Guy Stewart's Blog, page 49

POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY: Near Future SF (once again) IGNORES Human Education!

Using the Programme Guide of the 2020 World Science Fiction Convention, ConZEALAND (The First Virtual World Science Fiction Convention), I will jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. I will be using the events to drive me to distraction or revelation – as the case may be. The link is provided below where this appeared on Sunday, August 2, 2020 at 1100 hours.

The Day After Tomorrow: Near Future SF

What are the challenges of SF set in the near future? What are good examples?

Shiv Ramdas: panelist, writer
Karl Schroeder: author and futurist, love his world, CANDESCE!
Glen Engel-Cox: writer
Caren Gussoff Sumption: writer, mental health professional
SB Divya: author, co-Editor of Escape Pod, data scientist

The vast majority of my professionally published work has been, much to my dismay, based in the Near Future. Most often, the story revolves around genetic engineering – or gengineering. Four of my published pieces deal with aliens, three are historical, and thirteen others deal with us messing around with our Human genetic code.

In one set of stories, Humans mess with the DNA so much that another part of Humanity has splintered off in protest and has narrowed Human to being someone with 65% or more unaltered Human DNA as documented in the 2003 Human Genome Project results. So anyone with fewer Human genes than that arbitrary number is, by definition NOT Human; though at the same time, they aren’t ALIENS, either. I’ve had two stories published that take place in that universe.

So what else will happen the day after tomorrow?

How about changes in EDUCATION? One of my biggest pet peeves is that for some reason, SF writers appear to be insisting that “In the 23rd Century, children will sit in desks while being taught by a Human teacher – with (of course) the obligatory tools of computers…remind you of another century in which computers were integral parts of a classroom? Does “Twentieth” ring a bell? The writers of STAR TREK have kids sitting in desks aboard the FREAKING FLAGSHIP OF THE FREAKING UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS! Oh, and the children are members of a variety of species of aliens – all of whom, apparently, learn the exact way Humans do…as IF HUMANS ALL LEARNED THE SAME WAY!!!!

OK, I’ll try to tone down the shouting. The thing is, no one seems to want to look at the future of education. is it because they believe that how we educate our children had reached its absolute pinnacle in 1950 and there was nothing else to add? Close the book. End of entry. Bye-bye…

Is it a profound limitation of the Human brain that the ONLY way we can learn is by sitting in desks and allowing OTHER people to teach our children, ones who are TRAINED to do it in the CORRECT manner?

I call “Hooey” on that one! If that were actually true, then Abraham Lincoln as well as Edison, Teddy Roosevelt, Agatha Christie, Alexander Graham Bell, Alexander Hamilton (of recent musical fame), MacArthur & Patton, DaVinci, both Wyeths, Brigham Young, John Phillip Sousa, Alex Haley (who, of course, wrote ROOTS), and William F. Buckley (plus several OTHER presidents beside Lincoln and Roosevelt)…

“Ah, but that was in the OLDEN DAYS!!! EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT NOW, the 21st Century is so incredibly more complex. We KNOW (and have been repeatedly told by the Education Machine) that parents are in NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM QUALIFIED TO TEACH THEIR CHILDREN!!!!”

OK, I’ll pick up the gauntlet you’ve tossed down to tell me that the pandemic has conclusively proven that parents can’t (read: didn’t realize their kids were so DIFFICULT to teach) possibly provide an effective education to their children (read: and pursue their own lives and careers) – [(please keep in mind that I was a middle school and high school science teacher (all levels, grades 6-12; astronomy to zoology; special education; English Language learners; and International Baccalaureate/Honors program) for 21 years; followed by ten years as a counselor; most at a near-inner-city high school which drew ten percent of its population FROM inner city families whose intent was for their children to get the best education they could – and I’ve taught at private religious, a public charter school, a summer school program for Gifted and Talented student; as well as homeschooling our own children from K-4th grade and 1st to sixth grade…] and throw a few other names out: the first woman confirmed as a US Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor. The Jonas Brothers were all home schooled. So was Simone Biles (you know, that Olympic Gold Medalist in Gymnastics…); Tim Tebow, Serena and Venus Williams, Ryan Gosling, Emma Watson (yeah the one who had a small part in those little known movies about some kid named HARRY POTTER…), Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Condoleeza Rice (66th US Secretary of State (as well as first woman, and first African American (under a REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT no less!) to be so appointed. Speaking of which, a fair number of other presidents were homeschooled…)), and mathematics genius Erik Demaine. I’m sure there are other people who have “survived” being homeschooled and who contribute to society in meaningful ways. Oh, and the objection that, “Homeschooling will not give my kids the essential SOCIAL skills that they need to SURVIVE in the world and get a job!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Yeah, too bad Teddy Roosevelt was such a shy wallflower. Put him and Tim Teboe and Emma Watson in a room and no one would say a word because they haven't been properly socialized...

I’d be willing to bet money that the subject this panel did NOT discuss changes in education – NOT just adding technology to do the same stuff Humans have been doing at least since 1642. (“The first compulsory education law in this country was enacted in 1642 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony…by 1918, all states had passed school attendance legislation…”) Formal education was initiated in Egyptian history during the Middle Kingdom, around 1040 BCE. So, science fiction writers telling me that public education won’t change in the future (except that we’ll add computers…) is quite honestly ridiculous! I call “Hooey” on that attitude!

I’ll also call, “Where EXACTLY is the creative, forward thinking that made science fiction the ‘literature of ideas’…” I’ve worked on it think I have a fascinating and advanced way to teach…and have been regularly and silently rebuffed in my attempts to present OTHER ways that Humans might effectively learn. Can anyone show me an SF story that actually proposes something that is more than a reiteration of a system that is well over 5000 years old…

I wish I could say I’d expect a challenge or response to this suggesting that there’s been SEVERAL stories and novels that show novel, creative ways of teaching…

…but I sadly doubt that I will.

Reference: https://www.homeschoolacademy.com/blog/famous-homeschoolers/
Program Book: https://sites.grenadine.co/sites/conzealand/en/conzealand/schedule
Image: https://elearningindustry.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/online-education-is-the-future.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 491

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Octavia Butler said, “SF doesn’t really mean anything at all, except that if you use science, you should use it correctly, and if you use your imagination to extend it beyond what we already know, you should do that intelligently.”

SF Trope: The Good Guys travel through time to stop a historical Bad Guy, usually Hitler
Current Event: “The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna rejected [Hitler] twice, in 1907 and 1908, because of his ‘unfitness for painting’.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler)

Johannes Klingle and Shoshanna Barbivai glared at each other across the room. She said, “Why do I have to go with him?”

The technician looked at both of them, then shrugged, “I just run the time machine. I don’t make policy.” He tweaked a control, then turned away to make adjustments to a touchscreen on the wall behind the console.

Johannes said, “Feeling’s mutual, lady.”

She snorted and said, “I’m surprised you’d even talk to me.”

Johannes – Joe – shook his head, “I’m a American Democrat. We’re trained to be inclusivist to the exclusion of all else.”

“An American and a Jew...”

He cut in, “...walked into a bar…”

She cut him back, “I don’t drink, so the rest of the story would go, ‘and she watched as the stupid American teenager got sloshed and pissed away the opportunity to do whatever it was he was supposed to be doing.”

“I’m not a teenager.”

“That only changed last night,” she said.

“Yeah? Well I read your dossier, too. You’re here as a last resort to save the military career of ‘Daddy’s little girl’ – oh, and I wouldn’t toss around the part about Americans getting sloshed. From what I read, apparently you didn’t need a bar to get wasted...”

They were standing face-t0-face when someone in a white lab coat walked into the room, took one look at them, pointed a wand and depressed a button.

Both Johannes and Shoshanna gasped and fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

The woman in the lab coat released the button and said, “You’re a matched pair of fools. That’s why you’re here. This is the first in a series of time travel experiments and you’re both under arrest by the governments that shipped you here. Johannes – you’re here because not only did you do a DUI, you ran over a Republican Senator’s daughter. She’s still in ICU and the murder charges are waiting on a judge’s screen. Shoshanna, your father said this will be the last time you embarrass him if you fail. I have in my possession papers that will remove you to,” she glanced down at a tablet computer she held in one hand, “Ravensbrück, circa 1944 – if you don’t ‘get your act together’. You also both have a pain enhancing device clamped on to your brain stem. You’ve seen a demonstration of what it can do. While it may not work in the past, no one is entirely sure of that. So we’ll have to see.” She smiled a Reaper’s smile at both and said, “Your mission is to convince the Director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna to admit Adolf. The Director’s name is Gustav Wessely. You’ll be brother and sister visiting your great-grandfather on his deathbed. Adolf is your mother’s sister’s brother-in-law’s son. He’s been in trouble, but he’s a good kid. A little lazy, but he had problems with his father.”

Shoshanna stood up slowly, shook herself and glanced down at Johannes. “Who the hell are you and what am I supposed to do to make that happen? From what history says, Hitler was a mediocre artist. Even I could have painted circles around him.”

He nodded and said, “That is exactly what you are going to do. And Joe there on the floor is going to help you.”

“How’s that?”

“The future possible Führer of all of Germany is deathly afraid of beautiful women. He’d never talk to you. But he loves drinking – especially when other people are paying. Between the two of you, you’re not only going to give him watercolor lessons,” he said looking at Shoshanna. “You,” he pointed at Joe on the floor, “Get up. You look like a fool.’ Joe struggled to his feet, leaning on the wall, feeling like he was having six hangovers at the same time. The woman continued to shout at him, saying, “You’re going to get him drunk and then teach him how to talk to women.”

“Him?” Shoshanna exclaimed.

“Me?” Johannes exclaimed.

“Yep. The dynamic duo.”

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Johannes shouted.

The man in the lab coat smiled and said, “My name is Frank Adolph Hitler.”

“Who the hell would name their kid that?” said Shoshanna.

“Famous artists often name their children after themselves. Often times the next generation passes the name of an important ancestor on as well.” He bowed, sweeping on hand dramatically backward then stood up, adding, “I am one such descendant of one such ancestor – in a very, very different timeline than the one you two came from.” She paused, “Now, will you come into my parlour?”

Johannes and Shoshanna completed the aphorism at the same time, “Said a spider to a fly…”

“Exactly,” said Frank Adolph Hitler.

“Who’s gonna make us?” said Johannes.

The erstwhile descendant of the most horrific man in Human history held up the TASER and said, “You can get in two ways, one way on your own; the other way stunned and with clothing soiled with feces and urine. The choice is yours.” He pulled the trigger, producing a loud snap.
Shoshanna exclaimed, "You already have the brain paralyzer in our heads!"
He smiled, "I do. After I use that, I'll use this. I hear the effect is downright synergistic."

They got into the time machine and vanished a moment later…

Names: ♀ (Modern) Israeli ; ♂ German/Austrian
Image: https://mk0spaceflightnoa02a.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/49956692363_f73a7a6a69_k.jpg

WRITING ADVICE: Creating Alien Aliens, Part 7: An Alien Will Have To SENSE Differently…

In September of 2007, I started this blog with a bit of writing advice. A little over a year later, I discovered how little I knew about writing after hearing children’s writer, Lin Oliver speak at a convention hosted by the Minnesota Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Since then, I have shared (with their permission) and applied the writing wisdom of Lin Oliver, Jack McDevitt, Nathan Bransford, Mike Duran, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, SL Veihl, Bruce Bethke, and Julie Czerneda. Together they write in genres broad and deep, and have acted as agents, editors, publishers, columnists, and teachers. Since then, I figured I’ve got enough publications now that I can share some of the things I did “right”.

While I don’t write full-time, nor do I make enough money with my writing to live off of it...neither do all of the professional writers above...someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what I write. When I started this blog, that was NOT true, so I may have reached a point where my own advice is reasonably good. We shall see! Hemingway’s quote above will now remain unchanged as I work to increase my writing output and sales! As always, your comments are welcome!

Part 1: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/01/slice-of-pie-creating-alien-aliens.html
Part 2: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/02/slice-of-pie-creating-alien-aliens-part.html
Part 3: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/02/slice-of-pie-creating-alien-aliens.html
Part 4: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/04/slice-of-pie-creating-alien-aliens-part.html
Part 5: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/09/writing-advice-creating-alien-aliens.html
Part 6: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2021/02/writing-advice-creating-alien-aliens.html

Mammal, cephalopod, insect, reptile, bird, fish, and (of course), plant – of COURSE none of them could hold a candle to the MASSIVELY MARVELOUS INTELLIGENCE of Human Beings! We are the pinnacle (of Creation or Evolution, take your pick)…I know many philosophers are busy knocking Humanity off its high horse by proclaiming that its puppies or kitties or sea turtles or the climate or whatever that is TRUE PERFECTION on Earth and that Humans are a canker fit only to be cut from the face of the planet (except for the Human writing the articles, who are SPECIAL because they have kenned the true INTELLIGENCE and have forsaken the follies and attitudes common to the Canker of REGULAR People…)

Except for coffee. Nothing wrong with THAT! Or Big Macs…now THERE’S a fine naturally occurring food! Or electric cars – nothing at ALL wrong with them! Those children digging cobalt are really part of the LOATHSOME Humanity that is NOTHING SPECIAL AT ALL (https://www.reutersevents.com/sustainability/electric-car-makers-drive-remove-human-rights-stain-cobalt). Their lives sacrificed for a greener future and all…Or WINDMILLS! Natural as the air Mother Nature provides us! (They grow from seeds, right? The blades are SO reusable, you can just shorten them and you have a perfectly good…um… https://www.npr.org/2019/09/10/759376113/unfurling-the-waste-problem-caused-by-wind-energy)

Ahem. Excuse the rant…

So, if I want to write believable aliens, then perhaps practicing with creatures I can look up, study, and possibly even observe in a zoo or in nature!

How do I devise a test to see if I can do it? How can I have my animals focus on one thing or do one thing and then consider HOW THEY WOULD REALLY DO IT, then write the result? What will be my test? It needs to be something I could do without any kind of technology, because despite the evidence that other animals on Earth use “stone age technology”, any tech they’d encounter that we could manipulate automatically prejudices the tests. So…something natural…

Start a fire? Nah, too much tech there, even if you posit that our remote ancestors learned how to do it, it REQUIRES hands…and air…automatically eliminating fish, octopi, and plants…

How about changing something? Maybe…domesticating something? Let’s look at a fascinatingbook I read years ago, GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL by Jared Dimond. He had this to say about domestication: “Domestication…the most momentous change in Holocene human history. Why did it operate on so few wild species, in so few geographic areas…why did people adopt it at all…how did it spread?”

Are there instances of the “smartest of their Kingdom, Phylum, or Class” domesticating some other living thing? What does it mean to “domesticate” something? Seems a definition is in order. According to Wikipedia: Domestication is “…a sustained multi-generational relationship in which one group of organisms assumes a significant degree of influence over the reproduction and care of another group to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that second group.” As well, tool using, city building, and even cooperation of normally incompatible organisms…

Insects: ants who farm aphids for their sweet secretions, and grow a fungus to feed the colony… https://modernfarmer.com/2014/04/meet-earths-oldest-farmers-ants/#:~:text=Ants%20have%20domesticated%20fungus%20similarly%20to%20how%20we%20domesticated%20many%20plants.&text=If%20cutter%20ants%20are%20the,called%20honeydew%20that%20ants%20eat.
Fish: first ever case of an animal domesticating another…https://newatlas.com/science/fish-first-animal-domesticating-species/
Octopus: city builders! .
Plants: a war between to very different plants to “a stranger peace…” https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191115074414.htm
Birds: such legendary tool users, that their behavior became one of Aesop’s Fables, “The Crow and the Pitcher”: http://read.gov/aesop/012.html
Reptiles: even American alligators have become tool users! https://www.livescience.com/41898-alligators-crocodiles-use-tools.html

OK – I’ve established that animals can domesticate other animals, build cities, negotiate peace, and use tools…

So, how does the world look through the eyes of a representative of each of these. I’ll start with the ant farmers. How do they see the world? What do we know about ant senses? “‘…we have demonstrated that we have the basic tools we need to act as ‘odorant receptor detectives” to map the ants “odor space” and identify the chemical signals that trigger specific behaviors in the ant’s extensive repertoire,’ Slone said.” (https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2012/09/10/ants-have-an-exceptionally-high-def-sense-of-smell/#:~:text=Ants%20have%20four%20to%20five,team%20of%20researchers%20has%20discovered.&text=They%20found%20the%20industrious%20insects,proteins%20that%20detect%20different%20odors.)

According to the article, ants have some 400 specific “odorant receptors”, including one for cooked beef and pork – the researchers don’t get that one! In particular, “The olfactory system of most insects is centered in their antennae and is broadly made up of three different classes of receptors: odorant receptors, that identify different aromatic compounds and pheromones; gustatory receptors (GRs), that distinguish between different tastes and react to some pheromones; and newly discovered ionotropic glutamate receptors (IRs), that are narrowly tuned to various poisonous and toxic compounds.”

According to a different article: “The two antennae on either side of the head serve as the ant's main sensory organs. Ants also have a pair of compound eyes that consist of many photoreceptors that allow them to see light and shadows. However, their eyesight is poor, and ants rely primarily on their sense of smell for understanding their environment.” (https://www.livescience.com/ant-facts.html).

All right, given that, I’m going to make a stab at giving an ant-like alien’s perspective when landing on Earth…I’ll be making a few assumptions, so bear with me.

***
Two-hundred and thirty-fourth of seven-hundred and ninety-three Adults held their mandibles still. They could not control the corona of tendrils sweeping the air of Third Planet from Its Star. While nothing was precisely familiar, Two-Three-Four’s minds automatically categorized each odor into its chemical type. The odors of nitrogen and oxygen and their abundant compounds were obvious and of only academic interest. Two-Three-Four’s specialty was to sense the unique odors of life on a newly contacted world. While plant life was a given and the precise proportions of the atmospheric mix had been determined by a probe long-since returned to the Chamber Ship in orbit, Two-Three-Four’s highly developed and trained odor sensor suite was the reason it stood on the surface of the new world.
A squirt of strong impatience generated from the odor ring around their neck prompted it to fire a gentle puff of “Anticipatory patience” that would permeate the queen-commander’s chamber in the center of the ship. Her response was a whiff of apology. Two-Three-Four stepped down the ramp, followed by the rest of the landing party. Their larger size and heavier mandibles – as well as a small set of weapons chosen from an even larger collection and based on the preliminary assessment of life forms on Third Planet – were guaranteed to repel any accidentally hostile contact. The Smallers, like Four-Nine, Seven-Two, and Three-Eight, were less sensitive, heavily armed, and would do whatever Two-Three-Four needed them to do. Not that they were non-sapient, but they were only past their third and fourth molt. Each molt increased the size of the neural net. Each would take their place among the adults eventually. For now, they learned and did as they were told.

Basic scans had revealed a fascinating mix of life on Third, though hardly unique in the experience of the Memory on Homeworld. Two-Three-Four’s job was to investigate the unique characteristics. They scuttled away from the ship, not stopping for several hundred heartbeats. It released a waft of “listen” to the Smallers, and “commencing” to the queen-commanders chamber.

Under its direction, the ship had landed in an area where the view all around was unimpeded to allow the winds of Third to pass over Two-Three-Four’s corona. Smallers made a ring around them and powered up their weapons. They would be far too busy with their primary job to protect themselves from any of Third’s life forms that might exhibit aggression. It shut down its generic visual input and focused on the odors of Third.

Dryness. Mild decay, common for any world with seasonal plant life. Then something of interest: hydrocarbons! While hardly unique to intelligent civilizations, it made clear that the sapients of Third could manipulate their environment in a profound way. Of course they’d detected cities, a gigantic web of orbital satellites, a large presence of life on Third’s airless moon and in several orbital habitats. They’d even discovered a crater on Fourth that held several hundred life forms. All well and good; intelligence of a species that likely came from Third – all of that was, while remarkable in the First Queen’s universe, was still fairly common.

What they sought…ah! There! It was a very faint scent, but now that Two-Three-Four knew what to focus on, it found that the odor was present in small but significant quantities. It signaled the queen-commander a complex message, “Genetic manipulation! Artificial tissue construction!”

Resources: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dog-cognition_n_8398810, https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/how-do-octopuses-experience-the-world, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/intelligence-test-shows-bees-can-learn-to-solve-tasks-from-other-bees, https://www.reptileencounters.com.au/news/the-5-most-intelligent-reptiles/#:~:text=The%20result%20was%20that%20the,reserved%20for%20birds%20and%20mammals.&text=And%20coming%20in%20at%20the,and%20weigh%20more%20than%2010kg, https://www.cnet.com/news/how-crows-are-the-smartest-birds-in-the-world/, https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/six-fish-that-are-smarter-than-we-give-them-credit-for, https://www.ambius.com/blog/are-plants-intelligent/, https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01019
Image: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fa/9c/44/fa9c446e206072dadca2bbe4e3497a92.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 490

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Regarding horror, I found this insight in line with WIRED FOR STORY: “ We seek out…stories which give us a place to put our fears…Stories that frighten us or unsettle us - not just horror stories, but ones that make us uncomfortable or that strike a chord somewhere deep inside - give us the means to explore the things that scare us…” – Lou Morgan (The Guardian)

H Trope: Abandoned Malls
Current Event: http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/12/travel/abandoned-buildings-irpt/

Kehlanna McGee and Trayvon Dehvahn crouched in an overgrown bit of woods that had sprung up around a drainage ditch outside the four-meter-tall cyclone fence, staring at the abandoned mall beyond. She said, “Wha’d’you think they’re hiding?”

Trayvon laughed softly and said, “A shameful past of excess spending at cheesy, overpriced, trendy shops that sold mostly lingerie and salt and pepper shakers?”

Kehlanna bumped him with her shoulder, “Seriously.” She gestured. A pair of city black and white police cars sat in the lot along with another pair of silver cars emblazoned with a security logo.

“I am being serious,” he said, bumping her back.

She rolled her eyes and said, “Salt-and-pepper shakers are so 1950s...”

“Thereby retro and incredibly popular now.”

“Ah!” she exclaimed, lifting a finger, “Now I know you’re wrong.” She consulted her palmtablet and after a few finger swipes, said, “ ‘Arbor Mills Mall, was the destination of a generation of shoppers starting the year it opened in 2001 and was decommissioned,” she paused and rolled her eyes, muttering, “...makes it sound like it was an important aircraft carrier or something...in 2024...” she paused then said, “That’s only half a generation.”

“Be that as it may, are we going in or are we just going to stand here talking about generations and malls?”

“In,” she said suddenly. “But we’re going to have to go back to the trailer and get a few things.” She paused, “And wait until it’s dark.”

Trayvon grinned, nodded and headed for where they’d parked trailer two kilometers away.

***

Four hours later, dressed in knee-high rubber boots and wearing black, they made their way silently through the culvert. No one had taken time to fence it, so they easily slipped under the meager security. Trayvon tapped his earpiece and subvocalized, “What are we expecting to find in here?”

“Treasure.”

He couldn’t help but snort, and Kehlanna hissed at him, sub-vocalizing, “Quiet or they’ll hear us.”

“I’m not the one hissing like a punctured whipped cream can.”

They moved as far as they could in the ravine, then climbed at a likely spot. His night goggles confirmed they were only six meters short of their goal. They scanned for the police and security cars, saw neither, so Trayvon stood up and aimed a very-illegal device at the surface between them and the abandoned mall. After a moment, he subbed, “No active pressure security spots and no evidence of landmines.”

“Landmines?” Khehlanna subbed.

“You said there’s treasure. People protect treasure with landmines and lasers and other high tech gadgets. I was checking for everything.”

She nodded in the darkness a moment later, then subbed, “Let’s go. The map I found has a maintenance door into the rear of one of the anchor stores straight ahead.” She paused, then went up the embankment and scurried across the broken asphalt. He followed three minutes later. By then, she’d cut through the locking mechanism of the door with an infrared laser. Trayvon sprayed the old hinges with a silent stream of lubricant and then door swung open a moment later as Kehlanna pulled it.

They entered the darkness and the goggles switched to a sonar image – the power had been cut to the building a decade earlier when it closed in order to prevent fires. They avoided collapsed ceiling tiles and piles of mouldering cardboard boxes. Trayvon subbed, “If this is the ‘treasure’ we can expect to find, we might as well leave right now.”

“Nah. There has to be something in here that those people are protecting.”

“Hmmm.”

They exited the back room of the store and passed through piles of stacked shelving, display cases, light fixtures, and garbage until they reached the mall proper. In front of him, Kehlanna stopped abruptly and cursed out loud rather than subbing.

Trayvon subbed, “Shut up! I can’t tell if there are audio security pickups in here...” He stopped as he pulled up alongside her. Outside the door with its corroding security gate, a group of three people, linked together by rope tie around their necks, passed by. The figure at the front of their line, holding the rope and wearing an army-style helmet that was twice as large as Trayvon had ever seen before, was a giant creature that looked for all the world, like yeti…

Names: ♀ American, Irish ; ♂ American, Greek

Image: https://cdn.britannica.com/40/11740-004-50816EB1/Boris-Karloff-Frankenstein-monster.jpg

Slice of PIE: The Question I Should Be Asking: “Why Don’t I QUIT Writing?”

This essay has been revised and updated from the version that appeared on June 5, 2011, and again since January 2020

Long ago, in this very galaxy, I wrote a column for an ancient blogsite called FRIDAY CHALLENGE in which I answered the question, “Why Do We Write?” I admit, I had a brilliant answer! (;-)) You can read my first thoughts here: http://thefridaychallenge.blogspot.com/2010/12/why-we-write_19.html

Since then though, I’ve had second thoughts about how important this question is to ask.

Let me back up about fifteen years, to the year of Clarke’s First Odyssey. The seed for this thought fell on the ground the first time. My wife and two young kids were out garage-saling. We stopped at a house that had kid’s toys and clothing and got out. While my wife checked for treasures, I wandered into the garage.

[Let me pause in the story to give you a bit of local tradition. While every house I know of has a car garage – it’s hard to start a car that’s been sitting out directly exposed to -27 cold for any length of time – when we build the garages, most of us don’t INSULATE them. No reason; like I said, it’s a tradition. Typically, the interior of a garage presents an image of bare pine studs with some sort of exterior insulation laid over the outside on which clapboard or stucco or other siding is attached. From the studs hang numerous brackets, hooks, pegboards, sheet rock, shelves and electrical conduit or Romex® cable and either bare incandescent light sockets and bulbs or an arrangement of fluorescent fixtures and bulbs. Garages are usually utilitarian spaces reserved for cars, tools, lawn mowers, canoes, fertilizer spreader, grass-clipping catchers, roof rakes, snow blowers, garden implements and snow shovels.]

In the garage – in addition to the traditional décor – every space between the studs had a 14-inch piece of pine stud nailed into place at 12 or so inch vertical intervals. On each of the 14-inch pieces, paperback novels were packed side-by-side from the base plate to the rafters.

There were hundreds of books. Possibly thousands and all of the books were marked FOR SALE. I started in a corner and began to scan for titles that contained the words “star”, “alien”, “invasion”, the name of a real planet, a name that sounded like the name of a planet or anything that looked in any way “science fiction-y”

A guy approached me and asked, “Lookin’ for something in particular?”

He was only a little older than me and acted like this was his place, so I said, “Are all of those yours?”

Grinning, he nodded and said, “I’ve read every one of them, too!”

I’d noticed that while it was a broad selection, it seemed to be heavily weighted toward horror, romance and thriller. I was impressed. “All of them?”

“I was gonna be a writer, so I was told I had to read not only in the genre I wanted to break into, but outside of it as well. And I was supposed to keep current, too.”

I wanted to be a writer when I grew up, too! I said, “Did you get many things published?” Thinking I’d found a writer-soul-mate a mere four blocks from my home, I found my heart was racing. I confess was hanging on his every word.

Shaking his head, he replied, “Nope, so I gave up.” He meandered away to help someone fill a paper grocery bag with books, leaving me startled and heart-broken.

At that point in my career, I had no professional publications despite decades of throwing short stories, essays and novels at the heavy, quarry-stone walls of the Citadel of the Editarchs. Even then, standing in that slightly dank garage, I didn’t seriously consider giving up.

Why?

In the cold, hard light of the down-side of the second decade of the 21st Century, I have to honestly say to myself, “Why don’t you just give up? Why don’t you take up a hobby in which you might not only stand a chance of showing improvement, you might even take lessons! You’ll NEVER get really published!”

Of course, since then, I’ve had 50 professional publications, an uncounted number of unpaid publications that others read and comment on not including my personal blogs, and I have two novels, an agent, international publications. Yet even today, I confess I still feel that tug of rationality.

Then my inner writer exclaims, “What? Quit writing and give up this luxurious life of fame and fortune? ‘Get thee behind me, Satan!’”

My honest conscience fires back, “I’ll bet you have no idea how many times you’ve had stories, queries, articles and essays rejected.” It adds in a perfect Steve Zahn rendition of his quip from YOU’VE GOT MAIL, “As far as I can tell, the internet is just a new way to get rejected by women.” It adds in a snide voice, “You’ve submitted 973 times and published 93 manuscripts. That’s a pub rate of 9.5% since 1990. Pathetic!”

The inner writer then points out, “While that may be true, the earlier years were typically 0,1, or 2% pub rates. Last year you had only 4 of 82 manuscripts published. That’s only 6.4%, and you didn’t even get paid for all of those!”

“True, but half of them were REQUESTED and MORE than half were paid for! And you’ve sort of become a regular at PERIHELION and might be a kind-of regular at ANALOG!”

The argument subsides and I’m left wondering what was it, standing in that garage fifteen years ago, that made me go back and keep writing when every logical bone in my body and the thousands of paperbacks on the wall said, “Take up STAR TREK model building! At least you’ll have something to show for it!”?

While there was probably a measure of sheer cussedness in there, I think what kept me going was a deep desire to speak my mind in a way that was so entertaining that no one would realize that I’d spoken it.

Boiled down to its bare bones and reconstructed like a dinosaur skeleton, I find that the reason I’ve kept on writing since I was thirteen might be summed up in the words of Jeremiah, “…read from the scroll which you have written at My dictation the words of the Lord to the people in the Lord’s house on a fast day. And you shall read them to all the people of Judah who come from their cities.” Jeremiah 36:6 (NASB)

I work to write what God directs me to – sometimes better than at other times. But always I want to write his word so that others can read them and see His glory and salvation.

And THAT’S the real reason I don’t quit, and after rereading this in 2021, in the waning months of the COVID19 pandemic, it still all holds true…

Image: https://thewornbookmark.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/lr-b-small-3.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 489

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Regarding Fantasy, this insight was startling: “I see the fantasy genre as an ever-shifting metaphor for life in this world, an innocuous medium that allows the author to examine difficult, even controversial, subjects with impunity. Honor, religion, politics, nobility, integrity, greed—we’ve an endless list of ideals to be dissected and explored. And maybe learned from.” – Melissa McPhail.

F Trope: good versus evil

Khloe Garcia shook her head and said, “I don’t think there’s anything to the whole idea that there’s even such a thing as ‘good versus evil’.”

Glaring at her, Santiago Tremblay said, “You’re not serious, are you?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? Look around you. Nothing is clearly good or evil. Every single time we’ve called something ‘evil’, it’s all a matter of perspective. One side of the disagreement says they’re good and the other side’s evil. The other side…”

“What was the good side of Nazi Germany?”

She rolled her eyes, “That’s history. This is the middle of the 21st Century. Socially, we’ve evolved far away from any kind of clear demarcation of ‘good’ and evil’.”

“I’ll give you five seconds to tell me the ‘good’ side of Nine-Eleven-Oh-One.”

“History. There’s nothing comparable since the turn of the century.”

“So Humanity has evolved socially that much in forty-three years?”

“Sure. It’s possible...”

“Unlikely.” He paused then said, “So you wouldn’t have any trouble summoning a demon then? Because...”

“Demons are mythological creatures no more real than Godzilla...”

He pulled a heavy book from the backpack he’d dropped on her roommate’s bed when he came into her dorm room and set it down on her desk, letting it fall open. “So you won’t mind if I read this curse from this book. It was in the ‘Religion’ section of the old library – you know, the place they kept books before ebooks replaced everything. I bought it. Paid the librarian four thousand...”

She hesitated then said, “Read your stupid curse and we’ll see how real it is.”

He shrugged and read the words casually. He waited. She waited. Nothing happened. “See what I mean?”

He nodded slowly. “OK. I’ll just summon a demon for fun, then.” He bent over the book and when he stood up, he looked up at her, then down at the book and began to read. Not casually this time, but with a voice changed. A voice that spoke of education. Money. A voice rich in timbre and facile with the words it read.

The floor of the room began to tremble...

Names: ♀ Canada, Mexico; ♂ Mexico, CanadaImage: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/98/71/e5/9871e52bbc09c525af21b8f6471eab15.jpg

POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY: Climate Fiction (and the Apocalypse Thereof) as an Exploration of Climate Solutions

Using the Programme Guide of the 2020 World Science Fiction Convention, ConZEALAND (The First Virtual World Science Fiction Convention), I will jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. I will be using the events to drive me to distraction or revelation – as the case may be. The link is provided below where this appeared on Sunday, August 2, 2020 at 0900 hours (aka 9:00 am).

Living and Reading the Apocalypse: Ecological Disaster and Science Fiction
Post-apocalyptic fiction provides pathways for navigating ecological apocalypse. These crucial imaginings are particularly relevant to current environmental issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss.

Octavia Cade: writer
Julie Hofmann: AD Medievalist
Dr Gillian Polack: writer, editor, historian and teacher

Despite my rants against “dystopian literature”, a chronological descendant of “apocalyptic literature) (https://www.sfwa.org/2012/07/11/guest-post-when-did-science-fiction-and-apocalypse-become-interchangeable/) and a recent essay reflecting on the drift toward “dark and gritty realism” in the “literature of ideas”, aka Science Fiction here (http://stupefyingstories.blogspot.com/2021/03/putting-my-writing-where-my-mouth-is-by.html) – I had NEVER thought about this kind of literature as a drill for navigating an ecological apocalypse!

Briefly looking at Cade’s and Polack’s books give me a hint that they’re about positing a climate-destroyed world and what resilient life and characters might do. As a Medievalist, I suspect Ms. Hofmann’s primary interest is in how society will collapse, reverting to Medieval times, which Wikipedia suggests is “One misconception, first propagated in the 19th century and still very common, is that all people in the Middle Ages believed that the Earth was flat…lecturers in the medieval universities commonly argued that evidence showed the Earth was a sphere…Christian scholar[s] of the Middle Ages…acknowledge[d the] [Earth's] sphericity and even know its approximate circumference’. Other misconceptions: ‘the Church prohibited autopsies and dissections during the Middle Ages’, ‘the rise of Christianity killed off ancient science’, or ‘the medieval Christian Church suppressed the growth of natural philosophy’, are all cited by Numbers as examples of widely popular myths that still pass as historical truth, although they are not supported by historical research.’”

I find this interesting, especially because outsiders (those who are not in the Christian faith) in the third decade of the 21st Century seem certain that climate apocalypse will lead quickly to the death of science-as-we-know-it. As a Christian myself, I wonder how many Christians doubt Climate Change – certainly it’s more than “none” (see the NPR podcast below). I certainly don’t doubt that the climate is changing, it just irritates me that some anthropogenic climate change people keep messing with the very definition of what “climate” is. For example, Wikipedia writes that “Climate is the long-term average of weather, typically averaged over a period of 30 years.” This definition was posted in 2016. The sentence following the first states, “More rigorously, it denotes the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorological variables that are commonly measured are temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, and precipitation. In a broader sense, climate is the state of the components of the climate system, which includes the ocean and ice on Earth. The climate of a location is affected by its latitude, terrain, and altitude, as well as nearby water bodies and their currents.” On a kids website, the definition was a bit closer to the definition my professor used in 1979 for climate (which has obviously been altered since then to fit the data: “Climate is the average weather in a place over many years. While the weather can change in just a few hours, climate takes hundreds, thousands, even millions of years to change.”

By limiting “climate” to a LESS RIGOROUS period of 30 years, it’s easy to say that Humans have dramatically altered the climate of Earth – that’s like since 1991... Of course, the next sentence informs me that between August 2020 to today, March 2121, the climate of Earth has changed drastically: six months ago, the climate conditions were as follows: T = H 83F, L 69F (avg: 76F) ; it was sunny, and the wind was out of the south. Humidity was in the mid-to-low 80%s, barometric pressure was steady at 30.03.

Today, T= H 54F, L 34F (avg: 44F). It is sunny, the wind is out of the south at 14 mph. Humidity is 27%, barometric pressure is steady at 30.5. By the somewhat restrictive definition that is currently in use, the climate in Minnesota has altered dramatically.

None of those changes has anything to do with Humans. They’re seasonal temperature variations that happen over a period of 12 months.

Has the climate in Minnesota changed? Yes.

10,000 years ago, where I am sitting as I write this, there was a solid sheet of glacial ice OVER A MILE THICK. I have water skied on a lake that once held the remnant of a piece of ice broken off of the main glacier.

Did I cause it? No. In fact, at that time, the entirety of Human population would have fit into present-day Minneapolis or Bangkok (between 1 and 10 million Humans), though widely scattered and occupying parts of every continent except Antarctica. Absolutely the climate has changed over the past 10,000 years. 1000 years? Likely, yes, as there were major population centers all over the planet. https://media.springernature.com/lw685/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1038%2Fsdata.2016.34/MediaObjects/41597_2016_Article_BFsdata201634_Fig5_HTML.jpg?as=webp

But had the CLIMATE changed because of Humanity? THAT is the question I shake my head at when climate change scientists answer with a resounding “Yes!”

I think it’s unlikely, even Climate Change Scientists can only demonstrate that anthropogenic climate change has taken place in the past 250 years or so (coinciding with the Industrial Revolution). Prior to that, evidence becomes hard to find and records are spotty and certainly not gathered anywhere – though there are absolutely records of rainfall, temperatures, weather, and insect plagues. All of that data is connected solely to agriculture.

Currently, the reason that the definition of “climate” has changed and grown repeatedly shorter is to accommodate the impact of Humans. Why? Because…well, they’re worried that people who aren’t scientists are ruining the world. Scientists aren’t, because knowing what they know, they work twice as hard to minimize their carbon footprint; drive electric cars, often do “staycations” instead of flying to Paris and Cancun to attend Climate Change Conferences, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Climate_Change_conference) and shop local.

The purpose of Climate Speculative Fiction or CliFi (coined by NPR on August 20, 2013) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_fiction) is to explore both the dangers climate change poses and (sometimes) offering ideas to either ameliorate climate change or alter society to survive climate change. The ideas are flowing, though sometimes they submerge the story in blame and shame and preening, but peeking behind the virtue signaling, I’ve seen some fascinating ideas and explorations of methods and dangers of restoring balance to Earth’s climate.

Program Book: https://sites.grenadine.co/sites/conzealand/en/conzealand/schedule, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages#Modern_perceptions, https://www.npr.org/2020/10/14/923715751/the-loneliness-of-the-climate-change-christian, https://eo.ucar.edu/kids/green/what1.htm
Image: https://mrbdc.mnsu.edu/sites/mrbdc.mnsu.edu/files/public/mnbasin/fact_sheets/graphics/glaciers/us_glacier.gif

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 488

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Octavia Butler said, “SF doesn’t really mean anything at all, except that if you use science, you should use it correctly, and if you use your imagination to extend it beyond what we already know, you should do that intelligently.”

SF Trope: Human Interplanetary Voyaging!
Current Event: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/04/11/nuclear-fusion-rocket-could-reach-mars-in-30-days/
Historical Background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Direct

Zubrinka Lakewood glanced at Penelope Ok.

Penelope glared back at him.

Zu said, “So, how are we supposed to get out of this?”

Aware of the cameras trained on them from all sides as well as their distance from anything she could push off of, Pen replied, “We’re supposed to work together...”

“Duh,” snapped Zu. “They want us to make nice so we can pretend to work together on our way to Mars.” He shrugged and floated slightly off kilter from Pen’s orientation.

“We’re not supposed to ‘make nice’, we’re supposed to work...”

“Yeah, I know. I was in the same class you were.”

“What was your avatar?”

Zu snorted. “Same as yours, what do you think?”

Pen snorted and flapped her hands experimentally. She floated in the opposite direction of Zu, leaving them with their heads at a ninety-degree angle. “So what are we going to do? The whole station is watching.”

Zu made a face, for a second his obnoxious self-confidence disappearing into worry. Then he said, “I could fart.”

Pen sighed, sympathy for him draining away. “This is a competition even though it’s a competition to see how well we can work together.”

“So I can work together better than you can.”

She blinked at him then reached out and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him until they were nose-to-nose, “We can fight about it...”

Names: ♀ Greece, Turkey ; ♂ Ukraine, America; ♀
Image: https://mk0spaceflightnoa02a.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/49956692363_f73a7a6a69_k.jpg

WRITING ADVICE: Short Stories – Advice and Observation #9: William Sydney Porter “& Me”

In this feature, I’ll be looking at “advice” for writing short stories – not from me, but from other short story writers. In speculative fiction, “short” has very carefully delineated categories: “The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America specifies word lengths for each category of its Nebula award categories by word count; Novel 40,000 words or over; Novella 17,500 to 39,999 words; Novelette 7,500 to 17,499 words; Short story under 7,500 words.”

I’m going to use advice from people who, in addition to writing novels, have also spent plenty of time “interning” with short stories. While most of them are speculative fiction writers, I’ll also be looking at plain, old, effective short story writers. The advice will be in the form of one or several quotes off of which I’ll jump and connect it with my own writing experience. While I don’t write full-time, nor do I make enough money with my writing to live off of it...neither do most of the professional writers...someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what I write. When I started this blog, that was NOT true, so I may have reached a point where my own advice is reasonably good. We shall see! Hemingway’s quote above will now remain unchanged as I work to increase my writing output and sales! As always, your comments are welcome!

Without further ado, short story observations by William Sydney Porter – with a few from myself…

I suppose I should start off by saying that William Sydney Porter is most famously known as O. Henry…

Unfortunately, he only gave one interview during his career, and that was in 1909. A long-time recluse, all the world ever saw of him was his work. I’ll be drawing heavily from the interview. However, other people have analyzed his works as well and some have deduced lessons from O. Henry. Herewith, I offer a few.

To begin, “[Poet] James Whitcomb Riley thought of [Porter] only as a literary genius who with pen wand conjures from his ink pot ‘delectables conglomerate…In spite of the fact that for the past six or seven years O. Henry has been one of the most popular short-story writers in America… acclaimed by many…as one of the greatest of this country's tellers of short tales.”

Physically, at the time the interviewer described him as “short, stocky, broad-shouldered, ruddy-faced, clear-eyed, and none of his hair missing. He has none of the wan intellectuality, none of the pale aestheticisms that are conventional parts of the make-up of the literary lions that disport themselves at afternoon tea parties, One can readily see that he is the natural father of ‘the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating’, which moral reflection is the thread upon which most of his stories are strung.”

OK – now we’re getting somewhere. I’m going to gather all of these threads together at the end of this essay and reflect on how his work ethic and mine coincide or clash.

After several…florid starts at various careers, he started to write in earnest in New Orleans: “I sent stories to newspapers, weeklies, and magazines all over the country. Rejections? Lordy, I should say I did have rejections, but I never took them to heart. I just stuck new stamps on the stories and sent them out again. And in their journeying to and fro all the stories finally landed in offices where they found a welcome. I can say that I never wrote anything that, sooner or later, hasn't been accepted.”

The interviewer asked for advice to young writers, “…[Here’s] the whole secret of short story writing…Rule I: Write stories that please yourself. There is no Rule II…If you can't write a story that pleases yourself you’ll never please the public. But in writing the story forget the public…I get a story thoroughly in mind before I sit down at my writing table. Then I write it out quickly; and, without revising it mail it to the editor. In this way I am able to judge my stories as the public judges them. I've seen stories in print that I wouldn't recognize as my own.”

The interview concluded with the announcement that he was writing a novel that would soon be published. But just before that, he said, “…change Twenty-third Street in one of my New York stories to Main Street, rub out the Flatiron Building, and put in the Town Hall and the story will fit just as truly in any up-State town…So long as a story is true to human nature all you need do is change the local color to make it fit in any town North, East, South, or West. If you have the right kind of an eye--the kind that can disregard high hats, cutaway coats, and trolley cars--you can see all the characters in the Arabian Nights parading up and down Broadway at midday.”

The essay points out aspects of what made – and continue to make –O. Henry’s work vivid. “…humorous languages. He is a master of using paronomasia [aka “word play”, in its crudest form, “puns”], metaphor, irony...skilled in conceiving the surprise but logical ending…the result always changes suddenly and contrary to readers' expectations. The unexpected endings can make people think more about the problems or situations that the story has revealed…[He writes in] the style of “tearful smile”, which is the combination of comedy and tragedy…even though the ending is sad, there are usually some hopes and lights in it.”

And finally, O. Henry wrote with common themes: “…deception (such as turning the tables on Haroun Al-Raschid,” the caliph ancient time who would mingle with the common people), mistaken identity, the effects of coincidence, the unchangeable nature of the fate and the resolution of seemingly unsolvable difficulties separating two lovers… the pretense and reversal of fate, discovery and initiation through adventure, the city as a playground for imagination, and the basic yearning of all humanity.”

Everyone knows that O. Henry was an absolute master of the surprise ending: “[His stories] lead you on it the beginning with a thought that everything is going according to plan. He lets the reader…think that we have it figured out, [but] He has something waiting for us at the end of the book. Something that would seem like it came out of nowhere” but is perfectly logical on later reflection!

It's clear that this master had a way with words, but is it something someone like me could imitate?

Maybe. Laid out plainly, there are six things that O. Henry did:

1) Start with a quick opening that pulls the reader into the action with surefire ‘hook’
2) Add a confiding narrator who holds back important information until the last moment
3) Write with a pleasant and worldly wise tone including chitchat, wit, satire, philosophy, and swank (ie, behavior, talk, or display intended to impress others)
4) The open-minded use of a ‘humane renegade’
5) Make sure you add a dash of coincidence usually with a reversal in which everything is saved and set right
6) Last of course, is his signature surprise ending

In my own writing, I’ve learned to do the first. I’ve practiced so much that I can usually turn out a quick hook. The second thing may have changed since the early 20th Century. I’ve heard it said that we don’t hold ANYTHING back – at least not important information. That said, it’s no problem if we convey information that SEEMS unimportant but IS…and this is a problem that can only be resolved through practice.

My narrators seem to be one of my weaknesses. Sometimes I can create great ones, other times, they fall flat and are boring. Even to me – I’ve discovered that the fourth viewpoint character in my WIP is boring…who knew? I can communicate well with realistic dialogue, but wit, satire, and swank…hmmm. Not so much.

The “human renegade” is a concept I never considered. BUT, looking at some of my favorite books and stories, I can easily see the character now. That’s something I’ll have to work on. As for coincidence, I’ve heard it said many times that our writing isn’t REAL LIFE…it’s LIKE real life with all the boring parts cut out. I happen to prefer “happy endings” to ones where the hero dies a gruesome death through no fault of their own. OTOH, if you’ve ever read Craig Johnson’s LONGMIRE books, you know that it’s contrived coincidence that has kept him alive through twenty-three stories, novellas, and books!

And the surprise ending – sometimes known as the “punchline”. There are editors that abhor this kind of writing, but I think people still LIKE the unexpected. When novels and stories pretend to mimic the random disasters of life, it makes me put the book down and say, “If I wanted to read something realistic, I’d go to BBC.com…” I don’t always want to read something that’s realistic. Sometimes I need to read something that SEEMS realistic, but isn’t at all.

Anyway, I’ve learned a bit from this. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go make some changes to my WIP!

References:
The only interview O. Henry ever gave: https://library.greensboro-nc.gov/research/north-carolina-collection/o-henry-portal/resources-at-the-greensboro-public-library/o-henry-s-only-interview
A Brief Analysis of the Typical Writing Styles of O. Henry: https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/iconfem-16/25867465#:~:text=Another%20writing%20style%20of%20his,surprising%20endings%2C%20and%20tearful%20smile.
Themes, Style, and Technique of O Henry: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-literature/themes-styles-techniques-ohenry.php
Image: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41JNnybcihL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 487

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Regarding horror, I found this insight in line with WIRED FOR STORY: “ We seek out…stories which give us a place to put our fears…Stories that frighten us or unsettle us - not just horror stories, but ones that make us uncomfortable or that strike a chord somewhere deep inside - give us the means to explore the things that scare us…” – Lou Morgan (The Guardian)

H Trope: creepy basements
Current Event: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2175774/JonBenet-Ramsey-murder-New-clues-revealed-detective-shed-new-light-case.html

Mattie Capp Washington – I hated her. She was cute where I was ugly; she was short where I was tall; she was light where I was dark; she was popular where the world loathed me.

Everyone mourns her passing which the police and the rest of the country suspected was a murder. I’m the only one who actually saw anything, but if I talk about it, then I’ll be a suspect and even though their suspicions wouldn’t be entirely true, it would probably be enough to convict me.

It would certainly be enough to get me sent to the electric chair (if they had one any more) in the courtroom of public opinion.

I suppose I should back up a bit. I could probably start at the part where the world loathed me. I’m pretty sure you think I’m exaggerating when I say that, because there’s pretty much nothing that the world uniformly loathes. On the other hand, a paper I read once stated, “In virtually every culture there has existed some word for evil, a universal, linguistic acknowledgment of the archetypal presence of ‘something that brings sorrow, distress, or calamity...’”

Even the etymological root of the word is practically prehistoric! “PIE *upelo-, from root *wap- ‘bad, evil’ (source also of Hittite huwapp- ‘evil’). “this word is the most comprehensive adjectival expression of disapproval, dislike or disparagement" [OED]. Evil was the word the Anglo-Saxons used where we would use bad, cruel, unskillful, defective (adj.), or harm (n.), crime, misfortune, disease (n.)”

So if every culture has a word for it, then the word must have been invented to describe something – ‘cuz that’s what Humans do. We put labels on stuff as soon as we want to get a handle on it. It’d be interesting to see which came first – the word for “evil” or the word for “God”.

I’m it – the thing that every culture has named. And almost without exception, I live in dark places. In the middle of the 21st Century, while there aren’t many caves left, there are lots and lots of basements. That’s where you’ll usually find me – evil lurking in basements.

It’s funny, ‘cuz bad guys always act like they’re looking for me. The real nut cases say that they’re seeking me to worship me. Those are the ones that amuse me the most because no matter how hard they tried to find me, no matter how many millions of dollars they spent or how many people they murdered to come to me face-to-face, the second they look at me, they completely lose it and beg to leave; they grovel, roll around on the ground, mess themselves and volunteer to sacrifice to me anything and everything they have.

And I’m not even Incarnate – I’m excarnate. I’m the one who DOES the dirty work because I am the one who is Unmade flesh. I was alive on Earth at one time and when I joined the ranks I became excarnate and now I serve. In basements. All the time.

Someone came down the stairs: thud, thud, thud; male heaviness. The young Ms. Washington was here, too. But there might have been a surprise or two in the offing.

I smiled an excarnate smile and opened my mouth.

Names: Multiple origins (see above) – “this word is the most comprehensive adjectival expression of disapproval, dislike or disparagement”
Image: https://cdn.britannica.com/40/11740-004-50816EB1/Boris-Karloff-Frankenstein-monster.jpg