Interview With Jason M. Hough

Posted on August 23, 2012 by AmyBeth Inverness

Jason is a former 3D Artist and Game Designer, developing such titles as Metal Fatigue and Aliens vs. Predator: Extinction.  Currently he works at a Fortune 500 company designing software that uses machine-learning techniques to make smartphones more efficient.

 After leaving the game business he sought a new creative outlet and decided to try writing.  What started as a hobby in 2007 quickly became an obsession.  In 2011 he sold his first novel,  The Darwin Elevator, to Del Rey, along with a contract for two sequels.  The trilogy will be released in the summer of 2013.

Jason lives in San Diego with his wife and two young sons.  In his spare time he builds elaborate train tracks with his boys, and frets about deadlines.

1. What kind of work did you do in the Game Industry?

I started as a 3D Artist in the mid-90’s, but quickly became a Game Designer. This entails coming up with the game rules primarily, but also designing the worlds, missions, levels, monsters, weapons, characters, and so on. I learned a lot, and worked for (and with) some incredible people. I really think the skills I picked up making games have helped me as a fiction writer. By this I mean learning how to populate a fictional world and fill it with conflict. But perhaps just as importantly, I learned a healthy respect for the amount of hard work and dedication required to go from an idea to a finished product.

2. The stereotypical gamer geek lives in his parents’ basement and can’t get a date. How did you end up with awesome kids and a gorgeous wife?

Allow me to hop on my soapbox for a moment! Honestly, I don’t think that stereotype has had any meat on it since the late 80’s. The geeks have inherited the earth! These days I suspect more jocks and frat boys are home living in their parents’ garage after graduating with degrees for which there are no jobs. And if you think jocks aren’t geeks, just ask one about their Fantasy Football league and listen to how they talk about it. Spoiler: It’s no different than me talking about D&D.

When I was a kid, simply using a computer marked you as a nerd, and god forbid you told anyone you used a modem to login to BBS’s and chat with other computer nerds. Today of course that’s called Facebook, and you’re a freak if you don’t do it.

Of course, there’s still stigma for certain things, for reasons I can’t fathom. Even amongst the geeks (which is just about everyone now). For example, this summer the three top movies will be Spider Man, Batman, and The Avengers, and yet if you are seen reading one of those comic books in public people will probably still snicker and picture you in your parents garage. These are the same people who go to midnight showings of these movie. And that’s a shame.

As my dearly departed friend Kevin always said, “Let your geek flag fly!”

Okay… off my soapbox. To actually answer your question, I met my lovely wife on a BBS I dialed into with a modem. Seriously! I agree she’s gorgeous, but she’s my equal in nerdiness.

3. Have you ever been mistaken for one of the Mythbusters?

Yes! But only because I was dressed as one. My friend Lionel is the spitting image of Jamie Hyneman, and I can do a passable Adam Savage if I grow out my beard, so we’ve cosplayed as the Mythbusters a few times at ComicCon. I think we did a passable job, but I was really shocked at how many people thought we were the actual guys. In a way I now know what it feels like to have that kind of fame. We had people walk up to us who were so excited they could barely talk, they just mumbled things like “love you guys”, “oh my god”, and so on. I truly thought one girl was going to feint, and this was after we assured her we were not the actual guys (she didn’t believe us).

A little CosPlay, Jason M. Hough (left) with friend Lionel English. Photo by Heidi English

4. What’s the most interesting thing you’ve seen at a Con?

Wow, tough question. Actually, one of the most interesting thing to me is how things have changed. I’m talking about San Diego Comic-Con specifically. I started going in 1986, when it was a few thousand people, almost entirely males, and all about comic books. Today, despite the continued jokes about nerds in their parent’s garage who never get laid, Comic-Con is the biggest event in town, and all it takes is one visit to realize the crowd is almost an even split of men and women from all walks of life. I love it.

One of my favorite con moments was at World Fantasy in 2010. It takes place at the same time as the World Series, and I found myself sitting in the bar for three hours with Guy Gavriel Kay, one of my all-time favorite authors, watching the game and talking baseball the entire time. I never would have pegged him for such a huge fan of the sport, and it was actually quite nice to just hang out and not talk about writing, his books, or anything like that. Otherwise I would have been just like that drooling, almost-feinting Mythbuster’s fan.

5. What was your favorite celebrity encounter?

My brother once threw an entire Big Gulp at Axl Rose, does that count?

I haven’t met many celebrities, but at ComicCon this year my wife and I met George R.R. Martin at a party thrown by Random House. As we’re both huge fans, that was very special, though brief.

6. What still-living author would you most like to meet?

That’s a really tough question. I’ll go with Stephen King, but I could have easily listed any one of a dozen others.

7. What panels will you be on at WorldCon?

Assuming the schedule holds, I’ve been picked for three panels and I’ve listed them on my website (www.jasonhough.com). It’s worth noting that when I put my name in the hat for panel appearances I thought my first book would be out this coming February, and that I’d have advance copies to give out, covers to show off, and all that. But the date has since moved to July. Hopefully my fellow panelists won’t kick me off the stage as a result!

Originally I signed up for the panel “So you wanna be a writer”, which is a mix of debut-authors like me who are in the middle of the publication process, and established authors who’ve been through it multiple times. It’s the perfect panel for me, and I’m looking forward to it. They’ve also added me to two other panels. One is on committing to writing a series, and I think I add to the conversation but I’m certainly no expert. The last is about religion and spirituality in sci-fi. That one I’m nervous about, not only because the subject matter is one that can lead to controversial topics, but also because I feel like I don’t have the resume for it compared to my fellow panelists. We’ll see how it goes, though!

8. How much writing did you do before The Darwin Elevator?

I’m almost ashamed to admit it, but not much. In 2001 I started writing a sci-fi novel, and over the course of the next six years I completed exactly eight pages. The problem was I would only write when I felt like I was in the perfect state of mind for it. And even then, I’d spend most of that precious time revising those eight pages.

When I heard about Nanowrimo in 2007, it sounded like the perfect thing to force me to get off my butt. So I did a practice novel for Nanowrimo in 2007, then a few screenplays just for fun. In the summer of 2008 I came up with the idea for DARWIN, and started it for Nanowrimo 2008. Then I just kept going, and finished the first draft a few months later. It wasn’t until October 2010, after a few revisions, that I finally decided to see if I could get it published.

For any of your readers who are unfamiliar, Nanowrimo is “National Novel Writing Month”, where people from all over the world attempt to write 50k words of a novel in one month. I think it’s a great way to try the life of a writer and see how you like it. It taught me that the only way to be a writer is to write — every day, no matter what mood you’re in.

9) Besides NaNoWriMo, what other writing workshops or events have you participated in?

I’ve done Script Frenzy a few times (sister event to Nanowrimo, but for screenplays). Beyond that, I joined a read and critique class at San Diego Writers Ink., a local non-profit that serves the writing community here. Fun class, and I learned a lot of my rookie mistakes in the first few sessions, but soon after I realized that such groups are not really for me. Once you get past the basic problems with your writing, it becomes hard to tell what is actionable feedback and what is just the personal style or tastes of your group.

10. How was your agent search different from how you thought it would be?

I heard so many warnings about years of rejections and frustration that I figured it would be like that. Amazingly my experience was the exact opposite. I started with just one query to the agent at the top of my list (Sara Megibow), expecting to get a terse rejection and hopefully learning a bit in the process. But she asked for pages. Then she asked for a full. And then she called me and said “No. Well, maybe.” She wanted to see some changes to the book before she’d take it on. The changes were big, but I thought about her comments and came back to her a few days later with a new opening chapter that I thought addressed her concerns. I sent that on a Friday, and she emailed me Saturday to offer representation. On Sunday we chatted on the phone for over an hour and talked through all the gory details. I knew then I’d made the right choice and agreed to be her client.

I’m sure a lot of luck was involved, but if I can offer advice to anyone else looking for an agent: Do your homework! If you follow Sara on Twitter, she does a thing every Thursday called “10 queries in 10 tweets”, and it’s frankly amazing how many are a PASS for the simplest reasons. I probably did get very lucky, because I doubt I’m that talented, but I also truly believe I landed my agent on my first query because I picked the right agent, and sent a mistake-free query. At the very least that’s how I got past the initial hurdles to a request for pages. Once you get to that part, all that matters is how good your book is.

Signing the contract! (Photo by Jason Hough)

11. What input do you have as an author towards what your books’ cover art will be?

The pat answer that you always hear is actually true: none. But it’s not as bad as it sounds, at least it hasn’t been for me.

Technically you get none, in the sense that the publisher is not obligated to consult you at all. In fact they can change the title of the book as well. The reason is a bit cold, but I’ve learned that it’s a valid one: generally speaking, authors don’t know sh!t about what sells books. You might know what sold some book you liked five years ago, but that’s ancient history in the publishing world. The art department and marketing folks at the publishers know what they’re doing (at least the reputable ones), and ultimately you have to trust them to make the right choice for your work.

However, and I’m just speaking for myself here, my ridiculously awesome editor Michael Braff has been gracious and thoughtful concerning my preferences and opinions, and has kept me in the loop through the entire process. We’ve exchanged numerous emails on what we like, don’t like, and artists we admire. He’s gone above and beyond what he’s obligated to do.

Though I can’t share the covers yet (it would be impossible, they’re not done), I can tell you that Christian McGrath has been signed to do all three covers. I’m elated about this choice because I think he’s amazing. You can see his impressive body of work here: http://chrismcgrathart.squarespace.com/illustrations/illustration/

Early next year I plan to do a series of blog posts that chronicle the process of coming up with the cover, ultimately revealing all three final paintings.

Darwin Elevator concept art, Image by Kelli Davis. Not actual cover art.

12. How quickly will the three books in The Dire Earth Cycle be released?

Del Rey has decided to launch my series in rapid fire style, so all three books will come out next summer (July, August, September according to the current plan). I have a blog post about their reasons for this if anyone is interested. Suffice to say, it’s how they launched Naomi Novik and Kevin Hearne, who have both had great success, so who am I to argue?

13. Is there any real science behind the elevator in The Darwin Elevator?

In the sense that a space elevator is an actual thing people are working on, yes. However, when I started writing the books I kept hearing how the technology required would be next to impossible for humanity to create. This sparked an idea in me that perhaps we didn’t build it at all, but instead some distant alien race sent a ship here which built the thing top-down. As such, the space elevator in my book is of alien construction, and so is somewhat of a mystery. However the infrastructure around it is all human built — climber vehicles, space stations, etc. which is all based on relatively well known concepts. One of the basic premises in my universe is that, other than a few breakthroughs, technology hasn’t advanced much beyond where it is today, mostly due to a continued backlash against science and the consumption lifestyle that fuels so much of today’s innovation pace.

14. What kind of research did you do for The Dire Earth Cycle?

Only the minimum required. I don’t say that to be cheeky, either. A while back I took a writing class — scratch that, a plotting class — given by Robert McKee called “STORY” (excellent class, by the way. I encourage any aspiring writer who has the means to take it before he retires). In the class he talks about writers who spend too much time doing research, or who are already experts in some aspect of what they are writing about, and the problem is they don’t know when to shut up. So his advice, which I took, is to only do the minimum research required for the story you want to tell.

Never the less, I’ve tried hard to make sure everything is based on sound science, I just don’t spend a lot of time explaining the details.

“But Jason, you’re supposed to write what you know!” That’s another thing McKee talked about. He said what that phrase really means is to write what you know to be emotionally true. Anything else you can look up.

All that being said, my research for the books has covered everything from space station materials to sewer construction methods, from tandem-parachuting to the caloric value of various fruits & veggies. I even had a former FBI agent take me to the gun range for an education in firearms, something I’m personally not interested in at all but I still wanted to be able to write about with some knowledge. It wouldn’t surprise me if my Google search history probably has landed me on one watch-list or another.

15. Why did you choose Darwin, Australia for your setting?

This is actually also related to your previous question. One aspect I really floundered on was the space elevator itself — or more to the point, its location on Earth. When I started picking locations for the books, I’d read that a space elevator has to be “near” the equator. I never bothered to look up just how “near” near was. So I was spinning the globe around and saw Darwin, Australia, sitting there just below the equator. I fell in love immediately with the location simply because of the connotation the name brings. The Darwin Elevator — how could I resist that for a title? However, recently I had a freak-out moment when I read somewhere that space elevators have to be ON the equator. Like, exactly on. This was a big oh sh!t moment for me since it’s way too late to change the setting for the book. My editor assured me it was no big deal, but I couldn’t leave it alone. So, I found a research paper commissioned by NASA back in 2001 or so concerning space elevators, and contacted the author with my conundrum. To my surprise and delight, he replied to my email not 10 minutes later and said “Relax, you don’t need to re-write your book.” He did give me some details and specifics that will probably result in a few tweaks, but it’s nothing major. The main thing is that the elevator cord wouldn’t leave the planet going straight up, instead it would be at a slight angle and gently curve until it was in line with the equator (well above the atmosphere). I slept well the night after I got that email!

Worth noting: I was recently reading another book that had a space elevator in New York City, which I think is too far off the equator to be feasible, but honestly it didn’t detract from the story for me one bit — and I’m obviously more knowledgeable than the average reader in this area. This reinforced for me my own attitude that the story is more important. Getting it right is also important, but in a genre that is full of impossible things like time travel and warp drive, I figure describing a space elevator as going straight up from Darwin isn’t the end of the world (nevertheless I’m going to try and fix it, but there might not be time).

16. Where any changes suggested during the editing process that you were reluctant to make?

Another tough question. No, not really. Some chapters we deleted because they weren’t germane to the story, but they’ll probably get released as bonuses on my website later. There were other things that I probably would have left alone if I had no editor, but part of the reason for working with a publisher is to have a professional editor guiding you. So I think in just about all instances I took his feedback to heart and made the changes. One example was a romantic relationship, where the man was in his thirties and the woman recently turned eighteen. I felt in the context of the world such an age discrepancy would no longer hold the kind of social taboo it does today, but it made both my editor and his assistant a little uncomfortable. They suggested I change it just slightly so that she was 21. In this case her age didn’t really matter much to the overall story, so I agreed.

17. What is your favorite electronic or digital writing tool?

I’m an avid user of Scrivener (http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php), which is the best writing software on the planet (and I’ve tried ALL OF THEM). But I’m also keenly aware that in the end it doesn’t really matter. People should use whatever works best for them. If that’s MS-Word, go for it and may god have mercy on your evil soul. Heck, George R.R. Martin uses Wordstar on an MS-DOS machine. Why? Because it’s what he’s used to and it provides everything he needs.

For me, Scrivener is the way to go for reasons that are hard to articulate. But in a nutshell, it makes managing a gigantic project easy. Where Word takes almost 2 minutes to open one of my books (and this is on a very fast computer), Scrivener not only opens it in seconds but I’m literally dancing around the project all the time with no lag at all. I have one project file that includes all three books, and I can search across the entire trilogy in the blink of an eye. I can also do things like view just one character’s chapters, or look at all the scenes that take place in a certain location. Cutting chapters, re-organizing them… all these things are trivial in Scrivener.

I could go on all day… just get Scrivener, try it for the free 30 days they give you, and I can almost guarantee you’ll spend the 40 bucks for it.

18. What is your favorite non-electronic writing tool?

Reading aloud. I print 50-page chunks and go park my car by the ocean. Then, highlighter in hand, I’ll read my stuff aloud. Anything that I trip over, anything that sounds weird, I mark up and fix later.

On a similar note, about a year ago I started listening to audiobooks. The time I used to spend reading is now divided between my kids and my writing, so audiobooks in the car is the only way I get to read these days. I truly feel that one side-effect of this is that it’s made me a better writer, as I now find that when I’m writing I can hear the words in my mind, almost removing the need to do a separate read-aloud.

19. What are some fun ways to come up with character names?

I use a lot of tricks, but one favorite is to look up sports teams from the nationality of the character in question, and randomly try combining player’s names. I don’t know what it is about athletes but they tend to have cool names. Wikipedia is a great tool for this. I recently had a character from Malaysia, so I looked up their national women’s cricket team and plucked a first and last name from their roster of twenty years ago. Of course, you have to be careful not to use names that are uniquely associated with star players. I wouldn’t recommend having a character called Ichiro Jeter or Peyton Farve, for example. To a non-sports fan those may seem like pretty good names, but many would groan and roll their eyes.

20. Who shot first, Han or Greedo?

Greedo. Before you lynch me, I say that only because that’s what George Lucas says, and it’s his universe to ruin. Han should shoot first, it’s completely in character for one of the greatest movie characters, and he did before the mothra-flipping edits. But for whatever reason Lucas felt the need to change this. Most likely he wanted to make Han more likable. Mistake or not, though, they are Lucas’s films. I didn’t complain one bit when Ridley Scott did the director’s cut of Blade Runner and fixed up all the replicant miscounts, removed the horrid narration, or added the extra hints about Deckard’s replicant-ness. Those were good changes, in my mind.

That being said, Ridley at least called it a director’s cut, and the original theatrical release was included in that box set for comparison. Lucas seems hell-bent on pretending the old versions never existed. In fact he has no intention of ever giving fans the original releases. I think that sucks.

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Who Moved My Cheese?

Posted on August 22, 2012 by AmyBeth Inverness

ROW80 Update: I have a perforated ear drum and Bronchitis. I’m on antibiotics and pain meds, have very little concentration, so I’ve simply let myself have a series of sick days. A little writing-related stuff has been accomplished here and there, but nowhere near my goals. But I’m OK with that… everyone needs sick days now and then.

There’s a bestselling book I’ve never read called Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson M.D.  It’s the story of four characters living in a “Maze” who face unexpected change when they discover their “Cheese” is gone.

I think this book became a bestseller because most adults (and even some teens… even kids…) hear that phrase and they understand exactly what the author means. Working towards a goal only to find that the anticipated prize is no longer available…

…or no longer applicable.

Our local Highland Games is this weekend. We’re not going. Once upon a time, we would have not only attended, but spent the last several weeks intensely preparing for the Scottish Highland Dance competition that is a major part of the festival. I had been anticipating this particular year for most of my life…

My own daughter is old enough to get up on stage, bounce around and be adorable, and get a participation medal (or even better!)

But that cheese moved a while ago, and I stopped chasing it. When she was a baby and a toddler, she came to dance class with Mommy (I’m a teacher) and loved bouncing around with the big kids. But at age 12 mo and again at 15 months she had surgery on her back. She’s fine now… completely! But for that and other reasons, I stopped teaching Highland Dance. I consider myself on a break.

The cheese is still there. I’m just not chasing it. I’d always dreamed of the day when my own child would wow the crowds at the tender age of 4, having been in dance class all her life because Mommy was a teacher and it just came naturally.

But it didn’t happen that way. There were other cheeses that were more important.

Every year we face the financial strain of paying well over $100 to keep my dance teacher certification. Even though I’m not actively using it, I’m close to the 25 year point where I become a life member and don’t have to pay every year anymore.

So we keep paying it.

It’s also close to the time for me to renew my membership in Romance Writers of America, RWA. That one I am definitely using, although if I wasn’t a member I would still be able to do all that I do. I plan to also join Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, SFWA, although I haven’t done that yet either. For some people, $100 for a membership fee isn’t a big deal. For me, it is, especially when I consider that there are sub-groups of both professional entities to which I would like to belong as well, adding to the membership fees.

I sometimes have to make decisions about whether things that come up are an opportunity or a distraction. Proofreading for a year was a great opportunity, but it’s good that I’m no longer putting so much of my time and concentration into it. A few times, someone has suggested “Oh, you’re a writer/interviewer/whatever? You should do this _____!” and I’ve turned them down because it had nothing to do with the direction I want to go. A couple of opportunities I did take, and I will see those stories published in anthologies later this year.

One major change in direction was switching from concentrating on The Kingdom Come Stories to concentrating on The Pangalactic Sojourners. I think my hubby in particular was frustrated at that… after finishing my NaNoWriMo story back in 2010 he waited patiently for months while I listed to Beta Readers, wrote a query and had it critiqued, and ultimately decided the story was not appropriate for my first sale. It’s a good story, and may come out later if I can develop The Kingdom Come Stories into a series.

But switching to The Pangalactic Sojourners was more drastic than simply writing a different book in the same series, the same world. PGS are contemporary romances, faith-based GLBTQ stories.

So, apparently I moved my own cheese. Or rather, I saw another cheese dangling in a place that had a more direct route to grasping it, and made the decision to alter course. But that’s a dangerous thing to do… like when you leave one line at the grocery-store checkout because it’s moving too slowly, only to find that the new line is suddenly moving even slower. You would have been better off staying in the first line.

I’ve glimpsed a few other cheeses about… very tempting ones. And the longer I take to finish the task I’ve set myself, the more likely that the cheese I’m after will move.

So there are two things I must do. First, keep plugging along with the actual writing, and get it done. Second, re-evaluate as necessary, so I can be sure I’m still moving towards an actual goal, not just blindly forging onwards to nowhere.

…and maybe I should finally read that cheesy book…

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SciFi Q of the Day: Off-Equator Space Elevators

Posted on August 20, 2012 by AmyBeth Inverness

Liftport’s ribbon, hanging from a balloon, ready for the climber!

SciFi Question of the Day: Logic dictates that a space elevator be tethered from a point on the equator to a point out in geosynchronous orbit. But if you tethered it someplace that wasn’t on the equator, it would still be “flung” out into a geosynchronous orbit… but it would appear to go up at an angle, “leaning” towards the equator. Would this still work? Would there be any advantage?

Facebook Answers:

  Pony Horton I don’t think it would work, because it’s outward force needs to be centrifugal, and that can only best be achieved on the Equator.

It’s much the same principle as the way I fling my bullwhip: use the wrong angle, and the whip’s arc becomes distorted and useless, or worse, unruly.

  Matthew B. Tepper Start buying land in Ecuador.

  Pony Horton Matthew, THAT’S thinking ahead!!!!!!!

  Stephonie K Williams Wow. When dealing with geosynchronous orbit things tend to get into weird mathematical equations.

What I understand is that it wouldn’t actually work with the tether someplace other than the equator because geosynchronous orbit is at the equator. If the elevator leans then it puts a lot more pressure on whatever is in orbit and it would eventually pull it out of orbit. Putting an elevator on the tether would definitely pull it out of orbit.

  William J. Teegarden By definition, and orbital path about a gravitational source must be at right angles to the center of that source. Centrifugal force is an illusion; there are two forces acting on any orbiting object, linear force (or velocity) and centripetal force. Centripetal force is the component vector of force exerted towards the rotational center; the linear force or velocity is the component vector acting at a right angle to the centripetal force and tangential to the orbital path.

The space elevator problem comes about when the centripetal force vector and the gravitational force vectors are not aligned, as they would be along the equator.

  AmyBeth Fredricksen I’ll have to ask my friends at LiftPortal Space Education what a ribbon would look like if it was tethered someplace like, say, the Nevada desert, with the anchor allowed to naturally “fall” out to wherever it would fall…

  Douglas S Caprette No, it wouldn’t work because the tension in the tether would exert a cross-track force on the satellite that would move it out of geosynchronous orbit.

In a satellite body coordinate system the radial direction is toward the center of mass of the central body, the along track direction is the direction of motion and the cross track direction is perpendicular to them both.

Bill more or less stated the same thing above. However there is a correction to be made to his nomenclature:

“there are two forces acting on any orbiting object, linear force (or velocity) and centripetal force. ”

Actually that first ‘force’ is not a force. It is momentum. The centripetal force is the attraction due to gravity, aka weight. That centripetal force is perpendicular to the momentum so it accelerates the satellite in the radial direction which is why the satellite moves in a circle instead of the straight line that would be its path were there no forces acting on it.

Also, and I am sure Bill knew this, there are numerous small forces (e.g. perturbations) that act on satellites in Earth orbit including the gravitational attraction of other bodies like the sun and moon, solar radiation pressure, drag, radiation pressure from the Earth, and variable gravity due to tides and seasonal mass redistribution on the Earth (e.g. rain and snowfall).

  William J. Teegarden Thanks Doug, I knew you’d chime in sooner or later to set me straight. I don’t always get the terminology correct, but the understanding of the concepts involved is both immediate and complete.

  AmyBeth Fredricksen So… what would happen if a space elevator was tethered on the equator, attached to an ocean rig, and some mad-man from a James Bond film decided to hijack it and move it a few hundred kilometers off the equator? Would it fall? Would it curve?

  Douglas S Caprette ‎” a few hundred kilometers off the equator? ”  North or South?

  AmyBeth Fredricksen Would it matter? Oh, and he’s going “Mwa Ha ha haaaa!!!” the whole way.

  Stephonie K Williams I suspect that the satellite could temporarily compensate for the change until the rig could be moved back to the equator, but I don’t know how long that would take or how long it would take for the satellite to notice the change in position and make the needed changes.

  William J. Teegarden I suspect that, given a ribbon material of sufficient excess strength, anchoring a space elevator on a floating platform would be problematic. The forces involved would likely lift it right out of the water unless it were very massive, and tides and storms would keep things interesting too.

  Douglas S Caprette ‎”Would it matter?”  Yes. It would change the inclination of the orbit. The difference is which way it would change (ascending node or descending nod) But half a day later, if the ship kept in the same direction, it would be changing the inclination back to what it was before. The result would be an oscillating increase in the tension in the tether. When it breaks, the satellite will be in a slightly inclined orbit.

” Oh, and he’s going “Mwa Ha ha haaaa!!!” the whole way.”  That would not matter.

  Michael Laine ‎@pony horton – Sorry, but you’re wrong. The Earth is still spinning at the same speed, and the elevator will fling it outwards. It will be very controllable. BUT you are RIGHT that the angle will be weird. AmyBeth Fredricksen – Imagine a hockey stick, where the tip is Seattle/Arizona whatever, and the main handle of the the string sits over the equator – going straight up, and out to space. The angle will be acute, but this shift will take place of thousands of miles. regardless of where the base is located, the main length will rise over the equator and out.

  Michael Laine ‎@douglas s caprette – You’re mostly right with your explanations. But you’re mistaken when it comes to ‘being pulled out of geosynch’. It won’t be. (Assuming we reach the baseline of 90-100GPA in strength) the Ribbon and countermass will remain in geosynch orbit. The bulk of the Ribbon and the countermass are designed to be substantially beyond “geo” in order to keep this careful balance. Some of the math for this can be found here: http://gassend.net/elevator/

  Thoughts on Space Elevators  gassend.net

  Michael Laine ‎AmyBeth Fredricksen – I really hate the “007 Scenario”. Moving the Ribbon is what the LiftPort Ship is SUPPOSED to do. So a couple hundred miles, (even a thousand+ ) is probably o.k… Bringing it back to LAND would be a big problem. But forget about the ship for a moment, or the hockey-stick angle of the Ribbon… think about all the ‘stuff’ whizzing by in LEO. If you move the ship out of it’s primary location, you’re MUCH more likely to be hit by a satellite in orbit. That would be bad. One of the main concerns of building this thing is the international regulatory environment that manages satellite slots. look up the International Telecommunications Union someday if you want some nightmares…

  AmyBeth Fredricksen This same discussion on G+ suggested that having a tether on a sea vessel might be in danger of yanking the tether and ship right up out of the water! Maybe you should chime in there too?

  Michael Laine The ship is big (think 3 aircraft carriers, side by side). That’s a lot of MASS. The counterweight is ‘small’, think 5 story building. No contest – the ship is wagging the tail.

  Douglas S Caprette ‎”But you’re mistaken when it comes to ‘being pulled out of geosynch’. ”

What do you think will be the reaction to the cross track force exerted by the tether?

  Douglas S Caprette Actually, the author at http://gassend.net/elevator/ says that moving the tether anchor off-equator would move the satellite out of geosynchronous orbit. But he predicts that it would be stable, with the y-component of the tether tension counteracting the y component of its weight, even though the satellite would no longer be in *any* orbit.  He illustrates that here:  http://gassend.net/elevator/non-equatorial/index.html

  Thoughts on Space Elevators  gassend.net

Google Plus Answers:

  Sally Morem  I don’t think so.

  Christopher Clark  work, yes, but not all that well…and with the greater stress from the angle likely not for long

  Jim Hanson  Biggest advantage I could think of would be ease-of-access and proprietary rights to the use of the elevator.  Equatorial nations are not the most developed in the world, and though they might be physically located in prime locations the amount of on-the-ground development that would need to take place to leverage their locations would be insane.

And not just economical and logistical restructuring, but social as well.  The entire world would have to, basically, take over a chunk of whatever country it was in order to reformat it to be a suitable “spaceport”, and also to ensure that no one country started cockblocking the others or giving preferential treatment.While it’s true that that would sort of be the case wherever we put a bridge/elevator, some countries are far better suited to this sort of thing than others.  Australia, for instance, is generally not hated by anybody (well, except other Australians) and has a good chunk of their country within the tropic belt, so while there would be some angle to a tether, it wouldn’t be susceptible to the same amount of sheer that one from, oh, say… Canada would be experiencing.  India might be a good candidate too.  Florida, here in the US, would also be a logical spot, due to their long history of space-related endeavors, however the hurricanes would… concern me.

  Sally Morem  I wonder if it would work to anchor the bottom of the elevator on the seafloor in international waters so you don’t have that problem dealing with proprietary rights for third world tropical nations.

  AmyBeth Inverness  +LiftPort Group has its plan for an elevator out in the ocean.

  Sally Morem  Very cool.

  LiftPort Group  +AmyBeth Inverness Short answer, yet it will still work.  But there’s are limits: physical, practical, financial and operational:

1) Physics – yes it can be done, but there are (minor) additional stressed placed on the Ribbon.  The real challenge is angle.  The higher or lower on the equatorial plane you move, the more steep the curve.  It can be placed as ‘high’ as Portland or Seattle, but any higher and you start to run into a ‘curve of the Earth’ problem.  Some info is here: http://gassend.net/elevator/2) Practical.  +Jim Hanson is right.  Here’s a fun little game…  Name a “Stable” equatorial nation.  I can’t.  Not one that I’d risk $20B and 20 years of development.3) Financial: +Sally Morem Our “LiftPort” Ship will be anchored about 2000 miles west of Quito Ecuador, and directly south of San Diego, right on the equator.  This will save us a lot of money (billions, not just millions), and side-step point #2 above.4) Operational:  Moving to sea also solves another problem; lightning.  Lightning strikes the land 20x more than it strikes the ocean.  So on top of finding a decent equatorial site, we want to avoid lightning.  The place I pointed to a moment ago has been studied for 15+ years, and no lightning strikes.  The various weather agencies suspect this is the starting point for the La Nina / El Nino effects.

+Christopher Clark – Actually, the Ribbon is more than strong enough to manage the minor additional stress load of the imposed angle.  (Assuming the baseline Ribbon of a 90-100 GPA in strength.)

Take care,
mjl
President, LiftPort Group

p.s.  For more information on the Space Elevator (or to get involved!) take a look at our NEW website. www.liftport.com  It’s not complete, but I’m scrambling to finish it before the International Space Elevator Conference that starts Friday!  www.isec.org/sec  And if you’re really enthusiastic, we’ll launch our Kickstarter campaign today! (It’s pending  the KS approval process right now.. I’m waiting impatiently.)

If you found this interesting, check out this interview with Jason M. Hough, author of The Darwin Elevator, being published in 2013 by Del Rey.

I would love to hear what you think! Even if you are reading this post a year or more after publishing, I hope you will leave a comment with your own ideas on this topic.

The previous SciFi Q of the Day is Dark Side Vs Dork Side

The shortlink for this post is http://wp.me/p1qnT4-SB

The next SciFi Q of the Day is Two Claudias

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Graph Paper

Posted on August 18, 2012 by AmyBeth Inverness

Sometimes I design whole worlds!

I used to relax every evening by sitting in the living room, watching TV, and doodling architectural plans on graph paper. Sometimes it would be a simple house, but more often it was castles. Vast, tall castles with towers and turrets, all with working floor plans and logical progressions (most of the time) to carry the loads.

After earning a degree in architecture, I went to work teaching computer skills to architecture students (and a few other majors.) I still doodled, but gone were the dreams of someday seeing my castles become a reality. Well, I think I always knew the castles would never be real, useful things, but I had other designs and other ideas that were (slightly) more practical.

One thing you lean in architecture school is that, before you ever get to design something creative, you will spend years drawing boxes in CAD from other people’s ideas to other people’s specifications. Of course, there’s also the possibility of designing more fanciful structures for the virtual worlds of video games and movies, but I never explored that. Nor did I go on to design school for either kind of architectural work.

I have numerous plans for buildings that show up in my stories. I like having consistency, so that if a character looks out her window and sees the driveway, I can’t later go back and say that they can’t see the driveway. Sometimes I find myself more wrapped up in the architectural plan than in the story itself.

Since I decided to be a serious writer, I’ve put aside the architectural doodling in favor of wordcrafting. But at the end of each rough draft, I need to get my brain away from the story for a while. Usually, that means switching to a new WIP. But I’m thinking that maybe, before I do that next time, I’ll take a little time and do a little doodling. Maybe taking a break from words altogether will help my brain reset itself even better than simply switching from one story to another.

What do you do when you finish a WIP?

The shortlink to this post is http://wp.me/p1qnT4-Sx

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Interview With Vastine Bondurant

Posted on August 16, 2012 by AmyBeth Inverness

I’m Texas born and raised, an old fashioned, bling-loving girly girl. I love to read and write stories of men and women, men and men, and the sizzling chemistry that draws them together. My heart is helplessly bound to romance of a time long gone—gritty, sexy stories of men in fedoras and overcoats. Old Spice Aftershave, Lucky Strike cigarettes, fancy cuff links, hair pomade, mobsters. Clandestine whispers on Bakelite telephones from the shadows of cheesy restaurant phone booths. Stories of a time when sex was all the more sexy because it wasn’t plastered on every billboard—no naked Joes and dames in every ad in every magazine. Lovemaking—hot, sweet-and-naughty, a secret between lovers. My make believe world is sex and danger, hotter than Hades.

1.    Why do you use an image of Rita Hayworth as an avatar?

Because she’s prettier than me. lol…Seriously, I wanted a female from the era I love—the Golden Age of film—but one who was glamorous, gutsy, maybe a bit naughty. So many stars fit the bill, but there’s just something about Rita.

2.    How did you come up with the tagline “I don’t mind living in a man’s world as long as I can be a woman in it?”

That’s a Marilyn Monroe quote, and it just suited my soul. And it was part of my desire to reflect that I embrace my womanhood. That I love being strong, independent, but I am female—lace, powder puffs and Chanel No. 5—at the core.

3.    What does it mean to you to be a woman?

I like to think of womanhood as a beautiful lioness. Strength, fierceness, intelligence, mysterious and graceful.

4.    Have you ever experienced criticism for being a woman who writes M/M romance? 

I personally have not—or at least not to my face. But I have seen much of it around me, directed at female m/m authors in general.

5.    Have you always considered yourself to be a writer, or was there a time in your life when you decided that is what you were? 

Ever since childhood, I’ve written or at the very least did stories in cartoon-style drawings. But not until the last few years did I consider myself as a writer. Not sure it that changed when I first decided to write for publication, or if I’d really been so all along.

6.    What was your path to publication for Purly Gates?

Purly Gates was such a fun experience. It was self-published. It’s not the easiest way to publication, a lot is involved, a lot of recruiting for things such as cover art, formatting, editing. But I wouldn’t trade the experience for the world.

7.    During the editing process, were any changes suggested to you that you were reluctant to make?

Not for Purly Gates. Any suggestions from the editor were much better calls than mine. LOL.

8.    In what era is Purly Gates set?

The story is set in 1930.

9.    Did you research this setting as you wrote? 

In a round-a-bout way, I’d been researching the setting all my life. I live, breathe and practically eat the era, and have read so much and seen so many documentaries and films, it’s almost like second nature for me now.

10. How much writing did you do before being published? 

Serious writing, about a couple of years. My first published book was titled Candy G (under the pen name C. Zampa) in 2011.

11. Do you have any of those proverbial “Books in the back of the drawer that will never see the light of day?” 

YES! And for a very good reason! They stink! LOL.

12. What is your favorite electronic or digital writing tool? 

You know, I am such a relic, I’m not sure what that means. I use Word Office version for my documents, but that’s about as far into the tech side as I know.

13. What is your favorite non-electronic writing tool? 

Do those still exist? LOL.

14. What is the most persistent distraction from writing? 

The desire to stop and read or watch films.

15. Many writers go through a stage when they hate what they’re writing.  Do you ever feel this way? 

All the time. I love the beginnings, then about mid-way….ugh. Hate the storyines, hate the characters, hate it all.

16. What is your ideal writing environment? Have you ever been able to create it? 

My ideal would be a very serene, quiet, small place—maybe on the beach or overlooking mountains. But in reality, my ‘hide-a-way’ is the dining room of my apartment.

17. Do you have rules for how steamy you write your sex scenes? 

My only rules are 1) no sex just for the sake of having a sex scene; and 2) in my het stories, I will not use the standard glossary of required erotic words for naming women’s body parts. Although they’re accepted, they just come across as the ultimate in NON-intimacy.

18. What are you working on next? 

I’ve learned to keep projects close to the vest, and only divulge to my betas and critique partners. But I will be starting, very soon, my first hetero romance under the Vastine pen name.

19. Where do you draw the line between inspiration and imitation? 

Good question! I’ve been rolling about this for a bit now. Personally, I try to refrain from creating storylines that are too close to other authors’.  I like to be original with my own stories. Sure, I see some stories that grab me and it is so tempting to reconstruct them in my own voice. But then I just feel it’s imitation.

20. Who shot first, Han or Greedo? 

Han shot first, but I confess I had to google to find out. LOL

The shortlink for this post is http://wp.me/p1qnT4-So

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Sick Schedule

Posted on August 14, 2012 by AmyBeth Inverness

Some people have writing goals. Others have writing goats, which are much cuter, and fuzzy.

This has been another acceptable week in writing. Not good, but acceptable. There was one day that I didn’t get any writing done at all because we had real-life stuff going on. Monday and Tuesday I actually got almost 2k each because I took my laptop to church and, while my kids were at Vacation Bible Camp, I found a quiet corner and did some writing. Perhaps that makes it a good week after all…

I currently have the luxury that my only writing deadlines are self-imposed. Of course, that leaves me with the danger that I might never actually get done.

I’ve been sick today. My 13yo brought it home a couple weeks ago, then it knocked my husband flat, and now it’s my turn. So what if I did have contractual obligations to meet? Perhaps if I was deathly ill and hospitalized, a publisher or editor might understand. I do hear about authors saying “I missed a deadline…” or “I got an extension…” so I know such things do happen.

Hopefully, someday I will have relationships with an agent, editor(s) and publisher(s.) And I know how life works… it’s too easy to let things slide until the last minute. Even when I was proofreading I found myself staying up late the night before a deadline and doing way too much of the work all at once. If I’d had any kind of a deadline this week, being sick would have meant not meeting that obligation.

It’s easy to say now, but I know will be difficult in practice. I think I must plan, when the day comes that I do have contracts and deadlines, to aim to finish my work at least a few days if not weeks in advance.

This is important to me.

I have to make it a priority.

Do you write when you’re sick, whether or not you have a deadline?

The shortlink for this post is http://wp.me/p1qnT4-Sk

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SciFi Q of the Day: Dark Side vs Dork Side

Posted on August 14, 2012 by AmyBeth Inverness

SciFi Question of the Day: If the Dark Side has cookies, what does the Dork Side have to offer?

.

.

Twitter Answer:

Facebook Answers:

  Kevin McCullen Mostly coffee.

  Charlie Cecil Riley Mountain Dew and Skittles.

  Emily Becker Priest Def. Mtn. Dew… but I’d go with M & Ms

  AmyBeth Fredricksen Skittles? Oh, no, don’t tell Branli …

  Branli Caidryn I’m switching teams…

  AmyBeth Fredricksen WHAT?!?

  Branli Caidryn ‎… they have skittles :-\

  AmyBeth Fredricksen Oh! You’re going to the Dork side. I thought you were already there…

  Branli Caidryn Lol nice

  Juno Suk The milk.

  AmyBeth Fredricksen Now, see, that’s the problem with the Dark Side. They offer you cookies, but withhold the milk.

  Ben Chessor Virgins

  Juno Suk They figure just in case the force choke doesn’t hold… dry cookies without milk. Bingo.

  William J. Teegarden Doritoes, Coke, and a twenty-sided die. Roll wisely…

  Brian Covault Anything with peanut butter in it. That’s the ticket.

  AmyBeth Fredricksen Yeah. I heard the Dark Side had to go completely nut-free. Allergies, you know.

  Brian Covault What??!!! What kind of Dark Side has allergies? It’s mad I tell you, mad!

  Box O’ Munchkins No NUTS on the Dark Side? The Dork side probably has Extra dark rich chocolate. (In the Books Lando Calrissian enjoys a cup of Hot Chocolate on a balcony)

  Dan Bressler Really cool music videos…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54VJWHL2K3I

Roll a D6

Google Plus Answers:

  Meghan Riley  Gummy Bears

  Brent Stires  Cupcakes!

  Katey Springle Lempka   Mountain Dew and Pizza.

  AmyBeth Inverness  Interesting how Mountain Dew came up quickly on both Facebook and G+… because it is true.

  Miaka Kirino  Pi, of course. :p

  AmyBeth Inverness  HA! That’s the best answer! Interesting… no one on facebook came up with that one (although to their credit, they had some weird tangents) but my ONLY twitter answer was “Pi!”

I would love to hear what you think! Even if you are reading this post a year or more after publishing, I hope you will leave a comment with your own ideas on this topic.

The previous SciFi Q of the Day is Planetary Time

The shortlink for this post is http://wp.me/p1qnT4-Sc

The next SciFi Q of the Day is Off-Equator Space Elevators

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Interview With Eric Andrew Satchwill

Posted on August 10, 2012 by AmyBeth Inverness

Eric Andrew Satchwill is a writer living in his home town of Calgary, Alberta. Trans and unabashedly queer, he loves nothing more than to share his experiences, and learn about the experiences of others. He works predominantly in the realm of fantasy, but isn’t too choosy when a good story strikes. Eric took three years at the Alberta College of Art and Design and the visual arts will always have some place in his practice.

He has performed in the Miscellaneous Youth Network’s Fake Mustache drag king troupe for a number of years, as well as Demonika’s Metal A-Gore-Gore and Demonika’s Symphony Of Horrors 3. Exhibitions that he has shown in include The Artist Collective Event #2 at The Artlife Gallery, The Crysalis Project hosted by the Miscellaneous Youth Network at Art Central, and History of Wearable Art exhibition in Gallery 371 at the Alberta College of Art and Design.

1.       Are you a hoopy frood?

The hoopiest frood to ever sass Ford Prefect. I even know where my towel is. (It’s hanging on the shower door.)

2.       What’s your favorite scene from any of the five books in Douglas Adam’s Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy?

I have many. The first that comes to mind is the scene where Arthur is teaching Fenchurch to fly, which of course brings me to what they did very near an airplane later on… Another favourite is when Arthur is on prehistoric Earth, decides he may as well go mad, and soon finds himself chasing a chesterfield with Ford. And let’s not forget the bowl of petunias thinking, “Oh no, not again.” Actually, I think the bowl of petunias is my favourite character.

3.       If you could spend a day (without interfering in their timeline) on any Starship in the Trek universe, what ship, crew, and time would you choose?

Enterprise D, Picard’s crew, pretty much any time Q shows up. Bonus points for being on the bridge when the Continuum turns him human and drops him there. Let’s face it, I’m a Next Gen. man. It’s what I grew up watching, and the first Star Trek movie I saw in theatres was First Contact. I have an action figure of the blue-shirted Lt. Picard from the episode Tapestry. I have a picture of myself, dressed as Data, with Brent Spiner. I used to wear a headband over my eyes so I could be like Geordi. Drop me in the middle of that crew, and I’ll be happy. Just please make it when Beverly Crusher is the ship’s doctor; I was never fond of the other one.

4.       I’m writing these questions about an hour before the Mars Curiosity landing. Tell me how it goes, will you?

One moment while I look that up… (for being so plugged in, I’m woefully out of the loop in some things.) From the looks of things, everything worked perfectly. The landing went off without a hitch, and Curiosity is already sending back colour photographs. It’s kind of exciting, isn’t it? However much the potential dangers of space travel scare me, I’ve always wanted to be an extra-planetary colonist, and missions like this are the first step.

5.       Where does the name “Babseth” come from?

To get to the root of that, we have to go back, oh, fourteen years or so. I was in junior high and trying to figure out who the hell I was, and one of the strategies I was developing involved creating separate sub-personae to look at different aspects of myself. I was also, for some reason, trying to design the ‘perfect’ chimera-type meld of animals involving earth, air, and water creatures: Bird, Bat, Fish, Tiger, and Human. I took the initials, threw in some vowels to make it pronounceable, and ended up with Babfath. She ended up as my nurturing, mother-type self.

Later on, I swapped out ‘Fish’ for ‘Snake’ to create Babsath, who turned out to be personified rage. As I explored my male side, the second ‘A’ became an ‘E’, and Babsath became Babseth. By this time my roster of sub-personae had grown to at least five and my self-obsession–it that direction at least–was beginning to wind down. Some of my selves had made their way into my online handles, but even that trend was dying down. Babseth had become sort of a catch-all. I chose it for my Twitter handle, consequently making Twitter probably the last place online where I don’t go by my actual name.

For the curious, the core roster of sub-personae is as follows:

Alea: the child

Babfath: the mother

Babsath: rage

Trixingee: hyper-active sociability

Dyceria: fear and despair

6.       How unabashedly queer are you? Is there such a thing as bashedly queer?

Pretty unabashedly, to the point where I sometimes have to explain that yes, I like guys, but I like girls too so no, you wearing a Doctor Who shirt isn’t the only way to get me to appreciate your breasts (not that the shirt hurts your chances any, of course). I’ve made a decision to be out, to be open, and to be transparent with my experiences. That’s why I have ‘queer’ in my Twitter bio, and why I write about it on my blog.

I’m tempted to equate being bashedly queer with being closeted, though that’s probably not fair. In any case, there’s more than enough shaming and homophobia to make a lot of queer folk uncomfortable and timid in their identities. It saddens me, really. There are so many people holding themselves back, hiding who they are out of fear when they could own it, and get out of their own way to become whole, healthy people making the most of their talents.

7.       What’s the most fun you’ve ever had performing as a drag king?

The most fun I ever had may have been performing as ‘The Other Guy in Wham’ opposite James Dean performing as George Michaels. Just putting together the outfits was a blast! Unfortunately, this seems to have been before Fake Mustache began putting videos of the performances on YouTube.

The most fun I’ve ever had besides that, would be this one: Eric Erikson – February 2010 Early Show

8.       Can human sexuality be divided into heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual, or is it more complicated?

Oh, far more complicated. From pansexual to asexual and every other axis, if you were to have a label for all the different ways human sexuality can be experienced, you’d need a label for every single person on this Earth. That’s part of why I use ‘queer’ for myself; my own sexuality is far too complicated for a more specific label. At my simplest: if I’m attracted to someone–whatever their gender–and they’re attracted to me, then there’s the possibility for a relationship. What I’m looking for is partnership and long-term commitment. Whatever form that takes is secondary.

9.       How would you explain the difference between Transgender and Transsexual to a young person who has lived a very sheltered life?

On a technical level, ‘transexual’ is someone making physical changes to their body to reflect their gender, while ‘transgender’ is someone presenting as the gender they identify with rather than the one dictated by their anatomy without feeling the need to change their body. ‘Transgender’ can include identifying solidly as one gender or the other, a state of being ‘mostly this, but also a little that’, or even being fluid within the gender spectrum, at times identifying as more male and at times as more female.

The word ‘transexual’ has, however, become sensationalized in the media, painting it as some strange, deviant kink, that most people feel uncomfortable with the term. ‘Transgender’ has, in some cases, been stretched to cover ‘transexual’ with a more neutral-sounding term, and more often only the prefix ‘trans’ is used, sometimes expressed as ‘trans*’ to leave the final interpretation up to the individual. Whatever the case, ‘trans woman/girl’ always refers to someone whose expressed gender is female, and ‘trans man/boy’ always refers to someone whose expressed gender is male.

Please note that neither one has anything to do with sexual orientation. Being gay, straight, or bi is a separate issue from being trans. Also note that different people may define any of the above terms differently; I’m only presenting my understanding and usage of them.

10.   On twitter you describe yourself as a Christian. Is it difficult for a LGBTQ person to find a home church with a congregation that accepts them?

I know that it can be, and I was afraid that for me, it would be, but that wasn’t my experience. I came back to my church during the Advent season in 2010. My mom wanted me to come sing in the choir, saying they needed more male voices. (They only had one baritone at the time. My joining made it two; still no tenors.) I was nervous; this was the same church I’d gone to as a teenage girl. People would remember that. They were Christian which meant what I was was wrong–or so I assumed. Instead, I was welcomed back with open arms and real joy, and no one condemned me for who I was. I had to rethink my whole view of Christianity, and I’m glad I did. I would still be cut off from an incredible faith if I hadn’t.

It’s true that there are churches, sects, and individuals who don’t accept queer folk–or in some cases any folk who deviate from their rigid ideas of what’s ‘right’. It can be difficult to find a good, accepting congregation, and that saddens me. Not just because it makes it harder for queer folk to find a place where they belong, but because these congregations are missing out on some incredible people because they can’t see past a label or an imagined sin. They’re the ones missing out of the full glory of Christianity, a faith that began with the outcast and the disenfranchised in mind.

11.   Although it’s against the rules for Inspirational Romance to include pre-marital sex, could it and should it?

Knowing nothing about the genre, I’d still say that it could and that it should, if the story calls for it. Being inspirational doesn’t come from starting from a place of purity and perfection; it comes from finding greater meaning and making a difference in the world as it is, and the world as it is includes pre-marital sex. It happens, and I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with that. What matters is how it’s dealt with.

12.   I’m writing a series of Faith-Based Romances with GLBTQ characters. I know that small e-pubs can serve small niche markets, but is this just too small a niche?

I don’t think any niche is too small, or at least that you’d have to get into some really obscure genre combinations to find one. What’s more, I think faith-based romances with GLBTQ characters are necessary. These are stories that need to be told, because there are people who need to hear them, who need something that they can relate to.

My own work typically involves queer characters and faith-based themes, even if I come at them from unusual angles. Fallen Things–especially early on–would be a hard sell as being Christian-friendly, but I feel it is and that it’s a story that needs to be told from this direction. I have a sci-fi YA waiting on a back burner with a trans character who discovers his faith while living on a strictly regulated ship with enforced atheism. Another short story (provisionally titled Morality Hammer until I can come up with something less foolish) involves a devoutly Christian woman taking in a trans girl who was kicked out of her home.

What I’m trying to say is, go for it. Write it, get it published. Especially with the reach of the internet today, there will be a market for this kind of story.

13.   I read in your interview with Jenny you mention a collection of 80’s music. What were the top ten songs to come out of that decade?

The top ten over all, or my top ten in my collection? Because my list shifts a lot, and my list sometimes has more to do with what songs fit my characters than anything else. I’ll just go ahead and give you my own top ten.

10) Tribute To Tino by Taco. It’s just such a fun song, really, and how could you not like a song about Valentino?

9) Wuthering Heights cover by Pat Benatar. I actually have two versions of this song, but the Kate Bush version came out in the 70’s, so I’m getting it on the list under Pat Benatar. One of these days I’ll get around to reading the actual book, too.

8) Bluebird by Electric Light Orchestra. I actually have an outline for a screenplay, built entirely around the album Secret Messages, about a man getting life advice beamed directly into his head by an alien with a twisted sense of humour. If I remember correctly, this is where the alien, Terence, is trying to convince the guy to trust him.

7) Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper. This song perfectly describes the relationship between two of my main characters in Fallen Things. It makes me feel for them just thinking about it.

6) Rock The Casbah by The Clash. I always thought that the only way London Calling could have been a better album was if it included Rock The Casbah.

5) Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty. What more do I need to say, really? It’s Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty.

4) Walking On A Thin Line by Huey Lewis and the News. This is another character-related song. No story is complete without a really broken, tortured character, and this song describes mine perfectly.

3) Edge Of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks. Another character relationship song because again, no story is complete without at least one character having a giant blind-spot in the shape of another character.

2) Close To The Borderline by Billy Joel. If there was ever a song to describe all the anxieties and frustrations of everyday life and how hard it can be to keep together through it all, this is that song. It’s very cathartic to listen to over and over and over again.

1) Watching The Detectives by Elvis Costello. I think I love this song because it taps into the same dark side of me that my writing does. It lets me explore some terrible, broken scenarios, enjoy things that I could never–and would never–be able to in real life.

14.   Also in your interview with Jenny Lyn you mentioned that you got your start in writing doing NaNoWriMo. How many NaNo’s have you done, and how many have you won?

I have done two: 2010 and 2011. The first year I didn’t win, but it got me solidly into writing, which was my main goal. The second year, I won on the last day. Judging by the amount of typos from that day, I think I won by button-mashing. I vaguely remember running through our regional chat room periodically, shouting my wordcount, and going back to writing furiously.

15.   What are your hopes and plans for your Urban Fantasy Fallen Things?

Fallen Things will be a series of several books–though I’m not sure exactly how many. I have a vague idea of where the series ends; I’m just not sure how long it will take to get there. One way or another, I will get it published, though I’m hoping to go the agent-to-traditional-publisher route. Especially since it’s my first novel, I want to have someone in my corner who knows how to publish a book properly rather than bumping around in the dark trying to figure out formatting, printing, and marketing all on my own.

16.   What is the most memorable (or disturbing) thing Tiffany Reisz has ever tweeted?

Oh dear… you’re expecting me to remember the content of tweets? Oh! I have one! (And then had to look it up so I could quote it properly.) “I’ve never been a Dominatrix and I’ve never been a nun. Why do I have to tell this to people? Where do these rumors come from? #lifeisweird”

And of course she had to tweet “RELEASE THE KRAKKAN!” right as I finished the interview… See, this is why I have trouble remembering just one: all her tweets are fantastic!

17.   When you saw Tiffany’s tweet about Felt Tips, did you instantly think “Yes! I have something perfect!” or did you ponder it a while?

It was an instant “I have something for that!” It was almost bizarre how it worked out. I had this story sitting around gathering metaphorical dust, and she had this anthology that fit perfectly. It’s not often that one can say, “Office supply themed erotica? I have the perfect story for you! Let me just give it a once-over for typos, and I’ll send it right along.” Especially when one typically writes other genres.

18.   Besides your computers, what is your favorite electronic or digital writing tool?

Scrivener. Definitely Scrivener. It’s my favourite writing program, excellent for organizing the scenes and chapters of a novel, and I’ve even taken to writing my short stories in Scrivener rather than OpenOffice. I can keep all the notes, research, and related writing in one project file, up to and including the body of my (eventual) query. I love it. It makes me so, so happy.

19.   What is your favorite non-electronic writing tool?

Sharpie Pens, not to be confused with the markers (thought the markers are brilliant in their own right). I do a lot of my editing on paper, often writing right over the previous draft, and Sharpie pens have everything I need in an editing pen: they’re light-fast, they don’t bleed through, their ink doesn’t run if the page gets wet, and they are, of course, felt tipped. Bonus, they come in almost as many colours as the markers themselves.

20.   Who shot first, Han or Greedo?

I’ll try to answer this without peeking or looking anything up, because apparently I like a challenge. Also, if I have a superpower, it’s absorbing trivia from fandoms I’m only tangentially associated with.

From what I recall, in the original version of the original movie, Han shot first, and this is generally accepted as canon. I also understand that many of the things that made the original Star Wars movies so great were things added or improvised by the actors, and not part of George Lucas’s original vision. I hear about him ‘rewriting history’ in various ways trying to ‘correct’ the canon, and I think he’s a fool.

I understand wanting creative control as a writer. I really do. But when someone else comes up with something that actually improves the story, especially in the formative stages, I say take it and run with it. As writers, we’re here to serve the story, not the other way around. It is possible to take input from others or work collaboratively without compromising our creative integrity.

I know that if I’d held on to my original ideas about how my books should play out, they wouldn’t be half as strong as they are now, and that strength is because of the insight other’s have brought to my work. They notice things about my character’s motivations that I don’t, but instead of getting petty and defensive, I look at what they’re saying. If it makes sense and works for the story, I go with it.

I think George Lucas would do well to do the same. So: if it serves the story better–and I’m given to believe it does–Han shot first. And that, as they say, is that.

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Nailing Jello to a Tree

Posted on August 8, 2012 by AmyBeth Inverness

This has been an acceptable week in #ROW80. Not a good week. I did have one day where my word count was “Great!” but most days it was “Just Acceptable.”

I’ve only been doing the regular weekly blog posts. I’ve had ideas pop into my head now and then for extra posts, but none of them seem to have made it into the blog.

I promised myself that I would stop thinking about writing as being that thing I indulge in when everything else is done. But although that is still true, I’ve realized this week that it’s not only my own priorities working against me. There are other factors at work.

But that can’t be an excuse for not getting it done. Yes, family members get sick. We have to adjust our plans to take care of them. I have a child with special needs, and every time I think we have her routine running smoothly, somehow a wrench flies into the works. Even though I’ve been saying “no” to most distractions (Most notably, an online class through a reputable University, reading and discussing various classics of SciFi and Fantasy) I’ve said “yes” to others (helping out with my church’s Vacation Bible Camp.)

I’m not sure how I’m going to tweak things this week. Yes, I need to write more. Yes, I need to make it a priority. But sometimes it feels like I’m just nailing jello to a tree.

Oh… look… it is possible after all!

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SciFi Q of the Day: Planetary Time

Posted on August 7, 2012 by AmyBeth Inverness

By Lsmpascal (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

SciFi Question of the Day: Your colony is on a planet whose day is approximately equal to 19 1/4 Earth hours. Do you continue to use Earth time and say your day is 19 1/4 hours long? Or do you divide your planet’s day into a certain number of hours?

Facebook Answers:

  Derri Herbert I would divide my new planet’s day.

  Dave Mac Does this planet have a Moon?

  AmyBeth Fredricksen Ummm… sure. Two.

  Dave Mac Two? Omg that changes everything. Are their orbits in conjunction with the rotation of the solar sun?

  AmyBeth Fredricksen No.

  Daniel Beard are you on the surface or underground?

  AmyBeth Fredricksen Our city is built on a long-dormant volcano. Liveable levels extend about a kilometer below the surface, but the towers of the city reach up almost that high.

  Daniel Beard Ok, so you can’t just ignore it as if you were on Luna. Losing nearly a full quarter of the rhythm the human has evolved into. the primary question is how long do you sleep, and how long do you stay awake. that is something that the next few generations will work out.

  Dave Mac I’m going to need extra time to hold protest marches.

  Daniel Beard But Let me see, 19.25 * 60 is 1155 min. could work with 23 hours of 50 min each and a Catch up of 5 min. or something like that.

  AmyBeth Fredricksen There are competing factions on the planet who oppose each other, sometimes violently. Some think that the sleep pattern should mimic Earth, by spending 6 hours asleep and 12 or so awake. The other faction believes that alternating days should be spent sleeping and working.

And then there are the third party-goers… those descendants of Swiss watch makers who insist that local time should always match that of Geneva, whether it’s day or night on their own planet.

  Dave Mac I’m throwing in with Daniel, let’s speed up the clocks so that more men can break the 5 minute foreplay mark again.

  Derri Herbert sleep patterns usually (I say usually, as obviously people who live in the arctic circle aren’t awake OR asleep for weeks at a time) alter to a light/dark cycle – which is why shift workers go a bit mad 😛

  Melissa Conway Where are the Aztecs when you need them??

  AmyBeth Fredricksen I ask myself that every day.

Google Plus Answers:

  michael interbartolo  How often do they interact with earth? I would keep day native to the planet and just think of earth as in another time zone on the other side if the international dateline.

  James Russell  We would have to divide to successfully acclimate and not go insane.

  Justin Stapleton  It depends on if my colonists can adjust to such rapid circadian rhythms. I have a feeling we would keep the 24 hours and invest in good window shades.

  James Russell  Connection with earth wouldn’t be instantaneous anyway.

  James Russell  Nah, we would just have shorter days.

  michael interbartolo  Your circadian is more due to light dark than hours in the day. Based on my years of sleep shifting in mission control.

  Kimberly Unger  Hm.  I’d keep “local time” and “earth time” much like we currently do timezones.  The length of light to dark can already vary hugely here on Earth depending on  the time of year and latitude, so I’m reasonably sure we could adapt to the shorter day.  Besides, building a colony requires a lot of morale, saying  “Planet X Time” helps turn the mind to this being “our” colony and “our” home…

  James Russell  Have a longer week, more work days, longer weekends, solid.

  Mince Walsh  For the sanity of the people living there, divide. Communications with Earth would need to be asynchronous anyways so time zone on Earth would not matter. Unless you have some FTL communications method with Earth you don’t need to know the time on Earth and they have no need to know your time.

  AmyBeth Inverness  I think +michael interbartolo has a good point about how much interaction the planet has with Earth. A Lunar or Martian colony would probably use Earth hours and minutes, but if a planet was very self-contained, with only the rare arrival of a star-cruiser for interstellar trade, then it would make sense for them to make their own time.

  J.Steven Carr  How about a nineteen hour clock? Like military time.

  J.Steven Carr  Wait, would you live longer on this planet.

  AmyBeth Inverness  How would the length of a planet’s day affect a human life span?

  J.Steven Carr  If you are spinning faster, theoretically time would slow down for you.

  J.Steven Carr  But that assumes the planet is spinning faster,right?

  AmyBeth Inverness  Slightly, yes. But I don’t see how the rate of spin slows/increases the rate of time…

  J.Steven Carr  As you approach the speed of light, time slows down for you. A good example is if you traveled at the speed of light for a year, you personally would be a year older. Time on earth would have passed by the tens of thousands of years. so when you go faster you live longer because time slows down. Whether it is significant depends on how fast and how long.

  J.Steven Carr  I’m a science teacher/wannabe author.

  Miaka Kirino  I would suggest dividing the planet’s day into 20 hours, so that an hour is roughly the same as an earth hour but is still unique to the new planet.

  Tiffany Marshall  I vote for a sort of dual system. A digital display of 19.25 hour-day planet time next to one of Earth. Otherwise people will lose track of the dates on Earth, too. Even if they don’t have much contact with Earth, I’m guessing they will have family or friends there and it wouldn’t be good to realize you hadn’t sent your friend a birthday greeting because you didn’t know what month she was experiencing.

I would love to hear what you think! Even if you are reading this post a year or more after publishing, I hope you will leave a comment with your own ideas on this topic.

The previous SciFi Q of the Day is Are You Pondering What I’m Pondering?

The shortlink for this post is http://wp.me/p1qnT4-Rq

The next SciFi Q of the Day is The Dark Side vs. The Dork Side

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