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 The FSFS Newsletter is written by FSFS members covering everything Fantasy and Sci-Fi |
The "Fantasy and Science Fiction Society" welcomes you to  Welcome to the February edition of the FSFS Newsletter, brought to you by the members of the "Fantasy and Science Fiction Society" . Each month the Newsletter features articles from members at all stages of their writing career, be they just starting to write stories, or published authors. Contents 1. Month Summary 2. New Year brings New Goals 3. Valentine's Day 4. Being a Woman -reflections on the eve of Valentine's Day 5. Scilock on Playing God 6. Matt Bird's Response to Playing God 7. Commas 8. Being a Vendor & Guest at a Con - Day 2B 9. Book Review - Dreamsnake, Vonda N. McIntyre 10. Advertisements 11. Newsletter Challenges  Love is (well was) in the air! February is the month of romance with Valentine's Day stealing the hearts (and, some might argue the money) of couples everywhere! If you ever plan to write a romance story this is the month to be inspired by and also the month you should probably have submitted well in advance of if you were looking to get it into a magazine!  ** Image ID #2025634 Unavailable ** This article was intended for the January edition but was not ready in time New Year means new beginnings, new chances, new resolutions, new writing and reading goals. I believe that many people feel unmotivated about setting their goals. The lack of motivation comes from last year's failure at your set goal. But let me tell you, You. Can. Achieve. Your. Goals! Yes!  ** Image ID #2025633 Unavailable ** I'll share a secret recipe with you. Wink  Start working toward your goals today. Read inspirational stories or quotes to help you get started. Set Small TargetsWhen you already start off with a large target, it is highly unlikely you'll succeed. Don't get me wrong but if you set your target your reviewing goal to 50 a month when you have never even done 25, how can you expect the good outcome? Start off with a small number which you are confident you can achieve it. Set a Small Time FrameIf you set a target for an entire year, it becomes automatically a large number and even though it's yearly target where you've got 12 months, seeing the high target makes your heat quiver. Well that's my personal opinion after experience anyway. Track Your ProgressUse something to track your progress. Be it a simple notebook, your journal, a spreadsheet, an activity you join. There are a few activities here on WDC that can help you achieve your goals by providing enormous support, motivation and rewards. "Give It 100!" by ruwth  is a good activity for setting your target for 100 days and then achieving it. The target can be anything, from something related to writing and reading to real life! I joined this activity to go on a walk for 1.6 kilometers everyday and I completed it! When you achieve your goal, not only you get gps from people who have sponsored you but an Exclusive merit badge! "Invalid Item" by A Guest Visitor is another excellent place to set your goals and achieve them else you'll be whipped!  Although it's closed now, you can keep an eye out for when it opens in March. "CLOSED!The Monthly Reading Challenge" by ~Minja~  is the perfect place for setting your reading goals and completing them! "Monthly Writing Accountability Challenge" by Storm Machine  is another place. A monthly writing competition designed to hold you accountable for your goals. You can track your progress using the new progress bar by the awesome The StoryMistress  and The StoryMaster  . I am putting some up for you (examples).55% Reviewing Progress for January 2015 22% Writing Progress for January 2015 12% Reading Progress for January 2015 I will share my progress and goals for 2015 with you too   Read at least 50 books, 4-5 books every month. Write a minimum of 100 words for my novel (Starting Today) Reviewing goal is 15 reviews per month Blog! Minimum three times in a week. (Starting Today) Earn exclusive merit badges especially FSFS badge  "Invalid Item" by A Guest Visitor  According to Wikipedia, Valentine’s Day had its early roots that began with a saint called Valentinus. After wedding Roman soldiers, he was imprisoned for it and, as the legend says, he miraculously saved the daughter of the prison ward and before his death he composed a letter divulging his love (unromantic love) and concern for her that was titled “Your Valentine.” The romantic love aspect was instilled with the well noted Geoffrey Chaucer. At that time the traditional love letters and the giving of flowers began. A significant fact is that the name was synonymous with many individuals who were executed for Christian beliefs. Nations all over the world have some sort of “Valentine’s Day” occurrence like Iran where they celebrate Sepandarmazgan which is the demonstration of love for wives and mothers. Most such days are not considered as official holidays however. I had no idea that Valentine’s day was so diversely celebrated. Even in the Asian countries of Taiwan and Japan have a form of the American gift giving as an expression of love. It simply goes to show the universal concept of love and our desire to demonstrate it. The story of a boy who has a crush on a girl and must work up the nerve to ask her to “Be his” is the classic example of the day. The way we give heart shaped balloons, heart shaped hard candies with sayings on them and paper hearts and letters will always represent our celebration of love. I don't see any point in discussing which gender is stronger, wiser, and more influential. That is what both genders do when asked to talk about the subject. Why not see ourselves as part of the “order of things”, where male and female are responsible for the continuation of the race and each must find his/her place in the world? I often find it degrading when men start with the unsubstantiated statement that they are better equipped to tackle everyday problems. The truth to be known is that women were found more intelligent (higher IQ) than men! When I look at the animal world, I can see many similarities. The first goal for a female is to reproduce and raise her offspring. The rest is just playing along or utilizing natural tendencies, like the elephant female who is by agreement the leader of the herd and not the male, or the lioness who is the better hunter… and there are many examples. There were times, when I was a girl and throughout my teen years, that I wished I'd been born a boy. I was what is known as a Tom Boy, smart, athletic and strong emotionally. I could beat almost any boy at any game and was often angry when I was classified as a girl. I also learnt at an early age that girls could not be trusted, and my best friends were always boys. Come to think of it, all the things men hate about women - like being emotional, gossipmongers and changing their minds often - these are normally treats copied by girls from their mothers. But I was never like that and the few female friends I have are just like me. All in all, what do I think about myself as a woman? I am naturally a mother. That comes before anything else. Perhaps I will not give up my identity and my dreams just for the sake of being a mother, but I did put on hold a few items on my agenda. Being a woman doesn't necessarily mean that I see things from a different point of view. I think men and women are built in a complimentary way, to suit each other, and the fact that we live in a male dominated world is just a matter of how one looks at it. Take ALL women out of this world, and see how far men will go… And the same can be said vice-versa. I am what I am. I was raised as female and I feel that given the chance I could feel more secure as a person, if only men will forget their stupid prejudices. I don't go around moaning that men don't understand me. The way they see me is exactly the way I present myself. There are weak personalities on both sides, and basically I think that women as a gender can do much better in this world. Would I still want to be a man? Honestly, I can't answer. I would have missed giving birth to my children, and that is one experience and privilege unique to women and I would never give it up.  I have recently caught wind that scientists are trying to gain permission from the world community to bring back a number of extinct animals back from the dead. These include the Aurochs or giant bull, The Dodo Bird, The Woolly Mammoth, The Saber-toothed cat, and the Tasmanian Tiger. Now this technology is already here. They have already cloned a sheep. The concern I have is the dangers of a male and female getting out. Years ago, scientists bred African bees with American bees to try to create a less hostile bee that produces more honey. The two queens they had escaped. Now, we have Africanized bees swarming all over the southern US and South America. All because some mad scientist wanted to play God. The same exists in Fantasy and Science fiction. Monsters are created when man plays God.  What does 'playing God' actually mean? It is a phrase bandied about and is almost exclusively used as a negative term. The phrase typically means that humans interfere with some natural process to produce something we desire. In the example given cloning is playing God. We are interfering by making something impossible happen because we want to do it. Guess what? For millennia we have been playing God. Brocoli (pictured) only exists because of us! It's kale. Humans selectively bred wild kale over many many years, each time using only the seeds of the crop that had the specific properties we wanted. Over time the selections we make change the plant so much it practically becomes a whole new species. Carrots weren't originally orange. Cauliflower doesn't exist naturally. Cows wouldn't produce so much meat or milk without us intervening when we started using them 10 thousand years ago! And do you think any of our domesticated dogs occurred naturally? The point is we have been taking advantage of nature for a long time. Now we are in a position to do so more selectively. We understand the genetics. We understand the science, the chemistry behind it all. We could, theoretically, feed the planet with cloning and genetic engineering/modification. But we don't. Why? Because of scaremongering by anti-science groups. We have the technology, knowledge and ability to produce a new type of rice that could potentially save millions of lives. The Golden Rice has the ability to synthesis a molecule called beta-carotene. This would produce vitamin A in the bit eaten by humans. Every year 670,000 children under the age of 5 die in part due to a vitamin A deficiency. Do 670,000 children have access to this life-saving rice? No. Only a small portion have access because only a small number of places actually cultivate this rice. I'm not saying this rice would save them. It wouldn't. But coupled with other health initiatives this could save thousands of lives year on year. But playing God is bad according to some groups. So we need to do more tests, don't we. If we can prove that the modified foods pose no risk to human or environmental health then surely these groups would back down for the greater good? Well, not exactly. Protesters destroy test fields so scientists can't actually produce the data required to test these products. In 2013 protestors literally uprooted the Golden Rice test crops being grown in the Philippines. And yet they complain there is no evidence to back up the health claims. Go figure. What would you say if I told you there was a technique to prevent mothers with mitochondrial disease passing it onto their children, effectively stopping the disease from ever being present in their genetic lineage again? You'd probably say, 'fantastic, how many has it saved?' In the UK it has only just been legally allowed. There was actually a debate on whether to allow a child to be born without a severe genetic condition. I understand debating the safety of the procedure. But that part of the debate was actually resolved a fair while before the law was passed. The hold up was that certain groups, chiefly the Catholic church, was worried about the implications of 'playing God.' Maybe I'm a lunatic, but I would put the health and well-being of our children far higher than anything else. We have in our grasp the ability to wipe a genetic disease for good from our family trees and we were all sat around debating whether we should! The procedure involves taking the fertilised egg from the mother (fertilised by normal proceedings with the birds and the bees...), then removing the nucleus and inserting it into a new donor embryo. Only the mitochondria will contain the DNA of the 'third parent'. Almost all of the child's DNA will come from the two main parents. The only difference is there is an added bit of life-saving from a third parent. I am so glad the UK government saw test and has now legalised this procedure. Now, SciLock presented us the case of the African Bees which bred with American bees and the progeny escaped. The 'mad scientist' in question was trying to produce bees which were less hostile and produced more honey. In other words a bee that wouldn't be so mean and would produce more of a product that we want. The problem wasn't actually caused by this scientist. A visiting scientist accidentally removed the safe-guards in place so he could tamper with the experiment (to be fair, he thought he was helping). The science wasn't the problem. It was pure human error. The experiment wasn't finished. The bees hadn't yet been fully selected for temperament so we the hostility of the African bees still there. If this unfortunate event hadn't happened, I reckon the US would have a higher honey production and less hostile bees. The other main point raised is that of cloning, specifically de-extinction. Now, I don't see a real need to clone Wooly Mammoths, and aside from proof-of-concept projects, I doubt anyone will be doing this with the intetion of releasing them into the wild. The main mammoth cloning research I could find intends to release it into a monitored natural reserve if they are successful. However, there is the case of the Pyrenean ibex. It officially went extinct in 2000. As is often the case with recent extinctions, we hunted them to endangerment in the 19th ad 20th centuries. Then our expansion into their habitat meant they could no longer compete with other native animals and so went extinct. There is certainly a debate to be had here. We caused the extinction. If we have the technology, should we bring it back? If using the playing God argument, then playing God made it extinct, so should we play God and bring it back? I don't know. It is a moral debate that will rage for years. BUT! We have actually semi-successfully cloned it back out of extinction once already. Using DNA taken in 1999 from the last surviving ibex, scientists cloned it and had a living ibex for 7 minutes in 2003. Sadly it died of a lung disease, which was possibly part of the cloning process. It died. But we learnt so much from that. We have successfully cloned living animals like sheep. This research is vital. We could use cloned animals with slightly altered DNA to produce medicines. Like a cow which produces a medicine in its milk which we can then extract. Now, the argument often mentioned in these debates is 'what if the cloned animals escape? Won't they start breeding with our animals?' Most likely not. In the majority of modern cloning procedures the DNA is altered sufficiently that viable off spring cannot be produced if the animals were to try to cross breed. We already do this with agricultural GM crops. There is no way a GM crop could be polinated with the pollen of a non-GM crop or vice-versa. So, I say this to all those thinking of writing cloning or GM into their fantasy or sci-fi stories. Why not shine a good light on it? What about a world where cloning, GM, and 'playing God' has made the population healthier? Of course the conflict would have to come from else where, but the technology and science could just be background setting. The key, as with anything, is do your research. Don't pick a buzz word like cloning and just go with the media's perception. Don't just go on what I've written either. Go to Wikipedia, look for news articles, if you have access perhaps read a science paper or two. Check other sources. Corroborate what you learn with multiple sources. Then form your own opinion. Remember, you own opinion only has weight if you have the facts and evidence to support it and that you understand the opposing view. Maybe that's the story! A character who goes on an adventure to find the truth and has to work out what is fact and what is fiction. Both sides could go to extra-ordinary measures to persuade the character, but he/she has to form their own opinion.  I like cooking my family and my pets. I also like to use commas so I don't look like a psycho to literary agents, editors, and publishers. So I want to touch on the simple mechanics of our main medium: WORDS. You can kill with words, give birth, dethrone kings, and maybe even cook your family and your pets. But in order to do that you must understand the weapon you hold in your hands. Food can feed the masses. Unless it is made of plastic. Or it only exists in your head. Just like words, you can feed the intellect of the masses, but you need to make sure it's not made of plastic once it actually leaves the confines of your cranium. What am I getting at? Food, of course. You’ve got to know what will feed us, what is simply for our enjoyment, how to cook without burning, how to know what is underfeeding and what is overfeeding. Oh wait! The same goes for words. Here are some guidelines to prevent smoke alarms screaming at us: GRAMMAR OXFORD COMMA: "I like cooking my family and my pets." I've seen some debates about how to use a comma in this instance. But from my findings, editors like what they call the "Oxford Comma" and it is used like this: "I like cooking, my family, and my pets." The Oxford Comma is the comma in the list right before the "and". Because if you don't use the Oxford Comma, you'll get a sentence like this: "My heroes are my parents, Superman and Wonder Woman." So are you in fact saying your parents are Superman and Wonder woman? If so, AWESOME! However, they are in fact my parents and I am not related to you so you might just want to slip that comma between "Superman" and "and" to eliminate some awkward questioning for my parents. OTHER COMMAS: I love English but I don't know to explain all the rules in a verbiage where everyone is confused. But what I DO know is how to pick out when something sounds wrong and adjust accordingly. Here are some sentences to show you what is incorrect, and what is correct: Witches, brew Grandma - incorrect (unless you really want witches to brew your grandma. Totally fine.) Witches brew, Grandma - correct Let's eat kids - incorrect (unless you really are inviting people to each children with you) Let's eat, kids - correct There are more good ones, but instead of listing them all here is the link where they can be found: http://www.zazzle.com/writingcom.  It’s the afternoon of the second day at Chessiecon. I had an hour at my booth in the Dealer’s Room, which is in a large open area behind the lobby. This isn’t typical of other vendor areas at other locales I’ve been to. There wasn’t a lot of walk through traffic at this hour and based on comments from the other vendors, there wasn’t yesterday, either. Being new to this, I’m sharing my table, which helps keep my costs down. I haven’t met the paranormal urban fantasy author I’m sharing the table with yet, who in addition to selling her books is apparently selling jewelry and, hmm, pixie dust. Besides her great book covers, that makes her interesting in my book. I’ve just made my first sale. Feels good, now off for a quick lunch and onto my next panel, “Where are your Gods,” which is moderated by Carl Cipra, and features C.S. Friedman, Kelly Harmon, Timothy Liebe and Tamora Pierce. Carl Cipra, who is one of my favorite moderators, explored how our religious backgrounds affect our writing. He posed the following questions: Is it on or off the page? Do we choose to risk alienating more traditional readers by an alternative spiritual path or do you stand up as an example? How important is it that your audience knows where you are coming from? Since I personally feel this may be a sensitive topic for authors to share publicly outside of the session, I’m not going to quote my fellow authors, just summarize. The panelists ranged from monotheists to those who are not. The moderator started by asking: “Do you choose to publicize your beliefs or do you keep them private?” For some of the authors, they said they do not typically share their backgrounds publicly. Others replied that their world building often reflects where they come from. Others replied they are careful not to have their religion be evident in their stories. Others stated their religious backgrounds are reflected in various ways in what they write – sometimes openly evident and others letting it “resonate,” my term for it, not theirs. None of us as authors wish to lead religious diatribes or write anything that will offend readers of particular faiths. Essentially it is not good for business, we write fantasy and sci fi, after all. Our business is writing stories people will enjoy reading and in building our audience. “Is it important that readers know where we’re coming from?” the moderator asked. I shared that as a teen I began reading sci fi and looked for where those of my heritage were in the future. I admit, it was often difficult to find, so I decided that one day my stories would at least “resonate” for those who come from the same heritage – if you knew what to look for. That’s what I still seek to instill in my books. The other authors felt that it's not really important for the readers to know your background. What’s really important is connecting with readers, not alienating them. After the session it was back to the Dealer’s area, where I hope to sell more books in the next six hours or so. Luckily, I’ve brought snacks in case I get hungry… "Being a Vendor & Guest at a Con-Day 2B " by Highmage - D.H. Aire   Book Name: Dreamsnake Author: Vonda N. McIntyre First Published: 1978 Awards: Hugo, Nebula, Locus Vonda N. McIntyre was born in 1948 in Louisville, Kentucky. She moved around a great deal during her childhood finally settling in Seattle, Washington with her family. She earned a bachelor of science in biology at the University of Washington and graduated with honors. Before going on to graduate school, she attended the Clarion Writers Workshop in Clarion, Pennsylvania in 1970. This is a professional science fiction writer’s school. She went on to study genetics in graduate school and made the self discovery that a research scientist makes a wonderful background for a science fiction writer. She is a woman of many talents from riding horses in hunting, jumping, and three-phase events, earning a black-belt in Aikido, designing websites, partaking in public access television, crochet, and other handcrafts based on mathematical principals. Ms. McIntyre became an ongoing instructor of the Clarion Writer’s Workshop, now in its new locations on the West Coast, and has been a workshop writing instructor at various colleges and conventions. She belongs to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and several feminist organizations. McIntyre has been writing since her early 20s. Her first novel, The Exile Waiting being published by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1975. It was followed by her Nebula award winning novel Dreamsnake, based off her Analog short entitled Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand. At that point, the author turned to writing Star Trek novels for Paramount and landed the job of writing the novelizations of their hit movies: Star Trek II, III, and IV. She also wrote a fanfiction novel for Paramount entitled The Entropy Effect that was extremely popular with Star Trek fans. “It’s a haunting, rich, and tender novel that explores the human side of science fiction in a manner that’s all too uncommon. The world it creates is vivid and fascinating, and Snake is a marvellously well realized character.” —Roger Zelazny Dreamsnake follows the journey of a young female healer in a post dystopic world that has been reduced to the neolithic and yet has retained technology of a biologic nature. There is space flight and knowledge of other worlds, but access to this is curtailed. Snake depends on three different types of serpents in order to be a successful healer, without one she is unable to perform her biological tech based medicine. Sand is the rattlesnake that has venom for vaccines and potions, Mist is a cobra with stronger venomous properties as Sand, and finally there’s Grass whose venom is used as a pain reliever and acts as a hallucinogenic drug similar to LSD. What makes Grass unique is that he’s a snake from another world without the ability to breed (as far as we know) and therefore his kind are very rare on Earth. After having saved a young boy named Stavin from a village of people who fear snakes and therefore murder her precious dreamsnake, Snake is called upon to heal another patient is injured after a fall from her horse. Snake is hesitant to attempt to heal Jesse due to her lack of a dreamsnake, but her duty as a healer overrides her concerns. Jesse is grateful to Snake bids her to go to a place known as Central City where the otherworlders touch down. There she might find a replacement for Grass. Snake, Jesse and a companion set off for the city together. Not long after the start of their journey, Jesse begins to sicken. The place that she fell off her horse was a radioactive crater and she has developed radiation poisoning. Snake is unable to cure her of this ailment. Before Jesses dies, she bequethes her horse Swift to Snake in the hope that the horse will be recognized by her people and Snake will be allowed access into the city despite Jesse’s absence. Snake sets off to a place called the Oasis where she learns that her belongings have been destroyed and her precious journal has been stolen. This is where we are introduced to Arevin, the young desert dweller that has fallen in love with the young healer. Snake continues her travels and enters another town where she heals the governor and invites the governor’s son to her bed. This is where we learn about some of the strange sexual trainings and odd tribal practices – the governor’s son failed in a thing called biocontrol (a biological method of birth control that is based on training instead of drugs) and because of this the boy walks around covered in a cloak to hide his shame. Snake helps him to overcome his failing. Snake then meets a child that has been abused and burned. Snake later adopts this little girl named Melissa. The crazy person that stole her journal, we never know the sex of the character as it is transgender, attacks and injures Snake leaving her to require several days of healing before she can travel to Central City. Once she reaches the city, Snake is turned away from completing her quest and does not gain access to another dreamsnake. In the end, this doesn’t matter to Snake, who is disappointed by the result, but who realizes that she is self-sufficient as a healer and can continue to heal people without the third snake after all. She has traveled far and learned a great deal of new things. Things happen for a reason and those occurrences shape us into who we are. Dreamsnake comes full circle and the things that were once thought to be obstacles become opportunities. There is some controversy about this classic science fiction novel. It is one of the first to explore transgender and to feature a woman protagonist that is female of outlook instead of a poorly disguised male character. At the time, the male dominated science fiction realm was scandalized by this. There are relationships in this book, but the sex is freely given and somewhat graphic in places. While the story is structured like a classic quest, the outcomes are subtle and are gained via understanding and teaching instead of via violence. As a teenage girl reading the book when it debuted, I admit that it rather blew my mind. At that age I could not put my finger on why the novel had such an impact on me both as a reader and as a writer, but now I see the threads of feminism and new ways for societies to live that were quite intriguing. The biological tech is very interesting and something that may become a reality via our genetic engineers in the not too distant future. McIntyre’s background as a biologist clearly shows in her writing. Dreamsnake is not in print, but you can purchase an ebook copy directly from the author. While the story is a little dated, it is a novel worth reading if you wish to learn more about classic science fiction.
There is still time to get your entries in for this romance themed round! The deadline is 28 February at 11:59pm (WDC Time). The public vote will open soon after this date.
The FSFS Review Board is open! All WdC members can view the list on the group homepage, "Fantasy and Science Fiction Society" . FSFS Members can view the list from the homepage, Review Board page and the Hub. To post on the board you need to review at least one other item on the list.
If you are not already a member and are interested in fantasy and science fiction writing, please read through the group homepage and apply using the application form. The only pre-requisite is that you have a fantasy or science fiction item in your portfolio. If you want to advertise in the FSFS Newsletter please contact me, Matt Bird MSci (Hons) AMRSC   .Newsletter Challenge  Each month I set a Newsletter Challenge. Previously I have set two challenges. One for WdC and one for the FSFS only. However, due to some exciting things coming for FSFS members, there will now only be one challenge. This challenge will be open to all of Writing.Com! Invalid Merit Badge #201075 In "January 2015" loads of you posted New Year Resolutions and loads of FSFS members posted in the forums. I am pleased to announce the winner (chosen by the random number function on Excel) of the FSFS Merit Badge is.... BIG BAD WOLF is Lucky  This month's challenge open to all of WdC is: Quality reviews are fantastic. To belatedly celebrate Valentine's Day, send a quality review to someone who has done something lovely for you this month. Link to your review in the comments section below and tell us what lovely thing the member did to deserve the review. Only quality reviews count and members can earn up to three entries into the draw by submitting up to three reviews. Even though there is only one challenge, there will be two winners. One MB and a mystery prize will go to the best review. The other MB will be chosen with the random number picker! Thank you to all the members who submitted articles to the Newsletter. If you submitted an article that wasn't included, don't be offended. I can only fit so much in the Newsletter. Please submit it again when I send the call out for articles. Please comment on this Newsletter if you enjoyed it, or if you have any suggestions for future editions. |
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