Myth, the Universe, and Everything

You may notice that I've been missing all week. This is because I noticed something about having jimhines's tag at the end of my posts: if I didn't get enough work done, I was too embarrassed about my lack of progress to post a blog entry. This meant I tried to get busy writing, but it's very hard to quantify work on an adventure when you're working on several encounters at once but not actually finishing any of them.

Now it's Friday (for another 8 minutes), and I wanted to get a guest blog/excerpt up before I missed yet another week. I've been reading a lot of great metaphysical fiction lately (which I intended to blog about, but the aforementioned module progress got in the way), one of which is an excellent short fiction collection by Jeff Duntemann (here on lj as jeff_duntemann), who has been a friend and mentor of mine for eight years now. Jeff has a wonderfully wide scope of interests, and I was thrilled to first start reading his fiction in the April 2002 issue of Asimov's, which featured his novella "Drumlin Boiler." What struck me about that story was the remarkable the depth of subcreation (to steal a concept from Tolkien), not only in Jeff's writing, but through the characters as well. His short story "Roddie" (which may not have been published formally as yet, but he was kind enough to send to me) amplified this feeling: the characters themselves are creators, and as such, are echoes of a Creator. Since I'm a fan of metaphysics in my fiction, it should come as no surprise to you that I quickly became as big a fan of Jeff as a writer as I am of Jeff as a person.

So when he asked me to read his new collection Souls in Silicon: Tales of AI Confronting the Infinite, of course I said yes! (The link there is to the paperback; the collection is also available as an e-book in multiple formats--.doc, .pdf, .rtf, .lit, .lrf, .prc, and .html--with no DRM by clicking here.) I'm planning to do a full discussion of the pieces, either on the blog or in a review, so you'll certainly hear more about the collection. For today, however, I just two quick excerpts from the first story in the collection, "The Steel Sonnets," which I think don't spoil anything from the plot too much, and are particularly relevant to what I do here in the blog: they discuss language and myth, from the point of view of a robot designed to communicate on a mythic level.

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Excerpt 1:
Speed had begun bubbling again. "I can't wait. I tell you, Launce, I can't wait! To have something--someone--to reach for, beyond the fetters of words and miserable, ever-changing conventions of language! To bend and mold the great universal life-myths in my hands and pound them into bridges of communication between two races linked only by the common bridge of life! I will be of use. Imagine, Launce, I will be of use!"

Excerpt 2:
"Use words, Speed," Launce said.

"Words! What good are words? Words are a fallacy, a sham set up by one intelligent being to bilk and confuse another. Words mean whatever the creature using them wishes to mean, true or false. Give me a mythic consciousness, and I will tell you what a creature really means."

"All I have are words."

Speed said nothing in reply.

Today I followed up with the book and card shop down the street, missing the buyer as he was in a meeting with someone else. This also happened at R. J. Julia's, alas, but I left a flyer at both places, along with my business card, so I hope I'll hear from them. If not, I'll certainly stop back by (in which case I may order a copy of one of Shanna Swendson's novels, either Enchanted, Inc. or Once Upon Stilettos, to purchase while I'm there and subsequently donate to my local library).

The people at the book and card shop already know my face, as I'm constantly in there to buy Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, which are both a weakness and an addiction of mine. (They've also started carrying peanut butter M&Ms. I'm doomed.) The staff at R. J. Julia's were almost entirely new to me, however, so I bought some food in the cafe and a book, as a sales rep for a major publisher (perhaps Harper Collins; I forget which one) told me that one good way to make an impression on booksellers was to ask for a recommendation and buy a book that they recommended. I didn't go so far as to ask for a recommendation, but I did think that being not only a local author but also a customer might support my case. We'll see how that goes.

In other news, jeff_duntemann has invited me to be involved in his new shared world science fiction project, set in his Drumlin world. (He was nominated for an Asimov's Readers Choice award for his novella, "Drumlin Boiler," published in April 2002; the stories for his new project will take place in this world.) I came up with an interesting first line and concluding line last night, but have no idea what story will come in the middle, so I may scrap them entirely when I actually engross myself in the project.

I also finished Beast by Ally Kennen this morning, which I'll be reviewing for School Library Journal as soon as I finish this post. Preview of my review: it was quite good.

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Currently Reading: Tales of the Last War, which I misplaced (and found again), so I started The Grieving Tree, another Eberron novel by Don Bassingthwaite, as well as Men In Kilts by Katie MacAlister, which I purchased at the bookstore this morning.

Currently Playing: Still KotOR II. I'll update when that changes instead of boring you all wit the same information.