I’ve been putting this one off, too, because, again, there are never just the right words when someone leaves this mortal coil.

I watched part of Whitney Houston’s funeral yesterday, which was live-streamed. I decided I appreciated that, and it was comforting, to hear all the music because that’s really how I’ll remember Whitney — through music, and through the legacy in it that she left.

Yes, I know. She battled many demons, just as so many of us do. She waged her battles in ways that weren’t always the best, and that may have ended up causing her more harm than the demons themselves, but that could be anybody’s story. Any one of us could have lived those aspects of her life, and many of us, I’m sure, have. Some of us beat our demons. Others come to an uneasy peace with them. And still others can’t do either.

The thing I will remember most about Whitney is the sheer, unadulterated, soaring beauty of her voice. Her three-octave range. The technical virtuosity of her sound, with the soulful gospel underpinnings. The exquisite clarity. A voice like that appears once a generation, if we’re lucky, and even when I was in high school and then college, I knew there was something special about Whitney Houston’s voice. Any time a Whitney song came on the radio throughout the 80s or 90s, you knew exactly who it was. Nobody else sounded like Whitney. Nobody else came close. Even now, listening to all the tributes to her through various media, you will not ever mistake Whitney Houston’s voice for anyone else’s.

We’ll never know what demons she battled. And in the end, it doesn’t matter, because she left a legacy through her voice, and through the smooth but somehow approachable elegance of the persona we were allowed to see in the initial years of her career. Whitney Houston’s voice and performances blazed a trail for voices behind hers, in women like Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, and Christina Aguilera, who unabashedly acknowledge it.

Houston was the first African American woman to receive heavy rotation on MTV, and every single one of her albums has diamond, multi-platinum, platinum, or gold certification. She is also the most awarded female musical artist in history, with over 400. The 1992 movie The Bodyguard introduced her as an actress, and she’d appear in a few other movies after that. Her performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 1991 Superbowl hit the top of the charts, a salve for a nation entering military action in the Gulf War. After 9/11, that 1991 version of the anthem again hit the top of the charts, as a nation struggled through the horrifying after-effects of the largest terrorist attack on US soil.

Understandably so. Her voice — THE Voice — could both uplift and soothe, provide succor and respite. That voice could also make you dance, smile, and just feel good about your day. Whitney Houston and her voice could make you feel all of these things. That was the magic of The Voice. That was the magic of Whitney Houston.

link, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” (1987)

link, “Savin’ all My Love for You” (1985; sorry about the ad before the song)

link, “I’m Every Woman” (1992)

And the song I consider her signature tune (written by Dolly Parton), in terms of the pinnacle of her vocal athleticism and soulfulness (and one that now tears me up every time I hear it):

link, “I Will Always Love You” (1992)

I decided to write up a Valentine’s Day longish short story (meaning it’s about 9300 words) just cuz. I was feeling the urge. I don’t often do romances (though there are romantic subplots in my novels), but every once in a while, I just do.

So here. Go get all sappy or something.

Happy belated Valentine’s Day, and happy weekend!

As some of you may know, I cut my spec fic teeth back in the day reading everything I could get my hands on that was written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. ERB was doing most of his writing from about 1912 to the mid-1940s. He wrote classic pulp fiction, which is what I try to model my space opera series, the Far Seek Chronicles, after. That is, in terms of his spec fic, high adventure, high drama, and amazing settings.

And c’mon. You know who this guy is. He’s the creator of Tarzan. But he’s also the creator of myriad other worlds, including a vision of Mars that his Earthling character, John Carter, had the opportunity to visit and make part of his life.

I also want to be clear. ERB was writing at a time when it was okay and even expected to be racist and sexist. ERB himself leaned toward eugenics, as author John Taliaferro notes in his biography of the writer. (read chapter one here) So yes, these books are racist and sexist, some more blatantly than others. But they’re also highly imaginative, with amazing creatures, characters, and settings. ERB was definitely a product of his time and background, which certainly doesn’t excuse some of the things in his books, but hopefully, it explains it to you, people who may not be familiar with his work. As much as we don’t like to admit it, writers are products of their times and contexts, too, and yes, that can and does get reflected in our writing.

There’ve been tons of Tarzan movies over the years, but here, at long last, is a movie version of what I’m guessing is the first book in ERB’s Mars series, though the title’s wrong. The first book in the Mars series is A Princess of Mars, and it was published in 1912. This was the first novel ERB wrote. So though he’s known more for the Tarzan series, he was writing the Mars series as well.

The premise of the Mars series is John Carter, a veteran of the Civil War (who fought for the Confederacy). After the war, he goes prospecting in Arizona and ends up in trouble with some Apaches. He hides in a sacred cave and there’s something hinky/freaky in there, because BOOM he’s transported to Mars (Barsoom), which is a dying world ravaged by war (and awesome characters and creatures). Because he’s from Earth, he has amazing powers in the low gravity of Mars. He gets caught up in the battles for justice, and there’s all kinds of adventure and some romance, too.

The title of the movie is John Carter, and I’m thinking that probably it’s an amalgam of several of the books, though I could be wrong and it could be based on the first book in the series. Princess of Mars celebrates its 100th birthday this year, and Library of America will be releasing a special commemorative hardcover edition. Kinda cool. And kinda neat that this movie will be released March 9th. ERB fans, rejoice! Let’s hope this one does the pulp fiction master proud.

linkie

My particular fave point:

5. Quiet Loners
Whenever they find some whackaloon with a collection of severed heads in his freezer, they always trot out the neighbors and you get that classic line: “He was always so quiet.” And the assumption becomes, oh, that seemingly nice-and-quiet chap next door needed his quiet time because he was too busy with his hobby of decapitating dudes. On the other hand: hey, maybe him being quiet and alone all the time made him crazy. Maybe you spend too long cooped up with yourself the carpet starts moving and the wallpaper shifts and the room starts to whisper, You know what would be awesome? A sweet-ass collection of severed heads. Get on that. This is probably a good time to remind you that writers happen to spend a lot of time alone and cooped up with themselves. Just, uhh, putting that out there. What, this old thing? Just a hacksaw.

I’d add another:

Social Cues
What? Doesn’t everyone ask people at cocktail parties what it would take to get them to drive a car off a suspension bridge or break into someone’s house for the sole purpose of raiding their refrigerator and eating meat naked in the kitchen sink? (true story–that actually happened, but I’m sure a writer somewhere had already put it to paper before that) Writers should go out in public at least three times a week to interact with people who are not writers. Not only does that teach us how to behave like normal people for a few minutes (one hopes), but it can give you lots of good ideas for secondary characters.

Happy reading, happy writing. And put that hacksaw away, where nobody can see it.

Hi, folks–

Here we are on zombie and/or apocalypse Saturdays. First, tomorrow is the next episode of AMC’s Walking Dead, which has been on mid-season hiatus until now. So if you’ve been following that, there you go. I’m already getting my therapy lined up…

Second, Tuesdays, the National Geographic channel is airing a program called “Doomsday Preppers.” It’s exactly what it says it is. Each hour features about 20 minute segments with a different person or people preparing for an apocalypse. The form that apocalypse takes (e.g. financial, grid collapse, natural disaster) depends on the people. So you get, say, 3 people an hour who are serious apocalypse preppers. Then the NatGeo crew provides some feedback to each prepper, and offers suggestions (if necessary) to improve their prep. Then the commentator tells you, the audience, what the actual chances are that an apocalypse like the one the people are prepping for will actually happen.

The website (link above) offers a breakdown of the episodes, tips from preppers, and bios of the various preppers. Kind of interesting, if that’s your thing. I rather enjoyed it.

And third, author Julianna Baggott has released Pure, the first in her post-apocalyptic series. It’s getting rave reviews and she has an excerpt posted on her website. Seriously. Check this out. Click HERE for those opening pages.

Wow. Lyrical, tactile, narrative gold. Do yourselves a favor and pick this one up. It’s been optioned for film rights. Personally, I think the book’s vision will be ever Pure-er than any movie could make it, but I’m sure the visual impact of the movie will be pretty darn amazing.

There you go. Some doomsday stuff for you to consider and enjoy, if you’re weird like me.

Happy reading, happy writing, happy watching!

Hope the week is treating you fab-ly.

I came across this article in HuffPo and it totally upset me. The story is about how references to nature are declining in children’s books, and that does not bode well for generations of kids who are increasingly isolated from the natural world, not only physically, but now intellectually as even their books don’t reference interaction with nature.

Quote, from the article:

[according to a study] Initially, natural and built environments were equally represented, but beginning in the 1960s, depictions of natural settings began a steady decline. By 2008, images of human-made environments showed up in books twice as often as those depicting nature scenes.

The study’s authors attribute the decline to the increasing isolation of children from the natural world. “These findings suggest that today’s generation of children are not being socialized, at least through this source, toward an understanding and appreciation of the natural world and the place of humans within it,” noted the authors.
[source: "Children's Books Lack Nature References, Study Suggests"]

The article also raises a question about whether kids like nature subjects, but maybe aren’t into books about nature that are heavy-hitting in terms of environmental messages. It’s something to think about, but I think the most troubling aspect of this piece, and the study, is that we as a species are becoming more and more isolated from the outdoors, and this has profound ramifications for our physical, spiritual, and emotional health. Here, from the Harvard Health Letter, are some reasons that this is true. The Guardian notes that the outdoors (even a view of it) can help patients heal faster, and this source (maybe kind of woo-woo) notes it, too.

I know that being outside has helped me in terms of health and well-being — even if that’s just a placebo effect, I always feel better after playing outside, so I’ll take it.

So if you’re parents, maybe hook your kids up with classic books that feature outside settings like, say, the Little House on the Prairie books, or Treasure Island . Heck, even the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books are good options. And get your kids OUTSIDE. Take them on bug-hunting trips to the park or open space. Go for drives to rural areas and national parks and forests. Get them involved in outdoor programs, so that they learn how interconnected we all are to not only our built environments, but the natural. We need more stewards of the land, friends.

So go play outside!

Happy reading, happy writing, happy camping!

I wanted to take this time to say a few things about something that’s been weighing on my mind. As a writer, I tend to express myself in that medium, about a great many things. Here, I have something to say about a topic that is particularly relevant (it’s been all over the news) in general, but also to me personally.

Breast cancer sucks. I say that as someone who has known women (and one man) who has battled it, as someone who knew someone who lost her battle with it, and as someone who is currently personally affected by it. That said, I’m fortunate. Mine was caught early. It was non-invasive and stage 0.

So I know what organizations and foundations can do to help people who battle cancer. I’m also incredibly fortunate because I have health insurance, and in America, which is supposedly one of the greatest nations in the world, a third of the people in our country cannot afford health insurance. So they have to rely on organizations and foundations to provide low-cost healthcare and screenings, in hopes that diseases like cancer are caught early and can be treated before they’ve progressed.

But there’s a more important message here.

Cancer doesn’t discriminate. I know you’ve heard that many times, but think about it. Really think about that. Cancer doesn’t give a rat’s ass about your ethnic background, your overall state of health, whether you’ve got a history of cancer in your family, what you look like, what your politics are, what religion you are, or who you come home to at night. It doesn’t care who you are, who you know, or what you do for a living. It doesn’t care how much money you make, how many times you go to church (or whether you go at all), who your friends are, or whether you have healthcare or not. If you do have healthcare in this country, you’re lucky. Because thousands of people don’t. Cancer does not care about these things.

It is an equal opportunity destroyer.

Where breast cancer is concerned, thousands of women are affected every freaking day by this disease. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t known someone who has had breast cancer, or who hasn’t had to deal with it herself (or, in some cases, himself).

Because of how healthcare is and isn’t in this country, I do not begrudge an organization providing low-cost cancer screenings to women through grants from other organizations. I ENCOURAGE it. If something is caught early, it’s easier to deal with, and, for those of you who are money-obsessed, it’s cheaper in the long run to ensure that something’s caught early and dealt with ASAP than long-term care for the heinous-ness that is cancer.

There is no place, thus, for crap in the battles against cancer. There is no place for political asshattery, or self-righteous religious interpretations of who is worthy enough to receive treatment or screenings, or what organizations are worthy enough to offer screenings. CANCER DOESN’T CARE WHAT YOU BELIEVE. And it certainly doesn’t care whether you care or not.

I, however, am NOT cancer. And I DO care about my fellow travelers who have to deal with it. I don’t care where you get your screenings. I don’t care what the people who are employed at those facilities think politically or religiously. I don’t care whether you’re poor or rich. I’m just glad you have somewhere to go to get those screenings, and that there’s money to help fund those screenings if you can’t afford it.

So if you have a religious and/or political issue with an organization that provides cancer screenings for low-income women, then don’t use their facilities. Really. It’s that simple. Use another facility or start your own foundation to provide whatever restricted funding you want to help people who are only like you or only think like you do. I don’t begrudge you that. Just leave the organizations you don’t like alone. Thousands of women rely on them, and I want them to get screenings and healthcare and access to treatment if they are diagnosed. I want YOU to get screenings and access to treatment if YOU’RE diagnosed, even though you probably wouldn’t want the same for me because of your beliefs. Regardless, I want as many facilities and organizations available to help with that.

So instead of trying to take money away from organizations that do something you don’t like, how about focusing instead on finding cures and treatments for cancer for everyone, and leaving your beliefs and politics out of that? Because cancer does not care about those, and it certainly doesn’t care about you. I, however, do.

I’ll leave you with Linda here, in Las Vegas, who I think sums it up very well:

So please, get your screenings as you can, and please don’t begrudge others where they get theirs. Cancer is a great equalizer, because it doesn’t care. Remember that.

You can catch that HERE.

And please do leave comments or questions for her. She’s more than willing to respond. Don’t be shy. I know, I know. NYT bestselling and all. But seriously. She’d love hearing from you.

Happy reading, happy writing!

I’d like you to check in with Women and Words this Friday, February 3rd. Especially if you read urban fantasy. Fab NYT bestselling author Faith Hunter graciously agreed to an interview with me, and it’ll be posted at Women and Words.

Spread the word, share the love. And join me in a case of the serious vay-puhs for such an occurrence!

Happy reading, happy writing!

No, I am not. Portland is offering seminars.

Here’s the link, for reals.

There’s a vid at the link, too.

And once you get that training, Portland is the perfect place to write something about it!

The city sports the Attic Institute, a creative awesome-spot for writers.

and
The Willamette Writers.

And cool writers’ conferences like this one. And this one. And go here for even more listings.

So for those of you there, I’m a tad envious. Let me know how the zombie apocalypse training goes.