Getting ready to head to Prospero's for the book-signing event with a bunch of Hadley Rille folks. Yes, I'm leaving early to avoid traffic in downtown KC. Bringing the laptop so I can (try to) work there in some quiet corner.

Adventures of Jack and Stella progress:


(If you saw my post late last night, you'll notice that the target word-count has jumped up a bit since then. This is because I added the Appendixes to the novel word-count, and they'll end up at around 5000 words when complete.)

Oh! And I've decided to donate to the ConQuest Charity Auction a "Tuckerization" in the novel! Wanna see your name in print? Drop by the Charity Auction table.

EDIT: The Prospero's thing was a blast - thanks everyone for coming! Did a bit more writing, but mostly revising; at the end of the day, writing progress stands at:


Best,
Chris

Calling it quits for the day. Making good progress - I like these kids! It's fun tagging along as they begin to discover their hidden abilities and have to hit the road before they're captured. Word count:


Tomorrow I finish the big scene where Mom drives them out of the house and tells them they need to run as far and as fast as they can, trust no one!

Chris

Check out the wonderful new poster that Marie DeMars made for this year's Campbell Conference (click the pic to see it bigger on the Conference page). Thanks, M! It looks FANTASTIC!

Also check out the growing guest list and new programming information. Hope to see you there!

In case you missed the news this week and last, the finalists for both the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best SF novel of the year and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best short-SF are now posted. Check out the great reading!

Finally, word-count tracking for The Adventures of Jack and Stella:

That's just for the manuscript; I have about about 30,000 in notes, scene snippets, and so forth. Loving it so far!

Speaking of which, my day-job day is now officially over, and back I go to plunge Jack and Stella into ever-greater peril.

Chris

"High Adventure with Hadley Rille Books" event at Prospero's Books. Several area authors will read from and sign books, including Z.S. Adani, Sue Blalock, M.C. Chambers, Terri-Lynne DeFino, Karin Rita Gastreich, Chris Gerrib, yours truly, Melissa Mickelsen, Mark Nelson, Shauna Roberts, and Hadley Rille Books editor Eric T. Reynolds.

When:
6:00pm Thursday, May 24 (tomorrow!)
Where:
Prospero's Books, 1800 W. 39th Street, Kansas City, MO

The Kansas City ConQuest SF Convention takes place on Memorial Day Weekend. This year's guests of honor include Gardner Dozois, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, Ursula Vernon, and many more. As has been the case for several years now, AboutSF is again the recipient for Sunday's Charity Auction. Thank you, KaCSFFS! I'll be reading brand-spanking-new material from my in-progress novel, The Adventures of Jack and Stella.

When:
May 25-27 (this weekend)
Where:
Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center, Kansas City, MO

Hope to see you at one of 'em!
Chris

The Sturgeon Award honors the best short science fiction of the year. Congrats to all those on the short-list!

(The finalists for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best SF novel of the year were announced last week.)

Looking for some good stuff to read? These lists are a great place to start!

Best,
Chris

 

 

Guess who just turned in final grades for Spring 2012? THAT'S RIGHT, A DAY AND A HALF EARLY! Praise be the benefits of modern medicine.

After tomorrow, when grades are official, I go offline for a week, during which time I write the first chapter or three of my next novel - that'd be Jack and Stella's True-Life Space Adventures - so I can read from it at the upcoming ConQuesT SF convention in Kansas City.

Speaking of SFnal stuff in Kansas City, this weekend is the Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! show at Bartle Hall. If the writing is well underway and I feel I can afford to get away for a day, I shall be there on Saturday.

(Now begins the countdown for the lamentations of those who are shocked, SHOCKED, that they didn't get an A. And those who feel that completing missing projects on the last day will result in a positive outcome.)

Chris

Okay, people have wanted to hear the mechanical music of the two hot-rods dwelling in my garage, so here they are! I apologize for the non-scripted narrations and noise-protection sticking out from my ears; I make no claim to being a pro film-maker. You can hear 'em start up at the end of each vid.

First up, the 1968 Chevelle SS396 drag-racin', corner-carvin' machine of doom <-- click that link if the video below doesn't load - it's not playing nice with my IE9:

Forgot to mention a few other mods: Also has ported heads and will soon be getting a 6-speed transplant plus A/C.

And the 1966 Chrysler Newport hot-rod Town Sedan:( behind the cut )

Chris

Oh, and THREE local SFnal activities coming up this week!

First up, on Wednesday, we have Super Nerd Night: Steampunk Hillbilly Edition. The major event starts at 9:00pm, but there's a Magic: The Gathering tourney that begins at 7:00pm. Tons of great stuff after that, including costuming, gaming, live music, and much more, plus it takes place in a bar, so you can get your boozin' on. Best of all, proceeds benefit AboutSF, the Center's educational-outreach program.

On Thursday, the Lawrence Public Library is hosting a live video chat with the authors of The Mongoliad; Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, E.D. deBirmingham, Mark Teppo, Joseph Brassey, Erik Bear, and Cooper Moo! The event starts at 6:00pm, but of course you can just watch it from home on Ars Technica.

And then there's the big Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! convention at Bartle Hall this weekend.

Chris

Just dipping out of grading finals for a few updates:

First up, interested in being part of this year's Science Fiction Writing Workshop with special guest author Andy Duncan? Well, we still have a few slots left, so apply ASAP to ensure consideration!

Last weekend, Hastings Bookstore in Lawrence held a big event for local SFnal types. Here we are:


Here's the whole gang (left to right): Lane Robins, James Gunn, Bryan Thomas Schmidt, K.d. McEntire, Mary Chambers, Robin Wayne Bailey, Chris McKitterick, and Kij Johnson who dropped in on her way out of town. Check out the photos on The Gathering Facebook photo page.

Speaking of finals, grades are complete for my "Science, Technology, and Society: Examining the Future Through a Science-Fiction Lens" course (ENGL507). As usual, those who participated most in class, turned in all the projects, and did extra-credit got the best grades on their finals, as well. Surprise! Hoping to wrap up my vast assortment of technical-writing courses tomorrow. Yes, early. Because:

I'm going to be mostly offline starting later this week, WRITING MY OWN STUFF. You heard that right: I'm going to be selfish with my time and try to get down the first three chapters of my next novel (The True-Life Space Adventures of Jack and Stella) in time to read from it at the upcoming ConQuest SF convention in Kansas City over Memorial Day weekend.

The Sinus Infection of Enduring Suffering has sidelined my CrossFit shenanigans, but I've kept up the movements at home, anyway, getting up from my desk every hour or two to do push-ups, pull-ups, squats, and so forth. Helps not only keep me from feeling like I'm losing ground but also helps keep up the energy.

Speaking of which, I'm back to it!

Best,
Chrs

A quick heads-up to SF and fantasy folks in the Lawrence area tomorrow: A bunch of area authors will be reading, signing books, and hanging out at the Lawrence Hastings Bookstore from 2:00pm - 6:00pm on Saturday, May 12.

I'm one of them, plus Robin Wayne Bailey, Lyn Benedict, Mary Chambers, James Gunn, K.d. McEntire, Lane Robins, and Bryan Thomas Schmidt! Most of the authors will be hanging out most of the 4-hour block of time. I read near the end, at 5:00pm.

Hope to see you there!
Chris

Did you know the Western USA (and Eastern Asia) is about to enjoy its first full solar eclipse since 1994? Excitement!


Click the image to see the Sky & Telescope article.

Here's a map of how much you'll get to see; if you live in Asia, it's basically the same but reversed; those who live in the Pacific Ocean have the best seats:


Click the image to see the Sky & Telescope article.

Bonus: What's the Higgs boson? This is a great and entertaining video.

In other news, I must be feeling heathier, because I just finished mowing the yard. To keep from irritating the still-unhappy sinues over-much, I wore a bandana around the face to filter the grass and pollen, plus a pair of shop goggles and long pants and shirt. SWEATY. I must have looked GORGEOUS.

Chris

2012 Campbell Award Finalists
Ernest Cline	Ready Player One
Kathleen Ann Goonan	This Shared Dream
Will McIntosh	Soft Apocalypse
China Miéville	Embassytown
Christopher Priest	The Islanders
Joan Slonczewski	The Highest Frontier
Michael Swanwick	Dancing with Bears
Lavie Tidhar	Osama
Daniel H. Wilson	Robopocalypse
Gene Wolfe	Home Fires
Rob Ziegler	Seed

And there you have it! Congratulations to all the authors listed above: These are fine novels, every one of them, and you wouldn't go wrong reading any of them. Heck, if you're looking for a "best of 2012" list, here you go!

We'll announce the winners of both the Campbell Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award at this year's Campbell Conference in Lawrence, Kansas, at the event's Awards Banquet on the evening of Friday, July 6. Register now for early bird savings!

We'll announce the Sturgeon Award finalists soon.

We'll also continue to announce special guests who'll be attending this year's Campbell Conference, but for now that includes Robin Wayne Bailey, Andy Duncan, Sheila Finch, James Gunn, Kij Johnson, Christopher McKitterick, and Eric T. Reynolds, and expect to see several more as we firm up plans.

Best,
Chris

Click the image to see the xkcd site.

Remember how excited or happy you felt when you learned something awesome for the first time? Sharing that with others is almost as fun, whereas mocking them for missing a cultural reference or cool fact isn't fun for anyone.

Speaking of not-fun, went to see the doctor yesterday. You know how I had a big fever last Thursday and felt better on Friday? Well, apparently all that was just the prelude to sinus infection - as of yesterday, I hadn't been able to get to sleep in less than two hours for days. I won't get into details, but let's just say the throat's been killing me and there's a constant tickle in the throat. Oh, and I lost my voice on Saturday night. Awesome.

When I called to make the appointment, the nurse asked, "What makes you think it's a sinus infection?"

"I'm getting a lot of blood drainage."

"Ah, yes. They're very popular right now."

The doc wrote me a 'scrip for Amoxicillin - my first antibiotics since the turn of the millennium. Not excited about that, because my last party with antibiotics (for blood poisoning - long story) ended with having to fight thrush for weeks. UGH. On the up-side, I'm already feeling better today, and it only took about half an hour of coughing my lungs out to fall asleep last night.

Chris

Great stuff:

Fate, it teases me with inability to sleep when all evening I was barely able to stay awake. On the plus side, the near-perigee super-sized Moon is awesome!

Chris

This month's full Moon is a "super Moon,” as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full Moons of 2012. This is because the Moon is at perigee tomorrow night when it's also full. Full Moons vary in size because the Moon's orbit is an ellipse, not a perfect circle, with one side about 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other (the apogee). Therefore, a full Moon during perigee is much brighter and appears extra-huge. Because of timing issues, very few full Moons happen at perigee, so this is a special treat.


Click the image to see the NASA article.

Enjoy!

Chris

After class last night - heck, DURING class, too - I was a water-drinking fiend. I must have downed a couple gallons of water, plus a glass of Emergen-C, plus a mimosa. Watched a few episodes of Supernatural to distract the mind before bed. I get kind of emotional when I have a fever, so of course poor Dean's predicaments made me cry and cry.

Went to bed before midnight, where I sweated out all those liquids plus a lot more during the night. The bed was soaked; I had to use towels to get back to sleep in the middle of the night. Gross. Slept about 10 hours. Checked my weight; down almost 5 pounds of water, I assume. I'll be rehydrating today.

Last night's fever reached 102.5°; this morning, it's 98.4°. Tada! All better! Just feel a bit tired today.

EDIT: Okay, that was a little too good to be true. ALMOST better today, though a bit of fever came back after spending an hour or so in the sun at the local swap meet. Feh.

Chris

Yesterday I was bragging about how I made it an entire winter flu season without getting sick. Had to sleep 10 hours a couple of nights, but woke up feeling fine the next day. When I said that, I did not knock wood, people. I DID NOT KNOCK WOOD. You know what's coming next:

This morning, I woke tired and groggy and sore, but attributed it to last night's Crossfit, even though I felt my best ever post-workout. By noon, I felt like pierced bicycle tires. Took my temp, and it said just shy of 100°. Haven't eaten more than a breakfast smoothie all day, just not hungry. Except for brains.

Crap. Couldn't miss today's "Science, Technology, & Society" class, as it was the last of the semester, and because it was all student presentations, all the time, I figured I could just sit back and enjoy.

(Yes, I was diligent about washing my hands, didn't shake any hands that were offered after class, and am not sneezing or coughing. Couldn't miss this one! I just hope what infects me isn't one of the horrible diseases a couple of the presentation teams discussed and/or dramatized....)

GEEBUS, but three hours is a long time to sit still. I was FREEZING in that classroom which, apparently, was warm and pleasant. Going home now to drink a lot of water and maybe watch some distracting movies. No class for me tomorrow, thank goodness! Sadly, I was going to test for my "white bandana" at Crossfit tomorrow, which would allow me to attend regular group WoDs.

Question: What can I take to reduce my fever that isn't an NSAID? I take Meloxicam every day, and don't want to make my stomach lining bleed. Help!

EDIT:When I got home, discovered it's now a fever of 101°. *sigh* Trying some green tea now. EDIT 2: Scratch that, it's almost 102° now. Wow, this is exciting!

Thanks,
Chris

With the Shuttle fleet now gathering dust and the Apollo bluprints pulped in 1970s Boy Scout recycling drives, it's easy to forget that we still live in the Space Age... perhaps more than ever!

Everyone knows about Virgin Galactic's upcoming space-tourism biz and Spaceport America recently dedicated in New Mexico.

NASA and the current US administration are pushing for private corporations to take the reigns of near-Earth and manned spaceflight while the NASA focuses on what they feel they do best: robotic exploration and technical research. Well, okay, but only if the private companies really DO get going on things.

So it was with great excitement that the pro-space contingent heard last week's big announcement that a heap of space-lovin' billionaires are launching Planetary Resources, a private leap into space.

And now we learn that Japan Will Have a Space Elevator by 2050.


Click the image to see the Gizmodo article.

We still live in the Space Age, folks!

Chris

The rush of paper-critiquing before Finals Week has meant I haven't been online much (well, I've been online ALL THE TIME with grading software), so I'm behind on Crossfit reports. On the plus side, I'm fully caught up on grading BEFORE finals start pouring in. *ROCK*

Here's Monday's workout:

• Warmup: Lunges, then jumping lunges. This means take the biggest step you can (3-4 feet for my height), keeping your back-leg knee off the mat, then jump forward, switching which leg is front and which is at the back. Cross the gym, then back again.
• Rowing machine. Just "a quick 500 meters," sez the coach.
• Shrug-kettlebell-lifts. Pick up the kettlebell between your feet and, as fast as you can, pull it up to your chin. Your glutes and thighs should do most of the work ("Squeeze those glutes!"), and shrug your traps to pull up the kettlebell.
• Barbell thrusts. Start with your wrists as flat back as they can go with the barbell just resting on your collar-bone and shoulders, elbows forward, and then THRUST the bar up until your elbows lock, as fast as you can.
• Now add a drop-thrust; that is, as you push up, pretend the weight is really heavy and drop by bending your knees as you launch the bar upward, then stand after it's all the way up. This one sucked for my shoulder; I'm going to substitute something that works those muscles without causing so much rub between clavicle and acromian.
• Box-jumps. The coach gave me a 22-inch wooden box to jump onto; swinging your arms and using your glutes and thighs, LAUNCH up onto the box, brining your knees as high as possible to avoid hitting your shins on the box. When you land, stand up straight - again using those glutes. Immediately jump backwards, down. Repeat a whole lotta times.
• Fully warmed up and form is good? Now do the WoD:
  • Box-jumps and shrug-kettlebell-lifts.
  • Just three sets: 21 of each, 15 of each, 9 of each, as fast as possible.
  • GO!
  • I can't remember my time, but OMG I was dying during the second set. Interestingly, the third set was easiest.
• Oh, and of course a bunch of warm-down roll-outs using various equipment to stretch the muscle fascia.
• For the first time since I started this insane program, I went home NOT SORE. Whoah, it really does get easier!

So that was Monday. Today's (Wednesday) workout was pretty much the same as Friday's, only with the added complication - after doing tripod-headstands (hands and head support you as you lift your legs) - of trying to do handstands (free-standing with locked elbows holding up your body, toes pointed toward ceiling).

I TOTALLY DID SEVERAL HANDSTANDS.



Despite my frakked-up shoulder.

Last time I did handstands was DURING THE 1980s. NO, REALLY.

Oh, and I finished the WoD (burpees and situps) at least one, maybe two, minutes faster than on Friday.



Oh, and when I came home, I totally banged out a couple sets of pullups using a different grip than I normally use, because the bars at the Lawrence Crossfit gym are straight, and I don't want to embarrass myself with something I can actually do *g*

OH! And we took the Newport, because the guys who run the place are total gearheads. It was much appreciated! They all came pouring out of the gym to see what had just roared into the parking lot, and of course the first thing the coach wanted to see was the engine compartment :-D

Now I'm going to have a mimosa and watch a bit of the Dean & Sam Show™ (that would be Supernatural to the uninitiated).

Best,
Chris

Okay, if you're like me, you loved The Iron Giant. It's one of the best science-fiction movies ever, a touching story of friendship and meaningful social commentary (both past and present, as discussed in this Wired article). It works great for both the YA crowd and adults. It garnered both Hugo and Nebula Award recognition. I loved the simple, hand-drawn animation. And even though we all cry when the iron giant gets blown to smithereens heroically saving the town, we cheer when we learn during the final sequence that he's piecing himself back together again.

Hooray! Happy ending!

Except... did you know that the writers and director left out a crucial scene in the theatrical version? One that provides the iron giant's back-story, a scene they wished they had been able to finish? Here it is in sketch and voice-over form:
HOLY CRAP.

You know what that means? Right: The iron giant is part of a Berserker-like army of planet-killing monsters, and our Lovable Iron Hero™ participated in xenocide and planetary destruction on at least one occasion prior to visiting Earth. Only a knock on the head saved all life on this planet from his murderous programming.



So, when he reassembles, will he be whole again? Following original programming? And thus destroying all life on Earth - maybe Earth itself? And what of the rest of the robot army? Are they on their way here, too, or maybe nearby, searching for their missing life-annihilating soldier? HOLY FINAL-MASS-EXTINCTION, BATMAN!

Note that the movie dudes talk about this unifinished scene not as a bad idea or something they decided to cut because it WOULD CAUSE ETERNAL NIGHTMARES for the kids in the audience, but as an important part of the iron giant's back-story. So THIS HAPPENED, people. The iron giant murdered BILLIONS of life-forms - nay, TRILLIONS. And that's if he only destroyed one planet.

And where is this army of life-hating Berserkers now? I'm assuming they didn't arrive in the 1950s of the movie's time, because our tech then would have ensured Earth's annihilation. Are they en route now? Could we hope to repel them using today's tech? Could the nations of Earth unite in time to defend our planet against such machines? I mean, nuclear weapons cannot destroy these monsters! They just disperse the parts until they can reassemble. Even if we could stop one, could we hope to stop AN ARMY OF INDESTRUCTIBLE MACHINES THAT ARE ESSENTIALLY SENTIENT, PLANET-KILLING GUNS? And even if our Iron Giant Hero™ were to retain his flawed programming and try to defend us, could he possibly hope to stand against an army of similar beings?

Doubtful, even if his name was John Rambo.

So I think we know why they never made a sequel. It wasn't because the movie flopped at the box office; something called The Iron Giant 2: The End of All Life on Earth doesn't have quite the child-friendly tone that the audience might expect.

I'll watch this movie in a different light next time, that's for sure.

Chris

This is ASTOUNDING:

I want to believe the elephant came up with this piece of art on her own, but I presume she was trained. Nevertheless.

Does anyone know back-story for this painting or ths organization? Just WOW.

Thanks for the heads-up, siro gravity.

Chris

For those of you playing along at home, here's last night's workout:

• Lotsa stretching using lacrosse balls duct-taped together to target stiff and sore areas.


• Jump-rope. I hate jump-rope. I suck at it, and no matter how fast I whip the rope, I never seem to be able to do double-jumps. And it's frakkin' TIRING. But we did it for many minutes, anyway. *pant*


• Core work.
  • We practiced hollowing our front by pulling shoulders toward hips, then creating a hollow in the rear by pulling shoulders toward butt.
  
  
  • When we got that to work, we jumped up to pullup bars and practiced "kipping" our core fore-and-aft; that is, swinging our torso using only shoulders, so that your head moves ahead of the shoulders as you extend your ribcage, then moves behind shoulders as you round them forward and extend the rear of your ribcage. Oh, and try to keep your feet in the same position relative to the floor as you do so. I know it sounds like it is, but this is not easy, folks.
  
  
  • Once we got down the technique, we moved to the floor and hollowed the front-core, making a V by reaching up toward the feet, balancing on the top of the hips.
  
  
  • Now rock hips-to-lower-back, using only core muscles to do so. For two minutes, I think.


• Now do Superman!
  
  
  • Lay on your belly, then hollow your back, feet extended behind you as high from the floor as possible, hands extended before you as high as possible. Hold for a while.
  
  
  • Now, without touching the floor with anything but your core, swap from hollow-back to hollow-front as you roll onto your back and hold the V for a while, roll, repeat 5 times. Now roll the opposite direction and repeat 5 times. I kinda sucked at this, unable to avoid getting myself over without using my shoulder or elbow.


• OH MY GAWD, PEOPLE, MY ABS TODAY ARE LIKE WHOAH.


• Headstands. I did my first headstand since high school! And that was in the latter part of the last millenium. Ahem. The technique:
  • Go into pushup pose and touch your forehead to the mat, hands about a foot or two from a wall. That gives you the proper hands-to-head ratio for the support triangle you'll use to do the headstand.
  
  
  • Walk your feet forward until you can put your knees on your elbows. Get stable.
  
  
  • Bring your feet and knees together, then - using your ass and core - lift them up until you can point your toes at the ceiling. Viola! You're in a headstand!
  
  
  • Of course, it's not that simple. Let your heels tap the wall behind you if needed, then use your glutes to slowly move your feet straight above you.
  
  
  • Experiment with flexing your core fore and aft, letting your butt just touch the wall, then heels just touch the wall; repeat for a couple of minutes.


• Now it's time for the WoD! A simple pairing of two movements:
  • Burpees (this video shows good form step-by-step):
    
  
  
  • Situps. Crossfit uses a special technique to keep up the cardio, kinda like this, only moving hands to tap the mat above your head as you lay back, then tap your toes as you crunch:
    
  
  
  • The full WoD is 10 burpees followed by 15 situps, repeat 5 times.
  
  
  • Did I mention OH MY GAWD, PEOPLE, MY ABS TODAY ARE LIKE WHOAH?


• Then stretching using big bands to open up the shoulders and ribcage.

And there you have it: The perfect Friday-night date ;-)

Chris

Bad news: The US gov't just probed deeper into your private life.



Combine that with this new NSA personal-liberty nightmare underway, and... well, I guess that says it: NIGHTMARE.

Chris

Okay, for those of you following along at home, last night's workouts:

• Warmup:
  • First, frog-walks (I think they're called), where you put your hands behind you and walk hand-foot about 50 feet as fast as you can, then walk backwards to the starting point.
  
  
  • Now stand up and run about twice as far like normal, except with each step tap your knees into your hands, held out straight in front of you. WHOAH TIRING.
  
  
  • Run back, but this time whacking your behind with your heels with each step.
  
  
  • Now fast-step running back and forth. By now if you're not seriously out of breath, you're a god.
  
  


• After drinking some water and catching one's breath (no more than a few seconds, really), move on to learning how to do deadlifts. Here's Brandon Cox (normalcyispasse) setting a world record for this movement:
  
  (I am not ashamed to say that I lifted nowhere near that amount. Only gods can.)
  • Start with working on form by lifting just the bar itself, about 45 lbs.
  
  
  • Now they have you add some poundage; for me, that was 30 kg (about 110 lbs total). Work on form, especially keeping back straight, knees in good squat postion (as I described yesterday). For me, a special difficulty was not compensating for the f'ed-up shoulder; I kept using a shrug to keep the joint in place. Got better. Do 5 reps.
  
  
  • Now swap the 15 kg weights for 25 kg (total 155 lbs). Do 5 reps.
  
  
  • Add 20 lbs, 5 reps.
  
  
  • Add another 20 lbs (195 lbs total), 5 reps. At this point, the coach said he normally has people go to their max weight for 1 rep, but was worried about my shoulder and just had me do another set of reps.


• Drink water.


• Jump-rope time. Discovered my rope was too short because I couldn't do more than a few at a time; the handles should touch the top of your armpits when standing on the rope. Do about a million, aiming for double passes for each jump. My form was crap; you want to use only your wrists to whip the rope and only your calves to bounce up and down. I haven't jumped rope since high school, and it showed!


• Now wall-ball. Basically, you hold a medicine-ball (soft leather ball about 18" wide, and the ones we used were either 14 or 16 pounds) to your chest, do a squat, and on the up-thrust launch the ball up about 12 feet to an X on the wall. It bounces off, and you catch it on the down movement. Repeat a billion times, all the while maintaining good form, going below horizontal to touch your bum on a second ball behind you. Whoah.


• Now we did toe-to-ring:
  • Position a pair of gymnast rings just out of reach so you have to jump to hold them.
  
  
  • Squeeze your abs and bring your toes up into the rings above your hands.
  
  
  • Extend back down, then using a "kipping" or swinging movement, drive your feet back up into the rings. The kipping keeps up the momentum so you can do them faster and maintain high aerobic energy. The warm-up was about 10 or so.


• "Warm-up?" you ask? Why, yes, this was all in prep for the Workout of the Day (WoD):
  • 10 toe-to-ring. Let me tell you how not-easy this becomes after the second set - which comes after 40 minutes of hardcore warm-up.
  
  
  • 20 jump-rope (or 10 double-jumps; I'm lucky to be able to do 20 regular ones in a row without tripping on the damned rope).
  
  
  • 10 ball-to-wall. Not so bad, except keeping good form is rough when you can barely stand or move your arms.
  
  
  • Repeat AMR (as many set-reps as possible): The goal was 3 sets minimum over 7 minutes; we all did 3, and the others got almost 4, but I slowed way down and barely managed the jump-rope and wall-ball of the 4th set. Wish I hadn't eaten my tuna salad so soon before I went there, as I was getting close to tasting it again....

And then we all look like this for a while:



Afterward, we did cool-down stretches (tons of 'em) and finished gallons of water.

There you have it! Interestingly, though this was KICK ASS HARD (I urge you to try this at home and see what I mean), I'm nowhere near as sore today as I was last week.

It gets better™!

Chris

Huge news from Tor Books, folks!

“Our authors and readers have been asking for this for a long time,” said Tom Doherty, Tor President and Publisher. “They’re a technically sophisticated bunch, and DRM is a constant annoyance to them. It prevents them from using legitimately purchased e-books in perfectly legal ways, like moving them from one kind of e-reader to another.”

About damned time. Not that DRM actually did a thing to stop pirates, as I discovered when my novel was pirated within a day of its Kindle publication. DRM does nothing but irritate legitimate e-information buyers, so I'm not surprised in the least that Macmillan finally made the leap, at least with Tor Books.

Good for them. Show your support by buying Tor/Forge Books, people!

Apparently, Macmillan consulted with Charles Stross about the topic, as he's long been a proponent of DRM-free books. Check out his blog entry for a full discussion.

We are entering the Age of Information Gets to Be Free - scary and exciting!

Chris

Just realized that I haven't been tracking this very well. For those of you who haven't heard of Crossfit (link: Crossfit Lawrence's site), here's what my hour there last night looked like:

• Warm-up:
  
  
  • Stretching: Most dramatic part is using lacrosse balls, PVC pipe, and bars to target sore spots.
  
  
  • Lunges: Big step forward until rear knee almost touches the mat, then step up so that back knee touches chest - hold it for five seconds! - then lunge forward. Repeat until you reach the far wall (about 40 feet).
  
  
  • Turn around and do fast running-stuff: Step 10 times per mat as fast as you can until you reach the end of the mats
  
  
  • Turn around and do inchworm-things: With feet shoulder-width apart, reach down with palms flat (keeping feet flat). Now walk out with hands until back is staight, do a push-up, then walk feet back into flat position. Repeat until you reach the far wall.
  
  
  • More stretching. My mind blanks on what we did.
  
  
  • Squats, working on form. A lot of 'em, focusing on good knee position, using glutes and hamstrings to do most of the work, and form. Dip so that hips are lower than knees, touch bum on a short medicine-ball, then push up using mostly glutes. This is a warm-up for what's to come.


• Now some training: Weighted squats with the bar across the top of the chest, against the throat. I believe it was about 100 pounds. We did what felt like a million of these, 10 per set, each of the two of us taking a break as the other did his set (okay, we each did about 5 or 6 sets). Yes, my heinie is SORE today.


• Now we begin the "Workout of the Day" aka "WoD" - last night's was called someone's name I can't recall done "as many reps as possible" or "AMR"; here it is:
  
  
  • 5 jumping pullups: Push off with your legs and lower slowly.
  
  
  • 10 pushups: Good form is feet close, lower until chest just touches mat, all the way to arm lock.
  
  
  • 15 squats: Not weighted, hands out front on the bottom, at sides when fully upright.
  
  
  • Back to pullup bar: That's 1 set. Repeat for AMR in 8 minutes. My partner and I did 6 complete sets, then I managed the pullups and half the pushups before time. Egad, I was dying.


• Then the coach had us stretch our calves on a raised bar: Yowza.


• Now a final stretching session, using a giant rubber-band hanging from the pullup bar to keep the hip in position when he placed a big weight on one leg, then we push the other knee down as far as possible. HOLY CRAP. Got a cramp in the hip here, but it lessened over time. Apparently I'm pretty stiff there.

And that's what Crossfit looks like on a typical training night early in the process. Later on, after we are approved to join the others for group WoDs, the sessions are shorter but more brutal. You don't really take any breaks between these stages except to drink a little water, because the point is to keep the cardio going full-blast. I discovered my weakness right there: Cardio.


On the plus side: Things really do get better. After my previous session, my quadriceps (front-of-the-leg muscles) were SO SORE that I could hardly walk for two days afterward. I had been doing squats not-quite-right, using too much front of leg and not enough backside, plus I haven't exactly been a fan of squats, so my prep was crap. This time, they're not so bad, even though last night's workout was MUCH harder than the one that whacked me for days.

So: Progress! Soon, I shall be in the best condition of my life. <- That right there is my goal. Also to be ready for the coming Zombie Apocalypse.

Chris
PS: LJ's being dead precluded posting this yesterday; this was for Monday. I'll post an update later tonight or tomorrow about tonight's session....

Almost forgot to post a reminder for tonight's meteor shower. Skies will be clear in Kansas, so get out there!


Click the image to see the Astronomy article about the show.

Enjoy!
Chris

The modern dilemma of creatives: staying in touch with your audience - increasingly expected these days - versus actually, y'know creating stuff. As always, xkcd speaks most clearly in its minimalist way:


Click the image to see the xkcd website.

LJ and other blogs often require a lot more thought and attention per entry to update and read than the other social-networking sites, but Twitter requires constant attention to make any sense of at all.

The most productive I ever am is when I'm offline.

How about you?

If so, why are you reading this? ;-)

Chris

Whether you're an inventor, writer, teacher, or any other kind of human being, you will find great enlightenment and hope in this talk by Jeremy Rifkin at the Ross Institute:


I first wrote about the core of Rifkin's talk months ago after having watched an abbreviated, illustrated version. But after watching his entire talk today, it's changed my life in a few ways:

• I'm going to redesign all my courses to enable students to share in the teaching to help them learn better. This is part of Rifkin's urging, that teachers join the "distributed and collaborative communication and energy/mind revolution" that's happening right now. I already do a lot of this in my literature and advanced courses, but I'm also going to use this framework in my 300-level technical-writing course.


• I'm going to re-roof the house with solar collectors to tranform my habitation from energy-consumer to energy-producer. Heck, I expect to sell power back to the utility most days!


• I want to create a course centered around the concepts in Rifkin's talks and book, The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis, or at the very minimum include the book in my spring "Science, Technology, and Society" course.


• On a larger scale, I want to create a school - could be for young people, could simply be part of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction's mission - that is centered around this approach, is cross-curricular, and empowers students to be active participants in their education and the education of their fellow students. This is an idea I've been kicking around for years, outlining details, but Rifkin's talk finally crystallized the structures in my mind. SO EXCITED and movitvated!

Anyhow, go listen to the talk. It's about 1-1/2 hours long, so it might take a while. I'd love to hear what you think.

Chris

...because the internets are full of it:

First, WTFBBQ - we've known that there's LIFE ON MARS ALL ALONG! Go here to read the formal paper.


Click the image to see the Washington Post article. Thanks, GS!

Next, HOLY CRAP THIS IS AWESOME! Thanks, chernobylred!


Finally, I better get back to finishing up work so I can prep for this afternoon's reading. (Wait, that's THREE things of awesome, if you're an SFnal type....)

Best,
Chris

Today I've been dealing with a guy who feels I used his idea for a recently published story of mine. (Just to be clear: I didn't.) Anyhow, it seems that this guy has a similar setup for a novel he's been working on, and someone who read his novel and heard about my story wrote to him to say it looked suspicious, and the third-party guy thought I had this similar-story-guy in my summer SF Writing Workshop (I didn't - he was in Kij's Novel Writing Workshop, so I never saw the book, outline, or any of that).

So I wrote to the similar-story-guy to clear things up, and now it appears that he thinks I'm a liar and a thief.

Egad, Charlie Brown.

He went from accusatory and "shocked" at my taking his idea to passive-aggressive a-hole during the course of the conversation. I feel I could have handled this better, but at least I did delete irritated phrases before sending the messages. Ahem.

As I publish more and teach more writers, I expect this kind of situation will come up more frequently. I imagine that John Scalzi hears from half a dozen writers every day with similar accusations.

Writers: Have you had to deal with such situations? If so, how did you handle it? I'd like to be the paragon of gentlemanly and instructive without telling the accusor to piss off.

Thanks,
Chris

When my novel, Transcendence,came out a little over a year ago and was immediately pirated, I went through a little crisis. I ended up fighting the pirates by giving it away, myself, because I figured if people were going to take it for free, they could at least get it from my website and thereby get to know me a bit more than they could via some random torrent site. Also, I was following Cory Doctorow's theory that giving away your creative work leads to more sales - and at the very least, more readership, who'll be looking for your next book.

How did it go? Well, it's been downloaded at least 3500 times (no way to know how many downloaded from direct link to the .pdf or .epub versions), I got a few dozen PayPal donations, including one just this week. And I certainly got some publicity out of it, especially for a first-time author whose book came out in November from a small press - two huge strikes against it.

Will it help with my next book? We'll see!

In the mean time, ebooks have only become more popular, piracy has not abated, and the debate about copyright and ebooks has only heated up. Here are two videos that represent two facets of the debate.

First up, "Copying Is Not Theft," by Questioncopyright:



Um, yeah. Good luck copying that bicycle, dude. Maybe once we all have nanofactories, but now? Not convinced.

Next up is Stephan Kinsella Houston's Public Affairs Public Access Live program, talking about intellectual property. When he first mentions "business models," I want to punch his smug face.



He has some interesting (and wrong, in my opinion) ideas; unfortunately, most creatives are not businesspeople, or else they'd be in business. They're also often introverts, which makes his ideas impractical for most writers and artists and so on.

Finally, to clear the palate, we have Neil Gaiman providing wisdom on copyright and piracy:



I find tend to agree with Gaiman; well, you kinda have to, because part of his talk is about his personal experiences and how giving it away has helped spur his career. Gaiman isn't talking about eliminating copyright; instead, he discusses how giving away his books has helped grow the audience (and market) for his copyrighted, printed work.

At least, I hope that's how it works!

Especially convincing is the idea that almost everyone found our favorite authors by having a book lent to us from a friend or the library. Does that = getting a free, pirated ebook?

Your thoughts on where copyright and the publishing industry is headed?

Chris

This might not seem like a big deal if you haven't been in my garage before, but if you have you know how much work it was to make room for the new baby. Suffice to say it took a whole weekend's worth of blood and sweat - including building a new shed to store some things - to carve out a spot to work on the new car. Here I'm standing on the workbench at the front of the garage:



To the left is the smaller workbench where the drill-press, vise, grinder, and hardware all live; to the right are (temporarily) my telescopes... until I finally bite the bullet and build an observatory on the roof of the house. What you can't see near the Newport's front driver's-side fender, is a combo dehumidifier/AC unit that does a great job cooling the space and purging humidity.

This next shot shows a bunch of new shelving along the far wall, soon to be filled with Chevelle parts. There's actually plenty of room between the telescopes and the toolchest (and workbenches) in front of the Newport, but not as much as I'd like. This shot is taken from the doorway:



Wow, is the Chevelle smaller than the Newport, in every dimension.

And finally the rear view, taken while standing on some scrap wood at the (rear? but it's the main door...) corner of the garage. Notice the nice, big expanse of pegboard above the workbench in front of the Chevelle (past the ladder). Woohoo! More organization!



I'm hoping to do a bit more juggling of stuff from the shed onto the new garage shelves, then from the garage back into the shed. And starting this weekend: Off with the Chevelle's suspension!

Chris

Hadley Rille Books is giving an "April Fool's" ebook sale this weekend! Lots of books for only ninety-nine cents (99¢), including my novel Transcendence in both Kindle edition and Nook edition, plus many more great ebooks by other Hadley Rille authors.

Come get 'em while they're hot and tasty!

Chris

Damn, I love this car. Even with transmission issues (linkage problems, including no way to get into 1st gear and tricky 4th and reverse) and sloppy suspension, this thing is a blast to drive! When we first took it out for a drive to visit T&N, upon leaving it seemed the right thing to do was to do a little burnout. Y'know, just because. The car certainly has the power. So I brought the revs up a bit - nothing crazy - and dropped the clutch. That's when it felt like I was getting shot in the back by a cannon. Repeatedy. The thing bucked and hopped and spun, repeat, only during one of the violent hops it fired a wheel "beauty ring" into the grass beside the car. Too much! We were laughing our brains out.

Much of what I'm doing to improve the suspension includes getting the rear end under control: heavy-duty, adjustable control arms top and bottom; mega-duty sway bar where it now has none; heavy-duty drop springs; QA1 adjustable shocks; and Delrin bushings all around - firm, quiet, and non-binding. This thing will be PLANTED. The front, also sloppy, is geting a QA1 adjustable coil-over setup, tubular A-arms with 1" raised tie rod for better cornering, a sway bar with twice the control of the stock unit, 11" drilled and slotted disk brakes hanging from drop spindles, and all Delrin bushings like the rear.

So the issues will be remedied soon, and it will handle like a modern sports car. Also, a modern 6-speed double-overdrive transmission is soon to replace the old 4-speed. Why shouldn't muscle cars get to enjoy high-tech handling? Why shouldn't they also have low revs on the highway and lots of gear ratios to choose from? Well, this one sure will!

More on this soon, as the parts are already starting to arrive. Next up: into the garage for a tear-down and build-up. Can't wait.

These photos were taken in downtown Lawrence, just across the street from The Bottleneck, where tonight a few of us went to see the fantastic band, The Latenight Callers, born here in town but now operating mostly out of Kansas City. Don't know them? They ROCK. Check 'em out on their website or visit them on their Facebook page. Get to know them now so you can say you knew them before they were famous.

Here's a fantastic promo shot of The Latenight Callers, clearly up to no good:

The band is (left to right): Krysztof Nemeth, Ellen O'Hayer, Nick Combs, Gavin Mac, and Julie Berndsen. Photo by Mat "SLIMM" Adkins.

Below is Krysztof Nemeth, a friend and co-founder of the band. I took this shot using his smartphone with no flash and some funky digital effects - blurry, yes, but he liked it this way so here it is:


I've been clearing out a space in the garage to make room for the Chevelle, so soon I'll have progress updates! Oh, so where is all the stuff going that once dwelled in the garage? Why, in this shed I built at the tail-end of Spring Break!


Have a great weekend, and ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!
Chris

The submission deadline for James Gunn's Ad Astra looms: Tomorrow is the day! Details:

The theme for our premiere issue is:

Communication and Information

We are looking for submissions that express the idea of gathering knowledge and sharing it with others  as a central element of the story or article. Telling stories, and understanding what is being shared, are what defines us as human. We want to invite the speculative fiction community to examine this topic, either in fiction, poetry, or scholarly articles. Speculative fiction allows us to look at the world through different lenses, and we are excited to see your vision of how we share our ideas with each other.
-Isaac Bell, Issue Editor

How to Submit

1. Carefully read the submission guidelines:
   
   Short fiction and poetry, click here.
   
   Scholarly articles, click here.
   
   Reviews, click here.


2. Click the “Complete Submission Form” link at the bottom of the submission guidelines page to access our submission form.
3. Fill out the submission form and follow the directions to upload your document.
4. Feel a great sense of accomplishment and mark June 22, 2012 on your calendar.
5. Come back and read Ad Astra‘s first edition!

How it Works

• Submissions will be accepted at any time. Submissions that fit the issue’s theme will be eligible for top selection position in the first issue.
• Submissions will be judged by a panel of editors selected by the Issue Editor. Every effort will be made to deliver feedback within four weeks of submission, although this can not be guaranteed.
• The end of the Summer 2012 issue’s selection period is March 31, 2012.
• Top selections will be given key placement in Ad Astra‘s first issue to be released in conjunction with the 2012 Campbell Conference.
• Published authors will receive a one-time honorarium of not less than $50 for short stories, $20 for poems. In addition, select authors will be invited to the conference to read their work as part of the conference.
• Runners-up submissions will also remain eligible for online publishing and future print editions (if one is produced).

The tree frogs in the back yard are DEAFENING. Wow, what a crop this year! When I first heard them, just a few years ago, I thought they were some kind of mega-voiced insect. But as they grew more vocal, I thought no way could a single bug make that much sound.



A couple of years ago, I happened to be talking with a herpetologist who asked me to make the sound (which I only barely can, a super-fast high-pitched warble), and he declared it a tree frog. Apparently, they can go through their entire egg-tadpole-legged life cycle in 24 hours, given nice deep rain puddles. Viola! Frogs inland from water, like charming, noisy mosquitoes. They might wake me, but I much prefer them to their winged counterparts.

Chris