Category Archives: Geek

A Conversational Journey through New Who – S1E06 – Dalek

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Watching New Who – in conversation with David McDonald, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Tehani Wessely

David is coming to New Who for the first time, having loved Classic Who as a kid. Tehani is a recent convert, and ploughed through Seasons 1 to 6 (so far) in just a few weeks after becoming addicted thanks to Matt Smith – she’s rewatching to keep up with David! Tansy is the expert in the team, with a history in Doctor Who fandom that goes WAY back, and a passion for Doctor Who that inspires us all. We’re going to work our way through New Who, using season openers and closers, and Hugo shortlisted episodes, as our blogging points. Just for fun! Our first review (“Rose”, S01E01) can be found here.

Season one, episode six
The Doctor – Christopher Eccleston
Rose Tyler – Billie Piper

Dalek
TEHANI:

Okay, so we’ve seen the year five billion and met a creepy human skin in “The End of the World”, gone back to Victorian England for a very Sherlock Holmes-y style ghost busting episode in “The Unquiet Dead”, been introduced to the Slitheen and their self-centred plans in “Aliens of London” and “World War Three” (and Harriet Jones! I love her), and now we’re up to “Dalek”, the first of Season One’s Hugo nominated episodes. The Doctor and Rose are getting to know each other, as we get to know them, and it must have been interesting for long term fans to watch Eccleston in this role, after such a long break from the show. Tansy, any thoughts to share on what that was like, for those early episodes, before we get to “Dalek”?

TANSY:

Mostly for me it was a wild ride – I had no particular interaction with fandom, and so I wasn’t juggling the kind of critical attention that overwhelms Doctor Who these days. But after months of seeing nothing but “Rose” as evidence of what New Who would be about, The End of the World was an enormous delight – aliens and space stations, and the unrolling mythology of human futures! Looking at it now, that episode suffers a lot from budgetary issues, but at the time it showed us the kind of creativity and ambition we were going to associate with the new series. Also the use of actual music – not just Murray Gold being a genius, but Britney Spears! – was a shock to the system. Was “The Unquiet Dead” showed us also that Earth’s history and time travel were going to be important – something we had learned not to take for granted about Doctor Who since the end of the Hartnell era, really. “Aliens of London” and “World War Three” are generally dismissed by fans now thanks to the silliness of the Slitheen (though gotta say, the kids love em!), but they were mind blowing at the time too – the idea that we would be exploring a contemporary Earth where everyone knew aliens were real was a fascinating one, which RTD would flirt with throughout his era.

DAVID:

I found “The End of the World” much stronger than the Slitheen episodes, which appeared to be played a little too much for laughs. I thought too much about what they did to the pig though, that’s actually pretty horrifying when you think about it. It was also interesting seeing the impact that Rose’s leaving had on those around her, you don’t always think about what happens to the companion’s lives outside oft heir adventures with the Doctor (as I think Tansy has alluded to).

“The End of the World” also had some good scenes for Rose where her homesickness comes to the fore, and the Doctor showing his compassion with perhaps the best phone modification imaginable. And I always love seeing heaps of different aliens.

“The Unquiet Dead” was a bit of a throwback to some of the “historical” episodes I grew up with, where we see that it isn’t just about outer space or the future, but about the past as well. The repartee between the Doctor and Charles Dickens was great fun, and it was good character development for Rose as she gets some idea about the vast distances she is travelling in both time and space, and how different her life was from the maids in its scope even before she met the Doctor.

Tehani, I loved Harriet Jones too … so VERY English!

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A Conversational Journey through New Who – S1E01 – Rose

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Watching New Who – in conversation with David McDonald, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Tehani Wessely

David is coming to New Who for the first time, having loved Classic Who as a kid. Tehani is a recent convert, and ploughed through Seasons 1 to 6 (so far) in just a few weeks after becoming addicted thanks to Matt Smith – she’s rewatching to keep up with David! Tansy is the expert in the team, with a history in Doctor Who fandom that goes WAY back, and a passion for Doctor Who that inspires us all. We’re going to work our way through New Who, using season openers and closers, and Hugo shortlisted episodes, as our blogging points. Just for fun!

ROSE – Season one, episode one
The Doctor – Christopher Eccleston
Rose Tyler – Billie Piper

DAVID:

So, as you know I have been waiting long time to start watching the “New” Who, and it was with a mix of excitement and trepidation I sat down and pressed play. It is always dicey going back to something that you grew up with, in case it turns out that it isn’t as good as you remembered (that evil Suck Fairy!) but this was even more fraught with potential problems as this was an attempt to bring Doctor Who to a more modern audience, which could have gone terribly wrong if they had tried to make too “cool”.

TEHANI:

I have been listening to friends talk about New Who for years, and it never really occurred to me to try to watch it, until Neil Gaiman went and wrote an episode. Well I couldn’t just watch THAT one, and so started on Season 5 (on the plane back from the Aurealis Awards!) and was pretty much instantly hooked. I remember watching Doctor Who as a kid (frequently from behind the couch with my hands over my eyes!), when Tom Baker was THE Doctor, but really have few memories of actual episodes. Daleks and the Tardis, the curly-haired Doctor – extent of my knowledge!

TANSY

Whereas I watched “Rose” right back at the beginning, when the episode was leaked on to the internet a little while before its actual release – and that was when Australians had to wait months and months and MONTHS to get a terrestrial showing, so I had to wait a very long time to see the rest of this season. For nearly half a year, New Who was basically “Rose” – and it didn’t disappoint.
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A Conversational Journey through New Who

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Growing up in a small country town where the ABC was *the* channel (though, of course we called it Channel Two), and being introduced to science fiction at a very young age, it was probably inevitable that Doctor Who would become a large part of my childhood. But, even as I grew up I never tired of reading and watching the adventures of the Doctor and his Companions and, as my world broadened, so did my access to the massive, almost organic, structure that is the Whoinverse. Whether it was the classic TV show, or the New Adventures, I devoured everything I could get my hands on. I still have a massive crate of Target novelisations, so even the BBC’s incredibly short sighted decision to delete many of the vintage episodes couldn’t hold me back as I travelled in Time and Space.

There is a whole other post in what exactly it was about the Doctor that captured my imagination, that made me beg my Mum to make costumes, that got me through my fairly unpleasant teenage years and that in many ways shaped the moral code I live by today. But even now, I still consider myself a massive Who fan, and I regularly return to the extensive library of books in my possession and lose myself in his adventures. Given all that, it is exceedingly odd that, until a few days ago, I had never watched any of the series reboot that kicked off in 2005.

I am not sure why this is. It certainly wasn’t from lack of interest. I think that when it first appeared I was planning on waiting until Season One was complete and then watching it all in one go. Then life did what life does and seemingly before I knew it there were multiple seasons out there, a whole new mythos and spinoff shows like Torchwood and all of a sudden it was a bit overwhelming and I was at a loss where to start. It became one of those things on the “to do” pile that never gets done.

As you may know, I am currently housebound recovering from surgery (nothing life threatening, just inconvenient) and having a lot of time on my hand, I decided now was a great chance to sit down and make a start on the New Who. It’s all sitting there, accusing me, all the new seasons and Torchwood, and I really didn’t have any excuse. I had been toying with the idea of blogging each episode as I went, recording my thoughts and impressions, but through a happy accident I can go one better (a lot better actually).

Over the next few weeks (months?) I will have the pleasure of not only seeing all of this Doctor Who for the first time, but I will get to discuss it in a series of conversational posts with two of Aussie spec fic’s most brilliant people, Tehani Croft Wessely and Tansy Ranyer Roberts. It is going to be an exciting journey and I hope you enjoy the ride.

Writing tools for the Modern Geek

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All my friends know I am a geek. I don’t care, there is no point denying one’s nature. And this is a great time to be a geek, the amount of technology around us constantly growing and changing. While there is much debate about the future of publishing and the impact that technology will have and is having on books, there is plenty of ways in which a writer can benefit from tech at our fingertips.

Many of you will have already heard of, and used, a lot of these tools but I thought I would run through a couple of things I have found incredibly useful, just in case you have missed them.

Scrivener – Mac/PC

Pretty much the reason why I bought a Macbook instead of a Windows PC (back when it was limited to OSX), Scrivener is an incredibly useful tool. There are far better posts floating around about it, but essentially it allows you to take all the disparate elements that make up a work in progress (text, research, outlines, drafts) and organise them in one place and when you are done spit out a manuscript ready for subbing. It has endless features, like full screen writing and customisable backups, which would take me hours to outline. Check out their site, or this excellent third party blog.

Dropbox – The Cloud

Ah, the Cloud. I am so sick of hearing about the new grail of IT in the meetings I have to sit through at work, but I can’t deny it has its uses. There are lots of cloud applications floating around (couldn’t resist, sorry!) but I am currently using Dropbox. After installing the application on my Macbook at home and my work laptop, I now have a folder that synchronises between them. It means I can be working on something at home, click “save”, and then when I am eating my lunch at my desk at work start working on it again.

The fact it is all stored online means that my greatest fear, that my laptop will explode or be stolen or eaten by alien goats, is no longer an issue as my work is safe from harm! Plus, I have set up Scrivener to save its automatic backups to the Dropbox folder when I close a WIP, so it adds to my redundancy. 2gb of storage is free, and if I get to the point I need more I can always purchase it.

www.duotrope.com – Web based

Duotrope is a web based service that acts a marketplace for short stories. People putting together an anthology or those running a recurring magazine or site will place advertisements that list what they are looking for, the compensation offered and their submission guidelines. It has a number of other handy features, such as a deadline calendar and submission tracker.

Duotrope is free, but if you have any spare cash throw some their way, as this the sort of service that is invaluable to an aspiring writer.

Story Tracker – iOS

The only issue I have with Duotrope is that you can only track submissions for markets on their site. As some of the markets I have submitted to are outside of Duotrope’s coverage I wanted a way to keep them up to date. Story Tracker is an app for iPhone and IPad that allows you to do so, and obsessively check things like how long a submission has been pending. The developer is very approachable, and there is talk of an OSX native version, which would be great. You can try a trial version for free.

WriteChain – iOS

Another groovy iPhone app, WriteChain allows you to record the amount of words you have written in a day or session. To encourage you to do so regulary, it creates a “chain” that gets broken if if you go a set interval without writing a certain number of words. The challenge is to have as many “links” as possible and is a great way of setting goals. And, it’s free!

Google Reader – Web based

If you are anything like me, you would have lots of blogs and news sites that you follow, both to keep up with what friends and peers are doing, and for those little snippets of news that might inspire a story. However, I struggle to remember to check sites regularly, and I was finding myself getting behind. Google Reader aggregates the RSS feeds of whatever sites you specify, collecting all the updates in one place.

Byline – iOS

While there is a Google Reader client for iOS, I have been using Byline for news on the go. It syncs with your Google account but has the advantage of caching all the articles for later viewing, meaning I can download my news in the morning on my WIFi and then browse them later, even when not connected. The full version is pricey for an app, so you may decide that, like me, you can handle a few banner ads and use the free one.

Stanza – Cross Platform

I quite like Kindle, but I use Stanza for non Amazon books. It allows a direct plugin to repositories like Project Gutenberg and can read almost any ebook format. It is lacking a way of organising your library, hopefully they will address that soon. Considering it is free, it is hard to complain too much.

Any other useful tools that I should check out?

Fan Fiction or Intellectual Violation?

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There are numerous POV’s when it comes to fan fiction, from authors who fiercely protective of their work and forbid it to those who love it and allow open season when it comes to their mythos and characters, and everything in between. There is some high quality fan fiction out there and even people who have landed book deals on the back of their achievements, but my opinion has always been that is you are going to write 20,000 words why not put it towards your own manuscript and vision?

As a fan, if I knew that an author didn’t want fan fiction featuring their work I would refrain, from a simple sense of respect for them. Writing it anyway, out of some passion for their characters or world, would be sort of like stalking a girl who didn’t want you in her life to show her how much you cared! If I ever got to the point of inspiring people enough to have them write fan fic based on my work I would be flattered, but where I might get a bit protective would be if people were using my ideas in a way completely contrary to the spirit of what my work stood for. I think that is pretty wrong, and not something I would ever do to anyone or want done to me.

That is what I feel is happening here:

Well, there’s two sides to every story, or to quote a less banal maxim, history is written by the winners. That’s the philosophy behind “The Last Ringbearer,” a novel set during and after the end of the War of the Ring (the climactic battle at the end of “The Lord of the Rings”) and told from the point of view of the losers. The novel was written by Kirill Yeskov, a Russian paleontologist, and published to acclaim in his homeland in 1999. Translations of the book have also appeared in other European nations, but fear of the vigilant and litigious Tolkien estate has heretofore prevented its publication in English.

In Yeskov’s retelling, the wizard Gandalf is a war-monger intent on crushing the scientific and technological initiative of Mordor and its southern allies because science “destroys the harmony of the world and dries up the souls of men!” He’s in cahoots with the elves, who aim to become “masters of the world,” and turn Middle-earth into a “bad copy” of their magical homeland across the sea. Barad-dur, also known as the Dark Tower and Sauron’s citadel, is, by contrast, described as “that amazing city of alchemists and poets, mechanics and astronomers, philosophers and physicians, the heart of the only civilization in Middle-earth to bet on rational knowledge and bravely pitch its barely adolescent technology against ancient magic.”

I know this sort of revisionism is fashionable, but it does leave a bad taste in my mouth. Personally, I can’t see an issue with stories of “Good vs Evil”, and while there is definitely a place for more nuanced works with shades of grey and moral ambiguity (George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series is one of the greatest fantasy works ever written), why not write your own instead of leveraging off the work of someone who set out to create a particular type of writing?

I have read all the criticisms of LOTR, that it is sexist and racist and reactionary, but I don’t agree. You always find those things in anything if you look for them, and there is no doubt Tolkien was a product of his time. But, if you actually read the books, the heroes are not the aristocratic white powerful males, the heroes are people like humble and small hobbits or the woman who refuses to be bound by the roles foisted upon her by her society and destroys the most dangerous creature in Middle Earth. The established order is powerless to stop Sauron, and the whole theme of the book is of change and of the old order passing away…hardly reactionary stuff. It is a story where individual choices matter, where there is not simply some elite that determines the course of the world but where anyone, no matter how inconsequential they might seem, can make a difference.

LOTR is a revolutionary book, and I think it is under appreciated as such. It is not some vastly powerful magic wielder or muscled barbarian or extraordinarily disciplined army or the intervention of capricious Gods that brings down Mordor, but the values of love and loyalty and altruism and compassion. Imagine if any of those who had the chance had given Gollum what they believed he deserved, instead of the compassion Gandalf spoke of?

The science of Mordor and Isengard was not the sort of science that seeks to understand the world and to be good stewards of it, that seeks to make life better for all people and bring enlightenment and understanding. It was the science that dehumanises, that doesn’t consider the consequences, the science that seeks to bend everything to a political end. Both Sauron and his pale imitator, Saruman, seek to remake the world in their own image and absorb the individual into the collective. The Ringwraiths are the eventual fate of all those under the Dark Lord’s dominion, and it is why we don’t see the Orcs as individuals, because they labour under the tyranny of Sauron’s will.

It’s a fascinating concept, I guess, and I will probably read it. But, I know who I think deserves higher praise out of the creator and the corrupter of the breathtaking vision that is Middle Earth.

Real Life Super Heroes

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I am not sure whether these guys are simply try hards, or are in fact RLSHs, but let’s be honest here. Every geek has dreamed off doing something like this, and wondered what it would be like to equip oneself with cool gadgets and go out and smite evil doers.

Yes, there are real-life superheroes. And no, we’re not just referring to firefighters, paramedics, and other heroic people who we’re used to seeing coming to the rescue of others. We’re talking about costume-wearing, identity-concealing, cool-name-having people who fight crime, pollution, or other evils in their own communities, on their own time, and at their own risk. Many of them actually patrol the city streets, ready to intervene if they see trouble brewing – and being ready includes having the right tools. Given that none of these people have Bruce Wayne’s budget, however, their gadgets tend to be less like Batmobile clones, and more like… well, read on and see for yourself.

Oh, yes please…

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Now, this sounds awesome..

Deadline’s Mike Fleming has the scoop! As probably should’ve been expected, Warner Bros. has brought together its two geek-friendly visionaries – Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder – to reinvent what should be the studio’s most valuable franchise after the HARRY POTTER series concludes. It’s hard not to get giddy at the thought of a Snyder-directed, Nolan-produced SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL. The screenplay is being written by David Goyer, and it’s expected the film will be completed in time to clean up during the 2012 holiday season.

Looking over the directors who were allegedly in the running, it appears this gig was Snyder’s to either lose or turn down. Though I would’ve been interested in seeing what Duncan Jones, Darren Aronofsky or Matt Reeves might’ve done with the character, the studio needed a filmmaker both comfortable with working on a large scale under crushing expectations, and capable of delivering tentpole production value. That’s why this was only ever going to go to Snyder or Tony Scott – with Jonathan Liebesman lurking as a dark horse (provided BATTLE: LOS ANGELES lives up to the Comic Con hype).

And, apparently Zod to be the villian? I hope so, I have said it before (and I will say it again) a superhero movie needs a super powered villian, otherwise it is ALWAYS a let down.

AUSSIECON 4 (or why I am a slack blogger)

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Well, the past week or so has been crazy. Surgery (again) last Tuesday, then the extraordinary madness that was AussieCon 4. I had an incredibly good time there, which I will go into further, but I am absolutely exhausted. Who knew geeks could party like that?!

I have also received a rejection notice for a short story I submitted more in hope than anything else, and a rewrite request for an anthology I desperately want to get into. It’s long odds, but there were (as far as I know) approximately 170 stories rejected in the first round, so I am happy to get a chance to submit a revised version. The challenge, of course, is balancing how much I want to get published with maintaining the integrity of the story.

AussieCon was my first major convention, and I really did have a blast. The funny thing was that I only actually made it to two of the panels for the whole event! But, I certainly don’t think I wasted my money, because it was the activities that surrounded the Con that really made it a truly memorable experience.

For a number of years I have been a member of a fan group for the author George R.R. Martin. This started when I started reading his “A Song of Ice and Fire” series and went looking for some information online. I stumbled across a fan run message board called Westeros and discovered a massive online community of fantasy and science fiction fans (15,000 plus). While it was ostensibly about GRRM and his works, there was discussion of every author imaginable, and huge debates about politics and religion. I made a lot of friends there and for a number of years was very active. I credit my exposure to so many diverse view points and some of the most intelligent people I have ever spoken to with honing my skills as an apologist, because in those debates if you didn’t know what you were talking about you would get torn to pieces. Lazy arguments were punished they way they deserved to be.

While as life moved on I cut down on my day to day posting, I still maintained the relationships I had formed, because these people meant a lot to me. Anyone who doesn’t understand that online friends can be just as important as ones you see daily probably should stop reading now! But, I had always hoped to meet some of them, and I knew there would be a fair few at AussieCon, and that GRRM would be there as well.

The fan group (the BWB – Brotherhood Without Banners) prides itself on its profile at conventions. and usually throws at least one party for the entire Con and organises a chance for the fans to meet GRRM. As someone “on the ground” I was involved in organising things in the lead up, like buying supplies and finding a venue for dinner the first night. Unfortunately, surgery meant I couldn’t be as useful as I had hoped! But, I managed to get the things done that were needed. It meant a fair bit of running around t, but I certainly didn’t mind that. The amount of pleasure I had gotten from GRRM’s writing and from my involvement on the board meant whatever help I could give was a privilege.

On the Thursday night 25 of us met with GRRM and his partner Parris for a private dinner at a pizze place in Southbank. It was incredibly exciting to get a chance to chat to one of my favourite authors, and over the course of the Con he gave  us all plenty of his time. In fact, I cannot speak highly enough of their attitude to fans and how accessible they made themselves to us, even in the last stages of the Con, when they must have been exhausted. The way they treated their fans was in stark contrast to some other authors who were there, including one very big name, who I will refrain from identifying!

Obviously, GRRM is someone I have always wanted to meet and I really did feel honoured and privileged by the amount of time I got to chat to him one on one. Not only at the dinner, I also shared a cab with them when taking them back to their hotel. I am, however, terribly embarrassed by the fact that I really did babble like the rankest fan boy each time! He was also very kind about my very modest writing achievements (which I couldn’t stop myself from telling him about) and left me inspired and encouraged to keep going with my dreams in that area.

But, as much as meeting George was the fulfilment of a long held dream, I have to say that I enjoyed just as much the chances I had to chat with Parris, and getting to hear about her fascinating life. She really is a lovely person, and she really made us fans feel important and valuable. I just can’t say enough good things about her (my wife thinks I have a bit of a crush on her because of how much I have talked about how wonderful she is, and maybe she is right haha).

On the Friday night there was a Con party, and I spent a lot of time talking to my fellow BWBers, and before I knew, it was 4:30am. After taking a few pain killers (due to the surgery after effects) I crashed and didn’t get back until late afternoon. Saturday was taken up with organising the finer details for the official BWB party we were throwing. We had to make a last minute venue change, and ended up hiring the VIP room at a Crown nightclub. I have to say it was a interesting experience going in and out and walking past the line of 50-100 people waiting to get into the actual nightclub to flash my ID and have a bouncer lift the ribbon and gesture me through with a “This way, Sir”!

The party was a huge success with hundreds of Con attendees turning up, and again we got a chance to see more of GRRM and Parris. We also raised a significant amount of money for charity. As fun as the party was, my glimpses of the nightclub itself reinforced my lack of interest in such things. No one out there looked like they were having much fun. My opinion of nightclubs is there are only three reasons to go…to drink, to dance and to pick up. As I don’t drink, I can’t dance and am very happily married it doesn’t really appeal to me at all!

Again, I got home in the wee hours of the morning only to discover I didn’t have my house keys. My wife reacted surprisingly well to being woken by my tapping on the window!

Sunday night we had more of a private party with GRRM and got to go on a traditonal BWB quest. Everyone just sat around and chilled, getting to talk to GRRM about all sorts of subjects. Monday was a sadder day as everyone began making their goodbyes, until finally there was only a few of the overseas visitors, the driving force duo from WA and myself left, sitting around reflecting on the wonderful time we had all had.

Aside from meeting one of my inspirations and spending time with people I had wanted to meet for years, I also got to make a lot of new friends (people who had started using the board after my time there had lessened). You couldn’t meet a  better bunch of people, and I will be endeavouring to catch up with them as soon as I can. And, the Con allowed to me to find out what some of the resources available to me as an aspiring Australian writer, and caused me to sit down and set some real goals for the next few years.

I will probably post more on the Con in the next few weeks, but right now I am still recovering from all the excitment!!