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OT: Grey wears a different hat...


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As some of you know, I am an author in addition to being a musician (and a luthier and a brewer, and blah, blah, blah...). Today's mail brought contributor's copies of my upcoming story "Trial and Error." It will be in the November/December issue of Analog magazine.

 

So, for those who:

a) Read

b) Read science fiction

c) Have the time and interest to pursue such things and haven't succumbed to Covid 19 (yeah, I know, the Venn Diagram is getting pretty damned tight there in the middle)

There's a story coming from yours truly.

 

Grey

1508.jpg.8a8316fee683c5b90308f45356da5c47.jpg

I'm not interested in someone's ability to program. I'm interested in their ability to compose and play.

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I was a science fiction freak as a much younger me.

Kudos!

 

Besides a musician, I'm also a songwriter, a guitar tech, the creator of the Bowl of Death (habenaro, mango, ginger, garlic, red onion hot sauce), a reliable source for fake names and a formidable annoyance.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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...and a formidable annoyance.

 

I have it on good authority that I qualify as a considerable annoyance, myself. I get sour looks from the kids every time I fire off a pun. Others find me bothersome in other ways. It seems to be my superpower. I tell myself that it's one of those "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" or "one man's meat is another man's poison" sort of things. Perhaps I'm an acquired taste...still waiting for my kids to realize that, but I fear that the wait may be a long one.

 

Note that "Trial and Error" follows hard on the heels of an earlier story of mine, "Trial By Ordeal," which chanced to win an award, much to my surprise. That led to me making a pilgrimage to Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the awards shindig. I think I met George R.R. Martin there (he lives in the area), but at the time, GoT had yet to take over the world and he was just another author shaking hands, just as I was doing. Had I known that he was on the verge of World Domination, I might have spent more time getting acquainted. They were handing out free copies of A Clash of Kings--I should probably have at least gotten him to autograph the silly thing. But when you're carrying around ten or twenty free hard copy books (they're trying to get you to vote for them during awards season), they're heavy and awkward, and it's tedious to track everyone down and get signatures on the off chance that person X, Y, or Z might be on the verge of becoming the next big thing.

 

You need not fear that Spielberg will be taking an option on my Victor & Martin stories or the Darwin's Children series, I'm just a small frog in a medium-sized pond. I used to have a little more recognition, but then the kids came along and my stories got further and further apart (the one before this was four years back). If you don't write frequently, you get forgot, and all the stories I wrote back in the '90s might as well have been published in the Jurassic for all current readers know. I'd like to finish a few stories that I've got waiting in the wings, but the Covid lockdown means I've got family underfoot and I need large swaths of quiet to write--not gonna happen any time soon. Thus, it will likely be another four years before my next story comes out.

 

Grey

I'm not interested in someone's ability to program. I'm interested in their ability to compose and play.

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All those hats . . . it's like 50 shades of Grey.

 

Science fiction is important. I fondly remember the days when our ways of thinking were profoundly affected by reading Asimov and his ilk..

 

Heck, I fondly remember when people were reading, period.

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

Home: Vintage Vibe 64

 

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All those hats . . . it's like 50 shades of Grey.

 

Science fiction is important. I fondly remember the days when our ways of thinking were profoundly affected by reading Asimov and his ilk..

 

Heck, I fondly remember when people were reading, period.

 

Hence my sorting algorithm above beginning with "Read"...which most people don't. It's sad that the US has such a high literacy rate, but so few actually use the ability. It won't be much longer before the actual literacy rates begin falling. Also of concern: Falling rates of scientific literacy. The current trend towards an anti-science mindset is disturbing. We will pay, and pay dearly, for this if the trend isn't reversed.

 

Grey

I'm not interested in someone's ability to program. I'm interested in their ability to compose and play.

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Congrats Grey-that"s awesome!

 

 

...and a formidable annoyance.

 

I have it on good authority that I qualify as a considerable annoyance, myself. I get sour looks from the kids every time I fire off a pun. Others find me bothersome in other ways. It seems to be my superpower. I tell myself that it's one of those "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" or "one man's meat is another man's poison" sort of things. Perhaps I'm an acquired taste...still waiting for my kids to realize that, but I fear that the wait may be a long one.

 

Grey

 

Sucks for you guys. Glad I"m not like that.

:duck:

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I'm not annoying.

 

Seriously.

 

I just need to convince everyone else...and they're stubbornly refusing to go along with the program. That means it's their fault, right?

 

Grey

I'm not interested in someone's ability to program. I'm interested in their ability to compose and play.

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Congrats Grey-that"s awesome!

 

 

...and a formidable annoyance.

 

I have it on good authority that I qualify as a considerable annoyance, myself. I get sour looks from the kids every time I fire off a pun. Others find me bothersome in other ways. It seems to be my superpower. I tell myself that it's one of those "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" or "one man's meat is another man's poison" sort of things. Perhaps I'm an acquired taste...still waiting for my kids to realize that, but I fear that the wait may be a long one.

 

Grey

 

Sucks for you guys. Glad I"m not like that.

:duck:

 

I am quite capable of not being annoying, most of the time I am entirely pleasant in a mundane sort of way. I can be charming, a police officer writing a speeding ticket for me (30mph in a 25 zone) - let me try his radar gun once.

There is a time and a place to become a formidable annoyance, I choose my battles. Then, it's fun!!!!!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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For all the fact that I've only had two or three stories in the last decade, I've had nearly fifty stories in Analog over the years...it's just been a while since I was doing this on a regular basis. Kids will do that to you...and now the Covid thing, just as the kids were growing old enough that they can wipe their own bottoms.

 

It's a conspiracy, I tell ya'! A frippin' conspiracy!

 

<...puts on his tinfoil hat...>

 

Grey

I'm not interested in someone's ability to program. I'm interested in their ability to compose and play.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Tell your wife thanks. If she's been reading Analog that long, she may (dimly...after all it was twenty years ago...) remember Trial By Ordeal, this story's predecessor. It's not necessary to read Trial By Ordeal first, but it might flesh things out a bit.

 

Grey

I'm not interested in someone's ability to program. I'm interested in their ability to compose and play.

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