Mattie Brahen, Briefly Remembered

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Today, I attended the memorial service for Mattie Brahen, author and the wife of Darrell Schweitzer. Darrell was of course devastated. He wrote a memorial for Mattie and very wisely had the funeral parlor director read it for him, rather than attempt it himself and risk breaking down in public.

The parlor was filled with friends and family. Several came forward to speak. And then it was over. 

At times like these, I feel the loss of Gardner Dozois most acutely. I've heard him speak at several funerals and he had the gift of summing up a life in a handful of words, always ending with, "You could do worse."

Thinking about Mattie, and Darrell, and Gardner afterwords, I speculated about what Gardner might have said were he there. Something, I think, along the lines of;

She read the books she loved. She wrote the books she loved. She sang the songs she loved. She loved the people she loved. You could do worse.

And I honestly don't see how you could do better.

Above: I swiped Mattie's picture from her Facebook page. I honestly don't think she'd have minded.

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One-Day E-Book Sale Tomorrow: The Iron Dragon's Daughter

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Open Road Media is putting the e-book of what may be my most popular novel, The Iron Dragon's Daughter, on sale tomorrow, June 11th, That's one day only. The price will be $1.99. And, with apologies to the rest of the world, this offer is good in the US only.

And here's the entirety of my sales pitch: If you like e-books and are curious about my novel and live in the United States, you might consider buying it.

I don't believe in haranguing readers.

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Stalking the Black Swan

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The other day, on an impulse, Marianne and I went to Bombay Hook Wildlife Refuge in search of the otherwise nonexistent in the America wild black swan. I'm not going to mislead you: The swan did not get caught up in a windstorm in China and miraculously survive a journey across the Pacific Ocean and then over thousands of miles of the body of the United States to end up in Delaware. No. It was almost certainly an escapee or a dump from a private aviary.

Nevertheless, an adventure is an adventure. And, as adventures do, this one involved a lot of voracious insects. But also two separate bald eagles, sitting on two separate mud flats. And two foxes, one of which was obviously working the cars in the hope that someone would throw him a hot dog, a blue grosbeak (seen in the sun, where its plumage dazzled, and in the shade where it didn't), a wild turkey trotting down the road toward us, a green egret, which is a lovely little bird perfectly camouflaged for waterfront foliage, save for its bright yellow feet. We saw them all.

Oh, and the black swan. 

We saw it.

It was kind of frustrating to be looking at such a rarity and have cars rush be without even pausing to ask what Marianne and I were looking at. I waved one car to a stop and, pointing, said, "There's a black swan out there." To which the woman replied, "We've seen a white one and a fox." and drove on. But on the return loop, we looked to see if it was still where we'd last seen it and it was. More pertinently, there was a stopped car and spilling over it five people with cameras and binoculars and spotting scopes all pointed in the same direction.

"You saw the black swan?" either Marianne or I said.

"Oh, yes. Right there. Wonderful."

"That's good." And, feeling much better, we drove on.

And because there's always more than one ending to any true story . . .

On the way home, shortly after Marianne said that the only thing she regretted was not seeing a snapping turtle, I spotted a snapping turtle on the verge of the highway.

Above: Yes, that tiny black silhouette is it. It looks better through binoculars. Someday I should consider getting a real camera with a zoom lens.

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Singular Interviews: MICHAEL MOORCOCK

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Marianne Porter's latest Dragonstairs Press chapbook, Singular Interviews, will be offered for sale at noon Eastern time this coming Saturday, and sell out shortly thereafter. A quarter-century in the making, each of my interviews with a science fiction or fantasy notable is exactly one question long. Meanwhile, here's my favorite of the lot--the single most concise and enlightening summation of Michael Moorcock's oeuvre I've ever encountered. By the man who knows more about it than anyone else.

 

SINGULAR INTERVIEWS:  MICHAEL MOORCOCK

 

QUESTION: When and why did you decide to interconnect all your stories and novels to make of them a single metafiction?

MICHAEL MOORCOCK: I frequently read that my aspiration was to ‘improve’ science fiction in some way by shifting emphasis away from its traditional subject matter and calling for higher standards of writing.  Actually I wanted to introduce the techniques and subject matter of sf and fantasy into ‘literary’ or non-generic work, to broaden the concerns of general fiction which I believed to be moribund.  For all I know this was going to happen anyway so I was perhaps just one of many people trying to do the same but at the time I knew very few people who agreed with me. The likes of Kingsley Amis, in fact, vehemently disagreed with me.  My ambition inspired my criticism and my editorship of NEW WORLDS.  None of this, of course, happened overnight.  It took a few years to develop a coherent sense of exactly how this could be achieved and demonstrated.

I read Zweig’s biography of Balzac when I was 15 and as a journalist learned, like him, to write at high speeds without giving myself time to revise, developing ideas from one story to another rather than refining a single piece, but I was never consciously inspired by him. My first version of The Eternal Champion was written in 1957 when I was 17 and was pretty crudely written but contained the idea, perhaps inspired by Arnold’s Phra the Phoenician, of a protagonist constantly reborn to fight a cause over and over again through different historical periods and locales.  My description of what I called a ‘multiverse’, The Sundered Worlds, a story which looked at a many worlds theory, first explored in fiction by Wells, from as it were the outside as an observable phenomenon, was published in 1963, but I didn’t start to consider my work as one large novel until 1968 when I began A Cure For Cancer, the second Jerry Cornelius book, and realized I could refine ideas over many books by linking them to the same characters in different situations and circumstances. 

I’m not for a moment comparing my work to Balzac’s Human Comedy, but I might have come to it for similar reasons, practical as well as artistic, continuing themes and ideas via the same characters in often very disparate places, historical periods and invented worlds, enabling me to write stories which moved from generic fiction to literary fiction and so break down the barriers between them as editorially I tried to encourage authors to do in New Worlds.  This quickly enabled me to write books which were part realistic and part fantastic and thus carry ideas organically from one sequence of stories, absurdist, fantastic and realistic, to another.  A relatively minor character, such as Colonel Pyat of the Cornelius stories, could become the self-deceiving, unreliable narrator of a realistic examination of the 20^th century roots of the Nazi holocaust, while a character like Elric can appear in a fantasy or a comedy without any apparent incongruity.  They can, like players in a Commedia dell’ Arte sketch, keep their essential personalities and moral character from piece to piece and carry a theme which can be looked at from many different aspects and narratives.  They offer the reader echoes, as it were, which bring a feeling of familiarity without the kind of distracting (and disappointing) rationale which, in my view, frequently ruins a good story.  In this sense they should produce a feeling of resolution more like music than most fiction.  Whether I’ve been successful in this, of course, is for the reader to decide.

 

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J. R. R. Tolkien's Winooski

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Look what I found while going through some old papers!

Here, before your eyes, is where my career as a fantasist began. With a drawing by a junior high school student who had just read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and would never be the same again.

I was in high school in Winooski, Vermont when... But I've already told this story, in an essay titled "A Changeling Returns, written for and published in Meditations on Middle-Earth. Here's the pertinent excerpt:

 

…  in my high school days, my sister Patricia sent home from nursing school a box of paperbacks (I can see that box now, freshly opened and full of promise) which she had read and no longer wanted.  Among them was The Fellowship of the Ring.  I picked it up late one evening, after finishing my homework, meaning to read a chapter or two before sleep.  I stayed up all night.  It wasn’t easy, but by skipping breakfast in the morning and reading every step of the way to school, I managed to finish the last page just as the bell rang for my first class to begin.

Oh, how that book shook and rattled me!  It rang me like a bell.  Even today, when I am three times as old as I was then, I can still hold my breath and hear the faint reverberations from that long, eternal night.  That reading made me a writer, though it took me forever to then learn my craft.  It showed me what literature could do and what it could be.

 

As an adult, I am painfully aware of the deficiencies of that drawing. But it's a good indication of how enthusiastic I was about Tolkien's great work. And, to be fair to the kid who drew it, I haven't gotten any better as a visual artist in the decades since then.

 

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Singular Interviews: GREER GILMAN

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Marianne Porter's latest Dragonstairs Press chapbook, Singular Interviews, will be offered for sale at noon Eastern time this coming Saturday, and sell out shortly thereafter. A quarter-century in the making, each of my interviews with a science fiction or fantasy notable is exactly one question long. This week, I'm posting three of the interviews on this blog. Here's the second of them:

 

 SINGULAR INTERVIEWS:  GREER GILMAN

QUESTION:  In Farah Mendlesohn’s and Edward James’ A Short History of Fantasy, they say that Cloud & Ash is written entirely in iambic pentameter.  Can this possibly be true?

GREER GILMAN:  Well, not pentameter, as it’s not in lines, but yes: iambic Xameter, endlessly enjambed.

 

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Singular Interviews: JOHN CROWLEY

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Marianne Porter's latest Dragonstairs Press chapbook, Singular Interviews, will be offered for sale at noon Eastern time this coming Saturday, and sell out shortly thereafter. A quarter-century in the making, each of my interviews with a science fiction or fantasy notable is exactly one question long. In the coming week, I'll be posting three of the interviews on this blog. Here's the first of them:

SINGULAR INTERVIEWS:  JOHN CROWLEY

 

QUESTION:  You have been working on Aegypt for rather a long time, and you're currently years from completion of this enormous four-book project.  Why are you engaged in such a large and time-consuming single work?

 JOHN CROWLEY:  God knows.  God help me.  For having ever started this.  When we are young we think that life will go on forever.  When we grow older, we realize that life has shapes.  It's time, it seems to me, to find out that the largest stretch of my creative years is going to be taken up with a project that will probably be the major thing that I do in life.  That's scary.  That's a terrifying thought.  You try to preserve possibilities.  You try to have a life that continues to open out, even though you know it doesn't.  And the idea that it doesn't, and that life has shapes, is borne in on me as I work on this book.  It's not like I will go on and write dozens of books.  I don't know what they are.  No, I know what they are, and I am already in the middle of writing one of them.  I don't know why.  I wish I knew.

 

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Coming From Dragonstairs Press: Singular Interviews

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A quarter of a century ago, I was sitting in the bar at a Worldcon, chatting with John Crowley, and realized that it was an excellent opportunity to ask him a question I'd been wondering about. And, as it happened, I had a cassette tape recorder with me. So I got his permission, turned the recorder on, and asked.

Thus began a project that has just now culminated in Singular Interviews, the latest chapbook from Dragonstairs Press.  Off and on, over the years, I would take the recorder with me to conventions and periodically ask people a single question. Later, I conducted more interviews via e-mail. Most of which were published one at a time in the New York Review of Science Fiction, though the last two or three are new to print.

 Marianne Porter has collected these brief interviews in a beautifully crafted chapbook. The one-question interviewees are: John Crowley, Tom Purdom (a witty joke), Eileen Gunn, Gregory Frost, Paul Park, Mike Resnick, Samuel R. Delany, Karl Schoeder, David Hartwell, Henry Wessells, Greer Gilman, Spider Robinson, Fran Wilde, Tom Purdom (a serious answer this time), and Michael Moorcock.

What I like most about this project is how differently all the writers (and one editor) answered their question. But you don't have to take my word for it. I'll be posting three of the Singular Interviews this week, in the lead-up to the sale.

And for those interested in buying a copy . . .

 The Dragonstairs Press notification letter has just been sent out. It contains all the ordering information and is reprinted below verbatim:

Singular Interviews is a collection of one question interviews conducted by Michael Swanwick, with a variety of science fiction and fantasy's best and brightest. The interviews were carried out over many years, and have previously been published in the New York Review of Science Fiction. They are collected here for the first time. 

The eleven subjects include Greer Gilman, John Crowley, Mike Resnick, David Hartwell, and Samuel R. Delany, among others. The questions range from insightful probes into professional intentions to bits of whimsy about Jules Verne's appearance as Guest of Honor at Philcon. 

Offered in an edition of 60, Singular Interviews are hand stitched, bound in Indian 100% cotton paper in various colors, numbered and signed by Swanwick. They will be available at noon, Philadelphia time (eastern daylight savings) on June 7, 2025 at www.dragonstairs.com.

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #32 of 32

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Liquid Air Plant

This is possibly my favorite of all the lithographs. Fantastic use of perspective and evocation of lighting.

This concludes what has been an adventure for Marianne and me. We discovered the lithographs in an auction, were astonished by their size at the viewing, and won them when nobody else realized what they were. And then began a long search for an institution with flatbed scanners (putting paper that was over a century old through rollers is a recipe for disasters) that would be willing to do the scanning.

Long story short, we found one. And now these images belong to you and the world.

These images have been downsized to fit Blogger's requirements and limitations. On Monday, I'll post info on how you can download high-definition versions of all of them

Thank you, Chesley, for giving Marianne and me a wonderful experience.

 And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #31 of 32

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Chimney in the Rain

If you've been following this series, you'll recognize the chimney. It's in the background of a lot of the lithographs. It's the signature image of the nitrates plant.

And this lovely image is the penultimate lithograph. The last one will be published tomorrow. It's a stunner.

 And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #30 of 32

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Base of Boiler-House Stack

Another dark and Biblical image. It helps to remember that World War One was going on during the plant's construction, and that its purpose was to create munitions. It was a time of high seriousness for the United States.

 And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #29 of 32

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Carbide Furnace, Upper Level

Once again, Bonestell demonstrates his mastery of perspective. I love how the building recedes into  shadow in the distance.

And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #28 of 32

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Carbide Furnace Room, Lower Level

It's hard not to marvel at how we've lost touch with the epic scale of the structures that make the things a society needs. (In this case munitions, alas; but later, fertilizer.) Chesley Bonestell made these images back when such things were still celebrated.

This series will conclude on Friday.

 And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Celebrating America! The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga

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250 years ago yesterday, the first American victory in the War for Independence took place when Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys took Fort Ticonderoga.

Factors favoring the Americans include that the fort was in disrepair and that it was manned only by a small British force of fifty soldiers. However, there was a honking big lake between Vermont and New York, where the fort was situated. Ethan Allen gathered together all the boats that could be found and launched a sneak late-night raid. But there were not enough boats for all the soldiers he had gathered together and dawn was coming. So, rather than lose the element of surprise, the raid commenced with eighty-three men and two commanders.

Complicating matters was Benedict Arnold, who had independently come up with the idea of a raid, gotten authorization from the governor of Massachusetts, and arrived in Vermont with a smaller force of men. He demanded to be put in charge but was hooted down by the Green Mountain Boys, who refused to follow anybody but their favorite native son. At last, an agreement was struck that he would march alongside Allen. Later, he claimed to be a co-commander, but documentation of this has never been found and, given Allen's personality, seems unlikely.

The attack was swift and sudden. A lone British sentry essayed one musket shot, which misfired, and fled. The Americans took over the fort and, when asked in whose authority he acted, Ethan Allen supposedly said, "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" However, given that Allen was an atheist and that Vermont was at the time a functioning anarchy with no official ties to the Continental Congress, it is likely that he said something equally colorful by far less printable.

No soldiers on either side were killed or injured, save for one American who received a minor bayonet wound. The cannons and other munitions stored at the fort were later used to push the British out of Boston. And Benedict Arnold had suffered the first of many humiliations that would later lead him to turn traitor. When the Green Mountain Boys went home, he was left in command of the fort and a small number of troops--until Connecticut sent their own men up to claim the weaponry and make him subordinate to an officer who had seen no action. Arnold who had spent over a thousand pounds of his own money and received no glory at all, resigned his commission and went home.

Above: Image found at Warfare History Network, which has a far more detailed description of the battle here. It is disputed whether Lieutenant Feltham was actually forced to surrender with his trousers in his hand. But true or not it makes a great story.

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #27 of 32

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There's only a week more to go and every one of the Bonestell lithographs will be online. When that happens, Marianne and I will create a BitTorrent and you'll be able to download all the images at high resolution.

Then, because the images were made over a century ago and were commissioned by the United States government, which placed them immediately in the public domain... You can use them for any purpose you wish. Post them on your blog, use them for book covers, put your favorites on t-shirts and sell them on Ebay. It's all legal and ethical.

I'll give you the link when it's up.

 And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #26 of 32

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Nitric Acid Absorbtion Towers

This is one of Marianne's favorites. Not that small light at the top left of the towers. And if you look carefully, you can see the horizon in the distance.

And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #25 of 32

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W

 End View Absorbtion Tower Building

Doesn't this look like a scene from the Old Testament? Construction of the Tower of Babel, maybe. Or the furnace that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Bonestell has studied the illustrations in the family Bible when he was a child.

And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #24 of 32

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Looking Along Absorbtion Tower Building

We're three-quarters of the way through the lithographs and, though they're only very loosely organized, you can see that the plant is nearing completion. What a great sense of scale Bonestell created here!

 And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #23 of 32

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The Boiler House

One thing I love about Bonestell's lithographs is how much extra work he put into each one to make it visually appealing. He didn't have to render a reflection of the boiler house in that pond. But it really makes the image stand out.

And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #22 of 32

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Concrete Chute and Rock Crusher at Power House

 And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #21 of 32

  .

 

Power House

It's well worth clicking on this image so you can see it in greater detail. But, then again, it's worth viewing all the Bonestell lithographs that way.

And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #20 of 32

 .

 

View Toward Boiler House

Does it strike you that some of these lithographs have similarities to Bonestell's representations of manmade structures in his speculative astronomical paintings? Well, you're not alone. Here's what artist Ron Miller had to say about yesterday's lithograph, over on Facebook:

Bonestell's architectural work and his astronomical art are related. What he learned---and employed---in his architectural drawings and paintings: light and shadow, perspective, etc., was directly employed in his space art. This is especially the case with his depiction of spacecraft, where perspective was often of immense importance. For instance, in this painting, not only is the perspective of the spacecraft convincing, look at the light and shadows. The shadows cast by the spherical tanks on the wing. Or take that near vertical fin, where light is reflected back onto its shaded side by the illuminated wing...and the reflection in the fin of its own shadow. This is complex stuff and he learned it from doing work such as the drawings he created for the the Muscle Shoals project.

And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

Above: Ron Miller's comments have been reproduced with his permission. If you'd like to see a selection of his astronomical paintings, they can be found here.

 

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3 Hard Shots at the Moon

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Look what came in the mail! 3 Hard Shots at the Moon is a signed and numbered limited edition (300 copies) hardcover containing three hard-sf novellas set on the Moon. It contains John Kessel's "Stories for Men," Ian McDonald's "The Menace from Farside," and my own "Griffin's Egg," along with an introduction by James Patrick Kelly. With a cover and full-color interior illustrations by Maurizio Manzieri.

Also available in paperback and e-book formats from the publisher, Infinivox. You can find their page with complete information about the book--and Manzieri's interior illustrations--here.

And since I have the opportunity to talk about it . . . 

"Griffin's Egg" was originally published in hardcover format by Century/Legend in Britain in 1991. The triggering incident for the novella is a nuclear war on Earth that leaves its Lunar research colony isolated. At the time I was writing, it only made sense that such a war would be a confrontation between East and West--between the USSR and the United States, essentially. Only...

That was a war that SF writers had been predicting since shortly after Hiroshima. The very thought of it bored me. So I created a conflict whose origins were obscure and which no one really understood. The ideologies involved were of no relevance to the story anyway, so why not? And between the time I wrote the story and when it came out in print, a funny thing happened...

The Soviet Union collapsed.

It happened very suddenly, essentially because the people of East Germany were as bored by the East-West Cold War universe as I was. (I oversimplify greatly; feel free to read a few books of history.) If I had gone with the conventional wisdom of the times, "Griffin's Egg" would be painfully dated today. But because I didn't, the future I imagined is still conceivably one we might have.

There's a lesson to be learned here, but I'm not sure I can put it into words. Other than that it's usually better to imagine things differently than everybody else does.

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #19 of 32

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Constructing the Power House

Ron Miller, who is not only a very fine astronomical artist in his own right but also co-author of The Art of Chesley Bonestell, has most kindly provided a link to the Library of Congress's page about the United States Nitrate Plant No. 2, including a brief history of the plant and what became of it:

Significance: Built as a war measure for the production of ammonium nitrate, a key component in high explosives, United States Nitrate Plant No. 2 became one of the largest plants of its kind with a capacity to produce 110,000 tons of ammonium nitrate per year. The plant and its adjoining industrial town were hurriedly constructed in a nine month period between February and November of 1918 with little regard to cost. After two brief periods of production, one toward the end of 1918, the other in the February of 1919, the 348 acre manufacturing site lay idle for the next fourteen years while Congress and private industry wrangled over bids that had less to do with the nitrate plant than they did with the hydro-power of the adjoining Wilson Dam. As a chemical plant for the production of ammonium nitrate, U.S.N.P. No. 2 was actually a series of discreet plants, each producing an intermediate product in a lengthy and mechanically complex industrial process. On an unprecedented scale, U.S.N.P. No. 2 assembled state of the art technologies for the production of calcium carbide, liquid air, cyanamide, ammonia gas, nitric acid, and ammonium nitrate.

More information and diagrams can be found here.

And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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A Field Guide To Writing Fiction by A. B. Guthrie, Jr.

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I picked this up at a library sale the other day, and I'm glad I did. There are a lot of books out there on how to write. Most of them are overlong and many are a complete waste of time. A. B. Guthrie, Jr.'s slim volume is neither. It is less than a hundred pages long and close to every word of it is useful to an aspiring or beginning author.

From the Introduction:

Bear in mind that I am addressing myself not to people who want to write but to those who will write or are already writing. Too often I encounter men and women, young and old, who speak of the wish to write and the intention of doing so sometime. They populate the meadows of forlorn hopes.

From a brief chapter (all Guthrie's chapters are brief) on beginning lines, after giving several examples of especially effective openings:

But be careful. You can overdo it and strain the reader's credulity. And don't be upset if you can't come upon a novel beginning. If your story is good, a clear opening is enough.

And here's the opening to the chapter on adjectives and adverbs:

Maxim: The adjective is the enemy of the noun and the adverb the enemy of damn near everything else. Nouns and verbs are the guts of language. That's another engraving for your skull.

I could go on. But these examples tell you everything you need to know about this book: It's terse. It's aphoristic. The language is vivid and direct. The advice is all practical. And, oh yes, every word of it is true.

This is not a volume for the experienced writer. If heeded, however, it can spare a newcomer a lot of anguish and frustration on the road to becoming the writer they wish to be.

And I hear you ask . . .

Is there a better book on how to write? Yes, there is, and both Mr. Guthrie and I agree on what it is. John Gardner's The Art of Fiction is extraordinary. Read this volume first, however. It touches on all the basics.

If you don't have the ready cash, both books are readily available via interlibrary loan.

 

Above: The cover blurb says, "A Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist shares a lifetime of secrets on the art of writing fiction." They're not secrets, unless you're just starting out. But they're all things every writer needs to know.

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #18 of 32

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The Lime Nitrogen Oven Building

To appreciate this one, you have to click on the picture and see it in detail.

 And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #17 of 32

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Ammonia Gas Columns by Autoclave Building

Is this great or what? (I apologize that I have so little to contribute, other than fanboy gush. But as a product of the American education system, I've never had an art class in my life.)

 And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #16 of 32

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 Lime Kilns

Half of the Chesley Bonestell industrial lithographs have been posted. Those of you who may be interested in the purpose and history of the plant, may find detailed information at the Library of Congress website:

United States Nitrate Plant No. 2, Reservation Road, Muscle Shoals, Colbert County, AL | Library of Congress

And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #15 of 32

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Working on Power House at Night

One thing that strikes me strongly about these lithographs is the artistic ambition of them, as demonstrated by the variety of techniques and approaches Bonestell employed. I seriously doubt anybody said to him, "Go out and at night and get an image of the work being done under difficult conditions." But there he was. Because he knew the result would be striking.

A lesson to us all: If you want to make your mark, you don't always get to sleep late. Or work under comfortable conditions.

And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #14 of 32

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Power House Steel and Base of One of Power Stacks

What is particularly striking in this series of lithographs is the variety of techniques that Bonestell employed. The images vary so greatly from one another!

I don't have the language to say more than that. But an artist could talk your ear off about the skill shown in these images. And they would be well worth listening to.

 And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

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