Tag Archives: science fiction

One Question, Many Answers #5

What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word “fan”?

 

“Someone who is interested enough in something to indulge in it and probably knows a lot about it, in an avocational rather than vocational way, and likely of someone else or someone else’s work.”

–ELF (Author and fan)
Taj Mutt Hall Dog Diary
Word Whirled

 

“Someone who is enthusiastic about a thing, event, or social activity.”

–Douglas Berry (Author and fan)
Gridlore.Dreamwidth.org
Make a Wish Foundation–SF Bay Area

 

“The appliance, although primarily the miniaturized version used in computers and involved costuming.”

–Norman (Fan at BayCon 2017)
Convolution

 

“Someone here at BayCon.”

–Fiddlerbird (Fan at BayCon 2017)
Ravelry

 

“A cool breeze.”

–Elond Castro (Fan at BayCon 2017)

 

One Question, Many Answers #3

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word “reading”?

 

“The odd places and attitudes I see children put themselves into while reading. I worry that ‘today’s kids’ don’t read. But SF/F novels’ popularity belies that concern.”

–Anonymous fan at BayCon 2017
East Bay Linux Users Group

 

“Books, lots of books.”

–Anonymous fan at BayCon 2017

 

“Imagination and excitement.”

–Jean Martin (costumer, editor-in-chief, dancer)
Creative Avocations

 

“Detectives, desolate highways, coffee, comfy chair, rain.”

–Tyler Hayes (Author)
The One About Jacob” (short story)

 

“How many books I have to finish.”

–Anna Rose (Author)
A Darker Shadow by Jake Keplin

 

“Being entertained by my own head, on my own terms, a perfect comfort and best pastime.”

–Meg Elison (Author)
The Book of Etta
megelison.com

 

One Question, Many Answers #1

At BayCon 2017, a science fiction and fantasy convention that’s taken place annually in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past twenty-five years, I cornered people in the hallways and asked them to participate in my One Question, Many Answers series.

Fans
Fans answered the following two questions:

  1. What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word “fan“?
  2. What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word “reading“?

Authors
Authors answered the following two questions:

  1.  What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word “writing“?
  2.  What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word “reading“?

Every couple of days over the next week or so, I will post answers to these questions, along with people’s names or pseudonyms and links to publications, passion projects, or charities that the fans and authors want to promote.

I’m going to start with a few of the authors’ answers to the first question.

Q.  What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word “writing”?

 

“That I should really be writing and not doing whatever it was I had been doing.”

–Anna Rose (Author)
A Darker Shadow by Jake Keplin

 

“Being a god, creating a world to make it my way and finally have the control that real life never gives.”

–Meg Elison (Author)
The Book of Etta
megelison.com

 

“My desk, coffee, morning, being cold, knit hats, penguins.”

–Tyler Hayes (Author)
The One About Jacob” (short story)

 

BayCon 2017 Community

baycon2017-guide-300.jpgAt my final panel yesterday, we talked about love in dystopian society (including failed romances like the one in 1984) and the importance of relationships and community in wartime.

For myself, the discussion suddenly went meta:  being at BayCon, in this IDIC atmosphere, an enclave of loving and diverse relationships that contrasts so sharply with the current state of U.S. politics–right there, in the middle of the panel, I found I had made a decision. I need to work on Red Hand.

Red Hand tells the story of an older woman with the rare ability to heal individuals dying of a galactic-wide plague that’s been decimating populations for decades, causing wars, disrupting civilizations, and encouraging isolationism.  The woman and others who possess the healing ability are themselves oppressed by those who see them as a source of power and wealth, or as means to stabilize chaos, or as a threat that must be properly regulated and controlled.

At the beginning of the novel, we see the woman in crisis.  She has little of herself left to give, drained by decades spent healing others while on the run from the Red Hand, an apparently benign paternalistic organization sanctioned by the remnants of the galactic government to regulate healers.  She longs for a permanent home, to live in a community without fear of discovery.  But she can’t have that if she continues to heal.

People will die if she stops healing.

If she doesn’t stop, she will die without having lived a life of her own.

In this moment of personal crisis, forced to flee yet another impending capture on yet another planet, she takes passage on a small spaceship captained by a man with secrets of his own on a mission that poses a direct threat to her dreams.

He’s a good guy.  He has reasons.

But he’s out to capture a healer.

 

 

BayCon 2017 Costumes

Shael in knitted
Shael Hawman knits fantastic costumes.  For BayCon 2017, she knitted a Star Wars flight suit!

Last year, Denise Tanaka was Wonder Woman.  This year, she is … faceless.

 

 

 

I babble

my-desk-may2017-400.jpgHaving blithered and burbled, I now babble in a new interview that you can read on either Vicki Reese’s blog or Vicky Burkholder’s blog.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview (my answer to a most pressing fill-in-the-blank):

“Now for the S.A.T. portion of the interview.  Fill in the blank.  If I were a villain, I would have ______ for minions to deliver my wrath because _____.

If I were a villain, I would have nail salon workers for minions to deliver my wrath because I am jealous of people who don’t bite their fingernails like I do. Those salon workers could use their painful grinding machines to mess up everyone else’s nails. Bwaa ha haha ha!”

 

The First Sentence (free!)

Are you in the mood for a sweet treat, a romantic novella that won’t cost you a penny?  How about five sweet treats in one package?   Check out The First Sentence!  Download for free now.

THE FIRST SENTENCE

A Collection of Romance Novellas

a collection of romance novellasPut five authors together in a bar and give them a challenge. The premise: That if five authors start with the same sentence, they will all write vastly different stories. The results: made of awesome. From contemporary to futuristic, these novellas have a little bit of everything, but most especially—love-filled happy endings.

Rebound by Allison B. Hanson
After wallowing in agony for weeks after a bad break-up, Reese is set up on a blind date. Reluctantly, he goes and meets the girl of his dreams. The only problem? He was at the wrong place and met the wrong girl. Now, desperate to find her, he scours the campus as fate weaves an impossible journey.

Lost and Found by Misty Simon
When Mike Emory sees his ex’s post on social media that she’s looking for her lost dog, he’s out the door in a flash. Their break-up was not amicable, but he loved that dog and can’t imagine him on his own. Elsie Hews has been scouring the streets for hours when she runs into the last person she wants helping her—the guy who never seemed to think she was capable of doing anything herself. This is her dog, though, her baby, and she’ll accept Mike’s help to find him, then say goodbye again. Or that’s the plan, at least…

Frozen Dreams by Victoria Smith
When a dangerous weather anomaly strikes, Jane will do whatever it takes to travel to be with her family. Even if it means getting stuck with her husband, Adam. Instead of talking to him about how they will never have a family, she took the chicken route and left, despite being deeply in love with him. Now they must face the storm and their emotions.

Through the Void by Natalie J. Damschroder
There’s only one thing Vix can do when she finds out about the secret life that has led to her husband’s coma—make that life hers. When she goes on her first mission through the void, however, she finds not only a new self-purpose, but her lost husband, as well. She did the impossible once. Can she do it again, and bring him home?

A Real Boy by Vicky Burkholder
Jillian Night is on the hunt for inter-planetary kidnappers. Her bosses demand she have a partner, but Jillian has had enough of human ones. She prefers to work alone so Fleet assigns her one of the new androids. Zeus is a little too real for Jillian’s comfort and she finds herself attracted to him—until she meets the real man pulling the strings. Maybe having a real, live partner wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Download for Free Now (universal link) or at the following vendors:

Amazon
Nook
iBooks
Kobo
Smashwords
Google Play
24 Symbols
Sribd

Goodreads

I yammer about space opera

avatar-space.jpg

Jana Denardo is hosting me on her blog this week. I say stuff about space opera, as well as promote Beneath the Skin.  http://jana-denardo.dreamwidth.org/249133.html

(I apologize if my posts seem spammy of late.  I’m on a blog tour.  At least the posts on each blog are different, even if they all have the same image of my book cover.)

I burble

My guest blog post for Antonia Aquilante is live!  In it, I burble joyfully about space opera and Beneath the Skin.

http://www.antoniaaquilante.com/blog/guest-post-beneath-the-skin-by-carolyn-hill

Antonia is the author of The Prince’s Consort, a MM paranormal romance from Dreamspinner Press.

20084.jpg

 

 

Review: The Gathering Edge

51LqK3wUyIL.jpgI’ve long been a fan of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s Liaden novels, and their latest, The Gathering Edge, doesn’t disappoint.

It’s a pleasure to watch Theo grow into her role as captain, fully bonded to her AI ship, Bechimo. I’ve no doubt she’ll continue to grow in interesting ways as the edge continues to gather. Certainly she has the makings of a delm. And Hevelin–that noble norbear makes me smile and cheer … and be a bit afraid. And Joyita, it’s so very cool to see that AI develop as an individual so distinct from Bechimo.

One of the many things I enjoy about this novel is that, while tying together threads in many of the more recent books, it focuses almost entirely on Theo and her immediate company. That singular focus supports strong character development and underscores the ways in which Theo’s crew (really, they are more like a family — or clan) come together and interlock, supporting one another.

If none of the above makes sense to you, then this book isn’t the place to start exploring the Liaden Universe. But explore that universe, yes, indeed, you should.