Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Switching to LJ
Well, I've finally decided to take the plunge and make the switch to
LiveJournal. Henceforth, you can read my various blatherings at the following new location:
(:::
Pauses a moment and waits for the Blogger Cops to come beat me with their nightsticks :::)
Okay, then.
I've actually had an LJ account for quite a while, but I've just been too busy or too lazy to make the switch. After much himming and hawing, I finally decided that I was tired of leading this double-blogging life; tired of the feelings of duality; of saying one thing while doing another. You know...feeling like a Republican. Eeww.
So, I throw the switch. Off to LJ I go!
I'll keep the Blogger archives for a while, at least until I decide what to do with them, and they'll be accessible from my website. You know, in the event somebody needs to know what mundane yammering I conducted in November 2004 or something.
See you on the other side.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Thoughts on STRANGE NEW WORLDS.
Today marks the close of the tenth annual
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds writing contest sponsored by Pocket Books. Given my connection to the contest, it seemed like an appropriate time to pause and reflect on the very real impact it's had on my life these past several years.
For ten years, fans of
Star Trek with dreams of seeing their story printed in an honest-to-goodness book have been sending their short story manuscripts to Pocket, where veteran author and editor
Dean Wesley Smith has shouldered the enviable task of launching the careers of many new writers, including the bonehead whose blog you're now reading. In a few months, after all the submissions have been read and the cream of this year's crop judged, winners will be announced and a few more dreams will be realized. If not for Dean -- along with former Pocket editor John Ordover, the man responsible for creating the contest in the first place, and Paula M. Block, the goddess at CBS Licensing (what used to be called Viacom Licensing) who approved the concept and who remains one of the contest's most ardent supporters -- I'd probably still be just some guy with notions of writing that never quite get off the ground as I meander through my normal, rather uneventful life.
The contest brought its own rewards, of course. Nothing has quite matched the rush I felt that first night in the fall of 1997 when John and Dean hosted an AOL chat to announce the winners of the initial contest. I saw my name and story title scrolling by on my computer screen, and that soon was followed by a phone call from John. Nothing has quite equaled the thrill of the first time I entered a book store and saw a copy of the actual anthology, with my name in the table of contents. I'm sure if one were to review the security camera footage from that day, they'd catch an image of me smiling like a giddy fool as I carried that book to the cashier. Since then, I've continued to run the gamut of emotions from stunned to gratified to euphoric to humbled and even at times to overwhelmed.
That first contest opened several doors for me, through most of which I've charged at a mad sprint just in case somebody realized what they'd done and slammed them shut. I've done my level best to remember the good fortune that's come my way, endeavoring to never take for granted the opportunities I've been given or the trust and confidence shown to me by others with far more experience and wisdom. Of even greater importance to me are the friends I've made along the way: people I've met simply because they took the time to read something I'd written; fellow writers walking the same path I've traveled or who found their success through other means along with their own hard work and perseverance; veterans of the field who've mentored me or even just shook my hand and treated me as though I've been doing this as long and as well as they have; those who've come to me with the same dreams I once held, hoping for some small bit of helpful advice.
And all the while, I've kept an eye on the contest: waiting each year for the new collection of winners to be announced. I've watched as writers toil over their submissions and share them with writing group peers. I've talked about the contest at conventions and other writing-related events, answered all manner of questions on the topic wherever and whenever they're presented, and tried to point people in the right direction when they come looking to me -- of all people -- for assistance. Though I doubt anything I've said or done has helped someone make a sale to the anthology, I'd like to think I inspired at least a few people to just sit down, write a story, and send it in.
So, to those who entered this, the tenth
Strange New Worlds contest, I tip my hat and raise my glass in tribute. I wish each of you the best of luck. To all past contestants, regardless of whether you're an established writer or still in search of that elusive first sale, I'm honored to be in your company. It's been a hell of a ride.
Here's to ten more years.
EDITED TO ADD: I just read over on Dean's site that he's retiring from editing the contest after this tenth volume is completed. It's too early to tell if there will be another contest (pretty much the same question is raised and answered at some point after each one is put to bed, to be honest), but here's hoping. SNW is unique among the many media tie-in licensees floating around out there, giving fans and hopeful new writers an unparalleled opportunity to create stories featuring their favorite characters and settings. It'd be a shame to see it come to an end, but even if that happens there's no denying the effect it's had on me and many other people.
Regardless of what happens next: Thanks, Pocket Books.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Free State Free Con
Playing catchup here today.
Kevin and I spent Saturday at the first-ever
Free State Free Con in Lawrence, Kansas. It was a small yet well-attended show, put on by the same folks behind the ongoing series of
KC Fan Cons, with pretty decent foot traffic throughout the day.
We got to reacquaint ourselves with local comics creator
Mike Sullivan, whom we met at a Free Comic Book Day signing last year. I also got to meet
Chris Grine, creator of the
Chickenhare comic, as well as
Dennis Hopeless and
Kevin Mellon, a writer/artist team here in KC who along with Eduardo Herrera and colorist Alexey Strakhov have scored a gig with
Arcana Studio for their comic
Gearhead. I really dig the style of the book, so if you're a comics fan and my opinion means more than jack to ya, check these guys out.
On top of that, got to sign a few books and talk writing with lots of folks. All in all, a pretty good day. Many thanks to Craig Klotz and everyone responsible for putting on the con!
In unrelated news, the Bucs are on their bye week, which means that -- under normal circumstances -- they shouldn't be able to lose a game today. Of course, it's the Bucs, so you just never know....
Saturday, September 30, 2006
End O' Month Update
I will remember September 2006 for a number of reasons, the most important of which was that it brought the birth of my daughter. It was a glorious event which I've celebrated and in which I take much pride, to say nothing of the gratitude I feel as baby and mother continue to do just fine.
Now that I've set you up, I'm able to report that my writing output for the month was...well...eh.
Consider yourself warned. On with the rundown:
- Things Fall Apart - Mere Anarchy: Book 1 - This, along with the series' second installment, The Centre Cannont Hold by Mike W. Barr, started being shown as available via eReader.com on or about September 22nd. It's also now available via Mobipocket.com as well as the Simon and Schuster website.
I've created a guide page for the entire mini-series, as well as a set of annotations for our book.
- Corps of Engineers #1: Turn the Page - Manuscript delivered to the editor on June 19th. Received editorial feedback and revisions were completed, and now we're awaiting licensor approval.
- Age of the Empress: The Rise of Sato I - for Star Trek: Mirror Universe - Glass Empires. A novel of approximately 50,000 words, with Kevin and I assisting former Enterprise staff writer/producer Mike Sussman with the writing. Returned our copyedit corrections/notes to editor Margaret Clark on September 8th. Now we're basically awaiting further instructions.
The novel will share space with a TOS story by Dave Mack and a TNG tale by Greg Cox. If you want to check out the cover for the other Mirror Universe book, Obsidian Alliances, check out Keith DeCandido's blog entry.
- "Jack and the Weird-Ass Box" - for the Yard Dog Press anthology Houston, We've Got Bubbas. I returned an updated manuscript along with signed contracts to the editor on September 21st. The anthology is currently slated for a June 2007 publication date. Woo Hoo!
- Original SF short story - For an open-call anthology. Received word on September 29th that the editors were passing on this story. It wasn't written to conform to any publisher-specific guidelines like the Bubbas story, so I'll probably give it another quick read-through before printing a fresh copy and dropping it in the mail to another market.
- Original short story - For an open-call anthology/writing contest. Story sent to editors on August 14th. Waiting to see if it's accepted or rejected.
- Original short story - Outlined and a partial draft is complete. The next item on my list of things to do. No luck finishing this before the baby arrived, or during the two weeks I was home with her and Mom. I hope to have some time to finish this starting tomorrow and perhaps into the coming week.
(Yeah, whatever.)
- "Texas Pride" - I've outlined this, the first short story based in the "universe" of The Last World War. The next item on my "To Do" list. No, really.
- Counterstrike: The Last World War, Book II - Proposal is still in limbo, though there's been a bit of fresh talk. Nothing I can report on at the moment, however, though things look better than a did a few months ago.
- Trek novel project with Kevin - Awaiting editor feedback on proposal.
- Trek novel project with Kevin - Only the barest of discussions with the editor have been held at this point. Probably won't even try writing a proposal until we've had more time to talk with the editor.
- Tie-in project with Kevin - After four attempts at writing a proposal, Kevin and I finally decided our basic approach sucked. We're going back to the drawing board and starting over from scratch. The only time table on this one (at present) is us getting our heads and butts correctly wired before wasting an editor's time with it. However, this one's liable to take a backseat as we move on to....
- Tie-in project with Kevin - A new project that's come along since the last update. This one does have a (sort of) time table, so we're working to finish up our proposal right F-ing now. Tentative due date for turning in a manuscript originally was around February 1, 2007, but it's looking like that will change. More on this as it's appropriate to divulge details.
- Trek tie-in project - Nothing much more than a hare-brained idea at this point, I've nevertheless written a five-page proposal for it. Not sure if it ever will see the light of day, but I figure it's good for giving the editor a laugh.
- Two articles for Star Trek Communicator magazine with Kevin - These are still on hold pending word on direction of the magazine. Last word I got was that it would be late 2006 or early 2007 before anything would happen.
- Non-fiction/non-genre article (or series of articles) for local/regional magazine or newspaper - Still hanging in limbo. No market for it, so the fire's not really there to write it at the moment.
Well, there you go. It seemed more impressive in my head.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
The Indoctrination Begins
Gotta start when they're young. So far, the initial results look promising....
More Things Falling Apart elsewhere....
For those diehard supporters of the e-Book format, you'll (perhaps) be happy to hear that
Things Fall Apart is now available both from
Mobipocket's e-Reader format as well as in Microsoft, Adobe, and Palm format from
Simon and Schuster's website.
And there was much rejoicing!
Okay, maybe just a little.
All right. My mother was cool with it.
Nah. Not really.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Seeing is believing.
I heard about it.
I read about it.
But I hadn't seen it, so I couldn't believe it.
Then the Jags/Colts game reached halftime, and they showed video of the event.
The Bucs scored a touchdown.
Their first of the still new football season.
I'd become convinced that I might first spot Bigfoot standing on the deck of the
Flying Dutchman, cloaked in the shadow of a hovering UFO and surrounded by stockpiles of WMDs found in Iraq, before I saw the Bucs score a touchdown.
Will they win? Well, let's not get crazy or ahead of ourselves here. But it's a start.
I feel like those Royals fans who are happy that they might be able to say that their baseball team won't lose 100 games this year, or that it took until almost the end of August for them to be mathematically eliminated from post-season play, as opposed to most seasons when they're knocked out of contention five minutes after the first pitch on opening day.
Cripes.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Things fall apart better with annotations.
This might be a new record for me, seeing as how I had this page prepped weeks before the e-Book itself came online.
In what is rapidly becoming a habit, I've dashed out a quick set of
annotations for
Things Fall Apart. It's not meant to be a complete list, and I'll likely add stuff as Kevin reminds me of this or that or if sharp-eyed readers catch something I didn't already list.
As always, you should avoid the notes if you've not yet read the e-Book, as the page might contain what some folks consider spoilers. Consider yourself warned.
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