Causerie on reaching 3,000 Facebook Friends

Yesterday my count of Facebook Friends passed 3,000. That makes me think of a few things. At the start of 2015, I had just over 2,000 Facebook Friends. But I haven't gained over 1,000 since then - I gained a lot more. Let me explain.

First off, Facebook is a necessary evil. There are a myriad of social platforms today, the proliferation of which is leading America towards a collective nervous breakdown. People are too distracted and have the attention span - maybe - of a cocker spaniel. And as I have said before, we knew in the past men did not possess telepathy because if we knew what we were thinking about each other, we'd be at each other's throats. Well, the internet has accomplished that anyway, and we are indeed at each other's throats - figuratively. Only time will tell if we implode into a full scale shooting civil war, in which case the figurative will have become the literal.

I'm of the age and generation where this all sees unreal to me - it's like a video game. These people can't be real, can they - the things they say?

For the purposes of self-promotion - a painful necessity when you write fiction - I got on Facebook in 2010, and Twitter a couple of years afterwards. I seem to be able to handle Facebook somewhat; Twitter is still a mystery, although I do use it, also. I simply can't figure out the use of such broken thoughts such as appear on Twitter - except to perhaps induce schizophrenia. (In one of his last essays before he died in 2007, Norman Mailer opined Americans minds had been destroyed by the sporadic way advertisements interrupt the narrative on television.)

Other social platforms like Pinterest and Instagram are a complete mystery. I have heard of a thing called Reddit - it sounds like the Devil's snooker room.

Well, by 2015 I had accumulated along the way maybe 2,100, 2,200 Facebook Friends - and then Sad Puppies struck.

Now, I tried to have a wide selection of Facebook Friends, and in previous years I had seldom unfriended anyone unless they were particularly obnoxious. One example was with John Scalzi, who I zapped a number of years ago after a post where he claimed to be God. I don't know if he was kidding or not, but honestly, I don't care. At the very least, it's offensive to anyone with religious sensibilities. But if there is one thing Scalzi is known for, it's for packing a lotta ego into a small body.

Another Facebook Friend I preemptively zapped years ago was Adam Troy-Castro, after he went online with an obscenity-laced rant about my governor, who was running for president at the time.

When the Sad Puppies witch hunt kicked off, my Friend count dropped like a descending elevator. Before April 4, 2015 - that's the day the Hugo finalists were announced - I had people like Patrick and Teresa Neilsen Hayden as Facebook Friends - heck, Teresa Neilsen Hayden had been panelists together at a few cons over the years - and others such as David Gerrold and Steve Davidson. They quickly disappeared, although I believe first out of the gate was Farah Mendelsohn.

My Friend count dropped below 2,000, but - let's face it - I didn't cover myself in glory by my testy reaction to the whole debacle. People who know me in person would probably say I'm pretty easy-going, but somehow somewhere in my mind, the names on the internet didn't register as "real" to me, and my normal social safeguards were compromised. I said things I would never say to anyone in person. It was like a video game. Deep down my brain didn't think it was all real. It was a combination of being a generational thing as well as my personality.

After August 22, 2015 - the day the s-f establishment took its revenge and No Awarded most of the literary Hugo categories - I decided that, since the internecine warfare had culled my Friends list, I would build it back up by reaching out to people who I thought would be more supportive.

There are some people who disagree with my on almost everything, but are broad-minded enough to still be willing to listen, and I respect them more than anyone. But I've made a lot of new Friends, and what's more important, these are people who judge me on the basis of my work, and what I say, and not what they read between the lines and what I must be thinking.

Facebook to me is just a tool, but fine craftsmanship can be enjoyable. I think my 3,000 Facebook Friends are now a much better selection of people, as far as being interested in my work, than they were a year ago.

So here's to you all, and here's lessons learned. Like veteran who survived a war, I wouldn't do it again, but having been through it, I'm better for it.

Cool acquaintances

One of the "cool" things that makes writing speculative fiction enjoyable (as opposed to the money - or lack thereof - and political correctness) is getting to know authors you enjoyed while young.

I've had that experience now a few times. In May WordFire Press released the Decision Points anthology, which includes my short story "The Milky Way Dance Hall". Among its many other distinguished authors are Robert Silverberg, whose story is "The Outbreeders".

Now, back 50 years ago, I distinctly remember when I first began to read s-f and buying books from the Scholastic Book Club. The first book I bought and read was "The Runaway Robot" by Lester DelRey. The third was "Steel Magic" by Andre Norton.

But the second was "Lost Race of Mars" by Robert Silverberg.

Back in 2013, when the WorldCon was held in San Antonio, I ran into Silverberg in the atrium of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. He was taking a break in an armchair and I went over and told him how great it was to meet him, and told him how the second book I ever bought was his, back when I was in the fourth grade.

He looked up me, scanned me a bit, and said, rather plaintively, "You've got gray hair."

One of my upcoming short story publications will be "Three Twilight Zone Variations on a High School Reunion" in The Third Spectral Book of Horror Stories. The TOC also includes a story by William F. Nolan,

Nolan, along with George Clayton Johnson, co-authored the book that became "Logan's Run", which was turned into the movie of the same name in 1976 - and which was one of the first s-f movies I ever saw.

Like I said at the top, it's pretty cool.

Working for a living

I got out of the habit of posting here regularly because the way the putz who runs the File 770 web page would cut and paste anything I wrote to hold me up to ridicule. Mike Glyer was an enforcer during the Sad Puppies debacle last year, and the worthless asswipes who comment on the web site are like the worst people in the world. Not the internet, the world.

Glyer used to work for the IRS, but retired last year, so whatever the case he always had plenty of time on his hands. It's easy to notice most of the people who populate the web page have government jobs - which means they really don't work for a living. If these dipshits ever realized how much hard-working self-supporting people resent lazy bureaucrats, the way the world works would be much clearer to them - from Brexit to Donald Trump.

Aaron Pound, one of the worst of the breed, is a government lawyer, for Christ's sake.

I'm probably doing myself a disservice by not posting more frequently, so I may pick up the pace a bit. Of course, I have to post AFTER working for an honest day's pay; sometimes I'm tired, but at least I know I support myself by my wits and my sweat, and not because I'm a politically-privileged hack.

"Another Girl, Another Planet" moves towards publication

You may recall I inked a contract with WordFire Press in February for my first novel, "Another Girl, Another Planet", thanks to Acquisitions Editor Dave Butler and Publisher Kevin J. Anderson.

My manuscript went to Developmental Editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt, and then back to me for edits and rewrites. I finished those this weekend, and it is back in Bryan's hands.

I believe that, from what I've heard over the years, that editors tend to ask authors to trim verbiage from their works, but Bryan's over-arching observation was that in fact I needed to add description at numerous levels. He pointed out that it was obvious my day job is as a journalist, and that I tended to write too tightly and tersely.

(Even the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction has described my writing style as "spare").

The manuscript I turned in to Bryan this morning was over 13,000 words longer than the first version, and clocks in at 101,555 words. Which for me is enormous. The longest thing I've ever had published previously was a novelette just over 11,000 words.

But I still think it's pretty tight and in keeping with my "swift, convincing narrative style" - again, from the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Like most authors, I can be my own worst critic, but I think I've done good work this time, and you all are going to enjoy it.

Finally, I'd like to note that at noon on Saturday at LibertyCon (July 9) I will be moderating a panel tailor-made for me, and "Another Girl, Another Planet", on "Retro-Futurist Alternate History".

It should be good.

My SoonerCon schedule

I will be guest at SoonerCon 25 in two weeks. Here is my schedule for the weekend:

Reading - 2:00 p.m. - Friday, June 24

Autographs (1 hour) - 11:00 a.m. - Saturday June 25, 2016 - 10 Forward

Fissionable Fiction (M) - The Bomb's impact on all aspects of pop culture: A celebration and a warning!

12:00 p.m. - Saturday June 25 Mann

Tim Frayser, A. Lee Martinez, Tommy B. Smith, Tex Thompson, Joy Ward

Our Wars Are Different: Alternate History Battles - An alternate history look at American warfare beginning with the Revolutionary War through the Cold War.

2:00 p.m. - Saturday June 25 Ballroom D

Jeff Provine, Gorg Huff, Melinda LaFevers, David Weber

Conspiracy Theories (or What's Really Happening) - Are the multiple theories of alien visitations, government cover-ups, and assassinations really there to hide the one true conspiracy theory?
4:00 p.m.Saturday June 25 Mann

Daniel Erickson, Mark Alfred, James K. Burk, Tom Meserole, Joey Rodman

Internet Culture and the Future of Mankind - How will the internet culture of today shape the real-world society of the future? From Reddit, to Anonymous, to hashtags, to potential political revolution, where do we go from here?

11:00 a.m. Sunday June 26 Mann

Travis Nance, Courtney Oliphant, Jeff Provine, Peter Pixie, David Oak Rice

I wish I didn't look so serious when I take a selfie!

OK, I picked up my author's copy of the Decision Points anthology last weekend at ConQuest from Bryan Thomas Schmidt, and it's been deposited on my "Brag Shelf".

It seems I miscounted previously, "The Milky Way Dance Hall" is my 98th short story publication - not 97th - since I started almost 13 years ago in 2003.

It's my third of this year.

Complications

As some of you may know, I have Type II Diabetes. It's an insidious disease that take constant monitoring and control. Unfortunately, I had a small health issue sneak up on me recently.

While in Virginia April 30-May 1 for the Ravencon convention, I took advantage of the local shopping malls. I bought a nice new pair of shoes at a department store, and wore them back to Texas.

Earlier this week, one night as I went to bed, I saw that I had developed a bad blister running up along the small toe of my left foot. I tried to take care of it myself, but today I went to see my doctor.

He patched it up a bit, and gave me some antibiotic cream, but said I had developed an ulcer. I will be seeing a podiatrist next Wednesday.

My doctor also said I should not wear shoes without socks any more. I went and bought a bunch of ankle socks this afternoon.

The problem seems to have been caught in time, but this is the first time I developed a diabetic complication like this. Then again, I've had the disease almost 20 years.

This will be the first time I've seen a podiatrist in my life. Just a reminder to be vigilant in watching this disease.