2012-09-29

Anton Chekhov - Stories from 1887


This post gives a summary of the stories, novellas (if any) and plays of Anton Chekhov from 1887. If you know of things which should be added, please let me know.



Stories


Plays




No novellas were written by Chekhov in 1887, to my knowledge.


References




[C] A. Chekhov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov_bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_short_stories_by_Anton_Chekhov
Stories of Anton Chekhov:
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/c#a708

[Y] Avrahm Yarmolinsky (translator and editor), The Unknown Chekhov, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999.

[Y'] Avrahm Yarmolinsky (Introduction), The Portable Chekhov, Penguin, 1977.

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2012-09-24

A tech perspective on "The Tempest"

These are just some random thoughts on my experiences of helping out with the production of "The Tempest", directed by Josh McKerrow at the Laurel Mill Playhouse.


The walls of the stage were painted by Josh using actual text from the time of the play (to symbolize Prospero's books):




First, here is my take on the play.

Act I: 2 scenes.
scene 1: Ariel, unseen but commanded by the magician Prospero, creates an imaginary storm which brings King Alonso’s ship, and all its passengers, to Prospero’s island.
In this scene several characters are introduced: Antonio, Sebastian, Alonso, Gonzalo, the Boatswain and ship Captain (“Master”).
scene 2: Prospero and his daughter Miranda talk about storm and background event (his history, her history, the events leaving to their living on the island for 12 years, and facts about the ship’s passengers). Ariel and Prospero talk and Ariel’s history is given. Caliban is introduced and has a discussion with Prospero, where his background is given; Ferdinand, separated from his father King Alonso by the storm, wanders the island alone and thanks to Prospero’s magic, meets Miranda and they begin to fall in love.

After Act I ends, all the characters but Stephano and Trinculo are introduced and their motivations are (mostly) hinted at.

Act II: 2 scenes.
scene 1: The characters Gonzalo, Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio talk and Gonzalo tried to cheer up Alonso. Their personalities are introduced, with more background; Ariel causes Gonzalo and Alonso to sleep, which Sebastian and Antonio use to plot against their life;, but Ariel saves Alonso's life by waking them at the right instant; Alonso grows very suspicious of them.
scene 2: Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano and introduced; Caliban drunkenly worships Stephano; Trinculo, and Stephano plan to inherit the island.

After Act II ends, all the subplots are sketched out, all the characters are known, their personalities are introduced, and their motivations are explained.

Act III: 3 scenes.
scene 1: Ferdinand, still separated from his father King Alonso by the storm, talks with Miranda and they discuss their love.
scene 2: Ecouraged by Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano plot against Prospero’s life; Ariel causes them to fight.
scene 3: Gonzalo, Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, etc take a rest and envision a magnificent banquet; it vanished suddenly and Ariel gives a long frightening speech warning of their death unless they show sorrow for their past wrongs and promise to lead innocent lives in the future.

After Act III, we see the subplots more fully explored and be better understand Prospero’s scheme of things.

Act IV, 1 scene:
scene 1: Ariel, Prospero, Miranda, and Ferdinand have the “Masque scene”, where spirits sing and their festivities symbolize/bless the upcoming wedding between Ferdinand and Miranda. Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano further plot against Prospero, but are frightened off by strange noises of dogs and hunters.

Act V, 1 scene:
scene 1: Prospero commands Ariel to get the ship’s passengers together and bring them to her; Prospero casts a spell on them all, Alonso apologies, Prospero forgives all the ships passengers and re-unites Alonso with Ferdinand (now in love with Miranda); the Boatswain reports and the ship is safe and harbored nearby; Prospero gives up his magic and invites all to spend the night and hear the tale of his life on the island, before they depart for Naples the next day.

Epilogue: Prospero asks for the audience’s blessing and freedom with their applause.

Themes of play: power and jealosy, family relationships, forgiveness.

The atmosphere on the set was great. The people are very friendly but professional. I always found the work pleasant, even if it had been a long exhausting day at work. Here are a few shots I took during a break at a tech rehearsal.


The director, taking pictures of the cast duing a dress rehearsal:




I'm a complete novice to theater work. I might go to a play once or twice a year. As a fifth-grader I starred as the Pauper in "The Prince and the Pauper". I was unable to remember my lines and they had to close the curtain on me. I was not popular with those who had to share the stage with me! Jump ahead 40 years - a year or two ago, I asked someone who was teaching drama if I could hang around for part of a semester while I absorbed all that went on in a student production. I got in the way more than anything. That is my knowledge and experience with plays. With this production I was really surprised the enormous skill and experience that some of the actors had in this production, as well as how much work they put into the play.

Prospero (Kat McKerrow), Miranda (Shelby Hylton) and Caliban (Jeffrey Gangwisch):


Miranda hamming for the camera, the director, and Sebastian (Caity Brown):


Gonzalo (Tom Tomlinson):


Alonso (Penny Martin), Stephano (Marc Rehr) and Maya Wilcox (stage manager/set construction):


The director, Ariel (Diana Taggart), and the Boatswain (David Hill):


The director, Miranda, Prospero and Ariel share a laugh:

It's blown-out but it's also my favorite shot.

I learned a lot. I learned about what a really good director can do to a great play. Josh was excellent, both with the cast and with his knowledge of the material. I also met some terrifically talented actors.
I learned how lighting design works and how to work that particular lighting board. It actually is very easy and very hard at the same time, in a weird way. (Easy to make mistakes as well.) Learning which sliders do which is easy. But the hard part is the "muscle memory" of knowing them well enough that you can work them without mistakes even when you are very tired, the lighting is very low (essentially you are working in the dark most of the time) and how to quickly change from one lighting set-up to the next in time to make the music cues or acting cues on stage.
I also learned Shakespeare's play very well. For me, that was the main thing. To be a better writer, I feel as though I need to learned really great writer's works really well. It was a great experience.

I'll end with an amusing quote. It's not exact, because I don't remember the details or who said it or when, but something like this: An expert on Shakespeare, perhaps a professor of literature, was being interviewed about Shakespeare and said (something like) "You know, in spite of all hype, Shakespeare actually is a very good playwright." I agree:-)
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Lighting design notes for "The Tempest"

These are notes for the stage lighting of The Tempest, performed at the Laurel Mill Playhouse, 2012-09-14 thru 2012-09-23, directed by Joshua McKerrow.

The theater is fairly small - with 60 seats for the audience. A diagram of the theater (U is Upstage, D is Downstage, SR is Stage Right, SL is Stage Left) is below:

A picture of the ceiling, taken from upstage center and facing the audience, is here:

Some of the spotlights (or "key" lights) are on, but the floodlights (over the stage) are mostly off.

Here is a picture of the lighting board. The sliders on the lower level controlled the lights:

You can see, for example, that under slider 8, there is a piece of tape with "DSC" written on it. That writing was totally unreadable during a show since the lights were basically turned off (except for a small red bulb) then.


Here is a table describing the lighting board controlling the lights.

slider number function
1 3 reds and 1 yellow (floods)
2 none
3 DSL (= DownStage Left), spotlight
4 r4 whites (floods)
5 none
6 USL, spotlight
7 USR, spotlight
8 DSC, spotlight
9 USC, spotlight
10 DSR, spotlight
11 none
12 4 blues (floods)

Different scenes got different lighting designs. Sometimes these were to punctuate the actors' lines. For example, Ariel's description of the tempest to Prospero (line 317 in Act I scene 2) was accented with some red flashes at the point Ariel said "...I flamed amazement." Other cases were to implement parts of the script (eg, lighting during a storm), or to distinuish the mood of a scene.

To begin, being a complete novice, I read some tutorials. The director, Josh McKerrow, told me he needed a detailed lighting plan written out. I typed up something like this:


Indicated are the lines where a specific lighting plan is to be executed, with a few words of the "cue line" indicated. After getting a reasonably detailed version of this (that the director could use if I could not make a show for some reason) I gave up on this process. I had to create too much shorthand notation and I was constantly correcting my own notes. What I settled on was to buy a book of the screenplay with lots of white space on the page then write in pencil the lighting instructions. Here is an example:

This seemed to work out well. Most of the lighting was really designed by Josh McKerrow, who knew the play much better and had ideas on how he wanted certain scenes light. There were five lighting schemes I named with a special term: "normal" (all keys were on, but the colored lights were not as bright), "storm" (for Act I, scene 1), "Caliban" (which had more blues and reds, and lower key lights), "love scenes" (for Ferdinand and Miranda), the "harpy scene" (Ariel's speech in Act III, scene 3), and "oscillating" (for Prospero's "magic spell" scene in Act V, scene 1). There were other lighting effects, but they were simpler (eg, "set master to level 2", or "USC and DSC only"), so didn't get a name. This naming of lighting schemes made it easier to label the pages of the script, and easier for me to track what lighting changes occurred as the play progressed.

I learned some interesting facts about lighting, but mostly I learned the play really well, thanks to the fact that I could read it over and over, Josh knew it really well, and was happy to talk about it.
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2012-09-22

Anton Chekhov - Stories from 1886


This post gives a summary of the stories of Anton Chekhov from 1886. If you know of things which should be added, please let me know. A summary of all his stories his here.



Stories


Plays


References




[C] A. Chekhov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov_bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_short_stories_by_Anton_Chekhov
Stories of Anton Chekhov:
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/c#a708

[Y] Avrahm Yarmolinsky (translator and editor), The Unknown Chekhov, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999.
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2012-09-18

Anton Chekhov - early writing (up to 1885)

I've tried to collect some information on Chekhov's earlier stories. If you now more, please email me or add to the comments. There are a lot of blank spaces here:-(




Short stories


Plot summaries of the early short stories of Anton Chekhov.

1880


  • "Because of Little Apples"

    Note:
    Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].

    Summary:
    Teenage boy and his sweetheart are caught stealing apples by a cruel landowner and his sadistic assistant. The tortuous tribulations they put the young couple through is interuppted by the landowner's daughter. The story ends with the landowner continuing his sick ways and the traumatized couple never seeing each other again.

1882




1883


  • "The Bird Market"


    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417
  • "The Daughter of Albion"

    Summary:
    A landowner goes fishing with his children's nanny, who does not speak Russian. A friend of the landowner
    shows up and the landowner berates his children's nanny endlessly. Whn his hook gets stuck on a log
    in the river, he decides to strip completely, swim out to free his hook, and return to the riverbank to fish.


    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414
  • "The Death of a Civil Servant"

    Note:
    Also "The Death of a Government Clerk"

    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414
  • "An Incident at Law"

    This appears in "Early Stories" and in "Chekhov: the comic stories".

    Summary:
    A passionate lawyer gives an emotional plea for his client's innocence. This causes his client to get emotional as well, and he confesses.

  • "Fat and Thin"

    Summary:
    This is about two school friends who meet by chance years later after they are grown up. They are happy and friendly towards the other. When one discovers the other is a Privy Councillor, he becomes overly formal and ruins the happiness of the meeting.


    Audio:
    Read by Kenneth Branagh (on youtube).


    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414

  • "Rapture"

    Summary:
    A young man excitedly describes to his family some news about him which will appear in a local newspaper. He family got caught up in the excitement until it is revealed to be an accident report where his injury was described as "superficial."

    Text:
    In "Early Stories" (transl. by P. Miles and H. Pitcher), Oxford Univ. Press, 1982. Also in "Chekhov, the comic stories."

  • "The Swedish Match"

    Note:
    Wikipedia says the day of this story is unknown, giving 1882-1885. However, litmed gives 1883. Early detective story, pre-dating Sherlock Holmes' story by Arthur Conan Doyle but not Edgar Allan Poe's in "The Murders of the Rue Morgue" (which Poe published in 1841).


    Summary:
    This is a mystery, solved when the clue of a Swedish match is tracked down. It turns out, the man was not a victim of foul-play, but instead ran away to his (married) girl-friend's garden shed, where stays drunk but he keeps a low profile. See also
    http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1708


    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417
  • "The Trousseau"

    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13416


    Characters:
    • Mark Ivanovitch Klyauzov (the "victim")
    • Police superintendent of the district, Yevgraf Kuzmitch
    • Psyekov, Klyauzov's steward
    • Yefrem, Klyauzov's gardener
    • Nikolay Yermolaitch Tchubikov, examining magistrate
    • Dyukovsky, assistant, and secretary to Tchubikov
    • Artsybashev-Svistakovsky, the police captain
    • Dr. Tyutyuev
    • Akulka, a cook who has slept with most of the men
    • Nikolashka Tetchov, servant of Klyauzov
    • Marya Ivanovna, Klyauzov's sister
    • Danilko, a shepherd
    • Olga Petrovna, wife of police superintendent Kuzmitch

    Plot: Psyekov goes to the police station to report to Kuzmitch that Klyauzov has been murdered. The police go to Klyauzov's manor, break down the bedroom door to discover a little blood, signs that someone climbed through the (first floor) bedroom window, and a "Swedish match". They go to the garden outside Klyauzov's bedroom window and discover more blood and dragging marks indicating a body was dragged away. They interview some servants and the sister. Except for the sister, who is crazy, no one remembers anything because they were all drunk. The cook, Akulka, is apparently an attractive young local woman who slept with almost all the men, and the police suspect a fight over her favors. Eventually, the police arrest both Psyekov and Nikolashka and charge them with murder. Over a week goes by. Dyukovsky happens to find a clue, The person who bought the Swedish matches, which were unusual at the time, was Olga Petrovna, wife of police superintendent Kuzmitch. Dyukovsky convinces Tchubikov to go with him to question her. They convince her that they know what she has done (which is a lie) and to confess. She shows them to a large garden shed in her large backyard, where Klyauzov is sleeping. He is Olga's lover and she decided to take him home one night after he got very drunk in his bedroom. He decided to stay in her garden shed for a few weeks, to be closer to her. Supplied with plenty of alchohol and food, he was happy until the police arrived. However, he agrees to finally go home.

    Questions: Who is Nana?
  • "Two in One"

    Note:
    Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].

    Summary:
    A rich boss rides a streetcar for a change. He hears a confident conversationalist who sounds like his meek clerk, but with more intellience than he expected. When the boss laughs suddenly, the clerk recognizes him and reverts to the meek personality he takes at work.

  • "A woman without prejudices"

    Note:
    Missing from Wikipedia.

    Summary:
    A man embarrassed of his past falls in love and marries. On his wedding night, he confesses that he was once a clown. His new wife loves him even more, to his surprise and happiness.

    Text:
    In "Chekhov, the comic stories".

1884


  • "A Chameleon"


    Summary:
    Amusing story of an officer who cannot make up his mind what to do to the owner of a dog who has bitten a shop-keeper. The dog could be a General's pet. He puts on or takes off his coat each time he changes his mind.


    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417

  • "After the Fair"

    Text:
    See After the Fair.

  • "The Complaints Book"

    Summary:
    Story about a book inside a railway station designed for the stationmaster to make notes on lost luggage, etc. Instead, it is filled with silly notes.

    Text:
    In "Early Stories" (transl. by P. Miles and H. Pitcher), Oxford Univ. Press, 1982. Also in "Chekhov, the comic stories".

  • "Choristers"


    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414

  • "A Dreadful Night"

    Summary:
    A fellow renting a room in a large house goes out to a seance. When he returns, there is a coffin in his room. He suspects evil spirits until he discovers a hand-written note inside the coffin written by a friend. The friend's father is a coffin maker and wants the fellow to store it for a week.

    Text:
    In "Early Stories" (transl. by P. Miles and H. Pitcher), Oxford Univ. Press, 1982. Also in "Chekhov, the comic stories."

  • "In the Graveyard"


    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412
  • "In a Strange Land"

    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412

  • "He quarrelled with his wife: an Incident"

    Summary:
    A man has an argument with his wife and goes to bed. He hears the door open and thinks she has returned, wanting to be forgiven. It was the dog.

    Text:
    This appears in "Chekhov: the comic stories".

  • "Minds in Ferment"


    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409

  • "Oysters"

    Summary:
    A young boy and his father are starving. He begs rich men for oysters and they feed him, mocking him when he bites into the shell. His father still hungry, watches over him in the hospital.

    http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=12000


    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417

  • "Perpetuum Mobile"

    Note:
    Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].

    Summary:
    We've gotten into a vicious circle, one of the protagonists remarks near the end of the story. The two men have a duty to perform - after all, there is a corpse waiting for them in a village down the road - but somehow they keep going around in circles.

    http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1478

  • "The Skit"

    Note:
    Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].

    Summary:
    A skit is written and read by its author to some friends. First, they love it. Then they suggest changes. Then they say to trash it.

  • "Vint"

    Note:
    Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].
    The game of vint is also known as "Russian whist".

    Summary:
    An administrator passes his office building one night after work on the way home from the theater. Seeing lights on, he goes inside expecting his workers to be working on
    a eport. Instead, they are playing vint, but using card combinations named after the the administrators (including himself). He joins them. The story ends with the janitor overhearing some of their funny-sounding arguments over their card game.

  • "Worse and worse"

    Note:
    Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].

    Summary:
    A choir master is sued by one of his members for insulting him. The former apologizes to the latter, but in the process makes even more insults. Once in court, he gets 2 months jail time. He insults the trial judge and the appelate judge as well.



1885



  • "The Cook's Wedding"

    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417

  • "A Dead Body"

    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409

  • "Drowning"

    Note:
    Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].

    Summary:
    A hustler works the docks trying to get money for jumping off the dock to impersonate a drowning victim. The first man is not at all interested. The second is, but will give him hardly any money for the act. The man jumps in, does his thrashing, gets out
    soaking wet and collects his money.

  • "The Fish"

    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417
  • "The Head of the Family"

    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13415
  • "The Huntsman"

    Summary:
    While walking along the roadside, a hunter is stopped by his long-separated wife rushing out of a crop field.

    Text:
    In "Early Stories" (transl. by P. Miles and H. Pitcher), Oxford Univ. Press, 1982.

  • "The Looking Glass"

    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409
  • "Mari d'Elle"

    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414
  • "The Malefactor [The Culprit]"

    Text:
    In "Early Stories" (transl. by P. Miles and H. Pitcher), Oxford Univ. Press, 1982.

  • "A Man of Ideas"

    Text:
    In "Early Stories" (transl. by P. Miles and H. Pitcher), Oxford Univ. Press, 1982.

  • "The Marshal's Widow"

    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412
  • "The Misfortune"

    Note:
    Also, "A Misfortune" or "A Calamity"

    Summary:
    A story of the bored wife of a notary republic who is pusued by a younger lawyer. She, "like a bumblebee bumping up against the window-pane," yearns to escape her marriage and run away with him.

    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13413

  • "Notes from the memoirs of a man of ideals"

    Missing form Wikipedia.

    Summary:
    A man rents a vacation for a month from a very charming lady. They seem to agree on 25 rubles for th month. In the end, she charges for coffee, servant duties, vodka, and so on, increasing the final bill by almost 10-fold.

    Text:
    In "Chekhov, the comic stories".

  • "Overdoing It"

    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412
  • "Old Age"

    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409
  • "Saintly simplicity"

    Note:
    Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].

    Summary:
    A son returns home to visit his father after many years absence. The father, a priest, cannot believe his son, now a very successful lawyer, has become so wealthy
    and distant.
  • "Sergeant Prishibeyev"

    Summary:
    Sgt P thinks he must control people, as though they were Army subordinates, even when he is out taking a stroll with his wife. On one occasion, he assaults a policeman and is taken before a judge. The story takes place duirng the trial when the Sgt tries to explain his actions to the court.

    Text:
    In "Early Stories" (transl. by P. Miles and H. Pitcher), Oxford Univ. Press, 1982.

  • "Small Fry"

    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732
  • "Sorrow"

    Text:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732
  • "Two of a Kind"

    Note:
    Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].


    Summary:
    A newly married young couple are visiting relatives. Embarrassment over the relatives' behavior is replaced by relief when they find that the other spouse's relatives are also crazy.
  • "The Villiage Elder"

    Note:
    Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].

    Summary:
    A man tells a story of a village "bumpkin" who makes good and is elected Village Elder. Not wanting this position of responsibility, he does all he can to be discharged.

Plays


Plot summaries of the early plays of Anton Chekhov.

1881 That Worthless Fellow Platonov
Note: Also known as Platonov.


Novellas


Plot summaries of the early novellas of Anton Chekhov.

1884 The Shooting Party

Note: The first novel (ever) written in the format of a mystery. In its innovative structure, the book prefigures Agatha Christie's most famous novel, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" written 45 years later. Christie's novel caused a sensation with its narrator-as-murderer plot device. It is interesting that The Shooting Party was first translated into English in 1926, only a few years before Agatha Christie published "Roger Ackroyd." Perhaps Chekhov invented Agatha Christie's famous device?
Summary:
http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=12462


References




[C] A. Chekhov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov_bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_short_stories_by_Anton_Chekhov
Stories of Anton Chekhov:
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/c#a708

[Y] Avrahm Yarmolinsky (translator and editor), The Unknown Chekhov, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999.
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2012-09-15

An interview with science fiction writer Bud Sparhawk, I

These are notes from an interview 2012-04-11 with John "Bud" Sparrhawk. A shorter version of this interview was published in the Summer 2012 issue of the Maryland Writers' Association newsletter Pen in Hand. Video of the interview appeared in a four-part series: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

Among other awards, Bud Sparhawk's stories have been a finalist for a Nebula Award three times (Primrose and Thorn, 1996; Magic's Price, 2001; Clay's Pride, 2004) and have been selected for several "Years Best SF" anthologies. His first short story appeared in 1976 and he has published about 90 short stories and novellas since then.
He writes about writing on his blog, Musings.

This first part is on Bud's career in the Air Force.




Q1: You have a biography online but could we go into more detail? You got a degree in Mathematics from UMCP.

A: And a minor in philosophy. The only reason I got that minor was because the philosophy department was the only place that taught Logic in those days.

Q2: Was there a favorite philosopher or was it really the logic courses?

A: It was the logic. Although, I did take some other courses as well - "Philosophers of the Western World,'' that sort of survey course.

Q3: Your online biography mentions that you went to Air Force Officer Training School after graduation.

A: Right - Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas.

Q4: Was this during the Vietnam War?

A: Leading up to it.

Q5: Your bio mentions you went into the communications community.

A: Yes, but I applied for computers. I had taken some of the first computer courses ever offered at the University of Maryland. The instructor was Dr Sinkov, who was head of the computer department at NSA.

Q6: The same one who wrote a book on cryptography?

A: Yes. A very well-known man. He was very very proud of their recent acquisition of a frame of tiny magnite donuts (holds up hands in shape of a 6''x6'' square), with copper threads running in 6 directions connecting the donuts. This thing had the capacity of 120 bits! That was amazing! And there was an entire room full of equipment depending on this one little thing.

These things were actually made - this was Ross Perot's early business - by Mexican women sitting in his garage threading the copper threads through those little donuts on those frames.

How far we have come. Now we have these (taking out an iphone)!

Q7: You went to UMCP, then to Air Force communications school ...

A: I put in for computers but instead they sent me to communications/electronics school at Keesler [an Air Force base in Biloxi, MS]. When I was in the third from the last class in that sequence of courses, they started the first computer course for those going into the computer community. It was in the same facility, so I wandered over to talk to them. I found that they were mostly English and History majors! (Laughs.) There just ain't no justice in this world! (Laughs.)

Q8: Did you laterally move over to another community later?

A: No. I was always a communications/electronics officer. My first assignment was to Waco, TX, supporting Tactical Air Command for the Twelfth Air Force. Then I was sent to Europe. I went to a small station in Vernou-la-Celle-sur-Seine, about 75 miles south of Paris near Fontainebleau. We had a microwave station which was the central node for all microwave communications in Europe. We also had a World War II era manual telephone exchange switchboard, operated manually by operators using a plug-board, where every appearance of a call between military installations in Europe were routed.

Then de Gaulle kicked us out. I had volunteered for Vietnam duty twice, and tried to get into Army helicopters. I was not successful. Instead, I was sent to Uxbridge, England, where I worked for the Eighth Air Force. I began working in communication security there, which immediately put me into a new category. After that I went to Keesler AF Base for more communications/electronics training, I then got assigned to Security Service. This bumped up my security classification so high that I could not be assigned to certain locations. I was eventually stationed in Okinawa, where I was responsible for CommSec and OpSec review of the entire Pacific theater - from Hawaii to the Indian Ocean, from North Pole to South Pole. OpSec, or Operations Security, is the job of figuring out what others can figure out about you without knowing any classified information. Case in point: Thailand. C130 recon missions were being shot at. They couldn't figure out how the enemy knew about their flights. It was operationally no different - their flights were at night without patterns to their flight plans. No radio communications were used. They could not figure out how anybody was finding them. We looked at every single procedure they followed and could not figure out how people would know these recon flights were going on. Then we went to the flight line and asked them which plane they were using. They said "The black one!'' (Laughter.) People are so oblivious to the most commonplace events that they don't even notice them anymore.

During my stationing in Japan, I had to travel to Osawa Air Force Base in far northern Japan, near Sapporo. It was winter and there it got unbearably cold. I didn't feel like putting on heavy clothes to walk the quarter mile to the Officer's Club, so I sat down and read this paperback book I'd picked up. It was called "Dangerous Visions" by some jerk named Harlan Ellison. I read it and got halfway through the book and thought "This is crap! I can write better than this. These guys just don't have any decent ideas!" That week I wrote my first science fiction story in long-hand. When I got back to Okinawa, I typed it up and sent it off to Ben Bova at Analog. It got rejected. Then I sent a second story to him and got a two page letter of rejection. I did not realize the importance of a 2 page rejection letter personally signed by Ben Bova. I threw that draft away, and the letter, and, 35 stories later, I managed to make a sale.


This is continued in part two here.
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An interview with science fiction writer Bud Sparhawk, III

These are notes from an interview 2012-04-11 with John "Bud" Sparrhawk. A shorter version of this interview was published in the Summer 2012 issue of the Maryland Writers' Association newsletter Pen in Hand. Video of the interview appeared in a four-part series: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

Among other awards, Bud Sparhawk's stories have been a finalist for a Nebula Award three times (Primrose and Thorn, 1996; Magic's Price, 2001; Clay's Pride, 2004) and have been selected for several "Years Best SF" anthologies. His first short story appeared in 1976 and he has published about 90 short stories and novellas since then.
He writes about writing on his blog, Musings.

This third and last part discusses Bud's ideas on the scifi publishing industry. The first part of the interview is here, and the second part is here.


Q14: Your Analog story "Encounter in a Yellow Wood" seems less about a specific situation than about the relationship between two people and how it mirrors events in the story. Do you agree?

A: There were three ideas in that story. One was idea I read about in Discover magazine about micropipettes. I used that to explain the technology of the artificial trees in the story which performed the waste removal. To get that into the story, I invented a character - an engineer who had to travel to a location to consult on these trees. Another idea was on the difference between the various environmental communities. Environmentalists in one camp emphasized sharply different goals than environmentalists in another camp. It was about environmental protection verses preservation verses purification. All have noble objectives but come into conflict. This is mirrored in the conflict of the two main characters in the story.

The readers of Analog are primarily engineers, not just science fiction fans. The majority of the readership are in applied technical fields and, if you get a fact wrong, you are toast! Absolutely, fricking toast! Example: I've heard of very intense arguments over something like a figure used, say 0.06572. Was that accurate or was that a guess? Shouldn't there be another significant digit if you really want to get the point of the story across?


Q15: As far as the number of characters involved, your story "Encounter in a Yellow Wood" seemed like a simple one. There are exactly three characters. Is that unusual for you?

A: There used to be six! (Laughter.) I wrote one story, "Primrose and Thorn", a Nebula finalist, with basically three characters in it. There are also some minor characters, but the story is set on a big planet with some really advanced technology. The plot in "Magician" revolves around four main characters - a protagonist plus three strangers. I don't like big group scenes. Dialog is too difficult to deal with.

Q16: Of all your stories, do you see one that is more cinematic than others? One you would like to see on screen or would make a neat TV series?

A: You're putting me on the spot here! (Pause.) Recently, I think the best one would be either "Bright Red Star" which was a short story that got published in Asimov's, or its sequel called "The Glass Box". Both of those would be really neat scifi stories to see on screen.

Q17: Speaking of cinematic, when you sell these, do you keep any rights at all?

A: Always. A group of us, back in the mid 1990's, took on Dell magazine. We told them we are going to stop submitting unless they changed your contract terms with regard to electronic rights. We got the Science Fiction Writers of America to back us up and Dell basically took out the electronic rights clause from their contract. That is now the pattern in the entire industry. The publisher only has the rights to the first North American serial publication for a period of 30 days after publication. Most contracts specify that they will pay this much if they include it in an anthology, that much if they sell foreign rights, and so on. I can put my stories up for sale on my website.

I've published just under 90 short stories. However, I have resold a number of those - audio rights, foreign publications, and so on - so, my actual sales are over one hundred.

Q18: Can you talk about your work with SIGMA?

A: There was a book that Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven wrote back in the 1970s called "Footfall". It was about a group of aliens threatening Earth and was written largely from the point of view of the aliens. Very well-done book. In the story, the government didn't know how to deal with the aliens. They called together a bunch of science fiction writers together to advise them, since they've been writing for years and should have thought about these things. This was a McGuffin in the middle of the story. In the story, they weren't very successful but they gave the government some ideas on how to approach things.

Arlen Andrews was very taken with this idea. He suggested we start organizing such a group and offer our services to the government. He acquired a group of science fiction writers, most of whom have PhDs, all of whom are incredibly smart, and all of which have a certain dedication to moving the United States forward technically. SIGMA is a specialized group but there are people of every possible political persuasion. There are guys far right of Genghis Khan and on the other end of the political spectrum, we have some flower children. SIGMA gets called on by Homeland Security and other security agencies. They might throw a scenario at us and ask us how we would deal with it. We try to give them ideas or approaches. They thank us very much and we walk away and never hear anything about it again. Sometimes we do it pro bono. Sometimes they pay us a stipend. Sometimes we are reimbursed for travel and we get a meal out of it.

Q19: Do these conversations spur on any new science fiction stories?

A: Once it did. There was a meeting near Washington DC and they had gathered 8 of us. Michael Swanwick and Walter John Williams were there. We we discussing what would happen if thus and such occurred. Immediately they whipped out their notebooks and started writing like mad. At that point I knew we are going to get two stories out of this! (Laughter.)

Q20: About your own evolution as a writer, some people believe there is a 10 year rule, or 10000 hour rule, on how long it takes to become an expert at something. Do you believe that is true in your writing?

A: I've had a number of arguments with writers about this. Some of whom have said there is no such thing as talent and success is just raw persistence. Others say "It is all talent, because I just write this stuff, hardly ever edit, and just send it in." Immediately on hearing that I say to myself there is a strong smell of bull-shit in here! (Laughter.)

This is something I discuss in my blog. Don't kid yourself, writing is hard work. I think it was Houseman who said "The essence of having the perfect line in poetry is
to know precise word needed on the 56th revision." (Laughter.) It is true. In some sense, the writing doesn't start until you begin editing. Everything else is just throwing words down.

Q21: It does seem though that with all your experience, you now can at least say "Here's a cool idea for a story" whereas someone with less experience might say "I don't know if that idea would make a good story." In other words, you know how to begin.

A: I have as a many false starts as I do successful ideas leading to a finished work.

Right now, I am trying to learn how to write somewhat shorter pieces. I used to be able to write a 5000 word story in a weekend. But it is more natural for me to write novellas, which are 17000 up to 40000 words. However, you can't sell anything over 20000 words to a magazine, as they just don't have the space. Once I started paying attention to the elements of a novella - the story idea, the roles the characters play, description, dialog, exposition of technical ideas - I found it was easy for me to get to 10000-17000 words. So I found that I can reach 17000-18000 words by following a process which felt natural to me. Unfortunately, a few years ago the bottom fell out of the novella market. And most of the e-magazines, the online magazines, rarely want anything over 5000 words. So I said, do I write to my natural length or do I write to market? So I very deliberately started trying to write short works, works in the 5000-10000 word range. On the other hand, I also want to write stories with a social impact, one which addresses some serious themes. I am looking for stories which require more thought and have a strong moral tone to them, ones that had a lesson to teach. For example, "Yellow Wood". So far this year, I've written 45000 words, all short stories, and sold three stories and had four soundly rejected.

Q22: What do you mean "soundly rejected"?

A: I have a tracking tool that I developed. It has a list of editors, maybe 100 or so, at the top are Analog and Asimov's. Analog has a turn-around time of 42 days. So 42 days after submission, I'll get a letter of rejection. Asimov's has a turn-around time of 38 days. On the same day that I get a rejection, I will send it to the next editor on the list.

Q23: Do you get a suggestion for revision?

A: You never get that. If they offer a suggestion of a revision, then that really means "re-write and re-submit". A rejection will say something like, "not for our magazine." I've know all the editors and have been around long enough to earn a little courtesy, so the rejection letters will include a few nice words.

After Asimov's rejects it, I will send it to Gordon Van Gelder at Fantasy and Science Fiction. He has a turn-around of 7 days. "Alas ... " is his codeword for a rejection.

Q24: Is it verboten to send it to two places at once?

A: Yes. That is okay for novels but not short stories. I have done that accidentally once but never intentionally.

Q25: You mentioned Wodehouse in your blog. Which Wodehouse story inspired which short story of yours?

A: I love Wodehouse! I don't remember which Wodehouse story it was. There were two twins and they were supposed to go to to school but they went on holiday instead. There was a mad Aunt and the twins were trying to stay out of her way. It was in a Wodehouse collection I read. I really liked the twists and turns in the story. I laid out the structure of the story using a package called "Inspiration", a diagramming package for school children. I laid out the story scenes in block diagrams. I took the "facts" out but wrote my story with the same twists and turns. It was one of the Sam Boone stories. I steal from the best! (Laughter.) In some sense, there is no original story. Every story copies something from a previous one.

Q26: What is the most unusual thing that has happened to you as a writer?

A: I think the strangest thing that has happened was when I was on a panel discussion at a scifi convention with other writers and an audience member said "Where do you get your ideas?" I answered, "I used to think them up on my own but a couple of years ago I found this guy in New Jersey. I send him five bucks a month and every week he sends me a postcard with a story idea. And a lot of them are pretty good! (Laughter.) The crowd laughs. The other panelists laugh. Michael Flynn, who was also on the panel, said "I hope that guy doesn't send you the same ideas he sends me!", and
everyone laughs again. I had fans come up to me afterwards and whisper "Can I have his address?" They were serious! I was talking to a fellow writer and we figured we could easily come up with sixty or seventy story ideas. If we just got a fake address in New Jersey we could start our own business!

Q27: It sounds like you have a lot of fun writing.

A: It is a lot of fun.
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