Readers and Writers, Unite!\u00a0 You have nothing to lose but a lot of really boring books filled with futility and self-loathing!<\/p>\n
We’ve started a movement<\/a>.\u00a0 A literary movement, even.\u00a0 Human Wave SF.\u00a0 We’re still deciding the rules<\/a>, whether we’ll have rules, logo, etc. but we’ve got a website<\/a> so you know<\/em> we’re legit.\u00a0 The splendid and worthwhile Sarah Hoyt<\/a> asked the question “Where’s the sense of wonder in science fiction anymore?”.\u00a0 Lots of people discovered they had the same question, and wondered what we could do about it.\u00a0 So, we are bringing Sensawunda back!\u00a0 The plan is to have a hand-wavy kind of general agreement about what we are promoting, then we’ll collect up writers who want to be identified with our particular brand of insanity, list them on the blog, collect already published books to point to as examples for the curious, and stuff like that.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sabrina’s Version of the Human Wave Credo:<\/strong><\/p>\n In my books–<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0 Somebody wins.\u00a0\u00a0 So far it’s always the heroes, after much struggle and sacrifice, because that’s what I<\/em> like to read.\u00a0 But somebody has to win, and something has to happen after 300+ pages.<\/p>\n II. Having Fun is a complete and sufficient defense.<\/p>\n 3.14 Pie is a good thing.\u00a0 The Dark Side says<\/em> it has cookies, but we have pie.<\/p>\n D. Remember you are competing for beer money.<\/p>\n 5.a A character’s race, species, age, gender, gender identification, sexual orientation, presence\/lack of sexual activity, political donation history, hobbies, physical pathology, national origin (except Belgians), ranking in the Meyers-Briggs scale<\/a>, handedness, musical preference, or tendency to carry a grudge for all eternity is NOT DETERMINATIVE of virtue or guilt. For the Avoidance of Doubt, that means:<\/p>\n iii. The Reader does not wish to be beaten over the head with your Moral Message for Mankind. (see rule D).\u00a0 Yeah, yeah, you have something to say but you don’t need to hire a lecture hall.\u00a0 Negative example–Ayn Rand.\u00a0 Positive example–Terry Pratchett.\u00a0 He’s got lots of message and meaning but he lets the characters play it out<\/em> for you.<\/p>\n 404.\u00a0 If Technology is Evil, Why are you Wearing Clothes? (Corollary: If Corporations are Evil, why do you have an iPhone?)\u00a0 It is our happy hominid nature to poke things with sticks and figure out how they work.\u00a0 Then we figure out how those things can be useful to us.\u00a0 This is why we are not currently lion kibble on the Serengeti.\u00a0 Personally, I prefer this scenario.<\/p>\n g. Nature is Stupid.\u00a0 It’s just very big and there’s a lot of it so it can kill you quite easily, but it doesn’t, per se<\/em>, care.\u00a0 Or think.\u00a0 Respect it like a huge brain-damaged poisonous\u00a0 snake, but don’t worship it or ask it for investment advice.<\/p>\n 401(k) Your Book Will Live On.\u00a0 Try not to have a worldview determined by today’s headlines.\u00a0 Thirty years from now, will your readers know or care about ${PoliticalScandalDuJour}?\u00a0 At the time people cared a great deal about the election of Millard Fillmore.\u00a0 Now, not so much.\u00a0 For extra credit, look up the profound repercussions of the Pig War.\u00a0 (Yes, actual declared war between the US and Britain that nobody remembers.\u00a0 No joke.)<\/p>\n 3a4d. Puzzles are fun, Science is cool.\u00a0 Let your characters figure out the world around them and discover new things.\u00a0 Let your readers figure it out a little bit ahead of the characters.\u00a0 This releases serotonin and promotes relaxation in both body and wallet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Exemplars, past and present:\u00a0<\/strong> (writers who get it)<\/p>\n H. Beam Piper<\/p>\n Edgar Rice Burroughs<\/p>\n E.E. “Doc” Smith<\/p>\n James Schmitz<\/p>\n Terry Pratchett<\/p>\n James P. Hogan<\/p>\n Steve Miller and Sharon Lee<\/p>\n Anne McCaffrey<\/p>\n Eleanor Cameron (oh come on.\u00a0 The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet<\/a>??? Classic!)<\/p>\n Larry Correia<\/p>\n …more to come…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Readers and Writers, Unite!\u00a0 You have nothing to lose but a lot of really boring books filled with futility and self-loathing! We’ve started a movement.\u00a0 A literary movement, even.\u00a0 Human Wave SF.\u00a0 We’re still deciding the rules, whether we’ll have … Continue reading \n