Category: Blog

These are the straight up, blog type posts. Little of this, little of that

When is a book not a book?

Posted on by Stephen

No, it’s not a riddle.

I admit to being a recent convert to ebooks. Before I went on a trip in the summer, I bought a Kobo and loaded it up. Catching up in reading was part of the vacation plan and I can read a lot when I have a good chunk of time to devote to it.  It made a lot more sense to carry a small electronic device than a suitcase full of books.

While I was home, I was able to meet up with an old friend from my university days, who is now an academic and professor and we got into a discussion about books and my recent conversion. Her sister used to run a very hip and eclectic bookstore. While we were talking, I managed to articulate my position for the first time.

I love books. I love them as physical manifestations of ideas. I love the feel of them in my hands and the look of them on my shelf, knowing I can pick up one of my favourites and read it any time.

But a book, to me, is more than pages or paper or leather binding. As much as I love books, I love stories more. To me, a book is a vehicle for a story. What matters to me most are the words, the characters; where the writer takes me. The narrative means more to me than the fact that is printed on paper and bound in a leather cover.

I believe the ideas are what matter, not the form.

There are good stories in books, on audio, in ebooks, on TV and in theatres.

I respect anyone who loves books, and yes, I admit to being vaguely distrustful of anyone who doesn’t read. I was raised with books and can’t understand how anyone couldn’t love them.

But, again, it’s the stories and ideas that mean the most to me, not the format. If you presented me with an amazing story on a papyrus scroll, I’d be down with that.

I love my Kobo and the convenience that it brings me. I love that I can stick it in my bag and read on my lunch at work or on the streetcar to and from. I like that it’s a light, convenient way for me to carry around ideas and stories. I especially like that when I am close to the end of one book, I don’t have to carry a second one to start when I’m done.

And, as a writer, in pure, unadulterated self interest, I’m glad that there are more ways that I can get my stories out there to be read.

 

Exciting things are happening!

Posted on by Stephen

Publisher emailed me tonight. He’s entered the information on Chasing Cold into the Publisher’s Weekly database of books being published between February and June. I should have edits soon and we’re already batting around ideas for the marketing and for who we can approach to write reviews. Once the edits are done, I should get an ARC. Of MY book

Pretty darned exciting.

Bully for you

Posted on by Stephen

Jamie Hubley, a teenager in Ottawa, killed himself recently after battling against depression and violent bullying. I’ve been trying to formulate what I need to say, what I need to express about this and about the spate of similar deaths in recent years.

I’ve been off this week, since I heard, since the news sank through my skin. I had trouble at work, holding my temper and being patient. In my personal life, I overreacted to a situation with a man I met. The whole week has been emotional turmoil of one sickly flavour or another, and it took several days to understand where it came from.

This wasn’t someone in the United States which is still barely tolerating its gay citizens. This was in my country, my province. My home. Someone, a child, in my home lost all hope of life ever being good, or even tolerable. Other children around him tortured him so much that he decided death was the only way out. Despite parents who loved him just the way he was, his hope was destroyed.

To quote the priest in the funeral scene at the beginning of The Big Chill, “It makes me angry. And I don’t know what to do with my anger.”

Children are vicious. Teens especially so. Always have been. Back in the mists of prehistory when I was young, there were peers who were horrible to me, wielding words like scalpels to cut at me. But no one ever tried to shove batteries down my throat, like they did to Jamie. It has gotten worse. The world is darker, and the internet has given bullies more brutal weapons. Like Facebook and any number of blogging platforms. Can even parental guidance stop violence from happening in the seething, hormonal hell that is high school?

We’re left with kids who don’t know that tormenting their perceived inferiors is wrong. Did they learn this at their parents’ knees? How do schools not see? Not act? Can they even undo years of conditioning and terrible parenting?

Through some of the few people I am in touch with on Facebook, I have seen peripherally some of my tormentors. One couple were the jock boy and the mean girl. She still has a brittle, cruel look about her. I wonder what their kids are like. Where they raised to know that preying on the weak is heinous? Or have they followed in their parents’ footsteps, thinking that others are their inferiors and merely victims to be toyed with?

I feel so helpless. The future of my community is dying. LGBTQ children are dying and I don’t know know how to stop it. Hell, it doesn’t even seem to matter whether some of these kids actually ARE LGBTQ. Perception of difference or gayness is often enough to ensure victimization. But these gay and lesbian kids are our future. Who knows what they might have accomplished if they had survived. What lives might they have affected or saved? What art or music might they have created?  What wonders might they have wrought on the world?

It’s so easy to see what must be done. Bullied kids must be protected. Bullies must be shown that what they do is wrong and punished to the full extent of the law if they persist. Schools must act when children are victimized. Parents must teach their children that there is nothing wrong with difference and different kids are not to treated in these horrible ways. Homophobic, hateful bigots must, at the very least, be made to see that believing homosexuality is wrong is not an excuse to hurt others or curtail their rights. Those who will never accept, must at least learn to respect.

I see so clearly what must be done. I just don’t know how. If I knew who was being victimized, I would throw myself in front of them like a human shield, taking the blows for them. If me giving my life at this very second would keep these kids from losing their lives, i would give it, without a second thought. I’ve had my time and I’ve had a good run at it. The gods can have my life if it will keep these gay kids from giving up theirs.

But it’s not the gods that wrought this situation. We, as humans, are responsible. All of us. We made it, and it’s up to us to stop it. Speak out. Act. Protect these young lives in any way we can.

This must stop. The line must be drawn.

No more.

 

Guest Post by David Haas

Posted on by Stephen

David contacted me a week or so ago asking if he could contribute a post.

It’s easy for me to forget sometimes, now that my fight with cancer is sufficiently far in the past. It’s good to be reminded of things sometimes.

David can be found online at http://haasblaag.blogspot.com/

 

Cancer Networks Offer Invaluable Support

A diagnosis of cancer can be a terrifying and life-altering experience. Patients often feel alone in their fight, or worry that their concerns are not valid. No one should have to battle cancer alone, and there are numerous support networks available to prevent isolation.

Depending on preference, a quick search online can reveal many support networks in-person or online. Participants in these groups can range from those newly diagnosed to individuals in remission. Whether the diagnosis is of breast cancer, leukemia, mesothelioma or other types of cancers, there are groups available that can help address the concerns of specific cancers and their respective treatments.

The opportunity to communicate with others going through similar circumstances is invaluable, and many online communities also offer members space to share their stories through pictures and blogging. Candidly discussing concerns with other members is a way to gain first-hand knowledge about upcoming medical testing, selecting treatment options, or expecting what could occur during and after treatment. Many of the people in these networks have developed their own strategies for dealing with treatment effects, and are willing to share their suggestions. Every experience is unique, and each person has something meaningful to contribute.

Additionally, suggestions can be found about seeking a second opinion, family and friends, or financial matters. There are often off-topic discussions on hobbies or other interests, and many members find there are similarities that bond them beyond cancer. Although communities offer much needed support, many life-long friendships are made from the experience.

Sometimes, when a doctor says the word “cancer” hope can fade. But, reading or listening to the stories of people who are winning their battle with cancer is inspiring, and rekindles hope. An opportunity to share an experience can mean the next person’s journey is a little less difficult, and provide motivation to both the person telling their experience and the audience. The American Cancer Society offers an online network and a searchable database to locate other support networks at.

A good support system is a major factor in the treatment of cancer, and its positive effects should not be underestimated. Finding real answers to questions and a listening ear from people on a similar journey, or ones that have been through the process already is within reach.

Facebook and The Filter Bubble

Posted on by Stephen

Anyone who uses Facebook knows that they rolled out a redesign this week and there are more changes coming. The usual round of high dudgeon followed, though people (myself included) don’t actually stop using it.

I have reduced my usage though. I don’t log in as often or spend as much time on there. Mostly because the “Top News” has taken the place of the old, chronological News Feed, and this goes against how I use FB and how I want to use it. I like the plain old, unfiltered stream of updates and likes and such. I can control it. I can keep or rid myself of whatever I don’t want to read. And there were a few people that I removed because their posts or their tone or whatever bothered me. But the control was in my hands.

Not so much any more. I’m at the mercy of the mysterious, unknowable Facebook algorithm that has decided who I am and what I want to see. .

I recently read The Filter Bubble, by Eli Pariser which is a fascinating look at the realities and possibilities of too much web personalization. I highly recommend it for anyone concerned about websites deciding what we want to see.

We all need to realize that on Facebook, we are not the customers. We’re the product. Facebook couldn’t give a hooping funt about connecting us to each other and allowing us to share. They want us using the service so they can harvest our information and sell it and us to their advertisers. At this point, for most of us, our buy in to FB is so strong that it’s hard to get free. But that’s the only way. Writing bitchy status updates won’t affect anything. Sending them complaints won’t affect anything. The only thing that will affect them is logging in less. Clicking less. Staying away until their numbers drop. The only thing that will effect any change will be to hurt their bottom line with advertisers.

I doubt I could give it up completely. I have an author page there, and I’m mercenary enough to know that I need that presence if I’m going to market myself and my book in the new year. But I log in less and less to keep track of my friends, because I have no idea if I’m seeing what they’re doing, because I have no idea what the algorithm is keeping from me. And that defeats the purpose for me.

I’m on Google+ and I like it a lot, but there aren’t nearly as many people there. They buy in just hasn’t happened yet. Which is unfortunate, as there, I can control what I see from others and what others see of me. I’m not at the mercy of software rules that are being kept from me.

Ship design

Posted on by Stephen

I found this image, designed by Andrew Ley, over on Concept Ships (because I am a complete geek who reads stuff like that in my spare time) and was a little bit gobsmacked.

It’s almost exactly what I envisioned the Brazen Strumpet, the ship in Chasing Cold, to look like. I mean, in the original concept, she’s a fine dining ship, and in my novel, she’s one of the few trading ships still in operation. But the basic geography is the same. Main difference is in my ship, the upper room that looks like it’s the dining room is larger and broken into crew quarters. But it’s pretty uncanny, so I thought I’d share it. Click it to see the original over on Andrew Ley’s site.

 

 

 

 

I Believe in Love to be the Centre of All Things

Posted on by Stephen

After hearing a couple of people bitching about some recent romantic disaster, I posed the question “Do any of my single friends believe in love?”

The answers were disheartening, no pun intended.

Of the few who didn’t outright say no, the others added these strange qualifiers like “I believe in love but not (fill in the blank) kind of love.” or “(fill in the blank) aspect of love.

O_o

It’s love. Whether it’s friendly love or romantic love or monogamous love or polyamorous love. It’s love. It’s believing in someone. Wanting them there and wanting their support and their caring. It’s wanting them to be happy and feeling their pain go through you like a blade and wishing more than anything that you could end it. It’s feeling like that person has been there your whole life and that your life would be emptier if they weren’t there any more.

And if you don’t believe that it’s even possible, how can it find you? How can you see it if the possibility falls into your path, like an autumn leaf blown on the wind?

Everyone’s in a rush to blame love. I’ve seen people get themselves hung up on someone married or taken, or some analogous situation where there is odds are against them, who then blame or curse love when the outcome isn’t what they want. I’ve seen people who are so down on themselves that they talk potential partners out of being interested in them, and then bewail that they can’t find anyone. If you don’t believe you are worthy of love, how can anyone else?

We all have our baggage. We all make bad decisions sometimes. But, those things are ours and we have to acknowledge them and work through them and walk alongside them.

But love is still there. Sometimes it’s sweet and fleeting, like a bite of chocolate on the tongue. Sometimes it’s there as strong as ever after gaps and separations as if no time has passed. But the fact that it might end doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or that it has failed in some way.

You have to take it and relish it while you have it. This moment is all you have. No day but today.

But ya gotta believe that, in some way, in some form, that it can and does exist. Because if you don’t, the game is already lost before the opening pitch.

“Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.”
-Max Ehrmann – Desiderata

On Socialized Medicine

Posted on by Stephen

I’m assuming that any of my American friends on here are intelligent enough to have informed opinions on health care, but here’s some food for thought.

I had life threatening cancer. For over four years. And thanks to Canadian style, “socialist” health care, I didn’t have to declare bankruptcy.

Over the course of the four years, I was in hospital for around 56 days for recovering from surgeries, having chemo, etc. I paid nothing.

When I was first diagnosed, I had five weeks of radiation treatments, five days a week. The started two days after my diagnosis. I paid nothing.

I had five major surgeries in those four years, each lasting anywhere from two to eight hours, and involving surgeons, anesthetists, nurses and post-op care. I paid nothing.

After the first surgery on my leg, I had to go to physiotherapy for nine months to learn to walk again, the first four months of which were two hours a day, five days a week. I paid nothing.

There were innumerable nurses caring for me during my hospital stays, round the clock. I paid nothing.

To help me deal with how I was feeling, my orthopedic surgeon referred me to a psychiatrist who worked in the hospital who helps cancer patients. I saw him every month for most of those four years. I paid nothing.

They rebuilt my leg with a then state of the art prosthesis worth tens of thousands of dollars, then in the revision replaced the upper half. I paid nothing. The orthopedic surgeon, one of the top men in his field in Canada, I paid nothing.

My GP who caught the problem first, I paid nothing. The Sports Medicine Clinic where he referred me, I paid nothing. The knee specialist, I paid nothing.

And just in case you are wondering, I received the best care any person could have, at three of the top hospitals in the country.

So, take that, little miss “boo hoo, I had a <benign> brain tumour and had to wait because socialized medicine is evil” You’re a sellout and a liar.

And if you question the wisdom of socialized medicine, remember that if you were in Canada, and you went through what I did, you’d still have your house and your savings. Think about the hundreds of thousands of dollars I didn’t have to pay. And that you wouldn’t have to pay either.