Monthly Archives: November 2018

Sharp Eyes and the End of the World

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One of the panels I was on at Philcon was titled “A Creative Apocalypse” and the description was, “What creative and original – but scientifically plausible – ways are left for storytellers to destroy the world?”

I kind of struggled with this question initially. Creative I can handle, it’s the scientifically plausible that I was worried about. Part of me really wanted to separate out destruction of all human life from actual destruction of the planet, but that line of discussion didn’t get far. Not much of a story without the people (still horribly narcissistic if you ask me).

Then I seemed to recall something about massive ant colonies that spanned across vast distances. I didn’t have a chance to do any research on it, but it was in the back of my mind that I had seen this so I presented it (when I could) at the panel. I find a plague of bugs to be a less than ideal concept for the end of the world (YUCK!).

I took a moment to see if I could find the information I remembered and found this fun little piece about floating colonies of fire ants in Texas.

Smacking into one of those would certainly ruin your day, but it wasn’t what I remembered. Hunting a little more brought me to the mega-colony. Yes, it was a huge colony and it actually reaches far further than I seemed to recall. Crossing continents. Almost all of them, and they don’t’ seem to fight each other. This could be very bad news for people should these bugs ever band together.

A sharp-eyed friend of mine then pointed me to a whole different point of view. What if all the bugs GO AWAY?

Turns out we need them. We need as many variations and weird combinations as we can keep. We need to learn as much as we can to preserve ourselves. The bug-pocalypse could just be that we don’t have any. A distressing thought indeed. Now to turn that into a world ending story…

Philcon 2018 – A Review

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This was previously published in Watch The Skies (November 2018)

I was once again happy to be a participant at the convention put on by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society this year. I was given a number of different panels to be part of and as a bonus got to talk a couple of folks who had never been to Philcon along for the ride. Having friends along was a difference maker this year. It helped me to see the con with fresh eyes. It’s very easy after years of participation to become jaded and treat an event like this as work.

Attendance this year felt like it was slightly more. I have absolutely no basis for this observation other than feeling. I could (and likely am) totally wrong, but part of why I might have felt this way could be that I saw other con tracks that I don’t normally see. I paid more attention to the Anime track. There was more than one costuming related panel and there were even events for kids. I know the Anime track has been solid for years, but having somebody along with me who was interested in it gave it a fresh look.

My panels were well attended – except for one. Everyone who does panels at cons will eventually get a clunker. Having a friend walk to the panel room with me was the only reason I wasn’t there alone. Eventually the person that suggested the panel be on programming arrived. We had a nice chat and then she left early (can’t compete with the masquerade after all).

There were also a number of artists displaying their work in the art show. I recognized many of them and their work, but there were also one or two that I hadn’t seen before. I hadn’t been familiar with the artwork of Gary Lippincott, but I have realized my mistake after looking at his amazing water color work in person. Do yourselves a favor and go check out his work.

As always it was wonderful to see various members of my ‘convention’ family that I don’t get to spend enough time with. Jokes about alien abductions just don’t play as well anywhere else as they do there.

It was a fun filled and fast weekend. I was on the way home almost before I realized it. I hope to be invited back again next year. IF I go, I want to bring more friends. That, after all, is how we’re going to keep the things we love rolling along.

The Solution?

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Maybe… just maybe a vacation was the answer.

It’s something that a lot of folks have said is a very American thing, feeling guilty for taking time off. I suspect they’re right.

I’ve been ‘on vacation’ now for a little over a week. Not a proper holiday – haven’t gone anyplace. Stayed at home. Got some things taken care of around the house. Had some time with friends with no schedule pressure. Went to a convention (there will be a report on that coming up too!) and generally enjoyed Thanksgiving.

Also in there I attended a book signing event. One of my stories is in the book Squeekie Celebrates 20 Years of the Cupboard Maker Books! I was very excited to hear that I made the cut and got my story in as a fan favorite. You should go and check out Squeekie’s page HERE. It was fun to sit with other authors and sign books for folks that were kind enough to buy them.

I sat back down here at the machine and started working again. I wrote, edited and fired off a story submission then went back and found an old story that I thought was really good. I took that story, edited it with a new eye, formatted it and fired that one off to another market.

I’ve picked up a book and plunged right through the first chapter.

I think I might just be back on track. We’ll see if this all survives heading back to work and diving into the holidays. Here’s hoping!

Slump

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I thought initially to title this “The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Slump…” but I thought I might get into trouble with that one.

This year has been terrible for my creative process. I haven’t written, I haven’t read, I have barely pulled together any art.

I don’t know why. It’s frustrating.

I want to write. I want to create my art. I want to read awesome books. I just don’t seem to be able to pull together the motivation to actually DO any of it.

I look back at a quote from one of my favorite authors, “I don’t have a muse, I have a mortgage.”

I think a meeting with a muse could really help right about now.