Jack Campbell's Blog, page 6

John Carter

I finally got the chance to watch the new John Carter movie today, and I liked it a lot.  They did a good job of converting the ERB books into a movie (John Carter covers the first and parts of the second ERB books about Barsoom).  The changes made served the story well, IMO.  Dejah Thoris was made into a very believable princess for the 21st century.  (I figure before long someone will bring out t-shirts with her picture on them and the caption "Yes, as a matter of fact I am a scientist.")  Most importantly, the movie caught the breakneck pace of a ERB story but did so while also giving the hero more than one dimension.  The movie's John Carter knows that other options exist than being a hero, and he has been deeply scarred by war, but still he can't resist doing the right thing when someone needs help.  That makes his heroism all the greater in the battle with the Warhoons.  Go see this movie.  It's good.

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Virginia Festival of the Book

Just a reminder that I'll be at the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville, VA on 23 and 24 March  http://www.vabook.org/index.html/

I will be on the panel on Science Fiction and Fantasy on Friday, 23 March at 6 PM, and at the author's reception on Saturday night.

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So Random Thoughts

There is a program on the Disney Channel called So Random which reminds me (in a good way) of the old TV series Laugh-In.  Of course, being on the Disney channel the stars of So Random are teens rather than adults.  Like the legendary cast of Laugh-In they are all very talented and play lots of different roles in skits.  But it's not just the talent and the clever writing that I really like about So Random.  It's that (like on Laugh-In) the cast gives the strong impression that they are all having a good time and are all pulling for each other.  The cast all seem to believe that helping another actor get a laugh is just as big a reward as getting a laugh themselves.  Need a laugh, or just want to admire some great performances and comic writing?  Try So Random.

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First Chapter of Invincible is Up

As promised, the first chapter of the upcoming Beyond the Frontier – Invincible is now up on my website at www.johnghemry.com   Just click on the cover of Invincible shown on the home page.

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Note to Self

When your British publisher asks if you'll sign "some" bookplates for the release of new editions of the JAG in space/Sinclair series in the UK, be sure to ask "how many is some?" before you cheerfully agree.  They must have sent me at least five hundred.  Perfidious Albion indeed!

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Audiobooks

Yes, the new Beyond the Frontier and the Lost Fleet books will come out as audiobooks from Audible.  One thing that's important to know is that Audible doesn't take preorders.  That means the books don't appear in the catalog until the day they're released and available for sale.  In the case of Invincible, it will show up in the Audible catalog for sale on 1 May and not be present prior to that.

Speaking of which, I need to do an intro for Invincible.  Is there anything people are particularly curious about, or would like me to address, at this point?  No promises, but I'd like to hear from you.

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The New Tower of Babel

I'll admit up-front that I never expected the internet to dramatically change how people communicated.   That is, I never bought into the idea that this great new online world would break down barriers between us.  What I didn't expect was how the internet actively discourages communication.

That probably sounds odd given how many people post on the internet every second of every day.  But who are they talking to?  I recently had online experiences with two people I've talked to face-to-face pleasantly and more than once.  One had posted a graphic leaning right-wing, and the other a graphic leaning leftwards.  In each case, I commented on the assumptions behind each graphic, which I  thought were shaky.  Now, I'm not a firebreathing troll.  I didn't come on all "you miserable moron!"  Not at all.  But both came back very strongly, as if amazed that I done anything but say "you're absolutely right!"  They didn't want to discuss what they had posted.  They only wanted people to agree with them.

That's part of human nature.  We don't want others to question what we say, what we believe, what we think we know.  But since none of us are perfect (myself being a prominent example of imperfection) that sort of exposure to different ideas and people at least helps us understand others and may even cause us to modify our positions.  As has been noted before, though, the internet makes it easy to not just ignore those with different opinions (or who are different), but to block them out completely.  You never need hear anything that contradicts what you already think.  Type in a search request and you can find, somewhere, information that confirms what you already believe, no matter what it is.  If you're in an area that isn't moderated, trolls can suck all life and intelligence out of it, their voices amplified to carry around the world.

We've built something, an online world, where others can't communicate with us unless we let them.  We never need learn what someone who disagrees with us really thinks because we can just sit among others who agree with us.  What happens when people don't deliberately mischaracterize the beliefs of others, but instead genuinely don't know what those beliefs really are?  The great majority of us (I believe) aren't evil or ill-intentioned.  But how do we find common ground if all sides in the argument are only talking among themselves?

There are billions of opinions and articles on the internet, a universe of knowledge at our fingertips.  It could teach us, it could help us, it could open our minds to possibilities we've never considered.  But only if we listen.  Right now the internet too easily encourages us all to close our ears and our minds.

And, yes, you are allowed to disagree with me.  If you do, let's talk about it, okay?

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Invincible and Tarnished Knight

For those who haven't seen it yet, here's the cover for the next Lost Fleet – Beyond the Frontier novel (Invincible) which is coming out on 1 May.  Also, I just received the cover art for the first in the Lost Stars series (Tarnished Knight) which will be published in October.  Tarnished Knight is the first book set in the Lost Fleet universe to tell the story through the eyes of Syndicate citizens and takes place in the Midway star system at the same time as the events in Dreadnaught and Invincible.

 

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Reading and Writing

One of the ironies of becoming a writer is that most of us become writers because we love reading, but once we become writers we have a lot less time for reading.  For example, over the last couple of weeks I just finished reading three books.  I wrote all three of them, but my publisher needed my feedback on the copyedited manuscript for first Lost Stars book (Tarnished Knight), the proofed pages for the second Lost Fleet Beyond the Frontier book (Invincible) and the proofs for the mass market (paperback) edition of Dreadnaught which is coming out soon.  I had to essentially read all three books again, looking for problems, misspellings, etc.  I even ended up closely reading several pages twice because the paperback version of Dreadnaught contains at the end an excerpt of the first few pages of Tarnished Knight.  Such is the reading an author finds on their "must do" list.

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A Just Burden of Proof

Also being reissued soon are the first two books in the Sinclair series (the first and I think only legal thriller military sf series).  These books were liked by those who read them the first time around, but too few people read them.  Now's your chance.  I'll be posting the great new covers for both A Just Determination and Burden of Proof soon.  Determination will come out again in May, while Burden reappears in hard copy in August.

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