Wordperfect Alchemist

As per E. E. Knight's recent post, I'm blogging about seven of my interests which he selected from my profile.

Without further ado:

Axe throwing: I don't do nearly enough of this, largely because my surroundings lack suitable targets (like, trees people don't mind me reducing to splinters).  When I get a chance, though, I like to hurl tomahawks.  They're actually surprisingly accurate and powerful.  They are spun, but it's not impossibly difficult to sink the blade in, even from variable distances.  It's all in the wrist.

Foreign accents: Irish is my favorite.  I'm also a fan of Russian, Italian, and Japanese.  I get absurd amounts of enjoyment just listening to people with strong accents--one among many reasons why I love the Clancy Brothers and their music.  I also go in for a bit of imitation myself, when the situation calls for it.

Fullmetal Alchemist: The best manga I've ever read or ever expect to read.  It combines a brilliant magic system, the single best cast of characters I've ever encountered, a virtuoso's grasp of manga art and panel flow, action scenes to rival Jackie Chan, and real philosophical depth.  I tend to get teary-eyed at least once per volume, and I re-read frequently.  The anime is good, but not nearly the masterwork the manga is.

Oh, yeah, and Arakawa-sensei has an awesome sense of humor about her own work. . .she often parodies it in her own extras better than anyone else could.

J-pop: Japanese pop music/rock, often composed in connection with anime.  I'm a huge fan of what I've heard, including the music composed for the Fullmetal, One Piece, and Cowboy Bebop animes.

Here's a couple samples. . .the sixth One Piece opening and the first Tsubasa opening, respectfully.




Musketry: I'm a fan of flintlocks in all their forms.  There's few things cooler than pirates dueling with their pistols, or a band of redcoats loosing a volley.  The lead balls, the powder horns, the wadding. . .it's just awesome.

Sadly, I've never actually gotten a chance to fire one. . ..

Old books: This should probably be "well bound" books.  I'm often disappointed by modern volumes--paperbacks and hardcovers both--for the poor quality of their bindings.  Books from the days when the pages were actually sewn into the spine are far superior.  Paper quality and cover stock are also far better.  Ah, for the good ol' days, far before I actually existed. . ..  I'm a sucker for musty old volumes in generally, particularly if I like the author.

Stylish headgear: Okay, so this one's actually a bit of an in-joke.  I wear a black baseball cap which I purchase with the word "Flinteye" stitched into it with royal blue thread, all caps.  I wear it everywhere.  I use it as a pillow when catching naps in the library.  I wear in backwards during lecture.  I've already worn out three, and am currently on my fourth.  I'll probably keep wearing them until my wife begs me to quit or they pry it off my cold, dead scalp.

Oh, yeah, other varieties of stylish headgear are also neat.  Like that topper Indiana Jones has.  Or stovepipes, from those good ol' days of neckcloths and stockings.

Don't have much time for a post today, so I'll just link to this article on the stories behind Memorial Day (snagged from eeknight).

It's a great piece, and led me to some good reflections on how soldiers are desperately underthanked and underappreciated in America these days.  "Support our troops" isn't a common slogan on the UW campus, and most of the soldiers the anti-war organizations seem interested in are deserters.`

You might not like the war in Iraq, and you could well be right to think the U.S. should withdraw ASAP.  But never doubt that every soldier over there has several times the guts of every war protestor back here in the states.  It takes a big mouth to be Cindy Sheehan.  It takes courage, discipline, and a willingness to die for one's nation to be a soldier.

For all you strags out there, today is Towel Day, when all hoopy froods carry a towel with them on all their hitchhiking adventures.

My old friend Wikipedia has the scoop.

Do you know where your towel is?

At 11:55 this morning, I handed in my Calculus final, and I was free.  Free until the first week of September, in fact.  I’m not working or studying abroad or anything crazy like that, so that gives me about 3½ months to write, read, watch, play, hang out with friends + family, and generally live it up.

Yes, I’ll admit, I’m bragging.

Anyway, I thought I’d post a few of my goals for the summer, especially writing-related ones.  Then we can see how well I do when September rolls around.

WRITING GOALS:

Complete revisions, proofreading, synopsis, etc. of Harpy Slayer so that the manuscript is ready to go out to publishers

Outline and complete a draft of The Forked Road (probably 100-120k)

Finish Part 1 of Memory Wipe

Write a short story (yeah, yeah, this one’s fairly modest–I’ve just got an idea which needs to be given form)

Begin planning/outlining for next novel, probably a Shabak book

READING GOALS:

Finish all/most of the books I own but haven’t read

Finish Don Quixote (about 250 pages to go, unabridged) and possibly start reading Les Miserables.

Read more broadly than just fantasy/SF

As is probably apparent, my main plan with writing is to try and write/complete as many novel manuscripts as I can–I’m increasingly disillusioned with the short story market, and I honestly probably enjoy writing novels more.  It’s also the better path to being widely published and paid, which is my ultimate goal.

So...here’s hoping for a glorious summer!

Well, not quite, but three fingers of my left hand are feeling powerful sore at the moment.

I started trying to learn guitar with one of my mom's old chord books today.  Pretty much I've learned A and E and am practicing fingering them and changing betwixt the two.  My plan is to see if I can actually stick with it, and if I enjoy it, then maybe look into getting some actual lessons if all goes well.

Soon I'll be pouring my angst into resounding blues, much to the chagrin of all around me....

At long last, here's my brief report from OddCon.

I showed up on Friday just for the Character Building Panel.  My name got tuncated to "T. M. Stiennon" on my panelist placard, but no biggie--that's why God made pens.  The panel itself went pretty well...this might be a sign of narcissism, or just a sign of my recovering from a cold, but I can only really remember the things I said, of which the main point was that I think every one of my characters--mostly the major ones, but also minor--has some chunk of me in them.  Flinteye, for example, I kinda think of as my cigar-chomping dark side, while Shabak is more like the sort of person I'd like to be someday.  This is particularly true of viewpoint characters.  It's not like every person I write about is really me, but the only person I truly know is myself, and that comes through in my writing.

Saturday, I went to a panel for aspiring writers (mostly things I've heard before, although it's always good to hear them again).  E. E. Knight had a great quote from his editor, Liz Scheier, in which he described how she goes about looking at a new manuscript.  Then I ate at Burger King, tragically forgot to pick up a crown, attended another panel, and then had the big worldbuilding panel.  It was four pros and one amateur (or "semi-pro", as I like to call myself), but I do think I was able to make a couple good points.  Excellent points also from the other panelists which it would take a lot of space to enumerate.

At the 4:30 mass author signing, I grabbed a space at the table and laid out a few copies of Memory Wipe Chapter 1 and "Death Marks", a Shabak story published a while back in Amazing Journeys magazine.  A few people took copies, so it was good.  I also realized again that I'm really bad at describing my own work--for Memory Wipe, I think I may have given the impression that it was Bourne Identity fan-fiction.  Eh.  Something to work on.

Had dinner with E. E. Knight at a Vietnamese joint.  Good food and conversation, accompanied by a coconut beverage which wasn't quite like anything I've ever tasted.

Stuck around for the GoH speeches.  I wasn't too hot on the one book of McDevitt's that I read (The Engines of God), but I don't hold it against the man--he seemed like a pretty cool guy.  Joan Vinge was ill that evening, so her husband Jim Frenkel did the speech for her, giving a brief history of his relationship w/ her and her career.  She's apparently just started writing again after an auto accident in 2000 or 2001 which left her with brain problems which inhibit writing.  I've never actually read any of her books, but I may have to give The Snow Queen a shot....  Also got to chat briefly w/ Pat Rothfuss, although he was pretty busy that weekend.  It also turns out that April 14th is McDevitt's birthday, and they had a cake for him with his latest book cover stamped on it.  The crowd sang happy birthday, me included.

Sunday I had two panels.  The Suspense and Action one, moderated by E. E. Knight, was a lot of fun, although I thought the "action" portion was the more interesting.  Eric talked about writing fight scenes from a dragon viewpoint, and the main point of mine that I recall was that atmospherics are critical--high places, mist, smoke, storms, lightning, fire, etc.  Explosions, too.  Can't forget explosions.

Manga/anime panel afterwards, during which I pretty much proved myself a ravening Fullmetal Alchemist fanboy (hey, look at my blog title!).  Joan Vinge made some great points about symbolism and cultural elements in manga/anime, and I talked a little about how the Japanese seem to have a much stronger sense of family than American artists--America is infested w/ lone wolf heroes who either are largely without family or whose families are killed off early on.  Japan seems different.  Fullmetal Alchemist centers around two brothers, and pretty much every set of characters in that manga either is part of a family or is part of a group that interacts like some kind of family.  Even the Homunculi (the villains) have that dynamic--Lust is a big sister to Gluttony's kid brother, Envy's problematic middle child, and Greed's bad example older brother.  Moderator Chris Welsh had something interesting things to add about J-horror.

I took off right after that.  I'm friends with the kid who recently won the National Vocabulary Championship in New York, and his family was having a party at a local restaurant to watch the event on TV.

Great weekend altogether...my dealer's room purchases consisted of a copy of the first Nightshade Imaro book, which I've been meaning to try, and the first volume of Neotopia, an American comic with a lot of manga influence.  It really slacked off as the series went on, but I love the art, and some of the characters are pretty cool.

More info on anything above available to those who ask.

Today's the first day of OddCon, a relatively small con that takes place every April right here in Madtown. This will be my third year attended, and it always makes for a fun weekend.  E. E. Knight and Patrick Rothfuss, both excellent writers and cool people to hang out with, will be in attendance, along with Guests of Honor Joan Vinge and Jack McDevitt.

I've got four panels this time around, starting with

Character building panel

Sarah Monette*, Lee Schneider, Sean T. M. Stiennon, Kathryn Sullivan, Patrick Rothfuss, Joan D. Vinge

at 4:30 today.  For Saturday, I've got:

The perennial OddCon World Building panel

E. E. Knight*, Sarah Monette, Sean T. M. Stiennon, Patrick Rothfuss, Joan D. Vinge at 3:00.

For Sunday I've got two:

Wham! KaPow! Banff!  Writers on Building Suspense and Showing Action

Jeannie Bergmann, E. E. Knight*, Sean T. M. Stiennon, Monica Valentinelli at 10:30 am and

Big Eyes, Little Mouths, and Bleeding Wounds: Manga, Anime, and J-Horror

Eric M. Heideman, Sean T. M. Stiennon, Joan D. Vinge, Chris Welsh* at noon.

The Anime/manga one I'm a little unsure about, given that I have absolutely no knowledge of J-Horror and that my fondness for anime and manga is relatively new and limited to a relative handful of series, but hopefully I'll have something to add.  All the writing panels should be awesome, although I'm a little nervous about being the only amateur/semi-pro on the World Building panel.  Hopefully I'll have something interesting to say....

I'm also going to be sitting at the mass author signing at 4:30 on Saturday with a bunch of print-outs of some of my work to give away.  I'm thinking "Old Steelfist", the first chapter of Memory WIpe, and maybe "Flinteye and the Crystal Spear" or "A Kabrisk's Son".

Con report to come!

Last night (Friday) was awesome.  Tad Williams was doing a signing for his latest book, Shadowplay, at the Barnes and Noble within spitting distance of my abode, so naturally I went, got my copy, and sat in front.  I loved his Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn books, and the first volume of his current series (Shadowmarch) was great as well.

Tad did a brief reading but spent most of the time answering questions.  He's excellent with public speaking and a great deal of fun to listen to.  My own question was: "What do you think of the state of the fantasy/SF industry?"  He answered that he thought it was doing well, and that although plenty of doomsaying can be heard, he's been hearing it for 22 years with no cataclysm.  He also mentioned that he's stopped reading reviews of his books--there might be ten good ones, but a single negative review can wound a writer for days.

After Q&A I recognized Patrick Rothfuss from pictures of him I had seen online, and we got to chatting.  Apparently he lives fairly nearby, working as a professor at UW-Steven's Point.  His first book, The Name of the Wind, is coming out at the end of this month to critical acclaim and a letter from Betsy Wolheim saying that it's the best fantasy debut she's read in 30 years as an editor.  He was friendly, talkative, and an all-around cool guy to chat with.  I'll definitely be getting my meathooks on a copy, particularly since he'll have his own B&N signing on the 27th.

I got my copy of Shadowplay signed, chatted w/ Tad for a few minutes, and recieved the poster announcing the signing from a very cool B&N employee.  Tad kindly scribbled on it and afterwards invited me, Patrick, and a woman from his Shadowmarch board who had driven up from Chicago over to the nearby Chili's for food and drinks.

It was a great hour-and-a-half of conversation, cheesecake, and lemonade (well, the last two were more exclusive to me).  I had the privilege of listening in whilst Tad and Patrick chatted about DAW, their editor, and the industry in general, and other topics of conversation included tattoos, small dogs, and Wisconsin food (mmm...cheese sticks).  And I discovered that the joint serves excellent cheesecake, although it bothered me that the plate was three times too big for the vittles it contained.  Got home late after a couple close calls on frozen sidewalks.

Anyway, great evening all around.  I'll hopefully be seeing Rothfuss again at his aforementioned signing, and he'll also be at OddCon.  I may also get a chance to see Tad next time I'm out in California.

In conclusion, I'll just say that spending some time around two successful writers has given me a fresh jolt as far as my own writing goes.  Right now my plan is to write intensive Memory Wipe over the next few weeks, then focus on revising my novel.  Once that's done I'll start another novel, hopefully in the beginning of June (or, if I may dream, even earlier).

Apologies for the light blogging recently.  School's been hammering me hard--Calculus isn't coming easy to me.  On top of that, my stroll through the land of slumber has been a little troubled recently.

Snow covers Madison this weekend.  Big storm last night, and now more tonight which is expected to keep falling on 'til morning.

Aside from a morning trek to church, tomorrow will be a time of hibernation.

Last Sunday, I spent most of the day playing paintball w/ my brother and one of his friends at a field about a half-hour east of Madison.  The field was offering free admission/equipment rental, so how could we resist?

It was the second time I had played, and I think I had the hang of the game a little better.  I actually got the flag in my meathooks once after a particularly brilliant sniping operation, then started sprinting back to our base only to discover that...the other team had gotten ours first >.<.

Anyway, I thought I'd post a few lessons about combat w/ projectile weapons I've learned even from my limited experience of playing paintball.  These may be of interest to writers--I know they're of interest to me.

1.) Cover is your friend.  Even with weapons as inaccurate as rental paintball markers, you don't run heroically through enemy fire, taking down man after man with paint fired from the hip.  Paint flies at you, not in perpendicular lines to your path.

2.) Your teammates are your friends.  Lone wolves get flanked and shot.  You need squaddies to hold a line, lay down covering fire while you move up to a better patch of cover, and flank a well-entrenched enemy.

3.) Your enemies are in cover.  Often, all you see is their barrel, loader, and a flash of mask.  All-too-rarely does one of them run out into the open and give you more than a few square inches to aim at.  Engagements generally consist of ducking out of cover, firing off a few runs, then ducking back before you get shot yourself.  Victory comes when you line up a good shot or get an angle which negates his cover, not when you charge out with a hearty cry of "Freedom!" and your finger pumping the trigger.  Refer to point 1, above.

4.) Your resources are limited.  Your supply of paint is finite, particularly if you're playing on a budget.  If you don't use it wisely, you could find yourself firing blanks.

5.) Intelligence is critical.  Knowing the layout of the field, where the enemy team is entrenched, where their base is, etc. can be the difference between a glorious campaign and a paintball between the eyes after thirty seconds of play.

Note: I  have no objection to villains with the marksmanship abilities of stormtroopers and heros who can sprint through a storm of bullets without  breaking a sweat.  But everything has its place.  I suspect that my brief experience with paintball will help me write realistic gunfights a little better and with a pinch more plausibility.

No, I don't actually have a lizard, and I don't write in a greenhouse.  The lettering on my hat is blue, not red.

Aside from that it's not a bad resemblance.