A Story of Kindness

On facebook, a friend of mine named Christopher Golden posted about a very negative event that happened to a veteran in a wheelchair and invited everyone to post about an act of kindness in response. I thought it was a great idea, so here is mine.

I was twenty-four, in graduate school, living on 500 dollars a month. I’d hitched a ride to Dallas, Texas for a society for neuroscience conference where I was presenting a poster, and was staying at the cheapest place I could find on the outskirts of town. I took the bus in every day to convention center.

One night I was eating at Shoney’s next door to my motel. I had about eleven dollars in my wallet and was glad we were going back home the next day. A fellow came in who was trying to sell his paintings and was asking twenty dollars for them. They weren’t very good but if I’d had the money I would have bought one anyway. As it was, when he came up and asked me to buy one I had to tell him, “I’m sorry, man. I’ve barely got enough to cover my supper here tonight.”

The fellow left and I didn’t think anything more about it until I was getting ready to leave and asked the waitress for the check. She told me that it had “been taken care of.”  When I asked “by who,” she reluctantly pointed to a nearby table where an older gentleman sat with his family. I didn’t really know what to say to the waitress but I went over to the table and told them “thanks,” but that I could have paid for my meal. The man responded with, “Well, I heard you say you had barely enough to cover your supper and I’ve been there myself.” 

I thanked him again and went on. I’ve never forgotten it, though. Sometimes humans do nice things. It’s in us if we’ll just let it out.

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The Next Big Thing Blog Chain...

I was chained to this by David J. West (Author of HEROES OF THE FALLEN) so I’m sharing some things about my primary “work in progress.”


What is the working title of your book?

I’ve actually worked recently on two books but the one I’ve gotten the farthest along in is called The Razored Land.


Where did the idea come from for the book?

It’s a post-apocalyptic book, which I’ve always wanted to write. The concept of folks surviving after an apocalypse that destroys human civilization is an oldie but a goodie. Some great stories have been told in that kind of a setting. For my book, I added in the idea of a DNA plague that alters all kinds of life forms, including most humans. There are people who are immune to the plague, and that’s where the main character comes from.


What genre does your book fall under?

Post-apocalyptic literature is almost a genre of its own. However, this kind of book is typically classified as Science Fiction and I’d say that genre makes up the greatest element of the story I’ve conceived. However, there are going to be some very strong horror elements in the piece.


Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I don’t ever see actors playing the roles in my fiction. Not sure why. I’m not a big movie buff. If forced to choose, I might pick Colin Farrell to play the main character. Samuel Jackson might fit the primary villain, with lots of makeup. There’s also a female character that might be played well by the young woman who played the female terminator on the Sarah Conner Chronicles. She’d also need quite a bit of makeup.


What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

At the end of the world, love and hate meet as enemies on the final battlefield.


Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Neither, most likely. I have a small press publisher interested in it and that’s probably the route I’ll go.


How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

The book is about half done at 33,000 words. It took about 8 months to write that much, although it wasn’t the only project I was working on. I have other commitments now before I can get back to it but I figure about another 8 months to finish. It would take considerably less if I wasn’t working a real job.


What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

There are many post-apocalyptic (PA) books out there, although some of the other elements that I’ve added in will make this book different. A Canticle for Leibowitz is one of my favorite PA books. The Stones of Power series by David Gemmell has certain things in common with my book. I could certainly name a dozen others. Andre Norton wrote some of this that was certainly an early influence on me. Jerry Ahern wrote a series called "The Survivalist" that had many elements I admired.


Who or What inspired you to write this book?

I’d have to say, “reading” inspired me to it. I love post-apocalyptic books. I love the setting and the possibilities. It gives the imagination some room to run and I always enjoy that. I want to try my hand at it.


What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

In my novel, Cold in the Light, I had a non-human character named Kargen who many readers really liked, even though he was basically the villain of the story. He was kind of a non-human anti-hero. I’ve wanted to write such a character again and “The Razored Land” has given me that chance. I’ve got a couple of Kargenesque characters in it. I’m having fun with them.


That's it.

Now I have to chain people to this thing so I’ll name a few people but will say only for them to do it if it intrigues them and they have the time. I don’t want them to feel any kind of pressure from it. I know we writers are busy folks and the last thing I want to do is add more pressure and stress to the mix.

James Reasoner
Oscar Case
Richard Prosch


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Growing a Character

I see a scene in my head. It goes something like this:

The last Danok lies dying at the warrior's feet, it's silver blood soaking into the raven sands of the arena. More of that same blood drips from his sword, from his hand, from his face. He tastes it in his mouth like a raw and bitter wine.

He looks up at the stands surrounding him. The Vhichang mob is on its feet, the bright feathers on their bodies standing up with excitement. They chant  his name in hawkish voices. "Raath! Raath!  Raath!"

A sudden roar of sound drowns out the mob. Raath's gaze is drawn higher, into the golden sky. A metallic object as big as the arena hovers there. He recognizes it as some kind of ship, but it is nothing like the Vhichang vessels he has seen. On its side there is writing.

A weakness sweeps over Raath, a weakness that no foe has ever caused in him. He recognizes the writing from a childhood he barely remembers. He can read it.

"United States Air Force," it says.

End scene.

Where will this scene take me?  Anywhere?  Nowhere?  I only know that I feel a character growing in my head. And I wonder.

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The Mouse that Got Even

When Josh was little he had quite a few stuffed animals and all of them had names and personalities. Josh generally gave them the names; I typically handled the personalities. We had “Tenny,” a rabbit who had a tennis racket sewn in his hands, “Pinky,” a fluffy pink rabbit, “Baby White Bear,” whose name is self-explanatory, “Bear,” who was a larger white bear, “Bro,” “Bear’s” twin, “Mittens,” a calico tabby, “Dallas,” a bear Josh’s mom picked up for him in Dallas, Texas, “Mickey,” a mouse we got at Disneyworld, and “Baby Yellow Mouse.”

Tenny and Pinky were bought from a Goodwill store and were partners in crime, always on the lookout for the cops. We never found out exactly what they’d done, but it was apparently pretty serious because whenever they were with us in the car they kept a constant eye out for policemen and would immediately hide if any were spotted. Bear and Bro were good companions to Josh, always making sure the other animals behaved and protecting Josh if there was any need of it. They slept on either side of him at night, and they were in charge of our annual Halloween Haunted house, which the stuffed animals put on each year in Josh’s room. Mickey was quite obnoxious, going around constantly saying things like “Everyone loves Mickey” in his high pitched voice. Most of us didn’t really love Mickey because of that.

Mittens, like most cats, simply existed to be petted. He was generally good natured, but we had to keep him and Baby Yellow Mouse separated because they did not like each other. We never traveled with both of them at the same time for fear of an…incident. Baby White Bear was something of an airhead. He could hardly remember anything and would frequently get off topic if you asked him a question. He was good natured, but gullible, and he sometimes fell under the sway of Baby Yellow Mouse, who I will sometimes refer to as BYM. BYM was just flat out a sociopath.

One year when we were going to Arkansas to see my mom and family, I asked Josh whether he wanted to take Mittens or Baby Yellow Mouse with him, and he decided to take Mittens. BYM was quite upset about this and threatened that we “hadn’t seen the last of him.” Josh and I just laughed. But it turned out the joke was on us. The day after we arrived in Arkansas, a small box arrived in the mail at my mom’s house addressed to Josh. Mystified, he tore open the box only to find Baby Yellow Mouse and a note inside. The note read: “You thought you would leave me behind but it didn’t work. You’ll never be able to leave me behind. I have my ways.”

By necessity, Baby Yellow Mouse joined us for that vacation, and on the way home that year, Mittens mysteriously disappeared. We suspect that he fell out at one of our stops and we didn’t see him, but I could never be sure of whether BYM had finally gotten even. He certainly looked smug enough, but that wasn’t proof of any wrongdoing. We bought Josh another stuffed cat, but this one never messed with BYM. I think the word had gone out.

For our trip to Arkansas the next year, we told BYM well in advance that he could not go with us and that we’d make sure of it. As the time for the trip neared, however, BYM suddenly disappeared from Josh’s room. We thought he had run away. We arrived in Arkansas all happy and as we got out of the car we heard a voice, sounding much like my voice except higher pitched, say, “Hey, don’t leave me in here.” A few moments of searching revealed that BYM had stowed away inside one of the hubcaps. Josh was quite impressed with his ingenuity, and from then on we never forbade Baby Yellow Mouse from accompanying us on trips. We were sure it wouldn’t do any good anyway.
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To Newsletter or Not

I’m considering trying out an author newsletter to support my writing. I don’t read a lot of author newsletters but I find some intriguing stuff in them at times. I’d read more if I had more time, since I enjoy learning about authors whose work I like.  Knowing how busy I am, and knowing that others are similarly busy in this connected world, I would only want to do two issues a year, Spring/Summer, and Fall/Winter, and would not want them to be more than about 2 pages each. My thoughts right now are to call it the “Razored Zen Newsletter” to keep it tied to my blog and to Razored Zen Press. 

Content wise, I’m thinking of adding a very brief update on what is going on in my personal world, and then include mentions and teasers for a couple of recently published projects, with snippets of reviews of those publications.  I’d have a short “what I’m working on” piece, and maybe a poem or a sample of a story in progress. If space permitted, I could do capsule reviews on some of the stuff I’ve been reading.  Since this newsletter would be distributed primarily through email, I’d have embedded links to everything.

Here’s my questions for my visitors. 1. Does this sound like something that might attract readers to my work? Or drive them away?  2. Do you ever sign up for this kind of newsletter from authors?  3. If you do read such newsletters, what kind of things do you like to see in them?

Thanks.

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The World According to Detail

Outside my window this morning, a Chickadee perches, worrying at a sunflower seed to get it open. I see his little black cap and the white eyeliner he wears. A cardinal, dressed in angry red, lands on the same branch. The Chickadee wisely hops to another.

Lana comes in and points out a female Indigo Bunting in the yard. She isn't brightly colored but if she is here the blue bedecked males may not be far behind.  I see some of our resident doves on the ground near her, in a patch that is bare of grass where we spread seed every other day.

The leaves on the trees are still summer green here.  Mostly. I can see a few brown ones scattered throughout, and at places in the woods I see red and yellow leaves on some of the bushes. We will have a fall, though it will be a brief one. You wouldn't want to blink.

There is much to be thankful for this day. This morning I have a few minutes to think, and it is a joy. And it is our 5th anniversary. Lana and I have a five-year-old, you might say. I'm looking out on the same backyard scene we saw that October day 5 years ago. We were married on our own deck. And this whole last week Lana has been feeling so much better. That, too, is such a relief.

I hope your day is going as well as mine.

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When It Pours

I’ve said before that academic work is often feast or famine. Sometimes it gets piled on. At other times you get to catch your breath, and maybe even complete a thought. There is one way to predict when you’ll get hit with a pile, though, and that is whenever it will be most unpleasant for you. This is a corollary of Murphy’s Law, no doubt.

Xavier was originally scheduled to be off school on Monday, and Tuesday, October 8-9. I knew CONtraflow was the weekend prior so I scheduled two tests on Friday, the 5^th, knowing I’d be able to recover from the con and get my tests graded over those two free days. Then Hurricane Isaac hit and we lost a week, and as a result we’ve taken those two days back for classes. To accommodate CONtraflow, then, I moved one test to Monday.

It would have been tight to get to the Con and get the first test graded too, but I could handle it. Alas, I had forgotten to predict the inevitable. When I came in on Friday I also found three big research proposals waiting for me in my box for my evaluation.  I went to work on those and made some progress, though it meant that I barely made it to the meet the guests party at CONtraflow. But by Monday morning, two new research proposals had spawned in my box, and I gave another test that day. I put in almost 15 straight hours of work and made it about halfway through the pile that needed to be completed. I’ve been up working since early this morning and it’s looking like a 12 hour day is on the way. I’m taking a little break to write this.

I looked at Blogger for the first time in several days yesterday and had 283 posts in my feed. I hadn’t the strength so had to mark them all as read. If I should get through early enough today, I’ll try to make some rounds this evening. I’ll have to see.

In the meantime, Issue 6 of White Cat Magazine is out, and it looks to be a doozie.  I’m going to do a fuller review as soon as I can get out from under the work pile. Check it out. 

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CONtraflow II

As soon as classes are over tomorrow I'll be headed out to CONtraflow II, which is being held at the Double Tree Hilton in Kenner, Louisiana, just off Williams Boulevard. Since I have three classes on Friday, and the first at 9:00, plus a meeting with students at 8:00 and 11:00, and a test at 2:00, I am going to have a very long day. I'll leave the house around 6:00 in the morning and probably won't be home until Midnight or later. It used to be easy for me to go for days like that. Not anymore. I don't much like getting older, though it's preferable to the alternative.

I won't be blogging over the weekend so it'll probably be Monday before I check in again. I trust everyone will get along fine without me.

In the meantime, I'm rather enjoying a big 80s book I got many years ago at a book sale and finally decided to read. It's called, The Writers, by Marilyn Lynch. The cover shows a curly haired male writer and a blonde female leaning close together, with a typewriter just below them. It's set at a writer's retreat, and features a mysterious obscene phone caller, a Hollywood hack hoping to get back to "serious" writing, a predatory female publishing executive who is looking to become an agent, a drunken male agent who is crashing and burning, an older creative writing instructor who is famous for his womanizing and who has suffered from a heart attack that is forcing him to change his ways, the writing instructor's much younger and hot to trot wife, the teacher's emasculated son, an ambitious writing convention organizer who is willing to use sex to get what she wants, a lonely wife who is into tanning and EST, and one really nice guy.  Lots of jumping in and out of the sack, lots of emoting. But the writing is kind of fun and I'm actually rooting for a couple of the characters to get what they want.

Later,
Charles

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Good Review, and CONtraflow II

Andrew Byers over at Tales from the Bookworm's Lair, has reviewed the Borgo Double containing my Under the Ember Star and Michael Burgess’s The Battle for Eden. It’s a detailed review of both works. I’m glad to say that Andrew liked ‘em both, as well. Check it out.
In other news, this weekend, October 5-7, I will be a guest at the New Orleans area CONtraflow Con. This is only the second year for the Con, which I also attended last year. I had a great time and this one looks bigger than before. They’ve moved to a new and larger hotel. We’ll be at the Double Tree Hotel in Kenner, Louisiana, which is near the New Orleans area airport. The author guest of honor is Vernor Vinge. Arthur Suydam is the Comic Artist Guest of Honor. There are plenty more guests as well. Even me!

You can get a PDF of the schedule at the link above. I’ll be at the “Meet the Guests” party Friday evening, and then have a panel at 9 on “The Fan in Academia.” I know many academics who are fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy. It seems a fairly natural match to me, especially for scientists.

On Saturday I have an 11:00 panel on “How to Get Published,” a 4:00 panel on “World Building 101,” and a 7:00 on “The Works of Robert E. Howard.” I also did that one last year, and though we didn’t have a lot of folks at the panel we had a wonderful discussion that we had to continue downstairs in the pool area after the panel was done.

I’ll also be around on Sunday, though I don’t have any specific panels that day. I will be in and out of the dealer’s room, though, and wandering around to other folks’ panels. I’ve met quite a few of the guests before, but not all. Come join us if you can.
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Lana Updates

The last two weeks were nearly our lowest point, even worse than the week we spent evacuated from our home and living in hotel rooms because of Hurricane Isaac. Lana’s radiation sessions had ended, but the radiation keeps working after that. Her chemo sessions were over too, but she was so dehydrated and low on potassium for various reasons that we were going every two or three days to get her fluid infusions, which generally lasted four or more hours. She was sick constantly, often spitting up bile every 15 to 20 minutes. She wasn’t eating because she couldn’t swallow, and everything either tasted foul to her, or had no taste whatsoever. She drank a lot of fluids but couldn’t even hold those down half the time. Her voice was barely a whisper.

Because I was back full time at school, she was generally sleeping on the couch, partially so that she wouldn’t wake me up every few minutes when she got up. I still heard her, though. And each time she was sick it drove daggers in me. Neither of us was getting much sleep, and I could tell that Lana just constantly felt like hell. Her normally bright and expressive eyes were so sad that I’m sure my own eyes reflected the same.

When you go through weeks with no joy, you begin to wonder if there’ll ever be joy again, or even just some peace of mind. I begged for peace of mind. There was none to be had.

Lana was so beaten down last week that they ended up doing fluid infusions on both Thursday and Friday.  But by the weekend we began to see some rays of light through the darkness. The difficulty in swallowing eased. Her chemo rash finally cleared up. Most importantly, she started to ‘feel’ a little bit better, and she began to eat again, little bites of things at first, but then a bit more.  She told me how ‘good’ orange juice and Sprite was, and it brought a smile to my face and my heart. How long had it been since anything tasted good to her?  Months!

Yesterday, for the first time since this hell began, she went out and took a few photos of our neighborhood, and this morning she was up early and went to the Flatwoods park near our house and took more photos. For a woman who had simply stopped having the energy for such things, this felt like a major turning point to me.  Life is coming back. The bleakness is resolving a bit. Even as we move into the world’s autumn, it feels like Lana and I are reaching for spring.

We return to the doctor on October 15^th and at that point we will schedule her next full body scan. We are in something of a holding pattern until then.  But, in the meantime, I’m sitting on our deck to write this, the first time I’ve spent more than a minute on the deck since summer began. The air is cool. I see a Chickadee cracking seeds. I see Cardinals at the feeders. For the first time in a long time, there is a hint of a smile in my heart.

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Heavy Metal Versus Hard Rock

You’d probably have to be an aficionado of the music to appreciate the differences between the musical genres called Heavy Metal and Hard Rock, and probably would have to have listened to quite a bit of the music to even begin to describe the differences between them. Many folks I know don’t hear any differences, but I think they are there, and here’s my take on it. Let me say, up front, that I love both genres and am not trying to make the point that one is better than the other.

Let me start off by naming some of what I consider representative albums in the two genres.

Heavy Metal

1. We Sold Our Souls For Rock and Roll – Black Sabbath

2.  Screaming for Vengeance – Judas Priest

3.  The Number of the Beast – Iron Maiden

4.  Shout at the Devil – Motley Crue

5.  Master of Puppets – Metallica

6.  Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying – Megadeth

7.  Vulgar Display of Power – Pantera

Hard Rock

1.  Highway to Hell – AC/DC

2.  Machine Head – Deep Purple

3.  Tres Hombres – Z Z Top

4.  Free-For-All – Ted Nugent

5.  Gold and Platinum – Lynyrd Skynyrd

6.  Van Halen – Van Halen

7.  Aerosmith – Rocks

Some folks might dispute the inclusion of Motley Crue in the Heavy Metal list. The Crue were one of the progenitors of the subgenre known as Glam Metal. But there was no such thing as the Heavy Metal subgenre explosion when the Crue put out Shout at the Devil, and it is very heavy and one of my favorite albums of all time.

In the same way, Z Z Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd are often called southern rock or blues rock rather than Hard Rock, but I think those are subgenres rather than reflecting significant differences. And while Van Halen is sometimes called Heavy Metal, they don’t quite cross the metal line as I see it.

So what is that line? What are the differences?

First, there is the sheer heaviness of the music. Put on “Leper Messiah” by Metallica and compare it to “Gimme Back My Bullets” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Both are rocking songs, but there is a density in the Metallica song that just isn’t there in the Skynyrd. That doesn’t make it better or worse. It is different. Heavy Metal must have a denseness that Hard Rock does not require. Sometimes a Hard Rock Band will cross over that line with a song or two. “Ain’t Talking about Love” by Van Halen does that. “Saturday Night Special” by Lynyrd Skynyrd does.  But the average denseness is less in Hard Rock than Heavy Metal. 

Second, there is a lyrical approach to the music that is different. Hard Rock lyrics are much more about having a good time, about partying (alcohol and drugs), and about sex, than is the case with Heavy Metal. Metal lyrics are about death, about violence and war, and, more often, about historical or even current affairs. Metal lyrics are more often anti-Christian (although there are certainly exceptions), and more explicitly talk about evil. (Note that for most bands this is not because they actually worship Satan.)

Consider AC/DC’s songs like “Girls Got Rhythm, “Walk All Over You,” “Touch too Much,” “Beating around the Bush,” and “Love Hungry Man.” Although this album is entitled Highway to Hell, suggesting a more metal type of lyrics, the songs are primarily about partying and sex. Van Halen is largely the same way on their self-titled album, although there is variety in their lyrics. “Ice Cream Man” is a good example, and later Van Halen albums were even more about Hard Rocking sex than about Metal themes.

On the other hand, look at Master of Puppets, by Metallica, with songs like the title song, and “Leper Messiah,” “Sanitarium,” “Disposable Heroes,” and “The Thing That Should Not Be.”

Here’s where we could have some debate about the band Motley Crue. The Crue have many songs about sex on their Shout at the Devil album, such as “Ten Seconds to Love,” “Too Young to Fall in Love,” and “Looks that Kill.” They also, however, have songs like “Shout at the Devil,” which is pretty damn evil, as well as “Knock ‘Em Dead, Kid,” and the remake of the Beatles “Helter Skelter.” This puts it in a kind of between-land, but in my judgment the album is more metal in its lyrics than Hard Rock. I will say, though, that some of Motley Crue’s later albums really cross more into Hard Rock territory with their lyrics, especially on songs such as “Girls, Girls, Girls,” and “Dr. Feelgood.”  I could see the Crue as being put into either camp and there could be good arguments either way. I think there’s much less room to argue for bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden on the metal side, and Z Z Top on the rock side.

There’s certainly room for debate on this issue. Ultimately, this post is about how I feel about the music I listen too.  Your opinions are welcome, of course.

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