Time magazine, reporting on a 1989 plane crash, offhandedly mentioned that one passenger had been reading an Arthur C. Clarke novel. Clarke clipped the story and mailed it to Isaac Asimov, along with a note that the unfortunate reader should have brought along an Asimov novel, as it would have put him to sleep.
Asimov’s response? “Oh, no, the passenger should have been reading an Arthur Clarke novel; then death would have been a merciful release!”
My latest post for Barnes and Noble!
The author of Adam Link, Robot, Eando Binder isn’t very well known today. But the pulpy 1940’s writer paved the way for the golden age of science fiction, pioneering original concepts such a robot grappling with its own sentience. It isn’t as nonsensical a nom de plume as it seems: The real authors were Earl and Otto Binder—they settled on a single first name by combining their initials into a phrase, “E and O,” which became the appropriately futuristic-sounding “Eando.”
I wrote a story for the inaugural issue of Jill Trent, Science Sleuth, and it’s on Kickstarter now! Check out the page to learn more. You know you want to.
“Publishing a science fiction or fantasy book can seem like a mystical experience – it happens to those privileged few, but the rest of us can only fire out manuscripts at random. Or at Random House, as the case may be.
But any aspiring author can’t be content to work for anyone who accepts them, or they’ll wind up in the literary equivalent of a sweatshop. Instead, it’s best to research the assorted publishing houses and know which one is the best fit.”
Take a 101 course in speculative fiction publishing houses and imprints.
Here’s an article I wrote for Amazing Stories!
My NaNoWriMo novel has a new cover by arkories! Drop by and read the whole draft as it’s written: It would mean a lot to me.
You guys have seen my sci-fi art, but you haven’t seen my writing! Here’s the first chapter of my NaNoWriMo novel. I’m shooting for a Steampunk Douglas Adams feel, and I’m trying it out on Tablo, a social network for readers to discover the next great book as it’s written. If you take ten seconds to sign up and follow me, it would mean a lot.
“Phenomenal!”
“Outstanding!”
“Grant supported!”
This last phrase echoed continually throughout the great hall, repeated by a legion of upper-class gentleman. Genevieve Dugan beamed at the praise. All around her, through the stage lights, she could see suit-coat-clad arms raised, each clasping a light blue slip. The Grant Committee loved her.
The lights finally dimmed, and she stepped off the stage and into a mob of excited men. This close, they all seemed just as similar as they had when she was looking out over them from the stage; Overweight, impeccably dressed, and spilling over with gold pocket-watch chains or sheaves of papers. She kept a serene face, holding her invention patent before her. It parted the crowd like the Red Sea. Though, due to the stage lights, Genevieve was the one who most closely resembled salt water.
She left the myriad of gentlemen on the Committee to turn in their Grant slips without her. She would know how much money they were willing to pledge soon enough, and judging from their response, she didn’t need to worry if it’d be enough.
Kelvin caught her as soon as she stepped into the prep room, pulling her jacket off. She didn’t object, even though they couldn’t stay.
“Excellent presentation, mam,” he said. “If I could afford a grant, I’d have given it.”
“Of course you would have,” Genevieve chuckled, tossing the patent into her briefcase. The thick cream-colored paper clashed with the rest of the flimsy ink-stained papers that detailed my past failed inventions. The contrast was reminiscent of the Grant Committee itself: they kept themselves far apart from the blue collar, working class. For them, a good day’s work was deciding which invention they wanted to sneer upon the least. She snapped my briefcase together.
“Get my hat,” she called to Kelvin. “We’re leaving as soon as we pick up the Grant slips.”
Kelvin started, as if breaking out of a haze. The concept of leaving hadn’t occurred to him in his excitement over Genevieve’s presentation. Hopefully the same would be true of the Grant Committee.
Genevieve barely paused to catch her top hat before ducking out the door, jacket over her briefcase and Kelvin in tow.
They crossed the main hall in great strides, swooping past decades of philanthropists’ portraits on either wall. Not a single inventor could be seen decorating the auditorium. Ironic that an institute designed to process good ideas operated around the empirically terrible idea that fat rich men were the best means to do so.
“Professor Dugan and assistant,” Genevieve told the secretary at the front desk. “I was hoping my Grant slips were ready.”
“They are indeed,” she said, pushing the stack of signed and notated slips towards Gen. There were over a hundred there, and none of them were for less than several thousand pounds. Gen would have to pick up a few extra bags on the way to the bank if she hoped to cash them all. She fully expected the Grants to be cancelled at any moment. Even the investors couldn’t help but see the flaw hidden in her presentation once their ardor had cooled.
Kelvin and Gen left the auditorium, leaving behind the deceptively quiet front desk and the plaque proudly displaying today’s agenda:
“1 PM — Professor Dugan presents a Concept of Her Own Invention, a carefully researched Treatise detailing How to Unerringly Convince Investors to Support One’s Invention.”
If you liked the opening of my novel, you can read the rest on Tablo.
A fascinating read: 10 everyday words that we got from science fiction writers
Tumblr! I have an announcement.
You all know me as the 70s Sci-Fi Art guy, but I also have my own creation: a podcast that’s a series of 10-15 minute sci-fi stories, dramatized with music, SFX, and lots of voice actors.
The series is about the mad scientist college student Emmett, who is constantly inventing stuff like friction-powered light-up slippers or a way to make a pig fly. Yes, that last one involves magnets.
Anyway, the website’s up and looks beautiful. The podcast is on iTunes, too. I already have 20 episodes up.
If you liked Encyclopedia Brown, would like a teenage mad scientist Sherlock Holmes, or think Reanimator Herbert West just should have just had more wholesome and wacky misadventures, check out my series.
Read this page for more about the show.
Go to iTunes and rate or review it as much as you want.
Reblog this post.
And most importantly, love it. There’s a new episode every Sunday.
70sscifiart 