Martha Wells's Blog, page 162
March 9, 2012
It's raining like crazy today, cold and windy, though it ...
It's raining like crazy today, cold and windy, though it should be back to Spring and 70s again after the weekend.
Trying to think of things to write about on here, besides the weather and my allergies. Does anybody have any questions or things they want me to talk about?
***
Hugo Nominations for this year close March 11. The ballot is at https://chicon.org/hugo/nominate.php You can nominate if you:
are an attending or supporting member of Chicon 7 (the 2012 World Science Fiction Convention); or
were an attending or supporting member of Renovation (the 2011 World Science Fiction Convention); or
are an attending or supporting member of LoneStarCon 3 (the 2013 World Science Fiction Convention)
And yes, The Cloud Roads is eligible.
***
link:
I09: 10 Amazing Real-World Locations for Fantasy Worldbuilding
Trying to think of things to write about on here, besides the weather and my allergies. Does anybody have any questions or things they want me to talk about?
***
Hugo Nominations for this year close March 11. The ballot is at https://chicon.org/hugo/nominate.php You can nominate if you:
are an attending or supporting member of Chicon 7 (the 2012 World Science Fiction Convention); or
were an attending or supporting member of Renovation (the 2011 World Science Fiction Convention); or
are an attending or supporting member of LoneStarCon 3 (the 2013 World Science Fiction Convention)
And yes, The Cloud Roads is eligible.
***
link:
I09: 10 Amazing Real-World Locations for Fantasy Worldbuilding
March 8, 2012
We're supposed to have torrential rain and storms tonight...
We're supposed to have torrential rain and storms tonight, leading into a cold wet weekend. It must be Spring Break for the university.
I started reading a new mystery series that looked really promising, set in regency England, with a cozy theme about cooking and the first uses of chocolate in a solid form (as opposed to a drink, which had been common for quite a while). I liked the first few chapters so much I went and bought the second one. Then the cozy theme got dropped and it's missing the sort of multiple character interactions you expect from a regency. I think I'll go back to reading fantasy.
I think I've finally started writing a new book. Very tentatively, so I don't want to scare it off. After a few days of barely being able to string two words together, it's a relief.
***
Neat review of The Cloud Roads on YA Anonymous Martha Wells, you had me at disemboweling claw.
***
Book rec: The Modern Fae's Guide to Surviving Humanity, edited by Joshua Palmatier and Patricia Bray, with stories by Kristine Smith, Seanan McGuire, Juliet E. McKenna, Kari Sperring, and others.
***
YouTube L'Odyssée de Cartier This is a commercial, but it's an awesome fantasy commercial, aimed at people who like big cats and dragons. You just have to see it to believe it. Work safe.
The Atlas Obscura posted this: Old Maps Online
This was just neat: A Bird's Nest Bed
N.K. Jemisin posted this on Twitter: Hello Ello: Why The Pretty White Girl YA Book Cover Trend Needs to End Recently, there has been more Asians on TV than usual. This makes me happy because it is such a rare event. Spotting an Asian on TV always feels like trying to find Waldo. And when I do spot an Asian on TV or in the movies, I jump up and down and get overly excited, like I've spotted some rare species or mythical creature, like a unicorn, or Big Foot.
I started reading a new mystery series that looked really promising, set in regency England, with a cozy theme about cooking and the first uses of chocolate in a solid form (as opposed to a drink, which had been common for quite a while). I liked the first few chapters so much I went and bought the second one. Then the cozy theme got dropped and it's missing the sort of multiple character interactions you expect from a regency. I think I'll go back to reading fantasy.
I think I've finally started writing a new book. Very tentatively, so I don't want to scare it off. After a few days of barely being able to string two words together, it's a relief.
***
Neat review of The Cloud Roads on YA Anonymous Martha Wells, you had me at disemboweling claw.
***
Book rec: The Modern Fae's Guide to Surviving Humanity, edited by Joshua Palmatier and Patricia Bray, with stories by Kristine Smith, Seanan McGuire, Juliet E. McKenna, Kari Sperring, and others.
***
YouTube L'Odyssée de Cartier This is a commercial, but it's an awesome fantasy commercial, aimed at people who like big cats and dragons. You just have to see it to believe it. Work safe.
The Atlas Obscura posted this: Old Maps Online
This was just neat: A Bird's Nest Bed
N.K. Jemisin posted this on Twitter: Hello Ello: Why The Pretty White Girl YA Book Cover Trend Needs to End Recently, there has been more Asians on TV than usual. This makes me happy because it is such a rare event. Spotting an Asian on TV always feels like trying to find Waldo. And when I do spot an Asian on TV or in the movies, I jump up and down and get overly excited, like I've spotted some rare species or mythical creature, like a unicorn, or Big Foot.
March 7, 2012
Yesterday started out well, then a weather front came in ...
Yesterday started out well, then a weather front came in and the day went down in massive sinus headache flames. I'm hoping to get more done today, though. And hopefully we'll get some rain.
If you missed it, I posted the Three Worlds Compendium yesterday, which includes a missing scene from The Cloud Roads.
Also, I got interviewed on the Mad Hatter's Bookshelf and Book Review!
***
More links:
Five hundred new fairytales discovered in Germany Collection of fairytales gathered by historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth had been locked away in an archive in Regensburg for over 150 years
Writer Beware: Why You Can't Always Trust the Source But the worst market listings--which may have been compiled by people who aren't very expert (like this one), or may be the corpses of once-active resources that haven't been updated in years (here's an example), or may be databases where every Tom, Dick, and Harriet can create an entry, no matter their qualifications or ethics (WritersNet is a case in point)--may be full of questionable agents. And even the best may allow some undesirables to slip through.
One Minute Book Reviews: 'The Average American Author Earns About $9,000 a Year' / Quote of the Day
That's certainly accurate as to what I've been earning every year for quite a while (except for last year, when it was under $5000).
Ladybusiness: Coverage of Women on SF/F Blogs
So no, I wasn't wrong last year to go, "hey, wait a minute..." and feel like things were unequal. If you're following popular SF/F blogs run by men I believe this is a problem you will continuously run into, except by those focused on their review diversity. Reviews of books by women don't feature as often on blogs run by men or shared by men, but on blogs run by women, it's more equal and sometimes even women as majority because culturally women are trained to read "traditionally" male things, while the reverse is not true.
If you missed it, I posted the Three Worlds Compendium yesterday, which includes a missing scene from The Cloud Roads.
Also, I got interviewed on the Mad Hatter's Bookshelf and Book Review!
***
More links:
Five hundred new fairytales discovered in Germany Collection of fairytales gathered by historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth had been locked away in an archive in Regensburg for over 150 years
Writer Beware: Why You Can't Always Trust the Source But the worst market listings--which may have been compiled by people who aren't very expert (like this one), or may be the corpses of once-active resources that haven't been updated in years (here's an example), or may be databases where every Tom, Dick, and Harriet can create an entry, no matter their qualifications or ethics (WritersNet is a case in point)--may be full of questionable agents. And even the best may allow some undesirables to slip through.
One Minute Book Reviews: 'The Average American Author Earns About $9,000 a Year' / Quote of the Day
That's certainly accurate as to what I've been earning every year for quite a while (except for last year, when it was under $5000).
Ladybusiness: Coverage of Women on SF/F Blogs
So no, I wasn't wrong last year to go, "hey, wait a minute..." and feel like things were unequal. If you're following popular SF/F blogs run by men I believe this is a problem you will continuously run into, except by those focused on their review diversity. Reviews of books by women don't feature as often on blogs run by men or shared by men, but on blogs run by women, it's more equal and sometimes even women as majority because culturally women are trained to read "traditionally" male things, while the reverse is not true.
March 6, 2012
Three Worlds Compendium and Extras Section
Okay, the Three Worlds Compendium and Extras Section is now open! It has the short stories set in the world, a missing scene from The Cloud Roads that hasn't been posted before, plus some new material for the appendices at the back of the books that hasn't been printed.
It also has things like this:
I'll be adding more to it as I think of it.
It also has things like this:
I'll be adding more to it as I think of it.
March 5, 2012
Monday, Monday, Monday
It's Monday again, inevitably. I feel like I got a lot done over the weekend, but it's all little stuff. Cleaned out the air conditioner (winter is over for us)(there should be a logo for this time of year, like from Game of Thrones: "Summer is Coming" with a ring a fire behind it), washed blankets, weeded, watered things that aren't weeds, etc.
I think the Three Worlds Compendium is about ready to go. I want to add a couple more things, then I'll link to it tomorrow. I'll be adding to it as I think of things to add, or as people make suggestions, or as things I have to add become non-spoilery.
If you missed it, I did a post yesterday on Ralph McQuarrie, who passed away this week, and about loneliness and fandom and imagination and escapism.
***
This is a support/advice community for people who want to declutter and clean their homes: Unf*ck Your Habitat Warning, there is nonworksafe motivational swearing.
Yes, it involves some yelling and swearing. Yes, I will call you lazy if the situation warrants it. But, it's about motivation, and support, and accountability. There's a weird sort of void in the "taking care of your physical surroundings" stuff, in the archaic "how to keep a home" and "how to be domestic" arenas. It tends to ignore single people, or people without kids, or students, or people with pets, or people with roommates, or people with full-time jobs, or classes, or other shit going on. It assumes everyone is married with kids and one partner is around a lot of the time, and has a lot of time to devote to "housekeeping." Well, we don't all live that life. Very few of us do.
There are some great tips for cheap cleaning solutions. I immediately had to try the baking soda and vinegar drain volcano, and it was awesome.
***
More links:
A website listing Feminist Fantasy
Jessica Lee Jernigan: Loose All female sins can be reduced to same one: a refusal to allow men to define and control female sexuality.
I think the Three Worlds Compendium is about ready to go. I want to add a couple more things, then I'll link to it tomorrow. I'll be adding to it as I think of things to add, or as people make suggestions, or as things I have to add become non-spoilery.
If you missed it, I did a post yesterday on Ralph McQuarrie, who passed away this week, and about loneliness and fandom and imagination and escapism.
***
This is a support/advice community for people who want to declutter and clean their homes: Unf*ck Your Habitat Warning, there is nonworksafe motivational swearing.
Yes, it involves some yelling and swearing. Yes, I will call you lazy if the situation warrants it. But, it's about motivation, and support, and accountability. There's a weird sort of void in the "taking care of your physical surroundings" stuff, in the archaic "how to keep a home" and "how to be domestic" arenas. It tends to ignore single people, or people without kids, or students, or people with pets, or people with roommates, or people with full-time jobs, or classes, or other shit going on. It assumes everyone is married with kids and one partner is around a lot of the time, and has a lot of time to devote to "housekeeping." Well, we don't all live that life. Very few of us do.
There are some great tips for cheap cleaning solutions. I immediately had to try the baking soda and vinegar drain volcano, and it was awesome.
***
More links:
A website listing Feminist Fantasy
Jessica Lee Jernigan: Loose All female sins can be reduced to same one: a refusal to allow men to define and control female sexuality.
March 4, 2012
Ralph McQuarrie
Ralph McQuarrie has died. I was a huge Star Wars fan when I was growing up. I was a very lonely kid, living in a neighborhood where there weren't any other kids living nearby, let alone kids my age, and a busy street and my parents kept me from venturing up the hill to the kid paradise neighborhood that was about a ten minute walk away. I lived a lot in my own head, and it was long time before I found people who shared my interest in SF/F books and movies and TV. When Star Wars came out, there was a huge amount of hype, and it proved to me that there were other people out there who liked the same things I did. (I'd been told that I was the only one, never mind all those SF/F books in the library and bookstore.) Later I stumbled on Star Wars fanzines, wrote fanfic, finally escaped to college to meet other fans in person at SF/F conventions. But for a long time there, it was just me and the books and fuzzy Star Trek reruns on the TV channel that was just slightly out of range, and Star Wars' promise that there were others out there like me, lots of them.
One of the products that was released after Star Wars was the portfolio of original concept drawings by Ralph McQuarrie. (They're pictured here, on the Star Wars wiki) If Star Wars set my imagination on fire, those drawings were like jet fuel. Star Wars was awesome, but the vision of it in McQuarrie's head was something else, something that to this day has defined "sense of wonder" for me.
Some of my favorites: the Massassi Temple, Mos Eisley, Grand Audience Chamber I pinned them up all over my walls and poured over the descriptions in the portfolio. They gave fascinating glimpses of some the previous versions of the story and the world; for example, there's one where Luke is a girl.
There's no telling how many creative imaginations that Ralph McQuarrie's drawings sparked. J.R.R. Tolkien has a quote about fantasy as escapism, to the effect that if we value freedom of the mind and soul, we have a duty to escape and to take as many people with us as we can; if that's true, Ralph McQuarrie was sure as hell one of the people digging the tunnel under the barbed wire.
ETA: (more images from The Art of Ralph McQuarrie)
***
I found out about a couple of neat reviews late last week:
Diary of a Text Addict: The Cloud Roads So, remember the "sense of wonder" that science fiction is supposed to have? This has got that. Plus a sympathetic protagonist, various interesting other characters, some hard-won battles, creepy evil folks, and lots of neat stuff to explore.
Publishers Weekly: The Serpent Sea Wells makes it work, powering through on sheer creativity and characterization. Using its alien protagonist to explore the politics of gender and belonging, this is a fascinating read for SF readers looking for something out of the ordinary.
This one was a huge relief to see, since hopefully now more libraries will know the book is out and order it. When PW didn't review it in January when it came out, I was afraid they weren't going to review it at all.
***
One of the products that was released after Star Wars was the portfolio of original concept drawings by Ralph McQuarrie. (They're pictured here, on the Star Wars wiki) If Star Wars set my imagination on fire, those drawings were like jet fuel. Star Wars was awesome, but the vision of it in McQuarrie's head was something else, something that to this day has defined "sense of wonder" for me.
Some of my favorites: the Massassi Temple, Mos Eisley, Grand Audience Chamber I pinned them up all over my walls and poured over the descriptions in the portfolio. They gave fascinating glimpses of some the previous versions of the story and the world; for example, there's one where Luke is a girl.
There's no telling how many creative imaginations that Ralph McQuarrie's drawings sparked. J.R.R. Tolkien has a quote about fantasy as escapism, to the effect that if we value freedom of the mind and soul, we have a duty to escape and to take as many people with us as we can; if that's true, Ralph McQuarrie was sure as hell one of the people digging the tunnel under the barbed wire.
ETA: (more images from The Art of Ralph McQuarrie)
***
I found out about a couple of neat reviews late last week:
Diary of a Text Addict: The Cloud Roads So, remember the "sense of wonder" that science fiction is supposed to have? This has got that. Plus a sympathetic protagonist, various interesting other characters, some hard-won battles, creepy evil folks, and lots of neat stuff to explore.
Publishers Weekly: The Serpent Sea Wells makes it work, powering through on sheer creativity and characterization. Using its alien protagonist to explore the politics of gender and belonging, this is a fascinating read for SF readers looking for something out of the ordinary.
This one was a huge relief to see, since hopefully now more libraries will know the book is out and order it. When PW didn't review it in January when it came out, I was afraid they weren't going to review it at all.
***
March 2, 2012
Friday Report
Gardening update: I uprooted three dead hollies yesterday with roots the size of oak trees. They were so deep, once they came out I thought the Mole People were going to pop out of the hole.
The good news is, my desert willow is showing buds. I really thought it was dead for a while there. The wisteria also looks dead, but it's a Texas-variety wisteria, and has various dry weather coping mechanisms, like looking dead part of the year. (It also doesn't bloom and leaf simultaneously, so it rarely looks like a wisteria is supposed to.) It showed some buds yesterday.
I think I need new glasses again, and I'm hoping to be able to afford them this year.
***
People ask periodically how they can help books/authors do well and continue to produce more books, and the big thing is always: recommend them to people. Whether you do it by leaving a review on an online retailer like Amazon or Barnes and Noble or Baen Webscription or Powells etc, or on a social book review site like GoodReads or LibraryThing, or on your own blog or FB or Twitter or whatever, it helps. Also, something I see suggested less often, you can recommend it to your public library if they don't have it already. Most public libraries have comment cards or request cards where you can request books you think the library should get. Then the library might buy them and you and others can read them and it's all good.
A couple of links for Friday:
NPR: Six-Legged Giant Finds Secret Hideaway, Hides For 80 Years
For GoodReads people: A GoodReads Giveaway Drawing for The Serpent Sea
The good news is, my desert willow is showing buds. I really thought it was dead for a while there. The wisteria also looks dead, but it's a Texas-variety wisteria, and has various dry weather coping mechanisms, like looking dead part of the year. (It also doesn't bloom and leaf simultaneously, so it rarely looks like a wisteria is supposed to.) It showed some buds yesterday.
I think I need new glasses again, and I'm hoping to be able to afford them this year.
***
People ask periodically how they can help books/authors do well and continue to produce more books, and the big thing is always: recommend them to people. Whether you do it by leaving a review on an online retailer like Amazon or Barnes and Noble or Baen Webscription or Powells etc, or on a social book review site like GoodReads or LibraryThing, or on your own blog or FB or Twitter or whatever, it helps. Also, something I see suggested less often, you can recommend it to your public library if they don't have it already. Most public libraries have comment cards or request cards where you can request books you think the library should get. Then the library might buy them and you and others can read them and it's all good.
A couple of links for Friday:
NPR: Six-Legged Giant Finds Secret Hideaway, Hides For 80 Years
For GoodReads people: A GoodReads Giveaway Drawing for The Serpent Sea
March 1, 2012
Books of the Raksura #3
The third Raksura book finally has a title: it's going to be The Siren Depths. As of now, publication date is still January or February of 2013.
Besides digging dead bushes out of my yard, I've been working on the extras section for my web site for the Raksura books. It's going to be called The Three Worlds Compendium. Among other things, it's going to have the material in the appendices in the back of the books, plus a little new material. Hopefully that will help people write fanfiction. (As I've said before, I think fanfiction for my books is awesome, I'm just not supposed to read it.) One thing I can link to from the compendium is fan art, so if anybody does some or runs across some, let me know and I'll add a link.
***
Con or Bust has memberships available for Lunacon, Balticon, Odyssey Con.
Juliet E. McKenna has a blog post on Darkening Skies So if Darkening Skies, the second book of The Hadrumal Crisis trilogy is published in the US on 28th February and in the UK on the 1st of March, what happens on this leap year day of 29th February?
Well, for a start, you can go and read the opening chapter, wherever you might be, over on the Solaris Editors' Blog.
I've also done an interview with the Solaris chaps talking about this book and trilogy as well as what I write and read more generally.
Besides digging dead bushes out of my yard, I've been working on the extras section for my web site for the Raksura books. It's going to be called The Three Worlds Compendium. Among other things, it's going to have the material in the appendices in the back of the books, plus a little new material. Hopefully that will help people write fanfiction. (As I've said before, I think fanfiction for my books is awesome, I'm just not supposed to read it.) One thing I can link to from the compendium is fan art, so if anybody does some or runs across some, let me know and I'll add a link.
***
Con or Bust has memberships available for Lunacon, Balticon, Odyssey Con.
Juliet E. McKenna has a blog post on Darkening Skies So if Darkening Skies, the second book of The Hadrumal Crisis trilogy is published in the US on 28th February and in the UK on the 1st of March, what happens on this leap year day of 29th February?
Well, for a start, you can go and read the opening chapter, wherever you might be, over on the Solaris Editors' Blog.
I've also done an interview with the Solaris chaps talking about this book and trilogy as well as what I write and read more generally.
February 29, 2012
Leap Day
Besides cleaning many of the things yesterday, I updated my web site, mostly the Bibliography, Appearances, and the bio page and the Interviews and Questions page.
I'll probably be doing a redesign at some point, so I can add a "Books of the Raksura" extras section.
***
Links:
VintageBlackGlamour on Twitter posted this neat Nightclub Map of Harlem
![[info]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380923608i/3292608.gif)
scott_lynch
posted Against Big Bird, The Gods Themselves Contend In Vain, a description of a real Sesame Street special.
Big Bird and Snuffy go with him to stand in the Hall of Two Truths at the gate to the afterlife. The gigantic foam balls on these guys! Sure, Elmo loves you, but when's the last time Elmo held anyone's hand on the threshold of eternal night?
I'll probably be doing a redesign at some point, so I can add a "Books of the Raksura" extras section.
***
Links:
VintageBlackGlamour on Twitter posted this neat Nightclub Map of Harlem
scott_lynch
posted Against Big Bird, The Gods Themselves Contend In Vain, a description of a real Sesame Street special.Big Bird and Snuffy go with him to stand in the Hall of Two Truths at the gate to the afterlife. The gigantic foam balls on these guys! Sure, Elmo loves you, but when's the last time Elmo held anyone's hand on the threshold of eternal night?
February 28, 2012
Office Tour
Gardening update - I dredged and refilled the small water lily pond on Sunday, and discovered that in muddy water the large root for a several years old lily looks remarkably like the back of a small alligator. I knew it wasn't one, but part of my brain really didn't want me to stick my hand in there with it.
I've been needing to clean my office for a while, like, since 2010. In a confused frenzy of sorting paperwork after collecting tax information, I suddenly cleaned it. So I thought I'd take pictures. (It's mostly books, my famous people photo collection, stuffed animals, media memorabilia.
These are my ARCs and publisher catalogs that had my books in them, and my Evil Unicorn Play Set.
My elderly CD player, plus Harrison Ford Read poster, a Donato Giancola print, and favorite SGA calendar pictures.
My autograph collection of famous people. It's a lot for me, because I'm afraid of famous people. (I had to do a panel at DragonCon with Richard Hatch from the original Battlestar: Galactica and I was terrified. He sat next to me, and at one point reached for his water glass and accidentally touched the back of my hand. I almost climbed into
terri_osborne
's lap. I'm sure Hatch thought I was crazy.)
Stuffed animals. I got the armadillo for being Guest of Honor at ArmadilloCon 24. And there's the Anubis that
marycrawford
sent me.
More stuffed animals, all these from trips to Disney.
One wall of book cases, with books, Hercules: the Legendary Journeys memorabilia (I have one of Iolaus' prop knives and a prop Chronos Stone without the base.) The narrow middle case has most of my Mystery Science Theater 3000 tapes and DVDs. It's a very small room so I had to stand in a corner and balance the camera on my head to get this one.
My desk where I don't actually write. (I write on a laptop up in the bedroom.)
Other bookcase corner. You can sort of see the certificate The Death of the Necromancer got for being a Nebula nominee in 1998.
I've been needing to clean my office for a while, like, since 2010. In a confused frenzy of sorting paperwork after collecting tax information, I suddenly cleaned it. So I thought I'd take pictures. (It's mostly books, my famous people photo collection, stuffed animals, media memorabilia.
These are my ARCs and publisher catalogs that had my books in them, and my Evil Unicorn Play Set.
My elderly CD player, plus Harrison Ford Read poster, a Donato Giancola print, and favorite SGA calendar pictures.
My autograph collection of famous people. It's a lot for me, because I'm afraid of famous people. (I had to do a panel at DragonCon with Richard Hatch from the original Battlestar: Galactica and I was terrified. He sat next to me, and at one point reached for his water glass and accidentally touched the back of my hand. I almost climbed into
terri_osborne
's lap. I'm sure Hatch thought I was crazy.)
Stuffed animals. I got the armadillo for being Guest of Honor at ArmadilloCon 24. And there's the Anubis that
marycrawford
sent me.
More stuffed animals, all these from trips to Disney.
One wall of book cases, with books, Hercules: the Legendary Journeys memorabilia (I have one of Iolaus' prop knives and a prop Chronos Stone without the base.) The narrow middle case has most of my Mystery Science Theater 3000 tapes and DVDs. It's a very small room so I had to stand in a corner and balance the camera on my head to get this one.
My desk where I don't actually write. (I write on a laptop up in the bedroom.)
Other bookcase corner. You can sort of see the certificate The Death of the Necromancer got for being a Nebula nominee in 1998.
