Jay Lake: Writer

[books|writing] Calamity of So Long a Life is out to my last-first readers

Late yesterday afternoon I put the finishing touches on revisions to Calamity of So Long a Life, Sunspin volume one, and sent it out to my last-first readers. Specifically, several generous individuals who hadn’t read the previous draft or otherwise been enmeshed in the project, so I could get a reader reaction. I am hoping to get some feedback by late next week so I can make final revisions and send this out to la agente before the end of the month, per my planned production calendar.

I must confess to being a bit daunted about jumping into the next book, which I won’t do until April. It’s already half-written, I only owe myself another 100,000 words of first draft to nail down volume two, but the overall project is so filling my head right now that I feel as if it will leak out my ears.

Meanwhile, I have two short fiction rewrite requests on my desk to fulfill, a book review to write, and ambitions to make more progress on the synopsis of Little Dog. Given that I have the rest of the month in which to do these things, I am feeling pretty good about my goals.

Tags: Books, Calamity, Little Dog, Process, stories, Sunspin, Writing

Posted: 6:27 am Wed February 08 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad wonders where the week is going

Westward Weird came out yesterday — I have a story therein, “The Temptation of Eustace Prudence McAllen”, first in the doc, which is a nice position. Various of my co-authors have commented on the anthology and their stories, including Seanan McGuire, Dean Wesley Smith, and Steven Saus.

Próba Kwiatów – Jay Lake — A mixed review, in Polish, of the Polish edition of my novel Trial of Flowers.

SF in SF — Just a reminder that this coming Saturday, 2/11, I will be at SF in SF with K.W. Jeter and Rudy Rucker. If you’re in the Bay Area, come on down.

10 Tips on Writing from David Ogilvy — He’s talking about ad copy, not fiction, but this is still interesting and worthwhile stuff. (Via Curiosity Counts.)

Kill the Local News — Writer Jeremy Tolbert on sensationalism.

Mindful Eating as Food for Thought

Scale of the Universe — Another fun take on the “powers of 10″ meme. (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

What did people do: in a Medieval City? — (Via danjite.)

Self-Cloning Seagrass May Be World’s Oldest Living Thing

Mars-bound NASA rover carries coin for camera checkup — This is cool and kind of poetic.

Mapping the Road Ahead for Autonomous Cars

Turing’s Enduring Importance — The path computing has taken wasn’t inevitable. Even today’s machines rely on a seminal insight from the scientist who cracked Nazi Germany’s codes. An interesting article, although I wish in mentioning his suicide it had acknowledged the disgusting way Turing was treated by his own people.

The State of Gay Marriage — Being a handy map to show you where bigotry has triumphed, and where respect for basic human rights is gaining ground.

The Single Most Powerful Quote From California’s Prop 8 Ruling — “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples.” Like opposition to interracial marriage forty years ago, Prop 8 is bigotry, pure and simple, a combination of narrow-minded religious privilege and typically unfounded conservative alarmism. Like opposition to interracial marriage today, forty years from now people will be ashamed to admit in public what they once voted and for and believed.

The Business Case Against Karen Handel — John Scalzi with a very sensible take on the (surprising to me) resignation of Karen Handel from the Susan G. Komen foundation. For my own part, I’ll observe that as usual when the Right tries strong-arm tactics, they only see unfairness when they get caught out.

Planned Parenthood’s Deep Bench — Ta-Nehisi Coates with some interesting thoughts on the fight that Komen picked when they decided to show their true conservative colors.

Why the Energy-Industrial Elite Has It In for the Planet — Social and political commentary on the funding impetus behind the intellectual fraud of climate change denial.

Jesus versus the GOP — The man from Nazareth would have been appalled by the “Christian” Republican candidates. The only thing I have to say to political Christianists is “Matthew 6:6“.

‘We the People’ Loses Appeal With People Around the World — The declining influence of the US Constitution overseas.

Republicans Finally Realize They’re Helping Obama — Like their counterparts from 16 years before, Republicans took control of the House of Representatives last year filled with revolutionary zeal, assuming that they could leverage their hold over one branch of Congress into sweeping changes in the national agenda. And like their predecessors, they blundered into high-profile confrontations with a Democratic president and suffered prolonged and deep damage in their public standing, with each new defeat slowly leeching the fanatical determination out of them.

Santorum Upsets G.O.P. Race With Three Victories — I really can’t decide who would be the bigger disaster for this country, Senator Frothy Mix or Governor 1%. Our last Republican president set an extremely low bar for destructive incompetence, something the GOP electorate seems to have very conveniently forgotten.

?otd: How was your Tuesday?

2/8/2012
Writing time yesterday: 2.0 hours (Sunspin revisions)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.25 (solid)
Weight: 230.8
Currently reading: n/a (between books)

Tags: Books, Cancer, cars, climate, Conventions, Cool, Culture, Food, games, gay, gender, Links, Personal, Politics, Process, Religion, reviews, Science, sex, stories, Tech, Trial, Writing

Posted: 6:24 am Wed February 08 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad samples sensual tastes

Dickens v. Lawyers

A Month of General & Trauma Surgery — Excellent, moving short piece by doctor and author Blake Charlton.

What An Autopsy Looks Like — and Why You Need One — I plan to donate my cadaver to the medical school associated with the hospital where I receive my cancer treatments. (Via @marynmck.)

Tweet lightly: How social media could someday affect your credit score, insurance, and more — (Thanks to lillypond, a/k/a my sister.)

Jurassic cricket’s song recreated

Earth Station: The Afterlife of Technology at the End of the World — The Jamesburg Earth Station is a massive satellite receiver in a remote valley in California. It played a central role in satellite communications for three decades, but had been forgotten until the current owner put it up for sale, promoting it as a great place to spend the apocalypse. It stands feet from a trailer park and down the road from a Buddhist retreat. This is the story of one of the old, weird ties between Earth and space. (Via Curiosity Counts.)

Signs of Ancient Ocean on Mars Spotted by European Spacecraft

Upgrade eliminates Atlantis from Google Earth — Data glitch explanation won’t satisfy true believers.

Rabbi’s ‘Kosher Jesus’ book is denounced as heresy — Shmuley Boteach’s book focuses on Jesus’ Jewishness, portraying him as a hero who was not resurrected or divine. But some other rabbis express contempt for the book and forbid followers to read it.

Running Against America — Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Clint Eastwood Superbowl commercial. I just watched the ad seconds ago, after reading about the Republican freak-out, which I have to say is bizarre. This is the exact sort of gauzy nationalism (to paraphrase Jonathan Chait) that corporations have put out for years and Republicans have, themselves, often alluded to.

Why Mitt Romney should open up on Mormonism

Gingrich spokesman defends Wikipedia edits — While some of the changes were minor, Joe DeSantis has removed or asked to remove factual references to Gingrich’s three marriages as well as mentions of ethics charges brought against him while he served as speaker of the House. Remember kids, character counts! (At least it does if you’re a Democrat. Republicans appear to be immune to their own moralizing.)

The Citizens United catastrophe — In fact, this decision should be seen as part of a larger initiative by moneyed conservatives to rig the electoral system against their opponents. How else to explain conservative legislation in state after state to obstruct access to the ballot by lower-income voters — particularly members of minority groups — though voter identification laws, shortened voting periods and restrictions on voter registration campaigns? Nope, no activist judges in conservative America. No sirree, Bob. Move along, citizen, nothing to see here.

Tea Party ‘Is Dead’: How the Movement Fizzled in 2012’s GOP Primaries — Remember when we were being so loudly told by Your Liberal Media how the Tea Party was “independent” and “non-partisan.” Yeah. Uh huh. Funny how that worked out.

Why Romney is winning — Money.

?otd: How dark do you like your chocolate?

2/7/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.5 hours (Sunspin revisions)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 7.5 (solid)
Weight: 230.8
Currently reading: n/a (between books)

Tags: Books, Cool, Culture, healthcare, Links, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, Science, Tech, Videos

Posted: 6:23 am Tue February 07 2012 | Comments(3) |

[awards|repost] Obligatory story pimpage

I didn’t publish much short fiction last year, due to the effects of my cancer journey on both my productivity at the keyboard and on my focus on marketing. Such writing time as I’ve had has remained focused on my novels. Nonetheless, a few things have squeaked out into the marketplace.

For my own part, I think the best of these is my Sunspin novelette, “A Long Walk Home”, which has been selected for Year’s Best Science Fiction volume 29. If you’re a Hugo or Nebula voter, I hope you’ll give it consideration.

Anyway, here’s the list.

Novels
Endurance (Green, volume 2), Tor Books

Novelettes
“A Long Walk Home“, Subterranean Online
“The Decaying Mansions of Memory”, Untold Adventures

Short Fiction

“The Blade of His Plow”, Human for a Day, ed. Martin H. Greenberg and Jennifer Brozek
“A Critical Examination of Stigmata’s Print Taking the Rats to Riga” The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities: Exhibits, Oddities, Images, and Stories from Top Authors and Artists, ed. Jeff and Anne VanderMeer
“‘Hello,’ Said the Gun“, Daily Science Fiction
“A Place to Come Home To” (with Shannon Page), When the Hero Comes Home, ed. Gabrielle Harbowy and Ed Greenwood
“They Are Forgotten Until They Come Again”, River, ed. Alma Alexander
“Unchambered Heart”, ChiZine
“You Know What Hunts You“, The Edge of Propinquity

Tags: Awards, Books, Endurance, Repost, stories, Sunspin

Posted: 6:38 am Mon February 06 2012 | Comments(0) |

[books] Recent reading, a few comments thereon

Scourge of the Betrayer, Jeff Salyards, Night Shade Books, May 2012 [ Powells | BN ]

Night Shade sent me this book to read for blurb. I’m still chewing on how to blurb it, so I figure writing a quick pocket review will help. This is Salyards’ debut novel, and its the first in a series (though I don’t know how many volumes the series is slated to be). It’s quest fantasy, of a sort, narrated by a confused scribe named Arkamondos. He is hired to follow and document the activities of a small band of soldiers on extended foreign assignment, led by one Captain Braylar Killcoin. The book started slowly, and I had some trouble getting into the story, but once it caught for me, it was a lot of fun.

I’ve been trying to figure out why the book didn’t take off well for me. I believe the problem is inherent in the set up. The initial confusion and naiveté of the narrator makes it hard for the novel to come into focus early on. In a sense, Salyards has done his job a little too well — the “what’s going on here?” issues that Arkamondos struggles with become the reader’s struggles as well. The problem with a quest fantasy narrated by someone in ignorance of the point of the quest is that you wind up fairly literally driving to the story.

My other frustration was that I wasn’t expecting this to be a book one of a multivolume story, so I was quite surprised when the manuscript ended without resolution. The story just stopped. That’s the bad news. The good news is that I really want to read the next book.

The Man in the Moone and Other Lunar Fantasies, ed. Faith Pizor and T. Allan Comp, Praeger Publishers, January 1971 [ AbeBooks | BN ]

This is a collection of fiction about voyages to the moon, ranging from 1638 to 1841, with an introduction by Isaac Asimov. I bought it because I was interested in reading some very early science fiction. This is very much in parallel with my project last year to read nineteenth century proto-steampunk, in the original Klingon, as it were.

The oldest of these pieces is written with the very curious diction and spelling of 17th century literature. If you can handle Shakespeare, you can handle this, but there is definitely no skimming here. Other stories range from a fantasy by Edgar Allan Poe to a weird little piece about a steam powered duck. The editors provide an introduction to each selection which gives literary, social and political context, and offer occasional footnotes elucidating obscure points within the text. That’s especially helpful in the case of the older works.

Of course this work was not self-consciously written as either science fiction or fantasy, as neither of those genres existed when the pieces were published. Most of them are social satire, in fact. Still, it’s fascinating to read these premodern visions of how human beings might reach the moon. This is special interest reading, in my opinion. The entertainment value is there, but the going is fairly challenging. On the other hand, I really enjoyed exploring one of the roots of our contemporary genre.

Tags: Books, klog, reviews, Science

Posted: 6:36 am Mon February 06 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad awakens with slow reluctance

In case you missed it over the weekend, my new cancer tattoo: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] — Yes, on the back of my skull.

Christopher Walken reads Where The Wild Things Are

Antarctica – Fantastical World without Borders — An Antarctica travelog, relevant to one of my future projects. (Via bravado111.)

Avería: The Average Font — Interpolative typography. Huh. Fascinating. (Thanks to kshandra.)

Washington Park: 1907 — Detroit’s “moon towers”, as depicted here, later were sold to the City of Austin, where most of them still survive.

One’s A Crowd — The trend toward living alone?

garyomaha on working lunches, or not

Neurocinematic comparison of monkeys and humans — Spaghetti western reveals differences between human and monkey brain. Mmm, neurocinematic. I loved this bit: Like most other films, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a complex multisensory stimulus, filled with rich, operatic imagery and, of course, Ennio Morricone’s unforgettable score. It is, however, fairly safe to assume that humans and monkeys will interpret the film quite differently. (Via danjite.)

Path Is Found for the Spread of Alzheimer’s — The headline is slightly misleading, as the story refers to Alzheimer’s progression within an individual rather than to transmission between individuals. Interesting stuff.

The Komen Controversy: Planned Parenthood Claims a New Kind of Victory in the Culture War — I am baffled by the conservative charge that Planned Parenthood “bullied” Komen. What is the Right’s treatment of Planned Parenthood but bullying, if you want to frame it in those terms? More to the point, for decades the entire forced pregnancy movement is about bullying desperate, vulnerable young women and their medical providers. What else is a clinic blockade or a doctor target list but sheer, awful bullying in the name of what? The god of love? Decency? Conservative bigotry and “morals”? Can you imagine the reaction if liberal-progressives blockaded churches and targeted pastors? Project much, guys? The Right can dish it out, but they can’t take it.

A Puritan’s ‘war against religion’ — Roger Williams, the Puritan who founded Rhode Island, insisted on the state refraining from intervening in the relationship between humans and God. Freedom of religion absolutely means freedom from religion. That is the best protection any church has against persecution. Despite the modern GOP interpretation, freedom of religion doesn’t mean the freedom to exercise oppressive bigotry, narrow-minded judgmenentalism, or tear down educational and cultural standards in favor of silly mythmaking.

ericjamesstone points out that I am wrong in characterizing Romney as saying he won’t have a Muslim in his cabinet — This in connection to my comment that I thought making an issue of Romney’ religion was a red herring, until he made an issue of Islam as a religion. Speaking as an atheist, there is nothing more or less at issue with Romney’s LDS membership than there is with Newt’s Catholicism or Clinton’s Southern Baptist faith. To me, the religion of the candidates would only be an issue if there were a straightforward atheist running on a major party ticket. Which won’t likely happen in my lifetime…

Senate GOP: Activist Federal Judges Wanted — The hypocrisy of a group of Republicans who are supporting the lawsuit against Obama’s recess appointments. Republicans being hypocritical? That’s as inconceivable as the idea of Newt Gingrich cheating on his wife.

The true conservative alternative: Ron Paul? — It’s sad that conservatism has become a race to the bottom to display the most ignorance, bigotry and sheer foolishness.

?otd: Dream much??

2/6/2012
Writing time yesterday: 5.5 hours (Sunspin revisions)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 7.5 (solid)
Weight: 229.4
Currently reading: The Man in the Moone, and Other Lunar Fantasies ed. Faith Pizor

Tags: Antarctica, Art, Books, Cancer, Culture, gender, healthcare, Links, Movies, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, scorner, Tech, Texas, Videos, work

Posted: 6:29 am Mon February 06 2012 | Comments(0) |

[writing] Sunspin revision update

Well, I’ve processed my way through a couple of more passes of the manuscript of Calamity of So Long a Life. I’m now looking at one more close read for deep issues based on several salient critiques from my agent and first readers to date.

I can tell I’m nearly done with this revision because I’m starting to get sick of looking at this book. That’s my subconscious’ way of telling me to lay off it before I file off all the interesting bits and polish it into terminal blandness. I do need to do this last pass read-through, however. With luck I can manage it over the weekend, or no later than early next week.

I’m feeling good about it. Hopefully the world will, too. And I’m very pleased with being on target in terms of my production schedule for this project.

Tags: Books, Calamity, Sunspin, Writing

Posted: 6:36 am Fri February 03 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad watches the Child hit the boards

Skungy Art. “Surfing the Gnarl.” Read Feb 7, Feb 11. — Rudy Rucker on (among other things) the February 11th reading in San Francisco, where K.W. Jeter and I will be sharing the stage with him.

Author C.J. Marsicano is running a Kickstarter campaign to get a book out — Go check it out.

Penguin Further Narrows Library Access, Suspending Availability of Audiobook Titles — Hmmm. (Via danjite.)

25 Things I Learned From Opening a Bookstore — (Via willyumtx.)

The Hill Approach — Seth Godin on creativity.

The Story of a Suicide — Two college roommates, a webcam, and a tragedy. Tyler Clementi and Dharun Ravi.

Brains may be wired for addiction

Blood test accurately distinguishes depressed patients from healthy controls — Interesting. (Via @jackwilliambell.)

The Secret of Ant Transportation Networks — Just how ants create the highly efficient network of trails around their nests has never been fully understood. Now researchers think they’ve cracked it.

With Risk, Japanese City Takes On Once Accepted Fact of Life: Its Gangsters

Restored Edison Records Revive Giants of 19th-Century Germany — Talk about your obsolete formats… (Via my Dad.)

A case study of the tactics of climate change denial — But notice what he’s done. He’s taken what is clearly a minor point and blown it up as if it’s my main point. He’s used shady words (predictions, models) to cast aspersions, and to make someone (me!) look bad. Then, by “refuting” this minor issue he can then poison the well, strongly implying that all my arguments are wrong. That’s kind of a big no-no when trying to argue a point. But it packages well. A pretty neat summation of typically wrong-headed conservative discourse on a lot of issues.

Happy days are here again — Roger Ebert on Newt, Mitt and the evolution of political party nominating conventions. Entertaining and interesting bit of history, regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum.

The Invincible Nobility Of The Middle Class — Ta-Nehisi Coates on a modern political meme promulgated by both major parties. But the implication of a middle-class patriotism holds that the poor do not work hard, and do not play by the rules. Their poverty is a moral stain. It’s rather sad to see ostensible progressives reinforcing this message.

The Politics of Cancer — This Komen-Planned Parenthood business is one of the more disgusting maneuvers on the part of the conservative movement. I am beyond appalled. Bluntly, the Right has made it clear that they find it preferable for poor women to die of cancer than have any potential access to abortion. A stark indictment of the forced pregnancy movement.

Romney: Context for me, but not for thee — Typical Republican. “Do as I say, not as I do.” Romney brags about mining Obama quotes deeply out context, but protests the unfairness when Gingrich does precisely the same thing to him.

Bush beats Obama’s deficit spending by 5 to 1, but Romney targets the wrong guy to whine about — Much easier to complain about a black Democrat that acknowledge the Republican party’s responsibility for its actions when last in power.

Mitt Speaks. Oh, No!

Blending politics and religion, Obama says his policies are an extension of Christian faith — Ok, I find this kind of thing alarming whether it comes from Republicans or Democrats. This is a secular nation in a secular world, and rational thought should be the basis of our governance.

?otd: What’s the last game you played?

2/3/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (Sunspin revisions)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.0 (solid)
Weight: 230.2
Currently reading: The Man in the Moone, and Other Lunar Fantasies ed. Faith Pizor

Tags: Books, Cancer, climate, Conventions, Culture, healthcare, Japan, Links, nature, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, Science, Tech

Posted: 6:35 am Fri February 03 2012 | Comments(2) |

[conventions|personal] The SFWA Portland Reading Series, other miscellany

the_child and I attended the SFWA Portland Reading Series last night. Mary Robinette Kowal introduced, John Pitts hosted and read, while Ken Scholes and David D. Levine rounded out the bill. It was a lot of fun, and we heard some great fiction.

I also had a lot of fun watching the_child work the room, both at the pre-dinner and during the pre-show and intermission breaks at the reading. She was cruising around being friendly and articulate both to old friends and to new folks she’d never met before. Whatever life has in store for her, this girl’s ease with people will be a big part of it.

Due to the various time commitments yesterday, I barely squeaked in an hour of Sunspin revision. Still, I am drawing close to being done with these — perhaps another week of effort, I’m not certain. I’m beating the bushes for another few first readers, because I’d like one more reality check before submitting this to la agente for send-out.

Today I’ll be fairly busy, and most of the weekend will be taken up with supervising the_child‘s labors on her eighth grade project, about which more anon when the time is right.

Tags: Books, Child, Conventions, friends, Personal, Sunspin, Writing

Posted: 6:31 am Wed February 01 2012 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad enjoyed the reading

A reader reacts to Endurance — I think they liked it.

The Self-Sabotaging Writer — Kameron Hurley on the perils of being a writer. (Via Steve Buchheit.)

What the Nook Means — A new Nook’s on its way. Can it save books?

The Milhous Collection — A meticulously assembled selection of mechanical musical instruments, vintage automobiles and more. (Via danjite.)

Cloud Cover’s Role in Exoplanet Studies

Study measures mammalian growth spurt — It takes 24 million generations for mouse-sized mammals to evolve into elephants — but shrinking back is much faster.

Mind-reading program translates brain activity into words — The research paves the way for brain implants that would translate the thoughts of people who have lost power of speech.

cassiealexander on Rick Santorum, privilege, healthcare, and sick kids — What she says.

The End of Health Insurance Companies — I don’t think I actually believe this piece, but it’s a nice thought.

Inside the heresy files — Interrogation. Surveillance. Ethnic profiling. Censorship. The words come from 21st-century headlines, but they have an ancient pedigree. Cullen Murphy on how the Inquisition ignited the modern police state. (Snurched from Scrivener’s Error.)

McConnell’s Revisionist History: Congress Gave Obama Everything He Wanted! — Can he possibly believe this? McConnell, of all people? More to the point, why does anybody else believe this?

Marsh on Obama: The Party’s Over — Sigh.

Delusions of Obama the Idiot — It’s amazing that the GOP has somehow convinced itself that Obama is some kind of beguiling intellectual lightweight. Once you accept that ideology trumps reality, it’s easy to put faith in any whackdoodle idea that enters one’s head.

Gingrich, Romney, and “Reckoning with the Base”

Romney versus Gingrich slugfest is harbinger of Republican civil war — We can only hope. Meanwhile, I continue to marvel at the Republican base’s vitriolic view of liberals, who are guilty of bringing America such heinous sins as the forty hour work week, paid vacations, child labor laws, clean air and water, and other such violations of our civil rights, all over the strong objections of conservatives.

Welfare Drug Testing Bill Withdrawn After Amended To Include Testing Lawmakers — Don’t worry, it will be back. Oppressing the poor is a club sport for the GOP.

Huh? Mitt claims Newt outspent him in S.C. — Huh. Republicans lying about each other. The candidates and party leadership know it doesn’t matter. The message always trumps facts. The low information voters who make up the GOP base will just nod and follow along like they always do.

The Myth of the American Political Intelligence Gap

?otd: When’s the last time you attended a live reading?

2/1/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (Sunspin revisions)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 6.5 (solid)
Weight: 228.8
Currently reading: The Man in the Moone, and Other Lunar Fantasies ed. Faith Pizor

Tags: Books, cars, Cool, ebooks, Endurance, healthcare, Links, music, Personal, Politics, Process, Publishing, Religion, reviews, Science, Videos, Writing

Posted: 6:23 am Wed February 01 2012 | Comments(1) |