The Robot Age

I’ve always been a big fan of robotics. Ever since Short Circuit and Max from Flight of the Navigator, all the Star Wars robots, and then later stories by Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, various manga (Chobits comes to mind) and the onset of modern robots (like the Roomba), I’ve been drawn to our mechanical counterparts. Wall-E melted my heart, as did Data in Star Trek, Beta in The Last Starfighter, and David in A.I.. And 2046–a Hong Kong film with half the movie revolving around the sci-fi plot the author is writing on the side–has a slew of  fun androids.

I also write a lot of stories about robots (though usually of the semi-magical clockwork kind), and my first in-print story was about one. There’s just something I find fascinating about the whole human-robot debate: is a robot “real” or “alive”? can a robot “feel” or be truly autonomous? what separates machines and humanity? are robots really–at all–immortal? are all robots destined to be perfectly logical, or can they be irrational, illogical, irritable? (Love Marvin from Doug Adam’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and C3PO’s constant paranoia! Bender from Futurama, as well as all the animated robots in the first four seasons, are wonderful, too!) And for robot emotion and sexuality, check out Kal Cobalt’s ROBOTICA. I don’t tend to read a lot of erotica (or much at all), but Kal explores some really cool ideas in the collected stories.

For me, the human-v-robot debate is one that I like to get involved in, though usually from the side that human beings are really just biological machines made of flesh, blood and nerve rather than silicon, copper wire, and computer chips. And I don’t doubt that someday we’ll have the technology to create machines that are fully indistinguishable from ourselves (not just physically, but mentally as well–theologian/mystic androids, artist androids, writer androids (who may both soar to the bestsellers lists or wallow in self-pity and writer’s block like many of us humans)). Scary, sometimes; cool, most definitely!

Until I started this blog entry, I didn’t even realize how often I come across robots, and what a profound interest they hold for me. I’m no scientist (I leave that to those I know who have PhDs in robotics!), but I’m fixated by this constant drive to create autonomous beings. I finally learned how to set up a Google Alert today, and I’ve got robots on there. If I see something cool, I’ll let you know! For now, here’s a clip of the Actoroid android–she’s kind of the new Aiko, and for as jerky (and a little “crazy-eyed”) as she can be, just imagine what we’ll be able to do in ten, twenty, even fifty years! O.O

Orycon coverage to come!

 

YES!!!!!

*BEAMING GRIN*

 

A Note on Vicarious Happiness

I just wanted to share a little something about slushing. While yes, I can’t deny a little fiendish enjoyment in rejecting a truly horrible story, my absolute FAVORITE part about being a submissions editor is when I send up a story to our editor in chief and have him like it enough to buy it. I get a vicarious thrill out of being able to write back to an author and tell them, YES. You’re In.

I’m just tickled pink at the moment! ^_^

 

1,000,001… 1,000,002…

That’s the running total of how much crap I have to get done. O.O November is going to be a busy, busy-bee month, as it seems. Lots of writing stuff/lots of Apex stuff/lots of Orycon-prep to take care of. Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving it all! It’s a ton of fun and I’m REALLY excited about getting to Orycon. But I’d be lying if I said I’m not going to be a teeny, weeny bit glad when it’s all done, successfully accomplished, and I can sleep in without feeling guilty. ^_^

My own writing went really well this last week. I got an average of 500 words done a night, no matter how late I was out. Before bed: 500 words. And they’re not horrible words (I think)! I’ve been really focusing on taking my time and choosing my sentences carefully. So far, at least to my own eyes, it’s paying off. The novel is moving ahead bit by bit (and I’m actually liking what I have), and I think I’ve finally found the voice for it (I hope). This month’s short story (“The Last Prince of the Sea”) is also moving along, paragraph by paragraph, scene by scene. This new technique of composing fiction is pretty grueling, but so far I’m pretty pleased with the results–it’s not that different from the way I write Thief Dilemma, either, but as you know, it does slow me down a lot.

I’m finding one of my biggest challenges when it comes to writing (or anything creative, for that matter) is battling my own tendency to hit a point of boredom that then makes me try to speed up and “just finish”. That’s very, very bad for me, I’ve found. I get really sloppy, really cheap (in terms of imagination), and ultimately, I end up with a snarled, tangled mess that will take more work to clean up than it would have taken me to write it properly in the first place. So I’m trying this later option, now, and keeping my impatient side at bay. Not always easy, but I’m trying.

Going to try to get my writing done for this weekend tonight while Andy takes his second practice MCAT. That way I can focus on Orycon/Apex submissions stuff all day tomorrow. Last weekend I got a lot of work done, so I’m hoping to feel at least that productive this weekend too!

(Here’s hoping…)

 

The Price of Running a Free Magazine

Apex’s Editor-in-Chief has posted a proposal on the Apex blog about the challenges of keeping a free-fiction magazine online and the obvious difficulties of funding it. There are a lot of different models on how to make enough profit to break even in this industry, particularly for web-based magazines. Orson Scott Card’s INTERGALACTIC MEDICINE SHOW posts a teaser of each story in each issue and requires purchase of the issue or a subscription  to read the rest. JIM BAEN’S UNIVERSE does the same. CLARKESWORLD MAGAZINE offers fiction for free, funding itself through its evolving Citizens sponsorship program and its annual revenues from publishing REALMS, the print anthology of its past year of fiction.

Needless to say, for a free-fiction magazine, making ends meet is a daily stress and continual challenge, and everyone needs a little help these days to get along. Jason Sizemore has really devoted himself to keeping APEX as free of charge as possible, and that’s a wonderful thing in an age of fees, surcharges, hidden taxes, and that persnickety fine print that seals the fate of your soul. So here is the article Jason Sizemore with APEX MAGAZINE posted containing his proposal to help APEX keep publishing all that lovely free fiction!

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Apex Magazine and Options

by Jason Sizemore

There’s been some debate on the series of internet tubes about workable business models for online content. Some, like Cory Doctorow, believe free is good. If you give out a quality freebie, people will shell out money for more of that product. I like to think of this as the ol’ street dealer’s trick of giving out samples of coke to get people hooked on their drug. Others have argued to me that offering content such as short stories online, you have to go to a subscription or pay-per-play system.

I can’t say either one has worked for Apex Magazine. A combination of the two has not worked. Sponsorship worked for two months before enthusiasm for it died.

I’d like to try an alternative.

I’d like to see how many fans of short fiction (and Apex Magazine) are out there that would donate $10 (or more) on a recurring, yearly basis to help pay for magazine costs. Our yearly cost is around $10,000. Doctorow was given $10,000 to write one single story. For your $10,000, you get 24 months of Apex Magazine.

If you’d like to give Apex Magazine a hand then please send me an email to jason@apexbookcompany.com. I don’t want to start collecting $10 (or more!) from people unless I know there are enough fans interested.

Please spread the word by reposting and retweeting this blog post.

Jason Sizemore
editor-in-chief

 

*PHEW!*

So it’s been a little while since my last post! There’s just so much work to get done. O.O Tons of writing projects on the slate at the moment, which has been domineering most of my “off work” hours, and then there’s a bunch of stuff to get done before Orycon.

Also, I’ve been in the process of setting up my writing space in the apartment. Since we’re not exactly sure when we’re moving again, depending on how the dice fall this spring, it seemed silly to keep postponing something that means a lot to me. So I went for it, and it looks *awesome*! ^_^ I’m so happy with the space. It’s just what I wanted.

Now I’ve got a place to spread out and settle into, rather than just taking over the kitchen table or the sofas. >.O

Writing Stuff:

 

Cat + Ice Cream Bowl = Obsession

Oddly enough, Me + Ice Cream Bowl ALSO = Obsession. I wonder if evolution has something to do with that… Hmm… Will ponder in greater depth later.

Mei is normally a skittish cat, but if ice cream is involved (which we do not voluntarily give her), she will become the most ravenous, courageous, sneaky cat alive. She gets crazier than she does on catnip, which is pretty crazy. I guess it’s good though: it means we put our ice cream bowls in the sink immediately after using them so she can’t get at them. That seems to dissuade her.

Week (haha, “week”–it’s Monday, for goodness sake.) has been fine so far–back to the usual routine of work, Apex, dinner, and writing–but it’s only Day One. The weekend was pretty swamped with lots of things to do. Did get to go rock climbing again on Sunday morning, though I underestimated how hard I’d pushed myself Friday, which made even simple climbs downright impossible! But it was good fun all the same! (We did get our own gear on Friday, though, so now we don’t have to rent harnesses and shoes! ^_^)

Still trying to figure out a better day to post “SLUSH LESSONS” since Sundays are turning out to be much busier than I anticipated… Will ponder in greater depth later.

Writing Stuff:

Making slow but steady progress on the novel. Jonesing for some short fiction writing, but I’m sticking to it for now. I’m much too easily distracted once I start straying from any set path. The writing itself still feels a little like I’m trying to force a car to shift from first to forth gear going thirty mph, but at least the car’s still moving and I can still see through the smoke!

19301 / 100000

 

ORYCON NEWS

So it’s now official: I’ll be on two panels at this year’s Orycon at the Doubletree in Portland! I’ll be on the panel “Drowning in Slush”, with fellow Apex editor Deb Taber, as well as editors Colleen Anderson (ABERRANT DREAMS and CHIZINE), Camille Alexa (ABYSS & APEX MAGAZINE), and Lou Anders ([TOO MUCH TO LIST!] and ORYCON EDITING GUEST OF HONOR). Then immediately after that, I’m on the panel “How to Prepare a Manuscript” with Edd Vick, Rhea Rose, and Elizabeth Engstrom (whose book, WHEN DARKNESS LOVES US, Apex has just reprinted!).

Then after that, I’m half of a writer’s workshop duo with Nina Kiriki Hoffman (She’s won a STOKER and a NEBULA, and I’ve got a YEAR’S BEST FANTASY & HORROR volume with one of her stories in it!)! O.O

It’s an action/awesome-packed weekend! ^_^

I’m not going to lie, I’m quite a bit (read: F#!$!ing) nervous about all this. I am (as some of you know) a convirgin, besides a relatively new entrant into the editing world, and therefore have no idea what to expect from all this. I plan on doing a lot of research about the “dos” and “don’ts” of panelling (and attending Edd Vick’s panel on “How to be a Panelist”!), and I hope my fellow panelists will give me some good advice so I don’t make a fool out of myself! Still, I’m really excited, too! Like 80% excited, 20% nervous.

Or… more like 60% excited, 40% nervous… maybe reversed? O.O

So if you’re in the PDX area Nov. 26th-28th, stop by and say “hi!” Or stop by and give me chocolate, and rub me on the back while I sit rocking in a corner by myself, and just tell me it’s going to be okay. >.O

 

And my hands say: “Aaauuuggghhhh!”

Went rock climbing for the third time this month. Before you ask: no, not outside. In a rock climbing gym. The goal is to eventually get to the point where I can climb outside with Andy, but for now, I’m still very much a novice. Plus I don’t have shoes or a harness, so that makes outdoor climbing sort of tricky. ^_-

My hands are tired. I actually tried following the 5.8 paths this time, and they kicked my butt. It was a great workout though. I really enjoy it so far. It takes a little getting used to leaning back on the rope to be lowered down (we’re doing only top-rope climbing at the moment), but it’s a lot of fun.

Now, time to get some writing done. ^_^

 

World SF

So lately, due to the work I’ve been doing for THE APEX BOOK OF WORLD SF, coming out this November (get it! get it! get it!), I’ve had the opportunity to learn a little more about World SF in general.

I’ve had a little taste of this with a few Chinese authors in translation, and a *lot* of international literature in general. I wish I could say I’ve read a lot more, but until now I haven’t really been sure how to get my hands on this stuff. Now, I’ve found a doorway: Lavie Tidhar, who is the editor of THE APEX BOOK OF WORLD SF, has over the past year put together a blog called The World SF News Blog. It features articles and news about international science fiction. It’s also a great place to start digging in and getting exposed to some truly awesome fiction. I’ve added it to my sidebar links, so feel free to head over there anytime!

Just finished reading Anna Feruglio Dal Dan’s story in STRANGE HORIZONS titled “And This Also Has Been One of the Dark Places of the Earth”. It’s beautiful and spellbinding, and short! Give it a read if you’ve got a quick ten minutes. I guarantee you won’t want to trade those minutes for anything else.

I must say, this whole experience really makes me want to beef-up my Chinese and my smidgeon of Russian. I WILL READ DREAM OF RED CHAMBERS IN CHINESE ONE DAY! (And Crime & Punishment (3rd or 4th time) in Russian!) Granted, you don’t have to speak any other language than English to get fantastic international fiction in translation! ^_^ Which is a good thing until I get better at speaking, let alone reading, any other languages.