Author Archives: Poseidon's Scribe
Author Interview—Jan S. Gephardt
I met Jan Gephardt two years ago at Demicon, the scifi conference in Des Moines. Since then, she often reposted my Facebook posts and read my blog. She even made a great Poseidon’s Scribe image for me, which I’ll show in a future post. That’s a real fan! About time I got around to interviewing her. In this interview, you’ll learn why she started her own publishing company, and how she’s made uplifted dogs the stars of her books. Here’s her bio:
Bio
Jan S. Gephardt (pronouns: she/her) is a science fiction novelist, fantasy artist, publisher, and longtime science fiction fan from Kansas City.
Her XK9s Saga books feature a pack of uplifted police dogs. Her XK9 “Bones” Trilogy consists of What’s Bred in the Bone, A Bone to Pick, and Bone of Contention. The Other Side of Fear is a prequel novella. She’s now at work on a fourth XK9 novel, Bones for the Children.
Her stories are set in a far-future science fiction world, where the XK9s solve crimes and sniff out bad guys while seeking recognition of their own sapience. They live in a space station (inhabited by humans and several other sapient species) in a different star’s planetary system.
She and sister G. S. Norwood co-founded Weird Sisters Publishing LLC in 2019, after G.’s death in September 2024, her son Tyrell E. Gephardt joined the partnership.
She has exhibited her fantasy artwork at sf conventions since 1981. Since 2007 she’s developed a unique paper sculpture technique. Her artwork also has been featured in regionally-exhibited one-person shows, and juried into mainstream national exhibitions all over the United States. She’s a member and former officer of the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists (ASFA).
Interview
Poseidon’s Scribe: How did you get started writing science fiction?
Jan S. Gephardt: Science fiction was always kind of “there” all my life – one of the reading and viewing options. My first conscious memory of any kind of science fiction was a Saturday morning puppet show on TV called Fireball XL5 that I watched when I was in grade school. For anyone who knows, by that statement I have just revealed that I really am older than dirt.
I read voraciously the whole time I was growing up, and I started writing stories before I actually could read and write: I dictated a story to my mother at age four, and illustrated it with crayons. It was a tale of the adventures of a horse and a black cat who went in search of something, but I forget what. The important part, for me, was their journey and how they talked each other through problems. There are, of course, no themes there that relate to my later work (unless you count talking animals; a black animal; collaborative cooperation, adventure, mutual respect . . . )
P.S.: I doubt the “older than dirt” claim, but, moving on. Who are some of your influences? What are a few of your favorite books?
J.S.G.: Early influences? Anything illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon, and The Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander. My sister and I would walk four blocks to our local bookstore to buy each new book when it came out. Then we’d take turns reading it to our mother.
Later, I was influenced by a wide variety of stories in a broad range of genres, from Regency romances by Georgette Heyer to mysteries by Mary Stewart, to sf by Heinlein, Asimov, and Poul Anderson. Can’t leave out fantasy, either. My Tolkien craze lasted quite a while. And of course I watched Star Trek, and later Star Wars (in movie theaters.)
My favorite books? You mean other than my own? (I confess, I do like what I write). But you probably mean by other people. Wow, there are so many!
In the past decade I’ve been reading a lot of what one might call “K9 Mysteries.” Probably my top favorite writer in that group is Margaret Mizushima, although I also follow Kathleen Donelly, Sara Driscoll, and Jodi Burnett.
Can’t get away from the mystery genre without also professing my love for Louise Penny and Deborah Crombie (the fact that Deb was my late sister’s best friend has nothing to do with my enjoyment of her Kincaid and James series. She writes a really good mystery!).
I’ve been loving the Legends & Lattes series by Travis Baldree in the fantasy field. I also enjoy the Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews – they’re technically science fiction, but they read a lot like fantasy. I was charmed by the first Becky Chambers book, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I thoroughly enjoyed Lindsay Buroker’s Star Kingdom series. I’m currently re-reading War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. I’d forgotten what a wonderful book that is.
I’ve also recently been fascinated by a trio of nonfiction books that really unlock a lot of understanding about why our world works as it currently does. They are: Why Nations Fail, by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson; The Wolves of K Street, by Brody Mullins and Luke Mullins; and Survival of the Richest, by Douglas Rushkoff. They explain so much!
P.S.: Tell us about your company, Weird Sisters Publishing. Sorry about the loss of two of its founding members, but it’s great news that your son has joined.
J.S.G.: Thanks. My sister Gigi (yes, the one who used to trek to the bookstore with me for Lloyd Alexander books) and I formed the company in 2019, about 14 years after the “third, honorary Weird Sister,” my late brother-in-law, Warren C. Norwood, had died.
When we created the company, I had just finished my first novel, What’s Bred in the Bone. I was looking at the pros and cons of trying to get traditionally published, but I could also try to “go Indie,” or become part of an author collective.
Gigi and I looked at her big pile of unpublished books, and at Warren’s backlist, to which Gigi had the publishing rights, and my ambitions for the XK9 books. We decided we could form a closely-held family LLC, our own little author collective, focused on only selling our own books.
So, that’s what we did. We called it Weird Sisters Publishing for several reasons. Gigi was a theatre major in college where she specialized in Shakespeare for her BFA. Also, we’d been fantasy and folklore geeks. Of course we knew about the Wyrd Sisters, the Three Norns, the Fates, and all their other incarnations. Plus, when we were growing up we were always the nerdy girls with the big vocabularies and the “encyclopedia brains.” We knew we were often looked at as “those weird sisters.” All in all, it seemed like a natural.
P.S.: Weird Sisters Publishing offers books by you, your sister, and (I believe) her husband. How do the three authors’ styles, genres, and subjects differ? Are there similarities?
J.S.G.: Well, we’re working on getting Warren’s books back into print. When Gigi died suddenly in September, 2024, the rights to his literary property reverted jointly to his daughter Margaret and the D.M. Willis Library of the North Texas University.
The Willis Library has a collection devoted to Texas writers that they’ve been building around Warren’s papers. When Gigi died my legal right to publish Warren’s work went “poof.” Lucky for me, Margaret and a representative for the Willis Library have verbally expressed enthusiasm for seeing Warren’s work back in print. I have long believed his books deserved a better fate than to be backlisted and then forgotten.
Most of Gigi’s finished novels were written in the 1990s, and they were supposed to be what we would today call “spicy” romances. However, romance publishers consistently declined to buy her intricately plotted, cleverly crafted stories about young women finding their true self-worth while also discovering and establishing mutually satisfying relationships with their life partners. One of the great joys of my life was bringing Deep Ellum Duet, a collection of Gigi’s first two “Deep Ellum” novelettes, into print as a book. Deep Ellum Duet was the only printed book with her byline that she got to see and hold in her lifetime.
P.S.: You’re not only a writer, but an artist as well, with a gallery of beautiful and evocative artwork. Do the two interests—art and writing—intersect, or do you keep them separate?
J.S.G.: Oh, golly. For a long time I tried to figure out “what am I going to be? A writer or an artist?” I never did decide. My undergraduate major was art with an emphasis in printmaking, and a heavy side of what we used to call “commercial art,” now called graphic design.
While I studied art, I also got a teaching degree. I came out of college in 1976 (yes, older than dirt) with teaching certificates in art K-12 and journalism 7-12. Just about the time I thought I’d settled into doing “mainly art” or “mainly writing,” a new door would open and all at once I’d be mostly doing the other. Thus, I’ve done a lot of marketing – both writing and graphic design work – teaching, and I had a brief career in journalism. The range of skill sets I developed has helped me a lot with my work for Weird Sisters.
I was originally a pen-and-ink artist, a proclivity that fit well with my intaglio printmaking emphasis in college. I’ve shown my 2D science fiction and fantasy artwork at science fiction conventions since the early 1980s. The paper sculpture came later, sparked by a “pop-up book” assignment I did with my art students. I showed my paper sculpture in national and international juried exhibitions, and I had several solo shows regionally.
The “art work” that currently fuels my passion is commissioning illustrations. After all my years in sf fandom, including participating on all those art-related panels, showing my work alongside that of other artists, and working as an officer of ASFA, the International Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists, I have become friends with a lot of marvelous illustrators. I love collaborating with them on both covers and interior art.
P.S.: How did you come to write about uplifted space dogs? Did you or do you have a dog of your own that inspired the idea?
J.S.G.: My books are built from my lifelong fascination with animals, animal intelligence, multiple cultures (my master’s degree is in multicultural education), future technology and societies, and mystery stories. I’ve had dogs all my life (lots of cats, too). Anymore, I tell my husband that “Professionally, I need to have a dog.”
It’s true that I regularly get inspiration from my current two, just as I have from all of their predecessors. Current canines in residence are an Australian Kelpie mix named Yoshi and one of Gigi’s dogs, an older Border Collie mix named Kata. My lifetime spent around dogs, plus recent research into canine cognition, fueled my invention of the “XK9s,” who are genetically engineered and cyber-enabled for communication.
P.S.: Is Rex the main canine character in all the XK9 books? What breed is Rex, and are his packmates of the same breed?
J.S.G.: XK9s are their own special breed. According to the story, they were developed from all the wonderful working and hunting breeds we know today. They have characteristics of Border Collies, German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, Dutch Shepherds, Bloodhounds, Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, and many more. Many of my readers have dogs (including some who have one or more of the aforementioned breeds), and I imagine they recognize elements of their favorite breeds in some of the things the XK9s do.
Rex is officially the protagonist of the XK9 “Bones” Trilogy, the first three novels. But you could argue that his mate Shady rivals him for “primacy” as the protagonist, especially in the second and third books, A Bone to Pick and Bone of Contention. As to who is the “top dog” in the book I’m currently writing? That’s probably Shady, although Rex and a new XK9, a refugee from Transmondia, are both viewpoint characters, too.
I recently learned that Kirkus Reviews will publish the Starred Review of my book Bone of Contention in the Dec.1, 2025 issue. That’s perhaps not a major literary prize, but they don’t just hand those out to any old body, especially not to Indies.
P.S.: Congratulations on that upcoming review! You’ve put a lot of thought into your space station’s design. Please describe Rana Station—where it is, what it looks like, and how it functions as the setting for your books.
J.S.G.: Rana Habitat Space Station is a space-based megastructure consisting of eight habitat wheels that counter-rotate in pairs to produce normal gravity for their inhabitants.
It occupies the L4 (LaGrange) point of the planet Chayko in an extrasolar system somewhere we haven’t discovered yet in Heritage Earth Year 2025. Rana Station was largely constructed using materials mined from M- and C-class Chayko trojans that had previously orbited in the L4 point where the station now has its own stable orbit.
Rana Station is also is the home of a multicultural, indeed, multi-species, society. It was jointly founded by a group of idealistic humans and a refugee subculture from a species called ozzirikkians. Neither could have created the station without the other. The ozzies” have their own two habitat wheels, calibrated to artificially create gravity compatible with ozzirikkian evolution, just as the human wheels centrifugally create 1G.
Rana Station is a fabulous place to raise your kids, but they still have crime. They still have politics. And they still need a police force. I did not “abolish” the Orangeboro Police Department (home of “The Orangeboro Pack”), but it does differ in some key ways from what we’re used to in our world.
P.S.: Regarding the XK9 trilogy, you’ve got three novels and a prequel novella. Will you be writing more in this series or starting something different?
J.S.G.: Oh, you bet I’ll be writing more in this series! Neither I nor my readers are tired of the XK9s yet! In fact, it’s humbling to realize how long and patiently they’re willing to wait for each new book. I’m almost finished with a fourth XK9 novel, Bones for the Children, and I have plans firming up for several more. As long as people keep buying them and I stay healthy, I’m not likely to run out of ideas. There are so many rich veins of possibility that I haven’t yet explored!
P.S.: Tell us more about Bones for the Children, at least what you can reveal.
J.S.G.: As noted above, it’s another XK9 novel, set a couple of months after the end of the Trilogy. As with all of these novels, it’s kind of an “ensemble cast.” Lots of moving parts, in other words.
There are six viewpoint characters, each with their own storyline and challenges in their own personal life. Rex, his human partner Charlie, Shady, and her partner Pam are all POV characters again in this one. But there also are two new viewpoints: those of OPD Chief Kwame Klein, and a new XK9 named See, who’s led a very different life from the ones Rex, Shady, and the rest of the Orangeboro Pack have had.
There’s a new mystery to solve in this book – or rather, a nested set of mysteries, wrapped up in a public safety crisis and complicated by a long history of political corruption and criminal enterprise. So, fun stuff! And loads of fun to write.
Poseidon’s Scribe: What advice can you offer aspiring writers?
Jan S. Gephardt: If you write, you’re a writer – no “aspiring” to it. But to be an aspiring professional, learn the craft and then persist. Put in those 10,000 hours of learning and growing and practicing the art and honing your skills. All through that process and long after it, don’t stop writing. Keep doing it, keep learning, keep putting your work out there. Be patient. Be humble. And don’t stop writing.
Poseidon’s Scribe: Thank you, Jan. Great advice!
Web Presence
Readers and all dog lovers can find out more about Jan Gephardt at her website, her publishing company’s website, her Amazon page, her Goodreads Author Page, her Facebook Author Page, her Facebook Artdog Studio Page, her Facebook Weird Sisters Page, and on Instagram, and Bluesky. Jan blogs at her art studio and at The Weird Blog on her publishing site. You may sign up for her bi-monthly newsletter, and get a free ebook, The Other Side of Fear.
8 Ways to Build Self-Discipline in Writing, or in Anything
Writing requires self-discipline. If you lack that, can you develop it? Let’s find out.
I’ve blogged about discipline before, but that post discussed its importance. Today, I’ll tell you how to increase your self-discipline.
Definition
For this blogpost, self-discipline means your ability to control your behavior and actions to achieve your writing goals. This requires you to suppress immediate desires and ignore distractions, to make conscious choices to do what is necessary, even when that’s difficult.
Eight Skills
I found inspiration from this post by Zen advocate and blogger Leo Babauta. However, I’ve reworded his points and focused on their application to writing. Even so, if you practice these skills, you’ll strengthen your self-discipline in general, not just as a writer.
1. Write regardless of your mood
If you wait until you’re in the mood to write, you’ll wait forever. We find it easier to procrastinate than to do what we need to do. Gain mastery over this tendency. Sit in the chair and write.
2. Make time to exercise
Being a sedentary activity, writing for long periods without exercise can weaken your body. In the long run, you’ll write many more years if you keep in shape. You might find it beneficial to set a timer, take a break from writing, and perform light exercises before writing again. Try the Pomodoro technique: twenty-five minutes of focused writing and five minutes of mild exercise.
3. Write hungry
Break or avoid starting the habit of eating while writing. Write first, eat later. Let your stomach grumble awhile. It’s not your boss. Food will wait for you.
4. Have the difficult conversations
Many people, even writers, avoid or put off disagreeable confrontations. Don’t stew in solitude, harboring a grudge over some slight. Deal with the person in a direct way, while being pleasant and understanding. Learn to think about problems from the other point of view. Not only will this help to prevent or resolve misunderstandings, but the practice will help your writing. Readers cheer for characters who don’t shy away from the tough talks. The best fiction writers take us into the minds of disagreeable characters in a convincing way.
5. Form and stick with good habits, break bad ones
Ah, human nature. So easy to break good habits and to start bad ones. I’ve blogged on this topic, too, and I still advocate a system of cues to trigger a good writing habit, and little self-bestowed rewards for completing the action.
6. Tackle that problem you’re putting off
We tend to ignore the elephant looming over us in the room. When a problem appears too difficult, we turn from it, fail to face it, hope it goes away. When it doesn’t go away, we make up reasons to neglect it. Then it nags us, causing guilt and more procrastination. Instead, face it and work the problem. If you can break it into parts, work on the biggest part first. That way, you’ll be closer to done than if you’d started small.
7. Seek joy in work, not external rewards
Why do you write? If you write for fame, fortune, or awards, then what will you do if those things elude you? Give up writing? Consider shifting your focus and find enjoyment in the act of writing itself. That source of joy will never desert you. It blazes from an internal fire, not an unreliable, external source like the other rewards.
8. Meditate
Leo Babauta recommends daily meditation. Set a quiet timer for two minutes or longer. Sit without moving while focusing on your breath. When thoughts wander away, bring your mind back to your breathing. This practice can calm your mood and strengthen your mental discipline.
Putting it all together
The word discipline comes from the Latin disciplina, meaning training, and from discipulus, meaning student. In the case of self-discipline, you’re the student and the teacher, and you’re training yourself.
What’s that I hear? The sound of one hand clapping for—
Poseidon’s Scribe
What Was I Doing at ICON 49.5?
Last Saturday, I had a wonderful time at ICON 49.5. Most often held in Cedar Rapids, the Iowa Scifi Conference, or ICON, took place in Iowa City this year. Poised to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary in 2026, they decided to hold a one-day mini-conference this time, hence 49.5.
Book Signing
Conference organizers allowed me to set up at a table in the Iowa City Book Fair taking place the same day. For six hours, people stopped by to talk, look over my books, and buy some. I enjoyed sharing the table with Tricia Andersen, Darby Harn, and, later, Bree Moore. By watching these experienced authors, I learned more about how to do book signing events.
Indie Publishing Panel
To cap off the mini-conference, I spoke on the subject of Indie Publishing on a panel. Pictured from left to right are Tricia Andersen, Darby Harn, Bree Moore, me, and Rachel Aukes. By rights, I should have sat in the audience, because the other panelists seemed to have graduated summa cum laude from Indie Publishing University where I’d just enrolled as a freshman.
Gratitude
Still, I enjoyed the day’s experience and would like to thank not only the conference programming staff for allowing me to attend, but also my sister for accompanying me and helping me sell books. If there’s one writer who could really use the help, it’s—
Poseidon’s Scribe
How to Bargain with Your Inner Critic
Have you held a sit-down with your inner critic? You know, that voice inside that’s always telling you you’re no good, that you shouldn’t raise your hand in class, that it’s safer to stand near the wall than to get out on the dance floor. Writers call that voice their “inner editor,” because it questions everything they write—the style, the organization, the spelling. The voice tells writers nobody will buy their stories and they should give up and pursue something else.
Pros and Cons
I’ve portrayed the inner critic as bad, but it helps at times. An inner critic warned our ancient ancestors not to try befriending the saber-toothed tiger. Those who listened to their inner critic survived to pass it down to us as a useful survival trait. Today, the inner critic screams at you to stop when, while drunk, you tell your buddy, “Hold my beer and watch this.”
Though sometimes your inner critic prevents disaster, most of the time it urges against any action at all. It tells you you’re hopeless, useless, and unworthy.
Inner Critic vs. the First Draft
Writers who obey their inner critic without question never write anything.
However motivated the writer, however enthused about the project, the writer cannot get far if an inside voice declares the writing drivel, points out every missing comma, and lambasts the whole manuscript.
While creating a first draft, writers need freedom and confidence, not haranguing from a Debbie Downer. Nothing at this early point should hinder the flow or halt the momentum. Later, in subsequent drafts, the inner critic can prove its worth and let its editing prowess shine. If only you could give your inner critic a “time out” and banish it to its room. Hmm. Maybe you can.
By Name
Perhaps you can establish some control over this nagging inside voice. You could start by personalizing it. Give it a name. Activist Erin Brockovich calls hers “Negative Nancy.” I’ve heard Author Ines Johnson calls hers KeeKee.
I shall call mine Scoff McGrouser. What name will you give yours?
Now that you’ve humanized it, your inner critic now stands on your level, not like some mystical, all-powerful entity. You can talk to it. You can bargain on equal terms.
The Bargain
You’re writing a first draft and that familiar whiny voice pipes up, shattering your concentration and shaking your confidence. What can you do?
Address your inner critic by name, out loud if necessary (and if you’re alone). Be respectful and understanding. That critic, a permanent part of you, isn’t leaving your head. Tell it to take a break now. Be kind, but firm. Say you’ll be grateful for its help later. In subsequent drafts, it can critique to its heart’s content.
Evolving Relationship
Bargaining may not work the first time. You’re trying to break one habit and form another, and that requires persistence and patience. In time, you should find it easier to send the critic to a corner for a while.
In my case, I’ve learned to push Scoff McGrouser away long enough so I can write like—
Poseidon’s Scribe
Author Panel at Leaves Bakery and Books
On Sunday, I participated in an author discussion panel at Leaves Bakery and Books in Fort Worth, Texas. What it lacked in audience size it made up for in lively conversation about books with like-minded writers.
Josh Hickman
Author Josh Hickman talked about his recent book Forgetting, The Trials and Triumphs of Caregiving for a Difficult Parent with Dementia. It details his struggles as a caregiver for his mother during her decline, and their ultimate reconciliation.
Scott Finley
Next, we heard from Scott Finley, who conducted exhaustive research for the writing of his Voyages of the Queen series. The first in the series, Shadow of the Queen, involves a murder on an ocean liner in 1929.
Craig Shaneck
After that, Craig Shaneck talked about his novel Athens Shrugged, a murder mystery set in Greece. He described it as James Bond on a budget, a nice tagline.
Me
Oh, yeah. I might have yakked a bit about The Seastead Chronicles. Regular readers of this blog might have heard of it.
Many thanks to Challyn Hartogh and the rest of the staff at Leaves Bakery and Books for hosting the event. Several customers did stop by for their wonderful baked goods and tea, but not so much to hear—
Poseidon’s Scribe
Love the Book, Forgive the Author?
Do you refuse to read books written by authors who’ve held offensive beliefs or committed objectionable acts? Are their books, however well written, tainted by the author’s extra-literary reputation?
Controversial Authors
Rather than provide a complete list, I’ll mention a few, having found several discussed on this Reddit post. My beloved Jules Verne held racist and antisemitic views. Knut Hamsun supported fascists and Nazis. Ezra Pound was a fascist, racist, and antisemite. H.P. Lovecraft was a racist and Nazi sympathizer. Ernest Hemingway was a bully, alcoholic, racist, and antisemite. Ayn Rand had an extramarital affair and opposed altruism and religion. Isaac Asimov groped women. Marion Zimmer Bradley may have abused her child and tolerated her husband’s child abuse. Alice Munro defended her husband’s alleged sexual abuse of their daughter. This article about that last revelation prompted me to think about this post’s topic.
3 Degrees of Bad
We could divide our reasons for hating authors into three categories.
- Those who held and stated abhorrent beliefs that don’t appear, or barely appear, in their fiction,
- Those who held and stated abhorrent beliefs that are obvious in their fiction, and
- Those who performed objectionable actions, whether they wrote about them or not.
Any of these might cause you to refrain from reading books by that author. On the other hand, you might forgive an author for any of these reasons and choose instead to enjoy their books for the literary value.
Noncontroversial Authors
The world includes plenty of books. You could avoid books by troublesome authors and just read works written by saints. However, you may find saintly authors in short supply. Every author is, or was, human, and therefore burdened with faults and failings, just like non-writers.
Even those not known for offensive actions often wrote about their private beliefs. Today, many authors use social media to express opinions on news of the day. Fiction writers spend a lot of time musing about the human condition. They’re bound to form and express strong opinions on various topics, and some of those stances might offend you. The contemporary author whose works you most cherish might get toppled off the pedestal you’ve erected, after a single tweet or post.
Different Places and Times
Although plenty of today’s authors have said or done questionable things, I only included deceased authors in my list above. When judging author behaviors and beliefs, remember that we’re all victims, to some extent, of the culture we live in or grew up in. In various past societies, racism, sexism, and antisemitism once prevailed as normal. Phrases and character types that readers of those times and places accepted with little notice cause us to cringe today.
Is it fair to judge a past author’s work by today’s standards? Sure. You can judge, by any criteria you want, whether you like a book or not. Is it fair to blame a past author for not living up to our modern sensibilities? No. The author could not predict how society would change.
Authors Aren’t Their Characters
Though some do, I urge you not to judge authors by their characters. Some authors excel at showing us convincing evil characters. As readers, we might wonder how the author can get inside a twisted mind so well, and we might suspect the author of sympathizing with the bad guy.
In his novel Next, Michael Crichton portrayed a character named Brad Gordon as a creepy pedophile. I felt myself transported into the sick mind of this perverted character. Though Crichton managed the description well, I would never accuse him of pedophilia.
Your Choice
They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, though many do. Is it fair to make your decision about what to read based on the author’s personal life or beliefs? Of course, but you might be denying yourself a pleasurable reading experience. What I’m saying is, you be you and I’ll be—
Poseidon’s Scribe
You’ll Never Sell Books in a Bakery, They Said
Thank you to Challyn Hartogh and her staff at Leaves Bakery and Tea Shop in Fort Worth, Texas. My book signing event there last Sunday went well.
Located in an eclectic neighborhood of old buildings redone as trendy shops, Leaves Bakery and Tea Shop emphasizes muffins and tea, but caters to authors as well. After all, once you buy your scone and hot drink, you feel the urge to read a book, right?
And, yes, we all get the clever pun—leaves…books and tea. Nice.
Paired with Galen Steele, an up-and-coming poet, I set up my table and greeted everyone that came in. Accepting my prior invitation, some friends dropped by and chatted with me.
My new book, The Seastead Chronicles, received a prime spot near the center of my table, but I brought others to sell also.
As you can see by visiting the Appearances tab on this website, I’ll return to Leaves Bakery and Tea Shop later this month to conduct a Writers Workshop. I’ve titled it “Writing Drunk – Imbibing Passion for More Creative Binging.” If you’re in the area that day, please stop by.
Thanks to my appearance last Sunday, we now know the answer to how an author stays and Leaves at the same time! Thanks again to the staff there, from—
Poseidon’s Scribe
The Island’s Still Mysterious After 150 Years
This month marks a century and a half since the publication of Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island. Maybe you think you don’t care, but read on. That novel changed a genre forever, and pointed readers toward new ways to think about survival.
Partial Summary
Near the end of the American Civil War, five Union prisoners escape a Confederate camp by balloon. Swept away by a storm, they must, at last, abandon their balloon and jump into the sea. They crawl ashore and identify the landmass as an island. With ingenuity and determination, they survive four years there despite suffering numerous misfortunes. In time, they cultivate crops and raise animals, build a pottery kiln, a metal forge, and even a telegraph.
As a Sequel
The novel attempts to serve as a sequel to two earlier books—In Search of the Castaways and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. Though Verne connected the novels with some dramatic skill, he botched the timelines. He wrote a footnote attempting to explain the date discrepancies, but it did little more than inform readers of his awareness of the problem.
As a Robinsonade
Something about island castaway stories touch us. Could we, too, endure in a remote locale, out of contact with friends and family, deprived of the comforts of civilized life? We take nature walks and go on camping trips, but do so while clutching smartphones, knowing we’ll soon return to our big-screen TV, while our door camera monitors the outside world.
In 1719, Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe, igniting an explosion of marooned-on-an-island stories, now called Robinsonades. Verne loved islands and had read both Robinson Crusoe and Johann David Wyss’ The Swiss Family Robinson. However, he deplored those authors’ choice to maroon their castaways along with survival equipment, the very tools and artifacts of civilization they needed. By contrast, Verne dropped his characters on an island with two watches, a match, a grain of wheat, and a metal dog collar.
This denial of resources became the standard for later Robinsonades, forcing characters to innovate and use available raw materials. No author or scriptwriter since Verne would dare equip their characters with large quantities of helpful supplies.
As a Comment on Civilization
Verne’s marooned characters don’t just scrape by. Bit by bit, they morph from castaways to colonists. In effect, they don’t separate from civilization—they restart civilization in a new place. In four years, they retrace the technological advances of twelve thousand years of human history. From Stone Age to Iron Age to Electrical Age, they recreate mankind’s major innovations. Perhaps this shines new light on the saying, “you can take the man out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the man.”
As a Bromance
The novel’s themes of survival, innovation, and perseverance stand out. But Nick DiMartino, in his book The Amputee’s Guide to Jules Verne, also detects a theme of male bonding. The castaways don’t argue, complain, or fight. They work together to survive. After they return to civilization at the end, they elect to live the rest of their lives together in the “wilderness” of Iowa.
With a Deus ex Machina
I suppose I can still call this a spoiler alert, even for a book 150 years old. What makes the island so mysterious? Peculiar things happen on occasion, aiding the castaways just when hope appears lost. Near the end they discover Captain Nemo, sole remaining member of the submarine Nautilus, has helped them when necessary. Not a deus (god), but he owns one heck of a machina.
As an Enduring Tale
The Mysterious Island still captivates today, in its sesquicentennial. Readers will enjoy the novel 150 years from now and beyond, because it asks a question applicable in any age. Could we, too, could endure if marooned on a remote island without our modern toys? Go ahead and read it. Explore Lincoln Island and imagine yourself being there. Accept this invitation to adventure, extended to you by—
Poseidon’s Scribe
Fanfiction—A Great Way to Start
Writers start as readers. We fall in love with stories written by favorite authors. Often, we seek to write like them. Some of us invent new stories involving favorite characters and settings. That is, we write fanfiction.
Types
Many varieties of fanfiction exist. You could write new adventures, where you take the original work’s characters on fresh escapades within their world. In Fix-it Fic, you write a tale correcting what you see as a flaw in the original work. Author Katie Redefer, for example, wrote Harry Potter fanfiction which depicted a romantic relationship never envisioned by J.K. Rowling. You might consider an update, where many years have elapsed since the original novel and you show older characters, or their descendants, dealing with a new adventure.
Reason
People write fanfiction because they love the original work. They seek to honor it in their own way. Perhaps they feel they lack the literary skills to create their own original story with fresh characters in a setting they invent. Fanfiction requires less creativity, because beloved characters already “exist,” and the world of the story sits ready-made.
Risks
If you write fanfiction for your own private enjoyment, or if you share it with other fans and don’t charge them money, you run no adverse risk.
However, if you write fanfiction based on a work still under copyright protection, and you hope to sell your work, be careful. Some authors allow and even encourage fanfiction. Others sue for copyright infringement.
My Fanfiction
Like many, I started with fanfiction. Years ago, I wrote the first draft of a sequel to Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas. I intended to title it 20,000 Leagues Farther. In it, a descendant of Captain Nemo salvages the Nautilus (in modern time) and brings unwitting guests on an adventure-filled voyage. Though embarrassing to recall now, that amateurish novel helped me grow as a writer.
Since then, I’ve written several publishable stories of fanfiction. “The Steam Elephant” honors Verne’s The Steam House by taking his characters aboard their marvelous vehicle to Africa. This story appears in The Gallery of Curiosities #3.
“The Six Hundred Dollar Man” puts an Old West steampunk twist on the TV show “The Six Million Dollar Man.”
In “A Tale More True,” a rival of Baron Munchausen (the fictional character created by German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe) takes a clockpunk trip to the Moon.
My story “Rallying Cry” honors both Verne’s The Steam House and Robur the Conqueror by portraying a secret World War I regiment using two of Verne’s vehicles—-the steam elephant and the aeronef.
In “The Cometeers,” I used the cannon and projectile from Verne’s novel From the Earth to the Moon. My story’s characters must save the Earth from a comet impact…in 1897.
My story “After the Martians” shows the aftermath of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, but WW I occurs using Martian technology.
In “The Unparalleled Attempt to Rescue One Hans Pfaall,” (included in the anthology Quoth the Raven) I depict adventurers from Rotterdam flying to the Moon, by balloon, to save a man whom Edgar Allan Poe left stranded there in his The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall.
“Reconnaissance Mission” honors Poe again, making him a character as a young Army soldier who undertakes a mission that would inspire his later stories and poems. This story appears in the anthology Not Far From Roswell.
My story 80 Hours updates Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days by sending a woman to circumnavigate the globe in just over three days.
I may well write more fanfiction in the future, but I feel more confident than I did before about creating my own characters and worlds.
I co-edited two anthologies of other writers’ fanfiction as well. 20,000 Leagues Remembered honors Verne’s undersea masterwork with fan fiction written by today’s authors. The book appeared on the 150th anniversary of Verne’s epic novel.
The North American Jules Verne Society (of which I’m a member) sponsored its own Verne tribute anthology with Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne. This includes recently written short stories honoring many of Verne’s fantastic novels. It’s available in ebook, print, and audiobook versions.
Your Fanfiction
If you haven’t written fanfiction, I bet you’ve been tempted. For people who hope to write fiction someday, fanfiction might serve as a great place to start. The ready-made characters and story “world” simplify the process. Even if you write just for yourself or to give away stories free to fellow fans, fanfiction could provide good practice and a chance to learn the craft and hone your skills.
Get to it. Write! Be like—
Poseidon’s Scribe