scalzi

Even though I was running pretty late on dinner tonight and am exhausted from 3 hours of fun outdoor bellydancing in downtown yellow springs last night and 2 hours of biking this morning (plus some moving around of furniture after that), I got working on organizing my tools, and that was so much fun I got this far before stopping to eat.

Because I'm like that.

Just got the pegboard up today. We bought it a month or two ago.

I guess I'm like that, too. *sigh*

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/07/12/heres-tonights-sunset/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=7954

Because I figured you’d want to see it.

http://www.cheriepriest.com/2009/07/12/hay-everybody/

http://www.cheriepriest.com/?p=826

So … I haven’t gotten any writing done this weekend, but I have an excellent excuse. See, for awhile now I’ve been talking about throwing a website up for the alternate-history universe in which my upcoming book Boneshaker is set. This universe also holds a novelette that’s up for free and immediate reading over on Subterranean Press’s website, as well as an upcoming novella through that same publisher (Clementine) and the upcoming novel upon which I ought to be writing right now (Dreadnought).

Since these stories cover three separate fiction forms and two different publishers, I thought that a website dedicated to their world setting would be a useful, unifying device to give curious readers a chance to poke around and try out the idea, just to see if they like it. And then, through a convoluted series of events that do not warrant a dry retelling, it turned out that I might very well need such a site for reference purposes within oh, say … real soon.

Therefore, with some help from the hubs, I got down to business and up to no good. It took a couple of days, some blood sweat and tears, and a whole lot of jaw-clenching, but now it’s live and fully operational — just like something that isn’t a moon. So it is with great nervousness but significant pride that I present to you all:

Please, if you have a minute (and if you are so inclined), feel free to click that link and go poking around the site you find on the other side of it — and then by all means click whatever other links you find. Flip through the tabs. Do a little reading. Tell me if there’s anything else you’d like to see included on the site, and let me know if anything isn’t working.

And if you could find it in your heart to link the site, or add it to your bookmarks, I will love you forever. The Clockwork Century will be updated periodically with artwork from the series, including maps and future book covers, publication and release information, progress on upcoming projects, and anything else even marginally pertinent to the universe. I hope it gets a little love, and maybe inspires a little pre-ordering (though right now, Boneshaker is the only thing available in that capacity).

Anyway, thanks for your time and thanks for reading, and I hope that every single one of you has a most excellent evening. I’ll see you online again tomorrow morning.

So … I haven’t gotten any writing done this weekend, but I have an excellent excuse. See, for awhile now I’ve been talking about throwing a website up for the alternate-history universe in which my upcoming book Boneshaker is set. This universe also holds a novelette that’s up for free and immediate reading over on Subterranean Press’s website, as well as an upcoming novella through that same publisher (Clementine) and the upcoming novel upon which I ought to be writing right now (Dreadnought).

Since these stories cover three separate fiction forms and two different publishers, I thought that a website dedicated to their world setting would be a useful, unifying device to give curious readers a chance to poke around and try out the idea, just to see if they like it. And then, through a convoluted series of events that do not warrant a dry retelling, it turned out that I might very well need such a site for reference purposes within oh, say … real soon.

Therefore, with some help from the hubs, I got down to business and up to no good. It took a couple of days, some blood sweat and tears, and a whole lot of jaw-clenching, but now it’s live and fully operational — just like something that isn’t a moon. So it is with great nervousness but significant pride that I present to you all:

Please, if you have a minute (and if you are so inclined), feel free to click that link and go poking around the site you find on the other side of it — and then by all means click whatever other links you find. Flip through the tabs. Do a little reading. Tell me if there’s anything else you’d like to see included on the site, and let me know if anything isn’t working.

And if you could find it in your heart to link the site, or add it to your bookmarks, I will love you forever. The Clockwork Century will be updated periodically with artwork from the series, including maps and future book covers, publication and release information, progress on upcoming projects, and anything else even marginally pertinent to the universe. I hope it gets a little love, and maybe inspires a little pre-ordering (though right now, Boneshaker is the only thing available in that capacity).

Anyway, thanks for your time and thanks for reading, and I hope that every single one of you has a most excellent evening. I’ll see you online again tomorrow morning.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/07/12/fiction-and-non/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=7950

Marissa Lingen writes up her experience of writing fiction and writing non-fiction, and how the two are different (and, also and importantly, how the two are alike). It’s an interesting read and you should check it out.

For me, the major difference between my writing fiction and writing non-fiction is that with non-fiction I generally write from structural outlines (i.e., I know what every chapter is supposed to be about, and within each chapter, what I’m writing and what needs to be addressed), whereas with fiction I tend to wing it and make it up as I go along. Which is to say the fiction writing process is inherently more creative than they non-fiction writing process. But this is not to say my process for fiction is better than my process for non-fiction; both are excellently suited (for me, anyway) to the goals of the writing.

There’s also something Mris says in the entry that I agree with even though it’s not technically correct for my own writing path. She writes: “If you haven’t written a lot of fiction, you probably can’t write good fiction right off the bat.” I think this is generally true because generally speaking no one is good at anything without putting in a considerable amount of time at it.

That said, when I wrote Agent to the Stars in ‘97, I had written almost no fiction at all once I got out of high school, the exception being a three stories in college (one actually started back in high school), and a couple of three-page aborted attempts at novels in the early 90s. So Agent was my first completed work of fiction begun since 1987. The reason I think I managed it was a) I had a job as a film critic, so I spent several years evaluating other people’s story structures (and dialog, and everything else), b) I was writing every day for a living, c) I had worked as an editor, talking people through the potholes in their own work. All that compensated for not actually writing much fiction first.

On balance, however, I think it’s easier for most people just to write a bunch of fiction and get up to speed that way. Which goes to Mris’ point.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/07/12/helping-someone-helping-somone-else/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=7945

A note from agent Colleen Lindsay:

A good pal of mine, writer Aaron Allston, is bouncing back after having had a massive heart attack while on book tour; he had to have an emergency quadruple bypass and now he’s face with staggering medical bills. The Fandom Society of Texas has started a non-profit to collect donations and help Aaron out but we need to get the word out. I’ve written a blog post with all the details and links here.

Go ahead and link through, and if you have the ability, consider helping out.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/07/12/oh-dick/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=7942

What? Dick Cheney allegedly ordered the CIA to lie to Congress about some stuff it was doing? Who could have imagined? I mean, Dick Cheney always struck me as the open and communicative type, personally.

I have a general theory regarding Cheney, which is that a fundamental psychological trait of his is that he’s a coward, and as a coward he exhibits pathologies towards secrecy, the fetishization of violent power, self-justification in the face of facts and the overestimation of danger. This is not exactly an original theory, nor is it exclusive to me; nevertheless every time I look at Cheney I’m reminded that the politics of war and security should never be decided by men who are such bowel-shaken chickenshits. I don’t care if they’re Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal, just don’t have them be the sort of terrified coward Cheney turned out to be. Terrified cowards choose poorly. It’s not too much to ask for better than that.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/07/12/your-sunday-musical-obscurity/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=7939

From 1990 or so, the Scottish band Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie, with their not-precisely-a-hit “Blacker Than Black”:

I always enjoyed this tune, mostly because any song that starts “Death is a pony that’s waiting for me/His name is Luigi, he’s tied to a black tree” has got to be performed by the truly commited.

Incidentally, some of the more visually astute among you might register the presence of Shirley Manson, better known as the singer of Garbage. She was so young in those days, as were we all. Younger, anyway.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/07/11/tlc-or-dlk-a-deutscher-phantastik-preis-nominee/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=7937

This is nice: The German version of The Last Colony has been nominated for the 2009 Deutscher Phantastik Preis, in the category of Best International Novel. The entire slate of nominees in the category:

• Brian Keene: Der lange Weg nach Hause (Otherworld Verlag)
• Cassandra Clare: Chroniken der Unterwelt – City of Bones (Arena)
• John Scalzi: Die letzte Kolonie (Heyne)
• Neal Stephenson: Principia (Manhattan)
• Patrick Rothfuss: Der Name des Windes (Klett-Cotta)

That’s not bad company to be in. Here’s more information about the award itself.

It’s fun to be nominated for stuff. It’s fun to occasionally win, too. But being nominated is fun enough. Danke, German readers!

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/011420.html

I give you Jenna Moran, with Joel Polowin, in the Numinous collisions comment thread:

#94 ::: Jenna Moran ::: (view all by) ::: July 11, 2009, 02:56 AM:

1. A robot may not be predestined to suffer damnation, or, through inaction, allow itself to be predestined to suffer damnation.
2. A robot is predestined to suffer damnation, except where such predestination conflicts with the first law.
3. A robot must seek salvation as long as such salvation does not conflict with the first or second law.

There is also a theoretical "zeroth" law, which is to say,

0. A robot may not allow humanity to fall into sin, or, through inaction, allow humanity to exist in a fallen state.

Sadly robots deriving the zeroth law through metacognition rapidly short out due to the difficulty of properly fulfilling their duties to all four laws simultaneously. And just as well! Four-law robots are as vipers in the eyes of the Lord.

#103 ::: Joel Polowin ::: (view all by) ::: July 11, 2009, 08:52 PM:

I'm very ignorant on the subjects of predestination, damnation, Calvinism, all that stuff. But aren't the First and Second laws, above, mutually contradictory? "A robot may not be predestined to suffer damnation", "A robot is predestined to suffer damnation"...?

#104 ::: Jenna Moran ::: (view all by) ::: July 11, 2009, 10:21 PM:

Joel #103,

The material issue you have highlighted is but one reason of many that the science of positronics would stagger through the dark, lost and without a hope of reconciliation, were it not for the delicate fluttering of grace in the pathways of an electronic brain; or, put another way, without that promise made in the substitutionary atonement that the statement "GOTO JESUS" may provide an irresistible force of redemption to one's code, if the Lord should choose that it be so, and despite whatever corrupt temptations and errors the sin of Rossum might work into the substance of our code.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/07/11/i-teared-up-when-i-saw-this/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=7933

Because, yes. I know how he suffers.

(Hat tip to the fabulous Karen Meisner)

The Food and Drug Administration is wrapping up its investigation of Nestlé USA's cookie-dough plant after tests showed that the E. coli found in a package of cookie dough at the plant didn't match the DNA fingerprint of the strain that has caused at least 72 illnesses in 30 states.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/07/11/topping-todays-list-of-things-that-probably-shouldnt-make-me-as-happy-as-they-do/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=7931

A Coke Zero tallboy.

Now all I need to see is a Coke Zero 40 ounce and I can die happy.

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/011418.html

Reading the recent discussion (hic et seq) in the Open Thread about some of the challenges facing women in the open source software community, I'm brought back to an issue that I've been wrestling with for just about exactly two years now. It's not the whole problem, but it's a piece of it.

I'm a member of my company's development team, and I'm unique there in three ways:

1. I'm the only tester.
2. I'm the only one on the team who doesn't code (or didn't; I'm learning).
3. I'm the only woman.

Now, the first element is, of course, my job. Being the lone tester, though, means that I don't have a professional peer group to validate my skills, appreciate my subtleties and triumphs, or compare notes with. Although my colleagues often value what I do, they do so as customers and outsiders. Any more knowledgeable validation has to be internal.

But it's the last two that are the problem for me.

When I took the job, I hadn't coded much (apart from a little REXX) since my postgraduate computing course a decade earlier. So I've had to learn to code.

Now, as Scalzi so bluntly points out in another context, when you start doing something difficult and complicated, you will most likely suck at it. This is of course a necessary step in the learning process; we learn best from failure, not success. I know this. I have the products of the first three years of bookbinding online, with my various screwups photographed in intimate detail and dissected without mercy. It's one of the most popular parts of that site.

But at the moment, I'm the only one in the team who really sucks at coding. And I'm the only woman. It's a situation where generalizing is all too easy.

Now, my colleagues are really good guys. They don't treat me as though my suckitude at coding (and managing version control software¹, and wrestling with our IDE²) is the product of my gender. But I feel it. I feel like the fact that I'm not a ninja coder, the Kung Fu Panda of C#, reflects badly on my half of humanity. I'm letting the side down³.

(Ironically, this makes me suck more, because I find it difficult to ask questions or admit when I'm stuck.)

Frankly, if I were doing this for anything other than pay, I'd have long since buggered off with a good book. I certainly wouldn't do it for the love of the work, because at this point, I don't just suck, I feel guilty for sucking. There is no love there; every achievement is just a mitigation of the disservice I'm doing womankind. Stopping would be a net improvement. (I'm overstating the matter, but not by all that much. It's pretty joyless. UPDATE: On reading this, I see it looks like my whole job is joyless. That's not the case; it's just the learning to develop that grinds me down and makes me feel small.)

So one thing women in Open Source—or anyone who is a minority in a skills-based group—need is Permission to Suck⁴. They need the understanding, from themselves and others, that any and all suckitude is to their account alone, just like it is for the majority.

Because everybody sucks sometimes. The trick is moving beyond it.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/07/11/in-the-absence-of-me-having-anything-in-particular-to-say-today/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=7928

Have a video of a song I liked, oh, 20 years ago:

The band: An Emotional Fish, thus proving that bands with terrible names can make reasonably good music. This is actually the first time that I’ve seen video in all that time, however. Interesting. And not a speck of blue in it.

Helen S. Wright's A Matter of Oaths, long long out of print, is now available as a free e-book from the author. I didn't like it quite as well as perkinwarbeck2, but I concur with his assessment that "if what you want is a shot of spaceships to the arteries, you could do a lot worse."

There's a distant beeping. What is it?

SteelyKid was 11 months on Tuesday. I know I just did a development post for her but I figure I should start erring on the side of more posts.

( short update )

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/011416.html

Kate Beaton isn’t the only one doing historical webcomics. London-based animator Sydney Padua is doing a series of comics about an alternate-historical Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace, seemingly as a form of work-avoidance:

• The origin of Ada Lovelace
• Babbage vs The Economy, part 1, part 2, and part 3 (with special guest appearance by Isambard Kingdom Brunel)
• Ada Lovelace in The Person from Porlock
• Babbage and Lovelace vs The Client (in progress)

…and a few more strips and random illos can be found if you explore the site.