alien romances

Karen is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

Thursday, October 07, 2021

Astro the Robot

Amazon has invented a household robot called Astro, described as about the size of a small dog. It's "Alexa on wheels" but a bit more:

Amazon Robot

Astro can roll around the house with its camera, on a 42-inch arm, enabling you to keep an eye on children from another room. Or you can view your home remotely when you're away. You might use this feature to check on a vulnerable family member who lives alone. Like a tablet, it can play videos and access the internet. Like Alexa, it can answer questions. Its screen can be used for video chatting.

It can't navigate stairs, although (like the Roomba) it knows not to fall down them. Unfortunately, it can't pick up things. I suspect that ability will come along sooner or later. It can carry small objects from room to room, though, if a human user loads the objects, and facial recognition allows Astro to deliver its cargo to another person on command. It could be remotely commanded to take medication or a blood pressure cuff to that elderly relative who lives by herself.

Amazon's goal is for Astro to become a common household convenience within ten years. Even if you have $999 to spare, you can't order one right now. The device is being sold only to selected customers by invitation. Amazon's vice president of product says the robot wasn't named after the Jetsons' dog. The first possible origin for the name that occurred to me, however, was the robot Astro Boy, from a classic early anime series.

Considering the way people talk to their pets as if the animals can understand, I can easily imagine an owner carrying on conversations with Astro almost like an intelligently responsive housemate.

Margaret L. Carter

http://www.spacesnark.com/ http://www.rowenacherry.com

Sunday, October 03, 2021

Like Fairness?

The Copyright Alliance is well worth joining. It brings creators together to support one another, so authors try to help out musicians, or photographers, or film makers, and so forth. From time to time, there is a bill in Congress that they ask copyright enthusiasts to support by topping and tailing a pre-written form letter.

Today, there is the American Music Fairness Act (AMFA) House Resolution 4130.

America is one of the very few countries in the world that allows radio stations to play music without paying the song writers and copyright owners of the music.

Of course, you can paraphrase or personalize the pre-written letter, but it is a convenient starting point.

So, please contact your Representative in Congress and urge their support for the American Music Fairness Act. Click on this link, fill out the brief form, and the Copyright Alliance's campaign will automatically contact your Congressional representatives with an email requesting their support for the bill.

The link is: https://p2a.co/fUuhVCp

Thank you for helping out, if so inclined.

The Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts is hosting a Copyright Basics online event on October 20th. The cost is $20. The speaker is Joshua Kaufman of Venable LLP.

Link for more information: https://waladc.org/events/detail/wala-copyright-basics

One of many topics is "Basics Of Fair Use"!

All the best,

Rowena Cherry

SPACE SNARK™

EPIC Award winner, Friend of ePublishing for Crazy Tuesday

Friday, October 01, 2021

Karen Wiesner: The Stories Behind Classic Fairy Tales (Woodcutter's Grim Series), Part 6

WOODCUTTER’S GRIM SERIES—

Classic Tales of Horror Retold

This is the sixth of eight posts focusing on my Woodcutter's Grim Series and the stories behind classic fairy tales.

BRIDGE OF FIRE, Book 10:

OUT OF THE ASHES, Part 1

by Karen Wiesner

Supernatural Fantasy Romance Novel

** Loosely based on "The Three Billy Goats Gruff". The youngest son in a family of shape-shifting goats, William Gruff escaped a dire fate but his life is desperately lonely, engineering fantastical bridges that defy logic. Nothing prepares him for meeting Adaryn Azar.

Adaryn has a secret that keeps her on the run Loosely based on "The Three Billy Goats Gruff".. Just as everything she's ever wanted is about to come true with Liam, her enemy discovers her. But starting over would mean losing the timeless love she's found with Liam… **

BRIDGE OF FIRE started with a vivid dream I had of a man awakened in the middle of the night by a knock on the door. The police had come to tell him his wife was dead. He went to ID the body, and he was devastated and unable to function by this event. But, later that night, she came back to him and told him things about herself and her life that he could hardly get himself to believe...and yet he wasn't without his own secrets he'd been keeping from the woman he loved.

While I didn't immediately see this as an installment of my Woodcutter's Grim Series, I quickly found a way to make it work in in my horror/fantasy world. I'd always wanted to write one based on another of my favorite fairy tales, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff".

When I first started working on BRIDGE OF FIRE, I assumed it would be one possibly large novel. But, when outlining, I'd barely gotten past the part that merged with my dream (guy thinks his wife is dead, then finds out she has a huge secret--just like he does). They decide to go to Woodcutter's Grim, because it's the only safe place for supernatural beings such as they are. Also, in writing scenes in the viewpoints of both main characters and the heroine's closest family Torin (who has a young daughter), the story was fleshing out fast.

The outline was huge at that point. I'd realized once the newly forged family entered Woodcutter's Grim, I had another character I wanted to include the POV of to really round out the story. I knew then that I had two novels in this one outline. I stopped, deciding I needed to sort it out before proceeding. I went back to the beginning and ultimately ended the outline for the first part of the story in the most natural place (when their new location would become Woodcutter's Grim). I went through, added scenes for the new POV character, then continued outlining Part 2 of the story again.

Unfortunately, the same thing happened again long before I finished outlining the second part. The outline was growing bigger and bigger, and I was nowhere near coming to the end. Dividing it into three parts instead of two seemed only logical, and again I was able to find a logical place to divide Part 2 from Part 3 and switch up the POVs I wanted to feature in Part 3. Even after I finished the outlines, I wasn't entirely sure whether the books would end up novellas or novels, but they turned out to be full-length novels. All three parts of BRIDGE OF FIRE will be published within a few days of each other.

"The Three Billy Goats Gruff" is a Norwegian folktale with a moral about being brave and clever in the face of obstacles that get in your way. I find it hilarious that Wikipedia describes it as having an "eat-me-when-I'm-fatter" plot. Who knew such a thing existed?

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

Have you ever written a story with a deliberate moral in it? Leave a comment to tell me about it!

Find out more about this book and Woodcutter's Grim Series here:

http://www.writers-exchange.com/woodcutters-grim-series/

Karen is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

The October 2021 issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC features a pair of lead articles about "green" power for aircraft and cars, mainly electric. The cover optimistically proclaims, "The Revolution Is Here." The issue abounds with information about the past as well as the future of electric-powered transportation. I was surprised to learn that in 1900 electric cars held over one-third of the market. Gasoline-powered internal combustion automobiles came in third, after steam (!) and electric. Then as now, the main obstacles to widespread acceptance of electric cars were battery weight and range. On the other hand, electric vehicles are quiet and emissions-free, and they have fewer moving parts to maintain. In the early twentieth century, "cheap oil and paved roads" enabled the internal combustion engine to dominate the market by the 1930s. Now auto manufacturers are embracing EVs with fresh enthusiasm, not only the big names such as Tesla, but even Volkswagen. Driving range and charging times are improving as prices decrease to become comparable to the cost of gasoline-fueled cars. Driverless, electric-powered delivery vehicles may eventually become commonplace. Meanwhile, Amazon and FedEx are switching their fleets to EVs.

This NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC's second article on the energy revolution deals with flight. Commercial airliners produce vast quantities of fossil-fuel pollution. France is considering a ban on all domestic flights to destinations that can be reached by train in less than two and a half hours. Implementing that policy, of course, would imply a passenger rail system adequate to efficiently serve the needs of the traveling public. In most of the U.S., a situation like that is an incredible fantasy. Peter Kalmus, a NASA climate scientist, insists on "the hard fact" that "we don't need to fly." What world does he live in? Most vacation travelers crossing the Atlantic or Pacific can't afford the cost of a cruise ship or the extra time off work for the round trip by sea. If you have to get to the opposite coast of the U.S. for an emergency such as a family funeral, you certainly do need to fly; you can't drive that distance in a day or two.

For large aircraft, electric power runs into the problem that a battery of adequate size would weigh as much as the plane itself. One type of clean airplane fuel being contemplated is liquid hydrogen. For small aircraft, however, electric engines can succeed. A California company named Wisk is one of several working on designs for "air taxis," self-flying, vertical-takeoff-and-landing small electric aircraft. In fact, our long-awaited flying car may soon become a reality, although not owned and operated by individual consumers (thank goodness, considering the typical level of driving skill on the roads).

Each proposed solution, naturally, carries problems of its own. But, as Isaac Asimov maintained, the solution to such difficulties isn't to give up on technology but to develop better technology. If you don't subscribe to NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, do try to pick up a copy of the October issue at the library or newsstand, especially if you're a fan and/or writer of near-future SF.

Margaret L. Carter

https://copyrightalliance.org/education/qa-headlines/

Sunday, September 26, 2021

Ripped

This week's theme is either "ripped off" or "ripped from..."

The copyrightalliance.org has a ripped-from-the-headlines (in other words "topical") question and answer page that currently discusses copyright related to tattoos, fair use by political campaigns or music, copyright protection for tweets, emojis, and much more.

The Electronic Freedom Foundation has an interesting article by Cooper Quintin and Beryl Lipton about a very frightening patent designed to rip off anyone with whom an incarcerated person communicates.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/09/prison-surveillance-catalog-monitoring-online-purchases-inmates-family-and-friends

Is it right that the government could trick a person who might be related to an inmate into revealing their own Amazon purchasing habits and history?

EFF's Chao Liu writes about a company called Clearview that wants to rip off your face, not literally.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/09/federal-government-just-cant-get-enough-your-face

The greatest concern, perhaps, is that bad Artificial Intelligence can increase the likelihood of false arrest and mistaken identity (not necessarily in that order).

Matthew Guariglia of EFF discusses the "afterlife" problem with biometric surveillance, collection, and data retention, especially by the military.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/09/lessons-history-afghanistan-and-dangerous-afterlives-identifying-data

Over-reach in data gathering is everywhere. The law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth discusses how New York City wants food delivery services to share their customer data with restaurants.

https://www.huntonprivacyblog.com/2021/09/17/new-york-city-to-require-food-delivery-services-to-share-customer-data-with-restaurants/#page=1

Customers do have the right to deny food delivery services and restaurants this information, but customers must affirmatively opt out.

The law firm of Squire Patton Boggs has a Consumer Privacy World blog, which is well worth following. This last week, their legal bloggers Kristin Bryan and Alexis Chandler gave an update on the massive T-Mobile data breach and resulting litigation.

https://www.consumerprivacyworld.com/2021/09/t-mobile-named-as-a-defendant-in-nearly-30-data-privacy-litigations-in-wake-of-massive-cyberattack-where-are-we-now-a-month-in/#page=1

For Brodies LLP, Niall McLean has cautionary advice for writers about recycling old news. It is important to know that distressing information that might once have been newsworthy and in the public domain may, after the passage of time, be private and not in the public interest any more. The case is in the UK, but it's good to know.

https://brodies.com/insights/reputation-management/historically-public-presently-private/

All the best,

Rowena Cherry

SPACE SNARK™

http://www.spacesnark.com/ http://www.rowenacherry.com

EPIC Award winner, Friend of ePublishing for Crazy Tuesday

Friday, September 24, 2021

Karen Wiesner: The Stories Behind Classic Fairy Tales (Woodcutter's Grim Series), Part 5

WOODCUTTER’S GRIM SERIES—

Classic Tales of Horror Retold

This is the fifth of eight posts focusing on my Woodcutter's Grim Series and the stories behind classic fairy tales.

HUNTER'S BLUES, Book 9 (A Mirror Darkly World Novel)

by Karen Wiesner

Supernatural Fantasy Romance/Mild Horror Novel

** Loosely based on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. When the evil in Woodcutter’s Grim unleashed, humans turned into ghouls with the instinct to contaminate others. The Protectorate—the guardians sworn to protect the town—are all that hold the threat at bay. Guardian hunter Reece Pallaton discovers the source of the evil, the mirror that’s only the opposite half of the “glass darkly” world he lives in, and his own terrifying connection to both. **

I started outlining this book while I was writing my second Writer’s Digest Books craft reference, FROM FIRST DRAFT TO FINISHED NOVEL (which was changed back to its original title COHESIVE STORY BUILDING after I got the rights back to the book and had it reissued). I was planning to use HUNTER'S BLUES as an example for that writing reference, but never did. Basically, I got a lot of the outline written during that time, but it kind of fell into the background because I was working on the new craft book. Much later, I started thinking that maybe there was a way I could turn this into a Woodcutter’s Grim Series novel. In this "mirror darkly world"* of Woodcutter’s Grim, the Protectorate has become hunters, keeping the zombies (they call them "ghouls") that have proliferated on the Earth at bay, and it’s not a fun job even as it is a never-ending one.

*Star Trek has this whole "mirror universe" plotline that most of their series have versions of, in which the normal characters in the show have evil counterparts in a mirror universe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_Universe That's kind of what my Mirror Darkly World is grounded in. It's like a very dark version of the real world that all the previous books in the series were set in.

When I first decided to make HUNTER'S BLUES part of the Woodcutter's Grim Series, I choose a deeply disturbed obscure fairy tale about a woman who tricks her husband into eating his own son for the fairy tale my story would parallel, however loosely. Talk about dark! I couldn't come with any ideas in that vein though. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" made so much sense, especially in light of who (and what) Tess (from "Beauty is the Beast" , Book 7, WOODCUTTER'S GRIM SERIES, Volume II).

The graphic on the cover of HUNTER'S BLUES really caught my eye when I stumbled upon it. Within the story notes I’d come up with, I had ideas about Reece disappearing for stretches of times, waking up and wondering where he is. This graphic gave me the concept of where he was when he disappeared and how seeing Shell “through a glass darkly” brought him back each time. While that's not the way the story ultimately worked out (it was his father who was trapped in an in-between world, mainly, and who used the mirror to look back on Woodcutter's Grim), I think the cover nevertheless works.

The development of this book was so strange. It never actually fit into Woodcutter's Grim per se, even after I finished writing it and it was published. In ways, the town of Woodcutter's Grim was like a futuristic version of the town in all previous stories in the series, so that's why, for first couple years after it was published, it had the subtitle of being a "futuristic" novel in the series. That was my attempt to make sense of how it fit into the series. But it didn't quite work. I didn't become aware until much later, when I began work on BRIDGE OF FIRE, Book 10 that it was wholly inaccurate. I realized then that the complication in describing the timeline is that HUNTER'S BLUES is set in a mirror world of Woodcutter's Grim.

When I was first outlining HUNTER'S BLUES, trying to figure out how all this was supposed to work, gave me endless headaches. More than once, I thought about giving up because I felt like there was no way to sort it all out. But I did eventually, and the explanation is in this graphic I created to make sense of it all:

HUNTER'S BLUES is set in the Mirror Darkly World of Woodcutter's Grim (while the rest of the previous books were set in the Real World of Woodcutter's Grim). In the Mirror Darkly World, the Protectorate's unofficial guardian is Reece Pallaton (Gabe Reece is guardian in the Real World). Until I wrote BRIDGE OF FIRE, I didn't realize just how important the Pallatons would end up in the entire series.

An obscure and impossible-to-confirm origin story of Snow White says that the classic fairy tale was based on the life of a German countess. At the age of 16, she was forced out of her home by her stepmother. She ended up falling for a prince and, given the politically inconvenient nature of the relationship, the girl's disappearance was more than a little mysterious. Was she poisoned? The girl's father also reputedly owned a few copper mines that employed slave children who, through maltreatment, were severely stunted and deformed. https://random-times.com/2020/02/08/the-dark-origins-of-the-fairy-tale-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs/

Reviews and Honors for HUNTER'S BLUES:

5 star review from Linda's Reviews

4 star review from Huntress Reviews

HUNTER'S BLUES is a dark tale and it even has zombies (or ghouls), which is very "un-fairy tale-like"! Do you like stories with zombies? Leave a comment to tell me about it!

Happy reading!

Find out more about this book and Woodcutter's Grim Series here:

http://www.writers-exchange.com/woodcutters-grim-series/

Karen is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

Thursday, September 23, 2021

Writers' Rituals

Here's an article by Stephen Graham Jones that cautions writers against falling into the habit of depending on "rituals" to start a writing session:

The Case Against Writing Rituals

By "rituals," he refers to elements along the lines of a favorite mug, a particular type of pen, or, as he admits having succumbed to at one point, a "lucky" hat. He also includes in that category needing a quiet environment or a certain block of time to generate wordage, things that I wouldn't have thought of as rituals. He has trained himself to write anywhere, for as long a time as the situation allows, with whatever tools may be at hand. He also discusses a more insidious habit, a routine of reading e-mail and checking social media pages before easing into a creative session. I wouldn't have called that behavior a "ritual," either, but on reflection it does qualify for the label. I admit to a similar tendency to feel I must clear away the daily computer chores that don't require much thought before diving into the work of writing. Too often, getting through the minutiae leaves less time for actual work than I'd expected.

Somewhere Isaac Asimov recounts an interview when he was asked whether he performed any pre-writing rituals. After a puzzled inquiry about what the interviewer meant by "ritual," he answered something like, "I put paper in the typewriter" (or, later, turn on the word processor). As anyone who's read his memoirs or autobiographical essays will recall, Asimov really could write anywhere. When forced to travel, even for nominal vacations, he took his "work" with him. That's one factor he credited for his prolific output.

Maybe Stephen Jones's disapproval of rituals isn't completely justified, though. Can't they have a sort of placebo effect? Mightn't it be helpful to have an established process that primes the creative part of the brain to get into gear?

Margaret L. Carter

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=e41bf662-4eda-4fe9-b5a1-7418b2c0d9d8

Sunday, September 19, 2021

No Trivial Matter

"No Trivial Matter" might be an example of litotes. When one aggrieved party takes the time, trouble, and expense to go before a judge, it cannot be trivial to them, can it?

A slur could be Tweet-length, and yet be profound in its impact. A photographer's copyright could be infringed unseen, and not be legally "De Minimus".

We'll start with the short form slurs (my own characterization, chosen for the sibilance... and to digress, one online dictionary defines "sibilance" as "having a sibilant quality" !)

From an influencer with a self-alleged botched bottom, to a rural parking dispute (and much more) legal bloggers Emily Cox and Paloma Kotecha representing the UK law firm of Stewarts LLP tell a series of defamation-related stories:

The Rise And Rise Of Defamation On Social Media.

Lexology Link

Original Link

https://www.stewartslaw.com/news/the-rise-and-rise-of-defamation-on-social-media/

Defamation on Facebook seems to be a hot topic Down Under, with indications that media companies with pages on Facebook might be held as liable as any publisher, as far as Australian law goes, for defamatory content posted by Facebook users on the media's pages.

Christine Wong and Greta Ulbrick of Herbert Smith Freehills LLP explain the latest thinking on defamation law for the digital age:

Lexology Link:

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=39e86874-023d-4b3b-9409-15503466b489

Original Link:

https://www.herbertsmithfreehills.com/latest-thinking/defamation-law-for-the-digital-age-the-high-court-decides-media-companies-are-

The media allegedly tried to claim a defense of innocent dissemination.

All bloggers and writers and publishers should take note and beware of "innocent dissemination". Moderating comments would be a good start.

Apropos of nothing...except perhaps running your own small business website, possibly as an author, the Eastern District of New York has recently held that stand-alone websites (not linked to your own bricks-and-mortar bookshop, for instance) are not subject to the Americans With Disabilities Act.

If that was a concern for any of our dear readers, find out more from an Advertising Law blog article by Caren Decter for Frankfurt Kurnit Klein and Selz PC.

Original Link:

https://advertisinglaw.fkks.com/post/102h6jd/edny-holds-that-stand-alone-websites-are-not-subject-to-the-ada

Finally. for the law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP (which I am delighted to get my tongue around), legal bloggers Benjamin E. Marks and Michael Goodyear ask "Is There a De Minimus Defense For Trivial Use of Concededly Infringing Material...?"

Can't you just picture Dirty Harry asking that question? Seriously, the well reasoned answer might surprise at first reading.

Lexology link:

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=f3b1f4f3-5d49-417d-8cae-3d39861b7174

Original link:

https://www.weil.com/-/media/mailings/2021/q2/ipmediaalert202109.pdf

There's a lot to unpack in the case (pardon the pun), but when it comes to copyright, if you copy the entire work, you cannot claim a De Minimus defense. The.pdf version is especially well done and easy reading. And, if you happen to have lost track of the photos on your long-abandoned Facebook pages, you might not be in the clear if any belong to another copyright holder.

All the best,

Rowena Cherry

SPACE SNARK™

http://www.spacesnark.com/ http://www.rowenacherry.com

EPIC Award winner, Friend of ePublishing for Crazy Tuesday

Friday, September 17, 2021

Karen Wiesner: The Stories Behind Classic Fairy Tales (Woodcutter's Grim Series), Part 4

WOODCUTTER’S GRIM SERIES—

Classic Tales of Horror Retold

This is the fourth of eight posts focusing on my Woodcutter's Grim Series and the stories behind classic fairy tales.

THE DEEP, Book 8

by Karen Wiesner

Supernatural Fantasy Romance/Mild Horror Novel

** Very loosely based on “Metamorphoses: The Story of Pygmalion and the Statue” by Ovid. Cheyenne Welsh can't forget her past and the disappearance of her younger sister. When she returns to Woodcutter's Grim to sell the family property she grew up on, she's confronted with all the nightmare-realities of her childhood, still alive and well, still right where she left them--down in the darkness the Deep dwells inside. Her home... **

All of the novellas in the Woodcutter’s Grim Series thus far had been loosely based on popular, traditional fairy or folk tales, myths, fables, parables, nursery rhymes, poems, or some other literature. When I told my son I wouldn’t be following that theme for THE DEEP or any other Woodcutter’s Grim Series novels, he promptly insisted I was cheating and changing the rules midgame. I thought long and hard about that and ultimately worked like mad, pouring over all of the above to find something appropriate. I finally chose a loose interpretation of Metamorphoses: The Story of Pygmalion and the Statue by Ovid. Now I can’t imagine the story would have worked—or at least wouldn’t have been as effective—if I hadn’t followed my son’s advice.

The heroine’s father in THE DEEP had been introduced at the beginning of the Shaussegeny miniseries (WOODCUTTER'S GRIM SERIES, Volume II), so I was able to expand on his character as a professor of demon lore and introduce his penchant for fetish statues. If you’ve ever seen one and you know its purpose, you realize this is creepy stuff.

The title came about for the fetish statue that I created in the story, which has a name, Die diep (African for "The Deep"), and that statue has had a long, bloody, chilling history.

Writing this story gave me no end of trouble, requiring multiple revisions and overhauls, setting the book aside to brainstorm on ways to fix it, getting a critique partner involved so I could see what I was doing wrong… Well, eventually I did get the story to work.

The story behind Ovid's "Pygmalion and the Statue" was apparently inspired by the famous sculptor Praxiteles who created a statue modeled after his lover, a famous courtesan he'd seen rising naked from the sea like the goddess. He duly fell in love…or lust…or worship or whatever, lol. https://marcbarham.medium.com/pygmalion-and-galatea-the-metamorphosis-of-a-metamorphosis-myth-c8b93958f8e0

Reviews and Honors for THE DEEP:

Editor's Top Pick from BellaOnline

5 star review from Huntress Reviews

5 star review from BTSemag

5 star review and Reviewer's Top Pick from Readers' Favorite

5 star review from MBR Bookwatch

5 star review from Linda's Reviews

I've always found African death masks and some of other tribal pieces, like fetishes statues, frightening. How about you? Leave a comment to tell me about it!

Happy reading!

Find out more about this book and Woodcutter's Grim Series here:

http://www.writers-exchange.com/woodcutters-grim-series/

Karen is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Advice on "Breaking In" to Publishing

Cory Doctorow's newest LOCUS column discusses the beginning writer's obsessive quest for tips from pros on how to get started in publishing. In particular, we love to read about how successful authors landed their first sales:

Breaking In

The major premise of this article: The publishing field changes so fast that a veteran author's story of how he or she first got accepted for professional publication isn't likely to be of any practical help today. As Doctorow puts it with reference to his own early experiences, "While I still have an encylopedic knowledge of the editorial peccadilloes of dozens of publications, most of them no longer exist, and the ones that do have been radically transformed in the intervening decades." What Doctorow supplies instead is "meta-advice," advice on where to find the best advice. According to him, novice writers can get optimal assistance by pooling their knowledge of current publishing practices and trends with other novice writers, sharing what they've discovered through researching markets and submitting to editors. "Just as a writers’ critiquing circle should consist of writers of similar ability, so too should a writers’ professional support circle consist of writers at similar places in their careers."

He does offer some general guidelines applicable to everyone, a more specific, pragmatic version of Heinlein's well-known "rules." Doctorow also narrates his own "breaking in" story with mention of several publishing veterans who assisted him, including Judith Merril. He declares that an established author's most "powerful tool for helping out new writers" is encouragement.

My first adventure in professional publication (my only previous published work being limited to short pieces in our high-school newspaper), in the late 1960s when I was just over twenty years old, certainly has little if any practical application for writers today. I didn't have the benefit of mentors or networking of any kind. I knew nothing about submitting manuscripts except that they had to be double-spaced on only one side of the paper and had to include a SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope, for those who've never submitted a paper manuscript). My sole source of information about the industry came from the annual WRITERS' MARKET reference volume in the public library. Today's novice writers are so fortunate to have the resources of the internet. I assembled a collection of stories for a vampire anthology, wrote an introduction, and sent the package to Fawcett in New York. After a year of silence, I mailed them a humorous "haven't heard from you" greeting card. Now that I know better, I'd never think of doing such a thing. Yet they responded promptly, apologized for the long wait, and offered me a contract. In view of my total ignorance, the editor had to explain to me how anthology payments worked and how to arrange for reprint permissions. That proposal became my first book, CURSE OF THE UNDEAD, a mass market paperback.

My first professional fiction sale came about in a more conventional manner that still applies to today's markets, other than the shift from snail mail to e-mail submissions and communications. I received a call for submissions to Marion Zimmer Bradley's second Darkover anthology, FREE AMAZONS OF DARKOVER, probably because the rudimentary fan activities I'd started doing had somehow gotten me on Bradley's mailing list. The zip code on the envelope, however, was wrong, and the letter had reached me barely in time to meet the deadline, if I worked very quickly (for me—I wasn't quite as slow then as now, but I haven't been a truly fast writer since my teens). So this sale had an element of luck, too; the submission invitation could have been lost completely. Without much hope of success, I wrote a story and mailed it just in time. To my surprise, it was accepted. After that, I had stories included in numerous later Darkover anthologies. They stayed in print for many years and, for a long time, supplied my most reliable (although modest in amount) source of royalty income.

Doctorow's "advice" for beginners may be broadly summarized in the eloquent statement, "Writers blaze their own trails, finding mentors or not, getting lucky or not, agonizing and working and reworking, finding peers and lifting each other up."

Margaret L. Carter