A Couple of New Things

I have a couple of new things to announce.

1. My friend and guest on the blog tour (see my last entry) Christina E. Pilz will be posting her answers to the four questions about writing on her blog some time today here:

http://www.christinaepilz.com/blog/

I enjoyed her answers so much that I have decided to post them here on my blog as well. That will be a new entry for tomorrow. Please remember to return to read her fascinating answers.

2. My poem "Homecoming" has gone live on Pedestal Magazine. Go here to read it:

Homecoming

3. I just finished the "revamp" (I hate the word "rewrite") on the ending of my science fiction novel "Letters to an Android." It got me thinking about the types of stories I like to do. Anything to do with "the underdog" will always grab my attention. But I also like the little stories (that can quickly become big all by themselves) about the human heart. "Letters" is set against a sweeping science fiction backdrop, but it is really only the small story of two people (one natural human, one created human) from two completely different backgrounds who find common ground and bond in a long-distance correspondence.

Thinking about that: I wrote this to a friend in email today:

I have read so much science fiction that I hate (most in my early years when I thought of myself more as a scifi fan.) Still, maybe it's not such a surprise that I'm writing it again lately. I want to grab that wanderlust feeling where the backdrop is science fiction with sweeping vistas and far-traveling ships, but still tell the tale that is close to the heart. For me, the best stories are not about the big, vast battles with lots of FX that go on and on (I'm thinking of movies that favor amazing destruction until you are boggled and overwhelmed and can't feel a thing even though thousands of lives are ending.) So that is what I chose to write. Also, just because something is labeled "science fiction" does not automatically mean "sterile," "military," "indecipherable." And if I put stuff like that into my stories, it's mostly to be tongue in cheek with it. I don't write that much humor, but I do love irony.

And that's it for today!