Musings

I’m just back from my first trip to Las Vegas Nevada. U-Haul proved to be incompetent assholes, and I’ve discovered my next career cannot be long haul trucker. The bouncing and swaying of the truck left me violently ill. I almost didn’t make the drive, but dramamine saved the day. Of course I slept a bunch of the trip, but all told I probably drove around 300 miles, and I was there to help Carl unpack and get his apartment set up.

We didn’t arrive in Vegas until 9:30 Vegas time, and then we had to drop the trailer and get the car, find the hotel and check in. It was now 10:00 pm and we hadn’t eaten since 11:30. We ended up on the strip thinking restaurants would serve late. No such luck. We finally found a pizza joint that served us some soup fifteen minujtes before they closed at 11:00 pm. I was exhausted, on sensory overload from the lights, and the masses of people wandering up and down the sidewalks as they shuffled from casino to casino — I guess they were pursuing a change in their luck.

To get to the restaurants you always ended up walking through the casino, and they reeked of cigarettes and despair, and the clanging of the slots was like a drill to the head. The people all seemed old or middle aged, overweight and with that look of people trying desperately to have fun. There were a few young couples — honeymooners I’d guess, but they were the exception, and their mood was even more manic than the oldsters.

The next day was spent unloading the truck, unpacking boxes and waiting for cable and phone. We finally ended up at the Bellagio at 3:30 for our first food of the day. Only the cafe was open, but the food was excellent. I ate the best crab cake I’ve ever had. Since we were no longer starving, and had some three hours before my plane left Carl took me off to see the sales office for the MGM City Center.

Much of Vegas is faux and kitch. Paris has the opera house and the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triumph all mushed together. Circus Circus is pure kitch as is Excalibur. The Bellagio is beautifully appointed, but it’s very traditional with stone/stucco and small windows. The same for Venice.

And then there is the City Center. As Carl said it will fundamentally alter the skyline of Las Vegas. It’s going to be 72 acres of proundly modern architecture made up mostly of glass and structural steel. The giant model at the sales center is spectacular, and they have mock ups of the various condos that are available for purchase. The sales force are beautiful young women in black business chic, and handsome young men in black Armani suits. The few customers were an Asian man, and a gentleman from Africa. Many of the units are already sold out even though a 500 sq. ft. studio unit sells for $600,000. The larger codo’s are all millions of dollars. The finishes in the units are exquiste, and you have several color schemes from which to choose. I saw some stone work that I would love to have in the kitchen between the counters and the cabinets.

Overall I found the town creepy, but it does seem to host fabulous shows, and the shopping is very upscale. We just went through the shops at the Bellagio. There was a beatiful Armani ladies suit for a mere $3000.00, and a gorgeous Zena men’s suit that was also $3000.00. I think the gentlemen were making out better. There was definitely more material in the men’s suit. Tiffany’s, Gucci, etc. etc. I settled for a latte and Carl and I split a sinfully rich chocolate dessert.

The most beautiful thing I saw was the foutain at the Bellagio. The sun was just setting so it turned the water to gold and rubies, and the recording was of Pavarotti. (I coudln’t identify the aria, but it was very beautiful). I rather wish I had delayed until Thursday to come home because I would have liked to have seen the fountain under the full moon.

But I had my reservation and it was time to go to the airport and come home.

Melinda

I stayed up way too late last night finishing IMPERIAL LIFE IN THE EMERALD CITY. This is a real page turner and I highly recommend that people buy, check out from the library or borrow this book. It is a classic example of why mixing pure ideology with politics is a disaster no matter whether you are left or right, and it’s a damning indictment of the Bush administration and the Republicans. Or as Bill Mahr would say “The reason Republican’s hate government is because they are so bad at it.”

I was against the Iraq war from day one because I think the idea of preemptive war is a dangerous idea. I also didn’t believe for a moment that they had WMD’s — wanted them, yes, had them, no — and the humanitarian arguments put forth by Bush and company rang very damn hollow to me. They love dictators if they are the right kind of dictators. That being said immediately after the invasion I thought “well, it’s done, and maybe it won’t be too awful.” And then the so called reconstruction began. Rajiv Chandrasekaran dispassionately presents events as they occurred. It will leave you breathless.

Everyone has heard about disbanding the army, but it goes deeper than that. These were supply side Republicans who abhorred any form of socialism. For almost a quarter of a century Iraqi’s had been receiving free medicine and medical care, food subsidies, gasoline subsidies. Now, I’m a good capitalist, but when you have invaded and are occupying a country with an unemployment rate in excess of 40% it’s probably a bad idea to tell people they now have to start paying for basic serivces when they have no money with which to pay for them.

They wanted to sell off all the state owned factories, but the coalition forces had allowed the looting to destroy the infrastructure so nobody wanted to buy the factories that had no equipment. Also, why would you buy a factory when you had maybe six hours of electricity per day, and usually only three? They wrote out these traffic regulations in excrutiating detail, but the army had blocked off so many of the roads that a trip that used to take ten minutes now took an hour. There were no police to direct the traffic so the snarls became worse and worse.

The hospitals had no blood, no equipment (all looted), very little medicine and NO ELECTRICITY. The man they ultimately put in charge of the medical system had no experience in post conflict reconstruction, but he was a good loyal Republican/Bushie. He put all his emphasis on a no smoking campaign and creating a formulary for which drugs could be purchased. Meanwhile premature babies were dying when the electricity to their incubators went out.

What happened to the universities was nothing short of criminal. The man who was supposed to reconstruct them was actually from Santa Fe, and he went from loyal Republican to total disgust. There were no desks, books, lab equipment, etc., but the monies granted by the government were to go to _American_ universities that were supposed to join in partnerships with Iraqi universities.

I could write for hours, but it’s easier if you read this terrific book. It will either leave you stunned into depression or totally outraged. I’m outraged, and wish there was _something_ I could do to help punish the people who created this disaster. Sometimes I wish I believed in hell, then Bush, Cheney and company could rot there.

Melinda

Critical Mass met on Wednesday night, and it was a lively and productive discussion, and then I continued the conversation with Daniel Abraham (go and buy the first two books of his series THE LONG PRICE QUARTET. I just finished reading book 4 and it is stunning. The entire series is stunning, and like many series it has an _end_.) But I digress.

I’ve always known that music has been the model for how I write. I know a sentence is right because its rhythm is right. I used the final line of a scene whether in a book or a screenplay as a way to send the reader into the next scene or chapter rather like a modulation within a piece of music from major to minor, or a key shift. But then Daniel pointed out to me that you can think of the entire book in those terms.

If everything in a book is at the same level it feels monotonous like a piece of music without any variation. Composers have to pick the themes and phrases, the lietmotiv if you will, that brings the music to life, and writers have to do the same thing. We have many tools in our trade, and we should move between them in an effort to deepen the reading experience.

It’s our job to communicate to a reader what is important. Otherwise it’s just a stream of information, like a basso ostinato or ground bass in a piece of music, but without any ornamentation riding on top of this foundation. I wish Daniel would do a guest post on my blog. He is so brilliant and incisive about writing. I feel like I haven’t done justice to an amazing conversation, but hey, I tried.

Melinda

This movie had been sent by Netflix weeks ago, and I just kept avoiding loading it into the DVD player. With Carl heading off to his new job we decided to clear the boards and give this a go. I’m _so_ glad I watched this film. Leonardo di Caprio’s performance was nothing short of stunning as was Dijmon Hounsoul. Aside from the power of this story I was so pleased to watch a film where human bodies can only take so much punishment, and people can’t shrug off a gun shot wound. After a summer of essentially Roadrunner/Coyote cartoons this was a welcome, if brutal, reminder of the costs of violence.

The scene where the helicopter gunship flies in and rockets the rebel forces (many of whom are ten and twelve year old boys) was horrific. Watching some of the brainwashed children turn back into terrified babies left me terribly shaken. Then this morning as I was preparing breakfast I heard Chris Dodd reflect about the importance of the rule of law when he was interviewed about the book of his father’s letters from the Nuremburg trial. Dodd said that this look back had relevance to today because when Churchill and the Russians wanted to summarily execute the Nazis, the American’s argued for due process. He considered this an example of America at it’s moral best. Then he contrasted it with today where we have Guantanamo and the abrogation of habeus corpus.

This was followed by a story about a college student being tasered when he hogged a mike because he wanted an answer from Senatory Kerry. To Kerry’s credit he kept shouting at the police to let the kid ask his question and that he (Kerry) would answer. But in Bush World any challenge to authority is met with a stunning overreaction.

All of this had me thinking back to the activism of the sixties and early seventies. Was it all only fueled because of the draft? I’m not saying the boomers were/are more moral or involved then other people, but why was there this surge of activity for justice? Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, defendents rights the anti-war movement. I wondered if in addition to the draft some of it was the economy in that period. People felt pretty secure financially. Now kids are desperately afraid there won’t be a job for them when they finish college. It’s hard to spare a thought for others when you’re so worried about your own future.

Add to that the news that the Northwest Passage is now free of ice, and I’m having a very melancholy start to the day.

Melinda

So, Ian and I are about to start a rewrite on our script after getting notes from my amazing manager. The fact we missed the mark is probably mostly my fault. I took what I thought Prevett was saying, and I pushed us too far in the direction of “making it real”. As Michael said we made it so real that by the middle of act two he forgot he was reading about a space station. That’s a problem. Michael gave us permission to really use the environment, and Ian came up with some great scenes and moments to remind the reader/viewer that we are “in space, stupid”, it’s really dangerous and you can _die_. We are getting to kill some characters and that’s always fun.

Writers are such a murderous lot. As my friend Vic Milan often says — “I just hope characters don’t get to form a union, and come back after you for pain and suffering.”

It’s also an explanation for why we create such unpleasant gods. It’s just so much fun to screw with people.

Melinda

So, I think I just watched the Hugo winner for short form for next years Hugo’s. BLINK was _incredible_!! Yes, Tennant wasn’t in the episode much, but it didn’t matter. It was the first episode that has ever truly explored the issues and games you can play with a time traveller. Moffit is a genius writer. I stand in awe. If I ever got a show on the air I would try to lure him over from Britain.

I also loved the actress playing Sally Sparrow. She played smart and independent and brave, and it was a pleasant change from the normal run of the mill Dr. Who females. Actually this new version of the show is much better about that. The woman The Doctor fell in love with in Family of Blood was also a strong, self-realized woman.

Despite the slow start to this season it is deliving in spades now.

Melinda

I went down to Daniel’s autographing on Saturday and ended up buying a lot of books. IMPERIAL LIFE IN THE EMERALD CITY, by Rajiv Chandrasekaran about how the Bush administration staffed the Iraq rebuilding effort with kids who were loyal Republicans. Apparently one of the questions on the application was your stand on Roe v. Wade.

Robert Harris’s new Rome book IMPERIUM. Ian loaned me THE GEOGRAPHER’S LIBRARY by Jon Pasman. George loaned me SIX FRIGATES by Ian Toll. I also bought a couple of Darkover books that have Marion’s name on them even though she didn’t write a word. They probably won’t be good, but I love Darkover and they will work well as popcorn travel books when I go to World Fantasy. I can leave them like bread crumbs on airplanes and in hotel rooms. (I can see George shuddering now. ) And last but not least I started reading IT CAN HAPPEN HERE by Joe Conason which was a gift from Connie Willis when she was a guest in my home. The Conason book is very alarming reading, and I think I’m going to adopt the Sinclair Lewis quote “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross.” as part of my signature line. Oh, and I’m read deep into S.C. Butler’s wonderful fantasy REIFFEN’S CHOICE.

There’s still the reading for Critical Mass, but I took a lot of television out of my life. No, this is not a slam against television. I write for television. There is some brilliant television being made and broadcast, but I’m trying to not just sit down and go cruising around the dish and end up brain sucked by a rerun of Aliens or Die Hard, or a Law and Order I hadn’t seen, etc. etc. I’m trying to target my viewing.

Melinda

So, I’ve had a very good day. Ian and I put the final touches on the first draft of OUTPOST and I emailed it to my manager. I really like this script which is a very good feeling. So often as a writer you finish something and you think, Oh God, that sucks. This time I’m pretty pleased.

I then ended my evening watching Dr. Who, and episode called Family of Blood. I’ve been very disappointed in season three so far, but they have come back with a bang. It was an absolutely terrific episode. I adore David Tennannt. I want to have his baby. Okay, maybe not, but I want to cast him in something I write.

I was very pleased that The Girl in the Fireplace won the Hugo. I would love to see this episode nominated, but it’s a two parter and that might be hard to fit within the rules. Ah, well.

I’ve been up in Farmington making the final change to my personnel for the natural gas company. It’s been hard to see this last change take place. The last tie to my father is now gone. But life is change, so chin up and on into the future.

Melinda

I’ve been slammed with work and fun for the past few days. Time to give folks an update. First, my editor Patrick Nielsen-Hayden won best professional editor, long form at the WorldCon. I wanted to offer my congratulations. Patrick has made my return to the world of books a wonderful experience with his thoughtful notes and guidance as I strove to improve THE EDGE OF REASON.

Which was the next leg of the busy holiday weekend. I recieved the copy edited manuscript of EDGE OF REASON, and had to get it back to New York by tomorrow. I had a very professional and respectful copy editor. I only had to write “stet” three times in the entire manuscript. His questions were thoughtful and helpful and I even added a line of text to talk more deeply about the role of music in my universe.

I was also writing like crazy on OUTPOST to try and get the script completed before I return to Farmington tomorrow. Ian and I had moved well into Act Three, but I wanted to get it done so we could send it on to my manager for his notes, and then out to the networks.

In addition I threw a birthday party for Carl on Friday night. We had a lot to celebrate. Carl has landed a job with one of the largest architectural firms in the world, working on the largest privately funded construction project in the western hemisphere. He will be working with five of the world’s top architects. This is his dream job and I couldn’t be happier for him. The down side is that he will be living in Las Vegas for the next few years. Still, it’s a very big win.

We had Biblical rains on Saturday that started to wash out the driveway so Sunday we built erosion control dams. It was hard damn work, but I feel more secure now. We also found the access panels for the cisterns so we can get the drip irrigation set up. I’m finally going to have _landscaping_ Yah!

Tomorrow I’m heading back to Farmington at 6:00 am. Oh, joy. I’m hoping my next two trips will be out to L.A. to talk about OUTPOST and to look for my new horse.

Melinda