James Beach

Science Fiction, Fantasy, Nonfiction and More

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The First Art Show

Another short that was very fun to write – the first art show in human history.

http://a.co/i9py9JV

 

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One piece of art over the line

An interesting thing just happened to me. It’s taken a long time to happen, and I didn’t even realize I was crossing this threshold until it was a second behind me, and it was done.

I don’t ever need to hear another Red Hot Chili Peppers song ever again.

Just like that, it just happened. It wasn’t even a choice, it was an after the fact report from something deep inside my psyche.

Something similar happened to me with Led Zeppelin, who I really enjoyed. One day I was driving somewhere, and a Led Zeppelin song came on the radio, and it was like a switch flipped. After all of the thousands of listenings, I had heard them exactly enough times. I had no need to hear a single song more.

And it doesn’t really make me sad. I still love Led Zeppelin. I’ve just heard all the Led Zeppelin I need to, and I’m complete. Maybe for the rest of my life. Or maybe just a cooling-off period of several years.

A lot of art can be the same. And that means a lot of writing. And that means making new things, changing things up. It means new works in the style of flavors we liked in the past.

This is the progression of many human things. I think in all of us to some degree, and definitely in many of us to a strong degree, there is a satisfaction of things that can be reached. And at that point, if not before, there is not just a desire but a need for something new.

Here’s to finding those new things we enjoy, and making those new things we enjoy making.

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Real News of Fictional Worlds, September 2018

Earth Present
So many things happened recently. I’ll be savoring them and writing about them for many days.

The beloved and amazing hacker space Noisebridge held an event that wasn’t only great – it might be the most honestly titled event I’ve seen in a while. The Stupid Shit No One Needs and Terrible Ideas Hackathon.

The standout for me, pictured below, was a device to count home many times you chew.

In the very next week I was able to attend an evening with George R. R. Martin of “Game of Thrones” fame. This was a benefit event for the great magazine Locus, and an appetizer for the upcoming original and still most prestigious science fiction conventions Worldcon 76. He discussed many and sundry things, including the most asked question: when in Westeros’ name he’s going to finish Book 6 of Game of Thrones.

Enough notes were taken for me to turn that into an entire separate blog post.

 

And then Worldcon76!  The oldest, first and from what I’ve seen the best science fiction and fantasy conference.

I’ve never been to a Worldcon before. I’m now a believer. Besides the many expert and informative panels, including a superb workshop on worldbuilding by the multiple Hugo winning N. K. Jemisin, there were great random moments like a conversation over a coffee with new grimdark fantasy author Anna Spark Smith. Her Tower of Living and Dying comes quite well reviewed. It was a fun enough chat for me to write up as well, so if I check in with her and she’s fine with it that might be another fun blog post too.

More posts to come, in here and on the blog. My biggest takeaways:

  • So many people really care about science fiction and fantasy. They not only celebrate it, they love it and want it to be the best it can be.
  • When people who care deeply about the same thing, and are in the same place, it can create a real and rare feeling of loving community.
  • I need to write more books.

Latest to the Launchpad
With all of that going on, I was very happy to complete a new novella and the third in my series Crime and Magic in the New Russia. It shows our heroes Aurelian and Lyita involved in a whole new level of dangerous magic, and all the trouble that can bring.

Blood and Hope

It took a while to write, and it was fun the whole time. Now on sale at Amazon, and wherever a kindly book store will order it for you. And if you check below, for a while it will be free.

Strange worlds for sale
I’m happy to have some other works also promoted this month. They all offer the chance to explore the works of many authors, at the same low price of free freeness covered in free sauce.

My novella “Ghost Magnet“, which kicked off my urban fantasy series “Crime and Magic in the New Russia”, will be available from Sept 1 through Sept 30th in the Discover Your New Favorite Series giveaway.

The third novella in this series is “Blood and Hope”, also available at the “Science Fiction and Fantasy Bonanza” promotion above.

In just a few days, my short story collection  “Hyperspace Radio” will be available through the Limitless Sci-Fi and Fantasy giveaway. It runs from September 10th through October 13th.

If you enjoy one of my tales from the above offerings, please do leave a review on Amazon via the handy linked book titles.

Whew

That was a fair amount, and there’s more to tell. I haven’t even gotten into the many great panels at Worldcon, and pictures, and plans.

But that can be for another time. I return you to your other regularly scheduled trans-etheric communications.

And wherever you are, keep on imagining,

~ j : )

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An Evening with George R. R. Martin – Jester on a Throne of Games?

A couple of weeks ago I got to attend “an evening with George R. R. Martin.” This a fundraiser for the great Science Fiction and Fantasy magazine Locus, and an informal introduction to the similarly legendary grandfather of all science fiction conferences Worldcon.

Martin was being interviewed by John Picacio, an excellent fantasy artist and an able interviewer in his own right.

 

How was it?

As would be expected but was still reassuring to experience, it was very interesting. George R. R. Martin, for any not familiar with this name, is the only full heir to Tolkien in terms of popularity in the same field. Even in larger fantasy non-medieval influenced fantasy, there’s the worlds and publishing empires built by Tolkien, Martin and J. K. Rowling of Harry Potter – and then there’s everybody else.

Analog SF magazine, from July 1975. This picture may have played a role in Chewbacca’s character design.

Martin can even be credited for his part in a chain of events that led to the Star Wars character Chewbacca. Chewie’s character design appears to have been influenced by the magazine cover for one Martin’s earliest short stories, “7 Times 7 Never Kill Man” – published in 1975.

In an evening of pretty interesting discussion in which Martin came off as refreshingly direct, focused, and devoid of bullshit, Martin mentioned some pretty interesting things. Including…

Okay, let’s cut to it: is Martin going to finish “Game of Thrones” or not?

Short answer: I don’t know. At least he has some new pages from the next alleged book to share.

Longer answer: I’m pretty sure he will.

The biggest question on everyone familiar with the Game of Thrones series is: “Will you finish it?” There seems to be only one book left. And Martin, a writer who usually has great speed as well as skill, took 5 years to write the most recent novel in the series “A Dance With Dragons”. That was seven years ago. He’s been writing the sixth novel since then – in theory. He has also announced that this novel now is next to last.

This question was answered before any discussion with Martin even began: “Yes. He knows. Don’t ask.”

Here’s why I think he is going to finish the original series within the next few years :

Martin really caught my ear with a statement that HBO is currently considering five different possible TV shows in the Game of Thrones universe. At least one is currently moving forward to a pilot.

George R. R. Martin, an author who holds the power over many fans lives and dreams, left. John Picacio, an artist not normally known as a devastator of nerds, right.

The final season of Game of Thrones starts broadcast  in 2019, and Martin has already told the showrunners the end he plans for Game of Thrones. So the TV series will definitely end, whether or not he completes his versions that he is writing. HBO will be strongly motivated to fill in the hole for its most successful series since the Sopranos. So at least one of those pilots is likely to hit.

And relatedly, Martin shared how in just a couple of months he wrote another 450,000 words in the Game of Thrones universe. Aggravatingly, this still wasn’t the final novel in the original Game of Thrones series. Instead, all of this new text was inspired by setting down the history and backstory of the land of Westeros. As a nod to Tolkien’s encyclopedic history for the world of “Lord of the Rings”, Martin called it his “Grimarillion”.

A selection of that gigantic backstory forms the basis of the new series Martin is launching which occurs before the current Game of Thrones tales.

So frustrating as all of this new text is that doesn’t finish the current job, I think it bodes well.

What Martin might be doing is trying to set the hook of a new series before he finishes the current one. The upside of that is, once one of those new series catches, he might finally be able to finish the current Game of Thrones.

So in essence, and also because I like the worldplay:

He could be trying to maintain his Throne through these sorts of Games.

Argh. Why would he do that though?

In the course of the evening, Martin shared his previous experiences in writing before Game of Thrones. He has already had two careers fail. One was as a novel writer, when after several very successful novels he went against all known advice and wrote a fictional apocalyptic fantasy about rock music. It tanked and took his career with it. His agent stopped calling him. (How odd is that? You’d think people would be smart enough to stay with artists who have shown quality. But so it apparently can be.) He had a lot of debt, and that left him over a barrel and needing to scramble very quickly.

That led to his second career, reinventing himself as a TV writer. He wrote for the 80s TV show Beauty and the Beast. (Not to be confused with the comedian Martin Lawrence’s pilot episode Beauty and the Beast. Reality and Google can be quite tricksy). This lasted 3 seasons and then tanked. But this time Martin paid off all of his debts and saved his money.

This, Martin explained, enabled him to have the time and freedom from fear to start his 3rd career. He got to write something he really wanted to write, which ended up being Game of Thrones.

John PIcacio’s Arya Stark, from his and Martin’s 2012 Game of Thrones calendar which I might have gotten signed.

Martin shared this in the context of advice for writers. His summed-up advice is sage: don’t take on any debt you don’t need. It will leave you free to create in a very uncertain career.

So I wonder if Martin’s delays in completing Game of Thrones are, consciously or unconsciously, influenced by wanting to make sure things can continue before he takes another final step of completing something that’s been very good to him.

 

OK, maybe so. What else did he talk about?

Martin talked about book production and distribution, and other parts of the more formal business side of writing. Interestingly, but not surprisingly from his position and his stature in the industry, he didn’t consider indie book publishing that much. Of course, he started his third career before self-distributed eBooks and Print On Demand were viable options, so that wouldn’t be part of his needed toolset.

But he also clearly loves books as product and art. This was part of his work with and friendship with the artist John Picacio, who so well introduced and interviewed him.

He also discussed his science fiction fantasy series “Wild Cards”. This came from role-playing games he was playing with other science fiction greats in Santa Fe, including the truly superb Roger Zelazny. They created their own superhero-based RPG, and ended regularly playing four hours and then talking about it until dawn. Martin wanted to monetize it, and so they put a way together.

For Martin, an interesting angle to pursue about the possibility of superheroes was: if you got a super power, would the next thing you do really be to put on tights and fight crime? Or, alternately, would you go knock over a bank? Or set up a business? Or do something else?

This was around the same time that the great comic book writer Alan Moore put forth the legendary watchmen series. Martin considers that both “Watchmen” and the “Wild Card ” series are deconstructing the superhero myth in different ways. With Watchmen, Alan More dealt with the ‘hero’ part. With Wild Cards, Martin was dealing with the ‘super’ part.

Separate from the above, Martin also has a TV pilot coming forth – Night Flyers. It’s based on an early horror story he wrote many years ago.

Did he talk about the show and it’s variations from his books?

He answered a question on this with another question: how many children does Scarlet O’Hara have?

Scarlet O’Hara, the heroine of Gone With the Wind, had three in the book, one in the show and none in reality.

So, Martin concluded, he doesn’t mind the variations that producers are applying to characters for the show, and he will continue to write the characters how he wants to in the books.

Give me some other things he said.

“I’m power mad, I always want power and control but I have none.”

“Influence is not the same as power. They’ll take your calls and listen to your thoughts. It’s a collaborative process too, you have to remember.”

“As you rise in Hollywood you don’t get more power but you do get more money.”

Anything else?

A genuinely adorable gushing forth of George R. R. Martin when he was a young fan, and there really was nothing like comic books and science fiction to light a young person’s dreams.

Martin took a moment to recognize the passing of Steve Ditko. His remembrance led to me writing a separate post just on that. Besides my agreement in acknowledging the passing of a great, I had deep respect for the way Martin held this moment. He showed no fear in acknowledging the sadness of a human being’s passing, and stayed in that moment exactly as long as he felt which gave it the weight that it was due. Death is a fact of life whether we acknowledge it or not. Facing it in ways like this leeches death of its power over us. Keeping it real sets us free.

This acknowledgement also led to Martin to mention that Fantastic Four #20 had his fan letter printed in it. Really this is Martin’s first published work. Some seriously go so far as to say this fan holds insight into his later writing. I don’t know about that in a larger sense, but I love how it shows what a deep fan Martin is. He loves imagination and loves story from his bones, back to his earliest reading days.

 

Give me a summary.

I guess, in summation:

George R. R. Martin is an excellent writer, who the only real complaint about is that he is taking too long to give people something they desperately want. I look forward to him finishing the Game of Thrones series – if only so much of fandom can move on and find new things to whinge about.

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A Eulogy for Steve Ditko

I recently had the privilege of attending an interview with George R. R. Martin. Near the end of the interview session, Martin discussed the great and recently deceased comic book artist Steve Ditko. Just like  the late great Jack Kirby, his fantastic visions shaped characters and gave us amazing vistas to consider. His Dr. Strange was pure psychedelic wonder. A man with a truly unique vision, even down to functional details like creating the corner box.

As his career advanced, he appeared to come under the influence of an ideological disease: objectivism, the formalized ideology of Ayn Rand. Whatever one’s take on objectivism, Ditko’s interpretation did not seem to serve him well. It apparently led him to increasing difficulties in compromising, which made him less able to actively collaborate with others. This seriously affected him and his career, causing him to leave very successful characters that he created behind and making new opportunities for work increasingly scarce.

I think it’s fair to consider this a lesson for all artists, about being able to bend. No one likes to compromise, but to a certain point it is not only important for careers. One cannot win all points, one is not always right. Creative battles can be fought passionately and then lost by one side or the other. Being able to do this without grudges mean more opportunities for good work.

Regardless of what lessons may or not come from his life his talent was immense, and his amazing work commands respect.

Wherever fantastic worlds you may now visit, Mr. Ditko, may you fare well there in joy.

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2018 August Newsletter #1

Real News of Fictional Worlds, August 1st 2018

Hello there, and welcome to August: ) It’s bringing enough sci-fi for several newsletters.

Seen on Earth
The most science fiction thing that happened to me recently was having my mind blown live by the band My Bloody Valentine. They played sonic sci-fi mayhem with a surrealist bent; big, bludgeoning walls of tonal magic. The show was both absurdly loud and superb. (Abspurb?). Their closest song to a hit so far – “Only Shallow” – sounded entirely different at a commanding volume.

Here are the number of amps and guitars for just their lead guitarist.

(If you can’t see any of these images, select “Display images below” or similar in your email viewer.)

The whole experience was strong enough to find its way into a novella I’m currently writing. If there is an artist whose music you enjoy, then I heartily recommend you see them whenever possible. Good art in the moment is a powerful and beautiful gift.

In the near Earth future
Two weeks from now in consensus reality, I’ll be attending an evening interview with George R. R. Martin the creator and writer of Game of Thrones. Just a couple of days after that is Worldcon 76, one of the largest and most prestigious Science Fiction conferences in the world. And I expect other interesting things will happen by then as well.

Strange worlds for sale
Throughout August I have a number of different works available for the low price of free. These giveaways also feature many other excellent works by other authors, each also for fifty barrels of nothing – without the barrels.

If you enjoy one of my tales below, please do leave a review on Amazon via the handy linked book titles. It helps keep me in electrons and multidimensional glitter.

Just try and run out of books to read with  Limitless Sci-Fi and Fantasy, featuring my own full-length novel Two-Fisted Jesus Tales, Book 1: The Book of the Job.

You can also just Read Funny Books, including my short story collection Hyperspace Radio.
Experience the Summer of Sorcery with my novella Ghost Magnet, the first in my series Crime and Magic in the New Russia.

And just relax and beat whatever the temperatures are around you, with the August Sc-Fi Takeover – starring the second novella in my “Crime and Magic” series, The Luck Thieves.

Upcoming new worlds
Watch this space for new novellas in the coming weeks.Thanks for reading! As always, I’d love to hear your feedback on any of my work.

Keep on imagining,
~ j : )

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2018 July Newsletter

It’s been a busy and productive month for me, as I hope it’s been for you. It’s also been a fun past thirty days, including both the 4th of July and Pride.

Both celebrate independence, and Pride celebrates an independence both personal and public that I find inspiring and fantastic. Amazing levels of creativity and heart-warming amounts of acceptance were on display in parades around the world – just fabulous in all of the best definitions.

In the past 30 days I also was able to take a side trip over to a store known as Paxton Gate. They specialize in strange exhibits and exotic gardening, to educate our youth on both the natural sciences and the unnatural ones.

Sadly their prize piece, a lovely stuffed unicorn, is no longer on display. Some naysayers claimed it was naught but a horse with a narwhal tusk. As a pure coincidence, it turns out it’s no longer legal to display items with narwhal tusks. I’m sure this has nothing to do with the unicorn’s disappearance. Perhaps instead the unicorn was seen by too many non-virgins and has elected to disappear.

There were still many other fantastical beasts on display, including a lovely example of a jackalope.

Perhaps an ancestor to the modern unicorn? A Unisaur? A magnificent beast, fearsome in herds with dangerous horns, great speed and  near lethal amounts of adorability. The most unbelievable of all these strange creatures – the so-called “moose”.

In fiction news, I have new stories in the (non-cryptozoological bunny) hopper and many current tales in bundles.

Strange worlds for sale
For the next few months, I have a number of different works available for the low price of cheap or free. If you end up enjoying one, please leave a review on Amazon. Reviewing can be as easy as selecting the right number of stars and entering a single sentence into your magical keyboard machines.

My novel “Two-Fisted Jesus Tales, Book 1” is part of the great Amazing Fantasy giveaway through July 20. Many other fine books from other authors are also available here.

My short story collection  “Hyperspace Radio” is available through the excellent SciFi Book Bonanzafrom July 16th through July 22nd. After that it will be available for $.99 for another week, from July 23 toJuly 29.
My novella “The Luck Thieves”, the second installment in my “Crime and Magic” series, is available through the Judge a Book by its Cover! Giveaway through July31, and the Paranormal Reads giveaway through August 3rd.

And my novella “Ghost Magnet”, which kicked off my “Crime and Magic” series, will be available from Sept 1 through Sept 30th in the Discover Your New Favorite Series giveaway.

Finally, “Wishful Thinking” is available as part of the Summer Reading List until September 2nd. It concerns an innovative solution to the “Genie of the Lamp” dilemma – creating a startup company to sell the magic wish.

Upcoming new worlds
You can expect a third installment in my “Crime and Magic” series some time in the next couple of months. It’s titled “Blood and Hope”, and will open new possibilities for our plucky heroes Aurelian and Lyita.I will also have a new story regarding an Artificial Intelligence takeover of society, with quite unexpected results for the typically most prosperous class – everyone in their middle age. It’s titled “Underclass”.For later this year I’m planning on releasing a sequel to “Two-Fisted Jesus Tales, Book 1: The Book of  the Job”. The title will be “Double-Crossed”.Among many other tales, the first book in a heroic fantasy series is also in the works.

I’m also throughly enjoying the world-building for a sequel to my novella “Wishful Thinking”, about a troubleshooter for magical startup companies. It puts a smile on my face just thinking about it.

Upcoming new authors
On a separate note, my good friend Lillian Dish has just joined our publishing company Mind Fu Media. She writes in the “Cozy Mystery” vein, with an interesting twist that’s all her own. More on her releases soon.

Another new author is the enigmatic Connor McCloud. He’s been described as “Tom Clancy on dirt weed.” I’ve seen what he’s got coming, it’s strong and will surprise you.

And music!
I celebrated this recent 4th of July by taking a rare 12 hour block of free time to post years of my accumulated electronica albums to Bandcamp, complete with stylish fractal images what I also made myself. And I was still fully able to enjoy hot dogs and fireworks as our foreparents intended.

It’s interesting to consider how this music fits in with the rest of my artistic output. It seems I enjoy creating music that feels like strange worlds, and then creating instrumental narratives that fit within them.

Check ’em out, and let me know what you think.

Podcast
With all of the above works, I was glad to catch up on the podcast with a new audiobook too. Also the podcast is now available on iTunes and Spotify. Do check them out as well.iTunes
Stitcher
Buzzsprout

All that and I found a new pizza place too.

Once again, thanks for checking out my work! As always, I’d love to hear your feedback on any of my work.

Keep on imagining,
~ j : )

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A salute to a great and difficult man

Harlan Ellison, RIP.

What else is there to say of a fantastic writer and a legendarily irascible persona?

There is the memoriam from an excellent modern writer, Cory Doctorow. He salutes Ellison’s great talent and also addresses his prickly nature. Others have pointed out that Ellison as a teacher was, in a common human blindspot, exhibiting exactly t he same bullying behaviors he hated in early teachers of himself.  https://boingboing.net/2018/06/28/rip-harlan-ellison.html

There’s also Ellison’s own words on art and commerce, which really should be required listening for artists in our world, whether they agree or disagree.

Just Pay the Writer. 

But the most suitable words I’ve found yet are other words of Ellison’s own, which come from being asked his thoughts on the creative giant Philip K. Dick.

What you’re asking is really two questions: What I think of him as a writer and what I think of him as a human being. As a writer, he was one of the great innovators. He was sweet, man, an absolutely individual talent, and I admired at least 80% of what he wrote.

…As for the human being, it’s an entirely different answer. When he wanted to be charming, he could be. …

You know what? I’m not going to answer. It doesn’t matter what I think. He could do you a solid or be a very unpleasant person. Like Frank Sinatra. Or God…Phil, like God or Frank Sinatra — they’re all deities.

Mr. Ellison, wherever you are, you were a truly magnificent bastard. Thank you for the work.

 

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2018 June Newsletter

It’s been a lovely month so far, both creatively and climately. Our planet has had a distinct lack of world-rending apocalypses requiring the intervention of a rogue hero with a code of honor, or a plucky band of misfits, or an elite team of professionals coming back to save the world one last time.

As I write this, I just attended an actual Corgi convention. I don’t have dogs myself, but I was curious to see these ferocious animals of war. As you may know, in Welsh myth Corgis are the chosen battle mounts for faeries. I didn’t happen to see any fae war games featuring these cheerful, doughty compatriots. But there’s always next year.

Probably not a Corgi.

 

In fictional news, I am proud to release a new novella “The Luck Thieves”. As the second in the series “Crime and Magic in the New Russia, it continues the adventures of Aurelian the thief and his love Lyita. In the streets of St. Petersburg, a bullet can kill you just as dead as magic. it’s just the magic you don’t see coming.

 

I expect to release a third novella in this series very soon, perhaps even in the next month.

In other new production news, many readers have told me they also enjoy audiobooks so I’ve started making them. I’m going through the different short stories in my collection Hyperspace Radio. They’re available online in podcast form for few months, so if you’re curious give them a listen.

iTunes
Stitcher
Buzzsprout

 

Cheers, and thanks for checking out my writing.

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“The Luck Thieves” joins the bookshelf.

Psyched to release a new novella, and the second in a series. “The Luck Thieves” continues the adventures of Aurelian and Lyita in the strange world of crime and magic that is St. Petersburg.

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Hyperspace Radio short story collection to be released!

Proud to announce a new book! A collection of my many completed short stories to date.

Now available on pre-order, and fully released tomorrow May 15. Print edition available soon also.

And thanks to you all who keep inspiring me to keep on writing. : )

https://www.amazon.com/Hyperspace-Radio-Collected-Short-Stories-ebook/dp/B07BK9W2YZ/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8