Fantasist's Scroll

Today is William Gibson’s Birthday!

For those of you who have been hiding under a rock, or have been freshly cloned, William Gibson is the primary progenitor of the cyberpunk movement. He’s generally credited with coining the term “cyberspace” and popularizing a somewhat more realistic, if somewhat bleak, view of the future.
He also ran away to Canada in 1968 to avoid the draft. Which is the only bad thing I can say about him. I otherwise admire his work and thought processes. Certainly his literature is beyond compare. I admire his work very much and occasionally will reread some of his short stories, just to capture the feel of his prose.

Anyway, celebrate his birthday with a little science-fiction in thanks for what he’s done for the genre.

Ever wanted to remodel your house to look like the Enterprise?
Now, you can! Or, rather, there’s a company that you can hire who can: 24Th Century Design. Started by someone who did his own replica transporter for “something to do”, these folks are based in the UK, but available for hire. Their site is a regular wonderland of Star Trek-like visions that can become your home.
Cool.

Happy Friday!

Here’s a little hard science for you.
Ever heard of the Drake Equation? Well, among other things, it’s what good, old Gene Roddenberry used to justify all the intelligent, space-faring races on Star Trek. Mainly, though, it’s a hotly debated estimate of the habitable worlds that might have produced an intelligent species which we might possibly encounter in our galaxy. Named for Dr. Frank Drake, who devised the equation in the 1960s. The main purpose of the equation was to let scientists to quantify the uncertainty of the factors which might determine the possible number of extraterrestrial civilizations.
In recent years, the various inputs have been debated on not only their merit, but their optimisim. Many feel that they are overly optimistic, especially in light of the fact that we haven’t seen any of these alleged potential civilizations yet. Nor, really, any sure evidence that such a thing might exists. Still, as a writer, I like to err on the side of hope. The hope that one day, we may find other beings who live differently than we do. From whom we can learn, as well as we might teach. The potential synergy of such a meeting could be staggering! I imagine that’s why old Gene liked the idea so well himself.
Either way, the idea that Drake was right or wrong, can produce some great fiction.

It’s the birthday of one of the most prolific writers of the 20th century, Isaac Asimov, who was born in Petrovichi, Russia in 1920. He came with his family to the United States when he was three years old and his parents opened a candy shop in Brooklyn. Issac grew up to become a professor of biochemistry at the Boston University School of medicine and in 1950 he published his first novel Pebble in the Sky.

About the same time Asimov took part in writing a textbook for medical students and he found that he loved explaining complicated things in ordinary language, and so he set out to write about science for the general public, in language they would understand. He said, “Little by little my science writing swallowed up the rest of me.”
Asimov developed a regimen of working ten hours a day, seven days a week, producing between two and five thousand words a day. Asimov’s method was to write a book about any subject that interested him but which he didn’t fully understand. He used writing as a way of teaching himself about everything.
By 1970 Asimov had written more than a hundred books and he began branching out into areas other than science. He wrote about nuclear physics and organic chemistry, history, Greek mythology, astronomy, religion, in addition to his collections of limericks, mystery novels, autobiography and science fiction. By the time of his death in 1992 he had published more than 400 books.

Mostly, these apply to fantasy, too.
David Alexander Smith, a member of SFWA, has written a fine article about things to think about and watch out for while writing speculative fiction. Honestly, though, these are all things that any good writer in any genre should be doing. Certainly, writers of speculative fiction (ie. fantasy and science-fiction) have certain special considerations, but, for the most part, good writing is simply good writing. And, that’s what Mr. Smith has outlined in his article, a short list of 23 things to keep in mind while trying to write good fiction.
I know, I’ll be going back to this article on a regular basis!

Today is the birthday of two very important science-fiction writers.
The first is science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick, who was born in Chicago in 1928. He wrote many novels that pushed the edge of science-fiction a little further out, making room for the cyberpunk movement to follow him. Some of his work includes Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Minority Report (which is a collection of short stories), We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (another short story collection), and A Scanner Darkly. Since his death in 1982, many of his novels and short stories have been made into movies, including Blade Runner (1982), Total Recall (1990) and Minority Report (2002).

It’s also the birthday of the science fiction novelist Arthur C. Clarke, who was born in Somerset, England in 1917. He’s the author of many science fiction novels, including Childhood’s End, 2001: A Space Odyssey(which was written in the year of my birth!), and Rendevous with Rama. He is also famous for inventing the concept of the communications satellite.

I always love collections of fantasy names.
Of course, I have my own set of fantasy name generators right here, but, sometimes, you need inspiration from other sources. And, frankly, getting fantasy names down so that they sound “right”, but still different and alien, is a big challenge. At least, it is for me. So, that’s why I fell in love with this site: Fantasy Names.
The names are all at other sites, and I don’t think they list mine, but this is about the best collection of links to every kind of name generator, fantasy, science-fiction and otherwise, that I’ve ever seen. If you’re looking for fantasy names, for whatever the reason, it’s worth a look.
Besides, it’s a Friday and if you’re reading my blog, you don’t have anythng better to do anyway, so click the link!

Well, and fantasy, too.
I recently read a very good article about religious and spiritual belief and how that fits into science-fiction and fantasy fiction. The article was really an interview, in slightly modified form, with award-winning author and well-known Mormon, Orson Scott Card. (You can read the article here: SciFiEditor.com.) The article brings up some very good points about why religion is often left out of modern fantasy and science-fiction, namely that the SF and Fantasy “Establishment” are practitioners of American Intellectualism, which “rebels” against religious thought and belief. I think he’s quite right in that regard. Also, I agree that such a view is quite unrealistic, considering how widely spread religious beliefs actually are in the world and how deeply they effect our culture and planet. Look at both the Crusades and the current political unrest in the Middle East. Indeed, in many places in the world, political strife is a direct result of conflicting religious beliefs and methods. As important as these factors are in our real world, can we afford to ignore them in a created world? I don’t think so.
In any case, I highly reccomend reading the article if you plan on writing speculative fiction of any kind. Religion in such settings is a very important, but overlooked, topic.