It’s Tuesday so busy busy, but I still made time for a little cat-related fun.
You’re welcome:)
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Posts Tagged ‘sff’
Purrassic Pawrk
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, fun, inspiration, photo compositing, sff, Thoughts on November 2, 2021| Leave a Comment »
The Answer
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, cake, creativity, Douglas Adams, Fiction, genre fiction, humor, inspiration, sff, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 18, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Forty-two years ago this month, we learned the answer to life, the universe and everything. Even if humorous sci-fi isn’t your thing, Douglas Adams’ work has permeated pop culture.
42 years later, how ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ has endured
The influence of the Hitchhiker’s Guide “is everywhere,” says Marcus O’Dair, author of The Rough Guide to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
“We can see it in culture, where Adams’ story is rumoured to have inspired everything from the band Level 42 to comedy show The Kumars at No. 42,” he says. “We can see it in tech: in the real-life ‘knife that toasts,’ for instance, or in-ear translation services reminiscent of the Babel fish. The most visible sign of its ubiquity, though, might be the fact that we can celebrate its anniversary not at 40 or 50 years but at 42 — and everyone knows why.”
This book let me know that there was a place for humorous absurdities in writing, and that it really doesn’t pay to take yourself too seriously.
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is an indispensable companion to all those who are keen to make sense of life in an infinitely complex and confusing Universe, for though it cannot hope to be useful or informative on all matters, it does at least make the reassuring claim, that where it is inaccurate it is at least definitively inaccurate. In cases of major discrepancy it’s always reality that’s got it wrong.
This was the gist of the notice. It said “The Guide is definitive. Reality is frequently inaccurate.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
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Imagine Better
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, climate change, creativity, Fiction, free fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, sff, writing on October 2, 2021| Leave a Comment »
The good news is that there is a lot of up and coming fiction addressing issues of climate, change, and the environment. (The bad news is that we need it.)
Grist/Fix: Solutions Lab has a new climate fiction issue out, with discussions about the role of fiction in fixing reality and a dozen new stories from their “Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors” short story contest to get us started.
The Climate Fiction Issue: How fiction can change our reality | Fix
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Happy Star Trek Day!
Posted in Entertainment, Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, inspiration, science fiction, sff, star trek, Thoughts, yay on September 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »
It’s September 8th, and the 55th anniversary of the first airing of Star Trek: The Original Series. Now, I was always a Star Wars fan first and foremost* but Mr Man persuaded me to revisit and reassess, and I’m glad he did. The more geeky space fun, the better, as far as I’m concerned.
Want to know more, or commune with fellow Trekkies basking in the glory that is the Trekiverse? Click through for links to the annual Star Trek Day celebration:
Star Trek Day 2021: Celebrate 55 years of Trek with live panels and more tonight | Space
In closing…
(You know what I’m going to say, which also says something about the remarkable reach of this show into the global consciousness.)
Live long, and prosper.
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* The show had ended by the time I was ready for such things, and without a television even reruns were off the table. Hard to obsess over a series that you can’t watch!
Today in Creative Women
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, music, sff, Thoughts, women, Writers, writing on September 1, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Today in creative women, we have two items you might find interesting. First, a podcast on one of our great science fiction writers:
Octavia Butler: Visionary Fiction
Octavia Butler’s alternate realities and ‘speculative fiction’ reveal striking, and often devastating parallels to the world we live in today. She was a deep observer of the human condition, perplexed and inspired by our propensity towards self-destruction. Butler was also fascinated by the cyclical nature of history, and often looked to the past when writing about the future. Along with her warning is her message of hope – a hope conjured by centuries of survival and persistence. For every society that perishes in her books comes a story of rebuilding, of repair.
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I was also interested to see this piece on largely forgotten female composers, complete with interactive map. I’m not a classical music buff, but I didn’t even know Amadeus had a sister, much less one who was also a child music prodigy. Now I do, and I’m better for it.
‘They deserve a place in history’: music teacher makes map of female composers
Two siblings, both considered child prodigies, dazzled audiences across Europe together in the 18th century, leaving a trail of positive reviews in their wake. But while Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart went on to be celebrated as one of the world’s greatest composers, the accomplishments of his sister – Maria Anna – were quickly forgotten after she was forced to halt her career when she came of age.
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Here’s to not stopping.
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Work, It Could Be Worse
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Diabolical Plots, Fiction, Fireside Magazine, free fiction, genre fiction, sff, writing on August 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »
How about a bit of free fiction today? I’m still on day job vacation but had to take a meeting. Thankfully, my work day was nothing like this piece by David Shultz over at Diabolical Plots:
“Boom & Bust” by David F. Shultz
Kondo barked his orders. “Rocco, cover the east window. Valiant, you’re on ammo detail. Pepsi, keep an eye on market changes. Luna, get me a full asset list.”
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Bonus fiction:
Sounds like those workers could have used a union. Maybe Alexa can fix them up;)
Alexa, Play Solidarity Forever by Audrey R. Hollis
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How to Win in Twelve Parsecs or Less
Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, movies, sff, storytelling, writing on August 17, 2021| 1 Comment »
Does everything have to be perfect in order for a story to work? Nope.
Here’s the script and breakdown for Star Wars:
Star Wars: A New Hope Script — Screenplay Analysis and PDF Download
par·sec| ˈpärsek | (abbreviation pc) noun
a unit of distance used in astronomy, equal to about 3.26 light years (3.086 × 1013 kilometers). One parsec corresponds to the distance at which the mean radius of the earth’s orbit subtends an angle of one second of arc.
A parsec is a measurement of distance, not time. Twelve of those do not a winning Kessel Run make, but, as millions of fans (and yes, dollars) attest, no one cares. The story works.
These are the things I think about when I’m stuck on a plot point, or deep in historical or technical weeds.
Just keep going.
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What to Write About
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, clarion, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, OWW, sff, Writers, writing, writing advice on August 15, 2021| 1 Comment »
Here’s a brief piece by Kate Wilhelm of Clarion Workshop fame, on writing and what to avoid. A little harsh? Possibly. But it still looks like good advice.
One year Damon and I arrived to teach the last two weeks of the six-week Clarion Writers Workshop with a list of stories we forbade the students to pursue. We explained each item on the list and said don’t do it again.
— OWW SF, F, & H Tips and Advice: Kate Wilhelm
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She Who Seeds the Stars
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Affinity Photo, creativity, learning, sff on August 14, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Today, more adventures with photo composites. A few simple experiments to learn where all the tools are and how to use them:
And then a more complicated example:
Quantifiable Awesomeness
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, Fiction, free fiction, genre fiction, sff, writing, yay on August 4, 2021| Leave a Comment »
I love good writing. And humor. And science fiction. And epistolary fiction, because telling stories through letters is fun. Imagine how happy I was when I found this short story* combining all of the above:
There Will Be No Alien Invasion
by Sam F. Weiss, in Fireside
To be clear: I am busy. For at least the next two years. Because getting to do research in the super-techy lab requires a doctorate these days, an obscene pile of peer-reviewed publications, and the networking abilities of a ninja. I am busy with those things. Namely finishing the doctorate. Thwarting an alien invasion? Not on my to-do list.
So that thing where I came to the lab this morning to find your phosphorescent eggs floating in alien amniotic fluid in the vacuum chamber? Not cool.
— Sam F. Weiss
* For the young or those with delicate sensibilities, this piece contains swearing. Like, a lot. To be fair, I’d say it’s warranted. Grad school, you know. And oh yes, also aliens.
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Random selection of other epistolary novels that I’ve read:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The Color Purple
Griffin and Sabine (Griffin & Sabine #1)
Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Cecelia and Kate, #1)
Code Name Verity
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And a picture of a not-at-all-an-alien-probably cat:)
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