Colin Alexander's Blog, page 3

Mid-Week Maunder 22 December 2020

How should teenagers speak?  Okay, that's a loaded question.  Let's re-state the question: how should teenagers speak in the book that you're reading (or writing)? Should they should sound like they just stepped out of a twenty-first century American high school? Or, especially if the book is a fantasy, should they be using the same, often archaic or formal, phrasing that characters frequently use in fantasies that have an old-time (say medieval) setting? I don't think there is a single good answer to this one. I have seen reviewers praise a book in which the teenage characters use much less formal - even high schoolish - speech even though the setting of the book is far removed from our current society or world. However, that does not necessarily feel right to me. Through much of our history, a male or female was considered adult when they were physically mature enough to handle adult roles (and even before). What we consider adolescence didn't really exist and I doubt that people in that age group in say the 17th century used their own slang or manner of informal speech. Karl XII of Sweden assumed full power at 15 and led the army in battle as a teen. I imagine his speech was no different than that of other adults. At the same time, of course, if the setting of the book is in the near future or in a society at a comparable level to ours, then, yes, adolescence and distinctive language patterns make sense. Whichever is chosen, though, I think consistency through the book is important.

What started me on this was reading "A Wizard's Guide To Defensive Baking" by T. Kingfisher.  The main character is Mona, a 14 year old girl with very limited magical powers who works in a bakery.  Essentially, her ability to work magic is limited to doing things with bread. Despite this limitation, a string of very unfortunate events (starting with Mona finding a dead girl on the floor of the bakery when she opens up one morning) leaves Mona as the key person to the defence of her city. The story is fun and moves fast. I liked the characters of Mona and her even younger sidekick, Spindle.  They seemed like real kids, somewhat short-term in focus and not always given to the best decision-making. There were a few things I didn't care for. Bob, Mona's magic sourdough starter, is a disappointment.  I was expecting more from the character. Also the language seemed to veer, occasionally, from what seemed to fit the setting to modern teen American. These are minor concerns. In her note at the end, the author indicates that she had received some feedback during the writing that the book was too dark for children. I don't agree. I would call the book YA and I would have no concern about having my kids read it. (Good grief, we read "Lord of The Flies" when I was in those grades!) I think it would be fine for middle-grade, too, at least for a child who can handle the length of the book. Spindle falls into that age category, which would provide a character to relate to.

Mid-week Maunder 22 December 2020

How should teenagers speak?  Okay, that’s a loaded question.  Let’s re-state the question: how should teenagers speak in the book that you’re reading (or writing)? Should they should sound like they just stepped out of a twenty-first century American high school? Or, especially if the book is a fantasy, should they be using the same, often archaic or formal, phrasing that characters frequently use in fantasies that have an old-time (say medieval) setting? I don’t think there is a single good answer to this one. I have seen reviewers praise a book in which the teenage characters use much less formal – even high schoolish – speech even though the setting of the book is far removed from our current society or world. However, that does not necessarily feel right to me. Through much of our history, a male or female was considered adult when they were physically mature enough to handle adult roles (and even before). What we consider adolescence didn’t really exist and I doubt that people in that age group in say the 17th century used their own slang or manner of informal speech. Karl XII of Sweden assumed full power at 15 and led the army in battle as a teen. I imagine his speech was no different than that of other adults. At the same time, of course, if the setting of the book is in the near future or in a society at a comparable level to ours, then, yes, adolescence and distinctive language patterns make sense. Whichever is chosen, though, I think consistency through the book is important.

What started me on this was reading “A Wizard’s Guide To Defensive Baking” by T. Kingfisher.  The main character is Mona, a 14 year old girl with very limited magical powers who works in a bakery.  Essentially, her ability to work magic is limited to doing things with bread. Despite this limitation, a string of very unfortunate events (starting with Mona finding a dead girl on the floor of the bakery when she opens up one morning) leaves Mona as the key person to the defence of her city. The story is fun and moves fast. I liked the characters of Mona and her even younger sidekick, Spindle.  They seemed like real kids, somewhat short-term in focus and not always given to the best decision-making. There were a few things I didn’t care for. Bob, Mona’s magic sourdough starter, is a disappointment.  I was expecting more from the character. Also the language seemed to veer, occasionally, from what seemed to fit the setting to modern teen American. These are minor concerns. In her note at the end, the author indicates that she had received some feedback during the writing that the book was too dark for children. I don’t agree. I would call the book YA and I would have no concern about having my kids read it. (Good grief, we read “Lord of The Flies” when I was in those grades!) I think it would be fine for middle-grade, too, at least for a child who can handle the length of the book. Spindle falls into that age category, which would provide a character to relate to.

The post Mid-week Maunder 22 December 2020 appeared first on Afictionado.

Weekend Maunder 13 December 2020

Handwavium.  What is it and why do reviewers excoriate writers over it?  Well, handwavium in science fiction is when an author writes about a scientifically impossible idea without attempting to create a basis for it; essentially, the author says, "It is because it is."  This seems to come up mostly regarding starflight or FTL (faster than light) travel when the author doesn't try to create some basis for its existence.  Instead, the characters just jump into their spaceship and fly around the galaxy. Of course, the problem with giving a plausible form of starflight is that we can't come close to doing it in reality.  The Bussard ramjet, first published back in 1960, provided a concept for reaching relativistic speeds without impossible amounts of propellant and was the foundation for Poul Anderson's famous Tau Zero. Even though the original proton-proton reaction won't do the trick, the nuclear catalytic ramjet idea published in the 1970's might. But you still have to go fast enough to light the ramjet. I've seen that published as 6% the speed of light in texts on propulsion.  Figuring a means of propulsion to get to that speed is also a problem (it's the amount of propellant that is astronomical). There are concepts for propellant-less drives, so maybe that's one way to go. Trying to go FTL is even more speculative. There are publications about wormholes but, unless there are pre-existing ones we could find (and haven't so far), making them seems to imply a need for negative mass.  The Aclubierre "warp drive" concept has been published by physicist Miguel Aclubierre but I think this also needs negative mass (this is based on what I've read, I cannot handle the math involved).  End of the day, using any of the approaches that have some grounding in science as the basis for a star drive is going to leave the author waving his hands at some point and saying, "You just gotta believe it!" (I suppose you could wave a wand just as easily, but then we'd call it fantasy.) What I find interesting is that people will come down hard on books that don't provide some background for starflight but don't do so on books that have characters, for example, who have their nervous systems re-wired to provide lightning fast reflexes or other super-human traits. One is every bit as much handwavium as the other. Where I am going to go with this is that I think we, as readers, need to decide what is our personal comfort zone for suspending disbelief. If we need some sort of rationale that at least starts from known physics or medicine or biology then those are the books we will enjoy and we should avoid ones that don't. If we are willing to simply take it as a given that we can fly to Tau Ceti in a week as long as the characters and the plot are good, then that should be fine, too, because no matter how much science we try to build in, at some point we have to suspend disbelief. You can't have your cake and eat it, too (that would violate conservation of matter ...) 

Weekend Maunder 13 December 2020

Handwavium.  What is it and why do reviewers excoriate writers over it?  Well, handwavium in science fiction is when an author writes about a scientifically impossible idea without attempting to create a basis for it; essentially, the author says, “It is because it is.”  This seems to come up mostly regarding starflight or FTL (faster than light) travel when the author doesn’t try to create some basis for its existence.  Instead, the characters just jump into their spaceship and fly around the galaxy. Of course, the problem with giving a plausible form of starflight is that we can’t come close to doing it in reality.  The Bussard ramjet, first published back in 1960, provided a concept for reaching relativistic speeds without impossible amounts of propellant and was the foundation for Poul Anderson’s famous Tau Zero. Even though the original proton-proton reaction won’t do the trick, the nuclear catalytic ramjet idea published in the 1970’s might. But you still have to go fast enough to light the ramjet. I’ve seen that published as 6% the speed of light in texts on propulsion.  Figuring a means of propulsion to get to that speed is also a problem (it’s the amount of propellant that is astronomical). There are concepts for propellant-less drives, so maybe that’s one way to go. Trying to go FTL is even more speculative. There are publications about wormholes but, unless there are pre-existing ones we could find (and haven’t so far), making them seems to imply a need for negative mass.  The Aclubierre “warp drive” concept has been published by physicist Miguel Aclubierre but I think this also needs negative mass (this is based on what I’ve read, I cannot handle the math involved).  End of the day, using any of the approaches that have some grounding in science as the basis for a star drive is going to leave the author waving his hands at some point and saying, “You just gotta believe it!” (I suppose you could wave a wand just as easily, but then we’d call it fantasy.) What I find interesting is that people will come down hard on books that don’t provide some background for starflight but don’t do so on books that have characters, for example, who have their nervous systems re-wired to provide lightning fast reflexes or other super-human traits. One is every bit as much handwavium as the other. Where I am going to go with this is that I think we, as readers, need to decide what is our personal comfort zone for suspending disbelief. If we need some sort of rationale that at least starts from known physics or medicine or biology then those are the books we will enjoy and we should avoid ones that don’t. If we are willing to simply take it as a given that we can fly to Tau Ceti in a week as long as the characters and the plot are good, then that should be fine, too, because no matter how much science we try to build in, at some point we have to suspend disbelief. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too (that would violate conservation of matter …)

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Mid-week Maunder 17 November 2020

The audiobook for Accidental Warrior is completed and off to QA at ACX!  I'm hoping this process won't take more than a few weeks but, with everything else that has been upended during this pandemic, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  In the meantime, it's back to working on getting Complicated finished and ready for publication.  That is now looking like January.  Was hoping/planning for before Christmas, but it's pretty clear that's not going to happen.  And while that's going on, I need to find time to write on a new project.  It's all fun, though ...

One topic that comes up frequently is how to write about something you haven't experienced directly.  The answer - to me anyway - is research.  I have seen people write - and heard them declaim - that you can't write a story about war if you weren't in the military, can't write a spy story if you never did that, can't write about medicine if you're not a doc and on and on.  I think there is a kernel of truth here.  Direct personal experience can inform your writing and it should help make it more vivid.  Could Tolstoy have written the way he did about Austerlitz or Borodino if he had not served in the Crimean War?  Still, careful research can allow a writer to describe scenes they have not seen.  It has to be that way.  There is no writer currently living who has experienced a nineteenth century battle or a clash of medieval knights.  In the same way, being a doctor today is not going to allow a writer to invent a medicine-based scene in a story set in a world at the level of the middle ages.  You need to do your research.  Granted, the more direct experience you have, the easier it is to do the research and reach a good result, but you have to do that work and, if you do it, I do not think you need to start off by being an expert.

For recent reading, I would like to mention Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang, translated by Ken Liu.  This is a fascinating book.  Mars has revolted against Earth and won its war of independence forty years before the book opens.  Hard feelings, tension and the potential for renewed conflict remain.  The two planets have very different social, philosophical and political structures.  Earth is presented as individualism and capitalism taken to an extreme (maybe gone amok) while Mars is shown - initially - as close to a socialist ideal.  The story focuses on a group of Martian teenagers sent to Earth for their high school years - the ultimate in foreign exchange students.  As the book proceeds, the author develops both the good and bad sides of the structures of Earth and Mars in contrast to the simplistic views that many of the characters hold (and are presented at the beginning).  This evolution is shown through the views and experiences of the students who undergo a profound culture shock, both in adapting to Earth and on returning to Mars.  This is done very realistically and is like the experience of many students today who study in other countries during their high school years (also for college students who do this and folks who work as expats, but I think the impact is greater when one is younger).  This book is really about social and political structures and the philosophy that goes with them.  It brings to mind, for example, works of Ayn Rand (although the political perspective is very different!).  The use of glass as a building material on Mars made me first think of We by Zamyatin, but in Vagabonds a good scientific and engineering reason is given for its use.  It is important to realize before starting in on this big book that it is not action-based, there are no battles.  While there is a little adventure, there is not much and readers looking for that will be disappointed.  This is an intense book about people, the way they perceive their lives and the social structures they live in.  There are a few interesting items that may be a function of translation.  The government of Mars is the "Boule", an old Greek civic structure.  This seems to work well for the way the government is described, but the head of the Boule is the "consul" which comes from the Roman Republic and Empire and feels a little jarring.  More difficult is the use of the word "atelier" to define what feels like guilds or collective organizations.  I would love to know about possible alternative translations for the Chinese word used in the original and why Mr. Liu chose "atelier".  Overall, I found this an excellent book and definitely worth reading.

Mid-week Maunder 17 November 2020

The audiobook for Accidental Warrior is completed and off to QA at ACX!  I’m hoping this process won’t take more than a few weeks but, with everything else that has been upended during this pandemic, I’m keeping my fingers crossed.  In the meantime, it’s back to working on getting Complicated finished and ready for publication.  That is now looking like January.  Was hoping/planning for before Christmas, but it’s pretty clear that’s not going to happen.  And while that’s going on, I need to find time to write on a new project.  It’s all fun, though …

One topic that comes up frequently is how to write about something you haven’t experienced directly.  The answer – to me anyway – is research.  I have seen people write – and heard them declaim – that you can’t write a story about war if you weren’t in the military, can’t write a spy story if you never did that, can’t write about medicine if you’re not a doc and on and on.  I think there is a kernel of truth here.  Direct personal experience can inform your writing and it should help make it more vivid.  Could Tolstoy have written the way he did about Austerlitz or Borodino if he had not served in the Crimean War?  Still, careful research can allow a writer to describe scenes they have not seen.  It has to be that way.  There is no writer currently living who has experienced a nineteenth century battle or a clash of medieval knights.  In the same way, being a doctor today is not going to allow a writer to invent a medicine-based scene in a story set in a world at the level of the middle ages.  You need to do your research.  Granted, the more direct experience you have, the easier it is to do the research and reach a good result, but you have to do that work and, if you do it, I do not think you need to start off by being an expert.

For recent reading, I would like to mention Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang, translated by Ken Liu.  This is a fascinating book.  Mars has revolted against Earth and won its war of independence forty years before the book opens.  Hard feelings, tension and the potential for renewed conflict remain.  The two planets have very different social, philosophical and political structures.  Earth is presented as individualism and capitalism taken to an extreme (maybe gone amok) while Mars is shown – initially – as close to a socialist ideal.  The story focuses on a group of Martian teenagers sent to Earth for their high school years – the ultimate in foreign exchange students.  As the book proceeds, the author develops both the good and bad sides of the structures of Earth and Mars in contrast to the simplistic views that many of the characters hold (and are presented at the beginning).  This evolution is shown through the views and experiences of the students who undergo a profound culture shock, both in adapting to Earth and on returning to Mars.  This is done very realistically and is like the experience of many students today who study in other countries during their high school years (also for college students who do this and folks who work as expats, but I think the impact is greater when one is younger).  This book is really about social and political structures and the philosophy that goes with them.  It brings to mind, for example, works of Ayn Rand (although the political perspective is very different!).  The use of glass as a building material on Mars made me first think of We by Zamyatin, but in Vagabonds a good scientific and engineering reason is given for its use.  It is important to realize before starting in on this big book that it is not action-based, there are no battles.  While there is a little adventure, there is not much and readers looking for that will be disappointed.  This is an intense book about people, the way they perceive their lives and the social structures they live in.  There are a few interesting items that may be a function of translation.  The government of Mars is the “Boule”, an old Greek civic structure.  This seems to work well for the way the government is described, but the head of the Boule is the “consul” which comes from the Roman Republic and Empire and feels a little jarring.  More difficult is the use of the word “atelier” to define what feels like guilds or collective organizations.  I would love to know about possible alternative translations for the Chinese word used in the original and why Mr. Liu chose “atelier”.  Overall, I found this an excellent book and definitely worth reading.

The post Mid-week Maunder 17 November 2020 appeared first on Afictionado.

Mid-Week Maunder 22 October 2020

Spent a lot of time from Thursday through Sunday online with the Mars Society meeting. As I've noted before, this is not a science fiction convention; it is a dead-serious society of people dedicated to putting a real settlement on Mars. The only relationship to science fiction is that the Mars Society aims to turn it into reality. (For a modern science fiction view, read Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang.) Due to COVID-19, the planned in-person meeting in California had to be scrapped but, making a virtue of necessity, the meeting went Zoom and I think we ended up with over 10,000 people registered from countries all across the world. Makes me think we should stick with that format.  Speakers ran the gamut from venture capital to NASA administrators to hard core scientists and covered everything from where we might find life on Mars to the details of nuclear electric propulsion and nuclear power in space (that one left me with me with my head in my hands), to what a Martian city might look like. I had to grin when one speaker commented that, due to COVID-19, they were working remotely, so she was driving the Mars rover from her kitchen table. I would say that qualifies as working remotely! Elon Musk (SpaceX, Tesla) spoke and then took questions for close to 50 minutes overall. I thought he framed the objective very succinctly: our aim should be, not just to go to Mars, but to put a settlement there that would thrive even if ships from Earth stopped coming. His company is now developing a vehicle called "Starship" that could be used for these missions. You can find his talk on YouTube and it is worth having a listen as he has demonstrated a pretty good track record for doing things that "conventional wisdom" says are impossible. Can we do this? The answer I took from the presentations is: probably. It was pointed out that there are some yes/no questions that exist. For example, can humans have children and will they grow up successfully in 1/3 of Earth gravity? If the answer turns out to be "No," then a permanent settlement may be a mirage. Still, we are not going to know the answers without going there. The orbits of Earth and Mars create an opportunity for flight every 26 months; taking that into account, Musk figured a key launch opportunity for a first heavy-lift ship would be in 4 years. So, let's get there, see what we find and answer the questions!.

Mid-week Maunder 22 October 2020

Spent a lot of time from Thursday through Sunday online with the Mars Society meeting. As I’ve noted before, this is not a science fiction convention; it is a dead-serious society of people dedicated to putting a real settlement on Mars. The only relationship to science fiction is that the Mars Society aims to turn it into reality. (For a modern science fiction view, read Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang.) Due to COVID-19, the planned in-person meeting in California had to be scrapped but, making a virtue of necessity, the meeting went Zoom and I think we ended up with over 10,000 people registered from countries all across the world. Makes me think we should stick with that format.  Speakers ran the gamut from venture capital to NASA administrators to hard core scientists and covered everything from where we might find life on Mars to the details of nuclear electric propulsion and nuclear power in space (that one left me with me with my head in my hands), to what a Martian city might look like. I had to grin when one speaker commented that, due to COVID-19, they were working remotely, so she was driving the Mars rover from her kitchen table. I would say that qualifies as working remotely! Elon Musk (SpaceX, Tesla) spoke and then took questions for close to 50 minutes overall. I thought he framed the objective very succinctly: our aim should be, not just to go to Mars, but to put a settlement there that would thrive even if ships from Earth stopped coming. His company is now developing a vehicle called “Starship” that could be used for these missions. You can find his talk on YouTube and it is worth having a listen as he has demonstrated a pretty good track record for doing things that “conventional wisdom” says are impossible. Can we do this? The answer I took from the presentations is: probably. It was pointed out that there are some yes/no questions that exist. For example, can humans have children and will they grow up successfully in 1/3 of Earth gravity? If the answer turns out to be “No,” then a permanent settlement may be a mirage. Still, we are not going to know the answers without going there. The orbits of Earth and Mars create an opportunity for flight every 26 months; taking that into account, Musk figured a key launch opportunity for a first heavy-lift ship would be in 4 years. So, let’s get there, see what we find and answer the questions!.

The post Mid-week Maunder 22 October 2020 appeared first on Afictionado.

Weekend Maunder 9 October 2020

The cover art for Complicated: The Interstellar Life and Times of Saoirse Kenneally has arrived!  It is gorgeous (okay, I'm biased) and a very nice incorporation of some key themes from the story.  it makes me even more eager to get the book finished.  Still tracking for late fall to early winter.  You can see the cover on the home page at www.afictionado.com and on Facebook @ColinAlexanderAuthor.

Speaking of cover art, one point I have heard made at a couple of panels and I agree with completely: do not skimp on the cover.  Obviously, if you have a book being published by a traditional publisher, this is not the writer's issue; the publisher handles it.  If, however, you are indie and self-publishing, it is important to find a good artist who will do your book justice.  People do react to the cover when they are making decisions about whether to buy a book.  I do, both online and browsing in a bookstore.  The style of cover art has also changed over the years.  So, have it done right.  I do not think this is the place for DIY.

On the reading side, I saw Hannah Abigail Clarke featured in the SFWA blog last month so I decided to pick up their debut book, The Scapegracers.  A note up front, this is a YA book and has a number of familiar themes such as not fitting in in high school, not having friends, and a complex (and sometimes painful) family background.  The story takes these themes in different directions than usual, however.  The main character is Sideways Pike, a fabulous name even if the derivation is clear (and is explained if you miss it).  Yes, she is the angry, socially awkward outsider but, in her case, being gay and a witch have something to do with it.  After a magic demonstration at a party she normally wouldn't be invited to, she gets in with the cool kids, who turn out to have a lot in common with her, including a talent for magic.  The danger is supplied by parties who are out to rid the world of witches (including ones in high school).  The book spends a lot of time developing the characters and does not take the plot through to completion and I think this is because this is intended to be the first book in a series.  Enough of the plot is shown that you can come to a logical pause (if not an end) at the conclusion of the book.  The characters were well-developed, especially Sideways, and the construction of the magical world was good.  Some of the angst became a bit repetitive, especially in the second half of the book and I would have liked to see more of the plot development but, yes, I am probably going to get the next one.  Overall this is a fun, quick read - this from someone who generally doesn't read YA.

Weekend Maunder 9 October 2020

The cover art for Complicated: The Interstellar Life and Times of Saoirse Kenneally has arrived!  It is gorgeous (okay, I’m biased) and a very nice incorporation of some key themes from the story.  it makes me even more eager to get the book finished.  Still tracking for late fall to early winter.  You can see the cover on the home page at www.afictionado.com and on Facebook @ColinAlexanderAuthor.

Speaking of cover art, one point I have heard made at a couple of panels and I agree with completely: do not skimp on the cover.  Obviously, if you have a book being published by a traditional publisher, this is not the writer’s issue; the publisher handles it.  If, however, you are indie and self-publishing, it is important to find a good artist who will do your book justice.  People do react to the cover when they are making decisions about whether to buy a book.  I do, both online and browsing in a bookstore.  The style of cover art has also changed over the years.  So, have it done right.  I do not think this is the place for DIY.

On the reading side, I saw Hannah Abigail Clarke featured in the SFWA blog last month so I decided to pick up their debut book, The Scapegracers.  A note up front, this is a YA book and has a number of familiar themes such as not fitting in in high school, not having friends, and a complex (and sometimes painful) family background.  The story takes these themes in different directions than usual, however.  The main character is Sideways Pike, a fabulous name even if the derivation is clear (and is explained if you miss it).  Yes, she is the angry, socially awkward outsider but, in her case, being gay and a witch have something to do with it.  After a magic demonstration at a party she normally wouldn’t be invited to, she gets in with the cool kids, who turn out to have a lot in common with her, including a talent for magic.  The danger is supplied by parties who are out to rid the world of witches (including ones in high school).  The book spends a lot of time developing the characters and does not take the plot through to completion and I think this is because this is intended to be the first book in a series.  Enough of the plot is shown that you can come to a logical pause (if not an end) at the conclusion of the book.  The characters were well-developed, especially Sideways, and the construction of the magical world was good.  Some of the angst became a bit repetitive, especially in the second half of the book and I would have liked to see more of the plot development but, yes, I am probably going to get the next one.  Overall this is a fun, quick read – this from someone who generally doesn’t read YA.

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