Jim Baen
Jim Baen died yesterday. For those of you—probably many—who don’t know who he was, he was a long-time SF editor and publisher. I never met him. Nor did I ever hear him speak, or see him at a convention, or even trade e-mails with someone who knew him personally.
But for many years, Jim Baen has been part of a secret dream of mine—a dream I’ve had since I started writing in earnest.
I grew up reading Science Fiction (I still call it SciFi sometimes, but the shibboleth among “true” fans is to call it SF. Feh! I’ll call it what I like, you snobs). I started with Frank Herbert and Piers Anthony. I quickly moved to H. Beam Piper, Isaac Asimov, Poul Anderson, and others. I read Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle together, and then all the books they wrote by themselves.
I came to Robert Heinlein late in life (in college, although I read Friday when I was in high school). I read Harry Turtledove and Ben Bova. I read Fred Saberhagen and Harlan Ellison. I read Orson Scott Card, of course. And I read a bunch of authors you’ve probably never heard of, like Dean Ing, Glen Cook, and too many others to list.
I read anything I could get my hands on, from space opera to “hard” SF.
Nereids delayed… sorry, folks.
Ruthie’s Club just sent me an e-mail letting me know about a problem with the artwork for Nereids. The artist had a major computer crash, and won’t be able to finish the illustration for the first chapter. I had the choice of going with an earlier illustration (which had a problem) or delaying publication. I chose to delay, since I want the illustrations to reflect my vision of the story.
I don’t have an updated publication date, but rest assured, it’s ASAP. When the artist gets his computer resurrected, he’ll finish the illustrations. Then we’ll put the story back in the schedule for publication.
As soon as I hear from Ruthie’s Club, I’ll let you know what the revised date is.
Thanks for reading. – Nick
Holy Billionaires, Batman!
Warren Buffett, the world’s second richest man, is giving away his fortune… to Bill Gates.
Believe it or not, I cheered when Gates announced that he was stepping down from Microsoft in 2008. But I didn’t cheer for the reasons you think. Yeah, Bill Gates can be evil, but he really is doing great things with his foundation. Finally, someone is treating philanthropy as a business, and trying to get the most good for the least cost. I like the idea of Bill making a charity accountable for actually doing some good (rather than simply lining the pockets of its executives).
But Gates hasn’t tackled “celebrity” issues like luxury beach resorts in Namibia. No, he’s going after some hard-core problems like world health—AIDS/HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, among others—and improving US libraries and high schools. Good God, if anyone can fix America’s declining education system, it’s Bill Gates. (Or should I call it by its proper name? The “Socialist-in-training Entitlement and Acceptance System.” Feh!)
I never thought I’d say this, but… way to go, Bill Gates! Take Buffett’s money and do something good with it. You might even make up for your evil ways.
- Nick
It’s all over but the shouting.
Well, folks, Nereids Ch11 is in the bag. The first draft, at least. I spent most of the morning editing yesterday’s additions. Then I added another 1,000 words (to the 3,000 I cranked out yesterday).
I’m pretty happy with the end, too. It sets up the events in Ch12, and it ends on a good cliffhanger. You know what’s coming, but you’re still anxious to read it (I hope, at least).
My only problem is the chapter’s size—it’s 11,500+ words—and that’s a bit longer than I’d like. Besides, I need to cut 10%. That’s a tip I got from Stephen King, and it’s made my stories tighter and smoother.
So remember, all you writers and aspiring writers: write, write, write, and then cut, cut, cut. A good garden is a well-trimmed garden.
Back to trimming. – Nick
Pirates, ninjas, and…
Next to pirates and ninjas, who doesn’t love top fuel dragsters?
On that note, I just read the coolest blog post.
God, I’m such a geek.
Vrooooom.
- Nick
The beat goes on.
I haven’t been in a writing mood for about a week. I’ve been busy with real life, and busy with other “Scipio” things like the web site and additions there.
But I have a bit of control over whether or not I’m in a writing mood, and I can get in the mood if I start editing (and if I have the time, of course).
Now, just because I’m not in a writing mood doesn’t mean I’m not writing in my head. One of the reasons I haven’t been “in the mood” lately is that I was semi-stuck at the current point (late in Nereids, Ch11). But I’ve been going over it in my head, smoothing things out, “seeing” the scene, and acting out the dialog.
Nereids
Wow! After my last update, I received a surprising number of “Did I miss something? What is Nereids? Where can I find it?” questions. I thought I did a pretty good job of communicating through the Forum and my mailing list, but I didn’t realize I had such a sizable minority of people who don’t read either. No worries. Now that I know, I’ll do a better job of getting the word out.
Without further ado, here’s the working teaser for Nereids:
Jack MacLean is happy with married life, but he wants to have sex with other women. And the thought of his wife having sex with another man is a powerful image. Can he actually watch her do it, though? And will she let him have sex with another woman?
It might not matter, since Jack and his squadron will soon be fighting a war in the skies over Vietnam. But he and his best friend, David Hughes, are determined to survive everything the enemy and their own government can throw at them.
In the meantime, Beth Hughes is dealing with her own problems on the home front, from politics among the squadron wives to raising children while her husband is thousands of miles away. But she has a new best friend, Susan MacLean, and the two of them grow closer than sisters.
Set against the backdrop of the Swinging Sixties and the Vietnam War, Nereids is the story of two couples dealing with love and loss, friendship and loneliness, discovery and heartache. Will their relationship survive? Will it turn into more?
Read the exciting prequel to Summer Camp, and learn how it all began.
Site updates
I spent most of the morning doing updates to my site.
LOL! I just occurred to me that I forgot to add links to the blog from the main page. Oh well, I have a list of other things to do to the site, so I guess I’ll just add that to the list.
On the writing front, I’m still in the middle of Nereids, Ch11, but I’m about 75% done. I want to go back and shorten the last two scenes I wrote. I know I’m going to need more at the end of the chapter, and I don’t want it to run long. (I want to keep each of my chapters about the same size, ~10k words, so they’re in easily digestible chunks.)
I don’t know how much time I’ll have to write today, though. I’ve been putting off a lot of web site updates (obviously), as well as some other “home computer chores” like creating covers for my Deadwood season 2 DVDs. The covers I found online are all lame, or 4 of 6, or for the PAL/UK version, or… well, you get the picture.
Back to work. – Nick
The flip-side.
Along with the rare dipshit feedback, I get a lot of good feedback—a hundred times more good feedback than bad (the bad just sticks in my craw).
Anyway, this morning’s mail bag held this little gem:
I think maybe we all, like Paul, will always have some growing up to do.
I love feedback like that (it’s the closing line of a nice e-mail).
It reminds me of a Nadine Gordimer quote: “The truth isn’t always beauty, but the hunger for it is.”
Back to the hunt. – Nick
And the one that really pissed me off…
This guy sent me nice e-mail about the PotD with the Camel Toe Ad (and the 666 serial number). Then his sent this dumbass e-mail:
To: nick_scipio@yahoo.com
From: JayCee
Subject: Reader Comments
Date: Thu, 08 Jun 2006 19:26:17 -0700Well in that case, the Beast in me is telling you “Stop procrastinating and finish SC-B4: Christy…..” Mid-2006 is almost here.
Riiiiiiiight! I’m “procrastinating,” you fuckwit?! And you think I don’t know what the date is? Jesus fucking Christ on a crutch!
Ugh!
I get 100 nice e-mail messages for each message like this, but I’m still amazed by people’s ability to ratchet up the dipshit quotient. You know?
I hope that by “outing” some of these passive-aggressive morons that maybe they’ll see their own anonymous post and feel like the impatient jackasses they are. It’s a long shot, but a guy can hope, right?
Oh well… back to answering e-mail. – Nick