Jim C. Hines
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February 18, 2012 /

Tooth and Nail, by Jennifer Safrey

Tooth and Nail [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy], by Jennifer Safrey, gives us a very cool protagonist. We meet Gemma Fae Cross in the boxing ring, where we learn she can not only take a punch, she can give as good as she gets.

Unknown to Gemma herself, she’s not entirely human, and the fairy–sorry, the fae half of her heritage is about to crash in on her in a very big way. Pureblood fae are incapable of intentional violence, so when a dark power begins corrupting children, they need a halfblood warrior. They need Gemma.

Oh, and did I mention she’ll also be working on tooth collection duty? That’s right, Gemma is a tooth fairy fae, collecting children’s teeth and the innocence contained within.

Gemma struggles throughout the book with the conflict between her human and fae sides, and in some ways, I think the book mirrors that struggle, never quite certain what it wants to be. The human conflicts felt gritty and real, whether it was in the gym (I loved the gym scenes!) or her relationship with her politician fiance or struggling to stay ahead of an overly-nosy reporter.

By contrast, the fae threats didn’t feel as immediate. The loss of innocence, the quest to restore the Olde Way … they’re more abstract conflicts, and I never felt quite as invested in that part of the story, nor was I completely convinced by the logic behind tooth collection.

As for Gemma herself, this is no delicate elfin fairy, this is a hard-hitting, flawed, stubborn, and often all too human warrior. She fights evil and collects teeth. What more do you need to know?

February 17, 2012 /

Ask a Goblin is Live at http://askjig.tumblr.com

The Ask a Goblin site went live at 9:00 a.m. today. I’ve got a few more questions and answers ready for this afternoon, after which the site will be updated on a regular schedule of whenever I feel like it.

I’m still figuring Tumblr out, so the site may change. I’m not currently planning to update this blog every time I post a new goblin Q&A. Right now, Ask a Goblin will automatically post to my Twitter account. There’s also an RSS feed and LiveJournal account. Hopefully that gives folks enough options.

Of course, because I spent my time last night setting this up and answering questions, it means I had to postpone my Amazon rant. Ah well. I can yell at them next week.

Feedback on the site is welcome. If nothing else, hopefully it will provide a few laughs.

February 16, 2012 /

Ask A Goblin

ETA: The site is now live at http://askjig.tumblr.com/

#

I’ve decided to start an ongoing, irregular advice column: Ask A Goblin.

Jig (and possibly his fellow goblins) will answer questions about absolutely anything, from dating/relationships to careers to getting mustard stains out of your shirt.

Questions can be posted through Tumblr or sent to askagoblin@jimchines.com. Jig et al. will answer whatever questions they want. If your question doesn’t get answered, it’s nothing personal. He probably just doesn’t like you.

When you send your question, please note whether or not you wish your name to be included in any response. Pseudonyms are encouraged. If you don’t say one way or another, we’ll just make up a pseudonym for you. In fact, we might do that anyway.

If you want to know what qualifications Jig and company have to write an advice column, the answer is Absolutely None Whatsoever.

Let the questions begin!

February 14, 2012 /

Writers of the Future and Scientology

An LJ friend recently posted a piece titled Why I No Longer Support the Writers of the Future Contest.

I was a first place winner in Writers of the Future back in 1998. It was my first major short fiction sale. WotF paid me better than anyone else ever has for a short story. They also flew me out for a week-long workshop with folks like Algis Budrys and Dave Wolverton. It was a great experience, and I’m genuinely grateful for that.

When the subject of Scientology came up, we were told that the contest and its finances were completely separate from the church. That’s something I’ve repeated to other writers more than once.

I’m no longer certain this is true.

Frank Wu wrote about the financial connections between Scientology and Writers/Illustrators of the Future back in 2005. He also reproduced a letter he received in 2006 from Joni Labaqui, one of the contest administrators, who wrote:

You were actually wrong in that Scientology pays for the writers and illustrators awards. The Hubbard estate (which is not the church) makes so much money on royalties from his hundreds of published fiction it would make your head spin. You were right about the fact that every one of us who works at Author Services is a Scientologist, but the judges of the contest are not. They share the same goal that Mr. Hubbard did in starting and paying for this contest – to help the new guy…

I met Joni 13 years ago, and while I was rather overwhelmed that week, I remember her as a nice and hard-working person. I liked her.

In a similar vein, Jerry Pournelle (one of the WotF judges) writes:

I also don’t have to have an opinion about the Church of Scientology, because it doesn’t operate the Writers of the Future, and has no influence over who wins it. That much I can guarantee. The contest isn’t rigged. Algis Budrys wouldn’t have anything to do with it if there were the slightest chance of that. Nor would I.

I agree that it’s not rigged, and I’ve seen nothing to suggest otherwise. Does the church operate the contest, though? It looks like the “Writers of the Future” trademark was assigned to the Church of Scientific Technology (if I’m reading the records correctly). What does that mean? I’m honestly not certain … but it suggests to me that perhaps the wall of separation isn’t as solid as Pournelle believes.

I agree with John Scalzi’s post that Writers of the Future is not a Scientology recruitment scheme. I remember joining a few friends as a kid for a Christian camp. I felt more pressure to join that church than I ever did at Writers of the Future. While the WotF experience idolizes L. Ron Hubbard, there was no attempt to recruit me. However, I’ve spoken to one individual who did observe precisely that kind of high-pressure church recruitment tactic toward someone there for the contest at a WotF event.

A fair amount of the “Writers of the Future = Scientology!” writing out there is big on angry rhetoric and short on anything resembling facts, which is a little frustrating. (See this piece, for example.) I’m not trying to tell anyone what to believe. I’m just trying to gather what information I have to try to sort things out in my own mind. Some of the information comes from people who prefer to remain anonymous. All I’ll say is that I wouldn’t include their claims if I didn’t think they were reliable sources.

I was told by one such individual that for the church, the goal is not so much to help new writers, but to promote LRH and his brand. Particularly in schools and to kids, where they push the contest anthologies hard, hoping the books will serve as a gateway into Scientology. (This was presented not as conjecture, but as directly-overheard statements from multiple church members.)

None of this is meant to undermine the good things the contest does. The judges are, for the most part, amazing writers and people. Getting a walking tour of Hollywood from Tim Freaking Powers remains one of my favorite writing-related memories to this day. And I know that a lot of people involved with the contest, particularly some of the judges, are insistent about keeping the church separate from the contest.

But I no longer believe that Writers of the Future is entirely separate from Scientology.

I’m not saying everyone should run out and boycott the contest. But I’ve publicly praised Writers of the Future on many occasions, so I thought it was important to state this publicly as well.

I know the comments on this one have the potential to get messy, so let me preemptively ban some of the things I’ve seen on similar discussions elsewhere.

  • “Scientologists are all ________.” Just like Catholics are all pedophiles and Mormons are all polygamists and so on? Don’t be an ass.
  • “All religions are equally evil!” I’ll buy this as soon as you provide historical documentation on the Quaker Crusades.
  • “Why are you picking on religion?” I’m pretty sure I’m not, thanks.
  • “Aren’t there more important problems to worry about?” The Official Hierarchy of What We Can and Can’t Worry About pisses me off. Don’t go there.

With that said, discussion is welcome, as always. Just keep Wheaton’s Law in mind, ‘kay?

February 13, 2012 /

“Don’t Be a Victim!”

This is, at least indirectly, a follow-up to my post from a week or so back about trusting your gut.

I’m a pretty strong supporter of the idea of self-defense. I enrolled my daughter in karate years ago. (This is how I ended up taking it as well.) She eventually dropped out, but I hope she retained at least some of the basics: things like a willingness to be loud, fight back, and raise a fuss.

I love working with the kids in class, teaching them to throw punches while at the same time yelling things like, “No! You’re not my Dad! Stranger!” I love when can show someone that even though I might be physically stronger, there are some pretty straightforward things they can do to put me on the ground.

But I have a problem with … let’s call it a certain philosophy about self-defense, one best summed up by the phrase, “Don’t be a victim!” The assumption being that if you follow all of this training, then you’ll be safe … and as a direct corollary, if you’re assaulted, then it’s because you didn’t remember your training. I.e., it’s your own fault.

How often have we seen and heard that phrase? Don’t be a victim! Like it’s all about the victim’s choice. “Gosh, I’m bored and there’s nothing good on TV. Guess I’ll go get myself assaulted.” Why the hell do we so rarely see, “Don’t be a rapist!” or “Don’t be a batterer!”

There are certainly things you can do to affect your chances of being victimized. A stranger is more likely to target someone whose body language projects nervousness and insecurity than someone who projects confidence. Learning to trust your gut, like my daughter did in the previous post, can help you avoid or escape a bad situation. Physically working with someone else, learning what it’s like to take a hit, to punch and kick and throw, can cut down on that moment of paralysis when and if something happens. All of these are good things.

Yet the majority of rapes are committed, not by strangers, but by friends and family members. (73% of rapes against women, according to one 2005 study.) Another study finds that more than half of all violent crime occurs between non-strangers. Self-defense programs often do a great job talking about strangers; how many prepare you to fight off a boyfriend, a relative, or a coworker? (Some do, and that’s great … but it’s nowhere near as common, in my experience.)

Even the best self-defense techniques aren’t perfect. After working with countless rape survivors, I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no guaranteed way to be safe. I’ve been told many times in Sanchin-Ryu that no matter how good you are, you’re going to get hit. There is no perfect defense. Likewise, as long as there are individuals determined to commit rape and assault, there is no way to guarantee you won’t be a victim.

The other problem is that the “Don’t be a victim!” approach tends to put most or all of the responsibility on the potential victims. We’ll send girls to learn self-defense, and voila, we’ve solved rape and domestic violence! As opposed to emphasizing things like bystander intervention, or just addressing the myths and assumptions that teach people (primarily men) that it’s okay to commit these crimes in the first place. It came up a lot when I was working at MSU. I’d talk to groups about rapes on campus, and the first — sometimes the only — suggestion would be for self-defense training for girls.

Does anyone else see a problem with making women responsible for fixing crimes committed primarily by men?

There’s got to be more. Even something as simple as trusting your gut has to go further. It can’t just be about a girl turning back because a stopped car looks wrong. It has to be about the guy at a party who sees a couple and notices that the girl looks uncomfortable. It’s about that guy trusting his own gut and actually stepping in to ask if everything’s all right. It’s about everyone at World Fantasy Con who saw the famed “creeper” harassing women but did nothing, ignoring their own gut feelings, because they assumed someone else would intervene.

I wouldn’t be continuing my study of karate if I didn’t believe in the things I’m learning and teaching there. But self-defense can’t be the only solution. Nor can we allow it to shift the responsibility from the perpetrators onto the victims.

February 11, 2012 /

Range of Ghosts, by Elizabeth Bear

Elizabeth Bear‘s forthcoming book Range of Ghosts [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] is thoughtful.

I finished reading this book several weeks ago, and I’ve been trying to figure out how best to review it. I keep coming back to “thoughtful.” Everything from the worldbuilding and mythology to character to sentence and word choice.

The book opens to Temur, heir to the Khaganate, stumbling through a battlefield. His hand has gone numb from clasping the bloody gash along the side of his neck– You know what? Let me just give you a few paragraphs from the first page.

Beyond the horizon, a city lay burning.

Having once turned his back on smoke and sunset alike, Temur kept walking. Or lurching. His bowlegged gait bore witness to more hours of his life spent astride than afoot, but no lean, long-necked pony bore him now. His good dun mare, with her coat that gleamed like gold-backed mirrors in the sun, had been cut from under him…

He walked because he could not bear to fall. Not here, not on this red earth. Not here among so many he had fought with and fought against.

And then you have Samarkar, who fled her home and gave up her title for the hope of becoming a wizard.

When the news of the fall of Qarash reached Tsarepheth, the Once-Princess Samarkar did not even know that a woman in red and saffron robes sat alongside her, because on that day Samarkar lay drowsy with poppy among rugs and bolsters in her room high up in the Citadel of wizards. Silk wraps wadded absorbent lint against a seeping wound low in her abdomen. When she woke–if she woke–she would no longer be the Once-Princess Samarkar. She would be the wizard Samarkar, and her training would begin in truth.

She had chosen to trade barrenness and the risk of death for the chance of strength.

One thing I think both of these introductions capture is the complexity of Bear’s writing. Wizardry isn’t a simple thing; you pay a price, and there’s no guarantee you’ll gain the power you hope for. We meet Temur as his dreams of battle and glory have been shattered by reality. In many stories, we see characters who change by the end of the tale. In this book, we meet characters already in flux, scared and confused and struggling.

I should mention the plot too, right? Okay, let’s see … we’ve got warring kingdoms and dark magic and gods and armies of ghosts and tiger warriors and kidnapped lovers and a journey over a fascinating world.

The world is one of my favorite parts of the books. This is a world where the sky literally changes depending on the nature of the kingdom below. In Temur’s land, there are moons for every heir, including himself. He looks up at the night sky to see which of his cousins have died based on how many of those moons have vanished. And then, later, he crosses into another land, and his family’s moons are nowhere to be seen. I love it.

Bear also does a wonderful job on her horses. I’m no expert, so I can’t say if she got every detail right, but she certainly avoided the “Horses = medieval motorcycles” mistake some epic fantasies fall into, and Temur’s new mare Bansh is one of the best characters in the book.

I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone looking for a quick read. Thoughtful writing requires thoughtful reading, and I couldn’t zip through this one the way I do some books. But if you’re looking for more complex, non-Western epic fantasy, I’d definitely suggest checking it out.

I will note that this is book one of a series, so you shouldn’t go in expecting things to be all wrapped up by the end.

You can read an excerpt at Tor.

Range of Ghosts comes out on March 27.

February 7, 2012 /

2 Links and a LEGO Starship

I chatted with my editor a week or two back, and I’m hoping to get the final draft of Libriomancer finished today … which means all you get in the blog are a pair of links and some LEGO niftiness.

Link the First: Today is the last day of Pat Rothfuss’ Worldbuilders fundraiser, which has raised more than a quarter of a million dollars this year. The list of signed books and other prizes is like Santa smashed open the pinata of fandom, and an endless waterfall of awesomeness began pouring out.

Link the Second: The Con or Bust auction, which helps fans of color/non-white fans attend SFF conventions, begins on February 11 at 12:01 EST. Details here.

Finally, I present to you the U. S. S. Reliant, in LEGO. (In the Mutara nebula, no less!) The only thing that could make this better would be a minifig of Ricardo Montalban holding a cute little plastic Ceti eel. This was built by Christer Nyberg, aka Myko. Click here or on the pic for the full photo set.

February 6, 2012 /

G. I. Joe and Sleeping Beauty

I watched G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra this weekend, and for the most part, it was … not as bad as I feared. This is in no way a great movie, but I think all of the bad reviews helped by lowering my expectations. There were the requisite callbacks to the cartoon (“Knowing is half the battle.” Yay!), over-the-top action scenes, ninja vs. ninja swordfighting, and the ninth doctor as Destro, which was rather surreal…

And then you have the character of the Baroness. In the very first scene, she’s commanding a squad of armored bad guys, and they completely pawn Duke’s team.[1. Is it still cool to say “pawn”?] At the end of this battle, we know two things: the Baroness has some sort of history with Duke, and she is an evil badass.

SPOILERS

Only she’s not. You see, she used to be blonde a good guy. She was engaged to Duke and friends with Ripcord. And then her brother got blown up under Duke’s command, after which Duke was unable to face her. The loss of these two men broke her. In a flashback, we see her basically catatonic, unable to even rouse herself from her bed. So our villain injects nanobots into her brain, as one does, and reprograms her into the Baroness.

The Baroness is Sleeping Beauty, and not in the cool Talia-will-kick-your-ass-with-a-spoon way.[2. From my princess books.  Yes, I’m egotistical enough to reference my own books.] We don’t know what she used to do; she was defined only in relation to Duke, as his girlfriend/fiancee. This unapologetically evil villain who stands up to Destro, kicks Scarlett’s ass, and basically rocks … turns out to be nothing but a puppet, a weapon created and programmed by another guy.

In the fairy tales, Sleeping Beauty is not a character; she’s a trophy to be won by men. Likewise, the Baroness has no agency, no control over her own story, until Prince Charming Duke arrives again at the end and his mere presence breaks the evil spell. She gets one or two good lines after that — I liked her quiet, angry glee when she started shooting down Cobra subs — but it doesn’t even begin to make up for what the writers did to her character.

What depresses me the most is that the writers had a pretty cool character in the Baroness. Competent, evil, and highly effective. And then they actively destroyed their strongest female character with that pointless nanobot plotline. Why did anyone think this was a good idea?

Don’t answer that.

I don’t have terribly high standards for movies trying to cash in on my 80s nostalgia. I don’t expect five-star dining at McDonald’s, and I don’t expect brilliant cinema from G. I. Joe. But this was like ordering a Happy Meal and finding out that the “boy’s toy” is an action figure while the “girl’s toy” is a punch in the face.

Now you know.

—

February 3, 2012 /

Fandom Fest Guest of Honor

Looks like it’s official: “Fandom Fest Proudly Announces Author Guest of Honor Jim C. Hines!”

The event takes place in Louisville, Kentucky the weekend of June 29 – July 1. Last year, Fandom Fest drew more than 7000 people, and they’re expecting an even bigger turnout for 2012. Other guests include folks like Bruce Campbell, James Marsters, and many more.

I’ve talked a lot about how most authors’ lives are nothing like what you see on Castle. We’re generally not rich … most of us have either day jobs or very supportive spouses. Very few authors get big fancy movie deals. My life isn’t about sipping champagne with my agent in the back of a limousine on the way to a packed booksigning; it’s about scarfing down my lunch and hunching over the keyboard, hoping that for the duration of my break, none of my coworkers will barge into my cubicle to ask me to proofread an urgent e-mail they need to send.

But you know what? Sometimes my life is pretty damn awesome, too. Whether it’s being invited to be a guest of honor at an event like this, playing D&D with amazingly creative, bright, and fun authors, or simply receiving an e-mail from a fan who read and loved one of my books.

In April, it will have been 17 years since I wrote and submitted my first story. There have been painful disappointments and pitfalls, and there have been some truly amazing moments.

I love writing (even though I sometimes forget that when a book is kicking my ass). I love being a writer. And I’m incredibly grateful to be able to do this job.

February 2, 2012 /

Trust Your Gut

Yesterday afternoon, my daughter was getting ready to walk home from a friend’s house. Her friend walked with her toward the end of the street. At this point, a blue car pulled to a stop up ahead. The driver didn’t get out; he simply watched them.

The girls turned around and went back to the driveway, where my daughter called me on her phone to let me know she would be late. As soon as she brought the phone to her ear, the car took off.

When she called, she started off by apologizing because she was supposed to be home by 5:00…

One of the most important lessons I hear in almost every kind of self-defense is to listen to your gut. If something feels wrong, trust that feeling.

That’s not something we tend to encourage in this culture. We’re pressured to just keep quiet and avoid raising a fuss (especially girls and women). We second-guess those gut feelings. We let friends and others push us into situations that feel wrong, and we stay in those situations because we’ve learned to be more afraid of the scorn, of being ostracized.

I told my daughter she had done exactly the right thing, and despite her protests that the car had left and it was only a few blocks to get home, I drove over to pick her up. (This also gave me the chance to talk to her friend’s Dad.)

Maybe the guy in the blue car was just lost. Maybe my daughter and her friend were perfectly safe the whole time. But in a situation like this, I don’t want to take that chance.

More importantly, when she feels like something’s not right, I want her to trust that feeling, and I want her to act on it.

#

(Because I suspect someone will ask, yes, I did call the police and let them know what happened. There’s obviously not much they can do beyond keeping an eye out, but at least they’re aware.)

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Jim C. Hines