Alan Zendell's Blog: It's About Time, page 2
June 28, 2012
An AMTRAK Horror Story
This is getting ridiculous. Am I a magnet for the bizarre?
Two months ago I took AMTRAK from BWI (Baltimore) to New Rochelle, NY. I only needed to be there a few hours, and the idea of driving was unappealing, so I took the train. I've always used trains, starting with my life in the New York City subways decades ago.
My return train was to leave New Rochelle at 9:00pm, but when I arrived at the station there was an electronic sign board saying it was delayed. That's it - no time estimate, no reason, and no station agent to talk to. I and about twenty other passengers were left standing on the platform.
Several agonizing phone calls to AMTRAK later, we learned in bits and pieces that a pedestrian had been struck and killed by our train somewhere in Massachusetts, and the State Police had shut down the entire system in New England to investigate. Long story short, my train arrived three hours late, and I got back to BWI at 3:00am. The good news was that I got to rescue a woman who was stranded there with no way to get home.
To that point, I was willing to chalk the whole thing up as an interesting experience - until last weekend, when I went back to New York to attend my niece's engagement party. Since the party was in Manhattan, I definitely did not want to drive this time. The trip north was uneventful, the party was great, and I arrived at Penn Station in plenty of time for my 11:05pm train home, which was to arrive at BWI at 1:55am.
Everything was fine until the train stopped between Trenton and Philadelphia a little after midnight. After ten minutes of waiting, people were waking up and wondering what was going on. I told the person next to me about my previous experience, and just then the conductor announced - you guessed it - our train had run over a pedestrian who'd been sitting on the tracks (outside a bar, as we noticed, much later).
This time it was the Pennsylvania State Police who impounded the train, and we sat there until nearly 3:00am surrounded by a variety of vehicles with multi-colored flashing lights. We arrived at BWI at 4:30 to find that none of the payment machines would read anyone's credit cards, so our cars were trapped in the parking garage until someone woke up a sleepy attendant.
Oh, there's more good news. I rescued another woman stranded with no way to get to Annapolis.
Everyone's telling me to stay off trains. As we all know, disasters come in threes.
Two months ago I took AMTRAK from BWI (Baltimore) to New Rochelle, NY. I only needed to be there a few hours, and the idea of driving was unappealing, so I took the train. I've always used trains, starting with my life in the New York City subways decades ago.
My return train was to leave New Rochelle at 9:00pm, but when I arrived at the station there was an electronic sign board saying it was delayed. That's it - no time estimate, no reason, and no station agent to talk to. I and about twenty other passengers were left standing on the platform.
Several agonizing phone calls to AMTRAK later, we learned in bits and pieces that a pedestrian had been struck and killed by our train somewhere in Massachusetts, and the State Police had shut down the entire system in New England to investigate. Long story short, my train arrived three hours late, and I got back to BWI at 3:00am. The good news was that I got to rescue a woman who was stranded there with no way to get home.
To that point, I was willing to chalk the whole thing up as an interesting experience - until last weekend, when I went back to New York to attend my niece's engagement party. Since the party was in Manhattan, I definitely did not want to drive this time. The trip north was uneventful, the party was great, and I arrived at Penn Station in plenty of time for my 11:05pm train home, which was to arrive at BWI at 1:55am.
Everything was fine until the train stopped between Trenton and Philadelphia a little after midnight. After ten minutes of waiting, people were waking up and wondering what was going on. I told the person next to me about my previous experience, and just then the conductor announced - you guessed it - our train had run over a pedestrian who'd been sitting on the tracks (outside a bar, as we noticed, much later).
This time it was the Pennsylvania State Police who impounded the train, and we sat there until nearly 3:00am surrounded by a variety of vehicles with multi-colored flashing lights. We arrived at BWI at 4:30 to find that none of the payment machines would read anyone's credit cards, so our cars were trapped in the parking garage until someone woke up a sleepy attendant.
Oh, there's more good news. I rescued another woman stranded with no way to get to Annapolis.
Everyone's telling me to stay off trains. As we all know, disasters come in threes.
June 2, 2012
A Verizon Horror Story - Part 3
First, I want to be clear that throughout the entire ordeal, every single person I spoke with at Verizon engaged with me and really seemed to care that we resolve things in a way that satisfied me. Whatever went wrong wasn't their fault.
Last week I called Verizon tech support and asked to have the files that should have been removed last summer finally deleted. No, I'm not that naive. We did the chat window thing again with OSC, the tech support person relaying my request and reading their responses. We were very clear that under no conditions were my current website files to be touched. And I was assured that a transcript of the chat with OSC would be stored in their computer.
I offered to provide them with a list of the files to be deleted, but they declined, saying they knew what needed to be removed. The next day I received a phone message telling me my files had been deleted. I went online to check that my space had been restored and discovered that it been restored 100% - they'd erased my entire space including my current website.
I was annoyed but not concerned because I knew they could restore my site. A company like Verizon couldn't stay in business without a world class backup system. But there's usually a limited window for file recovery, and the clock was ticking. About three hours had elapsed since the deletion when I called tech support for help. I waited 45 minutes in their hold queue until the system cut me off. That happened three more times wasting a total of three more hours.
Now it's the next morning, 15 hours since my files were deleted. Back in the hold queue, brief this time. Tech support has to follow a script, so it took a while to explain my problem. We played the chat screen game with OSC again and were told that the files weren't recoverable. I knew that was a lie, and tech support relayed that for me. Then OSC said they can't delete individual files - it's all or nothing, so they deleted everything. WITHOUT ANY ATTEMPT TO VERIFY THAT THAT WAS OKAY WITH ME!
In fairly short order, the OSC chatter told tech support it was their problem and ended the chat. I went through the same routine with the tech support supervisor who was amazed that she received exactly the same treatment when she asked OSC for an explanation. All that took three more hours and we hadn't accomplished anything. OSC acted as if it was insulated from everyone else and would not accept responsibility for what they'd done. The tech support people had done everything possible for me and been rebuffed.
The only way to resolve this was to get high enough in Verizon's management to find someone who could tell OSC to restore my files before they were permanently lost. I called tech support again and said I wanted to go higher up the chain. The entire record of the earlier three hours was on their screens.
But I learned that tech support isn't allowed to elevate complaints above the first line supervisor level. That's why they were stuck. I also spent another three hours replaying what had happened earlier with a new support person and a new supervisor. The replay was identical in every way.
More than twenty hours had passed since my files were deleted. I was probably safe for a week, but I wasn't about to waste another hour. Late in the afternoon, I looked up Verizon's Executive Offices in New York, and found a phone number on their website. I called, and a man answered. He asked how he could help me and I told him a 5-min version of the story. I said I wanted my website restored and we all knew there was no reason OSC couldn't do it.
He listened and then another man got on the line. We talked for 15 minutes, much of which was him asking questions that convinced me he was taking it seriously. I stressed the ticking clock and he said I'd hear from someone tomorrow. Okay. I couldn't have asked for more. I believed him.
The next morning my website was restored, and I received three different phone calls, from the man who said he'd get back to me, and from both the last tech support person who'd helped me and his supervisor. I'm really impressed by their response. It was perfect.
As a postscript, I was able to ascertain that it definitely was the action of the Executive Office that forced OSC to move. I like that. Every large organization has problems, but they don't all take responsibility for the harm they do and then fix it.
A second postscript: I still don't have my space back. OSC is still claiming that deleting files is all or nothing. Does anyone out there believe that?
Last week I called Verizon tech support and asked to have the files that should have been removed last summer finally deleted. No, I'm not that naive. We did the chat window thing again with OSC, the tech support person relaying my request and reading their responses. We were very clear that under no conditions were my current website files to be touched. And I was assured that a transcript of the chat with OSC would be stored in their computer.
I offered to provide them with a list of the files to be deleted, but they declined, saying they knew what needed to be removed. The next day I received a phone message telling me my files had been deleted. I went online to check that my space had been restored and discovered that it been restored 100% - they'd erased my entire space including my current website.
I was annoyed but not concerned because I knew they could restore my site. A company like Verizon couldn't stay in business without a world class backup system. But there's usually a limited window for file recovery, and the clock was ticking. About three hours had elapsed since the deletion when I called tech support for help. I waited 45 minutes in their hold queue until the system cut me off. That happened three more times wasting a total of three more hours.
Now it's the next morning, 15 hours since my files were deleted. Back in the hold queue, brief this time. Tech support has to follow a script, so it took a while to explain my problem. We played the chat screen game with OSC again and were told that the files weren't recoverable. I knew that was a lie, and tech support relayed that for me. Then OSC said they can't delete individual files - it's all or nothing, so they deleted everything. WITHOUT ANY ATTEMPT TO VERIFY THAT THAT WAS OKAY WITH ME!
In fairly short order, the OSC chatter told tech support it was their problem and ended the chat. I went through the same routine with the tech support supervisor who was amazed that she received exactly the same treatment when she asked OSC for an explanation. All that took three more hours and we hadn't accomplished anything. OSC acted as if it was insulated from everyone else and would not accept responsibility for what they'd done. The tech support people had done everything possible for me and been rebuffed.
The only way to resolve this was to get high enough in Verizon's management to find someone who could tell OSC to restore my files before they were permanently lost. I called tech support again and said I wanted to go higher up the chain. The entire record of the earlier three hours was on their screens.
But I learned that tech support isn't allowed to elevate complaints above the first line supervisor level. That's why they were stuck. I also spent another three hours replaying what had happened earlier with a new support person and a new supervisor. The replay was identical in every way.
More than twenty hours had passed since my files were deleted. I was probably safe for a week, but I wasn't about to waste another hour. Late in the afternoon, I looked up Verizon's Executive Offices in New York, and found a phone number on their website. I called, and a man answered. He asked how he could help me and I told him a 5-min version of the story. I said I wanted my website restored and we all knew there was no reason OSC couldn't do it.
He listened and then another man got on the line. We talked for 15 minutes, much of which was him asking questions that convinced me he was taking it seriously. I stressed the ticking clock and he said I'd hear from someone tomorrow. Okay. I couldn't have asked for more. I believed him.
The next morning my website was restored, and I received three different phone calls, from the man who said he'd get back to me, and from both the last tech support person who'd helped me and his supervisor. I'm really impressed by their response. It was perfect.
As a postscript, I was able to ascertain that it definitely was the action of the Executive Office that forced OSC to move. I like that. Every large organization has problems, but they don't all take responsibility for the harm they do and then fix it.
A second postscript: I still don't have my space back. OSC is still claiming that deleting files is all or nothing. Does anyone out there believe that?
A Verizon Horror Story - Part 2
Assuming you've read Part 1 --- I contacted Verizon tech support and pointed out that they'd taken away my ability to delete my website. They would have to delete it for me, since there was no other way. That gave me my first indication that there was a problem with Verizon's internal organization.
Personal webspace was managed by a mysterious group called the Operations Support Center, or OSC. The name doesn't sound very mysterious, but they are completely insulated from and invisible to tech support. They refuse to engage with customers and won't even speak directly to other components within Verizon.
It went like this: I called tech support, sat through their interminable hold queue, verified who I was four different ways, and told them what I needed. What I got back was the phone equivalent of a blank stare. It wasn't the fault of the tech support person, who sounded truly distressed at not being able to help me, but Personal Web Space wasn't on his radar because Verizon set it up that way. After a long consultation with the ubiquitous supervisor, they determined that they needed to contact OSC. I thought I sensed an ominous tone - apparently contact with OSC is something they shrink from.
OSC won't interact with anyone by phone - they had to use a chat window. It's bizarre. I'm dictating the request to my tech support person while he's typing in his chat window and reading responses back to me, and he's becoming more irritated every second because of the attitude he's receiving from OSC, and I, the poor innocent customer, have to watch this ugly sausage being made.
Finally, my request was acted on, and the website I'd spent countless hours on was taken down. This occurred in August, 2011, and I spent about a week rebuilding my site with Verizon's online tools. The tools aren't terrible, but anyone who builds websites will tell you the things he or she hates most are:
- tools that don't always do what they're supposed to do;
- tools that come with no documentation; and
- feeling limited by someone else's idea of what a web design should look like.
Given all that, I got my website working, though it would have been easier at each step to build it myself, and it would have looked better. Then, last week, I noticed that my allotted space was nearly full. That didn't make sense, because my new web site had to require a lot less storage than the old one. The old one was very heavy on graphics which took up a lot of space. The new one had hardly any graphics and fewer pages.
Verizon's site builder includes a link that lets the user see a list of files stored in his space. When I studied the list I found that all the supporting files for the old site were still there eating my allocation. Our not-so-friendly friends at OSC hadn't deleted my old website at all. They'd simply made it inaccessible.
I wanted my space back, though I knew that meant dealing with OSC and Verizon's crazy process again. Thus began the horror show that I'll describe in Part 3.
Personal webspace was managed by a mysterious group called the Operations Support Center, or OSC. The name doesn't sound very mysterious, but they are completely insulated from and invisible to tech support. They refuse to engage with customers and won't even speak directly to other components within Verizon.
It went like this: I called tech support, sat through their interminable hold queue, verified who I was four different ways, and told them what I needed. What I got back was the phone equivalent of a blank stare. It wasn't the fault of the tech support person, who sounded truly distressed at not being able to help me, but Personal Web Space wasn't on his radar because Verizon set it up that way. After a long consultation with the ubiquitous supervisor, they determined that they needed to contact OSC. I thought I sensed an ominous tone - apparently contact with OSC is something they shrink from.
OSC won't interact with anyone by phone - they had to use a chat window. It's bizarre. I'm dictating the request to my tech support person while he's typing in his chat window and reading responses back to me, and he's becoming more irritated every second because of the attitude he's receiving from OSC, and I, the poor innocent customer, have to watch this ugly sausage being made.
Finally, my request was acted on, and the website I'd spent countless hours on was taken down. This occurred in August, 2011, and I spent about a week rebuilding my site with Verizon's online tools. The tools aren't terrible, but anyone who builds websites will tell you the things he or she hates most are:
- tools that don't always do what they're supposed to do;
- tools that come with no documentation; and
- feeling limited by someone else's idea of what a web design should look like.
Given all that, I got my website working, though it would have been easier at each step to build it myself, and it would have looked better. Then, last week, I noticed that my allotted space was nearly full. That didn't make sense, because my new web site had to require a lot less storage than the old one. The old one was very heavy on graphics which took up a lot of space. The new one had hardly any graphics and fewer pages.
Verizon's site builder includes a link that lets the user see a list of files stored in his space. When I studied the list I found that all the supporting files for the old site were still there eating my allocation. Our not-so-friendly friends at OSC hadn't deleted my old website at all. They'd simply made it inaccessible.
I wanted my space back, though I knew that meant dealing with OSC and Verizon's crazy process again. Thus began the horror show that I'll describe in Part 3.
A Verizon Horror Story - Part 1
For this to be meaningful, I have to start a few years back - thus, I'll post it in parts.
Verizon FIOS (their internet fiber optic service) offers each customer 10 megabytes of free web space to create a personal or business website. As a writer, I needed one to showcase my work, so I eagerly dove in.
Users could either work through Verizon's templates or create their own HTML code and use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) software to upload and manage their sites themselves if they wished. FTP simply allows you to add, change, or delete files on someone's server if you have permission to access it.
There was one catch, but in my opinion it was a fair price to pay. The free web space was a perk Verizon offered its customers, but anyone who used it was pretty much on his or her own. They provided no tech support and virtually no documentation. But it was free and we all knew that going in.
All was well until Verizon took one of the corporate actions that infuriates customers and causes the company to have such an abysmal reputation for customer service. (Just check any of the frequent national surveys if you don't believe me.)
As of January 2011 they prohibited FTP file transfers. The decision itself was defensible in that allowing every customer direct access to their servers left them at risk for nasty things like virus uploads. I wasn't too happy but I accepted that as a necessity, like paying taxes.
What I couldn't accept was the arbitrary way the action was taken, basically leaving most customers in the lurch with no warning. They did send warning emails (once) but made no attempt to assure that they went to active accounts. So if a customer wasn't using his or her Verizon email address (most don't) the warning was never seen.
The effect: customers like me were left with web pages in need of updating with no way to do it. Under the new rules we couldn't add, change, or delete anything. Worse, I couldn't even take the site down. I would have to completely rebuild my website using Verizon's web tools, but I couldn't even begin while the old site was up. And Verizon's attitude was, "Sorry, but we told you we weren't providing support for this tool." Seriously?
Stay tuned for Part 2. It gets better.
Verizon FIOS (their internet fiber optic service) offers each customer 10 megabytes of free web space to create a personal or business website. As a writer, I needed one to showcase my work, so I eagerly dove in.
Users could either work through Verizon's templates or create their own HTML code and use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) software to upload and manage their sites themselves if they wished. FTP simply allows you to add, change, or delete files on someone's server if you have permission to access it.
There was one catch, but in my opinion it was a fair price to pay. The free web space was a perk Verizon offered its customers, but anyone who used it was pretty much on his or her own. They provided no tech support and virtually no documentation. But it was free and we all knew that going in.
All was well until Verizon took one of the corporate actions that infuriates customers and causes the company to have such an abysmal reputation for customer service. (Just check any of the frequent national surveys if you don't believe me.)
As of January 2011 they prohibited FTP file transfers. The decision itself was defensible in that allowing every customer direct access to their servers left them at risk for nasty things like virus uploads. I wasn't too happy but I accepted that as a necessity, like paying taxes.
What I couldn't accept was the arbitrary way the action was taken, basically leaving most customers in the lurch with no warning. They did send warning emails (once) but made no attempt to assure that they went to active accounts. So if a customer wasn't using his or her Verizon email address (most don't) the warning was never seen.
The effect: customers like me were left with web pages in need of updating with no way to do it. Under the new rules we couldn't add, change, or delete anything. Worse, I couldn't even take the site down. I would have to completely rebuild my website using Verizon's web tools, but I couldn't even begin while the old site was up. And Verizon's attitude was, "Sorry, but we told you we weren't providing support for this tool." Seriously?
Stay tuned for Part 2. It gets better.
May 31, 2012
A Month Later I'm a Little Smarter
I've been gone, relaxing in the great Northwest, and then unrelaxing at Balticon (the Baltimore Sci-fi Convention). It was my third time there, and you'd have thought I'd have learned something by now, but alas, it took this weekend for some do's and don'ts to sink in. So, for any of you who intend to attend such events as writers, here's my free advice, and it's worth every penny.
Do - get lots of sleep the night before.
Don't - sign up for events (panels, readings, book signings, and so on) for the opening sessions on any day, or for anything on the last day.
Do - try to stay overnight to attend the parties and celebrations. It's not just the fun, and certainly not the drinking, though the free food might be nice -- it's the networking.
Don't - count on selling a lot of books.
Do - remember to drink lots of water.
Don't - expect everything to run like clockwork -- it's a volunteer effort.
Do - enjoy your time there -- it's fun.
Don't - be concerned with the rules, especially the one about how many times you can vote for your favorite costume.
Do - get lots of sleep the night before.
Don't - sign up for events (panels, readings, book signings, and so on) for the opening sessions on any day, or for anything on the last day.
Do - try to stay overnight to attend the parties and celebrations. It's not just the fun, and certainly not the drinking, though the free food might be nice -- it's the networking.
Don't - count on selling a lot of books.
Do - remember to drink lots of water.
Don't - expect everything to run like clockwork -- it's a volunteer effort.
Do - enjoy your time there -- it's fun.
Don't - be concerned with the rules, especially the one about how many times you can vote for your favorite costume.
May 2, 2012
Another Interview on BlogTalk Radio – The Third Time was the Charm
I’m finally getting the hang of this. After a solo stint in January on Giovanni Gelati’s interview show, I had a brilliant idea for how to improve the encore: invite a charming, talented female author to join me next time. That bill was admirably filled by Goodreads author Cindy Young-Turner in February. We did a third interview today, and this time I really found the right formula — two charming, talented female authors.
Toby Devens joined us today, and I mostly got to sit back and listen while Cindy and Toby engaged in a spirited discussion of the perils of publishing in today’s profit-driven environment (Click to Listen to the Interview). To be honest, there were a couple of other guests, a sweet golden retriever who kept wandering over to offer encouragement and support, and the largest, ugliest bumble bee any of us had ever seen. Toby and Cindy never missed a beat when the uninvited guest buzzed into the room.
Have a listen, and you’ll be surprised at how quickly the hour passed.
Fair warning — there will be a fourth interview in June after Balticon. This time we’re going to recruit Amy Kaplan as our special guest. Put it on your calendar, Amy. We’ll be expecting you.
Toby Devens joined us today, and I mostly got to sit back and listen while Cindy and Toby engaged in a spirited discussion of the perils of publishing in today’s profit-driven environment (Click to Listen to the Interview). To be honest, there were a couple of other guests, a sweet golden retriever who kept wandering over to offer encouragement and support, and the largest, ugliest bumble bee any of us had ever seen. Toby and Cindy never missed a beat when the uninvited guest buzzed into the room.
Have a listen, and you’ll be surprised at how quickly the hour passed.
Fair warning — there will be a fourth interview in June after Balticon. This time we’re going to recruit Amy Kaplan as our special guest. Put it on your calendar, Amy. We’ll be expecting you.
April 22, 2012
A Wave to Richard Bunning
Sometimes, things or people turn out to be more than we'd hoped for. I met Richard on Goodreads, initially reading his comments about the books he liked and the way he approached reviewing them. I liked his direct, honest approach - in effect, he said he only reviewed books he liked but authors shouldn't expect gratuitous five-star reviews unless they had written something truly spectacular. He also said he approached his task deliberately, wrote careful, detailed reviews, and generally took his time (he admitted to being a slow reader) so the author should not expect a quick response.
Richard agreed to read my novel, "Wednesday's Child," and review it (only if he liked it, of course). I'm not writing this because he gave my book a spectacular review - well, he did like it a lot - but that's not the point. I'm writing this because Richard is exactly what he says he is and more. His review appeared much more quickly than I'd expected and it told me that he had approached my book exactly as he said he would.
His comments were incisive and to the point, and from my point of view, he caught everything about the book that I thought was important. His final comment, that it was a book he wished he'd thought to write himself, was the best thing an author could wish to here, more so, because I knew he meant it.
So, I'm writing this not to thank Richard for praising my book, but for being exactly the sort of reviewer he promised to be, and to urge anyone looking for that kind of reviewer to contact him.
Richard agreed to read my novel, "Wednesday's Child," and review it (only if he liked it, of course). I'm not writing this because he gave my book a spectacular review - well, he did like it a lot - but that's not the point. I'm writing this because Richard is exactly what he says he is and more. His review appeared much more quickly than I'd expected and it told me that he had approached my book exactly as he said he would.
His comments were incisive and to the point, and from my point of view, he caught everything about the book that I thought was important. His final comment, that it was a book he wished he'd thought to write himself, was the best thing an author could wish to here, more so, because I knew he meant it.
So, I'm writing this not to thank Richard for praising my book, but for being exactly the sort of reviewer he promised to be, and to urge anyone looking for that kind of reviewer to contact him.
April 1, 2012
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert A. Heinlein
I'd have rated it higher forty years ago, but today it didn't stir me the way it once did. What, as a young man, struck me as brash and admirable just sounds bitter and angry to me now. Not that there's not a lot about this novel that's impressive - it did win a Hugo after all, and many people think it was Heinlein's finest work. In 1966, "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" was classic science fiction - a realistic view of what life on the Moon might be like, with science and engineering that made sense. It was clever and innovative, and far more accurate from a predictive point of view than most works at the time.
And in addition to being good science fiction, its negativity aside, it was socio-political allegory in the grand style of "Star Trek." Luna's struggle for independence was closely modeled after the American Revolution, even to the extent of issuing its Declaration of Independence on the Fourth of July. The role of imperialist England is played by the Federation of Nations, but it's clear that Heinlein's ire is aimed squarely at the former USA, which is blinded by it's own arrogance. None of Earth's nations are spared Heinlein's wrath, but countries like China and India can at least see that co-existence with Luna is in everyone's best interest.
In the late sixties, during the heart of the Cold War, Heinlein chose to write this book in first person with the accent of a Russian speaking English. That seemed cute back then, but today I simply found it annoying, and I'm not sure what the point of it was. He was a very angry man when he wrote it, perhaps because he viewed our growing involvement in Vietnam as a betrayal of what our founding fathers intended America to be - I really don't know.
Heinlein was well-known as a libertarian/anarchist and this book can be viewed as one long rant on the subject. From that point of view, giving the heroes of the book Russian personae seems to me nothing less than a directed insult. Did Heinlein think the Soviet Union was a freer place less fettered by laws and taxes than his homeland? That's me shaking my head in wonderment.
If Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul collaborated on a science fiction novel, it might read a lot like "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". Maybe that's what irks me about it. But ironically, as a friend recently pointed out, regardless of his intentions, Heinlein ultimately wound up demonstrating that a nation without a strong Government cannot survive. He continued to rail against taxation, and he repeated his tag line, "there's no such thing as a free lunch," at every opportunity, but the overriding conclusion from this book is that a society cannot depend solely on human nature and hoped-for good sense to survive. It must have rules, and its citizens must collectively sacrifice a degree of freedom for the common good.
And in addition to being good science fiction, its negativity aside, it was socio-political allegory in the grand style of "Star Trek." Luna's struggle for independence was closely modeled after the American Revolution, even to the extent of issuing its Declaration of Independence on the Fourth of July. The role of imperialist England is played by the Federation of Nations, but it's clear that Heinlein's ire is aimed squarely at the former USA, which is blinded by it's own arrogance. None of Earth's nations are spared Heinlein's wrath, but countries like China and India can at least see that co-existence with Luna is in everyone's best interest.
In the late sixties, during the heart of the Cold War, Heinlein chose to write this book in first person with the accent of a Russian speaking English. That seemed cute back then, but today I simply found it annoying, and I'm not sure what the point of it was. He was a very angry man when he wrote it, perhaps because he viewed our growing involvement in Vietnam as a betrayal of what our founding fathers intended America to be - I really don't know.
Heinlein was well-known as a libertarian/anarchist and this book can be viewed as one long rant on the subject. From that point of view, giving the heroes of the book Russian personae seems to me nothing less than a directed insult. Did Heinlein think the Soviet Union was a freer place less fettered by laws and taxes than his homeland? That's me shaking my head in wonderment.
If Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul collaborated on a science fiction novel, it might read a lot like "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". Maybe that's what irks me about it. But ironically, as a friend recently pointed out, regardless of his intentions, Heinlein ultimately wound up demonstrating that a nation without a strong Government cannot survive. He continued to rail against taxation, and he repeated his tag line, "there's no such thing as a free lunch," at every opportunity, but the overriding conclusion from this book is that a society cannot depend solely on human nature and hoped-for good sense to survive. It must have rules, and its citizens must collectively sacrifice a degree of freedom for the common good.
March 9, 2012
Trestle Press' BOGO Sale
Giovanni is holding a Buy-1-Get-1-Free sale until March 17th. Included in the offerings are my recently published short story, "A Boy and His Dog, an Unfinished Love Story", http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-boy....
March 3, 2012
Trestle Press - Giovanni Gelati - A Friend to Writers
Goodreads member Giovanni Gelati is really working to help authors get their work in front of interested readers. He has already hosted two hour-long radio interviews (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatiss...) for me and fellow writer Cindy Young-Turner.
Giovanni also runs Trestle Press (http://www.trestlepresspublishing.com) which made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Trestle will publish all of my short stories as ebooks, each with it's own cover. All I had to do was select the images I wanted. Giovanni purchased the licenses to use them and created the covers at no cost to me.
In addition to posting the stories on all the major e-retail sites, he provides editing and marketing services, collects sales revenues from sellers, and pays me my share on a regular basis. He does all this for a reasonable percentage of the revenue. Even the contract was simple and efficient.
My first story "A Boy and His Dog - an Unfinished Love Story" was posted on Amazon on March 2nd. After spending all of 2011 trying to figure out how to solve the marketing puzzle for my novels, this is the best offer I've found.
Thanks, Giovanni!
Giovanni also runs Trestle Press (http://www.trestlepresspublishing.com) which made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Trestle will publish all of my short stories as ebooks, each with it's own cover. All I had to do was select the images I wanted. Giovanni purchased the licenses to use them and created the covers at no cost to me.
In addition to posting the stories on all the major e-retail sites, he provides editing and marketing services, collects sales revenues from sellers, and pays me my share on a regular basis. He does all this for a reasonable percentage of the revenue. Even the contract was simple and efficient.
My first story "A Boy and His Dog - an Unfinished Love Story" was posted on Amazon on March 2nd. After spending all of 2011 trying to figure out how to solve the marketing puzzle for my novels, this is the best offer I've found.
Thanks, Giovanni!
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