Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 71
October 6, 2017
The Return of Novellas and Novelettes
‘Why did he only write a novella?’ was a comment on an otherwise favourable review we had a couple of years ago. A fair question and one we took as a back-handed compliment. We’ve been debating novellas and short novels recently, when as indie writers and avid readers, we note trends in the publishing world.
In the last few years we’ve noticed that novellas are becoming increasingly popular among indie authors. It’s interesting to think about why fashions change in publishing. A cynic might say novellas are quicker to get on sale – that’s true and an important factor – but far from the only reason.
Demand is driven partly by readers and most authors try to write books that will sell in the current market. Unfortunately, demand is also manipulated by the big publishers. For instance, in the 1960s and 70s, historical fiction was very popular. Later, it almost disappeared from the shelves with publishers not wanting to take that genre. It’s hard to believe there were some years when readers went off historical novels when you look at their resurgence today, led by authors such as Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory.
Novellas and short novels are an old literary form which is making a welcome come-back for various reasons. It’s worth taking a closer look at what is generally meant by the terms. There are no hard and fast rules. From the writing guides I’ve read, leading indie author commentators mostly suggest that 20,000 words is the starting point for a novella.
I’ve no quarrel with this, though we feel that a 30-35,000 word-count is right for us. In the two novellas we’ve published, that space was a natural length to produce a well-rounded story, neither padded nor truncated. We felt it was a length to give good value to our readers, which is important to us.
A short novel is hard to define, though it’s currently suggested that 80,000 words is the minimum length for a novel. I guess a short novel is what used in Britain to be called a ‘novelette,’ anything upwards of around 40,000 words. This is an atmospheric old word that is reappearing in indie author’s book descriptions and we’re pleased to see it back. ‘Novelette’ conjures up nostalgic thoughts of garish covers and exciting yarns like Leslie Charteris’s Simon Templar – The Saint – and hard-boiled Chandler and Hammett. Fast-moving adventure stories used to lend themselves to shorter fiction – perhaps until modern publisher-pressure.
Some authors do use the terms novella and novelette for as little as 25-30 pages. This seems an unwise strategy. Though their work looks longer on the sales page, I’ve noticed angry reviews where readers’ expectations are misled. To pre-empt complaints of being short-changed by a short story, it’s worth making the length eye-catchingly clear in the blurb.
So, why write a novella? The main reason surely is because a writer wants to explore an idea that doesn’t lend itself to an average-length novel but is beyond the limitations of a short story. A story has its own natural length and far better to offer that to your readership than pad a plot in order to charge a higher price.
It’s natural to perceive larger goods as being better value but some of our most iconic fiction has a surprisingly short word count. Think of Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet (135 pages) and The Sign of Four (154), John Buchan’s The Thirty-nine Steps (138) and The Power-House (108), Geoffrey Household’s Rogue Male (180) or Stephenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, only 65 pages.
This doesn’t apply only to detective novels and thrillers. One of my favourite novels, J. L. Carr’s A Month in the Country has 85 memorable pages. Ghost stories too, often work better at medium-length. Incidentally, few speak of these superb stories as novellas or even short novels. We’re simply glad we have them – and many writers intersperse shorter works between longer novels.
In the world of classic crime fiction, the majority of Agatha Christie’s novels are around 190-220 pages. Several written during or shortly after the Second World War are 160, perhaps due to paper shortage. Their quality is certainly no less, they include the much-loved The Body in the Library. Simenon’s Maigret novels are known for their slim volumes. Both writers had a high output.
A quick look along the shelf at many crime novelists writing from about the 60s will show that their early novels were shorter. You can see this in the canon of Ruth Rendell. Fellow Rendell fans will know that she decided to incorporate themes of social ills in her later Wexford novels, doubling the length of her early titles. I loved them all and it’s a joy to know you’re getting a thick novel from a favourite writer. Yet I’ve come to think that Rendell’s early mysteries are stronger. The plot of a murder and its detection has a natural progression which is often better for not being expanded. Another of my all-time favourite detective novelists is Emma Page. Her titles are often 180-200 pages .
Don’t get me wrong – I love to curl up with a fat novel. Two of my favourite writers are Trollope and Wilkie Collins, who average 500-700 pages. Trouble is, I rarely get time to re-read them these days and I’m not alone in that. I’ve also seen – again in the last few years – that many new crime novels look satisfyingly thick until you open them to find an unusually large font and wide line spacing. Do the big publishers think readers won’t notice? I imagine this trend is to justify the staggeringly high price of new hardbacks – and possibly to recoup going on a table display in Waterstones’?
Readers’ expectations seem to be changing in ways, especially relevant to indie authors who deal mainly in ebooks. We’re living in an over-worked, stressed, time-poor society. Reading – thankfully for our mental health – is as popular as ever. Maybe even more so with people who weren’t drawn to books, finding they enjoy reading on devices. Many people now want a medium-length read they can enjoy on their phone while commuting. Others want to relax with a novella over an evening or two. Sadly, fewer have the time to commit to a lengthy novel.
Another factor in the rise of novellas/novelettes is satisfying the readers who expect frequent titles. Again, this phenomenon only applies to indie authors. Traditionally, readers have expected to wait for a yearly treat from favourite authors, or even a couple or more years. Especially if they’re longing to follow a series and the author has more than one on the go or fancies writing a stand-alone.
These days in our frantic-paced culture, the received wisdom is that readers expect more than a single ebook a year from authors they like. Industry trends strongly suggest that ebook readers’ expectations have gone haywire. We’re told that standalones won’t sell well and we need to get a series on sale fast or our name will be forgotten by readers who enjoyed our first title. And we all know, some readers expect our carefully-crafted months of work to be handed over for 99p! Publishing shorts does go some way towards retaining readers’ interest.
We will always love writing novels but have really enjoyed working on two novellas so far – one for each of our main detective characters. It feels refreshing and fun between the long-haul – maybe like running a half-marathon. Many indie authors are interspersing their fiction with novellas and short stories. It can be a great way of trying out an idea for a spin-off series or exploring a secondary character in greater depth. This is something we’re considering with our historical adventures and Victorian thrillers.
And we’re not alone. In traditionally published crime fiction, famous names such as Alison Joseph and Lesley Cookman have started novella series between their novels. I’m looking forward to Lesley Cookman’s second novella in her The Alexandrians Serieswhich is out on 31st Jan (now on pre-order). She’s had the inspired idea of taking the Nethergate seaside theatre featured in her wonderful Libby Sarjeant series and using that as an Edwardian setting.
Between all these factors, I think we’ve only seen the start of authors producing novellas and short novels. Thanks to technology, writers now have a freedom to write as they choose. An opportunity unseen since the nineteenth century when small presses abounded and individuals sold topical chap-books in the street. It’s exciting to think that indie authors are leading the way.
What do you think? Don’t be shy – we’d love to hear thoughts from other authors.
Source:
https://johnbainbridgewriter.wordpress.com/2017/01/19/the-return-of-novellas-and-novelettes/
October 5, 2017
Vampyre New Moon Novel Available for Pre-Order
“I am surprised you picked the path of the vigilante when you were turned.” Henrik replied. “You were such a violent person, use to hurting anyone who got in your way.”
Val laughed as she watched Henrik bite into the man and continued to drain him. “There’s a difference in the people in these streets that turn to violence. Some do so to just get what they want and some do it just to survive. I was hurt by the former and was turned into the latter. Now that I have the strength to hurt those like the ones that hurt me…I find myself compelled to do so. Besides, we have to eat…why not feed upon those who walk over others?”
Henrik finished with the mugger, tossing him over the side into a dumpster after he was done. He wiped his mouth and walked over to Val. “I am glad you have chosen this path. There are others who have chosen the other path that became lost to them. We might have the minds of men, but there are many of us that become like beasts, others like monsters.”
Kindle Forum Users Encouraged to switch to Goodreads and Spark
Amazon is shutting down their Kindle support forums on October 13th and they are encouraging all of their users to switch to GoodReads and Amazon Spark. The company also announced they are going to be rolling out an expanding help experience next week.
In a statement on the Kindle Forums Amazon said the following “Amazon would like to thank the members of this community for contributing to the discussion forums. As we grow and evolve, we encourage you to explore Goodreads Groups for books and Spark for other ways to engage with your interests. If you have a help question about your device, starting the morning of October 9th , Pacific Standard Time, we will be introducing an improved help forum experience, with expanded discussion categories.”
Amazon Spark is an Instagram-style shoppable feed that appears inside the Amazon app for customers in the United States. Obviously, there’s a profit motive behind Spark. Amazon is trying to keep engagement about products within its own ecosystem rather than on other social media channels. The belief is that the closer people are to the conversion point, the more likely it is that they’ll convert.
“We created Spark to allow customers to discover – and shop – stories and ideas from a community that likes what they like,” said an Amazon spokeswoman. When customers first visit Spark, they select at least five interests they’d like to follow and we’ll create a feed of relevant content contributed by others. Customers shop their feed by tapping on product links or photos with the shopping bag icon.”
I doubt the Kindle loyalists will switch to Spark, which is only available for iOS and you have to be a Prime member to even use it. GoodReads seems like a viable alternative, but book discussions tend to be very hit or miss. Likely, many people will switch to the Kindle Boards or MobileRead or participate in discussions on Kindle related issues on Good e-Reader.
Source:
The Indie Author’s Guide to Hybrid Publishing
Authors no longer have to choose between traditional publishing and self-publishing. A third option has emerged and is gaining ground: hybrid publishing, which fuses aspects of traditional publishing with self-publishing, often for an up-front fee. At least that’s one definition; as any author exploring the territory of hybrid publishing will find, it’s complicated.
“Hybrid publishing is an often-confusing term,” says Mark Lefebvre, director of self-publishing and author relations at Kobo. “You could be talking about a type of assisted self-publishing, where a company that has in-house expertise gives authors the ability to pay for those services and will publish virtually any manuscript that crosses their threshold; or referring to a model where the author might invest up front but there is editorial evaluation and input, and publishing projects are chosen based on their merit as a sellable product.”
Further creating confusion is the fact that a “hybrid author” has nothing to do with a hybrid publisher. The former is, as Mark Coker, founder and CEO of Smashwords, points out, “an author who publishes books both with conventional publishers and who also self-publishes.”
Also complicating matters is the fact that publishers once called vanity presses—those that offer supported self-publishing services and will publish whatever manuscripts come their way once the authors’ checks clear—could technically be called hybrid, because they leverage traditional publishing aspects along with the pay-to-play method of self-publishing. Author Solutions has a number of supported self-publishing imprints, including AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford Publishing, Wordclay, and Xlibris, all of which fit the definition of hybrid. The company also has partner imprints in alliance with traditional publishing houses.
Though it may be fair to call all of the above hybrids, they skew more toward self-publishing because almost any author can publish with them. The hybrid publishers that stand out more clearly are those that screen submissions and have a strong sense of branding.
The Major Players
“What defines a hybrid publisher is not being made clear, and I am not sure that it can be, [but] when I look at what defines a hybrid publisher, [I see] a level of curation,” publishing industry consultant Jane Friedman says. “Not everyone who walks through the door can get published.”
Amy Edelman, president and founder of IndieReader, says the “better” hybrid publishers are the ones that “vet the books before agreeing to take them on.” She Writes Press, Evolved Publishing, EverAfter, and Inkshares follow this model, though they all operate very differently from one another. SWP, which publishes books for, by, and about women, charges a fee of $4,900 per title for a bundle of services that includes distribution, e-book file preparation and upload, proofreading, and custom design, among other services. Authors retain 60% of the net profits on print books and close to 80% of the net profits on e-books.
“Our authors pay, but they have creative control and keep more of the financial reward by getting most of their royalties,” says Crystal Patriarche, CEO of SWP and its parent company, SparkPoint Studio, adding that authors also go on national press tours twice per year and have access to webinars and other educational tools. They are strongly encouraged to hire publicists, either on their own or through BookSparks, SWP’s sister public relations company under the SparkPoint umbrella.
With Evolved, which publishes mostly fiction and some nonfiction, authors are not required to pay an up-front fee, though they can pay for services such as editing or cover art, enabling them to maximize their retailer royalty rates, which are up to 81%. “We pride ourselves on offering the highest royalty rates in the business, but authors must recognize that this comes with trade-offs,” says Dave Lane, managing publisher and editor. “We offer print books, but we utilize the print-on-demand services of Lightning Source. As a division of Ingram, they’re able to make our books available everywhere in the world, and their quality levels are good, [but] those print books do not go into broad distribution in the way they would with a traditional publisher.”
EverAfter, which publishes romance titles exclusively, works with authors in a variety of ways, including bringing successfully self-published e-book authors to the print market. “Last July we launched a program where we put authors’ books into traditional print distribution with active sales representation for select titles,” says Mary Cummings, v-p and director of business development at Diversion Books, EverAfter’s parent company. “No matter how successful a romance author is in the digital space, print is a different animal, so we also work with these authors on strategy, marketing, and publicity in order to optimize their sales in print formats. We approach these distribution relationships with the perspective of a traditional publisher, so we aim to add as much as we can to the conversation along the way. We also offer à la carte services, from design to publicity, to authors that want them.”
Inkshares, which focuses primarily on SF and fantasy titles, runs on crowdfunding. Authors, who pay no fees, are tasked with generating a following in the Inkshares community and can have their books published by Inkshares once they have scored at least 250 preorders.
“Once a book hits its goal, we work like a traditional publisher,” says Jeremy Thomas, CEO and cofounder of Inkshares. “We have a deal with Ingram distribution services that can get books into bookstores.”
Crash Course in Publishing
For many authors, the value of working with hybrid publishers rather than self-publishing is clear. There’s support, community, and the sense that the publisher believes in the work. But would any author choose a hybrid over a traditional publisher? It happens.
“[SWP] has authors who have several books out by a traditional publisher who want something new but don’t want to be on their own [as self-publishers],” Patriarche says. One distinct benefit that authors see, particularly with SWP, is a transparent process through which they can learn about book publishing.
SWP author Kristen Harnisch calls it a “crash course in publishing.” “Because I’m fronting the money and making most of the decisions, I’ve learned about editing, proofreading, printing, cover design, marketing, and distribution and now share these insights with authors at writers’ conferences,” she says. “Hybrid publishing has also given me more time to make my debut novel a success—a year or more—which is not the standard in traditional publishing.”
Jill G. Hall, who chose to publish her first novel with SWP, went the hybrid route in part because she felt that, at the age of 60, her “chances of getting picked up by a [traditional publisher] were slim.” Moreover, Hall didn’t want to lose control of her work.
“I have strong organizational skills, am a go-getter, and like being in charge,” Hall says. “I love to learn new things and found it an exciting challenge to learn the ins and outs of book marketing.”
A Tough Sell to Bookstores
Hybrid publishing does have its drawbacks and is assuredly not for everybody. Jordan Rosenfeld, who has published several books on her own, as well as with traditional presses and the hybrid publisher Booktrope, which closes May 31, enjoyed having a collaborative team backing her project, but says she is now “on the fence” about hybrids.
“I think that the best use of a hybrid publisher is for authors who want to write a series and can churn out a lot of books,” Rosenfeld says, “I think for one-off books, you’re better off trying to get a traditional publisher with some marketing budget.”
Authors who are keen on getting books into the hands of readers should by all means consider hybrid publishers, but authors who want to get their books into bricks-and-mortar stores should be aware of the model’s inherent challenges. A hybrid publisher that has access to bookstore distribution is promising, but the truth of the matter is that getting an indie book on shelves is “difficult and expensive,” IndieReader’s Edelman says.
Hall says the only thing that she didn’t like about hybrid publishing was the lack of interest from bookstores. “Many people and bookstores had never heard of SWP or the hybrid model before,” Hall says. “Since my novel wasn’t traditionally published, they looked down their noses at my book because they felt it wouldn’t be very high quality, [but] readers have given me great feedback, and that’s what matters most to me.”
Source:
Airbus on track to fly its electric aerial taxi in 2018
Airbus is looking to put its flying taxi in the air next year, confirmed CityAirbus chief engineer Marius Bebesel this week. The schedule is on track after CityAirbus conducted successful ground tests of the electric power system it’s using to propel the vehicle through the air.
The CityAirbus craft is a vertical take-off and landing craft that uses a four rotor design, and that would be able to take up to four passengers on short flights in dense urban areas, with the aim of connecting major transportation hubs including train stations and airports. It’s designed to be pilot operated at launch, but to eventually transition to being a fully autonomous vehicle once the tech catches up.
CNBC reports that Airbus is aiming to operate the craft along fixed, predetermined routes, with top air speeds of around 80 mph. They’ll be able to skip over the traffic that can dramatically increase travel times entering and exiting busy city transit points, which would theoretically also help alleviate ground congestion.
Short hop flights are also an ideal application of battery electric tech, since that’s all that vehicles will be able to manage using fully electric power sources in the near-term. Plus, battery unit swapping or autonomous dock charging could help make it easier to make these vehicles fully self-flying in the future.
Source:
Airbus on track to fly its electric aerial taxi in 2018
October 4, 2017
Ten rules for writing fiction (part two)
1 Are you serious about this? Then get an accountant.
2 Read Becoming a Writer, by Dorothea Brande. Then do what it says, including the tasks you think are impossible. You will particularly hate the advice to write first thing in the morning, but if you can manage it, it might well be the best thing you ever do for yourself. This book is about becoming a writer from the inside out. Many later advice manuals derive from it. You don’t really need any others, though if you want to boost your confidence, “how to” books seldom do any harm. You can kick-start a whole book with some little writing exercise.
3 Write a book you’d like to read. If you wouldn’t read it, why would anybody else? Don’t write for a perceived audience or market. It may well have vanished by the time your book’s ready.
4 If you have a good story idea, don’t assume it must form a prose narrative. It may work better as a play, a screenplay or a poem. Be flexible.
5 Be aware that anything that appears before “Chapter One” may be skipped. Don’t put your vital clue there.
6 First paragraphs can often be struck out. Are you performing a haka, or just shuffling your feet?
7 Concentrate your narrative energy on the point of change. This is especially important for historical fiction. When your character is new to a place, or things alter around them, that’s the point to step back and fill in the details of their world. People don’t notice their everyday surroundings and daily routine, so when writers describe them it can sound as if they’re trying too hard to instruct the reader.
8 Description must work for its place. It can’t be simply ornamental. It usually works best if it has a human element; it is more effective if it comes from an implied viewpoint, rather than from the eye of God. If description is coloured by the viewpoint of the character who is doing the noticing, it becomes, in effect, part of character definition and part of the action.
9 If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don’t just stick there scowling at the problem. But don’t make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people’s words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient.
10 Be ready for anything. Each new story has different demands and may throw up reasons to break these and all other rules. Except number one: you can’t give your soul to literature if you’re thinking about income tax.
Michael Moorcock
1 My first rule was given to me by TH White, author of The Sword in the Stone and other Arthurian fantasies and was: Read. Read everything you can lay hands on. I always advise people who want to write a fantasy or science fiction or romance to stop reading everything in those genres and start reading everything else from Bunyan to Byatt.
2 Find an author you admire (mine was Conrad) and copy their plots and characters in order to tell your own story, just as people learn to draw and paint by copying the masters.
3 Introduce your main characters and themes in the first third of your novel.
4 If you are writing a plot-driven genre novel make sure all your major themes/plot elements are introduced in the first third, which you can call the introduction.
5 Develop your themes and characters in your second third, the development.
6 Resolve your themes, mysteries and so on in the final third, the resolution.
7 For a good melodrama study the famous “Lester Dent master plot formula” which you can find online. It was written to show how to write a short story for the pulps, but can be adapted successfully for most stories of any length or genre.
8 If possible have something going on while you have your characters delivering exposition or philosophising. This helps retain dramatic tension.
9 Carrot and stick – have protagonists pursued (by an obsession or a villain) and pursuing (idea, object, person, mystery).
10 Ignore all proferred rules and create your own, suitable for what you want to say.
Michael Morpurgo
1 The prerequisite for me is to keep my well of ideas full. This means living as full and varied a life as possible, to have my antennae out all the time.
2 Ted Hughes gave me this advice and it works wonders: record moments, fleeting impressions, overheard dialogue, your own sadnesses and bewilderments and joys.
3 A notion for a story is for me a confluence of real events, historical perhaps, or from my own memory to create an exciting fusion.
4 It is the gestation time which counts.
5 Once the skeleton of the story is ready I begin talking about it, mostly to Clare, my wife, sounding her out.
6 By the time I sit down and face the blank page I am raring to go. I tell it as if I’m talking to my best friend or one of my grandchildren.
7 Once a chapter is scribbled down rough – I write very small so I don’t have to turn the page and face the next empty one – Clare puts it on the word processor, prints it out, sometimes with her own comments added.
8 When I’m deep inside a story, living it as I write, I honestly don’t know what will happen. I try not to dictate it, not to play God.
9 Once the book is finished in its first draft, I read it out loud to myself. How it sounds is hugely important.
10 With all editing, no matter how sensitive – and I’ve been very lucky here – I react sulkily at first, but then I settle down and get on with it, and a year later I have my book in my hand.
Andrew Motion
1 Decide when in the day (or night) it best suits you to write, and organise your life accordingly.
2 Think with your senses as well as your brain.
3 Honour the miraculousness of the ordinary.
4 Lock different characters/elements in a room and tell them to get on.
5 Remember there is no such thing as nonsense.
6 Bear in mind Wilde’s dictum that “only mediocrities develop” – and challenge it.
7 Let your work stand before deciding whether or not to serve.
8 Think big and stay particular.
9 Write for tomorrow, not for today.
10 Work hard.
Joyce Carol Oates
1 Don’t try to anticipate an “ideal reader” – there may be one, but he/she is reading someone else.
2 Don’t try to anticipate an “ideal reader” – except for yourself perhaps, sometime in the future.
3 Be your own editor/critic. Sympathetic but merciless!
4 Unless you are writing something very avant-garde – all gnarled, snarled and “obscure” – be alert for possibilities of paragraphing.
5 Unless you are writing something very post-modernist – self-conscious, self-reflexive and “provocative” – be alert for possibilities of using plain familiar words in place of polysyllabic “big” words.
6 Keep in mind Oscar Wilde: “A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.”
7 Keep a light, hopeful heart. But expect the worst.
Annie Proulx
1 Proceed slowly and take care.
2 To ensure that you proceed slowly, write by hand.
3 Write slowly and by hand only about subjects that interest you.
4 Develop craftsmanship through years of wide reading.
5 Rewrite and edit until you achieve the most felicitous phrase/sentence/paragraph/page/story/chapter.
Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/feb/20/10-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-two
Vampyre New Moon Coming Soon
Available on amazon, kobo, iTunes, Barnes & Noble October 31, I will post more info on this novella in the next week or two. More of my books can be found on the same sights.
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The Famous Movie That Inspired Black Panther’s Design
The highlight of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been seeing such iconic characters and locations from the comics come to life on screen. However, it seems that the comics haven’t been the only influence for the big screen adaptations. Recently Hannah Beachler, the production designer for Black Panther revealed one movie that significantly inspired the look of Wakanda, the original Blade Runner.
The reveal came in response to a fan who asked Hannah Beachler on Twitter if Blade Runner had inspired her, or director Ryan Coogler, in their vision of what Wakanda would look like. Beachler responder that the Ridley Scott film was very much an influencer for her. Specifically, she says that the density of the city, as well as the way that tech was forward thinking, were the primary ways that the film guided her design.
It’s not hard to see the influence. A look at this image of Wakanda from the Black Panther trailer shows a city very much like the version of Los Angeles we see in Blade Runner. The only real difference being that we Los Angeles is in almost perpetual darkness, while Wakanda at least gets some sun.
We certainly see how the density of the city influenced Wakanda as all the buildings, including some pretty impressive skyscrapers, are all very close together. We also have similar modes of transportation as flying vehicles seem to be the method of choice for getting around the city. If the city is this dense, one assumes it has a pretty massive population as well, making the need for verticality, both in the buildings and the transportation, important.
Of course, there’s another movie that also took Blade Runner’s aesthetics as a major influence, the sequel which is hitting theaters on Friday. Blade Runner 2049takes all the technology from the original and advances it by 30 years.
Blade Runner inspired a lot of futuristic looks in popular culture so it’s far from surprising that it influenced Black Panther. The one interesting difference here is that Wakanda is a modern city, simply one that is more technologically advanced than the rest of the world. It’s essentially the future but one that modern people could potentially visit.
We’ll get to see more of Wakanda when Black Panther arrives in theaters in February. Blade Runner 2049 is in theaters on Friday.
Source:
http://www.cinemablend.com/news/1710160/the-famous-movie-that-inspired-black-panthers-design
How Elon Musk Is Quietly Helping Hurricane Victims in Puerto Rico
With President Trump and the mayor of San Juan in a war of words this weekend over the relief efforts in hurricane-battered Puerto Rico and a stream of harrowing images coming out of the island and its neighbors in the Caribbean, it’s easy to feel gloomy about the response to the disaster.
But while dysfunction and ugly politics have been capturing the headlines, companies and celebrities have been mobilizing to aid Puerto Rico. Many of them have been making a ruckus on behalf of those suffering without power, clean water, or access to medical care, but at least one big name has been keeping his efforts relatively quiet–Elon Musk.
Bringing power back to Puerto Rico
With the entirety of Puerto Rico’s electrical grid down and some places expected to be without electricity for months, residents of the island are in desperate need of alternative sources of power. That’s something Musk’s Tesla knows plenty about, and thankfully for Puerto Rico’s 3.5 million residents, the company is happy to help.
“As soon as the storm passed, Tesla began sending hundreds of Powerwall battery systems that can be paired with solar panels to the devastated island in an effort to restore electric power there,” reports Fortune, “and the shipments of Powerwall battery systems are continuing.”
There are also Tesla employees on the ground helping install the systems, the article goes on to report, and Musk himself personally donated $250,000 to the relief effort. Some even see the possibility of a small silver lining in these efforts, suggesting that the devastation of the traditional power grid could provide Puerto Rico with an opportunity to build a more sustainable system.
It should also be noted that Musk and Tesla, while providing a characteristically innovative response to the disaster, are far from the only big companies lending aid. Lots of other businesses, from Starbucks to Facebook, are also donating to the relief efforts.
“With 90 percent of cell towers on the island out of service, people can’t get in touch with their loved ones–and it’s harder for rescue workers to coordinate relief efforts. We’re working to get Puerto Rico back online. We’re sending the Facebook connectivity team to deliver emergency telecommunications assistance to get the systems up and running,” Mark Zuckerberg announced in a Facebook post, for instance.
Want to do your own bit to help Puerto Ricans pick up the pieces after Hurricane Maria? Here are some of the best charities to donate to, according to charity rating site Charity Navigator.
Source:
Tesla to Unveil a 200 to 300-miles Range Electric Semi Truck
Is this the new semi truck Tesla is set to unveil at the end of this month? The truck, posted to Reddit (then deleted, then re-posted) bears more than a passing resemblance to the image shared in a teaser released by the automaker itself (via The Verge). The sleek angled front also looks like something you’d expect to be electrically powered, if that makes any sense.
You can compare it yourself to the mostly shadowy teaser image shared by Tesla itself, but the main unifying factor here might be those flared fenders and angled headlights, which you can pretty clearly make out in the Reddit spy shot, too. The photo above was taken “somewhere in California,” where apparently Tesla has been known to test vehicles in the past.
Tesla’s officially revealing its semi truck on October 26, at an event teased by Elon Musk himself. The truck is rumored to have a range of between 200 and 300 miles on a single charge, which would be very impressive for an all-electric heavy-duty transport vehicle, though not something that’s suitable for long-haul trips. The big question will be how it charges – and how fast.
Source:
Tesla electric semi truck possibly spied in new photo
