29 Nov 2007

Update on the Weirdness

posted in: personal news, quirky, writing | 0

Well, first I’ll update on the copyright infringement weirdness, just by repeating what I already said in the comments section to the last post: The guy never answered my email, forwarded through his domain-name service, but he did take my story down. And not just my story; he took the whole blog down! And recreated it, under a new name (but same URL). Odd. But life is odd.

And speaking of odd, it’s time for another roundup of links to the stupid, the strange, the weird and fun:

New Scientist has a couple of interesting columns, starting with a roundup of strange products. The first comes under the heading of, as they put it, fruitloopiness: bottled water that has had music played to it, so that it might better calm your inner feng shui. That would be H2Om, the world’s first “vibrationally charged, interactive water.” You gotta see it to believe it.

On a more down-to-earth note, also from New Scientist: Do fish get thirsty? Maybe…maybe not… It all depends on the kind of fish.

Now, I’m not a Mac lover and I’m not a Mac hater. I simply note that the Mac user in the family seems to gripe about poor performance and annoying quirks from her machine at about the same rate as the PC users. I personally find the Mac incomprehensible. But I intend no political or religious statement with the link to this video; it’s just too funny not to point to: Why Macs suck.

If you have friends, and lots of them, and you like to bike together, you gotta have a Conference bike. Don’t worry, it’s only a little over $12,000! Isn’t that worth it for a tricycle made for seven? They even have a video, if you’re interested. (Turn the sound down, though, unless you want the music to drive you mad.)

But seriously now, the gift-giving season is nearly upon us. And you should not go into it without being armed with Dave Barry’s Holiday Gift Guide. I’m eyeing the Flying Alarm Clock, myself.

And saving the best for last. Be Rocky the Flying Squirrel! (But wait until your kids are grown up and able to support themselves, in case you, er…well, you know.) This looks like so much fun, I have to do it someday. Fly like a bird! Or at least like a flying squirrel.

My writing quote of the day definitely applies to me:

“Very few writers really know what they are doing until they’ve done it.” —Anne Lamott

19 Nov 2007

Copyright Infringement Strikes Close to Home

posted in: blogging, personal news, writing | 0

Before I start: One reason I haven’t posted for a while is that I’ve actually been focusing on working out some things about the storyline of the new book—not Sunborn, but the following book, The Reefs of Time (working title). It’s been sending out shoots in some unexpected directions, which I guess is consistent with the theme of The Chaos Chronicles—but disconcerting.

There are a number of things I’ve been meaning to write about here, but what actually kicked me into gear is a just-discovered case of copyright infringement involving one of my short stories. I have several stories up for free on my web site, and each of them has at the top a copyright notice, along with a plain language statement that it is not permissible to reproduce them elsewhere on the web. Nevertheless, someone named “Jim” has chosen to do just that.

The story in question, “Shapeshifter Finals,” was published in 1995 in the anthology, Warriors of Blood and Dream, edited by Roger Zelazny. I’ve had it up for readers to enjoy for quite a few years. Earlier today, I did something I’ve done from time to time but not lately, which is to take a line at random from my online works and run a search to see if anyone has stolen the source. To my astonishment, I came up positive with this story. It’s been posted online, in its entirety, on a blog called Tales and Tributes. The blog owner apparently lifted it directly from my website, and gave me credit as the author but neglected to ask for permission, or to reproduce the copyright notice—thus giving the false impression that the work is in the public domain. The work is not in the public domain; it is copyright © 1995 by Jeffrey A. Carver.

I would contact the blog owner, but the thing is, “Jim” has no contact information on his blog. Apparently he doesn’t want to be contacted. Another thing is, according to a Whois.com lookup, the domain name, jimblogs.net, was created on the very same day my story was posted. How odd is that?

I have contacted the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) to see if they can assist me in dealing with this, and I’m sure we’ll get to the bottom of it eventually. But in the meantime, if any of you out there in blogland know anything about jimblogs.net or “Jim,” I would appreciate hearing from you.

“The problem is when you’re not writing you don’t know if you’re lying fallow or if you’ll never write again.” —Norman Mailer

22 Sep 2007

Book Signing, September 29-30

posted in: personal news, science fiction, writing | 0

I almost forgot to post here (because I put it on my web site), I’m doing another book signing in Sandusky, Ohio, at the Kalahari Resort. This will happen the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 29 and briefly again Sunday morning. (Details) The occasion, aside from the fact that I had a great signing there in July, is that my Huron High School reunion is being held there that weekend. I haven’t seen many of my classmates in several decades, so I’m going out for that—and the book signing will, I hope, help to defray the costs of the visit.

“I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately I am inspired at 9 o’clock every morning.” —William Faulkner

17 Sep 2007

Sunborn Excerpt Now Online!

posted in: Sunborn, writing | 0

By popular request (well, by request of one or two people, anyway), I have uploaded the first three chapters of Sunborn, so you can get a taste of what’s coming. I finished the final final final drop-dead revisions on the early chapters last week, and it should be going into production shortly. (Going into production, of course, means that it’ll be out in a year. But even if I drop dead now, the book will survive me. Which, er, ought to be some consolation.)

Anyway, check it out, on my website at starrigger.net.

“I always do the first line well, but I have trouble doing the others.” —Moliere

12 Sep 2007

Return of the Ultimate SF Writing Workshop

posted in: science fiction, writing | 0

Craig Gardner and I are running another intensive writing workshop this fall, starting on October 15, at the Pandemonium SF Bookstore in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Obviously, this will be of interest mainly to people who live within easy commuting distance of Cambridge! But maybe some of my blog readers fall into that group.) It’s aimed at aspiring professional writers, and runs the gamut of subjects, for ten successive Monday evening meetings. It’s also intended as an intensive workshopping experience: learning to work as a group to provide mutual support. (Our last group went off and formed their own writing group afterward.)

All the details are online at http://www.starrigger.net/workshop.htm.

“A writer is a man who, embarking upon a task, does not know what to do.” —Donald Barthelme

30 Aug 2007

Lunar Eclipse and New Writing

posted in: personal news, science, space, writing | 0

I wasn’t able to see the August 28 lunar eclipse, but Jerry Oltion—SF writer, amateur astronomer, and member of our Launchpad astronomy team—sent us a photo he took. I thought it was so beautiful, I asked his permission to put it here on my blog:

Photo by Jerry Oltion

Seeing the photo reminded me of one of the NASA pages I read prior to the eclipse, suggesting that we imagine what it would be like to stand on the moon during an eclipse, surrounded by that incredible copper-glowing landscape. I think it would be a pretty mind-blowing experience. And as Jerry said, “Imagine what the Earth would look like from there. A dark hole in the sky with city lights glowing in it, surrounded by a ring of blood-red atmosphere.”

Here’s a montage Jerry put together, of the phases of the eclipse:


Jerry has larger images on his website, and they’re worth a look; these smaller reproductions don’t do them justice.

Meanwhile, I’ve been putting finishing touches on a short story (my first in many years!) that I hope will find its way into print eventually. More on that when I have something to report. (The name of it is “Dog Star.”)

Starting a new book is often just about the hardest thing in the world for me, and I’ve been having a devil of a time getting anywhere with the beginning of the next Chaos book, to follow Sunborn. Tonight, I decided to take Buckbeak out for a spin after dinner, in hopes that the night air would clear my head and bring some inspiration. It worked, at least a little bit. I came home with a couple of new thoughts on how to make this beginning work, and I’ve started putting it down in pixels and electrons. Feeling more hopeful, and now let me get back to it!

“Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art.” —Leonardo da Vinci

16 Aug 2007

The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Lose

posted in: personal news, science fiction, writing | 0

A few days ago, I got an email from a reader, telling me she and her family had informally named their dog Lopo Lupeko, and she thought I’d like to know. I sat there scratching my head for a little while, thinking, why did she tell me that? Did she confuse me with another writer?

Finally a tiny bell starting ringing way in the back of what passes for my mind. Something…but what…? I opened up the directory on my computer where all my book files are kept and did a search for “Lopo.” Sure enough, what popped up was my novel Down the Stream of Stars. As soon as I opened the file and found the spot, it all came back in a rush. Of course! Lopo is a dog-like creature who lives in the circ-zoo on the starship my heroine Claudi is traveling on! Lopo helped save everyone from the Throgs! How could I forget?

In my defense, I did write the novel over 15 years ago. But still, you’d think a writer would remember his own characters, wouldn’t you?

Maybe not. The next night I took a short story I’d just drafted to my writing group for vetting, and Richard says to me, regarding the main human character, “Didn’t you have a villain named Jarvis in one of your novels?” I sit scratching my head, willing to believe anything at this point. Then I remember: Jarvorus, the false-iffling in Dragon Rigger. Close enough!

I wonder if it’s time for me to reread all my own stuff, so I won’t keep redoing it.

“Write a wise saying and your name will live forever.” —Anonymous

6 Aug 2007

Sunborn Pub Date—Finally!

posted in: personal news, science fiction, Sunborn, writing | 0

I’m happy to report that Sunborn (Chaos Chronicles #4) finally is firmly in the Tor schedule. I’m less happy to report that it’s been pushed to Fall 2008! (As I recall, I went all-out to get it finished so it could make the 2007 schedule. However, revisions and delays and various back-and-forthing has resulted in its being pulled and reslotted several times. So, Fall 2008. To those of you who have been waiting so patiently and understandingly, thank you and please stick with me just a little longer. (Now, don’t mind me while I go off in the corner here and quietly scream: “Aaaaaiiiiiiieeeeee!”)

The good news is, there’s now more lead time to solicit quotes from influential voices—not so much, as you might think, to adorn the cover, but more to generate enthusiasm within the sales and marketing halls of the publisher. Yes, expectation is everything, and if those responsible for selling it are excited about it, chances for a successful promotion go way up. (Now, that’s all assuming it gets good quotes. Let’s not put the rocket before the nosecone.)

Anyway, there you have it: Tor Books, Fall 2008.

“Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” —Mark Twain

6 Aug 2007

Masters of Science Fiction

posted in: science fiction, writing | 0

I was probably the last on my block to hear about it, but thank heavens I did. ABC premiered a new, not-quite-series called Masters of Science Fiction last Saturday evening. Fortunately, I saw something in the paper in time to set my DVR and catch it. It’s an anthology series (or not-quite series, since ABC hasn’t committed to continuing it beyond a few episodes) featuring adaptations of short stories by noted SF writers, including Kessel, Heinlein, Ellison, and others. Each story will be intro’d, and I guess outtro’d, by the voice of physicist Stephen Hawking, ala Rod Serling.

I quite enjoyed the first episode, “A Clean Escape,” based on a short story by John Kessel. Well written and acted, and pretty powerful.

Who knows how long this will last, so watch it and support it (Saturday evenings at 10, Eastern time). Maybe if it gains an following, ABC will see that there’s an audience for more than one intelligent SF show on TV! Wouldn’t that be great?

“The mere habit of writing, of constantly keeping at it, of never giving up, ultimately teaches you how to write.” —Gabriel Fielding

9 Jun 2007

Sunborn Finished! Again!

posted in: personal news, science fiction, Sunborn, writing | 0

I know it’s been a long time since my last post. That’s because I’ve been dug in, finishing the final (I hope!) editorial revisions on Sunborn, my new novel, due out from Tor Books in about a year. Man, what a bear this has been. I turned in the “final” draft about six months ago—except that it turned out not to be the final draft. My editor asked for a lot of work on the first hundred pages or so; he thought it started too slowly. Maybe he was right; I don’t know, I can’t tell anymore. But I did the work, and came up with a new version that we’re both happy with. While I was at it, I went through his comments on the rest of the book, and took the opportunity to streamline and tighten, with the benefit of having been away from it a few months. (And yes, this is Book 4 of The Chaos Chronicles, but you will be able to read it as a standalone if you haven’t read the first three.)

Anyway, as of today, it’s back in my editor’s hands. I printed out a clean copy (614 manuscript pages) for myself, just a short time ago. And I am going to take it easy for a little while. Maybe do some reading. Maybe write some blog entries. Who knows?

I have a bunch of other things to say, but right now I’m too tired!

Take care, and see you later!

“It is our duty as men and women to proceed as though the limits of our abilities do not exist.”
—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

1 … 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 … 28