JOURNAL #79
December 16, 2010
Les Johnson came up with a title for the anthology he and I will be editing: Crossing the Abyss. The theme will center on early attempts to leave the solar system. Stories will use near-future technologies. Translation: No FTL systems.
As well as stories illustrating how things might go, the book will also contain some ideas on various options we may have to manage an initial flight.
Les is a physicist, who serves as Deputy Manager for the Advanced Concepts Office at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Crossing the Abyss will be published by Baen Books. Since it’s still very early in the process, we don’t have a publication date yet, though I expect it to be available probably in the summer of 2012.
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I was in New York last week for a memorial held in honor of Ralph Vicinanza. Ralph was my agent and a close friend for almost twenty years. Memorials are inevitably painful, but they always help, because you can look around and see that you’re not alone—
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Twice during my flight, airport carts operated by attendants offered me a ride. It had never happened to me before. I probably need to ramp up my workouts.
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John Joseph Adams invited me recently to submit a story for an anthology that will be titled Armor. I’m not much of a fan of military fiction of any kind. But John told me to use my imagination. I did, and I hope he’s happy with the result. I submitted “Dig Site” to him yesterday. Next up: Mike Resnick and I will start planning for The Cassandra Project, which will be my first novel collaboration.
Good luck to him.
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Erin Underwood contacted me a few days ago about doing an interview for her blog Underwords. The result can be found at:
http://emunderwood.com/2010/12/16/science-fiction-mysteries-an-interview-with-jack-mcdevitt/
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Our home town got caught up in one of those annual holiday debates over whether we should be talking about Christmas vacation or winter vacation or whatever--. In fact, we get a lot of religious celebrations at this time of year because, after a long winter, this is when the days begin to lengthen. The Romans called the season Saturnalia. The point was that we should all take a moment to appreciate the good things we have. So we hang decorations and give presents to friends and family, and make an extra effort to help those in need. Whatever our religious take on the season, those ideas remain very close to the heart of the matter.
Why do we become defensive so quickly? Are we really that easily threatened? No wonder politicians like to stoke our fears at election time.
On the other hand, maybe there’s reason for some fear. The difficult times are not over. The tax bill doesn’t help the national debt. The wars look good for a few more years. North Korea and Iran continue to demonstrate the potential consequences of a world with lunatics and nuclear weapons.
Maybe we should concentrate on a bit more tolerance to our American neighbors, especially the ones who have different opinions. We don’t need to create bogus enemies at home.
In any case, however we choose to refer to the season, I hope we all enjoy it, and take a moment to let those who matter in our lives know we appreciate them.
On that subject, I should mention that today is our 43rd anniversary. Hard to believe it’s been that long. Thanks, Maureen--