ONLINE BOOKSTORE AND WRITER'S WORKSHOP
Michael McCollum
JULY 1999
We offer this report as a public service for our regular visitors and for
everyone who is interested in science fiction and writing. You can now reach
us by typing http://scifi-az.com , or the usual http://www.scifi-az.com .
We're a little late this month because things have been jumping at Sci Fi -
Arizona. GIBRALTAR EARTH is complete and I am working to get it online by the
end of the month. Also, we have upgraded our hard copy printing capability.
Future books like Gibraltar Earth will be published as glossy-cover trade
paperbacks indistinguishable from those you purchase in the bookstores -
indistinguishable, that is, except they are much better quality.
Finally, in our never-ending struggle to provide our customers with maximum
service, (and to multiply the methods we have for taking your money), we have
subscribed to the I-Check Payment System. With I-Check, you pay by personal
check, eliminating the concerns some people have about using their credit
cards on the web. I first used the system a couple of weeks ago when I
purchased hand-binding equipment for my book publishing facility. I was so
impressed that I immediately signed up. In addition to books, the I-Check
system allows you to purchase individual articles, if that is your pleasure.
Finally, before getting to the usual subject matter, a preview. We are
currently working on an expanded version of THE ASTROGATOR'S HANDBOOK. The
current handbook maps the stars in a 50-light-year cube centered on Sol, and
includes approximately 300 stars as viewed from Polaris. The EXPANDED
ASTROGATOR'S HANDBOOK will map the stars in a 150-light-year cube and includes
63 maps showing the positions of 3500 stars. In fact, the only reason we
haven't gone farther is that astronomers don't have good range figures for
stars beyond about 75 light-years. That is where we lose our ability to
measure parallax. Stay tuned, we'll get the new book online toward the end
of August unless my trusty assistant goes blind while annotating the maps
first.
And now, to our regular features.
1) DON DIXON ART GALLERY http://www.scifi-az.com/gallery.htm
ART GALLERY PICTURES UPGRADED!
Don Dixon's paintings of other worlds, both real and imagined, have made it
possible for many people to experience the beauty of the universe. His
spacescapes have graced over 60 book covers, scores of magazines, and are in
the collections of Ray Bradbury and Larry Niven. This past month, Don has
upgraded the prints in the Gallery. His artwork now comes in exquisite IRIS
prints that have a rich, glossy finish, high color fidelity, and are signed by
the artist. Two different sizes are available.
One of Don's paintings appeared on the cover of the November, 1997 "Scientific
American," and two more graced the cover and frontispiece of a special Cosmos
issue of the magazine in February, 1998. Last week he uploaded new pictures
to "Scientific American," and passed the time reading GIBRALTAR EARTH, for
which he is doing the cover. Keep a watch out for his new work, both at
Scientific American and here at Sci Fi - Arizona.
2) WRITER'S WORKSHOP http://www.scifi-az.com/sfaz-05.htm
The July articles are now in the Writer's Workshop. To satisfy those who have
been asking for articles to be reprinted, we are continuing our program to
publish one new article and one reprint article each month. This month we
have a new article in the ART OF SCIENCE FICTION and the reprint article in
THE ART OF WRITING. Next month, we will reverse the order. For those who do
not have full collections of the articles, and who are patient, you will be
able to collect all of them in only 56 months.
Hopefully, many of you will become impatient with the pace at which articles
are reprinted and will actually BUY them! (Using credit card, personal check,
or I-Micros.) Either way, you will be able to complete your collections of
this information that many of you have told me is the best writer's resource
on the web!
a) The Art of Writing Series: Conflict in Fiction (REPRINT)
Are your stories about heroes and villains, or are your characters "just plain
folks?" Either way, if you don't have conflict, you don't have a story. This
article discusses the overwhelming importance of conflict in fiction and
analyzes techniques through which conflict may be generated. Included is an
analysis of The Shroud, a story that causes conflicts for readers and
characters alike.
(85 Kb, 1 minute download at 2 Kbytes/sec)
b) The Sky is Falling, Part II: "The Chicken Little Chronicles" (NEW)
We continue our exploration of an ancient phenomenon that has only recently
been recognized, namely that at any moment a giant rock may fall from the sky
and kill every man, woman, and child on Earth -- not to mention the ducks,
geese, lions, bears, tigers, cows, horses, pigs ... well, you get the idea.
This month we discuss the probability that tomorrow will be our last.
6000 words, 16 pictures
CAUTION: LARGE FILE!
(1282 Kbytes - 10 MINUTES download 2 Kb/sec)
c) BONUS SECTION: The Writer's Guide to the Human Body
http://www.scifi-az.com/sfaz-05.htm
I find as I am writing that I have a tendency to make all of my heroines
beautiful, buxom, and blonde. I have always wanted a tool to help me combat
this tendency toward repetition in physical descriptions, but have never found
anything close to what I needed. So, if you can't find it, you can always
invent it. We have a 49-page specialized thesaurus dealing with the human
body. It's a compendium of descriptive and action terms that can be applied to
various appendages when you find yourself saying, "She smiled broadly." for
the tenth time in a single chapter.
d) BONUS SECTION: The Sci Fi - Arizona Astrogator's Handbook.
http://www.scifi-az.com/sfaz-05.htm
The handbook looks at local space as it is viewed from outside. It includes
3-D layered star maps that show every star within 125,000 cubic light years of
space and their relationships to one another. This is a must for science
fiction writers who want to make sure that they have their stars in the right
place in the sky.
3) AUTHORS' SHOWCASE
The SF Authors' Showcase is a new feature at Sci Fi - Arizona. It is a
service that provides new and well established authors with the ability to
sell their books directly to the public on the Internet. If you are an author
who has a book currently out of print, why not put your intellectual property
to work for you? Go to the Showcase.
Our first two authors are now online in the Authors' Showcase, with more in
preparation. They are:
Steven W. Wise CHAMBERS A psychological thriller
Netani A. Nettrour SOARING FREE A classic fantasy of love and flying
Stop by and check out the future of self-publishing
4) NEW NOVEL ONLINE http://www.scifi-az.com/sfaz-04k.htm
We have added a new novel. A Greater Infinity is a an alternate universe
story in the tradition of Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen (I even give credit to H.
Beam Piper in the novel). It is more than a simple alternate universe story,
however. It expands the concept of alternate universes to their logical
conclusion. It is also a very good read!
5) MAJOR CHANGES http://www.scifi-az.com/sfaz-01.htm
The FULL GRAPHICS section has been enhanced considerably. Check out our new
navigation bars! Unfortunately, I have discovered that my beautiful bars are
not nearly impressive in NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR as they are in INTERNET EXPLORER.
That is because of the way NAVIGATOR displays pictures in frames.
Sci Fi - Arizona has won an award for ease of navigation between web pages.
Not wishing to rest on our laurels, we have even improved on our former
design. Now the Novels pages and Writer's Workshop have sub-navigation bars
for ease of getting around in these sections that grow more complex month to
month.
People often email me to ask me about my experiences as a web entrepreneur.
If you are interested in the business of online publishing as well as the
content, then you may want to visit our new web services division, SFAZ
Technologies. I have written a 15,000 word article on my adventures going
online: "A Small Entrepreneur's Guide To Building A Web Site." The article
comes in both HTML and PDF formats.
6) REAL BOOKS http://www.scifi-az.com/sfaz-10.htm
Our line of hard copy, trade paperback plus books and our hard cover books are
becoming ever more popular. If you prefer your science fiction in the form of
ink and paper rather than glowing pixels on a screen, then we have just the
thing for you!
7) HARDBACK BOOKS http://www.scifi-az.com/sfaz-04h.htm
We have now added HARDBACK BOOKS to our repertoire. Thunderstrike! is online
in a library quality, hard cover edition that you would be proud to add to any
bookshelf. Go to the Thunderstrike Page
8) ART OF WRITING BOOKS http://www.scifi-az.com/sfaz-05f.htm
We now have two volumes in the Art of Writing. Volume I is the first 16
articles in the series. Volume II is the second 12 articles. If you came in
late or otherwise missed some of the articles, here is your opportunity to get
them all in one handy package!
9) ART OF SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS http://www.scifi-az.com/sfaz-05g.htm
We now have two volumes in the Art of Writing. Volume I is the first 16
articles in the series. Volume II is the second 12 articles. If you came in
late or otherwise missed some of the articles, here is your opportunity to get
them all in one handy package!
10) ARTICLES ARCHIVE http://www.scifi-az.com/archiv1a.htm
We now have all our articles online in the archive page. If you are
interested in any past article, you can obtain it for the low cost of $1.00
through the I-Micros electronic payment system. Please visit and observe what
commerce is going to be like all over the Internet in the future!