A Good Speech….
I am lucky enough to know one of the best technology futurists – Mark Anderson of SNS. He runs the best conference I’ve ever attended: FiRE, or the Future in Review (yes – it’s even better than science fiction cons). But that’s a different topic. He also publishes a newsletter, and a piece of that content was what he hoped would be the speech President Obama would deliver on the jobs issue. That speech was so good that Mark was asked to make it more widely available. He complied; it’s posted on his blog, A Bright Fire. It’s worth reading.
Observations about Australia
I’m about half-way through a trip to Australia. Yes, there are kangaroos all over. I find them adorable, but they are also big. I mean, really big. I did not imagine how much power they have. Other things remind me that “down under” is different from home. The birds all sound different, and birds that are essentially parrots fly around about everywhere. They look prettier than they sound. The country is beautiful and vast.
Australia is greener than the US. I haven’t met any climate change deniers. I’m sure they exist – I’ve heard they do. But everyone I’ve talked to considers climate change real and by and large Australia is acting that way. They just introduced a carbon tax bill that’s expected to pass. Almost every toilet and shower head I’ve seen manages water well. Outlets need to be turned on to be used. Solar power is fairly common.
The Internet is awful. Slow, expensive. Almost no free wireless. They are totally right to be doing a national broadband plan to get fiber to the home. Good for them!
The economy is rocking down here compared to us. They have a few stock problems when we have a lot of stock problems, so they’re affected by our economy, and Europe’s, and I hear some worries. But they have low unemployment (about 5% which represents the usually unemployable anywhere), and some of the CIO’s I talked with at the conference I attended are having great trouble hiring. Many people attribute much of the current economic strength to the booming mining business which is feeding resource-hungry China.
The people are by and large happy, friendly, and capable. They like to work, they mostly work hard but not the insane hours many of us work. They seem proud of Australia. They are mystified by current American politics, and want to understand it (so do I). They have universal health care and retirement and no real worries or problems with either that I can tell.
This is sort of half-way report after Canberra and Blackheath (in the Blue Mountains) and I’ve just checked into Sydney, which I’ll report out on in the next few days or just after I get home. I feel insanely lucky to be here.
9/11/11: Changes in Latitudes, Attitudes…
The strangest things happen to writers. This morning, I woke up with an essay in my head:
I gave a talk to a bunch of eighteen and nineteen year-old students at the University of Washington earlier this week. None of them were old enough to remember a pre 9/11 world. They have never traveled without being stripped of their shoes and have never been able to blithely carry their green-apple scented shampoo onto a plane in their purse, or to bring on their own little bottles of alcohol and slip a whisky into their coke. They have always known we were at war somewhere. They have almost surely developed small uncertainties about the Muslim world even while they hold almost no issues about sexual preference or black skin. They know a world with more fear, war and mistrust than the one I grew up in.
I remember what it felt like to expect a better future. Not to fight an uphill battle by saying you expect one and trying like hell to be positive because it’s so much more useful than being negative, but to actually be positive and hopeful.
I’m traveling in Canberra, Australia right now. In January, I went to Bangkok, Thailand, and met people from many Asian countries at a conference about future technology in government. Although in slightly different ways, both Bangkok and Australia feel more “American” than we do now.
Almost all of the people I met in Asia live in rising economies. I’m pretty sure most of us would give our right arm to have the Aussie economy, which is booming with raw materials, rich in arts, and where the biggest problem seems to be the strong rise of the Aussie dollar.
In both places, the people I met seem happy and hopeful. They’re friendly in ways America really isn’t any more. Not blindly trusting, but I could leave my shoes on going through security and didn’t have to leave my firstborn to rent a bicycle yesterday. I could wonder around the Parliament building unescorted ,with very little security, and so could everyone else regardless of the color of their skin.
People in both places appear to believe in education, new forms of energy, conservation, science in general, and that the world of tomorrow will be better than the world of today.
If we don’t mange to make this shift, these other places I’ve been recently will be able to take advantage of a new and shiny future that we’re not going to participate in. They’ll be actors on the world stage working to solve climate issues and we’ll be sitting behind our lobbyists and chanting about drilling oil as if we were two year olds.
I’m not naïve enough to think these countries are perfect, nor blind enough to think the US is completely broken. They aren’t and we aren’t. But a difference in attitude makes a big difference in results.
I want America to feel more like we did before 9/11. Less fearful. More curious. More hopeful. More courageous. More educated.
Maybe we should all take a vow to take a class, to do one or two things to moderate our energy consumption, and to find even one way each to make our jobs or our schools or our kids stronger this year. The attitude shift we need isn’t 180 degrees. It’s maybe twenty degrees to the positive. We can do it.
Some Podcast Stories and Recommendations
I’m back far enough from January’s foot surgery to do a lot of dog walking, and thus back to listening to podcasts. Here are a few that I’ve rather enjoyed lately.
Through a chance meeting at Worldcon, I discovered that Adventures in Science Fiction Publishing is back on the air (they have been for a while now, but I missed it). It was good before, and I like it even better now. In fact, I like it so much, I sponsored them for a little bit. Win for me (advertising) and a win for them as well. Give them a try. It’s not fiction – it’s interviews and science fiction / fantasy news. Oh – and I’m giving away a copy of Mayan December over there, and a hardcover of The Silver Ship and the Sea, which has gone out of physical print as far as I can tell. There are a lot of other good nonfiction podcasts out there, too. Starship Sofa is a favorite of mine, and SF Signal does a podcast these days as well. Listening to any of these is kind of like listening to my friends chatter on while Nix and I walk.
I also wanted to talk up a few stories. One is “The Fish of Lijiang” written by Chen Qiufan and read by Kate Baker. I found it really well-done, a bit sad, and very touching. It’s over at Clarkesworld. I found it a particularly good commentary on our lives, and I enjoyed the feel of the work and setting, which is in China.
I like bar stories. One of my favorite settings is Larry Niven’s Draco Tavern. So I listened to a bar story by Tim Pratt, called “On a Blade of Grass,” read by Mat Weller, way back in in an old issue of Escape Pod. It’s a perfect little conversation, which is exactly what a bar story is supposed to be.
And for a third recommendation, I liked The Notebook of my Favorite Skin Trees, by Alex Dally MacFarlane and read by Pamela Quevillion, and also in an older Escape Pod issue. It doesn’t stand up to any logic at all, and it’s light erotica. I certainly wouldn’t expose kids to the story. But on a podcast you just start from the title, and the story is really lovely. It’s quirky and weird I enjoyed it for no good reason other than it’s sweetness and naivete.
Oh, and don’t forget to donate to the podcasters you like – most of them operate on a shoestring at best!
Fulfillment: The Goodreads Giveaway Process
Goodreads does a book giveaway program. This is basically a chance for authors or publicists or publishers to give away copies of the book. I just finished a run through of the program where I gave away 10 copies of Mayan December.
I like the process of autographing copies and sticking them in envelopes and hand-addressing them. It seems personal, like a signing is personal. And so much of this business isn’t actually very personal.
It’s also a small thing that’s not done in cyberspace. It’s physical copies of the book going into physical envelopes and being mailed. Yes, I love technology. But sometimes it’s good to step away from a screen for a few minutes. The top picture in the assembly line for getting the books ready. And below are the books are all ready to be shipped out tomorrow. They are being watched over by the Nixie, the golden retriever…
Worldcon Report – Belated
I came back from the convention to be swept immediately into busy days and a visit from family. So here is a rather belated and short Worldcon report. I’m usually by myself at Worldcon, but my long-time friend Gisele from Florida (I met her over half my life ago!) and my partner Toni joined me this time.
Special moments:
I got to meet Alliette deBodard. I love her writing in the Aztec world. She is gracious and quiet in person. I also got to meet N.K. Jemisin and see Patty Briggs. Even established writers get their fan girl time at Worldcon.
Speaking of fan girl time, I am now lusting after Kim Stanley Robinson’s next book. I heard him read from it, and it’s going to be gorgeous. I don’t know if it has a pub date or even a name, but he is one of my favorite writers, and his next book is a return to science fiction.
I had a lovely dinner with Greg and Astrid Bear, the three of us (me, Toni, and Gisele), and Louise Marley. We got to celebrate Greg’s birthday. The Bear’s are some of the most gracious and brilliant people is the SF community, and I always feel blessed when I get to spend time with them. I also saw many people from the Starry Heaven/Wellspring writing workshop community.
The Hugos were particularly well-done this year. A shout out to Jay Lake and Ken Scholes for that. I know them both, and this was surely not easy for either of them. Jay is busy winning his cancer fight and Ken is more shy than he appears. They did great.
Special thanks:
The joint book launch for Mayan December and The Brahm’s Deception went incredibly well, and I needn’t have worried about it at all (I did, lots, but I’d never thrown a party at any con, much less a Worldcon). Food and drink were acquired easily and more passed to us from a Nightshade authors party, which we then passed to a George R.R. Martin fan party. People did come, and they even bought books. Mayan December is apparently hard to find in the wild, so I’m glad I had some there, thanks to my hugo-winning publisher, Sean Wallace (the Hugo was for the excellent work he does over at Clarkesworld). I do have to shout out huge thanks to my partner Toni and my friend Gisele who greeted and shlepped and decorated and organized and kept me functioning even though I was tired by then. Also a big thanks to Kay Kenyon for bartending.
The con was really well run. The communication was great, the volunteers all fabulous, and the programing excellent.
The only bad thing:
The con was very mixed up with casino people (expected, based on location). But twice I saw other casino guests of the young white male variety poking fun at con-goers. They didn’t seem to appreciate the beanies of first-fandom very much, nor really much of the costuming in general. There were a two times I really wanted a handy nearby Klingon.
Mayan December Launch Party and Trailer
I am a bit nervous about the book launch party at Worldcon tomorrow. It’s the first time I’ve done a book party of any kind (much less at Worldcon). Louise Marley and I are co-hosting a book launch – for her excellent Brahm’s Deception (Kensington) and for Mayan December (Prime). Since it’s a year for “firsts” I’m also doing a “first” book trailer. Credit for the trailer goes to my son, David Cooper. The party will be in the Atlantis in Reno, in Suite 1552. Wish me luck, and if you’re around, drop by. Louise and I would love to see you.
Reading Recommendation: Heart of Iron, by Ekaterina Sedia
Just finished Heart of Iron last night. Part steampunk, part penny dreadful, part alternate history, and all fun. I decided I loved Ekaterina’s writing when I read The Alchemy of Stone, and so I picked this up shortly after it came out. The two books are very different, but both are full of voice.
I particularly liked Ekaterina’s heroine, Sasha. I won’t say much more lest I drop spoilers. I suspect it is available here at Worldcon.
By the way, the cover is very beautiful. The art is by Marcin Jacubowski. The book is published by Prime Books.
In which I receive a precious birthday gift
This is Raffy. Raffy started out white and un-decorated, and KT the marvelous painted it with galaxies and stars and other bright splashes of multimedia color. I believe – given the blond hair – that Raffy is supposed to be me clothed in imagination.
The eBook conversation happens everywhere!
Toni and Katie and I spent the day on horseback riding above the rim of the Wai’pio valley on Kona. The lunch stop was a lovely spot with a waterfall, a lovely pool, and benches to sit on. There were only three family groups on the ride – us, a Japanese family who did not speak English, and a father and daughter. It turns out the daughter is in school in NYC studying publishing and is an assistant editor for a popular magazine. So we got into the eBook talk, and the self publishing talk. I shared that all of my books are available electronically but that none are self-published. We talked about whether I might or might not do that (I definitely will fro my short stories, and expect I will for novels). She was very nice, and I enjo
yed the talk. Of note – she stated that she thinks this is a lovely time to be a writer because there are so many options available.
I agree.
We traded cards. After all, publishing a small small world.
Land.”
