tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46914528160345455982024-02-21T16:09:32.586-05:00Derwin Mak, Science Fiction WriterDerwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-39448680896669279842024-02-21T16:08:00.001-05:002024-02-21T16:08:34.176-05:00Mecha-Jesus and Other Stories: Book Launch on Thursday, February 29, 2024<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE1oK5a1pg9eauNFmEnPujvWXDUhUAAfOgfALG4sdLILawmvKlXIiriXs0Uu7FImlxMxbS7hnvQd3A-scL4RK4ZMaKSG3O2kUHgvTN5SumaCoNPBZAw92E2S5M73-iMXdDe0szxGdnA0TN-PJGZHeiX0MhmPWcUKjiQJELR8HKclglKTrpWp8DOXLfdJ4s/s1080/Mecha-Jesus-postcard-picture-side-180dpi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE1oK5a1pg9eauNFmEnPujvWXDUhUAAfOgfALG4sdLILawmvKlXIiriXs0Uu7FImlxMxbS7hnvQd3A-scL4RK4ZMaKSG3O2kUHgvTN5SumaCoNPBZAw92E2S5M73-iMXdDe0szxGdnA0TN-PJGZHeiX0MhmPWcUKjiQJELR8HKclglKTrpWp8DOXLfdJ4s/s320/Mecha-Jesus-postcard-picture-side-180dpi.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><em style="background-color: white;">Mecha-Jesus and Other Stories</em><span style="background-color: white;">, a collection of my short stories, will have its book launch at the Lillian H. Smith Branch of the Toronto Public Library, 239 College Street, Toronto, on Thursday, February 29, 2024 (Leap Day). Liana Kerzner from the TV series </span><em style="background-color: white;">Ed and Red's Night Party</em><span style="background-color: white;"> will interview me, and there will be cake and refreshments. Free admission! </span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">Event info: </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://festivalofauthors.ca/event/toronto-lit-up-mecha-jesus-and-other-stories-by-derwin-mak/">https://festivalofauthors.ca/event/toronto-lit-up-mecha-jesus-and-other-stories-by-derwin-mak/</a><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The book launch is an event of Toronto Lit Up. Toronto Lit Up is a multi-year initiative, started in 2016 by the Toronto International Festival of Authors and the Toronto Arts Council, to spotlight Toronto writers and empower local artists with career-building opportunities. Between April 2016 and March 2023, Toronto Lit Up has presented 165 events featuring over 200 Toronto authors and illustrators. Toronto Lit Up book launches take place throughout the year at venues across the city. They are open to the public and free to attend.</span> </p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The collection contains </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"Luck of the Irish", </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"The Polar Bear Carries the Mail", </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"Mecha-Jesus", </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"The Snow Aliens", </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"The Shepherd's Blessing",</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"Songbun", </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"It Came to Eat Our Chicken Wings", </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"The Faun and the Sylphide", </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"Seventy-Two Virgins", </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"Cloned to Kill", </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"Family Tradition", and </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"Kleinheimat". </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The collection also Includes a foreword by Liana Kerzner and notes on the background and history of each story.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">You can order the book from Brain Lag Books:</span></p><p><a href="https://www.brain-lag.com/product/mecha-jesus/53?cs=true&cst=custom"><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.brain-lag.com/product/mecha-jesus/53?cs=true&cst=custom</span></a><br /></p>Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-24071441792536965422022-07-29T21:08:00.001-04:002022-07-29T21:08:28.941-04:00An Appeal to Continue the Picture Postage Program<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pukT2Pa2yCA2BI0AK_Rk8bW-cL_jZ1OUKrQ-le_ykblz6KIkQZMvW9BGHOdAE20sy-dluBsBLqHUKjR8QBGkvDzNTWYM9hKgyxqzpXkaxthwbL3f2bJgoFSSLorKUQ86-KSVdzFgju6EzzWesTgINxydTlg_yLM3BTTx1vQaP65ch_kpGeo3_P2xSA/s501/Squirrel-Picture-Postage-Stamp-300dpi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="324" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pukT2Pa2yCA2BI0AK_Rk8bW-cL_jZ1OUKrQ-le_ykblz6KIkQZMvW9BGHOdAE20sy-dluBsBLqHUKjR8QBGkvDzNTWYM9hKgyxqzpXkaxthwbL3f2bJgoFSSLorKUQ86-KSVdzFgju6EzzWesTgINxydTlg_yLM3BTTx1vQaP65ch_kpGeo3_P2xSA/s320/Squirrel-Picture-Postage-Stamp-300dpi.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Picture Postage stamp that I created, showing White Hands the Squirrel, a frequent visitor to my family's house.</div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Canada Post has announced that it will discontinue its Picture Postage program on September 1, 2022. This was Canada Post's program for clients to create valid postage stamps using their own artwork. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Not surprisingly, Picture Postage had become popular with many Canadian Canadian philatelists (stamp collectors), so we have written letters to Canada Post to support continuing the program. Here is my email to Canada Post's Picture Postage Management Team:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">To:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Bronwyn Graves (executive): bronwyn.graves@canadapost.postescanada.ca</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Elaine David (assistant executive): elaine.david@canadapost.postescanada.ca</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Dave Penner (director): dave.penner@canadapost.postescanada.ca</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Hello,</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I am writing to ask that the Picture Postage program be continued. Over the years, I have created 10 Picture Postage stamps and have another 2 orders in process. I have also written an article about personalized postage in Canada, the United States, and the United Nations Postal Administration for <i>The Canadian Philatelist</i> ("Getting Personalized Stamps from Three Countries", March-April 2020). </span></p><div data-setdir="false" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div data-setdir="false" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;">The late Darlene Burt's website <a href="https://www.picturepostage.net/" target="_blank">https://www.picturepostage.net/</a> shows that many Canadians used the Picture Postage program to make a large variety of stamps for a large variety of reasons. Canadians have used Picture Postage to commemorate all sorts of things both public and private, such as local history, ethnic and cultural festivals, and the personal milestones of their lives. Anything from a local agricultural festival to a wedding could be commemorated with Picture Postage. As such, Picture Postage gave Canadians an opportunity to show their creativity and diversity through philately. Since stamps are symbols of our country's history and culture, Picture Postage filled a need by showing subjects not shown on regular-issue stamps.</span></div><div data-setdir="false" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div data-setdir="false" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;">Canadians' participation in Picture Postage was higher than the counterpart program in the United States, as shown by the large number of stamps on Darlene Burt's website. Unlike the U.S. program, our program had the benefits of affordability, attractive frame designs, and a common and centralized ordering and production process. It was well run compared to those of other countries. We can see why Canadians participated in it.</span></div><div data-setdir="false" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div data-setdir="false" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;">Philatelists, of course, supported the use of Picture Postage. It gave philatelists a way to commemorate events, people, and themes that would not warrant a national stamp. Thus it formed another source of philatelic revenue for Canada Post, especially since many philatelist-made Picture Postage stamps would not actually be used on mail, but rather, be saved as souvenirs.</span></div><div data-setdir="false" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div data-setdir="false" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;">As long as public participation was high and the program was making a profit, I see now reason why it should be eliminated. Therefore, I hope you reconsider and continue the Picture Postage program.</span></div><div data-setdir="false" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div data-setdir="false" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;">Sincerely,</span></div><div data-setdir="false" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;">Derwin Mak</span></div><div data-setdir="false" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;">Member: Royal Philatelic Society of Canada, North Toronto Stamp Club, Royal Philatelic Society London, American First Day Cover Society </span></div><div data-setdir="false" dir="ltr"><br /></div><div data-setdir="false" dir="ltr"><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /></div>Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-65804890787627258822021-07-05T21:56:00.002-04:002021-07-05T21:58:30.427-04:00Why I Won't Introduce You to My Non-Existent Agent<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjotsubo1ILuWW0RJLTey3lv6oTGleykzSHaW6jCt0Ct31rnzXmPqZ97J8txPtuj-QMUz9CkIahyRJe1K1klzOJJRWQCYlkQ4MIqTC1FlWNSLR7u2Zyti887wJ1X92uVvG9GyuXLYTK0ns5/s1666/_The_scream_._Wellcome_L0011212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1666" data-original-width="1164" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjotsubo1ILuWW0RJLTey3lv6oTGleykzSHaW6jCt0Ct31rnzXmPqZ97J8txPtuj-QMUz9CkIahyRJe1K1klzOJJRWQCYlkQ4MIqTC1FlWNSLR7u2Zyti887wJ1X92uVvG9GyuXLYTK0ns5/s320/_The_scream_._Wellcome_L0011212.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is how too many strangers react when I tell them I have no agent (Lithograph by Edvard Munch)</span></div><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>I received this email several years ago:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Hi, Derwin, you're
an author, so you should have an agent. Mike is an author and needs an agent as
well. Can you assist?</span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Although
I knew the email's sender, I did not know Mike. I count this as yet another
total stranger asking me to help him get his book published. The email's sender
also cc'd Mike on the email to put me on the spot.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Note
that the email's sender said I <i>should</i> have an agent, as if it were a
legal requirement for all writers to have an agent.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Imagine
the shock and horror when I told the email's sender that I don't have an agent.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mike
and his buddy aren't the only people who think I have an agent. Every year, I
get several emails, messages, or in-person inquiries from strangers asking me
to give their unpublished books, scripts, and even short stories to my agent (It's
always strangers who ask. My actual friends don't bother asking me to give
anything to my non-existent agent). Why do they always ask me? I'm hardly the
most famous and successful writer in the world. Why don't they ask someone like
Robert J. Sawyer, Stephen King, or J.K. Rowling?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Yes,
I know J.K. Rowling is transphobic, but I bet these wannabe writers are willing
to overlook such problems if they think she help them become rich celebrities
like her.)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When I tell people
that I have no agent, some of the reactions have been priceless, such as:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>But
I thought you were a real writer!</i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Are
you a fake? You didn't actually get anything published, did you?</i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>That's
not be true. How did you get your stuff published if you don't have an agent?</i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>You're
keeping him all to yourself, aren't you? Afraid of the competition?</i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>These
are actual reactions of strangers when they find out that I don't have an
agent. And yes, I felt insulted by them. I don't care how disappointed they
were that I couldn't introduce them to an agent who could magically turn them
into famous celebrities overnight, like a fairy godmother did to Cinderella.
Telling me that I'm not a "real" writer or accusing me of lying is
insulting, and they knew that.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Here's
the unbelievable truth: you don't need an agent to get published. I sold all my
short stories, my two novels, and my non-fiction articles without an agent.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>People
have asked me how much of a percentage my agent takes for short story sales.
You don't need an agent to submit a short story. You can submit your short
story directly to the editor or the slush pile. Also, agents don't want to sell
short stories; short stories make so little money that an agent's commission
would be only a few dollars.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
same goes for non-fiction articles. You can send those directly to the editor
or the slush pile. Again, the money from a non-fiction article is so low that
they're not worth any agent's time and effort.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
about the novels? Believe it or not, there are publishers who will read
manuscripts submitted without an agent. They aren't be the largest, most
prestigious New York publishers, and some of them are small presses, but they
are out there (If you're interested in finding them, you can find them on the
internet).</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Many
of these strangers who ask for my help have not actually completed their book.
The book was usually only partly completed or still just an idea. They're under
the impression that there's no reason to finish writing the story unless they
get an agent. This is absurd; it is untrue that publishers buy every book
submitted by an agent. Publishers can and do reject books represented by
agents.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Also,
agents want to see that you are capable of completing your book. None of them
want to represent someone who can't deliver a finished book.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
might be wondering whether I would like an agent. That's a fair question, and
the answer is yes. I've tried to get an agent before but couldn't interest one.
That's possibly because agents weren't interested in my novels or I tend to
write short stories. Nonetheless, I did get two novels and many short stories
and articles published without an agent. Maybe if I write another novel, I'll
shop it around to agents, but for now, I'm still writing short stories.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Note
that I didn't quit because I couldn't get an agent. I kept writing and sending
my stories to slush piles. I asked editors what they wanted. I <i>finished</i>
writing my stories and sent them away.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Many stories I
wrote never got published, some got rejected many times before they sold, and
the money did not make me a millionaire. It's not an easy business, and if you
can't take the hard work and rejection, you should quit now and do something
else.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ah, I can hear
some of you wondering whether all that hard work and rejection disappears when
you get an agent. From what I've heard, no. As I've mentioned, there are no
guarantees even with an agent. Agents are also not fairy godmothers who
magically get every book published for their Cinderella.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Also remember that
the agent-client relationship, like any business relationship, requires hard
work and mutual respect. If you come into it with an entitled attitude, it
might not work out. Some authors have fired their agents, and some agents have
dropped their clients.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Your end game as a
writer should have two parts: first, finish writing your story, and second, get
it published.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I'm not saying
don't get an agent. If you can get an agent, great. What I am saying is that
you should still keep writing and trying to get published even if you don't
have an agent.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Also,
do not insult a writer when you find out that he or she doesn't have an agent. People
talk in this business, and they have long memories.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><br /><p></p>Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-85298172843791706652021-07-02T13:39:00.000-04:002021-07-02T13:39:01.568-04:00Don't Play Mind Games With the Editor When Submitting a Story<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTO01UVxa5HZLvijfBH2TEMoUiuhR4M7Bi48rlt7xK_Cmx0qLV8JD-gqiHeEkvqrNrPkTbEnLKiNfgiY5WFwqG6N-9HvgmNnD_RueyVvh-OB5kZf9zJHBv8eeT6u_cQlHAI5BoIodGX99V/s369/depositphotos_4600342-stock-photo-puppet-on-a-string-cr1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="215" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTO01UVxa5HZLvijfBH2TEMoUiuhR4M7Bi48rlt7xK_Cmx0qLV8JD-gqiHeEkvqrNrPkTbEnLKiNfgiY5WFwqG6N-9HvgmNnD_RueyVvh-OB5kZf9zJHBv8eeT6u_cQlHAI5BoIodGX99V/s320/depositphotos_4600342-stock-photo-puppet-on-a-string-cr1.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Public domain image</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I've edited two
anthologies and a special science fiction and fantasy issue of a magazine.
Maybe I'll get a chance to edit another anthology and put out an open call for writers
to submit to my slush pile.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If that happens
again, do yourself a favour and read the submission guidelines before you
submit. I'm surprised by how many (usually unpublished) writers don't know
standard manuscript format, use weird fonts, use weird formatting, or submit a
story that is completely unrelated to the theme of the anthology. All these
signal that working with the writer could be a problem. As an editor of one of
the major science fiction magazines once told her audience at a convention, "I
need to get through a big slush pile, so I'm looking for any reason to reject
your story."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There is plenty of
info online on how to submit your story. This article doesn't need to repeat
that advice. Instead, this article will be about extra-stupid things that
people have done when submitting a story to me. All involved what the military
calls psyops or psychological operations, in other words, mind games.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: center;">**</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I had put out an
open call for short stories up to 6,000 words. One of the submissions came a
cover letter (email) that read:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">My story is 12,000
words, which I know is above your word limit. However, I hope you evaluate my
story based on its storytelling merits instead of arbitrary word limits.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">Those two
sentences made my job immensely easier; I simply didn't read the story at all
and rejected it.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But wait – I can
hear all the unpublished writers shouting at me to give that guy a chance. That
story could've been gold. Certainly, I could've made room for a future Hugo
Award-winning novelette?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">No. Anthologies are supposed to contain a
selection of stories by different authors. The readers want variety. That's one
of the reasons why story word limits exist.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Anthologies
come with total word limits too. No publisher is going to give me an unlimited
budget of advance on royalties to buy as many words, i.e., stories, as I want.
If I buy a story that is twice as long as the individual story word limit, I
have to reduce the number of stories in the anthology.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
writer was trying to manipulate me to buy his story; he wanted me to think that
if I rejected his story for length, I am a bad editor who doesn't care about
"storytelling merits." But I saw through the psyops and rejected his
story. He played a game, and he lost.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: center;">**</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I had
an anthology call for the Speculative Fiction issue of a magazine. Speculative
fiction is an umbrella term for science fiction, fantasy, horror, alternate
history, and genres that do not take place in the "real world". The
term has become an accepted and well-known term in the literary world. The
Alberta Book Publishing Awards has a category for Speculative Fiction Book.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
submission guidelines clearly defined speculative fiction. Nonetheless, a
writer submitted a story that didn't fall into any speculative fiction
category. I rejected it on that basis. He replied:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I
thought speculative fiction meant writing on spec, which is what I did. Your
terminology is misleading and incorrect. You should read my story and consider
it for publication.</span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I did
not read his story a second time, but I had the pleasure of rejecting it twice,
thanks to his reply. One story submission, two rejections from the same editor
within 12 hours: now that's an achievement!</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">First,
he obviously did not read the guidelines before submitting the story. Second,
he should have just stayed quiet after I rejected the story. Instead, he had to
go ballistic, thus ensuring that I always will remember him for all the wrong
reasons.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Again,
a writer played psychological warfare and lost. Using guilt and shame to force
an editor to read a story does not work.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">By the
way, for a change, the writer was not a complete newbie. He self-published a
series of detective novels and promotes himself as an exciting hot-shot author.
That still didn't get his story into the magazine.</span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">**</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> One story was slightly overlong, by
300 words, but showed some promise. The plot was interesting, though it needed
some work. I also wanted one scene rewritten so that the science as accurate
(Hey, this was a <i>science</i> fiction anthology). I thought he could reduce
the word count by 300 words if he tightened the plot, so I suggested some changes
sent the story back to the writer with this email:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> "Your story shows some promise,
but I'm going to ask you for some revisions before accepting it. Please look at
the comments. Can you reduce it by 300 words? And in the scene where the main
character launches fireworks in space, can you think of another way he can have
a light show without fireworks? Fireworks depend on oxygen to light up their
fires, and there is no oxygen in space."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">His
reply:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Your
comments and requests are not what I expected, and I wish to withdraw my story
from consideration.</span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Note
that he did not explicitly withdraw his story from consideration. He
"wished" to withdraw his story.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reverse
psychology in action! He knew I thought his story showed promise. And I knew he
was trying to manipulate me to beg him to let me publish his story unrevised. However,
instead of surrendering to him, I told him that I'm granting his wish and
pulling his story out of consideration.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I'm
not the only editor who will win this game. Every editor I know will not chase
after a writer who says that he is withdrawing his story. There's always going
to one other story that's better than yours and written by someone who
cooperates with editors.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If he
had shortened the story and rewritten that one scene, he would have made his
very first professional fiction sale. Instead, got nothing published.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Most
rejections come as a short email saying that the editor is going to pass on
buying the story and rarely have any feedback or advice for the writer. If you
get any reply that either gives specific feedback or asks for the story to be
revised and resubmitted, do not treat it as an insult. Treat it as gold.</span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">**</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I
saved the best for last. This incident did not happen on one of my anthology
calls. It was something an acquaintance of mine did when submitting a story to
a magazine.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">After
I made my first professional fiction sales, word spread amongst friends in
sci-fi fandom. An acquaintance of mine, someone I knew but who wasn't close to
me, phoned me and asked about my stories. She had been writing stories too but
hadn't submitted them to magazines or anthologies.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
was back in the time when editors and publishers still received and sent paper
through the mail, before most of them switched to using email and electronic
submissions.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">She
subsequently submitted a story to a magazine, but she put her roommate's name
on the byline. I asked her why she did that.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"So
when the rejection letter comes, my roommate will get rejected, not me,"
she said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"It's
actually your story, not you, that's getting rejected," I said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"But
the rejection letter gets sent to the person who wrote it," she said.
"If I say the story is by her, she'll receive the letter."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">That
was one way to avoid rejection; trick the editor into rejecting your roommate
instead! The hilarious part of this plan is that it doesn't have any psyops to
convince the editor to buy the story.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I
didn't ask her what would happen if the story got sold. Whose name would the
publisher put in the byline? Who would get the money? But those were
hypothetical questions anyway. I knew she would never sell a story.</span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">**</span></span></p>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> I'm
always amazed by how many writers think that they need to play mind games with
the editor. All of these psychological operations fail. I've never heard of
anyone selling a story by shaming the editor, making the editor feel guilty, or
using reverse psychology. All these tactics will make people remember your name
(assuming you didn't use your roommate's name), but they won't get your story
published. </span></span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><br /><p></p>Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-60440600499119761862021-06-15T15:47:00.001-04:002021-06-30T01:04:11.453-04:00A PublishAmerica Author Accosted Me at Hooters<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggI85MJzUMfKT8U-tUvyxy2cepapvmaXcd6533p2fy_oLbkhPqmw9DLD6_0HEUEJuaW1r__Igv8n0jgo6Vvm-NtjXY0HPoQdqeXQq3-bMdOJIGVmg9Em3fKqGvryko4kBiNrMjS2KNXceG/s2048/Hooters-FB-2019-03-26.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggI85MJzUMfKT8U-tUvyxy2cepapvmaXcd6533p2fy_oLbkhPqmw9DLD6_0HEUEJuaW1r__Igv8n0jgo6Vvm-NtjXY0HPoQdqeXQq3-bMdOJIGVmg9Em3fKqGvryko4kBiNrMjS2KNXceG/s320/Hooters-FB-2019-03-26.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Hooters, where all the famous science fiction writers dine.</div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Until the pandemic
started, I used to be a regular customer at Hooters. Most of the Hooters Girls
in Toronto know that I write science fiction. One Friday night, as I had dinner
at table 36 (yes, I know the table numbers), my favourite Hooters Girl said to
me, "There's another science fiction writer here. Do you know him?"</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I looked around
the restaurant. I didn't see anyone I recognized. Who could it be?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Hooters Girl
left me and returned a few minutes later with the writer and a friend of his. I
had never met either gentleman. The writer introduced himself. Let's call him
Joe (Names have been changed to protect the embarrassed). Joe and his friend
were celebrating the release of Joe's first novel.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Joe asked me,
"Who is your publisher?"</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"Who is your
publisher?" is a question for which I have no easy answer. My stories get
published by whoever wants to buy them from me. All my short stories and
anthologies have been published by different publishers. My two novels were
both originally published by the same company, but when it went out of
business, the novels were republished by other companies. Like many writers, I
don't sell exclusively to just one publisher or magazine. We'll take the work
when and where we can get it.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">I had co-edited an
anthology, <i>The Dragon and the Stars</i> (with Eric Choi) recently, so I
said, "DAW."</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"DAW?"
he said. "Never heard of them. Who are they?"</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I was baffled. How
could a science fiction writer not know about DAW Books? "It's a
publishing company in New York. Who published your book?"</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Joe's grin was so
wide and the glint in his eyes so bright that his face was sickening to behold.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"PublishAmerica,"
he said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I was horrified.
PublishAmerica, also known as America Star Books, was one of the worst scam
companies exploiting new authors. There's plenty written about it online, so I
won't repeat all the gory details. In short, PublishAmerica promoted itself as
a royalty-paying publisher, not a vanity press. Technically, it did pay
royalties (advance on royalties) ranging from $1 to $1,000. However, the
contracts came with terms that ensured that money flowed from the author to the
company. For example, authors had to guarantee a certain number of sales, and
PublishAmerica urged its authors to buy their own copies or get their friends
and family to buy copies. Since PublishAmerica printed its books on demand, it
printed only enough copies to sell to the authors and their friends and family.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">PublishAmerica
also had a reputation for publishing books without any editing, lying about
placing books in bookstores, and defaulting even on its $1 royalties.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The internet had
hundreds of articles and blog posts about PublishAmerica, the lawsuits against
it, and warnings to writers. How could Joe have fallen into the trap?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"PublishAmerica?" I said. "I
heard of them. Congratulations. When will the book be released?"</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"Two weeks
from now."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Joe's friend was
going to be his public relations guy. Since Joe was going to be a famous
celebrity soon, the friend wanted a piece of the action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Joe asked me a lot
of questions. He wanted to know if I had ever been on a book tour (Answer: yes,
for a young adult anthology, and the other authors and I had to do all the work
to set it up). He wanted to know if I had ever been interviewed on TV (Answer:
yes, once, on Omni TV's Cantonese news. That did not impress him.). He wanted
to know if "my P.R. people" had set up any meetings with celebrities
for me (Answer: "What P.R. people? I do everything myself.").</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">He said, "DAW
seems like a small company. Maybe you should get a bigger publisher, like
PublishAmerica."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I said that I was
lucky to get one book published at DAW and I would feel extremely lucky if DAW
wanted anything else from me. Joe smiled in sympathy. I guess he felt sorry for
me as I fervently defended a small, unknown publisher (sarcasm!).</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Joe said that
PublishAmerica had an extensive publicity department that would get him media
interviews, put him on a national (U.S. and Canada) book tour, and give his
novel to celebrities in Hollywood, who, of course, were going to buy the movie
rights. PublishAmerica allegedly had an agency that sold movie rights for its
authors. His friend would accompany him to meet important people like Steven
Spielberg and James Cameron.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I listened silently
as Joe told me of all the wonderous things PublishAmerica would do. Joe didn't
ask me anything about the art of writing or the publishing business. He was interested
only in becoming a celebrity and meeting others of his new social strata. His
one takeaway from our conversation was that DAW does not hook up its authors
with either Steven Spielberg or James Cameron.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Joe asked for my
contact info so we could keep in touch, now that he had entered the glamorous
profession of science fiction writing. I gave him my card. I really didn't want
to talk to him again, but I was sadistically curious about how Joe's experience
with PublishAmerica would play out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> **</span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A few days later,
Joe phoned me. He had looked at my website and seen that I would be appearing
at the Ad Astra Science Fiction Convention, a literary-oriented convention in Toronto.
He wanted to know how I had gotten invited to Ad Astra.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"I've known
them for years, and I asked if I could be a panelist," I said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Joe said he would tell
his P.R. guy to get him into Ad Astra.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Joe had never
heard of science fiction conventions before, so he asked me about them. He
asked if there were any besides Ad Astra in Toronto. I mentioned Fan Expo,
saying it was a big media-oriented convention revolving around movie and TV
celebrities and not much literary content.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>"I
would rather go to that one," said Joe. "How do you get invited to Fan
Expo?"</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>"I
don't know. I've never been a guest at Fan Expo. I think you contact them and
ask."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>"I'll
get my guy to do that," he said. "You go to Ad Astra. Fan Expo is
mine, though."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>"Joe,
we're science fiction writers," I said. "We don't split up
conventions like territories as if we were the Mafia families in <i>The
Godfather</i>."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>"But
it makes sense, though, doesn't it?" he said. "We don't want to
compete against each other. You be the star at one of them, and I'll be the
star at the other."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>"Now
that you put it that way, sure, have fun at Fan Expo," I said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
thanked me for telling him about Fan Expo, and we ended the call.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> **</span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Joe
called me again six months later. He wanted to know how he could get his novel
republished by DAW.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"Joe, what's
going on?" I said. "You're with PublishAmerica."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"It's
awful," he said. "The novel came out."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"What's
it like?" I asked, knowing PublishAmerica's reputation for zero editing.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"They
didn't fix any of my grammar and spelling errors! It's a mess!"</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"What?
You knew you had errors and you submitted it anyway? You didn't correct your
manuscript before you submitted it?"</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"That's
not my job. I'm the author. I write the novel. The editor is supposed to
correct for grammar and spelling."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Joe's tale of
misery got worse. PublishAmerica had put no copies of his novel in bookstores.
PublishAmerica's contract forced him to buy copies for himself and his friends
and family. PublishAmerica wanted him to pay money to send his book to
Hollywood celebrities. PublishAmerica did not put him on a cross-continent book
tour. PublishAmerica ran no advertising campaign for him. PublishAmerica didn't
get him on any TV or radio interviews.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"What about
your friend, the P.R. guy?" I said. "Get him to set up the TV and
radio interviews."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"He
quit!" Joe said. "He said he needed a job with a salary, so he quit
on me!"</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"Aw, that
sucks," I said. "I guess you'll have to do it yourself."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"Can you connect
me to another publisher?" he asked.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"No, and
that's for your own good," I said. "You signed a publishing contract
with PublishAmerica. PublishAmerica has the rights to publish your novel. You
can't sell those rights to anyone else unless PublishAmerica agrees to it. If
you do, you're breaking the contract, PublishAmerica will sue you, and you'll
wind up owing more money to them."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Joe went silent. I
think he finally realized that all the money would flow from him to
PublishAmerica. He had also lost control over his <i>magnum opus</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that moment, his dream of fame and fortune
crashed and burned like the <i>Hindenburg</i>, a bag of gas engulfed in flames.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"See you at
Fan Expo," I said as I ended the call.</span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: medium;">**</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Joe's
book appeared for a while on Amazon. It got one review, which said it awful.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Joe did not appear
at Ad Astra, Fan Expo, or any other science fiction convention. He never went
on a book tour or gave an interview on TV or radio. He disappeared completely
from the science fiction community, of which he was never a part.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Joe's writing
career died before it started for several reasons. First, he was too lazy to do
the work of a writer. For example, writers should fix their own grammar and
spelling errors before submitting their stories. The less work you make for the
editors, the higher your chances of getting your story accepted, and the better
your reputation as a talented writer. He also thought he was not responsible
for promoting his novel and expected his friend and his publisher to do that.
As most of us know, all that work falls on the author.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Second, Joe was
obsessed with celebrity status, which made him vulnerable to PublishAmerica's lies
of fame and fortune.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Third, despite all
the online warnings about PublishAmerica, Joe still signed with the most
notorious scam publisher in the world. What was he thinking?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">PublishAmerica
changed its name to America Star Books, also known as ASB Promotions, after one
of its founders sued the other founder. In 2017, America Star Books announced
that it would stop accepting new submissions, although the submissions page on
the PublishAmerica website (still using the old name) is still active. The rest
of the website hasn't been updated for years or goes to dead links. American
Star Books still exists as a corporation. It might still hold all the
contracts, thus holding the rights to its authors' books forever.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Although
PublishAmerica is mostly inactive, others like it have sprung up. Be sure to
check out Writer Beware on the SFWA website ( <a href="https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/">https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/</a> )</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPnx6E0W8LrXcSwK_Hdv3dkXYOnpinIMpnHiBGsSKGe1SqK-6G2ERW1jl2pTCrWtQLH_QdqhutSmCMfThNGCVNSpbCZSrDQLihndacku3jdGl4V5fMjMBpV0_6_PZt-uTsw_WCqmct-1vS/s735/Hindenburg_disaster.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="735" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPnx6E0W8LrXcSwK_Hdv3dkXYOnpinIMpnHiBGsSKGe1SqK-6G2ERW1jl2pTCrWtQLH_QdqhutSmCMfThNGCVNSpbCZSrDQLihndacku3jdGl4V5fMjMBpV0_6_PZt-uTsw_WCqmct-1vS/s320/Hindenburg_disaster.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: 48px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"At that moment, his dream of fame and fortune crashed and burned like the <i>Hindenburg</i>, a bag of gas engulfed in flames."</span></div></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></p>Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-27858656685440464222021-06-14T20:15:00.003-04:002021-06-14T20:29:13.195-04:00Science Fiction Publishers Do Not Want Your Memoirs of Garrison Duty at Petawawa<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpXihkDzHTv2Xq_bIPcSbDNLt3RCdAdmYOAAj2Xk67koIGw1oqDiranB5OnHRhbzLQShQyUkpKKA7x2G1B1T4f4dF5Itbvvz6zNXapQg4KFW6zrBLOV9_5XZPuHGUTFtlSpphifr7exNL/s1600/dome-smoke-fire-bombing-raid-St-Pauls-Cathedral-1940.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1205" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpXihkDzHTv2Xq_bIPcSbDNLt3RCdAdmYOAAj2Xk67koIGw1oqDiranB5OnHRhbzLQShQyUkpKKA7x2G1B1T4f4dF5Itbvvz6zNXapQg4KFW6zrBLOV9_5XZPuHGUTFtlSpphifr7exNL/s320/dome-smoke-fire-bombing-raid-St-Pauls-Cathedral-1940.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">The Blitz of London. science fiction publishers do not want your memoirs of the Blitz either.</div><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">I belong to a so-called military
organization that is actually a private non-government society for veterans,
serving officers, and some civilians (No, it's not the Legion. This one has
better beer.). There are a lot of military history buffs in this organization,
and of course, some of them want to write books. Some of the members know that
I write science fiction, so inevitably, they ask me how to get their book
published.</span></div></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">One of the conversations ran like this:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">UNPUBLISHED WRITER: I heard you got a book
published recently. I want to talk to you about the publisher.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">ME: Why?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">UNPUBLISHED WRITER: I want to write a
book. I want you to introduce me to the publisher.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">ME: Is it science fiction?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">UNPUBLISHED WRITER: No. It's a memoir of
my childhood growing up during the Blitz of London.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">ME: The publisher won't be interested in
it. It publishes only science fiction.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">UNPUBLISHED WRITER: Can you talk to them
about publishing my memoir, though? They should expand the type of books they
publish.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">ME: No, they won't. They've published only
science fiction and fantasy for 40 years. They've never published anything
else.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">UNPUBLISHED WRITER: You won't know until
you try. Talk to them.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">ME: Why don't you try to a publishing
company that publishes military history or historical memoirs?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> UNPUBLISHED WRITER: Do you know
anyone in those publishers?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> ME: No.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> UNPUBLISHED WRITER: Then talk to
your sci-fi publisher. Get them to publish history books.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I did not talk to the publisher about
expanding its product line just so this guy could publish his book about the
Blitz. And shockingly but maybe not surprisingly, he was just one of several members
of this distinguished organization to ask me to get a science fiction publisher
to publish their history books.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here's the hard truth: DAW, Baen, Del Rey,
and any other science fiction publisher do not want your memoirs of garrison
duty at Petawawa (or Borden or Shiloh or anywhere else). They do not want your
1,000-page analysis of the Prussian-Austrian War of 1866. They do not want your
book about bomber aircraft of World War II. They do not want your history of
ships' badges of the Royal Canadian Navy (or any other navy).</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">They're also not interested in books about
divorce and family crises, corruption in government, assault rifles, or
anything else that is unrelated to science fiction and fantasy.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Science fiction publishers want only
science fiction and fantasy. Don't waste my time or their time by trying to get
your irrelevant book to them. And don't ask them if they know any publishers
who would publish your book. Publishers, editors, and agents tend to have
snarky opinions about wannabe writers who don't do their homework.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Do your homework: research the writers'
markets and look for publishers that might want to see your type of book. Do
you know of books about similar subjects? See who has published them. And for
the love of God and yourself, find out and follow their submission guidelines.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You have to do your homework by yourself.
Nobody is going to hand you a publisher on a silver platter. If you survived nine
years in the Canadian military, you can figure out how to find publishers of
books like yours.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And if you didn't do any time in the
military, still do your homework. There are no exemptions for civilians.</span></span></p>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Note: the conversation about publishing the
Blitz of London book occurred in 2010. The book has still not been published.</span></div></span>Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-19791333915506444932020-12-21T20:40:00.004-05:002020-12-21T21:10:00.512-05:00The Year of Virtual Sci-Fi Conventions<p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhemhNZFKljHyfQ6SgIV2HvmbZt5LDAfYE2oSk9X1WJ4sBnyCpLNEZAer4FN21tJ5TNQuBpKFx5kLBTfkOWmkz2AVPDsH1YOmy8ZBWNnW6fB0XwJtJ3_qR9f5r58zd_CG5-DmAqQ-RRtPH8/s1907/CT-2020-St-John-panel.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1083" data-original-width="1907" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhemhNZFKljHyfQ6SgIV2HvmbZt5LDAfYE2oSk9X1WJ4sBnyCpLNEZAer4FN21tJ5TNQuBpKFx5kLBTfkOWmkz2AVPDsH1YOmy8ZBWNnW6fB0XwJtJ3_qR9f5r58zd_CG5-DmAqQ-RRtPH8/w388-h221/CT-2020-St-John-panel.jpg" width="388" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">With Steve Warren Hill and Nick Seidler, the hosts of Chicago TARDIS virtual convention, 2020</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>2020 has been the first year
in decades when I went to only one science fiction convention in person (Gallifrey
One in February). However, I did attend the virtual conventions that popped up,
and I've been impressed by how the fan-run conventions switched to virtual
programming so quickly. The virtual conventions let me talk to people I hadn't
been able to see for a long time. I got to watch Eric Choi's and Jeff DeLuzio's
panels at Penguicon, talk to Darrell Schweitzer about our favourite pretenders
to the Byzantine crown at Amazingcon (which began as a virtual convention from
year 1), and went to the Heinlein Society party at CoNZealand, and came in
third place at the SFWA Halloween Party's masquerade, which was followed by a
dance dejayed by John Scalzi. In November, I got to explain St. John Ambulance
logo to the </span><i>Doctor Who</i><span> fans at the virtual Chicago TARDIS.</span><span> </span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Using the new technology was
like the old days of fandom, when small groups of fans held conventions for
other fans and had to learn how to do things as they went along. At Amazingcon,
Ira Nayman appointed me to be the host of Darrell Schweitzer's reading on the
spot, so I suddenly had to learn how to let people into the Zoom room, how to
eject obscene interlopers (a duty that I did not have to perform, fortunately),
find a photo of Darrell online, and share the screen so the audience could look
at his photo during the reading. It was the first time I had to use any Zoom
control other than "Join with Video" or "Join with Computer
Audio". It was like the old days when one could suddenly be recruited to
staple the program book together on the first day of the convention.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">It was amazing how the fans
came together to run the virtual conventions. Chicago TARDIS did something no
other convention had tried: use Zoom for the panels, but instead of having the
audience all join the Zoom meeting, broadcast the Zoom panel to Facebook Live
and YouTube simultaneously, with tech staff collecting questions from the
audience and sending them to the panelists. The technical set-up was complex, which
I noticed during a tech test on Thursday night before the convention. Yet Chicago
TARDIS' unpaid volunteers rose to the challenge, and it all worked on the
weekend of the convention. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">We also noticed that our audience numbers went
up. Panels that would get double-digit attendance at in-person conventions saw
their audience numbers shoot up. At an in-person Chicago TARDIS, my St. John
Ambulance presentation would have gotten 30 people maximum if the room was
full. The virtual presentation got 1,400 viewers on Facebook Live and 222
viewers on YouTube.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Strangely, there is one
convention whose attendees adamantly refuse to hold virtual events: Anime
North. There is a very vocal group of Anime North attendees who oppose virtual
conventions and events on the Unofficial Anime North Facebook Group. They say
that holding a virtual event is "hurtful and insulting for us that Anime
North means a lot to" (their twisted grammar, not mine). They say that
virtual events are worse than having no events at all. People are who willing
to hold and attend virtual events say that the anti-virtual congoers can simply
stay away from the virtual events, but the anti-virtual group says that they
would be greatly offended if others zoom into a virtual convention. Anime North
attendees want either an in-person convention or no event at all. Anime
North did hold a short virtual event (a few panels) on Twitch in the summer.
However, it was barely publicized; indeed, the email and the sole Facebook post
that announced it did not even have a link to the Twitch account.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">However, Anime North cannot dictate what other
conventions will do. Although everyone prefers in-person conventions, a lot of
conventions and their organizers and attendees are willing to go virtual if
necessary. I predict that even after it becomes safe to hold in-person
conventions again, hybrid types of conventions will emerge. </span></p>Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-10394444169275064062018-09-03T15:41:00.002-04:002018-09-03T15:41:35.205-04:00Vote for Where the Stars Rise in the Aurora Awards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJhMQjGty3xnuYC8dQ6srXlVbDGMrSaiSpaoP9mdtIeF7NyJpt2xhRLAynUoAq_9f8Ig5gfCA7DJSVhTFkk9xbU2Gx0DCGUvQWUtnv9hUPtCzwwQNnu5KDoTY2Q7PEpa07krIhOcl2dVCN/s1600/Stars-Rise-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="585" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJhMQjGty3xnuYC8dQ6srXlVbDGMrSaiSpaoP9mdtIeF7NyJpt2xhRLAynUoAq_9f8Ig5gfCA7DJSVhTFkk9xbU2Gx0DCGUvQWUtnv9hUPtCzwwQNnu5KDoTY2Q7PEpa07krIhOcl2dVCN/s320/Stars-Rise-cover.jpg" width="218" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Canadian citizens and residents of Canada: The Aurora Awards voting ends in less than 5 days, on on Saturday, September 8. My anthology <i>Where the Stars Rise</i> (co-edited with <a aria-describedby="js_re" aria-owns="js_rd" class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=100010634294872&extragetparams=%7B%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010634294872&fref=mentions&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCQSlU1PGEqWwDNeMwLd5feGmWMU4THTj_FIpZTHhv4oP30X5inNlB-dmnJ3s71S4PrKy0I7SlSspschKExTWI7sSa5zDjZ_k2FLuEUi-U0lMYqbInjMqcdggda7Toz15Pq3MrcpK0dN9X3gxy9BjoXen9ft4y-AtOuL62jisKPsDEYmlmaHAU&__tn__=K-R" id="js_rf" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer;">Lucas K. Law</a>) is nominated for an Aurora Award in the category of Best Related Work. If you join the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA), you can get a pdf copy in the voter package. If you like Where the Stars Rise, please consider voting for it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Also, two short stories from <i>Where the Stars Rise</i> are on the ballot in the Short Story category: "Old Souls" by Fonda Lee and "Rose's Arm" by Calvin Jim. If you like them, vote for them too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As in previous years, there is a $10 membership fee to join the CSFFA , but the CSFFA covers the right to nominate works, vote for works, and to get the voter package of works.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To join the CSFFA, get your voter package, and vote, visit:</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://prixaurorawards.ca/">https://prixaurorawards.ca/</a></span></div>
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Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-69908163434313206782017-04-09T18:13:00.000-04:002017-04-09T18:13:52.425-04:00Nominate "Songbun" for the Aurora Award for Best Short Fiction - English<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAMuiCUToZgp5nS1be_1XcHAs7_K7xOw6TnEKyNH4Vscsc15VOTbnYn18MVP4y4BhG_jAZX2GkoPLbZlZ8fjoIf2wME9LVvgsEsdyLNoO4yYivxXn2XgQImMDZsFzEbSgaEqj__-sg-qkS/s1600/9780993969607+-+Strangers+Among+Us+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAMuiCUToZgp5nS1be_1XcHAs7_K7xOw6TnEKyNH4Vscsc15VOTbnYn18MVP4y4BhG_jAZX2GkoPLbZlZ8fjoIf2wME9LVvgsEsdyLNoO4yYivxXn2XgQImMDZsFzEbSgaEqj__-sg-qkS/s320/9780993969607+-+Strangers+Among+Us+cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Calling all Canadians citizens at home and abroad and permanent residents of Canada: our national science fiction awards, the Aurora Awards, are now open for nominations. This year, my short story "Songbun" is eligible to be nominated in the category of Best Short Fiction - English.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">"Songbun" was published in the anthology <i>Strangers Among Us: Tales of the Underdogs and Outcasts</i>, edited by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law, from Laksa Media Groups Inc. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">During the nomination period, "Songbun" will be available free on my website at <a href="http://www.derwinmaksf.com/Songbun.html">http://www.derwinmaksf.com/Songbun.html</a> or you can download a pdf <a href="http://www.derwinmaksf.com/Songbun-promo-rev.pdf">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> To learn more about the Aurora Awards and to nominate stories and individuals, visit:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/Membership/">http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) charges an annual $10 membership fee, so both new and returning members will be asked to pay $10 by Paypal. Renewing members can access the membership portal and make nominations after paying the membership fee. New members will receive a Society number by email and can go back to the Aurora Awards website and submit nominations. Nominees do not get any sort of monetary gain from the fees. The CSFFA is a non-profit organization, and its small budget, raised by the membership and voting fees, goes to administer the awards program and produce the trophies. $10 is a low price to promote national pride in our science fiction and to give a small reward to your favourite authors, artists, and fan organizers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The online nomination deadline is<span style="font-family: inherit;"> May 6, 2017</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b2b2b;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span></span></div>
Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-38335461574257044502016-12-22T08:27:00.002-05:002018-06-23T15:04:09.439-04:00The Curse of the Colonel: Fried Chicken, Baseball, and Christmas in Japan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This was originally a "briefing" that I gave to the Encampment of the Kentucky Colonels Toronto Command on April 26, 2013.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxVMXXadVAxmeasT1aDe8Q2tcx5MPL_21ulmW53Pjols0DfCYqTBrQaPqd0pfHn3I_82XlrIR0U5NWQbftOxxzRqtsBMJND6r1UfgpowT1cemC8z8OYsmyOLfgSXU3DCFM2sYA3N7v2yVd/s1600/KFC-Japanese-Christmas-Christmas-Chicken-JAL-Airline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxVMXXadVAxmeasT1aDe8Q2tcx5MPL_21ulmW53Pjols0DfCYqTBrQaPqd0pfHn3I_82XlrIR0U5NWQbftOxxzRqtsBMJND6r1UfgpowT1cemC8z8OYsmyOLfgSXU3DCFM2sYA3N7v2yVd/s400/KFC-Japanese-Christmas-Christmas-Chicken-JAL-Airline.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Japan Airlines serves Kentucky for Christmas</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The most famous Kentucky Colonel, Harland Sanders, the inventor
of Kentucky Fried Chicken, is usually seen as a benevolent figure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Who can think that Colonel Sanders can do any harm, with his
grandfatherly appearance, his two large charitable foundations, and a life free
of scandal, unlike that of most of today's celebrities?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But, like King Tutankhamun, there is a curse associated with
him. It involves two of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Japan</st1:country-region>'s
great traditions: baseball and fried chicken at Christmas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Japanese are quite adept at taking foreign traditions
and turning them into their own. Baseball is one of these. They saw Americans
playing it in the nineteenth century and adopted it as their own national
sport. <st1:country-region w:st="on">Japan</st1:country-region>, like the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region>,
has two professional baseball leagues, the Central League and the Pacific
League, who play each other for the Japan Series, their version of the World
Series. Baseball is so popular that there are even soap operas and comic books
about baseball teams.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Let's talk about fried chicken. The Japanese first noticed fried chicken when they saw
American soldiers eating it during the Occupation after World War II. KFC soon
followed the <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> military
into <st1:country-region w:st="on">Japan</st1:country-region>.
Thus they associated fried chicken with the <st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the 1970's, foreigners looking for turkey for Christmas
dinner could not find any turkey in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Japan</st1:country-region>. Instead, they ordered fried
chicken from KFC. KFC saw an advertising gimmick here and launched an campaign
called "<st1:place w:st="on">Kentucky</st1:place>
for Christmas", which promoted the false idea that fried chicken is a
traditional American Christmas dinner.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"<st1:state w:st="on">Kentucky</st1:state>
for Christmas" became wildly popular, and today, you need reservations to
go to KFC on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. If you don't make a reservation,
you might wait 2 hours in line. You can even get a Christmas dinner of fried
chicken, cake, and champagne on Christmas at KFC.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5MkRbFVyEJ19vlv3GfApqXRT2RutEekOkBbJCHZoC9v-zdWz2kWqw4Pzs84zObm8da3cfzOGocvKtfce83vjaDw-3ZWfJ8risOjmkICPxsikP-DhtX2jr1DwkcU_-akcN-uqEX5udqZWc/s1600/menu_a_s_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5MkRbFVyEJ19vlv3GfApqXRT2RutEekOkBbJCHZoC9v-zdWz2kWqw4Pzs84zObm8da3cfzOGocvKtfce83vjaDw-3ZWfJ8risOjmkICPxsikP-DhtX2jr1DwkcU_-akcN-uqEX5udqZWc/s320/menu_a_s_01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Kentucky for Christmas advertisement</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You might wonder how Christmas became a big holiday in a
country where less than 1 per cent of the population is Christian. That's
because the Japanese adopted Christmas and turned it into a second Valentine's
Day. If you hear a Japanese song about a lonely girl who has nobody to spend
Christmas with, it's not that she doesn't have a family to visit. It's that she
has no boyfriend who will take her out to KFC, the most romantic restaurant in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Japan</st1:country-region>.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoG4RF-UPpkpgCO_KiSfiPRKjzA51TTzsgb0CI2uYvGUjrS_dA3QyHNOVWvqVG7lhm5DCB6h47CPpgIcOyc0Usj61h9PvyzgmsfyfaDIW7eu3PPXcK8WAvsfKFqwRbCTw2wGKoyTECsB-k/s1600/KFC-Japanese-Christmas-Girl-With-Bucket-Looking-Chuffed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoG4RF-UPpkpgCO_KiSfiPRKjzA51TTzsgb0CI2uYvGUjrS_dA3QyHNOVWvqVG7lhm5DCB6h47CPpgIcOyc0Usj61h9PvyzgmsfyfaDIW7eu3PPXcK8WAvsfKFqwRbCTw2wGKoyTECsB-k/s320/KFC-Japanese-Christmas-Girl-With-Bucket-Looking-Chuffed.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Kentucky for Christmas advertisement</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So how did the Curse of the Colonel arise?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In 1985, the baseball team the Hanshin Tigers won the Japan
Series. An American first baseman on their team, Randy Bass, was a major reason
for their victory.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Wild celebrations broke out in <st1:city w:st="on">Osaka</st1:city>. Tigers fans gathered on a bridge
across a river. A fan who resembled a Tigers player jumped into the river.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nobody in the crowd resembled Randy Bass, who was an
American with a beard. However, a fan stole a life-size plastic statue of
Colonel Sanders from a nearby KFC and threw it into the river.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwShXQC_QHOu5hZ0pFdcaPRLcRc26a4ti-fdVB9davu2gFrw-z3TV9q5kBZcd6AYzHlc_xnkIBzHoCxZSsizRXDb9Vs_2oNch7rT-k2mf3v07E9BWHN2kohz9Duc9n-37Ng1zKCE-5WSrA/s1600/kentuckycurse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwShXQC_QHOu5hZ0pFdcaPRLcRc26a4ti-fdVB9davu2gFrw-z3TV9q5kBZcd6AYzHlc_xnkIBzHoCxZSsizRXDb9Vs_2oNch7rT-k2mf3v07E9BWHN2kohz9Duc9n-37Ng1zKCE-5WSrA/s1600/kentuckycurse.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggeYPYgdKvbi4US3UF9PXA696X4WS2MLu-1liKKzyiaXhl9wJ8AtY-fHzc-us9-jlxbeIcPxuXsBQj_N-Ht44BIlGDCmNEPagzb43kyJF9EKg_uC0w0Z0kLcRJ3O08M9NAbfaXkZvmXbIM/s1600/sanderscurse_deadspin.flv.jpg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggeYPYgdKvbi4US3UF9PXA696X4WS2MLu-1liKKzyiaXhl9wJ8AtY-fHzc-us9-jlxbeIcPxuXsBQj_N-Ht44BIlGDCmNEPagzb43kyJF9EKg_uC0w0Z0kLcRJ3O08M9NAbfaXkZvmXbIM/s1600/sanderscurse_deadspin.flv.jpg.png" /></a></div>
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Kansai Tigers fans throw Colonel Sanders into the river.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Unfortunately, the Hanshin Tigers never won the Japan Series
again. Hence, a legend developed that Colonel Sanders had cursed the team and
that they would not win again until the statue was recovered.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tigers fans apologized to the KFC store owner, but still,
the Kansai Tigers kept failing to win the Central League Championship, much
less the Japan Series.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Numerous TV shows broadcast attempts to find the Colonel, but
all such attempts failed, to the dismay of Tigers fans.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The years passed. Colonel Sanders died in 1980, leaving
behind two charitable foundations and a Christmas tradition in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Japan</st1:country-region>. Randy
Bass became a baseball legend in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Japan</st1:country-region>, left the sport in 1988, and
was elected to the Oklahoma State Senate in 2004. The Hanshin Tigers continued
to lose the championship.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU8vv6hvwNGtUCKKsR3Gvb-4ksgq7O4Pq5-nb5m5IuGRynDIChL5bgbcUE1FkMpThQl85Kasgqs7lhK_DK2j6_JAhWqhD8mSO9K0cIyG15Z6DNPn-VHlnLgwM2EHjfxZyOPo1unqpBECMk/s1600/bass_bio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU8vv6hvwNGtUCKKsR3Gvb-4ksgq7O4Pq5-nb5m5IuGRynDIChL5bgbcUE1FkMpThQl85Kasgqs7lhK_DK2j6_JAhWqhD8mSO9K0cIyG15Z6DNPn-VHlnLgwM2EHjfxZyOPo1unqpBECMk/s1600/bass_bio.jpg" /></a></div>
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State Senator Randy Bass</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The curse seemed to lift in 2003. After 18 years, the Tigers
finally won the Central League Championship again. This time, 5,300 Tigers fans
jumped off the bridge and into the river. Everyone thought the curse was over.
But it was not: the Tigers lost the Japan Series.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tigers fans intensified their efforts to find the Colonel. Finally,
in March 2009, divers thought they saw a dead body at the bottom of the river.
But Tigers fans knew better: that was the missing Colonel. The divers recovered
the statue, which had lost both hands and the glasses over the previous 24
years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The divers found the right hand a day later, but the left
hand and glasses are still missing.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaY1JYWaB9kAfvU789NMYKqd88FAjRK3jy0OOaamR8TzyYu9jj9c5tz_AnmvJ8S6rsYJ7ASf-s2J2IrldDHFv7JhMebVSJa8mAGaLqB5hlxwKbgU7bnM5SHQY5JxCa7CXDzhfHuhCnOUaU/s1600/Curse_of_the_Colonel_DSCN7774_20090921.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaY1JYWaB9kAfvU789NMYKqd88FAjRK3jy0OOaamR8TzyYu9jj9c5tz_AnmvJ8S6rsYJ7ASf-s2J2IrldDHFv7JhMebVSJa8mAGaLqB5hlxwKbgU7bnM5SHQY5JxCa7CXDzhfHuhCnOUaU/s1600/Curse_of_the_Colonel_DSCN7774_20090921.JPG" /></a></div>
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The Colonel Restored (but missing his left hand.)</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Still, the Tigers' losing streak continued. They have yet to
win either the Central League Championship or the Japan Series again. Japanese
baseball fans say that the curse will never end until the left hand and glasses
are found.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The moral of this story: never throw a Kentucky Colonel into
a river. Never underestimate a Colonel's supernatural power to control the fate
of your baseball team.</span></div>
Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-7588204854961811092016-05-22T15:06:00.001-04:002016-05-22T15:06:13.401-04:00Anime North 2016: my schedule<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.animenorth.com/live/">Anime North</a>, Toronto's largest fun-run anime convention, is almost upon us. Once again, I'll be speaking at the following panels:</span><div>
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Friday at 2000 (8:00 pm) in Hamilton (International Plaza Hotel): Getting Published: Self or Traditional?</div>
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Friday at 2100 (9:00 pm) in Hamilton Room (International Plaza Hotel):</div>
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Writers' Autograph Session A</div>
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Sunday at 1100 (11:00 am) in Hamilton Room (International Plaza Hotel):</div>
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World and Characters Building</div>
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<div>
Sunday at 1300 (1:00 pm) in Hamilton (International Plaza Hotel):</div>
<div>
Writers' autograph Session B</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Sunday at 1500 (3:00 pm) in Hamilton (International Plaza Hotel):</div>
<div>
How to Impress or Annoy Editors</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</span></div>
Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-44604085611135404332016-05-22T14:48:00.000-04:002016-05-22T14:48:16.828-04:00AlliterAsian: Twenty Years of Ricepaper Magazine book signing in Toronto, Tuesday, May 24, 2016<br />
<a href="https://hongkong.library.utoronto.ca/event/evening-celebrating-publication-alliterasian"><span style="font-size: large;">https://hongkong.library.utoronto.ca/event/evening-celebrating-publication-alliterasian</span></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>AlliterAsian: Twenty Years of Ricepaper Magazine</i> will have a Toronto book signing at the Richard Charles Lee Hong Kong-Canada Library, in the Robarts Library, 8 th floor, University of Toronto, 130 St. George Street, on Tuesday, May 24, 2016, at 6:00 p.m. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Joy Kogawa, Sky Lee, Terry Watada, and I will be there.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>AlliterAsian</i> is an anthology of articles, interviews, and fiction from <i>Ricepaper</i>, the major magazine of Asian Canadian art and culture. It republishes my story "It Came to Eat Our Chicken Wings", about a Chinese American Hooters Girl who meets an alien at a car show, originally published in <i>Ricepaper</i> in 2002.</span><br />
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Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-60390693126213867712016-04-26T22:52:00.001-04:002016-04-26T22:52:32.546-04:00My Ad Astra 2016 Schedule<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">My schedule of events at <a href="http://www.ad-astra.org/">Ad Astra Science Fiction Convention</a>, at the Sheraton Parkway North Toronto Hotel in Richmond Hill, Ontario:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Friday, April 29,
2016, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Diversity
and Equality in Cosplaying</b><i> - Markham B</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">What
are some important considerations to take into account when cosplaying to
recognize diversity and equality? In recent years, cross-race or gender
costuming has become more common, but it can have many pitfalls. Learn how to
avoid the most common mistakes that lead to problematic cosplaying and be respectful,
but also how to think outside the box in ways that challenge notions of
traditional cosplay. With: Lady Di, Todd Clark.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Saturday, </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">April 30,
2016, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Star
Trek: The First Fandom</b><i> - Markham A</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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These
days it's easy to forget that there's one science fiction and fantasy
property that you can trace the entirety of fandom - convention culture,
fanfiction, message boards and online discussion, and celebrity
worship, among other things - back to. It's Star Trek, which is this
year celebrating it's 50th anniversary. What was it about Star Trek that
drew fans into it's orbit in a way that no other science fiction or
fantasy universe had before? Why has Star Trek seemed to have lost it's
centrality to fan communities even as fandom itself has begun to
dominate mainstream media and lifestyles? Let's talk about and celebrate
Star Trek and it's place in fandom history. - See more at:
http://adastra.shdlr.com/grid#sthash.pxEkOugd.dpuf</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">These
days it's easy to forget that there's one science fiction and fantasy property
that you can trace the entirety of fandom - convention culture, fanfiction,
message boards and online discussion, and celebrity worship, among other things
- back to. It's Star Trek, which is this year celebrating it's 50th
anniversary. What was it about Star Trek that drew fans into it's orbit in a
way that no other science fiction or fantasy universe had before? Why has Star
Trek seemed to have lost it's centrality to fan communities even as fandom
itself has begun to dominate mainstream media and lifestyles? Let's talk about
and celebrate Star Trek and it's place in fandom history. With: </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Anatoly Belilovski, Cathy Hird, Derwin Mak</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Saturday, </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">April 30,
2016, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Diverse
SFF Islamophobia and the War of the Worlds</b><i> - Newmarket</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">World
governments are lining up to intervene in Syria; the refugee crisis in the
Middle East and North Africa has provoked a surge in Islamophobia in the West;
and veterans and victims of the 'war on terror' are contending with
life-changing injuries. This panel discusses the role SFF can play in
disrupting the media myth of a 'clash of civilizations'. Can SFF help challenge
the way race and religion are used to demonize others and perpetuate
geopolitical conflicts? When human rights concerns over disability, gender and
sexual orientation are marshaled as arguments to go to war, can - or should -
SFF reflect and re-frame these debates? With: </span>C</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">athy Hird, Jane Ann McLachlan, Naomi Foyle</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Saturday, </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">April 30,
2016, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Saturday
Evening Science Fiction Reading</b><i> - Oakridge </i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Hear me read an excerpt from my new story "Songbun". I share this time slot with<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Alyx Dellamonica, Kelly Robson, and Madeline Ashby.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sunday, May 1,
2016, 10:00 am - 11:00 am<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>What Can
Your DNA Tell You?</b><i> - Newmarket</i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So
companies like 23andMe now offer average Canadians the ability to better
understand their own genetic information, to learn something about themselves
from their DNA. But how is this useful? Healthcare professionals have expressed
concerns about decisions people could make based on risks of diseases or
illnesses that lie in their genetic information. Others are fascinated by what
it can tell us about family lineages and history. This panel is a place to
discuss the implications of what our DNA can teach us and the value in knowing,
and the things that this technology might offer us in the future. With: JF Garrard.</span></span></div>
Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-12138930107780900982015-11-18T22:44:00.000-05:002015-11-18T22:44:05.053-05:00SFContario 2015: My Schedule<span style="font-size: large;">I'll be at<a href="http://sfcontario.ca/"> SFContario</a>, a science fiction convention at the Ramada Plaza Hotel, at 300 Jarvis Street in downtown Toronto, this weekend (November 20-23, 2015). Here is my schedule of events:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Mass Autograph Signing</b> - Friday, 8 PM, Ballroom C / the Hallway</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Science Fiction in China</b>-
Saturday 12 PM, Courtyard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Science fiction is booming in China
as the country experiences unprecedented economic growth, an increasingly
liberal society, and a new space program. Derwin Mak shows an illustrated
presentation of the history of science fiction in China, its new writers,
what’s being published there, and the growth of the largest SF fandom community
in the world. </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Derwin Mak.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Fantasy in the Rest of the World</b> - Saturday 2 PM, Room 209<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Africa, the Middle East,
Asia, and South America are fertile foundations for medieval fantasy, but most
of what’s out there is based on European traditions and myths. Who is doing the
best at exploring other areas? What other cultures and histories offer
opportunities for the aspiring writer?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Saladin Ahmed, Cathy Hird,
Derwin Mak(M), Rati Mehrotra, Bob R. Milne;</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Properly Praising Your Panelist</b> -
Saturday 6 PM, Room 209<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We've all seen and/or dealt
with rude/obnoxious/abusive panelists and audience members at cons, but are
there any guidelines for how to deal with such issues appropriately? The
moderator who really doesn't want a particular panelist to speak; the audience
member who interrupts a panelist, and the panelists who condone it; the
programming co-ordinator who insists that pro panelists jump through ridiculous
hoops to do what they came to do. What can we do?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Beverly Bambury, Derwin Mak,
Matt Moore; </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Reading</b> - Saturday 8 - 8:30 PM,
Room 207</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-36679832250381193882015-09-26T16:26:00.000-04:002015-09-26T16:26:01.849-04:00Vote for "Mecha-Jesus" in the Aurora Awards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">My story "Mecha-Jesus" is on the ballot for Best Short Fiction - English in the Aurora Awards. "Mecha-Jesus" is a story about a Japanese town that uses an android of Jesus as a tourist attraction. It was published in <i>Wrestling With Gods: Tesseracts Eighteen</i>, edited by Liana Kerzner and Jerome Stueart.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">You can vote in the Aurora Awards if you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">If you are already a member of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA), "Mecha-Jesus" is in your voter's package. You can also read or download it free here online during the voting period:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.derwinmaksf.com/Mecha-Jesus.html">http://www.derwinmaksf.com/Mecha-Jesus.html</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Members of the CSFFA may vote in the Aurora Awards. It costs only $10 to join the CSFFA. To join the CSFFA and vote, or if you are already a member and wish to vote, go to:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/">http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">The voting deadline is Saturday, October 17th 2015 at midnight EDT. Read "Mecha-Jesus", and if you like it, please vote for it.</span></div>
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Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-21707776122675026712015-09-09T08:12:00.000-04:002015-09-09T08:14:18.898-04:00The 10 People You Will Always See At Fan Expo (or Any Large Comic Con)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Fan
Expo, Canada's largest exhibition for fans of media and gaming-based science
fiction and fantasy, has come and gone for another year. If you've gone to Fan
Expo or other major "comic cons" of its type for a few years, you
will notice the same types of people over and over. Here, in no particular
order, are ten people you will always see at Fan Expo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">1. The B-Actor<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">He
will never walk the red carpet at Cannes or TIFF or Sundance, but at Fan Expo,
he's treated like a superstar because geeks remember him from a TV show that
was cancelled years ago. It's great that he has fans who remember him. He has
given them some of their best geek memories; now they can repay him by honouring him (and by buying autographs and photo ops).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Alas,
he's still petitioning his show's creators to revive the show thirty years
later. He doesn't realize that if a reboot occurs, it'll have a new cast who is
30 years younger than him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">2. The Purist<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">The
Purist is usually male, though rare exceptions exist. This is the guy who hates
Johnny Storm being black in the 2015 <i>Fantastic
Four</i> movie, is horrified that the Hulk will be Korean American, and
condemns the Kamala Khan Miss Marvel as "political correctness"
imposed by SJW's (Social Justice Warriors). He argues that all these changes
are heresies against "canon". To him, fictional universes should
remain unchanged forever, never to be re-interpreted, as immutable as Holy
Scriptures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Yet
he'll be first in line to get an autograph from Katie Sakhoff, whom he thinks
was great as Starbuck in <i>Battlestar
Galactica</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">3. The White Guy with the Asian Fetish<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">He's
here because many anime cosplayers are East Asian women, thanks to Toronto's
multicultural society. He constantly talks about how much he loves
"Asian" culture and "Asian" women as if China, Japan,
Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines are all one homogenous
society. He fantasizes about showing the Chinese girl how much he loves her
culture by taking her out for kimchi and watching anime with her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">But
despite how much he loves Asian women, he will NEVER vote for Olivia Chow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">4. The Jealous Cosplayer <o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">This
is usually a woman. The Jealous Cosplayer rants that <i>Heroes of Cosplay</i> doesn't portray "the community"
accurately and that not everyone is a celebrity like Yaya Han and that the
show's producers have ignored and insulted the majority of cosplayers. She
sounds like she's criticizing a reality show for not being a documentary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">In
reality, she's just jealous that she's not on it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">5. The Fake Geek Boy<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">This
is the photographer who has no interest in science fiction, fantasy, horror,
comics, or games, yet he always comes to Fan Expo to take photographs of attractive
female cosplayers. He thinks Fan Expo is better than the CHIN Bikini Contest
because Fan Expo runs for four days, not just one afternoon. He's not
interested in the costumes at all; he's just interested in what's inside the
costume.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">But
although some men question a woman's "geek cred" at science fiction
conventions, no one will challenge a Fake Geek Boy's geek cred because he is a
man with a long telephoto lens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">6. The Male Photographer of Females
Cosplayers Only<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">This
person is NOT to be confused with the Fake Geek Boy (see #5). This photographer
has extensive geek cred, for example, by knowing every version of the costumes
of Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Psylocke, and other female characters. That's
because he photographs only female cosplayers. If there's a cosplay pair that
belongs together, for example, Little Mac and Zero Suit Samus, he'll ask the
male to step aside and photograph only the female.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Guys,
it's okay to take photographs of male cosplayers. Nobody is going to think you
don't like girls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">7. The Browncoat<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">This
is often a woman, though not always. She thinks Joss Whedon is the greatest
writer and TV show producer ever. She gets angry if you say that Buffy is a
poor role model for women because the vampire slayer always wants abusive
relationships with handsome bad boys. She rationalizes the lack of Asian
characters on <i>Firefly</i> as some sort of
post-racial utopia. She doesn't realize that <i>Firefly</i> is a sci-fi version of the Lost Cause myth of the
Confederate States of America. She seriously thinks Joss Whedon is a feminist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Browncoats
talks about Joss Whedon in the same way that evangelical Christians talk about
Jesus. Both teams are smug in their superiority but preach for different gods.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">8. The Bored Boyfriend<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">This
is the guy who's always saying, "How long do we have to stay in
line?", "What are we lining up for?", "Who cares about a
photo op?", and "This stuff is all so stupid" to his girlfriend
when they're in line. As he waits in line with her, he's thinking of how he can
convert his girl away from this geeky stuff and make her normal, the perfect
girlfriend who will serve beer and wings to him as he watches baseball.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">He's
upset because his girlfriend hasn't learned the first rule of relationships:
girls are supposed accompany their guys and do things that interest the guys,
but guys have no obligation to accompany their girls and do things that
interest girls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">9. The Anti-Intellectual<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">This
person is often male, though females exist but are not as outspoken. The
Anti-Intellectual brags that he would rather watch science fiction than read
it. If he reads anything, it's comics. There's nothing wrong with preferring
movies, TV, and comics over novels and short stories. But the Anti-Intellectual
brags about his disdain for books (except graphic novels) as if it makes him
cool. He thinks he's a geek version of a hipster. Don’t bother talking to this
guy about intersectionality in Nalo Hopkinson's stories. The most profound
literary theme he can understand is that Bruce Wayne has psychological problems
because Joker killed his parents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Alas,
the Anti-Intellectual is a symptom of how science fiction fandom has become
like the general public. Remember, Toronto is the city that elected Rob Ford as
Mayor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">10. The Blue Jays Fan<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">This
person can be either male or female. He or she is not actually attending Fan
Expo but passing by the convention centre on his/her way to the baseball game
(There's ALWAYS a Blue Jays game on during Fan Expo). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The
Blue Jays Fan often thinks that people who wear costumes are silly. He or she
will make this judgement while wearing a baseball jersey with the name and
number of a favourite player on its back.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-32379260460973112602015-04-18T16:54:00.000-04:002015-04-18T22:25:39.719-04:00I Gave Vox Day What He Wanted, But It Backfired On Him<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3XQsnffDvQmdqCnXbLAjcFtdNiVrbXN8zKXbBpxJZegRNYH_m7TlKal0QKW4umKPp7GChfg4cE3YwfCS-in3OliVBdifJW0uhKC0roCXJb1qyNWHqTj7RbGlQ4I6R1jCgNV0Lk4wif_Uw/s1600/Opera+Vita+Aeterna+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3XQsnffDvQmdqCnXbLAjcFtdNiVrbXN8zKXbBpxJZegRNYH_m7TlKal0QKW4umKPp7GChfg4cE3YwfCS-in3OliVBdifJW0uhKC0roCXJb1qyNWHqTj7RbGlQ4I6R1jCgNV0Lk4wif_Uw/s1600/Opera+Vita+Aeterna+cover.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I
don't usually tell why I <i>didn't</i> vote
for a particular story on the Hugo Awards ballot, but this time, I will. The
reason: the novelette "Opera Vita Aeterna" became the catalyst for
the Rabid and Sad Puppies controversy at the Hugo Awards of 2015.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">There
are already many articles online about the Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies, so I
won't repeat the news of the 2015 Hugo Awards controversy. Many of these
articles give the impression that the Puppies only recently succeeded in
getting their nominees on the ballot, but they had already scored a smaller
victory a year earlier. "Opera Vita Aeterna", written by Vox Day,
leader of the Rabid Puppies, got onto the 2014 ballot. It was the first time that
most science fiction fans had heard of Vox Day. They soon discovered his
racist, misogynist and homophobic rants against liberals, minorities,
immigrants, women, feminists, Moslems, Jews, and LGBT persons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The
victory was short-lived, though. "Opera Vita Aeterna" did not win the
Hugo. This loss seems to have whipped Vox Day, his Rabid Puppies, and the
allied Sad Puppies into action. The Puppies had existed before 2014, but it
wasn't until "Opera Vita Aeterna" lost after coming so close to
winning a Hugo that Puppy outrage coalesced into the successful bloc
nominations of 2015.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The
leaders of both Puppy campaigns complain (ostensibly, at first) that science
fiction fans and writers vote for stories based on the political ideas of their
authors, not on the merits of the stories themselves. The Puppies view the
science fiction community as dominated by the Left: liberals, leftists,
feminists, atheists, ethnic minorities, immigrants, non-white people, and LGBT people. They also think
the Left is preventing stories by conservative, white men from winning science
fiction awards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Readers
should vote for the stories themselves, not their authors' political opinions,
argued the Puppies. This is a noble sentiment; who can disagree when the
purpose of literary awards is to recognize the quality of work, not the
personal opinions of the authors?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">However,
the Puppies' grievances were flawed. George R.R. Martin, in his blog post, <a href="http://www.waif.xyz/author_blog_posts/8180585-where-s-the-beef">"Where's
the Beef?"</a>, shows that stories by conservative, white men actually do
get nominated or win the Hugo Awards much more frequently than the Puppies
allege, including in recent years. White males, including conservative ones, are certainly not endangered in the science fiction community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Certainly,
stories by more diverse writers have won awards in recent years, but white
males still continue to dominate the genre. Nonetheless, the Puppies feel
threatened, which happens easily to them. It's my experience with Puppy types
that they view just two Alien Others as a massive, hostile invasion (The optimum
level of Alien Others is one, who serves as a token that the Puppies can use to
claim that they are not really racist or sexist or homophobic.).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It
also became apparent later that the Puppies' noble philosophy of literary
quality was but a smokescreen for their true intentions. After the 2015 ballot
was announced, they soon abandoned their pleas to judge stories on their own
merits. Now they said that they were fighting for "ideological
diversity" (in Brad Torgersen's words in his blog post <a href="https://bradrtorgersen.wordpress.com/2015/04/12/flaming-rage-nozzles-of-tolerance/">"Flaming
Rage Nozzles of Tolerance"</a>). In other words, they finally admitted
that they thought that the author's ideology mattered more than the story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">That
is the 2015 controversy. In 2014, "Opera Vita Aeterna" caused some
angst among the science fiction fans and writers who care about the Hugo
Awards. How could a story written by such an odious person come so close to
winning our genre's most prestigious award (Well, I personally think that the
Nebulas are our most prestigious award, but mine's is a minority opinion)? Some
people declared that they would not read his novelette, assuming that it would
be filled with his offensive opinions. Of course, Vox Day wore these criticisms
like a badge of honour and frequently blogged that the Left was bullying him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">But
I gave Vox Day what he <i>said</i> he
wanted. I read all the stories in the novelette category before voting. I
judged all the novelettes on their own merits, not by their authors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Alas,
it backfired for Vox Day. I found his story to be worst in the lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">What "Opera Vita Aeterna"
Isn't and Is<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">First,
let's deal with the elephant in the room. Is "Opera Vita Aeterna"
racist, misogynist, homophobic, or fascist? Despite its author's reputation,
"Opera Vita Aeterna" is not a rant against liberals, minorities,
immigrants, women, feminists, Moslems, Jews, LGBT, or any of Vox Day's targets.
I know that some people say that no story is completely free of influence of
its author, and I agree to an extent. But I also think that the amount of an
author's personal opinions in a story can vary considerably from author to
author and from story to story by the same author.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Unlike
his blog, Vox Day's "Opera Vita Aeterna" is free of his controversial
ideas. The story takes place in a fantasy world based on medieval Europe (How
original. Yes, that was sarcasm). An elf named Bessarias of Elebrion shows up
at a monastery of the human monks of the Ordo Sancti Dioscuri, a thinly-veiled
Roman Catholic order. The human monks have little reason to like Bessarias, who
describes himself as the most powerful sorcerer in the area. Indeed, humans and
elves disdain and dislike each other over cultural and religious differences.
Nonetheless, the monks give him food and lodging as they would with any other
traveller in the harsh winter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Bessarias,
originally only a temporary guest waiting for the weather to get better,
extends his stay repeatedly. He eventually becomes a permanent resident of the
monastery. Although he does not convert to the human religion, he spends his
time copying and illuminating religious manuscripts for the monastery's
archives. He also befriends Father Waleran, the Abbott of the Order. Occasionally,
Bessarias and Waleran discuss theology over a glass of wine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Vox
Day's interest in theology, especially the Roman Catholic type, is obvious in
this story. The author's own personal ideas and interests do influence the
story but not in the way that many people had thought.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">But What About the Story?<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I
like religious-themed science fiction and fantasy stories. My own stories revolve around Roman Catholic, Christian, Shinto, and Buddhist themes. But I
didn't enjoy "Opera Vita Aeterna".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">First,
the story lacks any tension or conflict. Bessarias, apparently a powerful
sorcerer, never practices his magic and never threatens to do so, and
therefore, doesn't conflict with the human monks, who abhor elvish sorcery. Why
introduce two opposing forces when they simply agree to do nothing for the
whole story?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The
characters really don't have any conflict at all. They spend their time
discussing wine and theology and manuscript illumination. Nobody strongly
disagrees with anyone. Nobody threatens anyone. Nobody betrays anyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">There
is a demon named Mastema, who appears in the form of cute woodland creatures
such as a fox, squirrel, or rabbit. Mastema goes to the gate of the monastery
from time to time to ask Bessarias to return to the elf city. Bessarias says
no, and Mastema leaves until the next time. That's all Mastema does. The demon
is hardly demonic. A racoon overturning a garbage can would be more
threatening.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The Greatest Sin of All<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Secondly,
the story's ending has no relationship to the rest of the story. After the
characters have spent years of tasting wine, talking about theology, and
illuminating manuscripts, the story ends in violence that isn't caused by any
of the characters or by any of the plot events that preceded it. The ending is
a <i>deus ex machina</i> that simply occurs
to get rid of some characters and end the narrative. Actually, the ending
doesn't really qualify as a <i>deus ex
machina</i> because a <i>deus ex machina</i>
is supposed to resolve a conflict, and no conflict had been brewing in this
story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">(To
say more about the ending would be a spoiler.).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">An
ending that simply happens, with no causal relationship to the preceding plot,
is an error made by a beginning writer. I expected better from a Hugo-nominated
story. The other stories didn't commit this sin of storytelling. So I voted for
one of the other novelettes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Left, Right, or Hybrid<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">If
Vox Day or any Puppies are reading this blog post, they are probably searching
for information about me, looking for evidence of leftist, liberal,
politically-correct, social justice warrior mentality. For all their talk about
judging stories by literary merit, the Puppies have never discussed the
literary qualities of stories by liberal authors (or authors whom they have
branded as liberals). Instead, they constantly criticize the authors for their
political ideas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I
edited <i>The Dragon and the Stars</i>, the
first anthology of science fiction and fantasy by overseas Chinese authors, and
some of my stories have had Chinese characters. I have challenged white male
authors who insist that they should continue labelling minorities with names
such as "Negro", "Wog", "Chinaman", and
"Indian" (for Native Americans) because such terms were
"socially acceptable in the past," despite such terms never being socially
acceptable for the people whom they described. I'm sure that the Puppies
consider these acts to be politically-correct, anti-white liberalism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I
turned Jesus into a teenaged girl and sent her shopping for lingerie and
clothes in my novel <i>The Moon Under Her
Feet</i>. I'm sure that the Puppies will consider my novel to be an attack on
Christianity. If they bother to read the novel, they would think otherwise,
though.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Finally,
I was an author guest (albeit a minor one) at Gaylacticon when it was held in
Toronto. I also entered the masquerade contest as Dick Cheney on Brokeback
Mountain (a story for another time). I'm sure that the Puppies will consider
these antics to be social justice warmongering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">But,
alas, the truth about me is much more complex. A few left-wing Canadian authors
and editors have criticized me for attending the occasional Roman Catholic mass
voluntarily because, in their opinion, <i>any</i>
person of a Christian faith is an intolerant, backwards bigot. Fortunately,
these haters are few, but they are vocal online.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">My
story "Cloned to Kill" received the Catholic Writers Guild's Seal of
Approval, as did all the stories in the anthology <i>Infinite Space, Infinite God II</i>, thanks to our editor. The Catholic
Writers Guild thinks that "Cloned to Kill" promotes Catholic ideas, and
it does, on the nature of humanity and the meaning of baptism. However,
left-wing authors and editors usually don't apply for the Catholic Writers
Guild's Seal of Approval.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Then
there's the medal of a Grand Associate of Brother Andre that I received from
St. Joseph's Oratory, a large basilica in Montreal. It's not a Papal
decoration, but it's not anything awarded at Wiscon either.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">My
interest in military history has also raised some eyebrows with some left-wing
Canadian authors. I'm a vice-chair of the Library Committee of the Royal
Canadian Military Institute. Interesting trivia: I was one of two persons who
wore a dress uniform at the Hugo Awards night at Chicon in 2012. The other person
was the future Sad Puppy Brad Torgersen, in his U.S. Army Reserve dress blue
uniform. He might not remember me, but we chatted briefly about our respective
uniforms in the hallway outside the SFWA Suite. I wore my St. John Ambulance
mess dress uniform.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Finally,
I'm a member of the Monarchist League of Canada. One science fiction writer,
whose ideas tend towards Trotskyism, really dislikes my support of Queen
Elizabeth II. Never mind that supporters of the monarchy come from all across
the political spectrum; if you’re a Trotskyite, monarchism is fascism. Thankfully, Trotskyites are a dying breed of Communist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">To
any Puppy who is preparing to declare my review of "Opera Vita
Aeterna" to be a liberal rant against Vox Day and therefore invalid:
muzzle it. I'm neither Left nor Right. I'm Hybrid. We exist too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">To
Vox Day, if you are reading this: I really wanted to like "Opera Vita
Aeterna" because of its monks and monastery and pseudo-Catholic setting. But
ultimately, I thought it failed from a weak plot and an ending that isn't
related to the preceding events. But I gave you what you said you wanted. It's
not my fault that it backfired on you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Your
novelette's loss had nothing to do with you being a white, conservative male. The science fiction and fantasy community is a vast tent with many groups within it, and every group has made remarkable contributions to the literature. That includes conservative, white men. Conservative, white men have written some of the best science fiction and
fantasy stories of all time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Alas, "Opera Vita Aeterna" is not one
of them. </span>Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-79522140816017009002015-02-22T11:29:00.003-05:002015-02-22T11:36:24.862-05:00Nominate Wrestling With Gods: Tesseracts Eighteen, edited by Liana Kerzner and Jerome Stueart, for an Aurora Award for Best Related Work - English<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlc4bfDhkPST0CZG_O9z7LMKWPcSooGiFWqFS8uY9U_-Hv1oEPqRQKG9SaN1nEcpspuGKOrb4r8SkDT8LJp7hucsOLgW25O1r-Cyv3Rq0Jbqp6AVjRCMuHMlptYOeocDlHQPb5OHgboS4f/s1600/T-18-Cover-270x417-100dpi-C8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlc4bfDhkPST0CZG_O9z7LMKWPcSooGiFWqFS8uY9U_-Hv1oEPqRQKG9SaN1nEcpspuGKOrb4r8SkDT8LJp7hucsOLgW25O1r-Cyv3Rq0Jbqp6AVjRCMuHMlptYOeocDlHQPb5OHgboS4f/s1600/T-18-Cover-270x417-100dpi-C8.jpg" height="320" width="207" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Calling all Canadians citizens at home and abroad and
permanent residents of Canada:
our national science fiction awards, the Aurora Awards, are now open for
nominations. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="http://www.edgewebsite.com/books/tess18/t18-catalog.html">Wrestling With Gods: Tesseracts Eighteen</a></i>, is the latest of the Tesseracts anthologies from EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing. This is the first one with the theme of religion in science fiction and fantasy. The stories are diverse and at times profound and give readers a chance to see faith from the believer to the skeptic in worlds where what you believe is a matter of life, deth, and afterlife.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Since the Kindle e-book edition was released in November 2014, <i>Wrestling With Gods</i> and all its stories are eligible for the 2015 Aurora Awards. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The Kindle edition is already available on Amazon, and the print edition will be out in March 15, 2015.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">To learn more about the Aurora Awards and to nominate
stories and individuals, visit:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">
<a href="http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/Membership/">http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">
The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) charges an annual $10 membership fee, so both new and returning
members will be asked to pay $10 by Paypal. Renewing members can access
the membership portal and make nominations after paying the membership
fee. New members will receive a Society number by email and can go back
to the Aurora Awards website and submit nominations. Nominees do not
get any sort of monetary gain from the fees. The CSFFA is a non-profit
organization, and its small budget, raised by the membership and voting
fees, goes to administer the awards program and produce the trophies.
$10 is a low price to promote national pride in our science fiction and
to give a small reward to your favourite authors, artists, and fan
organizers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The online nomination deadline is<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #2b2b2b;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">April 25, 2015, 11:59:59 PM EDT.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-54385520738107802572015-02-22T11:10:00.000-05:002015-02-22T11:15:06.837-05:00Nominate Ricepaper Speculative Fiction Issue 19.3 for an Aurora Award for Best Related Work - English<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6y9NTvYxiLD6TN20MJGxQJRwSLSi1xWVrw7I1D81V0yoz1FZ52xyjjvPH9dnaFJeoW2awBqfAzHhA0J6mVPDUlT002aifXr1_tW3lZKAhxxYNpiJrJRGT7ozl2rcsEIkfrvrnER9DoiS_/s1600/Ricepaper-fall-2014-cover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6y9NTvYxiLD6TN20MJGxQJRwSLSi1xWVrw7I1D81V0yoz1FZ52xyjjvPH9dnaFJeoW2awBqfAzHhA0J6mVPDUlT002aifXr1_tW3lZKAhxxYNpiJrJRGT7ozl2rcsEIkfrvrnER9DoiS_/s1600/Ricepaper-fall-2014-cover.JPG" height="210" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Calling all Canadians citizens at home and abroad and
permanent residents of Canada:
our national science fiction awards, the Aurora Awards, are now open for
nominations. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Ricepaper</i> magazine's Speculative Fiction Issue 19.3, edited by Derwin Mak and JF Garrard, is eligible to be nominated for an Aurora Award for Best Related Work - English. <i>Ricepaper</i> is Canada's Asian Canadian literary magazine, and issue 19.3 was its first issue devoted to fantasy, science fiction, and horror.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You can purchase copies of Ricepaper's Speculative Fiction issue here: <a href="http://ricepapermagazine.ca/19-3-issue/">http://ricepapermagazine.ca/19-3-issue/</a></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">To learn more about the Aurora Awards and to nominate
stories and individuals, visit:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">
<a href="http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/Membership/">http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">
The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) charges an annual $10 membership fee, so both new and returning
members will be asked to pay $10 by Paypal. Renewing members can access
the membership portal and make nominations after paying the membership
fee. New members will receive a Society number by email and can go back
to the Aurora Awards website and submit nominations. Nominees do not
get any sort of monetary gain from the fees. The CSFFA is a non-profit
organization, and its small budget, raised by the membership and voting
fees, goes to administer the awards program and produce the trophies.
$10 is a low price to promote national pride in our science fiction and
to give a small reward to your favourite authors, artists, and fan
organizers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The online nomination deadline is<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #2b2b2b;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">April 25, 2015, 11:59:59 PM EDT.</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<br />Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-64018165374214220402015-02-22T10:56:00.000-05:002015-02-22T11:30:42.212-05:00Nominate "Mecha-Jesus" for a 2015 Aurora Award for Best Short Fiction - English<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlc4bfDhkPST0CZG_O9z7LMKWPcSooGiFWqFS8uY9U_-Hv1oEPqRQKG9SaN1nEcpspuGKOrb4r8SkDT8LJp7hucsOLgW25O1r-Cyv3Rq0Jbqp6AVjRCMuHMlptYOeocDlHQPb5OHgboS4f/s1600/T-18-Cover-270x417-100dpi-C8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlc4bfDhkPST0CZG_O9z7LMKWPcSooGiFWqFS8uY9U_-Hv1oEPqRQKG9SaN1nEcpspuGKOrb4r8SkDT8LJp7hucsOLgW25O1r-Cyv3Rq0Jbqp6AVjRCMuHMlptYOeocDlHQPb5OHgboS4f/s1600/T-18-Cover-270x417-100dpi-C8.jpg" height="320" width="207" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Calling all Canadians citizens at home and abroad and
permanent residents of Canada:
our national science fiction awards, the Aurora Awards, are now open for
nominations. This year, my short story "Mecha-Jesus" is eligible to be
nominated in the category of Best Short Fiction - English.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">"Mecha-Jesus" was published in the anthology <i>Wrestling With Gods: Tesseracts Eighteen</i>, edited by Liana Kerzner and Jerome Stueart, from EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing. Since the Kindle e-book edition was released in November 2014, <i>Wrestling With Gods</i> and all its stories are eligible for the 2015 Aurora Awards. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">During the nomination period, "Mecha-Jesus" will be available free on my website at <a href="http://www.derwinmaksf.com/Mecha-Jesus.html">http://www.derwinmaksf.com/Mecha-Jesus.html</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"> To learn more about the Aurora Awards and to nominate
stories and individuals, visit:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">
<a href="http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/Membership/">http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">
The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) charges an annual $10 membership fee, so both new and returning
members will be asked to pay $10 by Paypal. Renewing members can access
the membership portal and make nominations after paying the membership
fee. New members will receive a Society number by email and can go back
to the Aurora Awards website and submit nominations. Nominees do not
get any sort of monetary gain from the fees. The CSFFA is a non-profit
organization, and its small budget, raised by the membership and voting
fees, goes to administer the awards program and produce the trophies.
$10 is a low price to promote national pride in our science fiction and
to give a small reward to your favourite authors, artists, and fan
organizers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The online nomination deadline is<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #2b2b2b;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">April 25, 2015, 11:59:59 PM EDT.</span></span></span></div>
Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-77037262862667790812015-01-20T21:17:00.001-05:002022-12-05T18:53:30.079-05:00Doctor Who Fans: Please Do Not Hang the British Flag Upside Up.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPq9Ru1RrEgrAZHU7WBngT5EpATJAThIlvnLKe8JuRRh8hk71tPE41Nf2jGUCzryVuXLq9Cz7_zI47Pyrj6jgW6l-Lo1hyphenhyphenNhJ4XvJfhZoJYhkd92YmCFitccuOLWXeFhtk3TJUsVUh6Qw6/s1600/ros.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPq9Ru1RrEgrAZHU7WBngT5EpATJAThIlvnLKe8JuRRh8hk71tPE41Nf2jGUCzryVuXLq9Cz7_zI47Pyrj6jgW6l-Lo1hyphenhyphenNhJ4XvJfhZoJYhkd92YmCFitccuOLWXeFhtk3TJUsVUh6Qw6/s1600/ros.jpg" height="208" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) wearing a shirt emblazoned with the Union Flag. I approve of Billie Piper and Rose cosplayers displaying the Union Flag in this fashion.</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br />The <i>Doctor Who</i> convention season begins in February with Gallifrey One in Los Angeles, and all over North America, <i>Doctor Who</i> fans will be hanging up the British flag, also called the Union Flag. As a devoted monarchist and Anglophile, I enthusiastically support the display of the Union Flag. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">But, please, my fellow <i>Doctor Who</i> fans, stop hanging the Union Flag upside down. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">You may be wondering how can anyone hang the Union Flag upside down. Take a close look at the two saltires, the X-shaped crosses, especially in the corners of the flag. The Union Flag is not symmetrical.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1GtMXEPcC6s67gfTnaL9VKuiSnNnqqOsoxFvnzN6L6w-3FGeW6aljSd901IcWcOG9hcZYAL_ZpteVnRbkjkLhSdSz9qVSssEDFyycFkt6YKz_Bdv44VOygtryyhKVDQXTc2vejdK9My8l/s1600/1280px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1GtMXEPcC6s67gfTnaL9VKuiSnNnqqOsoxFvnzN6L6w-3FGeW6aljSd901IcWcOG9hcZYAL_ZpteVnRbkjkLhSdSz9qVSssEDFyycFkt6YKz_Bdv44VOygtryyhKVDQXTc2vejdK9My8l/s1600/1280px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg.png" height="160" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>The Union Flag (1801 - now)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I've seen the Union Flag hung upside-down at almost every <i>Doctor Who</i></span><span style="font-size: large;"> convention or fan party that I've attended. Below is how the flag was displayed at Reversed Polarity, a <i>Doctor Who</i> convention in Richmond Hill (north of Toronto) in 2013.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGLBZPLTLhEtz1trZYLtrdi1il2nHAeXbrCNUPfc0Z3krssmkpenzuIKGa8o-eTV_FbndUIA2WtiBrl0ipxAyoRXes8rqdlvv2rHjduWJuoC9952-HY2hKfrO9yPMkb5lG15xNWvjgBiRS/s1600/RP-2013-21.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGLBZPLTLhEtz1trZYLtrdi1il2nHAeXbrCNUPfc0Z3krssmkpenzuIKGa8o-eTV_FbndUIA2WtiBrl0ipxAyoRXes8rqdlvv2rHjduWJuoC9952-HY2hKfrO9yPMkb5lG15xNWvjgBiRS/s1600/RP-2013-21.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Reversed Polarity, 2013</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Reversed Polarity had so many Union Flags hanging throughout the hotel that it looked like a V-E Day celebration in 1945. I was overjoyed by such an open display of patriotism. Alas, half the flags were hung upside down, often beside flags that were right side up (upside up).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIOTdO7pVWfGGuo621NOadDKaw-Qg9Ok2n0wFnsIETID86gJwF_Wc1gkcy4htgpBH6AGd_5_rmsue6Cs4nxoGXW8z8xDHnLStpafthnXYqj9YWP0SIlKMkSV0ngebtYLxNloAP_EVbuyI8/s1600/RP-2013-18.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIOTdO7pVWfGGuo621NOadDKaw-Qg9Ok2n0wFnsIETID86gJwF_Wc1gkcy4htgpBH6AGd_5_rmsue6Cs4nxoGXW8z8xDHnLStpafthnXYqj9YWP0SIlKMkSV0ngebtYLxNloAP_EVbuyI8/s1600/RP-2013-18.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>More Union flags at Reversed Polarity, 2013</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;">This is the Union Flag, again displayed upside down, at a <i>Doctor Who</i> tea party at Ad Astra, another science fiction convention in the Toronto area in 2014.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXTiVD0M27kk10lD-BmBs341fti6FG5VgjwfwBjdrgRKujxfr7WSST3CJ5AO_jQ57AnJfjSRmsc0l0oeNwS9MQnsTyvDZHWcSHmbxm2Wf6UBcFuykhYUCiioD6X6hGSDoe-qnhh6UxabEq/s1600/AA-2014-10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXTiVD0M27kk10lD-BmBs341fti6FG5VgjwfwBjdrgRKujxfr7WSST3CJ5AO_jQ57AnJfjSRmsc0l0oeNwS9MQnsTyvDZHWcSHmbxm2Wf6UBcFuykhYUCiioD6X6hGSDoe-qnhh6UxabEq/s1600/AA-2014-10.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Ad Astra, 2014.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Also, never use the Union Flag as a tablecloth, as was done at this reception with an actor guest at Gallifrey One in 2014.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhsh4yMqSvK1_IN7qvXj4adeQ4dJvmk66BRMHIrRzckzWPE-3fZ5_gwp8-k_WTSGePhkBAwbgpve94mx8SCkieFz6CwAnUlNghW9RFTe4usl0cl8aV5V4O6AhIQN_xTrPUcFzRMW5lr64G/s1600/Gally-One-2014-41.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhsh4yMqSvK1_IN7qvXj4adeQ4dJvmk66BRMHIrRzckzWPE-3fZ5_gwp8-k_WTSGePhkBAwbgpve94mx8SCkieFz6CwAnUlNghW9RFTe4usl0cl8aV5V4O6AhIQN_xTrPUcFzRMW5lr64G/s1600/Gally-One-2014-41.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Gallifrey One, 2014</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;">How did the British develop an asymmetrical flag composed of symmetrical shapes, the crosses? The answer lies in the union of three kingdoms into one United Kingdom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">England, Scotland, and Ireland have individual flags, each showing a cross symbolizing their respective patron saints: St. George for England, St. Andrew for Scotland, and St. Patrick for Ireland.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifcdMJOGvLXz3K6SF-JGmzuB5N5Cspn1WKcIoFrf773LAgKYKxSOtdoxl7PdWlrntXQg8RCWNwEp7w1mIofb3G_8Y9l0GMHr1CHkLPukjRNj996cKrAb-oNeErtJx_4Vio_ovm-Whz7g2_/s1600/3-flags.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifcdMJOGvLXz3K6SF-JGmzuB5N5Cspn1WKcIoFrf773LAgKYKxSOtdoxl7PdWlrntXQg8RCWNwEp7w1mIofb3G_8Y9l0GMHr1CHkLPukjRNj996cKrAb-oNeErtJx_4Vio_ovm-Whz7g2_/s1600/3-flags.jpg" height="113" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />The first Union Flag was created in 1606, three years after King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England. He hoped to unite his two kingdoms into one, but their parliaments resisted a union. Nonetheless, he created a new flag that combined the flags of England and Scotland by superimposing the Cross of St. George over the saltire flag of Scotland, along with a change of the shade of blue in the Scottish part of the flag. Since heraldic rules prohibit a colour to be placed atop another colour (i.e., red upon blue), a fimbriation (thin outline) of the metal (i.e., white) was added to the arms of the Cross of St. George. Some Scots objected to this design, considering it a defacement of their saltire flag, but the design stayed and became the national flag in 1707, when England and Scotland finally united to create the Kingdom of Great Britain.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzAJi7S93exu4QG4hZBS1nzNDHyOS_IycgeB712PuDqm_IwCgz9x24j-SFW-e8LpVj5uqczH0TM7xEwENhTw94Y8PjRulXwuFGzGn1BmNQbn2gWjXbYFtDH9wYi7mMn1qGtdZ4WyaXJRcP/s1600/union-jack-old.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzAJi7S93exu4QG4hZBS1nzNDHyOS_IycgeB712PuDqm_IwCgz9x24j-SFW-e8LpVj5uqczH0TM7xEwENhTw94Y8PjRulXwuFGzGn1BmNQbn2gWjXbYFtDH9wYi7mMn1qGtdZ4WyaXJRcP/s1600/union-jack-old.gif" height="160" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Union Flag, 1606-1800</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In 1801, Ireland formally joined the Union to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Now the British added the red Cross of St. Patrick to the flag, but instead of superimposing it unaltered over the existing two crosses, counterchanged its colours. Counterchanging is a heraldic practice of dividing an object and its background into segments and colouring them in two contrasting colours.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">To see better how the new Union Flag counterchanged the Cross of St. Patrick, remove the Cross of St. George and look at how the Crosses of St. Andrew and St. Patrick are combined:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1-9n5ZnUiGgRHQrWW7hY1nWCy9PLDXtVDm8GUStzDcgNrlEUHXukHAka4Pwjz-M9LwvNkeyUvh7GgZA9JdFlyUIYUedkDdZmJ6cu4PFKmOY3HwwITSOHCA5AxBvEDtRmaZ4Kufo6pddIW/s1600/counter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1-9n5ZnUiGgRHQrWW7hY1nWCy9PLDXtVDm8GUStzDcgNrlEUHXukHAka4Pwjz-M9LwvNkeyUvh7GgZA9JdFlyUIYUedkDdZmJ6cu4PFKmOY3HwwITSOHCA5AxBvEDtRmaZ4Kufo6pddIW/s1600/counter.jpg" height="158" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The current Union Flag with the Cross of St. George removed. The Cross of St. Patrick is counterchanged and fimbriated in white.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Since heraldic rules prevent putting one colour atop another colour, a fimbriation (thin outline) of white was put along the arms of the red Cross of St. Patrick where they met the blue field. This made the white arms of the Cross of St. Andrew appear wider.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Why did the British counterchange the Cross of St. Patrick? The reasons seem lost in history, but it was probably a way to make an arm of the Cross of St. Andrew uppermost in two quarters of the flag and an arm of the Cross of St. Patrick uppermost in the other two quarters of the flag. Thus both Scotland and Ireland could claim to be equal.<br /><br />However, the Scots and Irish argued that their crosses had been disfigured and noted that England's Cross of St. George was the only cross that survived unbroken in the Union Flag. These rivalries threatened the United Kingdom from time to time. Scottish rebellion against the Union did not effectively end until the Battle of Culloden in 1746, and the Irish successfully rebelled and pulled five-sixths of their island out of the United Kingdom in 1922. There was another attempt at Scottish independence, this time by peaceful means, in 2014, but it failed.<br /><br />Despite such trials and tribulations, the United Kingdom has been remarkably strong. Great Britain became head of an Empire, which later evolved into a Commonwealth of Nations. Britain became a leader of art and culture in the world, and it was Britain that created <i>Doctor Who</i>. The Doctor might be from Gallifrey, but he's actually British.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>Doctor Who</i> fans, please continue displaying the Union Flag to show your pride and admiration of the Doctor and all things British. But please hang it up the right side up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-72546058705820672582015-01-03T23:23:00.001-05:002015-01-03T23:34:24.963-05:00Presentation "China vs. North Korea: Who Owns the Monster of Mount Paektu?": Saturday, January 10, 2015, at the North York Public Library<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh096u20cef0WvQwDXFGdSaPV05h7xe_rz7p9pdR3cQQFE36O8KVuvxpJFgYJb80PVkufs-prj7hMsgBhHiJbDqM4knQn4BIIf7ohFoA-pYIxfElGtMv1Ui8-oZkWViZmw97LszhTddHxGE/s1600/Kims-at-Heaven-Lake-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh096u20cef0WvQwDXFGdSaPV05h7xe_rz7p9pdR3cQQFE36O8KVuvxpJFgYJb80PVkufs-prj7hMsgBhHiJbDqM4knQn4BIIf7ohFoA-pYIxfElGtMv1Ui8-oZkWViZmw97LszhTddHxGE/s1600/Kims-at-Heaven-Lake-2.jpg" height="199" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />I will be giving a presentation on "</span><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">China vs. North Korea: </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: center;">Who Owns the Monster
of Mount </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: center;">Paektu</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: center;">?" at the U.S.S. Hudson Bay (science fiction club) meeting at the North York Public Library, North York Centre, Toronto, on Saturday, January 10, 2015. The meeting will be held in the library's Auditorium on the 2nd floor and will begin circa 1:30 p.m. The presentation will be approximately 45 minutes. The closest subway station is North York Centre. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.7999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">You do not need to be a member of the U.S.S. Hudson Bay to attend this open meeting.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A monster allegedly lives in </span><span style="font-size: large;">the lake of Mount Paektu, </span><span style="font-size: large;">the sacred birthplace of the </span><span style="font-size: large;">Korean people. Mount Paektu </span><span style="font-size: large;">is also the centre of a border </span><span style="font-size: large;">dispute between China, North </span><span style="font-size: large;">Korea, and South Korea. Chinese </span><span style="font-size: large;">Communists and capitalists, </span><span style="font-size: large;">North Korea’s Kim Dynasty, and </span><span style="font-size: large;">South Korean nationalists all </span><span style="font-size: large;">have interests on the mountain. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Centuries of history and legend </span><span style="font-size: large;">continue to influence how these </span><span style="font-size: large;">countries view Mount Paektu. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Will North and South Korea </span><span style="font-size: large;">unite against China to regain Mt. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Paektu? Who owns the monster?</span></div>
Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-58556662212616615312014-12-17T23:37:00.000-05:002014-12-17T23:39:49.577-05:00I'm Not Afraid of Kim Jong Un! My Novel Has A Coup Against His Dynasty.<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_549254a3c84103277211479">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE0bbLQKBvrz62nq5TI-GlYiC-qyi5YlLG9_We8bX6_rNykaifSXuWjCRwElfqlXW-7Wg9Nadvbk3zDmWfBt4Q3QDpk43aH6owggS2ntMmm6n5GONGzGaF-srkB0EWKe5G74x4Cshxlmen/s1600/Shrine+of+the+Siren+Stone+W&W+front+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE0bbLQKBvrz62nq5TI-GlYiC-qyi5YlLG9_We8bX6_rNykaifSXuWjCRwElfqlXW-7Wg9Nadvbk3zDmWfBt4Q3QDpk43aH6owggS2ntMmm6n5GONGzGaF-srkB0EWKe5G74x4Cshxlmen/s1600/Shrine+of+the+Siren+Stone+W&W+front+cover.jpg" height="320" width="207" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />In today's startling, real world news, IT hackers sympathetic to North Korea's Kim Dynasty have caused Sony Pictures to withdraw its movie <em>The Interview</em>, a comedy about a plot to assassinate Kim Jong Un, by threatening violent attacks on theatres that show the movie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> But people of the free world, do not fret! My novel <em>The Shrine of the Siren Stone</em> is still available, and its plot includes a coup against the Kim Dynasty (chapter 4). Okay, it's just a subplot, but it's still offensive to Kim Jong Un and will get me banned from any science fiction convention in North Korea. That's not a big loss, though, because I hear the hotels have elec<span class="text_exposed_show">tricity shortages and there are no cosplayers there.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">You can buy the book that dares to speculate on murder and mayhem against the Kim Dynasty from Amazon in the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Shrine-Siren-Stone-Derwin-Mak/dp/098665311X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418875930&sr=8-1&keywords=shrine+of+the+siren+stone">At Amazon Canada</a><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shrine-Siren-Stone-Derwin-Mak/dp/098665311X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418876486&sr=8-1&keywords=Shrine+of+the+Siren+Stone">At Amazon U.S.</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.amazon.cn/The-Shrine-of-the-Siren-Stone-Mak-Derwin/dp/098665311X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418876651&sr=8-1&keywords=Shrine+of+the+Siren+Stone">At Amazon China</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.jp/Shrine-Siren-Stone-Derwin-Mak/dp/098665311X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418876750&sr=8-1&keywords=Shrine+of+the+Siren+Stone">At Amazon Japan</a></span><br />
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Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-77324022765152971422014-12-17T22:05:00.000-05:002014-12-17T22:07:54.245-05:00Wrestling With Gods (Tesseracts Eighteen): "Mecha-Jesus" is the Lead Story <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">My story "Mecha-Jesus" is the first story in the anthology <em>Wrestling With Gods</em> (<em>Tesseracts Eighteen</em>), edited by Liana Kerzner and Jerome Stueart. This is the latest of the <em>Tesseracts</em> series of anthologies of Canadian science fiction and fantasy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Mecha-Jesus" is about a Japanese town that uses an android of Jesus as a tourist attraction at its Christ Festival, where the locals, none of whom are Christian, celebrate the life of Jesus, the Israeli rebel who escaped crucifixion and became a rice farmer in Japan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><em>Wrestling With Gods</em>' theme is religion in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. The stories draw from a wide variety of inspirations. A sample of the stories includes the myths of cuttlefish, a vampire in residential schools, a Muslim woman who wants to get closer, surgically, to her god, the demons of outer space, the downside of Nirvana. <em>Wrestling with Gods</em> (<em>Tesseracts Eighteen</em>) take their faith and religion into the future, into the weird and comic and thought-provoking spaces where science fiction and fantasy has really always gone, struggling with higher powers, gods, the limits of technology, the limits of spiritual experience. <br />. <br />At times profound, these speculative offerings give readers a chance to see faith from the believer and the skeptic in worlds where what you believe is a matter of life, death, and afterlife. <br />. <br />The stories are by: Derwin Mak, Robert J. Sawyer, Tony Pi, S. L. Nickerson, Janet K. Nicolson, John Park, Mary-Jean Harris, David Clink, Mary Pletsch, Jennifer Rahn, Alyxandra Harvey, Halli Lilburn, John Bell, David Jón Fuller, Carla Richards, Matthew Hughes, J. M. Frey, Steve Stanton, Erling Friis-Baastad, James Bambury, Savithri Machiraju, Jen Laface and Andrew Czarnietzki, David Fraser, Suzanne M. McNabb, and Megan Fennell. </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-size: large;">Wrestling With Gods is already available as a Kindle edition from Amazon:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Wrestling-Gods-Tesseracts-Liana-Kerzner-ebook/dp/B00Q8XKJO0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418870737&sr=8-1&keywords=wrestling+with+gods">Wrestling With Gods</a><br />Other e-book editions will be available in February 2015, and the print edition will be available in Canada in March 2015 and in the United States in April 2015.<br /><br />There will be a book launch at the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation, and Fantasy in Toronto on Thursday, April 30, 2015. Stay tuned for more information.<br /><br />Because the Kindle edition was released in 2014, "Mecha-Jesus" will be eligible to be nominated for the Aurora Award for Best Short Story for 2014. Please read it and consider nominating it for the Aurora Award.</span>Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4691452816034545598.post-33689401283061710422014-12-17T21:41:00.000-05:002014-12-17T21:43:26.649-05:00Ricepaper 19.3 (Fall 2014): The Speculative Fiction Issue<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><em>Ricepaper</em>, the Asian Canadian literary magazine, published its special Speculative Fiction issue (fantasy, science fiction, and horror) this month. JF Garrard and I were the guest editors. Contributors include Aurora Award-winning editor/author Eric Choi and Writers of the Future award winner Tony Pi.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The fiction line-up is:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"Tushuguan" by Eric Choi: trouble in post-apocalyptic Vancouver</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"Woman in the Shadows" by John Matsui: a ghost seeks revenge after a night of sex</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"A Spirited Education" by Tony Pi: a Soong Dynasty exorcism</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"Designing Fate" by JF Garrard: when designer children go bad...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"Golden Fish, Golden Slippers" by Melissa Yuan-Innes: a Chinese fairy tale</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"Sharp Teeth" by Melissa Yuan-Innes: someone has sharp teeth...</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Also in this issue:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">an interview with comic book publisher James Bade</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"Finding My Way Back Home" by Lou Villahermosa: an article about the haunted trees and other evil spirits of the Philippines.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's in bookstores across Canada, but if you can't find it, you can order it online for only $5:</span><br />
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<a href="http://ricepapermagazine.ca/19-3-issue/"><span style="font-size: large;">http://ricepapermagazine.ca/19-3-issue/</span></a><a href="http://ricepapermagazine.ca/19-3-issue/"><span style="font-size: large;">http://ricepapermagazine.ca/19-3-issue/</span></a><br />
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Derwin Makhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12193997293643558706noreply@blogger.com0