David D. LevineScience Fiction Author

Just got back from a delightful long weekend in Vancouver BC, staying with square dancing friends Grant and Will.

It was a weekend filled with serendipity. For example, our morning amble along the shore turned into a trip to Granville Island when we happened to notice the water taxi. This kind of thing happened over and over — it was wonderful to be so free of agenda that we could indulge the fates. It was also a weekend filled with ducks — flying in the air, paddling on the water, stuffed and mounted on the wall, floating in the soup. Wherever we went, there they were.

The weekend began on Thursday night, when we got out of Portland right after work and hit the McMenamins’ Olympic Club Hotel & Theater in Centralia, just in time to see the movie Inside Man and have a bite to eat. The next morning we zipped up to Vancouver and avoided both the border crush and the rush hour traffic we meet when we leave Portland first thing Friday morning.

We usually only visit Vancouver, which is one of our favorite cities, for the square dance fly-in on (US) Thanksgiving weekend, and it was a real treat to a) not have to try to cram in visits and touristing around the dancing, b) have more opportunities to sample Vancouver’s fine restaurants (the fly-in provides several meals), and c) visit during warm dry weather.

The weather was, in fact, even better than we could have hoped, with record high temperatures making for shirtsleeve weather almost all weekend. We walked on the beach; we walked in Stanley Park (twice); we browsed antique stores; we took a water taxi to Granville Island and browsed the market there, also taking in an outdoor orchestra concert. And we ate — oh my, how we ate. Fine French cuisine. Excellent dim sum. Marvelous gelato (two different places). Singaporean. Japanese. Pub grub. Fresh bagels (of the Montreal rather than New York variety).

We got to spend more time than usual with Grant, though Will was away much of the weekend due to various responsibilities. We seem to amuse them. We also met square dancer Jan and her partner Deb for dim sum, which we might have missed out on (due to Mother’s Day brunch crowds) but for Jan’s persistence and familiarity with the staff. Thanks, Jan!

We introduced our hosts to the joys of polenta. We had a nice conversation with a vendor of intriguing knitted items (would you believe a knitted seaweed hat, knitted vegetables and flowers as brooches, and knitted teapot and French press cozies with such patterns as skull and crossbones?) at Granville Market. We met various dogs and cats. We walked through Mole Hill and other neighborhoods we’d never visited. We selected from among 218 flavors of gelato at La Casa Gelato, an amazing Disneyland of frozen treats, with an international clientele, hidden away in the middle of an industrial wasteland. We dropped in on Grant’s weekly knitting group. I picked up a couple of CDs at a rummage sale.

I didn’t blow off the writing completely. I spent a half-hour here and a half-hour there and completed the edits (after a month of work, jeez) on my “Heaven as bureaucracy” story from Clarion, now titled “Joy is the Serious Business of Heaven.” It goes in the mail to F&SF tomorrow. I considered sending it to my critique group to get their feedback on the revisions, but after spending so much time revising it I just want it out of my hands.

And, speaking of serendipity, my next writing project just fell in my lap. I got a long email from a friend last week, describing a recent adventure of hers, which had almost everything — curious incidents, rich setting, telling details, unusual characters — all it needed was a fantastic element and a little plot structure to be an incredible story. She’s given her permission for me to turn it into a story, and I’ll start in on that tomorrow.

I haven’t blogged properly in weeks. Sorry about that. Life’s been busy but not particularly interesting. Or, actually, interesting but not notable in a blogworthy way. I went to a square dance in Palm Springs. We saw Assassins, the musical, which Kate commented was a mixed bag of a play but the production was top-notch. We saw guitar god Richard Thompson’s “1000 Years of Popular Music” show — teriffic. We hosted a Tupperware party, of all things; silly fun, much plastic was purchased. At the day job, we lost one person (gone off to get his MBA), hired another, and interviewed several more… we have at least one and possibly as many as three more positions to fill. I looked for a copy of the soundtrack CD of Star Trek II, without success so far.

As for the writing, I’ve been grinding very slowly away at rewrites of one of my Clarion stories (the “Heaven as bureaucracy” story, for those with long memories). Should have this one ready to submit within a week. It was amazingly painful to read over the critique comments and remember the emotions of that time, but I’ve gotten past that point and am diligently trying to make the story the best it can be. I now think that 17 critiquers is too many… you get too many comments pulling the story in different directions, and any problem so obvious that half of more of the people comment on it makes you really feel hammered, no matter how kind the individual comments. I may produce an essay about “Clarion as viewed from six years later.”

Must sleep. Early meeting tomorrow.

Last weekend some people went to Norwescon, some to Minicon, some to Eastercon. We went to Sacramento for my uncle Ben’s memorial gathering. Ben had a big family — six kids, most with spouses and kids of their own — and many friends, so that there were nearly a hundred people in attendance. It was an occasion with more laughter than tears, and I got in some good conversations with my parents and cousins (special shout-out to my cousin Adam Levine of GamerAndy.com). Not to mention some very good food. Our hotel had a noisy disco, but on the second night they moved us to a different room with a view of the lake, which offered a pair of geese with fuzzy little goslings and, as a special bonus, flittering bats. (Bats = good.)

Since then I’ve mostly been revising. I got a reply back from Gordon Van Gelder about my rewrite of “Titanium Mike,” and he liked the new fifth scene I’d written in which I put Mike on stage. So I revised the story one last time, to integrate the new scene and punch up the ending, and sent it in. I think this is the final version.

I also finished revising the Jupiter story — now titled “The True Story of Merganther’s Run” because “Merganther’s Drive” suggested a stardrive to some readers — and put it in the mail to Analog. (Okay, technically it’s still sitting on the sofa. But it’s in the envelope and will go in the mail first thing tomorrow morning.) It took me almost two full weeks to revise it, because I spent only half an hour or so per evening on it. I think I needed a break after completing my novella.

Speaking of the novella, I got it critiqued yesterday. The crit stung quite a bit, because I was pretty emotionally involved with the story and the comments, harsh though some of them were, were generally on target. But one critter pointed out that it wouldn’t have gotten such intense crits if it hadn’t touched a nerve in the readers. This story has considerable potential if I can just smooth out the rough bits. Also, it does seem to be the right length for the material, and I’ve identified four pro and five semi-pro markets that will take stories of this length. I’m going to take a little time away from it before attempting to revise it.

Also this weekend I had coffee with Jay Lake, visited the Portland Farmers’ Market (where we acquired lovely tomatoes and basil for a tomato-bread salad, plus a small container of ladybugs for the garden), and attended a bit of Wordstock, Portland’s annual “festival of the book.” We only went to one reading and barely bought anything at the book fair, but it was still nice to be in a space with thousands of people all of whom cared about words.

What next? First, I’m going to revise at least one of my older stories and either get it critiqued or put it right in the mail. Then I’m going to start in on a new story. It will be a fantasy, it will be set in the present or the past, and it will be short.

Spent the last two writing days revising “Titanium Mike” according to comments received from Gordon Van Gelder (he’s already paid for it, but he had some line edits and suggestions), including writing a complete new scene at the end in which the legendary Titanium Mike actually appears on stage. But then, at the last minute, I pulled the scene out again because it changed the whole flavor of the story to have Mike be a character. I included the scene in my cover letter so that Gordon can tell me if it’s a better ending, because I am a waffler nonpareil.

Also, tonight I was interviewed by a high-school student (child of a friend) for a science fiction class he’s taking. All kinds of questions about “what’s the first book you remember reading” and “what was the most memorable thing that happened while you were trying to sell a story.” I feel so professional.

At work I have been learning Photoshop. Now I find myself looking at book covers and seeing the masks and layers that might have been used to produce them.

I’ve been meaning to mention what we’ve been having for dinner, because we’ve been cooking and eating very well lately. Käseschnitzel with gnocchi and red cabbage; sloppy joes (entirely improvised, and they turned out great); tandoori chicken with Gujerati cabbage. I like cooking with Kate, and the new kitchen is still wonderful over a year later. She also fixed me chocolate pudding, in a shallow dish so it would have plenty of the yummy skin on top, but, alas, it failed to set properly. Will have to try again soon.

Very tired. To bed now. Tomorrow: revisions on the Jupiter story.

Word count: 20919 | Since last entry: -52

A relaxed but fairly productive weekend. Got a bunch of mundane chores done, watched Neverwhere, looked over the galley proofs of “Primates” for Asimov’s, and did a quick editing pass over the novella and sent it to my critique group. I didn’t make a lot of changes (other than changing several names); I’m still very very close to it. Which is why we do critique. Amazingly, despite the thing’s length I have a long list of additional stuff I wanted to get in but couldn’t find a place to do it. Maybe this thing does want to be a novel.

Also, I just got word that UK webzine Infinity Plus has accepted “I Hold My Father’s Paws”, and it should be available online in about June. If you can’t wait until then or you’d rather have it on paper, you can order a copy of Issue 31 of Albedo One.

Word count: 20971 | Since last entry: 573

First draft’s done. (Throws confetti.) Almost twenty-one thousand words — that’s three or four normal short stories. The next one will be shorter, I swear.

A snippet:

“Peri and I leaned on each other, watching her go. ‘We’d better haul in that parasail before it blows away,’ Peri said to me after a while. ‘Start setting it up as a tent.’ Her arm was warm across my shoulders. I’d forgotten how much taller she was than me.

“‘In a minute,’ I said. ‘I’m enjoying the view.’

“We stood side by side, watching the sun rise over our new home.”

The panel tonight at the Mt. Hood Community College library with Jay Lake, M.K. Hobson, Ken Scholes, Doug Lain, Josh English, David Goldman, and Damian Kilby went off well. We were very nearly outnumbered by the audience, who listened attentively and asked perceptive questions despite being mostly non-genre readers. I did too much of the talking, as usual. If you’ve been following Jay’s LJ you’ve gotten a good taste of the kinds of things we talked about.

One of the questions was about the difference between writing novels and short stories. As it happens, I just wrote a couple of paragraphs on that very subject for the Clarion alumni newsletter, which I quoted, and I include them here in hopes you will find them worthwhile.

For me, writing short stories is like building intricate little puzzle boxes. I can put them together out of little scraps of whatever wood I happen to have lying around, and if a piece doesn’t fit I can take the time to file or carve or sand it until it’s right. It doesn’t require a detailed plan, just a general idea of what I want it to turn out like. And if it doesn’t work — if the chisel slips or the wood has an unexpected knot, or I think it’s fine but no one wants to buy it — I can sigh and set it aside and move on to the next.

Writing a novel is more like building a house. It takes months or years. You don’t have to have a detailed plan when you start, but if you don’t, you must be aware that you may find yourself having to rip out the foundation and re-do it before you can move in. Whether or not you have a plan, you’ll have to order large quantities of wood and nails and glue and paint — probably more than you will be able to use (but, with luck, you can use some of the leftover bits to make puzzle boxes). It’s so big that you can’t possibly get all the little fiddly bits perfect, so you shouldn’t even try, but there is plenty of cabinetry and finish work where you can show off your craftsmanship skills. But if it doesn’t work — and there are a million ways it can fail, many more than for a little puzzle box — you’ve wasted a year of your life and you’re stuck with this enormous eyesore that no one wants. Even if it does work, after you’ve moved in you’ll constantly be hitting your head on the doorway that’s too low or catching your clothing on a railing that needed more sanding. Either way, you’ll vow that either you’re never going to do this again or that you’ll get it right the next time. Maybe both.

Word count: 20398 | Since last entry: 334

Received in the mail today: a copy of issue 31 of Albedo One, containing my Aeon-Award shortlisted story “I Hold My Father’s Paws.” They very kindly put my name first on the cover, although one of the other stories in the same issue was the one that won the award. I suspect I have editor Roelof Goudriaan, a friend from way back, to thank for this. You can order your own copy here: http://homepage.eircom.net/~albedo1/html/a1__magazine.html

Also, my Hugo-nominated story “Tk’tk’tk” is now available for all to read, for free, in its entirety, on the Asimov’s web site: http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0604_5/tk.shtml

Aaaand… I’m almost done with the first draft of the novella. One or two more nights of writing should do it.

A snippet: “Supporting each other, we shuffled to the airlock — the one that had been Epsilon sys lock before we’d torched it off and joined it to the growing assemblage of the crew lander. There we found, to our surprise, that we were already breathing Bianchon’s atmosphere. The crude welded seam joining the lock to the hull had parted from the stress of the landing.”

Word count: 20064 | Since last entry: 1432

Had a haircut today, and the person after me in the chair also happened to be a writer, and we spent an hour talking about mother-rapin’ and father-stabbin’ and all kinds o’ groovy things. I came home all jazzed up.

I’ve really been hitting my stride, wrapping up and writing some tough scenes that have been in my mind since the beginning. This is where all the secrets come out and the new beginning begins.

A snippet:

Peri was silent for a long time. Finally she said “We have to break it to them one at a time. Bring them in on the secret only when they’re ready.”

“I’ll accept your judgement on that. But when the time comes… I want to be the one to tell Thad. He told me the truth I needed to know, even though it hurt both of us, and I feel I owe him the same.”

Just one more scene left to write, an epilogue. Then I should probably give the whole thing a thorough self-edit before sending it for critique.

Once that’s done I have galley proofs on “Primates” and line edits on “Titanium Mike” before I get back to the new stuff. “Primates” will apparently be in the September issue of Asimov’s, which isn’t all that long from now.

Word count: 18632 | Since last entry: 1340

The day job is kicking my ass. And I seem to have picked up some minor bug — something that makes me a little phlegmy and a little achy and a little hoarse. Nothing much, to be sure, but enough to slow me down.

However, yesterday the car was in the shop for an oil change, so I took the train to work. Wrote almost a thousand words. I should do that more often. Somewhere around Millikan way my little novelette became a novella. (Throws confetti.)

At this point I seriously doubt this story will ever sell. It’s so long that only the big three magazines would even consider it, and even they buy very few stories this length. It’s got too many rivets for Asimov’s or F&SF, and it’s got gay and transsexual characters which Stan Schmidt doesn’t like (not to mention that some of the science is, frankly, a little rubbery). But, having put so much effort into the damn thing, I mean to finish it, for myself if nothing else. Probably a couple thousand words to go. Once it’s done I may write an essay here about what this story is really about, and why it’s important to me.

After that? I have line edits to do on “Titanium Mike” for F&SF, then some critique comments to incorporate on the Jupiter story so I can start sending it out again. And then it might be time to start on the next novel. Or possibly one more short story first. Something fantasy, just as a change-up. We’ll see.

Must sleep now.

Word count: 17292 | Since last entry: 1391 Only minimal writing for most of this week, with one missed day, but I got in nearly a thousand words today. Unfortunately, the piece shows no sign of stopping any time soon (though the very last subplot has now been introduced), so it seems that it will be a novella rather than a novelette. Oh well. And it’s clearly going to need an immediate revision pass once I’ve completed the first draft. A snippet: “The grainy image on the big monitor showed why Alpha was so late. One of the four sails that was supposed to catch the light from the boost lasers, then drop off for coast phase, was still attached — bent and twisted into a crumpled C shape. The sail had probably jammed on initial deployment, and had cut the module’s thrust during boost phase by twenty percent or more. There was some concern that the jammed sail could cause problems during the first aerobraking maneuver, as Alpha slammed into Moliere’s atmosphere at interstellar speed. But simulations showed that it would most likely come off as the module’s aerobraking balute inflated, and if it didn’t do that it would probably simply burn away early in the maneuver.” Apart from the writing, we’ve seen movies Transamerica (good, but not as polished as I’d expected from the buzz), V for Vendetta (excellent, the changes from the comic book made it stronger), and The Mummy on DVD (silly) and play Crowns (a marvelous production, I was especially impressed with the set and lighting). I’ve also suffered another recurrence of the awful fungus infection that attacks the same two toes on my right foot every year or two. Prescription antifungal ointment and Burow’s solution seem to be doing the job this time. Some upcoming dates you might want to know about:

• I’m a guest pro at the Wiscon writers’ workshop, in Madison. This is the 30th Wiscon and it promises to be a real blow-out. The deadline for submissions is April 1 and you must have a membership to the convention (which is already sold out).
• On the evening of April 6, from 7 pm to 8:30 pm, I’ll be appearing in a panel discussion at Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon. The topic will be “Getting published and the relationship between writers, books and readers” and the panel is also scheduled to include local authors Jay Lake, David Goldman, M.K. Hobson, Damian Kilby, Doug Lain, Ken Scholes and Josh English. All good people.
• The voting deadline for the Locus Awards is April 15. Anyone can vote (I had said elsewhere that only Locus subscribers can vote, but I was wrong) and you may, if you wish, write in anything you want in any category.