We Lose Another Great: Octavia Butler

Science fiction author Octavia Butler died last weekend, following a fall outside her home in the Seattle area. And the science fiction world, and all of the world, have lost another great treasure. She was the first black American woman to rise to prominence as a science fiction writer, and the first science fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Foundation genius grant. She was also widely acknowledged to be one of the finest writers in the field, regardless of race, gender, or another other arbitrary distinction. By the time you read this, there will probably be a number of stories online, but the two I saw first were from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Chicago Tribune.

I never knew her personally. But I feel her loss as a blow to the community I'm a part of—really, two communities, the one of humanity, and the more narrowly defined one of science fiction lovers. It also makes me think once more about the fleeting nature of life on this world, and how it seems a shame to do anything but try to use our time well.

Writing Dialogue: Get Fuzzy

Followers of Get Fuzzy know that Bucky Katt has been hard at work on his film project. I've already mentioned it as guidance in how (not) to workshop a script. Today there's a good illustration of a quick and easy way to...um, make sure that your dialogue is vivid and realistic. Check out today's Get Fuzzy. Give a man a piece of dialogue, and he'll write for a day. Teach him to write dialogue, and he'll write for a lifetime.

And if you haven't been following, jump back a few weeks in the archive and work your way forward.

Boskone, and News about Galactica

Well, I had a thoroughly pleasant time at Boskone. This took me a little by surprise, only because I was feeling all grumpy and not really in the mood to go out. I had to, though, because I was scheduled to be on panels. And once I got there and started seeing old friends, and making some new ones, I got into the spirit of it. I also thought this was the liveliest and most interesting Boskone I have seen in a number of years.

One pleasant result was encountering some fans who had already read Battlestar Galactica: the Miniseries. The feedback was all good. Perhaps the nicest was from a young woman who happens to be a Commander in the US Navy, and who is about to become captain of a guided missile destroyer. She said she thought I'd captured the feel of the story very well—and I took that as significant praise, coming from someone who actually knows what it's like to run a military vessel. (The only ones I have ever been aboard have been museums, rather like what Galactica was scheduled to become before the pesky Cylons interfered.)

An encouraging sidelight was hearing from one of my writing buddies that he'd met with his editor and confirmed the sale of a new trilogy. Earning a living as a writer is not easy for any of us, and he's no exception. I don't know if I should mention his name here, so I'll just say that it rhymes with Craig Shaw Gardner, and his writing style is very similar. I'll let him announce the details once everything's been inked.

And finally, I came home to see an email from my editor, telling me that Galactica has sold to a British publisher and has had a book club sale. Given that my biggest rationale for writing the book was to get my name back in front of the public (I didn't know then that I was going to enjoy Galactica so much), this is very good news indeed. More readers, and—who knows—maybe even a little more money, in the long run.

(Which reminds me of something I want to write about—readers versus money. But later. Remind me if I forget.)

Touching Base

I'll have an update for you soon on progress with the book, end of wrestling season for my daughter, beginning of drama and cosmology season for my other daughter, and my piercingly wise observations about the state of the world. But now I'm getting set to head downtown to one of the big Boston SF conventions (Boskone), where I'll be doing panels and signing books and stuff. If you're in the area, I'll be signing (sez the schedule here) tomorrow, Saturday, at 1:00 p.m.—and giving away a half dozen more reading copies of Battlestar Galactica.

Later.

Forthcoming Appearances

I realized I hadn't updated the Appearances page on my web site in ages, so I've done that now. Here's the list of conventions and conferences I plan to be at between now and this summer:

I'm scheduled to attend the following upcoming conventions:

• Feb. 17-19 — Boskone (Boston, MA)


• March 24-26 — I-con (Stony Brook University, Long Island, NY)


• July 7-9 — Readercon (Burlington, MA)

I'll be participating in programming such as panels, autograph sessions, and whatever else the programming committees ask me to do. Please stop by and say hello!

I'll also be a guest instructor at:

• May 18-21 — New England Young Writers Conference (Bread Loaf, Vermont) working with high school-aged writers

Hi. I'm Still Here!

That's about the longest I've gone without posting, and I'd like to say it's because I've been so successfully cranking away on Sunborn. And while indeed I have been working on Sunborn, it's been slow progress. Life has been very full on the family front: wrestling meets with my older daughter (who is now a junior in high school), various homeschooling activities with my younger daughter (eighth grade, but just starting to tackle a college intro course in cosmology, which she is auditing), new job for my wife, and...well, it's all great stuff. The only down side is, when I do sit down to write, I'm having to reach hard to find creative energy.

So I'll be leaving this to get back to that in a moment, but I wanted to record some stray thoughts prompted by today's reading. Followers of the comic strip Get Fuzzy—and I'm as big a fan as they come—have no doubt been enjoying the last week's worth of strips featuring Bucky as a budding screenwriter, and Rob as his source of feedback. If you don't get it in your local paper, read it online. You might start with the February 1 strip, and work your way forward. (How not to workshop your writing!)

The Washington Post online today points to a very interesting article from PC World, Hollywood vs. Your PC, Round 2. In brief, the digital video equipment in our near future is going to be full of barricades to prevent us from recording desirable content on TV. (Same with high-def radio.) Digital rights management being pushed by the entertainment industry will screw the consumer, in order to guarantee continued huge profits to the content providers. (Probably not to the writers behind the content providers, but that's another discussion.) Sony's recent escapade with CD protection could be just an opening round. As one pundit put it, the only way to prevent it might be for consumers to just refuse to buy the equipment they're getting ready to offer us. (Not a big personal issue there for me. Any piece of entertainment electronics over $200 is unlikely to make it into our house in the near future. So we won't be buying high-def real soon, anyway. But I'm sure going to keep recording those great old movies on Turner Classic, while I can.)

Okay, I said I was getting back to the book, and that's what I'm gonna do. So long, for now!