For those of you who will be attending the Origins Game Fair at the end of this month, while you’re there, be on the lookout for a special souvenir. Writers who attended the show last year and are attending this year, myself among them, have pooled time and effort to produce a new short story anthology, Time-Traveled Tales, which will be on sale at the convention… and perhaps nowhere else.

     The anthology, edited by Jean Rabe (writer and editor, as well as director of the writers’ program at Origins), is a 6″x9″ trade paperback, 197 pages, probably retailing for $10. It includes these stories and authors:

• “Replay Value” by Aaron Allston
• “Last Man on Earth” by Maxwell Alexander Drake
• “The Old Gods” by C.S. Marks
• “Among the Stars” by Sarah Hans
• “For Every Time, A Season” by Donald J. Bingle
• “Slug” by Janine K. Spendlove
• “Know Your Nemesis” by Kelly Swails
• “My Faire Lady” by Jean Rabe
• “The Tinker’s Music Box” by Jennifer Brozek
• “Under a Thin Veneer” by Daniel Myers
• “Deep Salvage” by Bryan Young
• “Adventure of the Ghost Watch” by Michael A . Stackpole
• “Impression” by Tracy Chowdhury
• “Prologue” by Gregory A. Wilson
• “Fair Game” by Dylan Birtolo
• “Market” by R. T. Kaelin
• “In the Time of Dragons” by Steven Saus>
• “Parting the Clouds” by Bradley P. Beaulieu
• “Protection” by Timothy Zahn

     Time-Traveled Tales is an experiment by GAMA, the organization that runs Origins — it’s the first fiction anthology produced as a souvenir for that convention. Similar anthologies produced for events like the World Fantasy Convention tend to become collector’s items. We’re hoping that the same will come true of this book, and that it will persuade GAMA to produce more in the future.

     You can help them with that decision, of course, by buying one…

     Time-Traveled Tales is being produced in a limited print run. In the event that the print run does not sell out at the convention, individual authors may have copies for sale in the future. But picking up a copy early at the Origins Game Fair, or asking a friend to pick one up for you, is the only way to be sure of getting a copy. At this moment, we have no idea whether the anthology will be reissued in the future.

     Wish us luck with this experiment, and I look forward to seeing you at Origins.

     I’ve finished two novels since my last blog post. Okay, one of them was already
almost finished, and the other was well along — but now they’re actually finished.

     In early February, I finished and turned in Mercy Kill, the next Star Wars: X-Wing novel. The Monday after I finished it, I turned to Growing Up Dead, the humorous
vampire adventure I’d written and mostly completed in 2010 and 2011. Across February
and early March, I polished it into completed form and passed it on to my agent. The
day after I completed it, I returned to Mercy Kill to proofread and amend the copyedited
manuscript, then returned that to Del Rey.

     So — yeah, it’s been a little busy.

     And during that time, I passed a milestone: the three-year anniversary of my
heart attack, which started March 27, 2009 and was diagnosed (when I was
hospitalized) on March 29, 2009.

     It’s good to still be here, and to be completing projects. Thanks go to everyone
who’s offered help during those three years.

Appearances

     I just updated my Appearance Schedule page
with loads of information about my
summer convention schedule.

     The fun starts on May 5, when I do a signing at Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy
in Austin, TX in celebration of Free Comic Book Day. Peter Mayhew, portrayer of
Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies, will be signing at the same event.

     Then there’s an updated schedule for my attendance of the Origins Game Fair at
the end of May/beginning of June. There are notes on ArmadilloCon in July and Celebration VI in
August. Rounding out the list is information on my activities at Dragon*Con at the end of August/beginning
of September, including a complete listing of the writing seminars Michael A. Stackpole
and I (joined this year by Alison Richards) will be conducting there.

     So, basically, a busy winter/spring is going to be followed by a busy summer.

Connect the Dots

(An Essay About Something That Confused Me)

     Once upon a time, I used to watch soap operas. These were the CBS daytime
soaps in the early 1990s — The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful,
Guiding Light, and As the World Turns. I did this chiefly to learn about sustaining plots and
character arcs across months and years, possibly across thousands of episodes.

     I also occasionally read entertainment-industry news stories about various soap
stars. A story that came up occasionally, apparently as a universal consequence of
being a soap star, told of actors being stopped by ardent fans of their shows. The fans
would speak to them as if they, the actors, were their characters. The fans would
criticize (even harangue) them for villainous behavior or offer sympathy for personal
tragedies… all without apparently being aware that these characterizations and events were
fictitious.

     I never could quite understand that behavior. Surely most of these fans actually
did understand they were watching TV shows. I know there are delusional people out
there, but the frequency of these stories seemed out of proportion to the
number of delusional folk I have personally encountered.

     More recently I rewatched a favorite movie of mine, Bob Clark’s brilliant A
Christmas Story, in which one incident has young Ralphie dealing with the fact that his
grandparent can only think of him as being a very small child.

     And, believe it or not, that’s when the question of delusional soap opera fans
clicked for me.

     Picture this: Grandparents visit their grandchildren, who are now teenagers. An
awkward silence ensues between the grandparents and the grandchildren. Grandma,
uncomfortable, makes a noble effort to break the silence.

Grandma: “So, do you remember when you were two and you dropped the ice cream in
your lap?”

Teen Granddaughter: “No.”

Grandma: “Oh. Or the time when Billy pulled the arms off your doll and you were so
mad?”

Teen Granddaughter: “He likes to be called Will now. And no.”

     Believe it or not, that’s exactly the same situation as a fan accosting a soap
opera star with criticism of the star’s on-screen behavior.

     How, precisely, is it exactly the same?

     It has to do with context.

     Grandparents who selcom have the opportunity to see their grandkids have only
a few points of context, of connection, with those kids. And those points of connection
are often events from early in the kids’ lives, events they may have forgotten or prefer
not to remember in light of their current, striving-to-be-cool lives. But the grandparents
invoke those old events anyway, in a desperate attempt to bridge the gap of years, and
get eye-rolls and dismissiveness as a response.

     Back to the soap opera star. A fan approaches and is desperate to connect, just
for a moment, with a TV idol. But what are the fan’s points of connection? Only the
star’s character’s behavior and life events. So the fan slips into a conversation just as
awkward as the grandparents’. Except such a conversation is bound to sound more
interesting to onlookers.

Fan: “Do you remember when you had Sir James chained up in his
basement and the control panel caught on fire? Why did you run? Why didn’t you save
him?”

     Context.

     It’s easier for writers. People read our work and don’t somehow transfer us into
the events on our pages. (Which is good. I assure you that if I tried to fight a werewolf,
pilot a starfighter, or wield a sword, tragedy would ensue.)

     What’s the solution? Hell if I know. I’m just pleased to have come up with an
explanation for a behavior that confused me for years. Even if I’m totally wrong, other
people can argue about it while I sit back and relax.

     But if you run into someone you’re a fan of, and you’re stuck for something to
say, try this: “Hi, I’m so-and-so, and I really enjoy your work.” You won’t sound like a
lunatic.

     (Disclaimer: No, I don’t disparage soap operas, and I don’t think most soap
opera fans are nutbags.)

     I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be the Author Guest of Honor at the 2012 Origins Game Fair.

     Any GoH gig is a big deal to me, but Origins has a special place in my heart. It was the first large game convention I attended (Baltimore, 1982 — thirty years ago). (As a side note, it was on the ridiculous road trip to the con, a cooperative effort between Steve Jackson Games and Flying Buffalo, Inc., that I first met Michael A. Stackpole in person — he was a Flying Buffalo employee, I a Steve Jackson Games employee.)

     I’ve also won two Origins Awards, prestigious within the game publishing industry — one for magazine editing (awarded at the 1983 event in Detroit) and one for their Hall of Fame (awarded 2007 in Columbus, OH).

     Origins is also where I get to catch up with many industry colleages and with my friends from Club Jade each year.

     So, yeah, close to my heart, and it’s great to be going back as a GoH.

     My schedule, currently a preliminary one, includes the following events:

• Thursday, 1 pm-2 pm: Showing Off Your Manuscript. “Bestselling author Aaron Allston discusses ways to put your fiction before the eyes of others, including advance readers, workshoppers, editors, and agents. We’ll also talk about the hazards of showing off your manuscript, including submission mistakes, hurtful reviews, and loss of creative energy.” Aaron Allston. Room TBA. Additional fee will apply for this seminar.
• Thursday 3 pm-4 pm: Ruining Your Career Before It Gets Started. “Bestselling author Aaron Allston walks you through the minefield of deadly career-killers, including query letters that spell doom, research practices that murder a writer’s reputation, ‘everyone knows’ fallacies that lead novices and even experienced writers into quicksand, and fan interactions that are pure poison.” Aaron Allston. Room TBA. Additional fee will apply for this seminar.
• Thursday, 4 pm-5 pm: Star Wars In Novels. “New York Times bestselling authors Aaron Allston, Timothy Zahn, and Michael A. Stackpole talk about their Star Wars books and about their future fiction plans in the galaxy far, far away.” Aaron Allston, Timothy Zahn, Michael A. Stackpole. Room TBA.
• Friday, 10 am-11 am: Description. “Have your descriptive passages become blocks of text that stop your story cold? Bestselling author Aaron Allston discusses techniques to transform those passages into memorable experiences that propel your story to its conclusion.” Aaron Allston. Room TBA. Additional fee will apply for this seminar.
• Friday, 11:15 am-12:45 pm: Library Hours. For some or all of this time, I’ll be at my booth in the Library (opposite Booth 245 in the Exhibit Hall). Aaron Allston.
• Friday, 1 pm-2 pm: Style and Mood. “Bestselling author Aaron Allston talks about establishing and sustaining the tone of a novel — how to switch from technique to technique, like a pitcher switching from a curve ball to a fastball, in order to make the readers experience exactly what you want them to.” Aaron Allston. Room TBA. Additional fee will apply for this seminar.
• Friday, 2:15 pm-4:45 pm: Library Hours. For some or all of this time, I’ll be at my booth in the Library (opposite Booth 245 in the Exhibit Hall). Aaron Allston.
• Friday, 5 pm-5:30 pm: Reading. I expect to read Replay Value, a short story scheduled for publication quite close to Origins 2012. Aaron Allston. Room TBA.
• Saturday 10 am-11 am: Slaying Writer’s Block. “There’s debate whether there is such a beast as writer’s block. We’ll not argue that point here. Rather, we’ll show you what you can do to knock down the barriers that are keeping you from typing away at your keyboard. Writer’s block… or whatever you want to label it… we’ve faced it and beat it to a bloody pulp.” Aaron Allston, Jennifer Brozek, Bryan Young. Room TBA.
• Saturday, 12 pm-1 pm: Unclogging Your Plot. “Bestselling author Aaron Allston describes the Thirteen Deadly Sins that can grind your novel’s plot to a halt — how to detect them, understand them, and bulldoze them out of your way.” Aaron Allston. Room TBA. Additional fee will apply for this seminar.
• Saturday, 3 pm-4 pm: Talk to Me: Dialogue. “Bestselling author Aaron Allston discusses the art of writing dialogue — to improve characterization, to influence the reader’s responses, and to deliver the emotional wallop your story needs.” Aaron Allston. Room TBA. Additional fee will apply for this seminar.
• Saturday, 4:15 pm-6:00 pm: Library Hours. For some or all of this time, I’ll be at my booth in the Library (opposite Booth 245 in the Exhibit Hall). Aaron Allston.
• Sunday, 11 am-12 pm: Steal An Hour of Aaron Allston’s Life. “Origins Author Guest of Honor and New York Times bestselling author Aaron Allston is waiting to have his brain picked. He’s willing to talk about life, the universe, and practically anything else on your minds. Bring your questions!” Aaron Allston. Room TBA.

     I’ll update those listings on my appearance schedule page as new details emerge.

     Other conventions I plan or hope to attend this summer include ArmadilloCon (Austin, TX), Celebration VI (Orlando, FL), and Dragon*Con (Atlanta, GA).

     A while back, it was mentioned to me that a colleague, an SF author, had said
that she did not consider self-published authors to be her peers.

     As a published author, she has every right to express that opinion. She has
earned her perspective through work and effort. As a published author, I’ve earned
mine the same way, and I reject her perspective.

     I’ll explain why. At length.

     Note that this explanation is intended so that you’ll understand my
outlook. That’s all it’s for. I’m not trying to persuade people to my way of thinking.

     In the course of my career in fiction, I’ve seen lots of ways some writers choose
not to consider one another as peers. In addition, fans and industry observers
sometimes decide not to consider writers to be “real.”

     Those who practice these exclusionary behaviors usually make claims about the
validity of those writers, and support those claims with arguments. Let’s look at some of
those claims and arguments.

Claim #1: Fanfic Writers Aren’t Real Writers

     Writers and fans who offer this opinion generally back it up with a series of
arguments, including:

• Fanfic writers haven’t proven themselves in the arena of commercial competition.


• Fanfic writers work exclusively in universes they did not create, which
  demonstrates a lack of imagination.


• Because they don’t have to subject their work to the scrutiny of the property
  owners, fanfic authors can get away with sloppy, undisciplined, careless work.


• Because their audiences are intimately familiar with those universes, fanfic
  writers do not have to develop a full set of tools such as characterization or
  description.


• Fanfic works can never be commercially published so they’re wastes of time.

     Let’s consider these arguments one by one.

Fanfic writers haven’t proven themselves in the arena of commercial competition.

     Well, that’s often true. And rightly or wrongly, an author’s sales constitute one
objective measurement of success. Fanfic writers can’t be evaluated by that yardstick.
The logic goes, then, that we really don’t need to consider them to be real writers at all
— not compared to those of us whose sales can be measured.

     It’s true that commercial success is an objective indicator that a writer is meeting
a need, but the need is not necessarily that of good writing. The fact that we buy and
absently munch on breakfast burritos on the way to work doesn’t mean we consider
them good food — just that they address a need. Does commercial success centering
around breakfast burritos mean that the cook at an independent restaurant is a failure
and that the minimum-wage worker who throws the breakfast burritos together is a
master chef?

     The more indiscriminate a readership is, the more unrelated the concepts of
commercial success and writing skill become.

     So, is commercial success a characteristic of being a “real” writer? Actually, for
the purposes of argument, let’s assume that it is, but let’s also assume that it’s not the
only one, and therefore not a disqualirfying factor if the author doesn’t achieve it.

Fanfic writers work exclusively in universes they did not create, which
demonstrates a lack of imagination.

     I know several writers who do both profic and fanfic, as well as some who have
done one, then the other, and (on occasion) have gone back to the first one again. I don’t
see any lack of imagination in their professional work, so I have to discount this
argument.

Because they don’t have to subject their work to the scrutiny of the property
owners, fanfic authors can get away with sloppy, undisciplined, careless work.

     This is absolutely true.

     Now, fanfic writers get feedback from their readers, some of whom will tell them
that they’ve been sloppy. Other readers will vigorously defend them, in spite of
sloppiness, for their other virtues.

     It’s worth noting, though, that although some fanfic writers can get away with
sloppiness, sloppiness is not a requisite of being a fanfic writer, which is often an
implication made by the people raising this argument. So since people
raise this argument to suggest that sloppy writers aren’t “real” writers, and sloppiness is
not a requisite, I have to discount this argument.

Because their audiences are intimately familiar with those universes, fanfic
writers do not have to develop a full set of tools such as characterization or
description.

     Also a fair argument.

     Whenever I run manuscript-review writers’ workshops, I tell the participants that
they can submit fanfic if they like, but that it must be edited/rewritten as if for readers
who have never heard of the source material, even if no one can actually find such a
reader. So a Buffy, the Vampire Slayer submission would be written for theoretical
people who’ve never heard of Buffy, Willow, Giles, Sunnydale, etc.

     Participants in those workshops generally step right up to the plate and do a fine
job, and those who don’t get the criticism appropriate to the shortcomings in their work.

     Here, again, the implication being made by critics of fanfic seems to be that
because fanfic writers can get away with a major omission, all fanfic writers therefore
demonstrate that omission — which is a fallacy.

     Argument dismissed.

Fanfic works can never be commercially published so they’re wastes of time.

     There was a time, in centuries previous to ours, when a sign of education and cultural
sophistication was the ability to write. I’m not talking about commercial fiction. I’m
talking chiefly about letters and essays. In the absence of mass media entertainment, a
lengthy letter from a distant relative or friend was a treat that could perk up an entire
household for days or longer, and some correspondences between lifelong friends
yielded treasure troves of wonderfully insightful, descriptive work of tremendous
historical importance.

     Those correspondents weren’t being paid for their efforts. So were these works wastes
of time? Were those correspondents real writers? Were they the peers of today’s real
writers?

     I can’t speak for other writers, but I can speak for myself. I say they were real
writers, and sometimes made the world — their world, and in some cases the world of
today — better for their efforts.

     And though it often appears that the internet is helping literacy to circle around
the drain, the world of blogging suggests that a renaissance in the field of essays is
possible. In my not-copious free time, I’m stumbling across more sharp, perceptive,
effective essays than I ever read twenty or thirty years ago. And I consider these
essayists my peers.

     So — again, speaking for myself — I have to dismiss this argument.

Claim #2: Media Tie-In Fiction Writers Aren’t Real Writers

     This claim comes from some pro writers and some fans, usually the same ones
who object to fanfic writers. And some of the arguments are the same as for fanfic.

     I’ll admit to having a personal investment in this question. In a very few
instances, I’ve been ill-treated for working as extensively as I have
in the field of media tie-in fiction. So, yes, this claim does get my back up a little bit.

     The arguments:

• Media tie-in writers work in universes they did not create, which demonstrates a
  lack of imagination.


• Because their audiences are intimately familiar with those universes, media tie-in
  writers do not have to develop a full set of tools such as characterization or
  description.


• Tie-in fiction isn’t counted as canon by the license holders, so it’s obviously
  second-class work, beneath the regard of real writers.


• Every media tie-in book sold is an original novel that won’t be sold.

     Let’s look at these arguments.

Media tie-in writers work in universes they did not create, which demonstrates a
lack of imagination.

     This is the same argument as for fanfic, above, and I dismiss it on the same
grounds.

Because their audiences are intimately familiar with those universes, media tie-in
writers do not have to develop a full set of tools such as characterization or
description.

     This, too, is the same argument as the one for fanfic, above, and I dismiss it for
the same reasons.

Tie-in fiction isn’t counted as canon by the license holders, so it’s obviously
second-class work, beneath the regard of real writers.

     Well, that observation is sometimes true and sometimes not.

     Most license holders do not consider tie-in fiction to be canon. In other words,
the details and events appearing in the fiction are usually not an official part of the
world/universe. But the chief reason for this choice is not one of quality. It’s one of
limitations, and of who is imposing those limitations on whom.

     License holders do not care to be constrained by details that appear in licensed
products.

     Let’s say, for instance, that an author writes a licensed Terra Nova novel that
introduces Dr. Jack Tremainianologovsky, the greatest paleoxenotoxicologist ever
known to man. Fine. But the producers and scriptwriters of the TV show, rather than
embracing the fact that such a character has been established for their setting, are
more likely to disregard the character entirely, because they have their own world’s-greatest-paleoxenotoxicologist character in mind, and they can get Miley Cyrus to play
her. The property owners don’t want the tail to wag the dog, and that’s what having
detail poured into a setting by licensees feels like to them.

     Different licenses have different outlooks on this, though. Lucasfilm has derived
some Star Wars details from Expanded Universe fiction. The name of the Imperial
throneworld, Coruscant, originated with novelist Timothy Zahn. If I remember correctly,
Jedi Maste Aayla Secura, portrayed in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith
by Amy Allen, originated in comics by Dark Horse. And so on.

     On the other hand, there are licenses where the contributions of the fiction
writers are entirely ignored by the show’s/movie series’ producers. That’s the way it is.
But it’s not a quality issue.

     And, yes, there are some licensed tie-in fiction series where the quality of the
fiction is quite low. On the other hand, with no line I’ve ever heard of is the writer
required to write to a low standard.

     So, argument dismissed.

Every media tie-in book sold is an original novel that won’t be sold.

     This argument goes on to say that media tie-in fiction has become the new
midlist, crowding out original work by new and struggling writers, a sort of literary
chimera of kudzu, javelinas, and walking catfish.

     For a while, starting in the late 1980s or early 1990s, it looked spookily like this
might be the case. If I remember correctly, the rise to prominence of TSR Books’
Dragonlance series set off chimes in bookstore cash registers and alarm bells in the
minds of authors. The extraordinary sales success of Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy
enhanced retailer happiness and authorial paranoia. And, yes, it appeared that media
tie-in books were beginning to dominate the midlist.

     I was just getting my novel-writing career off the ground at the time. I looked at
the situation, spent about ten seconds analyzing it, and came to this conclusion: “If I
divide my writing time between originals and media tie-in novels, I should do all right.”

     People who know my bibliography will notice that I did skew more toward media
tie-in fiction for many years, doing several tie-in novels for every one original. That has
nothing to do with my point. My point is that a writer can analyze the market, adapt his
output to market conditions, and strike a balance between market needs and his own
artistic needs.

     The danger was never media-based novels or the sudden rise in popularity
of romance or sales of the PlayStation. The enemies of a freelance writer are panic and
an unwillingness to keep track of what’s going on in the market.

     Anyway, the only writers whose careers I saw being wrecked by the media tie-in
boom were the very unlucky ones and the very inflexible ones. And with the rise of digital and Print On Demand publishing, the market will probably change drastically enough that the entire “media tie-ins are killing the midlist” argument is moot anyway.

     Which is why I have to dismiss that argument.

     For ironic effect, I sometimes point to Isaac Asimov’s novelization of the movie
Fantastic Voyage. Yes, I have a copy of the novel written by a grand master of science
fiction whose most endearing protagonist was Raquel Welch’s zipper. It didn’t seem to
have hurt Asimov’s career much.

Claim #3: Genre Writers Aren’t Real Writers

     I won’t go into a breakdown of arguments supporting this claim for the reason
that I spoke to this issue earlier, under “Because they don’t have to subject their work to
the scrutiny of the property owners … sloppy, undisciplined, careless work.”

     I did want to address a peripheral issue here, though. Many of us, both pro
writers and aspiring, have had English classes, including creative writing courses,
where the instructors cautioned us against writing in genres such as mystery, science
fiction, or romance. Usually they didn’t offer much in the way of explanation, other than
that these genres resulted in work of lower quality.

     I think that, ultimately, the reason for this opposition to genre work is that these teachers recognize that
genre fiction starts out by limiting its intended audience rather than striving to achieve
universal appeal (and universal meaningfulness). Clearly, a horror story is intended for
those readers who appreciate horror, and so on.

     And because genre fans forgive so many sins by writers and movie/TV
producers working in their genres of choice, English teachers often see their students
accepting, appreciating, even enshrining bad habits, ancient cliches, and inferior writing
in general. Hence the warmings. Hence, occasionally, a general dislike they develop of
genre work. As a student, I sometimes received lowered marks for working in genre,
and I’ve talked to innumerable people who share that experience.

     Anyway, claim dismissed.

Claim #4: Self-Published Writers Aren’t Real Writers

     Here’s the big argument:

• Self-published writers haven’t proven themselves by getting past the gatekeepers of editors and
  publsihers.

     My outlook on that argument follows.

Self-published writers haven’t proven themselves by getting past the gatekeepers of editors and
publsihers.

     In more elaborate form, this argument includes the following elements:

     Self-published authors haven’t beaten the odds (implicitly, “the way I did”). They
haven’t (necessarily) written manuscript after manuscript, getting incrementally better
with each one, forging relationships with editors, demonstrating determination, finally
having a publisher demonstrate its faith in the writer by investing thousands of dollars in
advances, payments for cover art, and publication costs.

     In short, they haven’t received permission from one or more authority figures to
be in print — to be real writers. If their self-published work fails to sell, it’s evidence of
the correctness of the argument. And if the self-published work does sell, it’s clear
evidence of the unfairness of the universe.

     I’ve been startled by the venom that goes into some of these protests. It’s as
though the people raising the objections are comparing self-published writers to beach
bimbos who got caught sleeping with a Congressman and now are well-enough known
to steal acting jobs from people who’ve spent years learning their craft.

     But I am reminded of a time, I guess it was around ten years ago, when a new
class of video cameras, exemplified by the Canon XL1, hit the market. These cameras
recorded at near film quality — careful videography and use of filters or post-production
effects could give them at least the same quality as 16mm film transfers. When you
combined their availability with the rise of NLEs — non-linear editors, programs that
allowed editing of movies on personal computers — the result was a new generation of
filmmakers who didn’t have to shoot actual film, didn’t have to edit with actual pieces of
celluloid. They bypassed several steps of the steep learning curve of movie-making.

     A lot of filmmakers who’d overcome the learning curve of the earlier technology were unhappy.
“How dare these punk kids bypass all the hard stuff I had to learn? How dare they
actually get distribution?”

     And now I’m hearing the exact same sentiments being echoed by novelists who
came up through the ranks of yesterday’s technology.

     I really do understand that. Sometimes I feel touches of the same resentment.
Kids these days. No respect for their elders. Get off my damned lawn.

     On the other hand, if the technologies for e-book distribution and Print On
Demand had been available 25 years ago, would I have jumped at them? Hell, yes.

     In fact, from the time I got my first computer in 1984, I’ve been fiddling with
technologies appropriate for e-publishing. I played with e-book programs back in the
DOS days — text only, no graphics. I messed with Farallon’s Replica and WordPerfect
Envoy back when they were in competition with Adobe Acrobat, I learned to generate
WinHelp .hlp files (long before, and much harder than, HTML Help .chm files). I’m glad
to see some of these technologies being realized.

     Anyway, back to my point. The genie doesn’t go back in the bottle, the water
doesn’t flow backward through the hole in the dam. Given the choice between learning
to exploit the new world of self-publishing.or sit in my rocking chair and glare at the
neighborhood kids, I’d prefer to publish.

     So, the argument is that these punk kids haven’t paid their dues. That may be
true. But we’re coming to a time when nobody’s going to have to pay those specific
dues. There are other dues to pay. Dues fogies such as myself have to learn to pay.

     And since the “didn’t pay the same dues I had to” argument is irrelevant,
regardless of whether or not it’s correct, I have to dismiss the argument.

To Sum Up

     So, back to the question of peers.

     A hundred years in the future, nobody’s going to give a damn whether a late 20th
century/early 21st century writer got his start in paper or on photons, as a marquee
author for a traditional publisher or as an upstart with a laptop and an internet
connection. (How many of us care that a lot of Charles Dickens’ work was published
serially in newspapers? A few academics, maybe.) All the works of this era will be
available from some equivalent of Project Gutenberg, and the only thing that will matter
to the readers is whether the fiction is any good — and whether it’s still relevant.

     And that, ultimately, is how I choose to identify my peers.

     A traditional author of original fiction, a self-published writer, a fanfic writer, a
Stargate SG-1 novelist, a blogger — if he or she is good at the craft, then he or she is my peer.

     And today’s generation of good writers, self-published or not — I hope they
consider me their peer.

     There you go.

     Here are ten good ones to start with.

April Fool’s Day (1986)

     Possibly the strangest of the original cycle of slasher flicks, this one stars the
gorgeous Deborah Foreman, the equally gorgeous but not as well known Deborah
Goodrich, Ryan O’Neal’s son Griffin, and several lesser-known performers, all of whom
are quite good.

     Unusually well-drawn college-age characters get whacked one by one on a
vacation island.

     I sometimes show this one for friends in a double bill with the original My Bloody
Valentine (not the remake). My Bloody Valentine is a far more straightforward slasher
flick, but they work well together.

     Slasher flick fans will be bemused.

Better Off Dead… (1985)

     This is one of John Cusack’s early films. He plays a teenager with a messed-up
home life that is even stranger than the contents of his vivid imagination.

     Other cast members include Kim Darby as his disturbing mother, David Ogden
Steirs (Dr. Winchester from M*A*S*H) as his father, Amanda Wyss (A Nightmare on
Elm Street) as his ex-girlfriend, the effervescent Diane Franklin as the French
exchange student who teaches him to ski, and 1980s cinema fixture Curtis Armstrong
as (what else) his drugged-out buddy.

     Strange moments abound, and some lines will linger with you for a lifetime. “Two
dollars! Two dollars!”

Crack In the World (1965)

     Kieron Moore, who was so strong-jawed in The Day of the Triffids, is both
strong-jawed and heroically scientific here. Dana Andrews is just as scientific, but
nowhere near as strong-jawed or heroic. Janette Scott, as Andrews’ wife, is lovely and,
well, okay, that’s it for her.

     Scientific experiments cause a crack to develop in the earth’s crust and go racing
around the world like an out-of-control truck, causing disasters. It’s all very stupid, yet
compelling.

     I sometimes watch this on a double bill with Battle Beneath the Earth, where
the science is almost as bad and Communist paranoia is far more intense.

     You look at a movie like this, shake your head, and mutter, “Only in the 1960s.”
Then somone hands you a copy of The Core.

Crazy Safari (Fei zhou he shang) (1991)

     Blame author Walter Jon Williams for telling
me about this one. It’s a sort-of sequel to, sort-of remake of The Gods Must Be Crazy,
and features Nixau, the bushman actor from that movie and its legitimate sequel, The
Gods Must Be Crazy II, reprising his role.

     But in Crazy Safari, instead of a Coke bottle falling from a passing plane, the
object that lands in the African village and causes so much consternation… is a
Chinese hopping vampire. I kid you not.

     Nixau actually does a fair job with the martial arts. Who would have guessed?

     I’ve only seen this available as an Asian-produced VCD (video compact disc).

D.C. Cab (1983)

     Before he directed Batman movies, Joel Schumacher helmed this strange little
comedy about a group of misfit cab drivers in Washington, D.C.

     The drivers include Max Gail (Wojo from Barney Miller), Gary Busey, Paul
Rodriguez, Adam Baldwin (years before Firefly or even Full Metal Jacket), Bill Maher,
Peter and David Paul (remember “the Barbarian Brothers”?), and Mr. T.

     Talent-wise, it’s more than the sum of its parts; in terms of making sense, far
less.

Enter the Eagles (Gwan geun see dam) (1998)

     This Chinese martial arts movie, set and shot in Prague, stars Michael Wong
and Shannon Lee, daughter of Bruce Lee. There’s also a role for martial arts legend
Bennie “the Jet” Urquidez.

     When I first heard that she was acting, I didn’t know what to expect from
Shannon Lee, but she’s a strong presence and a charismatic performer. The movie was
also better than I anticipated. It’s an odd little caper film with some well-handled
emotion.

Evil Roy Slade (1972-TV)

     I have to admit to a lot of affection for actor John Astin, Sean Astin’s father. He was Gomez Addams in The Addams Family TV series, he was the alternate
Riddler in the 1960s Batman series, and he has a long history of playing really
whacked-out characters. He does it brilliantly.

     In this TV movie, he’s an amoral western outlaw raised by coyotes. He tries to go
straight, which has all the potential for success of Gomez Addams deciding to sell
insurance.

     Pamela Austin, Dom DeLuise, Henry Gibson, Mickey Rooney, and Dick Shawn
round out the cast. Beware, though, the arrival of Dick Shawn in this movie heralds
cinematic agony.

The Hazing (aka Dead Scared) (2004)

     College kids are locked in a demon-infested house. It’s a situation we’ve seen
lots of times. But direction is by Rolfe Kanefsky, who is sure-handed, and the actors
include horror movie veteran Brad Dourif, fan/cult favorite Tiffany Shepis, Nectar Rose,
and (in a small role) Dancing With the Stars winner/hostess Brooke Burke.

     It all very much has a Buffy, the Vampire Slayer vibe to its dialogue and some
of its situations.

Honky Tonk Freeway (1981)

     The town of Ticlaw, FL, is in danger of drying up and blowing away because the
new highway does not include an exit ramp to the town. So town leaders, including
William Devane, devise a lunatic scheme to save their community. Shortly afterward,
tourists and passersby find themselves stranded in Ticlaw.

     The strong cast, in addition to Devane, includes Howard Hesseman, Teri Garr,
Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, David Rasche, Beau Bridges, Beverly d’Angelo, Daniel
Stern, Geraldine Page, and a rhinoceros.

     Particularly memorable is the story of Ricky, the Carnivorous Pony.

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)

     By the mid-1970s, Hammer Films, producer of so many gorgeous horror movies
of the 1950s and 1960s, was on its last legs. Interestingly, one of the characteristics of
its death throes was a willingness by the studio heads to try new things, and one result
was this oddity, a collaboration between Hammer and the Shaw Brothers, the best-known producer of martial arts movies in China.

     In Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, also known (in a more truncated version)
as The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula, Peter Cushing reprises his familiar role as Dr.
Abraham van Helsing, vampire killer. But now he’s touring Asia in the company of his
feckless son Leyland (who, we can be thankful, never appears in another movie).

     In a plot reminiscent of The Magnificent Seven, van Helsing is approached by
inhabitants of a remote village. They ask him to help defend it against vampires. Co-stars include David Chiang, a legitimate star of martial arts cinema of the era, and Julie
Ege, a Scandinavian beauty who made other movies for Hammer.

     Each brother is master of a different weapon, there are shambling hordes of
zombies and martial-arts vampires, Buddhist shrines stand in for crosses, there’s a
bubbling vat of blood, and Dracula does show up. It’s all very peculiar.

Murder By Decree (1979)

     Canadian director Bob Clark was best known later in his career for the Porky’s movie series, but he really did have tremendous range — some of
his othe work includes the flesh-eating zombie flick Children Shouldn’t Play With
Dead Things, the original Black Christmas, and A Christmas Story, plus this movie,
one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes films.

     In Murder By Decree, Holmes hunts for Jack the Ripper. The cast is stellar
(Christopher Plummer as Holmes, James Mason as Watson, Frank Finlay as Lestrade,
Genevieve Bujold, Donald Sutherland, David Hemmings, Anthony Quayle, John
Gielgud).

     And, though Joe-Bob Briggs says that when the monster is dead, the movie is
over, Murder By Decree disposes of its antagonist and then goes on for another
protracted period, most of which consist of a confrontation between Holmes and
members of the British government, a scene that is powerful and wrenching. All in all,
this is a movie everyone should see.

     From time to time, when I think you’ve had sufficient opportunity to look up some
of these movies (and for the swelling to go down), I’ll post more of these
recommendations.

Conan — Years 1969-1974

     I was born decades after the death of Conan creator Robert E. Howard. He killed
himself in 1936. I first became aware of Conan through the anthologies edited and
added to by writers L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, published beginning in 1966
by Lancer Books (and continued by Ace Books after Lancer’s demise).

     These editions
had gorgeous cover paintings by Frank Frazetta. My recollection is that I was first drawn
in by the cover for Conan of Cimmeria, illustrating “The Frost Giant’s Daughter,” but I
could be wrong — that paperback is long lost from my library (it fell apart from re-reading ca. 1980).

Books, Books, Books

     Which brings me to a side road branching from Memory Lane.

     I bought Conan of Cimmeria and a vast number of other SF&F paperbacks at a
bookstore in Denton, TX, called Fultz’s News Stand.

     Fultz’s, despite its name, had far more books than magazines, most of them laid
out in sturdy standup wire racks, face-out. It also had slightly uneven, creaky wooden
floors. The whole place was suffused with the smell of pulp paper. In the back along the
right side was, by the standards of the 1960s, an extensive science fiction and
fantasy section.

     At Fultz’s, at various points in my childhood and teen years (my family moved
around quite a bit prior to the early 1970s), I harvested Ace Doubles, got to know the
Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, accumulated Heinlein juveniles, and was floored by
covers by Frank Frazetta and Jim Steranko, not to mention the contents under those
lovely pieces of art.

     Fultz’s is long gone, but I remember bits and pieces of it with crystal clarity. Nor
am I the only one. From time to time I run into others who lived in Denton, many of
them one-time students at North Texas State University or Texas Women’s University
(which later mated to form UNT, the University of North Texas), and they all seem to
remember Fultz’s, generally with wistful appreciation.

     But, yes, I digress.

Back to Our Story

     Anyway, I bought those Lancer editions of the Conan saga, read them, enjoyed
them. Not long afterward, Marvel Comics acquired the rights to do comic books based
on the Conan character. In 1970, they released the first issue of Conan the Barbarian,
with art by Barry Smith (later called Barry Windsor-Smith) and words by Roy Thomas.
The Smith/Thomas collaboration worked quite well, and the early issues of the title were
eerie and memorable. Smith’s version of Conan, except for the dopey horned helmet he
wore, closely matched my mental image of the character, and the version of Red Sonja
introduced later in the series visually made a lot more sense than the chain-mail-bikini
creature the character eventually became.

     But Barry Smith left the series and was replaced by John Buscema. Buscema
was a good artist, but his interpretation of Conan was different — bigger, more massive,
more glowering, more brooding. In the comic book and especially with the debut of its
black-and-white, magazine-sized sister publication, The Savage Sword of Conan, the
character seemed to become more silent and insular.

     I didn’t like him as much. Eventually I stopped buying the comics. But the
popularity of the two titles increased throughout the decade.

     Which brings me to the whole point of this post.

Bigger and More Sullen Is Better?

     The Conan of the comics did, in fact, turn into someone who could be
appropriately portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1982 film, Conan the
Barbarian. And it took me a while to figure out why a more sullen, less interactive
Conan would become more popular with fans than the lithe, more vulnerable version of
the early issues.

     Here’s my theory:

     No, bear with me. Let’s say that you’re a teenage boy, pimply and
disenfranchised, full of rage at the way the world treats you, desperate to be attractive
to girls. And you are convinced by the advertising geniuses of Madison Avenue that if
you climb into the right sports car, you can cruise around, outrace your enemies (who,
obviously, drive lesser cars), and pick up girls even though you don’t quite know how to
talk to them. The sex appeal of your wheels will do all the work for you.

     Similarly, from the perspective of that teenage-boy demographic, Conan would
cruise to a new place, kill everyone who gave him back talk, and pick up chicks without
even needing to talk to them. It’s that last bit that makes him superior to many other
iconic characters of the 1960s and 1970s. Sure, James Bond could have any woman
he wanted, but he still had to talk to them — to say actual words that would initiate the
seduction process. Conan just had to flex, and every teenage boy knows how to flex.

     So that version of Conan was a car. A muscle car, obviously.

Jason Voorhees, Defender of Justice

     This conclusion, in turn, led me years later to think about Jason Voorhees — the murderous
maniac of the Friday the 13th movie series. (Though, curiously, he wasn’t even the killer in two of them. But again I digress.) The same sort of reasoning leads to a
possible explanation for Jason’s popularity. He’s not a car, but he stands in for the rage
of disenfranchised teenage boys, and he does this by killing everyone who makes them
unhappy.

     Officious camp counselors, local sheriffs and deputies? Authority figures. Stand-ins for parents, in fact. One chop and they’re down. Pretty but snotty girls? Chop. The
handsome guys who get the pretty but snotty girls (instead of you)? Chop.

     Who survives until the end of the movie? The likeable, not-snotty girl who might
give you a chance some day. So it is at that point in the movies, over and over again,
that (sadly) Jason must be put down — before he kills the one nice girl who might show
you the time of day.

     I’ve heard fans of the Friday the 13th series complain bitterly that Jason X was
the worst movie of the series. (This is the series entry that takes place a couple of
centuries in the future; Jason is found in cryosuspension and thawed out, and naturally
goes on another murderous rampage.) These fans get emotional on the subject, as if
they were personally betrayed by that movie.

     Well, they wre. Jason X did the unforgivable. It presented the viewers with a
cast of interesting, mostly likeable characters, the majority of whom did not represent
the traditional tormenters of the teenage boy — and then killed them one by one. Never
mind that the movie’s acting, production values, and dialogue were generally head and
shoulders above those of other entries in the series: Jason killed the wrong people.

     Thank heavens he got back to killing all the right people when the series was
rebooted. Right?

Iconic or Ironic

     So, anyway, Conan has become a car and Jason Voorhees has become a
defender of the little guy.

     I will get around to seeing the new Conan movie and its sequels, if any. I hear
that Jason Momoa does a good job and presents a more pantherish, thiefly, Robert E.
Howard-esque Conan.

     Now we need another series relaunch to wash the taste of the 1997 Kull the
Conquerer out of our minds.

Last Thoughts

     The novelization of the new Conan movie is by Michael A. Stackpole. I’m glad
Mike got that assignment. He shares with me an appreciation of the pulp writers of the
1930s and the characters they created. And though I haven’t read his novelization yet, I
suspect that he did not portray Conan as a car.

     But I ran out of steam with the Star Wars blog and slowed down on LiveJournal. Then I
had my March 2009 heart attack, which was an interruption at every level of my life.

     But I knew I’d get back to posting some day, and here it is. I hope I won’t run out
of steam anytime soon. And maybe I’ll get my act together with regards to my Facebook and Twitter accounts as well.

Ivory Towers and Distant Lands

     I thought I’d start, self-referentiall enough, by talking about the relationship between writers and fans. See, although I’m an early adopter of some technologies and cultural changes, the interactivity between writers and their readers that has arisen in recent
decades is still a little alien to me.

     I grew up in a very SF&F friendly house, which gave me a keen awareness of writers like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, Lester Dent, Walter B. Gibson, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke… And though I wanted from an early age to be a writer, it didn’t occur to me that at any point I might someday interact with people who read my work. All those writers whose work I knew were either dead or (as I perceived it) living in some remote land in citadels whence they never emerged to walk among mortals.

     Yeah, okay, I simply hadn’t thought this through. But in my childhood and teen years, I never met a published SF&F writer. Period.

     Only after I went off to college and then went to work for Steve Jackson Games, the Austin-based game publishing company, and began attending SF&F conventions, did I encounter authors in the flesh. They lived, they met fans, they gave talks, they ate pizza, they flirted, they argued… they were arguably human, and they were obviously far too numerous to live in just one remote citadel. It was kind of eye-opening.

     So the upshot is that now, even thirty years after I began experiencing this phenomenon, when someone walks up and says he or she is a fan of my work, I can accept it at an intellectual level but still have some trouble believing it an an emotional level. After all, these people have come to this conclusion before I was dead or living in a back corner of one of Mad King Ludwig’s Bavarian castles.

My Current Status

     An update on details, in no particular order, of my life…

Health

     Good. Taking all my medications and regularly seeing my doctors.

     Because of lingering ramifications from my heart attack and corrective surgery, air travel is still kind of demanding for me. Somehow, sitting in a cramped chair for hours, followed by a period of hustle-bustle through a busy airport, causes my fun, semi-inexplicable blood pressure drops to visit me with a greater frequency than I enjoy.

Public Appearances

     Related to the above, Dragon*Con was especially challenging for me this year.

     I was lucky enough to be on a flight to Atlanta with my friend Lillian Butler, who stepped in and took charge when I had one of those woozy post-flight sp3lls in the Atlanta airport. Thanks to her, I got through that all right, but I played it safe and didn’t overexert myself at the con itself. Apologies to members of the 501st, whom I’d hoped to join at their Saturday night mixer; I was just too pooped and chose to play it safe.

     Upcoming public appearances include Sci-Fi Expo’s Star Wars Fan Days and an SF&F event at the Pflugerville (TX) Community Library. Check my Appearance Schedule page for more details.

What I’m Working On

     Lots, including —

• Mercy Kill, first and foremost. This is the first new Star Wars Wraith Squadron novel since 1999, a project I’ve hoped for years to be able to do.
• Growing Up Dead, an original urban fantasy, a vampire action/comedy novel. It’s in rough draft form and I’m editing it into polished first draft form. I’m very pleased with the results so far.
• Sky of Fire, an original fantasy novel still in the early writing stages.
• “Replay Value,” a fantasy short story submitted to an anthology for (I hope) publication
  next year.
• “Collide-o-Scope,” an SF short story now in rough draft form. It was originally intended for that same anthology but it got too long. Now I’ve set it aside for future development.
• “Big Plush,” a longish SF pseudo-military short story intended for a military SF anthology. I won’t describe it yet except to say that it’s odd.
• Plotting: The Novelist’s Workout Guide, a nonfiction work on the art of fiction plotting, which I hope to release in e-book form late this year.

     And a few weeks ago, I released a fantasy short story, “An Occurrence at Bifrost Bridge,” as an e-book. “Occurrence” tells the tender story of what happens when a 1940s-era fantasy author decides to put a bullet into his brain but is stopped by supernatural forces. It’s available for sale from the Kindle Store, the iBookstore, and my own sales web site, ArcherRat Publishing.

     So, yeah, I’ve been keeping busy, and that list doesn’t even include other work still in developmental stages. Feels good.

Last Notes

     That’s all for now. I hope to be back in a week or so.