Can you beat my Oscar predictions?

LIVE UPDATE: I did not do too well....
I managed to correctly predict 5 of 18 categories.
Next year, please bet on who I do NOT choose.

It is Oscar time once more, or "Academy Awards" for the high-brow crowd. I always like to pick the winners. At least those I believe should win. Some years I don't care or I didn't see the films anyway. For 2012, however, I think I can get back in the game. 

Here are my picks, agree or disagree!

BEST PICTURE

Amour

Argo   WINNER!!! (At least I got the big one!)

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Django Unchained

Les Misérables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty

While I waffled between Argo and ZD30, I have to give it to Argo on the basis of its pacing and because ZD30 is too politically hot to pick as a winner. Les Miz was great but it can't beat something with historical pretentions like Argo. Speaking of historical pretentions, Lincoln won't win because it is too rewritten as a do-good story. Silver Linings may be a wonderful romantic comedy but that genre doesn't win Best Picture. I don't know why Django is on the list (too "pop") and I did not see Amour and Southern Wild so I cannot comment on them. Life of Pi never seemed to have much buzz; however, I can now be hopeful of a film being made of my novel Year of the Tiger--now that they worked out how to film a tiger.

ACTOR in a Leading Role

Bradley Cooper Silver Linings Playbook

Daniel Day-Lewis Lincoln WINNER!!! (Yes, I needed this win, even though it was well-predicted by everyone.)

Hugh Jackman Les Misérables

Joaquin Phoenix The Master

Denzel Washington Flight

Daniel Day-Lewis, of course. Hugh Jackman was absolutely the heart and soul of Les Miz but the buzz for DDL can't be overcome. (Why is it always "foreigners" who play American icons?)

ACTRESS in a Leading Role

Jessica Chastain Zero Dark Thirty WINNER (You're still A-list in my book, Jess!)

Jennifer Lawrence Silver Linings Playbook WINNER

Emmanuelle Riva Amour

Quvenzhané Wallis Beasts of the Southern Wild

Naomi Watts The Impossible

Jessica Chastain, hands down--and it has nothing to do with my schoolboy crush. She carried that film; she portrayed a strong, independent woman and that is the theme this year. Jennifer Lawrence was intriguing but too much "herself" in the film; not much stretching. The other three films I did not see.

ACTOR in a Supporting Role

Alan Arkin Argo

Robert De Niro Silver Linings Playbook WINNER

Philip Seymour Hoffman The Master

Tommy Lee Jones Lincoln

Christoph Waltz Django Unchained WINNER

Give it to Robert DeNiro; he deserves it for this untypical role that he plays so realistically.

ACTRESS in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams The Master

Sally Field Lincoln WINNER

Anne Hathaway Les Misérables WINNER

Helen Hunt The Sessions

Jacki Weaver Silver Linings Playbook

I'd like to see Helen Hunt win it yet I doubt she will. They probably added her because she dared do nudity at age 49 (and looked so good doing so). Most likely Sally Field will win it. Anne Hathaway was so moving in her role yet her role only took a small portion of the whole Les Miz film.

ANIMATED FEATURE, SHORT FILMS, DOCUMENTARY, FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILMS
(I did not see any of the nominated films, so I cannot comment.)

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Anna Karenina Seamus McGarvey WINNER

Django Unchained Robert Richardson

Life of Pi Claudio Miranda WINNER

Lincoln Janusz Kaminski

Skyfall Roger Deakins

It has to be Anna Karenina. Besides all the lavish costumes the whole film was played out in various theaters and ballrooms, requiring hyper-rigorous set design, coordination, and cinematography! Life of Pi is a reasonable winner, given the necessary adaptations for filming that story. 

COSTUME DESIGN

Anna Karenina Jacqueline Durran WINNER!!! --Finally I got a win!!!

Les Misérables Paco Delgado

Lincoln Joanna Johnston

Mirror Mirror Eiko Ishioka

Snow White and the Huntsman Colleen Atwood

Again, it must be Anna Karenina. However, Les Miz certainly had as much in the costume category. Lincoln: yes, the costumes may be authentic, but so dour who would vote for them?

DIRECTING

Amour Michael Haneke

Beasts of the Southern Wild Benh Zeitlin

Life of Pi Ang Lee WINNER

Lincoln Steven Spielberg WINNER

Silver Linings Playbook David O. Russell

I look for a film where the director did something special to elevate the film above the usual. However, the Academy usually chooses someone who either has a great career (Spielberg) or is a bright newcomer. I would have chosen Ben Affleck or Katherine Bigelow if either were included (I'd go with Argo's Affleck for aesthetic reasons). Probably, Spielberg will get it.

FILM EDITING

Argo William Goldenberg WINNER!!! --I got another win!!! 

Life of Pi Tim Squyres

Lincoln Michael Kahn

Silver Linings Playbook Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers

Zero Dark Thirty Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

I look for a film where the editing plays a significant role in the storytelling; hence, a film with less action will involve less of the "cool" editing we come to expect of action films. Argo has that feature (to create tension) and to a slightly lesser extent so does ZD30.  I liked both films very much although I saw Argo first and immediately felt it had Oscar all over it. I'm going with Argo but would be just as happy if ZD30 got that recognition.

MUSIC Original Score

Anna Karenina Dario Marianelli WINNER

Argo Alexandre Desplat

Life of Pi Mychael Danna WINNER

Lincoln John Williams

Skyfall Thomas Newman

I have always been a film music junkie, so these categories matter to me. The music must be unique to the film and carry its story musically, regardless whether it has a memorable tune or musical motif. The only film where the music played such a significant role was Anna Karenina, in my opinion. In the other films, the music was good but utilitarian.

MUSIC Original Song

"Before My Time" from Chasing Ice Music and Lyric by J. Ralph 

"Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from Ted Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane

"Pi's Lullaby" from Life of Pi Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri

"Skyfall" from Skyfall Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth WINNER!!! (I got it!!!)

"Suddenly" from Les Misérables Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

This category is purely for a song, often completely separate from the film it is heard in, so it's just the opinion of music lovers, not so much film buffs. I liked the Skyfall theme song and given Adele's dramatic rise, I expect her to win it.

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Anna Karenina - WINNER

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Les Misérables

Life of Pi

Lincoln WINNER

SOUND EDITING (not sound mixing)

Argo Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn

Django Unchained Wylie Stateman

Life of Pi Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton

Skyfall Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers WINNER by TIE!

Zero Dark Thirty Paul N.J. Ottosson WINNER WINNER by TIE! (still counts for my totals)

VISUAL EFFECTS

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey WINNER

Life of Pi WINNER

Marvel's The Avengers

Prometheus

Snow White and the Huntsman

CGI always wins: The Hobbit will probably win, more out of nostalgia for Tolkien. Prometheus could win by an alien nose, unless the Academy opposes "monster" movies.

WRITING Adapted Screenplay

Argo Written by Chris Terrio WINNER!!! (I got another one!)

Beasts of the Southern Wild Screenplay by Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin

Life of Pi Written by David Magee

Lincoln Written by Tony Kushner

Silver Linings Playbook Written by David O. Russell

I've been interested in writing for film for a long time and have 5 screenplays completed (one was optioned years ago). Nothing happens without the writer! I'm going to go with Argo again, although if the Academy goes sentimental, Silver Linings could win it, being made from a popular book.

WRITING Original Screenplay

Amour Written by Michael Haneke

Django Unchained Written by Quentin Tarantino WINNER (What the.........?)

Flight Written by John Gatins

Moonrise Kingdom Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola

Zero Dark Thirty Written by Mark Boal WINNER

The writing is everything, especially if the story first appears already in script form. That's a masterful accomplishment, in my opinion. Translating it to the screen completes the author's vision. I have to give it to ZD30. As much journalism, reporting and researching, and putting together everything that happened in the real narrative took as much effort as telling the story of all the research and putting everything together to complete the mission as told in the film. That has to be worth an Oscar.


Regardless of how much I win in bets, I love [most] films and will always cheer for those in the industry who give their all for their audiences yet remain humbled by their  good fortune, being blessed with the ability to entertain the rest of us.


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(C) Copyright 2010-2013 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

Got the Muse/Music in You?

Many of my writer friends like to inform each other of their writing production each day, perhaps more so if some writing program like the National Novel Writing Month is on. It helps to motivate them. I've never done that because I've always liked to think I was beneath that. I write when the muse grants me her favor and not before. Also, I don't really think a word count tells much about one's progress; I often delete as much the next day as I wrote the previous day.

Anyway, I had an unusual weekend, which fell, as it usually does, at the end of a stressful week. That muse phantom got into me somehow and I was jazzed up enough to write almost steadily for 24 hours. Mostly it was on the third volume of the sci-fi trilogy THE DREAM LAND. Book I and II are complete; Book I is available now for Kindle (print coming soon) while Book II is undergoing its final tweaks and is expected out in late spring.

Book III, however, has been left on backburners for a while due to other projects. It is plotted out; I know what happens, what will happen. But spoilers aside, all I can say is there is a comet involved. Now that we've had our asteroid of the year and Russians had their meteorite, its seems portentous that the comet I planned in 2011 may yet occur later this decade.

[Update: my indie author colleague Connie J. Jasperson has begun riffing on my meme! Check out another perspective.]

Back to the word count. I was happy and boastful and I posted my number: 3663. Others congratulated me, felt embarrassed, or complained that I was raising the bar too high. I live with that stuff every day, so it did not faze me.

To be fair (and long-winded), it all started about Valentine's Day, when I was home alone and not even my Hollywood crushes were responding to my 'likes', tweets, and emails (too busy with awards shows and movie premieres, I suspect, so I'll give'em a pass this time). That was on top of the ABNA kick in the teeth the previous day and the HarperVoyager slap in the face the day before that.

One week and so much rejection! I was overwhlemed.

So I decided to indulge myself by collecting some more music like what I already had been listening to and being inspired by for a few months now. It seems to be called "epic music" or "heroic music" like what is used for movie trailers or video games, mostly orchestral and big in scope or small and delicate for the love scenes. It is high energy music which usually plays as Conan does his exercises, swinging swords around, or with a little electric guitar and drum set, you get what Rocky worked out to. I started calling it "muscle music" because in fantasy films that's what was happening: flexing muscles in preparation for battle or it's the battle music itself. On the other side of the genre are the achingly sentimental instrumental songs that rip the tears from your eyes--when the hero loses his sidekick.

Names in that genre you may have heard of include: Two Steps From Hell, Thomas Bergersen, Jo Blankenburg, Brand X Music, The Immediate, Future World Music, and Audiomachine. Probably others, as well. (Click the names to see some selections; play around and find what you like.) I downloaded a few tunes in mp3 versions via Amazon a while ago. This weekend, I returned to see what else there might be. In the end I loaded up on 10 mp3 albums plus a few individual songs from 3 other albums of the aforementioned artists. I bought the full albums because, as it was set up, it was cheaper to buy the whole album than to pay individually for half the songs, most of which were in the 2 to 4 minute range--long enough for a movie trailer.

(For example, this track from Two Steps From Hell was used in the trailer for the 2012 film Anna Karenina, starring Kiera Knightley.)

Of course, I listened to them, made a massive playlist, playing them one after another, as I continued final editing of my manuscript for THE DREAM LAND Book II "Dreams of Future's Past". As I worked and listened, I started to feel things move. The glacier was sliding forward, ice sheering off, revealing a crudely formed, ancient writer-thing frozen in time. Fingers cracked, then curled, dropping onto the keyboard, and swiftly began pouncing to and fro!

I felt scenes playing in me, as though I was cranking the reels at will. I quickly shifted over to the manuscript file for THE DREAM LAND Book III "Diaspora" and wrote out three scenes, each with one of the major characters. My initial plan was to give each of them a chapter to both introduce them and catch readers up on what's been happening. Up until yesterday I had not been able to find a way to get myself into the scenes for these three. I let other matters, other projects distract me. And then I found the key!

Working late into the night, I eventually allowed myself to go to bed. However, I could not sleep after that. Oh, I was unconscious for a while, but not deeply. In fact, during my dreams characters came and sat down beside me, telling me their stories, asking how they could get out of their individual situations, and asking how everything was going to work out in the end. All I could tell them was "We'll see."

Awakening several times during the night and early morning I decided the words were too heavy in my head to continue the boudoir ritual, so I reluctantly rose and began writing again. Before breakfast, or checking email, dabbling on Facebook, dealing with personal hygiene, watching TV, and almost before any coffee. I started the coffee after the first few paragraphs, confident that the momentary respite would not stop the flow of words, then returned to writing until the coffee was ready. Made a cup. Then back to writing--pushing myself until I had ended the scene. Then on to the next one!


When I had reached my goal for the sequence of chapters, I spent a couple hours reading through pages of notes I'd been making on all the subplots, motivations, etc., collected across the previous couple of years. I rearranged the sections/scenes in a logical order after that. And I realized that in many of the scenes, my characters were not accepting their fates. They were in self-denial. They were telling lies to themselves and to others. I was shocked!

And yet, I have been verbose enough for today, perhaps for the entire week, and so I shall save a discussion on characters who are liars for another day, another blog.

Thanks for your patience with me! See if you can beat 3663 words in 24 hours. I double-dare you!


[Update: my indie author colleague Connie J. Jasperson has begun riffing on my meme! Check out another perspective.]

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(C) Copyright 2010-2013 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

And then the asteroid hits...

Not a good week to be me, so be glad you are you. Unless, of course, you've been following my dusty trail all these years and thus have taken on most of the worst traits I offer to the world. Then you might well be more me than me. Only you can judge how pleasant the experience has been.

The highlights:

First, my entry in the Harper Voyager program (my painfully sincere sci-fi/romance/pyscho-thriller THE DREAM LAND) was kicked unceremoniously down the road.

Thank you very much for providing us with the chance to read your novel. We are sorry to say that at this time we don’t feel it is right for the Harper Voyager list. Due to the volume of submissions we were fortunate enough to receive, we are unable to provide personal feedback, however, please be assured that your work received thorough and fair consideration. We wish you the best of luck with your writing career, and thank you again for thinking of us.

Of course, it's not right for you. It's something new and fresh, something not formulaic or trite, something that mashes several genres so as to please everyone and bring together the reading masses in textual harmony!

You can buy the ebook here.  (And read a few chapters via "Look Inside".)


Second, my entry in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition (my literary anti-romance set on a small college campus, where opposites attract then try to kill each other, A BEAUTIFUL CHILL) has also gone down in flames. For the second try I did not get past the pitch stage (a 300-word blurb meant to entice judges to want to read the 5000-word excerpt). Although I completely rewrote the pitch, it did not improve my odds. Or, what the blurb said might merely have indicated to judges what kind of story it was and that kind of story was not the kind of story that particular judge wanted to read. Who can ever know for certain?

Here's the awful pitch that made some readers sick:

Just get home safely, thinks Eric as rain pummels his car. When he offers a ride to a rainsoaked girl, he discovers she’s the art student he met a month earlier at an exhibit. Tonight, however, everything changes.

Iris is a refugee from an abusive youth in otherwise idyllic Iceland, and further abused on the streets of Toronto—until she sees her art talent as a way to escape. Now with a scholarship, she drifts from depression to nightmare to Wiccan rituals to the next exhibit. There’s a lot she must forget to succeed in a life she refuses to take responsibility for.

Eric is still settling in at Fairmont College, starting a new life after being twice betrayed and left heartbroken. Divorced and hitting forty, he has a lot to prove—to his father, his academic colleagues, and mostly to himself. The last thing he needs is a distraction—and there’s nothing more distracting than Iris.

With the campus a battlefield of gender politics and Eric’s colleague charged with sexual harassment, these wounded souls find comfort together. In the light of day, however, Iris returns to her student life, ready to forget him, while Eric becomes obsessed. Just as Eric gives up, he finds Iris in his class the next semester with secrets to share.

Realizing they are trapped by fate, Eric persuades Iris they should become a couple. Yet as Eric tries to tame her, Iris pushes him to be more outrageous. The tug-of-war escalates until, on a spring break trip, their relationship explodes into a cruel mind game that could destroy both of them.

A BEAUTIFUL CHILL (117,000 words), a postmodern cross between Pygmalion and Lolita, deconstructs an impossible relationship and cruelly crushes campus love story memes as it charges to its stunning conclusion.

You can read the first chapter here.


Now comes the whole Valentine Lovefest, where the luckies get lucky and the unluckies have microwave mac & cheese and watch DVDs of Silver Linings Playbook, finished off with a box of chocolates from last year's presumptions. And that all began because some priest was marrying people in secret!


And then, because there is no such thing as a dull week on the planet Earth, we have the wonderful Asteroid 2021 DA14 coming on February 15 to tickle our chins with a razoresque pass-by. We hope it does not draw blood. Yet if it does, many of the problems of mankind and me could be solved in one fell swoop. You read it here first. And perhaps last.

*     *     *     *     *

The ebook of AFTER ILIUM, a contemporary tale of seduction and betrayal in Turkey is available here.
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(C) Copyright 2010-2013 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

The New Morning After (blasting the past)

Greetings, weary-eyed Mondayers!

The Super Bowl hath passed and with it the completion of my downward spiral into unpredictability. Indeed, I reign at 100% in choosing the losing team in all NFL 2012-13 playoff games up to and including the Super Bowl. In other words, every team I wanted to win (regardless of whether I believed they could or should win) went on to lose. I've never been 100% before.

Now that the Super Bowl is done, life may resume unfettered. To be fair, and somewhat accurate, I do not arrange my life around a football game, even when it's the culmination of an entire season. Sure, I follow my teams and watch when they are televised in my area. However, I think of it more as "something to watch" in the vast weekly wasteland of television. In other words, given the lack of anything worth watching in the course of a week, a football game involving one of my favorite teams seems a fairly reasonable use of my time. 

Other than writing, of course. Or editing. Yesterday, however, seemed quite anticlimactic. I should have been writing. I did manage some editing during the blackout.

This morning I pounced on the ABNA page--that dang contest thingy I dropped my literary fiction masterpiece into--hoping for some non-football commentary. I admit I went a little silly. (FYI, you can read my 2013 excerpt here.) Being sarcastic to a degree I'm famous for proved elusive, though I gave it my all. Facebook also proved difficult to satirize, though I did post a picture of a tiny bunny.

Off the previous topic! 

[mostly borrowed from a blog post in 2011, in case you're new here]

I read the entries of discussion topics on the Amazon boards and found one about what writing one has done, apparently related to one's presumed qualifications to enter the contest or to be published. That got me reading. The first thought that came to my mind was that I had completely neglected to mention my publications in my ABNA bio. I've had a few stories and poetry published in journals, not big name publications but selected by a jury of my peers. 

The second thought I had was, yes, I've written several novels*--but I realized immediately that my hesitation to share that information was due to people wondering why they had not been published. That's an embarrassment. The answer, as unbelievable as it may seem, is that while I like writing I hate marketing. There is no rejection during writing, there is after writing.

I've sent manuscripts out a couple of times (in the old school process of the 1980s and 90s: the cost of sending a ream of paper out plus return postage, then waiting 6 months to a year for a response or returned manuscript, usually with a form letter; a few letters did have handwritten compliments and words of encouragement) and by the time they were rejected I was well on my way working on the next book. 

My batting average isn't high, but my times at bat isn't high either. I suppose I need an agent to do that sort of thing for me--which is another problem and another blog post

Part of that Amazon thread included questions about influences. 

I have written about that as part of my dissertation--a decidedly non-fiction work of scholarship masquerading as New Age mysticism. In that work, I broached the idea that literary influences--among all experiences--help shape and construct a person's identity, that is, the person's sense of self. I examined my own upbringing and the experiences which I could see had influenced me. That process opened doors I had long forgot existed and believed were shut forever. 

It was more, and went deeper, than merely reading certain books or seeing particular films. It was how the images (in the broader, abstract sense of symbolism) became embedded in my psyche and, as a writer, came out in my own stories. It was not a matter of consciously copying, even in homage, but a true regurgitation of material (concepts, images, words and phrases) I did not know had influenced me to such an extent that I had internalized them.

This realization was profoundly life-changing. Looking back through my writing, I could see how experiences in my life--childhood, teenage years, youth, not only events but my thoughts and feelings about those events; in other words psychic experiences, too--had made me who I am (or think I am [or want myself to be {or want others to think I am}]) today.

This is a topic worthy of greater reflection than what I am prepared to do in a blog posting. However, it has prompted me to consider writing more here on the topic. Perhaps it may be helpful for other writers to reflect on the sources of their inspiration, conscious and subconscious, perhaps unconscious (try digging that up!) and consider how they might use that handful of insight to further their writing, and perhaps also further the construction of their identity.



*--In Pursuit of Freedom, my 1976 novella (typed on a manual typewriter), a 1984 rip-off later retitled "The Lie" when turned into a screenplay in 1983 and optioned by a minor Hollywood studio. Followed by The Last Song (before Nicholas Sparks stole the title for a sappy romance novel); this novella (1981) is a post-apocalyptic soiree where music is the only solace for a ravaged population--half comedy, half lament. More works continued: see the list at the bottom edge of this blog's webpage!

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(C) Copyright 2010-2013 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

A Bold Re-Introduction (not for faint-of-heart)

It's rather odd, I know. Here it is the first month of the first year of the rest of our lives and few readers really know who I am. Especially if they are landing here for the first time. Recently I have been challenged to re-introduce myself, so it seems that before this first month ends it would be a good thing to do. Please bear with me.

The Blog Title

I've dabbled with blogs a couple times before this one, but when I told myself "This time for sure!" I decided to use it to promote my science-fiction trilogy THE DREAM LAND, for which I had high hopes of finding a publisher. That hasn't happened yet, unfortunately. Even so, that's where the title of this blog originates.

In the "Dream Land" two high school sweethearts discover a doorway to another world. As the story proceeds, the major event is the rise of the Empire of Sekuate and the subsequent wars the empire initiates. Deconstructing the rise of the empire and its domination of the planet seemed a suitable topic of research, requiring hours and hours of interdimensional travel.

Of course, since then, I've used this blog to promote other books, write about writing, complain about this or that, offer laments and cheers, and let the world know when I've been lax in writing on my blog.

Who am I? What do I do?

Stephen Swartz is the name and, past pseudonyms aside, I am what you see you get. I'm an English teacher by day, novelist by night. I've always been writing, it seems, starting with attempt to emulate my favorite sci-fi and fantasy authors, Roger Zelazny, Robert Silverberg, Michael Moorcock and others. I think I have some clever, interesting "what-if" ideas and have been trying to put them into books all my life.

As I went through my education and started "real life" in the wonderful world of work (fast food, libraries, musician, National Guard, TV station, IRS, editor, teacher), I gravitated to "adult" literature, that is, contemporary literary works and well-known classics of literature. I spent some time in Japan as an English teacher and, returning to the US, I entered graduate school to become a certified English professor. Mostly I loaded up on writing workshops and independent studies in which I wrote poetry and fiction. Eventually, however, I had to switch gears and write a dissertation--a project which, ironically, turned me back to fiction writing.

In an MFA program, my thesis was a literary novel, an "anti-romance" where opposites attract yet struggle to stay together (things don't work out in the end; if they did, I could call it straight Romance). That novel, with years of tweaking, has been queried around and been entered in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition in 2011 and again (with more revision) in 2013. Once it's kicked out this time, A BEAUTIFUL CHILL will be standing on street corners begging for handouts.

The Future

I pledge to continue this blog until they pry the keyboard out of my cold, dead fingers. Or until Blogger crashes, whichever happens first.

Meanwhile, I suppose I'll continue teaching writing and gain some satisfaction from seeing my semesterly charges improve their skills. I will also continue writing for myself. I'm required to finish the third book of THE DREAM LAND trilogy or I'll have to strike the word 'trilogy' from the trilogy. I'm also engaged promoting my "test" novel, AFTER ILIUM, a sexy action-adventure tale set in modern Turkey.

Back in the 80s, I was on a streak and cranked out three novels: THE LAST SONG (futuristic sci-fi), YEAR OF THE TIGER (adventure/magical realism), and AIKO (love story set in Japan). Now I feel obligated to "punch them up" to make them publishable. I also have several new novel ideas waiting on the shelf--the biggest tome I've been saving as my retirement project, if that day ever arrives (currently exists as a Tolkien-sized screenplay).

So, if any of this makes sense and/or you are intrigued beyond words, then let me suggest you click on over to the JOIN button. Or join via Google+. 

I do not get too political or socially/culturally offensive, though I may occasionally border on sarcastic overload. I seldom act provocatively or insensitively (outside my novels, that is). I usually respond to comments, criticism, complains, and grammar errors.

In fact, if you have any questions about grammar and syntax, ask away! I also have some background in psycholinguistics and linguistics in general--which helps when it comes time to invent yet another alien language. I also enjoy drawing maps of places that do not really exist (at least, not officially).

Thanks for reading and welcome aboard!

Stephen Swartz

PS--You can read more about my novels by clicking on the tabs above.


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(C) Copyright 2010-2013 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

Let the ABNA begin!

Now, finally, the new year has begun in earnest--with the opening of the annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition!

I have entered again. This is my third year. Unlike past years, I feel smugly confident this time.

In 2011, I didn't know what I was doing and solicited a lot of advice and feedback and changed my pitch and excerpt significantly with every suggestion. I don't know what I ended up with when someone from the competition finally read them, but I did not go anywhere. My literary fiction work was seen by a publisher, however, and I had some satisfaction playing the "under consideration" author for a while.

In 2012, I switched to sci-fi, the first of a trilogy. Other than a few minor corrections I did not solicit or accept feedback. I trusted my instincts. I got through the pitch round and in the excerpt round, I got a good review and, unfortunately, a second review which seemed "phoned in" and too general to really apply to my particular book. Out.

This year, I've returned with my 2011 entry, literary fiction again but newly revised, especially at the beginning. Regardless of the adventure I had with it the past year-plus, I think it is better, tighter now, and more compelling at the start than the previous version. So I feel confident in its success, both in the pitch and the excerpt rounds. Past those, all bets are off.

Here's my pitch:

Just get home safely, thinks Eric as rain pummels his car. When he offers a ride to a rain-soaked girl, he discovers she’s the art student he met a month earlier at an exhibit. Tonight, however, everything changes.

Iris is a refugee from an abusive youth in otherwise idyllic Iceland, and further abused on the streets of Toronto--until she sees her art talent as a way to escape. Now with a scholarship, she drifts from depression to nightmare to Wiccan rituals to the next exhibit. There’s a lot she must forget to succeed in a life she refuses to take responsibility for.

Eric is still settling in at Fairmont College, starting a new life after being twice betrayed and left heartbroken. Divorced and hitting forty, he has a lot to prove--to his father, his academic colleagues, and mostly to himself. The last thing he needs is a distraction--and there’s nothing more distracting than Iris.

With the campus a battlefield of gender politics and Eric’s colleague charged with sexual harassment, these wounded souls find comfort together. In the light of day, however, Iris returns to her student life, ready to forget him, while Eric becomes obsessed. Just as Eric gives up, he finds Iris in his class the next semester with secrets for sale.

Realizing they are trapped by fate, Eric persuades Iris they should become a couple. Yet as Eric tries to tame her, Iris pushes him to be more outrageous. The tug-of-war escalates until, on a spring break trip, their relationship explodes into a cruel mind game that could destroy both of them.

A BEAUTIFUL CHILL (117,000 words) is a postmodern cross between "Pygmalion" and "Lolita" that deconstructs an impossible relationship between opposites and cruelly crushes campus love story memes while snowballing to its stunning conclusion.

Link to excerpt:

https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1117019

Good luck to all my fellow ABNA contestants, but slightly better luck to me!

Related post: Am I a Masochist entering ABNA 2012?

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(C) Copyright 2010-2013 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

The Beginning is Here!

I tend not to rush into things, which is probably why it's been ten days already before I make my first blog post of the new year. I had a lot to think about. What kind of year is this going to be?

This first month, falling after the season of celebration, reflection, and dispensation, always seems a time of hope and promise. This time, however, there is much that trails from previous months which clouds our happiness. Some people may feel guilt at being happy or ready to move on with the daily routine while others still suffer. My heart still goes out to those affected by so many tragedies of 2012.

My last post of 2012 was a downer, I know. It was how I felt; a subdued, muted holiday season affected many of us. Those who were not directly and inescapably affected by storms, shootings, and other crimes, like me (knock on some of that wood stuff), may be able to move on, get on, and return to the ordinary with relative ease. However, bad things do not end with a season for many of our fellow humans. Even when events have ended, the repercussions will go on seemingly forever.

In my own little world of make-believe, I walk a precarious line along the top of a fence, always on guard as to what is real and what is fiction and what may be somewhere in between. All of my writer friends do, too, I like to believe. In "reality," I suppose we all have different degrees of fictionphrenia. As for me, I've been dealing with the birth of a new baby. It was rather rough on my protagonist but I got her through it. Then she got married and you know all that goes into that kind of an event.

Last comes the first thing: the daily routine. I wasted most of this year, so far, by being a test subject in the great flu season of 2013. Symptoms broke on January 1 and hit hard, keeping me in bed the rest of the week. I pulled myself together for the first meeting day for faculty (yes, I'm a professor in an alternate universe). That proved to be an unwise choice. I relapsed and spent the past two days languishing in sloth, rather like a sloth.


In fact, yesterday, I got up sometime around noon (having ignored probably three separate alarms) and just stood in the middle of the living room, wondering who I was, where I was, and why I was awake. I pondered for several minutes what to do, what I needed to do, should do, or could do. Standing there in one spot, contemplating my next move. It was weird. I was conscious yet I felt very detached from the universe.

After several minutes of contemplation, unable to decide what to do next, I returned to what I knew best: the dream world, where everything is good and fruitful and full of grace. I awoke next around the dinner hour, feeling a little hungry yet not too much wiser or more rested. I did, however, feel that I could actually go on with this new year, this humbling 2013, the year we almost didn't get (well played, Mayans, well played). It seems like a bonus.

If 2013 feels like a bonus to you, make a resolution not to waste any of it. And, like my resolution, let's all be kinder and gentler to each other, no matter what our individual beliefs may be, no matter what experiences the past has given us, and without regard to future expectations. A smile or a helping hand costs us nothing, yet can be so valuable.

I'd like to thank all my friends from social media who patiently endure my sarcasm and politely tolerate my various online writing!


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(C) Copyright 2010-2013 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

The End is Near! (thank goodness)

Outside I hear the garbage truck hefting the dumpster up and over to empty our collective trash. It is Monday, after all. However, this time it is New Year's Eve--the final Monday of the year. And the garbage is being removed. We will be able to start fresh, filling the dumpster again, tomorrow.

Seems an appropriate metaphor for the way this year as ended.

Starting with so much promise (as usual, I suppose), 2012 rolled along pretty much as expected, as desired, as best as it could be for several months. Even the summer (complex schedule and all) went better than planned--due to my detailed planning, of course. I achieved a few things of smaller scale during the year. I had hopes for bigger things in the autumn, and more rolling into winter and the holiday season.

For example, I relaunched my literary fiction novel AFTER ILIUM as an ebook for Kindle through my new publisher, Myrddin Publishing Group. I'm now working to make the print edition available. At the start of December, I pushed out my latest baby, the first volume of my science-fiction trilogy THE DREAM LAND also as an ebook for Kindle. Now I'm all set to also get a print edition out into the cruel, cruel world. (Thanks for your support, dear readers!)

Then, quickly on the heels of my launch, came the tragedies that deflated the world. Shootings in shopping malls! Shootings in elementary schools! Brutal rapes in India! People being shoved in front of subway trains! Plus whatever local crimes and atrocities each of us heard about or, pray not, experienced directly or even second-hand. Isn't this is the season of good will to men? (meaning mankind, a.k.a. humanity, all of us homo sapiens inhabiting this spherical bookshelf). What is going on?

I tried to avoid news reports yet, like so many of my fellow living beings, we could not turn away. Evil attracts our attention. We want to know why something happens. There must be reasons, motivations, flaws we never noticed, or simply the devil at work. And why did God not prevent these acts? Nobody knows. Why this season? Mayan Apocalypse? Nothing bad seemed to happen, no acts perpetrated by anyone fearing the end of the world by solar flare or pole shift, eager to get out ahead of the crowd. No, nothing that would make sense. Just random atrocities.

On this last day of the year, I find myself still holding my breath, still shaking a little as images flash through my mind's eye. In some moments they seem like dreams--nightmares, really. In others, the reality sits on my eyelids and dares me to look. As a writer--like all artists, I suppose--I sit on a fence, keeping a delicate balance, awaiting the Muse, who is subject to my mood, influenced by events happening around me. I am blessed with the strange ability to visit other worlds, other realities, and to create the same for others to visit. It is also a curse: the painful urge to push out the story while events around me threaten to claw away my creation and my ability to create.

And yet I can, if I work very hard to fold myself inward and light a candle to all those who have passed, then I, too, may be able to run away to a fantasy world, even if it looks the same as some contemporary neighborhood with ordinary people going about their business--yes, run away and hide, pretend that the world isn't so bad, and that more good has been done and will always be done than those few acts of evil.

May you all be blessed with as much goodness as you can carry, and may you also find an appropriate-sized cart to carry whatever overflows in 2013!

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(C) Copyright 2010-2012 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

Introducing the Dream-opedia for THE DREAM LAND Trilogy!

THE DREAM LAND is a genre-mashing epic of interdimensional intrigue and police procedural, a psychological thriller marbled with twisted humor, steampunk pathos, and time/space conundrums.

Want to know more about THE DREAM LAND? about Interdimensioanl Travel? about creating alternate worlds? alien languages? the deep, dark origins of The Dream Land universe? 

Then read these previous posts on this blog:

Background


A Quick Summary of THE DREAM LAND (2 Mar. 2011)

The Juvenile Origins of THE DREAM LAND (6 Apr. 2011)


Literary


Excerpt from THE DREAM LAND ("The Dissolution of Reality") (2 Feb 2011)

A whole page of excerpts from THE DREAM LAND!

On the Amazon.com page, you can read the first seven chapters in the "Look Inside" feature.


History

On the Council of Five (Sekuatean government) (10 Oct. 2012)

The Sekuatean Empire, Part 1 (23 Aug. 2012)

The Sekuatean Empire, Part 2 (5 Sept. 2012)

On Alien Politics (4 Nov. 2010)


Science

News reports of inhabitable Earth-like planets out there somewhere. (18 May 2011)

The Physics of Alternate Worlds (27 Jan. 2011)

How Interdimensional Travel Works (30 Sept. 2012)

The Dark Side of Interdimensional Travel (2 Dec. 2012)

This post is about sound waves and colors but includes an excerpt from THE DREAM LAND (19 Sept. 2011)


Linguistics

On Creating Alien Languages, Part 1 (21 July 2011)

On Creating Alien Languages, Part 2 (31 July 2011)

On Creating Alien Languages, Part 3 (10 Aug. 2011)


Geography

A Map of Sekuate before it was an empire (3 Nov. 2010)


A Map of Northern Zissekap ("Gotanka") prior to the Sekuate Empire (3 Nov. 2010)

Criticism

Noted Comparisons between THE DREAM LAND and the Stargate movie and TV series (3 Sept. 2010)

Noted Comparisons between THE DREAM LAND and the Inception movie (29 July 2010)

Next: THE DREAM LAND, Book II: Dreams of Future's Past

A look ahead: scene from THE DREAM LAND, Book II: Dreams of Future's Past (24 Aug. 2011)

"Interludium" - Excerpt from Book II


Media

A quickly thrown together book trailer for THE DREAM LAND (YouTube).


THE DREAM LAND, Book I: Long Distance Voyager available for Kindle on AMAZON.COM (US) and Amazon UK.

After considering several indie publishers, the Author felt that none was right for publishing THE DREAM LAND trilogy. Wishing for more creative control, the Author created TANGENTIAL BOOKS to publish the trilogy and related books and materials. 
For distribution and promotion, the Author has teamed with Myrddin Publishing Group. The name 'Tangential' of course refers to the interdimensional doorways the hero and heroine of the trilogy use to go back and forth between the two worlds; thus, it seemed a particularly appropriate name.

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(C) Copyright 2010-2012 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

Have you visited THE DREAM LAND?

THE DREAM LAND

A genre-mashing epic of interdimensional intrigue, alien romance, and world domination by a pair of nerdy sweethearts, spiced up with some police procedural and psychological thriller, then marbled with twisted humor, steampunk pathos, and time/space conundrums.

Read the first 1/5 of this epic tale (7 chapters!) for Free in the "Look Inside" feature!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AH1V78Q

How far would you go to save the love of your life? Through a doorway to another world?

Sebastian, that quiet tax examiner at the corner desk in the IRS service center, carries a dark secret: once upon a time he and his high school sweetheart Gina found a rip in the universe and stepped through it to a strange world of magical beauty.  
 
Far from being a Disney-esque playground, the world of Ghoupallesz bursts with cosmopolitan elegance, alien perversions, and political strife. Gina, the adventurous one, falls in love with the adventurous possibilities. Not Sebastian; always practical, he insists they return to Earth. Gina refuses so he goes back alone, vowing never to return. Yet he finds himself drawn back repeatedly--he calls it “research”--and often crosses paths with Gina. Sometimes he saves her, sometimes she saves him, forever soul mates. 
 
Now years later, life on Earth hasn’t gone well for Sebastian. Then the headaches revisit him, with flashes of memories from Ghoupallesz. Gina is in trouble again, he senses, and he must, as always, save her. 

Meanwhile, a pair of too-curious IRS co-workers have accidently overdosed on the Elixir of Love he brought back on his last trip and the antidote exists only on Ghoupallesz. With these co-workers in tow, Sebastian returns through the interdimensional portal, fearing it may be his final adventure. He must gather his old comrades from the war, cross the towering Zet mountains, and free Gina from the Zetin warlord’s castle before her execution. Perhaps then she will stay with him.  
 
But are his adventures to the other side real? Or are they just the dreams of a psychotic killer? That’s what the police want to know when Sebastian returns without his co-workers.  



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(C) Copyright 2010-2012 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

The Dark Side of Interdimensional Travel

A Primer for Readers of THE DREAM LAND Book I: Long Distance Voyager coming out this month.

A previous blog post promised a discussion of the dark side of interdimensional travel, which caused many to question what the heck I’m even referring to. So I thought it better to offer this time an explanation of interdimensional travel. It’s really not as mysterious as it seems.

Interdimensional travel is possible through an interdimensional tangent, which is alternatively  called an interdimensional doorway (but not, erroneously, a “wormhole”). Such a tangent appears to be a natural phenomena without regularity or structure. Some Voyagers have speculated they consist a vast network or pattern similar to the grid of “ley lines” connecting ancient monuments around the world. Interdimensional Voyager Sebastian Talbot has further considered that certain places around the world (speaking of Earth) possess conglomerations of tangents; in essence, a “tangent dump” where multiple avenues of interdimensional travel exist within a small geographic area. For example, Talbot discovered such a tangent dump in an abandoned quarry on the east side of Independence, Missouri in July 1975, along with fellow Voyager Gina Parton. Talbot was eventually able to identify 165 separate tangents within the arena of the quarry.

The tangent presents as a thickening of the air. Whereas one might swing a hand through the air and feel no resistance, the tangent will offer slight resistance in the form of a tangible anomaly. Talbot has described it as anywhere from pea sized to walnut sized, invisible to the naked eye, and of a texture similar to gelatin. Only a sensitive touch can determine the presence of such a tangent. At night, however, it may be possible to see indications of a tangent’s presence. Certain deep sonic vibrations directed toward a suspected tangent will cause the point to glow in primary colors; the stronger the vibration the brighter the specks of flickering pinpoints of light. Excessive vibration has been observed to occasionally break open a tangent without the Voyager touching the point.

Once located, the Voyager will gently pry the tangent open using either forefinger and thumb or, if larger, both hands. Rather like salt-water taffy, the tangent when pulled open will have a tendency to draw closed, so great care must be taken to pull at an appropriate pace and strength, not too quickly nor too roughly lest it snap shut instantly. Once opened sufficiently, a view of the world of the other side should be visible through the breach, ghostly at first then with greater definition. It is possible sometimes to feel the weather of that other world through the breach, as well (e.g., wind, rain). It has been reported that a low roaring sound similar to the sound of a tornado may accompany the opening of the tangent. The sound recedes quickly as one moves away from the tangent breach, such that only the Voyagers involved will notice it. As the breach closes the roaring becomes a louder, rushing noise which increases then lessens to nothing as the breach closes completely.

Ideally, once the tangent is opened, it can be stretched further and provide a suitable sized breach, large enough for a human to pass through. Usually, a foot or arm goes through the breach first, each portion separately, the head last of all. It has been recommended that the last part to pass through be the fingertip on the initiating hand. Attempting to switch hands may cause the breach to close. Using the initiating fingertip as the final contact point allows the tangent breach to close at a slower pace, lessening the adverse effects on Voyagers. Rather like being instructed to close the door gently and not slam it shut. Talbot has reported several multiple Voyager passages, including transportation of non-experienced travelers (girlfriends, co-workers, etc.). When more than one is expected to pass through, the optimal procedure is for the Primary Voyager to locate the tangent, instigate the breach, maintain the opening while others pass through, then close the tangent after the Primary Voyager completes his/her passage. Again, hold the door open for your guests.

Interdimensional Doorways never appear as doorways!

Talbot eventually accumulated enough data to be able to make a grid at the primary site (“Pink Hill Road quarry”) which marked various tangent anomalies within a 3-dimensional space in the quarry. It is an inexact science yet one which did make subsequent passage easier by being able to identify which tangent led to which location and time zone. Through this local terminal, Talbot was able to pass back and forth to visit different places and time periods on the other world, known by its inhabitants as Ghoupallesz. Talbot did not indicate any other planet was involved in the “quarry” tangents. In this way, Talbot, using the name Set-d’Elous, was able to insert himself into the history of Ghoupallesz, first becoming involved in its culture and society and then in the military campaigns of the Sekuatean Empire, and later involved in the attempt to prevent those years of warfare, albeit to further tragic results.

For the most part, passage through a tangent breach is effortless and without negative consequences. However, Talbot has noted several possible adverse effects which should be noted. Loss of clothing and supplies during passage has been noted. Also, occasional excessive vibration has simulated sexual arousal and resulted in climax at the conclusion of passage. (Note: It is not recommended to attempt passage through an interdimensional tangent solely for the purpose of attempting sexual gratification; it is not confirmed for every passage.) It has also been noted, especially upon return passage to Earth, that headaches can occur and linger; they may be of varying severity and duration. The headache effect has been described by Talbot as “gravity working in both directions.” It is believed that the effect becomes increasingly worse as the number of passages increases.

Like most human endeavors, any action or deliberate behavior as possibilities for both positive and negative effects. Adding a second world to the equation increases the likelihood of greater effect in both directions. Only certified Interdimensional Voyagers should attempt passage through a tangent and only those Voyagers of First-Class grade should be allowed tin influence the societies and history of their adopted world. Anything else would be highly immoral and certainly unethical. It is a warning which has gone mostly ignored, however.

THE DREAM LAND  Book I: Long Distance Voyager 

comes out 1 December 2012 for Kindle

from

in association with Myrddin Publishing Group.

 And don't forget the literary fiction adventure AFTER ILIUM for Kindle!

(More information at Myrddin Publishing Group's website.)

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(C) Copyright 2010-2012 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.