Lakeshore

[conventions] World Steam Expo, Day Two

2012-05-27T13:26:18Z

So the whack factor ran a little higher yesterday. All to the good. After sleeping quite late (by my standards) and a morning workout, I met up with @howardtayler for a leisurely lunch off-site. We had a terrific conversation about writing, life and the value of kindness. Howard also did nifty caricatures of both our waitress and her manager. It was hilariously fun to watch them react with such delight.

Walking back from lunch, we passed a pretty radical steampunked car.

More photos later when I have the bandwidth to upload them. (That would not be right now, unfortunately.)

Back inside, I hooked up with Ellie Copperbottom of the League of S.T.E.A.M. to host a High Tea. Which was a blast, and very odd at the same time. After that, I recorded a brief podcast interview with them. Then I wound up down in the Vendor Room signing books, where we all but sold out of my stock at the table of Off the Beaten Path Books. Gail Carriger and I crossed paths there again.

Dinner consisted of me and a very helpful concom rep making a White Castle run. Sixty dollars later, the League and I were pigging out hard. From there, things devolved into an evening of music, hot tubbing (well, warm tubbing), drinking, and electroshock therapy. I managed to enjoy an electric kiss with a lovely young woman, as well as try out the new sport of electric motorboating. Plus people were doing shots off Boba Fett's icy head, but I eschewed that particular pursuit.

Today I have an author panel and a reading and a day of hanging out.

So, yeah. A lot of fun here. A lot of fun.

[photos] Your Sunday moment of zen

2012-05-27T13:10:16Z

Your Sunday moment of zen.

San Francisco houses, 2006. © 2006, 2012, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

The current photo series is from my 'favorites' file, hence the dates jumping about

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

[links] Link salad parties with the dangerous punks

2012-05-27T13:08:50Z

Easter Island statues had bodies — Did no one ever think to look?

CSR project aims to create a high-speed, carbon-neutral steam-powered locomotive — Oh, cool. (Thanks to David E. Vincent.)

Egos and Immorality — Paul Krugman on the Wall Street fairy tale.

Scientist: Evolution debate will soon be history — This is stupid. The evolution debate has been history for a long time. What you have today is a combination of religious willful ignorance and conservative political opportunism. It's not a "debate" in any meaningful sense of the word, as the anti-evolution side has no evidence, logic or credibility.

Conservatives used to care about community. What happened? — They lost their fucking minds.

?otd: Ever been electric motorboated?

5/27/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (Con time)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 6.5 (solid)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: Shattering the Ley by Benjamin Tate; Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht

[conventions] World Steam Expo, Day One

2012-05-26T14:55:53Z

Yesterday was even more entertaining that Thursday. I cracked my happy ass out of bed extremely late by my own standards, hit the health club for some time on the stationary bike, then caught breakfast in the Green Room. After some bloggery and email time and whatnot, I had my massage — And how cool is it that World Steam Expo has a masseur on retainer for the pros!? — and then went exploring. This eventually involved use of the hot tub, among other things.

I spent a decent chunk of the day hanging out with the inestimable Howard Tayler, who created a truly impressive steampunk caricature of me. (When I get home, I shall scan and post this, but at the moment it is my badge art.) Howard is his own self hanging out in the Aegis room, which is basically a camp for combat geeks. Inside the Con hotel, these cats have a rappelling tower, weapons training with actual pointy objects, a bunch of Nerf weapons, and a Victorian encampment. They are pretty much a real life incarnation of the Black Briar group in J.A. Pitt's Black Blade Blues [ Powells | BN ]. The Aegis group helped me make a notable entrance to opening ceremonies.

Also spent a lot more time partying with The League of S.T.E.A.M. and a whole bunch of other folks, including briefly running across the few people besides Howard that I actually knew before I turned up here. Specifically, Gail Carriger, G.D. Falksen (who has an important planet named after him in the Sunspin universe) and Evelyn Kriete (who is responsible for me being invited to this convention). I caught the last part of the The Men That Will Not be Blamed for Nothing concert.

I even got a bit more work done on Going to Extremes.

Today I have lunch with Howard, a High Tea to host, and a plan to hear some more excellent performances. A bit more programming tomorrow.

Interestingly, I am way off my normal schedule here, even my normal convention schedule. I'm not sure what clock I'm living on, but it's neither Jay time nor Con time. I'm just going with the flow. Which it turns out is remarkably difficult for me to do. I feel twitchy about not being up at 5 am exercising (hard to do when you're going to bed at 2 am) and why I'm not writing more.

But I'm here to have fun, which I am decidedly doing; and to see and be seen, which I am decidedly doing.

Is this what time off feels like?

[photos] Your Saturday moment of zen

2012-05-26T14:35:40Z

Your Saturday moment of zen.

Playground equipment, 2006. © 2006, 2012, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

The current photo series is from my 'favorites' file, hence the dates jumping about

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

[links] Link salad will not be blamed for nothing

2012-05-26T14:34:48Z

Book Review: Grants Pass, edited by Jennifer Brozek and Amanda Pillar — A review that includes an interesting comment on my story "Black Heart, White Mourning".

The Nebula Awards 2012: A Look Back And A Look Forward — James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel in HuffPo.

Calvin and Hobbes on unfettered creativity as a writer — Hahaha.

War of the Worlds: The True Story — A new indie flick coming out that looks pretty cool.

Star Wars Turns 35: How Time Covered the Film Phenomenon

Red Planet Becomes Blue In New Mars Image

Astronauts enter world’s first private supply ship

Impacts Spreading Life through the Cosmos?

Colonel Sanders resembles Confucius — Chicken, anyone?

?otd: Charles Darwin: Man or monkey?

5/26/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.5 hours (Going to Extremes proposal)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 7.0 (solid)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: Shattering the Ley by Benjamin Tate; Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht

[conventions] World Steam Expo, Day Zero

2012-05-25T14:30:34Z

Yesterday waa a fine day. I got up too early, to be driven to the airport by lillypond, a/k/a my sister. The flights to Detroit were uneventful, other than being about 40 minutes late getting into DTW. I was able to start digging in to revising the Going to Extremes outline on the plane, plus answering a ton of email. Also had several pleasant conversations with various fellow travelers.

Arriving at World Steam Expo was an interesting experience. It's been years since I walked into a Con cold, not knowing anyone or anything. (I think I know maybe two or three people here.) So once I got settled, I hung out in the lobby and talked to various folks. Eventually I fell in with low persons (a/k/a The League of S.T.E.A.M.), who led me into bad ways (a/k/a Abney Park). Strong drink was consumed, and gutter language was used. A few regrettable incidents may have occurred. I went to bed highly entertained around 2 am, which is the latest I've stayed up in forever.

Plus as a special bonus, I ran into @howardtayler, who in addition to being a brilliant cartoonist and storyteller, is also well on his way to becoming one of my favorite people anywhere, ever.

My schedule today consists of a massage. Oh, how shall I cram it all in?

See some, all or none of you around this joint.

[photos] Your Friday moment of zen

2012-05-25T14:16:24Z

Your Friday moment of zen.

the_child about age 9, 2006. © 2006, 2012, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

The current photo series is from my 'favorites' file, hence the dates jumping about

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

[links] Link salad gets all steamed up

2012-05-25T14:15:08Z

Brief reviews of several short stories, including my own "'Hello,' said the Gun"

Writing Across Gender — A very interesting piece about gender, writers and fiction. Snurched from this blog post by beth_bernobich, who has some insightful comments on the topic.

Calvin and Hobbes on creativity and inspiration — Heh.

Cars That Fired Our Love-Hate Relationship With Fuel

Vintage ice cream trucks

Africa and Australasia to share Square Kilometre Array — That's a mighty big kilometer.

Where did dogs come from? It turns out we don't really know

Carbon in rocks from Mars comes from volcanoes, not life — Nearby minerals confirm a high-temperature origin deep within the planet.

Accusations that climate science is money-driven reveal ignorance of how science is done — The government, the argument goes, is paying scientists specifically to demonstrate that carbon dioxide is the major culprit in recent climate change, and the money available to do so is exploding. Although the argument displays a profound misunderstanding of how science and science funding work, it's just not going away. Huh. Ignorance. Among science denialists. Inconceivable.

Black Voters Evolving On Marriage Equality — Ta-Nehisi Coates on the intersection of race and gay issues. I'd really like to have lunch with this guy some day.

CNN host probes Tony Perkins: ‘Why do homosexuals bother you so much?’ — Read this. The intellectual and moral bankruptcy of Perkins' illogical response neatly reflects the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the conservative anti-gay crusade as a whole. (Snurched from Slacktivist Fred Clark.)

The Proposed Auction of Ronald Reagan's Blood Isn't Surprising — And lo, Republican hagiography becomes literalized. (Via threeoutside.)

?otd: Are you a little teapot, short and stout?

5/25/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (Going to Extremes proposal)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 6.75 (solid)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: Shattering the Ley by Benjamin Tate; Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht

[personal] Miscellaneous this and thattery

2012-05-24T12:08:19Z

I am off to Detroit this morning for World Steam Expo. My thanks to the good folks there for the invitation and the support. I did learn something while packing: Don't leave your top hat until last, after you've filled the suitcase. I hope this will be a relaxing weekend, but, heck, I don't know. I do know it will be a fun weekend.

A bunch of Dad time yesterday, including homework as well as watching the first episode of Sherlock [ imdb ] with the_child and her mother. Then N— brought over a lovely strawberry-rhubarb pie for us all to share. Mmm.

Life stuff going on otherwise which I need to process. Also, I had a recent severe bout of Impostor Syndrome, which is unusual for me. Still trying to frame that in my head, and whether it's worth discussing in detail here on the blog. More than one close friend was surprised that I have episodes of that very common writerly affliction.

I've drafted a blog post about male sexuality and chemotherapy that I'm wrestling with how to put online. Of necessity it's very explicit, not to mention somewhat personally revealing. I don't have any particular discomfort in talking about that sort of thing publicly, but the editorial voice of this blog is usually PG-13 at most, plus or minus a few choice expletives. Even putting it under a cut won't keep me from being indexed by Google, for example, and I don't really want to show up in searches on certain sexual terms.

I am torn between what I see as a critically important need to talk about rarely-discussed aspects of the cancer experience, and not wanting to alienate my audience by what will doubtless be seen by some as an over-the-top sexually explicitly discussion. So, thinking and editing. If I take too much out, it won't be as useful or impactful. If I leave too much in, it will violate the voice of this blog.

Hmm.

Meanwhile, I fly.

[photos] Some people aren't like you and me

2012-05-24T11:59:39Z

[photos] Your Thursday moment of zen

2012-05-24T11:59:07Z

Your Thursday moment of zen.

The Niece about age 2, 2006. © 2006, 2012, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

The current photo series is from my 'favorites' file, hence the dates jumping about

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

[links] Link salad flies back to Detroit

2012-05-24T11:52:51Z

Naked Cavorts the Emperor — Scrivener's Error on the political and legal realities of author's organizations.

Dragon to rendezvous with the space station — Another candidate for headline of the week.

Top Ten Things I Would Do if I Were Jesus — Hahahah. From that vile apostate kenscholes.

Charles L. Worley seems to be training others to be just a awful as he is — Slacktivist Fred Clark on that North Carolina Christianist rant against the gay community.

Did the Catholic organizations have to sue over the health care mandate? — Objectively, no. This is religious meddling in politics. I've always believed that freedom of religion rests on freedom from religion. Millions of Americans obviously think otherwise.

American Airlines Rejects Female Passenger Because Political Pro-Choice T-Shirt is "Inappropriate" — Or possibly because of the presence of the word "Fuck" on the shirt. Still, come on. (Snurched from Meg Turville-Heitz.)

White Resentment, Obama, and Appalachia — Ta-Nehisi Coates on race and politics.

Lunatics, Imbeciles and Saboteurs — Bruce Arthurs on the Arizona birthed idiocy. Of course, modifying the noun "birthed" with "idiocy" is wholly redundant. WaPo with more on this: In Arizona, more birther buffoonery.

An Obama Spending Spree? Hardly — A dominant theme of the national political discourse has been the crushing spending spree the U.S. has ostensibly embarked on during the Obama presidency. That argument, ignited by Republicans and picked up by many elite opinion makers, has infused the national dialogue and shaped the public debate in nearly every major budget battle of the last thee years. But the numbers tell a different story. Your Liberal Media, of course, enables and abets the counterfactual conservative position on this question.

Why Mitt Romney won't get specific — Simple answer: Because nobody likes conservative policies when applied to them personally. Not even conservatives. Ie, "Cut spending on all those lazy, entitled people over there, but not my essential social service." If he gets specific, he loses votes all over the political spectrum.
?otd: Steampunk much?

5/24/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (travel logistics, dad time)
Body movement: n/a (airport walking to come)
Hours slept: 5.25 (solid)
Weight: 239.6
Currently reading: Lightbreaker by Mark Teppo

[process] Reality, realism and synchronicity

2012-05-23T12:44:35Z

Sometime this past week (it's all something of a blur now), I was having a conversation about realism in fiction. I think this was with @madge707. We weren't talking about realism as a literary movement, but rather the more plain meaning of the word. Specifically, the balance between enough detail and too much detail.

As they say, you can't fool all of the people all of the time. It's simply not possible. Someone with special knowledge is going to be a much more critical reader of fiction in their knowledge domain. The amount and precision of medical information I would have to put into a short story about doctors in order to satisfy a medically-trained reader is far greater and more demanding than what I would have to put in to satisfy a general reader. On the other hand, there are a lot of doctors and nurses and med techs and so forth out there, so this is probably worth getting right.

Another example of this is a short story I read some years ago, possibly in a Writers of the Future volume. In it, the protagonist is time traveling, and flips through a series of historical vignettes. At one point, the arrive atop a yurt in Genghis Khan's horde, and climb down the central tent pole to take some action. This threw me out of the story, first of all because "yurt" is a Russian word, and to Mongolians, it's a "ger". Second of all, gers don't have a central tent pole. They have a pair of offset poles supporting a central ring. Why do I know this? Because I've spent time in Outer Mongolia, including visiting and sleeping in actual Mongolian gers. However, this is a knowledge domain that I share with about seven of the people who ever read that story.

One of the challenges of being a writer is knowing where to set that dial. When does reality trump realism? Sometimes the actual details really are less believable than the fictional details.

The example that had generated the conversation was that @madge707 was working on a story about a San Francisco police detective. In the SFPD, detectives are titled as "inspectors". Someone in her critique group at the conference was confused by this, not realizing this bit of San Francisco detail. So the question was, did she go for the reality, which was confusing, or the realism, which was erroneous. (Obviously, there are fairly simple ways to resolve this, it's just an example.)

I provided a similar example from living in Portland. While Portland has a police department, just like virtually every other city or town in the United States, the Portland police department is formally known as the Portland Police Bureau. (The fire department is the Portland Fire Bureau, etc.) I'm not even sure most people in Portland realize this. It's not prominently painted on the police cars or anything. Almost certainly no one outside Portland knows this unless they have special Portland knowledge. So, as I said to @madge707, if writing about crime in Portland, would it be confusing to refer to the Police Bureau, or the PPB? Because that would look odd to most American readers, who expect the term "Police Department".

A couple of days later, I'm reading Mark Teppo's excellent and gripping novel Lightbreaker [ Powells | BN ] (which I have since left on an airplane, forty pages from the end, grrr) and what do I find but a reference to the Portland Police Department, being used by a character who is a cop from the Seattle Police Department. The reference is in initial caps, i.e., the proper name, which is of course, not correct. Something the character in question would absolutely know better than to do, insofar as real life goes.

I cracked up hard.

Ah, the magic of synchronicity.

[food|cheese] The cheese spread at Paradise Lost II

2012-05-23T12:22:56Z

On Saturday at Paradise Lost II in San Antonio this past weekend, we took up a collection to fund a cheese spread. @dratz, @itsaJuliasaurus, @gwenthing and I then hied ourselves over to pillage Central Market on Broadway. We did pretty well by it.

Unfortunately, due to the impending hunger of the crowd upon our return, I did not have time to photograph the spread in detail as is my wont. I did, however, keep the receipt. Forthwith, here is the photo and an accounting of the fruits of land and cattle therein.

From the top, clockwise:

Mortadella with pistachios
It's my understanding that true mortadella is illegal to import into the U.S. The bologna from hell, basically. I like it grilled.

Sopressata citerio
The closest thing to a basic salami in this spread. A flavorful cured meat that isn't particularly challenging to most carnivorous palates.

Proscuitto di Parma (30 months)
One of my perennial favorites, though not everyone enjoys the slight muskiness of this Italian ham.

Hot capicolla
As @psursi said, this is salami for grown-ups. Assuming that by "grown ups" you mean people who like their lips to tingle when they eat meat.

Jamon Iberico
A very rich, smooth Spanish ham with some similarities to proscuitto.

Affidelice au chablis
A blended triple creme with a chablis-soaked rind. Quite tasty and rich as expected.

Chimay
Not the grand cru cheese, but their regular cheese. A good inclusion for the less adventurous cheese eater, as it is creamy and smooth and doesn't get into fistfights with one's tastebuds.

Delice de Bourgogne
Another triple creme. If you're not familiar with that kind of cheese, think of this as what Philly Cream Cheese gets to be if it eats its Wheaties and says its prayers and goes to cheese heaven when it dies.

Eiffel Tower cremeux triple creme
A third triple creme, because how much rich smoothness is too much?

Mimolette (12 months)
A hard, aged cheese that is rather bright orange, with a sprightly tang.

Manchego (4 months)
Young manchego runs a bit bitter and zingy, but without the oily, crumbly texture of aged manchego.

Sottocenere al tartuffo
My personal favorite cheese, a mellow Italian with truffle oil in the milk and truffle inclusions whose flavor has a complex finish much in the fashion of a good wine.

Valdeon bleu
A mixed milk Spanish blue that kicks ass, takes name and starts fights in your mouth. Not for the faint of heart, but awesome if you're a blue cheese fan.

Epoisses
A cheese whose rind is an offense against nature, but once you get past the stinky feet smell, tastes like butter on steroids.

Barkids moon
A new cheese we tried on a flier. Didn't impress me, seemed serviceable enough in a middle of the road way. Flavorful.

Cantal (6 months)
Somewhat parmigiana-like French cheese that was also new to me.

Plus duck rilettes, avocados, artichoke hearts, garlic stuffed olives, salad and bread. And wine. And beer. And more wine.

Photo © 2012, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

[photos] Your Wednesday moment of zen

2012-05-23T12:18:25Z

Your Wednesday moment of zen.

Flower. © 2006, 2012, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

The current photo series is from my 'favorites' file, hence the dates jumping about

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

[links] Link salad is identical cousins with Linkee-poo

2012-05-23T12:17:01Z

Just What the (Bleep) Do I Think I’m Doing? – Redux — Richard Parks Is Wise on process.

The Oatmeal responds to a Forbes article criticizing the recent Tesla comic — This is freaking hilarious.

A really striking Absolut ad masquerading as a short film — This is a lot of fun. (Via willyumtx.)

Italy earthquake hits parmesan production — Cheese producers near quake's epicentre fear for 300,000 parmesan wheels that crashed to the ground in warehouses. Epic cheese disaster! (Thanks to Scrivener's Error.)

Gotthard Girl's Pioneering Intestine — Headline of the week. Do you even care what the story is about? (A historical map of European railroads, btw.)

Can a Surfboard-Sized Watercraft Cross the Pacific on Wave Power Alone?

News flash: Congresscritters using slightly shorter words and sentences — Language Log deconstructs a current, somewhat idiotic political meme.

Career Prospects in the Pain Business — Interesting bit of political media theater. (Thanks to danjite.)

North Carolina Pastor: Pen In ‘All The Lesbians And Queers’ With An Electrified Fence, Wait For Them To ‘Die Out’ — Man, I can really feel the enlightening warmth of that Christian love for their fellow man from all the way over here on the West Coast.

NBC, Fox, CBS etc. Protest transparency requirement on Political Advertising — Yeah. Because why would any citizen ever want or need to know that stuff? I should think no matter what your politics, this seems like an issue.

It’s Official: Watching Fox Makes You Stupider — According to a new study by Farleigh Dickinson University, Fox viewers are the least knowledgeable audience of any outlet, and they know even less about politics and current events than people who watch no news at all. But isn't that the whole point of Fox News, to foster a cohort of angry, low information Republican voters?

The Conservative Fantasy History of Civil Rights — Once you endorse counterfactual beliefs in any area (i.e., evolution denial), you enable them in every area. In historical terms, this may be the besetting sin of the conservative movement as it has developed in my lifetime. I can remember when conservatives were realists, but those days are long gone. (Thanks to shsilver.)

Bennett Backs Off Birther Threat, Apologizes To Arizona — I wonder what this is about? I mean, it's not like Republicans have ever had any shame regarding even their most blatant distortions of truth. And btw, this guy was the Romney campaign chair for Arizona. Did you know that? Any guesses on how Your Liberal Media would have reacted to an Obama campaign chair threatening to keep Romney off a state ballot?

?otd: Patty Duke or Jerry Mathers?

5/23/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.25 hours (WRPA)
Body movement: 55 minute suburban walk
Hours slept: 6.25 (solid)
Weight: n/a (forgot)
Currently reading: Light Breaker by Mark Teppo (except I've lost the darned book)

[process] My copy editor comments in response

2012-05-22T10:25:43Z

Kalimpura's copy editor and I have had a very nice email exchange arising in response to my recent post about copy edits and manuals of style. [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] With their kind permission, I am reprinting excerpts from that email exchange here, as I found it pretty interesting.

On eccentric spelling issues:

I thought I'd share a little bit about how British/Canadian spellings can come across to a copy editor.

Basically, the first time I see words like "storey" and "colour," I'm on alert wondering if the author just went English for a second or what else might be going on. It gets harder again, when later "flavor" and "harbor" might go by as is. (And I'm not even sure why, or if the author has a strong reason why "colour" and "neighbor" might inhabit the same sentence.) Textually, it can read like the narrative has mysteriously decided to affect a brief accent that is just as quickly dropped again. At this point, I am noting what the prevailing style is and if there perhaps might be some narrative logic to a quick switch in voice/dialect/geography—yet only for certain words.

I don't greatly prefer American over British spelling, and have had no problem when enough of the latter crops up, then going back and reconciling grey, kerb, spiralling, harbour, draught, neighbour, til, and so forth--all in. Before the tipover point, I'm writing down hundreds of words and instances in my notes, work that's often needless when it turns out the author just quickly tried out a dialect and backed off from it. Those hours never feel wasted, just part of the job.

I am thinking that where many, many readers (and editors) see/hear an inconsistent regionalism in what an author spells, the author might just be trying to encode a quick flavor of nostalgia, sprinkled where they most prefer it with a spelling device. That's the point at which the author's stet is so stylistically priceless.

In my case, when I do this, I am trying to convey a flavor with certain spellings. So, "storey", "despatch" and "draught", for example. It looks right for what I'm wanting to do in the book. I'm not deliberately being Anglophilic or otherwise, just working within a certain context that feels right to me.

They go on to say:

I'm glad you're keen on preserving your intentions when they might be invisible to someone farther along in the process. With 900 books behind me, I've witnessed that most often textual quirk is not the result of care or deliberation, but accident and inattention, and now and then forgotten indecision. You do your best as a CE to come across as an aide-de-camp rather than an adversary, giving the author more YES/NO choices than they might first have had in mind. Maybe 1 percent of authors are as good about process and design as you are (no lie), which makes the mighty stet such a blessing for everyone involved in the making of the best book possible.

I appreciated the kind words, but that's also an important point. The copy editor has to distinguish between auctorial intention and textual errors, generally with very little context to work from. In my response to them, I mentioned that I had developed a stylesheet for the Sunspin books, to address certain items of usage and so forth. My copy editor replied:

A style sheet specific to each title could be helpful for you and for the other hands and eyes involved in the next books, sure.

Noting points of usage and style is valuable, as is delineating the reason and pattern behind, say, the narrative "speaking" in "storey" and "draught" but not "dialled" and "programme," for example. Sharing your overarching scheme helps immensely and aids the CE with the gist of your spelling gimmicks and similar storytelling choices.

On the other hand, if it's just as much of a time sink to create a comprehensive style sheet as it is to click "reject change" later on, then I'd say put the time in at whatever point in the process you can best spare it: front or back.

I'm increasingly coming to believe that an author-generated stylesheet can be critical. Of course, I only know what a stylesheet is from experience with prior copy edits. I don't believe I'm free to share those here, as they are Tor's work product, but at the bottom of this post, I'll append part of my Sunspin style sheet as an example, since at this point that's still my own work product.

A bit later, I received a third email from my copy editor, adding another interesting comment.

[S]omething else that might be valuable if you're continuing to write in genres that use sometimes exalted, formal, studious, or ceremonial speech between characters is to let the CE know that despite the tone, you're purposely leaving out the "whom" or similar constructions in either the dialogue or running text. A careful CE is generally trying to extrapolate and fill in from a mosaic of other hints--if you have an issue that contrasts rather than coheres, that's the sort of thing to flag.

I want to thank my copy editor for their frankness, and their willingness to be quoted herein. And also for the terrific copy edit.

Sunspin stylesheet notes follow. In addition to these explications of usage, I have lists of people and place names, as well as a list of starship names. I still need to create a list of nonstandard words in deliberate use.

Titles or ranks are capitalized when they are part of names or used in direct address in lieu of a name. They are uncapitalized when being referenced without the name or otherwise in indirect use. These include father, father superior, sergeant, lieutenant, lieutenant-commander, commander, captain, admiral, baron, count, earl, duke, prince and princess. The only exceptions are Before, Library, Interlocutrix, Patriarch and Imperator, which are always capitalized, even in their adjectival forms. ("Before" does not have an adjectival form.)

The prefix "go" when applied to an officer's rank (i.e., Go-Captain Alvarez) is specific to the Navisparliamentary service, and is reserved for those officers trained and certified for starship command. Note that some starship captains do not have a "go" prefix. These are either captains from outside the Navisparliamentary service (i.e., Captain Kinman), or more rarely, Navisparliamentary officers in a command role without the formal certification. The "go" prefix may be omitted in casual address, much as lieutenant colonels are often referred to simply as "colonel".

The suffix "praetor" when applied to an officer's rank (i.e., Lieutenant-Praetor Shinka) is specific to the Imperatorial Guards (also sometimes referred to as the Household Guards -- the two terms are interchangeable). "Praetor" is reserved for those officers permitted to carry weapons in the Imperator's presence, or to command troops carrying weapons in the Imperator's presence. The "praetor" prefix may be omitted in casual address, much as lieutenant colonels are often referred to simply as "colonel".

Starships are always formally referred to with their pair count, so "Third Rectification {58 pairs}" in narrative or written references, but "Third Rectification, fifty-eight pairs" in dialog. This formal reference should be used the first time a starship's name is introduced in narrative or dialog, but can be omitted in immediately subsequent uses. If the starship is not referred to for a while, the reintroduction of the name should again be with the formal reference on initial occurrence.

Note that both Third Rectification and Joyous Strength have varying pair counts within the manuscript of Calamity of So Long a Life. This is because of the new pair master built at NSN.411-e. AA. Characters unaware of the return of the two starships will refer to them by their previous pair counts, Third Rectification {58 pairs} and Joyous Strength {21 pairs}. Characters who have become aware of their returns will refer to them as Third Rectification {59 pairs} and Joyous Strength {22 pairs}. This creates an apparent inconsistency in the text, as for much of the book, not everyone is aware of their return, so both references are being used. However, any given character will be consistent according to their knowledge of the situation.

Polite address for persons without title or rank is "Ser" or "Sera". This corresponds to "Sir" or "Ma'am", and also to "Mr." or "Mrs./Ms./Miss". However, in a very few cases the older, archaic forms of address are used, exclusively by Befores, and usually under stress or in a moment of thoughtlessness. Likewise, a common expletive is “hells”, except for the Befores who will often use the older, singular form. (I.e., “what the hells?” vs “what the hell?”)

This culture does not make a strong distinction between the name of a star and the name of the primary inhabited planet in any given solar system. Hence "Salton" for both the star and the planet. Often the star will have a different name or survey number for technical or scientific use, but in Calamity of So Long a Life this rarely occurs explicitly in the text.

In starship operations, generally speaking a "cruise" is a voyage between destinations which or may not include multiple distinct transits between pair masters. A "transit" is more specifically the process of traveling between any two pair masters. This language is not used with precision, and so there may be occasional inconsistencies depending on the speaker, dialect or stylistic concerns of the text.

[personal] Miscellaneous miscellany

2012-05-22T10:21:14Z

Yesterday was a long, good day. Day Jobbery went well, even better than normal. We had a terrific Open Dinner here in Austin, with @dratz, @itsaJuliasaurus (a/k/a Mrs. @dratz), stillsostrange, @StevenBrust, Skyler White, D—, old Austin Slug Tribe friends Jn4 and CH, jess_ka, E—, sophielandon and Mr. sophielandon. I got to talk with everyone but E—, to whom I regretfully didn't even manage to say good-bye.

Afterwards, we rolled back to chez @dratz where I wound up interviewing @StevenBrust and Skyler White on camera.

This was a cold interview, from my perspective, in that I hadn't known I'd be conducting it until about a minute before the interview started, and I'd done none of my usual interview preparation. Nonetheless, Steve and Skyler were gracious and cooperative interview subjects. Oddly, I went to bed feeling a bad attack of imposter syndrome post-interview. That's mostly a measure of how tired I was, given my usual bullet-resistant writerly ego.

Now I'm heading back to Portland, rather underslept and feeling more than a bit behind on my writing. The latter is not in fact true, this is just my psychotically persistent writerself talking, so I'll be fine. After lunch with mlerules, I'll be working Day Jobbery this afternoon, then photographing the_child's lacrosse team, and spending the evening with her. More Day Jobbery tomorrow and (hopefully) lunch with kenscholes. Then off to Detroit on Thursday.

I do owe a couple of blog posts, time and mental focus permitting. Among other things, I want to document last Saturday's cheesefest at Paradise Lost II.

Also of note, a dream from a couple of nights ago. I was watching television (in my dream). It was a nature documentary about a family of manta rays that had adopted a kitten. That was all very sweet and adorbz until at one point in the documentary, the manta rays turned on their kitten. As they began slashing at the animal, taking bites out of it, I felt the stinging, tearing pain of each bite in my body. I got wrapped up in wondering how the documentary crew had managed to capture then broadcast the pain to me, the viewer. Interpretation of the meaning of this dream is left as an exercise for the reader.

At any rate, I'm off. Be well.

[photos] Your Tuesday moment of zen

2012-05-22T10:18:24Z

Your Tuesday moment of zen.

Flower. © 2006, 2012, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

The current photo series is from my 'favorites' file, hence the dates jumping about

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

[links] Link salad heads west

2012-05-22T10:17:21Z

New York's Last Cross-Harbor Railway Chugs On as Alternative to Trucks

Gesture Controls Get a Huge Boost with New ‘Leap’ Interaction System

Fossil Ink Sacs Yield Jurassic Pigment—A First — Ink "strikingly" similar to that of modern cuttlefish, study says.

Quantum Dots May Be Safe to Use in Patients — The colorful, glowing crystals could prove to be useful as a surgical aid.

Can mammals outrun climate change? — For about 10 percent of species, the answer could be "no." Of course, they wouldn't need to if they'd just listen to Rush Limbaugh instead of paying attention to the realities of their environment.

Catholic dioceses, colleges sue over Obama mandate — Stay classy, conservative America. It's what you do best.

On Christianity and marriage equality (part 4) — Christians who oppose equality are losing the argument. That’s why they’re so loud. Slacktivist Fred Clark with an excellent roundup of links about Christianist bigotry and responses to it.

Andrea Mitchell: Romney Has Been Getting A "Free Ride" From The Media — Of course he has. He's a Republican. Your Liberal Media has for many years been strongly biased in favor of them. Look at the scholarship on the relative incidence of negative stories about George W. Bush and Al Gore during the 2000 election cycle (roughly 4:1 against Gore) for objective confirmation of this. The "liberal media" meme has been one of the most successful political lies in modern history.

?otd: Cascades or Coastals?

5/22/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (full day of work and socializing)
Body movement: n/a (airport walking to come)
Hours slept: 5.25 (fitful)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: Light Breaker by Mark Teppo

[travel|food] Open Dinner, Austin, TX, today Monday, May 21st (repost)

2012-05-21T12:48:04Z

This is a repost

I am calling an Open Dinner in Austin, Texas today, Monday, May 21st. We'll meet at the Hyde Park & Grill at their original location on Duval Street, at 6:30 pm. Please let me know here in comments if you'll be attending, as headcount can be something of an issue there.

See some, all or none of you there.

[conventions] Wrap up on Paradise Lost II, my week ahead

2012-05-21T12:46:55Z

Paradise Lost II went well, my personal epiphanies aside. The conference ran well, critique was solid, and I enjoyed talks by John Joseph Adams and Steven Brust. We had a lovely cheese fest on Saturday, and a really terrific dinner Saturday night that included deep fried beets and a drop-in from my cousin N—. Park ranger stories were told, among other things.

We drove back to Austin from San Antonio yesterday. Thanks to the location of the FBI office there, as well as some trafficmancy by @Madge707, it took us three hours to get from downtown San Antonio to chez @dratz in Central Austin. Dinner with my Aunt V— ensured shortly thereafter at Hut's Hamburgers. We wound up the evening with a rousing game of Gloom, and some talk time.

There may be photoblogging of the cheese, et cetera, later, but the photos are in @dratz's camera, so I don't have them yet.

Today I am working Day Jobbery here in Austin, followed by tonight's Open Dinner. Off to Portland tomorrow where I will see the_child for the first time in a week. Thursday I skive out of town again for World Steam Expo in Dearborn, MI.

More to come, as time and blog space permit. See some, all or none of you here and there about the country.

[photos] Your Monday moment of zen

2012-05-21T12:38:07Z

Your Monday moment of zen.

Kitchen counter, Viejo Rancho Lake. © 2006, 2012, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

The current photo series is from my 'favorites' file, hence the dates jumping about

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

[links] Link salad was downtown on Saturday night working for the FBI

2012-05-21T12:36:49Z

"It's Full of Stars" — Scrivener's Error is curmudgeonly about the Nebulas.

H.P. Lovecraft and Nikola Tesla: Paranormal Investigators — Hahaha. (Via goulo.)

U.S. could lose aging eyes in the sky

European Physicists Smash Chinese Teleportation Record — The battle over distance records sets up a fascinating race to be the first to teleport to an orbiting satellite. God, I love living in the future.

A Close Pass of Saturn's Moon Dione

For troops on Siachen Glacier, the elements are the enemy — Veterans of the India-Pakistan conflict on Siachen Glacier in Kashmir do not tell stories of battle, but of battling subzero temperatures, the wind and the altitude.

Criminal Exonerations: 2,000 Convicted Then Exonerated In U.S. Over Last 23 Years, Says Study — Does our criminal justice system make you feel safer? How safe would you feel if you were one of the wrongfully convicted? Or wrongfully executed? I've often said conservativism is a failure of both empathy and imagination. The way most American conservatives think about crime and punishment is one of the clearest examples of this.

B.C. student’s bra artwork sparks controversy over portrayal of Muslim dress — Ah, tolerance.

Faculty leave Baptist school, Shorter University, over “lifestyle” statement — Sometimes even Christianists and their enablers get it right. (Via Slacktivist Fred Clark.)

Tribalism and the cruelly weird idea of zero-sum human rights — Welcome to the world of conservative thought.

Compare and Contrast — Over at Editorial Explanations, Andrew Wheeler nails the difference between conservatives and liberals.

Obama could have a prayer among Ohio's white evangelicals — A recent gathering of religious leaders in Ohio indicates that churches don't necessarily march in lock step with the Republican Party. Could have fooled me.

A peek into an alternate reality — Rachel Maddow on Mittens. I don't think Mitt Romney is stupid. I do think Romney is operating from the assumption that voters are stupid.

?otd: Why did your temperature start to rise?

5/21/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (full day of conferencing and critique)
Body movement: 30 minute suburban walk
Hours slept: 7.0 (solid)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: Light Breaker by Mark Teppo