The World in the Satin Bag

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SoD Chapter One: Of Dire Passages
2008-01-28 05:22:00
(And so the journey begins! Chapter One of The Spellweaver of Dern)The Luu’tre lilted to her side, spraying water up onto the deck and drenching anyone who wasn’t already soaked from the rough seas. The Loe Straight was a brutal, treacherous, and otherwise unfriendly passage for any ship to take lightly. But the Luu’tre never took any trip lightly; her captain saw to that. This was a trip that could end good or bad and nowhere between, because as she was forced hard by the rapid currents, plunged into a relentless expanse of ocean that would fight with all its might to keep her from finding her way across into calmer waters, her captain had wild, slightly crazed ambitions that couldn’t be quenched by the physical demands of the world. Men pulled and vied for control of the massive sails that flapped and snapped as wind tore them one way and then another. It was here, just below the captain’s deck, where the giant wheel tipped and turned even in the stern grip of a mad...
More About: Dire , Ages

Donations Wanted
2008-01-26 05:04:00
Many of you know that I co-own a website with a friend for young writers called Young Writers Online. We recently had a hosting problem and were forced to switch hosts due to the current host suddenly changing how it dealt with its customers (which resulted in our website being down a lot). We've moved on, but the move meant we had to buy hosting far sooner than we were anticipating, which means we have to figure out ways to alleviate financial concerns for the website.So, I'm here asking for donations or sponsorship. If you think you can give us a few bucks please use the Paypal Donate button on the left sidebar (immediately left, you can't miss it).If you're interested in being a sponsor, which would probably involve having your name on the site or something could be worked out, please email me at arconna@(no spam)yahoo.com (remove the no spam part) so we can discuss it.Any help would be greatly appreciate. We're taking steps to ensure that we won't get into this situati...
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Setting Standards
2008-01-25 18:06:00
For myself. In light of all the things going on ever since last quarter and the start of this quarter I feel as though I need to set up some 'requirements' for every single day starting tomorrow. These are going to be things I'm going to do no matter what as a way to not only increase my writing productivity, but to increase my reading productivity as well. I am far too behind in my reading and I'm not happy about it. I can't read nearly as fast as some, who are reading a book every other day, but there shouldn't be any reason why I can't read a book a week, and so here are my new standards and requirements for every day of the week:Write 2,000 words. Period. Even crappy words. Doesn't matter. I just have to write.Read 100 pages. Should be easy enough. I read 100 pages tonight and intend to continue that. I have five books from publishers/authors right now, and I should be done with at least three of them. I'm done with being behind. Time to catch up and get th...
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I Miss the Future
2008-01-24 18:18:00
There's something about the Golden Age of science fiction and the period I call "Post Golden Age" that still captures my imagination and keeps me interested in science fiction. Some might call it the 'adventure' and others might think of it as a sense of wonder. Perhaps it's both. The thing is, science fiction is fighting a little battle right now. Technology has caught up with it, to some extent, and the more we learn about space travel the more we come to realize that we're most likely never going to shoot off to the stars to land on Earth-like planets inhabited by intelligent aliens.    Not long ago we lived in a society where cell phones were, for the most part, nonexistent. If you had a cell you looked like an idiot because it looked something like the picture to the right. Such bulky devices had practically no features--they couldn't take pictures, record your voice, text message, play games, display information, surf the net, or do anything exce...
More About: Future , The Future , Miss

Why I'll Never Buy A Mac or Anything By Apple
2008-01-24 03:42:00
This was all inspired by a recent viewing of this most excellent funny video about Bill Gates on his last day at Microsoft. It's a spoof video with real people in it and it's quite brilliant and an example of why Microsoft is so much better than Apple anyway. I have a lot of reasons besides being an avid Windows user as to why I will not buy anything from Apple. And here it is the list:iPods actually suck. I've used one. And everyone I know who has owned one has watched the darn thing die over and over. My sister's broke, and a friend of mine had hers break at least six times. The batteries suck too. I have a Creative Zen Vision:M 30 GB and it can do a lot of things many of the iPods can and the darn thing is practically perfect.The iPhone is overpriced and Apple is being sued for some hundreds of millions over patent infringement.Seeing Apple products get blown up in movies makes me laugh. Seeing Microsoft products (except Windows ME) get blown up makes me cry.Windows i...

Heather Ledger Passed On Today
2008-01-23 01:05:00
This has nothing to do with specfic, but it still is an impacting moment for me. I was a fan of Ledger ever since 10 Things I Hate About You. Brokeback Mountain and Four Feathers were both excellent films and he damn well deserved every bit of credit. He actually made me want to see that new Batman movie even though I'm not really a fan of Christian Bale and I'm one of those guys that gets pissed off when anyone other than Michael Keaton plays the dark knight.Needless to say, Mr. Ledger will be sorely missed by me, by his family, and by all those that loved his work. It's sad that he had to go so young. His life was not yet lived and he had so many more great roles to play. This is a dampener on a relatively uneventful day.Goodbye Mr. Ledger...(You can read the article about it here)(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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Interview w/ Zoran Zivkovic
2008-01-22 19:12:00
Another interview! Thanks to Zoran for taking the time out of his day to answer my questions. Enjoy!SD: Could you please introduce yourself to the audience and talk a little about your history in the writing/publishing world?ZZ: I was born in Belgrade, the form Yugoslavia, in 1948. In 1973 I graduated from the Department of General Literature with the theory of literature. I received my master's degree in 1979 and my doctorate in 1982. I am now professor of creative writing at Belgrade University.I started to write prose in 1993, when I was 45. In the next decade and a half I wrote sixteen books of fiction: The Fourth Circle (1993), Time Gifts (1997), The Writer (1998), The Book (1999), Impossible Encounters (2000), Seven Touches of Music (2001), The Library (2002), Steps Through the Mist (2003), Hidden Camera (2003), Compartments (2004), The Bridge (2006), Miss Tamara, the Reader (2006), Amarcord (2007), and The Last Book (2007).I am about to finish my new novel Escher's...
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Edelman's Moral Quandaries (Pt. 4)--Dropping Nuclear Options
2008-01-22 06:02:00
The concern over nuclear weaponry and nuclear power plants (or nuclear anything really) has been strong ever since we bombed Japan in WW2. As Edelman says:Once upon a time, two countries were idiotic enough to play a high-stakes game of chess where the stakes were the survival of the human race. You don’t like my way of governing? Fine, then let’s blow the whole place to hell and you can’t govern any of it. Figuring out how to get rid of these weapons so that nobody has the power to scour the planet clean is one heck of a challenge. There’s no Cold War anymore, but the odds of a nuclear war breaking out in either the Middle East or the Indian subcontinent are still much too high for us to ignore. (Personally, I don’t think the threat is going anywhere until some theoretical point in the future when we’re living so much of our lives virtually that physical threats just don’t make sense anymore.)Let's face it, nuclear 'anything' has been a source of concern not only ...
More About: Nuclear , Options , Moral

Book Review Up: The Dead & the Gone
2008-01-20 07:45:00
I thought you'd all like to know that I reviewed The Dead & the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer. The review can be found here. Hope you all enjoy it!(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
More About: Book Review , Review , Book

Interview w/ Karen Miller
2008-01-19 17:59:00
Here is another interview for all of you. Thanks to Karen Miller for taking the time out of her busy schedule to answer my questions. I look forward to finishing The Awakened Mage. Here it is:SD: Thanks for doing this interview with me. I was very glad to receive a response back from you. First, would you tell us a little bit about yourself, such as the basic history of how you came to be a writer, what you've written in the past and recently (fiction or non-fiction), and the like. This is sort of the typical first question just to introduce you to people reading the blog.KM: And many thanks for asking!Like a great many writers, I've been scribbling stories for years. Ever since I was a child. My favourite classes in school were English, Composition, Creative Writing. All that stuff. When I left high school I went to university and did a communications degree. One of my majors was Creative Writing. I also majored in Literary Studies and FilmStudies, basically wrapping up m...
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The Spellweaver of Dern--It Has Begun
2008-01-18 01:42:00
I would like to announce that I have officially started writing The Spellweaver of Dern, book two of the Satin Bag sequence (a working series title at this point). I'm 400 words into Chapter One (entitled Of Dire Passages) and it's looking to be an interesting beginning of the book.For those of you who might need a refresher about what is going on, here it is:James and his friends have escaped the mainland of Traea, slipping away from Luthien in a last ditch effort to make a run for the city of Ra. But the Strait of Loe is a dangerous place dominated by a violent, fast-flowing current. If the current doesn't topple the Luu'tre, then the maze of reefs and rocks along the coast of Traea will prove an even more dangerous task.And what of this mysterious city of Ra in the Isles of Loe? Ancient legends speak of it as a lost city and a place where no man has ever returned. It's a place that even the dark ruler Luthien fears. What will such a feared city hold for James and his c...

Genre Links For Jan. 17th
2008-01-17 18:17:00
Yup, more links for all of you. I read so many blogs and I poke around with stumbleupon and can't help myself. Enjoy:The Fix has a great article about writing Hard SF even if you're not a scientific genius. Good stuff there. (Courtesy of SF Signal)Is sci-fi out of good ideas? This is probably a good topic for a later article, but read this one here and ask yourself if you think so.Here are some scribd articles on Cyberculture and A Cyborg Manifesto. Check them out. Alternately I found this book at Google about Young Adult Science Fiction. Sounds interesting.John Howe (yeah, that artist for LOTR) has a great post about worldbuilding.The Guardian asks why critics sneer at SF. It's not really all that negative. Really it's like praise for Alfred Bester. (Courtesy of SF Signal)io9 has this about new technology that uses hyperventilating to turn on computers. Well, it's not that far-out, but it's interesting to think what we'll be changing in the future about how we tu...
More About: Links , Genre

Eaton Conference on Mars: Anyone want to go?
2008-01-16 21:19:00
I'm going to go out on a limb here. A friend from school told me about this conference at the University of California, Riverside. It's a three-day conference talking about Mars (in the scientific and literary context) and there are going to be a whole bunch of science fiction writers there including Greg Bear, Ben Bova, David Brin, Kim Stanley Robinson, Gregory Benford, Frederick Pohl, and others. Basically, HUGE names in the SF field are going to be there.I'm wondering if anyone out there would like to go with me. The reason is that I'm a UC student and I'm not rich, meaning that I can't really afford hotel fees on my own. Since I'm a UC student I get quite a discount on registration, but again, that hotel stuff is going to bite me. So if anyone is interested in going to this with me please let me know either through email or in a comment or however. It would be nice to split costs and have some like-minded people to hang out with. We could share a room, carpool do...
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Edelman's Moral Quandaries (Pt. 3)--B.P.F.&.D.W.
2008-01-15 19:42:00
The acronym stands for: Balancing Personal Freedom and Division of Wealth.Edelman wrote:Westerners are inclined to see the political landscape as a spectrum between hard-core loony socialism (all the world’s wealth should be divided equally among its population, regardless of merit) and equally loony hard-core capitalism (everyone go grab your share of the pie, and if that results in radically uneven distribution of wealth, so be it). In Infoquake and MultiReal, I called these two poles governmentalism and libertarianism. Somewhere in the middle, theoretically, is a society where nobody’s starving and everyone can afford basic medical care, yet we still have ample freedom to make our own individual choices without governments taxing us to death. We’ve got to find that place, and figure out how to sustain it long-term.And here is what I have to say: YES! I live in a country that is so extremist and radical it's scary. On the one side, as Edelman points out, there are the f...
More About: Moral

Interview w/ Me!
2008-01-13 08:00:00
Yeah, another one! This one is really cool though. It's sort of a bizarre interview conducted by Jennifer Rahn. It's strange, it's neat, and it's just plain awesome. Check it out!(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this!)
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Edelman's Moral Quandaries (Pt. 2)--Divorcing Morality From Religion
2008-01-11 21:39:00
Ah, the infamous 'religion' thing. Edelman has a clearly atheist viewpoint on the subject of religion. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and this isn't in any way an attack on Edelman, but simply a point of explanation. His viewpoint is shared by quite a lot of people, including me to some extent. Religion is a wonderful, beautiful thing, for some, or it is a bigoted, ignorant cloud to others. Who holds the correct viewpoint is irrelevant.Having said that, Edelman presents this point on the subject of divorcing morality from religion:I don’t think anything good comes from the belief that we should refrain from murder, theft, and rape because someone wrote it down in a book five thousand years ago. Those of us who don’t believe in an all-powerful Being In The Clouds are just as capable of defining principles of morality and sticking to them — in fact, I’d argue that we’re more capable. If you want to continue to believe in God, great; but we can agree on moral pr...
More About: Morality , Moral

Edelman's Moral Quandaries (Pt. 1)--Sustainable Energy
2008-01-09 18:15:00
To start this off I want to link to Edelman's original post. He presented five moral challenges to humanity: sustainable energy, divorcing morality from religion, balancing personal freedom with division of wealth, drop nuclear options, and getting serious about global human rights. I've been thinking about these for a while, some more than others, and so I'm going to write a series of posts addressing the issues.First up is sustainable energy. Edelman wrote the following:As I’ve written before on my post about Global Warming Skepticism, I don’t particularly care about the Earth, except inasmuch as we can’t live without it. Right now, letting the Earth die means letting us die. So it’s imperative for the species’ survival that we either a) learn to conserve the planet’s natural resources, b) figure out how to keep the species going using renewable resources, or c) invest heavily in survivalism science that will let us live without them. (Or, more likely, a combina...
More About: Energy , Moral , Sustainable

Realistic Fantasy Required!
2007-11-01 20:00:00
I believe that of all writers, fantasy writers have the hardest job. This is of course excluding textbook writers. I also will not address young adult fiction here because I believe that young adult fantasy is an entirely different genre from regular fantasy simply because the rules on what works are tremendously different. Children and young adults are more likely to believe in things that would otherwise cause suspicion in adults. This is why children enjoy fairy tales and believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the like. They don't question the reality of these things because, generally, children have no interest to. They live almost in a fantasy world of their own so long as they remain children. Adults, however, have seemingly lost their innocence and become aware of the world around them. For that reason, we generally don't find the same enjoyment on a literary level of fairy tales and the like. We don't believe in Santa or the Easter Bunny, or gnomes, elves,...
More About: Fantasy , Realistic

Feed Update: Important
2007-10-31 04:47:00
I just want to let anyone know who is subscribed to my feed that you need to update your feed, I think. I'm not sure how feedburner works exactly. My understanding is that it is supposed to automatically redirect your feeds to it so that I can keep accurate track of who is subscribed--at least how many are subscribed--since for whatever reason the blogger feed gizmo isn't very accurate. So the new feed location is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheWorldInThe SatinBagPlease update your feed just to be safe. It won't take you more than a couple seconds I imagine.Thanks, and let me know if there are any problems. The feed should show up just the same, it's just redirected!(Don't click the read more, there is no more after this.)
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The SF&F Canon Project, etc.
2007-10-30 18:50:00
Well, I said I was thinking of doing it, and so I have. I've created a blog for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Canon Project . The name is changeable, but right now it suits because it says what the project is about. Now, there isn't much there right now. I have the template up, but really there isn't any information, just a single post. Feel free to check it out, give some opinions on the look. Perhaps there are some things you think should be added, etc. The site doesn't look like much, but it'll get going pretty soon--this weekend hopefully--and we'll see how things go. Remember, spread the news about this! The more people we get in on this idea the better.To other news, I was reading a post here and I thought I'd ask anyone here what magazines you read. I mean any magazines, even ones that aren't literature based. If you read Vogue, well, then say so. Only zines count too! Reading that post, though, made me realize how much I'm missing out. I had hoped aft...
More About: Anon

Technophobic SF
2007-10-29 19:19:00
I recently was reading this post and it got me thinking about this very subject.What exactly is the allure about technophobic SF? I'm not talking just literature here, but science fiction as a whole. From the Matrix to I, Robot (the book and movie), to even 1984, it seems to be something very common in SF. Why? You'd think that with SF writers predicting vast, amazing futures, there might be more interest in the good side of technology. Certainly we can say that technology has been mostly positive when we look at how it has changed our every day lives. Computers make communicating and researching infinitely easier and faster; the notebook makes bringing that computing goodness with you as easy as lugging around a few extra pounds. Cell phones, despite their downsides, have made our lives complex and simplistic at the same time. Medical technology is constantly changing, advancing, and making our lives 'better'--though you could probably argue against this.Yet science fic...

Discussion on the SF & F Canon
2007-10-28 17:35:00
It occurred to me today, while I was fiddling with my template, that we might have to start up a new blog for this canon idea. Why? Well, it would make navigating the discussion of particular works easier since navigating my site for a few related posts might be a little annoying. It'd be much simpler to have everything laid out in one little space.Is anyone against the idea of starting another blog? It would be only for the canon, and canon related things, nothing else.Also, I thought it might be a good idea to start off the canon by going through all the books that should be shoe-ins. It would be easiest to get all those we know will automatically be included. However, if you don't agree with ones I've put up, please discuss it. These are just books I think would be considered shoe-ins. But I might be wrong.Science Fiction:Dune by Frank Herbert (haven't read)War of the World by H. G. Wells (haven't read)1984 by George OrwellNeuromancer by William GibsonA Clockwork Ora...
More About: Canon , Discussion , Anon

Book Review: Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon
2007-10-28 07:29:00
I just finished Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon! Check out the review over on SQT's blog!Next up is The Steam Magnate by Dana Copithorne! (Thanks to Aio for sending me a copy to review)(Don't click the read more, there isn't any more after this)
More About: Book Review , Review , Book

The Speculative Fiction Canons!
2007-10-26 18:44:00
I want you!That's right, I'm going through with this idea, but I can't do it alone. I need help from everyone out there. I don't want this to be a project that I do by myself, because I certainly do not have any sort of authority to do such a thing. So, I'm asking for involvement from the community. That means writers, readers, bloggers, etc. If you like SF and F, then you're welcome to include your opinion.Here's more information:Get involved! Your opinion matters. Suggest books, discuss why you think those books should be in a canon, etc.Talk about this project. Spread the word! The more people that get involved the better!Tell me what you think! Do you think I should move this project to its own page? Should it stay here? What do you think needs to be considered in the criteria? Etc.Remember the criteria (I added some stuff):PopularityThis is not what it sounds like. No books should be chosen purely on the fact that everyone out there bought it, read it, and l...
More About: Fiction , Anon

Sacrificing Quality For Style in Spec. Lit.
2007-10-25 07:15:00
To say that the idea of sacrificing quality for style applies only to speculative literature would be a severe misrepresentation of the truth. However, speculative literature has one problem that literary fiction seems to either be incapable of addressing or simply never plans to address in the first place: speculative literature must always entertain. This is a stigma particular present in fantasy where the concept of originality, in more ways than one, doesn't exist. Tolkien created the mold for the genre and as such it becomes increasingly difficult for new writers to come up with considerably profound works of fantasy. World building is often compared to Tolkien, and in a lot of cases when that happens, those comparing typically say that non-Tolkien world building lacks depth--an absurd notion considering that even Tolkien was no divine creator of fantasy tropes; he simply pioneered them. Given this, fantasy must, as a rule, entertain to be considered of any value in our ...
More About: Style , Quality , Ality

The Harry Potter Fiasco
2007-10-23 03:59:00
To be honest, I'm a little sick of Harry Potter right now thanks to all this recent news. I have good reason to be. I have no problem with a character being homosexual, and that isn't what this rant is about, but I do have a problem with begging for media acceptance and manipulating the public simply because you have the audience. The sad part of this is that J. K. Rowling has the power of a god among kids, so for her to say "being gay is cool" would be instantly accepted by millions not because they truly believe that homosexuality is okay, but because someone else told them so. Morality is not determined by those with knowledge, but those that don't understand immorality. To simply tell people that something is right or wrong does nothing but implant an idea with nothing to support it.Another thing is that everyone is playing this off as a big victory for the gay community when if they really thought about it they'd realize that it is far from the truth. First, Rowling n...
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Cover Designs: Yet Another Take
2007-10-22 18:18:00
This very subject has already been discussed here and here. Given that, I have to say that I have always thought about covers, not necessarily because I care how a book is packaged so much as I care about what is inside that particular book, but because I am one of those types that pays attention to a cover when I walk through a book store looking for something new to read. Maybe this makes me a terrible reader, but I can't help it. The way a book is packaged influences whether or not I pick something up, especially if it is a new author or an author I am not familiar with.But I also realize that a cover does not bear any significance in relation to what is found within the pages. We should all realize that. A book could have a cover that could win an art award and still have a terrible story, or be poorly written. But, there is no doubt that more books are judged by their cover than by anything else.Current trends find that science fiction and even fantasy are frequently bei...
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The First SF & F Canons?
2007-10-20 20:41:00
I wish. Despite there being plenty of recommended reading lists from organizations, authors, and fans, there has yet to be an actual SF & F Canon. This is of course from my understanding. Perhaps someone has written their own canon, but from what I can tell and from what I know there is no official canon of SF & F works.Well, I wonder if this is because people don't care or because nobody has taken the time to make their ideas reality. I cannot no more say that I am qualified to create a legitimate canon, but I certainly know that I can be objective enough to be involved in deciding what novels make it into such a list. There are plenty of novels I have read that were fantastic, but I know do not deserve to be in a literary canon because they are not, generally speaking, a work of literary merit, or at least not necessarily a work that will greatly influence the genre. There's nothing wrong with such books at all. You can read a book that you really enjoy and it is ...
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Killing Speculative Literature
2007-10-18 16:59:00
In the last year I've been realizing some growing trends that have made reading very difficult for me. Some of these trends have been in books that have gained popularity and the worst part of this is that these books become examples of good speculative literature when in reality they are not even good literature to begin with. We should not accept these trends, or allow these trends in any way to shape the direction of speculative literature. To do so could very well kill the genre, or at least kill its chances to be accepted by the academic world. It is already difficult for the literary academia to accept science fiction or fantasy as true literature and they will have no reason and no desire to accept it if they are forced to sift through dozens of books just to find one that is written well. So here they are (feel free to add to this):POV ViolationsI've read two books now that violate POV. One time I can accept, even two times doesn't bother me too much, but when it be...
More About: Literature , Killing

A Synopsis, Sorta...
2007-10-18 05:54:00
I thought it would be nice to share a synopsis, or at least a first draft synopsis, with all you out there for the book I am currently working on. Just a note though, things could change a little, but for the most part the story will be as follows:The White (Draft Title) or The Lies of Venicia (Secondary Draft Title) or To Lie on Actaeon (Third Draft Title) or I Have No Clue What the Final Name Will Be (My Mind's Title)Alan is a pilot on Actaeon, a backwater world colonized by humans long ago and abandoned by most of the human empire because of a mysterious entity known as the White. He leads of life of simplicity, roaming the wide stretches of unoccupied land transporting goods for Venicia, a city ruled by a class of Elders whose wisdom is trusted without question. When his world is suddenly turned upside down and all that he once loved begins to crumble he must set out to find the answers he needs to protect Aptus and ultimately Actaeon from falling into darkness...Eileen is ...