A New Home for the Blog

So hey, it's been 9 years of blogging here, and I've at long last moved the blog's permanent home to my official website, www.garrettcalcaterra.com. You can go directly to the blog home page for The Machine Stops here: www.garrettcalcaterra.com/blog.

I'll be maintaining this Blogger-hosted URL as an archive of all my old posts. I recommend using the navigation to the right to sort between author interviews, reading recs, and SF/F history, or you can search by other keywords and topics, of course.

Also, please make sure to check out my first blog post on the new site, which commemorate my 9 years here with a comprehensive list of the best posts so far. Moving forward, expect to see more great interviews, art showcases, and writing updates at the new blog home. Hope to stay in touch with you there. Cheers!

-Garrett Calcaterra

Infinite Thoughts on Infinity War

WARNING: Infinity War spoilers lie ahead... Only continue on if you will not be permanently destroyed with the unworldly plot of the newest Marvel movie.

The time has come... All of the stars have aligned and now the much anticipated The Avengers: Infinity War has been released by Marvel. From Thanos to Thor, just about every character you know and love was in this action packed film. I'm going to warn everybody one more time, spoilers do lie ahead and it's hard enough trying to avoid them on social media or through friends. I digress...

FOGcon 8 Schedule

Once again, I’ll be attending FOGcon this year. I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of familiar friendly faces, and hopefully meeting new authors and readers. Here’s my schedule:

• Saturday, 3:00 PM, Sacramento Room: "How Much Do We Trust the Machine?"
• Saturday, 4:30 PM, Santa Rosa Room: Reading 

I’m particularly excited to be moderating the “How Much Do We Trust the Machine?” panel since the panelists include honored guest Ada Palmer. I’m just about finished with her novel Too Like the Lightning, and am really enjoying it.

As for my reading slot, I’m still undecided as to what exactly I’ll be reading. I haven’t been making as much forward progress on The Beasts of Qaza as I’d like, and I’m not sure any of the new chapters are ready for public consumption. It’ll probably end up being a game time decision. I’ll be sure to post an update after the convention. To keep track of real-time news and notes during the convention, make sure to connect with me on Twitter.

All the best,

Garrett Calcaterra

OCSA and the Key to Opening Literary Doors to Younger Generations

A Special Report from Jayna Bosse

Orange County School of the Arts (Image Source)

Over the past few years, I’ve noticed a decreased interest in writing from young audiences. With excessive word requirements in school assignments and the lack of time in many students’ schedules, kids now don’t write for leisure, but to hit a word count to appeal to their teachers.

As academia has evolved over the years, writing requirements have only increased in intensity and length, which, in turn, causes the immediate repulsed reaction from most students.

Write. Write. Write, Left, Write.

Say what? It's 2018 already?

I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but the last couple of months have been a blur. Here's a quick rundown of my story...

Back in early November, I was a panelist on the "Not of This World" panel at the 2017 California Library Association's annual conference. It was great to meet so many librarians (and not get shushed, not even once) as well as the other panelists, including SF author Daniel Suarez and librarian JJ Jacobsen, who manages the Eaton Collection of Science Fiction at UC Riverside.

I also participated in NaNoWriMo in November, and while I didn't make a big splash with my word count, I made some crucial revisions to the first several chapters of The Beasts of Qaza that needed to happen before moving forward.

Inside The Writer's Mind: A Sarah Gailey Exclusive

Jayna Bosse's Interview with SF/F/H Author Sarah Gailey

Photo © Raj Anand 2017

With her constant award nominations and her high ranking in the finals of the Hugo and Campbell awards, author Sarah Gailey is definitely an author to keep an eye on. With pieces such as River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow, it behooves all Sci-Fi readers to keep an eye on her! To get an inside look into her world, we’ve asked Sarah Galy a few questions to get to know her a little bit better and explore what prompted such influential pieces in the literary world.

JB: If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

SG: I would tell my younger writing self to listen more than she talks, but to never think that she is required to go along with anything that doesn't feel right in her career.

On a more granular level, I would tell her to read critiques as though they're required edits. While not every critique is valid, looking at one's work as though one absolutely MUST address every critique is a great way to reexamine authorial assumptions, and my work has always become stronger as a result.

Autumnal Musings and Goodbyes

Jack 2006 – 2017

Early in the morning of October 9, my wife and I had to say goodbye to our dog, Jack, who had been suffering from a cancerous tumor. Despite the fact he was a 120+ lb dog, he's always been my little guy, happy to be anywhere, as long as he was at my side. In years past, that was often on the hiking trail. In recent years, it was more often on the carpet alongside my writing desk. It's bizarre and sad working from home now without him here anymore, but I'm glad he's not suffering anymore, at least.

The science fiction and fantasy community also suffered a loss this October with the passing of author ElizaBeth Gilligan. I met Beth last year at a convention, and she was kind enough to invite me to join her local writers group. As part of that group, she provided invaluable feedback on my work-in-progress, The Beasts of Qaza, and I had the pleasure of reading her work-in-progress, a sprawling fantasy novel about a tribe of women wylf soldiers. She and her husband were also gracious enough to give me advice on being a parent and a writer. I regret that Beth didn't get a chance to meet my daughter after she was born, and my sympathies go out to her husband and the rest of her family. Beth was a kind and wonderful person, and she'll be missed.