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Pills and Starships Lydia Millet 256 pages, Black Sheep (June 2014) science fiction/young adult 4.5/5 |
I received a paperback copy of Lydia Millet’s Pills and Starships as a LibraryThing Early Reviewer. The cover caught my interest when it appeared on the list of giveaways and I was pleased that I won a copy. Continue reading
It’s been kind of quiet over here, hasn’t it? Well, the dayjob’s been keeping me busy, as has the new story I’m working on. But now, I’m in the midst of a long weekend from work, and the story is almost ready to send to my betas. One more alpha read and it should be there.
So, that’s hopeful. Today’s batch of links is a mixed bag of goodies. I hope you’ll find something interesting here.
Writing up that Staircase
Minerva Zimmerman, one of the contributors to Winter Well: Speculative Novellas About Older Women, takes a look at the writer’s journey. I like the metaphor.
10 Literary Authors You Didn’t Know Wrote Science Fiction
Jason Diamond at Flavorwire tries to fool us with a list of literary authors who wrote science fiction. Interesting list. I never thought of Woolf’s Orlando as science fiction, but okay,
Top 10 worst sex scenes in modern literature
As a member of Livejournal’s weepingcock community, I’ve read way worse sex scenes than most of these, but these actually got published! I’m torn between the lepidopterist and Zorro (both of which made an appearance over at wc) being my “favorites.” What are yours?
How to prove to a global warming denier that climate change is real, in 14 seconds
At this point, I don’t know if you can convince a climate change denier that it’s real. Deniers gonna deny. Still, it’s pretty damned obvious to those who actually want to use their brains.
A Poem By Patricia Lockwood
Ms. Lockwood’s poem, The Rape Joke, over at the Awl. Powerful stuff. Trigger warning.
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.
The Travelers.
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.
Speculative fiction, future dystopia.
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.
One sentence, huh? How about this one? In a corporate-controlled dystopian world, why is one man so important?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It’s actually been feeling like spring this weekend which is a very nice change. Especially since we’re mostly out of firewood. There might even be garlic planting today, if enough snow melts off the garden.
Fortunately, the weather isn’t an issue when it comes to sharing links. Here’s what struck my fancy this week. What cool stuff did you find? Let me know with a comment, if you like.
Public Shaming is a Better Example of “If it feels good – do it” than Teen Pregnancy
Brené Brown on the ineffectiveness of public shaming. Have you seen those Georgian anti-obesity ads and the new NYC ads shaming teen mothers? Gross!
Bicycles: Making good women go bad since the 1800s
Sam B. over at Fit, Feminist, and (almost) Fifty writes about bicycling in the 1800s and the influence it had on early feminists.
Easter Is Not Named After Ishtar, And Other Truths I Have To Tell You
If you’re going to make a big deal about how a Christian holiday is really pagan, you might want to get your facts straight, Mr. Dawkins. The Belle Jar sets him straight.
Losing my religion for equality…by Jimmy Carter
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter shares his thoughts on leaving the Southern Baptist Convention because of its misogynist attitudes.
Second-Hand (E) Books
Something to keep in mind from Women and Words. As a writer who hopes folks will buy what I write, this makes me quite nervous.
Buzzkill? How Climate Change Could Eventually End Coffee
NOOOOOO!!!!!!
Is The USPS More Likely To Lose Boxes Emblazoned With The Word ‘Atheist’?
You know, I’m one of those wierdos who loves the U.S. Post Office, but if this is actually a thing? Not cool.
So, you thought I might have been kidding about my fingers last week, didn’t you? It got so cold on Friday that one of them turned white as I was driving home from the day job. Talk about startling. I wish I’d thought to take a picture. You would have been impressed, or creeped out, or something. I know I was. Here’s hoping that doesn’t happen again. Yeesh.
Not my hand. Imagine my entire middle finger looking like this woman’s pinkie. You get the idea. And you can learn more about this strange phenomenon by checking out the blog post this pic came from.
So, anyway, links. More links. Other links.
Best Not To Exchange With Haters
Cool folks turn the tables on a homophobe. Love it and Not Always Right.
Mamas, Let Your Daughters Grow Up to Be Geeks
Katie Bug shares what is so cool about being a geek. “Raise your daughter to be a geek because geekdom is a beautiful place.”
The Voice of Authority: Morality and Dictionaries
Kory Stamper discusses what dictionaries are and what they aren’t.
Can men and women be friends? An essay and a website launch.
Captain Awkward (JenniferP) takes on the ancient question of whether men and women can be friends. Why do people keep getting this wrong?
Baby Got Back (In The Style of Glee)
Jonathon Coulton records a new version of his cover of “Baby Got Back,” based on the Glee cover which is identical to his cover. Glee and FOX basically told him to fuck off when he complained about not getting credit on the show. Because they’re awesome that way. JoCo’s giving the profits of this “new” version to charity.
The Inaugural Bad Graph Thursday
Skepchick begins a new weekly feature. Male fertility dropping as Florida manatees become more popular? It’s got to be connected. There’s a graph!
Miss Piggy’s Version Of Global Warming: What About Me?
Robert Krulwich at NPR links to a New Scientist app that lets folks see how climate change is happening anywhere they want to click. Vermont? Yep, getting warmer up here. (In general. Not today, although it could get near 40 next week.)
Piper Deez and the Case of the Winter Planet
To Shape the Dark
Substitution Cipher
M. Fenn 