Podcasts, mind melds and bowling balls

Two more little items up in the last couple of days: first, I've done another Mind Meld at SFSignal, this time talking about my favourite SF/F novel that's less than 350 pages. Those who have been around here a while will get no points for guessing what I picked.

Second, I did a very fun podcast to promote The Year's Best Military SF and Space Opera, in which I got to discuss my story along with editor David Afsharirad and fellow contributors Linda Nagata, Michael Z. Williamson, David D. Levine and friend and fellow Ottawan Derek Kunsken. I actually recorded my part during a visit to a bowling alley, which accounts for some of the odd noises in the background.


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This and that

Not much news about fiction, but I have two short non-fiction pieces up this week: one at SF Signal, where I was part of a Mind Meld about movies that are better than the books they're based on, and one at the SFWA blog, where I wrote about why I'm a member and volunteer.

Next week is that launch date for The Year's Best Military SF and Space Opera, which includes my story "Rules of Engagement." Baen is having a special promotion where readers can vote on which story they like the best, with the winner being awarded at DragonCon.

Next week is also the Nebulas, where I'll be participating at the group autograph session if nothing else (I don't have final word about programming yet.) We're going a few days early to see Chicago, so it should be a good trip in several different ways.

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Where I'll be at Ad Astra, and other stuff

Well, it's been a while since I posted here -- work and SFWA stuff (and, sadly, not that much writing) have been keeping me busy. So here's an update!

First, a terrific audio version of "Irregular Verbs" went up at Podcastle last week -- you can check it out here.

Second, my story "Rules of Engagement" from Asimov's will be included in The Year's Best Military SF and Space Opera from Baen. It's going to be full of great stories from people like Charlie Jane Anders, Linda Nagata and, I think, the first time I've ever shared a table of contents with my friend and fellow Ottawan Derek Kunsken.












Finally, after being unable to attend for a couple of years I'll be back at Ad Astra in Toronto this April 10-12. Here's my schedule:

Friday

Predicting the Future: How Wrong Are We Going To Be?

Time: 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Room: Aurora
With David Stephenson, Eric Choi, Neil Jamieson-Williams
Welcome to "Where's my hovercar?" the panel. Discuss the history of predictions that have failed the test of time and make predictions for the predictions in current SF!

Saturday

SFWA General Meeting 

Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Room: Richmond B
With Derek Kunsken, Eric Choi, Julie Czerneda

This will be an open informational meeting for writers interested in joining SFWA. Information about the new qualification standards will be provided. (There will also be a SFWA regional meeting for members, time and place TBA.)

Agents of Shield and Agent Carter: The MCU on TV 

Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Room: Whitchurch
With  David Clink, Dennis Lee
Marvel has proved the superhero team up cross movie continuity not only works, it's one of the biggest hits of our lifetimes. And with the success of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and thew new Agent Carter, and their upcoming Netflix series' Daredevil, A.K.A. Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and The Defenders, Marvel has also broken down the Movie-TV barrier showing that ongoing TV shows and an ongoing movie universe don't have to diverge or live in their own canon.

Time Travel and Alternate Histories: Why You Don't Kill Hitler 

Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Room: Whitchurch
With Kari Maaren, Mike Rimar, Neil Jamieson-Williams
Discussing the fine details of how changing the past always seems to make things worse.

The Hand Wave of Deftness 

Time: 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Room: Oakridge
With JD DeLuzio, Peter Prellwitz
A lot of SF and Fantasy features handwaves that make the story possible. How many handwaves will you tolerate? Are any particular handwaves deal-breakers for you? Is there a rule for acceptable levels of handwavium in genre fiction? And is it more interesting to revisit old genres minus the standard handwaves, as Karl Schroeder does in Lockstep?

Orphan Black: Send in the (Canadian) Clones 

Time: 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Room: Oakridge
With Doug Smith, JD DeLuzio, Kate Heartfield
Filmed right here in Toronto, Orphan Black has become a huge hit. This show about cloning and conspiracies even mentions Scarberia, and correctly. We'll talk about all the stuff we love about it. Did Season 2 fulfill the promise seen in Season 1, and where do we see the various plot-lines headed?

Readings: Doug Smith and Matthew Johnson 

Time: 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Room: Whitchurch

Sunday

Interactive Fiction: No Coding required! 

Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Room: Markham A
With Alice Black, Charlotte Ashley, Leah Bobet
Thanks to tools like Storium and Twine, the ability to make interactive stories is now available to everyone. Find out how to get started without having to write a single line of code.

Russell T. Davis vs, Stephen Moffat - Female Doctors, Story Arcs and the Death of the Doctor 

Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Room: Aurora
With David Clink, David Lamb, Timothy Carter
Gloves off - Politely. This is BBC after all.

The Terrorists Have Already Won a Place in Canadian SF 

Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Room: Aurora
With Denis McGrath, JD DeLuzio

The landmark, but often unrecognized SF series Charlie Jade showed the perspective of both the terrorists and the mainstream. Continuum has been taking this idea further, and has already had three successful seasons. Orphan Black has both heroes and villains who would draw attention from Homeland Security Significantly, all of these shows are produced and filmed outside the United States. Is SF ahead of the curve here, or just riding the wave? And how should popular SF handle contemporary events?





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On the racks: "Rules of Engagement"

So it looks like the April/May issue of Asimov's is out, containing my story "Rules of Engagement." Two reviews are already up too, and both are pretty good: Sam Tomaino at SFRevu calls it a "good, solid story" with "a shattering conclusion" while it's one of just two Recommended stories in Lois Tilton's early March short fiction reviews at Locus.

Here's the first page of "Rules of Engagement":

A Reporter At Large

It was not much of a fight, as bar fights go: not even enough to get Kevin Bishop, Tony Cervantes and Tom Hollis thrown out of the bar in which they had spent the afternoon and evening of July ninth. The three soldiers had been drinking at The Swiss Bar and Grill, a bar popular with college students on weeknights but largely taken over by military on weekends, when their implants relax the usual restrictions on alcohol. Bishop, Cervantes and Hollis had served together in the 23rd Infantry Division of the 2nd Infantry Brigade (more often referred to as the 23-IN), mostly in Somalia and Yemen, and two of them were still on active duty. Fire team Chinook had survived the worst that the war and al-Shabaab could throw at them, but before long two would be in prison and one would be dead.

 

The immediate cause of the fight was money. Bishop, who had ordered the last two rounds, had revealed that he was unable to pay his share of the night's tab. The entire 23-IN had been flush with back pay when they had come home from deployment in Yemen, bringing a welcome stream of money into the city's bars; it was not unusual during that period for John Pratt, The Swiss's owner, to make two or more bank runs per night, each time with a duffel bag full of money. (Soldiers in the 23-IN pay for almost everything in cash, due to a widely-held belief that their implants track direct payments.) Two months later the money was beginning to run out, and for Bishop – who was no longer receiving combat pay and was also making regular payments to the city's ghat dealers – it already had. 

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Lightning-quick post, with new extra lightning quickness

So, there have been a... lot of things happening, which at the same time make it hard to find time to do a blog post and also important to do so.

As a lot of people know, it's been a pretty active time for SFWA. At the moment I'm getting lots of e-mails around the @SFWAAuthors Twitter account, which is good: if you're an SFWA member (or even if you're not) and you want your voice to be heard, please e-mail me and the rest of the Board. Because the matter is still under consideration I can't really say much more about it right now, other than to say that before too long my position on it, both as a Board member and a member of SFWA, will be clearly and unambiguously stated.

Two other bits of news, somewhat more cheerful: first, "The Last Islander" has been selected as the anchor story of Imaginarium 2013: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. I thought this story was a bit overlooked when it came out (relative to my other stories, that is; I'll let other people decide how it rates in terms of short stories in general) so it's nice to see it get a second chance. Second, I've sold my almost-novella "Rules of Engagement" to Asimov's Science Fiction. It's a pretty nifty bit of near-future SF, if I do say so myself, with guns and drones and neural implants and all the action that "The Last Islander" and "Holdfast" didn't have, and then some. I'm not sure when it's coming out yet, but the contract arrived a week after I got the acceptance which may mean it'll be gracing shelves and ereaders soon.

Lightning, away!