The Land Of Wind And Ghosts

and, apparently, seven pounds heavier. This despite using the stairs all the time instead of the lift, and swimming or gymming every day.

Unlimited free food is not necessarily a good thing. It will probably take several weeks to get back to the weight I was two weeks ago.

Pictures of fishfeeding and the like later in the week. In the meantime... let me know in comments if I've missed anything super-fanatstic in ljworld!

...will be cruising round the Caribbean for the next week (bracketed by days of cross-country flying).

Back soon. Play nice while I'm gone.

Surely not. I don't do any of those, do I?

Don't worry, it's a brief one. Titles. In considering some of my openings (arising from a debate on Hatrack, where basically I was told that my critiquing was generally too negative and I should also show how it "should" be done - not necessarily something I agree with but I guess I can see the value in looking at and discussing published openings as well as unpublished ones), I realised that in many cases the title of the story is part of the hook of it.

I see a lot of stories out there - published and not - with what appear to be fairly dull and generic titles. And then I see story titles that make me want to see what they are about. A recent(ish) example would be Kij Johnson's "Twenty-Six Monkeys, Also the Abyss". Now that right there intrigues the hell out of me. Does the 26 Moneys relate in any way to Twelve Monkeys? Is 26 a reference to the alphabet? What do a bunch of monkeys and the abyss have to link them? OK, you still need a first 13 that shows you can write, I'm not disputing the value of that, but your first 13 doesn't need anything like as much of a hook if you have a title likethat sitting on top of it.

Title alone will never sell a story that isn't any good, but I suspect it can, in some instances, help your story by adding to the intrigue of the editor/slush reader. So what makes a "title hook"? It's perfectly possible to have good titles that aren't necessarily hooks - "double meaning" titles, for example, usually only become clear once you're a good way into the story (e.g. my also-unpublished "The George Solution" deals with a lizard called George who is being held up (literally) as the solution to hunger... but it turns out that "solution" is also used in a very different sense). But if you want to hook with a title, you need a different approach.

For my money, just strange names or words don't do it on their own. One-word titles, in general, tend not to work for me. I like a title to raise a question, but one beyond "what?" So calling a story "Masperium" might raise a question (is Masperium an element? a city? a plant? a person?), but that question isn't a hook. But expand it a touch into something like my (also still unpublished) "Where The Dacouvr Died" and the questions start to tighten up. Who or what are the Dacouvri? Why did they die, and why is where they died important? Of course, it helps if you can actually ANSWER those questions as the story progresses. As with the traditional first 13 hook, you have to fllow through on the expectations you create. Being too clever is no good to anyone.

You don't need a hook-y title. I noted that three out of five stories in a recent Realms of Fantasy were of "A and the B" format, for example. Other single-word titles are out there and attached to brillliant stories (e.g. "The Beacon" - in titles, let's face it, "the" doesn't count as a word). A great story doesn't need a great title. But a great title can help a good story.

We just had three of these trot through the back yard:



The first javelina we've actually seen in town.

We have straw, sticks, and bricks all available in our yard, so presumably they were househunting.

OK, so this is what Mount Luchita looks like:



That's Luchita, up on Level 3, grooming herself, while Amina goes berserk attacking one of the pull-away (velcro is a wonderful thing!) feather toys (these will not last long individually, but we have a LARGE bag of feathers and a near-infinite supply of yarn for replacements).

The sisal-wrapped support is a superb idea, as not only does it serve as a scratching post, but the cats can actually climb right up it, monkey-style. Amina has made level 3 entirely by this mechanism, but in general prefers levels 1 and 2.

More pics if my presence with the camera coincides with them doing spectacularly cute or absurd things. And remember, click through for more detail.

...Nebula-pimping time.

Well, not that much of my work has appeared this year. And I really can't be doing with this. If a time comes when I have published something I really think might be worthy of an award, I'll mention it. But realistically.... no. Just no.

Achey this morning. Even a very nice four-mile hike out in the Fort Bayard National Wildlife Refuge (hardly any wildlife to be seen...) hasn't worked out th ekinks. The reason is that I was using unfamiliar muscles yesterday; the DIY muscles. Hammering, sawing, drilling, screwing (yes, thank you.... stop sniggering now...). What was I up to? Well, Robin and I were constructing Mount Luchita. Luchita is one of those cats that constantly wants to get high. She'll look wistfully up at any shelf, and was adept at clambering the bookcase in the bedroom to reach the pot-plant at the top (to the great discomfiture of the plant, and the greater discomfiture of the pot, which didn't survive the five-foot jump). As it happened, we received in the post a catalogue, with the emphasis on cat - forty-plus pages of cat accessories (addressed to previous tenant, who must have been some kind of cat-lover too). These included some marvellous-looking cat playhouses - platforms at multiple levels, sisal-wrapped supports, attached toys, etc. Very nice, but mostly in the $200-and-up range.

Mount Luchita may not look quite as stylish - there's hardly a plumb piece of wood in the whole structure, because I utterly SUCK at DIY - but given that it was made from scrap carpet, scrap chipboard and mostly scrap timber, it cost about $30 plus a day's work. And it does the job. There will be pictures if I manage to have the camera and the playful kittehs in the same room at the same time.

Should have pimped this earlier, but my story "Il Mystera Del Tempo" (which peadarogrightly pointed out is crap Italian) is up today at Every Day Fiction. Pop over there for a read and feel free to coment, here or there.

This one won't be to everyone's taste, as the comments and votes already there indicate. But it seems to have worked for some people, which makes me happy.

"There's a certain mystique about the Renaissance period for people," Broxton said. "Be it the elaborate costumes, the crafts, the turkey legs, people really seem to embrace that era and take on the persona."

***

Birds of prey including a bald eagle glared at passersby from perches on the arms of HawkQuest volunteers as bagpipes and drums played.

***

Having performed at a Renaissance faire in Houston as part of the German court, Heather Castillo on Sunday traded in her medieval costume for a flowing dress, a pair of colorful butterfly wings and a paper umbrella.

Four-year-old daughter Ivy Castillo, too, enjoyed playing dress-up for her first Renaissance ArtsFaire, donning a pink gown, glittery fairy wings and a butterfly wing painted on her cheek.

"We're butterfly fairies," Heather said, as Ivy nodded in agreement. "We're having so much fun and we love getting dressed up."

***



Turkey legs?   Bald eagles?   Butterfly fairies?   How very renaissance.

Among the wide variety of churches available in Silver City (I think we have more variety in churches than we do in restaurants...), there is a Swedenborgian church.

I am delighted to learn that, in the tiny Swedenborgian church, there is an organ.



That means, somewhere in Silver City, there is... a Swedenborganist!



That's all.   Carry on.

Clarkesworld Magazine has been running smoothly and efficiently for some considerable time now and is, without doubt, one of the best of the new breed of online magazines. It's published some fiction I've truly loved (Darja Malcolm-Clarke's "The Beacon", Michael de Kler's "The First Female President" as examples), and it's published plenty of stories that have utterly failed for me. This is how it should be, and I suspect how Clarkesworld WANTS it to be. Better the occasional moment of utter brilliance than a parade of competent stories that just miss that true spark (which is probably why I haven't been, and may never be, published there).

For the first time since its inception, Clarkesworld is having a funding drive. Details are here. The higher levels of donation also get you Stuff, though exactly how I am not yet sure - when I signed up through PayPal, I got redirected afterwards to the Wyrm Publishing site, but asking me for my not-yet-existing signon. If nothing comes via email in the next couple of days then I shall fire off a query.

ETA - I did indeed receiving an email so Stuff will be forthcoming - I shall be going for Realms 1, the collection of Clarkesworld's first year or so of operation.   Realms 2 will be forthcoming soon.

OK, so I (half-)watched the pilot of "V" last night.   It was cheerlessly generic in its assemblage of the usual suspects that ensemble-cast TV requires these days, lacking any spark to the dialogue whatsoever (priest-with-crisis-of-faith issues, FBI-agent-single-mom-with-teenage-son issues, yadda yadda).   What was interesting was hat twice specific moments leapt out at me as being heavily allegorical.   Now I came to this with no background reading on the new version, but it seems I'm not the only one who's noticed the possibility that the Visitors are being played as Obama's regime.

The two moments were these:
1). Anna, in the TV interview she gives with the compliant-but-slightly-conflicted TV journalist (who will no doubt remain conflicted throughout), announces the Visitors' intention to set up "healing centres" across the globe.   "You mean.. universal healthcare!" blurts the utterly shocked TV man.   Clearly this is a major flag that the aliens can't be up to any good.
2). At the initial gathering of the resistance, single-mom FBI agent meets crisis-of-faith priest (with no sexual tension or anything resembling a spark, though it very much appears they are planned as the will-they-won't-they relationship "interest" on the show).   He asks her name; her reply "I'm Erica", carefully enunciated so it really does sound as if she says "America".   I'm not kidding here.   Subtle vowel and stress sifting was clearly there, and utterly deliberate.

Wonderful though it was to see Morena Baccarin and Alan Tudyk again (though Alan won't, by the looks of things, be a regular cast member; shame), I really doubt I will be watching any further.   Not because of the heavy-handed allegory, though.   Just because it's formulaic and deeply, deeply dull.

I, on the other hand, need a few new ljs to read.  Quite a few of my existing lj friends don't post, or do so extremely rarely.  

Recommend me some people to check out.   One recommendaton per person, please - I don't want to get swamped!

OK, so next year I really do have to make it to a convention or two.  

I've never been to an SF Con in my life.   So what should I expect?   Is it really all authors trying to network and pimp themselves, or is there more to it than that? :)   And should I start with something small or should I go for a big one (e.g. WFC in Columbus) right off the bat?

Input very much welcomed.

Last Sunday, we went hiking down in the desert around City of Rocks, and among other things, bumped into a desert tortoise.

Yesterday, we hiked up above Pinos Altos and tramped through recent snow, able to identify tracks of bobcat, ringtail, squirrel, rabbit and deer.   In the evening we lit a fire in the firepit and toasted smores.

This morning, we played tennis on the outdoor courts here in town.

Life here is good.

Yes, I'm behind on my book reviewing, too.

This was another book I took off the shelves in the hope of coming up with some useful snippets for my weird western timeline.   Sadly, I didn't get as much out of it as I'd hoped.   Anecdotal, largely disorganised, and shorn of any overview or analysis, it just didn't get anywhere close to what I was looking for.   In particularly, it annoyed me by being apparently as unable, even now, as the early Spanish priests to make any distinction between "satanism" and the Christian view of the occult on the one hand, and indigenous religio-magical practices on the other.

I'll look elsewhere for what I need.

...have been back again.


 

Yes, that picture was taken from inside the house about ten minutes ago, looking out at the vegetable trough immediately outside the window.   The deer are perhaps three feet away.   Apologies for the quality of the shot but the light is lousy today (unusually) and I knew I wouldn't have too long after lifting the blinds before they decided to go a bit further away (but not far; we still have six deer lolling around on the bank at the back of the yard).

The screens on the vegetable trough worked ell through the summer, but they are down now as they got battered by storms and then the last two nights of sub-freezing temperatures absolutely blasted the plants that remained (tomatoes, aubergines that were still flowering but never set, and broccoli).

Deer, it can safely be reported, like broccoli leaves.

More shots in the coming days, I know I've been remiss on the photo front on the blog for a while.   And, as always, you can click through for a clearer, bigger picture.

...because it's good to see that our elected politicians can be so professional about things:

Arnie gets deeply subtle


The bill he desribes as "unnecessary" appears to involve changes to taxatoin and fund-raising powers for San Francisco infrastructure. Dull, perhaps, but "unnecessary"? In the light of, y'know, California being broke?

No doubt they'll all be falling over themselves to work on his preferred legislation now!

...Rich Germans demand tax increases.


Sadly, one suspects it won't catch on, either in the "I'm rich, now I'll flee the country so I pay less tax" UK, or the TEA-party-befuddled US.

Before I came over to the US, I did read some political commentary from both right and left.   In general, as may be expected from someone who has voted predominantly Labour in the UK, and who bemoans the rightward lurch of that party into the policy zone vacated by the Tories under Thatcher and not successfully recolonised since, I saw myself as a liberal.   I certainly found myself disturbed by the simplistic and generally ignorant attitudes of the right (epitomised, perhaps, by the inability to see that not all muslims are al-Qaeda-sympathising terrorists-in-waiting).

Since coming here, I have had some exposure to the left (such as it is - anything resebling European-style left-wing politics would still be anathema, I think, to the vast majority of Americans), and it has been a rather depressing experience.   The entrenched positions of the American left seem no more grounded in analysis or reality than the entrenched positions of the right.   Both, in my experience to date, are unwilling to debate; are woefully ill-informed (unable, for example, to understand the difference between theTaliban and al-Qaeda, unable to understand any difference between the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan).   To discover that "my" side of the deep political divide in the US are, by and large, no more cogent or considered than the "other" side has been an unwelcome enlightenment.   I am dealing with people who would consider themselves - and be considered by others - as educated, and yet I find a deep level of ignorance about history, about geography, about culture, that makes me understand a little more about why US foreign policy has become, and continues to be, so woefully muddled and desperately unsuccessful.