Monday Morning Music

I found this video last week when I was browsing one of Visible + Real’s Weekend Treats posts. She found it at Trust Tending. The band is Walk Off the Earth, a Canadian indie band, and the song is “Gang of Rhythm.” A nice, upbeat tune for this Monday morning. I hope you like it, too.

 

Weekly Linkroll

Busy weekend, plus new toys in the house. We finally have an ereader AND a tablet. Kind of exciting. Now I want to read ALL THE THINGS!

Instead, I’m posting interesting links for you. See how much I love you?

Why society still needs feminism
Caitlin O’Donnell at Times-Delphic with a great, yet sad, list of reasons why feminism is still sorely needed.

Wrong on the Internet: Bogus USA Spider Chart
Bug Girl with some good info on a spider chart that’s been making the rounds.

The Essence of the Process Is Revision
It took me a long time to get this, but now that I do, I find I really like the editing and revising. There’s a better story/book waiting at the other end of it, and it’s worth the work. H/T Visible + Real for the link from The Art of Non-Conformity.

The Final Epic Act Of The Departing Commander Of The International Space Station Truly Rocked
This video (created by Canadian astronaut Cmdr. Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station before he returned to Earth) made my week. I’m guessing you’ve already seen it, but if you haven’t, go watch it!

Celebrating Mighty Girl Heroes: Ten Women You Might Not Know, But Should
Jennifer de Beer at A Mighty Girl shares a great list of awesome women you may or may not know about. I knew seven of them.

The Next Big Thing – Novel in Progress

As I mentioned Sunday, the fabulous Kay Holt tagged me, along with the other authors from our upcoming Crossed Genres anthology Winter Well (coming out May 24), for the Next Big Thing Blog Hop. Today it’s my turn to answer some questions about my novel in progress. Remember the Winter of the Novel? Well, that’s the book I’m going to talk about.

1. What is the working title of your next book?

The Travelers.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

The idea(s) come from a lot of places: movies (names of which I won’t mention because that would give away too much), music (Shooter Jennings’ Black Ribbons, among others (Ani, Joy Kills Sorrow, Leadbelly, Amy Ray, to name a few), has been played a lot and is responsible for my pirate radio dj, Erasmus Teller, existing), as well as the state of the world today. I wondered what would happen if I took the direst predictions of climate change scientists to their extreme, along with “free market” corporatism run amuck, and what that world, and the people in it, would look like fifty years out. That idea unleashed a lot of voices in my head wanting to tell their stories. So many that I’ve spun a group of them off into their own book (working title: The Tribe & the City). The characters that remain in The Travelers make up a group on the run (Erasmus and his daughter Bud, a rebel soldier and her physician lover (Tina Wheatley and Semira Sangare), and a man with many secrets (John Teague)) as well as the folks who are chasing them as they try to get to safer ground. Teague’s secrets are valuable, you see.

Along with a second novel, one of those “spun-off” characters also demanded her own novella (Seriously, she got in my face about it. “You know this community you’re writing about that I’m only an ancillary character in? I built it. Tell that story.”) and now appears as her younger self in “To The Edges,” my tale in Winter Well.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

Speculative fiction, future dystopia.

4. What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

I’m awful at coming up with actors to play my characters, partly because I suck at remembering actors’ names, unless the film’s fifty years old or more and black and white. That said, Freddy Rodriguez would work as John Teague, especially with the longer hair he wore in Bottle Shock. Erasmus Teller looks a lot like older Stephen King without the glasses. Beyond that, it’s all kinds of fuzzy.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

One sentence, huh? How about this one? In a corporate-controlled dystopian world, why is one man so important?

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I doubt I’ll self-publish; I don’t have that kind of chutzpah. Also, I love working with good editors. They make the stories better.

7. How long did/will it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

Still in progress and has been for three years now. (I’m easily distracted by shiny anthologies looking for short stories.) I would love to have a finished first draft by the end of this year.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Coming up with book titles is something else I suck at. The Travelers is an action-adventure tale taking place in a degraded future world that also looks back through history a little bit with the stories that Teague and Teller share. It’s a dark tale with a snarky sense of humor.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I have to blame fan fiction, actually. As I mentioned in this post last year, I started writing this book after a few months of writing Whedonfic kicked open the door to the writing part of my brain that had been asleep for a long time. With three accepted stories in the last three years, I’m calling that a win.

10.What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

Um, let’s see. Pirate radio, car chases, explosions, lesbian romance, sartorial excess, and a good dose of alternate history/mythmaking are part of the mix. I hope that’s interest-piqueing.

Tag other writers…

Natania Barron was kind of enough to let me tag her to carry on the Next Big Thing blog hop. She’s the author of the Candlemark & Gleam novel Pilgrim of the Sky, as well as several works of shorter fiction that have appeared in many cool places. Can’t wait to learn more about what she’s working on.

Monday Morning Music

150th post! Yay!

Okay, I’ll admit right up front, this isn’t one of my favorite songs on the new Frank Turner album, which, in general, is pretty damned good. But the video for it is quite nice, unexpected, and dilutes a bit of the sappiness of the tune. Or maybe it doesn’t. I just like it. What do you think?

Frankie says dig!

Things to Look Forward To

Given how half-assed I usually am about this blog, it impresses me that I actually have blog things planned. Scheduled even.

The usual stuff, you know, like Monday Morning Music. The big surprise there is I even have next week’s video picked. That just doesn’t happen. So, there’s that.

There are also book-related blog things in store. My Winter Well editor, Kay Holt, tagged me for the Next Big Thing blog hop. She also tagged the rest of the Winter Well authors, and we’re all going to take part, talking about our works in progress. The schedule is this:

• Minerva Zimmerman on May 12 (this Monday)
• M. Fenn (um, that would be me) on May 16 (Thursday)
• Marissa James next Monday (May 20)
• Anna Caro next Thursday (May 23)
• Winter Well available next Friday (May 24)!!

I’m excited to read about what these talented women have in store for us. I hope you’ll join us!

And speaking of talented women, Susan Jane Bigelow is going to be posting here on May 28, release day for her new book The Daughter Star. She’s going to be talking about her writing/editing process and how The Daughter Star changed over the course of writing it. Should be pretty cool

I think that’s it for now. Women Learn To Be Women #3 is still in process, as are some reviews I need to post, but I’m not going to pretend they’re near ready. But they will be! Someday! Soon!

WordPress’s selections for photos were impressively random for this post. I won’t bother you with all the wrestling photos (yeah, I don’t know either), but this one made me smile.

A well (Photo credit: Andreas Solberg) It’s also a little wistful, isn’t it? Poor little rusted can all alone.

Weekly Linkroll

Happy Sunday, all! We’ve had some lovely rain this week, and the garden is pleased. Creamed asparagus on toast (the asparagus fresh from the garden) was our breakfast this morning. Yum!

Now for some yummy links.

West African Black Rhinos Are Now Extinct
This makes me sad. Good job, humans.

Watch These Straight People Answer A Question Gay People Have Been Asked For Years
This, from Rebecca Eisenberg at Upworthy, on the other hand, was happy-making. Travis Nuckolls and Chris Baker made the video.

A TED Talk That Might Turn Every Man Who Watches It Into A Feminist? It’s Pretty Fantastic.
Ms. Eisenberg is also responsible for me finding this great TED Talk from Jackson Katz.

Tesla Museum Saved!
The Oatmeal updates on us the Tesla Museum fundraising effort. More good news!

Are you missing the three-leafed clovers?
Carla at Living Wild and Precious on being present. Plus, kitty! (thanks to V+R for the link)

Monday Morning Music

Janelle Monáe always makes interesting videos to go with her music, and I really dig this new one.  Here she is with Erykah Badu and “Q.U.E.E.N.”

“Even if it makes others uncomfortable, I will love who I am.” is one of my favorite lyrics from the song.

Weekly Linkroll

Looks like we’re going to combine a couple weeks of links here, considering I haven’t been keeping up with blog business lately. There’s been gardening, writing, and general enjoying of spring, so it’s not like I’ve been goofing off. Much.

Book Review: Winter Well: Speculative Novellas About Older Women
First, a little self-promotion. My next novella is coming out in three weeks, and Jule’s Book Reviews has already reviewed Winter Well, the collection it’s in. May 24, folks!

White Lady Feminism, Christian Blogging, and the Worst of Both Possible Worlds
Dianna Anderson has some interesting thoughts on the similarities between online feminism and online Christianity. Dissent is often necessary.

Sexy Pool Party
It’s the last shot that really made me laugh.

Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls… SO I WILL
The Militant Baker on body image and loving yourself.

The Myth of the Free Market: You’ll Find a Unicorn Before You Find a Free Market
Scriptonite Daily with thoughts on the free market, or if there really is one. A long read, but worth it.

Kentucky woman ordained as priest by dissident Roman Catholics
Sofia Perpetua, with NBC News, discusses the ordination of a woman as Catholic priest. I didn’t know there were dissident groups who did this. Cool.

Honey bees, CCD, and the Elephant in the Room
Fascinating post at Bug Girl’s Blog on colony collapse disorder in honey bees and how a lot of folks might be taking the wrong approach. Dr. Doug Yanega guest posts.

Newsflash: Spot Reduction/Spot Training Does NOT Work
Fit, Feminist, and (almost) Fifty calls out a longstanding exercise myth.

14-Year-Old Scientist Makes a Groundbreaking Discovery
Maria Elena Grimmett is working to ensure that people around the world have safe drinking water.

Little Girls Are Better at Designing Superheroes than You
A fun tumblr project by Alex Law. Law draws superheroes based on little girls’ costumes. Kinda cool.

Applications open for Mars One, the first human space colony
Casey Johnston at Ars Technica tells us about the private space project that plans to colonize Mars.

Sunday Morning PSA

Just a note that Weekly Linkroll will probably be late today/this week/combined with next week’s. Spring finally arrived and there is work to be done!

And to everyone visiting thanks to the 17 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About “The Wizard Of Oz” article that’s popping up everywhere, welcome!

 

Monday Morning Music

Today’s video is a result of the pondering I’m in the midst of. I’m working on a punk mix cd for a friend, which has been fun, partly because I’m realizing how many more punk cds I actually need. The Ramones, the Clash, and X–I’m pretty well covered, but why don’t I own any Black Flag or Dead Kennedys? This just isn’t right.

So, this morning, I bring you a Black Flag video from 1982. The song is “TV Party.” Thanks to all the old tv shows they call out and just how freaking young Henry Rollins is, I find the video kind of hilarious. Rollins looks a little like Steve Reeves, too, which is really strange.

See what I mean? It’s the beard. Um, and the pecs…

Anyway, I hope you like the video, too. What do you think of hardcore punk?