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Conference Recap ConFusion Detroit 2019

Introduction

I attended the SF conference named ConFusion at 5801 Southfield Freeway Dearborn, Michigan at the DoubleTree Hotel from January 18 to 20, 2019. ConFusion is sponsored by the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association. I attended 4 panels, one reading, one interview, and watched the movie The Princess Bride. The theme of the con was Storming the ConFusion, so the areas were designated with names related to the movie like Miracle Max’s Film Room, The Fire Swamp Artists Alley, The Cliffs of Insanity Consuite, Pit of Despair Gaming, and the Thieves Forest Music Room. I stayed at the Hawthorn Hotel by Wyndham which was next to the Double Tree.

ConFusion 2019 Program Guide Cover

This is a link to the ConFusion website.

https://2019.confusionsf.org/

Summary

Saturday, January 19th at 12 PM

Writers Talk about Anything But Writing panel with Mark Oshiro, John Scalzi, and Delilah Dawson:

Mark was the moderator and he came up with the topic. His point was that panelists get questions about writing, publishing, and touring, but get few questions about their other interests. This panel forced them to talk about something else. John Scalzi talked about being almost 50, his exercise program, and taking modern dance in high school. Mark talked about who he was cast as the lead in the play Music Man, Harold Hill, in high school while being Mexican and gay. John talked about working at Del Taco and learning about life. He was in an air band in high school and won a contest drumming to Round and Round by Ratt. Mark didn’t understand the concept of an air band since he is from another generation. John finished up the panel by talking about his wife’s family’s salsa recipe and how he was glad he married into the family to taste it, The panel was fun and I’m glad Mark came up with the topic. I learned about the panelists and I liked that.

Link to another air band video of John Scalzi at the Webb school:

A Christmastime Blast From Waaaaaay Back In The Past

Saturday, January 19th at 1 PM

Mars in Fact and Fiction panel with industrial scientist Bill Higgins, SF writer specializing in Mars fiction Martin L. Shoemaker, and professor from Connecticut State University Dr. Jennifer Piatek:

Two slide presentations were presented in this panel.

Dr. Piatek’s presentation was called Mars – A Short Tour, which covered the history of scientific fact about Mars. The incorrectly proposed canals of Mars were refuted in the ’60s with the Mariner mission. The Viking mission extended our knowledge of the surface of Mars. Mars has a rough southern highland and a smooth northern plain. Most Mars missions land in the north. The next mission to Mars is scheduled to be the Mars Rover 2020 mission, scheduled to be launched in 2020.

Bill Higgins presentation was called Mars in Our Stories, which covered SF writing about Mars. He highlighted a picture printed in the September 1956 Life magazine that imagined the aliens of Mars as told from many stories including War of the Worlds by H. G. Welles, Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis, and A Martian Odyssey by Stanley G. Weinbaum. He next mentioned the 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds adapted by Orson Welles that caused a panic in New Jersey. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury and the John Carter series by Edgar Rice Burroughs were also mentioned. The panel ran out of time to continue to more modern examples of Mars fiction.

I thought that both presentations were well done, and the information was interesting.

A copy of a drawing by Boris Artzybasheff from the September 24, 1956 issue of Life magazine.

Saturday, January 19th at 3 PM

Reading by John Scalzi:

John Scalzi’s current work in progress is his sequel to his novella called The Dispatcher. The tentative title for the work is Dispatcher 2 –the dispationing (probably not the final title). He read Chapter 1 of his new work. In the world of the novel, people who are murdered will return alive to a place they found comfort in the past. They appear naked, healthy and well. Suicide does not work in this world so there is a call for Dispatchers, who murder terminal patients or for other reasons if their clients want a fresh start. This work is about a Dispatcher debating if he will accept Mr. Pang as a client. The chapter comes to a satisfying conclusion. Scalzi is an engaging reader of his work. Well done.

This is the Goodreads link to The Dispatcher.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34819813-the-dispatcher

Scalzi had more time to read, so he read two posts from his blog named Whatever. The first post he read was titled “Automated Customer Service”. It was a funny short story about a computerized phone customer service call about a malfunctioning Vacuubot.

A Thanksgiving Week Gift for You: “Automated Customer Service”

The last story was named “Four Views of the Same Short Story”.

Four Views of the Same Short Story

A short Q and A followed. The whole hour was fun and perfect. It was my best hour of the con.

Saturday, January 19th at 6:30 PM (Err, I should have been there at 6:10 PM)

I watched the movie The Princess Bride. The Princess Bride was the theme of this con, Storming the ConFusion. I’ve seen the movie many times but I thought that it would be fun to see it here with an audience. In the Henry Ford boardroom (renamed Miracle Max’s Film Room for the Con) there is a large screen TV at one end of the room and a large table with comfortable chairs surrounding it. The movie played on the screen and all the dozen chairs were filled.

On the sheet posted on the door, it said the movie would start at 6:30 PM but I think it started at 6:10 PM. Then I arrived at 6:25 PM the scene playing was the one where the Man in Black (Dread Pirate Roberts, but secretly Westley) was sword fighting with Inigo Montoya and it was almost over. The movie ended at 7:40 PM and the movie is 90 minutes long so I figure about a 6:10 PM start. I watched the rest of the movie. The cool thing is that the five scenes at the beginning of the movie that I missed are all available on Youtube. I watched them all after the con. It turned out to be a great idea to watch the movie with others and I am glad that I did.

Youtube link to a playlist with 12 clips from the movie:

Sign on the door to the boardroom where the movie played.

Sunday, January 20th at 10 AM

I attended an interview with Ada Palmer, the Author Guest of Honor for ConFusion 2019. Ada Palmer was interviewed by Black Gate columnist Brandon Crilly. She is an associate professor of early modern European History at the University of Chicago. Ada Palmer first talked about her current project on censorship. She is co-writing a book called Censorship and Information Control in Information Revolutions with Cory Doctorow and Adrian Johns. Her project is funded through Kickstarter Their idea is that censorship has always been a part of society and always will. There are two kinds of censorship. The Catholic model where works are sent to a censer and edited before they are published and the English model where works are censored after they have been printed and deemed censorable.

Censorship relates to her current fiction novel series, Terra Ignota. She extrapolated certain trends from the past into the future to develop her series. Some of those trends are religiosity, the changing family unit, and gender relations. She recommended the short story The Autopsy by Michael Shae, link below. She identifies herself as a writer and not a professor. Her writing suggestion is to take an old story and edit it to half-length to get to the essence of the story. It will help the writer to be concise and make sure that every line and word is doing some work. Brandon conducted an interesting interview with Ada Palmer and I plan to read Too Like the Lightning this year. It’s on my Goodreads list.

This is Brandon Crilly’s announcement of the interview: https://brandoncrilly.wordpress.com/2019/01/16/this-weekend-confusion/

This is the Black Gate magazine webpage: https://www.blackgate.com/

This is Ada Palmer’s faculty page: https://history.uchicago.edu/directory/ada-palmer

Ada Palmer’s project is funded through Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/648994832/censorship-and-information-control-in-information

This is a link to the Goodreads page of Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota Book #1)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26114545-too-like-the-lightning

This is a link to the Goodreads page for the book The Weird, where The Autopsy by Michael Shae is published: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12344319-the-weird?ac=1&from_search=true

Sunday, January 20th at 12 PM

State of the Solar System panel with industrial scientist Bill Higgins, SF writer specializing in Mars fiction Martin L. Shoemaker, and professor from Connecticut State University Dr. Jennifer Piatek:

The same panel members from the Mars panel on Saturday continued their discussion about space exploration beyond Mars. They talked about the International Space Station first and then spent most of the rest of the panel talking about probes to the asteroids. The TV show Salvage 1 from 1979 starring Andy Griffith was mentioned about commercial space exploration. The show was about a man who built a spaceship intending to go to the moon and salvage the Apollo mission’s equipment and sell it on the Earth. It was an interesting panel and the room was packed, standing room only.

Sunday, January 20th at 1 PM

Supply Lines and Economics in Fantasy Worldbuilding panel with K. A. Doore, Ferrett Steinmetz, Jennifer Mace, Scott H. Andrews, Jon Skovron, and Teresa Nielsen Hayden.

They authors talked about how economics affected the story they write. The best part of the panel was their recommendations of resource books to read. They are 1491 by Charles Man, Debt by David Graeber, Great Cities in History by John Julius Norwich., and Food by Dorothy Hartley. There were two examples of novels using the topic illustrated, the Dagger and the Coin series by Daniel Abraham and War of Light and Shadow by Jenny Wurts. I wondered if six panelists were too many for them to get each of their points across, but the panel went smoothly, and each panelist had interesting comments. I put all the books mentions on my Goodreads to read list and look forward too many hours of good reading.

Recommendation – Conclusion

I had a great drive to Detroit just before the snowstorm. The con was set up well making it easy to find the locations. My star of the con was John Scalzi. He gave an excellent reading and was engaging in the panel I attended. My other highlights were Ada Palmer’s interview and watching The Princess Bride at the con. I’m planning to return next year.

Links

This is a link to John Scalzi’s post about attending ConFusion 2019.

View From a Hotel Window, 1/18/19: Detroit

The next most recent conference that I attended was Cleveland Inkubator which was held on August 4, 2018, at the Louis Stokes Wing of the Cleveland Public Library, 525 Superior Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44115. The event was sponsored by Literary Cleveland. This is a link to my conference recap.

Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference 2018

The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi

The Interdependency Sequence Book #2

Introduction

This is a book review of the Consuming Fire by John Scalzi. Cardenia Wu-Patrick is the most recent Emperox of the Interdependency. She is coronated as Grayland II and her reign starts with a crisis. The star systems of the Interdependency are connected by the Flow and the Flow is changing. She faces a looming disaster when the dependent colonies of the Interdependency will become isolated. What can she do about the collapse of the Flow and can she get the ruling class to agree to her solutions?

Summary – Background

Cardenia is concerned with the crisis of the projected collapse of the Flow connections to her Empire. The Flow is a wormhole network that connects the different stars of the Interdependency. Humans can only live on the surface of the planet called End. All other colonies are space stations or enclosed stations on planetary bodies. The Interdependency is headed by trading clans. Each clan owns a star system and has a monopoly on one product. The products are traded between clans and no colonies are independent. Cardenia’s clan is the Wu clan. The Wu clan created the Interdependency and every Emperox for the last thousand years has been a member of the Wu clan.

The secondary plot of the novel involves the Nohamapetan clan’s opposition to Cardenia’s rule. Nadashe Nohamapetan has been accused of the attempted assassination of Cardenia. Her mother, the Countess Nohamapetan tries to free her daughter. Cardenia lets the wheel of justice progress without interference. Cardenia put Kiva Lagos in charge of the Nohamapetan clan’s finances, which causes conflict with the Countess.

Summary – Main Plot

The main plot involves the projected collapse of the Flow. Flow physicist Count Claremont predicts the collapse of the Flow by his calculations. Flow Physicist Marce Claremont, his son, continues his father’s work and is Cardenia’s closest advisor. When the first Flow collapses as predicted, the Interdependency is rocked with the ramifications. Flow physicist Hatide Roynold has different ideas than Marce about the Flow. She predicts that other Flows will open as others close. A flow opens to a lost colony in the Dalasysla system that has been isolated from the Interdependency for 800 years. Cardenia sends Marce and Hatide to investigate the lost colony. They want to discover what can happen to an isolated colony when the Flow collapses. What Marce finds in Dalasysla will change what the people of the Interdependency think about their past and their future.

Recommendation

The Consuming Fire is a quick reading action novel with a satisfying conclusion that answers questions but raises more questions. It’s a great follow up to The Collapsing Empire and shows enough about the conflicts in the Interdependency to set up a spectacular conclusion in Book 3 which is tentatively titled The Last Emperox due to be released in 2020. I liked the relationship between Cardenia and Marce the best. They make an engaging pair. I thought the best part was the revelations that Marce discovers in the Dalasysla system. It’s an excellent expansion of the story’s universe. I plan to read Book 3 as soon as it is published.

Links

This is the link to The Consuming Fire’s Goodreads page.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37534901-the-consuming-fire

This is a link to my book review of The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi, Book 1 of the Interdependency Sequence

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

Bleak Harbor by Bryan Gruley

Bleak Harbor Book #1

Introduction

Danny is autistic and lives in the town of Bleak Harbor located on the Michigan shoreline of Michigan. He’s excited because the dragonfly festival and his sixteenth birthday will happen in the next week. He focusses his attention on certain topics like dragonflies, perch, the Chicago Cubs, and the poetry of Wallace Stevens. Danny lives by his routines, but his routines are disrupted when Danny disappears from his home. Who would kidnap him and why?

Summary

Danny has recently moved to Bleak Harbor with his mom Carey Bleak Peters and his stepfather Andrew “Pete” Peters. Bleak Harbor was founded by Danny’s ancestor Joseph Estes Bleak. The heir to the Bleak fortune worth millions of dollars is Serenity Meredith Maas Bleak, Carey’s mother. Carey and her brother Mayor Jonah Bleak have been written out of the will and Serenity wants to donate her money to the town if they will rename the town for her. Carey has been on her own since she had Danny and finished college. She had lived in Chicago with Danny and Pete. She still works in Chicago and commutes back to Bleak Harbor. Pete was a commodities trader in Chicago but lost his job and is now running a medical marijuana shop in Bleak Harbor. Carey and Pete are having marriage trouble and they both have secrets neither knows about the other. They both receive off text messages about their secrets. Danny goes missing and the secrets come out. Other characters that complicate the story include Katya Malone, a police officer assigned to Danny’s missing person case who is mourning the accidental death of her daughter, Randall Pressman, Carey’s boss who Carey has obtained incriminating evidence against, Quartz, Pressman’s fix-it man and a former NSA agent, Allen Locke, an ex-DEA agent who is hot on Pressman’s trail, Michele Higgins, a reporter looking for a big story, and Jeffrey Bledsoe, an ex-con and Danny’s birth father. The sins of the past haunt these characters and when all the secrets are revealed, will Danny survive?

Recommendation

Bleak Harbor is a taut thriller with enough twists and turns to make it a good read. The story starts out straight forward though Danny’s autism makes the beginning interesting. The change happens at the midpoint where a huge reveal changes everything that the reader thought before. That’s where this novel takes off and makes it a novel I can recommend. Book two of the Bleak Harbor series will be called Purgatory Bay and is expected to be released on January 14, 2020.

This is the link to Bleak Harbor’s Goodreads page.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39009406-bleak-harbor

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

The Murderbot Diaries Book #1

Introduction

The SecUnit (Security Unit) for the PreservationAux survey group has hacked and disabled her governor module during her last contract. The hack lets her follow the Company’s programming or to ignore it. She saves Dr. Bharadwaj from certain death from the hostile fauna of the planet where the PersevationAux group has been surveying to decide if they want to bid to the Company on building a colony there. The SecUnit calls herself Murderbot, but never out loud. Her feelings of companionship for her human employers impede her programming. What will she do when an unknown enemy threatens her charges, hide or fight?

Summary

SecUnits are made by the Company and must be used by every survey team for protection. The Company supplies all the materials to each survey team from the lowest bidder, so the materials are unreliable and suspect. SecUnits are half organic and half mechanical, so she is a cyborg. SecUnits are supposed to be perceived by their contractors as autonomous robots.  They can be repaired using the MedSystem. She communicates with the HubSystem of the habitat to keep the security of her charges. The story’s complication occurs when they lose contact with the DeltFall Group survey team, the only other survey team assigned to their planet. Dr. Mensah, the leader of the PreservationAux Group, investigates at DeltFall’s habitat despite the SecUnit’s suggestion they leave the investigation to the Company. What they find at the habitat changes their perspective on the Company and on their SecUnit’s behavior.

Recommendation

I loved this story. The action is tight, and the conclusion completes this story. The protagonist has the perfect blend of sarcasm and drive to understand her reasons for existing. She wants to sit back and watch her space soap operas, but her human charges keep getting in the way, making her have feelings she doesn’t understand. She is not the Murderbot she pretends to be and they catch on to her deception. This novella begins her transformation into something else. This story is the first of four novellas in the Murderbot Dairies series. I want to read the other three novellas available and the Murderbot novel that is scheduled to be released in 2020.

This is the link to the book’s Goodreads page.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32758901-all-systems-red?ac=1&from_search=true

Writing Progress Report for January 2019

This is my writing progress report for January 2019

Oh, Christmas Tree

Writing Progress from December 2018

I wrote 5 blog posts for garydavidgillen.com.

I bought and used the editing program Pro Writing Aid to edit the novel. I edited and typed Assassin in New Marl City Chapters 30, 32, and 33 in August of 2018. I started reviewing Chapters 34, 35, and 36 in September and plan to finish the review in January. Chapters 1 to 11 were reviewed by using Pro Writing Aid and submitted to my novel writing class.

The first draft of Assassin in New Marl City was complete at 99981 words in July of 2018. Decided to cut six chapters to use in book #2 and write two new chapters to end up with about 88000 words in book #1. I wrote the new Chapter 5 in September and new Chapter 10 was written in December. Draft 2 is complete at 89072 words.

I submitted a scene with a Christmas theme from Chapter 11 of my novel for my writing class.

The stories 4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, Get to the Point, and LARP Film Noir have been submitted to magazines.

Statistics of magazine submissions for 2018 are; 0 different stories submitted a total of 0 times with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and 0 rejections.

Events from December 2018

I did not attend an event in December 2018.

Writing Goals for January 2019

I plan to write 4 blog posts for garydavidgillen.com.

Type the edits for Assassin in New Marl City Chapters 34, 35, and 36 in January 2019.

Edit Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 of Assassin in New Marl City using comments from the Advanced Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio.

Revise Space Station Sunyata for my intermediate writing workshop at South Euclid, Ohio.

Polish and submit the stories Sleeping Sickness, Space-Dog Confession, White Bracer, Mage Squad, I Shall Not Return, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short fiction magazines.

Submit 4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, and LARP Film Noir 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.

Purchase e-book covers for Searcher of Riven and Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.

Purchase an e-book cover for Assassin in New Marl City from Fiveer.

Planned Events for January 2019

The next conference that I would like to attend is ConFusion in Dearborn, Michigan from January 17 to 20, 2019. ConFusion is sponsored by the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association.

Links

This is a link to my December 2018 Writing Progress Report

Writing Progress Report for December 2018

Hamilton, an American Musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Hamilton, an American Musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Hamilton, An American Musical

I watched the play Hamilton on 08-25-18 at the State Theater in Cleveland, Ohio. After enjoying the play, I wanted to experience all things, Hamilton. This review includes five different media I experienced in 2018. I watched the play; I read the biography; I read the book featuring all the lyrics and stories about the production; I ripped the soundtrack from the library, and I ripped the Hamilton Mixtape from the library. All the media was great, and I am glad I pursued all things, Hamilton. If the play comes back to Cleveland, I would like to see it again.

Hamilton play Introduction

I made a monthly plan for 2018 to go out with my wife for date nights. The plan was Hamilton on 8-25, the Ohio State Buckeyes versus Oregon State on 9-1, the play of Pride and Prejudice on 10-27, the big ten championship game on 12-1, and the Cleveland orchestra Christmas concert at severance hall on 12-22. They were all great events. I wasn’t sure I would like Hamilton because I had heard about the amount of the rap used by the actors. I’m not a rap fan, I am a rock fan. But when the play started on 8-25, I was hooked. The play tells the gripping story of Alexander Hamilton’s life with no dialog. All the words are sung using different styles of music including rap, rock, R & B, soul, Broadway tunes and Motown.

Hamilton play Summary

Alexander Hamilton immigrated to New York City as a young man, became a successful lawyer, fought in the American Revolution, was George Washington’s closest confidant, and created the Federal banking system. But the people of our culture remember him as the face on the ten-dollar bill and the guy who lost a duel to Aaron Burr. This play makes the story real and applicable to today. Lin-Manuel Miranda, the play’s author, the songwriter and the lead actor, author, the songwriter and the lead actor is a genius. He based this play on the Hamilton biography of Ron Chernow. It’s so much more than a play. His lyrics are rich and on point. He tells us a compelling story. The final song’s title says it all. Who lives, who dies, who tells your story. Lin-Manuel told Alexander Hamilton’s story, he told it well, and it will be told for generations to come. That is the definition of a legacy, a wonderful achievement.

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Alexander Hamilton Introduction

Ron Chernow researched every part of Alexander Hamilton’s life to write his biography called Alexander Hamilton. He tracked down all the available sources and wrote this biography, warts and all. Hamilton was brilliant and driven to succeed, but his passions lead him to poor choices in business, love, and pursuing a vendetta that leads to his fatal duel.

Alexander Hamilton Summary

The biography starts with his parents. They were a black sheep fourth child of a Scottish nobleman and a plantation girl from the island of Nevis. Hamilton’s drive to better his position in life was from seeking to avoid being poor like them. He inspired the people of St. Croix with a published letter about a hurricane that hit the island and they gathered the money to send him away to school. Hamilton went to King’s College (now called Columbia) in New York City. He became a lawyer and fought in the Revolutionary War as George Washington’s most trusted aide. He longed for the glory of battle but was too valuable for his administrative skills for Washington to risk him in combat so he saw limited action. After the war, he was the first treasury secretary for Washington’s cabinet and he set up the Federal banking system from scratch. Washington and Hamilton were the leaders of the Federalist Party and were opposed by the Democrat-Republicans led by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Aaron Burr.

Aaron Burr started as a friend and colleague to Hamilton, but the slights between the two men graduated up into a vendetta. Hamilton’s aspirations of becoming the next president were ended with a sex scandal started by the Reynolds Pamphlet which was written by Hamilton himself. After Washington retired, Hamilton became the highest ranking general in the army, but they did not go to war with England again at that time. Hamilton blocked Aaron Burr’s bid to become the third president and this lead to the fatal duel.

Alexander Hamilton Recommendation

Chernow makes all the aspects of Alexander Hamilton’s life come alive and it is easy to see how Lin-Manuel Miranda was inspired to write songs and eventually a play about it.

Link to Goodreads page of Hamilton Biography


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16130.Alexander_Hamilton

Hamilton The Revolution

There’s a book on the Hamilton play called Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter. The book has the full lyrics of the songs from the Broadway Musical with annotations by Lin-Manuel. It also includes pictures from the performances. The 46 songs are arranged into 32 chapters and each chapter starts with a short article about different aspects of the production. The articles cover the original solo performance of the song Alexander Hamilton by Lin-Manuel, background information about the main players of the original production, backstage stories on the set, choreography, instrumentation, costumes, cut and unused alternate songs, and other insights. My highlights were pictures of the original notebook notes from Lin-Manuel on pages 36 & 202, the full lyrics of the cut song Cabinet Battle #3 on the debate on slavery on page 212, and photographs of original letters and pamphlets written by Hamilton. This book brings back memories of the play, the annotated lyrics gives insight into the writing process, and studying the printed lyrics help in understanding all the words to the cast recording.

Link to Goodreads page of Hamilton the Revolution

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26200563-hamilton

Hamilton The Cast Recording

I borrowed the double CD from the library of Hamilton, American Musical, the Original Broadway recording. All 46 songs, 23 per disk, of the play are on the disks. I like all the songs but my favorite five tunes are in order from the best; Alexander Hamilton, My Shot, You’ll Be Back, The Room Where It Happens, and Who Lives Who Dies Who Tells Your Story.

Hamilton The Mixtape

Lin-Manuel Miranda also commissioned various artists to cover the songs from the cast recording. The songs are on the CD, The Hamilton Mixtape. My favorite five tunes in order from best are; Say Yes To This, Helpless, Dear Theodosia (Reprise), Wait for it, and It’s Quiet Uptown. There were two songs that were not part of the play that were demoed for this CD. They were Valley Forge and Cabinet Battle #3. Both songs were interesting, and it’s too bad they couldn’t be included in the play because of time and material.

My Hamilton Mixtape

I made a 21 song under 80 minutes Mix tape featuring the best songs from both albums as follows:

Alexander Hamilton from the Cast Recording

My Shot from the Cast Recording

The Story of Tonight from the Cast Recording

The Schuyler Sisters from the Cast Recording

You’ll Be Back from the Cast Recording

Helpless recorded by Ashanti

Satisfied recorded by Queen Latifah

Wait For It recorded by Usher

That Would Be Enough recorded by Alicia Keys

What Comes Next? From the Cast Recording

Dear Theodosia (Reprise) recorded by Chance the Rapper

Say No To This from the Cast Recording

Say Yes To This recorded by Jill Scott

The Room Where It Happens from the Cast Recording

Washington On Your Side from the Cast Recording

One Last Time from the Cast Recording

I Know Him from the Cast Recording

Burn recorded by Andra Day

It’s Quiet Uptown recorded by Kelly Clarkson

The World Was Wide Enough from the Cast Recording

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story from the Cast Recording

Links

I mentioned watching the play and reading the biography in my Writing Progress Report for October 2018. This is the link.

Writing Progress Report for October 2018

Original Performance of Alexander Hamilton

Bonus: There is a YouTube video of an original solo performance of the song Alexander Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda at an evening of poetry, music and the spoken word at the White House on May 12, 2009. It’s an amazing performance with over 6 million views.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8_ARd4oKiI

How to Write Best Selling Fiction by Dean Koontz

Introduction

Dean Koontz wrote a book in 1972 called Writing Popular Fiction for Writers Digest Books. In 1981 he expanded and rewrote it and published it as How to Write Best Selling Fiction. He mentions doing another edition in about ten years, but it’s been over thirty years and no new edition has been released. I heard about this book from many sources over the years but did not pick up a copy. Recently, an internet writing teacher I follow, Jerry Jenkins, mentioned it at jerryjenkins.com. He wrote the Left Behind series and over 190 books. He says Koontz’s book inspired to become a writer. The advice within helped him to write fast and well. So, with those recommendations in mind, I resolved to buy the book, since it was unavailable through my library. It can only be bought as a used original edition. The cheapest copies at Amazon were $200, so I gathered together my Amazon gift cards and ordered a copy. My copy arrived, and the dust jacket looked pristine as showed in the picture attached to this review. The book’s first printing was 1981. This book is from the second printing in April 1982. The binding is broken in one spot. That can be seen in the second attached picture. The reader marked the book in ink and highlighted passages with a yellow highlighter. Observations are written in the margins by the first reader and some of them are insightful. No pages are missing or torn.

Summary

So, what information did I learn from this book? The book is 309 pages long with 15 chapters of advice and definitions. Koontz explains why he wrote this book, explains his writing process, and gives examples excerpted from his fiction. Key points from page 75 are that the novel’s protagonist must face terrible trouble at the novel’s beginning and from page 111 the complications must build up to a final and worst complication leading to the resolution. He describes how he uses the idea pump on pages 65 and 72, a free-form word association used to create an idea for a novel-length work. Koontz describes his four-point classic plot story pattern for successful novels on page 74. This is the structure that Jerry Jenkins teaches. The main take away of the book is given in eight points of what a reader demands on page 13.

  1. A strong plot
  2. Action, Action, Action
  3. A hero or heroine
  4. Believable Characters
  5. Character motivations explained
  6. Developed setting
  7. Good Grammar and Syntax
  8. Style: use vivid and visual writing

These eight points are explained in chapters 4 to 11. Koontz specifically gives his advice on how to write successfully in the science fiction and mystery genres in chapter 12. He gives writing advice in chapter 13 and publishing advice in Chapter 14. Chapter 15 is an exhaustive list of the authors Koontz recommends reading including their best-known works. He believes that to be a writer of popular fiction, you must read the popular authors to learn how to write like them. A serious writer would want to read them all. There are 101 authors named, and I have read works from 44 of them.

Recommendation

            So, what is my opinion of the book? Koontz uses a conversational tone that establishes him as a mentor to the reader. The advice is solid and applicable for today. The examples are dated but also interesting. I can see why this book could not be updated. It would have to be completely rewritten with new examples and updated genre information so that is probably why Koontz has not done it so far. I am a better writer having read this book, so I am glad I purchased it. It is one of the best writing books I have read. If you enjoy writing, then I suggest buying or borrowing a copy.

Links

Link to the Goodreads page for How to Write Best Selling Fiction by Dean Koontz.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/286475.How_to_Write_Best_Selling_Fiction

Link to my review of another great book on writing called Beginnings, Middles, and Ends by Nancy Kress.

Beginnings, Middles, & Ends by Nancy Kress

The Autumn Republic by Brian McClellan

Book #3 of the Powder Mage Trilogy

Introduction

War has come to the country of Adro in this gunpowder mage fantasy. The main characters, Field Marshal Tamas, Powder Mage Taniel Two-shot, and Inspector Adamat, seek to liberate Adro from its enemies. The Brudanians hold Adro’s capital city of Adopest and the Kez army is driving up through Surkov’s Alley. Taniel and the main Adran army is stuck in between them. Tamas and his two veteran brigades along with their Deliv allies are hurrying to save the day. Can the two armies meet up in time? Can Taniel’s savage priestess keep the sleeping god named Kresimir asleep keeping him from destroying the whole world? Can the heroes win the war and save Adro from its enemies?

Summary

This is the third book in the powder mage trilogy, so long-standing plot threads resolve though new ones start to set up the next trilogy in this series. Field Marshal Tamas threw over the Adran monarchy before the events of the first novel. He wants to develop a long-term plan to support a republic and throw out the foreign invaders of Adro. Tamas is a powerful powder mage. Powder mages ingest gunpowder by eating it or sniffing it. The powder gives them supernatural powers. Taniel, Tamas’s son, is also a powder mage. His talent gives him healing power, strength, and the ability to direct bullets from his gun to his desired target. Taniel loves fighting in the war but despises politics. Setting up a republic demands the election of a prime minister. The candidates are labor leader Richard, who wants Taniel as his running mate, and Lord Claremont. The election will have ramifications for Adro’s future.

Some people in this world have special abilities of a minor nature and they are called Knacked. Inspector Adamat’s knocked power is a photographic memory which helps him solves cases. He works for Tamas trying to learn about what is going on in occupied Adopest. Another type of magic power is used by the Privileged, who tap into an elemental power they call the Else. Bo is the last living member of the Adro Cabal, a group of privileged, and his apprentice is named Nila. The wildcard is Ka-poel who has a voodoo-like talent using dolls. Taniel brought her to Adro from savage Fatrasta during the time when he fought there. She is honor bound to him. He treats her like a younger sister sometimes, but at other times he thinks of her a potential lover. Vlora, another powder mage, was Taniel’s former lover and almost fiancé. She conflicts Taniel because they have feelings for each other despite their breakup. Olem is Tamas’s most trusted aide. He is romantically linked to both Nila and Vlora.

All these characters have come to Adro in this novel and must succeed in each one’s individual tasks doing their part to save the republic. An unexpected powerful enemy disrupts their plans and they must improvise or not just Adro, but the whole world will be in jeopardy of destruction.

Recommendation

The Autumn Republic was a great conclusion to the powder mage trilogy. The many viewpoint characters complete their assigned tasks and prepares for the final challenge. The conclusion changes the world forever but shows how the next trilogy will begin. The next trilogy is called Gods of Blood and Powder starting with the novel Sins of Empire which was released in 2017. Wrath of Empire was released in 2018 and Blood of Empire is scheduled to be released in 2019. I have a copy of Sins of Empire and will read it soon in 2019. Highly recommended. I suggest reading the whole trilogy, from the beginning to the end.

Links

Link to Goodreads page for The Autumn Republic

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20883847-the-autumn-republic?ac=1&from_search=true

Link to my review of The Crimson Campaign (Powder Mage Book #2)

The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan

Artemis by Andy Weir

Introduction

Jasmine “Jazz” Bashara is a poor smugggler and thief on the moon colony of Artemis. She dreams of being rich, but won’t get involved with drugs and guns though that is where the most money is. That is until she gets an offer she can’t refuse. All it’ll take is a little sabotage and she can retire with a million Artemisan slugs. But the best laid plans never work and she must improvise or she’ll be killed by a Brazillian drug cartel assassin or die with everyone else in Artemis by poisoned air. How can she survive and get her money too?

Summary

Jazz came to Artemis as a little girl, she is 24 at the time in the novel, so the moon is all she knows. Her father is a welder who wants her to work with him, but she doesn’t want that boring vocation. She works as a porter, waiting until her plans pay off. What she wants is to earn her EVA license, so she can get big money conducting EVA tours at the Apollo 11 landing site for tourists, but she fails her test which sets the caper into motion. She longs to pull off the big score. She’s small, smart, and sassy. The novel is seen from her perspective. Any task she tries, she succeeds, but she is usually unmotivated to try. Trond, a billionaire speculator, makes her an offer she should refuse, but she decides to take it to accomplish her goal to become rich. Jazz starts her scheme but must rely on her friends; techno geek Svoboda, smuggler partner Kelvin, and her EVA master friend Dale, the gay guy who stole her boyfriend for himself. All of them and Jazz’s father get involved with her plans. To accomplish her goal, Jazz must face Rudy the cop, an assassin, the Artemis colony leader, and the architect of the Aluminum smelter that Jazz must sabotage.

Recommendation

I enjoyed reading this novel. It runs at a brisk pace. Jazz has a sarcastic voice like Mark Watney from The Martian, also written by Andy Weir, but she remains a young woman. Her challenges come quickly one after another. The science is woven into the story deftly. She analyzes her options and figures out ingenious solutions as she goes. The story barrels on to the end. The side characters are memorable, and the conclusion resolves the plot satisfactorily. Highly recommended.

Links

Link to Goodreads page for Artemis

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34928122-artemis?ac=1&from_search=true

Writing Progress Report for December 2018

Cleveland Orchestra

Nothing like the Christmas Concert with the Cleveland Orchestra and a choir at Severance Hall in Cleveland, Ohio. I attended on December 22, 2018. Jamie Farr narrated The Night Before Christmas. The whole show was wonderful.

Writing Progress from November 2018

I wrote 1 blog post for garydavidgillen.com.

I bought and used the editing program Pro Writing Aid to edit the novel. I edited and typed Assassin in New Marl City Chapters 30, 32, and 33 in August of 2018. I started reviewing Chapters 34, 35, and 36 in September and plan to finish the review in December.

The first draft of Assassin in New Marl City was complete at 99981 words in July of 2018. Decided to cut six chapters to use in book #2 and write two new chapters to end up with about 88000 words in book #1. I wrote the new Chapter 5 in September and new Chapter 10 was written in early December.

I wrote the story, Popular Mechanics Rebrewed, for my writing class.

The stories 4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, Get to the Point, and LARP Film Noir have been submitted to magazines.

Statistics of magazine submissions for 2018 are; 0 different stories submitted a total of 0 times with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and 0 rejections.

Events from November 2018

I missed the Book Baby Authors Con in Philadelphia, PA, on November 4, 2018.

Writing Goals for December 2018

I plan to write 4 blog posts for garydavidgillen.com.

Write the second of two new chapters for Assassin in New Marl City. It is the new Chapter 10.

Type the edits for Assassin in New Marl City Chapters 34, 35, and 36 in December 2018.

Edit Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of Assassin in New Marl City using comments from the Advanced Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio.

Revise Space Station Sunyata for my intermediate writing workshop at South Euclid, Ohio.

Polish and submit the stories Sleeping Sickness, Space-Dog Confession, White Bracer, Mage Squad, I Shall Not Return, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short fiction magazines.

Submit 4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, and LARP Film Noir 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.

Purchase e-book covers for Searcher of Riven and Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.

Purchase an e-book cover for Assassin in New Marl City from Fiveer.

Planned Events for December 2018

The next conference that I would like to attend is ConFusion in Dearborn, Michigan from January 17 to 20, 2019. ConFusion is sponsored by the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association.

Link to ConFusion Detroit website.

http://confusionsf.org/

Links

This is a link to my Writing Progress Report for November 2018.

Writing Progress Report for November 2018