Andrew

And thus will be even more boring to you. So taking the day off here. See you tomorrow.

One word: Impressive.

More than one word: Well, when Avatar was being discussed over at MetaFilter last week, in advance of seeing the film, this is what I said:

Cameron has enough of a track record that even without seeing this film I pretty much know how it will be: Amazing visually and technically, with a story that ranges from barely passable to moderately intriguing, with the weaknesses of the story compensated for by a better than average cast of actors and very well integrated action sequences. That’s pretty much a given at this point.

And that’s how it was.

But I think it really bears mentioning just how visually impressive this film is. Two major points here:

1. This is the first time I’ve watched a 3D movie and didn’t get a headache, which is especially impressive when you realize the film is two hours, forty minutes long;

2. I spent almost no time at all thinking about the fact that most of my time was spent looking at computer animation. The Na’vi (I hope I got the apostrophe right, there) exist on the other side of the CGI uncanny valley; between the actors and their animators, these are real performances. Also, note to James Cameron: The extra time spent animating eyeballs paid off.

To be sure, in this regard Cameron benefited not only from the advance of technology but also from the fact that audiences are now trained to accept computer animated characters as actual characters, not just walking special effects; Cameron owes a debt to Peter Jackson in particular for that, since what he’s essentially done is take Gollum, stretched him out ten feet tall, turned him blue, and made a couple hundred of him. Be that as it may, Cameron’s own innovations here work marvelously.

As do his other visual innovations as well. Cameron’s legendary for being a tyrant with his crews, but at the very least it’s for a purpose, because he’s also absolutely committed to making sure you’re seeing something on screen you haven’t seen before. He’s pulled it off — there are things in Avatar you really have never seen on screen before. It’s a film I want to see a second time not for the story but just to walk the world and to pay attention to everything on screen that I didn’t have time to pay attention to the first time. I very strongly suspect I won’t be the only person doing that. Also, the action sequences are just fantastic; Cameron’s not lost a single step there.

To go back to the 3D thing one more time, the smart thing Cameron does that I wish other directors would figure out is that he doesn’t use the 3D to poke at you, he uses the 3D to let you look through a window into a world. He’s also pretty smart about not messing with your focal length any more than he has to, which is why my eyes don’t currently feel like they’ve been run over a cheese grater. Basically, Cameron’s graduated 3D from stunt work to being a viable cinematic grammar. He didn’t do it 100% perfectly (there were a couple of things that didn’t work for me), but he does it will enough that this film really should be seen as the textbook on how to do that process right.

I won’t get into the story except to say I found it serviceable, if predictable, and while I don’t really feel the same sort of moral outrage other people have about the “noble savage” stereotype as it applies to this film, it certainly does leave itself wide open for criticism along that line. But as you can tell from the pullout quote above, I go into Cameron films assuming I’ll need to compensate for storytelling anyway. That said, unlike, say, George Lucas, Cameron actually does attempt to tell a story and to give his actors something else to do except stand there. The story was serviceable, and serviceable, lest we forget, is actually a positive.

On a personal note, everyone who looked at the previews wondering if Avatar wasn’t in some way a little bit of a ripoff of Old Man’s War, I’ve noted before that any similarities are coincidence, but now having seen the movie I can say that no only are those similarities coincidence, they are fundamentally trivial coincidences at that. The stories and action really are nothing like each other. Which is of course perfectly fine with me, since should they ever make a movie with the OMW series, I wouldn’t want people to say it’s just an Avatar ripoff. They won’t.

Whether Avatar is the best science fiction film of the year depends I suppose on whether you like your SF films epic or intimate; if the latter, Moon is going to get your vote. But it’s visually the most impressive film of the year, period, and I can see every movie director with an SF property in their pocket going to the film and saying, “Oh, crap, now I have to compete with that.” It’s a challenge, like Star Wars was and like The Matrix was, for everyone else to step up their visual game. It’ll be interesting to see if they do.

Update: Spoilers are beginning to creep into the comment thread. You’ve been warned.

Yes, I have been made aware that a quote of mine had made it on a Quote of the Day service today; you can stop sending me e-mail about it. Thank you, however. I too think it’s pretty cool.

The quote was this one:

My marriage had its ups and downs like anyone’s, but when it came down to it, I knew it was solid. I miss that sort of security, and that sort of connection with someone.

Apparently at least a couple didn’t know it was a quote from a character in “Old Man’s War,” not me talking a general sense, so when it got to the part about the marriage being discussed in the past tense, there was some concern. Be advised that I am in fact still married and as far as I know, everything is groovy. I’ll double check with the wife to be sure.

As part of my daughter’s holiday/birthday party this evening, attended by fifteen 10 and 11 year old girls, my wife offered free nail paintings. As they say, one thing lead to another, and thus:

So you can really appreciate the work, a closeup on two fingers, to highlight the red polka dots, which give the green fingernail polish an extra Christmastime festiveness:

I’m just hoping I don’t forget I have this on when I leave the house tomorrow. Because that will be an awkward conversation at the hardware store, won’t it.

Ladies and gentlemen, Lopsided Cat.

Thank you and have a lovely Saturday afternoon.

Because, heck, it’s getting near Christmas.

This is Ghlaghghee looking at Zeus as he lounges with the bears, incidentally. I’m not sure that she entirely approves of his insouciance.

Yes, that’s right. Zeus is hanging out with a bunch of stuffed bears. You gonna make something of it? ‘Cause he’s ready to shred your face if you do. No one disses the bears, man. They’re all fuzzy and soft. Just the way Zeus likes ‘em.

Some of what I’ve liked over the last ten years. In no particular order.

Update: Now put behind a cut so people won’t have to have their computers choke everytime they visit. But if you’ve not seen the videos, you want to click through. Your life would be sad without them. So. Very. Sad.

Here we are:

(“About a Girl” from The Academy Is…, incidentally.)

And, to end on a huge friggin’ pile of shredded cheese:

Don’t look at me like that. You know you love it.

Oh, fine. Here, then:

You’re welcome.

‘Tis the season for trying new things, and the group of writers behind the online publishing collective Book View Cafe are doing just that, releasing their first eBook anthology of original fiction: The Shadow Conspiracy, a collection of related tales taking place in an alternate, steampunk world. What does it take to build up a home-cooked anthology and give it the depth and quality that these authors, professional writers all, expect and demand of their work? The Shadow Conspiracy editor Laura Anne Gilman is here to show you all the gears in this steampunk world.

LAURA ANNE GILMAN:

The Shadow Conspiracy, a steampunk ebook anthology launching this month, started, not in the usual “hey, here’s a great idea” moment most anthologies lay claim to, but as a natural evolution of BookView Café.

BookView Café is a co-op of professional writers, using our collected skills — not merely writing, but editing, and coding, and promotion and design –to bring our fiction directly to the readers, using the Internet as our medium.   The emphasis, however, is on professional-level work, with every member bringing an established career to the mix.

BVC started with free reprints – short stories, novels, cartoons, interactive fiction – then offered for-premium original material… and then, as we reached our year anniversary, we thought: why not try an original anthology?  Not a standard collection of stories, but something that represented what we’re doing here at BVC — the evolving, interactive, creative nature of our co-op.

The idea had to be one that could inspire all the writers — something that spoke to us all, that would be fun to write — but that we could also put a new twist into it.  Steampunk, everyone agreed, was the obvious answer.  Not because it was hot, but because it, like Bookview Cafe, defied a single definition.  It called on music, and fashion, exploration and science, design, religion, and desire… speaking to every writer differently, yet keeping us within the overarching theme of progress.

The Shadow Conspiracy was thus born out of a desire to see what could be accomplished by a true collective, everyone working both for their own good — every author makes money off the sales – and as a group, weaving their stories in and out of a shared reality.

Having edited two anthologies myself, and acquired many more during my editorial days, I was probably the Official Naysayer in this project.  I warned about the difficulties of getting everyone on the same page, of the time constraints and technical difficulties, and the ego conflicts that were bound to appear when asking everyone to ‘share’ their concepts and make sure that no story, however brilliant, undid or contradicted the work of another.

Despite my naysaying – or, more likely, because of it – I was asked to stand as editor-in-chief for this new project, working with Phyllis Radford, who was the overall project editor.

Despite the enthusiasm for the idea, getting everything in order wasn’t easy.  Editing an anthology is compared to herding cats for a reason; everyone had their own ideas, and their own takes on the history.  Our job, as editors, was to take all those views, and make them into a non-contradicting whole, without taking away from the uniqueness of each entry.  All of my worst fears were realized – and then put to rest, as everyone stepped forward with their best game, and their most professional attitude, giving us not only fabulous and wildly inventive stories – but working with each other to ensure that the continuity was logical, if not always marching in lockstep.

And, in the end, I’m proud and pleased to say that The Shadow Conspiracy, our first all-original anthology, is true to the nature of Book View Cafe: individual creativity, harnessed to a greater goal.

—-

The Shadow Conspiracy: Amazon Kindle| Book View Cafe Bookstore

Read an excerpt here. Visit Laura Anne Gilman’s LiveJournal.

Subterranean Press just announced that “Judge Sn Goes Golfing” is now shipping, and also that it’s the perfect holiday stocking stuffer for anyone who enjoys science fiction, or golf, or both. Both of these statements are true.

Subterranean also announced (yesterday) that it had acquired limited edition rights to both The Android’s Dream and to Zoe’s Tale, so fans of both novels who’ve been yearning to own them in super-groovy limited form, your needs will be addressed. Forthwith!

Over at Making Light, Teresa Nielsen Hayden chronicles a thing which you should never ever do. EVER. Go now and be enlightened.

And equally important, who loses the decade? I know you want to know, which is why this week’s AMC column is all about The Winners and Losers of ’00s SciFi Movies. I guarantee you some of the winners will surprise you, as well as some of the losers. And of course you can yell at me or nominate your own winners and losers in the comment thread. Go now, because nothing is more important than this.

Over at the Huffington Post, author Jason Pinter asks “Does Social Networking Kill the Author Mystique?” I’m quoted in the article, although I’ll note he didn’t use my direct comment to that question, which was “what author mystique?” Because, really. It’s not like SF/F writers were ever mysterious sorts of folks. We like hanging out in convention hotel bars too much. But maybe authors in other genres do more of that mystique thing.  Anyway, see what Pinter and the folks he interviewed have to say on the matter.

On real work, can’t play right now. To keep you busy:

Quick! Name your favorite obscure (i.e., non-primary, non-common secondary) color!

Mine: Vermilion.

Tor.com, that groovy online site dedicated to science fiction, fantasy and other such wacky things, is inaugurating a weekly podcast, in which the folks there will discuss what’s new and notable on the site, and audio fiction will unspool, alternating between new fiction, and fiction already on the site. For the debut podcast, the fiction they’re featuring is mine — an audio version of my story “After the Coup,” set in the Old Man’s War universe and read by me. If you missed it the first time it was up, here’s your chance to check it out, along with the rest of the podcast. Enjoy!

Joe Haldeman named a Grand Master of Science Fiction

As the kids today say: This.

You can see what Joe has to say about it over on his LiveJournal.

This is going to make me happy for the whole rest of the day, it is.

As the proprietor of The Big Idea, every once in a while I get to pull rank and pop up a book that’s of personal interest to me, and here’s one that is: Air, by James Swallow, which is an adaptation and novelization of the first three episodes of Stargate: Universe, which is, of course, the TV show I am the Creative Consultant on.

Science fiction writers and readers have varying opinions on novelizations and what they mean in the genre, but leaving aside that discussion, I think one thing that’s often overlooked in the discussion is the professionalism of the people doing the novelizations: Here are folks who have to take a script, bump it up to novel length, get it done usually in a short amount of time — and get it right. Yes, that’s work.

In the case of Air, it was brought to my attention when James contacted me during his writing, asking me questions about the show so that what ends up in the TV series is also what ends up in the novel — basically, doing the behind-the-scenes legwork and research that often gets taken for granted by readers (and sometimes, other writers).

I was happy to help him then, and right now, I’m happy to give him the floor to tell you a little more about what it takes to adapt and expand a script into novel form.

JAMES SWALLOW:

“I guess it’s not like you had to do a lot of work, really,” said the guy at the bookseller’s table, with a sniff. ‘I mean, it was pretty much all done for you already, yeah?”

Uh, no.

No, not at all, actually. See, when I was hired on by Fandemonium Books to adapt ‘Air’, the first three episodes of the new television series Stargate Universe, what they asked me to deliver was a novel. That’s why they call it a novelization. Your standard sixty minute teleplay script? You’re looking at under ten thousand words, right there. I had three of ‘em, and I had to turn that into a book that deserved an eight buck cover price. I had to take what I had and, at the very least, expand it to three times its size. And not in the whipped butter kind of way, where they froth it up and pump air into it. No. I had to do it with words and prose and narrative, pitch and moment and drama – and all without breaking the story that had already been created.

I had to fill Air with, well, stuff that wasn’t just air. This is a bit about how I did it.

Air wasn’t my first novelization – I adapted The Butterfly Effect a few years back, getting to put back a lot of the stuff that had been cut in order to get Ashton Kutchner on screen as early as possible. That was a fun experience for me, memorable as it not only introduced my writing to a whole new demographic – teenage high school girls – but because it also got me more fan mail than anything I’d written before. A lot of it was from people asking me how I felt about the movie they had made of my novel.

The way I made Butterfly Effect and now Air work for me was linked to the way that I write. I see my stories unfold in my head like a feature film, and when I’m making notes I use script shorthand to set scenes; I try to write the prose equivalent of whip pans or contra-zooms, wide shots and medium shots. In short, I’m directing it in my head. I took this approach with Air, imagining myself doing the job that episode director Andy Mikita did in the real world – which is a lot more than just adding ‘he said’ and ‘she said’ to the end of Brad Wright’s and Robert C. Cooper’s dialogue.

In some ways I lucked out, because SGU’s producer Joe Mallozzi had a blog full of images from the show in production and of the actors they had cast, so I knew how Air was going to look and what the voices of the people in it would be. But then I was also up against the knowledge that I didn’t know everything about these characters, so I couldn’t lay in nuances and subtle clues that would pay off down the line, and anything new I brought to the party ran the risk of being utterly contradicted by the ongoing show.

And I didn’t have was any opportunity to see the finished cut and edit of the episodes until several weeks after the manuscript had been delivered. While I worked from the three episodic scripts that made up the pilot, I was a good way through the writing before I discovered the drafts I had were months old, with key details that differed from the final versions; it was only thanks to the help of a certain creative consultant that got solved (thanks, John)… The challenge was to paint inside the lines but still deliver something with originality.

So what did all this leave me with? In the end, Air the novel isn’t ‘Air’ the TV episodes, and I’m happy that it isn’t. After all, what would be the point of reading a book that slavishly follows every tiny element of the TV stories? What the novelization brings is what made me read novelizations as a kid – an internal viewpoint for the characters that explores them in a way that TV just can’t do, a seamless story experience that broadens out the scope of the narrative, and a chance to see the bits of plot that were cut for time.

The latter is the kind of thing that DVD extras bring us now, and in no small part I imagine that’s why then novelization is something of a dying art; but back in the day the book of the film was the only place where you saw that kinda thing, like, say, Alan Dean Foster’s tense adaptation of Alien with the chilling cocoon scene still in place. So I put back in Rush’s monologue about the origins of the starship Destiny and the confrontation between him and Jack O’Neill; but I also added new stuff and expanded out what was already there, lengthening scenes and deepening motivations.

There’s a perception that tie-ins are bereft of originality, that they’re a straight-jacket for creativity, and a haunt of lazy writers, but that kind of commentary largely comes from people who don’t read them; generally, from sniffy lit-snobs who complain that tie-ins are stealing all the shelf space in stores and think that all other media are barren artistic wastelands.

In a larger sense, writing a tie-in is no different from the work of TV scriptwriters working on a series that they didn’t create; and when you think about it, writers who adapt a book into a movie are eligible for an Academy Award, while writers who adapt a movie into a book (which requires considerably more writing) are often labeled as hacks.

But the fact is, a great part of telling a tale in one of these fictional worlds is that a writer actually has to work harder under these constraints, and that challenge can inspire you not only tell a tale that fits the texture of the world you’re writing in, but also to bring your own unique authorial voice to bear on it. Plus, you get to play with cool stuff, like Stargates.

—-

Air: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Powell’s

Visit James Swallow’s LiveJournal.

My very good friend Anne KG Murphy and her beau Brian Gray want you (“you” being someone who participates in SF fandom to a greater or lesser extent) vote for them to be this year’s TAFF recipients. What is TAFF and why should they be its recipients — and can you vote, and if so, how may you vote for them? Answers to this, and the proverbial more, await you here.

Hey there, folks. Most of you know that my fiction is represented by the Ethan Ellenberg Agency, and has been since I’ve been selling fiction. To say that I’m happy with the work Ethan and his team do for me is understating the case — they’ve been both aggressive and savvy in getting my work out there, which is why my books are now available in fifteen languages, and Ethan and his people are trusted advisors when I think about what to write (and to try to sell) next. They know what they’re doing, I’m glad to be working with them, and I think most writers would be lucky to work with such an agency.

Which, as it happens, bring me to this next part: The Ethan Ellenberg Agency is now looking for new clients in science fiction and fantasy, so if you’re in the market for representation, this is a good time to introduce yourself. Below you’ll find a letter from Ethan, talking a little bit about the agency and its clients, and also how to bring yourself and your work to the agency’s attention.

I’m writing to introduce you to myself and my agency and let you know we are actively seeking clients in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre.

We opened in 1984 and have always had an interest in both genres.  We are a full service agency, representing writers at every stage of their career from unpublished through maturity.  We are a very active, successful seller of translation rights with agents in all foreign markets and a track record of approximately 50 new sales per year.  There is no sub right we do not represent – movie, audio, e-book, translation, United Kingdom rights.

We’re privileged to represent a number of top talents.  In Science Fiction we represent Hugo winner John Scalzi; we also represent Ian Douglas whose military science fiction series for Avon have been selling well and in print for more than a decade.  We recently contracted for 5 more books in these series.  A recent client who is building nicely is Ed Willet, whose most recent book TERRA INSEGURO was published by Daw.

We are even more known for our representation of fantasy writers.  Karen Miller is an international bestseller with publishers in Australia, the United Kingdom and the USA.  We have represented Sharon Shinn from her very first book and today, twenty one books later, we still represent her.  We represented Gail Martin for her first sale to Solaris and just concluded a 4 book deal with Orbit to continue her TALES OF THE NECROMANCER.  We represent Mel Odom whose Tolkienesque series beginning with THE ROVER was a hit for Tor.

Our success in this area is not confined to the adult market; Karen Miller, Mel Odom, Sharon Shinn, and Ed Willet have all sold young adult fiction.

We’re actively acquiring new clients.  The ideal submission for us is an introductory letter, synopsis and the first 3 chapters of manuscript.  We welcome electronic submissions to fantasy@ethanellenberg.com.  We also welcome submission by mail with a self addressed stamped envelope for response.  Please check our website (ethanellenberg.com) and follow the directions carefully so as not to fall afoul of U.S. postal regulations.

We remain upbeat, active and committed to the highest standards of professional conduct and representation.  We are members in good standing of the Association of Author’s Representatives and consistently receive high marks from all the top professional writer’s organizations.  We look forward to your submission.

There you have it. To repeat: I’ve been very happy with this agency, they’ve done a great job with my work, and they’ve been good people to work with. I recommend them.

Nerd musicians and all around sexy-sexy men Paul and Storm are celebrating the 2009 holidays the only way they know how: By writing Chirstmas songs in the manner of other nerd-beloved musicians. Thus: It Might Be Xmas:

This season, we’re once again giving the gift of approximately-rendered stylings of our musical heroes. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday between now and December 24, at least one COMPLETELY NEW and original holiday song in the style of They Might Be Giants will be released.

There are already two songs up, and quite obviously more are on the way. Go on, you know you want to. Wait: You know you need to. Yes, you do. Stop questioning my dictates, damn you.