DISASTERS: WHY ARE THEY SO POPULAR IN SF?

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about Japan. Maybe even more than most North Americans, because I have a wonderful Japanese daughter-in-law, I’ve visited the country, and I have a great affection and admiration for the people. The earthquake, tsunami, and the ongoing nuclear threat have tested Japan and its people in many ways.

Of course, this isn’t the only major disaster in recent years: a serious earthquake in New Zealand just last month, unimaginable flooding in Australia, the devastating earthquake in Haiti last year, even the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami in southeast Asia are all vivid in our memories. And that’s a very short list, not including any manmade disasters.

It occurred to me that disaster stories have always been a mainstay of speculative fiction. My own story “Tartarus Rising” was recently published in the anthology Doomology: The Dawning Of Disasters, a collection of twenty-three examples of the form, all very different. I’ve also written a story called “The Cleansing” about a future consequence of genetic modification of crops. But why the fascination with disasters?

Apart from the fact that they’re naturally compelling, they also offer lots of narrative and dramatic potential. The moment a disaster strikes, any number of conflicts arise: man against nature, man against man, man against self, and nearly endless subcategories. There are always elements of a trial, ordeal, or quest—classic themes of fiction. Manmade, and even many natural disasters, provide the opportunity for the perennial SF strengths: allegory and cautionary prescience. But, perhaps most of all, disasters are the perfect means to reveal character.

I’ve heard it said that fiction isn’t about stories, it’s about the people the stories happen to. And a disaster scenario is guaranteed to reveal the best and the worst in a person, whether real or fictional.

In the media, much has been made of what the recent disasters have revealed about the character of the Japanese people. But these events, and even more so disasters like the earthquake in Haiti, reveal just as much about the character of the rest of the world community. Good and bad.

Maybe that’s why they’re so compelling—they teach us about ourselves as well as those with whom we share the planet. I think that’s reason to conclude that disaster stories in SF won’t be going out of fashion anytime soon.

On a completely different note, I was glad to see the newest issue of On Spec hit the stands. It includes my story "The Wind Man" about a born storyteller with a very unusual curse. I hope you'll get your hands on a copy. The whole issue is very good.



E-PUBLISHING: MORE TEMPTING THAN EVER

A few years ago I discovered the internet presence of a guy named J.A. Konrath, and specifically his “A Newbie’s Guide To Publishing”, both a blog and a book. Konrath is a thriller writer in Chicago, but he’s always had some very wise things to say about the business, and is very generous with what he’s learned over the years. In the past few years Konrath has become one of the most prominent figures in the campaign for independent e-publishing by authors.

Konrath did have a traditional publishing career, but then made the transition into indie e-publishing and now sells upwards of 10,000 copies of his books per month in e-format (Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords primarily). That’s pretty impressive sales, and although e-books are priced much lower than hard copy books, the author’s share of the revenue (when sold through Amazon’s Kindle store, for example) can be 70%, compared to 10%-30% in traditional publishing.

The current superstar of e-publishing is a 26-year-old woman who writes paranormal romance fiction named Amanda Hocking.  You can also read about her here. According to Amanda’s blog, she’s written 19 books, but published 8 novels and one novella, beginning with two e-books in April 2010. Since then, she has sold more than 900,000 copies of her work, mostly since October. Most have been e-books, but after their success she began making paperback versions available, and has sold thousands of them, too. Sure, some of the books are sold for 99 cents each. But even at a 35% royalty rate for those, that’s still one spectacular amount of money (not to mention that one of her trilogies has been optioned for a movie). She has never had a traditional publishing career.

Tempted yet? Well, before you completely abandon the traditional route, you should know a few things. For one thing, as Amanda says herself, she is definitely still the exception rather than the rule. Also, print publishing still accounts for 80% of the book market, e-publishing only 20%. That number will grow, no doubt, but you’d still be giving up a huge market if you give up on print. Another thing: success in e-publishing is heavily tied to genre (check out the pie charts at Derek J. Canyon’s blog with romance and paranormal in the lead, followed by mystery and thriller fiction. And by far the biggest sales figures are for authors who have three or more titles available. Sales really don’t seem to take off until you have at least that many books available, and preferably six or more, especially if they’re in the same series. So unless you’re a genre writer who writes series books, and a lot of them, you probably won’t see spectacular sales like these.

Any way you look at it, the e-publishing arena can no longer be ignored. If you’re interested, I suggest you keep a faithful eye on J.A. Konrath’s blog. He’s sure to have his finger on the pulse of the industry. The man is a writing machine.



CANADIAN TALES OF THE FANTASTIC

The winners of the “Canadian Tales of the Fantastic” Competition have now been posted on the website for Red Tuque Books. I mentioned in an earlier post that my story “Shakedown” picked up an Honourable Mention. Congratulations to all of the winners, especially the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd prize winners: David Routledge, Marianne Paul, and Lindsey Carmichael. Publisher David Korinetz says that all of the 13 winning stories will be published in an anthology in September of this year. I look forward to it, and I hope the contest continues for years to come. If your writing tastes tend more to mysteries, Red Tuque Books also has their Canadian Tales of the Mysterious Short Story Competition underway now.

“Shakedown” is a story about a prototype nano-sized submersible intended for operations within the human bloodstream (like Fantastic Voyage but without the inexplicable shrink ray), and the peril involved when the virtual-reality control system becomes far too real. It’s a prequel story to a full-length novel I’ve written, currently being vetted by beta readers, for which I’ll soon be seeking an agent and a publisher.

I was also glad to see this week that the anthology Doomology: The Dawning of Disasters from the Library of Science Fiction and Fantasy, including my story “Tartarus Rising” is now available at Amazon.ca  as well as Amazon.com, so Canadian readers can take advantage of free shipping (always good!) “Tartarus Rising” is a tale about a disastrous invasion of our world, but from a very different source than the usual (hint: the name references Greek mythology). I got a kick out of writing it, and I hope that comes across in the reading.

ASTEROIDS AS KILLERS AND SHARKS AS VICTIMS

What does a giant rock hurtling toward Earth have to do with sharks?

My story “Saviour”. It’s an example of how information from widely different sources can come together to provide inspiration.

From 2004 - 2006 there was some scientific concern that the asteroid Apophis would come very close to Earth, or even strike the planet in 2029. Although better calculations disproved that, there was still a chance that the 2029 pass would alter Apophis’ orbit enough to provide a collision with Earth in 2036. The results would be catastrophic, but fortunately more recent computations have put the odds of a collision at one in a quarter-million. Still, the episode is obvious grist for science fictions stories. Who could forget the two 1998 Hollywood blockbusters Armageddon and Deep Impact (even if you’ve tried to)? Both movies had that same doomsday premise: a killer asteroid on a collision course with Earth.

In 2006 I had the opportunity to interview Rob Stewart, the man behind an excellent documentary film called Sharkwater. The film details how underwater cameraman Stewart set out to debunk the myths about sharks and ended up in serious danger from human predators instead. The most unforgettable element of Sharkwater is the devastating damage being done to the shark population by the shark finning industry, harvesting shark fins only for the status dish of shark fin soup. What threatens sharks threatens the whole ecosystem of the oceans. But then there are so many ways in which the human race is chasing other Earth species into extinction.

I was strongly affected by the movie, and its message somehow became entangled in my mind with apocalyptic threats to the human species. The result is “Saviour.”

It’s another story, like “Hurricane”, that seems at first glance to be old hat. Knowing that time-challenged editors buried under an avalanche of submissions look for the earliest-possible excuses to reject stories, I didn’t think many would give “Saviour” a chance and read it all the way to the end. So I’ve rarely submitted it anywhere (and my fears have been proven correct the few times I did submit it). But I think it’s an interesting take on the doomsday premise, and a story with something to say. Please have a look. But read it to the end!