• Blog
  • Books
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
Bascomb James
Author | Scientist | Science Fiction Fan

Launch Day!!!

4/29/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
The tension builds as launch day approaches. A hundred and one individual items are checked and rechecked.  
  • Cover art reviewed and approved?  Check!
  • Cover blurbs?  Check!
  • Final copyediting? Check!
  • Print copy coded and accepted?  Check!
  • E-books coded and submitted? 
           o   MOBI file?  Check!
           o   ePUB file?  Check!
           o   Kindle?  Check!
           o   Barnes and Noble?  Check!
           o   Kobo?  Check!
  •  Authors and contracts?  Check!
  •  Marketing plan?  Active!

The clock ticks loudly as everyone worries, “Will this baby fly?”  “Did I forget something?”

Your stomach knots; your mouth is dry.  The countdown clock marches inexorably toward that moment.

5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Ignition… Liftoff!  “Far Orbit Speculative Space Adventures was successfully launched into the literary cosmos at 00:00:01 on April 29, 2014!”  CAPCOM announces loudly.  There is a grand “Hurrah!” from the control room; beaming authors, anthologist, and friends in the gallery. 

You log in to Amazon and there it is!  Your baby has attained orbital velocity.  It’s exhilarating and scary at the same time. 

As excitement fades into reflection, I freely admit that the Far Orbit anthology is special project for me. It represents a renewal of vows; public acknowledgement of a decades-long love affair.  The anthology presents us with a collage of digitally enhanced snapshots – modern stories in a vintage frame.  These are the wonderful stories that captured the imagination of an entire generation of readers, writers, and editors.  I hope they capture yours too.

Bascomb James
Anthologist, Far Orbit



Other Far Orbit posts featured on this blog:

Musings on NASA’s Asteroid Retrieval Project  and Sam Kepfield’s “Open for Business”
Bear Essentials by Julie Frost
Composition in Death Minor by K.G. Jewell
Spaceman Barbecue by Peter Wood
Far Orbit Interview on SciFi4Me.com
Great News from Sporadic Reviews!
Guest Blog on Fantasy Café (they wanted to hear about Grand Tradition SciFi
Good Choice Reading Interviews Far Orbit Authors Tracy Canfield, Jacob Drud, and Kat Otis
My intro for the Far Orbit Anthology
Launch Day!!!
Inspiration… perspiration… exhilaration…  

0 Comments

Earth Day - April 22, 2014

4/22/2014

0 Comments

 
Earthrise photo by William A. Anders
Photograph courtesy of NASA.
For my Earth Day post, I wanted to feature the Earthrise photo taken in 1968 by Apollo Astronaut William Anders.  This iconic photo has appeared in numerous magazines and books and on a postage stamp.  Earthrise was the cover photo for LIFE Magazine's 100 Photographs that Changed the World and wilderness photographer Galen Rowell called Earthrise "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken.”  According to futurist Stewart Brand, it is no coincidence that the first Earth Day took place just 16 months after we first saw our world framed against the vastness of space.

I am featuring the Earthrise photograph today because it, more than any other image, evokes the “Spaceship Earth” worldview.  It reminds us that crew survival depends upon working together for the common good, prudent use of our limited resources, and taking care of the fragile blue bubble that feeds us and shelters us from the ravages of space. 

Poet Archibald MacLeish expressed his reaction to the photograph in a poem entitled “Riders on Earth Together, Brothers in Eternal Cold," published on page 1 of The New York Times on Christmas day, 1968.  

“To see the earth as it truly is, small blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold—brothers who know now they are truly brothers” 

Context makes this photograph especially important.  Taken at the end of one of the most socially and politically tumultuous years in recent memory, Earthrise is powerful for what it does not show – political boundaries, ideological conflicts, the struggle for power, position, and resources.  It does not show gender, race, religion, right, or wrong.  Instead, it shows one world, one path through the universe, and one sun to light the way.  It shows all of us and our shared journey through the cosmos.
You may be interested in the following SciFi Writing Topics…
6 Tech-based Writing Prompts
5 Books for Aspiring SciFi Writers

…and general SciFi articles.
SciFi Writers – The Shamans of Modernity
SciFi and the Dangerfield Effect
SciFi Authors and Editors as Agents of Change
What Would Your Robot Say?
What Were the First SciFi Stories You Read?
Earth Day – April 22, 2014

0 Comments

Inspiration… perspiration… exhilaration…

4/16/2014

0 Comments

 

It’s great to see everything come together – all the pieces and parts, edits and responses, contracts, art, and design. You can imagine the waves of satisfaction and exhilaration that come from holding a book, your book, for the first time. Trust me; this feeling is not diminished by repetition. 

The Far Orbit anthology is special book for me. With my previous books, I participated only as an author and editor. I sent the manuscript off to the publisher and after a little backing and forthing, a finished textbook was available for purchase. 

With the Far Orbit anthology, I was also involved in the “behind the scenes” activities. When I look at this book, I see a wonderful amalgamation of a thousand and one individual details that make up this deceptively simple whole. 

I have always appreciated the technical skills and artistry of authors and storytellers. I am starting to appreciate the skill and artistry of the publishers who give our carefully arranged electrons shape and form. Thank you for your service. 

Other Far Orbit posts featured on this blog:

Musings on NASA’s Asteroid Retrieval Project  and Sam Kepfield’s “Open for Business”
Bear Essentials by Julie Frost
Composition in Death Minor by K.G. Jewell
Spaceman Barbecue by Peter Wood
Far Orbit Interview on SciFi4Me.com
Great News from Sporadic Reviews!
Guest Blog on Fantasy Café (they wanted to hear about Grand Tradition SciFi
Good Choice Reading Interviews Far Orbit Authors Tracy Canfield, Jacob Drud, and Kat Otis
My intro for the Far Orbit Anthology
Launch Day!!!
Inspiration… perspiration… exhilaration…  

0 Comments

    ​@BascombJ

    Follow @BascombJ

    Archives

    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014

    Categories

    All
    Completion
    Earth Day
    Earthrise
    Environment
    Far Orbit
    Fountain Pen
    Horror
    Hyperpowers
    Last Outpost
    Poetry
    Prompt
    Published Stories
    Publishers
    Pushpin
    Science
    SciFi General
    Sharing
    Space
    Thank You
    Up North Stories
    Writing
    Writing Help

    RSS Feed

    Tweets by @BascombJ
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.