WIP Wednesday is a concept I have shamelessly stolen from my buddy Josh Reynolds.
Since he lives in London, England and I live in British Columbia, Canada, I have no fear of reprisals for the theft. Besides, Josh is a great guy and I'm sure he won't mind (or he'll just steal something from me to make it even).
Although the blog has been quiet lately I've been busy. I (or rather, Jack Mackenzie) has managed to write two of the three stories that had to finish. THE CHANGELING'S GIFT was supposed to be 5000 words and it ended up being 7900. It is a fantasy set in an alternative Victorian England where the "Fay" folk (elves, dwarves, trolls, etc,) have been enslaved by humans. The story is slated to be published in the very next issue of DARK WORLDS MAGAZINE.
After that I (or rather, Jack Mackenzie) finished a story called THE GREEN BEAST. It is a 13,200 word story that is slated to be published in the second SWORDS OF FIRE anthology from Rage Machine Books. In an interesting bit of serendipity M. D. Jackson painted the cover for that publication.
So now Jack is busily writing a 15,000 word story for another Rage Machine Books publication THE VOID ETERNAL which he is also co-editing with G.W. Thomas. And, interestingly enough, M.D. Jackson also did the cover art for that one.
I (that is, M.D. Jackson this time) have started work on a cover image for an upcoming book from Pulpwork Press. It's a big piece and it is nowhere near finished but I will give you just a little snippet from a section that is closest to being done. Are you ready? Here it is:
Cool, huh? These are a couple of background figures and they will probably change a bit before the picture is finalized but I'm happy with the way it's going so far.
Also, since this is WIP Wednesday, here is a WIP step from yesterday's post.
I have also been working on a SECRET POJECT which I cannot say anything about at all. Okay, got that? SECRET PROJECT. S-E-C-R-E-T.
It is so cool that I have a secret project that I cannot talk about! Let me say that again: SECRET PROJECT. That is just so cool.
Of course when you find out about it you'll probably be disappointed, but still I just like having secrets. I feel like a spy.
And the Housekeeping:
I talked to my doctor again this morning. If you recall I injured my knee a couple of weeks back. Well my knee is doing much better now, in a lot of ways it's feeling better than it has since the summer. He still wants me to see an orthopedic surgeon just to be sure.
While I was in for my knee he sent me for some tests on my cholesterol levels. (He keeps bugging me about that. Apparently it's important.) According to the blood tests my cholesterol levels are all low, which is good, except for my HDL cholesterol -- the "good" cholesterol -- which is the only level that should be high. Mine is low and that's apparently a problem.
So I need to take wild salmon oil. Than and 100% whole wheat bread. And oatmeal -- but not the quick-oats, but the real, take-an-hour-to-cook-type oatmeal. I also have to try to be less sedentary.
So exercise it is. It's a bit of a problem with the gamey leg and with all the snow that's been falling you'd think I'd be an olympic athlete by now with all the shoveling I've done, but apparently I need to do more. I think I'll start with a nice walk. No need to sign up for Zumba classes just yet.
Oh, yes -- when the doctor was talking about foods to avoid (like sugar, which was expected, but potatoes? How am I going to manage that?) I asked about tomatoes.
"Tomatoes are good," he said without hesitation in his clipped South African accent. "Tomatoes are excellent. Just don't cook them or have them with meat or anything. Have them raw -- on a salad is good."
So much for my plan to eat nothing but spaghetti. Nevertheless, there you go: one South African doctor who thinks tomatoes are alright.
I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay?
www.mdjacksonart.weebly.com
http://mdjackson.deviantart.com
http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/mdjacksons%5Fportfolio
I was talking with G.W. Thomas not too long ago and we both agreed that despite space opera's negative connotations, many a great SF masterpiece falls into the space opera category. Dune, for instance is classic space opera. The genius of that book is that Herbert turned all of the common sf tropes of the time and turned it all on its head. That's why I always find it kind of amusing when folks complain about George Lucas ripping off Frank Herbert for Star Wars (another unabashed space opera) when Herbert himself was recycling older tropes invented by other authors.
The Left Hand of Darkness has space opera elements. Ursula K. Leguin's protagonist is a spacefaring agent come to investigate the situation on the world of Karhide, a planet that has developed a unique biological survival mechanisms. LeGuin does not focus on the space travel (although a spaceship does arrive in the end, people forget that) to concentrate of the blurring of gender roles. Nevertheless, the novel introduces a trope used by many works of space opera since: the ansible, an instantaneous communication device that allows messages to be sent over vast distances. It's a useful device that ha been swiped by many authors since (including myself).
