Is That Legal?

Disclaimer. This blog does not give legal advice, I simply point out where to find legal advice, and recap (make fair use of) some of the most interesting snippets from legal advice provided on the internet.

Attribution and kudos to Desiree F. Moore and Alexis Crawford Douglas of the legal firm  K&L Gates for a list of five things to consider if you see something (defamatory, offensive, infringing your copyrights, or private) on social media that suggests to you that you may have been wronged by the uploader.

http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=74cc5c3c-5193-4df4-b52d-dc01feac12fe&utm_source=lexology+daily+newsfeed&utm_medium=html+email+-+body+-+general+section&utm_campaign=lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=lexology+daily+newsfeed+2017-04-07&utm_term=

Some of this advice also could be useful to authors who are shocked by a negative review. The usual wisdom is to not respond to such things.

On a recent road trip, I listened to the audiobook version of "Rogue Lawyer" by John Grisham. I recommend that book.  One of the cases in "Rogue Lawyer" was that of an elderly couple who were not at all internet savvy, and who had the misfortune to live next door to a serial copyright infringer (or perhaps he was an internet drug dealer?) who managed to hack into their internet and do his dirty dark web deeds on their IP address instead of on his own.

I was reminded of this scenario when reading the blog by  William D Dalsen  of  Proskauer Rose LLP   
which concerns what happens when you cannot identify (or unmask!) a copyright infringer except by their IP address.

http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=2100cf38-db3c-4f72-b5c7-a605edf9ab2e&utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+General+section&utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2017-04-06&utm_term=

Needless to say, the swat team in Grisham's yarn did not follow the advice offered by Proskauer Rose!

Those who think that BitTorrents are above reproach and safe for anonymous interest consumers of copyrighted material... should read the above article.

Thirdly, and finally for this week, Mark Sableman of  Thompson Coburn LLP offers some fascinating and useful insights into what one may and may not do with other people's Creative Commons works.

http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=a9ede4c2-a03f-4dd6-b2a7-c4a0e95306db&utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+General+section&utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2017-04-03&utm_term=

The cardinal rule with Creative Commons licensed works is that subsequent users absolutely must provide truthful and accurate attribution. In a hypothetic situation where a user photoshops a real Creative Commons photograph into a different photoshopped location to perpetrate "fake news", the fine and witty legal mind of  Mark Sableman suggests “Original photo by Mary Jones. Deceptive alterations by John Smith.” 

All the best,

Rowena Cherry

Accelerating Human Evolution

If you have a chance, pick up the April 2017 issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and check out the cover article, "The Next Human." Contrary to popular belief, the human species hasn't stopped evolving. This article mentions several examples of recent evolutionary change, such as the two most widely known: While most ethnic groups lose the ability to digest milk in adulthood, a few have developed adult lactose tolerance, which led to cultures based on dairy herds. The gene for sickle cell anemia causes a serious disease when doubled, but inheriting only one copy of the gene seems to provide resistance against malaria. Adaptations less familiar to the general reader include populations living at high altitudes who have evolved a hemoglobin trait that enables them to use oxygen more efficiently and desert dwellers who can handle a wider range of temperature extremes than most people.

Evolution doesn't have to wait for the slow processes of nature anymore, though. Technologies such as CRISPR can alter genes to order. Few people would object to using genetic engineering to correct disabling or lethal inherited conditions. But what about choosing an embryo's eye and hair color or trying to enhance intelligence in utero?

The article, however, also explores technological advances that adapt users to the environment in ways natural processes alone can't. One man born with achromatopsia—he's literally color-blind, seeing only blacks, whites, and grays—has an antenna attached to a sensor in his brain that enables him to perceive colors. Not only that, he goes beyond ordinary human vision to "see" infrared and ultraviolet. Hundreds of people have been implanted with devices that allow them to unlock doors or log onto computers without touching anything. The University of Southern California is running tests on "chip implants in the brain to recover lost memories."

Does becoming a cyborg count as a form of "evolution"?

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt

Worldbuilding From Reality Part 6 - Ringling Brothers Closing

Worldbuilding From Reality

Part 6

Ringling Brothers Closing 

by

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

The previous parts to Worldbuilding From Reality are here:

Part 5 is the "Realistic Happily Ever After" post from November 2016.
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2016/11/worldbuilding-from-reality-part-5.html

Part 4 - Creating a Story Canvas
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2016/03/worldbuilding-from-reality-part-4.html

Part 3 Creating Future History
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/07/worldbuilding-from-reality-part-3.html

Part 2 Advertising Video Writing
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/02/worldbuilding-from-reality-part-2.html

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2010/03/worldbuilding-from-reality.html

Back in January 2017, an announcement came out on a weekend that Ringling Brothers Circus was closing.

http://www.abc15.com/news/national/ringling-bros-and-barnum-and-bailey-to-close-146-year-old-show-in-may

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7655288/ringling-bros-barnum-bailey-circus-to-close-after-146-years

They are currently running two different shows.  A while ago, they eliminated their display of elephants in compliance with the outcry over how badly those elephants were treated.  If they were losing money, that might be where they would cut expenses.

This past Christmas selling season, Mall traffic was down -- overall spending was up a little, maybe about the amount of inflation.

Stadiums filled up nicely for political rallies and sports games, but apparently are not filling for Circus shows, or at least not at the prices necessary to put on a good show and move it around.

Or there could be other factors, such as difficulty getting the right talent under contract on the right terms.  For whatever reasons, the Greatest Show On Earth is over, and a huge number of jobs will  be lost.  It isn't just those who travel with the circus (performers, animal handlers, facility managers), or who stay at home-base and do upkeep, or advertising firms and ticketing offices that facilitate the crowds, but also souvenir makers and sellers, plus a lot of ancillary personnel you never hear about.

Great Romances and fabulous classic films have been made with the Circus background.  Memorable episodes of TV Series have been set on Circus lots.  Circus performers have been the subject of many more stories, novels, and films as they live lives outside the Circus.

This is the Reality that you can grab hold of and Build a world from.

Think deep into history -- the Roman Circus.  Think of Europe in the Middle Ages, and traveling troubadours, or Court Jesters, doing physical stunts or displaying animal training skills.

Think of where the traveling tent-show originated.  Think of all the "acts" that have been invented, displayed, turned profitable, turned professional, and died out for lack of interest among audience members.

Analyze everything you love about the circus (or hate).  Now find the essential humanity inside that colorful package.  What happens to the package if you take OUT the humanity and substitute your non-humans?

This blog series is about Alien Romance -- romance between a human and an alien, or between two aliens.  It is Romance with a twist.

But what makes Alien Romance interesting?  What makes the Happily Ever After ending necessary to the Romance into something any reader could understand is realistic, provided you explain it well enough?

What could make the general readership admire and respect the Romance Genre?

That is the question we have been pursuing for a few years here, and we have found many answers, no one of which is sufficient by itself.

The main complaint against Romance is that it is not "realistic."

The main attraction of Romance is that it is not "realistic."

And that is exactly the attitude contrast that science fiction genre faced for decades before Star Trek proved that Hollywood could make money on Science Fiction films and franchises.

Ringling is closing because of money -- (or so they say) -- and science fiction gained status in Hollywood because of money.

Dreams are worth money -- if you dream a popular dream shared by others and can articulate what those others can not quite say for themselves.

And, well, nightmares are also commercially salable.

Many people find "Clowns" scary - nightmarish, threatening.  I never have had that response, and I don't know why.

"Why" is always the question writers have to be asking themselves, proposing answers and writing stories assuming those answers are worthy of reader consideration.

I have been asking myself for decades, "Why are circuses popular?"

Now of course we have the question, "Why is Ringling not popular enough?"

I have thought wide and deep and beyond the ends of imagination about what traits make an "act" -- a circus act, a Vaudeville act, a variety act, a skit, standup comic, -- an ACT?  What is it about an "act" that captures popular imagination?

Of course every would-be stage performer, musician, singer, garage band, has asked that question, and if they hit on a good answer, they go professional.

At the beginning of television, Ed Sullivan presented the nightclub variety acts to the general US TV viewing audience and became the "must watch" show for a very long time.  Elvis Presley made his national debut on Ed Sullivan, as did many other greats.  He also showcased many Radio personalities such as Red Skelton.  They all had "acts."

In fact, Ed Sullivan presented many circus acts -- balancing acts, clowns, gymnasts, and even aerial flying acts.  Getting on Ed Sullivan made you instantly famous.

The Ed Sullivan Show was composed of acts - just like a circus or Vaudeville presentation, or a circus -- or an online magazine with embedded videos, or a YouTube channel!

Maybe YouTube videos (which pretend to be amateur but are actually professionally made, often in studios or with professional actors or gymnasts) are replacing Circus and Ed Sullivan?

Look at some of the YouTube Videos that have "gone viral" (often as a result of professional promotion).  They are "acts."  Unless you are looking at a crime in progress or a real road accident caught on dash-cam, you may be looking at an "act."  In fact, some of the "crimes" we see on YouTube are actually staged, which vitiates the import of the real ones.

I know that many viral YouTube video "acts" are professionally produced because one time I was stuck in a waiting room with a TV on -- and the TV had a documentary about professional studios being built to be rented to people making YouTube videos they wanted to make "go viral."  It is a new business model.

And much of what is being done with YouTube channels (the acts, the very professional editing, the advertising) is hauntingly similar to what Ed Sullivan did with the brand new medium of television as he brought radio talent and nightclub touring acts (and circus) to the general audience that had never seen such things.

So maybe YouTube is putting Circus out of business?  Ed Sullivan didn't make a dent in circus attendance -- in fact, he increased it and Ringling bought up other touring shows and finally fielded two separate shows.

There is a thirst for "acts" and people will pay to see "acts."

But what is an act?

I have long wanted to come up with a brand new circus act, something Aliens might bring to Earth, that would "wow" human audiences -- then tell the tale of the people involved in creating and selling that act to humans.

I haven't got it yet, but many authors have sent human circus acts to the stars.

I still don't exactly know what the essence of an act is.  The news of Ringling closing for lack of profit was a shock.  But I don't think "acts" have lost lustre or popularity, though apparently huge numbers of people aren't taking their children to circuses.

My mother took me to see Ringling when I was about three or four years old (and a few times after that).

I remember the trip, I remember the city.  I remember that during the show, we had seats way up at the top of the auditorium, the nosebleed section.  I remember that a few children were chosen to ride in the circus parade, and I wanted to be one of them in the worst way and had no idea why they got chosen.

Many circuses later, I fell in love with the flying act and wanted very much to be a circus flyer.  My mother told me that I couldn't be a circus performer because only people born in those families could be.  I believed her (for a few years).

Years later, when I had children to raise, and I was still working furiously on an interstellar circus concept that never got written, I did some interviews with small traveling circuses and thus connected with a newsletter subscribed to by circus performers.  And I went to Ringling every time they were in town.  Eventually, I brought my children -- and yes, we sat up in the nosebleed section -- and yes, I wanted ever so much to get my children chosen to ride in the parade.

I learned via circus performer contacts that to be chosen, you had to sit in certain seats right up by the front rail on the floor -- the most expensive seats.  Finally, I knew the secret of being chosen!

So I saved up, scraped, didn't buy certain books I wanted, did without other things, pinched pennies off the food budget, and did all the usual money-save maneuvers everyone does -- and for several years in a row I took my children to the circus to sit in the front rows.  I learned about box-office sales and geography, and tricks about where certain seats were sold (and where you could not buy those seats even if they had not been sold).  So I made a special trip to the arena box office the very day the tickets went on sale and demanded the very specific seats that I had finally figured out were where kids get chosen.

I dressed my kids carefully, and orchestrated the whole thing, being there as early as possible, right when the doors opened.

It took a couple tries, and some very un-ladylike behavior on my part, but I got my kids chosen!  Of COURSE one of them screamed and cried and didn't want to go -- but in the end I got to live that one triumph vicariously.  I never did that to my kids again.

I kept going to Ringling after that - every year - with or without the kids.  One time I bought and learned to use a motion picture camera, (the kind that used film), and sat in the balcony seats level with where the flyers would perform high above everyone else's heads.  The front seats in that section were also very expensive.  Took a few tries, but I finally got film of the flyers -- way too dim for cameras at that time, but I had photos of the MOVES, the gymnastics, in detail.  I finally understood one of the things that fascinated me about "acts."

So I have studied circus and I have studied Ringling's show composition and content to a fair-thee-well.  It's a lifelong obsession started by my mother (who also brought me my first science fiction novel that led to a whole profession!) I've spent hours at Circus Circus in Las Vegas just staring up at the flying rig with or without performers.

I can't express how devastating the idea of closing Ringling is.

I do not remember that first show itself except for one act.  Not the flying act which later captivated me when I was in my teens.  A clown act.

The act that has stayed with me all these decades, that defines what an "act" is to perfection, and that spurs me to want to invent an Alien "act" that could be imported to Earth, is Emmett Kelly as "Weary Willey."  And that character may be why I've never feared clowns.

This is from Wikipedia - an excellent article I think you should look at.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Kelly

----------quote---------
"Weary Willie" was a tragic figure: a clown, who could usually be seen sweeping up the circus rings after the other performers. He tried but failed to sweep up the pool of light of a spotlight. His routine was revolutionary at the time: traditionally, clowns wore white face and performed slapstick stunts intended to make people laugh. Kelly did perform stunts too—one of his most famous acts was trying to crack a peanut with a sledgehammer—but as a tramp, he also appealed to the sympathy of his audience.
---------end quote--------

The sweeping up a pool of light act is the one that symbolizes "clown" for me -- it uses modern technology (the spotlight) to express the ancient myth of Sisyphus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus

Or as Babylon 5 always put it -- Donald Duck is the god of frustration.

Here is an article that says pursue endeavors outside your comfort zone and the resulting frustration will be associated with longevity.

http://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/want-a-lifetime-of-better-brain-function-science-says-change-this-one-habit-its-.html

Frustration is very central to my lifestyle, and I don't do it very well.  That could be why that clown act with the light circle that could not be permanently swept up just spoke to me on some non-verbal level.  It is symbolism, as we've discussed many times in Why Do We Cry At Weddings:

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2016/01/theme-symbolism-integration-part-4-how.html

I am also acquainted with much of Emmett Kelly's later film and TV work, but I do know that my first encounter was the spotlight act, live at a Ringling show.

Think back to your very first encounter with an "act" -- something you still remember vividly that bespeaks everything important about life.

Try to figure out what exactly hits you in the gut, and package that in new, modern symbolism for your current (and future) readership.

Emmett Kelly used the spotlight technology, Ed Sullivan used Television, a lot of people are now using YouTube to present "acts."

What can you use?  What "act" can you invent for your Science Fiction Romance novel that can be explained in words, create a picture in the reader's mind, and express something so profound it can not be said in words?

Look hard at the headlines you can rip material from.

An item like this one on Ringling Brothers' Greatest Show On Earth will resonate for generations and perhaps become a myth that will live on among Earth's otherworld colonies.

Perhaps a Lost Colony will be legitimized as a descendant of an Earth Culture because they retain this myth -- or because they recreate Ringling Brothers.

What makes a circus?  Why do people flock to see these "acts?"  Why have people stopped going to see Ringling Brothers?  Because there are elephants?  Or because there are not elephants?  Because people find clowns scary?  Because people think trapeze work is easy?  Or because people think high wire or trapeze work is too dangerous?

There are still many smaller circuses performing, even advertising on Television.

Check out
https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/

And
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/theater/cirque-du-soleils-broadwaybalancingact.html

------quote from NY Times ---------
So now Cirque is trying a high-wire hybrid — a combination of theater and acrobatics, with a splash of old Hollywood, in one $25 million musical called “Paramour.” And, never one to bet small, it is opening the show cold on the world’s most famous stage: Broadway.

The timing is, to put it mildly, challenging. The company, long dominated by its storied founder, the fire-eater-turned-billionaire Guy Laliberté, just last summer was acquired by a group of investors, led by the private equity firm TPG, that is closely watching costs as it seeks revenue growth.

And Broadway, always home to more flops than hits, is particularly competitive this year — there are currently 36 plays and musicals, many with strong reviews and crowd-pleasing titles or stars, vying for attention and audience before “Paramour” begins previews this weekend at the Lyric Theater in anticipation of an official opening on May 25.
-----------end quote------------

There have been deaths by falling at various circuses in recent years.  Is that attracting crowds as it used to, or is that deterring people from bringing children?

The economics of "acts" on stage before live crowds seems to be turning against purveyors of this type of entertainment.

Why is that?  What are people spending their entertainment dollars on?

Circus and PARAMOUR?  Would a music concert do better in this market?

Think about what Earth circus acts your Characters could take on the Interstellar Road, and what acts they might bring back.  Could they make money?

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Why You Should Ask Your Congresspersons To Vote "Yes" on H.R. 1695

H.R. 1695 is a Bill to modernize the U.S. Copyright Office.

If you wish to read the Bill that was introduced with bipartisan support on March 23rd, and which was sent to the floor of the House by a 27-1 vote in the Judiciary Committee... look here:

http://copyrightalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/HR-1695.pdf

It appears that the one person who chose not to co-sponsor the Bill was Henry C. Johnson of Georgia

H.R. 1695 would take the office of The Register of Copyrights (the position that Maria Pallante held
until she was demoted by the Librarian of Congress, some say to manage the Library of Congress gift shop) away from the control of the Library of Congress.

If this Bill passes, The Register of Copyrights will be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Register shall be an American citizen, shall have experience in copyright matters, and shall serve for up to ten years at the pleasure of the President.

The copyrightalliance.org and many other organizations are urging individual creators to write personally and individually to their Representatives, to ask their Representative to support H. R. 1695

Here's how to locate your Representative by typing in your own zip code:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

More info from the copyrightalliance.org here:
http://copyrightalliance.org/news-events/copyright-news-newsletters/compilation-register-copyrights-accountability/


All the best,
Rowena Cherry

ICFA 38 Report

As always, I had a great time at the annual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Orlando. This year's theme was "Fantastic Epics." The special guests were Steven Erikson, Edward James (Guest Scholar), and N. K. Jemison (who unfortunately couldn't attend because of a family emergency). The Wednesday opening session, a panel on Epic Fantasy, and a panel on Epic Fairy Tales (which at first sight struck me as an oxymoron) all spent considerable time trying to define "epic" and never reached a consensus. Most people did agree on some common elements: Wide scope, the illusion that we're seeing an entire world (even if the "world" is only a village); stakes (the consequences of failure must be catastrophic); and, usually, multiple viewpoint characters. Another panel suggested that epic fantasy typically explores the cultural values of a society and involves a clash between two or more cultures. Not that a unanimous definition of any term can be expected from either scholars or fans! Debating such things is part of the fun. The discussion tended to evolve into a "fuzzy set" approach; as someone put it, the most useful question isn't "Is it epic?" but "How epic is it?" (or "How is it epic?").

I presented a paper on the first few books of Brian Lumley's "Necroscope" vampire saga with a focus on the Cold War era setting. I chaired a session on Stephen King, which I enjoyed a lot because not only is King one of my favorite authors, the three papers dealt with some of my favorites among his works, CARRIE, REVIVAL, and the Dark Tower series. Some other sessions that stand out for me: A panel on the TV series PENNY DREADFUL. A group of three papers on werewolves and the HANNIBAL TV show. A "round table" discussion of the Star Wars film ROGUE ONE, with many references to the Disney movie machine and the prospect of "A Thousand Years of Star Wars." A panel on humor in fantasy and SF—one participant advanced the principle that the humor has to grow naturally from the characters, and it doesn't tend to work if it's obvious that the authorial voice is trying to be funny. There was much debate about when humor crosses the line from funny to offensive.

An exhibit of cover art by Don Maitz and Janny Wurts was on display. The book room, in the process of downsizing the thousands of used volumes that have been stored and placed on sale for many years, offered hundreds of free books for the taking. On Sunday morning, two long tables of paperbacks were packed for donation to a thrift shop. I momentarily conceived a mad wish that I had all the money in the world (for shipping costs) and owned a separate house just for books like Forrest Ackerman, so I could take the entire collection home.

We had a small adventure (in Bilbo's sense, "Adventures are nasty, uncomfortable things that make you late for dinner"). The hotel's electricity went off for a couple of hours in the predawn period one night. Fortunately, the power came back before daylight, so the inconvenience was minimal.

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt

Depiction Part 27 - Depicting Love by Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Depiction

Part 27

Depicting Love

Previous parts of the Depiction series are indexed here:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2015/04/index-to-depiction-series-by-jacqueline.html

You'd think in a writing blog about Alien Romance that Depicting Love would be the first topic in the series on how to "depict" the intangibles that make a novel truly memorable.

Love is both the most obvious, simple, easy intangible for a Romance writer to depict, and the most difficult, slippery, nebulous topic to find a concrete "show don't tell" symbol to convey.

We've discussed depicting Love many times from different directions.

Here is "What Does She See In Him?" and "What Does He See In Her" -- a primary question every reader wants a concrete answer to right up front in Chapter One.

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2009/08/what-does-she-see-in-him.html

And how to make what one person sees in another into a "symbol" -- something that could be photographed when they make the movie of your novel.  It has to be something that can "arc" or change for those characters because of the events of the novel, and turn up again and again (as a theme does).

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2016/01/theme-symbolism-integration-part-4-how.html

And most especially - why we cry at weddings.

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2015/08/theme-symbolism-integration-part-2-why.html

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2015/08/theme-symbolism-integration-part-3-why.html

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2009/03/communicating-in-symbols.html

We've also discussed Love At First Sight as part of the Happily Ever After ending.

Many good Romance novels start with a Divorced Character, or a widowed Character -- someone who had a good relationship that went sour.  Sometimes the story focuses around an Affair -- that ends well or badly, destroying other people's happiness.

One thing that has split good marriages apart is Politics.  The initial Romance following Love At First Sight often masks the deepest beliefs that form a person's self-image.

People in the USA choose to be Republican or Democrat (or Independent, or Libertarian, or nothing-much) because they encounter "messaging" from a number of Candidates expressing the party's platform.  At that time, a person will identify people who seem to be saying believable things, and "join" that party.  People look for a party that represents what they already believe, or at least some most cherished belief.

Over decades, the USA Parties redefine themselves with the turning of the generations, and espouse different (often contradictory) causes and stances.  The final bundle of positions on issues the Party settles on at the Convention is a mishmash of philosophically contradictory stances.

This happens because the Party platform is "negotiated" by committee.

In fiction, thematic unity is essential.  Fiction is art - a selective representation of reality, not reality itself.

The real reality your Characters live in has no perceptible thematic unity -- which is why people seek that unity in recreational reading.

Readers often pick up Romance novels to get away from the chaotic contradictions of a very confusing world.  The reader is looking for a trip through a world that makes sense.  Readers often look to get away from it all, to get relief from confusion.

Your job as a writer is to depict a world that is not confusing, but is enough like reality to be convincing.

If a novel is too simplified, too much lacking in confusion (Red Herrings), it seems childish and unconvincing.

We discussed a galactic war adventure novel series, with excellent tender-romance here:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2017/03/reviews-31-dave-bara-lightship.html

The main character, a Prince serving in the Military, loves a couple of different women for exactly the reason any Romance reader woman would want to be loved in real life -- little to do with appearance and everything to do with admirable accomplishments to be proud of.  He loves women of Strong Character because of their strength of character.

Nevertheless, the story comes off as too childish simply because the Characters are rewarded vastly for little real effort, and seem to understand way too much of their world with far too little work.

When Characters accomplish too much with too little real effort/angst readers just don't believe the story or the plot.

That's one reason "Love At First Sight" is often viewed with skepticism by readers who have never known anyone it happened to.

But when Love At First Sight happens (and I know it does, so I have adjusted my view of reality to include it), the Lovers are usually too smitten with each other to ask the kinds of questions a Matchmaker would -- or the sort of questions you might find on a good Dating Site.

The impact of "This Person" is so overwhelming that the inquiring mind just does not ask.

The couple might evaluate each other on Values and Principles, but fail to ask why those Values and Principles were adopted, where they came from, and whether they are all consistent with each other.

In fact, most Romance readers aren't looking for a novel that depicts Characters who have stringent philosophical consistency.  Most humans don't revere logical consistency and in fact are convinced emotions have no logical basis.

So the beginning Romance writer, or a writer like Dave Bara and his Lightship Series, may be convinced that Love is not Logical, emotions in general are not connected to or originating in the cognitive functions part of the brain.

Love Is Not Logical is a Theme.

It is a statement about the reality of the human condition, a summation of many assumptions and a conclusion that implies how life is to be lived.

The Theme of my Star Trek fanzine series, Kraith, is Love Is Logical.
http://www.simegen.com/fandom/startrek/kraith/

There is a view of human history that is held dear by those who are convinced Emotions Are Not Logical, a view that is based on the assumption that Emotion Is Logical.  That view of human history shows how one civilization rises, collapses, and gives rise to another civilization, one culture spawning another.

Cultures through history are like our children, made up of the same genes but rearranged and even mutated into something else.

Beliefs are like our genes -- containing much that has gone before, one or two traits that are new, and the whole rearranged to seem new, but it's really old.

We love Regency Romance and Historical Romance set in Castles, arranged political marriages, as Dave Bara uses in his Lightship Series, Rulerships, Kings, Dukes -- we love reading about those times.  But today's novels of the Aristocratic Times whitewash some of the ugliest parts of that reality.

Politics is one of those Cultural Philosophies that propagates as our genetic children do -- like us, identical to us, but vastly different.

In January 2017, Rowena Cherry wrote in this blog:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2017/01/does-every-cloud-have-silver-lining.html
---------quote----------
I gained a new perspective on why so many folks in society have so little respect for copyrights and the right of musicians, authors, photographers, movie-making participants and others to be paid for their time, talents and effort from the free Hillsdale College lecture covering the difference between Originalists and Progressives when it comes to the rights of an individual.

According to Professor Ronald J. Pestritto, the Progressive ideology is heavily influenced by European--especially German-- thinking, and holds that the needs of the Community is always superior to the needs (and rights) of the individual, and far from certain rights such as the right to Life, to Liberty, and to the Pursuit of happiness being bestowed on mankind as a birthright by the Creator, all rights that an individual has are permitted by the government depending on convenience and expediency.  (And can be revoked.)

How expedient and convenient do you suppose it is to uphold individual copyrights?

---------end quote-------------

The Progressive Movement article on Wikipedia is illuminating:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Era

The thesis is that the Progessive Movement began in 1890 and ended in the 1920's.

There is a Liberal or Progressive movement, actually several different ones within each political party, today -- and using different labels and symbols, targeting the same social ills that were identified in 1890.

There are several basic ideas about "what" a human being is, where and how humans originate, and under what social contract terms humans can live together -- and those sets of ideas do neatly separate into two camps, two mutually exclusive ideologies.

Note the element Rowena Cherry focused on relevant to Intellectual Property Rights -- or actually, just property rights in general -- does a human own what they make, or not?

Notice how very basic that THEME concept is!

THEME: humans own the product of their own labor

THEME: humanity owns the product of any human's labor

Every two year old coming into the ability to use language learns NO first, maybe MaMa and PaPa, but definitely NO.  And then comes major lessons in MINE.  Toddlers learn to POSSESS their possessions, and the very concept of possession.  They have not, to the adult's way of thinking, earned it, but they own it.

So the concept MINE comes before the concept EARN.

Parents love their children -- and through that love, teach the concept "no" and "mine" and "you can't have that because it is mine."

"You can't take that because it is mine" is an expression of LOVE.  It is a way of depicting love.

MINE is an extremely abstract concept.  Just try explaining it to an Alien whose species does not have that concept.

We discussed explaining humans to aliens, and how it can help writers do solid worldbuilding here:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2017/03/depiction-part-26-depicting-humanity-by.html

One rock that marriages founder upon is POSSESSIONS -- as well as TERRITORY.

If a Couple is split on the issue of regard for another person's possessions and personal space, or territory or privacy, the marital combat will be feral.

The arguments - regardless of what the ostensible subject is (toothpaste tube, toilet seat, cleaning the trash out of the car, overdrawing the checking account, inviting guests without asking the cook) will take on basic animal characteristics.  The combatants are fighting for their LIVES - for their very existence.

The concept MINE lives in us at that pre-verbal level where the 2 year old can only scream red-faced and clutch the toy they just stole off the store shelf.

The adult will defend what is MINE with that same ferocity -- even if what is being defended is only a symbol of the toy their parent would not buy for them (long before they knew about the connection between earning, buying, and mine.

Sometimes LOVE is best symbolized by not-buying that toy.  And sometimes a good marriage is based on not-taking the spouse's possessions.

Children absorb the very definition of what marriage is by the way parents handle and regard the spouse's possessions.

One magnificent depiction of LOVE in symbolism is the way the loved-one's possessions are regarded and handled, not because of what that object is, but because of what it means to the loved one.  Sometimes the most penetrating drama comes with the way a Character handles a possession of a deceased loved-one.

The connection between a person and their possessions (yes, somewhat like the gypsy scam artists claim, or you see in many Fantasy or Paranormal Romances) is a mystical force in this world.

We experience MINE as a mystical force, perhaps because it is one of those pre-verbal learning experiences.  Even dogs know what is theirs and what is not.  Children get it very, very young.

The next lesson in growing up that humans learn is how to make something MINE -- how to acquire what holds meaning.  Seeing the toy on the store shelf, screaming "Mommy, buy me that!" or just "I want!!!"  Then comes Mommy's lesson in how to love -- "Be good and I'll get it for you next month."

You want to own something, you must comply with the wishes of others.  Love is unconditional -- possessing is conditional.

If that's how you are brought up, that is how you will conduct your marriage -- whether you know you are doing it, or not.

That is how deep into the subconscious, into the brain-synapses developed in childhood, that the concept MINE goes.

With age, you learn you have to do chores to get money to buy things -- then get a summer job to earn money, then work your way through college -- and so on.

Along through those years, you may change your mind about possessions, come to see the massive contribution to your prosperity made by your community, society, family privelege, etc, and understand a portion of what you earn belongs to everyone (taxes, insurance).

You may change your behavior so drastically that during a hot Romance, you display only community awareness, not the 2 year old's selfish MINE.  But within months of marriage, that 2-year-old's MINE will assert itself, sometimes to your dismay.

Other 2-year-olds may have learned MINE in a different way, with support and respect for the exclusive possessions of an individual being sacrosanct.

If an adult with a commune mentality of "everything belongs to everyone in the family" marries a "what's mine is mine; what's yours is yours" person, there will be primal-scream-level-combat where neither party knows what they are really fighting for or over.

At some point, that mixed marriage may well crack -- and you, the writer, will have a Character ready for a second time around Romance.

By that point in maturity, the Character will be grappling with the vague and confusing question, "What is Love?"  How do you know if you're in love after being so bitterly disappointed by that Selfish Bastard you gave your heart to?

Or, on the other hand, that mixed marriage may gel and solidify into a happily ever after for real.

How can that happen?  If the very concept of MINE is not shared, how can two people meld into One?

It has happened.  I have seen it happen in real life.  Compromise is not the answer.  Winning a negotiation is not the answer.  Asserting your rights is not the answer.  Separate bedrooms is not the answer (though sometimes it helps.)

Even Love may not be the answer.  MINE may be something that Love can not conquer, at least not by itself.

One human's love for another human may not be up to the job of welding two such disparate views of what a human is into a single marriage.  This is the kind of welding job you write about in an Alien Romance, where a human has to apprehend the true alien quality of this strange Soul Mate.  If the weld is sturdy enough and flexible enough, you do end up with a Happily Ever After between Soul Mates.

Making that HEA ending seem plausible to your modern day readers is tricky.

We've discussed the HEA ending perpetually, and here we go again.  It is based on the validity of the concept, Soul Mates.

If your readers accept the concept of Soul Mates, they may not be ready to accept the concept of Souls per se.  That could take some convincing, a series of long novels.

The concept Souls comes with the question of what they are and how they came to exist -- and what the rules are about mating souls.

You can depict the Love of Soul Mates who nevertheless have primal-screaming-fights about MINE, and whose marriage may founder on that concept, and or its political manifestation (today: Democrats vs Republicans), Fiscal Responsibility, Health Care, Obamacare, Trumpcare, -- who must pay for the healthcare of the poor?  Who is responsible for making people poor to begin with, and for keeping people poor (and why would anyone do that?)

So Soul Mates may end up in Divorce Court.

Or maybe not.

There is a fundamental force in the Universe, a variable related to Love, which some call Delight.

If both Soul Mates become aware of the spiritual forces moving in the world, of the finger of God stirring their lives, (sometimes pregnancy brings this awareness, if only momentarily), and experience a peaceful moment together, they may transcend awareness of MINE.  It won't resolve the issues they fight over, but it will put the Values involved into another perspective.

Remember, we've discussed the two-valued either/or zero-sum-game model of the universe in many contexts -- that model is the foundation of most Conflict, and conflict is the essence of story.

If it is mine, it is therefore not-yours -- is zero-sum-game model.  There is only so much wealth to go around, a pie to slice, and it is not fair if some people get more of the pie.  That is the zero-sum-game model.

Then there is the infinite, expanding model of the universe wherein any human makes something and thus adds to the sum total of human wealth while at the same time keeping what has been made, dubbing it MINE.

The infinite, ever expanding model of reality has no pie to be sliced.  Whatever you make, you keep and divvy up as you choose.

Humans have the capacity to choose to do justice, to give away a portion of what they create.  That behavior is rare in the average 2 year old just encountering the concept MINE -- but it turns up often in the 3 or 4 year old who sees parents giving, and experiences love when recieving.

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2012/05/theme-element-giving-and-receiving.html

After having been the recipient of giving, a child learns the even greater delight of being the giver.  You can't experience that ineffable delight of giving unless what you are giving is MINE.  You must create/earn and acquire something of your very own, which you have no obligation to give away, and then give it to another (for whatever reason).

The delight of giving is a spiritual experience - an experience that happens, like Love At First Sight, at the soul level.  It lights up the brain circuits, true, but that is a pale reflection of the vast ignition of the Soul.

Possessing that which you have created and/or earned is a pre-requisite to experiencing that ineffable delight of the soul.

Sharing the experience of soul-level-delight can weld a couple into a single whole, a whole that readers can view as deserving of a Happily Ever After life.

So sharing a moment of Soul Delight can work as the climax of a Romance plot, and the Story climax is the realization by both that the moment of supreme intensity was indeed shared.  This Selfish Bastard you want to ditch actually has a heart.  That's a game-changer discovery.

The fabric of the universe is woven from shades of Delight, according to one ancient source.  Here it is in poetic form:

-----quote--------
A bird builds its nest, a tree spreads its boughs, a cloud floats across the sky—and we see there beauty, ingenuity, wisdom and might.

But behind it all is delight. The delight the Creator takes in each thing.

Each thing begins with delight; delight condenses to become wisdom; wisdom condenses to become ingenuity, consciousness, love, might and beauty, and all the other fabric of the universe.

“Nothing is higher than delight,” says the Book of Formation. It is the quintessence of all that exists.          http://www.chabad.org/lx4rt0

-----end quote-----

Think about that.  Delight and thus its derivative Love is more primal than MINE, is woven into the soul way above the point in cognitive development when the toddler learns "No" and "Mine!"

You can't get Delight by taking, only by giving what is Mine.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

2016 White Paper Concludes That Online Consumers Don't Understand Copyright

You don't say!

In January of 2016, a government task force concluded in a White Paper on Remix, First Sale, and Statutory Damages that, when consumers download ebooks, music, movies etc, they do not understand what they can legally do with these copies (or what they cannot do).

https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/ip-policy/copyright/white-paper-remixes-first-sale-and-statutory-damages

Now, on April 18th, 2017, this government task force is going to talk about it.

How long has online piracy been a problem for authors, musicians, movie-makers, artists, photographers? Since 2003? Should we say "better late than never"? Anyway, on April 18th, 2017, the government is prepared to "facilitate a dialogue" with the public about whether or not the government can help.

If you happen to be in Alexandria, Virginia, you may attend in person, space permitting. Registration is free. The event will also be webcast, so you may watch. Webcast information is on the USPTO's event page.

https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/ip-policy/copyright/consumer-messaging-connection-online-transactions

Forgive my snark, but it appears that the copyright notices that every ebook publisher prints in the front matter of every ebook is no protection whatsoever, and copyright infringers who "share" entire ebooks including the copyright page, may be "innocent infringers", and ought not to be fined as much as the law currently allows if they are caught.

It seems that "all rights reserved" and "no portion of this work may be reproduced" and "this book... shall not be lent... resold... hired out... or otherwise circulated..." is not clear and understandable. 

So, this meeting will focus on "identifying what copyright-related terms and conditions are important to communicate to consumers...".  Unfortunately, instead of communicating to copyright infringers what the law says, the liberal USPTO intends to discuss how many "lends", "resales", "shares" and "transfers of ownership" are reasonable and ought to be allowed.

The Task Force will also facilitate discussion on whether a "Buy" button ought to be called something else, if the author does not intend to transfer all rights including copyright and resale rights.

Here is some excellent advice for self-publishing authors about their front and back matter.
http://selfpublishingadvice.org/writing-front-and-back-matter-for-your-self-published-book/

All the best,
Rowena Cherry

European Law Requires...

European law --and Google-- requires us to inform our European visitors that this site hosted on (the Google owned) "Blogspot" puts cookies on your devices. Google does so, even if you request it not to do so. It does so even if we ask it not to do so!

We (the authors of this blog) are required to obtain your consent. By visiting this site, even briefly and by accident, you are presumed to consent to receive a cookie.

Apologies for the inconvenience.

All the best,
Rowena Cherry 

ICFA 38

This week I'm attending the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Orlando. Eighty-degree days! Nice change from the sudden resurgence of winter we suffered at home last week.

This year's theme is Fantastic Epics. I'm delivering a paper on Brian Lumley's Necroscope series. Next Thursday I'll report on the con.

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt

Depiction Part 26 - Depicting Humanity by Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Depiction

Part 26

Depicting Humanity

by

Jacqueline Lichtenberg 

Previous parts of the Depiction series are listed here:

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2015/04/index-to-depiction-series-by-jacqueline.html

Well, now we're turning into Spring (Northern Earth Hemisphere) and the world is pretty much in a lot of trouble.  It's a mess.

So, how do writers of Alien Romance "depict" such a multi-leveled mess?

One of my favorite pastimes is to "explain" human behavior (individual behavior and mass behavior) to non-humans.

I've noticed something on TV News lately -- after the shift to interviewers asking only "leading questions" (never any real questions, only telling the interviewee what to say next), we now have almost every person "interviewed" as a talking head using a tone of voice that is either whining or condescending.

What do we mean by "whining" -- well, it's that tone of voice that projects "pleading" to understand what I'm saying.  It has an underlying texture of "complaint" to it, a whine for you to change your mind.  This is what a child does when parents say, "No."  They come back with, "But, you don't get it!"

What do we mean by condescending?  It's that tone you now hear on almost all voice-overs for commercials that are "telling" (not showing or arguing) you why you need to buy this product or service.  It's the way a parent talks to a child who just isn't old enough to understand complicated things.

So TV voices are using tones (in American English) that are either child-to-dense-minded-parent, or adult-to-incapable-child.

It has been a long time since I've heard the tune or underlying voice song behind words that indicates adult to adult communication.

I heard adult-to-adult in a short clip from some Trump Administration folks talking to the media, then it was gone.

The stark contrast between adult-to-adult tones and child-to-adult whining and adult-to-child "sweet-kind-condescension" just blows you away if you notice it.

So listen for it in the daily news clips you run across.  It is not in the words, but in the melody behind the words.  The tones are most easily spotted when the song does not match the words, the information behind conveyed.

There is an "announcer" song -- which has in it a flaw I've spotted where a word is emphasized by a pause afterward, wholly inappropriate for the grammatical flow of the sentence.

If you tune out the words and just listen to that underlying song you will notice how the song is chosen to affect the emotional response to the words.  The words require one sort of response, but the tone is urging (pleading for) another emotional response, usually an inappropriate one.

This analysis of how people talk, rather than of what they say, is one thing you'd have to explain in depth and in detail to a Vulcan, or any other non-human.  Suppose you are introducing an Alien, a First Contact Situation, to this world we are suffering through today.  What would you say to this Alien, and what TONE OF VOICE (song behind the words) would you use?

There is a rule in public speaking that I've seen disobeyed consistently, and then gradually expunged from our TV Voices (talking heads).  That rule is, "Never Uptalk."

Uptalk is a song where assertions are inflected with an upward tone, as if asking a question when finishing a declarative sentence.  It is common in Southern USA dialects, and if you move from North to South, you will pick it up without noticing.

Uptalk is passive-aggressive -- since you aren't actually saying something is so, but rather asking, you can't be countered.  You take the weaker position in the exchange, and as the weaker you can't be attacked or the other person is a bully.  Passive-aggressive.

How do you explain Uptalk to an Alien?

By tone of voice and facial expressions, humans convey vast amounts of information separately from the denotation of words.  If the three channels of communication carry conflicting messages, we often conclude the human is lying.  If the channels carry the same, harmonious, information, we believe the information is true, or at least the person is honest.

How do we tell if an Alien is lying?

More interesting -- how does an Alien tell if we are lying?  And how do you explain to an Alien that since all the humans know this person is lying, it is OK -- everyone knows what he "really means."

By matching the words, tone of voice, and body language (whether the smile reaches the eyes, and other tiny signals), we figure out what we think about what is being said.

Thinking requires concentrated effort.  Generally speaking, people are too busy exhausting themselves on daily tasks, chores, and life-or-death-decisions (like how to pay for health care).  Just staying even takes all our strength.

So living in today's world, we may pause to figure out what a news item means, or which news anchors are lying, or what interviews are 'canned' (rigged, scripted).  It's hard work trying to sort out which of the 3 streams of information you get from television (words, tone, body language) is the true one, and which are the lies.

So once a human has figured our what "the truth" is, they paste a label on that truth and try very hard not to revisit that decision because all subsequent decisions will have to be changed, too.

Most people want to be honest with themselves (at least), even politicians, but don't especially value being completely honest with all other people.  We select who to be "honest with" -- and that is a kind of intimacy called "being close."

Politicians do that.  They hold one, personal and private position, sometimes sharing it with other elected politicians of similar rank, and a totally different position publicly, a position crafted to get votes.

Thus if there is a "hack" of a private communication (such as an email) which reveals the private position, and how it differs from the public position, the public often stands aghast.  Then things settle down, and the public slaps a label on the individual whose private position was revealed.  The problem is just that one person, not all politicians.  And you tell the difference by the labels.

In fact, the whole commercial industry is based on labeling -- a type of labeling called "branding."

If you want to buy a GM car, you want it to have a GM label on it somewhere.  If you want Dole pineapple, you want to see the Dole logo.

Why do you want certain brands of an item, but not other brands?

Shortcut thinking.  Radio, TV, Magazine, media advertising methods use that "tone of voice" plastered over words that do not match to engrave on your mind that this Brand is better than that Brand.  And it might actually be better.  You never know until you try it, yet when you try it, your preconceived notions may color your tasting experience.

Labels matter when they are shared among humans.  Labels, short-cut-thinking, accepting the opinion of others who "know better" is learned in childhood.  At some point you are expected to mature, to shed the thought habits of childhood, and "think for yourself."  But thinking is hard work, so after you've thought, you do not want to re-think.  So you slap a label on your conclusion and move on with the business of survival.

Explain that mental shortcut I'm calling "Labeling" to the Alien you are falling in love with.  Can you understand his explanation of how his people use shortcut thinking, labeling, whining, condescension and Uptalk?  Do they even have an equivalent?

As an example of an emotionally charged yet completely abstract (i.e. thematic) element in Depicting Humanity, consider political science, philosophy, and history.

Modern record keeping is allowing us to revisit and rethink Labels invented about a hundred years ago, more or less.  Printing has allowed even minor works to be preserved.  Historians study these records, as do journalists, and often exhume Labels invented to cover certain cultural Idea Bundles that were "sold" to whole communities in the past.

Explaining individual behavior to Aliens is easy compared to explaining our mass movements, shifting cultural norms, and vicious arguments over what the facts were, and what those facts have now become.

Yes, as part of the labeling shortcuts human cognition uses, we change the "values" of the facts as time progresses.

Labels used in short-cut thinking are like the X, Y, W, symbols used in algebra -- they stand-for-something rather than be that something.  So we can manipulate labels the way we manipulate terms in algebra -- it is abstract thinking, and the kind of Aliens you could plausibly use in a Science Fiction Romance would very likely use this type of thinking.

Assemble a group of Ideas under a Label, (say X, for example) then juxtapose that group of ideas to a different group (say Y, for example).  Then try to find a relationship between them that holds through time -- perhaps requiring the invention of another Label or Symbol called W.

For humans, I expect this systematic explanation of human belief systems is impossible.  Humans as a group, (it seems to me) will fight any process that threatens to reveal the truth about their behavior.  We love and admire irrationality as a method of tricking our most dire foes.

Thus, definitions of Labels used historically change -- I expect in a 20 year cycle, and an 80 year cycle.

Academics, today, are struggling to redefine and clarify the Label "Fascist" -- I've seen at least 5 mutually exclusive definitions bandied about on social media, often with legitimate academic credentials attached.

Since these definitions usually come in cold text only, there is no tone of voice or body language to analyze, just words.

We have equally shapeless, whipped cream type Labels being shouted about - Liberal, Conservative, Religions, Atheist, etc.  (e.g. Zuckerberg suddenly came out with the statement that he now sees Religion as important last year, and some instantly speculated he's planning to run for public office.)

Journalists and Academics (often with identical credentials) are trying to Group the beliefs and tenets under sharply contrasting Labels, so they can call them X, Y, W and manipulate them before your eyes.

You can't make this stuff up, but maybe you can explain it to a visiting Alien just discovering humanity.  If you can get this point across, you may hit the best seller list because people will talk  (shout, argue, get red in the face, and cry inconsolably) about your novel.

You hit an emotional core response when you rip Labels apart and re-arrange what those labels stand for.  Imagine the disruption when a packaged food your family relies on is under botulism recall!  Now imagine if a Label you are absolutely sure of is "recalled" and re-formulated.  Explain to your Alien Character just how disruptive his people arriving on this planet will be to our nice, neat, reliable labeling system.

As an example, or perhaps inspiration in how to go about writing an explanation of human short-cut thinking and what happens to us when our short-cuts are disrupted, read this article all the way through.

You already know the information in this article -- Donald Trump is a Populist.  But there are dozens of definitions of Populist going around, some from serious academics, all mutually exclusive.  Historically, the Label Fascist is being redefined, reorganizing a Group of behaviors some of which were evident in Italy, and some not.

Don't worry about deciding which Label is accurate and applies to whom.  Read carefully with an eye to explaining to your Alien Character how humans use (and abuse) Labeling as a cognitive process.

This is a difficult exercise.  I warn you, the article will make you fume and stomp, maybe shout and snap at anyone who talks to you for the next day.

While you read, remember that "right-wing" means the opposite in Europe than it does in the USA, and it means something entirely different in the Middle East (explain THAT to your Alien).  I have no idea what "right-wing" might mean in China but I'm betting the meaning does not resemble anything I've ever heard of.

The point of this exercise is to gain the kind of perspective on humanity that Gene Roddenberry had when he invented "Number One" (the emotionless female) and Spock (the half-human Alien), then combined the two Characters.

Roddenberry was fascinated by "emotion" -- actually explored it from another angle in a failed pilot he made where a human being was from a culture where the worst invective was to Label something Inconvenient.

Because he was interested in how humans were affected by Emotion, he created a Character who "had no emotions" (we know he walked that back later, due to the exigencies of commercialized fiction).

That's what you can do with this exercise.  Create an Alien who has NO LABELS -- who does not understand the cognitive shortcut we use when we apply Labels (or Branding).

If you can succeed in reading this (explosive) article without blowing your top, you may be able to create such a Character who will haunt readers for generations.

http://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/1/3/14154300/fascist-populist-trump-democracy

Donald Trump isn’t a fascist
A leading expert on 1930s-era politics explains that Trump is a right-wing populist, not a fascist — and the distinction matters.
Updated by Sheri Berman  Jan 3, 2017, 1:00pm EST

Of course, an expert must know what they're talking about.  Would your Alien assume she did?

Pay particular attention to the article section:
Four key characteristics of fascism (not in evidence in Trumpism)

Note the contrast with Liberalism.  Maybe you thought you were a Conservative?

All of these labels are tossed about in this article as if they are "real" -- as if everyone agrees on the definitions.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Note also that the "four characteristics" are treated independent variables.  There is no thematic connection among them (as would be required in a novel).

If you have one of the four variables, that does not mean that you have the other three.  The other three are not generated by the one -- not consequential.

What if your Alien's psychology could not encompass a notion of thinking beings functioning in such cognitive chaos?

Explain how humans can believe contradictory things.

Given that humans do believe contradictory things, why should the Galactic Community accept humans as intelligent?

You might also want to explain to your Alien Character how Fascism, as defined by this article (or maybe some other articles about it) differs from government by Aristocracy.

How is a Dictator different from a King?

A King controls life or death over individual citizens, is the chief justice of the supreme court, is the speaker of the house, and the president pro-tem of the senate, as well as the superior to every corporation's CEO.  In fact, a King is CEO of all the businesses in his Land.  The King owns all the Land and grants tenancy to Dukes etc.  The King can revoke tenancy of anyone at any time (if he can get away with it politically).

So how do Fascists differ from Kings?

We write a lot about historical times when Kings ruled, and we have projected the Aristocratic model of government into Fantasy, and even Galactic Civilizations.

We also use the constitutional monarchy model in Galactic Civilization - is that Fascist?

Suppose your Alien objects to your explanation, "But the role of government is to protect the individual from government!"

Do you answer with the ancient wisdom of humanity that without the strong hand of government, humans would eat each other alive?  Humans misbehave if nobody tells them what to do.

So read
http://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/1/3/14154300/fascist-populist-trump-democracy

if it's still available - or if not, Google fascism and see what you find as a definition, then explain it to your Alien.

In that explanation you come up with, you will find your Alien Romance Theme -- and you will find what barrier Love must Conquer to forge your human/Alien couple.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Moral Rights Deadline, Keeping Your Contest Legal.

If you feel that, as an alien romance author (or any other type of author), your moral rights ought to be increased or more vigorously protected by the US Government, you have until one minute before midnight Eastern Time on March 30th, 2017 to submit your brief (or lengthy) remarks.

Explanation:
https://www.copyright.gov/policy/moralrights/

Instructions:
https://www.copyright.gov/policy/moralrights/comment-submission/

Moral rights are non-economic rights that are personal to an author, such as the right of attribution (giving you credit for being the author of your work), and the right not to have your work distorted in a way that harms your honor or integrity.

LaVar Oldham, of the law offices of Workman Nydegger has written a helpful article on Moral Rights in the USA, and why authors might wish to provide comments. Other countries provide greater protection for authors' moral rights than does the USA, partly because the American "First Amendment".
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=7fec26a9-3207-44cd-bc73-84774f29e9b8&utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+General+section&utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2017-03-17&utm_term=

Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP have a helpful article about staying on the sweet side of the law while running a contest to promote one's work.
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=5801a2a8-d61d-4c3d-bdda-f0b8262c88cc&utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+General+section&utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2017-03-09&utm_term=

This is the first of a series. In this part, they define what makes a "contest" look like an illegal lottery ("a prize", the element of "chance", and "consideration" or "anything of value") and how to tweak your contest so that it is not an illegal lottery.

Many independent authors, and some traditionally published authors run contests that appear to cross the line. This looks like a series that is worth following.

Kudos and attribution for the sweepstakes advice go to Darren S Cahr, Tore Thomas DeBella, and Mita K. Lakhia.

All the best,

Rowena Cherry

PS. My apologies for not posting last Sunday. I blame Stella (the storm).

We're All Mutants

This article on the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MIND site uses the "X-Men" series as a springboard for an overview of genes and mutations:

We're All X-Men

Popular culture tends to think of "mutants" as extraordinary freaks of nature to be either feared or envied (in superhero stories, often a bit of both). Yet alterations in DNA are common and pervasive. The article estimates that human beings "accumulate 100 to 200 mutations each generation." Some changes, while nowhere near as amazing as Wolverine's super-healing power, have had far-reaching cultural effects; think of the fact that, while most ethnic groups have lost the ability to digest milk in adulthood, a few have retained lactose tolerance all their lives—so we have dairy products and herding societies. Some mutations are both good and bad. The gene that causes sickle cell anemia also offers protection against the malaria parasite.

Recommended reading: A book titled FREAKS OF NATURE: WHAT ANOMALIES TELL US ABOUT DEVELOPMENT AND EVOLUTION, by Mark Blumberg, explores "monsters" in human and animal development, whether produced by genetic mutations before conception or by environmental influences or developmental glitches during gestation. As the subtitle indicates, studying "monstrosities" can provide insight into the normal course of development in an individual or species. For example, one chapter analyzes the way malformations of limb development in many different animals can be caused by either environmental toxins or changes in DNA, yet the underlying cellular processes that produce anomalies or absence of limbs are similar, whether in people or animals born with missing arms or legs or in naturally limbless snakes.

Without variations for evolution to work on, we wouldn't be here, since life on Earth wouldn't have changed from the primeval, microscopic proto-organism. As the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MIND article says, the electronic mutant detector in one of the "X-Men" movies "wouldn’t have just identified Mystique as the camouflaged mutant; it would registered all of the humans in the room as well." On the cellular level, we're all mutants.

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt

Reviews 31 - Dave Bara The Lightship Chronicles

Reviews 31

The Lightship Chronicles

by

David Bara

I have not yet done an Index Post listing all the previous 30 Reviews posts, but you can find most of them by searching for Reviews in the search slot for this blog at the right.

This Review of Dave Bara's Lightship Chronicles series might also belong to the series Marketing Fiction In A Changing World.

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/05/index-to-marketing-fiction-in-changing.html

We have been discussing the impact of Star Trek and Star Wars -- and other hugely successful movies and TV Series such as Avatar and Stargate -- on the science fiction novel field.

If we can figure this out, we may have an inkling of what to write now that will become hugely successful 10 years from now. Dave Bara may have hit on one important change that is still ongoing, and I am recommending you read and study The Lightship Chronicles.

In the 1930's and 1940's, "science fiction" was an obscure field, barely represented in public or High School libraries, not even known by the general public as existing.  The few dozen writers and few thousand readers just buzzed along in private, much as fanfic started in the 1970's.  When ordinary people (Muggles) heard about what we read, they greeted the entire thing with scorn.  The comic strip, Dagwood, got more respect.

On this blog, we have been analyzing what we, as Romance Writers, can do to convince the "general public" that the Romance genre in general, and science fiction romance in particular, are worthy of respect.

Meanwhile, that general public's respect for our field may actually be rising.

Gini Koch's Alien Series - that I've been raving about on this blog for years - is still prominent and the series is growing.

I've noted several other works that touch the edges of "The Love Story" -- novels about interstellar war, Aliens, dimension travel, or paranormal inter-dimensional travel.  Many writers, and their editors, are dabbling at the edges of the depicting of a Universe where Love Conquers All, producing a Happily Ever After.

So we are marketing fiction in a changing world, and some editors are willing to publish novels that would never have been accepted for Mass Market in the 1970's.
And as usual since then, DAW Books is a leader in changing the publishing landscape.

DAW has now brought out three of Dave Bara's Lightship Chronicles novels.

IMPULSE
STARBOUND

DEFIANT

Find them at
https://www.amazon.com/Lightship-Chronicles-3-Book-Series/dp/B01FZ55770/

These are space-war, military science fiction with a Star Trek like leap into an era that emerges from what technology might do with today's science.  Now, we see that technology only via Mathematicians speculating and Physicists dreaming up experiments.

That speculative leap into a future where humans live with the results of applied science creating impossible technology  is the hallmark of great science fiction.

The science makes the fiction.

But fiction is about Characters living through a Story - in spite of, or because of the Events that happen, the Plot.

Human Characters have the same character flaws (and strengths) that the readers do.

Human Characters make mistakes, boast egotistically, embarrass their parents, offend everyone, ingratiate themselves, and regularly pull of miracles -- just like you and me stumbling through Life.  Human Characters fall in love.  Learning to tame the force of Character we all bring to bear on Life is Story.

The Story is the Character Arc where the Character learns an abstract lesson, a moral, a rule of thumb, and gains maturity.

If you examine the early Star Trek fanfic, you will find a type of Character drawn with broad strokes, who is painfully close to the typical reader of such fiction.  That Character was branded "Lt. Mary Sue" after the lead Character in an particularly egregious example of the sub-genre.

Today, we refer to such stories just as "Mary Sue" stories.

Now, oddly enough, I am a blatant Mary Sue fan.  I loved the stories as they were published in T-Negative, and I still love this type of story.  My definition, therefore, may differ from that in current usage.

One feature of the Mary Sue Character is the absurdly long and varied list of accomplishments, talents, abilities, and credentials Mary Sue has garnered before she graduates from Star Fleet Academy at an age younger than others.

She skips ranks, solves any problem with apparent ease, and because of her precocious accomplishments, she has little respect for authority.

At the same time, Mary Sue has an emotional maturity somewhat below her age-group, does not understand people and can only evaluate any situation from her own point of view.  She has no clue why people don't trust her and admire her.

For the most part, people define the "Mary Sue" as a type of story not worthy of their respect.

The reasons the Mary Sue story does not garner admiration and respect center around how "unbelievable" these Characters are -- the Character is "unreal."

Mary Sue is implausible.

That is the exact complaint readers have about Romance -- Love At First Sight is implausible, Romance is not realistic, and Love always Loses -- there is no such thing in real life as Happily Ever After.  Maybe, Happily For Now might happen, but not as a result of Love Conquering All.

We all know how many people regard Romance, but most of us do know a few people who have experienced real life romance, fought through vicissitudes and then lived many decades "Happily Ever After."  Real life examples abound, and we are aware of a few.

In real life, many people look at a "Happy" couple and imagine the discord they keep private.  Then they conclude the couple is not actually happy.  That turns out to be true enough times that people conclude happiness does not exist.

So, if we know that Romance does indeed strike, Love forges Couples amidst vicissitudes, and those Love-tempered Couples do have good, long years of "Happily Ever After" then why is Mary Sue implausible?

Many people do not know a Mary Sue in real life.

I, on the other hand, have met quite a few, dealt with them, done business with them, and watched them try to cope with not fitting in.  So I do not find Mary Sue implausible, just as I don't find Romance implausible.

I noted this disparity of experience when Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced Wesley Crusher.  Fans reacted explosively.  Some adored him and were relieved to see such a Character on TV -- someone they could identify with.  Others loathed him because he is so implausible -- no real person could be like that.  Others objected to the Character being introduced into the show because it struck a sour note -- this Character does not belong in this Show.

I suspect Wesley Crusher was the first presentation of a Mary Sue Character in a Professional venu -- and not a mere Mass Market Paperback, but a TV Series.

At first, in 1987, I didn't notice anything odd or strange about Wesley Crusher (I was already a Mary Sue fan for life) -- I've known a few real people like that and found them very amenable and not at all remarkable.  But I understood the objections when I heard them, but disagreed.

The Character Wesley Crusher is probably the best known example of what has become known as the Marty Stu -- the male version of Mary Sue.  Spock, as a child, must have seemed like that to his peers.  He outgrew it, as most do.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MartyStu

But through the ensuing 1990's, we did not see this type of Character turn up in Mass Market paperback Science Fiction or Romance.

Throughout the 1990's, the online communities were growing faster than the technology.  The fans of my Sime~Gen novels were, likewise, writing millions of words of fanfic set in my universe -- at first on paper, and then online in various hosted communities.  We moved several times before launching our own simegen.com.  So I had a ringside seat during this transition, and now host classic Star Trek 'zines on simegen.com

http://simegen.com/fandom/startrek/

Today, fanfic.net and others host a wide variety of fan writers enlarging on stories they share with others.

In fanfic, the Mary Sue and Marty Stu stories flourished.  Very likely, people enjoy writing them more than others enjoy reading them.  The scorn is just as hot now, but the Character Type is still common.

And now, after 2010, we are seeing the Marty Stu Character turn up in Mass Market.

Gini Koch's Kitty Kat (ALIEN SERIES) is a more tame, plausible, believable Mary Sue because, written from inside Kitty's own mind, we see her uncertainty, her struggles, her misunderstandings, her mistakes, and flaws.  Kitty Kat is aware of her own flaws -- and that is a signature of Maturity.  Kitty Kat has out-grown her Mary Sue years when we first meet her.  But we can imagine what a pain she must have been as a kid, and so we understand why her Mother didn't tell her "everything."

Kitty Kat apparently grew up among Marty Stu Characters, and that spurred her maturation.  And she has matured markedly through her adventures in this Series.  She's adorable and lovable because she's not a Know It All and is accepted by others for her unique Talent.

In the last six or seven years, I've been finding Marty Stu Characters strewn through Mass Market paperback Science Fiction.  Gradually, the "wraps" have been taken off this Character, and even so he is still selling books.  Yes, people buy books to follow a Character.  Create the Character for your Readership and it will sell books.

Which brings us to the Magic of creating a Character that readers remember for years even when they don't actually remember that they remember.

Picking a book to read may merely be a matter of liking the cover art, or something about the packaging seems similar to some other book which was a pleasurable read.  It is very intangible.

And somehow I did it.  I picked a book without remembering the writer's name, or the prequel title. I started reading convinced I'd never read IMPULSE by Dave Bara.

I was several chapters in when the story finally twanged my memory -- and it was not the main Character, Peter Cochran, that reminded me.  It was a secondary Character -- and not even that Character, but his technology, that had lingered in my mind.

In IMPULSE by Dave Bara, we learn about an FTL ship exploring the cosmos -- encountering hostiles, fighting frantically and being nearly beaten.  This FTL ship gets its technologically advanced weapons and propulsion systems via a group of humans called Historians.  I didn't remember what they were called, but I did clearly remember the one feature that distinguishes Bara's universe from all the other Military Science Fiction, and galactic war stories I've read in between.

And therein lies a lesson for us all.  Hollywood wants, "The Same But Different" -- and this is the reason why.  I remembered the Historian, his name and his Character, but mostly his personal transportation -- a whole ship attached to the bigger FTL ship and almost indistinguishable from it.  It's a whole private apartment, loaded with technology and know-how the main ship does not have access to.

That unique feature of Bara's Universe stuck with me.  It's fabulously interesting, and the secondary Character (the Historian) is the one who has my interest (as Spock riveted my attention no matter what Kirk ever did).

This is a lesson in how to write for a market.  Lightship Chronicles is "just another" galactic war story -- except for The Historians.  It is the same, but different from all others.

That alone is a good reason to read this series if you want to write Science Fiction Romance.  But another reason that you'll enjoy the Lightship Chronicles is the classic, indefatigable Love Story.  There is Romance in there, but it is a Love Story with a lot of friction, and a lot of reasons why this Couple can never make it to Happily Ever After.

The main Character, Peter Cochran, is Marty Stu.  He is "royalty" from a planet that is trying to forge a union of planets to stand against the current attackers.  He has "intuition" measured at the top of human range, but he makes mistakes that get dozens of those under his command killed.  His bridge station is under the command of the resident Historian, and he has a security clearance above the Captain's.  He is a classic Marty Stu, by accident of birth and by on-paper accomplishments.

His list of heroic accomplishments would win him respect, but he's just too implausible for his compatriots.

But he is clearly on his way to maturity.  We are seeing through his eyes as he is attracted to the one particular woman who is an awkward fit for his personality and position in his society.  He values her for the exact attributes all women want to be valued for -- accomplishments not appearance.  She is beautiful to him because of her accomplishments, and she just can't see what's happening.

The Marty Stu motif is born out in STARBOUND by an awkward and inept writing style absolutely conforming to the average fanfic.

This is Hardcover/Mass Market publication upholding the best of the fanfic style.

The first thing I noticed in STARBOUND was the inept use of dialogue.  I recommend studying this novel just for the dialog lessons you can learn from this.

1. Dialogue is used where narrative should be, to inform the reader.  The Characters tell each other what the Characters already know.

2. Dialogue is used where symbolism and action (in screenwriting, this is called "business" -- little things the actors add) should be.  The Characters argue at length during action scenes.

This second item is really big because it both conveys and undermines Peter Cochran's Character and Situation.

This is a military exploration vessel, armed to the teeth with the latest weapons, going into enemy Territory on a stealth Extraction Mission (which they never bother to mention again or complete).

In each and every instance in the opening chapters, where an official order is given, whoever that order is given to answers back with an argument or objection (that is ridiculously inappropriate).  This dialogue exchange actually is there to inform the reader what is going on - but it is typical fanzine writing in that the craft-tool of Dialogue is substituted for Narrative.

It would work if in only one instance an order was objected to, but it is in every single instance.

So you have an illustration to study here explaining to you exactly why we keep saying "SHOW DON'T TELL" -- and that whatever you show and whatever you tell, it all must explicate the THEME.

The way dialogue is used in these action-opening chapters (space battles etc) shows us this is a lax, non-vertical chain of command where laid back argument and discussion is encouraged.  We are shown that Orders are not Orders, and the life-or-death-by-the-second decisions are not really life-or-death (except people die because of the discussion intervals).

But we are TOLD - that this is military exploration on a rescue mission, a stealth extraction of spies.

What we are shown does not match thematically with what we are told.

You really must study these three novels, and the market shifts their publication indicates.
Read the review praises in the front page in the LOOK INSIDE feature.  Every sort of reader is loving these books.

OK, the next fanzine structure issue in STARBOUND comes around page 100, where after they get the ship shot up and so damaged it has to go back to repair dock, Peter Cochran and his woman are sent to testify about their losing their previous ship (in the novel IMPULSE).

Now we go to Peter's social duties as a royal heir, and he goes home and gets bumped up a rank, then off to testify on another planet.

This interval is a drastic shift of pace -- it is another book entirely -- with totally different themes and conflicts.  The plot connects but the rest of everything just does not go together artistically.

This kind of "lurch" in pacing is typical of fanzine writing.

It is also something I rather enjoy reading -- fanfic has its charm.

But I am seeing this in Mass Market Paperback -- knowing what my editor would have done if I'd ever turned in a book structured like this -- and I know I'm looking at the taste of a readership that has grown up on fanfic.  They know real Marty Stu people, and believe they exist and can grow up to be mature and respectable.

In our current world, you can be born with a silver spoon in your mouth, score incredible successes before age 30, be an utterly immature and abrasive idiot in your 40's, and come into your 60's scoring even bigger successes while displaying mature Character.

Mature Character is an independent variable from Success in our world.  So readers find the Mary Sue and Marty Stu Characters acceptable, and even respectable in their adult form.

We live in a whole new world.  We are writing for a whole new readership.  Evidence here indicates they can be convinced that Love Conquers All and leads to Happily Ever After.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Brain-to-Computer Communication

A research project at Stanford University enables paralyzed people to type on computers by moving a cursor with their thoughts:

Brain-Computer Interface

This technology, according to the article, produces the desired output up to four times as fast as previously existing methods. It's supposed to be superior to the eye-tracking method of operating a computer, which sounds to me as if it would be tiring as well as difficult to master.

Imagine combining a perfected brain-computer interface with the Second Life environment discussed a few weeks ago. Individuals locked into their bodies without even the ability to speak might be able to live a fulfilling life in a virtual environment that feels as multidimensional as the "real world."

Or consider the shell people in Anne McCaffrey's THE SHIP WHO SANG series. Such artificial bodies for people with no control over their physical bodies might become more feasible in actuality once the robotic form could be completely operated by thought alone.

Does the interface described in the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN article allow speechless people to communicate (through a computer) with something like telepathy? Well, not exactly. The user doesn't beam thoughts through the ether. Wired connections between brain and machine have to be installed. Still, it's an exciting beginning.

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt