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

Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Novel Completed

It may seem like it, but I haven't actually forgotten about this web journal. I've just been caught up in a rather busy month and haven't had a chance to post. This post is something of a repeat, but it was misfiled in my first days of using the blog software at SFF World. I have updated it slightly, so some things here might be news.

Last month, I completed a novel entitled Heirs of the New Earth. It's the third in a trilogy of space operas that begins with my novels, The Pirates of Sufiro and Children of the Old Stars. Writing this novel -- and the two that preceeded it -- has been quite a journey.

I wrote The Pirates of Sufiro in 1992, but this series has actually been with me a lot longer than that. I'd written the first short stories featuring characters and races that appeared in the novel in the mid-80s. Pirates was ultimately published in 1995 and I wrote Children of the Old Stars soon after. Pirates' first publisher went bankrupt, unfortunately. So, I went looking for a new publisher. No one was terribly interested in taking on the series in the aftermath of my first publisher's demise, so I published the two novels through my own company, Hadrosaur Productions. The novels were print-on-demand through Xlibris and, in spite of the high price tag, they had some success, particularly through convention sales. Several people who've read the first two books have asked for a third to complete the story arc.

So, in 2001, I set out to write Heirs of the New Earth. However, several things happened to stall the project. First off, I had nagging doubts about publishing the entire trilogy myself. The first two books had received good response from the readers and some good reviews, so I felt like the series really deserved to be published by a traditional publisher. September 11, 2001 hit and, as with many people, I was emotionally drained. It became very difficult to imagine the mostly optimistic future I was trying to present in the series. (As a side bar, that's about the time I started writing vampire short stories, many of which ultimately became chapters in Vampires of the Scarlet Order.) Last year, though, my first two novels were picked up by LBF Books. Laura Givens, who also serves as the art director for Tales of the Talisman, did fantastic new covers for the first books and they're now available in great-looking new editions. (One update as of 9/27/05 -- we're about to start a second printing of Pirates that has some minor gramar/spelling corrections and includes four interior illustrations by Laura. Laura's finished three and they are very nicely done.) Reading the re-edited editions helped provide motivation for finishing the series at last. So, I went back to the beginning, rewrote the opening chapters of Heirs of the New Earth and between a flurry of writing in March and a flurry of writing last month, the first draft is now complete.

I feel really positive about how the novel turned out. Though you should always take your relatives' opinions of your work with a grain of salt, I printed the novel out so my wife could make the first proof reading pass. She read the novel in about six straight hours without stopping once and declared it a worthy sequel to the first two.

When I typed that last period, though, I sat at the computer literally stunned for a few moments. I couldn't quite believe I'd actually finished this series that had been with me for some thirteen years. In some ways, I was a little sad. It was like I was saying good-bye to characters -- to friends -- that have been with me for a long time -- over twenty years if you count the short stories. Of course, it's not really good-bye. The series is sufficiently open-ended that there could be more books. In fact, half of the short stories set in this universe occur after the events of the trilogy.

So now the novel has been sitting for a bit. I did that so I could get some distance. I plan to pick it up again as soon as I finish the editing project I'm currently working on. Then I'll revise, rewrite, and clean up and ultimately I'll send it to LBF and hopefully in a few months time, the trilogy will be complete. To those people who are already fans of the series, thank you! You were my motivation for finishing. To those people who haven't discovered the series yet, follow the links to Amazon. The new editions of the books are the best yet and if you like good, fun space opera in the tradition of A. Bertram Chandler and Robert Heinlein's early novels, I think you'll enjoy these as well.

Dave

Posted by David Summers 2005-09-27 22:20:21

Thursday, September 1, 2005
Hurricane Katrina

Just a shortjournal entry today to say that my heart goes out to thepeople of New Orleans and othersthat were in the wake ofHurricane Katrina. I've never been to New Orleans, but I have high hopes that the city will survive even this and I will get to visit one day in the future.

For anyonewanting to help, ABC News has compiled agood list of aid agencies at: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1083674

As a person with a science degree, a science fiction writer, and a parent, I'm always interested in how science is taught (or not, as the case may be.) Yesterday, I caught an interesting commentary by Daniel Schorr on NPR about so-called "intelligent design" and Hurricane Katrina. You can listen to it at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4826756

Dave

Posted by David Summers 2005-09-01 12:06:24