Category Archives: Long Dark

Storyminded

By Mel | Published: Tuesday, 2 March 2010

Two things bring on storymind tonight: a cool new blog called Science in My Fiction by my pals at Crossed Genres; & the story of murder, an interstellar spaceship, & Lord Shiva that I'm about to start working on.

Also posted in About writing | Tagged Asura (Long Dark), C.J. Cherryh, CELSS, Consensus (Cold), criminal justice (Cold & Long Dark), Crossed Genres, Cyteen, dolphins, Esti Gusev (Long Dark), Joss Whedon, Jyoti (Long Dark), Kay Holt, NaNoWriMo 2009, science fiction, Science in My Fiction (blog), Sheraton Anchorage, Shiva, storymind, The Golden Compass (movie), worldbuilding, writing | 2 Comments

Good for my worldbuilding, bad for my world

By Mel | Published: Saturday, 6 February 2010

One tool for inventing an imaginary story universe in science fiction is extrapolating from the present into the future. Granting corporations lots of extra power as the Supreme Court did recently is very good for my worldbuilding. But is very bad for the world I actually live in.

Also posted in Cold, Polis | Tagged Anchorage Baptist Temple, Anchorage Daily News, C.J. Cherryh, Chris, Citizens United v. FEC, Cold notes, collective intelligence, consensus, Consensus (Cold), corporations, corporations as persons, Cyteen, Dave, democracy, good government bad government, J.R.R. Tolkien, Juneau Empire, Kim Stanley Robinson, Long Dark notes, Lord of the Rings, Mars, Middle Earth, political corruption, science fiction, sociocracy, terraforming, Tom Anderson, VECO, worldbuilding, writing | 2 Comments

My story of 2009

By Mel | Published: Friday, 1 January 2010

Not quite ALL about my 2009, because that would take a year to write. This only took several hours.

Also posted in About writing, Alaska justice system, Alaska politics, Cold, Depression, Journal, NaNoWriMo, Ordinance, True Diversity Dinner | Tagged Alaska Commons, Alaska Judicial Council, Alaska Legislature, Anchorage Daily News, Anchorage ordinance 2009-64, Anchorage Press, Arliss Sturgulewski, Bent Alaska, cave, Celtic Diva, Columbia Sussex, couch, Crossed Genres, Dad, Dan Sullivan, Dave, death, Eddie Burke, Floridana Alaskiana v2.5, Grandpa Claude, Green family, Green-Lieght family, grey, Grrlzlist, Heather Aronno, Hilton Anchorage, hotel workers, Identity Inc., Identity Reports, James Bopp Jr., Jane Angvik, Janson Jones, Jesse, John Aronno, Julius, lgbtq, LGBTQ allies, lima beans, Linda Kellen Biegel, Mark, Mark Begich, Melz published work, Mer, Miller v. Carpeneti, Mom, my apartment, NaNoWriMo 2009, Nicholas Hughes, One in 10, Palin ethics complaints, PrideFest, Progressive Alaska (blog), Ptery, Sarah Palin, Sean Cockerham, SOSAnchorage.net, Stef Gingrich, Summer of Hate, sunflowers, True Diversity Dinner 2009, Väi the cat, veto, Vic Fischer, violence against women, Wayne Anthony Ross (WAR), writing | 2 Comments

The Daily Tweets, 2009-11-01: NaNoWriMo 2009 kickoff #2, the midnight write-in

By Mel | Published: Sunday, 1 November 2009

Kicking off NaNoWriMo 2009 with a midnight write-in at Denny's. I was writing some Long Dark material about a data trader whose arriving, for the first time in her life, on a planet (Earth). I reckon she grew up in the asteroid belt.

Also posted in NaNoWriMo, The Daily Tweets | Tagged NaNoWriMo 2009, slideshow, writing | Leave a comment

Taking life support for granted

By Mel | Published: Wednesday, 14 October 2009

Pina Chomko: s a story character in my novel-in-progress Cold. She's not like us: she grew up in outer space. Her dream: to take for granted all the life support services that nature provides for free -- just like us.

Also posted in Cold, NaNoWriMo | Tagged biospherics, CELSS, Cold notes, Long Dark notes, NaNoWriMo 2009, Pina Chomko (Cold), research for writing, science fiction, writing | Leave a comment

Biospherics

By Mel | Published: Monday, 12 October 2009

More on my evolving knowledge about closed ecological life support systems (CELSS) for use in my novels-in-progress projects Long Dark & Cold: biospherics is a handy new term for what it's really all about.

Also posted in Cold, NaNoWriMo | Tagged biospherics, CELSS, Cold notes, Long Dark notes, NaNoWriMo 2009, research for writing, science fiction, writing | 2 Comments

My October reading list

By Mel | Published: Wednesday, 7 October 2009

What I'm reading, or at least looking at, in the rundown to NaNoWriMo 2009: space exploration, growing food in space, consensus government, & more. I'll be writing Long Dark, about the people making the long journey between the stars to colonize another solar system.

Also posted in Cold, NaNoWriMo | Tagged Cold notes, Long Dark notes, NaNoWriMo 2009, research for writing, science fiction, writing | 1 Comment

October plans

By Mel | Published: Friday, 2 October 2009

October. Change of seasons, change of gears: I'll be resuming my title of occasional political blogger by becoming a far less occasional writer. Plans for October include gearing up for NaNoWriMo in November.

Also posted in About writing, Journal, NaNoWriMo | Tagged Cold notes, Crossed Genres, Long Dark notes, NaNoWriMo 2009, science fiction, writing | 1 Comment

Eating (& breathing & crapping) in outer space

By Mel | Published: Tuesday, 29 September 2009

Research notes on closed ecosystems in outer space, for "Long Dark," a story I'm trying to write in the same story universe as my 2007 NaNoWriMo "novel" Cold.

Also posted in Cold, NaNoWriMo, Short fiction | Tagged CELSS, Cold notes, Long Dark notes, NaNoWriMo 2009, research for writing, science fiction, writing | 2 Comments

Cold, Crossed Genres, & Flash homophobia

By Mel | Published: Saturday, 12 September 2009

Writing a story in the Cold story universe for SF/F magazine Crossed Genres -- while Crossed Genres has an encounter with Flash Fiction Online's homophobic editorial policies.