Shineanthology’s Weblog
An anthology of optimistic, near future SFArchive for November, 2008
Crazy Story Ideas, part 1
Thinking about the last ‘off-the-cuff’ remark in my previous ‘relevant SF’ post, I produced the seed of a story outline. Since I am too busy to write this myself, I thought I’d share it with everybody interested in SHINE, and hope that it may inspire you.
Disclaimer: please don’t take my ‘thinking-aloud’ musings as gospel, but rather as a jump-off point for your own inspiration. Feel free to use each and every idea and notion, or to cherry-pick from them, or twist them to your own advantage. Even better if you think: “I can do much better than that, and I’ll show you’: I’ll happily look forward to your stories in May and June.
So here goes: Read the rest of this entry »
Music that makes you feel optimistic, part 2
Or: Spock’s Beard.
Spock’s Beard entered the music scene with their debut album The Light in 1995. Especially the epynomous title track is still a classic. However, the albums I find myself listening to the most are Beware of Darkness (1996), The Kindness of Strangers (1998) and V (2000).
The Grapevine, part 4
And yes, another interview:
- Jay Tomio of BookSpot Central has interviewed me for their BookSpot Beat feature. Check it out!
- There is an interview with a French magazine in the works: more news when I have it;
In my continuing quest for world media saturation the SHINE anthology now has pages and networks in the following places:
(I’ve made personal pages on FaceBook and MySpace as well, but won’t bother you with them. Yet.)
More links from the blogosphere and beyond:
- Yukon Science Fiction writer Jerome Stueart is dreaming about a better world and mentions — along with SHINE, other places of interest for that. (I especially like his idea to gather engineers, scientists and SF writers to pool ideas, as I’m basically an engineer in the day job) ;
- Writer Adam Isreal is working on a story (among many other projects: he’s keeping himself very busy) for SHINE. Good luck with it, and I’m looking forward to seeing it;
- Velcro City Tourist Board‘s Paul Raven pings me back by telling that I’m ‘getting my positive on‘. As it is, I’ve hardly started, and thanks!
- UPDATE: Warren Ellis is very tired, and needs a big, comforting hug…;-);
And the sekrit, mad project? Sorry to taunt you, dear reader, but watch this space (and get a drink in the meantime)…
Relevant SF…
…or: The world is looking for solutions. Why isn’t SF trying to help, or at least trying to think along?
In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been in airplanes quite a bit. My airplane reading is mostly newspapers and science magazines like New Scientist and Scientific American. So when I flew to Spain about a month ago I delved into the October, 11th New Scientist “A Brighter Future” special issue, and when I flew to Calgary two weeks later I bought Scientific American‘s “Earth 3.0” special issue. Then there’s also Ode Magazine (I read the Dutch version, but there’s also an English one) with a ‘Generation Now’ special report. Read the rest of this entry »
There are more than one of us…
So, in the interest of disambiguation, I’ve added a note at the top of column 4, explaining that this is the site of the badass SF anthology for the good, and that others are, for example:
- The Shine Journal: a webzine of flash literature, poetry, art & photography;
- The Shine anthology: a showcase of student writing from LaTrobe Secondary College, published in 2004 (indeed, I did run across this — freely available — anthology when I checked the internet if there weren’t any other *SF* anthologies or magazines called ‘Shine’. I decided that the difference was very obvious);
- Shine the yahoo lifestyle magazine: it’s about almost everything except science fiction. OK, if you search it for ‘science fiction’, you get exactly three hits among the kazillions of articles;
- Shine the movie: I am very well aware of this one, as my sister — who lives in Melbourne — took me to that very movie when it came out. I love it: superb performance by Geoffrey Rush (and so quintessentially different from what I’m doing that I didn’t worry about the name sharing: rather the contrary);
- LG’s Shine mobile phone: sold a measly 5 million or so. Kidding aside (I certainly won’t complain if my SHINE sells 1% of that number), there are so many products either called ‘shine’, or referring to ‘shine’ that I only focussed on the combination ‘shine’ and ‘science fiction’.
Therefore, if somebody knows of a ‘shine’ anthology, magazine or website that is also strongly involved with science fiction, then don’t hesitate to inform me.
Kindred Spirits, part 1
In this post (and I sure hope there will be more, hence the ‘part 1’ addendum) I will be mentioning recent(*) publications that are also about change in the near future, are optimistic or have a positive attitude, or feature relevant SF, or — ideally — all of them.
I have two recent examples:
- Seeds of Change edited by John Joseph Adams;
The Grapevine, part 3
Yesterday, I thought that both the frequency and the content in upcoming grapevines would slowly diminish, but only the latter might be true, as exciting things keep happening. In this grapevine, I am happy to report that I have been interviewed about SHINE:
- Alessandro Murè of Fantascienza posts an interview with me (in Italian: Babelfish translation here);
That’s one interview — and in Italian, at that — but there are two more upcoming: one in English, and one in French. Stay tuned!
More links from tah interwebs:
- SHINE has been listed on Duotrope;
- Yukon Science Fiction writer Jerome Stueart is getting into the optimistic groove, promoting a positive radio series, mentioning a column on Fantasy Magazine asking for scientist heroes (am I the only one who sees the irony here…;-), and shortly mentioning SHINE (bottom of the post);
- Maree from New Zealand of ‘Just Add Books‘ realises SHINE isn’t out yet — it’s slated for late a 2009, early 2010 release — but she already wants it: Wednesday Wants!!!! Gotta love (future) readers like her, and thanks!
Finally, there’s something really crazy brewing: there’s a fifty/fifty chance it might happen, and if it does, you’ll read it here first (although you might hear about it someplace else).
Music that makes you feel optimistic, part 1
This is not as easy as it sounds when you, like me, are a metalhead. Heavy Metal and horrific gloom go together like, well, bacon & eggs. Or to quote the Peaceville sampler I got free with my latest Aardschok (Dutch heavy metal magazine) issue: “21 years of Doom, Death & Darkness”.
It’s almost the polar opposite of what I’m trying to do with SHINE. Nevertheless, not all hardrock and heavy metal is immensely downbeat (and yes, I do love me some gloomy metal, too: last Friday I went to Slayer — not exactly messengers of the optimistic — and greatly enjoyed it).
So here is some music that makes me feel better, that can lift me up from a downbeat mood. Actually, much more than I can mention in a single post, so like ‘The Grapevine’, I’m making a series of it.
Today’s examples come from a 7-pack of discs (I have a CD-player that can hold up to 7 CDs) that I’ve been playing when writing two of my last short stories. Four of those don’t qualify as upbeat, but three do (or at least qualify partly):
The Grapevine, part 2
Much love and more links from across the world:
- Mark Kelly at Locus Online put it up as one of the Sunday 9 November Blinks;
- SF Crowsnest announced it here;
- SF Signal mentions that I’ve started this very blog (shiny, baby, shiny…;-);
- 42 Blips give me some more love by announcing this blog;
- Damien Walter not only gives a great shout-out, but goes out on a limb, as well. Many thanks, Damien!;
- Niall Harrison at Torque Control shortly mentions the SHINE anthology weblog (among many other links);
- Fantasy Book Critic announced it on their site (right under a Neil Gaiman announcement: I can’t complain about that);
- Sally Quilford took note (and don’t hesitate to send me something, Sally);
- Donna Sundblad mentions it in Anthology News and Reviews;
- Planet-X in Australia give it a mention;
- Here’s the Global Warming Review blog recycling Jason Stoddard’s post;
- Here’s Solaris News linking to io9’s post, and to the SF Crowsnest announcement;
- Abra Staffin Wiebe mentions it in her market list;
- It’s mentioned, buried in there somewhere, in the Motown Writers Workshop;
Non-English mentions:
- Alessandro Muré recapitulates the optimistic SF debate preceding the SHINE anthology announcement on Fantascienza.com (note: obviously, it’s in Italian. Babelfish can be your friend);
Forum discussions:
- A ‘Canon of Optimistic Science Fiction‘ thread on the Asimov’s forum;
- Yours truly almost turns SHINE into a time travel antho at the BSFA forum;
Many thanks for all the mentions, everybody, and do feel free to keep spreading the word. Also, don’t hesitate to query, give comments and feedback.
Why Optimism?
Optimism, what is it good for?
A few pro’s:
- Optimism is a Political Act;
- Things do get better all the time;
- Against all the odds, the world is becoming a happier place (this is the last point from the above link, but bears to be repeated);
- Why optimism is more rational than pessimism;
- It’s healthier;
A few quotes: Read the rest of this entry »