Friday, March 31, 2006
My excursion into video game programming.

Ever since I first published my science fiction novel, The Pirates of Sufiro, back in 1997, I thought it would be very cool if there could be a game based on the space battle of the first chapter. I even went so far as to make a mock-up of the game I had in mind that could be played on the tabletop. We had a few fun sessions here at home where we played the game, but it became apparent very quickly that the game would be far to expensive to actually produce (at least with the resources we had available.)

A few weeks ago, while poking around the web and playing some flash games, I started thinking that my game could be adapted to the computer. The only problem is that I don't really know flash programming. However, I discovered a nifty program called "Game Maker" that lets you create computer games using a nicely thought-out graphic user interface. Using that, I was able to develop a retro-style game (like the ones I used to play in the 80's) based on my novel, The Pirates of Sufiro.

Laura Givens, who did the cover art for new edition of The Pirates of Sufiro, designed spaceship icons for the game and I did all of the programming based on my original tabletop game idea. By moving the game onto the computer, I was actually able to add levels that didn't exist in the board game -- including a bonus level that's inspired by Heirs of the New Earth, the second sequel to The Pirates of Sufiro.

I showed the game to the people at LBF Books and they liked the game so much, it's now available as a free download with purchase of either The Pirates of Sufiro or Children of the Old Stars.

To run the game, you need the following: A Microsoft Windows based PC running Windows 98 or above. Microsoft DirectX 8.0 or above. 64 MB of ram. 16 MB of video ram. Screen resolution of at least 800 X 600 and 16-bit colors.

If you would like to give the game a try, just visit www.lbfbooks.com and order one of the bookis. Once you do that, you'll receive information about how to download the game. I'll also have copies available at LepreCon and the Opus Fantasy Festival this spring.

Dave

Posted by David Summers 2006-03-31 10:32:06

Thursday, March 30, 2006
Story at The Fifth Di...

My short story, "An Asteroidby Any Other Name" is now available for free on-line at The Fifth Di... http://www.samsdotpublishing.com/fifth/cover.htm

This story is my riff on the campy space monster films of the 1950's. I got the idea for the story one night while watching a show about sea urchins on PBS. It also takes some inspiration from working next to the Spacewatch Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory for a few years and being at Apache Point Observatory the night a near-Earth asteroid was detected.

One thing that's great about The Fifth Di... (and all of Sam's Dot's publications) is that you can vote for your favorite stories. If you do drop by and read my story, please take time to read all of them and vote for your favorites. It gives the editor valuable feedback about what you, the reader, like. Also, the winner of the poll will be published in Sam's Dot's Wonderous Web Worlds anthology. How cool is that?

Dave

Posted by David Summers 2006-03-30 14:22:04

Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Science and Fiction meet?

Back in the 1980’s, I imagined a vast city on the surface of Saturn’s moon, Titan inhabited by a race of ancient, wise beings. These beings had a technology so advanced it was virtually like magic to humans and they were able to conceal themselves from humans no matter what spacecraft flew by the moon. These Titans went on to be featured in two of my published novels, The Pirates of Sufiro and Children of the Old Stars and two novels awaiting publication, The Solar Sea and Heirs of the New Earth.

The last couple of days, I’ve been reading about a recent discovery from the Cassini spacecraft. Apparently, it photographed a bright area just south of the continent-sized region called Xanadu. The Keck Telescope in Hawaii saw this same bright area three years before. Having been there for three years, it’s not likely a fog or a cloud. It doesn’t show the temperature differential that you’d expect if it were a mountain. So, the question I have is, are my Titans slipping up? Maybe Cassini has caught the first glimpse of a civilization beyond our own!

Whether you think the bright spot could be caused by a city inhabited by ancient, wise creatures (that happen to look a lot like Teddy Bears) or you’re just interested in some fascinating science, you can read more about the discovery at: www.physorg.com/news7043.html

Also, for those who are interested in learning more about my Titans, LBF Books has just released a new edition of my book, The Pirates of Sufiro with a cover and four gorgeous illustrations by Laura Givens. The book can be purchased directly from the publisher at: www.lbfbooks.com or at Amazon.com.

Dave

Posted by David Summers 2006-02-07 15:45:06

Saturday, January 7, 2006
A Few Thoughts About Rejection

Once again, ithas been far too long since I've had an opportunity to post anything in this web log.The reading period for Tales of the Talisman magazine began in October and concluded in December. During that time, I attended two conventions: MileHiCon in Denver, Colorado and TusCon in Tucson, Arizona and had a great time at both. Also, during that period, I started work on a prequel to Vampires of the Scarlet Order entitled Dragon's Fall. Once the reading period for the magazine was finished, we were smack in the middle of the holidays. With all of that going on, I just haven't been able to swing by this log as much as I'd like. At any rate, I'm back at the moment and thought I'd take a few moments to share some thoughts I had about the process of accepting and rejecting stories that occurred to me over the last couple of months.

From notes I've received and conversations I've had, I think there is something of a misconception about the editorial process. Specifically, some feedback I've received makes it sound as though I look for reasons to reject stories. Some writers even go so far as to write rather scathing letters, telling me what a fool I am for not accepting their story. The thing is, I realized that I don't really look for reasons to reject stories. Rather, I see the process of selecting stories for publication as a little more like holiday shopping; I'm looking for those stories I want to buy that I, in turn, think will entertain my magazine's readership.

Unfortunately, the nature of the writing business makes rejection a necessity. Most people who go shopping, walk into the store and simply select those things they want to buy. They don't give much thought to those things they pass up in favor of the things they want. However, as an editor, I don't have that luxury. Instead, all of the items are e-mailed to me or shipped to my post office box. This last reading period, the "store" consisted of some 400+ items and I was only the market for 30 or so. However, I could not simply buy those 30 or so poems and ignore the rest. The nature of this business requires that I write a note back to the people whose work I've chosen not to purchase to tell them so.

Allow me to suggest an exercise for writers. Next time you go into your favorite bookstore and make your selection, take a moment to look around at all of those books that you chose not to purchase. In effect, you are rejecting all of those titles. Imagine if you had to write to all of those authors and tell them that you were not purchasing their work. Next time you feel inclined to take a rejection letter personally, take a few minutes and think about this exercise.

One more note before I sign out: the Preditors and Editors Poll is going on right now. There are a lot of good science fiction and fantasy works and people nominated. I'm humbled and honored to see that I've been nominated for best magazine editor and our art director, Laura Givens, has been nominated for best artist. Likewise, Tales of the Talisman has been nominated for best magazine and my book, Vampires of the Scarlet Order, has been nominated for best horror novel. I know a lot fo the other magazines, books, and people that have been nominated and I feel like we're in great company. Thank you to all of you that have voted! For those that haven't, the poll is at: http://www.critters.org/predpoll

Posted by David Summers 2006-01-07 13:52:44

Friday, September 30, 2005
Vampires and Bubble Universes

About fifteen years ago, Iwas an astrophysics grad student at New Mexico Tech (a small, but excellent science university known for, among other things, its proximity and affiliation with the VLA radio telescope). At the time, I took a course in General Relativity. Through the discussions of the universe's geometry, string theory and parallel universes, the image of a multiverse made up of numerous, bubble-like universes came to my mind. The picture was almost like being outside on a fall day blowing bubbles with universes all around, colliding with one another -- perhaps there could even be bubbles within bubbles. It struck me that there was no reason at all to expect that the physical laws of one universe should be the same as another universe.

As it turns out, my career path in astronomy took me in the direction of working on robotic telescopes and studying variable stars, so bubble universes went out of my head for a time.

My background in science tends to lead me to thinking like a scientist, even when I'm writing about the fantastic or the bizarre. When I write a fantasy story, I like to know why the magic works. When I set out to write Vampires of the Scarlet Order, I wanted vampires that could do magical things, like transform into animals. I also wanted ancient beings that could travel across the galaxy in short amounts of time. To make this all work, I ended up invoking the idea of bubble universes both within our own and parallel to our own. I wasn't overly concerned about getting the cosmology right -- I just wanted to create a scenario where it was possible for the audience to suspend disbelief and get on with enjoying the thrill-ride of a novel I was writing.

This week, I've been working on a science presentation for MileHiCon in Denver. I went out and bought the October 2005 issue of Astronomy Magazine to update myself on the most recent findings about exoplanets (planets outside our solar system). To my delight and surprise, I discovered that the cover was populated by bubble universes. The article goes on to explain how many cosmologists are now taking the idea of a multiverse populated by bubble universes seriously. Joseph Polchinski of UC Santa Barbara is quoted as saying, "The landscape shows you how those universes can have different physics." Wow!

I highly recommend the October 2005 issue of Astronomy for anyone who wants to learn about the latest ideas in cosmology. Check out Vampires of the Scarlet Order if you want to see if I was successful in my interpretation of those ideas!

Dave

Posted by David Summers 2005-09-30 11:43:38