I bought and used the editing program Pro Writing Aid
to edit the novel, Assassin in New Marl City. I edited and typed Assassin Chapters
30, 32, and 33 in August 2018, reviewed Chapters 34, 35, and 36 on September 2018,
and I completed the review in February 2019. Reduced total chapters to 30. Reviewed
Chapters 1 to 16 using Pro Writing Aid and submitted to my novel-writing class.
I completed the first draft of Assassin in New Marl
City totaling 99,981 words in July 2018. Completed pre-draft two (30 chapters
long) in December 2018 at 89,072 words. I completed draft two edits for
Chapters 22, 23, and 24 in July and will start the third draft edits after
draft two is complete.
In July, I submitted a story called All Potions Sold
Greenhouse to the Introductory Writing
Workshop at Parma, Ohio library.
In July, I submitted a story called White Bracer to the
Intermediate Writing Workshop at South
Euclid-Lyndhurst, Ohio library.
In May, I edited and submitted the short story
Grognard to the Confluence Short Story Writing Workshop. Cat Rambo conducted
the workshop at the Science Fiction Convention named Confluence in Pittsburgh
on Sunday, July 28.
The stories: I submitted The Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, Get to
the Point, LARP Film noir, and Sleeping Sickness to magazines.
Statistics of magazine submissions for 2019 are; 1
different story submitted 1 time with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and 1
rejection.
Events
from July 2019
I attended the Confluence Conference from July 26 to July 28, 2019, at
the Airport Sheraton in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I took part in two workshops
at the conference both instructed by Cat Rambo. I attended the first pages
workshop and the short story workshop.
I plan to write five blog posts for garydavidgillen.com
including my Writing Progress Report for August 2019.
I plan to work
on second draft edits for Chapters 21 and 25 to 30 of Assassin in New Marl City
using Pro Writing Aid.
After the second draft is complete, I plan to work on third draft edits for Chapters 1 to 16 of Assassin in New Marl City using comments from the Advanced Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio. I started the third draft edit for Chapter One used at the first pages workshop at Confluence 2019.
Polish and submit the stories Caliburnus, Space-Dog
Confession, White Bracer, Mage Squad, I Shall Not Return, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short
fiction magazines.
Submit The Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, LARP Film noir, and Sleeping Sickness to other short fiction magazines.
Edit Searcher of Riven.
Hire an editor for Searcher of Riven from Fiveer.
Edit Ruins of Yarnud.
Hire an editor for Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.
Put the novel, Assassin in New Marl City, into the
writing program, Scrivener.
Buy e-book covers for Searcher of Riven and Ruins of
Yarnud from Fiveer.
Buy an e-book cover for Assassin in New Marl City from
Fiveer.
Planned
Events for August 2019
The next conference I plan to attend
is the Indy Writer’s
Conference in Parma, Ohio on October 12, 2019, sponsored by the Cuyahoga County
Library.
Rooster Bar by John Grisham is a thriller about a
group of four law students entering their last semester before graduation at
Foggy Bottom Law School. Gordon discovers Foggy Bottom is a diploma mill making
their hope to pass the bar exam and to get a job after graduation slight. They all
have about $200,000 in debt. Gordon has followed the money to a ruthless hedge-fund
operator behind the ruse. When Gordon dies, will Mark, Todd, and Zola expose
the scandal or flee the country?
Summary
The main characters and viewpoints for Rooster Bar are Mark, Todd, and Zola. Mark Frazier went to law school expecting to get rich as a lawyer. He works as an intern at a firm which says they will hire him after he passes the bar exam, but it is not in writing and Mark is skeptical that they are telling him the truth. Todd Lucero is a bartender at the Rooster Bar and has gone to law school through the advice of his bar patrons. Zola Maal is a US citizen, but her parents are undocumented workers from Senegal. Her parents and brother face deportation and she wants to use her knowledge of the law to free them. Zola is the girlfriend of Gordon Tanner who has a fiance back in his hometown but he doesn’t want to marry her.
Gordon goes off his meds, fights with his fiance, and returns to Washington. The four law students meet at the Rooster Bar and then go to Gordon’s apartment to see his research on the Great Law School Scam. After Gordon dies, the three must decide what to do with the information. They decide that their prospects of getting out of debt are slim so they create an unlicenced law office and start practicing law for cash from people on the fringe of society. They face loan collectors for their debts, the prospect of discovery of practicing law without a license, and the wrath of the hedge fund operator. Zola’s parents and brother are deported to Senegal. They must figure out a plan that will fix all their problems.
Recommendation
Rooster Bar by John Grisham was a frustrating book. The writing is clear and the plot moves quickly. The idea of the Great Law School Scam was interesting, especially how it affected the main characters. Zola’s dilemmas stemming from her parent’s deportation intrigued me. Mark and Todd are two knuckleheads who I wasn’t compelled to root for. Their solutions for their conflicts were increasingly terrible. If their motivations made sense, then I would have liked this book more.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Rooster Bar by
John Grisham.
Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody takes the
books of Blake Snyder and applies his teachings to writing novels. Blake Snyder
wrote three books in his Save the Cat series about screenwriting. Jessica Brody
shows how she finds the act structure, beat sheets, and story genres in novels
just like she finds them in movies. The book gives a clear plan for creating a
novel that is complete.
Summary
Jessica Brody divides Save the Cat Writes a Novel into
four sections. She explains the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet first. Every novel has
15 beats that fall at a specific page number in the novel. The 15 beats must be
in the novel to satisfy the reader with the novel’s ending. Every novel also follows
one of ten genres. These ten genres have three different components that make
them work. The ten genres are Whydunit, Rites of Passage, Institutionalized,
Superhero, Dude with A Problem, The Fool Triumphant, Buddy Love, Out of the
Bottle. Golden Fleece, and Monster in the House. Next is a chapter on writing
killer loglines and dazzling synopses. Describing your novel is important to selling
it to editors and publishers. The book ends with a Q and A section which
answers typical questions about the process.
Recommendation
Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody is a great book on writing. She takes Blake Snyder’s teachings on screenwriting and transposes the lessons to writing novels. The book is full of examples of current and past novels. She presents complete beat sheets and genre breakdowns. This book is a great resource for any point in the novel-writing process. Use it when you begin a project, in the middle to fix a problem, or at the end to refine a polished draft. I tried to use Blake Snyder’s teachings to write my stories. Jessica Brody presents the information in a clear and concise manner. I will use this book from now on for writing my stories.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
A similar book on writing is Self-Publishing Boot Camp by Carla King. This is the link to my review. It has everything you want to know about Self-Publishing.
Another similar book on writing is How to Write Best Selling Fiction by Dean Koontz. This is the link to my review. It’s from 1981, but the advice is still great.
Another similar book on writing is Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers is a useful writing book. The exercises help pinpoint common problems of beginning writers.
On June 30, 2019, the Cleveland Orchestra played the
score for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone live at Blossom Music Center in
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Great performance. Glad I went.
Writing
Progress from June 2019
I wrote five blog posts for garydavidgillen.com including my writing progress report for June 2019 linked below.
I bought and used the editing program Pro Writing Aid
to edit the novel, Assassin in New Marl City. I edited and typed Assassin Chapters
30, 32, and 33 in August 2018, reviewed Chapters 34, 35, and 36 in September 2018,
and I completed the review in February 2019. Reduced total chapters to 30. Reviewed
Chapters 1 to 15 using Pro Writing Aid and submitted to my novel writing class.
I completed the first draft of Assassin in New Marl
City totaling 99,981 words in July 2018. Completed pre-draft two (30 chapters
long) in December 2018 at 89,072 words. I completed draft two edits for
Chapters 18, 19, and 20 in June and will start the third draft edits after
draft two is complete.
In June, I submitted a story called Time Traveler
Uncle Jim to the Introductory Writing
Workshop at Parma, Ohio library.
In May, I edited and submitted the short story
Grognard to the Confluence Short Story Writing Workshop. Cat Rambo will conduct
the workshop at the Science Fiction Convention named Confluence in Pittsburgh
on Sunday, July 28.
I have submitted The Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, Get to the Point, LARP Film
noir, and Sleeping Sickness to magazines.
Statistics of magazine submissions for 2019 are; 1
different story submitted 1 time with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and 1
rejection.
Events
from June 2019
The next conference I plan to attend is the
Confluence Conference from July 26 to July 28, 2019, at the Airport Sheraton in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I’m excited to take part in two workshops at the
conference both instructed by Cat Rambo. I will attend the first pages workshop
and the short story workshop.
I plan to write five blog posts for garydavidgillen.com
including my Writing Progress Report for July 2019.
I plan to work
on second draft edits for Chapters 21 to 30 of Assassin in New Marl City using
Pro Writing Aid.
I plan to work
on third draft edits for Chapters 1 to 15 of Assassin in New Marl City using
comments from the Advanced Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio after the second
draft is complete.
I will do the third draft edit for Chapter one to use
at the first pages workshop at Confluence 2019.
In July, I plan to submit a story called White Bracer to
the Intermediate Writing Workshop at
South Euclid-Lyndhurst, Ohio library.
Polish and submit the stories Caliburnus, Space-Dog
Confession, White Bracer, Mage Squad, I Shall Not Return, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short
fiction magazines.
Submit The Four Humors,
Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, LARP Film noir, Sleeping Sickness to other
short fiction magazines.
Edit Searcher of Riven.
Hire an editor for Searcher of Riven from Fiveer.
Edit Ruins of Yarnud.
Hire an editor for Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.
Put the novel, Assassin in New Marl City, into the
writing program, Scrivener.
Buy e-book covers for Searcher of Riven and Ruins of
Yarnud from Fiveer.
Buy an e-book cover for Assassin in New Marl City from
Fiveer.
Planned
Events for July 2019
The next conference I plan to attend is the
Confluence Conference from July 26 to July 28, 2019, at the Airport Sheraton in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I’m excited to take part in two workshops at the
conference both instructed by Cat Rambo. I will attend the first pages workshop
and the short story workshop.
Port of Shadows by Glen
Cook, Book #1.5 of the Black Company series
Introduction
Port of Shadows by Glen
Cook occurs between the events of The Black Company (Book #1) and Shadows
Linger (Book #2). The Black Company is a mercenary group hired by the Empress, the
Lady. Croaker is the Black Company physician and Annalist. The Black Company
searches for rebels but finds dozens of girls between age 3 and 20 who look identical.
Can Croaker unravel the mystery before the rebels open the Port of Shadows and
free a powerful sorcerer?
Summary
The
chapters in Port of Shadows follow a pattern in groups of three. First, a chapter
labeled Once Upon a Time occurs in the past from the viewpoint of an unnamed
necromancer. Second, a chapter labeled Long Ago and Far Away occurs in that
same past and is from a different viewpoint. Third, a chapter labeled In Modern
Times occurs in the present from Croaker’s viewpoint as the Annalist of the
Black Company. The author repeats the pattern.
The
story from the past shows how a necromancer brings a dead girl back to life. He
calls her Laissa and tells her she is his daughter. She doesn’t remember her past.
Her sister who calls herself Bathdek searches for her.
In
Modern Times, The Black Company is on garrison duty for the Lady’s Empire in the
conquered city of Aloe. The Lady orders them to defeat the Rebel leader Tides
Elba. Tides Elba might open the Port of Shadows and free the Lady’s husband,
the Dominator, from his prison. If the rebels free the Dominator, then he will
take the Empire from the Lady and she doesn’t want him to. In the main Aloe
temple, they find a young woman who looks like the Lady in her youth and sends
her to the Lady’s tower. She comes back as the Taken named Mischievous Rain. The
Taken are sorcerers the Lady converted into her minions and are her highest
leaders. Croaker becomes involved with her and her boy and girl.
The events
of the past connect to the current story. Croaker must solve the mystery before
he loses his memory.
Recommendation
I thought Port of Shadows was a great book. It was fun revisiting my favorite Black Company characters. Using the pattern in the chapters was smart. Chapters 3, 6, and 9 occur In Modern Times and published before as short stories. The author wove the short stories together with the story from the past and continued the novel to its ending. There was a reason Croaker did not mention the events of this novel in the other series’ novels and this novel shows that reason. A Pitiless Rain is the next book in the series and will be book 10 in the chronology. They have not published it yet. I believe that the author will feature the events of Port of Shadows in A Pitiless Rain and look forward to reading it.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Port of Shadows by Glen Cook.
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and
Dave King shows authors how to edit yourself into print. Their goal is to teach
the writer the craft of editing because self-editing gets your manuscript
closer to its potential and more likely to get published. Editing takes a
different mindset than writing. They suggest editing only after you complete your
first draft. What editing techniques will help you improve your writing?
Summary
The book has twelve chapters. Each chapter has three sections. A lesson comes first then a checklist of important points. They complete the chapter with exercises that highlight the points of the chapter. Examples of chapter titles are: Show and Tell, Point of View, and Voice. The first appendix has the answers for the exercises and the second appendix has suggestions for further reading.
Recommendation
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers is a great writing book. The exercises help pinpoint common problems of beginning writers. It is worth the effort to complete the exercises. I read this book from February 21, 2018, to February 25, 2018. I completed the exercises back then but did not write a review. Since I am at the self-editing process in writing my first novel, I picked up the book again and reviewed the author’s advice.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
A similar book on writing is Self-Publishing Boot Camp by Carla King. This is the link to my review. It has everything you want to know about Self-Publishing.
Another similar book on writing is How to Write Best Selling Fiction by Dean Koontz. This is the link to my review. It’s from 1981, but the advice is still great.
Washington A Life by Ron Chernow is a one book biography of the first President of the United States from cradle to grave. History has portrayed Washington as a dull, taciturn man of granite self-control, so the author wanted to dig deeper into Washington’s correspondence to present the side of Washington that was vivid and dramatic. How did a British colonial aristocrat become the leader of the American Revolution?
Summary
The author divides Washington’s life into six parts. Frontiersman,
part one, explains the history of the short-lived males of the Washington line.
George Washington learned to become a surveyor and took part in the French and
Indian War. Planter, part two, covers when he has taken control of the Mount
Vernon plantation because of untimely deaths in his family and his marriage to
the widow Martha Custis. General, part three, shows when he became the military
leader of the American Revolution. He faces eight years of battle but only
wishes to return to Mount Vernon. Statesman, part four, covers when the states are
governed by the ineffectual Articles of Confederation. He serves as the
president of the Continental Congress leading to the drafting of the Constitution.
President, part five, is about his eight years in office. It details the
battles in his cabinet between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Legend
part six covers the years after Washington’s retirement to Mount Vernon with
Martha. Second President John Adams named him a Lieutenant General for the last
17 months of his life but did not take a field command. He lived out his last
days and passed into legend.
Recommendation
Washington A Life by Ron Chernow delivers on its premise to show how Washington was a vivid and dramatic person. He was a person of his times but tried to create a party-less government. Washington led by quiet example and held his fragile new country together. He was the only person who could have accomplished his great feats.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Washington A Life by Ron Chernow.
Another book by Ron Chernow is Alexander Hamilton. I read the Washington biography because I liked how he wrote Alexander Hamilton. This is the link to my review of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.
I bought and used the editing program Pro Writing Aid
to edit the novel, Assassin in New Marl City. I edited and typed Assassin Chapters
30, 32, and 33 in August 2018, reviewed Chapters 34, 35, and 36 in September 2018,
and I completed the review in February 2019. Reduced total chapters to 30. Reviewed
Chapters 1 to 15 using Pro Writing Aid and submitted to my novel writing class.
The first draft of Assassin in New Marl City was
completed totaling 99,981 words in July 2018. Completed pre-draft two (30
chapters long) in December 2018 at 89,072 words. I completed draft two edits
for Chapter 17 in May and will start the third draft edits after draft two is
complete.
In May, I submitted a story called Chemithurgy; First
and Last Scene to the Introductory
Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio library.
In May, I edited and submitted the short story
Grognard to the Confluence Short Story Writing Workshop. The workshop will be
conducted by Cat Rambo at the Science Fiction Convention named Confluence in
Pittsburgh on Sunday, July 28.
The stories: The Four Humors,
Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, Get to the Point, LARP Film noir, and Sleeping
Sickness were submitted to magazines.
Statistics of magazine submissions for 2019 are; 1
different story submitted 1 time with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and 1
rejection.
Events
from May 2019
I attended the
Marcon Conference on May 11, 2018, at the
Crown Plaza – Columbus North in Worthington, Ohio.
This is my Recap for the SF Conference Marcon Columbus 2019 on May 11. They held it at 6500 Doubletree Avenue Worthington, Ohio at the Crown Plaza – Columbus North. The drive was two-plus hours taken in the morning and back in the evening. I also attended Marcon in 2017 and 2018. This year I attended four panels, a performance, and an interview.
I plan to write five blog posts for garydavidgillen.com
including my Writing Progress Report for June 2019.
I plan to work
on second draft edits for Chapters 18 to 30 of Assassin in New Marl City using
Pro Writing Aid.
I plan to work
on third draft edits for Chapters 1 to 15 of Assassin in New Marl City using
comments from the Advanced Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio after the second
draft is complete.
Polish and submit the stories Caliburnus, Space-Dog
Confession, White Bracer, Mage Squad, I Shall Not Return, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short
fiction magazines.
Submit The Four Humors,
Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, LARP Film noir, Sleeping Sickness to other
short fiction magazines.
Edit Searcher of Riven.
Hire an editor for Searcher of Riven from Fiveer.
Edit Ruins of Yarnud.
Hire an editor for Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.
Put the novel, Assassin in New Marl City, into the
writing program, Scrivener.
Buy e-book covers for Searcher of Riven and Ruins of
Yarnud from Fiveer.
Buy an e-book cover for Assassin in New Marl City from
Fiveer.
Planned
Events for June 2019
The next conference I plan to attend is the
Confluence Conference from July 26 to July 28, 2019, at the Airport Sheraton in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I’m excited to participate in two workshops at the
conference both instructed by Cat Rambo. I will attend the first pages workshop
and the short story workshop.
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, Book #1 of the Imperial Radch series
Introduction
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie is the first book of Imperial Radch series. Breq was once part of the Radch but has begun her own dangerous quest in this space opera. She has been planning her revenge on the Lord of the Radch, Anaader Mianaai, of the Imperial Radch for the past twenty years. Her plans are in jeopardy when Breq befriends the disgraced former Captain Seivarden Vendaai. Will Breq carry out her goals or will the powerful Lord defeat her?
Summary – Shis’urna
Ancillary Justice chapters alternate between two stories separated by twenty years. The viewpoints are in a way from the same point of view. The older viewpoint is from the perspective of the Justice of Toren. It is the almost three-thousand-year-old artificial intelligence of a Radch starship controlling thousands of ancillaries. The starship’s mission is to help facilitate the assimilation of the planet Shis’urna into the Imperial Radch. Her commander was Esk Decade Lieutenant Awn. What happens to Lieutenant Awn leads to the latter viewpoint.
Summary – Nilt
The latter viewpoint is from Breq, one of Justice of Toren’s ancillaries. Twenty years after the earlier viewpoint, Breq is on the remote ice planet of Nilt, putting together the final pieces for her plan of revenge. She encounters Seivarden who has descended into a drug-induced self-destructive path. Captain Sievarden lost her ship and was suspended in animation for a thousand years. She is a woman out of time and place and turns to drugs to escape. Breq knew her as one of her officers a thousand years ago and helps her at the risk of disrupting her plans for revenge. They end up needing each other to succeed in the finale of Ancillary Justice.
Review
The world building and the scope of Ancillary Justice impressed me. The two stories are expertly interwoven leading to a thrilling climax. Ancillary Justice is space opera at its best. At first, two ideas confused me. It was difficult to comprehend the multiple viewpoints of the Justice of Toren because of the unknown nature of the ancillaries. Eventually, it makes sense which is a great accomplishment by showing how a multiple viewpoint intelligence could think. The other idea that was difficult to understand was the Radch rationale for their difficulty in naming gender. The Radch are gender neutral and think of every character as female. There is a reason for the rationale and it makes sense on reflection.
Recommendation
I appreciated being challenged by the ideas in this novel and highly recommend it. Ancillary Justice won the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke, and BAFTA awards for best SF novel in 2014. It also won the Locus award for best first SF novel.
Links
This is the link to the
Goodreads page of Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
I attended the SF Conference Marcon Conference 2019 in Columbus on May 11. They held it at 6500 Doubletree Avenue Worthington, Ohio at the Crown Plaza – Columbus North. The drive was two-plus hours taken in the morning and back in the evening. I also attended Marcon in 2017 and 2018. This year I attended four panels, a performance, and an interview.
Marcon Conference 2019 Columbus Program Guide Cover
Picture of my badge from Marcon Conference 2019 Columbus
Summary
Saturday, May 11th at 10 AM
Game of Thrones:
Winter Has Finally Come, a panel with Vicki Meece, Ella Shurr, John Boone,
Leslie Mehne, and John Picacio.
The
scheduled room for the is panel was Salon B-C, but it was locked so we went
into the empty Salon E room.
One
of the panelists was the artist guest of honor John Picacio. His artwork was
used for the program cover and the Marcon badge shown in the pictures in the
introduction of this post. He was commissioned by George R. R, Martin to
produce a 2012 calendar using Game of Thrones characters. This was before the
HBO show was cast and he related that his artwork was displayed at the
auditions and inspired the casting choices.
This is a link to the twelve Games of Thrones artworks John Picacio made for the calendar in 2011.
The
panel reviewed each of the four episodes of season eight that had been aired
before the panel took place.
Season Eight, Episode One
Season
Eight, Episode One: The panel liked the many
reunions highlighted in this episode. Their favorite reunions were Jon and
Arya, Brienne and Jamie, The Hound and Arya, Gendry and Arya, Sansa and Theon.
Season Eight, Episode Two
Season
Eight, Episode Two: This episode was the
setup for the battle of Winterfell between the living and the Night King’s dead
army. One question that wasn’t clear was did Jon tell Dany that Bran and not
Sam told him that R + L = J?
Season Eight, Episode Three
Season
Eight, Episode Three: The episode was shot and
set in the dark which made it hard for the viewer to see what was going on in
the episode. “It’s a carnival ride.” A highlight of the episode was when Bran
called Theon a good man. One theory debated was if Jon was saying
“Go, go, go” to Arya as she headed to the God’s wood to face the Night King.
Season Eight, Episode Four
Season
Eight, Episode Four: The theory being debated was whether Dany was becoming the
Mad Queen.
Season
Eight, Episode Five predictions: The
fifth episode aired the day after the panel on May 12th. The panel
thought that the Hound and Varys were the most likely to die in that episode.
Overall
Season Eight: The panel was
disappointed in the scant use of the Direwolves this season and in the absence
of information about the situation in Dorne.
They held the
panel in Salon E with 10 attendees.
Saturday,
May 11th at 11 AM
Science Fiction is
the Conversation That Starts Things, a panel with David Gerrold.
This panel was David
Gerrold reminiscing about his career as a TV show writer, director, and novel
writer. I’ll detail the topics he addressed as he presented them.
He recently turned
in a novel called Hela. It will be the fourth novel in the Dingilliad series
(aka Starsiders) which began with Jumping Off the Planet, linked below.
Gerrold
contributes regularly to his patreon page. The book he started the page for has
been sold but he continues to posts stories and reviews on the page although
some of the content is available only to subscribers. He has been updating The
War Against The Chtorr series on the page. The first 20 chapters were posted
for free as linked below.
Gerrold talked
about The Martian Child which was inspired by his relationship with his adopted
son. He decided to adopt late in life as a single parent. It was challenging
and rewarding for him. He published a novelette in 1994 which won the Hugo,
Nebula, and Locus Awards. Gerrold expanded the story into a novel. He wrote the
screenplay for the movie that was produced in 2007 starring John Cusack.
Gerrold wrote many
Star Trek episode from multiple series. The most famous episode was The Trouble
With Tribbles from the original series, season two, episode 15. He wrote a book
called The Trouble With Tribbles about his experiences writing for the show.
Gerrold also wrote The Cloud Minders and I, Mudd for the original series, More Tribbles, More Troubles and BEM for the animated series. He wrote the novelization of the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Encounter at Farpoint.
David Gerrold on Star Trek Blood and Fire
He had a falling out with the showrunners of The Next Generation when they did not accept his script for Blood and Fire in 1987. The script featured an allegory for AIDS and included gay characters so it was not produced then. He sold copies of the script and donated the proceeds to AIDS research L. A. Star Trek: New Voyages was a fan-created webisode series. David Gerrold wrote and directed two episodes based in his screenplay and novel for Blood and Fire in 2008 and 2009 linked below.
Gerrold’s final
thoughts were about thinking of it at the time “Who would remember these shows
in twenty years? and who’d have thought we’d be talking about them for the last
fifty years.”
They held the panel in Ballroom 1 and 2 with 16 attendees.
Saturday,
May 11th at 12 PM
A Furry Thing
Happened on the Way to Tranquility Base, a performance by the Confused
Greenies.
Note: The Confused
Greenies performed at Marcon ten years ago as well. This performance was
inspired by David Gerrold’s works and other sci-fi influences. It starts with a
holodeck recreation celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon
landing at tranquility base. The holodeck malfunctions through sabotage. The
Saturn V rocket is infested with tribbles and the Dalek saves the day.
https://www.facebook.com/TheConfusedGreenies/
They held the performance
in the Cardinal room with 7 attendees.
Saturday,
May 11th at 1 PM
Avengers Endgame:
Half the World awaits, a panel with Roy Minamide, Paul Hahn, Chris Stephenson,
Joe Beale, and Jeff Wolfe.
Avengers: Endgame
was widely released on April 26, 2019, and the panel talked about their
impressions of the movie and its place as the last of 22 movies in Phase Three
of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The panel began with the panelists and the
audience members stating their favorite moments of the movie.
null
Endgame Questions
They went on to
ask questions about the movie. How exactly did they create a GPS of the quantum
realm? Where did Captain America get more Pym particles? The heroes are too
powerful which leads to “superman syndrome” where the villains must become
overwhelmingly powerful, so how do you manage that?
Three characters
had satisfying growth arcs in the movie. They were Nebula’s redemption, Scott
Lang’s redemption through conceiving the Time Heist, and Rocket’s embracing his
new family.
The last topic was
about how the writers will address the Snap in the new movie Spiderman: Far
From Home which will be released on July 2, 2019. It may be related to Tony
Stark’s comment to the Time Heist crew about “Bring them back, but don’t change
the past.”
They held the panel
in Salon B-C with 21 attendees.
Saturday,
May 11th at 2 PM
David Gerrold
Interview conducted by Julie Washington.
Julie Washington
interviewed David Gerrold. She mostly asked him one question and he would have
an interesting anecdote to answer her. He grew up in L. A. and then moved to
the San Fernando Valley. He would go to the Van Neys public library every
Friday and get 10 books to read for the next that week. Rocket Ship Galileo by
Robert Heinlein started him reading SF. He says he became a writer because
“There were stories I wanted to read but no one was writing them so I had to
write them myself.”
He wanted to write
SF where the laws of physics were followed and wrote “When Harlie Was One”
about a computer with artificial intelligence.
He found the
transition from writing screenplays to novel a tough one. In novels, the writer
must describe the setting for the reader to get a mental picture while TV sets
do that for you.
David Gerrold on Star Trek
On the Deep Space
9 episode Trials and Tribble-ations (Season 5, Episode 6) he was disappointed
that he didn’t get a writing credit but he was given acknowledgment of his work
and a cameo appearance in the episode in compensation.
Gerrold went over
his story about the Blood and Fire script written for The Next Generation
detailed in his 11 AM talk. He also wrote an episode of Babylon 5.
Gerrold talked about his cameos in the TV show Big Bang Theory especially the ones at Wil Wheaton’s party on the show and as a booth owner at the fictional Van Nyes comicon. This was poignant because the series finale of Big Bang Theory was scheduled for May 16, 2019, the next Thursday after Marcon.
Gerrold talked
about getting the rights to republish his War Against the Chtorr series. He
used a Kickstarter campaign to republish the four previously published novels.
He has completed four more novels in the series and is in the editing stage
leading to publication.
David Gerrold on Kickstarter
Checking on
kicktrac.com, Gerrold has two projects that were on Kickstarter. There was a
project in 2013 that would have adapted his first novel in the Star Wolf series
but it was not fully funded and abandoned. Another project in 2016 was a mash-up
of Star Trek and Dr. Suess named Oh, The Places You’ll Boldly Go! It was fully
funded but could not proceed because the Ted Gisell estate (Dr. Suess himself)
blocked the project. The projects are detailed at the following link.
Gerrold finished
the interview detailing a few more projects he participated in. He wrote the
screenplay for the webisode adaption of his Blood and Fire story. It was 96
pages, he was the director, and they only had ten days to shoot it. He wrote
the Land of the Lost pilot. Gerrold also wrote adaptions of TV shows and
movies. Some of his novel adaptations were for Encounter at Farpoint, Battle
for the Planet of the Apes, and Enemy Mine.
They held the
panel in Ballroom 1 and 2 with 26 attendees.
Saturday,
May 11th at 7 PM
The Expanse:
Earthers, Mickeys and Belters Beware, a panel with Ralph Winans, Ella Shurr,
Lee Shamblin, Amelia Brownstein, and Kathy Knese
The panel liked
that the show depicted a technologically believable future. They could
understand how Mars and the Belt could develop the way it was depicted in the
show but found it unlikely that the Earth could be unified under the United
Nations. The showrunners were faithful to the books but not exact.
The Expanse Season Four began shooting.
A panel attendee
described the series as “crunchy” sci-fi meaning that it was true to how things
actually work in space.
The Expanse Book to Show Changes
The panel understood that the TV show could not portray belters as tall and thin as described in the books without using extensive CGI. They wondered about the motivation of Jules-Pierre Mao. It is not clear in the series. The panel asked how far the attendees had read in the novels and the response varied. Some had not read any of the novels will others have read the most recent novel Tiamat’s Wrath (The Expanse Book #8, released 03-26-19). Season three depicts events from parts of book two and three while season four will depict part of book three and book four. The ninth and last novel is unnamed but scheduled to be released sometime in 2020.
The first three
seasons of The Expanse show was aired by SyFy network. The show was picked up
by Amazon Video and it has been reported that the fourth season has completed
shooting. At this time, the airdate has not been set except that Amazon expects
to release it sometime in 2019.
I had a great time at Marcon Conference 2019 in Columbus. The location was different from last year. It was easier for me to get to and the parking was free. My star of the con was David Gerrold. He was engaging in the panel and the interview that I attended with him. This year I plan to read his book on writing named Worlds of Wonder and am interested in his Trouble with Tribbles memoir. This year I attended four panels, a performance, and an interview. My other highlights of Marcon Conference 2019 in Columbus were the Game of Thrones panel and the performance by the Confused Greenies. I also attended Marcon in 2017 and 2018 and plan to return in 2020.
Links
Recap for SF Conference Marcon Conference 2018 in Columbus which I attended on May 12, 2018, at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio. I attended four panels and two game shows.
I attended SF Conference Marcon Columbus on May 13, 2017, at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio. I attended
four panels. I did not post a recap of this conference. If I post a recap in
the future I will link it here.
