Kelly McCullough's Blog, page 29

Sherlock

Patrick and I saw the Reichenbach Fall episode of Sherlock last night. It's a tour de force emotionally, due in the good part to the acting. The two leads were wonderful as usual, and the guy playing Moriarty was terrific. But I'm not sure the script works. I don't really believe the twists or the explanations. Because of the way the show is paced -- very quickly, with many jumps -- I don't find it especially easy to follow, which I don't mind. But I will have to watch it again to decide about the script. The other problem is -- it's a cliffhanger. Good thing there will be another season.

Mark Gaddis has said there's a clue hidden in the Reichenbach Fall episode, which tells viewers how Sherlock survived the fall at the episode's end. Patrick went on line and discovered there are entire sites devoted to explaining what the clue might be. He spent a couple of hours looking at them, but stopped himself before he watched a video reenactment of the fall made by a zealous fan, which shows what might have actually happened.

I am struggling with a short story at the moment. It's SF and intended to be funny. I had a solution to the narrator's problem, but it required one coincidence too many. I worry about plausibility when writing comic SF. Do the writers of Sherlock worry? The cliffhanger at the end of the first season is resolved when Moriarty gets a call on his cell phone. Apparently it's Irene Adler, offering hims a deal he cannot refuse, if he will let Sherlock and John live. Likely? Not really. For one thing, how does she know what's going on? And how does she manage to call at just the right moment?

And yet they have an insane smash hit... Of course, it really helps to have Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman and all the other wonderful English actors.

Eleanor's Wiscon Panels

Class Markers: The Obvious and the Subtle Sun, May 26, 1:00–2:15 pm

Vamps, Zombies, Steampunk, Dystopias: Where's the Hope in SF? Sun, May 26, 2:30–3:45 pm

Evolution and Cooperation: A Post-feminist View Sun, May 26, 4:00–5:15 pm

Overflowing the Aqueduct (READING) Mon, May 27 10:00–11:15 am

The SignOut (MASS SIGNING) Mon, May 27, 11:30 am–12:45 pm

Eleanor's Convergence Panels

These are my panels for Convergence, a very large local, mostly media con run by very, very nice people.

I am only going to add that Will Shetterly is on all three panels. I am on three panels with Will Shetterly.

Friday, July 5
11:00am
Successful and Unsuccessful Alternative History
7:00pm
Creating a Monster: How to Write Villains
Sunday, July 7
11:00am
How to Write an Interesting Hero

Detour Schedule

I'll be in attendance at Anime Detour in Minneapolis/St. Paul this weekend.  Here is my schedule, should you be there and wish to track me down:

Saturday, April 20
9:00pm
Fandom on the Internets (Panelists: Lyda)
Hey guys, I hear there are fandoms on the internet. Come find out if someone on the internet is wrong.

Sunday, April 21
11:30am
What You Need to Know About Writing (Panelists: Lyda)
So you think you want to be a writer? Writers from many backgrounds will give you some tips and reality checks.

And, of course, I'll be in full cosplay as Renji. I have a date for painting on tattoos and "rocket red" hair dye ready to roll. Oddly, what I don't have is a costume per se. A friend of mine loaned me an approximation of a shihakushô. But, given that I don't really have a decent katana or Zabimaru stand-in, I'm not sure how much it matters. I have a Hello Kitty muscle tee which I could wear if I feel like pushing the gender queerness of it all (since it is HOT pink, not really Renji's color, I don't think), while showing off the tattoos.

It should be... IN-teresting. I'm probably insane. But I've decided that cosplay is like karoke. I'm going to go up there and BELT IT OUT and my friends will probably cringe, but I'll have a good time.

Single Question Interview

In which the answer is alwasys "chickens," http://kennethwcain.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/single-question-interview-lyda-morehouse/

Boston: A Marathoner's Pledge

Last night, I posted to Facebook that I was all in a jumble, sad and confused and angry all at once. The bombing in Boston had no right to hit this hard for me--I had no loved ones running, no one who was in danger. Friends and loved ones of friends and loved ones were all safe and accounted for, to my knowledge.

I was FURIOUS.

These are my people who have been attacked. For the rest of the country, this is just another day, but for those of us from eastern Massachusetts, it's Patriots' Day. It's like Independence Day. And yes, it is a pretty big deal.

On top of that, I'm a marathoner. One of my highest aspirations--hell, that of almost ANY marathoner--is to run Boston. It's the most talked about marathon in the world. And someone just blew it up. These people who have spent months, years of their lives training and preparing, working on their mental and physical strength until they made the cut to get into the race, and then ran it, hours and hours of pounding exhaustion, and at the last moment, as they approached the finish in the high of achievement and the fatigue of complete exhaustion, someone blew them up. Someone KILLED these people, my people, and I am so angry and terrified and I want to know why.

I hope that justice is served. I hope that our response, as a society, is careful and measured. I hope they catch the bastard who did this. They think have him on video. If they don't catch him, though, he should know one thing: RUN.

***

Today, I feel somewhat better. Boston is strong, full of good people. Every place has its own kind of strength--I connect with the kind to be found in Boston, in Massachusetts.

I ran today, a 15 mile slow distance run. I'm training for Grandma's Marathon in June. As always, I'm working to qualify for Boston, that pinnacle goal for so many marathoners. Now? I will work even harder to get there.

While I was running, I wrote this poem, this pledge. I think it captures what I needed to say:


Boston: A Marathoner's Pledge

I'll wear scarlet red for the blood that was spilled,
Emblazoned with B for fair Boston.
I'll put on the shoes that their feet should have filled
And remember the bombs they were lost in.

We'll overcome heartbreak. We know how to climb.
No fear will dissuade us or keep our dreams down.
But a word to the ones who committed this crime
Don't you know what a massacre means to this town?

Though God may show mercy to cowardly soles
Don't think that a Minuteman must
We runners know how to persist to our goals 
You never have set such pursuers as us.

--Sean M. Murphy

Fan Fiction

I just sent another essay off to Strange Horizon. It's about fan fic, and I ended up wondering why I don't write fan fic. Friends do. I have in the past, the distant past at this point. I have written fiction about people who write fan fic (the hwarhath playwright in Ring of Swords) and people who cosplay (the hwarhath translator in "Holmes Sherlock"). But I have some kind of hostility to writing within a copyrighted universe.

I would hate to believe the reason is snobbery.

Short Fiction

From facebook:

It's miserable outside, rain that is predicted to turn to wintry mix. I have to proof a story. 16,000 words. It just printed out. Even typeset, it occupies 42 pages. This may not sound like a lot, but today, with wintry mix outside the window, I am not in love with my fiction. Why are my stories so long? I'm going to write tiny, gem-like short stories of a few thousand words in the future. Maybe I'll switch to short-shorts. Or haiku.

I'm not entirely serious, by the way. Don't rush to reassure me. I just don't like proofreading. I'm not good at it, and I keep seeing sentences that need fixing, but it's too late.

I like the early stages of writing, the first draft when I look at blank paper or a blank computer screen and think, "I am going to write something fabulous. A work of genius. And it will be funny."

Every once in a while, I write a story that's in the range of 1,500 to 6,000 words. I think they are always folk tales. Though when I started getting published, 40 years ago or whenever, all my stories were 3,000-4,500 words and science fiction. These are lovely lengths. I wish I could get back to them more often.

The shorter a story is, the better it has to be, because there isn't room of mistakes. A novel can have chunks that don't really work. A novelette or novella can have some weaknesses. But a short story... No.

Minicon Report - Day Two

From facebook:

I was wearing a bright red turtleneck and black pants from J Jill yesterday, and I felt I was too talkative and assertive. I even talked through a guy in the audience, which I never do. So today I am wearing a dark brown turtleneck, jeans and pearls. I feel the pearls will induce decorum, and the dark brown turtleneck with mute my mood down to morose and withdrawn. Unfortunately, I have no panels, so won't find out if this makes me a better panelist.

Along with the pearls I am wearing a 40-year-old Yves St. Laurant silk scarf that is brown, tan, green and bright reddish-pink. So the costume has a certain amount of cheer. The scarf is there to provide color and elegance.

Most of the time, I throw on a pair of jeans and a turtleneck and am dressed. But I pay more attention to what I wear at cons. I am an accessory kind of person, so I especially pay attention to jewelry and scarves. Thus this post.

*

I realized, bringing these comments over from facebook, that my con report is all about me. What else can I say?

Minicon is 48 years old this year. It exploded in the 1990s, and people split off into three other cons. Many of the younger people went to the new cons, though I did notice a number of young people at Minicon this year. I saw two or three people of color, all African-American, which doesn't seem like enough. A lot of the attending fans are old, in their 50s or 60s or 70s. It's like going to a science fiction convention in a retirement village. The energy level is pretty low. There are a lot of canes.

The interview with the Guest of Honor, Judy Czernada, made her work sound interesting. I will look for it. Her background is in biology, and she appears to know her science; and her books sound fun.

The annual panel on the best SF of the year was good, as usual. It consisted of Russell Letson, who reviews for Locus; Greg Johnson, who reviews for New York Review of Science Fiction and The SF Site; and John Taylor, a really bright and interesting linguist, who teaches science fiction (among other things) at South Dakota State. I took notes.

At one panel, I don't remember which, I learned about reverse shoplifting. This is done by authors, who want to get their books sold and read. First, you order a copy of your book from (say) Barnes and Noble. This puts the book in their system. Later, you begin putting copies of your book in the science fiction/fantasy section of Barnes and Nobles stores. People pick up the book and take it to cashier. Because it's in the system, the cashier can sell it. Voila! You have sold a book.

I don't know about the accounting and record keeping consequences. Do you get royalties? Does the sale show up in compilations of book store sales? I know it is hell for accounting, since the store has sold a book it doesn't, according to its records, have.

I want to know more.

Mostly I spent my time at Minicon talking with friends. I have friends in the Twin Cities Metro Area, people I really like, who I only see at cons.

Minicon Report - Day One

From facebook:

The first day of Minicon went well. I had two panels. One had a ridiculous topic, the physics of fairy tales, but went pretty well once Jane Yolen got talking about fairy and folk tales, since this is a topic she knows really, really well.

The other panel was on self-promotion for authors. It was me -- the old, tired, war-weary, cynical pro -- and four writers who were starting careers, either with small presses and through self-publishing. The two young women on the panel believed totally in social media, especially twitter. The young man on the panel believed in selling his book face to face. He had managed to sell 1,200-1,500 copies in the course of a year, which impresses me. Adam Stemple and Michael Merriam were in the audience and added their comments. A good, energetic discussion with hand waving and shouting.

I felt afterward, talking to Russell Letson, that the advice I was given decades ago on self-promotion was pretty good. Go to cons and meet people. This may not give you a huge career, but it can help in little ways. You will, at least, meet authors and editors and learn about their experiences. When I'm in a mood to be social, I like cons. I have certainly met a lot of interesting people over the years.

But I continue to think that most efforts at self-promotion don't work.