Jane Lindskold's Blog, page 132

FF: What’s Real?

Welcome to my side of a book chat…

The Friday Fragments feature lists of what I’ve read over the past week.  They are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive list, you can look on my website.

This is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a few opinions tossed in.

Kel Contemplates

This week the question of reality keeps cropping up.

What are you reading?

Recently Completed:

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater.  Sequel to the excellent The Raven Boys.  Equally excellent.  I’m going to be starting the next one soon.

Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich.  Audiobook. This light series seems to be losing weight as time goes on.  Still, I keep finding something to enjoy.

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie.  Audiobook. Sometimes there’s nothing like visiting with an old friend.  I’ve loved Miss Marple for more years than I am willing to admit.

Top Secret Twenty-one by Janet Evanovich.

In Progress:

My Real Children by Jo Walton.

Icefall by Matthew Kirby.  Audiobook.  I liked his Clockwork Three.

Also:

Page proofs for Artemis Invaded.

TT: A Closer Look at the Folk

JANE: Last time, I pointed out that there are many varieties of folk music and suggested that we might take a closer look.

You commented that one of the great things about folk was that it wasn’t limited to traditional pieces, but was open to new material as well.  Afterwards, I was thinking how this extended further – that even traditional pieces were open to reinterpretation.

One Song, Two Variations

ALAN: You really are a secret folkie, aren’t you? That happens a lot, and it’s one of the reasons why the music stays so alive and relevant.

JANE:  I’m discovering that I know a lot more about folk than I realized.  That’s for sure!

One song that immediately came to mind was “The Cherry Tree Carol.”  This is a lovely piece often included on Christmas albums, although it really isn’t a Christmas song.  It tells the tale of how Mary told Joseph she was pregnant – and how Joseph didn’t take this announcement well at all.

The song begins: “When Joseph was an old man/an old man was he/ he wedded Virgin Mary/ the queen of Galilee…”

Are you familiar with it?

ALAN: No – that one seems to have passed me by. Do go on!

JANE: What’s interesting is how different groups have rewritten the payoff.  The basics are the same.  Mary makes her announcement.  Joseph is not happy, Baby Jesus speaks “from his mother’s womb” asking the cherry tree to bow down so his pregnant mother can pick cherries.

However, in the version by the group Just Friends on their album A Dulcimer Holiday the lyric is something like: “and Mary gathered cherries/ while Joseph stood around.”

The Clancy Brothers version is much harder on Joseph: “Mary shall have cherries/ and Joseph shall have none.”  Jim found this very unfair to poor Joseph, so I pulled out the other version for him.  He was relieved to learn that the interpretation wasn’t absolute.

ALAN: That kind of thing is very common. There really isn’t any such thing as a definitive version of many of the old songs. James Francis Child (in the nineteenth century) and Ralph Vaughan Williams (in the twentieth century) compiled huge collections of traditional material and again and again and again they set down variant lyrics for the same song.

Amusingly, Vaughan Williams’ first name is pronounced “Rafe.”  I just thought you’d like to know that…

JANE: “Ralph” = “Rafe”?  You Brits are definitely pronunciation challenged.

Any other thoughts on how folk music stays “alive” rather than being trapped in tradition?

ALAN: Absolutely! Not only do the lyrics vary, so do the musical styles. On the one hand, you might find the much derided Morris Dancing music, on the other hand something vaguely Elizabethan involving dulcimers and lutes, and on the gripping hand something with pounding rock rhythms. All can live happily together, and indeed all may well be in the repertoire of a single group of people.

I have a record of Morris Dancing music which Robin absolutely hates (though I love it). Once I had a student on a course who asked if he could leave early on the Friday afternoon because he had to get back home in time to attend a Morris Dancing ceremony to welcome the new sun. If he didn’t get back in time, the sun wouldn’t rise the next morning. He was completely serious. I made certain to time the course appropriately. I didn’t want to lose the sun…

JANE: I was introduced to Morris Dancing in Terry Pratchett novels.  I’m not sure it made it to the U.S., although I’d be happy to be informed otherwise.  Maybe re-creation groups have kept it going here.  That would be very good, since making sure the sun will rise should not be left to any one population!

ALAN: Absolutely! Good backups are vital.

I spent much of my teens and twenties travelling the wilds of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire in search of obscure pubs with folk singers in the attic. I saw many of my heroes live. Traditionally, folk singers stick a finger in their ear, the better to hear their demonic wailings via bone conduction. Once I saw Martin Carthy (very famous in the field) playing live. He used two hands to stick fingers into both ears. Memory insists that he continued to play his guitar with one foot and his willy. But I must be making that up…

JANE: Well, if he was using his willy, that would explain why folk music gradually died out on the pop music scene.  That’s a joke.  I know folk remains a vital, multi-cultural musical force.  In fact, it’s so varied that it’s unfair to lump all forms of folk music together.

For example, my immediate reaction if someone says “Do you like folk music?” is to wince, because I’m thinking of poorly done harmonies, badly-mixed albums where banjo, harmonica, and jangling tambourines overwhelm the gentler instruments, while school children shrill with atonal enthusiasm.  This is like judging SF after reading a handful of poorly written pulp pieces.

ALAN: That’s a perfect analogy. You’re exactly right.

JANE: I love dulcimers…  They’re magical.  Harps are great, too.  Good acoustic guitar, flute…   All these make my heart soar.  And, like you, I have a weakness for songs that tell stories.

Any suggestions as to groups I might like?

ALAN: Oh, I could make a huge list! But before I do, you need to understand that, in the UK anyway, everybody knows everybody else and the groups change personnel between themselves all the time. The cover of my LP The History of Fairport Convention is a family tree that attempts to define the coming and going of various personnel among various groups during the years 1967 to 1972. It’s so bewilderingly complex that at several points the diagram simply gives up.

So you must realise that the Steeleye Span who made the album Please to See the King in 1971 is a very different Steeleye Span from the group that made the album Parcel of Rogues in 1973. Nevertheless, there is a degree of stylistic continuity. Steeleye Span have always concentrated largely on traditional material.

Renaissance, on the other hand, while obviously influenced by the folk tradition, never performed any traditional material at all. The lyrics of many of their songs were written by a poet who rejoiced in the magnificent name Betty Thatcher-Newsinger (about whom I know nothing). The Renaissance members wrote their own music to go with Betty’s lyrics.

Pentangle straddled those two extremes with an eclectic mix of traditional and modern material.

And, more recently, I’ve fallen in love with a British group, Mumford and Sons. And an American group, The Decemberists. Both of them sing original material that is obviously very influenced by the folk tradition.

JANE: Thanks for the recommendations.  I’ve heard of Steeleye Span and Renaissance.  Jim might even have some of their albums.

Anyone else want to offer recommendations?

Artemis Invaded: Proofs and Sneak Peek

The page proofs for Artemis Invaded, the sequel to Artemis Awakening, arrived earlier this morning.  Guess what I’m going to be doing this week?

Awakeing and Invaded

Yep.  I’m going to be re-reading the novel, looking for any and all flaws that might have crept in during the process of formatting (still often called “typesetting”) the manuscript.  I know some authors race through this process, but I’ve had enough odd experiences that I am always very careful.

For those of you who haven’t run into the term before, page proofs are the manuscript of the novel set up as it will be printed, including headings, dingbats, and any other flourishes.  The author is requested not to make any major changes – and is usually contractually restricted from doing so unless she wants to pay for the book being reformatted.

Even with today’s advances in computer typesetting, amazing errors can creep in.  Roger Zelazny warned me to always check the spelling of my name wherever it occurred in the text.  He’d caught his misspelled more than once, including a striking instance where it was misspelled at the top of every page.  I figured that such errors belonged to the age of the dinosaurs (or at least Guttenberg and handset type), until I found my own name spelled “Linskold.”

(This is almost as good as the David Weber anthology cover that rechristened me “Jan” Lindskold – and went to press that way.)

But Lindskold is not a particularly usual name.  In fact, many people pronounce it as if the first “d” is silent.  (Which is isn’t.)   I can see how the misspelling might be missed.

The error which always comes back to haunt me when I’m tempted to get lazy  and speed through the proofs – or heaven’s forfend, skip reviewing them entirely – is one that occurred in the mass market edition of my novel The Buried Pyramid.  I’d been very busy when these came in and figured “Why bother?  I’ve gone through these already for the hardcover printing.  Certainly nothing new will have cropped up.”

But my sense of responsibility got the better of me, so I decided to at least skim.  My red pencil came out on the very first page, filling in the first few words in the first sentence.  Not many new errors occurred; then, at the start of Chapter Two, again there were missing words.  And in Chapter Three and Chapter Four and…

That’s right.  Something in the formatting program had glitched, dropping roughly the first five words of every single chapter.  I’ll admit, I was seeing red (and not just from my marking pencil) by the end of my review.  Now, though, I’m glad this happened.  Never again will I be tempted to be lazy and skip the page proofs.  In fact, I’m more careful than ever, allowing enough time so that I can restrict myself to only a few chapters each sitting, so that I don’t become inattentive and tempted to skim.

Come along with me as I turn to the first chapter, “Forbidden Areas.”

“’Forbidden,’ you say?  That sounds promising.”

“Yes, I think it is.  Look at this codex, Griffin.  Maiden’s Tear has been a forbidden area since before the slaughter of the seegnur and death of machines.  There were other such prohibited zones, but they were not as absolutely off-limits as Maiden’s Tear seems to have been.”

Skipping down a paragraph or so:

“I asked, but couldn’t find out much about the place,” he continued.  “Maiden’s Tear was forbidden territory in the days of the seegnur.  Since then, it has been shunned by our people.”  Terrell looked uncomfortable.  “You see, Maiden’s Tear was where many of the seegnur met their deaths.”

I’m looking forward to reading on.  Excuse me while I get to work, won’t you?

FF: Graves, Apples, and Dream Thieves

Welcome to my side of a book chat…

The Friday Fragments feature lists of what I’ve read over the past week.  They are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive list, you can look on my website.

This is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a few opinions tossed in.

Lilybett Reads

What are you reading?

Recently Completed:

Forerunner by Andre Norton.  Future archeology and cool characters.  I’d read this decades ago, but have never read the sequel, which I have waiting.

Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet by Darynda Jones.  Audiobook. Charley Davidson is the Grim Reaper…  Charley has PTSD from events in the previous book.  That only makes sense.  What makes less sense is why she continues to be turned on by violence on the part of her lovers.  Disconnect!  Very neat twist in one plotline.

Poison Apples: Poems for You My Pretty by Christine Heppermann.  Using free verse and fairy tale motifs, the author takes on the modern “beauty myth” and shows that what we all think of as a “new” problem maybe isn’t so new after all.  Very short volume.  Often punchy.

Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich.  Audiobook.  After behaving very slutty (her own word) in the previous two books, Stephanie is back to thinking about who her actions might hurt – including herself.  I found myself wondering if Ms Evanovich got some negative reaction to the prior novels.

In Progress:

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater.  Sequel to the excellent The Raven Boys.  I’d put off reading this in hope our library would get the audio version, but couldn’t wait any longer.  Dark – but the good dark that comes from shutting your eyes and digging around in your soul.

Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich.  Right now my greatest interest is in where the giraffe is hiding and why no one  is talking about it.

Also:

This week was a mess of small jobs, so the short stories have been on hold.  Where does time go?

Folk, Folk Music!

JANE: So, Alan, when we were talking about the music we listen to in our cars, you mentioned you like folk music.  I must admit, I’m not all that knowledgeable about folk music, so none of the groups you listed meant anything to me.

Sing! Sing a Song!

ALAN: I wasn’t a complete folk music virgin when the folk boom happened. We’d always sung folk songs at school, and the fact that the songs often told a story appealed to me a lot.  Also, as I explored the world of folk music, I found that many of the songs involved the faerie folk, and this too rang bells with my inner Fantasy fan (“…for tonight is Halloween, and the fairy folk ride…”). And, an added bonus, many of the songs were quite bawdy (“…me ‘usband’s got no courage in ‘im…”). Folk music and I seemed to be made for each other.

JANE: The folk music boom was pretty much over by the time I was beginning to listen to music on my own.  Like you, we sang some folk music in school and I always enjoyed that.  The “Family Mass” at my church featured a folk group instead of the organ and choir.  I really enjoyed that, too.

However, even though my early tastes ran to what today would be called “soft” rock and/or “classic” rock (as well as whatever I heard on the radio), I never really got into folk.  Maybe if the songs I had encountered had been more about the Fey Folk, rather than “Puff the Magic Dragon,” I would have been won over.

Tell me about a group you particularly like.

ALAN: A group I go back to time and time again is Fairport Convention. They are a British group who reached the height of their popularity during the folk boom of the 1960s. They are still making records today. I bought one just a few months ago.

When I first came across them, their singer was a lady called Sandy Denny. Something about her voice just made my spine tingle. Her voice was a musical instrument in its own right and she used it beautifully. Probably the best album they ever made was the hugely influential (at the time) Leige and Lief. Every track on it was firmly based on traditional British and perhaps Celtic folk music and not only did it blow me away with the brilliance of its musicality, it also triggered a lifelong obsession with songs that derive from this tradition.

JANE: I love when voice becomes one of the instruments.  However, me and Celtic music…  I may be missing something in my genetic code or something but, although I’ve liked some, on the whole I want to run away.  This was a problem when I was in college because Fordham had a large Irish Catholic population and many of my friends were into groups like The Chieftains, Silly Wizard, and The Clancy Brothers.

Oddly, although I’m neutral toward most Celtic influenced music, one of my favorite Christmas albums is by The Clancy Brothers.  It’s not bawdy, but it has humor and some gorgeous lyrics that merge the pre-Christian traditions into the Christian with an ease few cultures outside of the Irish seem to manage.

ALAN: Oh, there’s a lot of humour in folk music. And a lot of drama and social comment as well.  All these elements have been present in the music for, quite literally, centuries. Modern artists continue to sing the old songs, of course, but the field is by no means static – new songs are constantly being written. A perfect example would be the music of Paul Simon (of Simon and Garfunkel fame). Not only is he a talented musician, he is an extraordinarily accomplished lyricist, and the sheer cleverness of the words of his songs (“…the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls…”) are magnificent.

JANE: I always liked Simon and Garfunkel.  In fact, one of the few live concerts I’ve seen (I don’t really like either crowds or loud noise) was the one they gave in Central Park in New York City.  That was memorable.  The place was packed, but a friend got there pre-dawn and staked out a location for our group.   He marked it with an Irish flag, so we could find it.

If anyone reading this has the album, you can see our flag in the huge crowd photo.  It’s near the middle, as I recall…

ALAN: Oooh! I’ve got the DVD of the concert. I’ll have to play it again and go looking for you.

JANE:  I had brown hair then…  All this silver is a more modern look.

So, tell me more about what draws you to folk music.

ALAN: I’ve always been in love with the written word and in my teens I spent a lot of time exploring Literature (with a capital LIT).  I very quickly became disillusioned with the formlessness and vagueness of contemporary poetry. It seemed to me that the discipline of the strict rhymes and rhythms imposed on the form by musical requirements produced much more valid poetry than that which restricted itself to the written word. I felt then, and I still feel now, that the true lyric poets of the time had actually abandoned the form, and turned to music instead.

JANE: Oh, I’m bouncing up and down in my chair!  You just brought me back in time to when a very serious English major, a junior in college, had just that discussion with her favorite professor – that lyric poetry, in particular, was alive and well in the realm of the better pop music lyrics.  I even brought along various bits so we could compare.

ALAN: Ah! So it’s not just me. That’s good to know.

JANE: We keep finding ways we’re alike, even in areas where you’d think we’d clash.

ALAN: I’m always very pleased when that happens. And it happens a lot!

I think the thing that really cemented the idea that song lyrics could also be poetry for me was a rather high-brow programme on BBC television. A panel of pundits would have fragments of poetry and prose read to them and they had to try and identify what they were listening to and then discuss it a bit. Points were awarded for correct identification. I vividly remember one programme where all the pundits utterly failed to identify a poem. Nevertheless they were hugely impressed by it. Such lyricism! Such emotion and depth of feeling! Such clever use of language!

Then the chairman revealed the source of the poem. It was a Beatles lyric – actually She’s Leaving Home, from the Sergeant Pepper album. Not surprisingly, the pundits changed their attitude when they found out what it was. Crude construction! Invalid rhythms! Pop music!

But I felt vindicated. Music really was more than just a catchy tune. It was the words that made the song stand out. Lyrics could indeed be poetry in every sense of the word.

JANE: As I said, I’m with you all the way…  And, darn it, I qualify as one of those literary experts, I have the letters after my name and everything.  (I even know the secret handshake.)

I’d like to return to folk music itself more specifically.  One thing I do know is that there are many, many forms, so that talking about “folk music” is a little like talking about “SF.”  Maybe we could take a look at some of the different flavors next time.

Whether You Live to Write or Write to Live

As I mentioned last week, Wanderings on Writing is now completed.  It’s available as an e-book in mobi and e-pub files on Amazon and Barnes and Noble’s websites.  I’ll let you know when it’s available as a POD.  We had a little trouble with the formatting, but that’s being straightened out even as you read this.

 The cover art is an original watercolor by my friend, Tori Hansen.  One of the most fun parts of this project was watching the art work evolve, including one memorable afternoon when Tori painted in the middle of my living room floor, assisted by cats who were sure they should be “painting,” too.

Cover: Back and Front

 So, what is Wanderings on Writing?  Well, the first thing I want to say is that it’s not a “how to write book” – or maybe I should say, it’s not only a “how to write” book.  It’s also a window into how one writer (me) has managed to deal with the complexities of both creating fiction and being a professional author.

 Although I’ve been a full-time writer since mid-1994, when I chucked a reliable job as an assistant professor of English to move to New Mexico, there was a time when I had to juggle both fiction writing and a demanding job.  Some of the tricks I learned then have served me well throughout my career.  I’ll share those tricks, some of which I adapted from what I heard other writers say they did.  Hopefully, you’ll be able to adapt some of these for yourself.

 A few words about the genesis of this book.  Back in 2010, I knuckled under to the increased pressure that a writer must have some sort of on-line presence (beyond the required webpage).  Since I wanted to make sure I had time to write fiction, I made some rules.  I would blog once a week.  (By the way, I hate the word “blog,” but it seems to have become firmly rooted in the language.)  My once-a-week entry would have some substance.  I wouldn’t write about my socks or my dinner plans or whatever.  And I promised myself that I wouldn’t feel required to write about writing.

 A funny thing happened along the way…  I discovered that even when I didn’t mean to do so, I often found myself writing about writing.  I don’t think I realized until I began writing the Wednesday Wanderings just how firmly creating stories is intertwined into just about everything I do.

 Eventually, people started saying to me, “You really should collect some of your pieces on writing.  They’re really interesting and you have a different perspective on a lot of things.”  Two friends, Bobbi Wolf and Paul Dellinger, were particularly persistent.  When I tentatively mentioned the possibility to my husband, Jim, he encouraged me.

 Although many of these pieces have their origins in my Wednesday Wanderings, I’ve frequently adapted the original essay, providing examples or further discussion of a point.  I’ve omitted specific references to the blog and comments.  (If you want to read these, they’re still available.)  However, critical readers may discern the shadows.

 One thing I did not omit were references to my own work at the time when the piece was written because, in many cases, doing so would have gutted the piece.  Although there is a sort of general organization, these pieces do not need to be read in order.  Instead, I encourage you to dip in here and there.  If a piece is dependent on another, that will be noted.  Even where I have several pieces on a related topic, I’ve chosen to keep them separate.  Feel free to read a little, digest the material, then come back for more.

 Finally, I will offer a warning.  There is no Golden Key to becoming a writer, no secret password, no arcane knowledge that will get you into the inner sanctum.  Why do I feel a need to say this?

 Years ago (I think it was 1996?), when I received my first invitation to speak at a writer’s conference, I consulted another professional writer who was speaking at the same event.

 “They’ve asked me to suggest a topic,” I said.  “I know how to teach, but I don’t really understand what the audience wants.”  My friend smiled cynically.  “They want the Golden Key.  They’re sure there’s one and they’ve paid this workshop a huge fee in the hope that we will reveal it.  All we can do is tell them there isn’t any such thing, that writing is hard work, and then share some thoughts about how we go about it.”

 I don’t quite agree with my friend.  There is a Golden Key.  However, no one can give the Golden Key to you.  You need to forge it yourself.  That doesn’t mean you need to start from nothing.  Pieces like the ones in this book can become your raw material.  They might save you from building your fire too hot or making your mold from inferior clay.

 However, in the end, you need to craft your own Golden Key.  One reason I’ve left the personal anecdotes in here is to show you how I met the challenge.

 (By the way, this was adapted from “No Golden Key,” the introduction to Wanderings on Writing.)

October Ends, Forerunner Begins

The Friday Fragments feature lists of what I’ve read over the past week.  They are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive list, you can look on my website.

This is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a few opinions tossed in.

Usagi Contemplates the End of October

I’d love to hear what you’re reading!  It’s fun to book chat…

Recently Completed:

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. Finished/will finish today – depending on when you check this list!  I’m sorry not to need to hold myself back…  I want more pages!

A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix.  Audiobook. I liked this.  It’s very different from the “Old Kingdom” novels, but shows a similar enthusiasm for vivid characters in a well delineated universe – in this case SF, rather than Fantasy.

Coming Home by Jack McDevitt.  The latest Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath.  McDevitt does a good job juggling two separate but equal plotlines.  Many authors would feel a need to force one of the two to provide a solution to the other, but McDevitt doesn’t and, consequently, makes each seem that much more real.  McDevitt is also a master of the sequel that doesn’t require a new reader to read a long list of novels before getting to the most current one.  But I bet more than one reader will be going back to read the earlier works, either for the first time or over again.

In Progress:

Forerunner by Andre Norton.  Future archeology and cool characters.  This one would make a great anime.

Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet by Darynda Jones.  Charley Davidson is the Grim Reaper…  While these books share a lot of similarities with other paranormal romances, I find that the author’s attention to consequences keeps me interested in these.

Also:

I’ve now re-read several more of my short stories and written afterpieces for them: “Jeff’s Best Joke,” “Keep the Dog Hence,” “Beneath the Eye of the Hawk,” and others…

TT: Personalized Ride

Breaking News!  As of yesterday, Wanderings on Writing is now available as an e-book.  POD will follow soon.  More details next Wednesday!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled Tangent…

JANE: Over the last few weeks, we’ve been talking about cars…  This time, I have some SF thoughts, but first…

I’m not denying that American culture – if not all Americans – has a love affair with vehicles.  Many of our cities – including Albuquerque – have poor mass transit so, if you want to get anywhere in anything like a timely fashion, you need a vehicle.

Wolfmobile

Some families spend so much time in their vehicles that they start personalizing them as if they’re mobile houses.  Stickers with outlines representing the number of members in the family have become common.  At a glance you can see Mother, Father, two boys, one girl, dog, and two cats.

An outgrowth of this has been stickers that also include some idea of the family’s interests.  The characters might wear mouse ears (Disney fans) or Star Wars outfits, carry sports equipment, or even, in one memorable occasion, be zombies.  (Presumably, these were horror fans, not actual zombies.)

Do you have anything like this?

ALAN: Yes – we have exactly the same phenomenon. Indeed, it’s become so much of a cliche now that people are starting to sneer at it and it’s falling out of fashion again.

JANE: Darn!   Jim and I had been considering getting some, but if they’re out of fashion…

Another way to customize a vehicle is by using bumper stickers.  You can learn about political preferences, sports teams, and club memberships.  Parking permit stickers give a hint where  people work and go to school.   You can even figure out other, less mainstream interests.  I’ve seen “My other car is a broom.” And, “Save the Earth.  It’s the only planet with chocolate.”

ALAN: We seldom have those – they do exist, but I don’t recall seeing any interesting ones, though the “My other car is a (something)” formula does ring bells. We’ve also had a trend for people to hang a sign saying “Baby on Board” in the back window, presumably to try and force drivers around them to take more care than normal. However, so many people who obviously don’t have a baby with them have taken to using the sign that it too is starting to disappear.

JANE:  Oh, wow…  The “baby on board” sign came and went here a long while back…  1990’s, maybe?  It morphed into “Dog on Board,” “Fill-in-the-blank Sports Team Fan on Board,” and other variations before, gratefully, slipping into oblivion.

We also have personalized license plates, where letters and numbers are used to spell out messages.  Now that texting has become common, lots of license plates read like texts.

ALAN: Ah! We are really big on personalised number plates. A science fiction fan friend of mine has the number plate SF. It cost her $300 to buy when personalised plates first became legal (I think she was at the head of the queue) and she was once offered $10,000 for it from an avid collector. She refused the offer. She claims, with some justification, that the plate is her retirement investment.

JANE: Uh, Alan.  Why do you call them “number plates” if they have letters?  Shouldn’t they be “number and letter plates”?

ALAN: I suppose they should, though until you mentioned it, that had never occurred to me. I’ve done a bit of digging and I’ve discovered that the first plates in the UK were issued in 1903. They consisted of an aphabetic prefix that identified the local council that issued them and an incrementing numeric suffix that identified the vehicle. So I presume they were “number” plates because the number was the only bit that varied – all the vehicles in the same geographic area would have the same prefix.

JANE: Now that’s cool…  I love hearing the history behind a term.  But I interrupted you.  Did you have any other customized plates you wanted to mention?

ALAN: Once, parked in a supermarket car park, I saw a most magnificent Rolls Royce (that aristocrat of cars) with the equally magnificent number plate STOLEN.

JANE: Oh!  That’s a good one!

Reminds me of another good bumper sticker, often seen on older cars.  It reads “Paid For.”  I like it, since so many of those people out there driving fancy cars are also driving piles of debt.

Do you folks have license – excuse me, “number” plates – on both the front and back of your vehicles or just in the back?

ALAN: We are required to have them on both the front and the back. Until you mentioned it, I’d never realised that any other convention was possible.

JANE: The reason I ask is that here it seems to vary from state to state.  In New Mexico, license plates are only required on the back, so ornamental plates on the front of the car have become another means of personalizing.

My godmother gave me a plate ornamented with the head and shoulders of a black wolf.  I’d never done anything to personalize a car before, but I put this on my sedan.  Now, to my amusement, friends will often pick my car out when we’re meeting somewhere because of that plate.  It’s a wolf.  It must be Jane.

ALAN: Well of course it must. I’d make the same assumption.

JANE: The American love affair with vehicles even has a skiffy tie-in.

ALAN: What’s that?

JANE: Roger Zelazny wrote at least two different “takes” on the futuristic car.  One appears in his novel The Dream Master (also published in a shorter form as the novella “He Who Shapes.”)

In this story, cars can be driven by autopilot.  Now, Roger was hardly the first SF novelist to come up with this idea.  Being Roger, however, he came up with a unique take: blindspinning.  In this, coordinates are randomly punched in and while the car does the driving, often the riders do… Uh, well…  Y’know… Um… Other sort of riding…

ALAN: (puzzled…) But wouldn’t that make the windows steam up so you couldn’t enjoy the scenery?

JANE: Oh…  I’m going to be good and go back to SF!

Roger also combined the American tendency to romanticize the wild horse and with the romance of the automobile in two short stories: “Last of the Wild Ones” and “Devil Car.”

ALAN: When I was a little boy, there was a TV series called Supercar! It was one of Gerry Anderson’s early puppet series (what did he call it? Supermarionation?). Anyway, I was enthralled by it and I watched it every week. The supercar itself was a combination car and aeroplane that was driven (perhaps flown would be a better word) by Mike Mercury who had lots of exciting adventures in it.

JANE: I never watched it, but I think there was an update of that idea in a television program called Knight Rider or something like that.

ALAN: And of course if there is any SF symbol that epitomises the future, it’s the symbol of the flying car even though I suspect it’s quite impractical. You can date it all the way back to Hugo Gernsback himself. In his novel Ralph 124C 41+  people commute in aeroflyers that can reach speeds of more than 600mph!

JANE: Ah, yes, flying cars.  I actually know a man who is working on one.  Seriously.  He’s a retired engineer and this is his dream project.

Clifford Simak extrapolated how flying cars would change settlement patterns in his novel City.  Sometimes the implications are as or more interesting than the vehicle would be.

In Gordon Dickson’s Necromancer, the private car is combined with mass transit, so that rather than taking a seat on a train, you go to the equivalent of a train station and pick up a vehicle that will take you to your individual destination.

I bet there are other good SF stories out there built around vehicles.  I wonder if our readers have any suggestions?

Remember the Cascade Effect

The other day, a friend sent me a link to a video about the impact of the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone Park and its surroundings.  The video does a really good job of condensing a complicated process into a few minutes.  I have a few quibbles – for example, most of the time the animals the narrator refers to as “deer” are actually elk, and the role coyotes played was oversimplified – but I think it’s worth watching, so here’s a link.

Part of a Wolf Junkie’s Stash

Because I’m a serious wolf junkie, I was already familiar with the impact of wolves on Yellowstone.  The cascade effect works on a smaller ecological scale, too.  When I moved into my house, the back yard was pretty much sand and weeds, prone to erosion when the winds blew, and supporting very little in the way of wildlife.

Over the last decade and a half, Jim and I have made a lot of changes, including encouraging native plants that provide food for birds, lizards, and insects.  We have two small water features (a tiny pond and a bird bath) and these have put us on the migration route for various birds.  The result is pretty cool.

As usual, this has gotten me thinking about writing, most particularly about the world-building that’s so important to SF and Fantasy.

As the piece about the wolves and Yellowstone demonstrates so superbly, make one change and you need to think about what other things might change.  This doesn’t only apply to what you take away – it applies to what you add in as well.

I’ve talked about dragons back in “So You Want Dragons” (WW 2-29-14), so I won’t repeat myself, but remember that many other typical fantasy “monsters” also fall into the peak predator category.

Here’s one example.  Traditionally, the favorite food of griffins is horses.   Don’t you think griffins might choose to live where horses are easy to get?  How would a society change when horses can’t simply be turned out to pasture because the griffins will fly in for an easy lunch?  Griffins are a lot more dangerous than wolves, so would the equivalent of shepherds be enough?  Would griffin patrol be a way to train young warriors?

The cascade effect applies to much more than predator/prey relationships.  In our modern world, people tend to forget that energy doesn’t come from flipping a switch.  That’s just the final stage of a complex delivery system, one that involves a power plant on the other end.  Electricity and gas are both often referred to as “clean” sources of heat and that’s certainly true when compared to burning wood in your fireplace – at least until you take a look at the process needed to produce and deliver this energy to your house.

What about solar energy?  Passive solar is certainly clean heat.  Because I live in a very sunny climate, my sunporch actually heats much of my small house, even during the coldest parts of winter – at least during daylight.  However, passive solar won’t run my computer.  From talking to a friend who relies on solar power, I’ve learned how complicated gathering and converting solar energy can be – especially if the person lives off the grid and needs to rely on batteries.

If you’re writing SF, a little technological hand-waving can get you past the difficulties of providing energy for even the biggest city or starship.  A breakthrough that makes safe fusion power practical is one of the most popular gimmicks.  Another is a quick sentence along the lines of “ever since Alice Seagull came up with the voo-voo panel that let solar power be more efficiently gathered and stored, most archaic forms of energy have fallen out of use.”

In a Fantasy setting, how to provide enough fuel for a large population can have a tremendous cascade effect.  The New England region of the United States was originally heavily forested.  However, twin demands for farmland and fuel led to a tremendous amount of clear- cutting.   If advances in technology had not created both easier ways to acquire food (grow it somewhere else, ship it in) and to deliver the means for providing heat, it’s likely that the area would have become unable to support its population, triggering a migration to unused (“unspoiled”?) wilderness, until that, too, became spoiled.

Today, New England is becoming reforested but what would happen if a true “locovore” movement became established?  Would it be able to sustain itself for longer than a couple of decades without providing a serious environmental impact?

What about these static Fantasy worlds where warriors clank around in steel armor (making steel takes a lot of fuel) and use steel weapons and have done so for centuries?  Where do the resources come from?  Why are there any forests left?

Well, historically, socially-enforced poverty for the majority of the population was one way to keep from exhausting all the resources.  The folks who mined the iron ore didn’t necessarily have iron tools and weapons.  The woodcutter didn’t have a blazing fire on his hearth.  The logs went to the gentry.  He felt lucky to have the scraps and twigs…  Most of his neighbors were burning cow patties.  (And that’s not hamburger, for you urban dwellers.  It’s cow shit and it stinks.)

I’ve quite enjoyed S.M. Stirling’s “Change” novels.  Salvage from the pre-Change world solves a lot of Stirling’s immediate supply problems, but for that economic/ecological system to persist, the humans had better keep having massive wars to provide population control.

But what about magic?  Can’t it solve all these problems in a Fantasy setting?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  After all, even magic needs to come from somewhere and be channeled into useful forms.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a gamer.  The adventure I’m currently running takes place in a world where magic is common and the dominant race is very ecologically sensitive.  What’s the major type of employment for these magically skilled people?  Creating the basic magical infrastructure that enables them to have magical light, heat, hot water, and all the rest.

My gamers assumed that finding the “cool” magical items would be as easy as walking into the magical equivalent of Walmart.  They figured they just needed to find a city larger than the small village in which they live.  They’re now learning that the cool stuff is, in fact, quite rare, because the magical resources are diverted into sustaining a fairly high standard of living for the majority of the population.

I find that, far from restricting my storytelling, the cascade effect stimulates it.  Whether you build a story around it or use little elements to provide a richer environment, it’s worth considering.

FF: Clariel, Hades, Utena, October

The Friday Fragments feature lists of what I’ve read over the past week.  They are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive list, you can look on my website.

This is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a few opinions tossed in.

Silver Wonders About Snakes

This week has been an interesting one…

Tell me what you’re reading!

Recently Completed:

Clariel by Garth Nix.  As I hoped, this novel stood well on its own.  I was particularly delighted with the world building.  Unlike far too many fantasy worlds, this one does not have a stagnant culure.  However, it does prove to have some interesting connections to the later books.  WARNING: The author’s note contains a spoiler.  Do not read first.

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan.  Audiobook.  Stronger than the previous book.  I particularly liked Nico’s encounter with Cupid, and the tension over Bob the Titan.

Land of Cinnamon Sun by John Nizalowski.  A collection of essays.  I particularly liked “Medea in America.”

Revolutionary Girl Utena the manga, by Chiho Saito and Be-Papas (the latter is a studio).  Jim gave me the updated anime DVD set for my birthday. This made me decide to re-read the manga for comparison/contrast purposes.  The DVD set included several essays and interviews that finally clarified how and why the two works were produced in parallel.  Fascinating, at least to me.

In Progress:

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny.  Still trying to hold to one chapter a day for the Twitter book club at #LonesomeOctober.  The chapters are getting longer, the story more complex.

A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix.  Audiobook.  Just started.

Coming Home by Jack McDevitt.  The latest Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath.  Just started.

Also:

I’ve now re-read my first five short stories and written afterpieces for them.  Am about to start skipping around a bit more.