Some mid-week science fiction treats

2011 is the year that I turn out more stories than ever before. Watch my smoke! Doug had a great post last week about NY resolutions and writing. It mad a lot of sense. My friend, Brenda Cooper posted a link to this most excellent post on writing discipline that applies to everything really. It's a blog entry by Johanna Harness about time vs. energy and how doing the things you love gives you energy and putting those things on your hate-to-do list by adding unreasonable restrictions and schedules and musts turns them into energy suckers and makes them less likely to get done. I thought it was great and think you'll benefit too.

I'm working on a science fiction/horror piece that should be finished by end of week. There be monsters! Oh, wait, they're intelligent.

This will also be the year of flash fiction. It's all about instant gratification, my friend. I love ticking things off a list and finishing things. Flash is easier to finish without getting bogged down.

For those who live here in Wine Country, I'll be discussing writing style at the Sebastopol library as part of a Redwood Writers panel on Feb. 7th from 6-8pm.

I'm looking into adding another staff member to Science Fiction and Other ODDysseys to cover movies from press screenings in LA. They're almost never in San Francisco, or I'd be doing a lot more of them. Expect great things!

I can't wait for the new season of Being Human - the original one. Why does the SyFy channel have to redo it with the same exact characters and script? They even dress the same! Here's an about video by the U.S. cast.

i09 has an article interviewing the cast comparing the US and UK versions.

I also found this disturbing bit of Dicktopia there. A robotic head of Philip K Dick speaks. The original went AWOL in 2006. This one was built by Hanson Robotics.

I watched the first episode of the new Primeval series (that's season on this side of the pond). I'm really not sure I'm all that thrilled. It's really more of the same: Prehistoric creatures landing in modern day England, military high-handedness, an unbelievable romance and a mysterious individual watching and conspiring. And a mole. The only truly exciting characters are the dinosaurs. I think I need to more developed characters, tension and drama. Otherwise the plot just gets stale.

And even in Dr. Who, Londoners eventually get that we're not alone. So how can they be so daft when it comes to all these dinosaurs popping up all over the place? Only the ARC (Anomaly Research Centre) changes, not society. And there are never any cops. Of course, I could say the same for Sanctuary. At least where police are concerned.

Here's another new webseries, Overturn.

You can read the synopsis at overturnseries.com.

I was recently reminded of this hilarious video. Someone I know (I'm not naming names) bought a new toilet for his wife for Christmas. Really.