MeiLin Miranda's Blog, page 30
June 6, 2012
My little Ray Bradbury story
Like most readers, I am saddened to hear of the passing of Ray Bradbury. Not for him--he lived a good life, a great life, and leaves behind a body of work that will be read for decades to come. Maybe for always. It's so hard to know, sitting in this time, what people will read in others. I'm betting no one expected Wilkie Collins to be all but forgotten, for instance.
In my girlhood, I read nothing but science fiction. A little fantasy, but almost exclusively science fiction. Among the authors whose works I gorged myself upon was Bradbury, in fact, I think he was THE author whose books I never missed. I read everything of his I could get my hands on, everything on our library's shelves. It was something of an obsession.
I had another obsession: The Firesign Theatre. The FT was a beacon of my adolescence. I learned SO MUCH from them, and 40 years later I'm still discovering jokes among the deeply layered textures of their work. I had Nick Danger memorized to the point that I could act it out with other fans, radio play style, down to the sound effects. (I did this more than once. Oh, Mei, you're such a tool!)
When I was 17 or so, our local library was lucky enough to snag Mr Bradbury for a reading. I think he knew a guy who knew a guy at the library, who knows; I grew up in the LA area, anything's possible. It was quite a reading, and afterwards he gave autographs.
When it came my turn, for some reason--and I still don't know why--I blurted out, "Have you ever heard of the Firesign Theatre?"
Mr Bradbury looked at me in astonishment for a moment and answered, "Funny you should ask. David Ossman [one of the four members] is an old friend of mine. We go WAY back, like to the '50s way back." He signed my sketchbook and took up the entire page with a self-portrait, his signature, and the inscription in giant letters "DAVE OSSMAN'S FRIEND!!"
I wish I could say I knew where that sketchbook is. I really wish I could say that I have David Ossman's autograph with "RAY BRADBURY'S FRIEND!!" on it. But I can't.
FT's Peter Bergman died in April of this year, the first member of the group to leave us. Peter died of leukemia at age 72. Mr Bradbury died at age 91, after a full life. They both died too soon. I never thought Mr Bradbury would die, did you, really? I mean, deep down. He was like a literary constant, an axiom.
Both men deeply influenced my life, not just as a writer but as a person. For that, I thank them.
June 5, 2012
How to make sure you see my Facebook posts
Apparently if you've "liked" a page, you don't always see its updates on your feed. Facebook is trying to make those of us with pages pay to make sure all of the fans--fans we already have--see our updates. Seriously.
This is true not only of my page but any page you "like." Here's how to make sure you see not just my page but the others you want to see in your feed, courtesy Always Upward blog:
How to keep receiving posts from FB pages you’ve “Liked”
June 4, 2012
Chapter 4 Part 7 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
Inglatine was just as dull and plodding as expected. She groped for words in her horrendous Tremontine until she lapsed into either Leutish or Old Sairish. Lassanna knew Old Sairish alone of the ladies-in-waiting; her mother had insisted her girls be educated as she was, despite Tremontine custom. Knowing Old Sairish was fortunate, if translating for a lump like Inglatine could be considered so.
Lassa sorted fine wool threads for Inglatine's embroidery, and helped put her to bed at night; the Princess insisted Lassa was the only one who could properly comb out her stubborn, impossibly yellow hair. Lassa soon found herself in the unwelcome position of favorite, but even as tiresome as Inglatine was, Lassa had to acknowledge her kind, gentle manner.
Court life made it bearable: dancing, feasting, music, entertainments of all kinds, often in the Sairish way even with the two countries on the brink of war. Though the King had spent many years in Sairland and its territories, his chief counselor Teacher insisted the Sairish should not only be opposed but driven back. Land gained was magic gained.
June 1, 2012
Chapter 4 Part 6 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
Temmin came to himself, still feeling Lassa's delight in fashionable clothes and freedom. "She reminds me of Elly," he said.
Teacher echoed his smile. "Lassanna of Whitehorse could be said to be a spiritual sister to the Princess, yes."
"But why is her story important? It's not real history, is it?"
"The History contains the forgotten stories, especially those of the Kingdom's women--your family's women in particular. Did you know anything about Emmae before you heard her story?"
All the kings of Tremont--Temmin had the entire line memorized all the way back to Temmin the Great. But the queens? No, unless they brought substantial holdings or benefit to the Kingdom. Ilhovin the Peacemaker married a princess of Sairland and cemented the final truce between the colonizer and the once-colonized at last, for instance, but he didn't know her name. In marrying Princess Emmae, Warin the Wise secured Litta for his son Gethin the Third, but Temmin hadn't known her name or her story until Teacher told him last year.
"All right," Temmin admitted, "if you say it's important, then we start with her, and I'll find out what her connection is with Temmin the Bastard at some point, I suppose." He closed the book and began to rise from his chair when a thought took him. "Teacher, is there any news about my sister Mattie?"
May 28, 2012
Chapter 4 Part 5 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
Gonnor was waiting when she came into her mother's rooms the next afternoon. "I disapprove your sleeping so late, Lassanna."
"The dancing didn't end until dawn, and I was having such wonderful fun, Papa! I don't know how you could stand to go to bed. I suppose when one is old--"
"I'm not old, I'm forty-eight!" He turned to Lassa's mother. "Woman! You should have made her come upstairs much, much earlier. Can I trust you with nothing?"
May 25, 2012
Chapter 4 Part 4 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
The first day of Winter's Beginning, 40 KY
Tremont Keep
Gonnor Lord Whitehorse disapproved of modern life--women eating with the men, dancers touching hands!--and never more than right now. His youngest daughter Lassanna danced with Prince Andrin this Eddin's Day night, her collarbones showing above her fur-trimmed neckline, and her unveiled hair fanning to one side whenever she swung round too quickly--he could see her nape! Was honor such a forgotten thing at the court of Temmin the Second? Temmin the Great would never have stood for it. In his days, men knew how to marshal their wives and daughters. But those days were forty years gone, and Gonnor himself had been a child.
May 24, 2012
Three boxes of awesome
Lookie!
Crappy cellphone picture, but you get the idea! Somehow, my 11-year-old lugged these three boxes (2 filled with Son in Sorrow, the other filled with Lovers and Beloveds for those who got the 2-book set) into the house.
So now I get to schedule the mailing party! yay!
May 21, 2012
Chapter 4 Part 3 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
Words bloomed on the pages, and Temmin's stomach tightened in anticipation. Pictures took the place of words. He looked down as if from a great height at a butte rising high between two rivers converging to its south. The western river sparkled green and light in the sun; the eastern one was wide, and dark as a shadow.
The southern side of the butte sheered off, steep and foreboding; to the north it sloped away into a boundless forest and up into the foothills of a great mountain with three peaks. His viewpoint descended to a stone fortress built into the butte's highest point. It overlooked a bustling settlement crowding the confluence of the two rivers; smoke from its many chimneys made a cloud. Seven tree-covered hills rose in the city, each topped with what looked like temples in various stages of construction; one had a flat white boulder atop it that Temmin recognized as the Father's Rock, an ancient shrine to Pagg. The eighth was the largest, a black rise hulking to the south and west, alone in a forest.
May 18, 2012
Chapter 4 Part 2 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
For the first time in almost a year, Temmin found himself at loose ends. His ride with his mother took up part of the morning, but they were back by breakfast. He was not allowed to leave the Keep or its grounds. He might go to the stables. At home, the Estate's stablehands welcomed and then ignored him, treating him as a sort of honored comrade. At the Keep he made the men uncomfortable and formal; it turned a pleasure into a pointless exercise. Given time, he could have won them over, but he didn't have time. He would be at the Keep just a week.
May 14, 2012
Long-term Relationships: Web serials and love (guest blog by Cecilia Tan!)
Today we have a guest post from Cecilia Tan, fellow webserial writer (Daron's Guitar Chronicles) and the person behind Circlet Press, my occasional publisher. Take it away, Cecilia!
A reader of mine once told me why she had switched from reading erotica (which is mostly short stories) to romance novels. "I'm tired of the one-night stand," she said. "I want more of a relationship from my fiction." And it's true. While the erotic short story often delivers a panty-soaking fantasy--at least when I write them--the novel gives the reader a chance to get to know the characters and become emotionally engaged with them. More importantly, readers can become emotionally invested.
But a novel can still be over in a night, if you read fast. Where does a reader turn for a real "long-term relationship" in fiction? One choice is the multi-book series. Was it a blessing or a curse to get hooked on the Harry Potter series and wait between volumes to find out what would happen? Or what about George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire which has been going on since 1996 and has had gaps of three to six years between books? That might be a long-term relationship, but it's also like a long-distance relationship where you only see each other once in a blue moon.
This is one reason I think many readers have fallen in love with the web serial as a form. One gets to enjoy the long-term emotional engagement with the characters while at the same time receiving regular updates on the story.
