Hammered— a quick review

One of the eBooks I purchased recently is a debut novel by Elizabeth Bear. She isn't related to Greg Bear, but I wasn't sure when I chose to put this science fiction action/thriller on my TBR stack. (One doesn't actually stack eBooks, of course.) After I read a couple of mediocre novels by writers who used to be favorites, I turned to Hammered.

At first, it seemed to gritty and urban, the dystopian version of the future which serious science fiction authors all seem to have. But there was enough freshness in the narrative, along with a main character who is former military, approaching fifty, and not without some physical damage. If the protagonist had been young and trying to find herself, I would have bailed, but a realistic and interesting main character was the reason that I stayed with it. All in all, I enjoyed the novel, and I will read the next story in the arc, because I was intrigued and do want to see how Jenny Casey gets through her next set of challenges.

If you like science fiction set on this planet, with overtones of cyberpunk, you should like Hammered. I don't like those things, and I liked it anyway.

Click on the title of this post, or the book title for links to more detailed reviews.

Summer— Time for a Conference

The Harriette Austin Writer's Conference in Athens, Georgia, is a great place to seek information and inspiration, and it is coming up next weekend. I've attended it a couple of times, and I really enjoyed the sessions and speakers. Writers and wannabe writers in the area should put this one at the top of their "to do" list.

A Reflection Upon a Talented Writer

As a bored student in a high school Spanish class, I remember looking at anything and everything other than my classwork and/or my teacher. One day my eyes strayed to a glossy bound library book on a desk in front of me. The cover was standard issue gothic romance, but the title didn’t sound particularly romantic or suspenseful. Still, Michael’s Wife, by Marlys Millhiser, seemed much more interesting than my classes at Jefferson High School. When the bell rang, I asked my friend about it, and she told me enough that I knew I just had to read it. Mom, who was ever encouraging of my reading habit, made sure that I soon had that library book in my hand.

Nowadays, writers must have a great “hook” or a novel doesn’t make it to publication, but in those days, most readers had more patience. However, Millhiser’s debut novel grabbed me from the first pages, and I absolutely loved it. In fact, it was one of the books that I read and re-read during the summer break from school. I think I wore out “copy 1” at the Piedmont Regional Library; but if that first edition hardcover is still there, it is worth hundreds of dollars, and the reader rating at Amazon is a perfect five stars. Millhiser’s second novel, Nella Waits, didn’t do much for me, but I read the library’s copy of her third novel, Willing Hostage several times, until I finally found a paperback copy to purchase. Her next novel, The Mirror, was a bookclub selection, so I purchased a hardcover when it came out. While it is said to be her best known work, I remember it because it was the first time-travel romance that I ever read.

I read a few of Millhiser’s later novels, but none of them held my interest the way those earlier works did. Although I enjoyed The Mirror, the contemporary stories, Michael’s Wife and Willing Hostage, remain my favorites. Of course, the problem with any “modern” story is that times change and many details from the story invariably become out of date. Still, I fondly remember the Siamese cat named Goodyear, and it has been more than thirty years since I first read Willing Hostage. That’s talent.

For any of you who want to check out the gifted Ms. Millhiser, use the links within this entry to visit Fantastic Fiction’s website.

A Grand Guy is Gone

A few years ago, one of my dad's good friends called, wanting some advice about getting a book published. At the time, he was wanting to get it done quickly, because he had lymphoma and the future was uncertain.

Frank Gilbert's Chasing the Wind was the book, and not only did he get it published in a hurry, he gave it away. When we originally talked, he said he might want as many as a hundred copies. Instead, he gave away well over a thousand, and my hubby and I were among those who got an invitation to his book party. The room was filled with memorabilia and there was even film running of one of the civil war reenactments that he had participated in. Once, I was invited to speak at a local civic event, and Frank was as well. His talk, which was about the way that people dealt with WWII in our small town, was heart warming and inspiring. Just like Frank himself was.

The title link takes you to a photo and article in Living Jackson, and I am standing next to Frank in the truck.

One of my good friends let me know that Mr. Frank passed this morning. He was a wonderful man, filled with great stories and good humor.

Many people around here will miss Frank Gilbert.

Trinity on Tylos available at the Palm eBook store

As an eBook fan, and as the owner of a Palm devise, I was doubly pleased when a "Google Alert" let me know that my science fiction novel, Trinity on Tylos is now available at the Palm eBook store. The book is formatted for Palm's eReader software, which is one of the programs I use on my own pda.

Readers of Pam's Pages no doubt realize that this novel has garnered several good reviews from sources as varied as the Midwest Book Review, Living Jackson magazine, and is a Fallen Angels Reviews recommended read, and the novel is still available in print via the internet and at the Bookstand of Northeast Georgia in Commerce.

A Time to Stop the Series

Readers love series fiction. Writer's love it even more— because when writing a series, an author doesn't have to create a new world or many new characters. Instead, the author can pick up a minor character from a previous tale and follow him or her for a bit. Or the author continues the story of a beloved hero or heroine, and some of the story is already written and is retold via the "backstory."

Recently, I purchased some eBooks, and the first download I read was Beloved Traveler, by Janet Miller. Previous titles in this series include Beloved Enemy (a wonderful read), Promises to Keep (also a good yarn, if not quite as suspenseful and exciting as Beloved Enemy), A Promise Made (a novella that serves merely as a bridge between the other tales) and now Beloved Traveler. This one just did not work for me. As I slogged through it, I realized that Ms. Miller needs to stop the series. When there is nothing novel about a novel, it is time to write about something else. Modern readers of romance undoubtedly dream of a society where people find the right mate on the first try and stay together until death, but even that dream can't support a lengthy series without some novelty for each story.

Some authors can seem to keep a series going indefinitely— Lois McMaster Bujold's stories about Miles Vorkosigan are an example of that. However, that is really an achievement. Even the Star Wars trilogy, with many characters and worlds to explore, lost some of its shine when it became six episodes long. David Weber's Honor Harrington yarns, which are among the best space operas I have read, have gotten longer and more boring with each book, and I gave up somewhere around book eleven.

Like many readers, I do enjoy a good series, so in that same set of ebooks, I have the sequel to Tigra, and a new entry in a long running series by Angela Verdenius, so I will be talking about those in an upcoming post.

Summer is a great time to read, so let me be about it.

A vast American affair with fins....

When I was about twelve, I made the jump from juvenile to adult fiction, with my mother's able assistance. One of her first recommendations was Mary Stewart, who wrote what mom termed "mysteries." The usual label on the cover of a Stewart novel was "romantic suspense," a more apt description for her work. Unlike many of the hack authors of that era, Stewart's prose is beautiful and her characterizations and plots are entertaining. Often, there is a literary bent to her work, which served me well as I studied English literature during undergraduate school. As my professor spoke about Samuel Taylor Colridge's "Christabel," I remembered the quotes at the beginning of each chapter that Stewart used in The Gabriel Hounds.

In one of her novels, her (always sensibly British) heroine hires a car and driver, and the narrator describes the automobile as "a vast American affair with fins" causing me to picture my mother's 52 Cadillac. But it could have been a 57 Chevy, or any number of late fifties vehicles produced in the USA, where large, luxurious cars have long been a symbol of success.

That era, along with American economic prosperity, seems to be coming to a close. Online media is documenting this demise, and I'll suggest two ways to experience it. First, there is a wonderful slide show of GM cars, with photos and captions submitted by readers of the New York Times about the role(s) that these cars played in the lives of their owners. This is really a trip down memory lane, so do take a look. I was always a big fan of Oldsmobile, and there are several, including two 72 Cutlass models, which was my all time favorite Olds.

While I loved the NYTimes piece, I must also share the Wall Street Journal essay by P. J. O'Rourke about the end of the American love affair with cars, a superbly written bit of prose which made me (and hubby) smile and sigh, all at the same time. Again, having lived half a century makes this all the more poignant.

Change is inevitable, but America seems to be going through menopause. What can't be known as yet is will it have a long, graceful old age, or will it deteriorate rapidly and die?

Darned if you do, darned if you don't

Managing an online presence is sometimes difficult, but not having one is fatal for anyone who wants to market products or services these days. So, any number of websites, blogs, and applications are available to help webmasters and others manage an online presence.

Perhaps the most basic way to manage an online presence is to create one. The bare minimum is a website or a blog. Some people confuse the two, but a blog is usually limited by the software and templates made available by the host, but a website can be far more creative. If I could only have one, it would be the website. However, many blogging services are free. This one is, rather obviously, Blogger, which is a Google product. I have another blog (on a totally different subject) with another service, and each one has a different look and feel because the software does differ. I have enjoyed working with both of these, and free is a really good price.

Once something good is published about me, I can put in links or quote the item in my blog or on my website. If something bad is published, usually, I can respond. How one responds to online criticism is actually a hot topic in marketing these days. Just remember the Domino's fiasco, if you want to know why it is necessary to respond to negative online publicity. One of the main tips I have for that is to remember that anything that is written, even online, can be shared. Finding the right balance between entertaining and damaging can be difficult, because bland gets no notice.

I have mentioned using Google Alerts in a previous post, and I do have a number of those set to let me know, via email, when web users access my web information. That service, although quite good, is dependent on Google's search engine, so I have been looking for something else, and I have found one that seems to do the job.

Addictomatic searches various online sources of information. If you are wondering what others are saying about you online, set one up with your online identity as the subject. Or, if you are fond of a type of literature, a band, or a gaming platform, that could be the subject instead. Do try it out. I was impressed with this app.

Great Minds Think Alike (but not)

I blogged about Galaxy Quest recently, and now I get an update from Sci Fi Dimensions touting their most recent post, which discusses Galaxy Quest. Great minds think alike, right? Maybe, maybe not. You'll have to hop over there to read their discussion about this film, which won a Hugo Award in 2000. For those of you who are not science fiction fans, the Hugo is the big one. It's the Oscar of science fiction. Famous episodes of television shows have won best dramatic presentation, such as the marvelous "City on the Edge of Forever" from the original series of Star Trek. Other films which won include such icons as Star Wars and Alien. My favorite science fiction author, Lois McMaster Bujold, has won best novel four times and won best novella for her superb "The Mountains of Mourning."

Will the new Trek win the Hugo this year? People are talking about it; that's for sure.

Star Trek Update

Over at the Sci Fi Dimensions ezine, which is now a blog, I read some of the recent reviews. While watching the reboot of Star Trek, I kept noticing that the writers borrowed some concepts, and Bill Ritch has pointed those out in this post. Hop on over and enjoy his "Name that Movie" entry.

What is the Best Star Trek film?

I happened upon the link (just click the title of this post) to a photo gallery which answers that question, in pretty much the same order that I would have put the films in the Star Trek series.

However, perhaps the best Star Trek film is not a Star Trek film at all. The first time I saw Galaxy Quest, I was amazed and laughed so hard that I could not believe anyone could pack that many gags into a script. Having been a guest and a paying customer at science fiction cons, I embraced the whole concept behind Galaxy Quest.

My family is taking me to see the new Trek film for Mother's Day, but if you can't get to the theatre and still want to remember the good ole days of television science fiction, watch Galaxy Quest. Such fun, and it has stood the test of time quite well.

The Next Big Thing—

I have devoted several blog posts to technology, especially eBooks and devices which read them, because I really do believe that is the future of publishing. Around the country, newspaper subscriptions are falling, indeed in some cases, plummeting. A variety of factors have contributed to the demise of newspapers, but the bottom line is that they have an old-fashioned business model, and without substantial change, they will not survive.

Reasons for the change from print to electronic publications vary, but instant access, portability, and a vast array of products are all cited as aspects which are beginning to lure consumers away from bricks and mortar book sellers.

Amazon.com has stepped up the transition with its reader, the Kindle, and ebook vendor Fictionwise was purchased by Barnes and Noble recently. During my holiday shopping late last year, I was in a Books a Million, and one of their sales people was circulating through the store, showing off the Sony reader and handing out flyers.

Newspapers are going through a great deal of change; the Atlanta Journal Constitution sent their ultra-liberal editorial director to Washington, DC, and downsized the paper. Other newspapers with a large market have consolidated or disappeared altogether. Some local papers are doing better, due to a lack of competition, but just being small and local does not mean instant success.

Conversely, a number of smaller book publishers who specialized in eBooks have also folded, as larger publishers have embraced epublishing.

Like most transitions, this one won't happen overnight. Electronic publishing does continue to experience revenue growth, in a time when recession has struck so many industries. Avid readers should keep abreast of developments in electronic publishing, because print media is gradually fading away.

Shards of Honor— the audio book

One of the first books I read when I decided to abandon the best seller lists, the books perched on those little display stands at the library, and recommendations from well meaning friends and family was Lois McMaster Bujold's Shards of Honor. I have devoted an earlier entry to it, and have mentioned it in other posts as well. Still, it is difficult for me to explain how good this novel is, both as a stand alone, and as the basis for a long-running series. Although I am not a fan of audio books, I plan to give this one a try.

After the Boom

One of my favorite collections of stories, from my youth, is entitled The Heart of a Dog. Albert Payson Terhune authored the collection, first published in 1924, along with many other works, some of which are still in print. I read those dog stories, written by a dog lover extraordinaire, and reread them, along with other classics, at an impressionable time, so some of the author’s ideas are integrated into my perspective on life. The story, “Youth Will Be Served” is about the old champion dog, being evaluated by a veteran dog show judge, as he stands against the finest dog of the new generation. The judge, once confident that the long-standing champion could never be surpassed, examines the champ, admiring the perfection of his lines. As a judge, he must be fair, so he compares him to the young dog, seeing that the youngster has a broader chest, a finer coat, and so forth. Although his heart is with the old champion, in despair, he awards the blue ribbon to the younger dog, uttering the title phrase, “Youth will be served.”

As it is with the dog and the dog show judge, so it is with all generations. I was born in the midst of the “baby boom” and my outlook has been shaped by that. The boomer generation took on the world in the sixties, questioning accepted morals and mores. In the seventies, they grew up, put their educations to work, and had two and a half children, on average. Their parents had come from larger families, but the boomers wanted to give more and yet have more, so they begat fewer children, albeit giving them much more stuff. In the eighties and nineties, these boomers matured, driving BMWs or Hondas instead of Caddies or Chevies, working, spending, saving less than earlier generations, but investing those savings with unbridled confidence, all while caring for aging parents and sending the next generation to college.

Now those boomers are beginning to retire, and the ones still at work are facing changing circumstances. Oh, some boomers adapt, texting and twittering, and socializing via facebook, sans capital letters and conventional spelling, but others are the new dinosaurs. Accepted standards pass away, a new generation takes charge, and those who are 45+ face the challenges of layoffs, a crippled financial system, and a bursting-bubble housing market, making their investments worth far less than they cost. Boomers out of work is the subject of a recent New York Times article, which reveals that these experienced, talented workers, once laid off, are passed over in favor of younger folks. "Youth will be served," as Terhune observed some 85 years ago, and our society will surely be changed after the boom fades away.

Mama's Favorite Season

All of my life, I have enjoyed spring, but I've never loved it the way Mama did. Perhaps it was growing up on a farm, watching crops go in, as well as watching nature wake up from winter hibernation. Maybe it was that she did not have allergies, not the way hubby and I do. Mama was not much of gardener, not until her empty nest years, which were cut short by cancer. She did have beautiful azaleas, planted in a circle around an oak tree that was over a hundred years old, and the driveway was defined by huge clumps of jonquils and thrift. In other spots, she had planted various roses, with hydrangeas and other staples of southern flower gardens.

The road where I live now was once one of the prettiest in our small southern town. Some of the woods have given way to mini-mansions on half acre lots, surrounded by some uber-ugly fencing, and other folks have pulled up older plants which no doubt suffered in recent droughts. Still there are enough dogwoods and azaleas to remind me that spring is a beautiful time of year.

Easter moves about the calendar according to some arcane rules that few people bother to learn. I do have clear memories of Mama teaching me about the legend associated with the unique dogwood blossom. Daddy always cut the grass the day before Easter, whether it needed it or not, just to "make it easier to find those eggs." Mama and Daddy made finding the eggs a simple, fun-filled event. However, if we had an egg hunt at the Dodd's, my older male cousins put eggs in all sorts of weird places, including the forks of high trees. Only the brave got all the eggs in Nanny Dodd's backyard.

One of my favorite photographs of Mama was made on her last Easter, bending her six-foot frame over to guide my daughter, not quite two years old, to find eggs, poorly hidden among those flowers in her front yard.

Ah, yes, spring has come to Georgia, with thunder, lightning, hail, and a river of yellow pollen running down the driveway. My neighbor has a glorious row of multicolored azaleas lining her driveway, and I have a large, native dogwood in bloom. Once again, it is mama's favorite season, and I love to take in all the natural beauty. Hubby, give me another Claratin, because I just can't stay inside.

Self Publishing Success

The stigma still exists, but CNN just published an article on the continuing rise in self publishing. One of my author-friends has mentioned that very little fiction is being accepted by publishers (large or small) due to economic woes. That just makes print on demand and e-publishing more attractive than ever. As this article points out, conventional publishing wastes resources and frustrates writers. And, as more college educated, experienced people are out of work, they can put their time into writing.

I was especially taken with the success of Lisa Genova's Still Alice, which she self-published prior to being offered a contract with one of the big six. Take a look at the article for details about this author's journey from rejection to best seller, with a little help from a print on demand publisher.

While I have not found the success that some authors have found via POD, publishing The Gift Horse did give me plenty of opportunities to interact with readers, book sales in the hundreds, and some good reviews, including one from the Midwest Book Review.

Updates

I'm still wading through my latest "big book," The Complete Ivory, as Theodora mulls over becoming married to her love interest, Ran Cormelleon. The world of Ivory is well thought out, the plot moves, but there is not enough suspense to make me stay up at night; however, I am enjoying the trilogy. Unfortunately, I have not had a lot of time to read of late.

This afternoon, I spent about three hours wading through another morass— figuring out medical claims for hubby's flexible spending account. After the folks at SHPS insisted that they had to have certain documentation for the IRS, I printed out sixty plus pages of EOB's, xeroxed eight charge receipts, three pages of medical center statements, and wrote them a check for three cents. Yep, there was a three cent error made by a medical provider, and they by gosh wanted to be reimbursed for it. The envelope is ready to go, and it is not quite as thick as the manuscript for a novel. I also wrote a letter for hubby to send to a local hospital, which had overcharged him. (And no, I don't feel punished by God, and anyone in America who likes the IRS needs a shrink.) Actually, I didn't say a cross word, which hubby thought was quite remarkable, as he signed three forms and the letter. No doubt reading over all this will keep a couple of folks employed for several hours, and it will take a couple of dollars to mail it, so I feel pretty good about stimulating the economy.

While reading the news this afternoon, I saw an editorial in the Wall Street Journal about a previous topic, the removal of child friendly motorcycles from dealerships across our nanny-state. There is quite a bit of unsold inventory, and customers sitting on their cash, due to this government boondoggle.

And lastly, I'll share another timely quote:

"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others."

—Ayn Rand

“ ”

Several months ago, I added a small feature to Pam's Pages— famous (or not so famous) quotations. Actually, I have no control over these. They change daily and are put on the site by one of the now common services available to web masters and bloggers. I have enjoyed seeing the quotes that pop up, and sometimes I jump onto my blog, just to see the latest quote. Above my "links" section, I have a general quotation, and below them, I have the "funny quote."

This one, which struck me as quite true to human nature, appeared recently—

Passion is the mob of the man, that commits a riot upon his reason.
—William Penn

Do return to Pam's Pages for additional quotes, links to other blogs of interest, and news about books and other media.

Current/Future

What will the future hold for mankind? Building has stalled in our community, for the most part, but this would seem to be a temporary situation. As each generation comes of age and needs living space, land which was once farmland is lost for that purpose. At some point, terra firma must be preserved as a breadbasket.

If that is so, where will future folks live? The image above is one possibility. At some point, mankind will have to expand, and the moon is the closest piece of real estate in the solar system.

Grand Master Robert Heinlein was among the sci fi writers who speculated that the lunar landscape will one day be home to people. His novel, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, is among the best of his work. Written some fifty years ago, this novel is pure Heinlein, with plot, science, characterization, and politics intertwined. Mannie and his computer friend, Mike, an artificial intelligence which predates most such inventions, are both entertaining and realistic. Some science fiction writers are optimists, seeing the future as a time when mankind finally outgrows its faults, Others see darkness, when in an effort to make a better world, the human condition deteriorates. Heinlein wisely avoids either extreme, but he does not see humanity as remaining static, either. In fact, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is, at its core, a novel about revolution.

As a fan and as a writer, I see mankind inching forward, forever dragging the baggage associated with our beloved imperfections. Still, I do believe that man will continue to build, somewhere, somehow.

Breaking News—

I am interrupting my more or less weekly schedule of blog entries to share a link to another blog, at Sci Fi Dimensions. This is a wonderful source of news, reviews, and other matters relating to the genre. I love it, even if they were not interested in reviewing Trinity on Tylos (and they weren't.) I just read a bit of news about a television channel there, along with their take on it.

Here's the link—

http://www.scifidimensions.com/main/2009/03/16/the-syfy-channel-youre-kidding-right/