Posts Tagged ‘Science fiction’
Case Study: The Five Worlds Website
Filed Under: SF Business, Web Design, creativity
…the Academy was founded to detail the story of how Fremont’s Children directed the outcome of the Making War. This is the incredible and unlikely story of how a brother and a sister, and other young heroes, created the balanced forces that drive us today. Although this is a tale of our past, it is still a story in the making. We uncover new bits of information regularly. We invite you to drop in from time to time to see it.
Brenda Cooper, co-author of Harlequin’s Moon with Larry Niven, contacted me a couple of months back, interested in how I might help publicize the release of the third book in her series, The Wings of Creation. I jumped at the chance to get involved.
The first thing I did was tackle the books. In this series, Brenda has built a strong cast of young characters and an interesting setting that is both recognizable and alien at the same time. They’re good “all ages” science fiction, and I really enjoyed them.
From reading the books, I suggested developing a website for the series as if the site was the digital presence of an actual institution in the world. The website would provide samples of the books for reading, and an encyclopedia of information–a kind of reader’s guide, if you will.
The Academy of New World Historians is the organization responsible for assembling the historical texts that make up Brenda’s series. Each book opens with excerpts of interviews conducted by these historians. The goal of the website is to share their publications with the rest of the Five Worlds.
The site is built on a WordPress framework, using a custom theme. It’s fairly straightforward in design and construction to reflect a culture that values simplicity and usability in interfaces. The design uses some jQuery effects here and there for some pizazz–I was really interested in trying out the “expanded navigation” method that I’ve implemented on the home page. You can hover over the section titles and see additional information for the section, such as links to specific topics.
Overall, Brenda has been a joy to work with. I hope you will all check out the site and her books. They’re good stuff, and I would recommend them even if Brenda were not a client.
Recommended Viewing: The Sleep Dealer
Filed Under: Recommended Media, SF Films, creativity
I have often thought that the future of science fiction isn’t in tales of first world nations like the United States. The future stories we should be exploring and contemplating more are the ones involving (and told by residents of) life on the fringes, in the favelas and the border towns, in the developing world, where raw humanity bumps up against the shiny and antiseptic American capitalist way.
Most do not live the lives of relative luxury we do, but one of the promises of globalism has been said to be an elevation of those who are in poverty. Will those living in Brazil, Mexico, Kenya, or China one day know lives with better amenities,health care, and basic nutrition? Or will the same web of post-colonialism, transnational banking dealing from decks stacked against the poor, and corrupt government regimes keep third world countries rooted in poverty?
The Sleep Dealer is an examination of American globalization as it impacts our lives today, where resentment to illegal immigration in America is as high as it ever has been, but where there are still jobs to be had for those who brave the crossing (at least, prior to our economic woes). The world of the Sleep Dealer is not so different from our own, except in a few very important ways.
The United States of the sleep dealer is mostly seen indirectly, through the lenses of telepresence drones, or in the cramped confines of virtual operator stations where soldiers pilot drones to protect corporatized water in places like Mexico. America appears to be sealed off completely to immigration, at least from Mexico. A wall has been built, and it’s guarded by remote-controlled cameras with heavy machine guns. A future that seemed much less implausible 2 years ago when the anti-immigration sentiment seemed to reach its peak.
The U.S. of this future still requires cheap labor, even if it cannot abide the physical presence of immigrants, legal or otherwise. In this near future, virtual reality technology, portrayed in a way that would fit in with any cyberpunk novel (a series of plugs along the arms and shoulders that allow a kind of neural interface), allows the poor to work within the States. It’s best not to think too hard about the portrayal of the equipment here, which seems more tailored toward a particular visual aesthetic than making logical sense. What was with the gas masks piping in oxygen? Nevertheless–
The backdrop of the world in the Sleep Dealer feels lived in, well worn, and not implausible. Our protagonist is an intelligent young man with an interest in escaping his tiny, water-impoverished farmstead. He tinkers with hacking telecommunications satellites as a means of escape, but soon he overhears something that he should not, and the events of the story are set into motion.
In the aftermath of a tragedy, Memo (a very Gibsonian name, I thought) travels to Tijuana to receive the implants that will allow him to work in the virtual labor factories. He meets a woman, a writer who sells her memories uploaded to the network, who takes an interest in his painful past and whose stories about Memo are funded by a mysterious buyer.
I’ll say no more about the plot, except to say that while this is a science fiction film, it is also an independent film in that sense that it is not the tightly shot, leave-nothing-unanswered big studio style of storytelling. The cinematography is often dreamlike, and the story’s gentle narration reinforce this. The story in some ways feels like a character’s lucid dream.
It’s a contemplative film in its pacing as well. Those expecting a tightly plotted thriller or action film should look elsewhere. This is a film that is more interested in letting the audience come to its own conclusions than lecturing morally (or otherwise).
This was something different than what we are used to seeing. While some of its ideas may not seem so fresh to long-time readers of science fiction, I don’t think this is something we’ve ever seen portrayed this way on the silver screen. It’s worth picking up on DVD or renting at the very least.
Eight Less Known Websites for SF Readers and Fans
Filed Under: Uncategorized
Everyone knows a dozen author websites to read, and the industry blogs that tell you about the latest movies and TV shows. But what if you’re interested in hearing about outlandish ideas you might pilfer for a story? Or maybe you just want a quick kick of reality-based sensawunda. What websites to do you turn to for that? Try this list for starters.
Almost solely the hard work of Paul Graham Raven, Futurismic picks up on the near-future science news faster than anyone else I read at the moment. More importantly, Futurismic is not afraid to contemplate the ramifications and implications of new tech developments. Paul has the mind of a great science fiction writer in the making, I think. I sometimes wish he’d spend less time on Futurismic and more time writing short stories.
Futurismic also features regular guest columns–one of which is by Brenda Cooper on trends in futurism. Those are well worth a read as well.
For a lapsed world traveler such as myself, Curious Expeditions is a real treat. Written by Michelle Enemark and Dylan Thuras , the site documents weird and obscure locations around the globe. Their fixation on cabinets of curiosities have given me many ideas for the Dr. Roundbottom project.
Their photos are always visually rich and unlike anything else you will find elsewhere. It’s a source of historical sensawunda.
Post Secret is a project in which people mail anonymous post cards with secrets in to the project creator. Each week, he posts a new batch of cards.
This one has almost nothing to do with speculative fiction exactly, but for a writer, it’s an amazing insight into the inner lives of other human beings. I always come away from the Sunday posts of secrets feeling a little more wise and a little changed by the experience. I can’t say that I’ve used any of the secrets directly in my work, but reading the site is definitely furthering my understanding of how people work in a more general sense.
The project of Canadian futurist George Dvorsky, this site brings me buckets of news about robotics and research in artificial intelligence. It does take a bit of a credibility hit by paying lip-service to the discredited “aquatic ape” theory in my opinion, but I can understand the appeal of such wacky theories. Regardless, it’s a great source of science news.
Here’s another blog by an eclectic and interesting thinker. Douglas leans left politically, so you may not be interested in his current fixation about taking the world back from corporations, but he’s been a great source for me of off-the-beaten-path economic news. About everything else, Ruskoff is interested, it seems to me, in the future of humanity. This can be a little publicity heavy at times, as he is selling a book, but when he shares an article, it’s almost always worth a read.
There have been a lot of very, very strange maps drawn throughout history. This blog brings you scans of the some of the stranger ones. Not much else to it, and that’s why I love it.
This is another simple site. It documents with photographs the unusual inventions and modifications of off-the-shelf tech in 3rd world countries. They quote William Gibson in their explanation: “The street finds its own use for things.”
Possibly a great website if you’re writing post-apocalyptic SF.
Interested in space exploration? This blog by the Tau Zero Foundation is all about that, and tangentially often about the notion of alien life. I sometimes find it an odd read, but it’s definitely rich with SF material for the writer and afficionado.
So, what are some sites that you think are good brain fodder for the SF type?
Why You Should Apply to Attend LaunchPad Next Year
Filed Under: Writing Advice
TheLaunchPad Astronomy Workshop has been held three times now, each summer in Laramie, Wyoming. This project is the brainchild of Jim Verley and astronomer/SF writer Mike Brotherton. The goal of the workshop is to help expand the audience for science literate fiction and other popular endeavors. This year, we not only had science fiction writers in attendance, but also comedians and poets. Utlimately, I think it would be great to have some screenwriters for film and television attending as well. Especially considering how much we harp on Armageddon during the workshop.
The goal of the workshop is not to turn you into an Analog-style hard SF writer. The goal is to make sure you understand some of the basics of astronomy so that, even if you’re writing fantasy, you can get those details right. So that maybe you will *want* to write a story about the phases of the moon or about orbital mechanics in some way. Each year, several straight-fantasy authors attend and get just as much out of it as the nerds like me who already have a decent amount of astronomy science under our belts. I even had one major misconception of mine corrected. About the Earth’s axial tilt.
It’s a week of intense classwork, telescope viewing when the weather works, fun meals, a hike, and generally just getting to socialize with amazing people (many who happen to be writers). It will feel like, to quote Gord Sellar, a “pig has shit galaxies into your head.” Ultimately, it’s knowledge, and knowledge has a way of making you a better, richer writer.
When applications open up again next year, I will post about it here, and I expect all of you to flood Mike and Jim with applications. Heh heh.
