Linda Maye Adams's Blog, page 47
August 4, 2018
Winnie the Pooh and World War I
This was something I didn’t know, but it makes sense. Winnie the Pooh was created by A.A. Milne to explain war to his son:
Every stuffed friend in the Hundred Acre Woods is a child-friendly representation of a characteristic of post-traumatic stress. Piglet is paranoia, Eeyore is depression, Tigger is impulsive behaviors, Rabbit is perfectionism-caused aggression, Owl is memory loss, and Kanga & Roo represent over-protection. This leaves Winnie, who Alan wrote in for himself as Christopher Robin’s guide through the Hundred Acre Woods — his father’s mind.
July 31, 2018
The Army and Women in the WAC
Interesting article on what happened when the Army let women enlist in the WAC during World War II. A lot of one size fits all, even when it didn’t…
And still somewhat true when I enlisted. Uniforms were made for the average man, so it was hard to get ones that fit right (and also shorter men). My “small” flack vest was so big that when I sat down, it pushed up the back of my helmet.
July 27, 2018
Writing is Hard, and Not. Depends
This week, there’s been a lot of discussion about writers essentially trying to take short cuts. Sort of like the person who is always jumping from one thing to another, hoping to get rich quick.
Except it’s choosing the right genres, getting books out so fast they hire ghost writers to keep up with, making the right contact. I just unfriended a writer on Facebook because all her posts turned into “I write all types of genres in fiction and scripts. Please give me the name of an agent who represents everything!”
We get fooled by the media who says “overnight success” for a new writer and leaves out the part that he or she wrote books for ten years.
Or reading Writer’s Digest and articles like “10 Things That Keep You From Being Published.” The writer then proceeds to list trivial things that fall more in copy editing. Makes it sound like you follow the checklist and the agent or editor will move your story to the top of the pile and buy it.
It doesn’t happen like that so the writer either blames publishing for not recognizing them or try to find a way to stick the foot in the door.
Like two other writers I knew. Neither were particularly interested in improving their craft–you know, that part that makes readers want to buy the book. With one, I co-wrote with him, and there was huge disconnect to the fact that if a reader is going to plunk down $$ and the cost of their time, the book has be pretty good.
No, it was about networking to find the right agent and getting the book in front of him. It was–and I’m not making this up–figuring out the publishers’ secret to what made a best selling book. I remember going to a writer’s conference with him. We chatted with an agent for fifteen minutes. She liked us. She enjoyed talking to us. And she still rejected the book.
And rightly so. I look back on my writing then, which is now fifteen years ago (yikes!), and there was still a LOT more to learn.
The other writer didn’t want to learn at all. Hated his day job. Wanted to write full time to get out of his job. Wanted people to tell him his stories were good. Thought all he needed to do was produce as much as possible and marketing would magically get people to buy the books.
Somewhere in there, the reader got left out. Or maybe seen as the person who goes to the huckster who comes into town and convinces everyone to buy his snake oil.
One of the problems is that there’s a huge learning curve, like that wall in American Ninja Warriors. It’s hard to get up it, especially in the beginning. You send out stories, get form rejections. No idea why the stories are being rejected. Everyone starts thinking it was this typo on page 10 or the editor wouldn’t recognize anything good.
It can take a long time to get over the top of that Ninja Wall (and if you’ve even seen the show, most people never got past it). Learning is always a choice. Checking off boxes is also a choice.
But both with different results.
July 22, 2018
A fun military story
This is a story from my days at Fort Lewis that popped up recently.
We’d gone to do a readiness exercise where a bunch of people verify we have dog tags, our emergency forms get updated, and shots. I don’t recall any more how we got there but it was too far to walk.
Several of us finished early, so one of the lieutenants volunteered to take us back in his car. I sat in the front seat, and the other soldier in the back. Before we left though, a bunch of other soldiers got done. So they hopped in, too.
It was like a clown car. We were all packed in there. I was squished in the front seat because there was a big guy jammed into the seat with me.
So we’re driving down the street and we hear the “Whoop! Whoop!” of a police siren!
The military police pulled us over because were were overcrowded in the car.
The MP walked over, took one look at the lieutenant and went, “Ah, sir!”
The result was that I ended up getting out and riding in the back of the police car, which followed the lieutenant back to the unit.
I was mortified! Couldn’t wait to get out of the car when we arrived.
***
And how to spill the tricky word lieutenant. It’s easy because all you have to remember is the first part of the word:
Ten + Ant. Add the Lieu in front of that.
July 17, 2018
Final Days for Military SF StoryBundle
This bundle will be gone on Thursday!
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The 2018 Military SF Bundle – Curated by Kevin J. Anderson
Strap in, adjust your uniform, fire up the engines, and get ready to defend the Earth against all threats, extraterrestrial and domestic! I’ve curated a new Military Science Fiction StoryBundle with a dozen great books from the high-tech battlefields right here on our home planet to the farthest reaches of the galaxy.
This StoryBundle contains two of my standalone military SF novellas, ESCAPE HATCH and PRISONER OF WAR, and COBRA SLAVE by Timothy Zahn, as well as OBLIVION by Steve White and Charles E. Gannon, part of the New York Times bestselling Starfire series. Baen Books provided the brand new, hot-off-the-presses YEAR’S BEST MILITARY AND ADVENTURE SF, edited by David Afsharirad, with excellent stories by David Weber, Jody Lynn Nye, Larry Niven, and more.
Three of these books are written by veterans of the armed services, who bring their own gritty experiences into writing, FIRE ANT by Jonathan Brazee, CRYING PLANET by Linda Maye Adams, and STRIKE EAGLE by Doug Beason.
Ron Friedman’s time travel thriller TYPHOON TIME, J.A. Sutherland’s INTO THE DARK, Steve Ruskin’s A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL’S BROKER, and Andrew and William Keith’s COHORT OF THE DAMNED round out the bundle.
As always with StoryBundle, you name your own price. Get the base level of four books for $5 or the entire dozen for as little as $15. You support independent authors and small presses, and a portion of the proceeds goes to benefit the remarkable work of the Challenger Learning Center for Space Science Education. The Military SF StoryBundle is available for only three weeks here: https://storybundle.com/military – Kevin J. Anderson
The initial titles in the The 2018 Military SF Bundle (minimum $5 to purchase) are:
Escape Hatch by Kevin J. Anderson
Strike Eagle by Doug Beason
The Year’s Best Military & Adventure SF Vol. 4 by David Afsharirad
Oblivion by Steve White and Charles E. Gannon
If you pay at least the bonus price of just $15, you get all four of the regular titles, plus EIGHT more!
Cohort of the Damned by Andrew Keith and William H. Keith, Jr.
Typhoon Time by Ron S. Friedman
Prisoner of War by Kevin J. Anderson
A Deal with the Devil’s Broker by Steve Ruskin
Into the Dark – Alexis Carew #1 by J.A. Sutherland
Crying Planet by Linda Maye Adams
Fire Ant by Jonathan P. Brazee
Cobra Slave – Cobra Rebellion Book 1 by Timothy Zahn
This bundle is available only for a limited time via http://www.storybundle.com. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get multiple DRM-free formats (.epub and .mobi) for all books!
It’s also super easy to give the gift of reading with StoryBundle, thanks to our gift cards – which allow you to send someone a code that they can redeem for any future StoryBundle bundle – and timed delivery, which allows you to control exactly when your recipient will get the gift of StoryBundle.
Why StoryBundle? Here are just a few benefits StoryBundle provides.
Get quality reads: We’ve chosen works from excellent authors to bundle together in one convenient package.
Pay what you want (minimum $5): You decide how much these fantastic books are worth. If you can only spare a little, that’s fine! You’ll still get access to a batch of exceptional titles.
Support authors who support DRM-free books: StoryBundle is a platform for authors to get exposure for their works, both for the titles featured in the bundle and for the rest of their catalog. Supporting authors who let you read their books on any device you want—restriction free—will show everyone there’s nothing wrong with ditching DRM.
Give to worthy causes: Bundle buyers have a chance to donate a portion of their proceeds to The Challenger Center for Space Education!
Receive extra books: If you beat the bonus price, you’ll get the bonus books!
StoryBundle was created to give a platform for independent authors to showcase their work, and a source of quality titles for thirsty readers. StoryBundle works with authors to create bundles of ebooks that can be purchased by readers at their desired price. Before starting StoryBundle, Founder Jason Chen covered technology and software as an editor for Gizmodo.com and Lifehacker.com.
For more information, visit our website at storybundle.com, tweet us at @storybundle and like us on Facebook .
July 16, 2018
Guess the Actress: Contest
Like with the others, first person to guess who this actress is gets a coupon code for the 2018 Military SF StoryBundle. This is very limited now, since the bundle comes down in 3 days!
You can check out the bundle here. Onto the clues.
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This actress was in a popular TV series in the 1960s and rode a purple motorcycle. She also was green for a science fiction TV series.
This photo was taken at DragonCon in 1997. The actress has since passed away (which is what I seem to be saying about a lot of these stars unfortunately).
July 14, 2018
Contest Giveaway: Guess the Actor
No one’s guessed the actress below. If no one does, I’ll post who she is in a few days. Meanwhile, here’s another actor to identify.
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This was taken at DragonCon in 1997. He sat a couple of tables away from David Hedison, so when he started playing around with the stuffed animals, I had to grab a shot.
The actor starred in a 1970s science fiction TV show. He passed away last year.
First person to guess his name gets a coupon code for the 2018 Military SF Story Bundle.
July 13, 2018
Contest Giveaway: Guess the Actress
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I’m doing a contest! First person to guess who this actress is gets a coupon code for the 2018 Military SF Bundle!
Hint: She was on Star Trek.
Check out the Bundle:
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July 10, 2018
Writing Phrase I Hate
There’s a phrase I keep seeing over and over again, and it’s one I really hate because of the implied put down.
Worse, I don’t think writers realize it is a put down.
The phrase is…
“Aspiring author.”
It means longs for, desires to be, aims for.
Yet, if you write, you’re already a writer. So this is somehow managing to say that even if you write you’re not really a writer. I just saw it on an article about a writer who wrote two books and was called aspiring.
Just walking away and trying not to cringe. As Bob Meyer said to me, there are so many people ready to put you down. There’s no need to do it to yourself.
July 9, 2018
Cave Rescue
The boys in Thailand are starting to come out of the underwater cave. I remember watching the adventures of Sea Hunt with Mike Nelson, and this is nothing like it. But it’s riveting to see how the rescuers are working it out.
The rescuers have decided to scuba dive the boys out. The boys have no experience whatsoever with diving, and the cave is so dangerous experienced divers are having problems. But they came up with an interesting idea using tethers to bring out the boys. Click on this link and look for the fourth image down to see what the rescuers are doing.
