Thanks for the honorable mention, Steve! BTW, I'm now qualified to give seminars, workshops, etc. that provide clinical proof of how rapidly your book sales can (will!) fall off a cliff without a pretty aggressive, ongoing marketing plan.
--Doug -- Doug Roberts [email protected] [email protected] http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins <http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins> 505-455-7333 - Office 505-670-8195 - Cell On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 2:43 PM, Steve Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > Jochen - > > I met George when I used to hang with some of the local (NM) SF authors, > I've since dropped out of that crowd. > > I also hosted a series of events at LANL during the 1998 Nebula awards... > At that event I even met a woman (SF/F Author who claimed to have > accidentally started the Society for Creative Anachronism when she invited > all of her friends and aquaintences and colleagues to her house in Berkeley > to celebrate her recent Masters in Medieval Studies and they all showed up > in period costume and weaponry.... I can't remember her name now and > could not corroborate her story. > > George is a lot like many of the SF/F authors I know... only a bit more > successful than most. I found George to be a self-important curmudgeon > long before he hit it bigtime (while he was producing the work that he > would hit it bigtime with!)... so I can't imagine that has decreased. The > Game of Thrones series (even before it got picked up by HBO) was very > powerful even though it is not my usual fare. George also initiated and > edited a series of collected/themed short stories known as "the Wild Card" > stories which in my opinion presaged (or inspired, or informed) the > "Heroes" HBO series. These are (I think he's still cranking them out) very > good examples of collaborative fiction as well... > > We (NM) recently (2006) lost the legendary Jack Williamson at the ripe > young age of 98... he came to NM by way of covered wagon just around > 1912/statehood (age 4). He was incredibly prolific right up until his > last few years, and managed to get credit for many neologisms from Science > Fiction as documented in the Oxford English Dictionary.... including my > favorite "contra-terrene" (anti-matter). He also told a great anecdote > about being visited by the FBI during the Manhattan project because of one > of his stories' reference to "Atom Bombs"... he got them off his back by > referring them to a much older (1932?) story with the same ideas... I > recommend his first novel in the "Humanoid" Series... I think it was called > "With Folded Hands" (what goes awry when you make the perfect robotic > servants whose directives are roughly those that Asimov is given credit > for... "Allow no human to come to harm"... taking this to the extreme > they became a kindler, gentler version of the Borg or the Berserkers. > > We also lost the similarly legendary Roger Zelazny who was a long time > resident of Santa Fe and most famous for his series referred to as "The > Amber Chronicles" I think. Zelazny was also much loved for the writing > workshops he taught in the area. > > Steve (S.M.) Stirling is another prolific Santa Fe author. He has several > collaborators who he publishes with, including the well known name of Anne > McCaffrey ("The Ship who Fought). Most of his works are military SF, Post > Apocalyptic and Alternate History. I enjoy the last the most. > > Stephen C. Gould and Laura Mixon are perhaps my favorite "writing > couple"... Stephen's work hit it "big time" when one of his juvenile > novels, "Jumper" was made into a movie (disappointing result as such > endeavors often are) a few years ago. They wrote a great collaborative > novel together for those here interested in collaborative efforts. Laura > is a very powerful Cyberpunk (my measure of the theme of her work) Author > in her own right and collaborator on an Interactive Storytelling engine > (Storytron). Laura and/or Stephen might even be members of this or the SFX > Discuss list. I hosted them at SFX for a "blender" on interactive > storytelling a few years ago. > > Walter Jon Williamson is another of my favorites... His work touches on > Cyberpunk (HardWired in particular) but manages to be very highbrow > technically despite the lowbrow tropes such as "Space Opera". I haven't > seen anything from him lately, but I'm sure he's still working... > > Other SF names from the immediate are that might also be recognized > include: Fred Saberhagen, Sage Walker, Patty Nagel, Sally Gwylan ... > > And of course, there is the ever-famous annual SF Confention in > Albuquerque called the "Bubonicon" after the unfortunate disease, "Bubonic > Plague". > > Oh, and then of course, we have Doug! > > - Steve > > > > A colleague came up today with a book from George R.R. Martin. They say > he is the American Tolkien, so I decided to read one of his books, 'Game of > Thrones'. Has someone actually met him? He lives in Santa Fe and seems to > be cool. > > -J. > > > > Sent from Android > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
