Mabfan's Musings

In the midst of everything else going on, I didn't want to miss boosting the signal on this event.

Tomorrow evening, the Somerville Public Library is hosting a publication party for Mary Alexandra Agner, whose new book of poetry, The Doors of the Body, has just been published by Mayapple Press. Mary is a good friend; her poems rekindled my interest in poetry and actually got me more interested in the intersection between speculative fiction and poetry.

I'm planning to be at the party to join Mary in celebrating the publication of her book, and I encourage anyone who can to stop by and hear Mary read. It'll open your mind.

The event listing can be found here, but here's the pertinent details:

Mary Alexandra Agner Book Party & Reading

Join Somerville poet Mary Alexandra Agner as she celebrates the publication of her new book, The Doors of the Body (Mayapple Press.) Agner writes of dead women, telescopes, and secrets. All her life she has observed the universe and written about it. She can be found online at www.pantoum.org.

This event is free, and all are welcome to attend.

Date:
Thursday Jul 16, 2009

Time:
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM

Location:
West Branch Library, 40 College Avenue

My review of the new Harry Potter movie is now up at http://sfscope.com/2009/07/young-wizards-in-lovea-review.html

Nomi and I spent the weekend at the Readercon 20 science fiction convention, and I'm still catching up from it. I'm hoping to have something of a report as soon as I can; in the meantime, if you want to see some pictures from the convention, as yet unlabeled, check out my Readercon 2009 Photo Gallery. Note that it's three pages of photos.

To make this more fun, one of the pictures shows me posing with a friend from college who was in the same dorm as me freshman year. Guess who it is.

My review of C.C. Finlay's Traitor to the Crown series, which consists of the three novels The Patriot Witch, A Spell for the Revolution, and The Demon Redcoat, has been posted at SF Scope at the following link: http://sfscope.com/2009/07/the-british-are-cominga-review.html.

If you don't have time to check out the full review (although I did try to keep it short, even though it's for a three-book series), here's the upshot quote:

"The Traitor for the Crown series is a delightful blend of historical fiction and fantasy, with a clever idea well executed. Seek it out; you'll be glad you did."

Yes, it's true. Nomi and I will be at Readercon this weekend, although chances are we won't be wandering around a lot. More likely, Nomi will pick a place to sit and stay there, so we'll expect the wandering vortex to come toward her.

I will be bringing hardcover and softcover copies of I Remember the Future for anyone who wishes to purchase an autographed book directly from me. If you know you'll want one, let me know in advance which kind. Copies should be available at the SF Scope table and directly from me at my Sunday 12noon Autographing.

Speaking of which, here's my schedule, including descriptions (let me know if you have any questions):

Friday 6:00 PM, RI: Workshop (60 min.)

Speculative Poetry Workshop.  Mike Allen with participation by Leah Bobet, Michael A. Burstein, Vylar Kaftan, Ernest Lilley

What is speculative poetry? How do you write it, why would you want to, and which editors will buy it? Come prepared to write on the fly.

Saturday 12:00 Noon, ME/ CT: Talk / Discussion (60 min.)

The Genre Roots of the Mainstream Tradition in American Fiction.  C. C. Finlay with discussion by Michael A. Burstein, Helen Collins, F. Brett Cox, Debra Doyle, Chris Nakashima-Brown

The plots of Charles Brockden Brown, America's first novelist, frequently hinged on scientific speculation. Washington Irving and Nathaniel Hawthorne employed fantasy elements, Edgar Allen Poe invented a range of genre tropes, and  James Fenimore Cooper introduced the series character-a staple of modern genre fiction.  In the last century, some of F. Scott Fitzgerald's earliest works depend on fantastic elements.  Mainstream American writers, in fact, have regularly created fiction that would now be considered part of the speculative genre.  Finlay will argue that genre elements are not isolated in a separate branch of the American literary tradition, but are instead at the heart of it.

Sunday 10:00 AM, ME/ CT: Panel

The Future of Speculative Fiction Magazines, Part 1: Introduction / Print Magazines.  John Benson, Michael A. Burstein (L), Warren Lapine, Tom Purdom, Hildy Silverman, Gordon Van Gelder

Are print magazines doomed?  (Heck, if _newspapers_ can't make it ...)  Or will they survive in their tiny niches? Are there ways to make them more viable?  Is that even worth the bother?  After all, online magazines are now easy and relatively inexpensive to start-are they the answer?  Part one of our discussion begins with an overview and then examines the future of print magazines.

Sunday 12:00 Noon, Salon F: Autographing

Sunday 1:00 PM, Salon A: Panel

We Won, We Lost.  John Joseph Adams, Michael A. Burstein, F. Brett Cox (L), Paul Di Filippo, Robert Killheffer, Michaela Roessner

[Greatest Hit from Readercon 12.]  It's an sf world. Our once-visionary iconography is now commonplace. The present turns into the future even before we wear it comfortably, let alone wear it out, and this sense of constant change is now the common currency of our culture  rather than our precious private truth. And yet the sf readership shrinks, or at least gets older, every year; as sf media ascends (and merges with real life), the written sf word seems ever more irrelevant-and certainly wins no greater prestige for its creators than in the past. Maybe this has nothing to do with sf, but just reflects the death of reading (a development we perhaps ironically foresaw). But maybe somehow the contents of sf, the accidents, have conquered mass culture, but some crucial part of the form, the essence, has been left behind. Is it an sf world after all? Or just a holographic simulation of one?

Sunday 2:00 PM, RI: Talk / Discussion (60 min.)

Lasers, Death Rays, and the Quest for the Ultimate Weapon.  Jeff Hecht with discussion by Ian Randal Strock

Nature invented lightning bolts first, but the ancients put them in the hands of their mythical gods, and ever since we've had dreams of destruction in fiction and in fact. H.G. Wells armed his Martian invaders with heat rays; Nikoka Tesla and others tried to build real death rays. In 1958, the director of the then-new DARPA said his agency would be interested in far-out ideas like death rays, and a few months later Gordon Gould arrived at their door with a plan to build the laser. Hecht will talk about the real (and the questionable) science, the fictional visions, the bizarre history, and the quest for the ultimate weapon of directed energy.

So, a few weeks ago, madwriter asked me if I wanted a Hebrew copy of Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions that had come into his possession. Now, while it's true that I can pronounce Hebrew, I don't read it too well, but I figured why not. After all, Nomi could read it, and maybe one day I'd be able to.

Dangerous Visions in Hebrew Photo copyright ©2009 by Michael A. Burstein

Dangerous Visions in Hebrew, Frontispiece Photo copyright ©2009 by Michael A. Burstein

Danny explained to me why he wanted me to have the book, though, and when he did, I felt a lump in my throat. I said to him, "I'm touched you would consider this gift for us. Rest assured we will treasure the book and keep it with all the other important books in our library."

Here's why:

Book Provenance Photo copyright ©2009 by Michael A. Burstein. Text copyright ©2009 by Danny Adams.

In case it's hard for you to read, here's the text on the page:

This book previously belonged to my uncle, science fiction author (and anthology contributor) Philip José Farmer. I brought it from his home in Peoria, Illinois on June 9, 2009. From there I offered it as a gift to fellow sf writer Michael A. Burstein and his wife Nomi.

Thank you, Danny.

Back in December, I entered a competition over at the podcast The Chronic Rift, which is devoted to discussion on the latest in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comic art. They were looking for a script to turn into an audio drama, and I thought that my Hugo-nominated short story "Decisions" (Analog, January/February 2004) might work well as an audio drama.

So, relying heavily on The Complete Book of Scriptwriting by J. Michael Straczynski, I sat down with a copy of the manuscript of "Decisions" and adapted it into an audio play. An audio play has different requirements from a short story to work properly. It may seem obvious, but to write an audio play, you have to imagine how the listeners are going to paint a picture of the action in their minds using nothing but sound. In his book, Straczynski gives an example of a television scene in which George shoots Frank, and points out that if you closed your eyes and listened to the scene the way it was presented, you could come away with the impression that Frank shot George.

I felt "Decisions" lent itself to the audio treatment for a few reasons. First of all, there were only four main characters, so it wouldn't be hard for the listener to keep track of them all. Secondly, there weren't that many different locales in the story, so once again I wouldn't have to set up too much for the listener. And finally, I felt that it was a tight little story with a lot of tension between characters that lent itself well to the audio treatment.

I had a lot of fun imagining "Decisions" as an audio play, and now here's your chance to decide for yourself if I succeeded. It's been produced by John S. Drew of The Chronic Rift, with an all-star cast, including Keith R.A. DeCandido, Andrea K. Lipinski, Orenthal V. Hawkins, Judith Furnari, and Jay Smith.

If you click on The Chronic Rift: Spotlight – Michael A. Burstein's Decisions you can listen to the episode.

And then you can add a comment at The Chronic Rift: Spotlight – Michael A. Burstein's Decisions Forum Discussion and you can rate the episode here.

Enjoy. Let me know what you think.

Apparently, today has been declared Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day. Not sure what I should do to celebrate...

violetcheetah pointed gnomi and me to the following article from yesterday's Boston Globe. I have to say, I find it the most applicable article of child-rearing advice that anyone has sent us, given the circles we move in.

What to Do If Your Child Has Superpowers

And in other news...

In August, Nightshade Books will be publishing the collection of vampire stories By Blood We Live edited by John Joseph Adams. Jennifer Brozek has reviewed the book, and had this to say about my contribution, a reprint of my story "Lifeblood":

For me, there are three outstanding stories in this collection that shine above the rest. It is their writing, perspective, and originality that made these stories stick in my head long after I finished reading them...

“Lifeblood” by Michael A. Burstein – This story tells the tale of combating a vampire with faith – Jewish faith rather than the traditional Christian faith. The use of song and prayer within the song is a brilliant reinterpretation of brandishing the crucifix.

It's very high praise to have a reviewer cite my story as one of the three outstanding ones in the book, even more so when the name writers in the book include Neil Gaiman, Anne Rice, and Stephen King.

The review can be found here: Review of By Blood We Live. It's also on her blog at jennifer_brozek.

Maybe I should start writing my own vampire trilogy...

Bibliophile Stalker has an interview with Jason Sizemore, the publisher of Apex Publications, here. It's a very good interview, and I especially like this part:

Any advice for aspiring publishers?

Please, I implore you, have a business plan. If you’re not serious about the gig, then don’t bother, otherwise, you’re just going to sully the reputation of the small press even further.

How very true. When I earned my Certificate in Publishing last year from Boston University, I learned the first rule of publishing: "Publishing is a business." It doesn't matter how much you personally like the material you're publishing; you have to approach publishing as a business, or you won't succeed.

Jason's also got some good advice for writers too. Go read.

I suspect most of the people who read my blog are probably already aware of this, but in case not...

Jeremy L.C. Jones interviewed ten editors of short fiction, including Patrick Neilsen Hayden, Shawna McCarthy, John O'Neill, Cat Rambo, Mike Resnick, Stanley Schmidt, Jason Sizemore, Gordon Van Gelder, Sheila Williams, and Ann VanderMeer. The interview has been published by Clarkesworld Magazine at the following link:

The Story Is All: Ten Fiction Editors Talk Shop.

It's a very good piece, with a lot of useful information for any writer trying to place a story with any of the editors interviewed.

Boosting the signal here...

Apex Publications, the publisher of I Remember the Future, is holding a lottery with a cool premise. The Apex Author Lottery consists of a variety of prize packages centered on specific Apex authors or staff members.

My author's stack consists of two books. The first is a hardcover, signed copy of I Remember the Future, of course.

The second book is a hardcover, signed copy of The Coming Convergence by Stanley Schmidt. Stanley Schmidt is the editor of Analog, and he wrote the introduction to my collection. I blogged about his book last year; it's very thought-provoking and a logical companion in the prize package.

Tickets for any lottery prize package are $1 each, and if you choose to buy ten tickets for any one package, that's only $8. Or, if you want to try your luck on all 19 prize packages, for $15 you can buy 19 tickets, one for each package.

Click here for details on the Apex Author Lottery.

Click here for a list of all prize packages.

Click here for my own prize package.

Last night ended my participation as a Book of the Month Club author in Joseph Mallozzi's book club, which he runs on his blog.

Joe runs the book club as follows. First, he announces the book a few months in advance and encourages everyone to go read it. Then, when the discussion week arrives, he posts his own thoughts about the book and encourages his readers to comment and ask questions. He passes along those questions to the author, who has as much time as needed to compose answers to the questions. Finally, Joe posts those answers on his blog, and the book club moves on to the next book.

It's been a lot of fun having I Remember the Future selected as one of the books for the month of May. I discovered that Joe's readers, while sometimes critical and analytical, are also very respectful. Whether or not they like a story, they explain exactly what worked for them and what didn't. And I have to admit that it was a thrill to have the book chosen by a producer of one of my favorite television show franchises. Joe noted my love of Stargate as well, in his introduction to the post with my answers:

When it comes to making a selection for our Book of the Month Club discussions, I like to take several things into consideration: recommendations, reviews, an intriguing premise, and, of course, whether or not the author is a Stargate fan. Well, when I learned that author Michael A. Burstein was an avid follower of the Stargate franchise, I was delighted to pick his book, I Remember the Future, for a May discussion. Michael is not only an established SF writer and fan of the show, but a blog regular as well and so it gives me great pleasure to turn today’s entry over to him.

Because I'm a fan of Stargate, I had an idea for an appropriate picture to go along with the post. Nomi agreed to the idea, and our friend Ari Baronofsky graciously agreed to take the picture and let us use it.

So the "author photo" that went along with my answers is a picture of Nomi and me posed with our DVD box set of Stargate SG-1: The Complete Series, which we purchased as a present to ourselves when it was released.

Anyway, here's the link if you want to see the picture for yourself, and maybe even read my answers:

Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog: Author Michael A. Burstein Answers Your Questions

And for any of Joe's readers who make it over here, a bonus question and answer. No one asked me what my favorite episodes of Stargate SG-1 were. So, in order of broadcast, here they are: 1969, Window of Opportunity, 2010, 2001, Wormhole X-treme!, and 200. Yeah, I tend to flock to the fan favorites....

What's that? My favorite episodes of Stargate Atlantis? That'll have to wait for later.

My review of Terminator Salvation can be found here:

http://sfscope.com/2009/05/insert-your-own-ill-be-back-jo.html

Folks may recall that back in March, I announced that Joseph Mallozzi had chosen I Remember the Future as one of his Book of the Month Club selections for the month of May.

Again, for those of you unfamiliar with his name, Joseph Mallozzi was one of the executive producers of the TV shows Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, and is also an executive producer of the upcoming Stargate Universe. (And, as I've mentioned a few times, Nomi and I are big fans of the franchise.)

Mr. Mallozzi has just posted his Book Club blog entry at Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog: I Remember the Future by Michael A. Burstein. He has some fascinating things to say about the stories; some of them worked for him, and some didn't, for quite legitimate reasons. Like many other readers, Joe Mallozzi compares my writing style to that of the Golden Age writers, and it's a comparison I do not shy away from.

Anyway, if anyone reading here still has questions to ask me about the book, feel free to go over there and post your questions. He's going to collect them all for me and I'm going to try to answer them within the week (or the month). And while you're over there, check out what else he has to say; he's a very funny guy, he knows a lot about good food, and sometimes his dogs give away big Stargate secrets.

My review of the new "Star Trek" film is now available on SF Scope at The Future Returns – a review of Star Trek.

Short version: "This isn't just a great Star Trek film; it's a great film, period."

As the editor of the special issue of Apex Magazine (April 2009), I'm reposting this announcement from http://www.apexbookcompany.com/news/2009/05/story-titled-changed/ :

This morning, it came to our attention that Jamie Todd Rubin’s story “The Last Science Fiction Writer” (April Apex Magazine) shared the same title as Allen Steele’s “The Last Science Fiction Writer.” This had been causing some confusion, especially since Allen Steele had released a nice collection of his short stories using that same title.

For this reason, Jamie Todd Rubin has retitled his story to “Hindsight, in Neon.”

We apologize to our readers, Allen Steele, and Bill Schafer at Subterranean Press for any confusion and inconvenience this might have caused.

For those of you interested, in honor of the 100th episode of the TV show Lost, which airs tonight, I have the following piece up at SCI FI Wire:

Before watching Lost's 100th episode tonight, check out 14 other sci-fi milestones

The most interesting aspect of writing this piece for me was discovering just how few genre shows have made it to 100 episodes...

(And I couldn't help but notice that the 100th episode of Lost coincides with the 100th day of Barack Obama's presidency. Given the subject matter of Lost, this can't be a coincidence.)

I've been meaning to let people know about all of the following, just haven't had the time. None of this is Earth-shattering, but it might be of interest.

First of all, I reviewed the play The Superheroine Monologues for SF Scope. Unfortunately, at this point the play's run is over, but if you're interested in my opinion, you can find it at The Secret Lives of Superheroines – a review of The Superheroine Monologues: A Parody of Super Proportions.

Secondly, and a little more timely, I had an opinion piece appear on SCI FI Wire (soon to be Syfy Wire?) about tonight's season finale of the TV show Heroes. I managed to snag quotes from Paul Levinson, Bob Greenberger, and Miranda Thomas about the show; I thought Miranda's point about a need for a big battle was a good one. You can find the article at 5 things Heroes must do to deliver a killer season finale.

Thirdly, John Joseph Adams has chosen to reprint my Jews versus vampires story, "Lifeblood," in the anthology By Blood We Live (Night Shade Books). I suspect it's going to be a somewhat different take on vampires than the other stories in the book. "Lifeblood" originally appeared in the 2003 DAW Books anthology New Voices in Science Fiction edited by Mike Resnick, and I'm glad to see it come back into print.

Fourthly, Apex Publications announced that they're doing a book collection of stories from Apex Magazine, and it turns out that they're including the two stories I selected for the special issue as part of the book: “Waiting for Jakie” by Barbara Krasnoff and “The Last Science Fiction Writer” by Jamie Todd Rubin. If you want to learn more about Descended From Darkness: Apex Magazine volume 1, read their blog post Apex Magazine antho: Update.

And finally, the Falmouth Public Library in southern Massachusetts has invited me to participate in their SCI FI Author Panel on the evening of Wednesday, June 17. I'm particularly pleased to be invited to speak at a library because of my own connection to libraries in Massachusetts. One of the other panelists will be my good friend Jennifer Pelland, so I expect the audience that comes to the event will hear a lot of brilliant repartee. (At least, I'd like to think so.)