Mike Brotherton points out that he’s put together an online astronomy resource list for writers. “If you want to get the same kinds of things I would get, when I’m doing research, they’re online, you just have to know how to find and access them.” He also points out that many of the slides he uses in his lectures are available as powerpoints on his site. He’s also posted a summary of last year’s launchpad, along with some youtube videos of lectures from the class.

Next, Jim Verley is giving a lecture on Seasons and Lunar Phases, Public Misconceptions (more…)

When we were hearing this lecture, we got to see slides illustrating it. I don’t have the slides for you, but author David J. Williams found this website: http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/ which gives you similar images so you can follow along. (Click on the images to see larger versions of them and more information.) (more…)

Symptomatic of the year, I’m behind on even announcing that there will be guest bloggers from July 15th through August 15th, in addition to Rachel Swirsky’s daily blogging about Launch Pad. (Some guest bloggers I still owe passwords and logins!) I’ll let the guests introduce themselves when the time comes, so it’ll be a surprise.

I’ll still pop in every once in awhile as I have time. But you’ll want to check back here every day, as there may well be a ton of content.

Jeff

It turns out that liveblogging generates a lot of material! So I’m going to split up each day into several entries.

First our instructors gave us their perspectives on the workshop.

Mike Brotherton: “I’m not going to be able to teach the world astronomy. But I can teach you people, in a week. Either give you a step up from what you learned in college, or some of you may not have a lot of math and science background, but we can give you a place to start, contacts, places to get information and feedback. All of you are getting audiences. You may be reaching hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands. Robert Sawyer, who was here a year ago, had a TV show. We’re hoping to bring more information to the public through the work you guys do, writing science articles, writing, teaching, editing. I don’t expect all of you to go writing far-future or near-future science fiction with lots of astronomy. Some of you will. This will hopefully help it be more accurate, or inspire it. Fiction, science articles, get out there. People may stop reading text books, but they still learn. People will sometimes remember what they read from entertainment stories even more than they remember things from educational contexts.” (Quotes this length will be approximate, not literal transcriptions.)

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I tried to post this yesterday, but the website crashed on me, so expect this post to be followed up with today’s Launch Pad post.

Several months ago, when I went to Orlando for the Nebula Awards, my husband and I received a piece of mail from NASA. “Hey!” shouted my husband, waving the unopened mail. “It’s our tickets to the shuttle launch!”

“Not necessarily,” I pointed out. “It could be materials about launch pad.”

“You mean…” said Mike, pausing significantly, “We’re getting _two_ pieces of mail from NASA?”

He has been boasting about this achievement at work ever since. Apparently, it impresses his coworkers no end.

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I can now confirm that Ann and I will be hanging out in the Hilton bar from around 1pm to around 4pm on the Saturday of Comic-Con for anyone who would like to stop by and shoot the breeze. You can also find us at some party on an aircraft carrier Friday night.

In other news, our event has been name-checked by the Washington Post, made io9′s list of spotlighted events, and made the LA Weekly’s list of the recommended events from the Sunday schedule:

SUNDAY, July 25th, 10:30-11:30 Spotlight on Ann and Jeff VanderMeer: Dr. Lambshead, Steampunk, Weird Tales, Imaginary Animals, and You? Weird Tales editor and Hugo Award winner Ann VanderMeer and her World Fantasy Award?winning husband, writer/editor Jeff VanderMeer, take you on a whirlwind exclusive inside look at a cornucopia of exciting new projects, from The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, featuring work by Mike Mignola and Greg Broadmore, to the Steampunk Bible coffeetable book, from the rejuvenated Weird Tales to the insanely entertaining Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals, featuring recipes for Wookiee and Cthulhu by Ace of Cake’s Duff Goldman. With discussion, interrogation, arguments, and, er, Mongolian Death Worms. Nom nom. Room 8

Followed by a signing, with books made available by Mysterious Galaxy bookstore.

And for comparison purposes:

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Jeff VanderMeer’s Grey Cap by ~Orion-Is-The-Hunter on deviantART

(Image taken from this Ecstatic Days post.)

The magnificent Carrie Vaughn, whose writing I really like, posted a timeline of the development (or transference) of the term “urban fantasy”. It’s an interesting timeline, but as I mentioned to her in an email, I seem to clearly remember around 2007 a couple of publicists or editors at major houses making a concerted and deliberate effort to introduce the term “urban fantasy” in a new context, in place of terms like “supernatural or paranormal romance,” probably to make it more palatable to an even wider audience. Am I wrong? Somebody fact-check me.

But, yes, that’s around the time you had to stop calling Mieville, K.J. Bishop, or even Charles de Lint writers of “urban” fantasy, because the words suddenly meant something else.

I don’t say this as a positive or a negative development–just saying I believe that’s how it happened. I also believe that just like “YA” is an umbrella for a wide variety of things, “urban fantasy” now no longer means just “paranormal romance.” But, for me, as with YA, it’s a category that doesn’t hit my core sweet spot, and therefore I’m not willing to wade through it to find the books that I might really enjoy. (Frankly, these days, I’m to be found in the general fiction section for the most part.) Someone who comes from the old-school urban fantasy and an appreciation for it–Damien G. Walter, I nominate you–should investigate and report back.

P.S. If you come back at me saying I hate current urban fantasy and how unfair that is, I will hand you your head. Be nice, k?

My feature interview with Timmi Duchamp about Aqueduct Press is now up on Amazon’s book blog.

I don’t know if readers realize this, but Aqueduct has reached the 50-book mark in just their sixth year. That’s a significant achievement for any press–both the longevity and the quantity, not to mention the quality and the focus. Not to mention that Duchamp is a class act as a publisher dealing with writers.

What does the 50-6-1 in my title mean? 50 books, 6 years, 1 reader at a time. That’s how indie presses do it, generally. You’re that one reader now, so if you like Aqueduct, if you like me are impressed by this achievement, please re-blog the link to the feature and a link to Aqueduct’s main page for those who want to order that way instead, and support this unique publisher with some book sales love.

Another thing some readers might not realize is how much a writer gives up when they decide to run a publishing company, as this interview answer by Timmi suggests: “I’ve recently realized that I’m basically sacrificing my own writing career, which is not what I imagined happening when I started Aqueduct. I’m still hoping I can figure out how to be both a publisher and a writer. Sometimes I wish I could just ditch Aqueduct entirely. But my commitment to the press and its authors runs deep.” Another reason to be generous with your support.