Daredevil Author

by Andrea Colasanto

Sonny Whitelaw.

Yep, that Sonny Whitelaw. Author of the Stargate novels, winner of the Draco Award—and soon to be a Musa published author with a new edition of The Rhesus Factor, available December 20th!

When Sonny’s not writing, she can be found exploring all the wonders New Zealand has to offer. Here she is being awesome, exploring caverns on Fox Glacier.

Working with Musa will give Sonny a wider audience in an e-publishing format. On her website, she mentions her Stargate novels are not available in New Zealand, where she resides. Musa Publishing will ensure that The Rhesus Factor will be available at the fingertips of all who wish to access it, anywhere!

Below is an excerpt from an interview with Sonny—you can read it in its entirety in the upcoming October issue of Penumbra EMag, so be on the lookout!

Sonny, were you a fan of the Stargate television series before writing the proposal for the novel?
Honestly? No. Not because I didn’t like it, but because I didn't see a television for two decades (aside from the odd trips overseas). But when I saw the movie, I loved the premise because back in the 1970s, I’d been intrigued by how the nineteenth century alien-gods-built-the-Egyptian-pyramids notion had escaped eighteenth and early nineteenth century science fiction and insinuated itself into pop culture and pseudo science. Back then, I thought it would make a great modern science fiction tale (after all, James Cameron turned Pocahontas into Avatar). The storytelling potential of Stargate was unlimited because it could capture every mythology from every culture for the past 10,000 years of human history, plus any number of aliens on unlimited planets. So yeah, when offered me the chance to play in their sandpit, I leaped at the opportunity.

Why do you think speculative fiction is so successful?
I wrote my second Masters thesis, The Attraction of Sloppy Nonsense, on that very question! (If by any chance anyone is vaguely interested, just Google the title). By its nature, speculative fiction explores and often challenges the human condition. It pulls apart what we believe, including our mythologies, and exposes the potential moral quagmires that science and technology are creating. That’s the storytelling side of speculative fiction. When it comes to movies and television, mind-blowing special effects breathe life into stories that many people would never normally read, if only because they don’t have time. Gaming takes it a step further: take great stories, add science fiction and a user interface, and even the most unadventurous can become immersed in fabulous tales set in realistic worlds without leaving the safety of their room.

As an author, what is your take on e-publishing and what it means for a changing market?
E-publishing has certainly come of age. I haven’t read the latest statistics but the last time I looked, around 60% of sales through some of the big name international print publishers were e-books. And many are struggling to compete with e-publishers who’ve been around for a while and have embraced the market and technology and run with it. Indeed, a top New Zealand publisher has just been forced to close, citing competitive pressure from e-publishers, and particularly self-publishing. While self-publishing is certainly taking a chunk of the market by virtue of the sheer volume of works out there, there is little or no quality control in the finished product. Readers quickly learn that if they want a quality product, they’ll buy from quality e-publishers.

What can you tell us about the upcoming The Rhesus Factor?
I'll let two reviewers explain:

Cause and effect, and for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Those principles are commonplace and indisputable. The Rhesus Factor by Sonny Whitelaw demonstrates with painful clarity that we ignore cause and effect at our peril. Perhaps the most frightening book of recent years, Whitelaw's thriller builds an all too plausible scenario of what might happen should our ecosphere decide to apply an equal and opposite reaction to our actions.

Fast-paced and grounded in solid research, the book charts not only the breakdown of ecosystems in the wake of global warming, but the breakdown of society that will be an inescapable result. It is precisely in the devastating detail of the wreckage of everyday life that the book is at its most explosive. While Joe Voter may dismiss global warming as a theory that doesn't affect him, the very real prospect of losing home, livelihood, educational facilities and medical care is bound to strike a chord. - Dr. Sabine C Bauer

Although fiction, I now know that some of the events in the book could happen in the future. The effects of global warming are evident, as is how this has put stress on the world, leading to world events that include terrorism, environmental vandalism and a lifestyle that we do not want for our future generations. I encourage all members to buy this book when it becomes available. - Barbara Stone MP for Queensland, Australia. (Excerpt from speech to Queensland State Parliament).

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Check back again for more information on the new edition of The Rhesus Factor by Sonny Whitelaw releasing December 20th!

Quick and easy sparkly chain earrings DIY

The inspiration: Lanvin tutti frutti earrings via Lyst

Take two accessories you love and put them together to make one twice as gorgeous, you'd get these earrings. They can be assembled and disassembled to use the pieces alone, how can it be done? Using clip earrings and a piece of chain. You can use different kinds of clip on earrings to make original matches or you can buy two pairs of the same style in different colors.

You'll need:

• two pairs of clip earrings
• a piece of chain
• pliers

Isolate four links of the chain.

Insert one earring in a link of the chain.

Connect the other one to the last link.

You've done!
Isn't the quickest DIY ever?
See more earrings DIY

On the Cusp of Science Fact and Fiction

by Randal Keith Jackson

Like most writers these days, I have a day job. And as a writer of speculative fiction, I could do a lot worse: I work at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

It's like camping out on the fuzzy border between science fact and science fiction. I mean, this is a place where SF story ideas lie strewn on the ground like gold nuggets, waiting to be picked up and smelted into narrative. Here's a small sampling of the mind-bending discoveries in which JPL has played a role in recent years:

• More than eight-hundred new planets have been found beyond our solar system, some of them weirder than anything dreamed up by the creators of Star Trek.

• Interplanetary probes have returned pictures of vast methane lakes on Saturn's exotic moon Titan.

• Satellites have revealed mysterious, tantalizing cave openings on the surface of Mars.

• Spacecraft have photographed cryovolcanoes on the Saturn's moon Enceladus that spew fountains of ice hundreds of miles into space.

• Scientists have found mounting evidence that a vast, salty ocean swirls just below the ice crust of Jupiter's moon Europa.

With such rich fodder to draw upon, you'd think I'd write some science fiction, right? Well, for some reason, when I sit down at the computer after-hours to tell a story, my imagination always seems to turn in a different direction. I write about what makes people tick; the riddles, mysteries, and occasional ghastliness of human behavior. My muse wants to explore inner worlds. So I write psychological thrillers and horror.

But it's tricky; I have to be very careful that I keep the two worlds separate. Day job: robots, planets, and space. Night job: Psychopaths, monsters, and ghosts.

I mean, we can't have a story about sociopaths living in a haunted Victorian mansion that overlooks the icy fountains of Enceladus, can we?

Then again … that actually sounds kind of cool. I'll have to think about that one.

Randal Keith Jackson is an Internet Manager at NASA and a produced playwright. He's originally from Georgia and now lives with his wife and son in Santa Barbara, California. He has been known to rescue neighbors from snakes and build elaborate Halloween experiences in the garage. His first published short story, "All the Devils," will appear in the October issue of Penumbra.

9 fall bags you'll love

Dolce&Gabbana fall 2013 pic via fashion mention

Dolce&Gabbana fall 2013 bag pic via purseblog

The exciting thing about entering in the new season is making room for a new collection of clothes and accessories. One of the most interesting bag shape for this fall 2013 is the doctor bag. Roomy to contain all of you life and sophisticated enough and take you to am to pm. Dolce&Gabbana bag could be the timeless piece in your wardrobe, classical and elegant. The red one is perfect to pop over a black&white oufit (also a must have of the coming season). The patent leather and the metallic closure shine like a brand new car and the crocodile print is exotic and expensive. Ok, now you know I fell in love with the bag. Another bag you need to put in your wish list is the Braccialini Clio special.  It looks like two bag put together because the big pocket on the front looks like a clutch sewed on a big bag. It comes in a lot of interesting color combinations and mixed materials. Fall 2013 one is richly embroidered with bright colors, it's really a feast for the eyes.
Victor&Rolf bomb bag is really a goodie for bag collectors, a geometric little jewel.
What's the bag you have to have this fall?

Braccialini Clio special gipsy fall 2013 pic via la chiacchiera

 

Paul Smith fall 2013 color block bag pic via style.it

with patches Moschino fall 2013 bag pic via style.it

Elie Saab fall 2013 pic via style.it

Ralph Lauren fall 2013 pic via style.it

Victor&Rolf bomb bag  fall 2013 pic via style.it

Phillip Lim fall 2013 pic via style.it

wood effect Stella McCartney fall 2013 bag pic via style.it

Maintain Your Balance

with David Elliott

How do you find the right balance between dialogue and action in a short story? Is there a trick to it or is it different for every story?

With action, as with dialogue and description, it’s knowing how much not to write. For example:

Brian woke up at 7:36 AM. He closed his eyes against the glare from the bedroom window, opened them again, closed them again, opened them, closed them, opened them, closed them, opened them, closed them, and then, finally, kept them open for at least four point three seconds before experiencing his first blink of the day. Giving his scrotum a satisfying scratch with the index finger of his right hand, he let out a brief but comedic fart, yawned with an ‘Eeeeeeraw’ kind of sound, and started to get out of bed. He threw the duvet aside with his left arm, planting his feet on the carpet, thus enabling his torso, arms, neck, head, eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, to rise from the mattress and greet the new day. Putting one foot in front of the other, right leg after left leg, in a motion that could only be described as ‘walking’, he headed towards the bathroom; a journey that took him five steps, including a sharp right turn. Taking the toothpaste in his left hand, toothbrush in the right, he squeezed out five point seven millimetres of blue sludge on to the two thousand and fifty three bristles, lifted the brush to his mouth, and painstakingly scrubbed each of his teeth: third molar, second molar, first molar, second bicuspid, first bicuspid, cuspid, lateral incisor, central incisor. He was just about to start on the opposite side of his upper mouth, when his Mother’s voice came floating up the twelve luxuriously carpeted stairs from their tastefully decorated hallway.

‘Brian? Are you up yet?’

Far too much action, in my humble opinion. Not to mention description. However, if Brian – in the context of the story – was to have a bad case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, this passage might actual work.

On the other hand, you could have something like this:

‘Yes, Mother,’ said Brian. ‘Of course I’m out of bed. But then you’ve never really cared about me, have you? You cold-hearted bitch. Well, if you think I’m going to stand here, with only a quarter of my teeth brushed, and let you stick your bony, black-headed excuse for a nose into my private affairs, then you’re very much mistaken. I’m a fully grown man! Do you understand? A human being, with thoughts, desires, passions, ideas. And you’re stifling me, Mother. Do you understand? Suffocating me!’

‘Oh,’ said Mother. ‘Sorry. Would you like a cup of coffee?’

‘Coffee? What good is coffee when there are children starving in the world? How can you possibly talk about frothy hazelnut cappuccinos lovingly dusted with chocolate, while people are being systematically raped, murdered, and persecuted, all because of the colour of their skin, their sexuality, their religious beliefs? Answer me that, Mother, if indeed you are my Mother! Coffee? I spit in your coffee, and urinate on all who’ve been involved in the manufacturing of your sickeningly sinful brown dust!’

‘How about a cup of tea then?’

Brian has quite a lot to say for himself here. Too much, in fact. On the other hand, if Brian’s character is that of a pretentious, opinionated, ungrateful maggot of a son who deserves a good hard slap with a wet fish, then these examples of dialogue might well be appropriate.

So, how do you find the right balance between action and dialogue?

Erm … I’m not really sure. Sorry. I think it depends on the writer, the story, the characters, and what kind of effect you’re looking to create.

I hope you weren’t looking for a short answer to this question.

David Elliott was born in Liverpool in 1981. In addition to Penumbra, his short fiction has been published by journals such as The Rusty Nail, Eunoia Review, Danse Macabre, The Satirist, Apocrypha and Abstractions, Down in the Dirt, The Horror Zine, Linguistic Erosion, Flashes in the Dark, MicroHorror, Twisted Tongue, and Delivered.

Paint your sunglasses if you dare!

Do you need a little help to look forward autumn with optimism? Look at the world with different eyes.
 It will instantly be a better place through the lenses of these sunglasses.
In the past years we decorated our sunglasses with roses, with jewels, glitters and so on, but have you ever dared to paint the lenses? If the answer is no is probably because you're afraid that you won't see a thing in front of you after the treatment, but that isn't necessarily true. You can have fun painting your sunglasses and they can still be used if you don't paint directly in front of your eyes. Dare to go where decorators haven't been yet, dare to paint your lenses. Don't be scared, it's just nail polish, it can be removed if you want!

The inspiration: Burberry fall 2013 heart pattern pic via Simone Ruess

You'll need:

• sunglasses
• nail polish
• nail brush
• checked paper

Use a pencil to get the shape of the frame

Draw some dots at the intersection of the grid to get a regular pattern. Try the sunglasses on and be sure to leave blank the area directly in front of your eyes.

Put the paper shape behind the lens and fasten it in place with scotch tape. Draw little hearts with nail polish over the dots. See how to draw hearts easily in my heart manicure tutorial.

Fill the space and do the same on the other side.

Wait until the nail polish dries, then wear your unique pair of sunglasses and...

Have fun!

The Juggling Act

with Randy Henderson

How do you find the right balance between dialogue and action in a short story? Is there a trick to it or is it different for every story?

Next time you're reading while tired, notice how you read. Quite likely, you skim dense paragraphs of description, but never skip dialogue, and rarely skip action sequences. This is because what most often engages readers and carries them through a story are the characters' journey and actions, not the description of the scenery, or the exposition or historical notes, etc. (as cool as these things can be).

The implication is that dialogue covers, or at least signals, all the really important bits – the dramatic bits, the revelation of plot points, and where the character is expressing something, revealing their thoughts and feelings, their desires and fears, their intentions and regrets. Dialogue also reveals conflicts and connections between characters, and expresses the tension of the plot. Dialogue that is not doing any of these things, then, dialogue that is mundane or thinly veiled exposition, is a prime candidate for the waste bin.

On the other hand, you shouldn't try to put everything into dialogue. Your characters may begin to seem like little more than puppets there to mouth the author's As You Know Bob infodumping and plot explanation. Action has its place, to manifest in the physical world the character's motivations (including sometimes the desire simply to survive, though this is actually a weak motivation story-wise). And without setting and description, we cannot visualize who is speaking, or where they are speaking, or what they are doing as they speak.

So let the characters say what these specific characters would naturally say given their situation, feelings and motivation (shaped by their personality, background, etc.), and share with the reader only the most interesting and relevant things said. Let the action, the description and narration say the rest.

To blur the lines a bit, you can also have non-verbal dialogue, conveyed through actions. And dialogue itself is action since something is happening, and that something is ideally dramatic, and possibly filled with conflict and tension, and moving the story forward. You can slice someone with words as surely as with a sword. In fact, it is quite often more memorable and enjoyable to the reader if you do.

Ultimately, though, dialogue and action in genre fiction are really just different aspects of the same thing – ways to move the story forward in a dramatic way, ideally with some form of tension.

In other words, it is what underlies the dialogue and action that is truly important, and will tell you if you are sharing the right bits of dialogue and action, and if those bits are conveying what you need them to.

What is it that should underlie the dialogue and action? The motives and needs of the characters. The characters should want and/or need something in every scene, and their words and actions are their way of trying to get it, or of dealing with the aftermath of being thwarted in getting what they want or need, and forming new plans to get what they want or need. If we care about the characters and whether they get what they want or need, then the dialogue and action become meaningful to us.

On a more technical level, you can use dialogue and action to control pacing. Dialogue tends to speed up the pace, as does action sequences written in short, active sentences, while dense and lyrical narrative slows it down and gives the reader a breather before pumping up the adrenaline again.

And finally, yes, every story does have its own tone and style, and the uses of dialogue and action reflect that. For example, a romantic fantasy may be heavy on banter and barbs between the characters, allowing us to share in the growth of their relationship, while an urban fantasy story may be heavy on the narration and action scenes but with short snappy dialogue.

For my Penumbra story "The Beloved Changeling Who was Neither", I imagined the story being told by an old man in an Irish pub to find the story's voice and style. In such narrated tales, and in most first person or omniscient fiction, the narration itself is a kind of dialogue between the narrator and the reader, reflecting the narrator's voice, and following the rules of dialogue more than the formal rules and restrictions of second, tight third or omni narration.

My closing thought is to read your work out loud. It is the best way to catch false dialogue, or areas of too-dense narration, and issues with pacing and balance.

Happy writing, folks.

Randy Henderson's fiction can be spotted frolicking in places like Penumbra, Escape Pod, Realms of Fantasy, Every Day Fiction, and anthologies. He is a 1st Place winner of Writers of the Future, a Clarion West graduate, a relapsed sarcasm addict, and a milkshake connoisseur who transmits suspiciously delicious words into the ether from his secret lair in Kingston, Washington.

Learn more about Randy Henderson on his blog Smorgh is Bored. Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter.