are interpreted to form an answer to a question. That alone makes the practice very loosey-goosey and open to several explanations. May as well pick the one that suits you best.

Tarot in General: A deck of tarot cards consists of 22 cards that make up the Major Arcana, which are supposed to represent the stages in or aspects of a person's life, and four sets of Minor Arcana that have fourteen cards each. These sets are called "Cups" which usually deal with emotions, "Wands" that address creativity, "Swords" which are the challenges in life, and "Pentacles" which are associated with financial matters. Traditional tarot decks are based on the classic "Rider-Waite" deck, and follow the same system of symbols, colours and suits. There are many variations to this classic deck, so if you're new to tarot, I would strongly recommend picking up a set that comes with a book written by the author of the cards to help initially with interpretation of the images, since this can change from deck to deck. Apparently, once familiar with the deck, other meanings may come to you. I find that a bit arbitrary, but to each their own.

To do a reading, the cards are shuffled with the left hand, then spread out face down in a single line on a cloth. I don't know why, but the cards are not supposed to touch bare surfaces. A certain number of cards are selected and placed out on a spread. The selection is done according to which cards the reader feels attracted to. The selection of a spread is as important as the cards themselves, as certain ones don't have sufficient content to answer certain questions. A brief review of spreads can be found here.

Manufacturers: Tarot cards are usually very pretty, and I suspect some decks were made only to promote an artist's skills, and are not very useful for performing readings, as they seem to lack much of the usually symbolic and colour-related imagery. Many people collect different decks as a hobby. The main publishers of tarot decks are Lo Scarabeo, Llewellyn and US Gam es. In my opinion, the Scarabeo decks are the prettiest, but they have this annoying multilingual white border common to all cards that I think takes away from their mystique, and they are printed on rather narrow and thin cardstock. The Llewellyn decks are also on rather thin card stock, but the decks are a bit larger and the themes seem to be very carefully selected. I'll review one of theirs farther down. US Games produces cards that are wider than most tarot decks, and the cards are nice and heavy. They have many decks to choose from, some more appealing than others.

Buying the first Deck: I was at one of those body and spirit expos that have everything from chiropractors to Australian holisitic practitioners that use diggery-dos to blast negative energy from your body, and got it into my head that I would like to have a deck of tarot cards. One of the booths had a wide selection of cards, and the sales lady told me that you should look at several decks, and pick the one that appealed to you visually the most. She herself could not use tarot cards (they didn't work for her), but had to use angel cards instead. I didn't buy a set then, thinking I'd like to take her advice and look around a bit more. Surprisingly, I found a huge selection at Chapters, which had at least as many as the average new age store, and I found I liked the decks a lot more. The other surprise I got, was that it wasn't the images on the cards that attracted me, but rather how they felt in my hand. Out of about twenty sets, three seemed to be candidates: The Llewellyn Tarot, the Revelations Tarot, and the Sharman-Caselli deck. The Llewellyn and Revelations decks were both visually stunning, but I hesitated because of the card thickness, and the fact that I didn't really feel anything when I picked them up. I went with the Sharman-Caselli deck, because although it was all wrapped up and I couldn't handle the cards or get a good look at them, the package felt really solid and comforting in my hand. After I bought it and opened it up, I was appalled. The cards were set into an awkward sort of holder flap attached to the book cover, the backs of the cards were bright fuchsia, and there was a copyright notice on the backs which I thought detracted from the overall tarotiness of the cards.

However -- once I started playing around with them, I concluded that this was a fantastic deck for the following reasons:
1) The artwork is very neutral and straightforward. They denote an idea or message without any sort of bias. There is nothing threatening or creepy about it. The symbols are clear, relatively consistent from card to card and easy to read.
2) The card stock is nice and thick, adding to the durability of the deck.
3) The pink for the backs of the cards was probably deliberately selected, as it seems to infuse the cards with strong positive energy.
4) When holding the deck directly in my hand, the energy feels spherical, heavy, and safe.
5) So far, they seem to read consistently and accurately.
6) Once I cut off the weird card holder flap, it quit hitting me in the hand when flipping through the book, and I ceased being annoyed by it.

The companion book is also very good. The author takes you through one suit at a time and gives sample readings at the end of each chapter. You immediately get a feel for the strengths, limitations and flavour of each type of card before moving on. It also starts to become obvious that in order to get a complete answer, you need the complete deck, and the appropriate spread for the type of question being asked. The author also makes very few judgments on how the deck is to be handled, although I've read elsewhere that rose quartz is supposed to diffuse negative energy, and the cards have to be stored in a certain order, etc, etc, so I suppose all of that is up to the individual user. I did however, once feel a sharp mental poke to say thank you after I had finished and was putting the cards away, so presumably manners are important.

Buying the second Deck: The Sharman-Caselli deck does not deal with reversals, which is when a card is drawn upside down, changing its meaning. Aside from being absolutely gorgeous cards, the Revelations Tarot is drawn so that the meaning of the upside down card is obvious. My curiosity built after using the SC deck for awhile, but feeling something was missing, so I caved in to temptation and also bought the RT deck. Using these cards is an absolute pleasure. Although I felt nothing when I held the cards in the store, once they were unwrapped and held directly in my hand, the energy felt masculine, electric and somewhat spiky. The cards also had a funny herbal smell to them, and on reading the package insert, I assumed this was sage, since it's recommended to rub the cards with it to "cleanse" them. I don't have any sage, but I do have a few bits of rose quartz, so I figured I'd just put one of those in the little storage baggie the cards come with, and call it good.

The cards have a very unique surface texture to them. They feel oily, but when you take your hand away, there is nothing on your fingers. They are quite slick when you shuffle them, and they spread out almost like they are frictionless. Despite being so different, I get pretty much the same answers to similar questions as I got with the SC deck, frequently drawing the equivalent cards. The companion book is also very good. It doesn't inundate you with tonnes of information, it just tells you what you need to know to interpret each card, and I like some of the shifts in meaning that come with this deck, as it seems to make the interpretations more flexible, depending on the question asked. You also get a lot more "information" as the content in terms of colours and symbols is pretty much doubled in comparison to every other deck out there. One thing I really liked is that the Major Arcana are numbered, so that you can easily put them in order if that's how you choose to store the deck, and it makes it really easy to find the corresponding interpretation in the book if you can't remember the order of the cards. There are also two extra reference cards included to help you lay out common spreads and determine which card is supposed to convey meaning related to which subject.

Other decks of visual interest: I think these cards are extremely pretty, but would be inclined to buy them more for art collecting rather than for doing readings, as these decks seem to be lacking in symbolic meaning:
1) The Favole Deck
2) The Lunatic Deck
3) The Fenestra Deck
4) The Palladini Deck.

Conclusions: I think it's fun, but regardless of whether or not I get my "answers", what happens to me in life would probably just go ahead and happen anyway with out my knowing what those answers would have been. And since I am a fantasy novelist, for me this counts as research. So there.

I don't know what to think.

2008-04-26T09:53:00.004-06:00

I'm so confused. Does all this mean my little bubble has burst, or that I just need to adjust my perception of things?

Pagan Christ

Zeitgeist Movie

Bart Ehrman's Investigations

Jesus' birthday might be wrong

Maybe we're all pagans. Hmm . . .

25 May '08: More food for thought:

The Catholic View of all this.

Someone who took the time to check the details

Audacity!!!

2008-04-20T08:33:00.006-06:00

After NINE podcast episodes! NINE! After fussing and fretting about how to increase the dynamic range of my recordings and boosting the sound to noise ratio and blaming the microphone . . . Jen finally figures out that all she fricken needed to do was reboot the computer!!!!

How on Earth was I supposed to figure out that putting my machine on standby would mess up the microphone settings??!?!???!?! How!?!?!?

Anyway, this week's podcast is VERY crisp and I'm quite happy with it. For others who may have been experiencing the same problem, here's the fix:

1) Reboot!

2) Record!

3) Select a small portion of what is supposed to be background noise, then select "Effect", "Noise Removal".

4) Click on "Get Noise Profile".

5) Move the Step 2 cursor all the way to the left. If you don't, it makes your voice sound all underwater-warbly.

6) Remove noise! Done!

How quickly damage is done

2008-04-10T22:44:00.006-06:00

I always tell myself to factor in intent when I detect myself starting to feel slighted. Did the other person mean to offend? Were they aware that the action was offensive? If the answer is no, then the usually recommended course of action is to let it pass, but be ready with a gentle, boundary-establishing statement to prevent further hurt the next time -- one that does not offend in itself.

When angry, it really feels good to just cut loose and let the other person have it. This is *never* worth the momentary satisfaction gained. First of all, how well do you know that other person, and what they are capable of in terms of retaliation? If they took one blow from you in the past, how many more will they take? Unfortunately, such things have a cumulative effect. If a person is mean one day and nice the next, the effect of the nasty behaviour does not fade over time, and reset everything to baseline. Eventually the recipient of said anger will take steps to protect themselves. These steps may include removing themselves from your presence (if enough people do this, one is left with no friends), vicious retaliation, or bringing down a third party on your head. Eventually, through repeated strikes, people get the measure of one's character, and respond accordingly.

Secondly, what kind of world is it that we want to live in? Both courtesy and rage are contagious. It's not right for us to bring negative energy into the world. We do have to take responsibility for our actions, because we each have to live in the atmosphere we surround ourselves with.

Third, we never know where "news" of our behaviour will go, or how far reaching the consequences can be. Maybe the person we just mouthed off to is the favoured nephew of the boss, or has the ear of your boyfriend's mother. One never does know.

In a matter of seconds, a few harsh words can do irreparable damage and cost one more than is initially realised. Not everyone is strong enough to forgive a strike and take another (and another), because we are all entitled to protect ourselves in some way.

Photoshop Tutorials

2008-04-09T22:40:00.002-06:00

Donnie Hoyle from My Damn Channel has one of the best tutorials around:

He's got loads more helpful tips on YouTube.

Dear Tante Marianne

2008-03-31T19:05:00.005-06:00

Dear Tante Marianne,

It hasn't hit me until today. I'm sorry for what's happened to you. I hope you're not in any pain, or won't be for much longer.

I just needed to say, thank you for making so many Christmases wonderful, you were one of the good things in my childhood.

Thank you for being proud of me.

I miss you already. Safe journey.

Love,

Jennifer.

Wicked Initiations - Drawing Kyril

2008-03-29T22:49:00.010-06:00

OK, that title is still tentative, but I'm starting to like it more and more.

The first draft of Wicked Initiations, which is the prequel to The Longevity Thesis, was finished a few weeks ago, and has been sent out to the first round of test readers. So far, one of them tells me it's "superior" to LT, and other described it as "much better".

This is encouraging, especially since it's only the first draft. I'm hoping to add about 30k words, and still think I could polish it up a bit more. Anyway, while I wait for the critiques to trickle in, I've been indulging in one of my favourite activities, which is to make some little graphics to promote the novel later on.

The first one I've done is of the character named Kyril. She is an Aragoth who does not die in the surface-underground war, and becomes a central player in the formation of events that eventually lead up to the "birth" of Antronos, who is of course the protagonist in The Longevity Thesis. Aragoths are not natural creatures, having been created in the Desert using a mysterious animation process for generating disposable and intensely loyal soldiers. As such, Kyril "eats" only on the surface, and has to absorb the elements of wind, water and Earth, in order to continue existing. This activity ties into one of the underlying themes of the novel, which is the proper direction of one's Qi (life energy) in order to attain a worthy state of existence that is relatively pain-free.

Of course, I'm using The GIMP graphics program and the Wacom graphics tablet my brother gave me last year.

I started off with a base sketch - pencil and paper - which I photographed and loaded up as a digital image. From there, I used separate layers for the base colours, light and dark shades, and the light that is supposed to represent the elements Kyril is absorbing. I'll eventually use this image in promotional bookmarks and on the webpage, once the novel is finished.

I think I might redo her hand around the light bubble (which is actually another character in itself - won't tell you which!) so that the fingers bend around it a bit. I'd also like to change the background to a Desert scene and maybe put another character standing in the background. But the learning curve is steep, and that will take me some time.

My Opinion on The Golden Compass

2008-03-16T20:13:00.002-06:00

I've finally finished reading The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. I had bought a copy on sale a while ago, curious about it because of the controversy, and doubly determined to read it after a friend of mine had said to me, "I've finished reading your book, Jen. I'm reading a really good book now. The Golden Compass. It's very engaging."

(Ouch.)

Of course, it's an extremely well written book . . . but I don't see why it got banned for being anti-Church of all things, and I'm not so sure I'd want anyone younger than 13 reading it. Perhaps the younger set would simply not pick up on some of the rather "racy" concepts that are introduced in the book, and it would be just fine to let them pore through it.

Here are a few things that made me raise my eyebrows in surprise, having not expected to come across such things in a children's book:

1) A child being hurt by a family member she has loving feelings towards. The "he" refers to Lord Asriel, who is first introduced as her uncle, but is later revealed to be her father:

*He seized her wrist and twisted hard.

"Lyra! What the hell are you doing?"

"Let go of me and I'll tell you!"

"I'll break your arm first. How dare you come in here?"*

2) Advocating narcotics use:

*The Master lit the spirit lamp under the little silver chaffing dish and heated some butter before cutting half a dozen poppy heads open and tossing them in. Poppy was always served after a feast: it clarified the mind and stimulated the tongue, and made for rich conversation.*

3) Hinting at different sexual orientations. This one may be a bit of a stretch, but why did the author choose to emphasize the point?

*Bernie was a kind, solitary man, one of those rare people whose daemon was the same sex as himself.*

4) Adultery:

It turns out that Lord Asriel had an affair with Mrs. Coulter in order to conceive Lyra, the story's protagonist. He also killed her husband, which is why there is no Mr. Coulter in the movie.

There are some statements in the book that seem to be anti-Church, but I found that there were others which were strongly validating of traditional beliefs. For the most part the anti-Church views are held by Lord Asriel, who turns out to be not a very nice person in the first place. And if the Church is being condemned for putting their own political interests first and using propaganda to support it, Asriel seems equally guilty of the same.

My conclusion: Mr. Pullman has dealt with several interesting concepts in a carefully neutral manner. He may show certain factions in a bad light, but he doesn't seem to be overly biased in doing so. Perhaps the humans involved look bad, but for all the attention being put on his being an atheist, he doesn't seem to rule out the possibility of there being higher powers that work on the universe.

The Promotional Talents of Mike Bennett

2008-03-08T15:21:00.003-07:00

w00t! Mike Bennett, podcaster and performer, has done an excellent voice-over for me to help promote the podcast of my novel. The little widget off to the right will play the promo if you'd like to hear it.

I previously interviewed Mike for this blog, and more information about him is available on his website.

Podcast Up!!!

2008-02-26T18:37:00.006-07:00

It was waaaaayyy harder than I imagined, but the very first podcast episode of The Longevity Thesis is up!!!!! It can be found at:

http://jrahn.podshow.com

I did have fun amidst all the frustrated swearing, but in the end, I'm quite pleased with the result. I had the music recorded last summer when the promo vid was made, but I still had to read the chapters and record that, edit out all the goof ups, and put in some promo spots for friends. Cellist Aurealis has agreed to play some more Tchaikovsky for me, this time on the cello instead of a keyboard. It's gonna be awesome!!!

For those who are interested, the sound recording and editing was done using a free linux-based program called Audacity (have I mentioned before my unending love of all things open source?) and later on, Justyn, the EDGE marketing manager pointed me towards a nifty little program called the Levelator to smooth out the sound levels.

Now I'm too tired to blink, but still raring to make the next one!!

Book give away finished.

2008-02-18T08:45:00.001-07:00

I'm happy to announce the three winners of The Longevity Thesis book give-away:

1) Bill
2) Karen
3) Janet

Congrats and enjoy your prize!

Mini Movie Reviews

2008-02-16T10:38:00.004-07:00

Blockbuster has been sending me these evil little coupons that make me keep going into their store. Damn 3 for 2's and $1 early return account credits!!

Anyway, here are quick impressions of some movies they manipulated me into renting and watching.

Rush Hour 3: Jackie and Chris have an adventure. They need to recover a list of mob bosses, which turns out to be a human being. Chris Tucker has a fast mouth and makes you laugh out loud. There are martial arts, guns, slapstick humour scenes and such through out the movie. At one point, Jackie sings, and he's surprisingly good.

Overall Impression: A fun, fast paced movie. I enjoyed it, although I wasn't as impressed with it as the first two in the series.

3:10 to Yuma: Christian Bale and Russell Crowe ride around on horses with guns and hats and . . . stuff. Crowe is the bad guy and has to prove he's really not evil by continuing to be a bad guy. People die for not very good reasons. Supposed to be tragic or dramatic or something.

Overall Impression: Meh. Vacuuming is slightly more interesting.

Battlestar Galactica Razor: OK, these people are messing with me. They put out a DVD that you think is supposed to be some sort of TV movie semi-pro thing, and it turns out to be the best SF movie I've seen since The Fifth Element. It had everything: twisted psycho relationships, smack you in the face pathos, dramatic gore, some of the best CG robots ever, extremely well done military scenes, tremendous story, kick ass characterisations, awesome soundtrack, and a very satisfying ending.

Overall Impression: Seriously addictive hard core SF. Don't watch it if you're supposed to be doing something else.

Give-away

2008-02-10T10:02:00.001-07:00

I've decided to give away two signed copies of The Longevity Thesis to (1) the first person to enter, and to (2) one person randomly drawn from the first 50 entries. I may give away a third, depending on how things go.

To enter, just contact me through my webpage, blog, MySpace or Facebook and tell me you're entering. If you win, I'll ask for your mailing info. And of course, you have my assurances that this is only to promote The Longevity Thesis, and I am not interested in polluting the internet with more spam.

Thanks to everyone who enters!

ANNOUNCEMENT: Monday, 7:39am. The first copy has been claimed by W.Sumner Davis, author of Heretics. (Check out his MySpace.) Congrats to Dr. Davis!

18Feb08 Update: The last two copies are being given to Karen and Janet. Thanks for entering!

Open Source Desktop Publishing

2008-02-05T06:23:00.000-07:00

I thought this was cool:

"Scribus is an open-source program that brings award-winning professional page layout to Linux/Unix, MacOS X, OS/2 and Windows desktops with a combination of "press-ready" output and new approaches to page layout.

Underneath the modern and user friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation."

Kudos to the open source programming community.

Wee Hoo!

2008-02-02T11:05:00.001-07:00

Geez, forget ramblings about alternate spiritual forms, check this out:

http://sfcrowsnest.com/features/arc/2008/nz12201.php

Arconna really is a superhero!

#######

7:13 pm

. . . and the feed is picked up by comic-news-now.

I am chortling.

Boy, am I ever procrastinating.

2008-02-02T10:39:00.000-07:00

I wonder what it's like to be dead. I don't mean that in the morbid sense, but when you read about traditional or speculative or rational expectations of what happens when you die, it seems we have three options: (i) one passes into some sort of afterlife, good or bad, (ii) one spends some time in the "in between" prior to selecting or being assigned the next incarnation, or (iii) that's it. Nothing more happens.

Is the equation oversimplified? I can readily accept that our physical bodies are the result of evolution. Our minds, I think, are much more complex, and develop from pressures applied from the environment, nutrition, and genetic expression – but, what "evolutionary" pressure causes us to be able to appreciate, say, a painting? What is the selective force that encourages us to express ourselves through art in the first place? Judging from the monetary traffic that passes through Hollywood or MTV, we clearly value such things intensely. Perhaps it's nothing more than a viable aberration that arose randomly, and since it didn't interfere with homeostasis, there was no negative selective force against it.

I still ponder the question of there being something else we cannot perceive scientifically. If matter cannot be destroyed, only be changed in form, is that the same for consciousness? If the brain runs on electric impulses, and matter can convert into energy and vice versa, then can the electrons that power our thoughts also convert into a different form of energy -- perhaps one that melds into the thoughts of some other physical entity? Is the origin of consciousness a particular collection of energy that changes form depending on what mortal coil it inhabits? And if that is possible, what evolutionary force would select for that?

I guess I'll eventually find out. There's a 2/3 chance I'll find it interesting, and a 1/3 chance I won't be able to care.

Darwin's Paradox

2008-01-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

Imagine a mysterious virus that devastates half a population, while giving certain individuals enhanced mental abilities, allowing them to "psychically" link to a server containing an artificial intelligence that seems to be developing autonomy. What if that virus turned out to be deliberately engineered? What would be the motivations of the designer? What if the virus turned out to be more than it seemed, and had ideas of its own?

In "Darwin's Paradox", Nina Munteanu (author of "Collision with Paradise", and "The Cypol") serves up a dually plotted story that's part novel, part philosophical treatise on the nature of mankind and its inexorable evolution, driven by both natural and man-made pressures. Julie Crane, the central character, is a woman with a complicated and violent past, who must deal with the life she left behind to protect the peaceful existence she enjoys with her family now. As the novel opens, the back story and contemporary plot line are unfolded concurrently, until they eventually collide, and Julie is faced with the struggle of her life against unknown political forces in Icaria-5, her previous home, from which she had to flee as an unfairly labeled murderer and deliberate spreader of Darwin's Disease. She's never sure of who her allies or enemies are as she struggles to free herself from old accusations . . . and neither is her innocent, 12 year old daughter, who naively stumbles into her mother's past.

Looking for a thinking person's novel? Give "Darwin's Paradox" a try.

My Flash in the Pan

2008-01-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

For the briefest moment (I'm surprised I saw it at all) I was ranked #42 in Fantasy on Amazon.ca.

Wow. . .

An Interview With My Next Door Neighbour

2008-01-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

Bobby, who lives in 7B across the hall, is a vampire. He was born as Roberto Santiago Amar del Imiani, about 850 years ago. I had slipped him a note under his door the previous week, hoping that he would grant me an interview, since vampires are very much in vogue these days, and I was in desperate need of a sale. He had left me a voice mail message last night, saying that he would see me this evening, as soon as he woke. That was quite all right with me, since as a writer, I was a nocturnal creature myself.

He arrived at my door dressed in a splendid evening robe of dark red velvet, and sporting a longish coif that must have required more than a handful of styling gel. I invited him in and offered him a chair, which he declined, and a glass of red wine, which he graciously accepted. As I sat at my desk, I took a while fiddling with pens and paper, in order to give myself an opportunity to steal furtive glances at him, trying to remember each shadow and line of his jaw, and the elegance of his movements, as he paced wretchedly in front of my mantelpiece, letting me see how tormented he was. I suppose, if you like men, he was beautiful. His skin was a translucent alabaster that showed the delicate pulsing of blood at his throat, and every feature was like a classic chisel cut, as though Michealangelo himself had formed this creature. His dark hair was cut just so it could droop wantonly into his dark violet eyes, giving him that boyish come-hither charm, which was so useful in luring his victims.

I finally pulled my favourite pen, which I had isolated earlier, from my pocket and cleared my throat. He looked up at me, those great, wide eyes glossy and almost weeping with his inner pain.

"I am glad you asked for this interview, Simon," he said. "I feel that unburdening myself to you will ease me greatly. I only ask that you do not reveal my true name in your article."

"Of course, of course," I crooned solicitously, and begged him to begin. He told me of his victims, and how he had taken each of them, and how some had been willing, and how some had cursed him even as they died, yada yada yada, until I felt I simply had to interrupt.

"Er, Bobby," I said, "this is all very interesting, but it's a bit disjointed. I don't suppose you have one particular story you'd like to tell, perhaps something dashing and exciting, like almost getting caught by the Inquisition, or something like that?"

"I don't think you even begin to understand me," he protested. "I loved each and every person I took, whether male or female, adult or child. I must tell you this, in order for me to reveal my innermost soul to you."

"Hem. I see." I clicked my pen a few times and looked up to see him glaring at my hesitation, his skin turning a dangerous mottled purple. I sought to console him: "Perhaps we can work on your autobiography later, it's just that I have a shot at a feature article, and it has got to grab the reader instantaneously. I'm afraid the editor won't tolerate a long introduction to your innermost soul. I've got to sum it up in a sentence or two, and then get on to a pointed episode of your life, one that will hook the reader, and then, bam! Out comes the book revealing the entire story."

He seemed to accept that, and relaxed again, making it clear that his continued co-operation was dependent upon my refilling his glass.

"Now then, Bobby," I said.

"Roberto," he corrected me.

"Forgive me, Roberto. Let's focus on one particular event in your life. Have you ever been caught while devouring one of your victims? Nearly staked through the heart, had Holy Water strewn on you, lost track of time and got home just before sunrise, anything like that?"

He chuckled at that and smiled at me with the patronising tolerance one gives to a convivial but stupid host.

"I am but a myth, Simon. Nobody believes in me enough to actually go after me in such a fashion. I've become the stuff of pop fantasy. No, I'm afraid not."

"Hmm. No one has ever shot at you with silver bullets?"

"No, that wouldn't be my department." He looked at me pointedly.

I sat back, somewhat frustrated and perplexed, scratching at an itchy spot on my scalp with the pen.

"Well, all right then. You've had many loves. Let's pick one and work with that."

"Ah yes, Amanita Dela Champagne. She was my fourth. I knew her when I was still very new to my immortal life . . ."

He rambled on again, completely losing focus and telling me irrelevant details of what colour Amanita's dress was and her cup size, yada yada yada, until I was forced to interrupt him again.

"So what happened to Amanita?" I asked. "Is she now a vampire roaming New York City? An undead prostitute horrifying her clients into never coming back, anything Oprahish like that?"

Roberto paused for a moment, blinking rapidly. Apparently I had completely derailed his thoughts.

"Er, no. Actually she died. I would have made her a vampire, but she was shot through the heart with a silver-tipped crossbow bolt before the transformation could be made complete."

"Ah! Now we're getting somewhere! So, you were in love with her, but you couldn't save her! You knew she was being hunted, but could not reach her in time, and warn her of her impending doom! I love it! This is going to work quite nicely!" I said.

Roberto turned his back on me.

"No. I did not try to save her."

I paused to let that one sink in.

"So she dumped you? Say, if silver-tipped crossbow bolts work, why not silver bullets? I mean --"

Roberto whirled around and cut me off.

"God! Enough with your silver bullets already! And she did not dump me!"

"All right, all right," I said, and waved him back soothingly. "Let's pick someone different and try that."

Roberto humphed and crossed his arms, one hand reaching up to rub at his nose. After a moment, he sighed and said, "David of Rimms."

"All right, David." I paused to write this down. "What did you do to David?"

"Well, as I said before, I was in love with him."

"You realise that I will only be able to sell this to a liberal sort of magazine," I said mildly.

"Look, do you want the story or not?" he demanded.

"Yes, I do. Please continue."

"And NO silver bullets!"

"Of course not. No more of that."

This time his monologue was definitely better, and I believe he was beginning to understand what it was that I wanted from him. As he spoke, I jotted down quite a luscious love story of forbidden behaviours and desperate joy as he and David roamed the French countryside together for over 50 years, until in a fit of jealousy over one of Roberto's casual lovers, David left him for a woman who was actually a decoy from the Catholic Church, and who had led David to his tragic death.

It was a fabulous piece.

I was intrigued by the roaming bit, and wanted to get some more detail, to give the reader a heightened sense of really being there. I think Roberto was flattered that I truly loved his story, and wanted to get it just right. He co-operated in answering my questions, only giving me an annoyed glance once when I asked if he and David had ever howled at the moon. I backed off of that topic, sensing I might lose him and got more detail on blood sucking and flying at night, which he revelled in, then forgot myself and made a bit of a mistake, by asking if he could only fly when there was a full moon.

"Of course not!" he retorted hotly. "You're getting us mixed up again."

"Sorry, sorry."

"Look, Simon, it's almost dawn. Is there anything else you need?"

I looked at the clock on the mantelpiece, and indeed, it was almost dawn. I stretched and resisted scratching myself, just now realising how tired the wine and interviewing all night had left me. I suppose my brain was not functioning quite right, as I searched it clumsily for any last questions I might have, and supplied the following: "Did you and David ever transform into hounds or bears or anything, when chasing down your victims? Kinda like that movie version of Dracula with Winona Ryder in it?"

I knew I had lost him for sure then. Roberto's shoulders sagged, his mouth hung open, and the wine glass dangled from loose fingertips. He certainly wasn't posing for me anymore. No more strutting and elegant hand waves, he just stared at me with disbelief and utter disgust.

"Piss off!" Bobby said finally. "If werewolves were so hot, why is it that no one has ever tried to interview you!"

The End.

An Interview with S.M.D. (aka the Superhero Arconna)

2008-01-12T23:23:00.000-07:00

Yorkshire, UK. 3:52 am.

I had tracked Arconna to just outside of Leeds, despite reports he'd been seen in Australia. The harrowing journey had made it obvious why he'd come here. 1) The satellite imagery in this area of the UK was crap. 2) I'd gotten unconfirmed reports of a romantic interest. Despite a superhero needing to keep such things tightly under wraps, I had managed to extract it from the guy who hooks up everyone's internet in exchange for a copy of Guitar Hero III. I was able to use the latter piece of information to triangulate the possible location of his hideout, and that's what had gotten me out of bed on the wrong side of the Atlantic this ridiculously early.

If I were going to make a sighting of Arconna, or "L'Arconne" as he was known in Switzerland, I expected it to be somewhere on top of a tall building, as most emotionally tormented good guys are usually found in such places.

I waited.

4:41 am. I caught a brief flitter of dark blue, somewhere towards the spires of the basilica I was staking out. I quickly adjusted my infrared telephoto lens and snapped off a few shots. The digital display on my camera showed me I had gotten nothing that would sell any higher than the National Enquirer. If I photoshopped them a bit. I would have to get closer. I tucked the camera back into my supply case and flipped down my night vision goggles. I knew I looked like a dork, but it was so dark out here that it was unlikely anyone would see me anyway. I got to the base of the monument and looked up, trying to sight where I thought I had last detected movement. An icy chill crept up my spine.

There, silhouetted against clouds moving past a full moon, I saw a dark cloaked figure crouched against the side of the building. Two round glints of green reflected back at me, right where his eyes should be. Did he also use infrared visual enhancement? And if he did, how come his gear was so much cooler than mine? In complete defiance of gravity, Arconne stood up, perfectly perpendicular to the side of the building, turned and walked away from me. I ran to the side of the building and kicked open a door (OK, so it took me a few tries. And I hurt my foot.) then ran up the spiraling staircase until I reached a reinforced metal door, upon which were embossed the initials S.M.D. I knew I had found his lair. Of the three other superheroes I had interviewed, all of them had marked their secret hideouts in such a manner. He already knew I was here, so there was no point in pretending I wasn't. Just as I reached out to knock on the door, a quiet hum erupted from some hidden mechanism, and the door slipped upwards.

I stepped into a lush utopia of ferns, accented with tangles of hanging bromeliads, and was duly impressed. QuantoMan only had lame-ass potted violets in his secret underground base. Arconna was sitting in an oversized leather chair with his feet up on a lacquered wooden desk, facing a 52" screen and watching the unfortunately discontinued Firefly series. A copy of Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" sat on the desk.

"Mr. Arconna," I called as I approached.

"You can call me Shaun," he responded, indicating with a gesture that I should take a second chair. "And for the record, I'm not that emotionally tormented like those other super guys. It's just part of the image, you know."

I have to admit, he had a pretty good outfit. It was all done up in matching shades of blue, and looked like body armour designed by Dolce and Gabbana. AND . . . his mask was off! I scrambled for my camera, but he just laughed at me. "That won't work in here." Disappointed, I considered trying anyway, but knew that he probably wasn't fooling me.

"So, um. I guess you're going to let me interview you then," I ventured.

"Yeah, sure," he said.

"So what do you do when you're not saving the world?"

"I write. I contribute to blogs and I have some works of fiction that I'd like to get out there."

"Really?" None of the intel I had purchased had indicated this. I quickly got out my Axim and began jotting things down.

"Yeah. I want to be published. Legitimately published. Meaning, not a vanity press or Lulu.com or PublishAmerica or one of those places. I want a real press, big or small, to publish my work. Or a legit magazine to publish a short. My biggest hope for the future is to actually make a living writing. I'd love to do that. For now I'm going to continue school, keep writing, and get my degree. I might be a teacher one day, or an editor, or something else. Regardless, writing is in my blood somehow and I won't ever give that up, even if I spend my whole life trying to get published and never do. I keep coming back to it, so it's obviously something that I should do. Plus, I have thick skin. So, I'd like to be published and to be one of those guys that sits at home and writes books and stories for a living."

"Would you tell me about your stories?"

"I'll just mention some of my favorites. The World in the Satin Bag: A young adult fantasy novel about a boy who discovers that his home town has a mysterious past with a magical land inside a satin bag. When his best friend is kidnapped into the world he resolves to go after her, because nobody else will, and his presence begins a war that has been waiting to start for hundreds of years. Here's what I imagine the World looks like." He punched a few buttons on his desk, and the TV image changed to show the following map:

"And then there's Marx Ignatia: A cyberpunk novella. Marx Ignatia is a detective in the Third Domain, one of the fourteen AI controlled levels of a Matrix-like virtual world where you can literally live any fantasy life you can imagine, as long as you're willing to work for it. When a man named Palmmarrow, a hated man by a lot of people, including the AIs, is murdered she finds herself dealing with a violent rogue AI named Rapture and the threat that the Third Domain may collapse and destroy everyone jacked in. The Lies of Venicia: SF novel. Actaeon is a backwater world left to fend for itself after mysterious entities known as the White appear and begin terrorizing the populace, forcing Actaeon to become a world of illegal tech just to survive in a vast human empire. But things are not what they seem when the Elders of Venicia begin wiping out citizens under the guise that an infection of the White has taken hold, and three innocent people are thrust into an interstellar conspiracy to spread that infection to the rest of the human empire."

"Cool! And what about your blogging? Why do you do that?"

"You know, I have no idea. I enjoy it I suppose. I don't even remember why I started blogging. I think I started to make my little blog novel (The World in the Satin Bag). I've sort of moved on to other stuff now, but I am going to write the second book in the series...starting this month. I think now I write because I have a place I can write about things I enjoy. I like science fiction and fantasy and I can use my blog to discuss them and share what I know or what I find with other people. It's fun that way. I love comments on my blog because it's like an open dialogue with people of similar interests."

"Speaking of interests, I'd like to know what helped develop yours. What was your favourite book, comic or TV show as a kid?"

"As a kid I didn't really read very much, to be honest. I was one of those kids that hated reading because I never was allowed to read anything fun in school, or what I thought was fun. It was always the same stuff over and over. But for TV, goodness. Anything on Nickelodeon! I fed on Nickelodeon like it was candy! Probably my favorite show was The Secret World of Alex Mack or Doug (the original). Sliders was awesome too!"

"Did you like the movie Transformers?"

"Actually, I did. It was a fun movie. I can't say it was the best movie ever, but I enjoyed it. Shia Lebouf was pretty hilarious."

"What is your opinion of Wuthering Heights?"

"I don't have one. Never read it or seen the movie."

"What is your opinion of Star Wars? LOTR?"

"Both are completely awesome. I love Star Wars and have since I was a kid sitting at home with Asthma. It was the first SF movie that just pulled me in. I was quoting Darth Vader for half my life. The originals still make me smile and I still can't help remarking at how amazing the effects were for a move so old . . . LOTR, however, is just as amazing. Peter Jackson managed to take a highly influential fantasy series and turn it into one of the best movie trilogies ever. I love them all and all the special features and documentary stuff on the extended box sets is awesome."

"And do you have any heroes? If you could meet anyone, who would it be?"

"Oh good lord. That's a hard question. Right now I'd have to say Tobias S. Buckell. He's kinda my hero right now. Well, at least someone I look up to. Either that, or some big shot director who wants to turn some idea I have into a movie...but I think the first is the more realistic one."

"What about your superhero origins? According to the Database of Superheroes, you're not a spontaneous mutant. You inherited your powers. Who is the strangest person you're related to?"

"My Grandma. She is the most bizarre and amazing woman I have ever met. Literally, she's absolutely insane. She's the only person I know who would sit down and say 'we're having octopus eyes on toast'."

"What's your favourite planet?" (Yeah, I ask weird questions. So?)

"Earth, because I live here and because it's the prettiest from space. Let's face it, this planet rules."

"Who taught you the most valuable lesson in your life? What was the lesson?"

"I did and I'm still trying to figure out what I taught myself...I know it's important, I just don't know what it is..."

"What do you think is the most important quality a person should have?"

"Intelligence. That's not to say you have to be a genius or know how to do calculus problems, but if you are able to think for yourself and be able to do something that not everyone else can do, well that's intelligence. Isaac Asimov remarked on the IQ test that he thought they were really stupid because they were designed for those with a problem solving, academic type mind. But if his mechanic were to create an auto-mechanic's IQ test, he (Asimov) the genius would fail it miserably. Intelligence is varied, I just think many people lack it or hide it, which is stupid."

An alarm sounded, and Arconna leaped to his feet.

"Well, that was kinda fun, but I've got to go rescue some very important politicians. By the way, I reviewed your book on one of my blogs."

"What? You know who I am?"

"Of course. Do you think I'd have let you in here otherwise?"

A domed section of the ceiling was sliding to one side, revealing the early morning sky in varied shades of pink and orange. Arconna ran towards a springboard and made a graceful flip out into the burgeoning dawn. It looked like it was going to be a nice day.

. . . Er . . . Hmm.

2008-01-08T22:56:00.000-07:00

These videos . . . something's different, but I can't quite put my finger on what . . .

Casshern - The Guardian Spirit of Humanity

2007-12-16T13:28:00.002-07:00

When it comes to visual storytelling (among other things) the Japanese have got style. Casshern (2004) is a live action retelling of an anime (big surprise) originally released in 1973.

Basic Premise:

In a near-future dystopia, the world has been torn ragged by war. For some reason, the Japanese are living in Russia, and have just finished a major battle with Europa, who fought them with a massive robotic army, which now lies dormant. They are still battling with the denizens of Zone 7, which at the outset of the movie is shrouded in mystery, however these people are thought to be freaks and outcasts. The Zone 7ers are later revealed to be the "original humans" and the only ones who possess "neo cells" which can alleviate the spread of radiation-based sickness which is slowly killing the Japanese Russians. These "neo cells" sound a lot like stem cells, with profound regenerative abilities and can differentiate into any body part you like. The ruling council, influenced by the military, reluctantly overcome their prejudices and agree to allow research on neo cells from Zone 7, as they are in desperate need of replacement body parts. The movie becomes unintentionally funny at this point, especially when one considers recent advances in stem cell research, because the science is still back in 1973 and goes to LegoLand in a big way when the cultured body parts are shown. Anyway, the son of the lead scientist had gone to the front lines and died while the organ culture systems were being set up, and his body had just been returned to his father in a casket, followed by his largely unseen ghost. The presence of Tetsuya's ghost acts as a catalysts for some sort of weird techno lightning strike, and the body parts in the culture tanks suddenly pull together into Frankensteiny people covered in grey goop who get up and walk out of the tanks. The army freaks out and decides to get rid of these newly born "Neosapiens", and forces them to flee towards the Zone 7 border. Tetsuya's body is dunked in the neo cell tank by his father, which resurrects him, but of course, the process gives him superpowers. The Neosapiens don't handle rejection well, and revive the robot army of Europa to exact revenge. Tetsuya stands between them and the annihilation of the human race. Mayhem ensues.

The not so good:

The opening of the movie is rather ponderous, and the story is a bit clichéd. However, considering when it was written, that's forgivable. If I had a deeper understanding and appreciation of Japanese culture and symbolism, I would probably find a lot of hidden meaning in the opening sequences. But I rented the movie because I wanted a slick action film and wasn't really in the mood to look or think very hard. At certain points in the movie, it seemed that having the story make sense was not important – like the stuff with the stop-motion little guy in heaven. I didn't get that at all.

The really good:

The colour and costumes are fantastic. The European robot army brought back fond memories of Terminator, and the voices of the actors are wonderfully reminiscent of anime voice acting. So are the poses taken on by the actors during the endless dramatic sequences and during the fight scenes. When they story moves, it moves fast, and the viewer is treated to a plethora of how-many-cool-images-can-we-stuff-into-a-two-second-interval of artistic eye candy sequences worthy of some of the best mecha anime around. There are a lot of explosions, some katanas, funky spaceships and motorbikes, and the soundtrack kicks butt. On the DVD case, the movie is compared to The Matrix, but I don't agree, aside from some of the robots having red bug-eyes. I'd say it's more like Flash Gordon, and some of the shots of Tetsuya jumping up into the sky during an attack reminded me of Bleach, and the gratuitous techno stuff was a teensy bit like Hellsing or Tank Police. Some of the soundtrack is exactly the same as Bleach and the non-speaking guy is rather Wonderwice-esque. And in case you're wondering about half-way through the movie, the ending does come together nicely and make a lot of sense.

Overall:

Definitely worth watching, but maybe rent it first instead of buying it right away.

Hope

2007-12-14T01:45:00.000-07:00

Despite this being an incredibly sad story, I found it profoundly reassuring that true love really is possible:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ravenandjason

It also confirms for me that every life has value, and that if pain has any spiritual purpose, it's to sharply enhance joy.

Playin' with the graphics tablet.

2007-12-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

I think I gotta figure out how to do shading with the airbrush tool a lot better. And pick better colours.

Seven Weird & Random Facts about Jennifer Rahn

2007-12-07T08:08:00.001-07:00

OK, seems it's meme time. Nina Munteanu over at The Alien Next Door has tagged me with this little game. I'm not very blogosaavy, so I had to look this one up.

Meme:Leftist pseudo-intellectualese or linguistic affectation, generally used in the pejorative, employed to designate a commonly held position, thought or expression as worthy of or susceptible to attack or denigration by superior leftist "critical thought" which the employer possesses in abundance.
www.theacru.org/blog/2007/04/a_dictionary_to_educate_the_politically_incorrect/

Er, no. I don't think that's it.

a cultural unit (an idea or value or pattern of behavior) that is passed from one generation to another by non-genetic means (as by imitation); "memes are the cultural counterpart of genes"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Hmm. Sort of.

an idea, project, statement or even a question that is posted by one blog and responded to by other blogs. ...
www.fzelders.nl/weblog/

Oh, OK. That must be it.

So anyway, from Nina's blog, her seven weird facts are:

"Okay...well, here are seven (and only seven; I could write a book!) strange and weird facts about ME:
1. I'm an author and I can't spell
2. I speak five languages (none of them very well: English, French, Romanian, German, Swedish)
3. I failed First Year University Chemistry
4. I don't watch TV
5. My high school career assessment concluded that I was best suited to be a sargent in the army (writer was way down the list)
6. I opted out of Grade 11 biology to take typing (then had to challenge the exam when I decided to pursue a science degree at university)
7. I was chased off the Serengeti Plain by a horde of biting soldier ants."

Like Nina, I've got way more than seven tucked away, but the weirdest I shall keep to myself, thanks.

Weird stuff about Jen:
1. My fingernails are so soft that they can be bent around my fingers, no problem.
2. My left ankle pronates so badly that it interferes with the act of skipping by constantly catching the rope.
3. I was named after Jennifer Jones, who acted as Dr. Han Suyin in the 1955 movie Love is a Many-Splendored Thing.
4. I can swear in five languages, but only speak two (and the second one not very well).
5. The lowest grade on my transcript is in undergraduate cell biology.
6. I lost the Canada Scholarship because I refused to change my major from pharmacology and because my GPA was 0.2 points too low.
7. I am an F1 cross and therefore heterozygous at pretty much every phenotypic gene locus there is.

OK, now I'm supposed to tag some people with this. I choose:

J.Y.T. Kennedy
Sigrid Macdonald

. . . and I'll have to think about the rest . . .

Who's weird around here? More than me or Nina, that is . . .

What Happens After You Write the Book: Perspectives.

2007-12-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

I had an earlier post addressing this, which didn't really answer the question, but was more a rambling speculation on what might happen. Now that my mini book tour is all said and done, I can comment more thoroughly. Also, I have been repeatedly asked what the time line was like for getting the book published.

So here it is, in what I hope is easy to digest format:

1990: I wanted to write this really cool story, but I didn't know the first thing about writing a novel. I started making up characters and jotting down some intense scenes that didn't quite hook up.

1996: I decided I wanted this thing done before I turned 30 and made a colossal effort to weave together all my disjointed scenes.

1999: I finished the first draft of what was then called "The Divine Prerogative." It was horrible. Parts of it had extreme coolness, parts of it were unspeakably stupid. All together, it was barf-inducing. But I did not know this. I submitted the book to a publisher, who liked my query + three chapters, foolishly asked to see the whole thing, and was very kind to actually read the whole thing (I know, because there were chocolate fingerprints on the pages right to the end when the manuscript was returned to me). The manuscript was politely refused.

2000 - 2003: I joined the Critters on-line critiquing group. With their help, I rewrote the novel 3 times. Big, huge thank-you to J.D. Williams for a tonne of help. The final rewrite I did on my own, after reading about "storyboarding" in Crawford Kilian's book, and hearing about J.K. Rowling's "grid thing" from a friend. The plot was massively straightened out and the POV characters were cut down to 1/5 of how many there were originally. I queried a few agents who told me they weren't accepting new clients unless they already had a book contract. I gave up with that approach pretty quickly.

Sept. 2003: I submitted "The Longevity Thesis" to Tor, who chucked it inside of two weeks. At least they didn't make me wait.

Dec. 2003: I submitted the query + 3 chapters to Dragon Moon Press.

Oct. 2004: DMP asked to see the whole thing.

Feb. 2006: DMP took it! Contract was signed.

2006 -2007: With a lot of help from friends, I got the webpage up and running, started blogging, got some promotional freebies made up (my infamous bookmarks and fridge magnets), got a promo book trailer made, started posting stuff all over the internet (amazon, myspace, blogger, facebook), arranged for a newspaper interview in my hometown, got an article published on DMP in a local newspaper, did some extra artwork for the PDF version of the book. Started asking other authors for cross-promotion activities (cross-interviews, passing out each other's freebie promo materials in our respective cities, plugs in blogs and podcasts, etc). Started attending conventions -- not as a panelist, just to see what goes on, and how other authors do promo. Passed out a couple freebies while I was there. Worked with the editor and cover artist supplied by DMP to get the manuscript into its final format.

Sept. 2007: The book was released!

Oct. - Nov. 2007: I teamed up with another author from my hometown and we got a second interview in the same newspaper and arranged to do a reading at the local library. I unexpectedly got a truck-load of help from EDGE, who had merged with DMP in August. They set me up for a mini-book tour all over Calgary (author signings in bookstores, and a couple of readings at an official book launch for LT and a group book launch for all the fall titles). EDGE and DMP's distributors did God-only-knows-what, and I saw The Longevity Thesis pop up in book catalogues all over the world in an amazing number of countries. I unexpectedly landed interviews with the organising committee for World Fantasy 2008 and a globally distributed Chinese language newspaper. That's been phenomenal exposure.

Dec 2007: Whew! Now what? Well, I have some new artwork I want to get out of my head and digitized for the webpage (my brother gave me a graphics tablet for my birthday -- it's awesome! No more pencil-crayony crap from me!), and I want to kick my butt into gear and get the prequel finished. I also want to do promo art for that as well.

And now it's today! Anybody have any other questions? I'm obviously no expert, but I can share what's happened for me.

Hot Off the Press Party with Dragon Moon Press and EDGE

2007-12-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

Last night was the Fall Release Book Launch for the new titles from Tesseracts/EDGE/Dragon Moon Press. It was at Calgary's Historic Fire Hall #6 (currently called The Outdoor Resource Centre) in the hip Kensington area. It's a nice brick structure with the former fire truck bays converted into meeting rooms -- the party was held in one of these.

This is where the fire trucks used to drive out of --->

The evening started off with some munchies and live music, then we heard readings from Randy McCharles and Susan Forest, both of whom have their work published in Tesseracts Eleven, which was clearly one of the best selling titles. I picked one up myself and got it signed. Randy's story was a humorous piece called "Vampires of the Rockies", which he did not read to completion, leaving us wondering how it would end, and Susan read her short called "Tomorrow and Tomorrow", which was a near future examination of being practical in the face of adversity. The ending was a real gut-kicker.

I read last, opting for an abridged version of Chapter 5 from The Longevity Thesis, and managed not to screw it up. I tried to incorporate advice given to me from my last reading, keeping it light, short, not too much intro, starting off with a bio of myself so people knew who they were listening to and trying to work the "tease factor". As Randy explained to me, the whole point of doing a reading is not to explain what you wrote, but to get people to wonder what the rest of the story is, so that they go looking to read the book. I think I got it right. At least I extracted a few laughs from the crowd during the intro.

There were a couple of big names there, including Robert Sawyer and his imprint editor/publisher Kirsten Morrell, as well as Dr. Rebbecca Bradley and the man himself, Brian Hades. I also got to hang out with some friends, my kick-boxing buddy Laura, editor/publisher buddy Tim Reynolds (who finally introduced me to his partner Sue!), Ron from IFWA, who I'd met at ConVersion this year, Brian's vivacious wife Anita, Janice Shoults also from EDGE, and of course Justyn Perry, who was the organiser of this shindig. Nerves aside, I had a pretty good time.

Robert Sawyer and the lovely Kirsten Morrell.~~~~~I get to sign a book for Susan Forest!

Imagine My Surprise.

2007-11-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

Surprise? About what?

Well, The Longevity Thesis has been out for round about two months now, some people have read it and have been giving me their thoughts and impressions of the novel.

Some people have hit the nail on the head.

Some people have left me startled. These people felt disappointed that the story did not meet their expectations of what they thought it would be about. Thus, I feel I must blog.

The Longevity Thesis is NOT (or ever intended to be):

1) A story about how youngish women have to struggle against their families to find a good marriage.
2) About a Fountain of Youth.
3) About my former Ph.D. supervisors.
4) A story with a single "linear" plot and no subplots.
5) Erotica.
6) Tolkien.
7) Not accurately described on the back cover.
8) Wallowing in endless depression with no hope of redemption.
9) A Christmas story.
10) Tongue-in-cheek.

The Longevity Thesis IS:

1) Intended to examine the ability of the characters to accurately perceive themselves, the other characters, and the situations they find themselves in.
2) Supposed to mess with the notion of first impressions and the natural inclination to pass judgment after a cursory glance.
3) An illustration of the debilitating effect of low self-esteem (ties in to the examination of accurate perception of self).
4) An exploration the possibility of escaping fear through forced growth.
5) A presentation of the notion that love is weird, and can come to a person in a myriad of unexpected ways.
6) Intended to loosely parallel fragments of Dante's Inferno.
7) Intended to loosely embrace selected Buddhist concepts.
8) An exploration how far a character can go in the direction of using evil to fight evil, and still be a good person.
9) A presentation of the notion that controlling people and restricting their freedom is one of the worst forms of cruelty.
10) An examination of how inaccurate perception of self can really mess up a person's life.

I'll comment further on the plot and how it was charted in a later post.

Book Signing #5

2007-11-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

Yep, I'm still at it. Today I was at Coles in Market Mall, promoting The Longevity Thesis. I was joined by EDGE Marketing Manager, Justyn Perry, and was visited by many of my friends, since this location was closest to the varsity area. We passed out freebie bookmarks, EDGE/Dragon Moon Press Catalogues, and fridge magnets. (Yeah, I know. It's weird, but why not?)

It was a low key afternoon, but I'd like to send out my heartfelt thanks to my buddies for stopping by or just saying hello in passing: Maggie, Laura, Vivian, Tessa, Chris, Zoe, Tom, Phil, Beichen, Kate, and Melanie.

Also, thank you to Coles and their staff for hosting me, and to all the friendly people who stopped to chat, whether or not they decided to pick up the book. (It's much nicer to at least chat rather than just sitting there.)

Well, this was the second last stop for the fall season. Next I'll be doing a short reading at the EDGE/Dragon Moon Press Hot Off the Presses Party, at the Historic Fire Hall on Memorial Drive. It's at 7:00pm on November 30th. Susan Forest and Randy McCharles will also be reading their works. For those of you interested in attending World Fantasy 2008 in Calgary next year, Randy is one of the organisers, so this would be a good opportunity to get more information.

In other news, EDGE is having a sale on Fall Release titles: 20% off everything published in late 2007. And keep an eye out for a Chinese language news article to be published in The Epoch Times! There will be news about the book, book tour as well as an interview with Justyn Perry.

D'Amour Road -- Sigrid Macdonald

2007-11-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

D'Amour Road
Sigrid Macdonald
Lulu Enterprises, Inc. 2005
ISBN 1-4116-2872-1
$17.00 USD

This is an important book. Emotionally, it's not an easy read, as it stirs up several complicated emotions at once: fear of violence, fear of being unacceptable, fear of losing something one has yet to even grasp, fear of being alone after shedding an uncomfortable, yet familiar existence. All this, served up with a side order of harsh reality and a dash of denial.

As I read this book, the details of the everyday life of an ordinary woman had the effect of placing me firmly in the main character's shoes. Tara Richards is inherently known by every woman who has gotten up in the morning and looked in the mirror. Her unremarkable life was contrasted with the abrasive pain of having maybe lost a close friend in the worst way possible, and the confounding mental haze that comes with not actually knowing. It's a strange experience, reaching for normalcy, trying to deal with the mundane, while something so shocking has happened that it pokes holes in a person's integrity, letting so many emotions slowly bleed out, perhaps leading to actions a person might not normally have undertook, and ultimately to recoiling from the inevitable slap of reality when the consequences of those actions comes.

As I read about Tara Richards' struggle to find her missing, and possibly murdered best friend, I wondered if enough had been done. Or if Tara had hesitated for too long. Or if Tara had failed because she had tried to promote fairness at the expense of pure instinct. Or if she had been selfish, allowing herself to be distracted from her crusade by things that might have been the manifestations of denial. Yet after reading the novel, it's fully apparent that without being psychic, there was not much else she could have done.

In the epilogue, the author makes a few statements that helped my mind settle after I had finished the story:

"This book is not a mystery; it is not a whodunit. It is a story about what people experience when they go through the shock of losing someone, and the helplessness, rage, and fear that they feel knowing that they may never see that person again . . . How do we maintain the presumption of innocence without putting ourselves in danger by bonding with a killer?"

The book is dedicated to Louise Ellis, murdered April 1995.

Back Home to Sherwood Park

2007-11-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I headed home for my Mum's birthday and I also snuck in a reading at the local library while I was at it. This was a joint venture with fantasy author J.Y.T. Kennedy, who is also with Dragon Moon Press, and lives just outside of my hometown.

J.K.'s novel Dominion, was released in 2005. The protagonist of this story is a woman called Gilna, who completes her training as a perfumer just before her village is ravaged first by plague, then by an unstoppable invading army bent on conquering everything in their path. Gilna's skills allow her to administer medicines through scents, and alternately, deadly poisons. As a healer and survivor of the plague, Gilna is deemed useful by the invading Kurathk, and is kept as a servant to the tribal leaders. Her need to survive within her captive state battles with her guilt over assisting her peoples' sworn enemy, until she determines a way to use the power and influence she garners from her new position to manipulate the Kurathk. Although she is terrified of the dreamworld, help comes from that ethereal dimension, as Gilna plots to destroy the Kurathk through their growing dependency on her.

Although many people had told us they'd seen the article about the event published in the Nov 2nd edition of Strathcona County This Week, there was a small turnout. The atmosphere was pleasantly relaxed, where the audience munched on home baked goodies (and my store bought cookies) along with some tea or coffee. Some of my friends from elementary and high school turned out, as well as some of J.K.'s writer group buddies. I finally got J.K. to sign my copy of her book, and had the chance to sign a few of my own. That was the nice thing about this set up; everyone who showed up had a genuine interest in the books.

Reading with J.Y.T. Kennedy -- Nov 12th

2007-11-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

It's back on the book circuit next week! Jennifer Kennedy, author of Dominion, and I will be at the Strathcona County Library, doing a joint reading and Q & A session for all interested. If you happen to be in the Edmonton area, we'd love to see you there. (Cookies will be provided -- come for the cookies, leave with the books!!)

The WebMaster for my site decided to entertain me with this photo montage. I got a kick out of it:

Interesting . . .

2007-11-03T09:01:00.000-06:00

Well, the first independent review for LT has appeared on the internet. "Independent" as in, I don't have any association with this person whatsoever. I found it on dondammassa.com.

"This is apparently a first novel and it suffers from some of the usual awkwardness associated with first novels, but the premise and background are actually rather interesting. It's a very atypical fantasy world that almost but doesn't quite come to life, set in a vast underground civilization. The protagonist, Antronos, was born on the surface, which makes him a kind of second class citizen. He perseveres, graduates from college, and begins to work with a man who is studying ways to prolong human life. The problem is that his new boss is making use of a corrupt nobleman with psychic powers to steal the life force from others. Antronos gets caught, not exactly in the middle, and it's not clear whether he will become an involuntary life donor, a co-conspirator, or the man who saves the nobleman from being exploited by the evil scientist. The narrative portions are generally well written, but the dialogue is often quite artificial and awkward. I'd call this one an interesting misfire, and hope that the author develops the writing skill to match her obviously creative imagination. 10/27/07"

I kinda like the term "interesting misfire". That's very unique.

Anyway, I'm reposting this because I'm curious about reader feedback for this sort of review. What's your reaction to it? Would it make you look for other reviews or turn you off the book altogether?

(Thanks in advance to anyone who cares to comment!)

I'm not too discouraged by this one review, because some very nice people have emailed me directly with the following comments:

"I think your book is very interesting. I think the desert is almost like consciousness in that you don't know what will arise. I was intrigued."

" . . . the opening scene with the dust storm and the rescue of Antronos by his mother has me intrigued . . . if I enjoy this book as much as the opening scene, I will be looking for anything else you write."

"I had to take a moment to let you know that I am 60 pages into the PDF version of your novel and I really am enjoying it! I love fantas[ies] that do not rely on the 'standard' themes, characters and settings and your work is definitely forging it's own original path."

So what does it all mean? Am I headed towards a niche audience? I know it's unrealistic to expect universal appeal, but every little piece of feedback does get filed away as I go along. So thank you to everyone who has taken time to write something, good or bad, and know that you are not wasting your time, because all of it is being taken into consideration.

Book Signing #3: The Official Launch

2007-10-27T21:36:00.000-06:00

(Reading at The Sentry Box -- Look at all 'em books!)
Many, many thanks to Justyn from EDGE and The Sentry Box for hosting the official launch of The Longevity Thesis! This was my very first public reading from the novel. Most of the audience were "in the industry" and some of them had helpful comments for me afterwards.

I was pretty nervous going in, and I think my voice shook a bit at the beginning, but after a few moments, I hit my stride and got lost in the story, which really helped. Other writers have told me it gets easier with time. They also gave me a few pointers on giving public readings, which I'll try to incorporate the next time I do this. It's great to plan things, but I found once I was up there, so much of my attention went into not falling over or otherwise doing something dumb, that it was hard to do much else. Regardless, I learned how to write a novel from other writers, and I think they remain a valuable resource for learning other things, like how to publicly speak. Turns out, reading fantasy is quite a bit different from giving a lecture on tumour biology! (Gee, who would have thought?)

(Here I am signing a copy for Randy McCharles, one of the World Fantasy 2008 organizers.)

I met a few new people, most I had connected with previously, especially at ConVersion 23, which I had attended in August. It was nice to see them again.

I was also interviewed afterwards by some of the organizers of World Fantasy 2008. They intend to air the podcast of the interview and my reading next Sunday. I hope I don't sound too dorky. I'm not fond of my voice.

Brian Hades, the EDGE publisher, also told me that 50 copies of The Longevity Thesis had been sent out for review. I was floored. This is all really happening, and it's hard to believe. Not so long ago, just getting published seemed so far away.

I also had a Twilight Zone moment, as we accidentally photographed some "orbs" when figuring out the camera settings. Some people believe that these funny little things are conscious beings from alternate dimensions that can act as guides or angels. I'm not kidding. Try doing a Google search on them. Anyway, I can only hope that was a good sign for the book.

(Yeah, I know, it just looks like a camera glitch, but it's more fun to think they were cute little aliens or something.)

Book Signing #2

2007-10-26T20:39:00.000-06:00

(I just love the sign in the background.)

Well, this time it wasn't so exciting. I took the C-Train downtown to the lower level Coles store in the T.D. Square shopping complex, and spent and extended lunch hour there, watching the world go by. Once again, the store manager and staff were very nice, professional, polite people, and I thank them for having me.

While I did get to meet several interesting folks, many of them writers themselves, nobody seemed to be in a buying mood. It was still a nice session, and I swapped a few myspace addys with fellow wordsmiths.

Here are transcripts (as I remember them) of a couple interesting conversations I had:

Cute little 4 year old girl: "Hi!"
Me: "Hi. How are you?"
Cutie: "I'm fine. What are you doing?"
Me: "I'm signing books."
Cutie: "Can I have one?" (Mother calling her away.)
Me: "Well, how about I give you a bookmark?"
Cutie: "Thanks!" (She runs off, bookmark held aloft in triumph. Mother relieved.)

For the record, I gave her the Alaindra bookmark, which was the least creepy one I had.

Chinese Gentleman: "You wrote this book?"
Me: "Yes. I did."
CG: "You?"
Me: "Yes. It was me."
CG: "You are Jennifer? How do you say your last name? Ruan?"
Me: "It's Rahn."
CG: "Ah?"
Me: "My Dad is German. It's a German name."
CG: "How is that?"
Me: "My Mum is Chinese."
CG: "Ooooohhhh. Now you make sense!"

And that was my lunchtime adventure.

My First Book Signing!

2007-10-20T19:08:00.000-06:00

I started today off with a coffee-bag-related injury. How, Jen, you may ask, does one sustain a coffee-bag-related injury? Unfortunately, I can't tell you since I was half asleep when I did it, and I don't actually know. A coffee can would make sense, but somehow I managed this with a half empty bag. The only reason this is of note, is because it happened on the index finger of my right hand, almost exactly where my finger might rest on the paper when I am writing. For a time there, I was afraid all my books would be signed in blood. Well, that was the only unpleasant thing that happened today, thank goodness.

I spent the afternoon at Chapters in Calgary's Chinook Centre. I have to say, the staff and manager there were fantastic. They are all, without exception, nice, helpful people. My thanks go out to them for being so great.

I was somewhat worried that no one would talk to me, however, within half an hour of being there a gentleman called Layton asked me to sign a book! My hand was shaking so much I made the worst signature I've ever done in my life, and misspelled "reading". (As in "happy reading!") I was surprised and encouraged that most of the people who were interested in the book were my age or more, when I was expecting more the early university crowd. I do hope they won't be disappointed. I also had a few conversations with people who were in the business and wanted to know what my publishing experience was like. On two separate occasions, a little girl came by and snatched up a copy and asked her parents to buy it. Of course one look at the cover, and their parents said "no". One of them pleaded, "but the skeletons are cool!" I signed six books in all, which is nowhere near comparable to J.K. Rowling, but amazingly good for me. The manager of the store told me that was pretty much average for a new author. The last book I signed was bought by a fellow named Doug (who's already emailed me to ask about the book!) and the session ended on a positive note.

The questions I got asked most frequently were if the book was part of a series and if it was any good. It had occurred to me that morning to print up a copy of the reviews I had from other authors, since the book was virtually unknown, so those came in handy for letting people know what some other readers thought.

And of course, I have to give a big thank you to my friends Laura and Mary who came out to give me some support.

Enter: Proteomics

2007-10-19T20:42:00.000-06:00

If you keep up on nerd news, you might have heard the bewildering reports on what James Watson has said about race and genetics. Apparently, 'He was quoted in the Oct. 14 issue of The Sunday Times saying he feels "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" since "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really."'

This is a case of someone believing their own hype.

Assuming he did say this, I can't help but think that James Watson knows piddly squat. First of all, the completed sequence of the human genome doesn't tell us much. So we know the code. Big deal. There are approximately 25 - 35000 genes, but guess what? There are >500000 proteins that are encoded by these genes (the sum of which are referred to as the human proteome) and an unestimated number of possible metabolites produced from the enzymes within the proteome, to form the human metabolome. All of these factors put together can impact the performance, health and abilities of a human being. Genetics are the tip of the iceberg, and really don't tell you much about the end product, which is the person. There are at least two higher orders of complexity to a human being. Maybe more.

Point number two: What you're born with is merely the starting material. Just as none of us are born with rippling muscles, if any of us care to put in the time and work to get the body of Arnold Schwarzenegger, we most likely can. The same thing goes for the human brain. Learning requires time and work. Anyone who plays video games knows that with practice and constantly challenging a current skill level, pattern recognition abilities and the rapidity of problem solving increase. It's the same when you go through grad studies and get your Ph.D. Looking back, I was so hopelessly green and, quite frankly, not very smart when I finished undergrad, which was one of the reasons why I left after a Masters; I knew I didn't have what it took to be a scientist. However, not being one chaffed, and so I went back, did the work, put in the time, and developed what it took to do the job. I most certainly was not born with the abilities I have now.

Genetics and/or race determines intellectual ability? That view is painfully simplistic.

Mini Book Tour

2007-10-13T10:49:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Justyn, the marketing manager at Dragon Moon Press' new partner EDGE Science Fiction & Fantasy, I've got a little book tour set up. The official book launch will be at Calgary's Gamer Central -- The Sentry Box, on October 27th. However, there are two signings before that at Chapters and Coles on the 20th and 26th. The specific dates,times and locations are listed on Booktour.com (check out the widget off to the right).

I'm looking forward to seeing The Longevity Thesis in print form for the very first time! Hope to see you there!

=================================================================
P.S. If you're an online shopper, Amazon and Chapters have both dropped their prices.

$10.85 on Amazon.com
$12.37 on Amazon.ca
$12.88 on Chapters.indigo.ca

Michael Leadingham, cover artist for The Longevity Thesis

2007-10-06T05:16:00.000-06:00

Michael Leadingham is a freelance artist based in Las Vegas, who specialises in illustrations for fantasy publications. He is also the founder of the online gallery called Painters Block.

We've all heard the cliché, "never judge a book by its cover" and we all know that's exactly what we do. Cover art is not only essential to the completion of a book, but it's the first thing anyone sees, and thus, must have a significant impact on a potential reader.When it came time to find an artist for The Longevity Thesis, Dragon Moon Press publisher Gwen Gades asked me how I felt about having Michael Leadingham paint the cover. She referred me to the painting Michael had done for Connie Ward's book, The Gryphon Highlord, to see if I liked it. I thought it was fantastic, and enthusiastically agreed. When presented with the draft of the cover, there were very few changes that I requested (different eye colour, slightly longer hair, and some dust around the skeletons' feet) and then . . . it was perfect!

Aside from promoting his own work online, Michael also tries to help his peers, by posting their work collectively on a site called Painters Block. When asked about it, Michael says, "Heh well, that's my new baby. Painters Block is an artists' community dedicated to promoting up and coming illustrators. We have a juried gallery with 3 editors that critique submitted art. We of course accept only the best works. When we do reject a piece we of course explain in detail to the artists why it wasn't accepted. Our hopes are that the rejection critiques will help the artist grow and reach their fullest potential. Our hopes are that Painters Block becomes a respected community where new and upcoming artists will be able to grow and give back in the form of teaching others. That's a real goal is teaching others, and bringing them business prospects."

"Concrete Jungle" by Michael Leadingham.

Michael himself studied illustrating technique on his own, building up his abilities ever "since [he] could hold a pencil". True to his vision of Painters Block, he got most of his professional training through critiques and advice given by other artists, and by studying their methods. He lists Keith Parkinson, Todd Lockwood, J.P. Targete, Frank Frazzetta, and Michael Whelan as major inspirational influences, and was also impressed enough by the movie "300" to consider picking up Frank Miller's graphic novel version.When painting with traditional media, Michael prefers watercolour, however most of his professional work is now done digitally. "I actually use a PC for most of my work, but recently I have been exploring the idea of using a Mac. Mostly I use Windows because for the longest time that was the only operating system that offered the paint programs I use (Photoshop and Corel Painter). A Mac is definitely better for artwork though, as far as power [goes]," he said. "I use a Wacom tablet with an Intous stylus. It's the best I have found so far. Works particularly well with Painter."

"Castle Falls" by Michael Leadingham.

The biggest challenge facing artists today is being taken for granted. Michael says, "Many people feel artists are merely hobbyists, and should give artwork away for free. Once upon a time artists were revered much like movie stars of today. Not anymore though. The competition is so fierce, and instant gratification has become the norm. Hard work, time taken to complete real works of art is no longer respected I'm afraid." Looking at his paintings, it seems hard to not appreciate the skill and effort required to produce such images. How many of us would be able to generate our own book covers with the speed and accuracy provided by a professional artist? It's a task that certainly any author would find intimidating.

Michael's actual hobbies include building model ships, "especially the Pirateology series of games and models", and he is an avid reader of fantasy and science fiction. His interest in all things oceanic extends to an unfulfilled wish to become a marine biologist . . . if only it weren't for the required math! When not painting book covers, he also illustrates for posters and magazines. "Right now I'm working on a commission for a custom truck builder who wants to show his truck at a truck show. It will be called 'First Knight' so he wants a King Arthur theme painted on the truck. I am also the Senior Artist for Virtual Tales Publishing."

So there you have it, the man behind the cover painting for The Longevity Thesis. Michael Leadingham's paintings appear on the Conceptual Design Works webpage, as well as on Painters Block. Inspiration for All!

Small press, big heart

2007-10-02T21:10:00.000-06:00

(This is a repost of an article that appeared in the University of Calgary Alumni Newspaper, On Campus.)

Being a science fiction and fantasy publisher was—literally—a dream of University of Calgary alumna Gwen Gades. Now, with her upstart imprint Dragon Moon Press, she’s making that dream a reality.

It used to be that serious Canadian science fiction and fantasy authors had very few choices for getting into print. For years, the only noticeable Alberta publication was Edmonton’s On-Spec magazine.

Since the early -’90s, however, the genre is finding a home out west, with Edmonton’s Tessaract Books merging with Calgary publisher EDGE, and Canadian science fiction guru Robert Sawyer choosing this province for his own imprint—Robert J. Sawyer Books—in collaboration with Red Deer Press. Thus, Gades now finds herself in good company.

Dragon Moon Press came into being in 1993, when Gades opted against law school after finishing her BA in history. At the suggestion of one of her professors, she decided to incorporate her love for science fiction and fantasy into a career as a publisher.

The name for her publishing company came in a dream. Gades recalls being struck by inspiration in the middle of the night, by the image of a dragon—an archetype of fantasy—and the moon—a standard of science fiction—coming together as one.

She started off by attending a publishing workshop at the Banff Centre for the Arts and it was then that she realized Calgary had little employment to offer a fledgling publisher. While developing the Dragon Moon vision, she paid the bills and honed her management skills by progressing from a clerk at an independent bookstore, to one at a chain bookstore. She worked her way up from being an assistant manager, to a manager and then a regional buyer.

Eventually, Gades found herself buying books and magazines for a national chain and thus developing a very clear idea of what was popular in the current market.

Things really took off when, after printing some book covers at Two Printers, she was offered an opportunity to help them get into the short-run book printing business.

Together, they started Blitzprint, which provides Gades with the printing expertise and facilities she needs, in return for her knowledge on how to publish a really fantastic book. She refers to their synergy as “a form of divine intervention.”

The next big boost for Dragon Moon Press was the arrival of author Tee Morris on the scene. Gades refers to him as one of the best things that has happened to Dragon Moon since it was launched.

Morris has authored three of Dragon Moon’s 19 novels, including MOREVI, Legacy of Morevi, and Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword. He has also co-authored Dragon Moon’s The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy, and The Fantasy Writer’s Companion.

“He’s been a nagging—I mean, driving—force behind Dragon Moon Press since he came on board,” Gades laughs. “He brings energy, talent and a determination that makes him an unstoppable force of nature.”

Morris refers to Gades as a woman bent on world domination. Gades says her goal is somewhat smaller—to capture enough of the market to expand to a mid-sized press. Finances remain one of her biggest challenges.

In the short term, “I’d like to walk into any bookstore and find our books on the shelves, have a few breakout authors make the leap to big presses and be able to say ‘Oh, I discovered him/her’!” she says. As for the future, Gades remains realistic.

“Some of the things we have going on right now, I think may help us to make becoming a larger press a reality. We’ve teamed up with Lumos Publishing to release a whole line of Dragon Moon Audio Productions.

“We’ve got one of the strongest lineups of podcasting authors. We are looking at some foreign right sales and are starting to feel like we’re being noticed. We don’t really need to be a big press, just a small press with a big heart.”

The Game (An Interview with Jeff)

2007-09-23T08:15:00.000-06:00

I needed some distraction in the worst way, so I called my bud Nina and had her drop me off at The Texan Lounge on the Karnellian Lunar Base. Nina's usually pretty busy, what with saving the Earth and all, but she's the only person I know in Canada who has a spaceship, and as always, she was happy to oblige.

Once past the decontam lock, I was very relieved to be able to shuck my space suit and pull in a few lungfuls of recycled air. They weren't bad at the Texan. Their filters were changed regularly, and they put a hint of mesquite in the atmosphere. At any rate, it was way better than what the suit could offer me. They also scan you on the way in, eliminating passport checks and the rest of it.

The other thing I really liked about the Texan was the way they had the place lit, so that the lighting didn't interfere with the spectacular view of the Shoshuma Nebula that slowly spiralled 30 million light years outside the transplex windows of the lounge. They had the outfit the main structure with metal reinforcements, all grey and pocked with rivets, but otherwise the joint was decorated with wooden siding and bull skulls complete with horns. The staff all wore their long hair in ponytails, strutted about in jeans, sometimes under chaps, and white shirts with string ties. Guillaume, the bartender, doesn't really fit in a Texan bar, but he knows how to make just about any drink you can imagine, so they hired him anyway. He already had a lime margarita waiting for me when I walked in.

"Salut, Chérie," he greeted me. "Ça va?"

"Hey Guillaume. Not bad. You?"

"Ah, tout va bien. Comme toujours. Hé, there is a – comment dit on? A sheark, here. Maybe you want to play against 'im? I've watched 'im win the last 9 games 'e's played. You like a challenge, non?"

I turned to follow Guillaume's line of sight, and saw a figure sitting in a dusky corner of the lounge, wearing a long, brown coat with a shoulder cape, his face covered by the wide brim of a Stetson, and a Jack and Coke in one hand. No one was in a game with him now. I noticed that Daniel Craig was sitting at a different table, taking in some other suckers. I guessed the "sheark" was too much even for him.

"Who is he?" I asked.

"All dat I know, is 'e is called 'Jeff'. 'E says 'e is from San Diego, but 'e talks like 'e is from New York." Guillaume grinned at me and pushed a set of cards and chips across the bar. He knew I couldn’t resist a good round of Hold 'Em. "Apparently, 'e is also a member of dat writers' group you used to be with. Creeters."

"Oh, Critters? Cool. Thanks, Guillaume." I picked up the card set and walked over to the table.

"Hi!" I said when I reached where he sat. "You Jeff?"

Dude looked up and a slow grin stretched across his face when he saw the silver case of chips. He kicked out a chair for me.

"Have a seat," he said. "You can deal first."

The tables at the Texan automatically link your bank account to the chips you toss onto the surface. Depending on how much you have, the chips change colour. If you're out of cash, they remain clear. My chips started staying clear alarmingly quickly. I tried to discretely scoop half of them back into the case, checking to see if Jeff had noticed. Of course he had. I pretended not to care and counted out an equal number for him. All his remained coloured. We threw in the ante, and he posted a blind as I dealt and put down the flop.

"So I hear you're with Critters," I began conversationally.

"Yeah," said Jeff. So far he seemed like a pretty relaxed guy. "I'm just in the process of shopping short stories around now, so there's nothing that I can really promote just yet. I do have – what I've been told by my readers – a twisted, little fairy tale called 'Prodigy' that I'm shopping around. Another, 'Flashpoint', is currently in edit."

"Awesome." My hand sucked, but I didn't want to let on this early, so I matched his bet and dealt the turn. "Any novels in the works?"

"I really like creating something that someone can enjoy in a short amount of time. I have more than a few novels in me, but for now I'm focused on shorter works."

Things were looking up with the turn. I matched again and put down the river. "Any super deep messages in your stuff?"

"I write to entertain. There are times when the topics are heavier, but if someone says of my work: 'that was great/fun/scary/thought provoking/etc.' then I've done my job. I'm not out to write something clever just for the sake of being clever."

Split pot. I was nervous, but at least I was still in the game. I discretely wiped my hands on my jeans as Jeff collected the cards.

"Kinda sounds like you're more into fantasy than SF."

"Yeah, dark fantasy. I really enjoy starting out with something grounded in reality and then taking it a bit off center. The 'dark' part comes in why people make the easy decision instead of the right one. I'm doing some research on a science fiction novel that has been chasing around in my brain for a while, but I'll let you know once I get to the writing on that one." He looked up and winked.

As Jeff shuffled, Daniel Craig's cell phone rang and I flinched. It was the James Bond theme. While he was talking, two more of his phones sounded off. Man, the guy had, like, five cell phones. All at once, his cell phones seemed to feed back into each other and two of them blew up, setting Daniel's white suit on fire.

Jeff laughed. "Here's to a world without cell phones!" he crowed. "You know, I tried to win those off him, just so I could smash them, but he got all offended and walked off."

The next hand proceeded. Things were looking pretty good for me after the flop, so I raised the bet. Jeff eyed me speculatively, then said, "You know, I see you haven't got much cash, but I'm sure we can make this more interesting. How 'bout I throw in the best car in the universe? My Ford Mustang."

I gave a tell when my fingers started tapping the table. I pretended I was sizing him up, when I already knew he was, how did Guillaume say? A shark. I tried to pry some information out of him, and ended up asking a really stupid question.

"A Mustang, huh? You got some kind of superpowers to go along with that?"

"Sure," said Jeff. "The ability to find a path to the best possible outcome in all situations. Nothing too big, just the sort of thing that makes people smack their head and say 'Damn, why didn't I think of that?' Just call me Captain Obvious."

Geez, this guy was good. He wasn't giving anything away.

"Well, I haven't got a fancy car. How about a really good character. Those are always useful to a writer."

Jeff shrugged. "Depends what it is."

"What kind of D&D character would you prefer?"

"One of my favorites was a hunchback thief who used to work in the circus and used to get in trouble for sticking up for the underdog."

"Uh, haven't got one of those. How about a villain?"

"It would have to be cross between Donald Trump and Bill Clinton. Neither are villains, but a driven, charming, uncle/mentor character that has dreams of world domination and a rubber chicken fetish. That and a monkey henchman – Henchmonkey? – that he's always admonishing for smoking."

"Huh. Haven't got one of those either."

"How about an extra publishing contract?" countered Jeff. "I'd like to be with Simon & Shuster. I've got Stef Penney's 'Tenderness of Wolves' sitting right next to me. This is her first novel and they've done a great job at getting the word out and producing it."

"I wish. Nope, haven't got that either. I do have a small moon out in the Toopa System. Haven't seen it yet, but the agent told me it has terellium deposits."

Jeff considered. "OK," he finally said, and the turn was tossed on the table. It was not good. Jeff was calm and relaxed. Smiling slightly. I bet he had a straight. I tried to distract him.

"So which authors are you into the most?"

"Oh, I like Richard Matheson, Stephen King, Joe Lansdale, Raymond Chandler, and James Morrow. Although the book that impressed me the most in my life was 'The Big Sleep' by Raymond Chandler. Great characters, awesome plot, and plenty of sharp dialog. He had me at: 'dead men are heavier than broken hearts.'"

"Wow. That does sound good."

"So does this," said Jeff as the river hit the table. Maybe good for him. I was one card short of a flush and didn't even have a pair. There went my moon. I stood up.

"Hey, no hard feelings?" asked Jeff. He held out his hand. He really was an OK guy.

"No, of course not. I'm just cleaned out. Good luck with the writing, eh?" I shook his hand.

As I walked out, Guillaume gave me a commiserating smile and said, "Dommage, Chérie. Meilleur chance la prochaine fois!"

You can visit Jeff (and maybe test his poker skills) at his MySpace page.

Free e-books! Good ones!

2007-09-15T18:38:00.000-06:00

Gwen Gades, publisher of Dragon Moon Press, has released electronic copies of several novels, including The Longevity Thesis, for free. That's right, nada.

If you'd like a free copy of The Longevity Thesis, skip on over to Gwen's blog:

http://dragonmoonpress.blogspot.com/

The hard copy version of the novel is due to ship out from the printers on Sept 25th.

Thanks and happy reading!

*The photo is taken from an article about Gwen, originally printed by The University of Calgary Alumni Association.