Category: Blog

On the topic of Space Opera

AsyouknowBob, Steve and I write Space Opera, starting when it was neither popular nor profitable, and continuing to, oh, Right Now.  Along the way, we’ve heard our novels described as “Military SF*,” which is where Space Opera goes to take cover when it’s out of fashion; “Adventure SF;” “Romantic SF;” “SF Romance;” “SF Lite;” and “What Do You Call This, Because it’s Not SF, Really, Is It?”

Happily, Space Opera has come ’round again on the guitar as being a recognized, if not exactly lauded, sub-genre of SF.  Unhappily, there are a lot of odd ideas about what Space Opera is, which do seem to arise whenever it surfaces again as a sub-genre.

I recall, for instance, when Mr. Feintuch was still with us and writing his version of Space Opera, which was Very Bleak, and some readers (and editors, too) wouldn’t touch any thing calling itself Space Opera, because Enough With the Bleak, Already.

My personal definition of Space Opera has always been that, on some level — though, yes, we are Saving the Universe and All Like That — at some level, I say, Space Opera needs to be fun.

And, yanno, just like Real Operas, Space Opera is a place where any old unlikely thing can happen (so long as the authors make it believable, which, to be fair, isn’t always the case with Real Opera), including telepathy and all the other Psi skills, if you want them; Giant Turtles; FTL drives; Deathless Wanderers of the Star Lanes; True Love, and whatever yer havin’ yerself.

So, anyway. . .in another part of the InterTubes, someone has put forth the observation that Space Opera has drifted away from including aliens, in order to focus of the diversity of human cultures.  It’s an interesting observation, and certainly we here in the Liaden Universe® celebrate the richness of human cultures.  But we also celebrate the strangeness of Clutch Turtles, and of Korval’s Damned Meddling Tree.  And while we didn’t exactly celebrate them, the Iloheen were certainly aliens.

However, as mentioned above, we started down this path more than a quarter-century ago.

What about newer Space Operas?  Have we moved away from aliens, in favor of more human-centric stories?  Or is it all in what you’re reading?  And, if that’s the case, what are you reading?

Have at it.

_______

*I had the. . .surreal. . .experience of standing in an elevator with two young men at the Chicago WorldCon-but-one.  And the first young man was describing this Really Cool Military SF Book he had just read.  The plot, as he short-formed it, sounded Awfully Familiar, and just before they got off at their floor, the second young man asked after the title, and the first young man said, “Conflict of Honors.”

#SFWAPro

Saturday cat census

The cats have had quite a bit of extra work pressed upon them over the last week, as Steve and I ran back and forth to Bangor, and down to Augusta, and out on Friday night.  “Holding the fort” is hard.

But!  It’s Saturday at last, and we’re home, and intend to stay here until Monday morning.  Scrabble and Mozart are taking this opportunity to Rest Up in preparation of the Rigors of Next Week.

Scrabble sleeps with the stars. Photo by Sharon Lee
Scrabble sleeps with the stars.
Photo by Sharon Lee

 

Mozart naps with the orange monkey in the Warm Spot. Photo by Sharon Lee
Mozart naps with the orange monkey in the Warm Spot.
Photo by Sharon Lee

 

The coon cats, however, are indefatigable.

Coon cats at work. Photo by Sharon Lee
Sprite and Trooper at work
Photo by Sharon Lee

 

Authors’ Night Out

Last night, Steve and I braved the Cold and Dark to journey across the river, to the old Hathaway Factory, which is now a combined condo/retail establishment, and includes the justly-famous Hathaway Creative Center.

Why did we do this, you ask?

Because it was PechaKucha Night.

In fact, the 14th PechaKucha Night in Waterville.  I was plying my secretarial arts at Colby when one of my favorite professors tried to convince me to present at either the first or second PechaKucha Night.  I thought he’d lost his mind, but figured that I’d get to one someday soon, when Things Calmed Down.

Then I quit my day-job and lost track of things like PechaKucha Nights.

What brought it back onto my radar was the announced participation of Doug Thornsjo and of Uri and Gabe Lessing, all of whom we think kindly of.  And, really, PechaKucha seemed a fine ending to a week fraught with dental adventures.

So, anyway, there we were with a record crowd of almost 200 like-minded residents of the Waterville/Winslow/Wimsy megapolis scrunched into the Hathaway Creative Center to hear seven presentations on passions.

If you’ve never PechaKucha’d, it’s a system of presentation that lasts six minutes and 40 seconds, or 20 slides x 20 seconds, with commentary.  Here’s a link to the Official Description.  Presenters speak on a variety of topics; the PechaKucha tag-line is: Share Your Passion, Present What You Love.

Last night, for instance, we heard a presentation on the joys of old-fashioned paper mail pen-paling; the process and purpose of making feminist paper dolls; the efforts of Rotary International to eradicate polio in Nigeria and other far-flung places; and the high points of a work-study session spent tagging sharks in the Caribbean.  We heard from a visual communications teacher at a local high school, and from three of his students.  Doug spoke about his current creative projects, including the production of the Zirkus of the Magi Tarot Deck.  Uri and Gabe were co-emcees for the event, introducing each presenter, and reading copy for the “spotlight ads”.

It was a startlingly positive experience.  Everyone seemed to be having fun.  The presenters were all well-prepared and engaging; no one was at all rushed during their 6 minutes and 40 seconds of fame.

If you have a chance to attend one of these things, I’m betting it would be worthwhile, if only for the real-time reminder that people are endlessly fascinating.

If you’re within the sound of the Waterville/Winslow/Wimsy megapolis, the next Waterville PechaKucha is on Friday, April 11; then, proceeding quarterly, on July 10 and October 17.  The group has a Facebook page, here.

Five Things Make a Post

1.  Many thanks to everyone who donated to Liaden Universe® story, “The Rifle’s First Wife,” and to Splinter Universe.  Here’s the link, for those who haven’t read the story, yet.  And here’s the link to a discussion of our plans for the site.  Both pieces may be read for free; donations are appreciated, not mandatory.

2.  Speaking of reading for free, “The Gift of Music,” set in Archers Beach, Maine, is available at Baen.com.  Go here and scroll down.  Scrolling down is key.

3.  In answer to the several. . .concerned emails asking whether or not we’re working on the next Liaden book — yes.  Yes, we are.

4.  The electronic edition of Carousel Sun, the sequel to Carousel Tides, is now available directly from Baen and from your favorite ebook vendor.  The trade paperback won’t be released by Amazon or BN until February 4, but!  Uncle Hugo’s has signed copies available right now.  Here’s your link.

5.  It’s a bright and sunshine-y 1F/-17C outside at the moment, and I need to go into town.  Everybody stay warm.

The writers, goofing off

So, to the dentist early this morning, on Steve’s behalf.  This was the last in a series of four dental-related adventures scheduled for this week.  Everything’s come out well.  I do wish there was dental insurance available anywhere in the beautiful state of Maine, though.  Ow.

Since we were already out, and the sun was, too; and after Steve had eaten his fill of a breakfast that wasn’t “soft,” we pointed Argent the Subaru in the direction of the Great City of Augusta, where it was our intention to visit our “local” Barnes and Noble to sign stock, and also to take on Tesla: Inventor of the Electric Age.

Stock consisted of one hardcover Trade Secret, and one each paperbacks Fledgling, Saltation, Mouse and Dragon, and was quickly dealt with.

The Tesla bio was not in stock, so it’s being sent along to the house as soon as BN finds one in the warehouse.

Bidness done, we mooched around; Steve was being entranced by the games and toys.  I wandered over to the Writing and Publishing section, and saw a book titled Book in a Month: The Fool-Proof System for Writing a Novel in 30 Days.  The dental bill very much in my mind, I picked this up, to find that it is authored by one Victoria Lynn Schmidt, PhD, who has written several books touching on the craft of writing, but does not appear, herself, to have actually written a novel.

Am I wrong to want a book about a fool-proof system for writing a novel in 30 days to have actually been written by someone who, oh, I don’t know, writes novels?  In 30 days?  And sells them?

Sheesh.

After that disappointment, it was all the more delightful to find our friend Stew minding the music section.  We shot many bulls; Steve bought a Tai Chi DVD and I bought a Yoga DVD, and as we were standing there getting the credit cards sorted out, I said, “Nice fiddle music,” and Steve agreed.  Stew showed us the cover for “What’s Playing Now” and we added Lindsey Stirling to our pile.  For, as it turns out, free, because BN was having an in-store “buy two, get the third free” sale.

We played the new music on the way home.  I gotta tell you what — I’d’ve played the hell of this thing when I was incarcerated working at Colby.

Here, try one.

The schedule for the rest of the day includes writing, and laundry, and maybe a nap. Because — rising ridiculously early four days in a row?  So not cool.

 

The things you read in books

So, I’m reading a book about the life and times of Billy the Kid*.  Billy being one of those folks, like Doc Holliday, who didn’t leave much of a paper-trail, the book (so far) is more about the times than the man.

Though I’d like more Billy, I’m being tolerably amused by the recounting of the times, and the large cast of characters who lived during them, and the author’s choices of relevant information.

For instance, in attempting to put the Wild West and the Wild West Hero, into context with the times, the author pursues a discussion of dime novels, which I reproduce in part here:

The dime novels published by the brothers Erastus and Irwin Beadle of the mass-market publisher the House of Beadle and Admas were some of the most popular of that era, starting in June 1860 with Malaeska: The Indian Wife of the White Hunter.  Considered the first dime novel, Malaeska tells the tragic tale of an Indian maiden married to a white settler.  It proved a romantic sensation and sold more than sixty-five thousand copies within the first few months.

Nathaniel Hawthorne complained bitterly about what he perceived as a gaggle of female romance writers, whom he called “this damned mob of scribbling women,” who clogged the bestseller lists and prevented his own literary works from being read and discussed.  . . .With the appearance of the typewriter in the 1870s imaginative authors could earn good wages at a penny a word.  Many of them could knock out a thousand words an hour for hours on end. 

Not only were the damned women writers even then Doing It Wrong and Spoiling Everything, but they were earning a penny a word for doing it.  In my lifetime, I remember — and submitted to — markets that paid 1/2 cent a word.  Also — 65,000 copies?  *swoons*

. . .There’s an afternoon run to Bangor on today’s calendar, which means writing is happening in 3. . .2. . .1. . .

____________
*Billy the Kid:  The Endless Ride, Michael Wallis

#SFWAPro

Sunday morning in the North Country

Slept in, had a leisurely breakfast with Steve, brushed three coon cats; two of whom like to be brushed, and one who thinks that brushing is a sign of the End Times.

Trooper and Sprite are watching the bird feeder action as the snow drifts down. Mozart is curled up in the Warmest Corner in my office.  Scrabble is supervising Steve from atop the Former Home of Circular Logic BBS.

I put chocolate in my third cup of coffee to celebrate the snow, and, after I post this, will get on with the day’s writing.  If all goes well, we’ll break early tonight and stream that gentle romantic comedy, The Sorcerer and the White Snake, for relaxation.

I see by the One Calendar that the rest of the week is going to be rather busy with Things, so I may be scarce around the intertubes.  You have been warned.

I hope everyone has a pleasant Sunday and, indeed, a pleasant week.