My ConQuest line-up

Well, I have received my line-up of panels for ConQuest in Kansas City. Here it is:

Friday, May 27 6:00 p.m. - 6:50 p.m.
Authors Reading Their Favorite Authors
Moderator: Earline Beebe
Panelists: Me, Sean Demory, Ozgur K. Sahin, Caroline Spector, Dennis Young

Saturday, May 28 10:25 a.m.
Reading

Saturday, May 28 4:00 p.m. - 4:50 p.m.
The Legacy of H.G.Wells
Moderator: ME!
Panelists: Rich Horton, Jeff Pryor, Tom Trumpinski

Saturday, May 28 5:00 p.m. - 5:50 p.m.
Writing The Future: Imagining What We Can't Possibly Know
Moderator: Tom Trumpinski
Panelists: Me, Chris Gerrib, H.G. Stratmann

Sunday, May 29 11:00 a.m.
Navigating the World of Short Story Submission
Moderator: Jack Campbell Jr.
Panelists: Me, Jude Marie Green, Tom Trumpinski

Sunday, May 29 1:00 p.m. - 1:50 p.m.
Future of Space Travel
Moderator: Bryan Thomas Schmidt
Panelists: Me, Robin Wayne Bailey

It's a small world

This definitely falls under the "Its' a Small World" department, but today I was minding a brush pile which needed to be burned, and to put my time to good use, I retrieved some boxes of old newspaper photos from the 1980s, and set up a work station as I curated the photos.

They were discarded when the newspaper I worked at in 2014 was sold. The significant photos were donated to the local library, but I hauled away a couple of trash cans of photos that were thrown out, and I scan and post them occasionally.

Lo and behold, as I near the end of the process of sorting through the hundreds of photos, a familiar face appears! Sure enough, here's fellow East Texan Joe Lansdale! He must have made a local stop while promoting a book.

This is probably 20 years before I went to work at the paper in 2007, and 15 years before I even started writing fiction.

Like I said, small world!

A plague on both their houses

In rare moments of quiet contemplation, I recall how a year ago my every day was assaulted by an ongoing outpouring of hate from David Gerrold, directed towards myself and the other Hugo finalists who did not meet with his approval.

He had a repetitious tirade which boilerplated a litany that began with something like "Can you tell me why these stories should be considered the equivalent of..." and then he'd run through a list of the same famous stories and novels - the same list day after day after day.

I think he went back and deleted those dozens of posts. Doesn't matter - I'll never forget what he did.

This year he doesn't seem to be spewing The Daily Big Lie. Of course, he isn't the presenter at the ceremony this year.

I had trouble last year explaining to normal people - like my wife - how a person designated as master of ceremonies of an awards event was daily posting vicious diatribes against people who were allegedly finalists for the same award. My wife simply did not believe me, or my prediction that not only would I not probably win in the categories I was nominated in, but Gerrold and his coterie would probably not present the award rather than give it to people they didn't like.

Imagine if, for the four months preceding an Academy Awards ceremony, the master of ceremonies was allowed to viciously attack - on an ongoing, daily basis - some of the Oscar contenders.

I sat through the atrocity of the Hugo ceremony in person, while my wife watched it on live streaming at home - until she turned it off in disgust. When I got home, I said "I'm sorry you had to see that, but now you know what assholes these people are."

She believes me now.

This year, the Sad Puppies took the high road and stuck strictly to a list of reading recommendations. Vox Day got his minions to screw up the ballot - this time on purpose. I'm chuckling from the sidelines. I hope both sides wipe each other out.

Paperback haul

One of the highlights of Ravencon for me was totally unexpected - I had great luck in grabbing some vintage paperbacks from a few of the dealers. Some of these are books that I read and loved when I was young, and in many cases I hadn't seen in many years.

"Time Enough For the Stars" hooked me on Heinlein juveniles when I was in grade school.

"The Chess Men of Mars" - and that cover - made a big impression with me and was probably the first Edgar Rice Burroughs book I read.

"The Magic Goes Away" also greatly impressed me. I always throught it had one of the best "hook" intros I ever read.

That particular edition of "Telempath" resonates because of the cover - that's the Columbia University campus in the background. I literally walked past that sundial a thousand times while in college.

The other two Heinlein books - "Time Enough For Love" and "Farnham's Freehold" - have eluded me over the years, and I have never read them, so I was glad to snatch them up, also.

Next up: Conquest

Hot on the heels of my return from Ravencon, here is my schedule for Conquest in Kansas City May 27-29:

Authors Reading Their Favorite Authors FRI 6 PM
Authors will select and read their favorite scenes from other author's books.

Reading  SAT 10:30 AM

The Legacy of H.G.Wells (M) SAT 4 PM
2016 is the 150th anniversary of the birth of H.G. Wells. This panel will discuss the works of H.G. Wells, their influence on authors and
literature. There will also be discussion of the portrayal of H.G. Wells
in media including television and movies.

Writing The Future: Imagining What We Can't Possibly Know SAT 5 PM
An SF story depends on a high level of current scientific and
technological knowledge not end up dated before even hitting the shelves. And that's the easy part, because even respecting that vast breadth of knowledge an SF story needs to look beyond the known and innovate in ways that even the current engineers and scientists aren't thinking of. Panelists discuss the burden of SF to inspire, innovate and remain relevant in a world where science and technology are accelerating expeonentially.

Navigating the World of Short Story Submission SUN 11 AM
This would be a repeat of last year's panel, which was very well attended and had a really good response.

Future of Space Travel SUN 1 PM
Panelists discuss the future of space travel and science fiction books and stories imagining it.

Ravencon coming up

I will be in Williamsburg, Virginia, for RavenCon April 29 through May 1st. Here is my tentative schedule:

Friday:
5 pm (Panel) Guilty Pleasure: The “B” Movie / Room G
7 pm (Opening Ceremony) Large Auditorium

Saturday:
6 pm - 8 pm (Panel) Ask SWFA / Room G

Sunday:
10 am (Signing) Dealers Room - John Teehan of The Merry Blacksmith Press will be in the Dealers Room, so copies of "Letters from Gardner" and "Texas & Other Planets" will be available for purchase.
Noon (Panel) Learning to Write: Workshops, Books & Classes / Room 8
2 pm (Reading) Room J - I will be reading my short story which is included in the Decision Points YA anthology being releasednext month, "The Milky Way Dance Hall".

Some feedback on a rejection

"It is really well-written, but far too predictable. I knew exactly what was going to happen on almost every page that the story held no "interest for me other than the good writing. But I can't buy a story on that basis alone.

"Also, this is one of those overused plotlines in the same vein as "let's go back in time and kill Hitler." I kept waiting for the narrative to take an intriguing new direction, but it never happened."

I've joked in the past that, with my background in journalism, I have a decent grasp of the English language, and I've never been told a story was poorly written - just that it had other minor problems such as plot, pacing, characterization and so forth. This is a good example.

I've said in the past any feedback from an editor is good, and this is valid criticism. It's nice to see normal feedback with a rejection, and not all the bad faith hatchet jobs myself and a lot of Hugo nominees had to endure last year. This example of feedback starts off by highlighting the positive aspects of the story, but then segues into the problems - which is always a valid approach. Last year most of the reviews of Hugo-nominated stories skipped the positives, went straight to the negatives, and usually segued into personal attacks. Not all, but most. Which is why, unfortunately, I'm grateful when an editor sends honest feedback with a rejection.

Not that all my feedback are rejections. I should have between one and three acceptances to announces soon.