Veterans' Day 2009: A Personal Reflection

I received an email the other day with a tag line that really made me think.  It said:

America is not at war. 
The US military is at war. 
America is at the mall.

I don't know who the author of that statement is, but they deserve major kudos for summarizing the status quo in a few profound words.  Our brave servicemen and women are fighting the battles overseas and carrying out their missions on the homefront so that we can continue to enjoy life as we've always known it.  They put themselves in harm's way to defend our freedoms.  The tragedy at Ft. Hood, Texas last week reminded us once again that the sacrifices made by our military personnel can happen at anytime and anywhere. We owe those honored dead, and the members of our past and present military so much more than just respect and honor on special days like today.  We are forever indepted to them for preserving and defending our freedom to live as Americans.

Last week, my spouse retired from the military after over thirty-two years of service in a ceremony in Washington, DC.  I was humbled as I walked the halls of our Pentagon for the first time, saw the memorial to the 9/11 victims and observed the multitude of uniformed personnel in the corridors performing their duties to defend and preserve our nation. On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln ended his Gettysburg Address with the following words:  "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth."  It is our service men and women, our veterans, and all the generations that came before that have sacrificed to ensure our great nation endures.

To all the veterans, past and present,

and to the members of our military:

Thank you for your service.

Getting Art: The Unveiling!

If you've been following this blog, you know I've been working with cover artist Kanaxa (aka SFR author Nathalie Gray) on developing artwork for promotional purposes for my unsold novel P2PC.

Nathalie and I have worked through the process via email discussing ideas, concepts, colors, characters and potential layouts for the cover, but ultimately I left the final decisions up to Kanaxa.

Now it's finally time for the unveiling of the P2PC cover art.  Ready?

*whips off the white sheet*

SFR Discussion on the Net

Heather Massey's The Galaxy Express blog recently hosted a three-part article series called Branding Science Fiction that has stirred up discussion on the net about what is and isn't Science Fiction Romance--and why we should care.

Here's an interesting discussion on the Fierce Romance blog [Science Fiction...for Women?] that you shouldn't miss, for the amusing quotes if not the discussion of SFR elements.

Ella Drake posts a humorous account entitled Green Goo: It's a Technical Term on The Raven Happy Hour blog that explores how science can create the basis for some fabulous What If? world building.

 

Discoveries in DC

I'm currently in Washington DC for David's retirement in a ceremony at the Pentagon.  (His mandatory  retirement date came up early because he started his career very young.)  As a little side trip, I visited the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum today.  What a motherlode for a SFR writer!

I got to venture inside Skylab to see the mechanics of many things we take for granted on a daily basis are adapted to the space environment.  Like showers, a collapsible tube that is pulled up from the floor, locked to the ceiling and has a hand held sprayer.  Can you imagine the chaos of showering in Zero G?  The dinner table was a four-topper with a funny contraption that reminded me a bit of a pomma-lift from my skiing days.  It had two pararllel horizontal bars attached to the floor with a small vertical post.  The astronaut would slide his or her thighs between them in order to stay in place while they ate their meal, which was contained in plastic bags or containers.  Yeah, chairs would be pretty useless in a weightless environmentl.

I also saw a 3-D IMAX movie on the International Space Station that was nothing short of awesome and gave me some wonderful :head movies" for my current WIP.  This up close and personal look at the origins and construction of the ISS, in addition to actual scenes from inside, outside and "day of a life in"  had my muse doing jumping jacks.  Ah yes, a Skiffy Rommer's idea of heaven.  :)

I also spent a lot of time in the solar system exhibit learning what I could about our neighbors in this little corner of space and the size and composition and other facts about the various planets and moons for my current WIP.

But one of the most pleasant and fascinating surprises I stumbled across was the artwork of astronaut Alan Bean. Bean who was on the second Apollo flight to land on the Moon--Apollo 12.  In later years, his need to expess his experiences emerged through his amazing artwork.  I can't post these remarkable paintings here because due to the copyright notice, but I can link to a just a few of a gallery that had me spellbound.

Is Anybody Out There?
Awe-inspiring.

An American Success Story
A patriotic statement--lunar style.

Mother Earth
You've probably seen the poster Earthrise.  This is Bean's version.

Conquistadors
Being a New Mexican, the title of this one held a special meaning for me.

The Fantasy
This was a fantasy portrait of the three astronauts in Beans team--himself, Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon, standing on the surface of a Moon.  It's a fantasy because, of course, Gordon was piloting the command module and never reached the surface of the Moon during the mission.

Now let me call your attention to this one:  Neil Armstrong

This painting clearly shows Bean's texturing process, which is to use the sole of an actual moon boot to add detail to the work.  He also uses a pick axe that was used on the surface of the Moon.

Go to this page for an introduction in Bean's own words and a videos about Alan Bean's artwork.

It was a very fun and edicuational day.  I hope to get back the the Air & Space museum soon.  (Besides, I missed the starship flight simulator!  Must. Go. Back  :))

Getting Art: First Glimpse

Last night I had a big surprise in my email. 

Step 5
A first glimpse of my cover art for P2PC!

All I can say is....wow!  It's dramatic and some of the elements are downright awesome.

(If you missed my earlier post on Getting Art, you can scroll down to read it.)

I'm sure it takes every writer time to "absorb" the first look at their cover art, since the image can never be exactly how you had it pictured in your head.  The cover is meant to suggest big picture concepts like mood, tone, genre and theme of the story. Some of the elements went far beyond the bounds of my imagination while others were very close to what I pictured.  I can't tell you how many times I opened...and closed...and re-opened the file again to take another look.  :)

Here are my impressions:

Characters: Very, very close...amazingly close to my mental portraits...based on the few excerpts and descriptions I'd provided.  Nathalie did a wonderful job capturing their essence. I did suggest a wardrobe tweak for Zjel that I thought was important along with a minor "prop" adjustment.

Layout:  Not quite what I'd pictured (as a non-artist, y'understand), but the image is powerful in scope and perfect in capturing the SF theme.  The more I study the design the better I like it.  It has drama and flair that my "head image" was totally lacking.

The Ship:  I loved how the ship was used in relationship to the overall design.  Brilliant!

Background:  Perfect for the SFR genre and the story I'm trying to tell.  It wasn't a concerpt that I'd thought of or described to Nathalie, so I think she had some ESP going for her!  It subliminally suggests the larger story behind the introduction of the two MCs and main character Zjel which isn't apparent in the first few chapters.

Colors:  More subtle than I pictured, but they work very well.  I made one request on color adjustment of an element, but I'm not sure how it will affect the overall product, so I'll go with the expert's opinion on that point.

Font:  I like the futuristic fonts used and the stark simplicity of it. The easy-to-read lettering doesn't overpower the details related via the images.
What's next?  I've sent Nathalie (Kanaxa) my suggestions for tweaks or changes, asking if they're doable, but  I think we may be very close to a final product on the cover design.

So that's the status report to date.  I'm really enjoying the whole experience of working with the artist on my cover design.  Most authors don't have the opportunity for this level of interaction with the designer.  The decisions about the cover art are made by the publishing house, the marketing department and/or the artist they contract and the author has little or no input until the work is complete. What you see is what you get.  (Though I understand from my peers that a few of the e-publishers are a little more interactive with the authors than the big paper publishers.) 

If I step into the publishers shoes for a minute, I can relate to their point of view.  The author is the expert in creating and developing the story, but once the contract is signed, the publisher is investing their dollars into the packaging and marketing and in that area they have the expertise, not the author.  (Unless, of course, you happen to be a cover art designer and an author, like Nathalie Gray.)  

That said however, I can relate to my peers' dismay when a cover is released with an MC that doesn't match the story's description--wrong color hair, wrong look, etc.  And I often ponder the covers that give me an impression of the MC--clean-cut, short hair--but the story presents a very different MC, i.e. long hair, spikey hair, etc..  Just my humble opinion, but hair style and length does make a visual statement about the character.  Do you agree?

Stay tuned for more on the process...and the final unveiling of the P2PC cover art on this blog.

Getting Art

Sorry for my hiatus on this subject.  I ran into some problems behind the scenes with my cover art design, namely the orginal designer has been pretty much incommunicado.  But!...I'm now very pleased to report I've found another designer and we've been very busy working on the cover art design for P2PC.

And even more exciting?  My designer is a Skiffy Rommer!  You can see Nathalie Gray's books on her website. And you can see her wonderful portfolio of covers on her artist site, Kanaxa.  I discovered her cover talent quite by accident when I stumbled upon an interview done by an author with cover art she'd designed (via my Google search for "Science Fiction romance").  I took a look at her online portfolio and I was sold!  I emailed her explaining the situation and she said she would be very happy to work with me on my cover design.  (Woooooot!)

Just to clarify, P2PC has not yet been sold.  The cover art is mainly for a site I'm designing for and about the novel.

As I previously mentioned, I hope to "unveil" the cover art on this blog, once it's complete.  This artwork will be used on a new blog I'm setting up for P2PC (or the final title, whatever it may be).

So here's where we are in the process:

Step 1
I summarized my ideas for layout designs and sent the ;images of three book covers that I really liked, why I liked them, and a few possible ideas how the design concepts might be used for the P2PC cover.  Ultimately, though, I'm leaving the design up to the expert.

Step 2
Nathalie asked for specifics on the story time frame, setting, main characters, tone or mood, ships, weaponry, other details, etc.  I sent a collection of images I'd compiled of my three MCs, ideas of Specter's design and several excerpts to illustrate scenes from the story, such as MCs first encounter with the ship, with Zjel (major character) and with Drea (female MC) and other scenes that illustrated the characters, their dress, traits and interaction.  We also discussed some ways of showing the characters without showing actual details of their faces hopefully without chopping off heads or turning the character's back to the reader.  (This isn't a do or die necessity.  I'm leaving that up to Nathalie.) I also sent some art resembling my mental images of Specter and details of her design.  Since cover art is meant to reflect the general tone, mood, setting and elements of the story, I know the cover won't be exactly like what I'm picturing in my head.  I'm very excited to see the end result but I told Nathalie to take her times.  I'm not working under any deadlines here.

Step 3
Nathalie wanted clarification on one very important point on my cover ideas.  My thoughts were that the two MCs and Zjel (a very major character) should be equally represented on the cover.  Nathalie suggested that this treatment on the cover would imply the story was a menage a trois, which P2PC definitely is not.  So I "rethunk" my ideas, and gave further input on possible ways to portray the two MCs and the major character without suggesting the story involves a menage.

Step 4
Now we're cooking.  Nathalie informed me she's zeroed in on the the ship, the hero and Zjel, but she's still working on Drea (female MC).  She wants a character that says "captain."  I couldn't agree more.  Meanwhile, I'm working on ideas for the backcover blurb.

And that's where we are to date.  We've covered a lot of ground in the last couple of weeks.  It's been a true joy working with Nathalie every step of the way, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the final product.

Now it's my turn to get to work on the back cover blurb.

Stay tuned for more on my Getting Art series.

Happy Halloween

from

Spacefreighters Lounge

WHO'S SCARING YOU NOW?

Usually, when we think of “scary” in relation to science fiction, we think of “them”. You know, the other guys, the aliens, the bugs, the Grays, the Queen Be-yotch in the ALIEN movies that scares the bejeezus out of us EVERY SINGLE TIME!!! (shudder) After all, they’re pretty scary most of the time. They’re usually advanced technologically and/or evolved genetically. They always seem to want us for our bodies/labor/DNA/planet. And we only seem to defeat them (as someone once said of Jim Kirk’s many triumphs) by the galactic equivalent of “your shoelace is untied.”

Or maybe we think of the misbegotten creatures of the mad scientists of the golden age of ‘Fifties drive-in movies (and their high-tech remakes and derivatives). We remember THE GIANT BEHEMOTH or THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS stirred up by nuclear testing to rampage through our cities before dying spectacularly in a tangle of arcing electrical wires. Or maybe the giant ants of THEM swarming through the Nevada desert (with a very young Leonard Nimoy leading the charge against them). The tortured scientist played by Vincent Price (and later Jeff Goldblum) got his own comeuppance in THE FLY, but not before terrorizing/grossing out his audience as the title creature. And the whole island got out of hand in JURASSIC PARK.

But the wonderful thing about all of these movies, and about science fiction in general, is that the real villain is rarely exclusively THEM. It’s more often, at least to some extent, US. Almost from the very beginning of SF, science was seen as a two-edged sword, something that could bring tremendous benefit to humankind, but also, unforeseen and nearly fatal dangers. The scientists in these movies may be portrayed as unfortunate optimists, arrogant egotists, clear-eyed pragmatists, heroic problem solvers or back-stabbing corporate spies, but they all tend to err on the side of “science for science’s sake”. This leads to trouble, with a capital T. The real hero of the story must then step in to save the day. Cue Everyman or Woman—and don’t be surprised, even now, if that person wears a uniform.

A great example of this kind of thinking can be found in the original version of THE THING (1951), produced by Howard Hawks, directed by Christian Nyby, and based on a short story by one of the great progenitors of SF, John W. Campbell. In a pattern which is repeated in the remake and echoed in ALIEN, the scientists at an isolated polar research station are so intrigued by their sample of an alien lifeform, they defy all common sense and, unbeknownst to the rest of the investigating team, start to replicate the alien using—get this!—human plasma from the station’s stores. (Uh—shouldn’t some kind of alarm be going off in their heads?) Fortunately our hero, aptly named Captain Patrick Hendry, gets the heads-up from his girlfriend, the station secretary (**Neanderthal alert**). The head scientist, still not convinced, tries to communicate with the alien, whom others have described as a “carrot with brains”. He is promptly smacked by said carrot, who apparently DOES have more brains than the scientist. Captain Hendry and the crew commence to fry the alien with electricity and save the day. The audience is then warned in typical ‘Fifties fashion to “watch the skies!” I guess they expected more intelligent vegetables any day.

In its day, the movie was seen as having strong anti-Communist overtones. But viewed by those of us who became the readers of New Age SF and fans of STAR TREK and STAR WARS and ALIEN and so on, the message was somewhat different. Scientific inquiry, without an ethical context, was dangerous in the extreme. Let your technology get out of hand, and there would be grave consequences. The ultimate movie of the time was quite clear on this point. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL was just a taste of what we’d get if we didn’t pay attention. Given the evidence we already had, in the form of nuclear weapons, and the looming dangers of biological or chemical weapons, ecological disaster, genetic engineering, worldwide pandemic, etc., we were certainly inclined to believe that message.

The message these days has been somewhat transformed and reads more like conspiracy theory (bad government) than purely runaway technology (bad science). THE MATRIX, ALIEN/S, SURROGATES, THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK suggest we as individuals are just puppets of some gigantic corporate entity whose purposes we can only guess at. Our individual survival doesn’t seem to matter to them, and it can be difficult to determine whether the human race matters to them. Who then becomes “us” and who “them”? What is truly alien?

Now I’m REALLY scared!!

Cheers, Donna

Let's Talk About Pirating

Pirates are very much a part of Halloween lore as well as SFR world-building.  Pirates are swashbuckling rebels and rogues who assault other ships (whether space or high seas) to acquire their treasure.  They are generally viewed as dark heroes in our society, the Robin Hoods of the High Seas.

But I'd like to talk about another sort of pirating--the pirating of e-books.

There's a lively discussion on the Amazon Romance Community right now called Authors Behaving Badly.  It criticizes authors who react very emotionally to the subject of potential piracy of their work.  Sometimes writers have a knee-jerk reaction to the topic that makes them seem uncharitable, but there's a good reason why their tempers flare on this subject.  Their very careers are on the line.

How would you like to be in a situation where you must work for a full year to produce a product before you get paid, and just when your paycheck comes due, you're informed someone liked your product so much that they "borrowed it and passed it around."  Now your boss can't pay you most of your back wages because your work is available for free from those who admired it so much they "shared it with the world."  You've got bills to pay and you were desperately counting on that income...and now you've been robbed.  And your boss may have to fire you on top of it, because you didn't produce profit for the company. Would you be upset?

Darn right, you would.

Yes, I'm oversimplifying the situation, but I'm trying to put this into perspective for people who work regular jobs and expect to get paid for their efforts on a regular basis.

Some readers are adamnant that sharing an e-copy of a book is both acceptable and legal, and in some cases they're right.  They are deeply offended by authors who claim they are "stealing" from them.  While readers see sharing of e-files as no different than sharing a favorite book with friends (which most authors endorse because it creates buzz for their work) or buying a book from a used book store, in the e-book industry, it can be very, very different.  Because one hard copy of a book loaned to a friend or two is not a problem, but one e-book downloaded to ten friends, and then shared with ten of their friends, and ten of theirs, etc. becomes a monstrous snowball.  And one copy shared through an e-book piracy site is a calamity for a writer. It's often catastrophic because it can impact the author's sales to the tune of hundreds, and maybe even thousands of copies. 

So?  Says the reader.  Is that really a big deal?

Yes, it is.  Because in the electronic age a book can be "cloned" and all those potential buyers who are not acquiring from a legitimate source and paying the fee for the book impacts the author's sales figures, not to mention the author's royalties--the "salary" they receive for the thousands of hours they've invested in getting the book written and published.  Ultimately, the publishing house may have the writer "walk the plank" for such poor sales. Even though hundred of thousands of people are reading and loving their books, it doesn't show in the sales numbers. 

So everyone loses when readers acquire books through mass sharing, which is usually via an e-book pirating site.   

The reader's favorite author suffers career damaging loss of sales and may not be back with another book. 

The writer, who (speaking as the voice of experience) has invested at least a year or two of blood, sweat and sanity to write, revise, pitch, sell, edit and promote a book (during which time they don't receive one red cent) may lose a lot of money in spite of all her hard work and the book's popularity.  And their reward may even be that they never sell another book because the sales don't show they are marketable.

The publishing house loses because its profits are impacted and it may not even be able to stay in business.

Yet, like the pirates of lore, these e-book pirates are seen as some sort of dark heroes because they are pillaging their favorite authors and offering their booty for free. 

With fans like that, who needs enemies?

I hope this article will help readers better understand the cries of rage and pain being heard from authors who fall victim to these e-book pirates.  I also hope they'll help join the effort to scuttle these sites by not acquiring or sharing e-books through them. 

The best way to show support and admiration for your favorite authors is always to buy their books new.  And don't forget, right after Halloween comes the Holiday shopping season.  Buy books as gifts!  :)

Halloween Creature Feature

To continue our 13 Days of Halloween spook fest, I've compiled a special photo gallery of "Things That Make Me Go Eeeeeeek!" 

For your entertainment(?), here's a collection of some of the creepiest, weirdest or just plain What the--? images I've come across on the internet.

Can you say Arachniphobia?

...and is there such a thing as Cobraphobia?  *cringes*

Scaredy Cat

Umm.  Gives new meaning to: "What's wrong with this picture?"

It's been thirty years and he (she/it) still scares the bejeeters outta me!

Defintely not a creature I'd want to meet on a dark, er...lake bottom.

Thanks for stopping by, y'hear?  See you *mwahahaaa*...very soon.

SFR Film in the Works

An announcement was made on Rotten Tomatoes that Jim Sturgess and Kirsten Dunst have signed on to star in Upside Down, touted as a Science Fiction Romance comparable to Romeo and Juliet. Upside Down is written and directed by Juan Diego Solanos and is a French/Canadian coproduction.

With a $50 million budget this tale about a man searching for his love in an alternate universe might help bring the spotlight to SFR and could potentially result in a boost to SFR book sales. Unfortunately, the film isn't expected to be released until the fall of 2011.

Related link with more information: FirstShowing.net

What Scares You?

A countdown of the eight top (weird) things that scare me:

Number 8.
Turning on the water faucet and having no water come out. When you're on a well, and not on a water system, that's a very, very bad thing guaranteed to elevate the heart rate.

Number 7.
Gamma Ray Bursts. Anything that can arrive without warning, burn off the ozone layer, liquefy the crust and destroy most, if not all, life on Earth is right up there with turning on the tap and having no water come out. ;)

Number 6.
Rattlesnakes. Because I've met a couple in person. And trust me, that raspy-rattley sound they make with hissing accompaniment is guaranteed to make your hair stand on end. :0

Number 5.
Waking up and finding out I'm back in high school. Yeah, ok. Nuff said.

Number 4.
Lobsters. They're just...creepy!

Number 3.
Great White Sharks. Um, I live in the desert, so that's kind of in the phobia class. Lobsters are too, I guess.

Number 2.
Clothes with a lot of buttons. I don't know why but it totally freaks me out to be buttoned up with 50 odd little buttons. My wedding dress had a ton of buttons. I almost got married in my skivvies. It took a rational Mom to keep me from ripping it off and running away screaming. It had nothing to do with David. Really!

Number 1.
Sinkholes. Just...because. Who wouldn't be afraid of big spontaneous holes that swallow houses and just...happen. Anywhere.

My Night on The Queen Mary

Several years ago I went to a training event in Long Beach, California and was housed aboard the former luxury cruise ship The Queen Mary, now a floating hotel. This ship has a history of hauntings including phantom swimmers and wet footprints beside a long-drained swimming pool, a ghostly woman who roams the ship, the sounds of screams and scraping metal, and the occasional sighting of a man who was once crushed by a watertight door.

Now I've got a little tale of my own to add to the mythos.

First, let me tell you a bit about the ship. The Queen Mary is much larger than the Titanic. She's so big that when you look down her corridors, you can see how the deck is curved downward from bow to midship and back up again to the stern. She has several restaurants and bars onboard, and hosts a massive Sunday Brunch in the grand ballroom that I believe is toted as the single largest room ever built inside a ship. (Been there, in the dark and creepiness, and trust me, it’s huge!) There's also a small shopping mall, a large museum below decks, and a "Ghost Ship" tour that takes groups to some of the haunted locations and recreates spectral visits with special effects. The ship even hosts one of the largest Halloween bashes of ghost tours, mazes and all night parties in Long Beach: The Shipwreck--15 Nights of Terror.

While exploring the decks one evening, my husband and I got onto one of the many elevators and pressed the button for one of the upper decks. The door closed but instead of going up, the elevator went down. :O David tried pushing buttons to stop it, but it continued to carry us down, down, down, deck after deck. When the doors finally opened, we were seriously spooked, and in an unfamiliar place--a very dark, cavernous room. We stepped off, looked around, stumbled through the black toward a light. There were large glass cases with memorabilia, nautical pictures on the wall. Our wayward elevator had carried us down into the belly of the ship, and we were in the museum! Except the museum had closed hours before. We were the only living souls there (though I can't say we were the only souls). We wandered around looking for a guard, an exit, an escape…anything! The exits were all gated or locked. We yelled. No response. Tried to tap a code on the bulkhead. Nothing. At last we had to admit the obvious...there was no way out except back through the dysfunctional (?) elevator. But if we got back on, where would it take us next?

We eventually found our way back to our cabin with no more interference from mischievous spirits, but our fellow conference attendees were so intrigued by our story of the runaway elevator that they scheduled an impromptu—and self-guided—ghost tour of the Queen Mary to be held after dark the next night.

There is nothing like wandering around a really vast, reportedly haunted vessel in the pitch black (especially in places we really weren’t supposed to be, according to the cordial security guard who was quite amused by the merry band of camera-toting spirit seekers he confronted). We wandered decks, corridors, massive halls and deserted staff areas for hours in search of…something. Something we were sure was going to be around the next turn in the hall or empty room. But nothing ever…materialized.

Still, I can say that—aside from one possessed elevator—I think we did come away with a gentle contact from the spirit world. On our last night there, I was startled from sleep by the sound of my suitcase buckles rattling and shopping bags rustling in the next room. I woke David and we both prepared ourselves to confront a burglar…but when we went to the room and turned on the lights, there was no one was there. Our cabin door was still locked from the inside and nothing had been taken. It seemed our mysterious visitor had exited right through the door.

And that’s the slightly creepy story of my night on The Queen Mary.

LUCY IN THE SKY Released Today!

Barbara Elsborg's first (and only, to date) SFR/erotica was released today be Ellora's Cave. Click here for a direct link to Ellora's Cave (site is for those over 18 only, please).