Thursday, October 19, 2006

Ben Bova

Not long ago, a speculative fiction magazine called Apex Digest needed help. Some writers banded together and held a successful auction to save the zine. I participated in the auction and won two prizes. One was an autographed copy of a book by Steven Savile. The other prize was a copy-edited manuscript of the U.K. version of Ben Bova's novel Titan. Dr. Bova used to be the editor of Analog magazine, and is a popular science and hard science fiction author.

Because Dr. Bova was going to be in Phoenix this month, he offered to meet with me and deliver the manuscript in person. Today was the day.

I met with Dr. Bova at The Poison Pen in central Phoenix, and arrived about ten minutes before his signing. He signed the manuscript for me without personalizing because I told him I would eventually auction it again at a SFWA charity auction. He also signed my copy of his pamphlet '10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Writing,' and also signed my copy of 'How to Write Science Fiction That Sells,' personalized for this one.

We had a pleasant discussion for about five minutes before he went back into the bookstore for his signing and I got back into the car for my drive back to work.

Ben Bova is a very pleasant man. I hope I have the chance to speak with him again.

Monday, October 02, 2006

The New Phone Book's Here!

Issue #3 of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show went live today. The cost is $2.50, which gives you permanent access to that issue (just like buying it off a newsstand and throwing it in the closet).

I have a very good collection of TOC-mates. Tim Pratt is an emerging big name. Orson Scott Card has a story in every issue. In addition, fellow Codexians Alethea Kontis, Oliver Dale, and James Maxey have stories in this issue. Brian Dolton I know from Hatrack, OSC's web site. It's almost a family affair here.

Looking back over the story, which I wrote nearly a year ago, I can see how much my writing has changed and improved over that time. This story seems very passive to me. I suppose we all grow.

http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com/cgi-bin/mag.cgi?do=content&article=2006-october&template=3

Click on the "current Issue" hyperlink to see the table of contents and access the beginning of the story.