Alex Hughes's Blog, page 5

Reader Question: Why Hasn’t Adam “Fixed” His Addiction?

I had a reader contact me today with a question I’ve been asked a few times now, why Adam doesn’t just “fix” his addiction or have it “fixed” by the Guild Structure people. This is a good question! And I love that my readers are thinking deeply about the world and the rules of the world. Since I’ve been asked it a few times now, I thought it was time to go ahead and answer it on the blog in more detail for everyone.

Thanks to Frank, who wrote the text of the original question from today (copied below).

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Hello,

I am reading the first book in the Mindspace Investigations book, Clean and I have a question.

Currently I am just on Chapter 11.

 In Chapter 10, you describe Constructs as being able to ” If you want a criminal to literally not be able  to think about molesting children again…” . If that part is correct, then why hasn’t the hero had this done to remove the ability to think of Satin to cure his addiction?

_______

Thanks for contacting me! Always great to hear from readers.

I’ve gotten this question a few times, and there are three major issues at play.

(1) Addiction is complicated, because it’s not just about the behavior. With an addiction to a substance, it’s usually about an emotional need or pattern as much as the substance. So the Guild has learned over time that blocking thoughts of Satin just leads addicts to seek out a new drug or new destructive behavior in the short term to meet those needs or patterns. In the long term, the patient often regresses right back to the addictive habits, often to new ones on top of old. It’s not specific enough a trigger to be adequately treated, if that makes sense. You can block the Satin but you can’t block the need that’s driving the addiction.

Even with the criminal treatment for convicted child molesters–which is to a very, very specific set of triggers and behaviors–the criminal will often act out in other ways to try to fill whatever need for control or lust he/she was getting through those sets of behaviors. The treatment and rehabilitation team will try to channel this into a form that is much less destructive, but it’s often very bad for the criminal’s mental health and future, or very bad for those surrounding the person. Sometimes with enough patience and determination, the criminal can even get around the mental block, which is also bad. For this particular set of criminal behaviors, the future society is willing to pay that price. For other situations the unexpected consequences could far outweigh the thing you’re trying to fix, and society may not be willing to pay that price. Humans are complicated, and messing with their heads is complicated.

For addiction, the Guild has by this point determined that Structural intervention just isn’t worth the trouble. Better the addiction you know about and can deal with in other ways than new addictions and new problems you can’t predict.

 

(2) Adam has Structural training. Any telepath who can “see” what’s been done to his/her brain has a much better shot that average of undoing what’s been done, and someone with Structural training can rarely be permanently “changed” without his or her active and ongoing participation. The problem with addiction is that Adam’s emotional needs will keep forcing him to “pick at the scab” and undo what’s been done. So “fixing” Adam isn’t really worth it if he’s fighting you, because it likely won’t work, or won’t work the way you planned.

 

(3) Humans don’t as a rule like having their brains altered. Like so many folks with bipolar disorder or other mental illnesses, they don’t “feel themselves” on drugs that change the brain. Sometimes the difference is worth it to the individual. Sometimes people go off the drugs as soon as they can. Sometimes it’s something in between. And drugs are a lot less personal and less invasive than having someone prodding around in your head. Not to mention that having that sort of thing done against your will–to alter who you are as a person–is traumatic. I imagine that “fixing” your brain is very much the same. If you actively consent and want the benefits from the change, perhaps it works because you’re willing to pay the price. But it’s a brain change, and is going to change how you feel overall and how you experience your mind and yourself. People as a rule don’t really like that, and will choose it only if the benefit outweighs the price.

For Adam, considering his desire for control and anger towards the Guild at the worst time of his addiction, he would be very, very wary of having anyone change his brain. He wouldn’t want a stranger poking around in his head and making wholesale changes. He fundamentally wouldn’t. So he’d have every reason in the world to fight and possibly undo what had been done, even if the Guild had somehow decided to go against their policies and intervene with the addiction.

 

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What about you guys? Would you choose to have someone go in and “fix” your brain? What unintended consequences do you think something like that might have?

Talk Nerdy To Me: Featuring Jennifer Estep

Today’s “Nerdy” guest has a passion that I feel many of us share,  to some degree. In some tiny (or maybe NOT so tiny) nook or cranny of our homes/offices/attics… we’ve got them, we love them…  and today, author Jennifer Estep is going to share hers with us.

I’ve always loved superheroes.

The action, the adventure, the daring escapes, the dastardly villains—I enjoy them all, whether I’m watching a superhero movie or TV show or reading a graphic novel.

But I also really love superhero-themed items.

T-shirts, mugs, cups, keychains, magnets, figurines, calendars, ice-cube trays … I have all those things and more. Why? Well, I have to have to shirts to wear and cups to drink out of anyway, so I figure that I might as well have fun shirts and cups. Especially when I can get them with my favorite characters and some really cool designs.

Yes, I am a total geek this way.

As a kid, I don’t remember having a lot of superhero-themed items or them even being all that readily available. But with the recent popularity of all the Marvel movies and TV shows like Arrow and The Flash, you can find superhero-themed items at pretty much every store, even the grocery store, not to mention online at thousands and thousands of sites.

So where do I go when I need a superhero fix? One cool site is SuperHeroStuff.com, which has all kinds of superhero-themed items, from T-shirts to socks to shopping bags. If you like superheroes or want a T-shirt with a specific character on it, this is a good place to start your search.

Redbubble.com is another good place to go for superhero-themed T-shirts, as well as just pop-culture characters in general. And then you have sites like Etsy and CafePress and too many more to name.

So if there’s something out there that you want with a superhero on it, chances are that you can find it—and lots of other cool things to go along with it.

It’s just a great time to be a superhero fan, and I’m enjoying every minute—and T-shirt—of it. J

What about you guys? Do you have superhero-themed items? Who is your favorite superhero?

 

Jennifer Estep is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author prowling the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea.

Fandemic, the fifth book in her Bigtime superhero series, was released on June 2.

For more on Jennifer and her books, visit her at www.JenniferEstep.com or follow her on her blog,  Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter at @Jennifer_Estep.

 

The Great Expecting

Hi all,

I have some great news! I am preggers. Pregnant. Expecting. Knocked up. It’s traditional to wait until the end of the first trimester to tell everyone, but I’m impatient, so you guys get to find out now (at 11 weeks). Yep, you can totally wish me mazel tov. (I’ll wait )

This is our first offspring, and he/she was a very welcome surprise. Sam and I are both happy and nervous and Every. Possible. Emotion. On Earth. Because kid! I’m due in December, and poor kid may end up with a Christmas birthday. We’ve already laid down the law to relatives: no joint presents. No really. We may end up celebrating the half-birthdays in July, just to be fair.

But what about me? I’m so glad you asked! I’ve been horribly, horribly sick with morning sickness and low blood pressure and a flu that I wasn’t allowed to take any cold medicine for. At all. Vomiting–my least favorite thing on earth–has happened several times, and nausea is a constant companion. Plus exhaustion! If you’ve ever wanted a nap right after you took a nap, you feel my pain. I literally slept 4 hours yesterday mid-day and then another 9 overnight. (A lot even for me, but you know, preggers.) It’s been a rough few months. With any luck, though, we have maybe three weeks until I feel a lot better. I’m seriously on countdown.

So this is the big secret, the reason why I’ve been so incredibly sick and running behind on nearly everything. So if you’re one of the folks who had to wait a bit for me to recover from illness, sincere apologies and I had a good reason!

In fact, I have pictures.

See? Pictures!

Isn’t Pip cute? I’m probably hopelessly biased.

But that’s okay you can totally lie to me and tell me he/she is the most adorable thing ever.  (He/she is currently the size of a lime, and a very adorable lime at that.)

 

So you probably have questions about the writing. I mean, Pip is adorable but Book Five already! I totally sympathize.

So here’s the deal. I am planning to work my little tail off and Get Things Done as much as humanly possible before December. Book Five is penciled into the calendar to be released by self-publishing sometime in October. I’ve got a book for writers penciled in to be released over the summer. And I’ll have some Mindspace extras and a short story collection coming out somewhere in between.

I’ve also figured out what was holding me back with Book Five: too much planning. After months of struggling with my outline, I realized that all the work I did to sell the book to my editor last fall was just too much planning. I already knew what was happening, and I didn’t care anymore. So, I went to my writer’s group from Odyssey and asked for help. We have a new plot and a new (half-planned) character arc to work with. I’m cranking out the words. And it finally, finally feels good.

I’ve got a street team of amazing people already poised to help me get the word out about the books, and I couldn’t be happier. Things are lining up.

But what about Book Six and series and stories and… am I going to stop writing and stuff now that Pip is a thing? Take heart, dear reader. Writing runs in my blood, and I would no more walk away from the writing than I would from several internal organs. I’m putting in a big push before December for a reason, to get set up. I’ll take a maternity leave, like I would from any job, early next year. Then Pip and I will figure it out. Child care will happen if necessary (I already have evil plans for child care swaps with another writer I know). And words will start to happen again. There will be adjustment! And we will take it as it comes. But I know many amazing writers who wrote when they had small kids, so it is Totally a Thing.

So, a happy day all around! You can totally wish me mazel tov now. I’ll wait

Talk Nerdy To Me: Featuring Janice Hardy

Cheesy Movies and Me. A Love Story.

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

I don’t remember my first cheesy movie, but I’m fairly certain I saw it during Creature Feature one Saturday morning. My guess, it was Godzilla vs. Something, but whatever it was, it sparked a love affair that has lasted to this day.

I love cheesy movies, especially the disaster kind. This includes monsters, genetically altered fish, environmental disasters (both natural and man-made), epidemics, and anything that puts a large population at risk from something terrible.

Half the enjoyment of a cheesy movie is making fun of it, and I often root for the disaster or monster. I was terribly upset when the sun didn’t melt the Earth in Supernova: The Day the World Catches Fire. They made a promise right there in the cover and didn’t follow through. Jerks.

Although the line is a fine one, there is a difference between a cheesy movie and a bad movie. Bad movies are just badly done in a variety of way, but a good cheesy movie take real skill and a few specific elements:

It is what it is, and it’s okay with that.

The true cheesy movie needs to embrace what it is–if the goal is to be serious, it must take itself seriously, no matter how absurd the topic (such as Frankenfish). If it’s trying to be silly and fun, it needs to bring out the silly and fun (such as Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon). But it always knows it has a ridiculous plot and it doesn’t make excuses.

It’s trying to do the movie justice, no matter what the budget.

Bad special effects when you have no budget is funny, and worthy of great cheese. Not even trying to maintain scene continuity and realism is just bad filming (yes, I’m looking at you Sharknado). At least try where production values are concerned. One of the best things about Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus was that they used the exact same factory control room as a submarine command deck for three separate countries–they just changed the lighting per country. Blue for the American sub, red for the Russian sub, and yellow for the Japanese sub. Cheesy? You betcha. But hysterical, and it embraced the cheese.

It’s trying to make sense and feel plausible.

Let’s face it, no cheesy movie is going to get anywhere near realistic, but it needs to feel credible within the ridiculousness of its own plot. I can suspend disbelief and buy some crazy ideas, but if you nuke a school of fifty-foot piranha, and they just shrug it off, I’m not going to buy a team of SEALs with spear guns finally killing them. There are limits, people.

It’s trying to be a cheesy movie.

I’ve seen plenty of “Best Cheesy Movies” lists that have great movies that never intended to be cheesy listed. They just happened to turn out that way. Maximum Overdrive didn’t set out to be a cheesy movie, it was a serious adaptation of the Stephen King story that went…um, wrong. Jason X knew what it was, and played off its own clichés and tropes for the humor of it. The DVD even has a “jump to a death” menu. I mean, seriously–space Jason used a hologram of one half-naked co-ed in a sleeping bag to beat another half-naked co-ed in a sleeping bag to death. The producers knew what they were doing.

Let’s take a quick peek at some of my favorites:

Janice Hardy’s Top Ten Favorite Cheesy Movies

Deep Rising

I’m a huge fan of Treat Williams, and he’s been in countless cheesy movies. This is by far his best, and it’s a big budget film to boot. The plot is simple: smugglers (Williams and his crew) take some bad guys to a cruise ship in the middle of nowhere, but when they get there, the ship is dead in the water due to a giant squid monster. (Note, anytime you can use the words “giant squid monster” there’s a pretty good chance it’s a cheesy movie).

Dance of the Dead

This independent film is a classic “zombies rise to eat everyone at prom” scenario, and could have been an episode from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Very well done, and lots of fun to watch.

Independence Daysaster

A spooffette of Michael Bay’s film, this one is a great example of doing a lot with a little. Aliens invade the Earth, and it’s up to unlikely heroes to save it. They do a great job of maintaining plausibility and working within their budget. Need a president, but can’t afford an Oval Office set? Just have the guy crash in the middle of nowhere and wind up with some geeks who can help save the world. Totally works, and it left them enough cash for cool spinning balls of alien death.

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus

The title pretty much says it all here. All you need to know to love this movie is that a giant shark jumps out of the ocean and takes down a 747. This one does push the “credible” envelope a little, but come, on. Shark vs plane? I’ll allow it.

Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon

While this one isn’t a disaster movie, it’s one of the best cheesy movies out there. It’s a kung fu spoof set in Harlem with a hero called Bruce Leroy and his evil nemesis, Sho’nuff, the Shogun of Harlem. Add in the always delightful Faith Prince and her wacky Cyndi Lauper meets Weird Al music videos and you have cheesy gold.

Grabbers

Aliens invade a small town in Ireland, and the only way to protect yourself is to get utterly blasted drunk. When the goal of the movie is to get everyone snookered at the bar, and it works, you’re looking at storytelling genius.

Night of the Comet

The IMDB description is sheer perfection: A comet wipes out most of life on Earth, leaving two Valley Girls to fight the evil types who survive. Still a classic, and a must-watch for every Halloween.

Jason X

Jason Voorhees in space. Do I really need to say more than that? I already mentioned the hologram scene. This movie balances the horror and the humor in all the right ways. Or wrong ways depending on your definition of humor.

Piranhaconda

Part fish, part snake, all killer. It’s also the sequel to Sharktopus, so I’ll give you a minute to let that sink in. It’s a warm, loving film about a pair of fish-snakes doing their best to find their stolen egg from evil scientists. Or at least, that’s how I think of it. It also stars Michael Madsen, who is, well, Michael Madsen. Even when he’s bad he’s awesome.

Army of Darkness

No cheesy movie list is complete without this masterpiece on it. Bruce Campbell with a chainsaw for a hand, fighting medieval evil dead and spouting one-liners. I’d give him some sugar any time.

I could list great movies all day, but I suddenly have the urge to grab some popcorn and laugh at my favorites one more time.

What are your favorite cheesy movies?

Janice Hardy is the founder of Fiction University, and the author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, where she tapped into her own dark side to create a world where healing was dangerous, and those with the best intentions often made the worst choices. Her novels include The Shifter, (Picked as one of the 10 Books All Young Georgians Should Read, 2014) Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The first book in her Foundations of Fiction series, Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure is out now. She is also a contributor at Pub(lishing) Crawl, and Writers in the Storm.

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An Ending and a New Beginning

Hello, all.

Today, we’re doing a bit of blog “housekeeping”. I’d like to get some opinions from you, and let you know where we stand on a few things.

First: How have you been liking the “Talk Nerdy To Me” posts? I’ve really been enjoying the variety of topics. Have there been any posts that you’ve particularly related to? Any topic that addressed a shared geeky passion? We’ve got quite a few quest posts already scheduled throughout the summer, and I can’t wait to share them with you.

Second: I’ve finished sending out this round of “Three Words” stories in the newsletter. The word suggestions you sent in were fantastic (many thanks to Ricky R, Clarence W, Susanne F, and Adam R. for some great words to build on this time around). I wish I had time to do stories for all of them. I hope each of you receives my newsletter, and were able to read them. If your word suggestions were used, what did you think of the story? I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts.

[image error]Third: Those of you following this blog on a regular basis are some of my (and the Mindspace world’s) most dedicated fans. I’ve been trying to think of a way to be more interactive with you, and I think I’ve got something that we’ll all enjoy. Keep your eyes peeled for a new Q&A vlog feature that will be coming in the next few months!

Fourth: Many of you have asked, via social media or email, for ways to help me spread the word about my books. Since the next book will be published independently, having a dedicated fan base is a HUGE gift. You guys who love the stories are THE reason it will work! A few ideas if you’re feeling enthusiastic and motivated…

Ask me a question. – This doesn’t sound like a “pro-active” support method… but it does give me an idea about what information readers want to know about the story and the characters. It also gives me an idea about how in depth the world building and/or character building needs to be.
Leave a review. – This is invaluable for any author. Not only can you share your love for the series with anyone who comes across the titles on retail and review sites, but many sites do in-house promo based on the number of reviews. Places like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Powells, IndieBound, GoodReads, BookLikes, LibraryThing, Shelfari, etc. are where people go to choose their next books, and they’re looking for opinions like YOURS!
Recommend the books to a friend. This sounds super simple, and it is… it’s also one of THE MOST effective ways for authors to reach a new audience. There is no equivalent to in-person excitement and word of mouth.
Join my street team. Did you know there was a TEAM ALEX? If you’d like to take your love of the books to a slightly more active level, we’re creating a team that will have weekly (non-spammy) missions, special activities and challenges, special perks and contests, and lots of fun interaction. Even though it IS work, we hope to make it feel more like fun. If you’re interested in joining, you can email me (or my street team captains Jen and Lisa) at alex at alexhughes dot com.

One more quick note… if you’re not subscribed to this blog, please consider doing so. This way you’ll receive an email when there’s something new to see, and you won’t miss out on any of the fun. This is different from the newsletter, which goes out only for special events or announcements. It’s super easy… you just put your email in the little box right over theeeeere —————————–>>

So, there you have it. A mini “state of my union” right now. I’ve got lots of irons in the fire, not the least of which is a new Mindspace story for all of you. I appreciate each of you who comes back to this blog, and to my books, time after time. I can’t wait to see what questions you have for me!

*And in the spirit of all things Nerdy…*

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Talk Nerdy to Me: Real Warp Drive?

So I was surfing the Internet this morning, you know, avoiding writing this post, when I came across this article. Holy crap, Batman.

British scientist Roger Shawyer’s odd and highly controversial closed-chamber electromagnetic space propulsion system, the EmDrive, not only works–which we had thought it might, since it tested well last year–but it works in a vacuum, apparently. Against most of the known laws of physics and conservation of momentum. (See io9’s take on it.)

Even better, in a move that has me squeeing for joy and nerves, according to one report, during the test, when NASA engineers fired lasers into the resonance chamber, the particles were accelerated to incredibly high speeds… some faster than the speed of light. The mathematics of the interference pattern apparently match the mathematics of a warp bubble (yes, a real thing, thank you Star Trek). The engineers may have accidentally created a warp bubble and paved the way for real FTL travel.

What does this mean? Well, all science is a process of theories and testing and more theories and corrections, so it may be too early to tell exactly what’s happening. It could always be a data error, a false alarm, or an indication of a different physics issue we still don’t understand. But, considering that Shawyer’s EmDrive already seems to function reliably outside our understanding of conventional physics, and that a huge number of great scientific discoveries historically happen by accident, well…

Maybe it’s an actual space drive! Or the beginnings of one. If so, it’s one of the biggest stories of our generation, one of the biggest advances since my mother watched the moon landing in her elementary school class, and just as important. It blows my mind that if this is so, this one small announcement on this one ordinary day in May, 2015, might be the beginning of a new era. I might get to see people go to Mars, or space, or get to go to the moon myself.

I hope that’s what’s happening. I really, really hope. Here’s to happy accidents working out.

Added: As usual, the scientific community is urging a lot more caution while the media is running with possibilities. Since I’m a hopelessly nerdy science fiction author, I get excited about things. But, since I believe in the scientific process, which tests and retests before adopting any cautious belief, I’ll go ahead and include a more realistic take on the situation here:

Did NASA Accidentally Discover Warp Drive? Spoiler Alert: No.

Bottom line? We have some unusual data. Once. Data which may or may not fit a mathematical model of something people get excited about. (Like Me! Warp drive warp drive warp drive!!) It’s time for more testing, more data, and more models. (Sigh.)

Be Afraid

Be afraid.

The food you’re eating. The water you’re drinking. The containers they’re sitting in. The BPA. The non-organic. The processed. The food-bourne illness. The bacteria. The viruses. The mold. The termites.

Be afraid.

The government, spying on you. The companies, stealing from you. The guy next door to you, the person standing at your door.

Be afraid.

EM radiation. Cell phones. The microwaves from your microwave. Too much sunlight. Sunscreen additives. Lack of vitamin D.

Be afraid.

You’re doing it wrong. 16 hacks to do it better. You’re not pretty enough, thin enough, rich enough, smart enough, kind enough, ruthless enough, and you don’t part your hair the right way.

Be afraid.

Airplane travel. Bus travel. Sniffling children coughing right in your face. Trains derailing. Earthquakes. Hurricanes. Lightning strikes. Walking outside your front door.

Be afraid.

Falls at home. Termites. Household chemicals. Your spouse. Your children. Your mother in law. Is your cat trying to kill you?

Be afraid.

Awareness. New diseases. Threats from strangers. Horrors on the news, in your paper, blowing up Facebook. Danger. Injustice. Scandal. Attention now. All your fault. Nothing you can do.

Be afraid?

Your hometown has stood for a hundred years, no fire, no flood, no war, no burning to the ground. You did not get cholera as a child. You are not dying of consumption, or plague, or guillotine.

Be afraid?

You expect all three of your children to live to adulthood. You own a house, or rent a place, and won’t be dragged out into the street on pretense. You are warm, or cool, when you want to be. You may live to be 80, two lifetimes or more in the old days.

Be afraid?

Homeless shelters post signs to tell people to line up for food—most homeless can read, and there is food to be had. Doctors have cures for diseases, and treatments for many more. We have nearly killed polio. Malaria may be next. The world turns, and people live. People volunteer to clean parks, and scrub streets, and watch children.

Be afraid?

You can talk to your aunt overseas every day. You can apply for jobs sight unseen in other cities. You can read about the Bad Things nearly instantly, and choose to care. You have the time to care, and the brainpower. You can read. You can think.

Be afraid?

Your food is safer than it’s ever been. Your home is safer than it’s ever been. Your children’s pajamas are fireproofed. Your microwave is shielded. Your wall outlets are rated for safety. And if it all comes down, 3 minutes away is a fire truck and two hours away is an insurance agent to make it all right. And you don’t store your money in the mattress.

Be afraid?

Your country is safer than it has been since 1960, when your mom threw you out the door to bike with your friends for hours by yourself. Predators are no more numerous, and everyday folks are legion. We stopped Flight 93, the Crotch Bomber, and countless terrors. Your neighbors may help you. You may help your neighbors. Some will get on planes and help strangers.

Be afraid.

Car accidents. Heart disease. Stray bullets, and falling down stairs. Cigarettes and cancer and living until old age. Not glamorous, but real risks. Drive a little safer, move a little more; the risks won’t ever go to zero. You wake up in the morning and do your best. You live.

Be afraid—if you must.

Small risks are trumpeted, fear comes out big—ask yourself who benefits. Gold and clicks and power, all given away. Be wary, lest you be controlled. Fear sells papers. You are worth more than fear.

Breathe.

Reasonableness. Don’t jump out in front of the train or the bus. Double your 0.000001% risk probably doesn’t matter, no matter how loudly they yell. Breathe. Smile. Take precautions when you can, when it matters. Breathe. And live.

There is no need to be afraid.

Talk Nerdy To Me: Featuring Suzanne Johnson

 

Today’s “Talk Nerdy to Me” guest author writes the Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series for TOR Books and, as Susannah Sandlin, writes the Penton Legacy paranormal romance and The Collectors romantic suspense series for Montlake Romance. She also harbors a number of nerdy notions…

 The Mad Scientist’s Laboratory

By Suzanne Johnson

Ah, so many nerdy habits, so little time, Alex! For now, I’ll bypass my odd musical obsessions and glass collecting and talk about art. Okay, maybe not art so much as my work as the mad scientist of color.

When you get right down to it, what does one need to dabble in art, really? Some paper or canvas. Some type of paint or marker or pencil. A brush, maybe. A bowl of clean water maybe. That’s about it.

Unless one wants to get all nerdy about it. Welcome to my lair, little ones. Step deep into the dark recesses of my laboratory and explore only a few of the colorful items contained therein.

In case you missed it in chemistry class, mediums are the basis of all life forms. Gesso reigns supreme (in white, black, or clear), plus matte mediums in varying weights, glazing medium, modeling pastes, spackle, glass bead gel, heavy matte gel, and…more. So much more. As you might see from the red X, mehearties, some of these items are quite toxic. It explains so much.

Paper! One can work in stitched commercial journals, in loose sheets, in spiral-bound journals, in handmade journals made by others, or in a journal one makes onself using waxed thread an awl and a bookbinders needle—which, of course, requires paper in heavy 22×30-inch sheets. Of course a true mad scientist has a bit of everything on hand just in case.

Watercolor Markers. Sometimes, one likes to use a marker and add water to it so that it runs and does lovely, strange things. It’s always helpful to try different brands, of course, so if you dig in the triplet Raskog carts, you might find a handful of Aquamarkers and Distress markers before falling into the deep vats of Tombow dual-brush markers, wallowing in 96 juicy colors.

A true scientist must explore all avenues, so if you’re brave enough, adventurous enough, your scientific mind keen enough, wander through the full line of Peerless watercolors and their odd little sheets of dry paper from which you can make your own custom palettes. Or try some gouache if you’re willing to face the goddess of rich pigment. Or Japanese cake gouache whose names never appear in English.

While one is dabbling in Asian concoctions, perhaps you could add a dash of washi paper tape to your creation. There is much from which to choose.

Ah, but you are beginning to feel like a child again as you play, so try the crayons. That box contains not a Macbook Pro, as it claims, but more than 300 colors of water-soluble Neocolor II wax pastels. They might look like innocent crayons but they are powerful.

You’re looking pale, my dear visitor, so perhaps you should skip pass the oil sticks and the paint pens, which have fumes that could alter your brain chemistry. Instead, have a seat on the floor next to the large black case and ease open the zipper to unleash more than 300 Copic Sketch alcohol markers with lovely brush tips.

Once the soothing, smooth calmness of Copics washes over you, and you feel you might need fresh air to fully recover, remember you cannot escape without passing

the Emporium of Ink, where one can find dropper bottles, daubers, waterbrushes and spray bottles filled with acrylic, india and dye-based ink that will soak into your skin so deeply that you will be permanently transformed without a bleach bath.

If you escape past the stashes of stencils and collections of collage ephemera, you still must pass through the Alcove of Acrylic Alchemy, where tubes and bottles of heavy-body, fluid, and high-flow acrylics with names like Quinacridone Magenta, Alazarin Crimson, and Nickel Azo Gold will lure you with their charms.

Wait—you’ve reached the door, but there’s an entire other aisle filled with daubers and adhesives and special decorative papers….oh well, perhaps next time.

About Me

Suzanne Johnson is the author of the award-winning Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series from TOR Books. Book four, PIRATE’S ALLEY, was released in April 2015; book five, BELLE CHASSE, will be released in 2016. Writing as Susannah Sandlin, she is the author of the best-selling Penton Legacy paranormal romance series, as well as The Collectors romantic suspense series, both for Montlake Romance, as well as several standalones. She’ll start a new romantic suspense series for Montlake in 2016, beginning with WILD MAN’S BLUFF. She’s been a finalist for the RT Book Reviews Reviewer’s Choice Awards in both 2014 and 2015. A displaced New Orleanian, Suzanne currently lives in Auburn, Alabama.

Talk Nerdy To Me: Featuring Karina Cooper

 

Today’s “Talk Nerdy To Me” guest author takes her storytelling to a whole other level. Karina Cooper writes the Dark Mission Novels and The St. Croix Chronicles, along with a variety of short stories. She also lives out a story every week with her friends…

Ooh, Foxy Lady

by Karina Cooper

Thank you, Alex, for letting me come play on your blog! Talk Nerdy to Me is one of my favorite concepts. Only partially because I happen to be a great big nerd—so much so that I spend every Friday playing dress-up with a bunch of other nerds like us.

For the unitiated, LARP stands for Live Action Role Play, and it comes in two flavors. The first is made popular via such movies as Role Model, Knights of Badassdom, and Supernatural’s LARP and the Real Girl. This is fantasy LARPing, usually a more immersive version of the Renaissance Faire or less highly structured version of the SCA. It’s also super, super fun. I don’t live near a group that does this regularly, but let me tell you, all my favorites happen overseas.

The second is what we do, which is a different type of get together. Less camping, more get togethers a month, and different rules. Ours is better described as a table top role-play session—like old school D&D, right?—but with full costumes and interactive improv. We have Storytellers who run the rest of the world, who narrate the things we can’t act out (such as, for example, giant monsters or thunderstorms or a horde of motorcycle gang goblins). It’s our job to interact with each other, with the non-player characters the Storytellers throw at us, and… well, you know. Save the world.

In my every day life, I am Karina Cooper, not-so-mild-mannered author, but come Friday nights, I go through a miraculous transformation!

With the right clothes, makeup, a good wig, and more yarn than I ever expected to have to deal with, I become a gun-slinging, two-tailed kitsune named Luka. She’s breezy, lighthearted, loves a good turn of phrase, and has the kind of secrets urban fantasy books are built on.

Which is the point. The thing I love most about LARPing is that it’s another form of storytelling. We all make fully formed characters with all the hallmarks of the characters you love reading about: they have goals and motivations, backstories both tragic and bright, and relationships formed through adventures, loss and tribulations.

We like to joke about how hard “fake life” is, but the fact is, fake life is amazing. I love that I can write all day long, and then strap on my gear and go off to play with a bunch of people who are as into shared storytelling as I am.

I’ve been playing these games for something like fifteen years. I have a huge history of characters, stories, accomplishments that feel as real to me—to all of us who live in our imaginations—as any real world accomplishment. Dragons fought, demons conquered, Princes overthrown, feuds that went on for years. Loves found and lost and so much death in our wake. Sometimes even our own.

The one thing I can say transcends every game, though, is the people. We all came away with some amazing memories, even after the players move away or move on to other things. Though three of these ogres here in this pack have moved out of town, we will never forget the Year of Summer.

And that’s how I like to live my life: forever in a story.

About Me

Karina Cooper is an award-winning author and a geek from every direction. When she’s not writing, she’s apparently making things up in other stories, because fake life is awesome. She’s an avowed Star Wars lover, a Bioware fanatic, a Supernatural fangirl, a cosplayer, a gamer, a LARPer, and a bunch of other things that roll under the all-encompassing term ‘geek’. What she loves best is telling stories, either on paper or in person. Visit her at karinacooper.com, because she says so.

Talk Nerdy To Me: Featuring Tee Morris

 

I’ve seen many interview questions that ask, “If you could hang out with one of your characters for the day, what would you do?” It’s an interesting question, because it makes you consider the people in your books as “friends”, people you would ACTUALLY spend time with. This brings up the idea of what you like, and what they like, and what you might have in common. Something as simple as… what kind of music do they listen to? Do they enjoy a good, homemade lasagna? And maybe, as today’s guest, author and beer aficionado,  Tee Morris shares about his characters, what kind of beer would they drink?

Two of a Kind: Beer Pairings in The Diamond Conspiracy

Our latest steampunk novel, The Diamond Conspiracy, has hit the bookshelves; and unlike the other adventures from The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, Wellington and Eliza share a grander stage through frequent check in’s with the Ministry Seven (Eliza’s street urchin informants), Agents Bruce Campbell and Brandon D. Hill, and even the assassin Sophia del Morte. Truly, The Diamond Conspiracy is an ensemble adventure; and it was over a flight of beers at Old Bust Head Brewery in Fauquier, Virginia, when author, beer blogger, and historical professional K.T. Bryski asked me “You ever wonder what your characters would drink?”

Beer pairings with my steampunk spies? Okay, I’m in.

Character: Eliza D. Braun

Beer Pairing: Smoked IPA

An agent from the farthest reaches of the Empire where women have the right to vote, where the “natives” co-exist with the “colonials,” and where everyone speaks their mind frankly and honestly, Eliza goes against the standard norms at the home office in London, England and always leaves an impression that lingers with you. She is bold, powerful, and memorable; just like an exceptional India Pale Ale; but as this is Eliza we are talking about and she loves her incendiary devices, a Smoked IPA much like Old Bust Head’s Virginia Hop Harvest Smoked IPA provides a perfect pairing.

Character: Wellington Thornhill Books, Esq.

Beer Pairing: Porter

A man of the manor born now serving at the Queen’s pleasure, Wellington Books is a walking analytical engine harboring an enigma. He is loyal to a fault, but struggles with an inner-darkness that scares even him in how deep it can get. That’s why a Porter is best paired with Books. Porters are smooth, can offer a wide variety of flavors depending on how they are brewed, and grow darker in color the longer you enjoy them. Porters are always full of surprises and, like Books, are always immensely satisfying, much like Black Creek Historic Brewery’s Porter.

Character: Doctor Basil Sound

Beer Pairing: Herbed/Spiced Beer

Doctor Basil Sound, director of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, is a hard man to read. No matter the time or day or the conversation you may be having, Sound can at any time change his mood. Much like a spice beer, you may find yourself trying to noodle through exactly what you are experiencing. The specific beer that springs to mind in pairing with Doctor Sound is Dogfish Beer’s Midas Touch, a complicated (but surprisingly delightful) combination of mead, wine, and beer.

Character: Brandon D. Hill

Beer Pairing: Lager

The lager is the working man’s drink. This does not mean that the lager cannot be a refined brew for a sophisticated palate. That’s the charm of a good lager. It can appeal and satisfy a wide range of gentlemen; so is also Brandon D. Hill a wide range of gentleman. Skilled in the fine art of monkey knife fighting, a brawler, and a skilled operative for the Ministry, Agent Hill is an individual of varied tastes. Lager would be Brandon’s brew, and I can see him enjoying a pint of Devils Backbone Brewing Company’s Vienna Lager after a day of rooftop chases and cloak-and-dagger dealings.

Character: Bruce Campbell

Beer Pairing: Ale

A very specific ale: Arrogant Bastard.

You are what you drink.

Character: Sophia del Morte

Beer Pairing: Stout

The Italian assassin that works in shadow and tends to be a thorn underneath Books’ and Braun’s figurative fingernail may not strike you as a stout drinker; but a good stout can catch you off-guard. With Garage Project’s Cereal Milk Stout, it is easy to feel on the defensive, reading its ingredients and not knowing what to expect. When you take that first sip, though, you are completely off guard by its ingredients, its taste, and its brilliance. This brew from New Zealand is erotic as it is exotic in its smoothness and complexity, all under the thick darkness of a stout. You will never see this surprise coming.

Just like Sophia.

So there you are: a special flight of fantasy and fantastic. If you have never read any of the steampunk from my world (and feel free to sample it through the award-winning Tales from the Archives podcast on iTunes), you have a great idea of who some of its players are through this sampling; but what about your best pairings? If you’re a fan of the Ministry, do you agree with these pairings or do you have a better beer to compliment the character? What about other characters from literature? What would you pair up with Sherlock Holmes? Victor Frankenstein? Captain Nemo? Share your favorite books and pair them up with your favorite brews in the comments below.

________________________________________

 

Tee Morris began his writing career with his 2002 historical epic fantasy, MOREVI The Chronicles of Rafe & Askana. In 2005 Tee took MOREVI into the then-unknown podosphere, making his novel the first book podcast in its entirety. That experience led to the founding of Podiobooks.com and collaborating with Evo Terra and Chuck Tomasi on Podcasting for Dummies. Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel , co-written with his wife Pip Ballantine, was the first installment in the award-winning Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series. With over thirty short stories from various authors, a role playing game, and three novels, the series is still forging ahead with the release of their fourth novel, The Diamond Conspiracy, now available in all formats.
When he is not writing, Tee enjoys life in Virginia alongside Pip, their daughter, and three incorrigible cats.