Geek Alert: Why Sci-Fi Is Cool

Tomorrow, you'll get to read an author interview from Greta van der Rol, a fantastic, strong science fiction writer (among other things). Today, in celebration and in anticipation of both the interview and her upcoming new release, I thought we'd discuss what makes great science fiction.

Well, okay, this list is entirely subjective. But this whole blog is subjective.

Science fiction is basically defined as plausible, real-world based fiction. It's different from fantasy; fantasy is more about magic and the supernatural. Science fiction is rational and logical. Like a Vulcan!

The Iron Admiral certainly wasn't my first brush with sci-fi and it won't be my last. I love Star Wars and I've always been a closeted Star Trek fan. (Mostly the Original Series and The Next Generation, much to my father's exasperation; I just can't get into Deep Space Nine.) I spent my teen years reading Elizabeth Moon, David Weber, Orson Scott Card, and Douglas Adams. I still read the Star Wars expanded universe books. I'm actually reading Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber right now. (Zombies. In Star Wars. How much more could I ask for?) Mike Stackpole is the first author who really opened my eyes about the business of being a writer.

A lifetime spent reading the genre has given me some perspective on what makes a great science fiction story. I believe this to be true, anyway. So I'm going to share my list.

Rational science.
You have to make the reader (or viewer) believe that the science in your universe is sound. In the Star Wars movies, space travel is never really explained, but that doesn't matter, because everyone in the Galaxy Far, Far Away takes space flight for granted because they understand it.

Human interest.
When everything else in your new world is strange and unfamiliar, the audience needs to understand your characters. In Tanith Lee's Biting the Sun, virtually nothing about life or society is recognizable--but the protagonist's struggles with her humanity are all to familiar.

Sound politics and war strategy.
Whether your antagonists are human, alien, robot, or hybrid, if you're writing political maneuvering, you need to make it believable. In Star Wars, The Empire is based on the Roman Empire and the Nazis (something you didn't see much in the films was the Empire's utter disdain for non-humans and women). In Star Trek, you have the Borg (and the Klingons, and the Romulans). If you're writing a war, you need to make that strategy believable, too. How we fight wars has evolved from literal sticks and stones to tanks and sniper rifles that can take out an enemy from several kilometers away. Strategies, like chess strategies, have remained largely the same. In your future war-torn galaxy, your protagonists might have fancy new weapons and brilliant leaders, but their strategy won't change too much.

Alien life.
What good is science fiction without aliens? The ptorix are easily a new favorite of mine, but I'm also a fan of Wookiees, pretty much every alien mentioned in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and--despite the fact that they were the antagonists in one of the most heart-breaking book series' I've ever read--the Yuuzhan Vong. The thing about aliens is that you can come up with whatever you want and your audience will generally buy it.

Cool technology.
Hyperdrives. Faster-than-light travel. Flying cars. Underwater cities. Floating cities. Datapads. Portable communicators. All right, so we have those last two (tablet computers and cell phones), but my point remains valid. The best sci-fi has some seriously cool gadgets.

Bonus: Planet hopping.
Most of my favorite stories take place on more than one planet. I blame this on my fascination with anthropology. I absolutely love the idea of other inhabitable worlds that are sort of like Earth but not really at all.

Monday Miscellany

I will never, ever underestimate the combination of Twitter, a limited-time offer, and a very helpful fellow author.

My first-day "sales" of The Cowboy Next Door were far and away more than I expected. Most sales were free downloads, but I had an outright shocking number of paid downloads between Smashwords and Amazon. Shocking to me, anyway, because when I published on Saturday I was hoping for maybe a combined total of seven sales or downloads before I let my friends and family know. That number was blown out of the water. Repeatedly. That poor seven. Let's have a moment of silence for him, shall we?

Now, my biggest concern is that the people who downloaded it enjoy it.

That, and trying not to be sick from the overwhelm.

In other news, my daughter has slept alone in her crib for two hours at a time two nights in a row. This is huge! She hasn't done that since she was eight months old. I'm incredibly hopeful that she'll be a lonely sleeper by the end of the year. I think a lot of new things happening at once (new teeth, new skills, new shots, new friends, new schedule) shook her confidence. I will be very glad when she gets her confidence back.

My friend and I actually have a shopping date set for this week! The kiddo needs some shoes, a sweater, and a jacket, and I am going to try very hard not to buy the adorable sweater and pencil skirt at H&M, because I am saving for my other friend's trip over here in a couple of months and I need to go to Sedlec more than I need a new sweater and skirt. No matter how cute the clothes are.

You guys. This week, I will be posting an author interview with Greta van der Rol. I am so excited about this. I am so excited for her new book. Seriously. My inner fangirl is squeeing so hard.

Blog Roundup: September 19 - 25, 2011

Chuck Wendig made yet another "25" post, this time about the virtues writers should possess. As long as you have 13 and 21, you can fake the rest if you have to.

Avery Olive had a nice little nugget of advice in a post this week on blog hopping. I'm part of Greta van der Rol's blog tour to promote the next Iron Admiral book and I'm watching carefully how it's done at other blogs. I need to start devoting more time to commenting and reading during the week because I'm hoping that when I'm ready to release the vampire novel, I can do some kind of blog tour.

James Killick made a very interesting post about writing for the right medium. I think it's worth looking at and asking yourself the questions he poses, especially if you're feeling stuck.

Aimee Salter's blog is worth following and reading regularly. Her recent posts on critical plot elements alone are great.

If you need a trait defined, weather analyzed, or just a hint about where to go on your bookshelf for specific inspiration, The Bookshelf Muse should be on your blogroll.

This post over at the Feckless Goblin made me laugh. I don't know if I necessarily believe the facts, but it did remind me that when I start with pen and paper, I do tend to follow through.

Your Cover Uncovered reviewed a new book cover. A good thought process for designing your own book cover should be, "What would Ms. Melville say?"

SitRep Saturday: The Cowboy Next Door and Strawberry Moon

First, news on The Cowboy Next Door: it is now available at Smashwords. Use coupon code HY66N to download it for free until Monday, September 26th.

I have action-drafted the rewrite of chapter one of Strawberry Moon. I am also pretty sure that I'm getting rid of that title, but it will suffice as the working title. Instead of the slow build up until we meet Vincent, the book now opens with a conflict that is going to let the readers know where each character stands, and Vincent will come into the picture much, much sooner. I have made massive changes to the outline and to the plot, and the subplots have been better-defined. Vincent's backstory is different, too. He's just kind of a dick.

The changes have me re-thinking the story's classification as "young adult," but for now, I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to write, edit, rewrite, revise, edit, and get input and critique, and then I'll worry about its genre.

Self-Publishing: Cover Image Resources

If you're selling a book, it needs a cover. People like pictures. (Or paintings. Or crudely-drawn, suggestive sketches. Whatever.) If you're a talented visual artist--like my dad, who is a fantastic photographer; or my friend Kelsey, who is an amazing painter--then good for you! You don't need to hire an artist or buy stock photos. But if you're like me, stock photography websites are going to be your new best friends.

Freestockimages.net has a resource page with a list of free stock photo websites. The list is pretty good, complete with comments on content and quality.

I like Dreamstime.com the best. Specifically, I like their free photo section. These images are royalty-free and free for use online. They're also free for commercial use for up to 10,000 copies. The free images section is enormous. It's where I got my cover photo for The Cowboy Next Door and where I got the photos for the original mock-ups of Cass Gets Her Kicks. I love the place.

A genre-specific option is RomanceNovelCovers.com, where you can even get premade covers. I'm not sure I would ever use a premade cover, but it's nice to know that option is available. (I wanted to link you to the premade covers, but as of this writing, the site seems to be having some problems.)

RazzDazzStock.com is a stock photo website geared specifically toward the publishing industry. Like RNC, they also have premade covers.

Whichever site you use, even if you do a search on Google or Flickr or something, be sure that you read the terms of use. Give credit. Pay for the photo of necessary. (Industry standard seems to be about $10 for royalty-free use up to a certain number of copies sold.) Don't steal. Seriously. Not only is that bad manners, but you don't need a lawsuit on your hands.

Book Review: The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy by Greta van der Rol

Today, I finished reading Greta van der Rol's The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy and I have to admit that I am seriously displeased that I finished it because I wanted to jump straight from it into the next one (which comes out October 4th!). Yes, it is that good.

The quick version: If you're a Star Wars/Star Trek/Battlestar Gallactica/science-fiction fan in general, this book is for you. If you've ever read a sci-fi book and thought, "Man, I really wish the Hero and the Heroine would get it on," this book is for you. If you like really good stories with lots of danger, twists, action, and politics, this book is for you.

I. Loved. It. 

I loved Allysha, who is smart and strong and capable and has the very believable flaw of falling for shady men. I loved her mad computer skills and her humanity and her compassion and her stubbornness and her practicality. I loved her special skills (I'm not giving it away, but it is super cool) and I loved her morality. 

I loved Saahren. I loved him in his Brad Stone guise and I loved him as an Admiral. He's hot. He's smart. He's practical. He's thoughtful and he's good at thinking on his feet. He's a bit of a caveman--he has decided that Allysha will be his wife and he can get bossy at times--but it totally works for him. I may or may not have a huge just a wee bit of a crush on him and want to see him naked. 

I loved the plot. I loved all the supporting characters--Allysha's husband, his problems, the gangsters. I loved the ptorix. Okay, I really loved the ptorix. The anthropologist in me wants an entire book on ptorix culture, art, society, history, and myth. I am absolutely fascinated by them. I loved the politics and the political tension. In my opinion, good sci-fi requires good political tension. Ms. van der Rol delivers. 

The only thing about the book that I didn't like is that it cuts off right when things are picking up again! I understand that the author made that choice deliberately, but it still gave me the same feeling I had at the end of A Tale of Two Cities the first time I read it. (Namely, "Where is the rest?!"). But it's okay, because the next book comes out in just a few days. 

I guess I can survive until then. 

If you're looking for some good science fiction, go get this book. It's available at Amazon as an ebook and as a print book. It's at Smashwords. It's at OmniLit. And it's at B&N for the NOOK and paperback.

Don't Be A Twit When You Tweet

After reading about automated Tweets and Facebook status updates, and deciding that I'd like to have a few days off from maintaining my online presence, I looked up automation software. What I found first was Hootsuite, so I signed up and I haven't looked back.

It took me several days to learn how to use it, but once I figured out the basics, it was very easy. It makes scheduling tweets and status updates so very easy. This came in especially useful in the last few days before my coupon for Cass Gets Her Kicks expired. I scheduled promotional tweets to post every few hours and it worked beautifully.

Here are three of my tips for using Hootsuite, or any other automated posting software, effectively.

All promotion all the time is a good way to get yourself unliked and unfollowed.
Seriously, no one wants to see their news feed full of "Buy my book! Read my blog!" No one wants "Hello, buy my book/read my blog/check out my website" messages when they first like or follow you. Whenever I schedule tweets, I schedule one "human" tweet for every promotional tweet. I don't want to spam my followers' timeline with buy buy buy. My eyes skate right over most promo tweets, especially when they come from Twits who rarely, if ever, post anything else. I want eyes to see my tweets and brains to read them.

You're human, so act like it.
Whenever I decide to follow someone, I read through a bit of their timeline first. If every single tweet is a link to their book, blog, or site, I skip it. I follow people because I find them interesting or useful or both. Both is the best. I also like to talk to the people I follow. I like to know there's a human on the other end of our exchange. Don't be a bot. Bots are everyone's least favorite thing (except for maybe those trending topics that sometimes rise to the top ten or whatever, like #youshouldbeembarrassedif and #wifeymaterial and BS like that). Make sure you actually visit your home feed and mentions screens. You should also check on the "your tweets, retweeted" screen. Say thanks. Acknowledge your followers. Have conversations. If you're going to automate, say so, and let people know when you'll be back "in the flesh," so to speak.

Remember that you're a professional.
It's okay to get a little bit personal, but remember that your image is first and foremost one of a professional. Try to check your spelling (everyone is going to make typos), keep your tweets and status updates consistent with the image you are trying to cultivate, and if you're going to share anything personal, make sure it's consistent, too. I talk about my daughter and my husband sometimes and even my fannish interests. I feel that adding personal updates gives followers and friends some insight. I know that when the people I follow share something personal--a story about a husband, a mention of a kid, capslock of doom over something exciting--I like them a little more. Your professional Twitter and Facebook are probably not the places for your five-thousand-word-rant on people who can't park. 

Monday Miscellany

Last night, I finished my "last" round of edits on The Cowboy Next Door. I then transferred the text to a new document and started the formatting process. I'm still waiting on four betas to get back to me with their notes, so I'll make changes once I get that crit; I'll also read it out loud one last time and make final line edits and change anything that sounds awkward. Right now, I'm pretty proud of it.

This article on Facebook statuses do-and-don't is pretty good. I think it goes along with something I tweeted last night. There's an author on Twitter--there may be more than one, but I have only encountered the one--who tweets at me with a link to his book. We've never interacted in any other way. That just seems like a huge NO to me.

I am so excited! Next Wednesday, September 28, I'm going to post an interview with the fantastic Ms. Greta van der Rol to help celebrate the release of her new book, The Iron Admiral: Deception. Here's what you should do to prepare: go download The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy, read it, and fangirl (or boy).

In my quest to incorporate new dishes into our dinner menu, I made beef fajita soup last night. It actually turned out pretty well. I winged it, but here's a recipe that looks pretty easy if you're interested.

This week, look for another post on writer's resources and one on Hootsuite. I'm still trying to decide what the others should be.

Blog Roundup: September 12 - 18, 2011

Chuck Wendig made another "25" post, this time on plotting, planning, and prepping your story. He says he's a pantser. I'm beginning to understand his crazy.

This week, I discovered a thoughtful, interesting blog called Read, React, Review. The blogger teaches an ethics in fiction course and in her posts displays an insight and curiosity I find absolutely fascinating.

Thanks to a link from someone I follow on Twitter, I came across Aimee Salter's blog and this post on self-publishers and value pricing. I also read this post and this post on why she doesn't believe self-publishing works yet. I think these sorts of posts are extremely important for self-publishing authors--or writers considering self-publication--to read. I think it's important to know what you're up against and to think about your business model. I think it's important to remember to think like a reader and blog posts like these help remind you to do that. As a bonus, check out this post of hers on self-editing.

Isis Rushdan posted on the four essential elements of good storytelling. It's a good read, especially if you're struggling with your story's direction.

Stella Deleuze has some sound advice on the "never give up" advice. Sometimes, you have to give up. She also has some sound advice regarding conflicting advice. I think confidence and humility are key to a healthy attitude about writing. Confidence because you need to trust yourself and your voice. Humility because you need to learn to accept criticism. Constructive criticism can only make you a better writer. Criticism that offers nothing else at least helps you grow a thicker skin.

SitRep Saturday: The Cowboy Next Door

I'm still in the process of making the last round of self-edits while I wait for my beta readers to get back to me with their comments. Right now, I'm looking at a release date between September 23 and September 30.

However, you can now read an excerpt from chapter one here at my website... or click below and read it here on my blog!