Winter Has Come

Hello again readers. This is more of a general post since due to my workload recently I've lacked any specific major topic to post about. Here though I'm going to outline a few idle thoughts and ideas.

First off of course is that outside a few brief moments of writing a few hundred words here or there, dabbling a bit in world building and updating and editing notes I actually have not written very much recently. Sadly this will probably be a continuing problem until well into December as my exams creep up on me. My biggest problem is not distracting myself with new projects and instead just sticking to one or two that I wish to be concentrating on.

Mostly though, I have been successful at keeping my eye on the prize for two main projects, one of course is Service to the State, which is coming along healthy for a first draft, and another manuscript that has been idle for a while. I'm going to resolve to sit down and finish both first manuscripts when I can while only dabbling in one other side project I have at the moment which may, or may not be a good idea.

Now aside from my other writing woes I'm pleased to announce the first snowfall of the season has arrived! I woke up this morning quite happy to see a white curtain coming down around my home and the new carpet of snow covering the road and cars around me.

I always feel pleased when I see the first snowfall. Mind you, historically this has not been the case.

Most people were always dreading winter when it came as it meant an end to the growing season, a series of shorter days and cold bitter nights. Unlike today with our modern central heating most people would have to have gathered enough firewood during the year and stored it away (hoping to heaven it was all nice and dry) in order to both heat their homes on the long cold winter days, and in order to safely cook their food and enjoy a hot meal.

I personally thank God for the fact I don't live in such a subsistence society or have to worry about not having enough wood for winter, however, I also thank my father for the foresight of having a wood stove in our home. As people should no winter storms can be brutal and cold, burying things under a smothering blanket of snow and snuffing out our wonderful electric lights. And as anyone who lived through the terrible Ice Storm many years back can attest to, modern homes are not well designed to do without central heat.

So personally, I hope to one day live in a home where I can take advantage of the best of both worlds and not have to worry that if my power goes out that I'll freeze or not be able to cook any food.

Winter can be a dark and dreary time. There is a reason why the words of House Stark in a Song of Ice and Fire are "Winter Is Coming", both a clear warning and a pragmatic look ahead for the dangers winter could pose to such a society.

On a related note to that, the superb blog Race for the Iron Throne has finally come to what I consider the 'turning point' of a Game of Thrones where the War of the Five Kings heats up, as well as examining an interesting section of politics in Westeros, most notably the politics of the Northern Houses who are sworn to the Starks.

No doubt the commentary is going to get very interesting as we near the exciting climax of Game of Thrones itself and then set out to the big war aspect of A Clash of Kings.

On an unrelated note about my own blog, most readers have probably seen that the Weekly Word has not continued as hoped. I found that trying to make a weekly serial of random news updates and facts was more difficult than I thought, especially as serializing my blog didn't sit well with me, and seemed to also make the blog posts unappealing.

I've instead decided to simply do little posts like this with my thoughts and ideas, intersposed with random reviews and blog series about certain subjects. It feels like potentially a much better outlet for creativity and random thoughts than anything.

We'll just have to see won't we?

On another, more final, note relating to my blog, I will finally be posting another book review as I've almost finished an exciting book by author Saladin Ahmed, and I can't wait to share my thoughts on the subject, so stay tuned for that. I've also finally seen the movie Pacific Rim and I may potentially be reviewing it here, though I'm leery of doing so as everyone and their dog has done that already!

Well that's all for today readers, look to my coming again at sunset sometime in the next week. I'll be puttering around the web, and of course be hard at work on other things.

Until next time!

The Weekly Word #2

Hello again readers and welcome to the second edition of the Weekly Word on The M. Here this week I am again to bring updates on news, general topics, my blog, and of course my random ideas that I throw around!

For the record: Yes this will be the official picture of these articles ;)

I'm sad to say I start this week on a sombre note as I refer to the infamous Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman case. It would seem that George Zimmerman was indeed found innocent of the charges laid against him. Now that in and of itself isn't a terrible thing as it shows that the system did not convict him due to lingering doubts by the jury. Rather the terrible thing might be that his trial was presided over by a jury which comprised of five white jurors and a single 'minority' juror!

However, this was also a case where the prosecution again failed as they could not successfully strike jurors they did not approve of, nor did they manage to keep some jurors in whom they felt would successfully be swayed by their arguments. This of course left us with a jury who may or may not have allowed racial feelings or prejudices to get in the way. This did of course, lead to one disastrous interview on CNN.

Some might say that this unnecessarily brings racial issues into the trial. Let me just add that when a young black male is profiled by a non-black male and followed, confronted, then killed, there is no doubt that race was involved. I personally think this speaks to the character of the man who killed Martin, and I do believe that the mostly white jury is morally culpable for letting him walk.

However, I also criticize the prosecution who so badly handled the trial. They overcharged Zimmerman with second-degree murder where a manslaughter charge would have been more justified, and thus it fell on the prosecution to prove that Zimmerman had far more criminal intent than he demonstrated. For sure the man attempted to provoke a confrontation with Martin, and he carried a gun on his person and drew it on someone who was unarmed, but it would be highly disingenuous to say that he went out that night and intended to kill someone.

All in all the case is one that suffered from being surrounded by a media circus which lead to a poor handling of the effort to convinct Zimmerman as the prosecutors became almost honor bound to deliver the highest level of justice they could to Zimmerman, whether or not it was the most feasible charge that could be laid. It is another terrible example of trial by media.

In other, yet related news, I certainly hope that this will be something that forces an examination of the 'Stand your ground law' which exists in the United States. To me it seems like a law which is not well designed and one which doesn't seem capable of defending the people it is actually meant to defend.

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In more cheery and writing related news, I am coming a long way now on Service to the State and I've finally stopped waffling on whether to include a boot-camp section in the novel. There will be one, but it will be much briefer and intersposed with social commentary and Chekov's Gun related items than a normal set would be.

Much of the other chapters will involve the antagonist and supporting characters gearing up for the epic climax of the novel regarding some intense space battles and hot power armor on power armor action!

That is of course what I set out to accomplish with this story ;)

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Also, the once proud city of Detroit has filed for bankruptcy. Now I was personally surprised to hear this (mostly owing to the fact that I didn't know a city could file for bankruptcy) (and that is apparently being fought out in court) and felt it was quite the piece of news for me to get.

Well if entire cities can file for bankruptcy I think that we may sadly see more of this in the future as cities with declining economies and financial/industrial sectors are quite literally unable to pay their bills.

That bodes poorly for pensioners, city employee's, anyone dependent on welfare, and a myriad of other people who live in the city. This of course may increase crime, death rates, poverty rates, send the standard of living there plummeting. Though in a city where large tracts of it have been abandoned or turned into ghost towns I suppose it is pretty hard for it to get worse at this point.

The Education system really can't get any worse

What effect this might have on the economy of course, will remain to be see, but I can't call it a good one.

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In other mostly self-interest (and somewhat prepper related) news, I plan on doing a big article gushing about old stone houses, their pros and cons, and the fact that I'm currently working in one as a museum guide for the summer!

It's a beautiful old place and anyone who could see it ought to see it! Wonderfully preserved it is an amazing sight inside my old town here in Ontario, and I must say that I've come to fall in love with it!

But enough about that I'll be gushing on and on about it later!

Well I guess I haven't found much in the news I feel like reporting on today or this week really, so I'll leave you all with my usual farewell!

Until next time readers, until next time!

Yet Another Writing Update

Greetings readers. For any of you who follow me on Facebook you will no doubt know I refer to Matthew Stienberg: Writer. Now some of you may say 'Well for a writer you sure don't write anything' to which I would first retort 'Well you're reading some of it right now!' but ah you say 'certainly a writer is someone who has published work to his name' and I suppose I ought to retort by adding 'Well I am working on some items at the moment'.

Though I suppose I ought to prove it at least.

Well readers for anyone whose looking forward to what I'm writing I can tell you my current projects are running along smoothly.

Service to the State has currently passed the half-way mark to completion and is progressing nicely (albeit more slowly than I would like) but so far in little spurts and bounds it is growing, though I must say that space assassins can be pretty fun characters to write about.

The few issues that have stalled me currently were some basic world building issues (such as how to handle interplanetary crime) and of course how best to continue on with characterization for both Laurent and Jessica. For Jessica it is essential I not screw up even one motivating factor, it is going to be my first major work afterall, and I really can't afford to mess that up!

Meanwhile the world around it grows and I'm hoping to be putting some OC that I've got planned up on the site as it goes. In the works are a flag for the two main star nations in the story, the Socialist Commonwealth of Tau, and the Republic of Grant.

These two nations are the crux of the universe (not the only ones mind, but certainly the most powerful in their respective sectors) and the struggles they engage in will be defining aspects of how the universe is shaped. It's a war of national pride and competing national ideologies, and sadly ideological wars can be some of the most brutal.

So far I've been dithering about the obligatory bootcamp sequence and how to include it without stumbling into cliche territory, while at the same time working up the aspects of space combat in this universe. So far I've mapped out two space battles and I'm hoping to pen them out in rough soon enough.

On a more random note I've also penned out some ideas in rough for a stand-alone science fiction story. Having been learning about the Russian Revolution lately and being nostalgic for the Moon is a Harsh Mistress, I've put a few random thoughts down on paper and I've been mapping out the basic sketch for the story of a colony of Earth being basically strip mined for its resources and the cruel managers don't give a damn. I also had a few ideas while reading some of the back blurb on the most recent Honor Harrington novel recently, so it got me to thinking about these things.

The general idea revolves around a group of young and old revolutionaries of differing backgrounds, socialists, libertarians, and technocrats, all struggling together to try and overthrow the planetary government and gain political and economic independence. It's only a rough concept and will have to wait until I can devote more time to it before being really fleshed out.

As I also said on my page I have an alternate history scenario that I've written out which is fairly rudimentary and covers some major historical points, and I may put it up on my alternate history board just for kicks. It would be cool to write some stories set in that world, so I wouldn't completely mind keeping such ideas on the shelf for a later date.

So far 2013 has been a slow writing period, but then we still have a year to go!

Cover Art

So I was recently reading through the blog and Facebook page of fellow blogger Matthew Quinn, and he has been making some excellent observations and notes regarding the writing industry. Recently he made a number of good points about cover art.

Cover art is essential for any story. Think about it, one may write an excellent story but without a catchy title and some flashy cover art it is all but impossible to grab the attention of potential buyers. Cover art can almost be as important as the story itself. It's been said that first impressions are the most lasting, and if someone does not get a good first impression of your book then they simply won't even pick it up.

I'm going to look at some bits of cover work and examine them to give people an idea of what can be good for cover work and get people's attention, and then examine some terrible cover art which should best be left on the drawing board.

First is Mr. Quinn's upcoming e-book Melon Heads.

At first glance it is simple, yet engrossing. We have a good title which leads potential buyers to question what it is about. The style is eye grabbing and also let's us know this is a work of horror with what must be a rather unique creature set. In one glance we get genre, ideas, and interest. Effective as advertising as it leads to great potential for people to pick it up. I for one am buying this book and I would encourage readers to do so as well.

So for another bit of the horror (or more comedic) genre we have Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

This of course is the first film poster, but on the most recent mass market paper bound copy I purchased it was also the cover art. At a glance we have a moon lit scene with a shadow shrouded Lincoln with his signature hat at a jaunty angle. We get a view of his signature weapon from the book and a basic idea of what he is doing. Again it is informative, a good visual and gives the reader an idea of what to expect.

Moving on to a more recent mainstream selection we have Stephen King's most recent novel 11-22-63.

Now we know first off that this is a Stephen King novel (his name is larger than the title) and under that we see the image of JFK and a newspaper article proclaiming him slain in Dallas. This of course is not very informative and leaves readers wondering what exactly the book is about. It of course grabs attention and encourages someone to pick it up. The main selling point though is the authors name which will grab any longtime fans immediate attention.

Now here's one by one of my favorite authors. David Weber.

The first book in the grand Honor Harrington series. Simple cover, shows off the science fiction aspects of the story and of course we have the famous authors name. We get a good look at the main character and even some visual ideas of the general uniforms of people in the series.

I've been examining the cover art for various science fiction stories in order to formulate a rough idea of what I think would be an appropriate cover for my Service to the State series. More on that later.

Now for bad cover art we have a culprit none other than SM Stirling.

I've always been rather disgusted with the cover work for the Emberverse series. While it grabs attention it has always been rather tacky and generic, doesn't give you any idea of what is going on in the stories and has some ridiculous elements in it. For instance the two draft horse pulling the bus up there (a bus which, as my friend noticed still has its lights running). The series is a constant repeat offender of this and I sincerely wish Stirling would find a different cover artist.

Yet another is Micheal Z. Williamson

This book is marginally related to his Freehold verse. The title is rather awful, gives you no idea of what is going on and depends on a scantily clad woman to attaract attention. In any respect that is a sign of poor work and a desperate grab at the male audience.

So some good some bad. I think that a writer looking for good cover art should have a snappy visual, an intriguing title and of course a good story behind it. Good cover art should have images directly related to the story at hand, not something eye grabbing just because it looks cool. For instance if your writing a story about a starship captain stranded in space don't have your cover image of a man in a spacesuit standing on an alien planet. Nor should you put a picture of an alien in it just because you think it looks cool. Make the cover art about your story, not just another picture of a scantly clad woman.

So in pondering on cover art for Service to the State and for the first book I have decided I would like to find someone who could attempt to illustrate the male and female leads (Jessica and Laurent) in front of a generic world image. Since there are space battles in the book perhaps have an exploding ship in the background (rule of cool after all dear readers). I think with a snappy title and good visuals that would draw potential readers in.

So with this look at cover art and my thoughts on the subject I once again bid you adieu until next time readers, and return to writing my own stories.

Writing update: Wordle

So for a little update on my writing work here is a little wordle picture made from chapters one and two from Fugitive. It helps me see what words I use the most, as well as present a cool picture to view. I think it's a useful tool. As an aside it is hilariously fun as well for those of you who enjoy that kind of whimsical art style!

I sincerely think my readers should experiment with it sometime if they get the chance.

Ruminations on Interstellar Travel

Recently I was reading National Geographic and its lengthy issue on space. Of particular interest to me was the colonization of Mars and the approximately thousand year long terraforming process which got me thinking (again) about the future of mankind among the stars.

I have been an avid reader of science fiction since I was young from books like Star Hatchling or the young adult Star Wars novels like the Galaxy of Fear series. I graduated on to reading the works of Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein and wonderful novels like Dune, Starship Troopers, or The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I loved the series and I was eventually reading the Halo novels which were very well done. Since then I've always had heady visions of space colonization and space battles.

Most recently I've been reading the Honor Harrington series which has really captured my interest. The series is extremely technical giving immense details on the technical data of the science behind the universe, and almost as importantly, the immense distances involved in travel among the stars and the vast distances that occupy even a single star system.

It has been immensely helpful for the opening stages of my own science fiction novel. Especially for some pivotal scenes involving space pirates thus far.

Establishing a proper timeline for the story has been a bit trickier, especially because of my thoughts on interstellar travel. Faster than light travel is something that we currently don't possess so making a viable means either relies on technobabble jargon or by extrapolating on currently shaky sciences. Since mankind has yet to travel well beyond earths orbit (in any manned capacity that is) I have come down to using more vague terms for my own science fiction such as 'hyper space' and 'jump drives' to describe the process.

The way I see it to have a decent history for an interstellar star nation one needs to have at least three centuries of colonization, which if you want to set it in something like the year 2600 or so requires mankind to have some decent terraforming technology and an adequete FTL technolgy else you have to rely on generational ships and an increase in earth-like planets (which while not impossible, it is still highly unlikely to have them concentrated in any nice dense array without a little push from the human race in my opinion). Mind you the previous thought is best regulated to 'hard' science fiction, while mine is going to be on the softer side, I am trying to make it as semi-realistic of possible to help with the suspension of disbelief.

You see in my science fiction (the Service to the State series as the name is thus far) I have developed a fairly intricate backstory for the nation of the Commonwealth, its worlds having been settled five hundred years before the current story line and then clawing their way to independence in order to form their own nation. The galaxy shattering events which lead to their independence (various wars and revolutions) all require FTL in a reliable shape so that they can carry out interplanetary war on a realistic scale. It needs to be both relatively easy to aquire and maintain, but difficult enough that it has some drawbacks and disadvantages to keep it from being a sort of easy way out for ships in a jam. I have no real grasp of the advanced sciences required though so I have to avoid the 'info-dumps' of the Honor Harrington series and rely more on characters, events, and conflict rather than the interesting hard sciences to keep people reading!

The problems with mapping a decent timeline this presents are large. Due to many realisations of both scale, and realism I have revised my initial timeline at least three times now. I'm sure I'll be forced to do this more in the future as I attempt to make the story as 'hard' as I can. Thus far though, both the story and the timeline are progressing well. I hope to have a rough draft for the entire story in place by the end of the year.