November 2019 Facebook Posts

Nov 1st
Well, that was a pretty good lump of work done today. I didn't write any of the book, however. Last night I got an email from Asimov's asking me to do an author's Q & A and if I could do a blog post for them about writing, or something, anything. So, this morning I hit the gym, came back pretty knackered (I've been every day this week), slumped in an armchair feeling like death and semi-snoozed for an hour with a feeling like my arms were fizzing, then pushed myself to get to work. I find this interview/article stuff quite easy. I went through the questionaire. I was supposed to choose four questions from each batch of questions but answered the lot. That was about 2,700 words. I then wrote an article vaguely about writing but more about Crete (the story they are publishing is An Alien on Crete) and that came to 1,800 words. I suspect the woman who sent the email last night didn't expect that kind of turnaround!



Nov 2nd
From David Langford's Ansible Newsletter:

"AS OTHERS SEE US III. Emma Renault, self-proclaimed author of 'literary fiction', was challenged about her posted description of all genre writers as fascists. She tactfully qualified the point: '... whether they intend to or not, they're writing fascist propaganda. That's what escapist fiction is under capitalism. Not to mention the fact that SF/F is structurally and thematically fascist.' (via Facebook, 21 October) [PF]"

I'm thinking of all those woke SFF writers and commentators in the woke SFF world where both the Cambell and Tiptree Awards are renamed because, well, history has to be revised to fit current pc culture, and guffawing.

“‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’”

They eat their own, don't they?

Well worth watching. . .

The man.

Okay, I'm enjoying this:


Nov 3rd
Note the name on the bottom. . .


How things change (this is from 2015). I remember the alarmist articles about saccharine causing cancer.

Okay, it's out there now. Now you can read a bit about what I was doing three years ago. BLEEDINGCOOL.COM“Terminator: Dark Fate”: Fantasy Writer Joe Abercrombie Contributed a Major Element to the MovieWe know that producer James Cameron and director Tim Miller put together a writer’s room to create a bible for Terminator: Dark Fate. They broke down the

And here I am with my buddy:


Whole interview with Tim Miller here.

Nov 4th
Bit more about Tim Miller's Heavy Metal film I was involved with. Shame it never came to fruition.

“I wanted the battle of the Zulus against the British, the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in the Isandlwana, where this incredible last stand and I gave it to this British sci-fi author named Neal Asher. I said “Neal give me that battle with orcs and elves” and he wrote this fucking amazing short story called Half Breed.”



"Neal Asher who’s just a f—ing idea factory." - Tim Miller.
Science Fiction Writernealasher.co.uk
Okay, enough of that nonsense - time to get back to work. I'll maybe do a blog post about all this Terminator stuff, but I don't know yet what I can write.

Fluorescent probes offer fuller view of drug delivery in cells
Lymphatic system found to play key role in hair regeneration
So, basically, teens who would have smoked cigarettes are instead vaping ecigs. That's a victory, but you wouldn't think so with the bullshit that's out there.
Senescent Cells in Blind Mole Rats do not Exhibit the Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype
A worm like no other.
So true:
Heh.
In the beginning.
Early Cormac.[image error]
Get Gridlinked to begin. . .The First Agent Cormac Novel
The Skinner is out there. . .The First Spatterjay Novel 
Nov 5thI've now brought the latest book to a conclusion at 150,000 words, but I've got a lot of work yet to do. Time now to sit down with my contents list and notebook and sort it all out. Lots of rearranging to do and lots of narrative hooks need to go in. I also have a neat epilogue in mind but have to see how the rest works out first. Busy busy.
Owning the Future: Short Stories
Delve into dystopia. . .The Departure (Owner series) 
Oh well, as noted previously I've finished the latest book to first draft. I've also mentioned that the time line is all over the place. I've now just pulled apart 17 chapters and lots of additional sections and ordered it under three categories: Past, Near Past and Present. I will go through all of these correcting continuity errors and other stuff. I'm also seeing how to bracket the book and am adding a section - a character visiting the Viking Museum on the moon. I also see now that further sections need to be written. When this is all done I'll tear the whole thing apart again, then stick it back together using narrative rules I'll think of . . . at some point.
That dull thud you heard was not a firework, but my head exploding.
Surprisingly quiet outside tonight. Hopefully people are pooling all their fireworks to use them as Guy Fawkes intended.
Blimey. November 5th. I've been back in the UK for 29 days. That's 29 hours of reading out loud, writing and learning Greek. It's about 35,000 words of fiction (not quite 2,000 words a day five days a week). And 17 hours in the gym.. . .Must do more in the gym. 
Must update my website nealasher.co.uk and my blog http://theskinner.blogspot.com/ - so many missing links and books. NEALASHER.CO.UKHome PageNeal Asher was born 1961 in Billericay, Essex, the son of a school teacher and a lecturer in applied mathematics who were also SF aficionados.

About 300 a day. . .
Nov 6thSlowly getting on the move this morning. I feel in need of a spray of damp-start and like a couple of my spark plugs need cleaning. Maybe my head needs decoking too. And I'm pretty sure the shock absorbers will fail the next MOT, while the gum-gum on the exhaust seems to be leaking.
I wonder how many people have little idea of these, or of splitting a knuckle while lying underneath a car trying to undo the oil drain plug?
Heh. Been a while since I've spent a summer in Crete, so I'd forgotten about the yearly letters from utility companies. Anglia Water either think my water meter is broken or I'm somehow bypassing it. Now they want me to phone to book an appointment for the meter to be checked. Spend time in their phone queues just to tell them their meter is fine, not be believed, then have to be here when the meter guy comes? Off you jolly well fuck Anglia Water.
Uhuh.
Explore a Dark Intelligence (Transformation)
Rise of the JainThe Soldier (Rise of the Jain) 
Hilldiggers
The Technician
The Engineer ReConditioned
Mason's Rats
Snow. . .
Cowl
Wow.
Hmm. Tolerance levels waning. I feel another wave of unfriending, unfollowing and blocking coming on. Some here are like a guy standing at the bar, listening in on the conversation, and whose only input is to voice disagreement. Arrange these words in a familiar manner: off, fuck.
Yes . . . I should suppress the knee jerk response to twattery and resort to Socratic questions. Allow the answers to reveal the ignorance, the error in basic assumptions, the logical fallacies and non sequiturs. ... If I could be bothered.
Derelict lighthugger - crew murdered by pirates eons ago.
Right, that's enough grumping and moaning for tonight. Time for bed. I will wake refreshed and ready to attack that slippery worm ball of a book tomorrow. I'll soon enough have the damned thing nailed down.
Nov 7thUhuh. Now read why the name of the James Tiptree Award was changed.
New pathway for lung cancer treatment
A mechanism capable of preserving muscle mass
I get that you can choose who sees your news feed on Facebook, but what is this 'your story'? How is it any different?
Understanding Victimhood Culture: An Interview with Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning
New technology promises improved treatment of inflammatory diseases
Steadily running through the now chronologically ordered text of the book, filling in the holes and sorting out the continuity errors. I'm pleased with what I've gone through thus far and have no expectation that I'll be displeased with the rest. The difficulties will arise when I tear it all apart to then stick back together with the chronology back all over the place. I'm repeating myself but . . . there'll be narrative hooks to introduce and new sections to write. I suspect this one is going to be knocking on for the length of The Line of Polity.
I really need to cut down on the veg and salad I buy on each shopping trip. This is not because I don't like them. Love 'em. But when you're trying to do fasts there's always the awareness that something might be going off in the fridge. Just now reached 24 hours of fasting - hoping to go through tomorrow too.
Nov 8th

Microscopic biological motors using magnetotactic bacteria
Combination gene therapy treats age-related diseases
Liquid-in-liquid printing method could put 3D-printed organs in reach
CRISPR Approach To Fighting Cancer Called 'Promising' In 1st Safety Test
Climate Change—Assessing the Worst Case Scenario
Uhuh.
Somebody after a Darwin Award.
And as the truth comes out they continue to give ecigs and vaping a kicking. It's the authoritarian instinct and of course the vitamin E acetate THC deaths confirm their bias. Far too many 'medical professionals' out there resentful and jealous of a grassroots technology that has achieved more in 5 years than they have throughout their careers.
Robot dogs
Follow the money. . ."The problem with state securitization of tobacco bonds is that MSA payments are based on cigarette sales. So, essentially, Tlaib’s home state is relying on the lungs of smokers to meet future debt obligations."
Nov 9thYup. That about covers it."When University of Colorado climate skeptic Professor Roger Pielke, Jr. asked the CRU for its original temperature readings, he was told the data had been (conveniently) lost. Lost!?! Do professionals lose something as valuable as original data?" -- Kelvin Kemm
So, flat screen TVs, instant communication and access to information and media around the planet, centrally heated homes, shops supplying a variety of world foods that would make a Tudor gape, high tech clothing, cars that just keep on running, advanced healthcare and access to all sorts of gizmos. We live longer than those of previous ages - the biggest danger in that respect merely being excess - world hunger, poverty and child mortality are at all time lows, pollution is way down, food production is way up and using less land. Human ingenuity and science is coming up startling advances every day. And yet, there are people telling us, from their armchairs over the internet, that because their favoured politician isn't in charge, things are really bad and we're practically living in a dystopia. We're not, but we will be if IQ levels continue in what appears to be a downward slide.
Nice delivery in the post. Cheers Bryan Thomas Schmidt.