ON THE COMPLETION OF _ROSWELL, TEXAS_ January 11, 2008
As everybody who frequents the virtual pages of BigHeadPress.com is aware, our graphic novel Roswell, Texas is complete, as of today, January 10, 2008.
The work, as far as I know, is unique, unprecedented in the annals of graphic novelia (hey, I’m an author — I can make up words if I want) and may also be the most detailed and widely-reaching alternate history tale in literature. I’m extremely proud to have been a part of it as co-author of the original story and principle adaptor to comic form.
…
ONE OF MY RARE PARODIES November 13, 2007
….Like most young songwriters — especially those unduly influenced by _Mad Magazine_, Stan Freberg, Tom Lehrer, or Allan Sherman, most of my earlier efforts were parodies — that it, they used the melodies of other songs, usually for a humorous effect.
….I was also a big fan of Spike Jones, but that was something completely different. Never mind.
….Most of my songs for the past 30 years, however, have original melodies, although I’m principally a word guy, and when a tune comes to me, I always regard it as a bit of a mystery and a miracle.
….This exception came to me …
Author’s Biography as of May 12, 2007 November 4, 2007
L. Neil Smith was born in Denver, Colorado on May 12th, 1946. His
father was an Air Force officer, so he grew up all over North America
in places like Waco, McQueenie, and Laporte, Texas; Salina, Kansas;
Sacramento, California; and Gifford, Illinois — all before he was in
5th grade — and then St. John’s, Newfoundland and Ft. Walton Beach,
Florida where he graduated from high school.
Neil always expected to be a scientist, leaning toward marine
biology (especially tidepool studies) and organic chemistry — a
special science achievement award was generated …
NEW MAPS OF BULGARIA October 26, 2007
First, the bad news.
Several years ago, I wrote an essay, “On a Clear Day You Can See
Bulgaria — But Who Wants to Look?” (See _Lever Action_), about the
sad state that science fiction, as a literary form, then found itself
in.
The principal symptom was rapidly shrinking rack space in the
grocery stores and drug stores that had been SF’s “natural habitat”,
monopolization of the genre by franchises like _Star Wars_ and _Star
Trek_ (or by techno-military and dragon fantasy), even the wholesale
elimination of entire SF paperback …
A SAD CASE OF EVOLUTION DENIAL October 12, 2007
….This morning I got a message from a religious friend of mine, a
column by Hal Lindsey about the manifold shortcomings, in his view, of
science.
….Lindsey, you’ll recall, is a creature of faith (which Mark Twain
defined as “believing what you know damned well isn’t so”) who tried
to get the whole world milling around like ants over a Y2K disaster
that never happened. I’ve never seen any acknowledgement of error on
his part, or an apology of any kind, but then I don’t read him very
much.
….If at all.
….This particular piece of Lindsey’s attempted to forge a link
between …
SERIES, CYCLES, OR SETS October 3, 2007
….I just prepared this for a prospective agent and thought you all might enjoy seeing it, as well.
The Works (so far) of L. Neil Smith
Divided into series, cycles, or sets
========================================================
north-american-confederacy-north-american-confederacy-north-american-
========================================================
THE PROBABILITY BROACH (Tor Books, December, 2001)
In a deadly conflict with murderous federal agents, Denver homicide detective Win Bear is accidentally blown “sideways” in time, into the North American Confederacy, where the Whiskey Rebellion succeeded in 1794, and government has grown less powerful ever since.
L. Neil Smith’s first book, originally published by Del Rey Books (Random House), 1980, and Tor Books, 1996. 1980/81. Prometheus Award winner, widely considered …
ANOTHER GODDAMNED IDEA September 21, 2007
In my communications with other writers, I’ve discovered that there’s a wide variety of characteristics among them. Some, for example, struggle for an idea they feel is worth writing about, maybe only coming up with something that satisfies them every ten years or so. Many of these writers keep coming back to the same idea, over and over again, until the next rare inspiration comes along. If they’re good enough at what they do, nobody will mind that they’ve been there before.
Other writers are figuratively plagued with new ideas, and, after a lifetime of it, …
IS THIS A “SENIOR MOMENT”? September 12, 2007
Your assistance, please:
Several years ago, I wrote an essay, which I remember as having
been called “Manhandling the Media”, which details a plan for steering
the reporting and editorial policies of newspapers, radio, and TV
toward something more closely resembling the truth — by sending a
very special message, not to them, but to the advertisers who support
them.
I’ve just started writing a new article now that revisits and
refines that technique, which I believe could become a potent weapon
against the current Black Plague of fascism sweeping the world, as
well …
TOWARD AN INTERNATIONAL BILL OF RIGHTS UNION August 31, 2007
[Originally Prepared for Jews for the Preservation of
Firearms Ownership http://www.jpfo.org August 31, 2007]
The internet is an interesting thing. You can be communicating
with somebody across town today, somebody in another state tonight,
and somebody on the other side of the world tomorrow, all with equal
ease. In fact if their e-mail address doesn’t show it, and you don’t
know how to read that routing gobbledygook at the top of the message,
you can be doing one of those three things and not know which one it
is.
I guess that fits somebody’s …
AHEM … July 25, 2007
Gentle readers …
….Let me begin this epistle by saying that I have extremely mixed
feelings about what I’m about to write. On one hand, I don’t _ever_
want to be accused of whining, especially to my loyal readers and
friends.
….On the other, if I truly believe that my work has value (and I’d
damned well better believe it, or what’s the point?) then it would be
wrong to let it be overlooked or slighted without at least clearing my
throat politely — which is more or less what I’m attempting to do
here.
….As most of you are aware, over the …
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