LiTechSci

On the Sword and Laser forum for the current cyberpunk novel Neuromancer by William Gibson, a question was brought up about the reason for using product brand names in the novel. Many found this to detract from the story, and here was my response:

There is the possibility that Gibson was saying something about branding and our culture by purposely mentioning them. Needless to say, it’s a pretty bleak (if not interesting) portrayal of the world. People spending more time out of reality than in it, and when they’re in reality, they are busy killing each other or taking enough drugs to forget about it (sounds pretty close to the truth to me). People are unhappy with themselves to the point of grafting machinery into their bodies in order to overcome their inadequacies. To me, in a future like this…I mean, like that…branding holds a lot of weight.

This is not distracting to me, I think it strengthens the setting. More distracting (and not Gibson’s fault) are the lopsided technologies. Like using a magnetic strip to open doors, and having a hard-lined phone. Again, Gibson has done the best he could at foreseeing technology trends, but in this day and age a lot of it feels awkward.

To wrap up, the decision of using true to life names (beyond just brand names, such as celebrity names, city names, etc) comes down to whether or not you want the plot to be timeless. By creating artifacts in a story, you have the chance of making it more relevant, but run the risk of the story becoming inconsequential. To this point, science fiction typically is not timeless since technology often progresses beyond what authors can dream up. This can make brand names more helpful than hurtful as it creates a mental connection to plot and atmosphere of the story.

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The AP announced today that the Tolkien Trust and HarperCollins are suing New Line over the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies that were released in 2001, 2002, 2003. The Tolkien Trust was only paid $62,500 instead of the contracted 7.5% of gross revenue. If my trusty calculator works properly, 7.5% of $6 billion (worldwide gross revenue) is roughly $450 million. The Tolkein Trust’s suit is for $150 million, an unlisted amount in punitive damages and the termination of any rights that New Line may have over Tolkien works.

The Tolkien Trust is a registered charity organization in the United Kingdom established by the Tolkien estate. They have given nearly $8 million to charitable causes in the past five years. Up to this point they have tried to settle the conflict out of court to no avail. A successful court battle will certainly put a lot of food on hobbitses’ plates around the UK.

A side effect of the lawsuit is that it might put an end to the production of The Hobbit, which was slated to be filmed in 2010. It’s a pity that fans of the book and Peter Jackson’s silver screen adaptations will lose out as well. I wonder if New Line will be pulling the Hobbit announcement off their home page?

Read the AP article >

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Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is a unique fantasy presented in modern times. The concept is that all of the gods that throughout history people have brought brought to America exist physically as well as metaphysically. These old gods have slowly been displaced by people worshiping the modern gods of TV, Internet, et al. Things are coming to a head and the unlikely ex-convict character Shadow takes the readers along for the ride.

I was very much looking forward to American Gods after reading all of the hype on it but felt let down. It’s not an issue with the writing, which I enjoyed, but the plot and characters. Gaiman certainly shows diversity and creativity, but to what point?

I have put thought into Shadow as a character and come to believe that he was written flatly in order to believably accept all of the hurdles that were thrown at him. But, in the end this left me not very invested in the main character of the story, and feeling like he was a gimmick. All the the supporting characters seemed to share personalities as well: Mr. World/Town/Stone/Wood/etc. were but many instances of one character; the modern gods seemed to have the same haughty and vehement attitude; the old gods the same resistive, ostrich-head-in-the-sand mentality. With the differences in the origination of each god, I expected more diversity in their character as well.

The plot was all over the place which made me feel overwhelmed and wondering what the point was. Every conflict seemed to, ironically, be resolved with a deus ex machina. I guess one could accept this since most of the characters were gods, but I prescribe to the idea that if a gun is fired in act three, it should be on the mantle-piece in act one.

I have yet to complete the book, so my impressions may change (not likely considering how others came away from the book), but I currently feel like I do upon finishing a half-hour sitcom: mildly entertained and regretting the time I wasted. For those who enjoy Gaiman’s writing, I would suggest Christopher Moore. I had the same impression from his writing: entertaining, witty and very unique in plot.

Adapted from one of my posts on The Sword and Laser.

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Let me introduce my Ning network, Quill and Quillion. This social network is intended for fantasy writers to use as a support system for their writing. It consists of different groups which focus on different aspects of fantasy and writing. There is the Town Square which is an area for discussing fantasy writing mechanics; The Forge, for receiving help on story lines on which you are stuck; The Arena, for matching writing skills with other writers; The Alchemist’s, an area for sharing story ideas; and The Tavern, for miscellaneous discussions. As time goes on, more groups will be added. My hope is to create an area for writers to go for help, and to use as a source of motivation.

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When I began this blog, I never considered addressing the audience with an aside. My intentions were to be as formal as possible while hopefully invoking some thoughts in the readers and providing interesting links to more information. Yet, lately I have been silent in my blogging and wanted to let the readers know I haven’t given up.

Christmas was closely followed by finals for me which took away my free time. In my career as an amateur writer I have stuck closely to the idea of writing everyday for ten minutes. Even if it is the same word over and over again (what a great blog that would make), it is important to keep on writing. That was part of the point of LiTechSci; to write a little everyday and keeping it within my greatest interests to make that easier.

So, going forward I am going to try to stick to that mentality. But, in order to do that my posts are going to be briefer to help make the frequency more possible. My focus will be to bring up an interesting subject, give my take, and post links that give further information. Enjoy.

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Yesterday, fantasy author Terry Pratchett came out with news that he is suffering from form of Alzheimer’s disease that attacks at a comparatively young age. The author of the Discworld series refers to the disease as an embuggerance and that he’d like things to stay cheerful. He thinks that he can come out with several more books before the disease makes writing too difficult.

This is at least the second blow that Fantasy literature has suffered this year. In September we lost author Robert Jordan to amyloidosis. Jordan was unable to complete his extensive series The Wheel of Time, though the final book, A Memory of Light, will be completed by author Brandon Sanderson.

We all hope that the 56-year-young Pratchett will be able to continue writing for many years to come and gets to a place he feels happy with in the Discworld series. Pratchett is known for his contemporary satirists and for being named Officer of the British Empire for services to literature in 1998. He has sold over 55 million books which have been translated into 30 or more languages.

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Coming summer of 2008, EricNorcross.com will be launching a sister site with the intentions of broadcasting original and innovative science fiction and fantasy stories. Although he’s quite a ways away from the initial launch (he’s still negotiating the domain and finalizing the basic layout), in celebration of this concept, he will be offering his new novella, free of charge, to everyone who subscribes by May 1, 2008.

All you gotta do? Shoot him an e-mail [eric(at)ericnorcross.com] with the subject line: SUBSCRIPTION. That’s all! You don’t even have to type a message… it’s all automatic. Then, from the first week of May to the end of June, one chapter per week will be sent out to all subscribers in PDF format. If this works out, this will be the first of many other “internet novels” as he is coming to refer to them.

As always, the literature will also be available for purchase in print through various retailers and Internet sites. If you have any feedback, feel free to give him a shout!

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It’s not often that I will pick up a book with Oprah Winfrey’s seal of approval on it. Regardless, I hurried to the library in which I volunteer to pick up Cormac McCarthy’s The Road as soon as a friend described it to me. It’s always hard for me to judge something as the best, or my favorite. I would be hard pressed to deny this book of either of those titles.

The Road is a haunting tale of a father and son traveling south in a world that no longer lives. Almost all humans and every other living thing in the world is dead; the world is a desolate and ash-covered wasteland. The son’s innocence and the father’s anguish is almost too much to bear in contrast to their sterile surroundings. The story is told in short vignettes comprised of elegant prose. The suspense created by the duo dodging cannibalistic survivors, and their own hunt for nourishment makes the novel read almost too quickly. I will leave you with one of my favorite lines from the book.

“Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.”

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What better way to begin my own journey in the blogasphere then by pointing out a blog which supports an online book club started by the personalities from one of my favorite podcasts, CNET’s Buzz Out Loud (how’s that for mashing technologies?). As the point of this blog is to express my outlook on news and information in the literature, technology and science circles, it is only fitting that my first post is a mash of literature and technology (you might even be able to squeeze science into that mash, when considering Science Fiction books).

The Sword and Laser is an online book club dedicated to Fantasy and Sci-Fi books, with the intended audience of nerds. Being an avid reader of Fantasy, as well as a nerd, the potential for this site excites me. I’m glad that I discovered it early (thanks to this week’s episode of TWiT, which included Veronica Belmont of Mahalo and formerly of Buzz Out Loud), and I am looking forward to catching up the first book being discussed: The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman.

For those who are interested in joining this interesting club as well, I thought I might list a few possible ways of purchasing The Golden Compass.

• The entire trilogy His Dark Materials can be purchased from amazon.com for $13.50, which happens to be less than any of the used prices for the same.
• It can be purchased in audio format through audible.com for $25.90, or it can be purchased with one of your two credits with a monthly subscription for $11.47 a month, or it can be your freebie with the TWiT free trial.
• It can also be purchased cheaply from ebay.

I may go with the freebie from Audible and TWiT. However I purchase it, I look forward to catching up with the book club and discussing The Golden Compass with my fellow nerds.

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