This is not an idea for me, but for someone else. Write an alt history where the point of divergence is that the followers of Presbyter Arius of Alexandra win out over the adherents of St. Athanasius the Great. How do you think that would change history?
Archive for the ‘Speculative Fiction’ Category
SF: Mind Meld– Changing SF
I was asked, along with the rest of the authors in Seeds of Change to make suggestions for change in the field of science fiction. Regular readers can probably guess exactly what I said, but check it out and see what you think. Not as revolutionary as I might have been in my youth, but still calling for big changes.
There are a lot of things I wouldn’t mind seeing changed in science fiction, but they mostly revolve around growing the audience. I am most interested in creating ways for people who would like science fiction short fiction to learn that it even exists. At one time, the defunct magazine SF Age had nearly 175,000 in sales of a single issue. The largest circulation of any magazine is barely over 20,000 today and has been falling for nearly a decade.
That’s probably the last thing I’ll say on the issue of the magazines for a while. I’m going to focus my energy on getting my work inside of them, instead of worrying about saving them. It’s wasted energy at this point and has become just another way for me to focus on the wrong things.
Jesus Christ, Superhero?
I’ve been thinking about religion in the superhero genre, particularly as it pertains to Christianity.
One of my personal reasons for rejecting the religion is that I do not believe in the supernatural. I do not believe that a man rose from the dead, walked on water, turned water to wine, and so forth. I believe that modern evidence indicates such things to be utterly impossible. But my reason for disbelief here is not the subject–imagine if you lived in a world where such things happened on a daily basis?
How would Jesus be viewed in a world where superheroes soar through the skies, communicate with thought, and are indestructible? I have two trains of thought on this matter.
The first is that a lot more people would believe the basics of the story. You’d have no reason to disbelieve that a man once lived who did all those things. The supernatural is apparent in your day-to-day life. Mutants have powers, so it’s no stretch to believe that Jesus did as well.
But would people still make the leap of faith from these powers and acts to believing he was the son of god? Would they more likely to believe that anyone making such claims were a delusional superhero? Let me put it this way–in your favorite comic book universe, if someone showed up with similar powers to the stories of Christ in the New Testament, would you believe that they were Jesus reborn, or would you suspect that they were some nefarious villain posing as Jesus for his own sinister purpose?
A world full of super powers would have profound theological implications, and I don’t think I’ve read anything that deals with that exactly. Most comic books I have read seem to have the same basic religions we have. BUt would they remain unchanged by 100 years of history of supermen on the world stage? How would the Catholic Church respond to the existence of such things?
Feel free to point me out stories that have dealt with this idea before. This morning in the shower, I started thinking about writing a take-off on Superman, much like Cory Doctorow did, but instead of depicting his parents as a jewish couple in Toronto, I want to take him back to Kansas, but my Kansas, not the idea of Kansas of a New York comics writer. Superman as raised by deeply religious, fundamentalist, anti-choice Baptists.
How do you think he would have turned out in that kind of family?
New Roundbottom Live
The concluding chapter of the Case of the Steam Wraith is now live on the Dr. Rounbottom website.
This four-part story has had some bumps, and if I wasn’t writing without a net, I can see some edits that I would make. I’m going to try to write these things farther in advance of posting in the future so that I can smooth out some of the inconsistencies that develop. It’s far easier to write one-shot observational posts than the storyline based posts. I made some strides towards that goal of getting ahead this weekend, designing a new capture and we’ll hopefully get a podcast made this week as well.
One problem with writing the posts in advance is that I like having Roundbottom being responsive to the comments. one of the things that sets this project aside from the usual fiction serial is this aspect of involving the input of the audience. If you weren’t aware of that–Roundbottom does interact with his readers, so if you want to jump into the story, you’re perfectly able to do so. Just start posting comments. Make up a character for yourself if you like. I’m not sure who my commenters are because of the aliases, and it’s a blast to read what they have to say on things.
A Philosophical Question
Something I’ve been thinking about lately. In the name of tolerance, should we excuse the intolerance of others because that intolerance is rooted in a religious belief? Essentially, if we hold tolerance of others as noble thing, should be we tolerant of others even when they are intolerant of others themselves?
In other words, is it okay for me to hate Orson Scott Card?
New Roundbottom: To Bind a Steam Wraith
Another Monday, and another Roundbottom post has gone live over at clockpunk.com. This week, the good Doctor formulates a plan to recapture the dangerous wraith.
We’re hard at work around here on more Roundbottom content. The first podcast might very well be ready in the next week or two. My sound engineer Nate sent me a couple of files over the weekend that were great. The podcast is going to have fantastic engineering. Episodes will be short, running only 2–3 minutes most likely. But those 2–3 minutes will be packed with aural delights, I tell you.
Dr. Roundbottom needs your help to find his audience. Please consider linking to the site if you haven’t done so already.
Virophage
Damn it, while I’m out immersing myself in the science fiction world all week at Denvention 3, science goes and spits out something truly amazing and I’m only just now reading about it. Check this out:
There is a large virus that gets sick by becoming infected by a smaller virus.
If that does not blow your mind, then nothing will.
It definitely settles the debate for me as to whether or not viruses are life. Maybe one of the definitions of life should boil down to “something that can be infected by a virus.”
Print or Electronic Short Fiction Magazines?
There’s some great conversation going on over at the Tor site about magazine models again. John Klima is tackling the whole print vs. electronic delimma.
Personally, I think if you can do print, do it. But electronic editions should be a given. It costs maybe an hour of your time to take your files and convert them into the popular formats. There are websites that do it for you. If anyone wants to know about those, I’ll dig up the links.
Cory Doctorow has talked about this in the past, and I agree with him. Sell a normal subscription for print, but those people get a free electronic version as well. The electronic version supports the print version. It’s easier to search, and, honestly, easier to share, which at the size we’re talking about? People pirating your stories around is a good thing. Anything that makes it easier for people to spread the word about your publication is a plus.
Also, sell a cheaper straight electronic version. If someone really wants to just get a PRC file every month, then let them. But I think you’ll find that the electronic version is a selling point of the print version. I can’t guarantee it will increase sales, but I think it’s the best of both worlds. It’s your chocolate in my peanut butter, my peanut butter in your chocolate. Mmmm!
I’d be ecstatic if every book I bought came with an electronic version so that I can search it afterwards, or even better, while I’m waiting for the book to arrive via Amazon. In fact, yesterday, I ordered some web application design texts and after I placed my order, Amazon tried to sell me a $15 e-book copy of one of the books so I could start reading right away. That’s great–only I sure as hell ain’t going to pay another $15 for a $50 book for that promise (and probably find that it is full of DRM that prevents me from really using it).
There are things I can do so much better on a computer or e-reader than I can do with a book. But paper is still easier to read until we see e-ink really take off (the Kindle is apparently cool, but I’ve never seen one in the wild). The two formats are complimentary, and I’d really like to see someone try out the model I’ve outlined above. I’d subscribe, anyway, and I currently subscribe to no magazines (although that’s a factor more of my recent unemployment than it is any problem with the magazines).
Are you publishing a print zine and giving away e-copies to your subscribers for archiving and easy indexing? Let me know in the comments.
What are you favorite bad 80s SF films?
What are some of you favorite 1980s bad genre films? Examples might include Weird Science, Willow, Krull, Flash Gordon... I leave it up to the individual to define “bad” and “favorite.” I’m making a list, but I want to make sure I don’t forget any. Please help, Obi won Livejournal. You’re my only hope.
A new pro rate fantasy e-zine?
Someone passed this link on to me via delicious. Does anyone know anything about Beneath Ceaseless Skies? What’s their operating model? Looks interesting, content-wise, and there’s some nice art featured. I’m not familiar with the editor, however.
