In Sputnik’s Orbit

A few thoughts to tide you over…

 

The Day Science Fiction Stood Still

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Harry Bates was the creative founder and an early editor for Astounding Science Fiction. He also edited Strange Tales and Weird Tales, and authored countless science fiction stories and essays of his own.

He once related that his view of science fiction was informed by a single, early copy of Amazing Stories! “What awful stuff I found in it! Cluttered with trivia! Packed with puerilities. Written by unimaginables! But now at the memory I wondered if there might be a market for a well-written magazine on the Amazing themes.” He also wrote that “science fiction of the early writers had little relation to science of the scientists.” What science fiction writers did was to “extrapolate” and not “relate” because “almost all of what is called science fiction is fantasy and nothing else but.”

Those of us who, decades later in the seventies, cut our teeth on Star Trek and second-hand anthologies forgotten by our parents, were heavily influenced by Bates, though we never knew it. But his influence did not stop here. He also wrote the story that inspired the 1951 classic, The Day The Earth Stood Still. A movie still unsurpassed in the power of its story, even by a forgettable, big budget “remake” starring Tom Cruise. Why? Because of Bates’s focus on story, science, and theme.

Here then, in it’s entirety, is Harry Bates’ gift to the future, his story, Farewell to the Master, linked from the Nostalgia League library:

http://thenostalgialeague.com/olmag/bates-farewell-to-the-master.html

Enjoy, and remember, “join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer. The decision rests with you.”

 

Meet the Winners Begins!

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Over the next few weeks, I’ll be presenting a series of posts to introduce my fellow winners in this year’s L Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest. To kick things off, last year’s Gold Pen Award winner, Tina Gower, has graciously agreed to lend a hand.

Stuart:  Welcome, Tina, and thanks so much for agreeing to be here. You’ve been a busy beaver since your first place win and later Gold Pen grand-poobafication. How has WotF changed your life?

Tina:  Other than the mail order elves that do my bidding and the fact that I can now fly, WOTF introduced me to Mike Resnick. So far he’s published three of my short stories and we’re working on a Stellar Guild Project together. Plus the guy publicly bashes and humiliates me (in the most loving way possible!), so it keeps me on my toes. Most of my other accomplishments I can’t directly trace back to the contest. For example, I won another contest this year for my yet unpublished novel—this led me to a lot of great opportunities like a great agent who’s awesome.

Stuart:  Wow. Yes, thick skin and an abiding love for humiliation are certainly keys to success in this biz. What got you into writing?

Tina:  I love how this question is phrased—Like I got tangled up in it, or it’s some sort of trouble I need to get out of–which is a pretty accurate way to describe how any writer gets into this sort of mess. I’m dyslexic and I spent a lot of time in school being told how much I suck at written communication. Obsessed with why, I found myself still choosing to write a middle grade novel for my eight grade project, wrote and illustrated a children’s book for my senior project, and for my graduates thesis? I researched the way teachers grade writing and how we can do it better using rubrics as a scoring system.

Stuart:  I hear you. My mother worked with dyslexic children for decades. She said the biggest obstacles they faced were being labelled instead of being helped to adapt.

Tina:  I spent my first career (as a school psychologist) trying to figure out how to help students who also sucked at things (learning disabilities and other brain problems) and helping them to overcome it—or improve above what was expected. I researched techniques on how to fix these sorts of brain hiccups, and at the same time worked on my own. I took writing classes after graduate school and continued to work on it.

It wasn’t until I had my son that I seriously considered submitting and trying to really do what I wanted. I’d experienced a rare kind of paralysis after having my son and after months of physical therapy I sort of had this “I can do anything” feeling people get after coming out of situational depression. That feeling hasn’t gone away after seven years. I went from being told I’d never be a writer because of my specific type of dyslexia issues to winning the largest science fiction contest in the world. Oddly, rejections don’t sting when you have that sort of perspective.

Stuart:  Wow! That’s quite a turn. I’m glad you stuck with it. So, let me ask you, Pantser or Plotter?

Tina:  Both. It depends on the project. Usually a plotter—if I know the end and certain emotional points before I start, the story always turns out better.

Stuart:  Plan the work and wing the plan, eh? Do you have any unusual talents?

Tina:  I can sound exactly like a monkey. It unnerves my friends and family so I’ve sworn to never do the impression again.

Stuart:  Ha ha! I’ve got to get you on YouTube with my daughter. She actually IS a monkey. Star Wars or Star Trek?

Tina:  Yes.

Stuart:  Yeah…should’a seen that one coming. If you adopted a wardrobe tag like Dr. Who, what would it be?

Tina:  I look amazing in hats.

Stuart:  (Feigns English accent) “I wear a hat now. Hats are cool.” A quotation that inspires you?

Tina:

WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE!

SUBMIT! SUBMIT! SUBMIT! SUBMIT! SUBMIT!

REPEAT! REPEAT! REPEAT! REPEAT! REPEAT!

Patience. Patience. Patience. Patience. Patience.

NNiNN

–Martin L. Shoemaker (If you don’t know this person you should Google him!)

Stuart:  Good one! Well thanks for joining us, Tina, and for getting us off to such a good start. I know we’ll be hearing more of you, and best of luck to you in the new year.

Tina:  Thank you for inviting me on your blog for the interview!

=======================================================

Tina Gower’s story, Twelve Seconds, appears in volume XXIX of the anthology, L Ron Hubbard Presents: Writers of the Future. She’s also been published in Galaxy’s Edge and has an upcoming book in Mike Resnick’s Stellar Guild series. She blogs at www.smashedpicketfences.com and you can learn more about her work and her many other accomplishments at www.tinagower.com.

Business Cards for the New Age

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With my Writer’s of The Future win, I’ll be going to Los Angeles in a few months and there’s no telling who I may meet at the workshop. It’s therefore a logical time to order the new business cards I’ve been putting off. But what is a business card in this day and age? When I meet someone new, it still makes sense to hand them a card with my contact information and a little space to jot a note. Sure, why not? But no one is going to file that card away like in days of yore–I certainly wouldn’t. And no one needs the info bloat that has become common today, what with websites and screen names and sometimes icons jockeying for real estate. No, I only need the card to do a couple of things, but I need those things done well–and one of them is giving my new found acquaintance machine readable contact information.

What then, are my new design requirements for my new business card?

To list basic contact information, phone, address, email, and linked-in profile.
To contain a vCard, encoded as a QR code for easy smart phone scanning.
To highlight my web presence and brand.
To be free of clutter and professional in tone.
To have a sleek design by a professional graphic artist.
To be free of the cost of a professional graphic artist.

Okay, so my first stop was to visit www.qrcode-monkey.com and create my quick response codes. I created one encoding my basic contact info as a VCard and another encoding the URL to a landing page under my top level website, www.cStuartHardwick.com.  It’s important to put as little data as possible in a QR code because the more data you cram in, the smaller the picture elements and the harder it is to decode. We do NOT want our new business contacts futzing around with balky QR codes! So the VCard is minimal, and the link is to a landing page that may contain more information along with anything that changes or that I decide to add later.

ImageNext stop was Moo, a well-regarded printer with a robust online card designer featuring lots of stock, graphic artist-designed templates to choose from. After sorting through this for a few interminable forevers, I found a design I liked. It did not allow me to put the QR codes where I originally planned, but it did allow me to upload a graphic for the back of the card. So with a little editing in Pixlr, that was easily sorted.

The final design, I think, is spot on. It’s clean. It’s clear. It highlights brand and essential contact info. On the reverse, the QR code for the landing page has a little icon to make clear that it’s a website (such icons are a free feature of QR Monkey, but y themake the code more complex so I elected not to add one to the vCard).

If you’d like to try out Moo yourself, follow this link and you’ll get a small discount if you decide to order:

http://www.moo.com/share/6nmwg2

So that’s that. And now, I think, it’s off to work I go.

The Saturn V Main Engine Returns!

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Check out this very cool article about how laser 3D scanning and 3D printing are being used to fully understand, resurrect, and improve upon the giant engines that carried us to the moon. Cool factoid: The fuel pump for the F1 engine consumed 55,000 shaft HP, more than the main propulsion system for a modern ultra-deep-water drillship.

http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/04/how-nasa-brought-the-monstrous-f-1-moon-rocket-back-to-life/

Writers of the Future Win!

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YeeeeeHaaah!

I’m an L. Ron Hubbard, Writers of the Future winner!

I don’t normally get too excited about awards. Writing is a long-haul proposition, and the payoff comes from years of slogging away more than from any one event.

But this is a big deal, the big enchilada, the American Idol of Scifi. This is the best known, most highly-respected award for genre short fiction, and one of very few opportunities for beginning authors to garner national exposure. Moreover, it means I’ll be flying to Los Angeles for a week-long workshop with some of today’s best authors.

I’m now an alumni in the company of Stephen Baxter, James Alan Gardner, Dean Wesley Smith, Dave Wolverton, Nancy Farmer, and David Zindell, to name a few. There’s no way I’m not getting excited about this!.

I will have to find my bow-tie, thought, but that’s okay. Bow-ties are cool.

WOTF Press Release

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Last night, I was notified that I’m a finalist in the 4th quarter L Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest.

WOTF Press Release

I don’t generally get too exited about these things. Writers face rejection at every turn, and every win or sale is tempered by a closet of “other shoes” waiting to fall. The trick is not to let them fall on your dreams, to persevere, to improve, and to finally develop confidence in your own estimation of your work.

But I have to admit, this is a big deal. WOTF is hands down, the biggest and most respected contest of it’s kind anywhere in the world, and what makes it better is that it’s judged by professional authors–by those who love the craft and genre.

Being a finalist means I made it into the top eight. The contest does not disclose the number of entries, but if they only get a paltry 80 entries a week (most unlikely) that puts me well above the 99th percentile. In any human undertaking, that’s a pretty strong showing.

The winners are to be announced within the week. I’m not going to worry too much about it, though. Certainly, it is true, that it’s an honor to to have made it this far.

Finalist!

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I just got the word that I’m a finalist in L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future contest! I earned an honorable mention a year ago and the certificate is propped on my desk for encouragement. Thousands enter WOTF each quarter, and to be named a finalist is a huge honor and reward for many years of work and study. I understand that the winner will be announced within the week, so fingers crossed!

Vanguard Of Human Vision

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ImageThe oldest still-orbiting man-made object is Vanguard I. The first solar-powered satellite, it was launched in the wake of Sputnik to study orbital conditions. It continued to broadcast for seven years and still remains in a shallow elliptical orbit that barely dips near the rarefied upper atmosphere. Originally projected to remain aloft for two thousand years, it has since been determined that friction from the solar wind and other environmental factors will bring it down by around 2,198 if it doesn’t collide with something before then.

This of course brings up the specter of orbital trash that now blankets our world, but it’s also a testament to our achievement as a species. Petty as we are, it’s easy to let our conquests and vices define us, and it’s unsurprising that so many seek comfort in a metaphysical eden beyond the reach of our squabbles and pollution. But if we fall short of the civilized ideals we imagine to move the heavens, we can at least take pride in this: our race, and ours alone, has aspired to the ideal.

Of all the millions of species that have inhabited the good earth, only we have sent emissaries hurtling through the universe for no other reason than to understand it. Whatever comes, our legacy now is assured. Should we perish tomorrow and send each other to a hell of our own making, machines with names like Pioneer, Voyager, and Sojourner will remain, forever proclaiming the best of what we are, and by the very evidence of their existence, the message left close by to our first steps on another world: “WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND.”

What are you thankful for?

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When we first moved to Houston, my daughters were still tykes. As we sat around the table in our new kitchen, I asked what they were thankful for. The eldest gave the expected answer to make any parent proud: her family and friends and her brand new school (which really was a new school–not just new to her).

My youngest looked up, and with an earnest gleam in her eye, said, “I’m thankful for bugs!”

This year, I’m thankful for family and heath and for friendships new and old. I’m thankful for the scientific foundation behind our modern understanding of the world–an understanding that gives us greater responsibility, but far greater opportunity than ever before. And yes, creepy though they may be, for their integral role in our little world, I’m thankful for bugs too.

What are you thankful for?