What are you thinking right now?

[cheaptrickfan]

I've read LOADS of PKD. Got a pretty much complete collection of his short stories as well (including one of my childhood favourites - 'Beyond Lies the Wub') He's my favourite writer, in fact. My favourite work of his is A Scanner Darkly. What's your PKD fave?

Mine is the obvious "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Loved the movie Bladerunner (had the hugest crush on Rutger Hauer -lol) and enjoyed the book even more. I have "A Scanner Darkly" on my shelf somewhere, but haven't yet read it - criminal I know.

I have a ton of the classics: stuff by Frank Herbert ( I love me some space opera), Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C Clarke & Robert Silverberg (to name a few) and a whole slew of stuff by recent authors Greg Egan, Greg Bear, Ursula K LeGuin (whose book "The Lathe of Heaven" is hands-down, my favorite book of all time), Nancy Kress and Peter Hamilton (who has picked up with the space opera genre in a big way).

I am a total geek. lol

 

[Electric_Fusilier]

I'm PROUD to be a total geek! 'The nerd will be heard when he shouts that he is glad to be a geek', lol

Read 'Androids' ... and Blade Runner is my favourite film (got the latest final cut version, in fact - the special box-set DVDs, complete with PKD interviews and doccos!) and Rutger's 'Tears in the Rain' speech, just before he dies ... oh man, it gets me every time.

Read Dune, plenty of Bradbury stuff (though my fave of his is not SF but horror - 'Something Wicked This Way Comes'); must read more Heinlein (only read 'Starship Troopers') and plenty of Arthur C Clarke, both his fictional stuff and his essays.

I like Harlan Ellison a lot, too - his shorts are often nothing short of incredible, and he's a funny guy too. My favourite individual book however, is indeed SF, though it was not written by an SF author. It's a future dystopia written by a prominent British socialist shortly before he died - wanna take a guess as to what it is?

 

[cheaptrickfan]

Read 'Androids' ... and Blade Runner is my favourite film (got the latest final cut version, in fact - the special box-set DVDs, complete with PKD interviews and doccos!) and Rutger's 'Tears in the Rain' speech, just before he dies ... oh man, it gets me every time.

That scene is where I fell in love with Hauer, um what, almost 30 years ago? lol I think I still have it memorized.

Read Dune, plenty of Bradbury stuff (though my fave of his is not SF but horror - 'Something Wicked This Way Comes')

That is one of my favorites too, though his Martian Chronicles is by far my favorite of his works. There is something so devastatingly sad about the story The Million-Year Picnic.

My favourite individual book however, is indeed SF, though it was not written by an SF author. It's a future dystopia written by a prominent British socialist shortly before he died - wanna take a guess as to what it is?

If I were to take a stab in the dark, I'd say "1984," though I'm not 100% about Orwell's political affiliation. I do know that he died not long after writing the novel though.

 

[Electric_Fusilier]

@cheaptrickfan

Yep - 1984. Orwell was a socialist, though his primary political motivation appeared to be anti-totalitarianism - his hatred of the Soviet regime was pronounced, and it is widely reckoned that both 1984 and Animal Farm pretty much destroyed the British Communist party as a political force.

Ever written/published any SF (or anything) yourself?

 

[cheaptrickfan]

... it is widely reckoned that both 1984 and Animal Farm pretty much destroyed the British Communist party as a political force.

Interesting.

Ever written/published any SF (or anything) yourself?

Written, yes; published, not yet. lol

Also at the moment, I have a children's book (more fantasy than sci-fi) in the middle stages of completion. I even have an editor and everything. I just need to finish the damned thing. heh I'd also planned on doing the illustrations, but real life and my amazing ability to procrastinate have intervened. However, I have always said that I work best under a looming deadline.

We'll see.

How about you? Any itch to write?

 

[Electric_Fusilier]

^^Yeah, an itch well scratched, lol!

Had a few short stories published over the years - nothing major, just the small/specialist presses. Recently released an ebook of a novel I'd written a few years ago, which became a (very) minor internet bestseller. Unfortunately, sales are well down now, owning to both a degree of apathy on my part, and a pretty cruddy review, lol. Ah well. Coincidentally enough, it's a fantasy too, and a Young Adults book!

So you illustrate too! Nice one. Coincidence alert again, because illustration is my main job, lol! I do mostly CGI fantasy & SF stuff. Did a CD cover last year, and have recently been working on computer game graphics - I'm off to a game developer's expo this week, which should be fun!

Nice to hear you got an editor. What about an agent - do you have a publisher interested?

 

[cheaptrickfan]

Had a few short stories published over the years - nothing major, just the small/specialist presses. Recently released an ebook of a novel I'd written a few years ago, which became a (very) minor internet bestseller. Unfortunately, sales are well down now, owning to both a degree of apathy on my part, and a pretty cruddy review, lol. Ah well. Coincidentally enough, it's a fantasy too, and a Young Adults book!

That is fantastic that you've done it. Congrats!

Ooo, I have to read them now. You must send me the link.

Are you working on anything now?

I do mostly CGI fantasy & SF stuff. Did a CD cover last year, and have recently been working on computer game graphics - I'm off to a game developer's expo this week, which should be fun!

Sounds great! Have fun.

I am really old-school and still do all of my artwork with a brush, paint and pen. Everyone I know in illustration tells me that I have to get with it and learn the major graphics programs, but I just haven't got to it. As nice as it would be to hit ctrl-z on my sable brush when I don't like the brush stroke I've just laid down, I just love the feel of my brushes.

Nice to hear you got an editor. What about an agent - do you have a publisher interested?

I do have an agent, and this editor is with a publishing house, not sure which, though. It got tossed from lap to lap as they tried to find the right niche. The first editor decided that it's not Young Adult, neither is it KidLit, apparently it is Middle Readers. I heard back from that editor who gave me a slew of suggestions & a constructive critique. So it is promising.

The ball is totally in my court now.

 

[Electric_Fusilier]

^^No, not working on anything now. Sorting out the ebook stuff has left me pretty much not wanting to write another word again, lol (though I expect I will agian one day), and I've been pretty busy with computer game graphics work recently (basically, doing lots of catch-up, because this depression/loneliness thing has kind of left me...unmotivated)

So good to hear you've got an agent and publisher. Who knows ... you could well hit the big time! As for illustration, I work solely on the computer now - bug fan of Zbrush. Amazing program! And particularly good should the need ever arise for me to do a picture of some intestines, lol

Unfortunately, there's no online links to any of my short stories, cos they were all in print publications. I can PM you my email addy if you like, and you can reciprocate - if you want to that is; if you don't feel comfortable doing so, no prob - and I can email you some of my favourite flashfic pieces, just to see if what i write is to your taste.

 

[cheaptrickfan]

^^No, not working on anything now...because this depression/loneliness thing has kind of left me...unmotivated

Yeah, it's ironic that the very creative outlet that can help lift us from depression can suffer from the lack of motivation that comes along with it.

So good to hear you've got an agent and publisher. Who knows ... you could well hit the big time!

As they say, "From your mouth to God's ear."

---

Totally random side note regarding the tv show "The Ghost Whisperer:"

I think that it might be the stupidest premise for a show, ever.

Imagine a bus carrying "Touched By an Angel" collides with "The Medium," helmetless, on a motorcycle, and then some over-zealous, but well-meaning, mad scientist performed CPR on them, and fused them together, Dr Frankenstein-like.

THAT would give us the show "The Ghost Whisperer."

 

[freedom]

still wondering if she received my letter and if she read it.

:'(

 

[cheaptrickfan]

How I wish I could go on some epic journey ala On the Road. Kind of hard when you're too anxious and live in England.

This made me giggle a bit - what, you don't have highways and byways in England? Or is it that the scope isn't as vast as, say, driving across the continent on route 66?

Yeah, it wouldn't take long to travel at all. There's not much direction to go it. I suppose you could travel from small town to small town to various cities using various public transport / hitch hiking if you don't mind being murdered. Although the sleeper train from Scotland to the south has a bit of romance to it I suppose.

You should walk it from Brighton to, like, someplace north... the Hebrides, or the Orkney Islands maybe? I suppose you could take a boat at that point.

Now THERE'S a book in the making!

 

[cheaptrickfan]

I have an itch to make a big batch of potato salad. I got some fresh dill for it, even.

 

[zero]

wish I could disappear

 

[edgecrusher]

here we go again?

 

[Ice]

wish I die

Do not.

 

[Lawrens]

Can't sleep, guess I'll just stay up and do bits and pieces of work until I'm done.

 

[cheaptrickfan]

It's final: My uncle is being removed from life support tomorrow and the doctors will harvest his lover for donation. My poor mom. This is the first of her generation in the family to go.

 

[SophiaGrace]

It's final: My uncle is being removed from life support tomorrow and the doctors will harvest his lover for donation. My poor mom. This is the first of her generation in the family to go.

At least someone will get a chance to live...with the liver donation that is being planned. One person's death is another person's chance at a continuance of life.

I'm sorry for your loss CTF. *hug*

 

[cheaptrickfan]

It's final: My uncle is being removed from life support tomorrow and the doctors will harvest his lover for donation. My poor mom. This is the first of her generation in the family to go.

At least someone will get a chance to live...with the liver donation that is being planned. One person's death is another person's chance at a continuance of life.

I'm sorry for your loss CTF. *hug*

Yeah, I am thankful that one of his organs was viable and hope that whoever receives it will live a long life.

Thanks, Soph. xoxo

 

[Pasha Selim]

It's final: My uncle is being removed from life support tomorrow and the doctors will harvest his liver for donation. My poor mom. This is the first of her generation in the family to go.

I am really sorry, cheaptrickfan ... it's a moment so tough