Diabolical Plots is moving!

Grand Opening! Fabulous Prize! My interviews/reviews/con reports/editorials are moving to a new site, where I am joining forces with fellow writer Anthony Sullivan. The other site is much prettier, due to wonderful art contributed by illustrator Joey Jordan and Anthony's website know-how. And with more than one of us working on it, we will be able to put out more content and more consistently than I was able to on my own.

http://www.diabolicalplots.com

Newly posted: our interview with Joey Jordan, and with Writers of the Future coordinating judge KD Wentworth.

Upcoming interviews: Jordan Lapp, Charles Coleman Finlay, Nancy Kress, Tad Williams, and more!

I've also moved all my interviews and many of my other posts over there. Also, check out my bio page, which has a link to my bibliography, which will have links to all my publications. :)

I hope I don't lose any of you in the transition, but the blog will still be open over here so any stragglers will see this link. and I'll still get notifications if you leave a comment here.

And yes, there's a prize, so check it out, explore, leave a comment (alas, relatives of myself and Anthony not eligible). We look forward to having you around. :)

Upcoming: Joey Jordan interview

You readers may have noticed that I haven't posted as many interviews in recent weeks. Don't worry, they're all still in the works, and they'll all come out in due time. I'm experiencing some delays:
1. Some of the interviews haven't happened as fast as I'd hoped, real life intruding and all that.
2. I'm submitting my nonfiction to markets who haven't published me, such as IRoSF and ASIM, so the time waiting for their reading queues is delaying some of my interviews.

Anyway, on to today's news. Coming soon: an interview with artist and illustrator Joey Jordan Her illustration work has been printed in Jim Baen's Universe, and you can check her work out at http://www.joeysrealm.com She's a very talented artist who I've had the pleasure of collaborating with on more than one occasion.

If you have any questions for her, drop me a line and I'll try to work them in.

Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Written by Frank Dutkiewicz.

Inferno is the modern day telling of Dantes 14th century epic poem. Even for those who have never read The Divine Comedy (such as myself), this tale of a trip to hell is familiar to many. The 1976 Hugo and Nebula nominated novel by Niven and Pournelle has had over twenty reprints over the years. The latest reprint is available on the shelves of bookstores in time for its long awaited sequel Escape from Hell.

The novel opens with Science Fiction writer Allen Carpentier dying in a stunt to impress fans. The agnostic Carpentier finds himself in an astral equivalent of solitary confinement. His world is a bronze haze. He can think, speak and move but cannot feel or see a thing. His very existence challenges Descartes statement I think therefore I am. In a fit of madness, he says the magic words that frees him from his prison (a djinn bottle), only to find himself in the Vestibule of Hell where he meets guide, Benito (a real person in history). Benito informs him where he is and claims to know the way out, through the nine circles of hell to its very center.

The ever-skeptical Carpentier chooses to believe he is elsewhere and theorizes he is in a futuristic amusement park he terms ‘Infernoland’. Allen and his guide travel through all the horrors of hell all while he meets people that he knew during his life and famous people throughout history.

Inferno is a visual masterpiece. Each layer of hell is laid out as maze of terror. The souls of the damned suffer as cruelly as the fire and brimstone preachers have claimed, and some, in this book. Carpentier and his companions suffer many of the punishments of the damned as they cross each circle. They endure such cruelty as a boiling lake of blood, a desert of burning sand with snowflakes of fire, and an industrial wasteland patrolled by driverless Corvettes that run down the wasters in life. However, Carpentier’s real struggle is with his own agnostic beliefs.

One of the foundations for an agnostic is why would an all powerful being create a supernatural torture chamber like hell? Allen, the Science fiction master prefers to believe he is another prop in a futuristic society than contemplate a possibility that Dante’s vision was real. He is constantly reevaluating his theories while witnessing many of the miracles and horrors of hell, such as; never being able to reach the short wall the circles hell, the judge of Hell, Minos, and his impossibly long tail, and the ability to heal despite suffering the worst of injuries.

Carpentier cannot understand the unending punishment souls are forced to face for eternity. The suffering that many endure seem out of balance for the sins they had committed in life. His conscience argues this point throughout the book while he tries to piece together the where and why he and others are there. The ability to make a universe does not presuppose moral superiority, he concludes at one point. By the end of the novel, Allen finds a reason on why god would have a place like hell, one that I found fitting.

As an amateur that writes as hobby, I recommend Inferno as a great template on how to build on a familiar theme (hell) and insert characters that are larger than a wonderful plot. One of the recommendations that many ‘How to’ books stress is to make your character change from the experience in your story. Allen Carpentier changes like few others that I have read before. Niven and Pournelle create a man who faces down demons and wades through boiling blood very believable to me.

There are very few writers in the industry that are able to work together and produce a publishable story, Niven and Pournelle make it look easy. The two accomplished authors have published several together, The Mote in God’s Eye, Lucifer’s Hammer, Footfall, are just a few. Inferno was their third collaborative novel together, and in my opinion, their best. I was hooked on the first page, followed their journey eagerly as they passed through each circle of hell, and found the ending moving.

Some may find Inferno theologically challenging. I believe it was written to be that way. As reader who loves Science Fiction and Fantasy, Inferno has remained in my top ten favorite stories of all time. I can’t recommend highly enough.

Frank Dutkiewicz is every bit as cute and cuddly as his picture suggests. He has nine stories that have been published. His first eight were all flash fiction then he got wise and rode Dave's coattails and sold one to the upcoming Shadows of the Emerald City anthology. The chicks dig Frank and can't keep their hands off him but hate his cold nose.

Frank's owner is a truck driver for a car hauling company. He travels all across the country and may have ran you off the road at one point. He has a lovely wife and two equally as lovely teenage daughters.

SpoCon report by Anne Wilkes

This con report was originally printed on Ann Wilkes' blog:
http://sciencefictionmusings.blogspot.com/2009/08/spocon-con-report.html

Spocon Con report

Spocon Day one, Friday, July 31

I arrived at the con early enough to hit the dealers' room before opening ceremonies. I ran into Maggie Bonham (M H Bonham) before opening ceremonies and invited her to read with me at the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading in the morning. All the local Broads had other plans or were getting ready for WorldCon.

Last year, opening ceremonies was very entertaining, with Timothy Zahn and filking by Char MacKay. Of course, the bat flying around the auditorium was a nice touch, although no one could take credit for that but the bat.

This year was ... different. I should probably stop right there before I slam the poor con com. But now you're curious, aren't you? Well, when Dennis Gagaoin said that we were about to reap the benefits of the con com's months of fighting, that was clearly not a good sign. I'm not sure if the program they had originally planned fell through because someone bailed or they never truly spent time organizing the opening ceremonies. What followed was a lot of people standing up and pinch-hitting. It would have been better to just have one person apologize for the lack of any formal opening ceremonies and say, we have a great weekend planned for you filled with this, this and this. Now go have fun. But no one asked me. Luckily, I live two states away so I can't be tempted to sort them out.

Having taken two planes to get there, and having to read at 9AM, I begged off of further con fun for the evening.

Day two, Saturday, August 1

Only one person showed up at the 9AM reading, so the readers outnumbered the listeners. I read from a story that is set in Chelan, WA and begins with a tragedy that really happened there in the 40s. Our audience of one cried. Maggie read from her new novel, Lachlei. We traded books, so I get to read the rest. :)

I stayed with my writing buddy, Sue Bolich, who lives near Spokane. (Way better than the dorm experience of last year – don't get me started.) I had met Andrea Howe of Blue Falcon Editing last year. It wasn't long before the four of us were the four musketeers for the remainder of the weekend, beginning with a panel Saturday morning. When we weren't paneling, we were eating, talking and laughing our heads off.

My schedule of panels, as I said before, was a perfect fit for me. And my co-panelists were all marvelous, informative, polite and entertaining. My-Twit-Book, Sci-Fi and You Are you kidding me? What do I spend more time doing than writing? The artist guest of honor, John Picacio was on the panel and brought some pointed Twitter questions. I wasn't much help with those since I'm still ignoring the (bird) call to tweet. We did have a lively discussion about posting or tweeting etiquette and how to silence people who fill up our walls or phones with a constant barrage. I met John in the green room (which moved not just once, as it did last year, but twice!). He was asking about the table tents and if his was there. I didn't recognize him and said, "It would help if you told me your name." He's apparently forgiven me.

My next panel was in the same room ten minutes later. Another subject near and dear to my heart (and my writing): grammar. Andrea sat next to me on this one and after she made a Princess Bride and Firefly reference in asides to me, I knew: friends for life. Maggie, Sue and I had made lunch plans already. I invited Andrea and our little band of geeky, literary lasses was born.

I shared a signing with Patty Briggs. Her line was none-stop, a dozen people deep for the whole hour. I didn't get a chance to speak with her, but she has obviously made an impression on a good number of people. I hope I can get to know her at a future con. I signed one copy of Awesome Lavratt.

Day 3, Sunday, 8/2

Sunday was yet another 9AM appearance. Good thing there was no drinking – or at least none that we bothered to find. The panel was on Worldbuilding. What could I possibly say sitting next to L E Modesitt, SpoCon's writer guest of honor? Sue, Maggie and I still managed to look half-way intelligent. I picked up a couple of good book recommendations along the way: Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, both by Jared Diamond, and A History of Food by Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat.

Three of the four musketeers (minus Andrea) had a nice conversation with Lee (Modesitt) in the hall after the panel. Very personable guy. And he redefines dapper. Mark Ferrari asked him how many vests he owns. His reply was something over 80! I had interesting chats with Mark in the (first) green room about publishing and writing. And I lugged Mark's hefty tome, The Book of Joby, up to Washington just to get his autograph.

Mark and I were on a panel last year in which we created a story for the audience on the spot. What fun! He read Awesome Lavratt during the con and praised my sense of humor during the panel – bless him! We've been pen pals ever since. He was the artist guest of honor at SpoCon last year.

Something new this year was a charity thing where people bought little matchboxes with slips of paper in them for a buck. The slips of paper had a name of a guest or pro and a greeting. They had to find the person and offer the greeting. Then they got a donated item from that person's goody bag. It was a nice idea, but will need some fine tuning for next year. I especially enjoyed signing one of my books (out of the goody bag) for an eleven-year-old girl.

My con report is rather limited. I didn't attend the masquerade, I don't game and I had to catch the flight back before the closing ceremonies. Still worse, thanks to the TSA (They searched my husband's luggage and it poofed.), I had no camera for the trip. I should have picked up a disposable. Anyway, I took one picture with my phone and had a passerby take another. They looked great when I peered at them at the time. Apparently, not so much...

Ann Wilkes' stories have appeared in magazines and print anthologies. Awesome Lavratt (2009, Unlimited Publishing) is a tongue-in-cheek space opera with mind control, passion and adventure. If her alien worlds don't hook you, her sense of humor will. Visit www.annwilkes.com, for a full bio, her blog and links to online stories.

Sale #2!

More good news, I received another acceptance this morning from J.W. Schnarr who is editing the Shadows of the Emerald City anthology, a Wizard of Oz horror anthology. When I heard the theme, I knew I HAD to submit, and I'm glad I did. :)

The story is titled "The Utility of Love", and it's a retelling of The Wizard of Oz, but the Tin Man is 2 stories tall and... isn't such a nice guy.

A few stats in case people are interested:
Time since I started writing fiction: 2 years, 6 months
Time since I started writing short stories: 1 year, 2 months
Short story #: 19
Total responses before this sale: 128
Total rejections since last sale: ---2
Time since last sale: ---7 days
Total rejections of this story before this sale: 0
Total responses from Pseudopod before this sale: 0