Farpoint Schedule

(And yes, I do like to work hard).

Friday, 3pm - How To Survive Your First SF/Media Con
Friday, 4pm - Signing
Friday, 5pm - Reading with Dr. Valerie Mikles and Susan Olesen
Friday, 6pm - Genetic Engineering in Science Fiction
Friday, 10pm - Farpoint Book Fair (Buy my books ;))

Saturday, 10am - Another Regeneration, Another Show (Doctor Who)
Saturday, 1pm - Defense Against The Dark Arts: Fandom Trolls and How to Vanquish Them
Saturday, 2pm - Signing
Saturday, 4pm - Reading with Phil Margolies and Keith DeCandido
Saturday, 5-7pm - Mass Launch Party
Saturday 7pm - Lady Versions: Representation, Gender Bending and Backlash

Sunday 1pm - Diverse Voices

Otherwise, eh, I'll probably be hanging out somewhere, possibly in costume (I'm bringing Mrs Emma Peel and Agent Dana Scully to this con).

All things age...

...except, quite possibly, naked mole rats.

We already knew they lived a lot longer than other rodents, but studies indicate that once a naked mole rat (irrespective of sex or breeding status) reaches maturity, its chance of dying at any given time stays exactly the same.

Needless to say they die eventually - and science suspects it may be a delayed aging not actual immunity to aging.

Mole rats' longevity has been studied for some time, but the fact that they don't seem to experience natural aging at all? That part's new...

Watch out

I don't have a great idea for a blog post today - so I'd like to send all my writer followers over to Writer Beware for a great run-down on how to avoid the shadiest of vanity publishers.

On my own front - I'm working on stuff I can't really talk about right now...

Black Lightning first impressions

The CW's new superhero show "Black Lightning" is clearly an attempt to leverage the popularity of Luke Cage.

Fortunately, they haven't made it a cheap ripoff in which they cut corners counting on that audience.

The premier was better than current episodes of Arrow - which is admittedly the weak link in the CW DCU. The unusual (possibly unprecedented in superhero TV, can somebody correct me if I'm wrong) choice to focus on an older hero coming out of retirement makes for a different dynamic from the other shows, particularly Flash and Supergirl (which tend to be youth-focused), and is likely to make the show interesting to older fans.

The acting and writing both appear to be solid - although it is (sadly, and saying unfortunate things) initially a little odd to be watching a TV show where the normal ratio of black to white is literally reversed. It's awesome, but to the white girl who grew up in a town with not one black person in it...it reminds me that I still need to work on a few things.

The one quibble I do have:

The writers would clearly love to have both their black people and their racist white people talk more realistically.

As in, they would like to be able to use the n-word.

Not being allowed to do so, they're trying to write in a way that causes the audience to hear that word, resulting in awkwardness like "I didn't think you were that kind of black person."

Ugh, please, no.

It would be better in many ways if they were allowed to use it. As they aren't...they should write it a little "whiter". (It sounded like it took several takes to get the actor to not automatically use the word). It kind of sucks, and maybe I'll get used to it, but it threw me out of things a little.

Overall, though, looks like a solid addition to the CWDC lineup. I'd love to hear from somebody who's watching both it and Luke Cage about how the shows compare.

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018)

I may be a mild heretic in that I have only ever liked a small amount of Le Guin's work - her later work in particular became too literary for me (in related note, the only Atwood I've ever been able to get through at all is The Handmaid's Tale).

But Le Guin's contributions to speculative fiction absolutely cannot be denied.

She is notable for three things:

All of her main characters were PoC. Every single one. This decision is often missed (when Earthsea was adapted for screen, it was thoroughly white washed and a lot of people don't realize Gentry Ai isn't white), especially as her publishers refused to put the characters on the cover.

She wrote science fiction that took anthropology and social development seriously. This was fairly unusual at the time and is often neglected today (C.J. Cherryh is a notable exception, although she does not engage with gender in the way Le Guin did in The Left Hand of Darkness).

Which - yes, she engaged with gender in ways that few authors have (notable exception here would be Ann Leckie's work in the Imperial Radch trilogy, which I really need to read in full). If any of her books influenced me it would be The Left Hand of Darkness.

Perhaps because of their literary nature or, sadly just as likely, those non-white protagonists, Le Guin has seldom been adapted (and indeed, I've had more than one science fiction fan respond to the name with "Who"). The Lathe of Heaven was adapted twice, and Le Guin considered the 1979 adaptation the only good one. She was disappointed in the animated Earthsea, and in 2004 the Sci Fi channel took the same books...and thoroughly whitewashed them, leaving Le Guin out of the process altogether and generally pissing her off. There have been a few others, including a disappointing attempt to turn The Left Hand of Darkness into a stage play.

This didn't work because The Left Hand of Darkness needs more length than that - it's been picked up as a mini-series, but the state of that project might be in the air.

Le Guin's contributions were not just recognized by science fiction (although she was a Grand Master and received the lifetime award from the World Fantasy Convention). She also received lifetime awards from the American Library Association, the Library of Congress, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (Le Guin was a Taoist and an anarchist), the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and the Society for Utopian Studies. Which for a science fiction writer - perhaps Le Guin's biggest contribution is that she made literary science fiction respectable and really established it as a sub genre. And although literary science fiction is not my personal favorite, it deserves and needs to exist.

I'm going to pass you over to some larger names than I for more thoughts on Le Guin and her legacy.

But although she had a long life and a full career, her passing is a loss to all of us. I'm trying to work out whether I can sneak some tribute to her in to something at Farpoint, which is now only a couple of weeks away.

2018 Oscars

And, for once, a genre film leads the nominations - not a movie I saw or one to my taste, but it's an obvious one:

The Shape of Water (which is a romance, hence why I didn't watch it) received nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress (Sally Hawkins), Best Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer), Best Supporting Actor (Richard Jenkins), Best Director (Guillermo Del Toro), Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography (Dan Laustsen), Best Costume Design (Luis Sequeira), Best Production Design (Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin), Best Film Editing (Sidney Wolinsky), Best Sound Editing (Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira), Best Sound Mixing (Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern and Glen Gauthier). Almost wishing I'd watched it now. I suspect I'll be seeing it on the Hugo ballot too.

Other genre nods (Ignoring animation, which is always genre-dominated).

Best Adapted Screenplay - Logan
Best Original Score - Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Best Cinematography - Blade Runner 2049
Best Costume Design - Beauty and the Beast
Best Production Design - Beauty And The Beast
                                       - Blade Runner 2049
Best Visual Effects (all genre noms) - Blade Runner 2049
                                                           - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
                                                           - Kong: Skull Island
                                                           - Star Wars: The Last Jedi
                                                           - War for Planet of the Apes
Best Sound Editing - Blade Runner 2049
                                - Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Best Sound Mixing - Blade Runner 2049
                                - Star Wars: The Last Jedi

My guess is Best Picture is going to be between The Shape of Water, Call Me By Your Name, and Dunkirk. (I hope Call Me By Your Name doesn't win, because it's...well..Lolita-ish, but...)

So, about all those...

...Hollywood sex scandals. Sadly, there are still men out there who think sexual harassment is okay (I just ran into a charming individual on Facebook who thinks it's okay to harass "sluts" or women who dress like sluts).

The Producers' Guild of America has released new anti-sexual harassment guidelines. The first movie to be filmed with them?

Wonder Woman 2.

And it's probably down to Gal Gadot, who literally threatened to walk off the set if something was not done about the problem.

My respect for her is growing.

Little Surprise Present

Because it's a surprise for me too.

Stupefying Stories #19, featuring my short story Soulless Machine alongside offerings from Fi Mitchell, Julie Frost, and others, is free on Amazon right now.

It's only on Amazon (because to do free days Amazon makes you be exclusive) - sorry - and it's literally only for the rest of the day. Get it now or, you know...

So, about that flu shot

Some people aren't getting it this year - amidst reports that in some areas it may provide only 10% protection (I'd argue that 10% is better than 0%).

The flu vaccine varies greatly in effectiveness from year to year because it is simply not feasible to vaccinate against every flu strain. Vaccine manufacturers have to guess...well before flu season...which strains will be most predominate in which areas. Sometimes they do a better job than others.

Which is why the work being done by a group led by researchers at UCLA and also involving Chinese scientists is important. They think they might have found a vaccine that protects you from more strains of the flu.

It works by priming your T cells to detect the flu rather than creating antibodies. Not only would this protect from more strains but it would last more than a year.

Unfortunately, it might also not be feasible for people with subprime OR overactive immune systems (people with a lot of allergies, for example).

But it's an interesting approach and I for one would love to skip the annual shot. And love better protection even more.

(In the mean time, get your flu shot).

So, who's in Michigan?

Quite the light show, according to my Michigan friends (of whom I have a number).

Yes, it was a meteorite. And yes, it hit, in several pieces, a bit northwest of Detroit. It was most likely a "stony" asteroid - that is to say, a rock. It produced seismic effects (which are not considered an earthquake, but which measured about 2.0 on the Richter scale). The estimated size? About that of a typical cargo van.

And no, we didn't see it coming. We're still practicing that.

No injuries or damage, just some spectacular fireworks courtesy of outer space. I'm kind of jealous.

So, about that "Solo" movie

Despite all of its controversy, it's on track, although the trailer hasn't dropped yet. (Believe me I've been looking).

What has dropped is the blurb, and it appears we're going to find out what, exactly, Han did to get Chewbacca owing a life debt. Still hoping we'll also find out who really owns the Falcon. (Well, we all know it's Rey Solo NOW, but...)

Updates

Sold another story to Third Flatiron - it's entitled "Skywalker" and will be in their "Monstrosity" anthology.

It's mostly a humor piece, oddly enough. Albeit in a rather dry way.

Flightless bats

It's not just birds that lose the ability to fly if it's no longer a survival advantage. Apparently bats do it too.

Specifically, burrowing bats, which are now extinct but lived in, surprise surprise, that center of biological weirdness Australia. And its satellite New Zealand. No offense to Aussies or Kiwis, but life there took some weird turns.

And no, I didn't know they existed until now. Live, learn, get new information.

The Memory Virus

Okay, so this one is real freaky to think about.

There's a protein in our brains called Arc. It has something to do with how we store memory. By we I mean all "higher animals" on earth. Humans, horses, birds, some reptiles - but not fish.

But Arc is very, shall we say, strange. In fact, it looks like...HIV.

Not only that, it acts like HIV. It infects brain cells as a way of transmitting information. It's entirely probable that Arc is a virus that we incorporated into our selves millions of years ago...and that a viral infection is responsible for the way mammalian brains work and ultimately for, well us.

In other words intelligence, memory and consciousness could be, quite literally, a disease. One that some primitive vertebrates caught and which developed into a symbiosis and ultimately became part of them.

What does this mean? In practical terms, Arc's virus-like behavior might lead to new treatments for Alzheimer's.

In philosophical terms? Science is, once more, stranger than fiction.

(And, story idea incoming...like I have time for one).

What the heck is Hypatia?

So, there's a little rock in Egypt causing all kinds of fun. Why? Because it doesn't match the natural composition of anything in the solar system.

Nicknamed Hypatia, it has pure aluminum (extremely rare in the solar system), compounds that appear to predate the sun (and compounds that don't)!

It's a meteorite, that much we know, but from where?

If it's from the solar system...and doesn't predate the sun...then it may challenge planetary formation theories again.

Alternatively, it could be just that old.

Or it could even have originated in another solar system with a different stellar composition.

Who knows. Funny how a little rock can cause so much trouble.

Fourth Dimensional Theory

It's a little hard to explain, but we may have actually proved the existence of a fourth spatial dimension (i.e., not time). Sorry, Susan Foreman.

Ironically, you demonstrate the existence of the fourth dimension by restricting electrons to movement in two dimensions. It has to do with quantum effects and magnetic fields. If you understand it better than me, give it a go.

No practical uses yet except that it may explain the behavior of quasicrystals in metal alloys - and it may eventually allow us to access properties of certain metals we haven't touched yet.

Golden Globes

As usual, the Golden Globes tended to favor "mainstream" work, but genre fiction did get some nods.

The Handmaid's Tale took two awards (this is a series I badly want to watch, but not enough to buy a streaming membership for) - Best TV Series (Drama) and Best Actress In A TV Series (Drama) (Elisabeth Moss).

The Shape of Water - not my thing but I'm told Lovecraft is making quite some electricity - took Best Original Score and Guillermo del Tormo took Best Director.

(I have heard great things about that movie, but it seems a bit too much romance for my taste).

CW Crossover - and Romance Plots

Romance in TV shows has traditionally taken one form.

Couple meets. Couple falls in love. Couple breaks up. Couple gets back together.

Couple gets married. In the finale. Alternatively, actor leaves the show, character dies, survivor is heartbroken. If they both leave the show, then you get the wedding in their last episode. (For extra fun, they have the wedding then kill one of them off, like...)

Outside of the soaps, which are more like comic books in their format, this is extremely prevalent.

Truth is, that there's a tendency for the vows to be at the end. And the message that sends is that your story ceases to be interesting when you get married. It's over. Maybe you'll get to come back, much later, as the mentors (or maybe you'll get the Han/Leia treatment and be split up off camera).

But married folks aren't interesting. They don't have stories.

So, I was quite surprised that in the CW crossover they finally let two of their leads tie the knot with their love interests, in the middle of a season, with no rumors at all about anyone leaving the show. I hope...hope...this doesn't mean anyone is about to die. (I wish I could trust them more, but it's hard given the record television has in this area).

I want to see Barry and Iris working together as a married couple. And I want to see Felicity becoming ever more badass.

(Also, I didn't ship Alex and Sarah before. Dang you people. Also, Alex is a superhero. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise).

A small update

I sold my flash piece "Sun and Memories" to the Twenty Two Twenty Eight blog. Planned release for this is tomorrow (I'll let people know on Facebook when it's actually up).

Plans are in progress for the Farpoint mass launch party. I will be there to celebrate book three (I know book four would be better, but it's not done) of Lost Guardians, with copies and a pen in hand. I'll post more details when the con finalizes the time and room.

It's not aliens

Once more, it's not aliens. (I keep holding out for aliens. Give me some aliens).

Scientists are now pretty sure that Tabby's Star is not surrounded by a Dyson's sphere. The lead theory now is space dust - space dust which preferentially absorbs blue light for some reason.

Hrm.

Truth is, we're only pretty sure it's not aliens. What we are sure is that something very strange is going on with that star. We like the more plausible explanations, but given we haven't encountered anything like it, maybe it's something weirder.

Like, say, an orbiting black hole.

Or aliens.

I'm holding out for aliens.

Things falling from space...

...but don't freak out.

1. The Chinese space station that is, yes, definitely falling out of the sky. The station weighs much less than Mir - however, Mir was intentionally de-orbited and the Chinese have more-or-less admitted they have lost control of Tiangong-1. The station will hit the atmosphere in March, and they will update on its course closer to the time. Even if it does come down on land (less likely than ocean) the only real danger is that some of the debris may be contaminated with hydrazine, which is toxic. In other words, don't touch the space debris.

2. Yes, an asteroid the size of a semi is whizzing past Earth, well, tonight or tomorrow. It's going to miss, it's within the "hazardous" zone but it's not on a collision course. Even if we're wrong and it does hit, you'd have to be close to it to do damage. If it is at the largest end of the size estimation then it is similar in size to the meteor that hit Chelyabinsk in 2013. If you recall, it damaged a few buildings and broke everyone's windows. And that would be if it directly hit a city. It's more likely to hit the ocean somewhere and make a light show. If it hits. Which it won't.

So, yeah. No need to worry about things falling from space.

The (Not Quite) Last Jedi and Identity

The haters are wrong. It wasn't as good as The Force Awakens, but it was a good movie and good Star Wars.

Honestly, I think a huge part of the issue is, of course, that TLJ (spoiler alert) killed off the last straight white man for the audience to either identify with or want to be with.

Because, the truth is, young white boys get to see themselves all the time.

And because of that, they don't actually learn to do the mental shift required to identify with a protagonist who is not like you. They don't know what to do when the lead is a girl and the love interest is a black man. The Last Jedi threw them no bones - the added hero character is an Asian woman and, furthermore, an unattractive Asian woman. Kelly Marie Tran is a brilliant actor who deserves all the breaks she can get, but she is not what Hollywood would call beautiful.

So, older straight white men (and yes, I'm generalizing, because I know plenty of straight white men who did like the movie) see nobody to identify with except the villains. And the villains, to be honest? They're inept. Ren only wishes he was as cool as Vader, and that's the point. Ren is toxic masculinity incarnate, a whiny manchild who has never been pushed to grow up. Who (spoilers again) genuinely assumes that the white woman will choose him and his path of evil and has no idea what to do when she refuses him. The entire arc of Rey and Kylo (apologizes to Reylo shippers) is about a woman looking at a typical, sexist, whiny man and going "No thanks," albeit wrapped in fantasy trappings.

As for the white women who hate the movie? White women are raised to want to be with the lead. The original trilogy threw us a twist there, but Leia still ended up with the dashing white guy, just as we're raised to dream of. Even if our parents don't do it to us, society does.

So? I suspect a lot of what's really behind the hate is people who don't know what to do with a lead who is not a straight white male (Poe is not white and probably, to be honest, not straight). They don't know what to do with a woman who chooses a black hero over a white villain. (Even if Finn somehow ends up with Rose, which seems unlikely, Rey has still chosen Finn. Hence the "Everybody Loves Finn" meme circulating).

They don't, in fact, know what to do with a black lead who is loved by everyone. Rey loves him. Rose loves him. Poe probably loves him, even if it's being kept low key.

The white women, especially those raised by more racist families, see a lead they aren't "allowed" to dream about being with - well, two leads, because they're both wrong in some way.

The white men can't relate to a woman or a black guy because they've never had to.

Meanwhile, those of us who had to wait until our twenties to see a major character who matched our demographics, who spent our childhood having to compromise, to accept that all the cool stories were about boys except the ones who were about straight girls...we've always had to make that mental shift and learn to relate to the other. For those who have never had to, the movie is a cognitive disconnect, something they don't know how to handle. And for those who's best hope is to love the lead...well...

So they hate it.

(Note: If the reason you hate it is because you can't drop bombs in space, I rolled my eyes at that one too).