Daniel M. Bensen's Blog, page 74
August 23, 2016
Roll that rock
Daily goals (word count or time spend writing) are a good way to motivate yourself and get into the habit of writing. What they don’t do, though, is modulate tension.
I recently started writing a story with no daily goals (or even an outline) and I discovered that without a reason to push myself continue writing, I would start a scene and just sort of…stop after a while. The scene petered out and I’d go do something else. I couldn’t figure out what would happen next. It was like mini-writer’s block.
Which isn’t a bad thing. I operated under the assumption that I didn’t know what would happen next in the story because of some mistake I had made earlier on. So I read right around where my previous scene had petered out, and each time, I found a poor decision. A decision that made the scene less interesting. The mysterious man in the crowd looks at the main character, then vanishes. What if he didn’t vanish? What if he attacked? Well then the main character would have to defend himself. With that change made, suddenly I knew how the rest of the scene would go. I wrote until I petered out again. And so on.
Every scene has tension. The tension rises until something goes BOOM, then the dust settles and you have to start building tension anew. Writing in that tension is like lifting a rock to the top of a hill. It takes work, but once the rock is there, it rolls down easily. Then you have to lift the rock again.
It’s a sisyphean task. But like…in a good way?
August 19, 2016
Buy Tales from Alternate Earths!
Prayer beads clicked between the fingers of Song Muhanmode ben Mahdi, Emperor of China and Imam of All Islam.
“Does the letter continue?” he said.
The secretary cleared his throat. “The missive ends, your Majesty, with the words, ‘they shall surely kill us all. May Allah have mercy on us.'”
Silence filled the Hall of the Great Shia, as profound as the space between life and death. Then the lacquered nails clicked again across the beads, counting down the ninety-nine names of God.
“May Allah have mercy on them,” said the Imam-Emperor, “indeed.”
DOT DOT DOT…
If you liked that teaser, please consider buying Tales from Alternate Earths, an alternate history anthology containing TREASURE FLEET, a story about a Muslim southern China’s voyage across the Pacific.
August 9, 2016
What if China had discovered the Americas
You might remember this fun conversation I had with Melissa Walshe about figuring out a way to get China to discover the Americas before Columbus.
Well, I did, and the story’s being published in Tales from Alternate Earths by Inklings Press. There are some other great stories in the anthology, touching on such topics as the extinction of the dinosaurs, the War of the Worlds, and the Tunguska Event, all dear to my heart and I’m sure yours too. So Check out Tales from Alternate Earths, on sale the 19th and available for pre-order now.
August 3, 2016
5-star review: Kill Process
Damn it feels good to get caught up in a book like this.
Kill Process engages at just about every level. There’s a gripping premise (employee of a social networking site tracks down and kills abusive spouses), an ominous message (yes, someone could theoretically go commit these sorts of murders), and tons of realistic detail (and here’s how!).
There’s also a deeply sympathetic side to the psychology of the main character, a woman struggling against potentially crippling trauma (and I’m not talking about her missing arm). I read this book coming out of some pretty severe medical problems, and the stuff about PTSD rang very true. So did the hacking. So did the woman-in-the-IT-industry problems. I love books that inform me about the real world, and Kill Process does, seamlessly weaving real life into a thrilling story.
Also I’m just the teensiest bit worried about online security now?
July 28, 2016
Anesthesia theater!
Here’s a treat! The notes I wrote for the YA fantasy story I hallucinated while coming down off the anesthesia from my second surgery in June. Tally ho!
Superconducting hyphae connect cities built around giant fungal towers. Iron flies toward cities. Flying knights! Wing-swords!
Girl courier ambushed by Wing-sword guy. He wants to get codes to enter her city. They crash.
On foot, they are pursued by stone dog.
A kindly priest from the ground-up religion (arches. candles. “The flame vanishes but some warm smoke remains.”)
He tells them the dog is a golem animated by another priest. (”now I must ask what crime you committed for my brotherhood to want you dead”)
They fit their flier with rockets
A cruel priest of the top-down religion. (lots of pyramids. In charge of the fungal towers, which have been allowed to get too old)
The gods want the empire broken so new fungi can sprout.
And then was moved out of the ICU.
July 14, 2016
The Interstellar Standard Homininan
My Tumblr buddy Exxos von Steamboldt told me about The Only Sci-Fi Explanation of Hominid Aliens that Makes Scientific Sense. Spoiler alert: it’s panspermia. Ancient aliens seeded many planets with life, which is why we all look the same.
I don’t buy it. If the first intelligent species colonized Earth recently (8 million years ago) and we’re they’re descendants, why do we so closely resemble native Earth chimps and gorillas? If they seeded Earth with their DNA 4 billion years ago, that just returns the argument to convergent evolution. Why would different planets seeded with the same DNA produce the same results? They shouldn’t have. Earth evolution has produced everything from slime-mold to walrus, and that’s just on one planet.
The only way I can see around it is something like David Brin’s Uplift or Ursula LeGuin’s Ecumen series, where there is continual intermittent contact between inhabited planets from the formation of life all the way up to the present. Everything is biochemically compatible with everything else. New species being transported to Earth aren’t radically different from native species (and in the fossil record they look like normal evolution). Neanderthals evolve on Earth but then are replaced by the related but distinct Interstellar Standard Homininan (which would be us). In that case, I guess it’s only a matter of time before the next Standardizing Vessel makes planetfall on Earth to introduce the next wave.
July 4, 2016
Today is our Independence Day
I came back from the hospital today.
There were complications (an ileus and several intestinal obstructions) from the surgery on June 1st and I needed surgery again on the 17th. Today, I was released.
Recovery has been steady and accelerating. I’m standing, I’m walking, I’m eating. It’s true I am only eating baby food, but after a week of being fed through an IV, every mouthful of chicken broth, mashed carrots, and baby formula is a culinary wonderland. Yesterday I had my first bite of cheese and it was a spiritual experience. We’re taking it slow and being cautious about introducing new foods, but my diet will progress, don’t worry.
I want to thank everyone who sent me their thoughts and prayers. Being back with my family is the best way to celebrate the Fourth of July that I can imagine. Next year, I’ll even be able to eat a hamburger.
June 30, 2016
Ranger diplomats
Different ecosystems have different personalities.
June 23, 2016
False Englishes
If Proto-Indo-European was GA Modern English
Proto-Indo-European late-Proto-Indo-European Proto-Germanic Proto-Northwest-Germanic Old English Middle English Modern English
I /aɪ/ /aɪ/ /ɛɪ/ /eɪ/
you /ju/ /ju/ /jy/ /y/ /i/ /i:/
this /ðɪs/ /ðɪz/ /ðɪ/ /ðɪ/ /ðɪ/
who /huː/ /u:/ /uː/ /yː/ /i:/ /i:/
what /wʌt/ /wʌt/ /wʌt/ /wʌt/
one /wʌn/ /wʌ/ /wʌ/ /wʌ/
two /tu/ /tu/ /ty/ /ti/ /taɪ/
fish /ˈfɪʃ/ /ˈfɪʃ/ /fɪʃ/ /fɪʃ/
dog /dɑɡ/ /tɔɡ/ /tug/ /tudʒ/ /tɔːdʒ/ /tɔːdʒ/
louse /laʊs/ /lɔʊz/ /luʊ/ /lɔːwʌ/ /lɔːwə/
blood /blʌd/ /bilʌ:d/ /pilʌ:d/ /piolʌ:d/ /pajɔːləd/ /’paɪjɔːləd/
bone /boʊn/ /puʊ/ /pyʊ/ /piʌ/ /’pɪjə/
egg /ɛɡ/ /ɛɡ/ /eg/ /edʒ/ /idʒ/ /ɪdʒ/
horn /hɔɹn/ /ɔɹin/ /ɔɹi/ /uɹi/ /yɹ/ /iɹ/ /əɹ/
tail /teɪl/ /θeɪl/ /θijɪl/ /’θaɪjɪl/
ear /iɹ/ /iɹ/ /ioɹ/ /ajɔːɹ/ /’aɪjəɹ/
eye / aɪ/ / aɪ/ /ɛɪ/ /eɪ/
nose /noʊz/ /nɔʊz/ /nuʊ/ /nuʌ/ /’nuwə/
tooth /tuːθ/ /θu:ð/ /θy:ð/ /θi:ð/ /θaɪ:ð/
tongue /ˈtʌŋ/ /θʌŋ/ /θʌŋ/ /θʌŋ/
hand /hænd/ /ænd/ /ænt/ /ɑnt/ /ɑnt/ /aɪnt/
know /noʊ/ /nɔʊ/ /nuʊ/ /nɔːʌ/ /nɔːwə/
die /daɪ/ /tɔɪ/ /tuɪ/ /tɔːɪ/ /tɔːɪ/
give /ɡɪv/ /ɡɪv/ /dʒɪv/ /dʒɪv/ /dʒɪv/
sun /sʌn/ /sʌ/ /sʌ/ /sə/
moon /muːn/ /muː/ /my:/ /mi:/ /maɪ/
water /ˈwɑtɚ/ /ˈwɔθɚ/ /ˈwuθɚ/ /ˈwɔːθə/ /ˈwɔːθə/
salt /sɑlt/ /sɔluθ/ /sulyθ/ /sɔːləθ/ /’sɔːləθ/
stone /stoʊn/ /stɑʊ/ /stæʊ/ /stɑʊ/ /stɑʌ/ /staɪjə/
wind /ˈwɪnd/ /ˈwɪnd/ /ˈwɪ:nd/ /ˈwɪ:nd/ /ˈwɪ:nd/
fire /ˈfaɪ̯ɚ/ /ˈfaɪ̯ɚ/ /ˈfɛjə/ /ˈfijə/
year /jiəɹ/ /jiɹ/ /ioɹ/ /ajɔːɹ/ /’aɪjəɹ/
full /fʊl/ /fʊl/ /fʌl/ /fʌl/
new /nu/ /nu/ /ny/ /ni/ /ni/ /naɪ/
name /neɪm/ /neɪn/ /nijɪn/ /’naɪjɪn/
June 10, 2016
The Hospital
I came home from the hospital today.
They admitted me on the 31st with crippling abdominal cramps and in an emergency surgery on the 1st they removed a 7cm growth from my large intestine (along with 15cm of intestine).
The thing had probably been growing in me for the past three years. Turns out my “lactose intolerance”, “gluten sensitivity”, “food poisoning”, “flu”, and (no scare quotes because it was real) increasingly deep depression were all due to that growth.
It’s out now. We’re still waiting on the histology and the PET scan to determine whether it was cancerous or not, but the surgeons looked all through my abdominal cavity and didn’t find anything else suspicious. Also I have a scar right up my prime meridian and I’ll have to poop out a hole in my side for the next six months.
But you know what? I don’t care. My skin is no longer gray, I can finally eat everything I want to, and without this thing gumming up my works, I feel better than I have since September. It’s good to have a working digestive system.
