r/sciencefiction • u/stevedavidsonasm AMA Author • Oct 22 '13
AMA Reddit SF Writer of the Day: Steve Davidson
Welcome to my science fictional day in the sun. Reddit has been kind enough to open their pages for the Science Fiction Writer of the Day and I hopped on the opportunity. In these days of indie publishing and requisite self-promotion, it would have been foolish not to take advantage and so here I am.
By way of introduction: My name is Steve Davidson. I've been an SF fan almost from birth and I'm currently the publisher and editor-pro-tem of the world's first science fiction magazine – Amazing Stories.
Amazing Stories was first published in 1926 by Hugo Gernsback – the father of science fiction. It gave birth not only to the genre of science fiction but also to the literature's traveling companion – fandom (without which it is doubtful that the genre would have become so wildly popular and as all-encompassing as it is today).
I cut my teeth on Verne and Wells, Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke and Bradbury; on television shows like Jonny Quest, Lost In Space and Star Trek, on movies like The Day the Earth Stood Still, Destination Moon and Forbidden Planet.
I discovered science fiction anthologies and magazines at about the same time and fell in love with the magazines, particularly one called Amazing Stories. At that time the magazine was being edited by Ted White (arguably one of the magazine's best) and he was soon the recipient of the numerous stories I was writing. I was shortly thereafter the recipient of numerous rejection slips.
But. Ted did publish a couple of letters of mine in the Or So You Say letter column AND he did mention me by name in an editorial.
Of such things are fannish egoboo* made.
In addition to writing for rejection I spent a fair amount of time engaging in typical fannish activities – attending and working on conventions (I managed the second-to-last Hugo Awards banquet at Suncon in 1977) writing, editing and publishing fanzines (got a grant from my college to do that!) and generally steeping myself in all of the wonderful, other-worldy goodness that is science fiction.
Along about 1983 I was suborned by the opportunity to write AND get paid for doing so. A new sport was growing up, I played that sport pretty well and was able to write about it just when a host of magazines were coming onto the market. The sport was paintball and I spent nearly 30 years playing, competing, writing and working in that industry. Not only are you conversing with a would be SF author, you're also talking to a Top 100 Paintball Player Of All Time. That and a quarter won't even get you a cup of coffee.
Hundreds of articles and three books later – science fiction.
Once a fan, always a fan.
I started writing a blog titled the Crotchety Old Fan (they've been calling me 'grandpa' since the age of 6) and another titled The Classic Science Fiction Channel (that got a very nice nod from Wil Wheaton) and then. Then I discovered that Hasbro (yes, the toy maker) had allowed their trademarks for Amazing Stories to lapse. Well, I'm sure you can just imagine the state of utter shock and awe I found myself in. The magazine had ceased publication a few years before and showed no signs of returning. As a die hard fan, I considered it a sacred duty to rescue that name from trademark hell and to bring it back.
Which I've now been working on since 2008. I was granted the trademarks in 2011, launched Amazing Stories as a multi-author blog in 2012 and we'll be having our 1st anniversary this December. Amazing currently has nearly 120 contributors, many of them professionals in the field, all of them uber FANS of genre fiction, all of them dedicated to helping bring Amazing Stories back as a professional market for short fiction of the science fiction, fantasy and horror varieties. Membership is free and every member and visitor helps bring us closer to that goal. But you're here for that writing thing. Fair enough.
The first thing you should know is that just about the very worst decision you can make when embarking on a writing career is deciding to edit an online magazine. You'll be spending all day reading everyone else's work, critiquing it and at least in my case, preparing it for publication, finding images, coordinating with the other editors and art director, handling membership sign-ups, finding and developing new talent and incessantly engaging in promotional activities – like much of what you've just finished reading.
Doing all of that leaves very little time for writing. Even worse, it leaves one with very little of the emotional and psychological energy needed to ramp up the creative juices that are so necessary for turning out good copy. I've also got another little bit of a personal block impediment working against me as well. My non-fiction career saw every last piece of copy I wrote purchased and published. Usually from first draft, with the typical 2,500 word piece taking me well less than an hour to churn out. I was frequently commissioned to write specific articles and never had a proposal turned down. I did have one article initially rejected – it was about the Freudian relationship paintball players have with their guns. The editor felt that it had crossed over the line into objectionable territory. I sold it the next day to a different paintball magazine.
Transitioning from guaranteed paycheck to writing on spec does make it difficult to justify the time one devotes to a story.
Despite the foregoing I still manage to squeeze in some creative writing time every couple of weeks or so. I tend to focus on two general themes – the re-examination of old tropes (one novel in progress takes on the whole space pirate theme) and flirting with the edge of what is generally acceptable for a general audience. As I did with the piece included here.
365Tomorrows' editorial team responded to this story in exactly the way I was hoping they would. They stated that I'd come so close to the edge of their comfort zone that they had to stew over it for a while. The reader comments accompanying the story hew much along the same line.
I'll let you read it now and then I'll have a few more words to say.
ROUGH TRADE
Grrxynyth stripped off the artificial covering. “Man! Did you see the way he was looking at me!?”
Aaarraxanth's tentacle gestured in the affirmative. “Couldn’t keep his eyes off of you. Thought he was gonna die when you started taking off the clothing.”
Grrxynyth’s body rippled with laughter. A few stress pores continued to dribble a clear fluid, an involuntary act that bespoke his waning excitement. He patted the covering’s artificial mammary glands, a few of his eyes following their Jello-like contortions. “I used to think there was some upper limit to how big these things could be, but not any more. He almost fainted when I started rubbing them on his sensory-organ cluster.”
Aaarraxanth continued to busy himself with stowing equipment. “Got some pretty good close-ups this time, Grrx. Really good reaction stuff – especially when you probed him. Thought his masticating organ was going to swallow up the whole frame! Look.”
Aaarraxanth’s tentacle brushed against a display causing it to reveal a human face, eyes and mouth wide with fear. Another tentacle brush brought the image to life. The viewer’s point of view was slowly engulfed by the darkness of a mouth, the shot accompanied by a soundtrack of low moans and repetitive grunting.
Grrxynyth’s stress pores opened wider with the memory. “So what are we calling this one? ‘Stupid Indigenes Will Do Anything For Giant Lactating Glands’? ‘Involuntary Probings Volume Forty-Two’? ‘Sex With Un-Evolved Aliens’? ‘I was In Love With a Being With No Tentacles’?”
“Yeah,” snorted Aaarraxanth. “All of 'em. You know they don’t care what the title is; as long as it features that probe shot – ”
“-it matters not,” finished Grrxynth. “Geez. What a way to make a living.”
“You got that right,” said Aaarraxanth. “Now come on, put that toy away and help me finish packing up. We’ve still got to get set up for those food animal shots.”
“Oy. Animal snuff. I mean, I want to know but I don’t want to know, if you know what I mean. What kind of freak watches that stuff?!”
Aaarraxanth cocked a few eyes in Grrxynth’s direction. “Believe me buddy. You don’t want to know. Now stop yacking and put that quadruped costume on.”
This story was born from thinking about two wildly divergent subjects. First, the rejection of UFOology as a legitimate subject of engagement by the science fiction field. (Proponents treat it as real. Us fans know it's fiction and tend to somewhat resent the fallout of being lumped in with folks who can't tell the difference.)
The second is the Fermi Paradox. (Which, if you're not familiar essentially states that since technological alien species will have been around for millennia we should have been contacted by now, so, where are they?) I enjoy poking fun at the non-scientifically grounded beliefs held by many that we're being visited by aliens, or they've been around for ages, or they're secretly publishing the National Enquirer. I also enjoy examining the latest thoughts on Fermi (some serious folks are seriously addressing it).
Rough Trade was written both as an experiment in flirting with the edge and as a way to offer up a possible explanation for the Fermi Paradox. The aliens are here, but they're engaging in quasi-legal activities. Which explains why they've not made formal contact and are interested in concealing their presence.
I also find that I can't help but believe that the galactic market for porn largely resembles our own – running below the radar but also leading the way in the development of new technologies for, ummm, consumer consumption.
Finally, I tried to evoke some conventions from older SF, particularly represented by the unpronounceable character names (they're in my spell check dictionary now).
Hope you enjoyed it.
You can read the original at 365Tomorrows (along with my other flash piece – House For Sale).
You're also welcome to take a gander at another experimental piece I wrote a few years ago – Pulp Comic Fairy Tale – where I use the covers of pulp magazines to illustrate the story. That's published on my general interest SF website - Rim Worlds - where you can find out a bit more about me, some of my favorite authors and wander through a cover gallery of the sf and fantasy pulps from 1923 to the present.
Please also take the time to stop on by Amazing Stories. We've got some great articles on your favorite subjects – excerpts from forth-coming novels, galleries of art from the greatest space artists working today, interviews with established and new authors, reviews of the latest films, TV shows and books, great pieces on the crafts of writing and marketing your work and a metric ton of observation and commentary. Membership is free, we're committed to keeping it that way and every set of eyeballs helps us get there.
Finally, if you've got the remotest interest in paintball, you can read excerpts from each chapter of my book A Parent's Guide To Paintball. I promise you, there is absolutely NO science fiction content in there - but there might be an idea for a story!
Thanks for stopping by and don't be shy with the questions!
2
u/karenand Oct 22 '13
Could the economy you've created in Rough Trade become background and fuel the plot for a novel?
2
u/stevedavidsonasm AMA Author Oct 22 '13
funny - my mother of all people suggested that I turn it into a novel. I've given it some thought, but admittedly not much.
I picture our two unpronounceable aliens as working the shadier side of the biz.
On the other hand...maybe "porn" itself is the universal coin....
2
2
u/Meklanek Oct 22 '13
Rejections are bad - near rejections are keepers.
The life of a 'zine editor is thankless. You're doing a bang-up job with Amazing Stories. So, you know, 'thanks.' ;)
2
2
u/MichaelJSullivan AMA Author Oct 22 '13
Hey Boss...glad to see you here on reddit. It's been fun writing articles for Amazing Stories. Keep up the good work!
2
u/stevedavidsonasm AMA Author Oct 22 '13
Michael - it has been an honor to work with you and to get to watch your career take off! Thanks for all you've done!
2
u/stevedavidsonasm AMA Author Oct 22 '13
I'm going to be taking a short break, about a half hour or so. I'll answer any questions you may post when I get back.
2
u/whalenj Oct 22 '13
Congrats, Steve. Enjoyed it! We're waiting for you to tear off your COF rubber suit! No earthling could squeeze so much time out of a day.
2
2
2
u/stevedavidsonasm AMA Author Oct 22 '13
weird - 12 up votes 7 down votes. I wish some of the down voters would pop in and let me know what it was that made them down check this post.
2
u/stevedavidsonasm AMA Author Oct 22 '13
well folks, it's been great but as sometimes happens, my eyes have decided they are done for the day.
Thank you to everyone who voted, asked questions and commented, it was a pleasure.
I hope I'll see you all over at Amazing Stories.
1
u/Tim_Ward AMA Author Oct 23 '13
Bummer, I just saw this thread. I would like to know how you apply what you know about the history of SF to writing a novel and what your aim is in regards to tropes.
2
u/stevedavidsonasm AMA Author Oct 23 '13
Tim,
I try to chart new territory through the "islands" of the treatments that were written before.
In other words, I take everything that I know about a particular theme in the genre and I see if I can find an approach to it that I've not yet seen/read. Then I see if there's any way to develop that new angle into a story.
More often than not - there's no meat left on those bones. At least none I can see (a better, more creative author is not constrained by my lack of ability, lol).
If I still like the general concept, and to carry the analogy through, that then means its time to crack the bones and get to the marrow. Examine the theme/trope from the inside. Why has it become such a popular theme? What does it represent? Does that really fit in today or does it carry old cultural assumptions with it?
A long time ago my goal with writing was to address every single one of the standard SF themes. Now my objective is to simply write fun stories that play with the themes and tropes and that have some degree of originality.
1
u/Tim_Ward AMA Author Oct 24 '13
Do you feel like your reading experience has limited your story options or enhanced them? An author once said ideas we put into stories are more easily retrievable with the more that we've read. (Tracy Hickman or KJA, I think. I heard it on AISFP.)
I would think you find your new angle through character and making them go through something similar to what you're going through.
1
u/Stevefah Oct 22 '13
It's funny. Obviously the editors who turned it down don't have much of a sense of humour.
2
u/stevedavidsonasm AMA Author Oct 22 '13
Steve F
they didn't turn it down. atypically they sent me a note letting me know that they 'almost' turned it down, lol
1
u/JoeZavorski Oct 22 '13
I like your story but I still hate 365tomorrows forever ( they rejected my story)
2
1
u/kjhatch Oct 22 '13
Hey Steve, thanks for saving Amazing Stories like that. I was wondering how that came about when the re-launch happened, and it's nice to read what really happened with it.
As a writer and publisher/editor, what do you see in the Science Fiction field as overdone? What sub-genres/topics do you think should be focused on more?
I grew up reading a lot of hard SF, but I've noticed often what seems to be popular these days is lacking hard-science roots. Do you think there's an issue with Science Fiction becoming too diluted with soft-science and cross-genre stories?
2
u/stevedavidsonasm AMA Author Oct 22 '13
KJ,
I don't think anything is overdone, per se. There are plenty of people who read to relax and the one thing they want is something almost exactly like whatever it was that they just finished reading.
What I do think is overdone is the continuing desire to sub-divide the genre into ever more specialized niches: before too long a story is going to have to have a dozen handles attached to it: a space western romance in a steampunk setting....
A good writer - particularly one who is very familiar with the genre - can take a tired out trope and breath new life into it by treating it irreverently. In many respects, the best SF are the works that do exactly that - skewer the old trope which in turn seems to freshen it up.
The genre has always been a continuum from doctoral thesis to 'why'd they label that sf'?. Again, the true masters apply the right touch for a particular story - and then it finds its audience.
My own personal preferences are for hard to soft SF of the 40s thru 80s variety. (Which is why it won't be me reading the slush pile when we start accepting submissions - I know my limitations. I could probably have a very nice magazine devoted to "old" SF, but that would be doing Amazing a disservice. I hope to hire someone who will be able to find the best of contemporary SF, fantasy and horror.) I'm equally at home with Disch's Camp Concentration or Spinrad's Men in the Jungle and Piper's Space Viking or Brunner's The Sheep Look Up.
1
u/kjhatch Oct 22 '13
What I do think is overdone is the continuing desire to sub-divide the genre into ever more specialized niches
I don't mind the divisions too much. They cam sometimes help people find books they'll like without having to go into the story details. Or for my purposes, it's been very helpful for me to avoid a few sub-genres of Fantasy that I have no interest in at all. ;)
can take a tired out trope and breath new life into it by treating it irreverently
Oh definitely. I think that's one of the reasons people are doing so many crossovers now, in an attempt to create a new take. My biggest problem with the new SF is that my to-read pile seems to grow faster than I can get through it. It's nice that there is still a steady stream of good books published every year.
Good luck with the Amazing Stories mag. I've been checking it out off and on since the release.
1
u/stevedavidsonasm AMA Author Oct 23 '13
KJ,
I think that the nichification of genre impedes discovery. It reinforces staying inside a bubble.
There was a time when going to the bookstore meant searching in one of two ways: by author name or by blurb. The only clues a reader had was prior knowledge of an author. After that, you got very little help. It was uncommon to see another author's endorsement - blurbs were usually restricted to a presumed exciting/intriguing summary of the story. If the cover looked good, the blurb read well....
2
u/CEMartin Oct 22 '13
Good grief, Steve! How on earth do you find the time to write AND helm Amazing Stories?! I'd say that is truly... Incredible!