Happy 48th Birthday, Star Trek!

Monday was the anniversary of the original Star Trek's premiere on TV in 1966. At the time, reviewers liked the gadgets but not the plot. By the time I was born, the show was off the air, but fandom kept it alive in other ways.

I didn't encounter a lot of Star Trek in my childhood and early teens. My first significant experience with it was reading a high school friend's books. Later on, in college, I watched the movies with friends; I can't remember if I saw V in the movie theater, but I definitely remember VI. Somewhere along the way I caught up with the other movies as well. I was in college when The Next Generation came out, and I watched episodes with my friends. Later on, when I was in grad school, I found ways to watch the original episodes. I also followed Deep Space 9 and Voyager for a while.

I'm not sure why I stopped watching Star Trek in any incarnation, but it probably had something to do with dedicating myself to writing. There just doesn't seem to be enough time to keep up with the demands of daily life, read, write, and watch TV or movies too. None the less, I still like the world of Star Trek and its thoughtful approach to science fiction--though there are a few episodes that have more fiction than science. In particular, some of the biology-based episodes, like the NG show when everyone de-evolved, make me cringe. But I always like watching Spock and Data show us what it means to be human even when they're not.

How do you feel about Star Trek? Do you have favorite versions or characters? How do you think the Original Series compares with today's science fiction?

Retaining Science Fiction/Fantasy Fans as They Grow Up

Sometime this spring, my seven-year-old son became an ardent Star Wars fan. He's watched all six movies and moved on to the cartoons The Yoda Chronicles and The Clone Wars. He collects Lego Star Wars sets and has a Chewbacca lunch box and a R2-D2 backpack. We spent a lot of time this summer reading Star Wars books (which is great because they have a good collection of books at his reading level.) Think now like Yoda I do. Move like him, I do not.

As a parent, I feel it's part of my job to let him explore his interests as fully as possible. That said, I know his interests can change. In the past, he's been into trains, Ancient Egypt, dinosaurs, the Wild West, and even gun history. He still likes most of those subjects, but not as passionately as he used to. It's natural for his interests to change as he gets older. However, science fiction and fantasy require a certain sense of wonder and an open mind, a sense of playfulness and creativity, that functions better in children and young people than in older ones. (Obviously one can be older and still enjoy science fiction and fantasy, but it takes more work the older and more world-weary one becomes.) Will his interest in Star Wars last until the release of Episode VII next year? How about when he's seventeen, twenty-seven, or forty-seven? Science fiction and fantasy are important genres in movies, TV, games, and comics. Will this love for the genre spill over into books as well?

Childhood is the time to make SF/fantasy fans; how do we assure they stay that way as they grow up? Acceptance by their peers will probably play an important role. I think being able to find people online who share your interests may help you hold on them even when local friends may not get Star Wars or Doctor Who. Alex comes with me every year to WisCon, and if I start attending more local cons, I'm sure I'll bring him too, if only because I can't leave him at home. He will get to experience more of fandom than I did at his age. Hopefully he won't rebel against it later because his mom is crazy enough to belong.

Does anyone else have experiences with children growing up in fandom and keeping them in fandom? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Indies and Pre-Orders

Last week, Amazon gave indie authors the ability to make their books available for pre-order. (Smashwords already offered authors this feature.) The final version has to be uploaded ten days before the release date; if it's not, the author loses the pre-order feature for a year. I'm not certain yet if pre-order sales are counted as they accrue or on the release day. If the latter, then the spike in sales can give the book a boost up the charts and increase its visibility. Admittedly, not all books may generate pre-orders, especially for new authors or series without an established fan base willing to buy them sight unseen. (Even if you don't get a lot of pre-orders, it may be helpful to have a buy link ready when setting up marketing. At the very least, pre-orders impose a schedule for getting the book out.)

I'm not sure yet how useful this feature will be, but I can't resist experimenting with it. I've therefore made my next book, Seasons' Beginnings, Book One of the Season Avatars series, available for pre-order. It's a fantasy novel, and it'll release October 21, 2014. (It's mostly done, but I'm waiting for feedback from my beta readers before I do the final proofreading.) I already posted the link on my blog, but I'm shameless enough to do it here too, along with the cover and blurb:

Kron Evenhanded is an artificer, able to enchant any man-made object, but he finds people more difficult to work with. When he visits the city of Vistichia, he encounters Sal-thaath, an extremely magical but dangerous child created by Salth, another magician Kron knew at the Magic Institute. Kron attempts to civilize Sal-thaath, but when his efforts lead to tragedy, Kron is forced to ally himself with a quartet of new deities and their human Avatars. Together they must defend Vistichia as Salth attempts to drain its life and magic. But Salth has Ascended halfway to godhood over Time. Will Kron’s artifacts be enough to protect the Avatars, especially the woman he loves, or will Time separate them?

 What do you think about pre-orders? Readers, do you pre-order books, or will you wait for them to become available? Authors, would you use this feature, or do you prefer publishing as soon as the book is ready?

Tracking Your Reading

Since I recently posted on my own blog about my reading progress for this year, I was wondering if anyone else tracks what they read, either on a social site like Goodreads or by other means. I never bothered listing my books before I joined Goodreads, as it would have been more work to make my own list. The main reason I track my books now is for the annual Goodreads challenge and to look for trends. I'm generally not comfortable reviewing books (I tend to critique them instead of approaching them like a reader), and I haven't had much time to interact in the reader groups, even though my original reason for joining Goodreads was to make myself and my work known. So perhaps it's time to broaden the question: are you active on social reading sites like Goodreads? Why or why not?

P.S. I do include Indie Writers Monthly magazines toward my reading goals; so should you!

Fathers in Fiction

What are your favorite father-child relationships in fiction? With Father's Day being today, and with my son's recent obsession with Star Wars, the power of the Force compels me to post this scene:
 




 Though this is a good one too:
  It seems that there are a lot of father-son relationships in fiction that are problematic. A missing or dead father (Harry Potter, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe), an abusive father, a crazy father (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) father as the enemy...well, there wouldn't be anything interesting in a normal relationship, right? Fathers can serve as both positive and negative role models. They can be motivations for accomplishing a quest. Yet, often, they have to get out of their offsprings' way so their kids can grow up. What are your favorite father-child relationships in fiction?