Their Year In Review

Wait a minute. Shouldn't the title be, "My Year in Review"? As in "Cannon's Greatest Hits from 2014"? All my writing achievements? All my running achievements? All the great and wonderful things I've done, seen, and experienced?

Well, who really cares about that other than me? And isn't it a little selfish at the end of the year to focus on only the things I've done and my achievements? What about all the amazing great and horrible things that have happened this year to other folks?

Folks like some good friends of mine who finally ... FINALLY ... have a daughter to adopt after years of having children placed in their home then ripped from their arms?

Folks like a friend of mine who had the courage to leave an abusive relationship, the courage to learn to love again, and the courage to get married?

Folks like my father who turned 80 who can still outwork any single 30 year old man I know simply out of willpower?

Folks like my 69 year-old mother who can power walk a 43 minute 5k and pick five gallon buckets of pecans the next day?

Folks like my brothers-in-law who both had colon surgery within a month of each other (different reasons), survived, and still kept the family business running. Amazing.

Folks like people in my running community who ran 500 miles, 1000 miles, 1821 miles (his number and the number of his daughter who died from cancer), 2400 miles and those I know who qualified to run the Boston Marathon? Again. Yes, I know people who can run that fast.

Folks like the people who own the local running store who help anyone and everyone who come in with advice and support?

However, this year wasn't without pain.

A friend of mine in his 30s died of the flu. It was sudden and all too real.

A friend of mine lost her father. Another lost her husband. Another is going through a difficult divorce.

One niece's husband's father just died. He was a grandfather and a pillar in the community. He'd survived cancer years longer than they expected, seeing his children grow and his grandchildren born. He died New Year's Eve.

Another niece's husband's grandmother died, too. His job wouldn't allow him to take off work to go to the funeral. So much for "family oriented business."

I know of people who work hard every day in service jobs who are underpaid, under-appreciated, and looked down on as "lesser citizens" by others when they are just as worthy human beings as everyone else.

My mother-in-law is in constant pain and none of the doctors know why or how to help her.

Teachers, nurses, firefighters, policemen: people who make it their JOB to help others and are bashed daily for their incompetence based on the behavior of a public few.

BUT WHY IS THIS IN A BLOG ABOUT SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY METAPHORS?

Because, dear readers, metaphors are a reflection of our lives. We need to live the story, both good and bad. We can't bury our heads in the sand and ONLY count our trophies at the end of the year and proclaim "I won! I won!" without losing some part of our humanity. As an introvert I'm guiltier than most about hunkering down and hiding when my emotions are overwhelmed, but perhaps that's when I need to get out there and truly feel what others are feeling. Because, dear reader, how am I supposed to write if I can't experience what I'm writing about? And if I lose touch with the world and stop caring, what good am I as a person?

Just some revisionist thoughts on this dawning of a new year. Make it one you're proud to have lived through.

****************************************

Announcements:

The Anthology Building Red: The Colonisation of Mars

is due to be published summer of 2015 by Walrus Publishing.

Watch for updates and announcements.

If you haven't yet, check out Paradigm Rift a new book by Randy McWilson.

Conspiracy, alternative history, time travel, sci/fi, and thriller never had it so good!

Looking for some steampunk? Check out Brad Cook's Iron Horseman

(I'll be writing a review of it, soon.)

Sci/Fi vs. Fantasy: YES, there IS a Difference!

(Author's Note: This was supposed to go out LAST week, but due to two newsletter deadlines, an emergency lesson plan scramble, technology fails at work I had to duct tape together, and a husband attacked by yellow jackets [yes, I'm serious about that last one] I had my hands a little full. Life interferes. So on with the show.)

I've had people say to me, "Hey, you write that science fiction fantasy stuff, right?" And you know what that means: they think "science fiction" and "fantasy" are the same thing.

I gently answer, "I write BOTH science fiction AND fantasy, yes." And then I smile and continue the conversation. If they continue. Usually they change the subject because either genre is either uninteresting or they don't understand why anyone would read it.

Yeah. Most of you know exactly the feeling.

This misunderstanding of differences bothers me. (The part about not accepting the genre as legit bothers me, too, but that's for another blog.) In chemistry, if you put sodium chloride in water, big deal. If you put potassium in water, it explodes. BIG DEAL! In a restaurant, if you order steak and get chicken, you're likely going to ask for a new plate or your money back. When you want a perm and the hairdresser gives you a buzz cut, well, you've got some growing to do (and perhaps a wig to buy!).

If other differences are so easy to see, why is it that science fiction and fantasy are so difficult?

1. They're both fiction. Most people when lumping unknowns into categories only get past one or two categories. It's too complicated after that.
2. Science fantasy, magical realism, science faction, transrealism, tech noir, weird west, new wave science fiction and crossover genres make the clear definition between the two gray at times. When you have a world with scientific elements that are based on magic or magic that is based on scientific principles, the line blurs.
3. People who don't read either genre don't pay attention. Period. ("Those freaks who read that crazy fantasy science fiction stuff...they're just weird in the head and that genre stuff serves no point!) Yeah. Hmmm... And where did you get that cell phone, that 3D printer, that iPad, your Google Glasses, etc. etc.?

However, if you look at SciFi (Skiffy?! Look that one up! HEHE!) and fantasy in their PUREST forms, you'll find this:

*1. SciFi - "...the label sf is explicitly or implicitly extrapolated from scientific or historical premises. In other words, whether or not an sf story is plausible it can at least be argued." (p. 844)
*2. Fantasy - "A fantasy text is a self-coherent narrative. When set in this world, it tells a story which is impossible in the world as we perceive it...when set in an otherworld, that otherworld will be impossible, though stories set there may be possible in its terms." (p. 338)

*Clute, John and John Grant. The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. St. Martin's Griffin. New York.1997.

Really, it's this simple: Science fiction is the possible based on current scientific knowledge and extrapolation of what we could do in the future. Fantasy is the impossible based on creative imagination, but those impossibilities have to abide by the rules of that world. Where the crossover genres meet, the "abide by the rules of the world" tenant kicks in.

Except...this redefines A LOT of what we thought of as science fiction. Star Wars? Hmmm. Really SciFi? Or science fantasy? Star Trek? (Space opera, definitely, specially TOS!) Stargate? Firefly? Ender's Game? War of the Worlds?

Tell me, does this revise how you see science fiction and fantasy? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

****************************************

Next main course on Revision is a Dish Best Served Cold: 

Writer vs. Author: What's in a Name?

Also look for my articles on Walrus Publishing’s website. 

Currently: Adverbaholics Anonymous

Like Ghost Stories? I’m published in Rocking Horse Publishing’s

Spirits of St. Louis: Missouri Ghost Stories. Check it out!

When Reality and Fantasy Have a Baby...

Why is it that some of us prefer to read science fiction and fantasy over literary or modern fiction? Why are we not satisfied with the weird of the every day? Seriously, some of the real-life stories out there are pretty strange. Like the teacher who showed up drunk and took off her pants on the first day of her job. (Yeah. True story.) Or the epic shipwreck in 1997 that sent millions of Aquazone Legos (including octopuses [octopodes if you get Greek on me] and dragons) into the ocean which are now washing ashore in all sorts of crazy places. (Talk about ironic!) And what about the man who tried to impersonate superman by flying on a mattress? (Scroll down to Redneck Chronicles. Does that surprise you?)

For some of us, real-life strange isn't strange enough. Fiction escapism doesn't take us far enough away from the drudgery or misery or depression of our lives. We need space ships and wizards, hortas and fairies, stargates and unicorns to set our hearts on fire and our souls on a path of literary ecstasy.

But why?

I have theory. And it isn't bunnies. (Sorry. Had to.)

Those of us who think out of the box also need to imagine out of the box. Those of us who are seeking more out of this life than a 9-5 job, a life-mate, kids, and a mortgage want MORE out of our reading material, too. Science fiction and fantasy provide not only hyperbolic settings that ramp up the emotion, the visual impact, and the action, they also spur us to think deeply about the heart of the human condition. We question ourselves, our society, and our culture through science fiction and fantasy whereas in traditional "literature" it's not as layered. (Although it can be. Don't get me wrong. Great fiction writers *can* do it, but most modern writers don't. That's my point.)

What do you think? What's your theory as to why many of us choose sci/fi and fantasy over literary or modern fiction? I'd love to see your comments.

Revise my thinking. I'm open for opinions.

****************************************

Next main course on Revision is a Dish Best Served Cold: 

Playing the Hate Card

Also look for my articles on Walrus Publishing’s website. 

Currently: Adverbaholics Anonymous

Like Ghost Stories? I’m published in Rocking Horse Publishing’s

Spirits of St. Louis: Missouri Ghost Stories. Check it out!