Archive - September, 2010

My New Car Stereo, or Arthur C. Clarke Was Right

September 19, 2010 in All Posts, Gratitude with 5 Comments

This Friday, I’m packing a few boxes into my beloved beige Corolla named Jesse Quick, firing up my TomTom GPS, and leaving South Florida for good. The destination for this round-faced man? My new home near Denver.

Yes, I’m driving. And yes, I name all my cars after female superheroes.

I love epic solo road trips like this one. They give me plenty of quiet time to process the gobs of stuff in my head — process some baggage, brainstorm creative and entrepreneurial ideas, the works. But I love my tunes and podcasts, and my 8-year-old car stereo has been giving up the ghost for the past two years.

My drives were filled with First World problems. The detachable faceplate took great glee in spontaneously detaching. When it was attached, the connectors to the radio proper would misalign, often resulting in me jabbing buttons to no effect, or watching the digital display flash like a discotheque strobe. Sometimes the only way to get things working again was to play the lone CD I own, a Conway Twitty greatest hits album. (Anyone who doesn’t love Conway’s Hello Darlin’ has no heart.) Finally, the auxiliary cable that snaked through the dashboard — which connected to my iPod’s headphone jack — was falling apart from the inside, resulting in audio playing through the right speakers only.

Like I said, First World problems. But I love my tunes and podcasts. I used the road trip to rationalize an upgrade.

Solemnly determined to Never Again be foiled by the degrading guts of auxiliary cables (for all cables’ guts degrade after daily wear and tear), I decided to look for a replacement that used Bluetooth technology to wirelessly stream the audio from my iPhone to the stereo. It had been nearly a decade since I’d done research on stereos, so I expected this tech would be well out of my $200 budget.

Not so. I browsed a local Best Buy store, talked to a few very helpful and pateint employees on site, and zeroed in on the Sony MEX-BT2800. Bluetooth built-in. $159. For another $50 and a 30-minute wait, I could have it installed right there, they said. After a few days of hemming and hawing, I pulled the trigger this morning.

I spent most of the day driving around the area, running errands and giving the radio a workout.

I fully understand that what I’m about to describe isn’t breaking news for car nerds or tech-heads. But for me, it’s been a day of living the famous Arthur C. Clarke quote: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” This shit is miraculous:

  • Indeed, the music plays on my iPhone and transmits wirelessly to my stereo. Not a cable in sight.
  • I’m not an audiophile, but I honestly cannot tell a difference between the quality of this wireless Bluetooth connection and the wired solution in my last stereo.
  • In fact, the sound quality piping though my 8-year-old speakers is better than my old Kenwood, but that’s probably a testament to the Sony’s newfangled sound-making innards more than the Bluetooth.
  • I can wirelessly skip tracks on my iPhone, forward and reverse, using the stereo’s buttons. I can pause too.
  • I can switch to music-free “phone mode,” activate the hands-free feature using the stereo’s built-in microphone, and vocally tell my iPhone to play specific artists and playlists. I then switch back to “Bluetooth audio” mode and listen to the accessed music.
  • Using “phone mode,” I can do voice-activated dialing too.
  • If I get a call while the phone’s wirelessly connected to the stereo, I can answer and disconnect calls with a tap of the radio’s volume knob. The music fades out, and I hear the caller’s voice through my car’s speakers. I’m told the radio’s mic works great. The music fades back in when the call’s done.
  • I can also pipe the TomTom GPS’ voice through my speakers (thanks to the GPS’ own Bluetooth technology), but this eliminates my ability to listen to music via the iPhone. (Only one device can pipe audio to the radio at a time, my only minor gripe.)
  • If I have an audio player that doesn’t have Bluetooth, I can always connect it via a front-facing minijack aux port.
  • The stereo also has some nice equalizer presets, for fiddle-free — and to me, impressive — results. Lady Gaga never sounded so good.

Plus a CD player, FM/AM (which sports a whiz-bang feature that shows what song’s playing on the radio) and a crapload of other probably-standard-fare features that delight this old schooler.

Abracadabra, all for $159. (Or for $119, currently at Amazon.) For the kind of driver I happen to be — I reckon my audio quality demands are average or a teensy smidgen above that — on a less-than-average budget, it’s a steal. Incredible value here.

And no wires, man. Hallelujah.

Come Friday, the world beyond South Florida won’t be ready for Jesse Quick and the round-faced man behind her wheel.

I got magic in my car, see.

–J.C.

Be The Adventure You Dream

September 7, 2010 in All Posts, Gratitude, Other with 18 Comments

Zellie Blake, a generous and beautiful woman — a fellow writer and dreamer — died two days ago. She was 27 years old.

Zellie was a tireless champion of my work. She once said I was an inspiration for her own writing career goals, but she will always be an inspiration for me. Her friends say that throughout her treatment, Zellie never lost her sense of humor or optimistic verve. She wrote often, and well.

Her personal mantra was, “Be the adventure you dream.” I am hard-pressed to think of a more inspiring and empowering personal philosophy.

Perhaps most inspiring: she never lost the tenacity that is required of a Writer.

Writers write, and then they try to find homes for what they write. In Zellie’s case, she was questing for a literary agent up until the very end. From her blog:

I’ve got just a few more queries pending.  I haven’t gotten so much as a partial request … (but) this book is NOT going to be thrown in the ocean.

Hell yes, sister. Hell yes.

Zellie was surrounded by wonderful people throughout her life and recent treatment. I know this because Zellie blogged about these people. (Her friend Orin created a magnificent beadwork bracelet for Zellie that read Fuck Cancer, which absolutely rocks.) I also know these people are wonderful because they’ve contacted me via Facebook and email. Zellie was my biggest fan, they said … and they were Zellie’s biggest fans. A few weeks ago, her friend Callie asked if could I help lift Zellie’s spirits.

A Japanese story says that if you fold 1,000 cranes, you are granted one wish. Callie had a wish … and a deep belief in the power of positive thought. I autographed the pink origami crane that arrived two days later. It was one of 1,000 Callie and many other friends personally folded — and one of more than 1,500, counting the ones Zellie’s loving boyfriend had crafted too. Callie’s efforts were heroic: she even snagged autographs from the puppeteers from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Zellie was delighted by the amazing work of her friends.

That was six days ago. And now she’s gone.

But here’s the brilliant thing about being a Writer. Zellie’s not gone. Zellie’s friends helped get her novel Lightning Spliced into print. They’ve released it through the print-on-demand publisher Lulu, and are donating all proceeds to the American Cancer Society.

You can meet Zellie in a way, within the pages of her book. You can discover what fueled her creative drive, and unearth what kind of stories she was put on this world to tell. She forever lives, breathes and dreams in Lightning Spliced. She will always be alive, thanks to her words and your imagination.

Your imagination — and generosity — will ensure Zellie’s story isn’t merely told, but experienced … which is the greatest honor any Writer can acheive.

If you have the means, please support cancer research and the release of Zellie’s book by buying a print or ebook edition of Lightning Spliced. If you insist on sampling the book before you buy, there are free audio and PDF excerpts available for your enjoyment.

For years, Zellie provided me with her unwavering support. And through her life and death, she also gave me a far greater gift — soul-stirring inspiration.

To Zell: Thank you.

And to you, reading this: Be the adventure you dream.

–J.C.

Fandom Addendum: Beautiful Creatures

September 5, 2010 in All Posts, Other, Whimsy with 1 Comment

Another terrific thing about Dragon*Con and the mighty power of fandom? Pretty ladies willing to pose with bashful writers! Such as:

A devil girl who didn’t need a pitchfork to put me in my place…

…a she-trooper and a blue-skinned Jedi…

…and Swoopy, for whom I’d do anything.

–J.C.

The Unstoppable Might Of Fandom

September 5, 2010 in All Posts, Gratitude, Other with 10 Comments

I’m home from a very brief, but delightful, Dragon*Con. In years past, I classified my Dragon*Con adventures as Fun Business Trips: “fun” because I was there to have some, and “business” because I was there to share expertise and shamelessly shill my fiction projects. This time, I attended with my awesome sister and rolled blessedly shill-free.

It brought a fresh, positive perspective to the experience. It permitted me to enjoy the convention as a fan. It also reminded me of the unstoppable might of fandom — the incredible love people have for the things that resonate with them, and the great lengths they go to display that love and share it with others.

As I stood in line for Dragon*Con tickets, I spoke at length with a woman who wore a Firefly browncoat. She spent $450 on that coat a few years back. She attends about a dozen sci-fi conventions a year, and is such a fan of one sci-fi show actor (whose name escapes me), she’s traveling to England in a few months to see him perform in a play. She did this a few years ago, and watched him perform in the same play three times. Her personal love and passion for Firefly — a TV show that didn’t last a full season — knew no bounds.

While in that very line, I reconnected with Clair High, a friend and former podcaster whom I’d met at the convention a few years back. We chatted about his life, his wife, and a wonderful West Coast charity bike ride he discovered a few years ago. He described memories of his introduction to AIDS/LifeCycle — which raises money and awareness for AIDS treatment and a cure — that were so vivid, I felt as if I were right there with him, feeling the awe and admiration he had for these cyclists when he first saw them. Clair wanted to become a part of that cause, and did. He has personally raised more than $10,000 for the cure, and is now an avid cyclist. That serendipitous encounter changed his life.

I attended a panel featuring Larry Hagman, Barbara Eden and Bill Daily, regular cast members of the classic show I Dream Of Jeannie. They were absolutely brilliant — funny, handsome and beautiful, and humbled by the love they felt in that packed ballroom. Hundreds of fans attended. Hundreds of fans attended a panel about a show that hadn’t been in first-run release in 40 years. One attendee, several years younger than me, shared memories of she and her mother (who later died of cancer) watching Jeannie reruns on Nick At Nite. “It’s my favorite show,” she told the cast. “I love you.”

Bestselling novelist and podcaster Scott Sigler hosted a solo panel for his fans, which I also attended. This room was also packed. I was very proud of my friend. I was equally proud of the loyalty and love he and his work has inspired.

I like Star Trek, and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see a panel-meets-performance of “Gowron & Martok,” in which actors Robert O’Reilly (who played the recurring Klingon character Gowron) and J. G. Hertzler (who played his rival Martok) donned the costume and heavy makeup of their Star Trek: The Next Generation alien characters to take questions from the audience … in character. This was genius. Part well-oiled performance, part improv, the actors were supremely funny, knew their crowd and displayed an absolutely genuine appreciation for their fans. Several folks in the audience wore their own homemade Klingon costumes. I was amazed: the still-thriving subculture of Trek fandom permits these two actors to travel the country and make a living from it.

I also attended the Parsec Awards, for which Scott Sigler and I co-presented awards for two categories. During the event, my podcast-exclusive novella Personal Effects: Sword of Blood won the award for Best Novella. My four-year Parsec losing streak — which I fully expected to remain intact by the ceremony’s end — was over. I’m extremely grateful to the Parsec organizers and judges for believing Sword of Blood was worthy of the honor, but am even more grateful to the Parsec audience, whose applause reminded me again of the epic, amazing power of fandom.

Finally, the might of fandom was best represented for me personally by several meaningful one-on-one conversations with fans of my fiction, and especially by my sister Melissa. About a month ago, she told me she was getting a 7th Son-themed tattoo. I’m envious of my sis’ willingness to ink her skin — I’m not sure I could ever get a tat, though I desperately want one (of what, I have no clue) — but tried to talk her out of this 7th Son tattoo business. She wouldn’t listen.

I saw the tattoo in person this weekend. It’s the mantra of my “mad hacker” character Kilroy2.0′s faithful followers: I COMPLY.

I nearly cried, because there it was, again. The unstoppable might of love, and fandom.

–J.C.

“Personal Effects” Is Required Reading For College Course

September 1, 2010 in All Posts, Announcements, Gratitude with 14 Comments

Color me gobsmacked: Personal Effects: Dark Art, the transmedia supernatural thriller novel I wrote with Jordan Weisman, is required reading for an English course at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

The class is ENGL 376MM: World Building, and is taught by Zach Whalen, an assistant professor in the department of English, Linguistics and Communication. More on Whalen in a moment — first, get a taste of what this class is all about:

Our goal will be to [explore] world building within the expressive practices supported by New Media technologies, and we will proceed by examining texts that imagine Virtual Reality technology or Alternate Worlds. The culmination of this will be to collaboratively design and deploy an Alternate Reality Game of our own.

Students are also required to become active bloggers during the course, build and describe a virtual world, and research — and make a class presentation about — a specific ARG campaign.

Dude, I so want to be in college again, just to take this class.

Dr. Whalen definitely has the chops to rock his students’ socks: He teaches in the area of New Media Studies, and his research focuses on videogames. According to his website, he earned his Ph.D. “by completing a dissertation on the textuality of videogame typography. Also, in 2008, Vanderbilt University Press published Playing the Past: History and Nostalgia in Video Games, the collection of essays I co-edited with Laurie N. Taylor.”

His book looks awesome. I just bought it on Amazon.

Especially flattering is that Personal Effects is required alongside Neal Stephenson’s classic, Snow Crash. (SC is one of my favorite novels.) Also on the reading list is the very insightful This is Not a Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming by Dave Szulborski.

I can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that my novel will be read in a college classroom — but I’m absolutely jazzed by the news. I’m very proud of Personal Effects and the “out of book” experience we created for it, and am humbled Dr. Whalen felt it was worthy to include in his curriculum.

Most important, I’m delighted that teachers like Whalen understand the cultural significance of this emerging form of storytelling, are embracing it, and are sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm with their students.

Pardon me. I must do the Snoopy dance now.

–J.C.

(A grateful shout goes to ARGNet’s Michael Andersen for tipping me to this on Twitter!)