Considering that First Draft of that NaNo Novel

I was over at Ana Mardoll's "Ramblings" blog and spotted this post, with a pie chart describing the first draft of a novel.  The pie chart is from Finding Wonderland, and it shows a humorous breakdown of what a first draft of a novel might look like.  Ana Mardoll uses the plot to illustrate the importance of rewriting that first draft.

It was inspiring.  I am definitely in the write-rewrite-iterate camp of writers.  Edits and rewrites are what make musings turn into masterpieces (more or less).  Anyway, I took out my draft of my NaNoWriMo novel and paged through, looking for what *my* first drafts seem to include.  Being a scientist with data in hand, I had to plot it up of course, with many thanks to the inspiring influences:

My version of a plot inspired by Finding Wonderland and Ana Mardoll - It shows the general contents of the first
draft of my NaNoWriMo novel.  It is surprising how my first drafts all seem to look pretty much like this.

The first half of chapter one turns out to be all completely unnecessary conversations between characters talking about their lives and stuff.  I thought it made good sense when writing, and now I see I can just jump right in to the action and really not lose anything at all.

Also fun to note is that I have far too many homages to various pop culture icons and works, such as the Hitchhiker's Guide, MST3K, Star Wars, and even the Simpsons.  I really want to keep them, which is something of an indication of their need to go.

And wow, there are a lot of holes here.  Especially the times I say "We'll have that discussion with so-and-so soon" and either the discussion never happens, or so-and-so does not actually exist in the book.  Or both.  I also see that I get through my initial draft writing by just jumping past anything that stumps me.  Say like important connecting scenes.  Or the names of anything at all.

Of course keep in mind this is a NaNo draft, which means one is trying to write like crazy to get those 50K words by the end of the month and still have time to cook and eat a Thanksgiving turkey.  So leaving gaps behind is a very functional strategy - for a draft.

And the sex scenes, well, most of them are actually plot critical.  So I guess I'll just have to make sure I send them to a publisher that likes that kind of thing.

In the end, I'd say about 50% of what is here is workable, and the other half just needs to get thrown out.  My challenge is figuring out which half is which ...

Image Credit:  My pie chart of my novel data.  Inspired by Finding Wonderland via Ana Mardoll.

A Week Without "Very"

Ah, the word "very."  As we know, there is much discussion about this little word in writing circles.  Let's start off with a few well known quotes about writing this word "very" ...

"So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy.  A man is not very tired, he is exhausted.  Don’t use very sad, use morose," spoken by the character John Keating in the Dead Poets Society.  And there is this one, the first version of which was most likely the product of William Allen White, "Never use the word, ‘very.’ It is the weakest word in the English language; doesn’t mean anything. If you feel the urge of ‘very’ coming on, just write the word, ‘damn,’ in the place of ‘very.’ The editor will strike out the word, ‘damn,’ and you will have a good sentence.”

I use the word "very" a great deal when I am speaking.  I hear it plenty from friends, family, in various media, at work, etc.  Yet the word is so vilified in writing.  Somehow, I wanted investigate the strange phenomenon of "very."  I kicked around a few ideas and finally settled on the concept of just not using it for a week, either in writing or speaking, unless as a direct reference.  

I'm not sure I can do it, actually, and I keep re-reading my post here to see if it has found its way in somehow.  I have a feeling this will be an interesting week.

What do I hope to learn?  I'm not exactly certain.  Perhaps there will be a difference in how hard it is to avoid in speech versus writing.  Maybe I'll give it up easily and gleefully.  Maybe avoiding it will be irritating and I'll stop after three days.  Not sure.  But let's give it a try, anyway.

Image Credit - Me and my awesome Power Point skills

Lessons from NMX: Keep it Emotional, Take Risks, and Other Uncomfortable Strategies

New Media Expo / Blogworld

I'm in the process of finishing up three days at the New Media Expo/Blogworld conference.  It has been enlightening for a host of reasons of the kind that can make you feel both elated and uncomfortable.  I didn't really know what to expect of the conference before I arrived here.  I was simply hoping to get some information and inspiration to get me out of my blogging rut and into something new.

I've always been a straightforward blogger.  Controversy is not something I generally explore on my blog, nor am I usually interested in taking part in discussions where people have their minds irrevocably made up.  Yet much of the advice about writing interesting and useful content for readers centers around taking risks, thinking in black and white, and evoking emotion.  This is a new way of thinking for me.

For the most part, the advice is good.  I know that from switching myself from the writer to the reader, and imagining the kind of posts I like to read.  The suggestions are to open up, put yourself out on the web, take a stance, have an opinion, and be sure to surprise or even shock the reader.  I don't particularly like anything too emotional or shocking, but I do like the unexpected, surprises, something new, and something that makes me think in ways I haven't before.

So this is my first and most important lesson to take away from the conference.  To take risks with the blog content and voice, and not to shy away from expressing and eliciting emotion.  It's a new spin for me, but I'm going to start moving my posts in that direction.  One might ask why I'd do something like that if it makes me uncomfortable.  My response is that - as I look back on many of my previous posts - they seem distant, watered down, and even overly clinical.  My voice on the page is dry, and I see that I'm not doing a good job of sharing why I think something is important.  After all, the reader's time (mine and yours) is limited.  What I offer has to be something worth reading more than doing pretty much anything else, at least for the amount of time it takes to read.  I can see good content and solid information in my posts, but for someone who writes a lot of fiction, I do not represent my storytelling style in the blog itself.

It's time to tell the stories here.  Not the fiction, but the part of our world and culture that intersects with it.  What is the emotion behind the movies and books we all love?  What are the really compelling messages in our genres, and why do they hook us for hours on end?  What is so entertaining or Earth-shaking?  What makes us as a community feel strongly, and what are we willing to stand up for and promote/protect?  What is unique about our culture, and how do we fit into it?

And before I do any of that, I need to step back myself and answer those questions from my own personal perspective.  I love to write about all aspects of speculative culture.  But why?  What really grips me and keeps me focused?  What is just so darned important that I feel I have to write about it in a post or I'll feel I missed out?  What makes me feel like I will simply bust if I don't share it?  Time to really dig, and come up with content that makes both reader and writer feel like there is nothing else in the world they would rather be doing than be right here on the blog.

For your typical overly-analytical geek, sci-fi writer, this sounds like a daunting challenge.  But I know there is a lot of great stuff to be had by trying.  So, this post is in the style of my 'old' voice, let's see how I can do with shifting into the storyteller ...

Image Credit:  New Media Expo 2013, Las Vegas

Not a New Year's Resolution, Really

I've long been a detractor of New Year's resolutions.  After all, if I haven't started something important during the year itself, I'm not likely to happen to start it on January first, either.  Yet I have to say there is something compelling in the idea of a fresh start.  Of course, any day of the year could be defined as a fresh start, or the first day of the rest of your life, etc.  But for the time being I am succumbing to New Year's new-start fervor, and deciding to post a few goals.  Not resolutions, mind you, just goals ...

The first is my story writing goal.  Last year I started on May first with the idea that I would write a story a week.  I managed 15 stories during that run, with a smattering of others coming in later in the year.  Nanowrimo naturally took a bit of a toll on the story writing as well as the poetry writing.  Realistically, I now see that too many other writing projects get sidelined if I'm writing a story a week.  So this year the goal is going to be half that - 25 stories this year, while keeping up my poetry and novel projects.

The second goal is the childhood horror poetry chapbook I've been working on.  I'd really like to get that into shape for readings by Halloween of this year.  I'm hoping to use some of April and NaPoWriMo to get a few more new poems written for the collection, and then have some time later in the summer for editing.  Meanwhile, I'm hoping to get a few more of the finished ones published.  So we'll see how that project progresses.

I have one novel that needs editing pretty desperately.  I'm only up to chapter three on the new draft, and the rest has been sadly languishing.  Time to get that manuscript shaped up.  I also have another novel that needs just about 15K more of writing to be finished.  It would be great to get that one tied up and then into the editing stage.

Then of course, there are the science fiction novels I am perennially writing.  Would love to get the first in that series drafted ...

But I also had some notions of doing a bit more freelance writing, especially in the area of astronomy, outreach, planetary science, and the like.  I had drafted a proposal for an article on science and religion, and have an outline for that piece.  Perhaps there is a market out there that this might match well.

Okay, that is really enough.  Plenty.  And yet I know when new opportunities and ideas come along, I'll still find some way to make room for them.

What are your writing goals for the year?

Image Credit:  Happy New Year! by Jon Glittenberg CC 2.0 flikr via Creative Commons

Quick Guide to Watching the Mars Landing of MSL Curiosity Rover August 5th

Artist's conception of Curiosity roving Mars.

I realized this week that the landing of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity Rover was coming up fast, and that I hadn't planned out how I would be watching!  Unacceptable.  So I put together some facts, websites, twitter addresses and such to use to follow the events as they unfolded.  I realized the blog was a good place to put the info, and that others might want a quick guide, too.  So here it is.

Of course, I'm always excited about any spacecraft from anywhere pretty much doing anything.  This mission does have some special significance, however.  I've done plenty of crater research on Mars in the past, and have lots of friends colleagues currently involved in the mission, so it all feels very personal.  I'm wishing the best for my colleagues who have spent years of their lives working on this, as well as those who will spend years analyzing the data afterwards.

Okay, on to the mission.

What's Happening, Anyway?

NASA, in partnership with several space agencies from other countries, is about to land the most most sophisticated rover ever built.  The rover is named Curiosity.  Previous rovers were like slowly moving robotic geologists.  This rover is a full laboratory with a suite of instruments designed to act more like a geochemist.  It will be landing on Mars at Gale crater in a rather spectacular fashion (more on that later.)  Afterwards, it will spend at least two years on the surface roving about and collecting data.

What's All the Excitement About?

The landing is happening very soon!  And it is going to be an interesting process.  If you have not yet seen the animated "7 Minutes of Terror" simulation video, you'll want to watch it.  Go ahead.  I'll wait here.

Seven minutes from atmosphere to surface.

Now you see why some people are pretty excited, and nervous, about this landing.  Mars has proved to be a tough place to visit in the past, but we are starting to get very good at it.  Statistics being what they are, one can accurately say that only about 40 percent of the missions to Mars have succeeded, and only a third of the surface landings.  This is some evidence that landing spacecraft is very difficult.  However, one can also say that of the last five NASA missions to go to Mars, all have succeeded.  Of the last three rovers NASA has sent to Mars, all have succeeded.  We've learned a lot, and in spite of the drama, MSL Curiosity's odds look very good. 

What Should I Do To Get Ready?

First off, you might want to follow a few twitter feeds to be kept up-to-date.  I'm following:

MSL Curiosity @MSL_101
Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
At the Planetary Society I'm following Emily Lakdawalla @elakdawalla and @exploreplanets

If you are a Facebook person, look for Facebook.com/MarsCuriosity

There are a million possible websites to check out, and since this is a quick guide, I'll keep it simple.  The best touchstone as far as I'm concerned is Follow Your Curiosity.  Their front page lists landing times by timezone and additional places to follow/watch.  You can cruise around the site here and learn more about the mission, the instruments, the experiments and all that fun stuff.

If you still have time on your hands, you can watch the video "A Grand Entrance" twice - once with a voice over by Wil Wheaton, and then again by William Shatner, and decide who does it best.

When is the Landing, and How Do I Watch?

Time at landing for JPL is 10:31pm PDT Aug 5th.  If you are in another part of the world, it will be at a different time - either the night of the 5th or the morning of the 6th.  UTC is 05:31 August 6th.  I'm on the east coast, where the landing time will be 1:31 am the morning of the 6th.  Check the Follow Your Curiosity site for more times.

I'm planning to watch from the comfort of home, on my computer - no doubt while tweeting constantly with my friends and colleagues from @grierja.  I'll be on Ustream at http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl - This link will have NASA TV commentary.  The link at /nasajpl2 will be a "clean feed."

You can also check your own TV/cable/satellite situation and see if you get NASA TV on your actual TV.  I never watch TV at all, so I can't really give any advice on that.

If you prefer to be in a group, go ahead and throw a landing party, or attend one that's already been set up.  Check NASA's list of events, or their interactive map.

The party, either at your home or another location, will start well before landing time.  So tune in early!  NASA TV will start broadcasting the lead up to landing two hours before actual landing time (at 8:30pm Pacific and 11:30pm Eastern.)  

What Will I See?

First of all, Mars is 14 light minutes away - the distance it takes light to travel in that amount of time.  This means that there is a time delay of 14 minutes between what is happening on Mars and when we actually get the data about it.  It kinda creeps me out.  By the time we detect the spacecraft hitting the atmosphere, it will already have landed.

So you will not see a "live feed" from Mars of the spacecraft dramatically going through all of its stages and then landing.  To do that, we would need to have sent another spacecraft to follow it like a cameraman.  NASA will be tracking the landing using instruments on the spacecraft that measure acceleration, heat, etc.

So instead, we get true "Reality TV."  We'll be seeing a lot of shots of the control room, with engineers and scientists bent over computers and examining screens on the walls.  We'll probably get some shots of people watching excitedly from other locations.  NASA will probably show video simulations of what they think is happening right now to the spacecraft, showing the heat shield fall away, the parachute deploy, and that sort of thing.  They will tell us what the instruments are telling them.  It will all vacillate between intense and exciting punctuated with minutes of 'it doesn't seem like anything is happening.'  You know, real life :)

Then NASA will announce the landing, and we will all cheer wherever we are!  Then we will get to go to bed.  The NASA folks won't.  They will be on shifts day and night for months and months, having adjusted their schedules to "Sols" - Martian days, not Earth days.

I hope you'll join me, and lots of other space nuts and generally interested citizens!  Feel free to comment here on your plans, what sites you plan to check out, or if you have a question or two.  I'll try to get an answer up promptly :)

Pax, All.

Image Credits:  All images are from nasa.gov, thanks to NASA and JPL, and our tax dollars at work.

52 Stories - A Story Every Week - Update

Stories coming to life on the screen, yep.

As noted previously, I decided to take this year and write a story a week (starting May 1).  Last week was my quarter-of-the-way-there mark.  It's time for a progress report to keep me organized and honest.   (Follow along with Twitter hashtag #52Stories.)

Overview

Some weeks have seen the production of multiple stories, while others (especially when I was on vacation) saw no stories.  All in all, I'm one story behind.  I'm pretty happy with this progress, since while I've been writing the short stories I've also been writing and submitting poetry and continuing with edits on two novels.  Not to mention the blogs and ... well, you know how it is.
 
Here are the stories by working title, genre, and word count.

1. Priorities, Science Fiction - Robot, 99
2. A Natural Disaster, Fantasy - Urban, 697
3. +Hidden Things, Science Fiction - Dystopian, 850
4. ++Nanostories, Various, ~100 (Stories for Twitter zines, 140 characters each)
5. New Year's Resolution, Horror - Zombie, 4925
6. Walking on Eggshells, Horror - Paranormal, 6136
7. Hobby, Horror - Serial Killer, 100
8. How My Dog Almost Ended Poverty, Science Fiction - Humor, 7003
9. ++For Sale, Horror - Humor, 243
10. What God Says, Science Fiction - Urban, 995
11. Dark Gold Spinner, Horror - Fairy Tale, 4360
12. Learning to Taste, Horror - Werewolf, 6496 
13. ooops.

Observations and Issues

Total word count is 32,000 words, which is an average of 2667 for each of the twelve weeks.  I was thinking it would be closer to 3500 but there are a lot of flash pieces in there.

Good Stuff

Three of the stories above have (+) marks next to them.  "Hidden Things" has one + mark.  It made it to the very last round of screening for a professional journal.  I've yet to sell one of my stories or poems at a professional rate, and so this is a benchmark for me.  The journal sent the piece back with lots of great comments, and a lot of encouragement.  So I'm going to let it sit a while, go through another round of edits, and see if a different pro journal wants to pick it up.

The story "For Sale" and one of my nanostories "Blind Date" were selected for publication.  Another nanostory "The Skeleton" won a small online Twitter contest.  (I also had three poems published this quarter, and another scheduled.)  

Plans and Issues for Next Quarter

So during this next quarter I'll need to write 14 stories, and I'm going to see if I can write a little less flash.  I'd like to see more stories in the 3K to 5K range.  But there are going to be a couple of other challenges for the second quarter, which for me runs from July 30th to October 28th.

I had already decided to dedicate the month of September to finishing the next round of edits on one of my novels.  I don't know if I'll have time to write anything else at all in September.  I also have a week in October where I'll be at a professional science conference, and I suspect writing time will be hard to come by.  That means I lose five of my thirteen weeks.  If I am going to stay on track, I will need to produce two to three stories every single week in August.  I do have a week set aside for a writing retreat, but it might not be enough.  We'll have to see.

I am also continuing towards my goal of having a horror chapbook of poems ready to submit for contests and publishing sometime next year.  That process includes writing, editing and submitting individual poems to journals up front.  I had a few poems picked up so far this year, so I'm hopeful.

Well, I have my work cut out for me.  How about you?  What does the next quarter have in store?

Pax, All

Image Credit Computer, PhotoExpress.com

Create Your Own Definition of "Writer"

Reborn by Ruth-Tay

I don't think it's a good idea to let others define who and what we are.  Still, I did it myself when it came to deciding whether or not I was truly a writer.  I have a tendency to seek the black and white answer - to look for the special formula that will give me a closed-form analytical solution to any problem.  I sought out the "definition" of writer, and tried to locate the benchmarks that would let me claim the title without reservation.

It's ironic, because when I first started writing I wasn't thinking about being a writer.  I just wrote.  I had stories in my head, and I started writing them.  A point came when I felt like I needed to defend it.  I still don't know why, but other people had things they were doing that seemed worthwhile and important.  My writing was worthwhile and important to me, but I had a hard time believing anyone else would see it as more than a hobby.

Again, why do other people's definitions matter?  But I hadn't yet thought about that.  Instead, I started looking for the definitions, the benchmarks, and the perfect indicators of true writer-hood.

One of the benchmarks floating around out there is that if you do something for 10,000 hours, you will become an expert.  It was an idea originally suggested by Ericsson, a psychologist, and then developed in more detail by Gladwell in his book Outliers.  Ten thousand hours means essentially pursuing your interest 40 hours a week for five years (or fewer hours a week over a longer time frame, of course.)  I've definitely put in those hours, and then some, so I was happy to check that one off.

Another important benchmark I've heard bandied about is the one million words of crap idea.  I can't find the original source for certain, but it is probably Hemingway, and then rephrased by other sources like Henry Miller and Michael Crichton.  The concept is to just write, since the first million words are bound to be garbage, anyway.  After you put in those first million, then you can start with the good stuff.  Well, I have more than two million words of fiction on this computer as we 'speak.'  I was relieved to find I could cross that one off twice.

Still, I kept looking.  How many of other people's definitions did I need to satisfy me?  One was that a writer wrote every day.  That one was too ambiguous and caused me anxiety.  Write what?  Just the fiction stuff?  How about the blog posts I love to write, could I count those?  I've already published a textbook - did that writing count?  Then it got worse.  Some people said they only felt like writers when they got a story published.  Others said they had to get paid for that story.  Still others said it had to be a 'professional' level sale.  Then onto the novels - had to be written, or edited, or published in small press or big press or with an advance of whatever size and then ...

Finally I got a clue.  It was actually a difficult paradigm shift.  I decided to ignore all the other definitions, and chose my own.  It simply came down to the canonical "I write therefore I am."  I am a writer because without writing, I'm not me.

I chose "Reborn" for this post because I wanted to express the feeling of leaving behind the old, of becoming powerful, and of flying above it all.  When I realized that only I had the power to define myself, it was both wonderful and scary.  I'm a stickler for rules, and I wanted to do it "right."  Yet it is something only my gut could really tell me. 

No amount of formulas will make you feel like a writer.  It is something you come to understand about yourself, to claim, and finally say to #@*& with anyone else's ideas of what you are.

How do you define yourself and why?

Pax, all.

Image Credit:  Reborn by Ruth-Tay on deviantArt.com.  Used with generous permission from the artist.  Ruth-Tay is a young concept artist who lives in the Netherlands.  Her gallery is filled with hordes of fantastical creatures, especially dragons.  All have excellent color and sense of motion.  The artist sees the phoenix as "beautiful creatures with magical healing powers. They can become hundreds maybe thousands years old. When they die they burst into flames and are reborn out of there own ashes."

Top Ten Cult Movie Favorites: Horror

Do Not Touch Chain.

There is no question that this was the hardest list of the three.  It took me a while to figure out why, since I've seen plenty of horror movies.  But it turns out that horror movies don't often become movies I want to watch over and over, unless they have something to offer other than just scares.

You'll note my list is completely devoid of the standard pulp horror fare like Halloween, Friday the 13th, Saw, Chucky, and so forth.  Movies like that are good at producing shock and scream-surprises, but once you know what's coming they lose their appeal.  I've never been fond of gore for gore's sake or cheap frights you get from just being startled.  Humor-horror, or psychological-surreal horror are more my style.

As before, my reasons for picking movies as "cult" is in my first Top Ten Cult Movie List: Science Fiction.

And as before, I had to define "horror" for myself in order to decide which movies I would consider.  That ended up being broken down into two factors:  (a) movies that contained ample horror tropes such as haunted castles, zombies, vampires, ghosts, etc. OR (b) movies that had moments where I was actually really scared, regardless of genre or tropes.

10.  Ghostbusters - 1984 - Really campy beyond words.  Plenty of laughs even when you already know the jokes.  A few scenes are even mildly scary, and I can say I hope I do not find a Zool in my refrigerator.

9.  Trilogy of Terror - 1975 - There really weren't any horror buffs around me growing up, and so I was alone for a long time thinking that I, only I, knew the true terror of the trilogy.  The first two were scary enough, but I was frightened out of my mind when I saw the third.  The Zuni doll was the scariest thing ever.  Now I know others also worship this 25 min long bit of horror movie gold. 

8.  Night of the Living Dead - 1968 - Old, hokey, and really pretty darn scary.  Except for the scenes where they show the zombies eating, and then it's funny.  The ending is a shock, too, which isn't the case for most zombie style horror films.  Good, wholesome cult horror entertainment.
 
7.  The Dead Zone - 1983 - There was a time when I'd say "Dead Zone" and no one would know what movie I was talking about.  Then there was a TV version, I think (I don't watch TV).  But I was making cult movie madness of this flick back before all that TV nonsense.  Nice, quietly creepy stuff, with a really despicable presidential candidate who gets what's coming to him.

6.  The Lost Boys - 1987 - Yeah, I know, "how many times can you say 'Michael?'"  This is mostly so stupid, but I love it for how bad it is - and the great soundtrack.  It is so corny and so overdone you just can't look away.

5.  Heavy Metal - 1981 - Okay, you are wondering why this is in my horror category.  First of all, my fantasy category had four times as many movies in it.  But mostly, this movie is here because it scared the crap out of me.  The only common element between the stories is an evil green ball that mutates people or just obliterates them completely.  The funny bits did not make the flick less scary.  Oh, and of course the animation and soundtrack are righteous.

4.  Little Shop of Horrors - 1986 - At this point you have probably lost all faith, but I can't help it.  This is definitely one of my cult favorites, and I adore the soundtrack.  The movie is just creepy and gross enough that it is still definitely horror, even though it is much more campy than previous versions.  The dentist is such a wonderfully greasy egomaniac.

3.  Fright Night - 1985 - Truly a cult wonder.  Even though it was remade, this older version remains on my list.  It was my definition of a vampire film that remained entertaining and watchable even after you knew what was coming.  The makeup effects on the protagonist's girlfriend kept me up at night.  Reminded me of the Zuni doll, actually.  Brrrr.

2.  Young Frankenstein - 1974 - This is camp horror movie perfection.  It lampoons all the tropes while delivering great laughs and some very unsettling moments with the monster.  Filmed in black and white, it retains an edge that color might have washed away.  Igor eating the fur stole is a brilliant moment.

1.  Alien/Aliens - 1979, 1986 - This is where I hope to regain your faith.  Alien is the number one scariest movie I've ever seen.  Nothing has kept me up nights like Alien.  Aliens, while a very different movie with it's high action, brighter lighting, and constant explosions, is still really amazingly frightening.  In spite of the terror they inspire, I'd watch these over and over.  The style, sets, and the ambiance are so compelling.  You'll note Alien 3 is not on here.  I saw it, wasn't impressed, and then I lost interest in the franchise.  But Alien and Aliens will always be there for me.

Alright, I know this list simply must cause some scratching of heads in bafflement.  What are your horror cult movie favorites?  Leave a comment here, or link up to your blog with a relevant post and I'll go read it for myself.

Pax, all.

Image Credit - Zuni Fetish Doll.  Promotional image.  Trilogy of Terror with Karen Black

Top Ten Cult Movie Favorites: Fantasy

Tim Curry as Darkness.  Oh yeah.

I'm back for more fun with my personal cult movie favorites.  Last week I gave out my Top Ten Cult Movie Favorites: Science Fiction.  In that post I go into some detail about what "cult movie" means to me, and how I decided if a movie could be considered for the top ten.

Interestingly, this list was the most fun to make of any of my top three (I'll post horror next week.)  I'm not sure why - perhaps because most of my fantasy cult favorites are also adventure films in one way or another.  My sci-fi seems more serious, and horror can be, you know ... scary.

In any case, trying to pull this together was both very entertaining and very frustrating.  I had to drop a huge stack of fantastic films in order to whittle this down to ten.  Fantasy ends up being a catch-all genre for anything with supernatural elements that are not horrific or futuristic.  I had to cut Raiders of the Lost Arc, Clash of the Titans, The Hobbit, Highlander, Yellow Submarine, Conan the Whatever, The Beastmaster, Charlotte's Web, and on and on.

10.   Krull - 1983 - There was more hokey, campy fantasy in the 80's than Max Headroom could shake a stick at.  Here we have witches, horses with fire coming out of their feet, a cyclops, a magical ninja throwing star, and the whole prince-saves-princess thing.  At least that last cliche is busted when it takes both of their powers (their love, actually, yikes) to defeat the big bad.

9.   Wizard of Oz - 1939 - The oldest film on all three lists, this classic is still one of my favorites.  Based on Baum's book published in 1900, this movie is still entertaining (sometimes in ways it wasn't meant to be).  The fantasy elements are handled beautifully, with joy, awe, horror, and a nice neat little moral all rolled up into one.  The color is of course phenomenal, because (egads) every single frame was hand painted.

8.   The Last Unicorn - 1982 - Okay, back to the 80's.  This one has that creepy Rankin Bass animation style, but is still fun to watch.  It's also surprisingly disturbing for a kid's fantasy flick.  The voice cast is canonically star-studded again, and the group America did the soundtrack.  Really.

7.   Legend - 1985 - More eighties bizarre camp with so many stars it just does not make sense.  Tim Curry as "Darkness" (in a costume that makes Rocky Horror look subtle) is the best thing in the film.  Oddly juxtaposed music from Tangerine dream and the lead singers from Yes and Roxy Music add to the sense of the surreal.

6.  Excalibur - 1981 - This movie was the first full-blown treatment of high fantasy I ever saw, so it made a huge impression.  The movie also doesn't really make much sense, as it is cobbled together from a mass of different legends, and blends historical features from a span of several hundred years.  I still enjoy it for the epic feel and the amazing images.  Still have to laugh at the sex scene where the dude does not even bother to take his armor off. 

5.  The Dark Crystal - 1983 - Okay, yes, you think I am crazy now.  I can't help it, I really like this movie.  It has so much fun fantasy, great puppeteering, and excellent voice work.  I re-watched it recently for the millionth time and realized that I Am Fizgig. 

4.  Sleeping Beauty, Disney - 1959 - The style is so lush and iconic.  It formed a strong idea in my head of what was meant by "medieval."  The real stars are the fairies, who mess up the day and then save it.  Oh yeah, I Am Also Merryweather.  Make it blue.  Seriously. 

3.  Ladyhawke - 1985 - Once again, stars all over the place in this one.  This movie has an 'A' movie feel with a 'B' movie plot.  Some great sets and good acting, as well as a really creepy story and nasty villain, make it a favorite. 

2.   Monty Python and the Holy Grail - 1975 - Fantasy at its absolute craziest.  This movie truly defines 'cult' for me.  You watch it over and over and laugh every time, and then get pissed off at the stupid ending.  The foul tempered rodent and the holy hand grenade are total genius.

1.  The Princess Bride - 1987 - Too romantic?  Too mushy?  Well, probably, but this just has to be my number one in this category.  It simply must.  Wonderful jokes, more star studded than the other stuff I said was star studded, gorgeous sets and scenery, as well as fencing.  As the bad guy says, "a trifle simple perhaps but her appeal is undeniable."

Well, there you have it.  I'm really curious to find out what your personal cult fantasy favorites are, and how you chose them.  Drop me a comment, or point me towards your blog!

Pax, all.

Image Credit:  Character 'Darkness'.  Actor - Tim Curry.  Promotional photo for the movie Legend.  

Top Ten Cult Movie Favorites: Science Fiction

Logan 5's time has run out.

What is a cult movie?  There are a mind-numbing number of possible definitions.  I read a bunch of them for the sake of being educated.  Then I figured I would go ahead and make up my own definition and rubric for that extra-personal touch.  

Most definitions I read online focused on the movie doing poorly at initial release, but later becoming an underground success with a niche audience.  But for me, the most important aspect of "cult" is that I have - and will - watch the movie over and over and over.  It has to be a movie that isn't just a personal favorite, but is one I'm obsessive about.  You know, like a cult sort of thing.

So here is how I picked my top ten ...

1. Has to be at least 25 years old.  I took anything from 1987 or older. 
2. I have to have seen it at least five times.  Points for every time over that I've watched the film.  Special bonus points for anything I've seen 25 times or more.
3. Points for movies my family and friends can't stand
4. Points for movies that didn't do well at the box office
5. Points for movies that have not been remade/rebooted, and have not lead to any sequels. 
6. Points if I own a copy.  I don't buy many movies, so this is a pretty good sign of my feelings towards a film.

Then I realized I also had to define "Science Fiction," since there are plenty of movies that mix genres.  I decided I'd consider anything with a science-fiction setting like spaceships, other planets, or the future.  If the movie had elements of either fantasy or horror that overwhelmed the impact of the sci-fi setting, then I moved it to that category.

So okay, in proper top ten style, starting with number ten ...

10.  Tron - 1982 - Some think it's too bad to be good, but I really enjoy this film.  The vision of what goes on inside a computer is fascinating, and of course the difference in tech between now and then leads to many laughs.  I didn't see the sequel, and probably won't.  (You're a user!)

9.   Blade Runner - 1982 - This is of course an amazing movie that has great acting and an overwhelming atmosphere.  It's a bit darker and more drama-like than most of my preferred sci-fi, but was too awesome to leave out. (It's too bad she won't live.)

8.   Logan's Run - 1976 - Amazingly hokey and predictable, but still an entertaining romp through a bizarre future world.  It was supposed to be serious, but seeing Farah Fawcett try to act in a bit part here pushes it over into the realm of the ridiculous.  York is good, as always.  (Renew!)

7.   The Andromeda Strain - 1971 - Even though this movie has been remade, the old version still makes my list.  This was one of the first sci-fi movies I wanted to see anytime it came on the tube.  (Flashing lights remind me of my time in a bordello.)

6.   Dark Star - 1974 - A lesser known dark comedy about a crew of humans who have the job of destroying planets that might become orbitally unstable, thereby making the universe safe for human colonization.  The scenes with an alien beach ball creature eventually gave rise to the concept behind the movie Alien. (Phenomenology.) 

5.   Robocop - 1987 - I love the juxtaposition of "real" gritty city life against the shiny corporate machine (literally), all set against dry gags about our dystopian future.  There is so much ass-kicking, too.  (Sun Block 3000)
 
4.   Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan - 1982 - In spite of the massive Star Trek franchise, The Wrath of Khan is very high on my cult movie list.  In fact, I have to say it's an awesome movie all around, with a very tight script, good acting, excellent pace, solid plot, and great special effects. (Khaaan!)
 
3.   The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension - 1984 - A fabulous, bizarre adventure with the canonical star-studded cast.  The humor ranges from surreal, to dry, to dark, to utterly absurd.  The concepts are so whacky you just can't stop watching. (What's that watermelon doing there?)

2.   Flash Gordon - 1980 - This fantastically campy comic book of a film has a score by Queen and a huge number of disturbingly famous actors.  It is in my top five cult films of ANY genre, time, or place.  I can hardly say why, but I love this film. (Fly my hawkmen!)

1.   Star Wars Trilogy - 1977, 1980, 1983 - In spite of its popularity, the fact that it is a huge franchise, how much money it has made, etc., I was forced to put the original Star Wars Trilogy at the top of my list.  I have long, long since lost track of the number of times I have seen Star Wars.  Added to the number of times I've seen Empire and Jedi, it's probably over a hundred. (It's a trap!)

A brief moment of silence for all those great movies that just didn't make the cut like The Road Warrior, Time Bandits, and the Planet of the Apes.

I want to hear from you!  What are your top ten cult sci-fi movies?  How did you pick them?  Go ahead and put your thoughts in the comments here, or do your own blog post on the subject and post the link in my comments so I can come and check it out.

Pax, All

Image:  Logan 5 from the movie Logan's Run, Wikipedia

Honoring Your Guru - A Few Callouts on the Fourth of July

Art:  Guru Purnima by Sarah Noble

July 4th seems to be a good moment in time to consider the idea of honoring our "gurus" - the people who have inspired, encouraged, taught, motivated, and generally allowed our dreams to take form.  Sarah Noble, the artist of the piece Guru Purnima chose to honor her science gurus, and more, with this meeting of Moon and lotus.

I've always been troubled that for some people, the fourth of July is only about military achievement.  While I deeply appreciate the sacrifices of service men and women, and was raised by two service people myself, I don't choose to emphasize that element on the fourth (I do that on Memorial Day and Veteran's Day).  On the fourth of July, I choose to focus on great endeavors by Americans that have enhanced our quality of life, deepened our sense of shared culture, expanded our minds, and paved the way for a new future.

I do not mean to suggest that the people on my list were perfect, or had universally noble lives.  But for me, each has added something to my personal world that I appreciate.  I can't offer my full list since it would go on for hundreds of pages, so here are just a handful of Americans that I'm going to call out:

George Washington, mostly for refusing to be king
Martin Luther King, Jr, for promoting civil rights
Edgar Allen Poe, for creepy literature and poetry
Harriet Tubman, for sneaking slaves north, like herself
Jonas Salk, for polio vaccine and other research
John Muir, for institutionalizing conservationism
Nikola Tesla, for incredible and bizarre inventions
Jackie Robinson, told not to fight back for two years and did it 
Clara Barton, for founding the Red Cross

Although I have to add a couple specifically related to my own fields of specialization in astronomy/planetary science/and especially the Moon, like: Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker, Carl Sagan, everybody who made the Moon landings possible ... I could go on for a while ...

So, who are some of the people that would be on your list?  Who has inspired your dreams, from both near and far?

Pax, All

Image Credit: Artist Sarah Noble, Piece Guru Purnima.  Sarah's words - "The next full Moon is Tomorrow, July 3rd. The Moon will be opposite the Sun at at time when we cannot see it (2:52 pm EDT), but will appear full for about 3 days centered on this time, from late Sunday night/early Monday morning through early Thursday morning. This month's painting is from Hindu tradition, this is the Guru Full Moon (Guru Purnima) and is celebrated as a time for clearing the mind and honoring your guru."

NaNoWriMo 2011 Begins

Image:  NaNoWriMo 2011

Midnight, the start of November 1, 2011.  Which of course means NaNoWriMo is underway.  For the first time I have an outline worked out for the novel I intend to write (or start writing, anyway) for a NaNoWriMo.  Fifty thousand words is short for a novel, especially one of mine, given how I like to crank out text.  So NaNo is really an opportunity for me to get a story out and rolling.

It's also an opportunity to reach out to other writers, new and old, local and distant.  It's a great place to look for blogs and tweeple to follow.  (I can't even believe 'tweeple' is a 'word.')  Hanging out on the Forums is also a great source of time-wasting amusement.  Seeing as how the daily work of a writer can be so solitary, NaNoWriMo provides a way to include more interaction.  As well as some fun.  Good luck with the writing ...

Real Zombies, Immortality, Mad Science, and Overreacting - Part I: Exhibitionists

I picked up the August 2011 edition of Rue Morgue magazine because it had "Fright Night - Revisited and Revamped" on the cover.  Yes, I am a vampire fan, and that is one of my favorite vampire movies of all time.  So I nabbed the magazine for later perusal.  Took me a month and half to have the time to open it, and then when I did, it wasn't the Fright Night article that demanded my attention.

Instead, it was an interview with Gunther Von Hagens, the force behind the creepy, fascinating, and provocative "Body Worlds" exhibits.  The article is subtitled, "On morbid art, controversial science and facing his own mortality."  I am a scientist, a speculative fiction writer, and a patron of romantigoth.  My mind is trying to reconcile the meanings and implications of Body Worlds, the process of "plastination," and the person of Gunther Von Hagens all at once, and the cognitive dissonance is going to make my head es-plode.  (See photo, zombie person, mouth wide.)

I'll try to hit this one step at a time.  Today, Part I - Exhibitionists ...

It's October; the month for us horror buffs to reach forth and express ourselves to our personal utmost.  For me, that includes holding a haunted dinner party, checking out bizarre art on deviantArt, and allowing my interests to roam places that normally squick me.  Like Body Worlds.  My interest in horror tends to romantigoth, as I've mentioned.  Goth is not about death, as much an outsider might think it is.  Goth is an aesthetic.  Romantigoth in particular is filled with shadows, mystery, longing, and a deeply emotional sensibility.  The icons might be spiders, skulls, blood, fangs, and black lace, but the goal is the creation of an atmosphere that matches the emotion.

Body Worlds is anything but romantigoth.  It is brightly lit, with the mystery of the inner workings of the human body laid bare.  There are no secrets here, as there wouldn't be given that the stated purpose of Body Worlds is to "educate the public on anatomy, human physiology, health and wellness."  And yet there is no escaping the comparison to horror - zombies at the least.  In Body Worlds, the skinless dead are shown riding horses, having babies, ice skating, and having sex.  Yes. (See photo, plastic person, mouth wide)

Anecdotes suggest that some people do leave the exhibits, after seeing diseased lungs and livers, and give up smoking and drinking for the rest of their lives.  I also have no doubt people know a lot more anatomy after they leave, as well.  But I cannot get over the fact that these are real dead people, not mock-ups or models.  I can't even handle a visit to the mummy exhibit in the Louvre.  I can't even look at the mummies of cats in the Louvre.  First of all, it makes me sad.  Dead is dead, after all.  Second, it seems so 'not right' that we have taken bodies from burial sites without their permission and turned them into exhibits.

This exhibit, as well as the mummies in the Louvre, say, are hardly the first time human remains have been displayed (even used as art) and promoted for general viewing.  For example there is the "Our Lady of the Conception of the Capuchins" cathedral in Rome.  A few lines from Wikipedia - "The church is most famous as an ossuary, known as the Capuchin Crypt, in which is displayed the bones of over 4,000 Capuchin friars. The bones are fashioned into decorative displays in the Baroque and Rococo style. The popularity of the crypt as a tourist attraction once rivalled the Catacombs."  I don't think education about skeletal structure was the point, here.  We humans want to find a means to go on forever, and whether it is our agreeing to be mummified, or others using our remains to create art and educational exhibits, I think a large part of it stems from that desire for eternity.

Now, the people whose remains are exhibited in Body Worlds did indeed leave permission, so that part at least is fine with me.  Strange, but as a scientist,  I understand that people would want this; would want their remains to go on teaching after they have no more use for them.  In the past, such bodies might have been used for dissection, or have individual organs removed for examination, etc.  Until recently, the idea of leaving your entire body behind, infused with plastic forever, was not an option.  According to the site, there are about 11,000 donors for "plastination" currently on record, about 1000 already dead and another 10,000 who are still living.  I think it is unlikely that all of these people have education of future generations as their major goal.  Instead, I think for many this is another attempt by the human mind to achieve a form of immortality.

After all, humans have been fascinated forever with the questions of what is death, what happens after death, what can we do to put death off as long as possible, and why is it zombies eat brains, anyway?  Okay, so the plastic people on exhibit are not really zombies.  But even the idea of zombies itself comes from our continued fascination with death and undeath.  For some, I imagine zombivication is their ideal choice (as I said, I'm more the vampire type.  Zombies are gross.)  Being bitten by a zombie usually means you become one.  It is immortality, after a fashion.  Hopefully they really, really like brains.  (See photo, man attacked by zombie cat, mouth wide.) 

Image Credits: Zombie, on Flikr via Creative Commons, CC 2.0, Plastic Person, Available free download for students at the Body World site.  Zombie kiteh by Icanhazcheezburger.com

Ending Another NaNoWriMo

Image: Nano Bag o' Skulls

First things first, this image needs a good caption. Write what should be the title or caption to this picture and put it in the comments. I'm sure I'm not the only one coming to the end of NaNoWriMo with some mixed feelings.

The real story behind the bag starts with the fact that our Halloween decorations were put away rather haphazardly this year. When I went to find certain winter holiday decorations, I had to move a pile of skulls out of the way. The NaNo bag was convenient. Then I looked over and realized I had a NaNo bag full of skulls and had to take a picture.

Why mixed feelings about NaNo? It isn't NaNo in particular, but this month has made it clear just how much my writing routine has changed in the last year. This is a good thing, by the way, but still, it a dose of reality to be ingested and assimilated. Two years ago I was writing as I pleased (or not), and left bits and pieces of work in various stages all over various hard drives. Millions of words of writing, actually, and while I had the idea that 'I'll get some of it published someday' I didn't have a plan for that.

Now I do have something of a plan, and it includes 'administrative' work as well as the fun 'writing with abandon' work. I have to be more focused and efficient, planning out projects in advance, choosing what old writing needs edited and what new writing needs to be done before I can move forward. My time includes looking up markets for short stories, targeting them, submitting them, and then iterating the process as necessary. It includes taking bits and pieces of novels - all the outlines, sketched out scenes, character profiles - and crafting them into actual books. There is also staying informed with general goings on in the speculative genres, writing in my blogs ... you know it all, I'm sure.

This year's NaNoWriMo made the changes in my approach much more clear to me. Last year I wrote over 75K just on the one novel, and poked around with various other projects without too much direction. I updated my word count daily and spent a lot of time on the forums. This year I'll clear the post at just over 50K, and didn't spend as much time as I would have liked on the site. I had to split my time more efficiently. I wrote with 'some abandon' which was fun, but more controlled than last year.

Still, I met new people, finished one project and started another, and had the experience capped by being interviewed by writer and fellow blogger Maureen O'Donnell for the Columbia Patch. So my feelings are mixed, sad to see NaNo go before I could really lose myself in it, but also glad to see it go, since I do need to keep my writing schedule balanced to meet all of my goals. In any case, as of this moment, I'm planning to get involved again next year.


Image credit: Bag o' Skulls by me.

Intimate Vastness and the Paradox of Space

Art: "Space" by Maliciaroseniore on deviantArt

When I write, I hope to portray two sides of a particular coin. This coin seems to be a paradox. On one side, I want my readers to find the environments in my stories to be awe-inspiring, almost untouchable in their perfection, and utterly fantastical (either in a good way or a horrific one). After all, one of the reasons we are no doubt attracted to speculative genres is that we enjoy the incredible settings. And yet, on the other side of this coin, I want my readers to really identify with that fantastical place. I want them to find emotional resonance and intimacy there. Otherwise, the reader is too distant from the story to care what happens. Creating both images for the reader seems paradoxical, and yet we know when we experience it done effectively.

I see the first ideal expressed in the art "Space" above.  The viewing portal is massive, and shows an utterly stunning view of space, a vista of unknown worlds. The people in the picture are tiny, and the only expression visible is that one is pointing to the amazing spectacle before them.  We do not know what they are feeling, but in us the image engenders a feeling of awe.  Even the ethereal color palette makes one think more of spiritual worlds than real ones. Here, there is so much space in space. We are left appreciating how vast and unreachable it is - beyond mortal minds to understand. I get a bit of that old sci-fi feeling, and think 'wow'.

Photo: Astronaut on ISS Viewing Earth

I have recently spotted a photograph which expresses the second side of the coin. This photograph is making the rounds in geek internet circles, of which I am a member (proud or otherwise) and it depicts an astronaut on the International Space Station. She is contemplating the view of Earth from the ISS cupola. While this image has some similarity in elements to the art above, we feel different when we look at it. The emphasis has shifted from space as 'vast' to space as 'small'. Indeed, in many ways there isn't much space in space after all, since it will be a long time before we can create luxuriously open accommodations on an orbital station. This image feels close, intimate, and touchable.

So in these pieces of art I see two themes I want to accomplish in my writing, and in ways these themes seem antithetical to one another. Vastness versus intimacy. Real versus unreal. Known versus unknowable. And perhaps even clean perfection versus gritty every day life. At least as writers, we have the opportunity to present many chapters to a story, and in each we can offer a different perspective. Taken as a whole in a novel they can offer the reader the chance to eat their cake and have it, too.

Comparing these images underscores a few basic ideas of writing (as well as art). One way to emphasize the untouchable nature of an environment is to turn the focus away from the characters and towards the horizon. If you instead are interested in representing an aspect of your setting that is knowable, then include things that are already known to the reader. I note that the second image above has Earth in the view, while the first image has a foreign vista. We already know that providing information from our senses when we write is a good way to ground the reader, and make our setting more real to them. Art has the advantage of giving us instant information from vision. The color palette in "Space" reminds me of bright clouds and heaven, while the photograph's colors are more varied, if dim in places. Each serves the purpose of emphasizing a different side to this interesting coin.

I could go on, obviously, but I think you probably get my point. What are your thoughts? How do you approach the challenge of giving both perspectives to your reader?

Image Credits:

Image One: "Space" by Maliciaroseniore on deviantArt.

My comments:  Well, you sort of know them because you read the post, but I find this to be a classic image of the 'wow' side of science fiction. The kind of art that makes you feel you've seen into hidden realms, visited unknown shores.

Image Two:  Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson reflects on the view from the ISS's Cupola. Credit: Doug Wheelock/NASA from Universe Today

Blogging Awards and Many Thanks

Image: Fantasy & Sci-Fi Award

It has been several months since two excellent bloggers were kind enough to recognize me with awards. These are the first awards I've been given, and I really do feel honored. Each comes with the stipulation that you pass them on to other bloggers. I wanted to take that aspect of the awards seriously, and examine many other writer's blogs before presenting the awards. And since I've been so busy this summer and fall, I didn't have the opportunity.

I have finally had the chance to peruse many fine writing blogs (and fine blogs of all kinds, actually) these past months, and feel prepared to accept these awards and to pass them on to others.

The first award is the "Fantasy and Sci-Fi Blogger Award" which was given to me by Ted Cross at Ted Cross Blog. Thanks, Ted, for the award, which is all the more special since it is given to me by such an interesting and talented blogger.

Here are the steps required to accept the Fantasy and Sci-Fi Blogger Award:

1.  Thank the giver and link back to them. Done.

2.  Pass on the award to some unspecified number of science fiction/fantasy bloggers. I've chosen five, although if I find a blog in the future that I just must honor, I reserve the right to award one or two late.

3.  Inform them of their award. I'll be posting comments on their respective blogs.

A Mission Impossible for the Dark Fantasy Writer
Farsight Blogger
Lessons From My Reading
Rocket Girls
The Sharp Angle

The second award is "The Versatile Blogger Award" given to me by Kelly Dexter at the very well written Nerdville Rhapsody. Thank you very much, Kelly, for reading my blog and thinking it worthy.

Here are the steps required to accept the Versatile Blogger Award:

1.  Thank the giver and link back to them. Done.

2.  List seven things about myself. (1) My favorite place on earth is Zion National Park, Utah. (2) I've written and published a textbook about the inner planets. (3) The first science fiction book I remember reading was Asimov's I, Robot. (4) The solar system body I like the most is the Moon. (5) I practice zazen. (6) I am a Leo. (7) My current wine kick is anything red from the Central Coast, CA, or I'll go for a Spanish rioja.

3.  Pass the award on to 15 other bloggers.  This is the tough part, since I wanted to mention a variety of bloggers, both in writing and other areas.  And I wanted to include newer as well as more established bloggers.  There are so many good bloggers out there ... but these are the ones I'm highlighting with this award.  As with the above, I'm putting ten down right now, and reserving the right to award another five bloggers as I discover new blogs.

Just Jen
Left and Write Brained
Musings of a Penniless Writer
Rigged
Swim-Write-Run
The Screaming Guppy
The Missing Word
Impudent Hachlings
Misa Buckley
Polenth's Quill

4.  Let the bloggers know about their award. I'll be visiting their blogs and commenting to let them know.

Many thanks, everyone, for reading One Writer's Mind and leaving your comments here.

Pax,
Bryce

Speculative Fiction's Fascination with Green Beings

Art: Best 2 Out of 3 by rmj7

I have always found our collective fascination with "little green men" to be, well, fascinating. Not so much the "little" part, but the "green" part. The meme of green aliens permeates science fiction, but also appears in other forms in folk tales and ancient mythology. Why are we so enthralled with this idea?

For the purposes of this post, I define "alien" very broadly, because I believe the basis for this fixation goes deep into time and into the human psyche. Humans have always had a feeling of strange "aliens" in their midst. The idea of aliens being intelligent life forms from another planet is rather new. Humans have envisioned other sorts of aliens, like fairies, spirits, gods, and monsters. Sagan discussed this concept in his book The Demon Haunted World. I hardly have space here to consider the huge idea of why we invent strange aliens in the first place, but I do want to briefly ponder why they are so often so specifically green.

Most cultures throughout history have noted the obvious, common color of green in nature. So it is not surprising that many cultures have placed the same meaning and symbolism on green, including birth, growth, sustenance, the cycles of nature, and then rebirth in the afterlife. These processes were full of mystery to the ancients (and to us, still) and so green became not only the color of the natural, but also the supernatural. For example, worship of the Egyptian god Osiris is recorded as early as around 2400 BCE. Osiris, the god of nature, rebirth and the afterlife, was often depicted with green skin.

This is a particularly strong symbol in Anglo, Saxon, and Celtic cultures. The forest fairies were green, and certainly the Green Man mythology centers around this symbolism. Originally, this green color was considered good - wild - but good. The pagan religious that grew up around it believed the green forest denizens were protectors and guides of the natural world. There is a theory that suggests it was Christianity's arrival in the Celtic world that changed green from a more positive, natural symbol into one that was just as often malevolent and demon related.  The early Church took a negative view of the color since honoring and worshiping the green folk and their ilk was decidedly against its ideology. So eventually in the Isles, green colored creatures also became something dangerous and evil, such as twisted wild fairies, pernicious monsters like goblins, and green-skinned witches. These ideas were in place by 1400 CE, as indicated by tales such as "Gawain and the Green Knight" where ancient tales and symbols meld with Christian ones.

As the known replaced the unknown, places like forests became less mysterious. But we humans simply moved our "aliens" to the next strange frontier such as distant islands, deep jungles, and the bottom of the ocean. The birth of modern science made it seem as if humans might eventually be able to replicate all the processes of nature - and one result was the quickening of the genre of science fiction with Shelly's Frankenstein in 1818. Frankenstein defies nature and creates life from death, piecing together his monster in a way that echoes how Isis pieced together the body of Osiris.

Into this new genre stepped authors like Verne and Wells, who had visions of travels to distant lands, and even distant planets. By 1880, Schaparelli had already named the major features he observed on Mars as "continents" and "seas".  That same year Greg published Across the Zodiac, where a traveler finds small humanoids populating that planet. With the 1899 Green Boy of Hurrah, and Burroughs' 1906 A Princess of Mars, amongst other stories, the small alien humanoids in the public imagination were nearly universally green.

As science fiction continued to explore its love for green aliens, high fantasy was born with Tolkien between The Hobbit in the mid 1930's and The Lord of the Rings in the mid 1950's. It was out of the mix of the symbolism of the Isles that Tolkien drew the heart of his Middle Earth, especially his creatures, including goblins, orcs, elves, ents and entwives, and dwarves. The elves, associated with the green forests, were mystical, ethereal, powerful, immortal, and generally good. But the green skinned orcs (apparently once elves) were twisted, violent, malignant, and evil. This is a striking parallel to the clash between pagan and church ideas in the old Celtic lands.

From that point, it isn't so hard to see how the trope or meme continued to expand. Today our speculative genres are filled with green creatures. Whether science fiction, fantasy or horror, there are little green men from Mars, green orcs, and green creatures from the black lagoon. We remain fascinated with the greenies. I, personally, trace it all back to that first green connection with the mysterious. We paint green those creatures who we, as authors, want to have a mystical, supernatural, or hyper-scientific power over nature, over life, and over death.

This is hardly a scientific study, merely my own thoughts presenting one possible reason why we fixate so strongly, and even adore, our green aliens. I have a species of green aliens in my sci-fi universe, too. And overused meme or not, they are there to stay. What are your thoughts?

Bryce

Image Credit: Best 2 Out of 3 by rmj7 on deviantArt.com

My comments: This art depicts characters from the newly released book Prossia by Raphyel M. Jordan. I envy the ability to actually draw the characters in one's writing, let alone create visual art.

The artist says: "Aly and Catty come from a race of people that are very combat-oriented and like to spar in their spare time. Here we catch the two after Round #2...ya think Catty's probably up for a Round 3?"

Finding Inspiration in Cards and Quizzes

Art: Empress by Tsabo6

The internet is filled with a plethora of quizzes that ostensibly will tell you all about yourself. They can tell you what Star Wars character you are, what kind of moviegoer, and even your religious denomination. Or perhaps what kind of ice cream you are - not what you prefer - what you are. (I am chocolate chip. Boring.) Do a search on almost any topic ("What kind of ___ am I" quiz), and you will find several possible quizzes of varying quality. I don't want to link to any directly, since many of these sites have ads, and I don't want to appear to endorse them.

I really enjoy quizzes overall, not just because they help me procrastinate writing, but because they can give me some insight into my characters. After I take the quiz as myself, I channel my characters and take the same quiz as each of them in turn. It is actually an interesting way to see if I am taking the easy route of making all of my people into either me or the anti-me. And the canonical wisdom tells us that either of those extremes can lead to less interesting character development and more predictable character interaction. I am trying to create unique individuals who get into interesting situations.

One quiz subject I enjoy is the "What Tarot Card Are You" subject. I consistently test as "The High Priestess," the card of science, wisdom, knowledge, and education. Not a big shock for a scientist and writer, I suppose. My main character comes out as "The Sun," supposedly the card of happiness, contentment, and joy. Ironic considering how angsty he is, but perhaps this is the emphasis of what he wishes he had. His best friend is "The Heirophant" who brings "the divine to earth," a kind of "guardian angel." An excellent description, and an image that makes my mind wander to a few new ideas for him. The MC's lover tests out as, well "Love/The Lovers." Hmmm.

And if taking the quizzes isn't enough inspiration for new directions for your characters, then go ahead and actually get tarot readings for them. Again, a little playing around with your favorite search engine will lead to sites that have computers generate instant tarot card spreads. I certainly do not suggest calling "real" people or paying for anything like this, it is just for entertainment and ideas. But this was very enjoyable for me, as my main character had a computer reading done about his love life, and learned he needed to set it aside and concentrate on family celebrations and outings instead. An excellent idea.

For additional card fun, check out the "science tarot" on facebook. This link was sent to me by a friend and I had a good time browsing the art. I noted that the Queen of Wands card, the Storyteller, is Carl Sagan. Something of a paragon for those of us who long to tell the stories of science (real and otherwise) in a way that captivates, informs, and enlightens.

But approach these quizzes advisedly. One of my characters tested out as "Jar Jar Binks" in a Star Wars Character quiz.  I haven't felt the same about him since.

Pax

Image Credit: Empress is used with the very generous permission of Tsabo6 on deviantArt.

My comments: Tsabo6 creates some incredible art filled with mystery, beauty, and darkness. Empress is one of several concept art tarot pieces in the theme of "high fantasy with a hint of oriental mood." I was enthralled immediately by this piece, which has such balance and beauty. Certainly if this were a real tarot deck, I'd be in line to get one. Art like this is so inspiring, and keeps the mind open to new possibilities and options.

Imagine a Ring Around the Earth

This particular youtube video has been making the rounds for the past couple of weeks.  It is a conceptualization of the Earth encircled with a ring system identical to Saturn's (except resized to fit our much smaller planet). It starts with views of the system from space, showing different perspectives and Earth's shadow on the rings. Then it shows what these rings would look like in the sky over several famous locations.

I've enjoyed watching this video for several reasons. The first is the simple pleasure of seeing beautiful and interesting places recast from such a fantastical point of view. But I also enjoy the video from an education standpoint. It attempts to illustrate why the rings would look different from different latitudes, and does a pretty good job at it. Of course, the general public might be confused as to why someone would want to see Saturn's rings around Earth in the first place. So that confusion might muck up any educational message.

And the third reason I like the video is, of course, that it gets me thinking. Looking at the 'view' from Ayers Rock in Australia, for example, with in the rings and full moon on display, is so intriguing. How would human mythology differ had we had such a spectacle in our sky? How would the development of agriculture, navigation, and mechanics have changed if rings had been a part of our everyday environment? Would they have allowed us to understand more, and faster? Or would they have been a source of confusion, making it even more difficult to figure out what things were made of, how far away they were, and their true scale?

And the inspiration for the sci-fi muse needs no explanation. The thing that strikes me, looking at the image of a thin, edge on ring view from the equator, is how it resembles the ring in Larry Niven's Ringworld. Of course, it's quite different. Niven's Ringworld was a huge ring that encircled a star at a distance of 1 AU, and it had an entire ecosystem lining the inside. But from anywhere on the inside surface of the ring, the rest of the structure would appear to arc away into the distance, arching above and around the sun. One character was convinced that distant arch was a structure he could walk to, and was spending his life in an impossible pilgrimage to reach it. Never realizing that he could circle the entire star and never 'reach' the arch that was always right beneath his feet. What else do the images make you think about? What stories have been written with rings around the Earth as the premise or setting? I'm coming up short on that one. Which makes me think again about how this might be more sci-fi story fodder.

Pax

Image credit:  Roy Prol http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT2sQ7KIQ-E
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