Christopher McKitterick's Blog, page 27

Two things of awesome to share...

...because the internets are full of it:

First, WTFBBQ - we've known that there's LIFE ON MARS ALL ALONG! Go here to read the formal paper.

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Click the image to see the Washington Post article. Thanks, GS!

Next, HOLY CRAP THIS IS AWESOME! Thanks, chernobylred !


Finally, I better get back to finishing up work so I can prep for this afternoon's reading. (Wait, that's THREE things of awesome, if you're an SFnal type....)

Best,
Chris

Multi-author reading this Friday in Lawrence!

Several area authors whose stories appear in the upcoming anthology, Aftermaths, will read from and discuss the new book, including James Gunn, Christopher McKitterick, M.C. Chambers, Karin Rita Gastreich, and Hadley Rille Books editor Eric T. Reynolds.

Just in time for Earth Day!

There's also a Facebook event, "Down to Earth 2012," where you can join.

Details:

When:
Friday, April 13, 4:00pm - 5:30pm

Where:
Jayhawk Ink Bookstore, Kansas Union level 2, 1301 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence, KS
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Click the image to see the full-size poster

Writers: How do you deal with accusations of, "You stole my idea!"

Today I've been dealing with a guy who feels I used his idea for a recently published story of mine. (Just to be clear: I didn't.) Anyhow, it seems that this guy has a similar setup for a novel he's been working on, and someone who read his novel and heard about my story wrote to him to say it looked suspicious, and the third-party guy thought I had this similar-story-guy in my summer SF Writing Workshop (I didn't - he was in Kij's Novel Writing Workshop, so I never saw the book, outline, or any of that).

So I wrote to the similar-story-guy to clear things up, and now it appears that he thinks I'm a liar and a thief.

Egad, Charlie Brown.

He went from accusatory and "shocked" at my taking his idea to passive-aggressive a-hole during the course of the conversation. I feel I could have handled this better, but at least I did delete irritated phrases before sending the messages. Ahem.

As I publish more and teach more writers, I expect this kind of situation will come up more frequently. I imagine that John Scalzi hears from half a dozen writers every day with similar accusations.

Writers: Have you had to deal with such situations? If so, how did you handle it? I'd like to be the paragon of gentlemanly and instructive without telling the accusor to piss off.

Thanks,
Chris

Copyright, pirating, e-lending... the discussion continues.

When my novel, Transcendence,came out a little over a year ago and was immediately pirated, I went through a little crisis. I ended up fighting the pirates by giving it away, myself, because I figured if people were going to take it for free, they could at least get it from my website and thereby get to know me a bit more than they could via some random torrent site. Also, I was following Cory Doctorow's theory that giving away your creative work leads to more sales - and at the very least, more readership, who'll be looking for your next book.

How did it go? Well, it's been downloaded at least 3500 times (no way to know how many downloaded from direct link to the .pdf or .epub versions), I got a few dozen PayPal donations, including one just this week. And I certainly got some publicity out of it, especially for a first-time author whose book came out in November from a small press - two huge strikes against it.

Will it help with my next book? We'll see!

In the mean time, ebooks have only become more popular, piracy has not abated, and the debate about copyright and ebooks has only heated up. Here are two videos that represent two facets of the debate.

First up, "Copying Is Not Theft," by Questioncopyright:



Um, yeah. Good luck copying that bicycle, dude. Maybe once we all have nanofactories, but now? Not convinced.

Next up is Stephan Kinsella Houston's Public Affairs Public Access Live program, talking about intellectual property. When he first mentions "business models," I want to punch his smug face.



He has some interesting (and wrong, in my opinion) ideas; unfortunately, most creatives are not businesspeople, or else they'd be in business. They're also often introverts, which makes his ideas impractical for most writers and artists and so on.

Finally, to clear the palate, we have Neil Gaiman providing wisdom on copyright and piracy:



I find tend to agree with Gaiman; well, you kinda have to, because part of his talk is about his personal experiences and how giving it away has helped spur his career. Gaiman isn't talking about eliminating copyright; instead, he discusses how giving away his books has helped grow the audience (and market) for his copyrighted, printed work.

At least, I hope that's how it works!

Especially convincing is the idea that almost everyone found our favorite authors by having a book lent to us from a friend or the library. Does that = getting a free, pirated ebook?

Your thoughts on where copyright and the publishing industry is headed?

Chris

Chevelle and Newport in the garage

This might not seem like a big deal if you haven't been in my garage before, but if you have you know how much work it was to make room for the new baby. Suffice to say it took a whole weekend's worth of blood and sweat - including building a new shed to store some things - to carve out a spot to work on the new car. Here I'm standing on the workbench at the front of the garage:



To the left is the smaller workbench where the drill-press, vise, grinder, and hardware all live; to the right are (temporarily) my telescopes... until I finally bite the bullet and build an observatory on the roof of the house. What you can't see near the Newport's front driver's-side fender, is a combo dehumidifier/AC unit that does a great job cooling the space and purging humidity.

This next shot shows a bunch of new shelving along the far wall, soon to be filled with Chevelle parts. There's actually plenty of room between the telescopes and the toolchest (and workbenches) in front of the Newport, but not as much as I'd like. This shot is taken from the doorway:



Wow, is the Chevelle smaller than the Newport, in every dimension.

And finally the rear view, taken while standing on some scrap wood at the (rear? but it's the main door...) corner of the garage. Notice the nice, big expanse of pegboard above the workbench in front of the Chevelle (past the ladder). Woohoo! More organization!



I'm hoping to do a bit more juggling of stuff from the shed onto the new garage shelves, then from the garage back into the shed. And starting this weekend: Off with the Chevelle's suspension!

Chris

Hadley Rille Books is having an April Fool's ebooks sale - no foolin'!

Hadley Rille Books is giving an "April Fool's" ebook sale this weekend! Lots of books for only ninety-nine cents (99¢), including my novel Transcendence in both Kindle edition and Nook edition, plus many more great ebooks by other Hadley Rille authors.

Come get 'em while they're hot and tasty!

Chris

The Chevelle ROCKS. So do The Latenight Callers.

Damn, I love this car. Even with transmission issues (linkage problems, including no way to get into 1st gear and tricky 4th and reverse) and sloppy suspension, this thing is a blast to drive! When we first took it out for a drive to visit T&N, upon leaving it seemed the right thing to do was to do a little burnout. Y'know, just because. The car certainly has the power. So I brought the revs up a bit - nothing crazy - and dropped the clutch. That's when it felt like I was getting shot in the back by a cannon. Repeatedy. The thing bucked and hopped and spun, repeat, only during one of the violent hops it fired a wheel "beauty ring" into the grass beside the car. Too much! We were laughing our brains out.

Much of what I'm doing to improve the suspension includes getting the rear end under control: heavy-duty, adjustable control arms top and bottom; mega-duty sway bar where it now has none; heavy-duty drop springs; QA1 adjustable shocks; and Delrin bushings all around - firm, quiet, and non-binding. This thing will be PLANTED. The front, also sloppy, is geting a QA1 adjustable coil-over setup, tubular A-arms with 1" raised tie rod for better cornering, a sway bar with twice the control of the stock unit, 11" drilled and slotted disk brakes hanging from drop spindles, and all Delrin bushings like the rear.

So the issues will be remedied soon, and it will handle like a modern sports car. Also, a modern 6-speed double-overdrive transmission is soon to replace the old 4-speed. Why shouldn't muscle cars get to enjoy high-tech handling? Why shouldn't they also have low revs on the highway and lots of gear ratios to choose from? Well, this one sure will!

More on this soon, as the parts are already starting to arrive. Next up: into the garage for a tear-down and build-up. Can't wait.

These photos were taken in downtown Lawrence, just across the street from The Bottleneck, where tonight a few of us went to see the fantastic band, The Latenight Callers, born here in town but now operating mostly out of Kansas City. Don't know them? They ROCK. Check 'em out on their website or visit them on their Facebook page. Get to know them now so you can say you knew them before they were famous.

Here's a fantastic promo shot of The Latenight Callers, clearly up to no good:

The band is (left to right): Krysztof Nemeth, Ellen O'Hayer, Nick Combs, Gavin Mac, and Julie Berndsen. Photo by Mat "SLIMM" Adkins.

Below is Krysztof Nemeth, a friend and co-founder of the band. I took this shot using his smartphone with no flash and some funky digital effects - blurry, yes, but he liked it this way so here it is:


I've been clearing out a space in the garage to make room for the Chevelle, so soon I'll have progress updates! Oh, so where is all the stuff going that once dwelled in the garage? Why, in this shed I built at the tail-end of Spring Break!


Have a great weekend, and ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!
Chris

James Gunn's Ad Astra: Deadline for submissions is tomorrow!

The submission deadline for James Gunn's Ad Astra looms: Tomorrow is the day! Details:

The theme for our premiere issue is:

Communication and Information

We are looking for submissions that express the idea of gathering knowledge and sharing it with others  as a central element of the story or article. Telling stories, and understanding what is being shared, are what defines us as human. We want to invite the speculative fiction community to examine this topic, either in fiction, poetry, or scholarly articles. Speculative fiction allows us to look at the world through different lenses, and we are excited to see your vision of how we share our ideas with each other.
-Isaac Bell, Issue Editor

How to Submit
Carefully read the submission guidelines:

Short fiction and poetry, click here.

Scholarly articles, click here.

Reviews, click here.
Click the "Complete Submission Form" link at the bottom of the submission guidelines page to access our submission form.Fill out the submission form and follow the directions to upload your document.Feel a great sense of accomplishment and mark June 22, 2012 on your calendar.Come back and read Ad Astra's first edition!</td>

How it Works
Submissions will be accepted at any time. Submissions that fit the issue's theme will be eligible for top selection position in the first issue.Submissions will be judged by a panel of editors selected by the Issue Editor. Every effort will be made to deliver feedback within four weeks of submission, although this can not be guaranteed.The end of the Summer 2012 issue's selection period is March 31, 2012.Top selections will be given key placement in Ad Astra's first issue to be released in conjunction with the 2012 Campbell Conference.Published authors will receive a one-time honorarium of not less than $50 for short stories, $20 for poems. In addition, select authors will be invited to the conference to read their work as part of the conference.Runners-up submissions will also remain eligible for online publishing and future print editions (if one is produced).

Science Fiction Awards: Controversy is the launchpad.

It's always interesting to see the varied complaints against awards. I'm a juror on the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and we get to hear all manner of feedback - more in some years, usually when we never really reached consensus.

Here's Christopher Priest's complaint about this year's Clarke Award nominees.

...And here's John Scalzi's response.

Your thoughts?
Chris

Tree frogs: loving this Kansas spring.

The tree frogs in the back yard are DEAFENING. Wow, what a crop this year! When I first heard them, just a few years ago, I thought they were some kind of mega-voiced insect. But as they grew more vocal, I thought no way could a single bug make that much sound.



A couple of years ago, I happened to be talking with a herpetologist who asked me to make the sound (which I only barely can, a super-fast high-pitched warble), and he declared it a tree frog. Apparently, they can go through their entire egg-tadpole-legged life cycle in 24 hours, given nice deep rain puddles. Viola! Frogs inland from water, like charming, noisy mosquitoes. They might wake me, but I much prefer them to their winged counterparts.

Chris