David D. LevineScience Fiction Author

Word count: 11740 | Since last entry: 2849

Finished the first draft of… um, this thing I’m working on. Which definitely isn’t a short story, at almost 12,000 words, but I don’t think really deserves to be a novelette… it’s not a novelette-sized plot. I think it must have a lot of stuff that can be removed. But it isn’t really meant to be an independent story anyway, it’s meant to be a chapter of a novel, or to be more accurate a story in a book that’s a collection of stories about the same characters. (This is all new to me and I’m still figuring it out.) It’s probably too long for a chapter anyway. I’ll see what I can do about editing it today.

I don’t think this is the first story/chapter in the book, either. Nor do I have even a vague idea what I’m going to write next. Whee!

Also: celebrated the Endeavour Award win by buying myself a new MacBook Pro. Shiny! I now have an iBook G4, in great shape, for sale at a reasonable price.

In other news…

• Applications open today for next summer’s Taos Toolbox workshop, a two-week master class for SF/F writers taught by Walter Jon Williams, Nancy Kress, and Carrie Vaughn.
• Applications are already open for next summer’s Clarion West workshop, an intensive six-week workshop for SF/F writers taught by Michael Bishop, Maureen McHugh, Nnedi Okorafor, Graham Joyce, Ellen Datlow, and Ian McDonald.
• The current Wild Cards trilogy wraps up with Suicide Kings, the concluding volume of the Committee Triad, which will be released on December 22. To celebrate, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist is having a contest to win copies of the first two volumes. (I’m not in this trilogy, but Wild Cards is too cool not to blog about.)

To my astonishment, I seem to have won the Endeavour Award!

Space Magic was selected over worthy competitors Anathem by Neal Stephenson; Ill Met in the Arena by Dave Duncan; Long Walks, Last Flights and Other Stories by Ken Scholes; and A World Too Near by Kay Kenyon by judges Joe Haldeman, John Helfers, and Sarah Zettel.

Thanks to the judges, everyone who read books for the award, members of the Lucky Lab Rats crit group, Mary Hobson for suggesting I try to get a collection published, Deborah Layne for publishing it, and Kate Yule for love and support.

The award comes with a $1000 check and an engraved glass trophy. I really did not expect to win it.

Word count: 8891 | Since last entry: 5201

Last week I sold two stories in one day: “A Passion for Art” to Interzone and a reprint of “Nucleon” to Retro Spec: Tales of Fantasy and Nostalgia.

I originally write “A Passion for Art” way back in 2000, inspired by a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago after the Worldcon that year; I believe it was the first story I wrote after Clarion. I got it critiqued at a workshop at the following OryCon, and the responses I got there convinced me it needed serious work. I set it aside… and for reasons lost in the mists of time I didn’t get back to it until 2008, when I cleaned it up for a different convention workshop. I didn’t wind up sending it to that workshop, but decided it was in good enough shape to submit. It was rejected by 8 other markets (including sitting at one magazine for 145 days, ending with the magazine’s death, then being resubmitted when the magazine revived and being immediately rejected) before settling at Interzone.

“Nucleon” is one of my earliest and most popular stories, and this is its fifth reprint. It was a little long for Retro Spec but I sent it along anyway because it seemed perfect for the market. Apparently the editor agreed.

This coming weekend is OryCon, where I will be appearing on a bunch of programming, including the Endeavour Award ceremony — where I expect that Space Magic will lose to Anathem, but hope springs eternal — following which I will portray a crazed director in Opening Ceremonies. Anyone up for dinner after that? I’ll be starving.

If you’re in Portland but not attending OryCon, perhaps you can come to Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing in Beaverton for the third annual Sci-Fi Authorfest where a whole bunch of SF authors who just happen to be in town for some reason will be signing books for the Thanksgiving weekend shoppers. We’ll be ably defended by the stormtroopers of the Cloud City Garrison of the 501st Imperial Legion.

Finally, even though I do not have a story in Polyphony 7, I’m pleased to see that it has a chance to finally be published — if you, the book buying public, support it by pre-ordering it. See this blog post for details.

Spotted this gem in Michael Swanwick’s interview with Rick Lkeffel in the World Fantasy Convention program book:

“As a writer, I consciously try to make what I write exciting for the reader — to give him or her more than just a really well-written change on something they’ve read before. I try to give each story something that the reader has never encountered before. Something as big and obvious and wonderful as a giant striding the downs with dinosaurs and tribes of stone-age elves living in the forests atop his head is worth any number of polished and lapidarian phrases.”

Word.

Word count: 3690 | Since last entry: 1502

Still plugging away on the YA fantasy. I feel my brain trying to impose plot, but I’m trying to continue just driving where my headlights can see.

Luke McGuff posted a video of a really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, happy dog (ETA: fixed link), to which I commented “I have never before heard Doppler shift on a squeeky toy.” For this feat of scientific detection I have been named an Improbable Research Investigator.

I received a fat envelope from F&SF, which I tore open with great excitement. But it wasn’t a contract… just a rejection with some suggestions on tightening the opening. Alas. (And no, it wasn’t a subtle rewrite request.)

In his year-end round-up of Realms of Fantasy, Rich Horton calls my “Joy is the Serious Business of Heaven” one of the best short stories in the magazine this year.

Artisan booksmith Todd Sanders is hand-making a few bound copies of my zeppelin story “Love in the Balance.” You can see a picture of the work in progress here.

On Sunday November 29, I will be participating in Sci-Fi Authorfest III at Powell’s Books in Beaverton. This multi-author booksigning event starts at 4:00 PM and includes Lilith Saintcrow, Camille Alexa, Barb and J.C. Hendee, Devon Monk, Brenda Cooper, Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith, Alma Alexander, Louise Marley, and others, plus the Cloud City Garrison of the 501st Imperial Legion.

The OryCon 31 program schedule has been posted. Gosh, that’s only two weeks away!

Word count: 2188 | Since last entry: 2188

After far too many weeks of research, noodling, and outlining, none of which seemed to be going anywhere, I decided to adopt a new strategy: just start writing. I’m driving cross-country in the dark with no map, no destination, and no visibility beyond the reach of my headlights. It feels weird and I can see plenty of problems in what I’ve written so far, which I know will have to be heavily edited when I’m done, but at least I’m putting down words and it feels good.

This is an unusual writing strategy for me, but for the moment it seems to be working. This book is not like anything else I’ve written because I’m already familiar with (a version of) the characters and setting and because it’s structured as a collection of related short stories. I was beating myself up about the linking überplot and character arc that ties them all together, but I’ve given up on that for now. I’m just writing one story about these characters (not even necessarily the first story in the book), and when I’m done with that one I’ll write another, and after I’ve written a few I bet I’ll understand what bigger things are happening and I’ll be able to put the stories I have into the correct order and insert the necessary bits to expose to the reader the überplot that, in some subconscious way, was there all along.

I’m putting a lot of trust in my subconscious here. This is kind of the opposite progression from what Jay Lake did with his New Model Process a year or two ago, but then his process and mine started off very different and I’m sure we have different lessons to learn.

Alas, the writing isn’t going any faster this way — still about 500 words a day — but at least I’m moving.