Vacuum Flowers One-Day e-Book Sale!

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My e-book publisher, Open Road Media, informs me that there will be a one-day e-book sale for my novel Vacuum Flowers. On November 30 (that's Wednesday), it will be available, in the US only, for $1.99.

 I know it seems like I post something like this, only for different books, rather a lot. But it seems to be Open Road's business plan. So if you like e-books and would like to read my novel... well, here's your chance.

 

And as long as I'm here . . .

I might as well tell you something about the ending of Vacuum Flowers. It ends with Rebel Elizabeth Mudlark, the protagonist, standing in the vacuum docks with her husband's coffin at her feet, waiting for transportation back to her home in the Oort Cloud. Her passage through the Solar System took her on a cometary orbit inward and then out, making various stops along the way. (This is a sub-genre of sf that was once called the Grand Tour.)  

Now, comets travel in one of two paths--either a hyperbolic orbit or a parabolic orbit. The hyperbolic orbit takes the comet in and then out, never to return. But the parabolic orbit is closed loop. Which means that sooner or later, the comet will return. All the time I was writing the novel, I was aware of both possibilities. In one possible ending she would return. In the other she would not. In one ending, her husband was alive. In the other, the coffin held a corpse.

I held both endings in my mind without choosing one up until I came to the very last page. Then I made my choice and the novel was finished.

Looking back, I am convinced I made the right choice.

But it was a close thing.

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David Sherman

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David Sherman is dead. Tom Purdom used to introduce him as "walking time bomb David Sherman" because that was the slur upon combat vets at the time, but of course he was nothing of the sort. He was a good man and excellent company.

David began his writing career by writing military fiction because as an ex-marine who had served in Vietnam that was something he knew well. He moved on to military science fiction, both solo and in collaboration with Dan Cragg. His work was highly regarded.

It has been a long, long time since I've seen David. Many years ago, he moved to Florida for the weather (and, he would have said jokingly, the women). But it was always comforting to know he was out there, writing and enjoying life.

Now he's not, and the world is a sadder place for that. David was solid stuff. He had a good sense of humor. You'd have liked him.

Above: I found this picture on Facebook. I believe it was taken by his friend Colin Wolfe.

 

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My Philcon Schedule

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 I've just received my tentative Philcon schedule. Since the convention begins in a week and a half, I'm pretty confident that this will also be my final schedule.  

Here it is:

Start Time      Duration       Room Name                                Title

Fri 7:30 PM    25 Min                204                      Readings: Michael Swanwick                       

Sat 1:00 PM    50 Min                217                      Autographs: Tom Purdom, Michael Swanwick         

Sat 2:00 PM    50 Min          Plaza 3                      We ARE Living in Philip K. Dick’s Future, Aren’t We?

Sat 4:00 PM    50 Min          Plaza 3                      The Excitement and Frustration of Exoplanets     

Sat 9:00 PM    50 Min          Plaza 3                      Women Speculative Fiction Authors Before 1970   

Sun 10:00 AM  50 Min        Crystal 2                    The Timey-Wimeyness of Time    

 

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Opening Paragraph du Jour

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Herein begins an informal occasional series. The opening paragraph of Anais Nin's Collages:

Vienna was the city of statues. They were as numerous as the people who walked the streets. They stood on the tips of the highest towers, lay down on stone tombs, sat on horseback, kneeled, prayed, fought animals and wars, danced, drank wine, and read books made of stone. They adorned cornices like the figureheads of old ships. They stood in the heart of fountains glistening with water as if they had just been born. They sat under trees in the parks summer and winter. Some wore costumes of other periods, and some no clothes at all. Men, women, children, kings, dwarfs, gargoyles, unicorns, lions, clowns, heroes, wise men, prophets, angels, saints and soldiers preserved for Vienna an illusion of eternity.

 

Isn't that charming? Note the lack of specificity, the suppression of commas outside the lists, the quick turns of invention, the way the author keeps it lucid and interesting throughout. She really did know what she was doing.

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My Worldcon Brunch-Interview with Scott Edelman

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 One morning at the Chicago Worldcon earlier this year, Scott Edelman treated me to brunch and recorded a rambling-filled anecdote interview for his Eating the Fantastic podcast. At least, that's how I vaguely remember it. While I value what I've written immensely, I don't pay much attention to what I've said. It leave my mouth, enters the air, and disappears.

But here's how Scott remembers it:

We discussed his response to learning a reader of his was recently surprised to find out he was still alive, how J. R. R. Tolkein turned him into a writer, why it took him 15 years of trying to finally finish his first story, how Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann taught him how to write by taking apart one of his tales and putting it back together again, why it was good luck he lost his first two Nebula Awards the same year, the good advice William Gibson gave him which meant he never had to be anxious about awards again, which friend’s story was so good he wanted to throw his own typewriter out the window in a rage, the novel he abandoned writing because he found the protagonists morally repugnant, why he didn’t want to talk about Playboy magazine, the truth behind a famous John W. Campbell, Jr./Robert Heinlein anecdote, and much more.

So apparently I was pretty interesting. 

You can find Scott's blog and instructions on where to find the interview here. 

 

Above: Photo and copyright by Scott Edelman.

 

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