Martha Wells's Blog, page 57

A Few Things

* There's an interview with me here, about the Murderbot novellas and novel: http://kmsuweeklyreader.mnsu.edu/current-episode/

It's the KMSU Weekly Reader, which is a radio show and a podcast.


* I did a Year in Review post already here https://marthawells.dreamwidth.org/450290.html

My updated total of finished written words for the year is 136,500. That doesn't count discarded revisions. Most of that was on Magic: the Gathering, three short stories, my Raksura Patreon, and half a Murderbot novel.

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Name Drop

So the writer of this New Yorker article mentions listening to the Murderbot Diaries while cooking for the holidays! (I’m not the friend Martha she also mentions which yes confused me too) https://www.newyorker.com/culture/kitchen-notes/what-to-cook-between-christmas-and-new-years

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Book List

This is a good list: https://www.tor.com/2018/12/27/100-sf-f-books-you-should-consider-reading-in-the-new-year/

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Xmas

We had a good xmas. We had one out of town friend come to stay and we went out in a group for our traditional Christmas eve sushi on Monday night, then looked at some lights on the way home, then watched a movie. Christmas Day we had two more out of town friends come in for lunch/dinner. We got a late start (which for us is after 7 am) so we didn't have time to do presents or stockings before I had to start cooking.

I was more organized this year about what I needed help with, and the same two friends had helped me last year, so they knew what to do this time. We also were a lot more organized about cleaning the used pans and bowls etc and getting them dried and put away while the cooking was going on, so it was a lot easier for me to concentrate and find places to put things. We had paprika marinated roast leg of lamb with mint sauce and gravy, crock pot thyme potatoes, collard greens with bacon, garlic, and shallots, popovers, stuffed mushrooms, and pickled cucumbers. I made everything except the desserts, which were two pies my husband made the day before and a Yule Log cake friends brought from L'Madeliene in Houston. (Photos on Twitter: https://twitter.com/marthawells1/status/1077683297688453122)

We ate about 2:30 - 3:00 and then just hung out for the rest of the day. Yesterday I went back to work and actually got a nice section done on the Murderbot novel. I've had a lot of anxiety for about the past month, which is causing physical symptoms like acid reflux, and the writing is like taking out my own kidney with a spoon. So it was nice to have a day where it actually went pretty well.

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Question Answers

Sorry it's taken me so long to start getting to these, I've just been really distracted lately. Also, I went ahead and deleted my tumblr last night.


bravolimapoppa3 asked The Three Worlds is one of my favorite fantasy settings - largely because it's got such mind blowing scenery (a graphic novel or coffee table book would be amazing). Are there any landscapes or scenes that you didn't get a chance to use?

I always wanted to do more with the shallow seas, like having someone travel across one by wading from sandbars to islands to weird floating platforms. I never got to really go anywhere alone or explore much when I was a kid, so I guess I've been fascinated by being able to go someplace interesting by just walking through it.


ecmwrites asked I am working on the 2nd draft of my own first novel. I have shifted the POV from 1st person to 3rd because of world building issues. I am finding it harder to write the characters in 3rd - less intimate and more exposition required.

Could you comment on your approach to this? I was engaged by both Moon and Murderbot but must admit to feeling closer to Murderbot. (LOL where but here would I get to write that sentence? )

When I was first working on my first novel (The Element of Fire) which was in third person, I felt like I was having a lot of trouble really getting into the characters, like it was much less intimate and distancing. But I really didn't like writing in first person, because I didn't feel I was getting the character voices right and I guess at the time it was too intimate for me. What I've evolved into is what's usually called "third person personal" where you stay very tight in the characters point of view, and color your third person prose so it sounds like that character's thoughts, even though it's not in first person.

Before Murderbot, I'd experimented a bit with first person but had only published one story in it, back in 1995. I'm not sure why I did Murderbot in first person -- I think it was just the whole structure of the stories needed that extra level of intimacy.

I think it just takes a lot of writing and experience to find a style that works for you.


playswithworm I'm fascinated by the idea of the Aeriat and Arbora being a blended species (reminds me of some of the research on human evolution and evidence that early human branched out into different species and then interbred again, more a braided stream than a branching tree) and was wondering if you have anything worked out on how that went down originally?

I haven't really come up with any story scenarios, but I do kind of imagine that the Arbora were native to the Reaches, and the Aeriat actually traveled there from somewhere else and encountered them.


mizstorge My husband used to be a security consultant, and he loves your Murberbot books. You got the details right, and he's very curious as to where you learned the business so well...?

Oh cool, I'm glad he thought so! I haven't worked in security, but I have worked in software development and computer support back in the 90s and early 2000s, and had to deal with security for computer systems online and also in physical spaces, and that probably helped a lot.

ETA:

spatz asked Feel free not to answer if spoilery, of course, but do you know how old Murderbot is? I imagine even it doesn't know with the memory wipe(s), but the way it talks about SecUnits being expensive and the equipment descriptions and stuff, it could be decades old? It's so cynical and jaded, of course, but I can't tell if that's 'I've seen too much shit over the years' old hand style, or young, hollow-eyed, jaded veteran style.

I haven't worked it out exactly, but I think it would have to be at least two to three decades old. The memory wipes really do confuse the issue. But I imagine SecUnits, especially ones that have built up a lot of client experience, as being really expensive and hard to replace so the company would go to a lot of effort to keep them operational. And the longer Murderbot had been part of the company system, the more chances it would have had to pick up the code that would eventually allow it to hack itself.

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Xmas

I did the last (hopefully last) holiday grocery shopping yesterday early in the morning. This is a college town and a lot of people have left after the end of the semester, so the store was nearly deserted. For tomorrow I'm going to make our now-traditional paprika roast leg of lamb, which is actually pretty easy. It gets marinaded today, sits in the fridge over night and then stuck in the oven tomorrow. There's a mint sauce that goes with it, and gravy, and I make thyme potatoes in the crock pot, collard greens with bacon, garlic, and shallots, popovers, stuffed mushrooms, and this year I'm adding pickled cucumber. My husband is making two pies today, pumpkin and chocolate, and our friends are bringing a Yule Log cake from L'Madeliene in Houston.

We have a friend coming in to stay with us today, and we'll go out for the traditional Xmas sushi tonight. Then tomorrow three more friends will come over for dinner and second dinner. Then I get to start reading Yuletide stories.

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Into the Spiderverse

So yesterday I took time off in the morning and went to see Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. I absolutely loved it. So funny, so much heart and great action. It had a serious emotional core and didn't gloss over the fact that being spider-man is dangerous, but I laughed out loud in the theater several times. I definitely recommend it.

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Holidays

I think I've got the bulk of the holiday cleaning done, :knock on wood: I have a few things left to do in the guest room and the kitchen, but I think that's it. We have one friend coming in to stay with us over Christmas, and three more coming for Christmas day, and I'll be cooking our now traditional Food Network recipe Moroccan leg of lamb, plus collard greens, crock pot butter and thyme potatoes, popovers, stuffed mushrooms, lamb gravy, and a chocolate Yule Log cake from L'Madeliene, and possibly one to two pies that my husband bakes. This year, I'm hoping to avoid side dish creep, where we keep adding things at the last minute until we have way too much food.

There is no Doctor Who Xmas special this year, which is very sad, as it was a great cap-off to the day and we watched it while having leftovers for second dinner.

I'm going to try to answer some more questions later today, too.

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Book Recs Wednesday!

(If you've been following my book rec and new book listing posts for a while, you may have noticed this already, but while most book lists emphasize books by popular straight white men, this one emphasizes everybody else. I include books by straight white men, but in about the same percentage that other book lists include everybody else. I also try to highlight books that are less well known.)

(I only link to one retail outlet in the book's listing, but most books are available at multiple outlets, like Kobo, iBooks, international Amazons, Barnes & Noble, etc. The short stories are usually on free online magazines.)


* Free Short Story: If At First You Don't Succeed, Try Again by Zen Cho


* Sooner or Later, Everything Falls into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker
Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea is one of the most anticipated sf&f collections of recent years. Pinsker has shot like a star across the firmament with stories multiply nominated for awards as well as Sturgeon and Nebula award wins.


* Fire and Heist by Sarah Beth Durst
In Sky Hawkins's family, leading your first heist is a major milestone--even more so than learning to talk, walk, or do long division. It's a chance to gain power and acceptance within your family, and within society. But stealing your first treasure can be complicated, especially when you're a wyvern--a human capable of turning into a dragon.


* Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett
After the tempest, after the reunion, after her father drowned his books, Miranda was meant to enter a brave new world. Naples awaited her, and Ferdinand, and a throne. Instead she finds herself in Milan, in her father’s castle, surrounded by hostile servants who treat her like a ghost. Whispers cling to her like spiderwebs, whispers that carry her dead mother’s name. And though he promised to give away his power, Milan is once again contorting around Prospero’s dark arts.


* Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
Maia Tamarin dreams of becoming the greatest tailor in the land, but as a girl, the best she can hope for is to marry well. When a royal messenger summons her ailing father, once a tailor of renown, to court, Maia poses as a boy and takes his place. She knows her life is forfeit if her secret is discovered, but she'll take that risk to achieve her dream and save her family from ruin. There's just one catch: Maia is one of twelve tailors vying for the job.


* Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Juie C. Dao
Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to her by her cruel aunt, the witch Guma, who has read the cards and seen glimmers of Xifeng's majestic future. But is the price of the throne too high? Because in order to achieve greatness, she must spurn the young man who loves her and exploit the callous magic that runs through her veins--sorcery fueled by eating the hearts of the recently killed. For the god who has sent her on this journey will not be satisfied until his power is absolute.


* List Pull List Best Comics of 2018


* The Silver Scar by Besty Dornbusch
When Trinidad was twelve, his Wiccan parents blew themselves up in an ecoterr attack that killed several Christians. Orphaned and disillusioned, he fled his home and his best friend Castile to become a soldier for the powerful Christian church operating inside the fortress city of Boulder, Colorado. Raised by a priest and trained by a godless warrior, Trinidad learned the brutal art of balancing faith and war. He is the perfect archwarden, disciplined and devout.


* The Black Khan by Ausma Zehanat Khan
To fight against the cruel and superstitious patriarchy known as the Talisman, members of the resistance group known as the Companions of Hira have risked their lives in a failed attempt to procure the Bloodprint—a dangerous text that may hold the secret to overthrowing the terrifying regime. Now, with their plans in ashes, the Companions of Hira have scattered, and the lives of two brave women at the center of the plot—Arian and Sinnia—face unprecedented danger.

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Murderbot Story in Wired Magazinre

Here's the online version of "Compulsory: A Murderbot Story" in Wired Magazine. https://www.wired.com/story/future-of-work-compulsory-martha-wells/

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