Short story mania!

Though it does not presage a change in my approach to my ongoing novel-length work, A Far Sun, lately I've been looking at and working on a few short stories. I have one put to bed, and though it has its flaws, it's pretty good. The title is Life Cycle, and when I get back from vacation I plan to submit it to as many Sci-Fi magazines (both online and print) as I can find willing to accept submissions. By then Escape Pod should be accepting submissions, so I will post it there, as well.

So yeah, I'm about to head out on vacation, back to the same place we've gone the past few years: Orlando, FL. Hey, we have a timeshare there (and we didn't plan far enough in advance to ensure we could get accommodations somewhere else).

What's Life Cycle about? Well, it involves humans landing on an alien planet and the strange events that transpire after one of the crew dies, and is buried on the planet. But methinks I've perhaps given too much away, already.

My second story, which I'm about halfway through, is entitled Baby Madeline. This is a dark little tale about what might happen if they started offering women trendy, "artificial pregnancies" the way some women get boob jobs. I got the idea when I saw a commercial for a truly creepy, life-like (it even breathes!) doll called Baby Ashley. When I saw the ad I asked "what's next?" and let my imagination go.

My third story is just too much fun. It's called Moe Kauble - "The Alien in the Drum Kit" and any similarity to the SNL skit "More Cowbell" is entirely non-coincidental. This is a YA story about two plucky homeless kids, Jenny and Jeremy, who find old Mr. Kauble's garage and start coming there to watch and listen to the practices of a truly awful rock band, then discover there is more to drumming than meets the eye. Moe is the alien, of course. Think "My Favorite Martian meets Rock Band" Yeah, you got it. I just got this idea yesterday, so of course it's subject to change.

I've never tried to do much in the way of short fiction, and I think now that that's been a mistake. There are many valuable and useful things to be learned from short fiction. Ultimately I think it makes all our writing better, so wish me luck on my latest endeavors.

I'm in fairly good shape with A Far Sun. I pushed the word count for book 3 past 36,000. While I'm on vacation I do plan to add to that number. When I get back I'll post the results. I may even finish Baby Madeline, which should be exciting. I don't think I will be posting any of these stories here, but that doesn't mean I don't love all zero of you! I do.

So, in the meantime, keep cool, and as always, stay tuned.

Some interesting parallels

I came across this article on the blog Science-Based Medicine, "Certainty versus knowledge in medicine" written by Dr. David Gorski. In it he discusses the phenomenon whereby people actively discount the results of science when it conflicts with their personally-held beliefs. It's very interesting, but what struck me as most were the parallels that can be made between people's dismissing of science and their dismissing of religious skepticism, i.e., atheism and it's weaker cousin, agnosticism. Indeed, he even begins his article with this very simile:

If there’s a trait among humans that seems universal, it appears to be an unquenchable thirst for certainty. It is likely to be a major force that drives people into the arms of religion, even radical religions that have clearly irrational views, such as the idea that flying planes into large buildings and killing thousands of people is a one-way ticket to heaven.

And it's all science's fault. As Dr. Gorski points out: "[O]ne of the hardest things for many people to accept about science-based medicine is that the conclusions of science are always subject to change based on new evidence ..." Science is by its nature a moving target. Truth may be out there (paraphrasing some others), but we're never sure we've found it. Yes, the state of uncertainty is an awful place to be. I've heard it said that the certainty of misery is preferable to the misery of uncertainty.

He discusses some examples of how stubbornly even "sciencey" people hold onto outdated beliefs. The so-called "conventional wisdom" of the profession. Then he moves on to a discussion of what he calls "scientific impotence discounting." In other words: science is unable to explain things with certainty. It is impotent in some respects because of its provisionality. And given that it's always waffling about "the truth" there is the tendency to disregard the things that it does uncover. Sort of: Hey, if what we thought last year was true now turns out to be wrong, then what's to say what we think is true today won't be debunked in another year? But that's an over-generalization and not at all fair to science.

What we thought last year hasn't been completely thrown out. It's been refined--altered--to better fit new evidence we've uncovered. Of course, we could be wrong this time, too, but are we getting progressively more wrong, or less wrong? I still believe we are gradually getting less and less wrong. Much closer to the truth. But now, here is where things get really interesting:

Another common strategy I’ve seen for scientific impotence discounting is to dismiss science as “just another religion,” just as valid as whatever woo science is refuting, or to label science as “just another belief system,” as valid as any other. In other words, postmodernism!

Yes, this postmodernist thought is very disturbing, because not all hypotheses are created equal, and it seeks to treat every idea as equally likely. If there's a "faith" element to science, then it's in the belief that there's a huge mountain of scientific evidence behind our current theories, and that what we "believe" today to be the truth aren't some brand-new untried and untested ideas, but the result of years--eons--of testing and refinement. It's the natural selection of scientific ideas at work, in the most thorough, ruthless way we know. There's no room for fluff in the marketplace of ideas.

I've seen these postmodernist thought arguments made in an attempt to discount atheism, as well. Replace the word "science" with "atheism" in the above passage and see if it doesn't sound familiar. In fact, I heard these very statements last night from a person who openly categorizes herself as "mostly atheist." Wow! (I may have more to say about my experiences with this person, but not in this post.)

Almost everyone comes to non-belief via the route of critical analysis of the world around us and the obvious lack of any evidence of the supernatural. We do become somewhat ingrained in our non-beliefs, because to think otherwise appears delusional. And we'd like not to delude ourselves. But, is science and belief in science a "religion"? Is atheism nothing more than a funky kind of negative religion where we all wear funny hats and sit around making fun of others who wear different kinds of funny hats? It does make sense that the same forces that cause otherwise rational people to discard good science in favor of more comfortable (albeit false) beliefs would also play into why religious people seem quite happy to tell non-believers that their ideas are no more valid than anyone's. Never mind one perspective is based on the world around us, and the other on what we feel in "our hearts." I'm not saying to ignore your heart, just wait a little while and see if it doesn't change. The natural world is not so ephemeral.

Dr. Gorski goes on to say:

Skepticism and science are hard in that they tend to go against some of the most deeply ingrained human traits there are, in particular the need for certainty and an intolerance of ambiguity. Also in play is our tendency to cling to our beliefs, no matter what, as though having to change our beliefs somehow devalues or dishonors us. Skepticism, critical thinking, and science can help us overcome these tendencies, but it’s difficult.

I see the relationship between religious belief and scientific "belief." They may both be beliefs, but where one (religion) seems to be adherence to a certain set of "facts," scientific belief is based on the process of determining the facts, not in the facts themselves. It's easy to see how someone would confuse these things, but they're really not at all alike. As Dr. Gorski concludes, belief in science dooms one to a life of uncertainty, but it's something that one learns to live with. So, I suppose, if you cannot deal with uncertainty, then go find a nice religion.

How time flies

It's been more than two years since I last posted to this blog. With limited time and with altogether too many blogs to manage (entirely my fault), this blog went unwatched. It's not going to be unwatched and neglected any longer. For now.

Here is some history: Time passes, and Blogger decides to eliminate their FTP publishing option. Of course this happens during a time when I have no time to execute a conversion. I am also someone loath to change things, so ... I have let my options expire on my primary blog, Prepare to be Assimilated. I will eventually get some kind of blogging engine hooked up to my primary domain, RLAEnterprises.net, probably WordPress, but until then I'm going to vent my pent-up blogging desires here.

When I last posted on this blog, I was still slogging through book 1 of my story A Far Sun. That book is "complete" and in second draft form at about 120,000 words. Book 2 is also complete (at 98,000 words), but it's still in first-plus draft form. It hasn't been independently read by anyone, though my oldest stepdaughter has the printed draft. She read and commented on the first volume, and her comments were hugely helpful. Author's myopia, you know.

These days I'm slogging through book 3, which has just bumped the 34,000 word count. Progress isn't quite as rapid as I had hoped, but it still may be possible to finish the story by year end. FYI, book 2 got finished at the end of 2009. It's hard to say when book 1 was "finished," because I was up to 145,000 words before I decided to break the story into pieces.

My biggest "worry" of late is whether I can really finish the story by the end of this book. It is still the same basic plot I started with, though in the course of writing I've rather significantly fleshed out certain aspects of my story world. There is a larger, more epic struggle taking place, but it's being told at the level of the individuals involved. I have conspicuously tried not to "boil the ocean," but there is a lot to tell. I am working on making my stories shorter, in general.

I find it humorous that once upon a time I worried whether my antagonist was going to be "bad enough." By now ... well, he's more than bad enough--he's certifiably insane and represents a huge obstacle to my protagonists. Actually, early on I was worried about exactly how he would exert control over others. Now it's very apparent the operative word is "fear." Everyone is afraid of him, and for good reason. He'll do anything and everything to get his way. They could single him out and eliminate him, but he is still very powerful and he does have "friends" who are helping him. I suppose it's predictable that my "heroes" will overcome the bad guy and win the day, but I'm still hoping the way they do it will be somewhat of a surprise.

I have, at various times, speculated on further stories in this "new" world. I made up a language that my natives speak, and they have a history and a culture (of course every made-up story world has these things), and wouldn't you know it--there is more that could be told. On the other hand, my younger stepdaughter thought my "new" story idea too trite and predictable. She may be right, but then again, I haven't written it yet. Most story ideas have been done before. Most are very cliche and trite, as well. It's only in the telling that a story gains some measure of originality, most of the time. I'm not really worried that I may have nothing of value to add.

On a (slightly) different topic: I also have another story I have worked on, from time to time. It's nothing at all like A Far Sun, and the preliminary reviews of the portion I've written (22,000 words, more or less) are very good. The working title is Rider on the Storm, but it's almost a certainty that this title will change. Unfortunately my second choice for a title: Persistence of Memory has been used in a novel, so that name seems even less likely.

This other story is all about time travel, and plays fast and loose with characters moving in and out (and between) different timelines; perhaps even different universes. Some parts of this story are not terribly original, at all (at least for some people), but when has that ever stopped anyone? Yes, one man's tired trope is another man's discovery. If you've read a bunch of time travel stories (or seen your share of time travel movies), then you might find some of the ideas rather well-known. But even then you might find something interesting in what I've got going.

I have also written a short story but I know I need to revise it before it's ready for consumption. I have ideas for a couple other short stories, but those ideas still need to be developed a little more. Short stories are good exercise. They help you develop your plotting and characterization muscles, but in a medium you can much more easily grasp in its entirety. One could say short stories are harder to write because you have to very carefully choose your words. In truth I find careful wordology to be important even in longer works. Particularly when you want your story to be more easily read by younger readers, which I do.

Some last comments on what I think will happen to A Far Sun. It seems very unlikely it will be published either as a graphic novel or as a podcast. As much as I might like to podcast it, it's very long and I am not as good a reader as (I think) is required. (I tend to talk too fast, my voice is a bit too nasal and high-pitched, and I am terrible doing female voices that don't all somehow have Southern accents.) With respect to a graphic novel, my artist stepdaughter has expressed no further interest in illustrating it. What's most likely is that I will shop it out for more "conventional" publishing, but that won't be until I've completed it. All three books.

So, we'll just keep on keepin' on, and see where it leads us.