Now for the blog, or the lack of a blog, today. I swear when folks talk about computer viruses,
they don't know the half of it. Somehow, I've caught whatever Sarah has had...and that's hard since there are whole states between where she lives and where I do. Of course, she says she caught it from Dave and we won't begin to count how many states, an ocean and countries separate the two of them. Any way, I'm sick and have been all weekend. So I'm going to open the floor to you guys. Any writing related questions you have, toss them into the comments section and we'll do our best to answer. If you want to post the first paragraph of a work in progress for critique, do it -- but one paragraph only and NOT the paragraph you are submitting for yesterday's challenge. Next week, I'll get back to the news around the internet. But for now, I'm crawling back into bed to sleep some more. Maybe then I'll feel human.Update: I just found this story in one of the local papers and want to post it as a cautionary tale for everyone who might be considering the self-publication road. It hit all my hot buttons because kids are involved. Basically, a group of kids at a local middle school wrote a book and, with the help of their teacher, school and parents, raised the $2,000 needed to print the book. This included securing the ISBN for the book as well. I'll let you read the article, but it doesn't have a happy ending. These creative kids and all who supported them were taken. Your thoughts?
The floor is yours. Have fun!
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13 comments:
I'm curious about how people feel about mixed genres. Fantasies where magic has a scientific basis (however flimsy)such as genetic engineering? An apparent fantasy World, that turns out to have a gate to "reality" so to speak. Cross dimensional wizards selling magic corridors to a space traveling race.
Are you a purest? Or do you like melting pots with nothing off limits?
Good Lord. They would have done better by having that book printed at the local kinkos. GAH. WHY go with a vanity press? Are they daft?
This stuff burns me up SO badly.
Matapam, there are very few things in writing that are off-limits to me. I love when an author can weave magic and tech together seamlessly. I have no problem when genetic engineering is the basis for certain forms of magic. In my opinion, it all comes down to world-building. If you set the stage properly, you can get away with just about anything. So, is this what you're currently working on?
Sarah, they were victims just like so many others. From what I can tell reading this article and other news sources, the con man had a website that looked legit. There are still innocents out there who haven't heard about all the scams and now a group of hardworking kids have fallen prey to the scammers. It burns me up as well. What really got to me was the chutzpah of the scammer when he sent the teacher an email threatening a lawsuit should she use the ISBN that had been purchased for the book.
That annoys me so much. Poor kids and teachers.
Love the LOL cat, Amanda.
My family has all been sick with the virus too. Don't know how it skipped down the cyber lines to Australia.
Rowena, you're nicer than I am. I am much more than annoyed and trying to figure out if there is anything I can do to help these kids.
The LOLcat was the perfect image of how I felt this morning. At least I seem to be getting over it. Of course, I want to take a nap every hour, so nothing's getting done.
As for the virus, it started at Flinders...ask Sarah. She said Dave gave it to her. So we'll just blame him. ;-p
Kinkos or any local print company. There is a mystique to a Real Book, though, and Kinkos would have felt like a pretend book.
It's too bad, and very sad, and the guy is nothing but a crook.
To understand the spread of this virus: Check out (if you haven't already) Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. One of the major premises of the novel is that programmers, by virtue of their long experience in programming, develop "binary stuctures" in their brains, rendering them as susceptible to some viruses as their computers are. Obviously, you have contracted some manner of "authorial virus".
I have news of an unpleasant publishing contract to share, as well, unfortunately. I received the contract for the anthology I had submitted to and been selected for, for a "new start-up traditional publishing house". I didn't like some of what I saw in it, and SFWA "Writer Beware" has responded, agreeing with me. I' think I'll try writing up a list of "I'd like to see these changes", and see where things go from there.
matapam, I don't know who has a problem with it but I think that Steve Miller and Sharon Lee's Liaden Universe is incredible.
Heck, it doesn't just have spaceships and magic, it's got elves.
;-)
matapam - I really enjoyed Piers Anthony's "Incarnations of Immortality" series, which had both flying carpets and airplanes.
matapam, in my callow youth I used to be a purist... but then I discovered all the great stories I was missing out on and immediately put a stop to that nonsense ;-)
As long as the melting pot has a great plot and Characters I Care About, bring it on!
Stephen, that sounds like a good idea about the contract. Let us know what happens.
I love mixed genre stuff. One novel I'm shopping around at the moment (and thinking of offering for free on the net) has elves, dwarves and giants coming to earth and finding a space ship that they had been genetically engineered (racially) to help fly... Book 2 has trolls and 'halflings' as well.
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