Cesar Torres's Blog, page 12
October 25, 2012
The Labyrinth, Episode 19 – Sam Weller
Sam Weller, award-winning journalist and official biographer of the late author Ray Brabdury, joins me in the Labyrinth this week. Sam is a writing professor at Columbia College in Chicago, as well as the author of several published short stories and upcoming novels. In this episode we go deep into the mysteries of writing, and what it takes to find your own voice and method to become a great writer. We talk about Sam’s own relationship with Bradbury, how cities can influence a writer’s work, and we even chat about Godzilla and Mothra. If you’re curious about how to become a better writer, you’re going to want to hear Sam’s words. And what is his strangest thing that ever happened to him? It’s going to sound like science fiction to you, so be warned.
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Download and Listen: The Labyrinth, Episode 18 – Sam Weller
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Links
Listen to the Echoes
Sam Welller’s web site (with links to his published works, short stories and future appearances)
Sam Weller on Twitter
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October 20, 2012
The Labyrinth, Episode 18 – Conner Habib
Writer and porn actor Conner Habib is man whose conversation has a story inside a story, and them inside that, another story. Conner sat down with me to talk about his urge to move to San Francisco, and how a dark time in life sparked that move. We also talked about writing, the impermanence of the material world, and what that means when one part of your profession includes having sex with other people and their bodies. We get metaphysical, radicalized in this episode. And since it’s October ,Conner’s strangest thing that ever happened turns out to be a the first strangest thing that happened to him .
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Download and Listen: The Labyrinth, Episode 18 – Conner Habib
Links
Conner Habibs’ Blog (Safe for work)
October 17, 2012
The Labyrinth, Episode 17 – Jacqui Cheng
Writer and editor Jacqui Cheng enters The Labyrinth this week to talk about her life as a writer, the early days of Twitter, and what she does when she’s not connected to technology and the Internet. Jacqui is Senior Apple Editor at Ars Technica (where I also happen to work). Jacqui and I end up going to some philosophical places about what identity means on the Internet, and the ways in which people really tell the story of technology. Also, Jacqui’s strangest thing that ever happened to her dovetails with a recent strange thing that happened to me. A little scary, a little spooky.
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Download and Listen: The Labyrinth, Episode 17 – Jacqui Cheng
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E-Book news: I reviewed the new Kindle Paperwhite at Ars Technica
It’s been a while since I’ve posted here about some of my interest and professional work in e-reader and e-book topics.
I wrote a review for Ars Technica of the brand new Kindle Paperwhite, the first of Amazon’s Kindle’s with lit screen. You know how much I like e-books; I think you’ll be surprised at the final verdict. Story link: Brighter, sharper, and ad-filled: The Kindle Paperwhite review
October 12, 2012
When your muse texts you back
She did.
My muse texted me, and it said something to the effect of “GET YOUR ASS MOVING, YOU LAZY FUCK. WRITE.”
It was that simple. Now, let me just say that I have not had writer’s block. It’s not as simple as that. But you should know that it was time for me to update you on progress in my projects. I have felt a little too mellow in my writing, but there’s also evidence that I have been making decent progress with some literary projects. You also deserve an update on how much other life stuff has contributed to these changes.
Last time you heard from me on this blog about writing updates, it was March, and I was inching my way along the first draft of the novel “The Ocean Hunters.” It was right around that time that I decided to move to New York with my boyfriend Matt. The move wouldn’t happen until September, but it meant I would be pretty busy making the move happen.
I wrote incrementally in “The Ocean Hunters,” but its pace slowed to a sickly crawl. I also cleaned out old clothes from closets, sold gadgets, packed up my life. The move took up precious hours. As you can imagine, the usual writer’s shame set in. Then, summer was here, and I spent some time doing a re-write of an earlier novel I mentioned in this blog before. That novel was code named “Carapace.” I have been doing some revising and rewriting, and well, that’s been slowing down the new copy in “Ocean Hunters.”
I think that is okay. I am going to not judge myself in this moment, because I do feel that. I have made progress, even if it’s not exactly linear.
When the text comes in, what can one do but comply?
Then, as you know, I began work on The Labyrinth. That project has been an amazing breath of fresh air, and even though it’s an audio project, I feel like it’s opened the doors of my imagination a little further. I love doing it. Overall, the production and recording time of the show add up to about 2-3 hours a week, and that is time I am not writing.
That is okay also, I think.
Revisions to “Carapace” are almost done, and in the process, I managed to squeeze out a brand new short story last week called “For Safety.” I am not sure if I am going to publish it to this blog or submit it for publication. What do you think?
So, the wheels are turning, friends. And I am grateful to all of you, because you are in this with me, and I am grateful for friends and family and how they support my writing.
As soon as next week I’ll be back in “The Ocean Hunters.” This novel feels unwieldy, but in a good way. We have ancient artifacts, hidden libraries and a world of magic that keeps me coming back to it every time I come back to the word processor. Yes, there’s monsters in it, too.
I am going to go back to some word count goals on this project, but I think I will be cautious about not wanting to hurry through this manuscript. I think 2,500 words a week should do me.
All in all, 2012 has gone well, but I feel like I should be more, I don’t know, productive? That sounds like such an Americanism. What my intuition tells me, though, is that things are fine, and I am writing precisely how I need to be writing, right now.
The best moment is always the present one.
I Updated My Amazon Author Page
Amazon provides some really detailed and useful author pages. In case you had forgotten (and maybe you did, since I have been focused so much on The Labyrinth lateley), I have a book of short stories called The 12 Burning Wheels, which was published in 2010. This book is easily found in Amazon, but if you visit my author page, you can also view other magazines like M Brane SF, where you can read my work. If you have read the book, I urge you to leave me a review on Amazon, they really help authors stay alive. If you have not read it yet, you can pick it up cheaply in book and Kindle format.
“12BW” is available through Amazon in paperback and for the Kindle”
Here’s how my author page is looking:
So, there you have it. My novels are not yet out in the world, but you can still check out my fiction. In the meantime, I’ll be making another post later today about my writing process and how my latest novel is going.
October 6, 2012
The Labyrinth, Episode 16 – Alejandro Acierto
Musician and artist Alejandro Acierto joins me in this week’s show. He talked to me about how growing up in Chicago’s north side had an effect on his identity and his art, and he also told me how mazes and staircases manifest themselves in his current work. He also talked about the strangest thing that ever happened to him, and the role a nightmare played in his story.
Download and Listen: The Labyrinth, Episode 16 – Alejandro Acierto
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Alejandro Acierto’s web site (with images and updates on his latest installations and performances)
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September 26, 2012
The Labyrinth, Episode 15 – Matt Bucher
Matt Bucher is the man you want to talk to if you’re interested in the novels and short stories of the late authors David Foster Wallace and Roberto Bolaño. Matt is a writer and editor with many years of experience in higher-education publishing, but over time, he has also become a leader and scholar in the worlds of the dense works of Wallace and Bolaño. Matt tells us how he got to New York, how he left, and what happened the first time he started reading “Infinite Jest”. This episode is for those who like their reading meaty, gorgeous and satisfying. Matt also tells us about the strangest thing that ever happened to him, and how it led to marriage.
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Download and Listen: The Labyrinth, Episode 15 – Matt Bucher
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Infinite Jest
2666
Wallace-l David Foster Wallace listserv
Bolano Bolano
September 20, 2012
The Labyrinth, Episode 14 – Hanna Martine
Romance novelist Hanna Martine visits the Labyrinth to tell her story about how world travel led her to write and eventually get published. Hanna Martine’s first novel, “Liquid Lies,” is the first in the Elementals, her first series. The novel combines elements of science fiction and romance. The sequel, “A Taste of Ice,” comes out in October. Hanna shares her stories of writing, and she comments on sexuality in our culture. And the strangest thing that ever happened to her? It’s very rock ’n roll, but not in the way you’d expect.
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Download and Listen: The Labyrinth, Episode 14 – Hanna Martine
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Links
Hanna Martine’s web site
Liquid Lies (The Elementals)
A Taste of Ice (The Elementals)
September 17, 2012
The Labyrinth, Episode 13 – E.C. Myers
Novelist E.C. Myers’ first book, “Fair Coin,” was released by Pyr Books earlier this year. In the novel, protagonist “Ephraim finds a strange coin–a coin that grants wishes when he flips it. With a flick of his thumb, he can turn his alcoholic mother into a model parent and catch the eye of the girl he’s liked since second grade. But the coin doesn’t always change things for the better. And a bad flip can destroy other people’s lives as easily as it rebuilds his own.” Eugene chatted with me about how he entered the field of writing, what it took to get his novel published, and what his writing process is like. He also tells me about the strangest thing that ever happened to him…with the number 14.
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Download and Listen: The Labyrinth, Episode 13 – E.C. Myers
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Links
E.C. Myers’ Web site
Fair Coin
on AmazonPre-order Quantum Coin
on Amazon
Pre-order “Quantum Coin” on Amazon
