Brian Burt's Blog: Work in Progress, page 7

Midwest Book Review - Happy New Year!

I'm thrilled and honored that Diane Donovan, Senior eBook Reviewer at Midwest Book Review, just posted a very kind and complimentary review of Aquarius Rising: In the Tears of God in the January 2015 edition of MBR. For those who are interested, the entire review can be read here:

Midwest Book Review - January 2015

What an uplifting way to begin the new year. Thanks, Diane and MBR, for the much-appreciated encouragement!

Virtual Book Tour

As someone focused on eBook sales, it seemed logical to focus on online marketing and promotion efforts. I'm excited to have a virtual book tour kicking off on December 10 for my debut novel, Aquarius Rising: In the Tears of God. Worldwind Virtual Book Tours has done a wonderful job of orchestrating this, with 15 web site venues across 8 days, from December 10th through the 18th. They've arranged a variety of interviews, reviews, guest posts, spotlight posts, and excerpts.

You can see the full itinerary on Worldwind's tour page for the book, here: Aquarius Rising - Worldwind Virtual Book Tours.

It was a very nice experience working with Tia Souders at Worldwind. I highly recommend it!

#SFWApro

I Think, Therefore iWeb - or EverWeb

I have a virtual book tour coming up in a couple of weeks. As I was preparing, I gave my author website a critical look and had to admit that it was pretty old (okay, archaic). I originally built it years ago using Apple's iWeb software. Kudos to Apple for creating a program that made it easy to craft basic websites, especially content-oriented, mostly static sites like mine. But Apple pulled the plug on iWeb as a product a few years back, leaving it still functional but stagnant. I decided it was time to move to something new.

After doing some online research, I found EverWeb. Quite a few former iWeb users had migrated to EverWeb and seemed quite happy with it. I downloaded the free trial version and gave it a shot as I designed the new website.

EverWeb was easy and intuitive to use for anyone familiar with iWeb, but it is much more feature-rich. I really liked the ability to create Master Pages with the standard header, navigation menu, and footer that you can use to template all of the other pages in your site. That way, if you want to tweak something in the header or footer, you do it once, in one place, and it takes effect on every page. Nice!

The Navigation Menu widget was very nice as well, allowing you to easily create drop-down menus for main sections of your site. So, for instance, it's simple to create a parent page for short stories with separate child pages for each story, with the drop-down menu showing all of the child pages. Cool!

EverWeb has some other useful widgets for integrating with Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, or any RSS Feed source (like a blog hosted elsewhere). These came in quite handy in adding richer media to the site. The Assets tab made it convenient to keep track of all of the site images in one place (and easily reuse them on other pages).

EverWeb also offers a web hosting service that is tightly integrated into the software. It's pretty cheap and makes it incredibly simple to publish site updates; using it also guarantees full compatibility with some of the fancier widgets (like the Contact Form, for example).

Overall, I really liked the EverWeb experience. I wound up with a much nicer website that didn't take long to build, and the hosting option made publishing (and republishing) a no-brainer. (Perfect for me! ;-)

If you're a Mac user like me, and especially if you've used iMac for website development in the past, EverWeb is an excellent option. I expect its ease of use to make it possible for me to keep my website content fresher, pushing updates much more frequently than I did in the past. So Apple fans, no worries: iWeb is dead, but long live EverWeb!

#SFWApro

The Devil You Know

I just finished reading an awesome pair of science fiction novels by Daniel Suarez: Daemon, and its compelling sequel, Freedom™. A friend at work recommended them to me (and even loaned me the books!). They're right up my alley, as I love SF and happen to be a career "computer geek" for my day job, with a recent focus on information security. These novels, clearly written by someone with deep knowledge in these areas, refine the whole concept of "malware." They explore the dark (and, at the same time, hopeful) places our reliance on information technology might take us as software controls more of our lives, our environments, and our livelihoods.

If you're familiar with the term the internet of things, then you can imagine some of the challenges faced by the main characters in these novels as they first try to stop the Daemon that is spreading across the internet, wresting control from the prevailing societal powers-that-be. Then, as Book 2 progresses, you're faced with the same conundrum that bedevils the protagonist: ultimately, is the Daemon wearing a black hat, a white hat, or perhaps clad in messy shades of gray? Would the modern world be better with or without the influence of genius game designer Matthew Sobol's emotionless, cybernetic game master?

The Daemon is terrifying in many ways. It has no compassion, no sense of mercy. It is ruled by the cruel calculus of "optimal social outcomes" and "the end justifies the means." But, as it establishes a virtual society in "D-space" where everyone can up-vote or down-vote a proposal, a pure meritocracy where your reputation rises and falls based on how righteously you interact with others, you see the method to Sobol's madness. In his view, the fate of humanity has been concentrated in the hands of a few wealthy, elite, ruthless power-brokers who pull the strings of government, the economy, and the welfare of most "average" people. By subverting their digital resources and bastions of power, the Daemon becomes a democratizing force.

So is the Daemon good or bad for humanity? And, if you were given the power to decide, would you preserve it or destroy it?

It's a fascinating story line. The plots of both books are relentless, with plenty of thrills, chills, twists and turns. Bad things happen to good people, and vice versa, before the entire tale plays out. This story will keep you guessing. It will also force you to reconsider the (steadily blurring) boundary between the real and the virtual.

If you're a fan of MMORPG's, worry about cyber-security, or just like using social media, these novels will challenge your assumptions and stretch your imagination. The Daemon's world may not be such a bad end-state after all. And we may all learn to depend on our avatars in the not-too-distant future.

If I'm broke, will you loan me some darknet credits? I promise to rate you 5 stars and help you level up in the redefined Game of Life, Daemon style!

#SFWApro

Rockin' Promotional Trailer

My publisher, Double Dragon Publishing, just released a very cool promotional trailer featuring some of their award-winning titles. Miraculously, this includes my debut novel, Aquarius Rising: In the Tears of God. Thank you, DDP, for promoting the efforts of your writers!

Burning Books

My family and I just happened to stream The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on Netflix this weekend. It's an excellent movie. Jennifer Lawrence is extraordinary (her facial expressions alone convey more emotional impact that most actors can in an entire scene). The rest of the cast are brilliant as well, transporting the audience into a dark, dystopian vision of the future. But - okay, I admit it - I'm biased. To me, the films are never as engrossing as the books that inspire them. The Hunger Games series is no exception.

I'm sure some of my SF comrades will dismiss these novels as "escapist young adult fiction." Fair enough. Maybe I'm just immature (my wife will vouch for that in a heartbeat ;-). But I'd list two recent "young adult" fiction series among my all-time favorites, and The Hunger Games ranks beside Harry Potter in that category for me. Both are simply tremendous examples of the storyteller's art. Both feature protagonists, antagonists, and supporting casts of characters who grab the reader's imagination and refuse to let go. And I'll make a confession: The Hunger Games is the first trilogy I can remember that hooked me so profoundly that I re-read it, start to finish, as soon as I digested the last line of the last book.

Katniss Everdeen is a remarkable heroine, more so because of the all-too-human blind spots she possesses that make her even more endearing. Katniss is brutally honest about her own shortcomings; she recognizes herself as a survivor, someone who does whatever it takes to persevere in the face of every cruelty the Capitol metes out. She is wholly blind to the fact that she will (and does) sacrifice everything to safeguard the people she loves... and, despite her prickly personality, that love extends much wider than she is willing to admit. She is the perfect reluctant hero, leading by example rather than by eloquent oratory or personal charisma. She cares. In the end, the oppressed people around her sense that, to their core, even when she is incapable of expressing it directly. And - despite her reservations, her sense that she is unworthy - she cannot help becoming the torch that lights the fires of rebellion against the Capitol.

Katniss is forced into the roles of freedom fighter and gladiator as a teenager, so we can understand when the turmoil of her world's politics is mirrored by the turmoil in her personal life. She has strong feelings for two young men, Gale and Peeta, and is unable to choose between them. On some level, she seems to doubt that she deserves the love of either. Until the end, she remains maddeningly ignorant of the power she holds over her would-be suitors as well as over the poor, desperate residents of the districts that have suffered for three-quarters of a century under the boot of the Capitol's repressive regime. Like it or not, she has become their symbol of hope for a better life. No young person should have to bear such a burden. But, time and again, when it matters most, Katniss sacrifices her own welfare for the benefit of others and reveals a strength of character that demonstrates how one person can change everything.

These novels feature many other memorable characters. Peeta is the natural leader of the tale, a selfless young man whose fundamental goodness shines through to Capitol audiences and district crowds alike. President Snow is a captivating villain: cold, calculating, ruthless, but subtle in his evil machinations. Haymitch, Gale, Finnick, Cinna, and Prim all leave a strong impression in the reader's mind. But it is ultimately Katniss who makes this trilogy so unforgettable. The "girl on fire" burns herself into the reader's memory in a way that leaves a lasting impression.

So, by all means, enjoy the movies as this film series reaches its conclusion. Marvel at the acting skills of this excellent cast, the cinematic magic of the CGI, the orchestration of the director. But don't shortchange yourself. Read the novels written by Suzanne Collins so that you can soak up every nuance of the story that inspired the films. The screen may glow brightly, but the pages burst into flame. And some books were meant to burn!

#SFWApro

A Man and a Mouse

It's hard to believe how deeply the story of a man and his mouse companion can impact its audience. No, not Walt and Mickey - I'm referring to Charlie Gordon and Algernon, the protagonists from Daniel Keyes' classic SF novel, Flowers for Algernon. This has always been on my "too-read" list, but I never quite got around to it until last week. It was worth the wait and didn't disappoint. The book may have been published more than fifty years ago, but it has stood the test of time for good reason.

The story is told through a series of journal entries or "progress reports" recorded by Charlie Gordon, the first human test subject in an experimental procedure that has already transformed Algernon the lab mouse into a rodent genius. At the story's outset, Charlie - a mentally disabled young man who barely grasps what is happening to him but nevertheless is driven by a desire to please and be liked - is humiliated by his inability to compete with his mouse counterpart in solving mazes. He initially hates Algernon, who serves as yet another reminder that Charlie is "a moron" (in the vernacular of the day), doomed to be mocked by the normal people around him or (worse) dismissed as unworthy of their attention.

Charlie's frustration is short-lived. As reflected by his increasingly sophisticated progress reports, Charlie's intelligence grows exponentially until it far exceeds the mental capacities of the very scientists who devised the procedure that transforms him. His expanded intellect does not, however, bring Charlie joy or peace of mind. Instead, it leads him on an intense personal journey to understand who he really is, what role intelligence plays in defining his value as a human being, and what really constitutes the essence of a person. Through higher levels of insight, Charlie realizes a disturbing truth: he has allowed his heightened intelligence to make him as condescending toward the "normal" humans around him as they once were toward him. His focus on pure knowledge and intellect have left him empty, unfulfilled, arrogant, and disconnected from the lives of others. Ultimately, he comes to understand that only by forging meaningful bonds with those around him can he become a "real person" in the most critical sense.

When Algernon the uber-mouse begins to display erratic behavior, then regresses, it is left to Charlie to analyze the theory as well as the experimental evidence and conclude that the procedure that has augmented his intelligence, and Algernon's, is fatally flawed. Their meteoric rise in intellect will be followed by an equally dramatic fall. Charlie, better than anyone, realizes what lies ahead: he will lose everything he has gained, and more, plummeting to a level below that at which he started. He can do nothing to stop this, nor can any of his scientist sponsors or comrades. His only hope is to fight the mental decline as best he can, to "run up the down escalator" to try to slow the descent.

I found the last part of this novel agonizing, personally. I can imagine no more horrifying fate than to see your mental landscape crumbling around you, destroying the essence of who you are or who you have become. In many ways, this reminded me of the novel Still Alice, which chronicles the decline of a brilliant woman academic stricken with early-onset Alzheimer's. The difference here is that Charlie's journey of self-discovery has led him to a core insight: the "new and improved" Charlie is a fundamentally different person than the original volunteer for the experiment. That other Charlie, despite the limits placed on the scope of his existence by his mental disability, was a real person. He had created a life for himself, and relationships with coworkers who, if not truly friends, were at least emotional anchors that held him fast against the storms. As Charlie's intelligence recedes, he makes peace with the fact that he has only "borrowed" that other Charlie's life and must inevitably return it.

This is one of those books that echoes in the mind long after the final lines are read. Charlie, before the surgery, was limited in many ways, but he had a gentleness of spirit and capacity for affection that touched the lives of many "normal" people around him. The "cerebrally supercharged" Charlie comes to realize that, on some level, that other Charlie had a richer life. The reader, too, is left to ponder the valuation of emotion vs. intellect in the calculus of a person's life. And nobody can finish this poignant, tragic tale without reconsidering the way we as a society treat the mentally handicapped.

One of Charlie's last journal entries begs its readers to remember poor Algernon the mouse, to continue to visit his tiny grave and place fresh flowers there in remembrance of the sacrifice he made to advance human knowledge. Like Algernon, this novel deserves to be remembered fondly and revisited often.

#SFWApro

Science and Religion - Can't We All Just Get Along?

I heard a news story on NPR the other day about a recent study showing that our neighbors to the north in Canada ranked first among all countries surveyed in terms of scientific literacy. We in the U.S., despite investing much more capital in scientific research, lag far behind Canadians when it comes to our citizens' ability to understand news stories that detail scientific findings.

Wow - that's both humbling and disturbing. Given the importance of science and technology to the success of our nation and economy, this doesn't bode well for us. Maybe, by studying the example set by our friends Up North, we can learn how to do better.

Jon Miller, the director of the International Center for the Advancement of Scientific Literacy at the University of Michigan and a member of the panel that produced the report about Canada's level of "science geek proficiency," offers a simple explanation. "Culturally, Canada has not had a component of their population that are basically anti-science," says Miller, whereas "one-third of our population (in the U.S.) that are fundamentalists reject many things scientific, starting with evolution."

That's a sad commentary on America's willingness and ability to embrace science. It isn't helped by the overt politicization of science in our polarized two-party holy war for the hearts and minds of voters: "Your scientists say X, but our scientists say Y." Real scientific consensus is obscured behind editorial rants and opinion polls.

So how do we fix this? And how do we writers of speculative fiction, specifically, help turn the tide?

First of all, I think we need to be very clear about not regarding our religious brethren as enemies. Science and religion don't need to be adversarial; it's not a zero-sum game where one camp has to lose for the other to gain. In fact, a recent study by Rice University shows that U.S. scientists are not "religion-bashing atheists" but are remarkably similar in their religious practices to the general public. We can reflect and reinforce this in our works of fiction. That religious villain who is fundamentalist, fanatical, and anti-science is every bit as tired a caricature as the "mad scientist" in Hollywood B movies. The brilliant scientist hero who dismisses religion as a "fear-induced fantasy to comfort the weak-minded" is no less cliched.

Real people, and real issues, are complicated. Neither side of this conflict is wholly right or wrong, and both sides are guilty of stoking the fires of animosity between them. Maybe, as writers, we can tell stories that use the wonder of science to strengthen, and not denigrate, people's faith. Who can view the spectacular images from Hubble and not celebrate the truth that there are forces shaping our universe (or multiverse) that we don't yet fully grasp? In the unseen dimensions of the quantum world, or the voids between galaxies, there is plenty of room for the divine.

Scientists are trained to maintain a healthy dose of skepticism... but being skeptical of someone else's belief system can impede the very progress our society so desperately needs if we're going to solve the problems that threaten our viability as a species. Faith can move mountains, as the saying goes. Maybe, if we unify faith in the scientific method with faith in a higher power instead of placing them in opposition, we can start to move the mountain-sized obstacles we face.

#SFWApro

Soylent - Not Green, Not People (I Hope)

Okay, who among us in the SF world can hear the term "soylent" and not think of the movie Soylent Green, based on Harry Harrison's Make Room! Make Room! When I first heard about this "engineered food product" from my oldest son, I couldn't help myself: the immortal cry "Soylent Green is people" reverberated inside my skull, and my gag reflex kicked in. As an SF fan / writer, though, I realize it's crucial to keep an open mind. My son educated me on the origin of this "traditional-food substitute," the way it's gone viral on the web, and the hundreds of early adopters who swear by its efficacy in simplifying their lives, improving their nutrition, and even ameliorating pre-existing medical conditions. Okay, I'm paying attention now. Soylent creators, convince me that it's truly a nectar-and-ambrosia smoothie and not a snake-oil shake.

I have seen Rob Rhinehart, the inventor of Soylent, interviewed on The Colbert Report, my family's favorite source of unbiased news (along with the Daily Show, of course). Yes, it is intriguing, I admit: kind of like Carnation Instant Breakfast on steroids (which, in retrospect, may not sound all that healthy, eh?). Or maybe a "next-gen" fusion of the kid-classic snack of Space Food Sticks and Tang from my Apollo-era youth? Rob was frustrated by the time (and money) it took to concoct healthy, nutritious meals three times a day, every day, and decided to experiment with engineering a food product that provided all of the essential nutrients in a simple, easy-to-store, easy-to-make, easy-to-consume powdered drink.

We've been down this road before. The supplement industry and processed food manufacturers have repeatedly claimed to capture human health in a bottle (okay, a pouch that you mix with water into a bottle?). In truth, these claims haven't panned out. The slow-food movement has arisen in direct opposition to this trend, pointing out (reasonably) that many millennia of evolution have adapted humans to efficiently extract needed nutrients from natural, whole-food sources in ways that no human engineer can fully duplicate. It's a fair criticism. But, at one time, a similar argument could be made for traditional folk remedies vs. modern pharmaceuticals, and yet few of us would forego that miracle medication prescribed by our doctor when we're seriously ill.

So does Soylent actually work? It's too soon to tell, for my family. My son recently received his first official shipment of a week's supply of the product. Our whole family has at least tried it, and it's surprisingly palatable. My oldest has used it for a couple of days and claims to have slept better in the last two nights than he has in months. (He suffers from a medical condition that makes insomnia the rule rather than the exception, so this is a pretty big deal.)

Is Soylent a miracle food product, a decent time-saving substitute for traditional meals, or just another pricey supplement that can't ultimately live up to its hype? I don't know yet. But I, and my family, are intrigued. We plan to join the Soylent experiment. As we gain more experience with it, we'll share the results for the benefit of others.

#SFWApro

My Favorite Martian

As a struggling writer with only one published novel under my belt, I'm constantly inspired by the debut novels that "make it big" despite long odds. I'm also a confirmed tech geek who works in information technology (as an info security engineer), so I'm especially predisposed to pull for the "geeky underdog" writers.

So success stories among nerdy, computer-scientist debut novelists really inspire me. Enter the brilliant, clever, intricate, and energetic first novel from computer scientist Andy Weir - The Martian.

An info tech friend at work recommended this novel to me. Wow, am I grateful that he did! The novel opens with protagonist Mark Watney - a NASA astronaut specializing in botany and mechanical engineering - realizing that he has been accidentally marooned on planet Mars by his crew-mates, who believed him dead in the midst of a killer sand-storm. Watney is living the explorer's worst nightmare: he is the only living being on an entire planet, one hostile to life, devoid of sustenance, and millions of kilometers from rescue. If he is to have any hope of survival, he must find a way to grow his own food, extend the useful life of equipment designed for a mission of weeks so that it lasts for tens of months, and navigate across harsh, uncharted Martian terrain for thousands of kilometers to reach the landing site of the next Mars mission.

What follows, after NASA analysts realize that Watney is still alive, is an epic thriller as the entire world comes together to marshal their combined space resources in a desperate attempt to mount a rescue mission to recover one lonely, stranded adventurer. Watney is the ultimate hero. He overcomes obstacle after obstacle, fights through unforeseen system failures and constant adversity, and refuses to surrender to either despair or fatalism. He is more alone than any human being has ever been. He has only his own wits, ingenuity, and determination to sustain himself. And, despite concocting one MacGyver solution after another, he is running out of time.

The science behind this novel (at least to this non-scientist) is satisfying and impressive. The reader gets the impression that Mr. Weir did his homework and then some, scrupulously researching the feasibility of the protagonist's remarkable solutions to problems that would leave most of us cowering in the corner, devoid of hope. I felt like the science and tech in this novel, as incredible as they were, had been vetted by NASA / JPL experts. The protagonist is the prototypical astronaut we all dream of being as kids: he is a hero's hero, unflappable, clever, creative, and maintains a goofy sense of humor in the face of desperate circumstance.

Mr. Weir was (to me, at least) as inspiring as his protagonist. He originally self-published this novel after being rebuffed repeatedly by agents and publishers. His fans generated such a groundswell of enthusiasm for his debut novel that traditional publishers were forced to take notice; Twentieth-Century Fox ultimately secured the movie rights. What an inspiration to rookie novelists!

So Mr. Weir, like Mark Watney, shows us that we should keep fighting and never give up. In my own alternate reality, Mark Watney would run for president - as an independent - and would win in a landslide.

Who says that a Martian invasion has to be a bad thing?

#SFWApro