Cameron Cooper's Blog, page 6

Aim to be a Live Lion

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I’m just a little bit in awe of science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein – for a variety of reasons, including the fact that he’s one of a microscopic collection of authors who can make me cry.

Heinlein had a lot of very strong opinions and ideas about society, culture, religion…and sex.  He was the first author I ever read who portrayed marriages with multiple partners in a positive way and redefined my ideas of what family really meant.  I read his mind-broadening stories in high school, so I was a very impressionable age. 

Here’s one of his quotes:

It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion. And usually easier.  

Robert A. Heinlein

It’s surprising how often this idea applies.

Lions are the kings of the animal world and they’re carnivores…hunters.  So are humans.  The best human lions are rich, successful, thin, healthy, attractive (even the ugly ones – there’s a patina of beauty that comes with success) and usually famous – at least in their own world.

Jackals are scavengers.  Bottom-feeding is generally considered to be a negative behaviour, evoking social ostracism at the extreme, but most often causing those around the bottom-feeder to shrink back in disgust.

There are a lot of behaviors that could fall into the same category as bottom-feeding:  gaming the system (any system), hacking private accounts for profit, any crime both white colour and not, that impacts on private citizens’ quality of life. Spitting on the sidewalk is included…and so are many forms of rudeness, including the increasingly more common social rudeness of showing up late, or not bothering to show at all.

Lions, including human lions, are expected to defend the pack, and they always charge in without hesitation.  Jackals hang back until the danger has passed before moving in for their share.

While jackals are very good at surviving, the human variety have a conscience, even a deeply buried one.  Also, human jackals spend 24/7 watching over their shoulders and keeping their backs against walls.  That doesn’t make for a superior quality of life.

Lions have an easier time of it in this regard.  They have a clean conscience, and they’re rewarded for being moral and ethical, honorable and courageous.  They also often get the better share of the good stuff in life.

So yeah, it’s probably smarter to aim to be a live lion, as difficult as that can be.

Andy Weir’s HAIL MARY — About Five Chapters Too Long

It’s a well-known phenomenon that an author of a runaway bestseller will be found to be disappointing in all future books.

This might even be true.

I went into the reading of Andy Weir’s Hail Mary with what I thought was an open mind, after thoroughly enjoying The Martian, his monster best-seller turned hit movie featuring Matt Damon.

And the book was just as thoroughly enjoyable, viewed overall. If you like your science fiction super hard (that is, full of actual science), you’ll like Hail Mary. There’s math, physics, and calculations to keep you entertained.

And the concept of the book is interesting and kept me reading to the end just to find out if I’d guessed wrong, or not.

And that’s where things fell apart, for me. I’ll try to explain this without spoilers.

Don’t get me wrong. I did like the book. Following the development of a new and unique language was fascinating. What follows is probably me being picky, because as an author, I would have made different choices.

To begin, the book went on for about five chapters longer than it should have. There was a major victory for the two primary characters at the end of the second act, that should have signaled their heading off for the end of the story…but then even more troubles hit them. And then, even more and different troubles. It was too much, too late.

I can understand from a science perspective that the troubles were necessary and logical, and the science in the story would have been weaker without them. But from a pure story/character perspective, the newly developing troubles should have been given a paragraph or two, and the story sent into the final act as quickly as possible. Instead, we got more experiments and trials until the current set of troubles were resolved.

The resolution of these story problems did set up the awkward end act, so let me get to that.

There is a major reversal of the plot in the final act that happened purely because of the belated troubles only a few chapters earlier. It set up the ending of the book in a way I had not anticipated. And that could be viewed as both good and bad. Surprising the reader is usually a good thing. Except that the entire book set the reader up to look forward to a major story and character payoff…and that didn’t happen.

**SPOILER ALERT

The whole book set the reader up to look forward to the main character returning to Earth, with the information needed to save the entire human race. After being treated abyssmally by the team of people who sent him into space in the first place, I was looking forward to his triumphant return…and that was taken away by the major twist at the end.

END OF SPOILER ALERT**

Breaking promises to readers (even just implied promises) is a betrayal of trust that can completely ruin a story. It ruined the ending of this story, alas. But if you love science processes in your books, then the bulk of the book will make up for the letdown at the end.

There were other, minor issues, including a main character that was just a bit too talented and amazing, and a bit too gung-ho and relentless, for a man who had let himself languish as a high-school science teacher for twenty years when his first career had come off the rails. But that could be explained away by the dire circumstances.

And the character’s inability to swear even once during high stress moments was twee — perhaps Weir was overcompensating for the opening of The Martian?

I would give this book a three and three-quarter stars rating. It’s entertaining, at least. Pure science lovers would rate it higher, but I’m a bit more demanding about my characters and stories.

How did you find the book?

The Immoveable Object and The Irresistible Force

Jupiter, with its moon, Callisto, in the foreground. [image error]Jupiter, with its moon, Callisto, in the foreground. [image error]Jupiter, with its moon, Callisto, in the foreground.

If it can’t be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion.

Robert A. Heinlein – The Notebook of Lazarus Long

Say what you will about Robert Heinlein, he does make you pause to think at least once in every book. His The Notebook of Lazarus Long is stuffed full of thinkers.

I’ve been thinking about hard science a lot lately – the generalized field of science, rather than a specific discipline like chemistry or physics or biology, and the really specialized areas that branch off from there. A lot of that thought is a result of reading Hail Mary by Andy Weir, which has a lot of nerdy science in it. It’s a great book, by the way, and I’ll do a review of it soon.

Science as a discipline and profession trains you into looking at the world in a very different way.

It’s like the fashion model, the engineer and the doctor looking at a box: the model says the green color of the box is too dark and doesn’t match the lid, the engineer points out the box is not squared true and therefore doesn’t have the same strength a properly constructed box would, the doctor points out that the walls of the box are full of unhealthy mold. All of them, however, would be happy to guess at what’s inside the box and all three would have different opinions because of their very subjective mindset.

A scientist looking at the same box, no matter whether he’s a physicist, chemist or biologist, would automatically think: “I need to look inside before I can give an opinion about the contents.”

Scientists work from hard evidence and proof. They eschew subjective opinion. Or at least, that is the ideal that science professions aim for. Their theories are offered to the scientific community at large, where their experiments are reconstructed by others to ensure the same results arise. All testing is done with a neutral base line sample (a “control”).

Theories and opinions are aired in peer-reviewed publications, where others in the field can weigh in with their opinion.

The science community is a collegial one, where information and people rub shoulders together. Interestingly, the Internet, where information and people also intermingle in a global soup, was invented by scientists at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland, who wanted a convenient way to talk to peers across the campus and around the world, to exchange information quickly and easily.

The earliest novels I read were hard science fiction – based on physics and chemistry advances, dealing with rivets and gravity, planets and relativity. Most of the more successful writers from that classic era were trained and (often) working scientists. I think it is for that reason that I’ve never attempted to write straight science fiction myself; my lack of an advanced science degree gives me a major “not worthy” complex.

We recently began watching the Apple TV series, For All Mankind, and (while trying to avoid spoilers) women play major roles in the exploration and settlement of space, in that show, including some major firsts. Sadly, it’s an alternative history; which demonstrates how small a role in space exploration women have played to date.

But I do find it refreshing and very exciting that more and more women are entering the hard science fields and finding success. That is one of the more positive trends of the last few decades – one that I hope not just continues, but escalates.

And sometimes AI is actually useful…

Any talk about AI tends to be radically polarized. The lovers and the haters seem to have zero middle ground in common.

I’m personally cautious about AI…for now. There are copyright issues yet to be sorted out, and most of the tools like ChatGPT (which I’ve tried) produce generic pablum that requires just as much work to make it useful, as it would take to start from scratch and build things myself.

In my fiction, I am certainly pro-AI! The Ptolemy Lane series is a case in point.

So I’m watching the whole debate and the court cases with some interest.

However, it seems that sometimes, contemporary AI can actually be useful. With no qualifications.

This is one such time. The Economist recently reported that AI was used to rebuild the contents of Roman scrolls that had been so badly damaged in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 C.E., that they could not be unrolled without crumbling to dust.

AI tools were used to decipher nearly 85% of the content of each scroll.

But that’s just the beginning. Can you imagine what might be in those scrolls? This is new text from the first century! The things we might learn from those scrolls could be mind-boggling. The scrolls were recovered from a villa in Herculaneum, which was the harbor town serving Pompeii. In the first century, the Roman Emperor Vespasianus died in June, and Titus took the throne. Titus was the emperor who invaded Britain that same year. Rome was reaching the extent of its domains and the height of its power.

And we might yet gain a different glimpse of those times thanks to AI.

Self-Sustaining Life on Mars

I’ve been subscribed to ARS Technica for years. They’ve always been light and superficial, and just a bit clickbaity. Lately, I’ve drifted away because the ads were so numerous, I often couldn’t read the post at all. It’s because of sites like theirs that I finally installed an ad blocker. I know, I know…ad blockers are evil and steal income from people trying to pay their bills. But honestly, when you can’t see the content on the page, and can’t dismiss the ads, because they’re so large the close button is off-screen, the advertisers are just asking to be blocked.

Either that, or just don’t visit the site. And I did that (avoided sites) for a few years. But it’s getting ridiculous. Every site is now a flashing, pop-up infested irritation.

So, the ad blocker.

I’ve got back to reading Ars Technica posts with a bit less frustration, as a result.

I came across this post; “What would it take to build a self-sustaining astronaut ecosystem on Mars?” not long ago. Unlike a lot of their posts, this one is long, comprehensive, and super-interesting. It explores what would be necessary for people to live on Mars, either short-term or long term.

Enjoy,

The Force and the Apple That Created It

Many readers like reading science fiction because of the mind-warping sense of scale that future-set stories can create.  You can put a SF book down and feel very humble about the world, and also quite hopeful for the future.

But here’s a real life, contemporary times scale-warping experience:  Consider the original apple tree that Newton was sitting beneath when he observed the falling apple and wondered about what made it fall straight down.  That tree?  That tree is still growing.

It is over 350 years old (and has been carbon dated to verify it).

This is the actual tree Newton sat under.  How is that for a mind-warp?  You can still travel to Woolsthorpe Manor today, and touch the tree that he touched. 

Well, you probably can’t touch it, sorry — they’ve fenced off the root area around it to help the tree stay healthy.  But this is the place where Newton devised the principles of gravity that were published in Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687.  Originally, Newton called gravity “a power”.  Now it is generally referred to as a force.

The original force!

More Hammer It Is.

A couple of weeks ago (in real time), I invited you to complete a two-question survey about a potential new Hammer series, to follow up on the Imperial Hammer and The Iron Hammer.

There were 64 responses, thank you. And the results were absolutely conclusive.

“Do you want to read another “Hammer” series?”

[image error]

Guess that resolves the issues, doesn’t it?

In addition, I asked:

“Do you want Danny Andela and the rest of the cast from the previous two series to appear in a third series?”

Danny wins by a landslide.

In response to your comments

I left room for comments, and many of you did comments. You also asked a great many questions. I’ll answer the questions here, and comment on some of your observations.

“The action is so well done. I hope to see you continue that in the new series.”

I think any book with Danny Andela in it is destined to contain plenty of action.

“Don’t forget the 4-legged characters.  :-)”

As if I could!

“I think it would make a good original film.”

Now that would be something, wouldn’t it? Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone in Hollywood. Do you?

“Hoping the series can make it into Kindle Unlimited (broader audience).”

This comment made me blink. The short answer is that no, the new series nor any of the previous series will ever be part of Kindle Unlimited. The program is terrible for authors, demanding exclusivity, paying them pennies compared to normal sales splits, subjecting them to severe policing and punishment for percieved transgressions, and much more.

And the readership for KU is not a broader audience at all. It is, in fact, a much smaller and limited audience.

While I, by publishing “wide”, can reach all countries everywhere, on multiple platforms.

If you like reading subscription services, and want to read my books that way, try the Kobo+ subscription service, which is comparable to KU, and doesn’t demand that authors be exclusive.

Or, if your book budget is crunched, all my books are available at your local library via Overdrive. Just ask your librarians. Having my books available in libraries would not be possible if I was in Kindle Unlimited, by the way.

“I have once bitten twice shy approach to Amazon & will not buy from them.”

This comment is somewhat opposite to the previous one.

Just to be clear: My books are not exclusive to Amazon. You can buy them (and will continue to be able to buy them for the foreseeable future) from:

Amazon (including print)

Apple Books (this link shows only a few previews — use the app to see everything)

Barnes & Noble (including print)

Kobo Books (including Kobo+)

Smashwords

and, of course, Stories Rule Press, including print.

There are a great many other ebook outlets where you can find my books, too, but these are the main ones. And don’t forget your local library!

‘I love the Hammer. I really like that the protagonist is a mature woman; we are so under-represented in action, almost exclusively “grandmothers”/victims/”quirky old maids”.’

Right???

“First free? – and short stories in the box set? (I know I’ll have to wait.)”

The short stories attached to each of the series so far are in the boxed sets.

Also, if you don’t like reading boxed sets (all the books in one big file), then you might prefer the series bundles you can get on Stories Rule Press, for the Imperial Hammer and The Iron Hammer — they have the shorts in them, too. (Or you could go for the whole enchilada and buy the Super-Bundle).

If I end up writing short stories associated with the third series, they, too, will be included in the series boxed set once it is issued.

As for the first book being free; it is unlikely I’ll offer the first book of any series free permanently. However, I do give away the first books in the previous series in BookFunnel promos, and other promotions from time to time, including the recent BookBub promotion that took Hammer and Crucible to #1 in three different categories.

__________

There were a lot of “can’t wait!” and “yes please!” style comments, and others that sang the praises of the first two series. Thank you so much for those–positive feedback is always appreciated!

So, it appears as though another Hammer series is in order.

Thank you, everyone, for partipcating in the survey.

Imagining the Next Future

This collection of essays and posts is a couple of years old, but I still found it fascinating to dig into.  There’s a lot of stuff collected on this page.  If you like imaging the future for yourself, or listening to people who do, then you’ll enjoy this collection. 

A couple of highlights include the post, “Apocalypse Movies Need to Imagine Climate Solutions, Too,” and “The Most Influential Science Fiction Books of the Modern Era.“

TBR Con — I’ll be there. You?

This is very last minute, sorry, but I wasn’t invited until the last minute, either.

The TBR Con 2024 started this morning. The conference has been described as “an all-virtual sci-fi/fantasy/horror convention,” by the organizers, FanFiAddict.com, and as “A gaggle of nerds talking about Fantasy, Science Fiction, and everything in-between. They also occasionally write reviews about said books.”

The conference has won two Stabby Awards (awarded by r/Fantasy).

The eight finalists of Hugh Howey’s Self-Published SF Contest #2 have been invited to attend a panel on the 24th, at 3pm MST. I’m not sure at this stage if all eight of us will make it, but the majority of us will, including me. This is your chance to see me in all my chemo-curl glory.

But you can check the conference out right now at https://fanfiaddict.com/tbrcon2024/.

Diplomat’s Apprentice — definitely check this one out!

A writer friend of mine popped up on Facebook a few days ago, touting a book that his mom wrote and just released.

Normally, that would earn a thumbs up from me.

But the cover of this book is so amazing, and the description implies the book will deliver on the promise of the cover.

And besides, there’s a cat.

So I’m passing it along.

This is L.J. Dix’s debut novel.

I suspect more are in the author’s future, and I hope they have the same action-oriented and grabby covers that this one does.

Unfortunately, it is exclusive to Amazon, but it is only 99c, which offsets the pain a little.

Check the book out here.