A little Mischief

Okay, here's the protagonist of the latest story. On the right in the cargo pants, name of Mischief. The guy she's messing with, in the tweed, is an older botanist she has a brief fling with.

And here's where they're going: 44 Bootis A, just off the constellation Bootes, 40 lightyears away. Read about it at Solstation (http://solstation.com/stars2/44bootis.htm). But don't tell Mischief, she doesn't know, yet.

Writing Again

Yes, July has come and gone, and I am writing!

After a couple of starts, it seems I am working on a novel about a group that goes to colonize a new world. I started it while I was in school, basically dictating it on my commute and having the computer type it up for me. I've got bunches of pictures for it, I'll see if I can't post something. At any rate, I'm probably about a third of the way into it, having drafted part one, although it is without a title. It's good to be writing fiction again.

absence of action

For those looking for story news, check back in July. That's when I'll be done with my Master's Thesis and writing fiction again.

Yuujin

By the way, if I ever do publish a manga (Japanese-style graphic novel), here's how I'd have to sign my name:

The first character means "evening." The second is "person." It would be written in English as "Yuujin," and pronounced, of course, just like "Eugene." Japanese names aren't the standard in Original English Manga, but the coincidence of this is just too tempting.

Thinking of Jack Williamson

I read in Locus Magazine that the venerable Jack Williamson just passed, at the respectable age of 98. I met Jack Williamson when he won the Lifetime Acheivement award from the Ron Hubbard people, the same time I was winning the Writers of the Future Award. He was 90, a little old man hunched and bent over.

For those who don't know, Jack Williamson is one of the grandfathers of Science Fiction. He stands among Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov and others who did not approach the end of the millenium. When he started writing, the term "Science Fiction" hadn't been invented yet, and he and his colleagues spoke of their work as "scientifiction." He published his first story in 1928 at the age of 20. At the age of 75, long past most would have retired, he began a second peak of his career, writing his best work since the 1950s. He published his last story in 2005, at the age of 97.

I confess, with some embarrassment, that I haven't actually read any of his work. I brought one of his novels with me to California, with the intention of being familiar with his work before I met him, but their were several such writers and I didn't get to his. Perhaps for this reason, I spoke only seven words to him. "It's an honor to meet you, sir." I don't remember his exact reply. He tried to say something like "the honor is all mine," except he didn't know who I was so it was hard to say.

He stands in my mind as an icon. He was born in 1908, in the territory of Arizona. Yes, there weren't even 48 states, then. At the age of 10, he and his family moved to New Mexico in a covered wagon. He wrote science fiction before it had been invented, and he wrote it after the usual complainers said that its hey-day was passed. He wrote it after maybe all of his peers were dead and buried, and he died with his pen in his hand.

A lot of history has passed away with him. I didn't know him. But I took comfort knowing he was still there.

Rook

Here is the main character in the current story.

His name is Rook, and no, he's not singing. He's a storyteller, and he's just gotten to the dramatic climax. This picture is actually a mirror image: it's his right arm that's withered. Why? Ho-ho-ho, I'm not telling.

Greetings

So, I started doing a blog as a writing journal, and instead it became a parenting journal. So I thought I would start a separate one to be a writing journal, rather than mix them.

My writing lately has included a lot of graphically-oriented stuff. I wrote a children's book, that I trying to persuade artist DoAn to illustrate. It's a brief, Seussian take on the planets, and the scientific method, and about openess to questioning. Most lately I've been working on a graphic novel, properly known as an OEM, or "Original-English Manga." "Manga," for the uninitiated, is Japanese for "magazine," and refers to the peculiar Japanese style of graphic novel. Manga are so popular in translation that some publishers have started releasing manga-style graphic novels by English-speaking writers and artists. Am I going to illustrate it? Probably not. I'd love to, but it would take too long to really learn how to do it right.

I have also adopted a new visual style of outlining, which involves drawing quick little stick-figure sketches that summarize scenes. It represents happenings much more effectively and succinctly than writing, and the resulting strip-story can be "read" and absorbed very quickly.

I have some pictures, which I will try to post here, as I can.